He set the glass down on the scarred surface of the old desk with a small thud, spilling some of it onto the wood. Rising out of his seat on shaky legs, he moved as if in slow motion. He took his battered cap off the peg by the door before slowly opening it. He walked toward the beautiful plant pausing as a petal fell with each sound of the bell’s toll.
“Oh little garden angel,” he whispered in a trembling voice and raised his eyes to the stained glass ceiling. “Please, she is needed here. Please, do not take her.”
*.*.*
Rune closed her eyes as the first toll of midnight sounded in the distance. She could feel the petals falling as the last rose bloom fell in time with the chime of the clock. It was time. She opened her eyes and stared at the crazed eyes of the woman in front of her. She would not allow any more of her loved ones to die.
She stepped around Sergei’s outstretched arm as Eloise raised the weapon in her hand. All around her, people stood like frozen statues. A sense of calm settled over her as she began to glow even brighter. She heard Simone’s scream as Eloise fired at Sergei and her. The bullets ripped through her chest, turning the white to red for a brief moment before disappearing.
“What are you?” Eloise whispered in terror as she dropped her hand to her side in shock.
“I am Rune,” Rune said quietly. “I am the daughter of a Viking, the statue that watches over the children of St. Agnes and Sergei and Dimitri’s guardian angel.”
“Sergei,” Dimitri called out hoarsely as he ran up and ripped the gun from Eloise’s limp hand. “Are you… Rune,” his pain filled cry echoed. “No, маленький огонь. What have you done?”
Rune smiled tenderly at Dimitri as he walked toward her. She turned slightly to gaze at Sergei. A watery smile curled her lips as she begged him to understand. Finally, her gaze moved to Simone who stood in shock, gazing at her in wonder.
“You were always so brave,” Rune murmured. “So kind, even when you were hurting from your own loss.”
“It was you,” Simone whispered. “When I was hurting. I could feel you, in the garden. Sister Theresa told me I could tell you anything and you would comfort and protect me.”
“You just needed someone to listen to you,” Rune said, touching Simone’s cheek. “You could always see more than the other children.”
Simone looked around her with a frown as she noticed that no one else was moving except for the five of them. She looked back at Rune in bewilderment. It was as if time stood still yet she could hear the sound of the clock in the great hall as it counted down the hour.
“How?” Simone asked.
“I don’t know,” Rune answered truthfully.
She turned her gaze back to Dimitri and Sergei who were watching her with barely controlled emotions as she stepped closer to them. She gazed at them tenderly, her heart breaking at having to say goodbye to them. Her hand trembled as she touched Dimitri’s cheek. A single tear coursed down it. She gently brushed it away with her thumb.
“I love you, Dimitri,” she murmured. “Never in all my lives did I expect to understand the true depth of love. I understand now what it means to love someone to the very core of my soul. You have touched mine and I will never forget that. No matter where I go.”
“маленький огонь,” Dimitri choked out, raising his hands to her face. “Please, don’t leave.”
“I have to,” she whispered brokenly.
Rune reached up and gently kissed his lips before reluctantly letting him go and stepping back. She turned to Sergei who stood stiffly, his fists tightly clenched at his side. Her face crumpled as she gazed up at his closed expression. He had never said that he loved her. It didn’t matter. She knew that he did. He had shown her how much every time he touched her.
“Don’t,” he began in a low, strained voice. “Don’t you dare leave us. You belong here, with us, with… me.”
Rune shook her head and laid her fingers gently against his lips. “I love you, Sergei,” she sniffed out.
Sergei shuddered and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, gone was the shuttered expression. His eyes were filled with intense desolation.
He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in the curve of her neck. Rune held him tightly as his body shook violently. She threaded her fingers through his hair and gently cooed as low, choked moans escaped him. She held him until she felt the pull as the last few strokes of the clock rung out.
“Tell me,” she begged. “Please, just once. Tell me.”
Sergei pulled back and looked at her with eyes filled with agony. He kissed her, the salty taste of his tears mixed with his desperation. His hands cupping her face as he tried to hold onto her.
“I love you,” he whispered desperately. “Don’t, don’t go.”
“I love you both,” she whispered as the last sounds of the clock began to fade. “I’ll never forget you,” her voice echoed huskily. “I’ll never forget,” she said again before she faded away.
“No!” Sergei and Dimitri both yelled at the same time as everyone started moving again.
“Get her!” Petre shouted out as he wrapped his arms around Simone’s shaking figure. He turned so his body was between Simone’s and Eloise. Several of his security personnel rushed forward to grip Eloise’s limp figure. “Get her out of here and call the police. Where is Rune? Sergei? Dimitri? Where is Rune?” He asked looking around frantically.
“She’s gone,” Simone responded in a dazed voice. “She… she’s gone.
Sergei was on his knees on the floor where Rune last stood. Dimitri stood over him with his hand on his shoulder. Scattered all around them were the delicate red petals of the Christmas rose.
*.*.*
“Runa,” Olaf yelled as he ran toward her. “You came back!”
“Olaf,” Rune whispered before she collapsed in the green meadow with a low cry.
She felt Olaf’s thin arms wrap around her as she knelt in the grass, rocking as she sobbed. She thought there would be no pain in death but she felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest. She gasped as wave after wave of grief threatened to overwhelm her.
“Come with me,” Olaf said helping her to stand. “Mother and father will know what to do.”
Rune leaned heavily against her younger brother. He seemed taller, stronger than he had in real life. She let him guide her as she was too blinded by tears to see where she was going. All she knew was she wanted the horrible pain sweeping through her to finally take her away.
A small hut soon came into view. Horses, sheep and several dogs stood watching as they approached. Olaf called out a soft word of warning to the dogs who laid back down. The door to the hut opened and an older version of Rune stood in the doorway drying her hands on an off-white apron.
“Runa,” Asta rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her youngest daughter’s slender waist. “Oh Runa.”
“It hurts, mor” Rune whispered. “I love them so much. I can’t bear the pain of leaving them.”
“Oh child,” Asta said soothingly. “Come, tell us about them.”
Rune looked up as her mother turned sideways to give her room to enter the hut. Her eyes fell on the huge figure of her father. He didn’t say a word, just opened his arms wide for her. She rushed forward needing his strong, steady arms to comfort her.
“Far, help me,” she begged. “Please, help me return to them.”
“We will do everything we can, my Runa,” Sven murmured. “Now, dry your tears and tell your mother and I about them.”
Rune looked up into the twinkling eyes of her father. A small smile curved her lips and she nodded. She looked around the room for Dalla and Aesa before looking over at Olaf. She turned concerned eyes back to her parents.
“Aesa? Dalla?” She forced out.
“They have not come home yet,” Asta said as she set a bowl of stew and fresh bread on the table. “Now, tell us of your wonderful adventures.”
Rune slowly nodded and followed her par
ents and brother over to the long wooden table. Sitting on the bench, she drew in a deep breath wondering where to begin. She finally decided to start at the beginning.
“I’m sorry I did not keep Olaf, Aesa and Dalla safe,” she began. “We were several miles from home when we first saw the smoke….”
Over the next few hours, Rune related each and every life she had lived. Her voice grew soft as she talked about the children of St. Agnes and the nuns there that had touched her heart. The tears did not come again until she told them of her first meeting with Dimitri and Sergei. That was when she knew that she could not go on without them.
Chapter 25
Neither man spoke on the return trip home. Both were locked in their own grief. Petre’s security staff was taking care of Eloise. After the shooting, she had just babbled incoherently. It was obvious that she was not well. Personally, neither cared what happened to her.
The limousine pulled up along the front drive and the driver quickly jumped out to open the door for them. Dimitri slid out first. He gave the man a brief nod as he pulled the collar of his jacket further up. His eyes moved upward to scan the dark sky. Brilliant stars glittered down at him and he wondered briefly if Rune was looking down on them. Grief choked him and his eyesight blurred.
“Do you think she....” he choked out turning to look back at Sergei as he stepped out of the limousine.
“Don’t!” Sergei replied sharply. “Don’t,” he repeated in a thick voice as he strode past Dimitri and up the stairs leading into the house.
Sergei walked down the long hallway, ignoring the servant who was standing by the door waiting to take his jacket. He turned the corner and pushed open the door to the library. A large fire had been started in the fireplace but even the combined heat of the fire and room heater could do nothing to melt the ice that was closing around his heart. He embraced the icy feeling, hoping it would help keep the pain at bay. He didn’t know what he would do when it melted.
Walking over to the bar, he poured a small glass full of the brandy he enjoyed and drained it before pouring another then another. Even the burn of expensive liquor did nothing to ease the building pressure inside him. He turned as Dimitri entered the room.
His face twisted as the realization that Rune would never walk through the door again slammed into him. A low howl of pain and rage burst from him. He turned and threw the glass in his hand violently into the fire before he bowed his head and drew in long, agonizing breaths.
“Why, Dimitri? We should never have taken her out of the house,” Sergei said, his voice growing louder as his pain increased. “How could that bitch have slipped through our security? I want all of their heads,” he bit out turning to look at Dimitri with burning eyes. “I want every fucking security members’ head, do you hear me?”
Dimitri was having a hard enough time dealing with his own pain and grief. Sergei’s demands mirrored the thoughts running through his mind on the long drive from Petre and Simone’s home. Anger flared deep inside him and he spoke without thinking when he walked over to the bar near Sergei and poured himself a tall glass of whiskey.
“Maybe you should look at yourself first!” Dimitri gritted out harshly.
“What do you mean by that?” Sergei asked, glaring at Dimitri.
Dimitri turned and stared coldly back at Sergei. “Meaning if you hadn’t touched that bitch Ferguson in the first place Rune would still be alive!” He said harshly, regretting the words as soon as they burst from his lips.
“You bastard,” Sergei growled, grabbing the front of Dimitri’s shirt and shoving him up against the bar. “You think I am to blame for Rune dying? You were supposed to protect her! You were in charge of the security. It was your responsibility to keep her safe!”
Dimitri’s glass shattered as it hit the marble floor in front of the bar. He grabbed Sergei’s wrists and twisted, turning his friend and wrapping one of his thick arms around his neck. Guilt washed through him as he realized what he was doing. He pushed Sergei away from him and swiveled until he was bent over the bar. His knuckles were white as he gripped the edge of it. His shoulders shook from the force of the pain and guilt flooding him.
“Do you think I don’t blame myself?” Dimitri asked thickly. “I should have been there to protect her. I should have been there,” he howled as he raised his fists up and slammed them down on the top of the bar with enough force to knock over several glasses. “I should have been the one to take the bullets,” he whispered as he bowed his head and cried.
Sergei stood behind his brother. Dimitri had always put him first. When they were young and food was scarce, Dimitri would insist that he be the one to eat. When it was cold and they hadn’t more than a blanket to help warm them, Dimitri had always made sure that he had enough to cover him. When the thugs were after them, it was Dimitri who would stand between them and Sergei. He always put Sergei first, just as he had Rune.
Sergei walked over and gently laid his hand on Dimitri’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry, my brother.”
Dimitri turned tortured eyes to Sergei. “I don’t know why,” he choked out. “I don’t know why, Sergei. I love her so much.”
Sergei’s throat closed up but he knew he had to force the words out. He should have told Rune every second of the day how much he loved her. It had taken losing her to finally open himself to what it meant to love someone to the center of his being.
“I love her too, Dimitri,” Sergei confessed. “I love her so much I don’t know how to handle the pain inside me.”
Dimitri reached out and gripped Sergei’s shoulders in understanding. Somehow, someway they would make it. He was not sure how. He knew that in all the trials and challenges they had faced growing up, this one would be the most difficult to survive.
“Come,” Dimitri said heavily. “I don’t know about you but I need a drink.”
Sergei nodded. He grabbed the decanter of brandy and another glass before walking over to the chair in front of the fire. He shrugged off his jacket and draped it over the back of the chair before he sat down and poured the strong liquor into the glass. He didn’t even bother setting the decanter down. He planned on drinking it and several more before the night was over. He glanced at Dimitri who did the same, only he had grabbed the bottle of whiskey not bothering with a glass.
“Where do we go from here?” Sergei asked, staring into the flames.
Dimitri shrugged as he sat down in the other chair. “Right now, I don’t want to think of tomorrow. I can’t,” he added softly before he took a deep swig from the bottle.
*.*.*
Rune looked around her as she walked through the tall grass of the meadow. She had risen hours before. Her father strode silently beside her as they climbed to the top of the hill that looked out over the vast ocean far below. She stood still. The white gown of the evening dress she had worn to the party clung to her and her hair blew loosely behind her as a light breeze swept up the tall cliff.
Neither spoke as they waited for the sun to rise. On the horizon, the faint light turned the sky into a vivid painting of orange, yellow, pinks and blues. Rune gazed out on the beauty of it but her heart ached too much to enjoy it.
“What is your wish?” Her father asked her quietly.
“To be with Dimitri and Sergei,” Rune responded immediately. She stared straight ahead for several seconds before she turned eyes that glittered with unshed tears up to him. “To make a family with them as their wife,” she added before she turned to look back out at the sunrise.
Sven smiled down at his beautiful, brave daughter. She was the image of his wife and just as strong and stubborn. She would need to be if she hoped to handle the two males that he had been listening to throughout the night. He had wanted to know that they would love and protect her. If he was going to send his daughter back to the living, he wanted to make sure that she would be happy and loved.
“I love you, daughter,” Sven said brushing a strand of hair from her face and
leaning down to kiss her gently on her cheek. “Your mother and I will watch over you always.”
Rune turned puzzled eyes to her father for just a moment before the world tilted under her feet. She cried out, reaching for him to steady her. Her hands swept through his body as she fell from the cliff. She closed her eyes as she continued to fall. A wave of warmth engulfed her when she should have hit the water and darkness descended around her like a velvet blanket.
“Father!” Olaf called out, running up the hill.
Sven turned and looked behind him. He waited as Olaf and Asta joined him. The three of them stood on the edge of the cliff looking down.
“She has returned?” Asta asked.
Sven smiled lovely down at his wife’s upturned face and brushed a light kiss against her lips. “Ja,” he said looking back at the sunrise.
Olaf sighed and kicked at a stone. “So, now we just have to wait for Aesa and Dalla? How much longer before they come to visit?” He asked glumly.
“Not long, Olaf,” Sven told his son. “Not long. How about a ride along the cliffs? Perhaps we will find them,” he asked.
Olaf’s face lit up with excitement. “I’ll get the horses,” he replied before he took off back down the hill at a loping run.
“I will miss him when it is his time to go,” Asta said, tears in her eyes as she turned back to watch as Rune slid further away. “Will she be alright?”
“Oh yes,” Sven said, wrapping his massive arms around his slender wife. “She is just what those two men need and they are perfect for our Runa.”
Asta leaned her head back and smiled. Their life may have been cut short but the Gods worked in mysterious ways. She did not question where they were, she simply accepted that there were some things best left alone. As long as she had Sven, she was content no matter where they were sent. They both turned as Olaf returned riding one of the horses.
“How about riding with us?” Sven asked, looking down.
“Olaf only brought two horses,” Asta commented.