Tagan's Child (8 page)

“Oh my God,” I
said quietly, my hand covering my mouth in shock.

“We can’t be
certain about the extent to which the stroke will have affected her
but she should make a complete recovery from her other injuries,”
he continued.

“Can I see
her?” I croaked, my mouth suddenly feeling parched.

“Not tonight
I’m afraid. Ms Goodfellow has been moved into intensive care so
that she can be closely monitored, she is heavily sedated.”

I wasn’t sure
what I had expected to hear, but Audrey’s condition sounded bleaker
than I had feared. I stifled a sob. Ahran stepped forward and put
his arm around me, I was grateful for the support.

“Why don’t you
go home and get some rest and give us a call in the morning?” the
registrar suggested.

I nodded barely
able to see the doctor through my tears. He gave me a sympathetic
smile.

“Thank you,” I
said. He gave a curt nod in response and headed back towards the
emergency room.

I turned and
sobbed into Ahran’s chest. I felt him tense and then he put his
arms around me. His embrace was reassuring and I forgave his
previous abruptness just a fraction as I welcomed his sympathy.

“Come on, let’s
get you home,” he said gently. It was the nicest he had been to
me.

I allowed him
to steer me out of the hospital. It was bitingly cold outside and
in stark contrast to the hot dry air of the hospital. I took a
couple of deep breaths welcoming the cold burn of it again. We
silently made our way to Ahran’s car. I sat in the passenger’s seat
and let my head fall back onto the headrest, the leather seat felt
cold. Ahran made his way around to the driver’s door. I took in a
deep breath, the car smelt of him. I closed my eyes and allowed the
events of the evening to sink in.

Ahran started
the engine and the warmth of the heated seat began to seep through
my jeans.

“Are you
alright?” he asked, the glow of the orange street lamp overhead
casting a funny light into the car.

“I feel a bit
better now I’ve come outside,” I replied, turning to look at
him.

“You’ll feel
better once you’ve had some sleep.” He had an odd look on his face.
It was a mixture of sympathy and puzzlement.

I glanced at
the clock on the dashboard, it was gone ten. It seemed very quiet
and intimate in the car compared to the noise and bustle of the
hospital. “Ahran, I want to thank you. You didn’t have to come to
the hospital and I don’t know what you said to those nurses but it
had the desired effect.”

Ahran gave me a
lop-sided grin, it was the first time I had seen him smile and it
did funny things to my insides. I struggled to tear my eyes away
from his. I really didn’t want to dwell on my reaction to his
smile. I was tired, I’d had a traumatic evening and my guard was
down, that was all.

“It was the
least I could do, if I had been more vigilant I could have
prevented your friend from being attacked. At least now we know
that Bazeera means business and we cannot take any chances. I want
you to seriously consider coming to stay with my family, it is the
only way we can assure the safety of you both.”

I knew this
evening had left me with little choice and I felt despair wash over
me. Toby and I would be safe from Bazeera if we stayed with Ahran’s
family, but I was also painfully aware that Toby was heir to a
large and wealthy kingdom, they would not let go of him easily.

“Can we talk
about this in the morning?” I asked.

Ahran hesitated
as if he wanted to say more, but instead he just nodded and
reversed the car before pulling out of the car park. He drove fast
and I willed myself not to look at the speed dial preferring not to
know what breakneck speed we were travelling at. A couple of times
I looked over at his profile, he was deep in thought. All I hoped
was that he was concentrating on the road. Nevertheless, I was
thankful for his silence. I was surprised by how comfortable I felt
with him. I usually felt the need to say whatever inane thought
came into my head with people I’d only just met, I didn’t like
uncomfortable silences, but for some reason I didn’t feel like this
with him. Maybe it was because he hadn’t gone out of his way to be
too friendly with me. I wasn’t sure, but I was happy to be left
alone with my thoughts.

We got back to
the house in record time. Ahran parked behind my Land Rover in
front of the garage. I couldn’t have been more pleased to see the
welcoming glow of my porch light. All I could think about now was
my bed.

“Thanks for
driving me back,” I said, daring to look into his eyes. Why did I
find them so hypnotising?

“It was the
least I could do,” he replied.

I went to get
out of the car.

“If I could
change any of this I would.”

I turned back
to look at him. He hadn’t made any attempt to move and I wasn’t
sure what he was referring to exactly.

He held my gaze
but didn’t elaborate any further. Suddenly the atmosphere between
us changed. It no longer felt so easy going and comfortable.

“Let’s go
inside,” I said, clearing my throat and got out of the car.

Ahran joined me
on the garden path and we walked to the front door. A woman was
standing under the porch waiting for us. Where had she come from?
She was absolutely stunning. She had short blonde, spikey hair,
delicate features and must have been at least six feet tall.

Ahran spoke to
the woman in a language I wasn’t familiar with.

“This is my
sister, Elaya,” he said, making the introductions. She didn’t look
anything like the American female wrestler I had imagined. The
Elessar family obviously had good genes. “Elaya, Sophie
McAllister.”

She offered me
her hand. “Hello Sophie.” Her voice was slightly husky and more
heavily accented than Ahran’s. Her handshake was extremely firm and
she eyed me curiously.

“How is your
friend?” she asked.

“Not great.
She’s in intensive care.”

“I’m sorry,”
she said.

“Thanks. Let’s
go in, it’s cold.” They were both making me nervous and I scrabbled
around in my bag for my keys. “Aha! Here they are,” I said
awkwardly.

The house felt
warm and I closed the door against the biting cold. “Can I take
your coats?” I offered. They both handed me their jackets and I
hung them up with mine.

Sandie came and
stood in the kitchen doorway. “Hi,” she said, looking at Ahran and
Elaya with a confused expression on her face. She clearly
recognised Ahran. She had been right, he wasn’t easy to forget.

“Hi Sandie,
this is Ahran and Elaya Elessar. They are, er, friends of
mine.”

“Hello, nice to
meet you,” she said, looking even more confused but was too polite
to say anything.

They shook her
hand but didn’t respond. Sandie looked uncomfortable and blushed.
Being in their presence was a little disquieting.

“How’s Toby?” I
asked.

“He’s fine; he
went out like a light as usual. How’s Audrey?” she asked.

“Not great, we
should know more in the morning.”

“Poor Audes,”
Sandie said sympathetically. “Will you let me know how she is?”

“Yes of course.
Thank you for helping me out at such short notice.” I took a twenty
pound note out of my purse and held it out to her. “I really
appreciate it.”

“No problem,
any time,” she said, shaking her head at the money. “Don’t worry
about it, I’m just happy I was able to help out.”

Dan came and
joined her.

“This is Dan,
Sandie’s boyfriend,” I said introducing him to Ahran and Elaya.
They both nodded.

“Ok, well,
we’ll be off then,” Sandie said. The small hallway was suddenly
very crowded.

“Go through,” I
said to my guests. I turned back to Sandie and Dan. “Thanks again,”
I said seeing them out. I took a deep breath and returned to the
kitchen where Ahran and Elaya were waiting. They were having a
hushed conversation which came to an abrupt halt when I entered the
kitchen.

“Would you like
a tea or coffee?” I asked.

“No, thank
you,” Elaya replied.

“Not for me,”
Ahran said.

I felt a sudden
wave of exhaustion. I doubted whether they would leave Toby and me
on our own now, and to be frank I didn’t want to be left alone
after Audrey’s violent attack.

“You are both
very welcome to stay the night,” I offered, trying to make them
feel more at ease.

They exchanged
a few words. Ahran answered. “Thank you but Elaya will go home, I
will stay. From now on, one of us will be with you at all times
until you and Toby can come and stay with our family.”

I couldn’t help
but feel a little irritated that the decision had been taken out of
my hands.

“Goodbye
Sophie,” Elaya said, shaking my hand again. “I hope you and your
nephew are able to return with us soon, it is not safe for you
here.”

“Yes, so it
would seem,” I replied.

Elaya’s
expression softened a little.

“It was nice
meeting you. Oh and thank you for your help,” I said.

She
acknowledged my gratitude with a nod and a smile. She really was
beautiful, I felt decidedly plain stood next to them both.

Elaya and Ahran
exchanged a few more words and Elaya left.

“Well, I need
to go to bed,” I announced.

Ahran looked as
if he was contemplating what to say next. He took a deep breath.
“There is more I need to tell you.”

“Can’t it wait
until the morning?” I said, stifling a yawn, but the expression on
his face began to ring alarm bells and my curiosity got the better
of me. “What is it?”

“You have to
promise that what I am about to tell you, you will keep to
yourself, because if you don’t, we will have far worse problems on
our hands than the ones we already have. Please don’t even tell
Toby, he will know soon enough.”

I sat down at
the kitchen table. What could it possibly be? I wasn’t sure I could
take much more.

He seemed to be
taking his time to choose his words carefully as he pulled out a
chair for himself. “I am from a place called Ramia.”

I had never
been any good at Geography so I wasn’t particularly surprised when
I didn’t recognise the name.

“I’ve never
heard of it, where is it?”

“You wouldn’t
have heard of it because it isn’t exactly in this world,” he said
carefully, watching for my reaction.

I shook my head
slightly feeling confused. “What do you mean it isn’t exactly in
this world?”

“The place I am
from is...not on this planet.”

I struggled to
suppress a laugh and made a funny snorting noise in the back of my
throat instead.

He ignored me
and continued straight faced. “My world is in a parallel universe,”
he said slowly.

“Riiight, so
you are some kind of Dr Who Time Lord?” I said, nodding slowly. The
man had gone mad.

Ahran looked
offended. “No, not at all, Dr Who is a character in science fiction
and as far as I’m aware you can’t travel through time, but you can
travel between universes,” he confirmed.

There wasn’t a
hint of a smile on his face. He really was serious. Oh. My. God. I
was dealing with a nutcase. Why did I let him and Bennie convince
me that what he had told me was the truth? Audrey wasn’t beaten up
by someone who was after me, it had been a coincidence. Oh hell!
What if it wasn’t a coincidence? What if he had beaten Audrey up in
order to gain my confidence? I’d been a complete idiot. I had
started to believe this elaborate ruse and now I had let this
psychopath into my home.

I felt sick and
shaky as I stood up.

“Well Ahran,
that’s fascinating, but it really is getting late, thanks for
picking me up from the hospital, there really is no need for you to
stay I’m sure we will be fine. How about I call you in the
morning?” I said with forced cheeriness. “Let me show you out.” I
started to walk towards the front door in the hope he would follow
me, frantically looking for something I could defend myself with.
When I realised he hadn’t moved I dived into the lounge searching
for anything that would serve as a weapon, my breathing came hard
and fast as the panic set in. I caught sight of the cast iron
companion set stood next to the log burner. I lunged forward and
grabbed the fire poker.

“Sophie?”

Ahran’s voice
came from behind me.

I spun around
wielding the poker. “Don’t you dare come near me or I swear I’ll
stab you with this.” I was aware he had a distinct height and
strength advantage and I probably didn’t stand a chance, but I was
prepared to die trying anyway.

“Sophie, don’t
be ridiculous, I’m not going to hurt you.” He raised his hands as
if he was placating someone who was about to do something very
stupid.

I moved forward
waving the poker from right to left and back again. “Get out of my
house,” I said as menacingly as I could.

“Sophie, calm
down. I know what I have just said is difficult to believe but I
swear it’s the truth.” He took a step towards me.

It was now or
never and I charged at him growling like a woman possessed. I
didn’t care, I wasn’t going down without a fight. But before I knew
what had happened, Ahran had grabbed the poker, bent it in half,
clamped my hands behind my back, spun me around and pulled me off
balance, which caused me to slam back against his chest and the air
to leave my lungs in a rush.

“You bastard!”
I said through gritted teeth. “If you touch one hair on Toby’s head
I will kill you,” I threatened. I struggled to break free but he
held me firmly. I aimed a backwards kick at his shin and made
perfect contact.

“Ah!” His grip
loosened slightly. “You are stronger than you look,” he said with a
hint of admiration in his voice.