Endless Night Time Sky

Elise was floating in that comfortable nothingness. It was wrapped around her like a security blanket. But that was okay; she didn’t mind it. It felt so good to sleep. She had been tired for so long. Now there was nothing to keep her from it.

Well, nothing except those two voices that kept cutting in. They were getting louder. She wanted to yell at them to be quiet, but couldn’t summon up the strength. Maybe they would go away soon and leave her in peace.

“…feel like I failed her.” A male voice was saying; he sounded familiar to her.

“Nonsense.” A stern woman’s voice responded. “You couldn’t have known what else was inside of him. Not until he revealed it. Besides, you kept her safe. She’s alive. And hopefully she’ll wake up soon.”

Were they talking about her? They must be; after all, she was the one sleeping. But why did they want her to wake up? She hadn’t done anything wrong. Just a little sleep, that’s all…

A hand brushed hair off of her forehead and she scrunched her nose in response. There was a small gasp. “She moved,” The man said, brushing another strand of hair away. “Elise? Can you hear me?”

Of course I can hear you, she wanted to say. But her mouth would not work. With a panic, she realized nothing really would. Wait, wait; her nose had twitched. She tried to twitch it again and was relieved when it did. “Eleanor, she responded!” The man said excitedly.

He sounded so very familiar; if only she could remember. Another presence had come closer, and now there was a cool hand on her forehead. “She’s probably weak from being unconscious for so long.” It was the woman speaking now. “Elise, dear, I’m going to open your eyes for you. I’m sorry if it’s uncomfortable.”

Elise wanted to protest, but of course couldn’t. A blinding light seared her eyeballs as a gentle finger lifted up her eyelids. “Oh!” The woman exclaimed, startled, as Elise’s eye moved and attempted to focus in on her.

Features finally came into view, and she realized she knew the elderly woman as well. But it wasn’t until the worried, handsome face of the man came into view that things started coming back to her. It was her grandmother, and him. “G-ger-ard?” She rasped out, barely able to make her lips move.

Hope replaced some of the worry on Gerard’s face. “Yes, it’s me, sugar.” He squeezed one of her hands gently. “I was so worried that you wouldn’t…”

He didn’t have to finish his sentence; she understood what he meant. She also knew that it had been a very real possibility that she wouldn’t wake up. Because she hadn’t wanted to.

Instead of saying these things out loud, she weakly squeezed his hand back. “What happened?” She asked, her voice sounding a little stronger the more she spoke.

His eyes narrowed slightly. “It seems your father made a deal with someone he shouldn’t have. There was a demon inside him; it explains how he was so fast.”

An involuntary shiver ran down Elise’s spine. It did make sense; the speed, his crazy voice, how he knew where she was so quickly. She wondered what had made him so desperate that he had resorted to that sort of thing. “Any idea how long it had been inside of him?”

Gerard knew she was thinking of her mother’s murder at Edmund's hands. “There’s no way of knowing exactly, but your grandmother and I think it was right before your mother was killed. It would make sense that perhaps business had gotten so bad that he was desperate enough to make a trade in return for success.”

A look passed between Gerard and her grandmother. “Well, are you going to tell her?” Mrs. Everly, or Eleanor, asked with a huff.

“Tell me what?” Elise didn’t like the sound of this.

He passed a hand through his hair, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. “She wants me to tell you what his offer was.” There was a pause. “It was two human souls; yours and your mother’s.”

She could feel the shocked look on her face. How could her father do that? “But then, why not just have done away with us when he made the deal? Why wait?” She asked, puzzled.

“The demon probably gave you so long to live before he collected the debt due. Perhaps he thought Edmund would want a little more time with his family. But obviously that wasn’t the case.” He said through gritted teeth.

Elise struggled to calm her racing heart. “So what became of Edmund?” She couldn’t bring herself to call him father anymore.

“I finished him off in the center of the labyrinth.” Thankfully, Gerard didn’t go into any sort of detail as to how.

Relief washed over her, but she could tell that he was still on edge. “Well, that takes care of things, doesn’t it?” She asked, with a small smile on her face.

“Not exactly,” He hesitated, glancing up at Eleanor, who nodded for him to continue. “While Edmund was destroyed, I can’t say the same for the demon.”

That made Elise sit straight up, eyes wild and wide. There hadn’t been much color in her face, but the remainder quickly left. “But what does that mean? Am I still not safe?”

A heavy sigh greeted her question. “We don’t know for sure. But my best guess is that the demon will want to collect still, though his host is dead. It doesn’t break a contract when the one who signed it dies.”

No words would come. Eleanor moved closer and put her arm around her granddaughter’s shoulders. “Everything will be okay, somehow. We’re not going to give up. And you have Gerard, sweetheart.”

She looked up at Eleanor, suspicion clear in her eyes. “How do you two know each other?”

This time Eleanor answered. “Your mother,” She smiled fondly. “I always did like her. She wrote to me in secret, telling me of her plan with Gerard to have you whisked away. I quite agreed, although I didn’t really believe what he was until he showed up here the night before last, with you in his arms.”

Elise blinked. “I’ve been unconscious for two days?”

Gerard nodded and opened his mouth to say something, but Eleanor shushed him. “Someone’s coming!” She whispered. “You must get out of here.”

Hugging Elise tightly but quickly, she pulled away and said, “You’re going with Gerard. It isn’t safe for you with the demon still out there somewhere. He’ll take care of you; and don’t worry, we’ll see each other again.”

Elise smiled, but that was as far as she got. A knock sounded on the door, and the voice of Dr. Hayward called out. “Mrs. Everly, are you in there? The police are here, seems they found a body out in the labyrinth. They would like to ask you a few questions.”

“Give me just a moment!” She called back, and then turned to Gerard. “Quickly now, off you go!”

Gerard scooped Elise gently up in his arms. “Oh, and Gerard?” He turned back to Eleanor. “If things do get worse, you’ll hold up your end of the agreement?”

He bowed his head. “Yes, of course. If it comes to that.”

“Excellent. Good luck, you two.” In the blink of an eye Eleanor and her quarters disappeared.

Elise pulled her head up and looked around. They seemed to be in a thick forest, and it was dusk. Gerard carried her a little ways to where the trees gave way to a small clearing. A cozy little cottage sat in the middle of it. He smiled down at her, almost shyly. “Welcome home.”