The Sadian Chronicles: Book 2: From Mercury To Venus

My Lover, My Enemy: Part 2

She reached the house to find the front door cracked. Chills ran down her spine as she carefully stepped through the door. Not much seemed out of place.

The house had the look of disorder, but Brenda was not the best of housekeepers. She checked the kitchen and the other rooms on the ground floor only to see them empty with nothing out of the ordinary. She walked back towards the living room, until she stopped at the long straight staircase. Her footsteps remained silenced all the way to the top.

She noticed all the doors on the second floor were closed, except for one. Nothing odd about that, she thought, but something told her that there was more going on there than the obvious.

She walked slowly to the opposite side of the bed that lay a foot away from the wall. She found a pile of pillows and blankets, but there was a strange odor penetrating her nostrils. She frantically rifled through the mess until she realized that there was someone under there.

Blotches of bloodstains led her to a woman's body. "Oh, no, not Brenda," she whispered. She uncovered the rest of the victim who had laid back side up. She turned her around only to realize her worst fear. Brenda was dead.

"Marianna?" She heard a voice from the door.

"Marcus," she said, running towards him. "She's dead, Marcus. Someone killed her."

"Who?" he asked, as he held onto her shaking body.

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "I just walked in and found her like this. She was stabbed, Marcus. It was like she was clawed to death. Who would do something like this?"

"You tell me," he said, stepping slightly away from her.

Marianna stepped back looking into Marcus' accusing eyes. "You think I did this?"

"I didn't say that, but the cops will think you did," he said and it made a lot of sense. "Think, Marianna. You were the one who found her like this, and you're the one they'll accuse."

"I can't leave her like this," Marianna said insistently.

"She's dead," he said as he looked down at Brenda's dead body. "She won't know the difference." It seemed kind of strange that Marcus would be so cold, but before she could protest he spoke again. "Please, Marianna, I don't want to see you get hurt, so I begging you to come with me before anyone sees us here." He knelt down to her level taking her hand.

Marianna fell into his arms, feeling the need to let him take care of her. Against her better judgment, she left with him.

As they were about to enter his car, he turned to her and said, "No one has to know that either of us was ever here."

Marianna remained in stunned silence, feeling for the first time as if Marcus had something to hide. She put these feelings aside, instead writing it off as the paranoia of seeing Brenda's bloody corpse.

After about fifteen minutes of riding in the car, she turned to Marcus and asked, "Why were you at Brenda's house?"

"I was looking for you," he said quickly. "I was worried, because you haven't called."

"How did you know where to find me?" she asked in a nervous voice.

"I called the lab. Edie told me." Again he gave a quick answer which made Marianna more suspicious. "Why are you asking all these questions?"

"I-I don't know," she said with tears in her eyes. "Maybe it's the shock." She was looking out the window not wanting to look him in the face. "I'm looking for someone to blame." Her voice was small, but she realized that they had made a big mistake. "We should go back."

"No!" he shouted while pulling over. "If we go back we'll get blamed."

"We'll get blamed anyway, because Edie already knew I was going over there," Marianna said as her voice was growing hysterical. "She'll tell them."

"She didn't actually see you walk into Brenda's house, and no one else did either," he said, trying to calm her down. His logic made sense on some level, but it did not alleviate her fears. "Just relax and everything will be alright."

Marcus leaned towards her, but she remained unresponsive. "Let's go somewhere."

"To do what?" Marianna asked. She couldn't believe that he had suggested that they run off and hoped that no one noticed that they were traipsing around a crime scene. "Have you suddenly developed amnesia? Marcus, Brenda's dead. Someone killed her, and I feel like somehow it was my fault."

"How do you see that?" he asked like she just said something crazy.

"You don't know about the kind of life I was forced to lead," she said trying to reason with him. "There are people out there who want me dead. Maybe they killed Brenda to get to me."

"Maybe this scenario you've worked up is all in your head," he said and she couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. "Come on, now. Forget about all this, and I'll take you someplace nice, just the two of us."

"How can you think of romance when Brenda's dead?" she snapped at him "I can't do anything but think about what happened to her."

"It's not your fault, and life goes on," he said, again he was acting like Brenda's death was no big deal. "Is it so horrible to want to make you feel better?"

"I guess not, but if the police approach either one of us we tell the truth, okay?" She was trying to make a deal with him, seeing that he was not going to do want she wanted.

"Of course, I never suggested that we lie," he said, bringing back that rational side of him. It was a relief to her. She almost thought that he had morphed into a different person. "I just hate to see you hurting, and I want you to smile again." She wanted to, but she had nothing to smile about right now. "You don't smile enough, so would you please just let me take care of you... just for today."

"All right, but I'm not giving up on this," she said looking into his eyes. She wanted to do the right thing and confess to the authorities everything she knew, but she was afraid. Marcus started the car once again, although none of it eased her anxieties.