Calumbra 23 - Book 1: The Maid

6 - Pain and A Murder

Trinidad was never the same after he was scratched by the mutant from the forest. He was scarred for life across his face and neck and was bandaged up most of the time to keep the infection out. Delaware remembered a serum that her father had made for her wounds to put on his cuts and it helped the pain to ease tremendously.
Of course, Trinidad would never say anything about it to her even if it stung. He was more introverted than he ever was and the lack of social activity scared Dominick more than anything. Tavit seemed to be doing fine but Trinidad...

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"Ms. Tate, I understand you've been keeping a strict watch on my son." He asked Delaware as she served him his afternoon tea.
"Yes, I have."
"Has he shown any interest in anything? At all?"
"He enjoys brushing my hair." She said with a turn of her head. "A strange little habit but he'll always come into the garden house before bedtime and sit behind me to play with my hair. He'll brush it and play with it until he falls asleep."
"If you don't mind me saying, Ms. Tate, your hair is a rather fascinating color. He's probably taken a liking to the color."
"Probably, but whatever it is, I don't mind. He likes to observe what people do and if he wants to, he will do it himself. You should know he is a headstrong boy already." She said, setting his tea in front of him.
"Of course I do." He said, sipping it. "He's my son, I know everything about him."
"Do you really?" Delaware said in a twee manner, knowing full well that he knew hardly anything about either boy. "What's his favorite sandwich?"
Dominick looked at her as she stared at him.
"Well?"
"Is this some sort of game, Ms. Tate?"
"Just tell me."
"I don't know, chicken sandwich?"
"Wrong! Finger sandwiches... I'm not trying to demean your status as the head of this household and manor, but you don't know much about your children, Lord Blackwood. They know less about you than you of them, so all is fair. Which is why I am here, in the middle, to learn about you both and get you better acquainted."
"Yes."
"Oh, and your paper." She said, handing the post to him.
He nodded and then leaned back in his chair only to lean forward again.
"Dear god..."
"What is it?"
"There's been a murder in Whitechapel. It was a young woman by the name of Mary Ann Nichols. She was found dead this morning with two cuts to her throat and her stomach was ripped open."
"That sounds gruesome... Poor girl was probably just walking along and everything."
"Hearing this makes me nervous. Please keep an eye on the boys and tell Angelica and Sully to do the same."
"Your grace," she said with a small curtsy and walked out.

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"Heard there was a murder in London yesterday." Angelica said as she put the clothes on the line with Delaware. "It's the devil's work. Killing innocent girls..."
"Yes, it is."
"Ms. Tate, if you were murdered, would you be?"
"You mean if I were to be stabbed would I stay stabbed?"
"Yes."
"Not unless the knife was never taken out."
"I see... Just wondering how you're immortality works and all."
Delaware frowned as she watched Tavit and Trinidad do some artwork in front of them.
"Here, Little One, use your other brush to make the trees look more real." She yelled ot him.
He turned to her, a bandage still around his neck and gave her that adorable look of deviance. Delaware just wanted to take Trinidad home with her. Even though his social skills were low, his ability to make himself adorable didn't seem to leave him.
Tavit looked back at Delaware and pointed to his picture as well.
"Del, is my picture pretty!?"
"It's wonderful, love." She said with a smile to him. He grinned. "Don't forget to sign it or no one will know it's yours."
He nodded, his black hair bouncing and started to paint his name in the corner.
"You have a good way with children, Ms. Tate... Do you have children of your own?"
"No... I have never married. I didn't want that sort of pain and anguish to happen to me. Imagine, Angelica, having to watch everyone you love die right in front of you and never be able to do a thing about it. All you can do is reach out and touch them just enough to have a memory and they fade into your mind forever."
"It would be horrible."
"That's what it's like for me. I decided that I will remain childless and single so that I will never have to put that horrid burden on myself. It's enough to know that I will watch those of this household die without me, but having a husband and child do so too?"
"I understand... It's just the children quite enjoy you and I wondered if you had any to be able to understand them so well."
"Well, when you have a lifetime to think, you begin to observe that which normal people don't. These boys need a mother figure in their lives and they haven't had one. The only woman they knew was you but they also know that you are a servant. They understand that your position will never have you as their father's bride. I, on the other hand, am something they have never had before. A person who can never die, never leave them. I think they enjoy the fact that there will always be someone there for them until they die."
"Yeah... Having lost two mothers, young master Trinidad seems to take more to you than young master Tavit. Though I have heard tell that Master Dominick is looking for another bride for the very reason you have said; because the boys need a mother figure. I believe he is trying his eyes out for the duchess' cousin, Olivia Valmont. She's raising the duchess' son, see, because he's actually a bastard child. The duke doesn't know and thinks that it's Lady Valmont's because she is a bit of a wanton and the like."
"I see... When will we all meet this Lady Valmont?" Delaware said with a frown.
"Sometime in the new year. The boy she has is named Samson Graham. Master Dominick said it would be good for him to meet the young masters to have playmates and all."
"Hmm..." was all she said as she watched Trinidad and Tavit paint their pictures.
Valmont, huh? I hope this is a good thing.

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A few weeks later, during a horrible storm that caused the mutants to scrounge and feel up to leave the forest, Delaware was horrified and surprised to find Trinidad at her door.
"What are you doing?! Get in here!" she yelled, slamming the door closed and locking it.
He was shivering and soaking wet. Delaware grabbed a towel and threw it over him to dry him off.
"Are you crazy?! You could have been hauled off again in this weather. The mutants are out and about and yet you come over here?! I should have you killed."
"Scared..." he said, still shivering.
"You should have been scared-"
"It hurts."
She stopped drying him off and looked at him. His face was pained and he looked truly frightened. The bandages were still on his neck and arm so Delaware sighed and took off his wet clothes to look at his wounds. She unwrapped his arm and saw that the bleeding had somehow restarted, the bruises around his cuts so blue they were the black. Trinidad moaned and went to grab his arm but Delaware stopped him.
"No... Don't, I'll put something on it, alright?"
He nodded and she led him to the bed. He climbed up onto it and Delaware went about to finding the ingredients to make the salve she was taught. She watched him in the mirror as he moaned again, lolled his head to and fro to the sides. She knew he was in excruciating pain and mixed more of the pain extractor into the mix. She added a little because she was going to give him a small drop of laudanum for the pain as well.
Delaware turned back to Trinidad and sat beside him on the bed.
"Did the noises scare you?" she asked quietly.
He nodded and hissed a little when she put the salve onto his cut.
"Sorry... Have they been hurting long? Did they just start?"
"When they screamed they hurt me..."
"I see... Let me wrap it up again and then I'll do your neck, alright?"
He nodded as she wrapped his arm again with fresh gauze.
"Has Angelica and Sully been helping you keep this clean?" He nodded. "Good. Your face healed up fine; you look distinguished."
"What's that?"
"Means it makes you look important. Let's check these out right here..."
She unwrapped the bandage from around his neck and sighed at how red the scars were.
"You've been scratching at them."
"They itch."
"You can't touch them or they will never heal."
"They itch..." he said again.
Delaware smirked at him and rubbed the salve on those cuts as well. He tried to keep his involuntary reactions at bay but he couldn't help but grab her arm tightly at the pain. She didn't mind and just found some gauze to wrap his neck up again. She found her little bottle of laudanum and got a little bit out with the dropper.
"This is for the pain. Open your mouth."
"Is it tasty?"
"No... But it will help you sleep in peace and the pain will be much easier to bear. Come on..."
She coaxed him into taking the laudanum and then began to put her supplies up. As she did, she could see that he was beginning to get sleepy. She put everything away and crawled into bed, pulling Trinidad to her.
"I'll let you sleep here tonight. I'll protect you from the monsters."
She felt Trinidad nod in the crook of her arm and they fell asleep together.