Calumbra 23 - Book 1: The Maid

26 - Past Afflictions

"This is preposterous. Why are we out here again?" Delaware growled.
"I told you, Ms. Tate, we have to get something. It'll be here soon... He's always here a day after..."
"Who, Huntley? You're speaking in riddles."
"There..." he said, pointing.
Delaware squinted her eyes as a figure began to walk up toward the hospital from the small woodland area that surrounded the hospital. It was moving quickly and was big, grotesque even. As it approached them, Delaware had to hold her breath, for the smell was almost unbearable.
"What is that?"
The creature finally stopped, blocked slightly by the fog.
"Don't have your hand up like that... You'll make him even more mad. The smell will go away in a moment."
"Huntley-"
The creature's size suddenly seemed to shrink and after a few moments, the smell did go away and something else stood up. Huntley took the blanket that was on his arm and walked toward the figure.
"Ms. Tate, this is Uncle Trin..."
Delaware put her hands over her mouth as she watched Huntley bring Trinidad closer and saw the last of his transformation leave his face as he leaned heavily on his nephew.
"Looks like he was machine gunned again. We'll have to get those bullets out."
"What's going on here?"
Trinidad looked up at her and smiled sheepishly.
"Uncle Trin is immortal like you."

*************************

Trinidad sat on the hospital bed as Huntley grabbed some alcohol and tweezers, Delaware grabbing the cotton.
"How did this happen? What is going on here?" she whispered.
"I don't know. He's always been like this ever since I was born. He could explain it to you but it's best if my father translates. He understands it a lot better than I do. Uncle Trin? I need you to lay down so I can get these out."
Trinidad silently laid on his stomach as Huntley stuck the tweezers in his mouth, setting his crutches on the bed and taking the tweezers from his mouth. He pushed the hair from his face and poured the alcohol into the open wound. Trinidad flinched but didn't move, staring aimlessly. Delaware walked over just as Huntley pulled the bullet out. He dropped it in the bowl that Delaware was holding as she looked at Trinidad.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do, Little One." She said with a frown.
He smirked slightly at her as Huntley continued to take out the bullets from his back.
"You're in the paper, you know?" Trinidad looked over his shoulder. "You did that to those soldiers, didn't you?"
He lazily made a sign with his fist and Huntley smirked.
The two of them finished up as each of the wounds closed on their own. When they were done, Trinidad sat up and popped his neck, the muscles making sickening sounds and he rolled his shoulders as the rest of the holes in his back healed up and he shook himself. He turned back to the two of them, thanking Huntley and staring at Delaware.
She'd never seen anyone like her in all her years of living. She didn't understand sign language and was dying to know how he had gotten that way. Her thoughts automatically went to alchemy and she searched her memory to see if she had accidentally left any of the ancient books at Blackwood Manor and even if she did, it took one with precision and a flare of artistry to be able to learn the symbols or at least crack the codes. Most of the alchemical books she looked into when her father had died were all in code and looked impossible to decipher.
"Trinidad.... What happened to you?"
Trinidad turned his head at her, his eyes seeming to glow in the light of the room and he proceeded to turn his head and then presented his scars to her. She stood up and looked at them closer now that he wasn't angry at her like before. She looked at the gleaming still open wounds and looked up at him.
"Why did these never heal?" He shrugged. "Does this have something to do with whatever that was on the table?"
"I think so." Huntley chimed in. "My father and Uncle Trin never talk about it in front of me. I only know what Uncle Trin allows me to know. Either way, he can't die just like you."
Delaware felt the tears prick her eyes but was too shocked to keep them from falling. She looked up at Trinidad and could feel the tears streaming down her face slowly.
"I'm sorry, Little One." She whispered.
Trinidad breathed in deeply but put his hand tenderly on her chin and wiped her tears away with his thumb. The tender and loving look he gave her caught her by surprise and he rubbed a calloused but gentle thumb across her parted mouth.
"No." he said softly and then gave her a lopsided smile "Never."
Delaware nodded and they went back to the hospital.

*****************

Some weeks later, Huntley and Sullivan were dispatched from the hospital and headed to the train station. As they waited, Delaware and Trinidad seemed to be in a constant state of awkwardness and Huntley was beginning to get uncomfortable.
"Is it me, or is there a wall there?" he said to Sullivan.
Sully looked at the two immortals on either side of the bench and shrugged.
"Seems more like they don't know what to do about each other. I mean, Ms. Tate has been immortal for a long time and now she just found out the boy she cared for is one too?"
"It is best to speak of others when they cannot hear you, Sully." Delaware said quietly but matter-of-factly.
The two boys flinched as if they had been caught pulling up flowers in the flowerbed.
"Blackwood, Cane... Ms. Tate. Fancy meeting you all on this train out." A familiar voice said to the group.
Everyone except Delaware saluted General Sexton. Delaware simply curtsied and he gave her a nod of acceptance.
"At ease, soldiers, I'm not a general anymore." He said with a smile.
"The army never leaves your blood." Delaware said with a smirk.
He nodded. "True. I suspect you wouldn't want to stop in London and see my father, would you?"
"Actually, that sounds like a delightful idea. Anything to scare your father is a wonderful trip indeed."
Trinidad smirked and Radley smiled pleasantly.
"Splendid."
They boarded the train and made their way to the London station.

**********************

The train ride was long and somehow Delaware had gotten stuck by Trinidad, who was as broad as he was tall. It was like sitting next to a mountain. She still just couldn't believe the little boy who barely reached her waist was now so massive and hulking, taking up most of the space of the cart. Huntley and Sullivan had seemed to find ways of sleeping on the train while she on the other hand tried to wrap her mind around why Trinidad was immortal like her. She hoped that Tavit would give her more insight on the matter.
She wondered what Tavit looked like now. She doubted he was immortal too but she just couldn't picture the tiny, precocious child being a man, an older man at that. She wondered if Dominick still lived or if he, too, had passed. She wondered if Samson still lived there knowing his mother had passed on the Titanic some years before. Delaware closed her eyes of that day, hoping to never have to reveal that...
She suddenly felt something on her shoulder and turned to find Trinidad had leaned a little against her. His head a bobbing around in the train as his fatigue seemed to be taking over. His eyes fluttered as he tried to keep his composure but the boring train ride was robbing him of fake enthusiasm. There was enough room for him to lay down if she moved...
"Trinidad?" His eyes snapped open and he looked over at her. "I can move if you need to sleep."
Instead of responding, as usual, he instead leaned all the way over and stuck his head in her lap. He grabbed her hand and put it on his head, pushing her hand around. Delaware smiled and began to rub her fingers through his hair as he looked up at her.
Trinidad couldn't believe she was really here with him, after all this time. Tavit had almost given up on her but he never did and now she was here in front of his face, touching him and talking to him. He'd dreamed so many times of seeing her again, knowing that when she came back that she'd look just like he had remembered her because she would never change. He looked into her violet eyes, remembering the kindness and continuity in those purple looking eyes; he remembered the softness of her strange platinum blonde hair and found himself grabbing the end of her braid with his hand to just touch it.
"You still have a fascination with my hair?" she asked softly.
He smirked, feeling his eyes flutter with fatigue. The movement of her hands through his longer hair brought back the memories of love he enjoyed and the memories of her and the garden house. It was home; a place he hadn't felt he had for almost thirty years.
Delaware was home.