Page 30 of Outside the Veil (Endangered Fae #1)

Chapter twenty

Waiting

F inn stared morosely at Diego’s body, so terribly still and pale as death. Back behind the walls of his mind, Finn could not reach him, and he had retreated so deeply, he could no longer hear him either.

“I don’t think this is good, my love,” he murmured. “You just don’t look well at all.”

The prolonged seizure and a night in the chill while Finn tried to put himself back together properly could not have done any good. He had carried Diego inside as soon as he could and wrapped him in blankets, but he still would not wake.

As much as it pained him to admit, Diego needed human help. He picked up the phone and tried to recall everything Diego had said.

“Buttons…buttons…the ones at the top,” he muttered.

He pressed one then another. Nothing happened.

Near panic, he shook the phone and was about to fling it across the room when he recalled a little red light came on when someone’s voice came through.

The large, blue button in the center, yes, that’s how Diego said one ‘turned it off’.

Perhaps it worked the other way as well.

He pressed and received a contented sort of hum from the thing . Good. It’s happy with me. Then he tried the top button on the left again. The hum stopped, replaced by little tones and then a shrill sound. Ringing , that was the word.

“ Hola ?”

Oh, thank the gods… “I need help, dear lady, please. Or Diego does. I’m at a loss.”

“Finn?”

“Yes, yes, it’s me. He had an overlong seizure, he won’t wake, how do I get help for him?”

“Why did he have such a terrible one?”

Another time he would have loved to tell the story in loving and graphic detail, but his worry kept him to short, terse sentences.

“Don’t worry, querido . I’ll call Ms. Thorpe. She’ll get help to the house. You stay by him. Keep him warm. There will be men coming in a truck with flashing lights. The truck might make a loud, screaming sound. You must not be afraid of these things. They’ll help Diego.”

“I will do my best.”

“Keep the phone with you. I’ll call again in a little while.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He waited for what seemed an interminable amount of time before the men in the screaming, flashing truck finally arrived. They took in what he told them and worked quickly to bundle Diego onto a little cot with wheels.

“You will be gentle with him?” he asked, his heart already aching to think of Diego being taken from him.

One of the men gave him an odd look. “You related? We could let you come with.”

“No, I’m his lover.”

The second man shook his head while the first shot him a quelling glance. “Sorry, then. You understand, eh? I mean, you can always follow in your car if you want or call the hospital to see how he’s doing.”

“Yes. Thank you. I’ll stay here.”

The men put Diego in the back of the truck and drove off.

Finn sat on the front porch with the phone in both hands and though he tried to be brave, he couldn’t quite keep the tears from his voice when Tia Carmen called again.

She told him the name of the place where Diego had been taken and reassured him that he would get the care he needed.

“Tia Carmen? Will you… Is there some way to speak to him?”

“When he wakes, querido . There will be a phone in his hospital room. But no one knows how long he will sleep.”

“He was so brave, so brilliant. You should have seen him.”

“I’m glad that the wind spirit’s balance has been restored, but I think I would have been too frightened to watch,” she said with a little chuckle.

“If you speak to him, could you tell him…tell him I will wait for him here?”

“I’ll tell him. He will be glad to hear it.”

For the next two weeks, Finn spent an inordinate amount of time on his back, staring up at the sky. The only thing Tia Carmen could tell him was Diego was ‘stable’, whatever in blazes that meant, and that he still had not woken.

He sank into a swamp of melancholy, unable to extricate himself.

It was too ridiculous, of course. For centuries, he had lived alone, mating where he would, keeping his own counsel for the most part.

These intrusions of mortal lovers, the way they seized his heart and held it fast, still puzzled him.

When he thought back over the years, though, he realized the one who captured him for more than a single night, again and again, had always been the same. Six times he had found his Taliesin again in another vessel. This was the seventh.

Tia Carmen said Diego had woken briefly, twice. The doctors were baffled, since physically, he appeared well. Of course, they were human doctors and failed to understand the psychic toll exacted in defeating the wendigo.

Inside the house, the phone rang. He leapt up and dashed inside to snatch it up before the smug little answering machine could.

“Thorpe residence.”

“Finn, caro , it’s Carmen. Diego is awake, but very weak still.

He has arranged to send you a present, though.

A truck should bring the box today. He says the driver will leave it on the porch if you don’t show yourself.

You are to take out the silver disc first and watch it before you touch anything else in the box, and when you do use them, make sure you do it outside. Do you know how to work the DVD?”

“Deeveedee?”

“The machine that swallows the silver discs and shows them to you on the television.”

“Oh. Yes. Diego has shown me. I watch the moving drawings sometimes. Anime , he calls them. Charming stories.”

“ Bueno . Are you all right, querido ? You sound so tired.”

“I am well enough, dear lady. Though I hesitate to tell you what I would give to hear his voice. Or better yet, to hold him again.”

“Soon, soon.” He heard the smile in her voice. “You are impatient for someone who has lived so long.”

“Yes. So I have always been told.”

The truck with the box arrived that afternoon, driven by a lovely woman with beautiful legs visible below her short, brown pants.

Dog-Finn greeted her on the porch, tail thumping against the planks.

She rang the bell, waited for a bit, ruffled Finn’s ears and left the box as Tia Carmen had said would happen.

Finn waited until the truck disappeared through the trees then shifted back to his own form to tear it open right there on the porch.

Oh, such fascinating things… Strange little implements with tufts of hair on the end, bits of wood, and some large rectangles of some sort of cloth mounted on frames greeted him.

Best of all, though, was the collection of brightly colored tubes.

The arrangement reminded him of his crayons, which could only be a good thing.

“Ah, there you are.” He pulled out the silver disc and rushed back into the house to watch what it had to say. Soft music played and some incomprehensible lines and squiggles flashed across the screen. Then a rich-voiced little man with curly hair began to speak about ‘the basics of oil painting’.

Finn watched in rapt fascination to learn the secrets Jasper Johns knew.

Sheila drove up to the house again to check on things.

Someone was staying at the Thorpe place, she’d been told, but since she’d started her new job at Fundy, she’d never seen a soul.

There was a truck parked in the drive, sure, but it never moved an inch, and a big, black dog sometimes lay on the front porch, but no one ever came out when it barked.

The truck was there, as always. The dog was nowhere in sight.

She was about to turn around and drive off when she spotted a gorgeous bit of beefcake at the side of the house.

He sat at an easel, brush in one hand, artist’s palette in the other, his incredible, long black hair falling loose down his bare back.

She chuckled at herself, palms sweating, as she grabbed her ranger’s hat from the front seat and got out to say hello.

“Morning,” she said with a wave as he turned toward her. “Sheila LeBan, Fundy Park Service. Thought I’d stop by, see if everything’s all right. Knew someone’s staying here. Hadn’t seen hide nor hair of you, though.”

The man watched her approach with one brow raised before he flashed a beautiful, disarming smile. “I’m Finn. I have been here, though I do go for long walks and such.”

“Guess so. Artist needs his inspiration, eh? Watcha painting there?” The blue and white swirls bore no resemblance to anything she could see.

He turned back to his canvas, head cocked to one side. “Wind.”

“Oh, sure, you betcha. I see that.” She saw nothing like it, but wanted to keep the chiseled hunk talking. “That what you’re up here for? Get some painting done?”

Finn let out a little sigh. “Truthfully, I’m waiting.”

She thought he was going to say more, but then he straightened and turned toward the road in an attitude of listening.

A red Expedition turned onto the gravel drive and climbed the little hill toward the house.

Finn rose, radiating anticipation. He placed his things down on his chair, watching the truck with such intensity, she thought he might burn holes in the tires with his eyes.

A woman rolled out of the driver’s seat, older, overweight.

That couldn’t possibly be what he was waiting for, could it?

But no, Finn stayed rooted to the spot. Then the passenger door opened and a man climbed out.

The way he moved, he appeared old and decrepit.

He eased out of the cab, retrieved a cane from inside and clung to the door while he got his balance.

When he raised his head, though, she saw a young, handsome face and a smile that put the sun to shame.

“Diego!” Finn bellowed as he barreled down the hill to sweep him up in his arms. He planted a fierce, demanding kiss on his passenger’s lips, going at it like it was the last kiss he’d ever get.

No question about it, not even a hint of doubt. She grinned as she watched Finn sweep Diego round and round in dizzy, happy circles. Love shone there, as clear as the day was long, and despite her moment of disappointment, she couldn’t help feeling a warm glow knowing his wait was over.

The woman waddled up the drive to greet her and introduced herself as Miriam Thorpe. “You’re new here, aren’t you?”

“Yep. Just a couple weeks ago.”

They watched as Diego smoothed the hair back from Finn’s forehead, talking to him in soft, urgent tones.

“Well, damn,” Sheila said with a little laugh. “All the good ones are taken or gay and these two are both. They do make a handsome couple though, eh?”

Miriam snorted. “So long as he keeps Diego happy and writing, I don’t care if the boy looks like a damn troll.”