"A World to Believe In" by Judith Nolan

Third Part

(Story Index Page)

‘No, the heart that has truly lov’d never forgets.

But as truly loves on to the close,

As the sunflower turns to her god when he sets,

The same look which she turn’d when he rose.’

                                                                                 The Irish Tenors

“Vincent…?” Catherine stirred sleepily as her husband crept into their chamber and sat on the edge of the bed. “Did everything go according to plan?”

“Yes.” Vincent pulled off his boots before changing quickly into his night-shirt.  He drew aside the comforter before swinging his legs up into the bed. He lay down with a sigh as he covered them both. “I think Diana is satisfied with all that we were able to tell her. For now.”

“Good.” Catherine cuddled closer, settling onto the broad width of his chest. “It will be all right, Vincent,” she assured him drowsily. “She is almost a part of us already. For all she has done for us, she deserves to know.”

“Go to sleep…” Vincent urged softly. “It’s late. We will talk more in the morning.”

He settled deeper into the bed and stayed awake long into the early morning, keeping vigil over his wife’s rest and wondering just how he was going to break the news to her in the morning that her beloved father was indeed alive.

According to everything Diana had showed and told him, it was an inescapable fact. But from everything she had also discovered, it appeared Charles Chandler had been convinced by his handlers he must never return to New York, and his old life, for fear of putting Catherine’s life in potential danger after his carefully orchestrated fake death. Vincent remembered the supposedly dying man lying in the hospital bed as Catherine held her father’s limp hand and cried for what she thought she was losing. Her heart had almost been broken then…

“And now…what?” Vincent whispered, shaking his head. It was so unfair that Catherine and her father should still be living apart. Now so much had happened and come to pass, so many things had changed that he was completely unaware of. And Charles was living another life, on the other side of the country, far from New York City and the fragile world that lay beneath it all… 

 “You have never been afraid to tell me the truth before, Vincent,” Catherine said quietly.

“I know…” Vincent jerked his frowning attention from his contemplation of Father’s deeply concerned face and turned back to his wife’s unblinking gaze.

Catherine spread her hands. “Then why do you find it so hard now? I can sense everything inside you is in confusion and turmoil. I can feel it in here.” She pressed a hand to her breast. “Let me in, Vincent. Tell me what it is that worries you so. Please. I need to know because I cannot help you unless you let me in.”

They were all seated at the table in Vincent and Catherine’s chamber. Mary and Olivia had taken charge of the children so they could be alone. Father cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable. “You must tell her, Vincent. The simple truth is all you have.”

“Then the truth it shall be.” Vincent reached down to gather Diana’s bag from the floor beside him. “It’s that…I…have been given information about your father.” He laid it carefully in the middle of the table before pushing it — two-handed — towards Catherine. “Information I only received last night.”

“My father…? What is this?” She took it with a questioning frown. “My father is dead, Vincent. You know that.”

“Yes…” Vincent gathered a long breath and released it slowly. “The meeting I had with Diana last night…was to answer some of her questions, and she seems satisfied for now. But it was also a trade for information. Quid pro quo, as she described it. She came across some new information she knew we would pay dearly to possess. I couldn’t tell you before. I needed to make sure first.”

“What sort of information?” Catherine opened the bag and looked inside. “FBI…” she breathed, extracting the folders one at a time. “I don’t believe it. What do they have to do with my father’s death? He had a stroke.” She looked to Father for verification. “Didn’t he?”

“That was what you were told.” The old man grimaced, pushing his hands across the tabletop, linking his fingers in agitation. “But it seems you have been lied to, Catherine. It appears we have all been kept in the dark for far too long.”

“Gabriel King…” Catherine frowned at the name on the folder topping of the pile. “What has that awful man to do with anything now? He is dead and gone.” She looked up, suddenly tense and wary. “Isn’t he?”

“Yes, that part is, at least, still true.” Vincent put his hand over hers, stilling their movement of opening the file. He shook his head. “When your father died you came to me filled with misery and confusion. You wondered then if you should ever go back Above. I said that our time was yet to be.” He removed his hand slowly. “Now it seems it is as Father just said. We have all been lied to about many things. Important matters.”

Catherine’s questioning green eyes tracked his movements. “You said these files are about my father. Are you asking me to believe he was linked somehow with Gabriel?” Her head went back and she clenched her fist. “I cannot believe you!”

“I am afraid the truth is far worse than that.” Vincent took her hand between his. “Your father did stumble upon Gabriel’s dark empire. That part is correct. With his expert knowledge of corporate law he chose to plumb the depths of it all and discovered the awful truth. He could not tell you, it seems, because he was afraid for your safety. But he knew he must tell someone. Unfortunately, in that moment of certain knowledge — when he revealed what he knew to those he thought he could trust — he became a marked man. Gabriel had informants everywhere, and there was an attempt on your father’s life almost immediately. We now think Striker was behind that. So Charles had to appear to die before Gabriel discovered the true extent of his knowledge and finally succeeded in killing him.”

“Appear…?” Catherine questioned in wide-eyed horror. “Are you trying to tell me my father’s death was all a fabrication? But I saw his body, I held his hand and kissed him goodbye. We had the funeral…”

“Yes, I know…” Vincent nodded bleakly. “But your father did not die that night. His faked death was very carefully planned. It had to appear real and final or he would have been hunted down and eliminated. For that reason you could not be a party to any of it or your life would have been forfeit as well. Even now he lives in fear of that coming to pass. He cannot risk betraying you by returning here to New York. That is the reason he has never tried to make contact with you again. He loves you that much.”

“All these years…” Catherine opened the file slowly. “I don’t believe it. Surely it must be someone’s idea of a cruel joke. Despite everything, my father would have found some way to get in touch me by now. He loved me. He would not want me to suffer such a loss after he saw how it affected me when my mother died.”

“Joe assures me the evidence is genuine. He spent last night reviewing everything before sending these copies down with Geoffrey. It seems your father was placed in witness protection under strict instructions that he can never return to this city. It seems there are still some concerns that those associated with Gabriel will stop at nothing to find him. He was told your life would be in danger if he ever tried to see you again. And there are those for whom Diana works who demand to know the extent of their exposure. It is a dangerous minefield.”

“But so much of what Gabriel built has been dismantled…” Catherine began to read. “Surely they cannot believe our lives are still in danger.”

“Government bureaucracy…” Father watched her with helpless concern. “The wheels grind so slowly. I know too well the power and the paranoia of their many departments. And they hate to share with each other. But what they possess, they are very reluctant to release. They seem to think your father knows more than he has previously revealed. I doubt they ever intended to free him enough to come back to you. They’ve lied to him as well.”

“That his life is still in danger does appear to be no longer true.” Vincent sighed. “Diana is convinced no such threat remains, and she knows the case intimately. Under the circumstances your father will be as safe as any of us. We will all make sure of that. Joe said to tell you he was going to see your old friend Edie over at the Data Centre first thing this morning. He assured me that tracking your father’s whereabouts by computer will be the fastest way. He’ll tell her to be discreet, but to put a rush on it.”

“That’s the best idea.” Catherine nodded slowly. “If anyone can pull the information out, Edie can. I wish I could have seen more of her, but everything got so hectic and now...” She frowned. “I will owe her a great deal. And Diana. Diana most of all.”

A fraught silence descended as Catherine read through the files. Finally reaching the end she closed the last folder with a sorrowing sigh. “How could they have been so cruel? To have him alive and in our lives…To meet his grandchildren… It would mean everything to me. Everything…”

“Your father agreed to their draconian terms to keep you safe,” Father replied softly. “He loved you that much. I would have done the same for both of you without hesitation. But it doesn’t make any of it right or morally just.”  

“And now…what?” Catherine’s eyes filled with unshed tears. She wiped them away impatiently. “I must see him. Bring him back to us. I have to go Above and see Joe. Find out what’s being done. I need to see Diana and thank her for —”

“No, Catherine.” Vincent stood, drawing her up into his close embrace, stilling her agitation. “Azrael will bring Diana to see you, if that is your wish. But Joe has already set the legal challenges in motion to free your father. He will inform us when everything has been arranged. He said to tell you he will do everything in his power to bring Charles home to us. Elliot’s private jet is standing by, ready to fly at a moment’s notice. That is all we can do for now. You need to conserve your strength for later when he comes home again.”

“Oh, no…that night…” Catherine drew back to look up at him, her hand flying to her parted lips. “When we told him everything about us. He knows about you, Vincent. He saw you. What if he remembers, wonders about what he saw that night? What we allowed him to know. Bringing him back to this city could be dangerous if I am not there to see him, to talk with him. I must make him understand…”

“Lady May has offered to make her home available to you,” Father informed her gently. “For as long as you may need. Your father will have a private suite with access to our world. Once we know he is on his way you can move up there and be with him for as long as you need. We will take care of everything else.”

“Yes…” Catherine stood pensive, twisting her wedding ring around her finger. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. She looked up at her husband, who was watching her with deep concern. The depth and warmth of their mutual bond reached out to surround her with love and acceptance of any decision she might make now, just as the solid security of his arm around her waist anchored her in this new and unbelievable reality.

“Vincent…?” She reached for his hand, her love shining from her eyes.

“Yes, my love…” Vincent laid his hand in hers, clasping her fingers tightly as he waited for her to continue.

“I think it’s time…” Catherine returned the loving pressure. Her tears began to flow freely. “I think we must do this…together. There have been too many secrets, too much precious time wasted. I wish…I want my father to know everything. About you and me. About all of this, our world.” She swept her free hand around the room and glanced at Father who nodded. “I think he has a right to know since he gave up so much because of his deep love for me. He deserves the truth.”

“Then we will tell him everything, Catherine. Everything…” Vincent lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back softly. “It is your decision to make. Whatever else may come to pass, it will flow from that.”

“To have my father back with me…” Catherine settled her head into the broad sweep of her husband’s shoulder and closed her eyes. “It doesn’t seem possible. It’s beyond all imagining or belief. A truly impossible dream…”

“You say this information is for Catherine…” Edie eyed Joe with frowning suspicion later the same morning. Her mouth settled into a mulish line. “First the girlfriend up and vanishes on me without a trace, and then she’s back without as much as a postcard. But she doesn’t visit me. I saw a lot of Diana Bennett when I was working on the Snapper case for you. I know Cathy was a part of it, but I didn’t see anything of her. So what gives? Why does she need my help all of a sudden? Where’s she living now and who with? I tried to find out a few days ago, but I drew a complete blank. She keeps her secrets right close to her.”

She held up a denying hand when Joe tried to interject. “A lot of questions, yeah, I know. But I hate mysteries, and I’ve had a ton of time to think, so don’t treat me like a fool. I know, for one, she’s been down to City Hall to register the birth of her child and set up some kind of fancy trust for him. A boy, first name, Jacob, last name, Wells.”

She pointed to her computer screen. “Now I’ve looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find anything on any guy called Wells associated with Cathy. Not so much as a parking ticket or a cancelled check. No jury service, nada. It’s like he never existed at all. I did manage to turn up something about a research doctor who had the exact same name as her son. But he can’t be her baby’s father. He went missing a ton of years ago, after he was blacklisted for speaking out against the atomic programme. He was brought up before the Un-American Activities Committee and got struck off. That was a very nasty business, way back then. But he’s never reappeared either. What is it with people around Catherine? They keep disappearing without explanation. Elliot Burch vanished completely for months and he’s still not talking. Nor is Shannon Cole. Where did they meet?”

She arched her eyebrows at Joe, but he merely shrugged. Edie pursed her lips and continued, “Okay, so, I want to know who and where’s the baby’s daddy? Looks like — if he existed at all — he ran out on her at the first sign of trouble. I thought I’d taught her better than that.”

“I’m really sorry, Edie.” Joe sighed, slumping into a nearby seat, running a frustrated hand up and around the back of his neck. “Honestly, if I could tell you I would. But those secrets are Catherine’s, not mine. However this is really important and it needs to be kept quiet. We’re going to be cutting through a heap of red tape and stepping on some serious toes here.”

“Okay, you’ve got my attention.” Edie fingered her keyboard, her forehead wrinkled in thought. “So here’s the deal. If I do this for her, you need to do something important for me.”

“If I can…” Joe watched her warily.

“Just tell the girlfriend I miss her and I really want to see her. We had some good times. Ask her to call me; we’ll do coffee or something. I just want to reconnect, make sure she’s okay and happy. I had thought we were friends. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”

“I’ll tell her.” Joe glanced around, making sure no one was taking too close an interest in their whispered conference. “I’m sure Catherine will be happy to see you again.” He opened the briefcase at his feet. “But right now I need to find someone, someone very important to Catherine, and time is against us. I need to know like yesterday.”

“Now you’re talking my language. Just like old times.” Edie took the file Joe held out and flicked through the pages. “Charles Chandler…but, hang on, he’s dead…” She whistled softly, her dark eyes growing wide as she came to the end. “Wow…I love taking on the FBI, but this is insane. After all these years her father’s actually alive...” She blew a disbelieving breath. “Oh, Up-Town Girl, this is gonna cost you big time. Leave it with me, Joe. I’ll call you, as soon as. For this, the girlfriend is gonna owe me the all-you-can-eat buffet special at my favourite eatery in the Village. And a bottle of their best champagne…no, make that two. From what I’ve seen, she can afford it.”

“First you want my guys to dog every step that Diana Bennett makes, and then suddenly you decide you don’t need to know any more.” Cleon Manning stared hard at Elliot. “Now you’ve got some hare-brained idea about Catherine Chandler’s father still being alive. What gives, Elliot? I think you do need to see a shrink. This is getting way out of hand. The guy’s been dead for years. We even went to the funeral, remember? Dead is dead in my book.”

Cleon sat on the edge of Elliot’s couch, fingering the FBI folder his boss had just handed to him. His intense curiosity burned brighter than ever. Ever since Gabriel’s hired killer had tried to exterminate Burch that long ago night in the park, the man had changed into someone his chief investigator and good friend hardly recognised anymore.

Like his making considerable time and resources available to a penniless blind artist who appeared from nowhere without explanation. A man who kept Diana Bennett way too close for comfort. Was probably sleeping with her by now too, Cleon thought sourly. Which was way more action than he was getting these days… He sighed, well aware he was starting to forget what Jeannie looked like. His wife was used to having him home at night taking care of business. He was no longer a field rookie with something to prove to his new boss.

He moved uncomfortably, mentally ticking off his list. No matter how he twisted the facts, some things just didn’t add up. Mr. Azrael no-last-name had no past, no nothing that Cleon could pin anything on. And he’d dug halfway to China to see what he could find on the guy. Zip, zero, nada.

And then Joe Maxwell was suddenly to be kept informed on everything. That made no sense either. Since when was the D.A.’s office their new best friend? Now Elliot seemed to be on some mad crusade to change the entire world. Screw with everything that had been the right and proper order of things since time immemorial...

And as for that episode a couple of years ago, when Elliot had gone all out to collect a stack of maps detailing the underside of the entire island of Manhattan… What the heck was that all about? Once collected, they all went missing. Months of detailed work just up and vanished. Like a lot of other things around here…The Great Burch Manhattan Project… Cleon scowled at his boss, wishing for the thousandth time that Elliot would trust him enough to tell him the truth for once. Like, where had he been all those missing months?

Cleon approved of Elliot’s relationship with Shannon O’Neill. Having a rich, good-looking woman on your arm did your reputation no harm — even if the woman now seemed to be determined to squander her immense fortune on setting up charities and shelters for the penniless and homeless of the city.

Her money, her choice!  But Elliot still refused to say where he’d met the woman or when. They just seemed to appear, already fully involved as a couple, without any true explanation or indication where they had hidden out together for those months Elliot had been missing, presumed murdered on Gabriel’s orders.

“Just do what I pay you extremely well for.” Elliot looked up from his own paperwork. “And I want the answers yesterday, Cleon. We’re working with Joe Maxwell on this one, but in a private capacity. Make sure you keep him in the loop on everything. But I want to know the instant you find out the truth. Then the rest will be up to Joe to sort out; from the legal angle. Our job is to get the man home safe, to his family.”

“To Catherine Chandler, you mean. That’s another mysterious connection of yours you refuse to share.” Cleon scowled, but Elliot only shrugged. The investigator grimaced as he dropped his eyes to the folder in his hands.

“Whoa, witness protection…” He whistled low and long, scanning the file’s contents quickly. “You surely do know how to step right into the most dangerous quicksand. The FBI won’t thank you for your interference. And, if I may ask, how did you come by this new information...?”

“Let’s just say Ms. Bennett is a very resourceful woman, as we all know.” Elliot put down his pen. “Get on with it, Cleon, and be discreet.”

“My middle name…” Cleon stood and stretched on a dissatisfied sigh. “But, one day, boss, you’re gonna tell me everything. One day soon you’re gonna tell me exactly what the hell is going on with you these days! I warned you once about getting tangled up with strays and charity cases. They screw with your whole perspective on things and have an alarming tendency to clutter up your life. In the end they’ll just suck you dry. You’ve already been down there once, and I know you didn’t like it.”

“Maybe one day, I will tell you everything…” Elliot gazed at him levelly. “But for now, Charles Chandler is your number one priority. Find him, Cleon. And get him back to New York ASAP. My jet is standing by to collect him the moment you dig him out of whatever God-awful hole they’ve buried him in.”

“Yes, Boss.” Cleon touched a fingertip to his forehead in a mocking salute before turning on his heel and leaving the office, closing the door behind him with a decided snap of discontent. 

“What is it, Elliot?” Shannon came to stand at his side before the huge window of Elliot’s penthouse overlooking the lights of the city’s glittering nightscape that spread out in every direction. A myriad of lights glowed far out in the night-shrouded distance. “What is troubling you so?”

Elliot released his breath slowly on a troubled groan. “I was just thinking about how sometimes seemingly impossible things, such as Catherine finding her father again after all these years, can come to pass. And yet the simplest things are often the most difficult to express. And right now…” He shook his head and shrugged, dropping his gaze to the expressive spread of his upraised hands. “I have no words…” He let his hands fall again.

“That is a very enigmatic statement, Mr. Burch.” Shannon moved to stand before him, taking his hands in hers as she brought his troubled focus to her face and loving look. “What is it that you find so difficult to say?”

“I have climbed all the way from the dockyards to the very stars.” He indicated the night sky beyond the window with a lift of his chin. “I thought I had it all. I thought I knew myself and exactly what I wanted and where I was going. And yet, I was always walking alone.”

He looked down at the floor. “My father’s greatest life lesson was that emotions are an expensive commodity. He said I’d better be sure I can afford to pay for them.” He grimaced. “He taught me that lesson well; perhaps too well. I soon learned nothing was for free in the life I had chosen to lead. And I paid dearly for that knowledge.”

His breath left him in a rushing sigh. “Therefore, it was easier for me to live within myself, and I managed to overcome my inner doubts by deciding I was better off in my walled solitude. No one could reach me there, make me second guess myself and the hard decisions I needed to make. Then when I first met Catherine, I hoped that perhaps she might…” He exhaled sharply. “But that was not to be. She loves another, and I respect her choice.”

He looked back to Shannon watching him silently, her warmth and beauty reaching out to enfold him. “And then one night, in a strange place deep beneath the earth, I awoke to discover a beautiful angel sitting beside my bed. A bed I was sure I would never rise from again. But there you were, sitting so quietly, as if one unkind word from me would cause you to vanish. You looked so haunted and very afraid. And that mark on your cheek from where he had hit you...”

He moved his hands to enclose hers, leaning close to kiss her unblemished cheek. “I swore then that if I ever managed to get out of that damn bed, I would make sure such things never happened to you again. Not while I lived to prevent it. I think I fell in love with you at that moment, but I was still blind to the truth.”

“And I saw a man who once thought he could order the world and it would all fall neatly into place. The great Elliot Burch, brought so low and in such pain.” Shannon stroked his cheek. “And yet I felt sorry for you. I truly believed you had lost yourself. But I didn’t think I could ever love you. You represented everything I had left behind and I was afraid, but not of you. I was afraid that if I let myself feel again, where would it take me? I tried so hard not to love you and yet…Oh, Elliot, we are a sorry pair of fools, are we not?”

“To live without you, to not have you in my life…” Elliot’s face paled as he brought her hands up to his lips, kissing each finger in turn. “Sometimes, even now, I wake in the night — when you are Below — and I wonder if it’s all only a dream and I’m alone again. I would have done anything to make you stay. You said you needed my love to guide and protect you…”

He leaned closer to kiss her with lingering thoroughness before sinking to one knee at her feet, looking up at her with everything he was feeling mirrored in his grey eyes. “Marry me, Shannon, please. Save me from myself….from all the dragons that still haunt the dark places in my soul.” He drew an old-fashioned ring box from his trouser pocket and opened it before holding it out.

“Ah, Elliot…Now was that so hard to say…?” Shannon whispered lovingly, tears running unheeded down her cheeks as she took the box in one hand and drew him up again to stand before her once more with the other. “Sometimes the most impossible things are the easiest to ask and answer. I truly do love you more than life itself.”

“Um, okay. But is that a yes?” Elliot frowned in puzzlement, looking more than a little alarmed. “I mean…if you…”

“Yes…yes…yes and yes…” Shannon breathed happily, going up on tiptoe to kiss his forehead and erase all doubt. “For now and always, Stosh Kasmarek. You are the very heart of me. How could I ever say no to you?”

She held out the box and Elliot opened it to lift out the simple diamond ring — holding it up to the light — before slipping in onto her finger. “This ring was my mother’s. Dad had kept it all these years in a safe deposit box along with some other things. He saved every penny he could scrape together to buy it. My mother always said it was the best thing he ever gave her, apart from me.”

“Then I shall love it as much as I love her son,” Shannon vowed. “It’s lovely.”

“I do so love you…” Elliot raised her hand to his lips and kissed her ring. “And thank you,” he whispered before bending to sweep her high into his arms. “I promise you, you will never regret it. Not for a single second.”

“I don’t plan to…” Shannon smiled happily, settling deeper into his embrace and allowing him to take her where he willed…

“I’ve already taken down the board on Cathy Chandler.” Diana frowned at Azrael as she came to a halt beside him a few days later. He’d phoned, asking to meet her outside an old abandoned building with a boarded up frontage not far from her loft apartment. The constant rumble of the city’s evening traffic made conversation difficult.

“There will be no more investigation on my part. I’ve taken everything over to Joe’s place. You all trusted me the other night, so I’ve returned the favour. You don’t need to check up on me, you know. Once I’ve wrapped up the Gabriel case it will all be behind us. Then I think I’m due for a nice, long holiday.” She glanced at him speculatively, but he didn’t rise to the bait.

“That is not why I asked you to meet me here tonight, Diana.” Azrael shook his head. His right hand was resting lightly on the shoulder of a slim, raggedly dressed boy who watched Diana with narrowed eyes filled with wary distrust.

Diana looked the child over with interest. Unlike Azrael — who was dressed in black jeans and a dark roll-neck sweater beneath his leather jacket — the boy seemed to share the same crazy, patchwork tailor as the curious Mouse. She murmured her frustration. Despite finally meeting Vincent, there were still questions to which she had no answers.

Like where did they all live? Where Catherine Chandler was now and why was she still in hiding? The need to be secret had past. So was there more she was keeping hidden besides herself? Those questions Vincent had been very reticent about, saying those secrets were not his to share. He’d refused to answer when she pressed him, and he had ended the meeting there, once she’d told him all she knew about Charles Chandler.

“What happens now?” Diana spread her hands. “Why are we here? I have given Catherine Chandler back her father. Surely that scores me some good points. The rest is up to Joe and Elliot.” She held up the small black hold-all she was carrying. “On the phone you said I needed to bring a change of clothes, some essentials, my toothbrush, and sensible shoes.” She glanced down at her sturdy, lace-up boots. “Are we going on an overnight camp?”

“You’ll see. This is Alex.” Azrael smiled as he introduced the boy, who continued to watch Diana closely without speaking. “We’ve spent a few hours making some purchases for the people Below.” Azrael indicated the large bag of neatly wrapped parcels at his feet. “Alex is my guide in this world when I need to visit unfamiliar places or buy gifts. Now, in return for your help in discovering Catherine’s father is still alive, she has asked to see you. Alex and I are here tonight to guide you down. You see, you only had to be patient.”

“Down…?” Diana echoed, momentarily at a loss. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion as she looked around at the dilapidated building. “How far down this time? I only brought an overnight bag.”

“All in good time,” Azrael replied cryptically. “Catherine wishes to thank you for finding her father. It is a miracle she never hoped for. She knows that you want to see something of her world, of the place where she lives now. She feels you have earned that right. Also there is a freedom down there that you do not possess in your world.”

“And she lives down there with Vincent?” Diana latched onto his deliberate omission. “He was very cagey the other night when I asked him. I want to know everything this time.”

“Yes, with Vincent.” Azrael nodded as he stood aside, indicating she was to go before him towards the building’s boarded-up entrance. “And many others. It is a safe place that must remain a closely guarded secret for its own protection. It is a world far more fragile than mine.”

“Okay, if I go with you, do I finally get to see Vincent this time? He’s not going to be just another shadow among many? As I said, I am getting tired of all this cloak and dagger stuff.”

“That is for Vincent to decide, but, yes, he will be there.” Azrael waited while Alex produced a set of keys to open the three different locks on the outer door before they could pass through into the building’s dark interior. “Take my hand.” Azrael came close to Diana as she stood irresolute in the darkness and she closed her fingers around his gratefully. The physical connection reignited the emotional turmoil deep within her. And she could sense he felt it too, a shimmering bridge that made her skin rippled with awareness and her knees start to cave in.

She glanced up at him. “So I’m guessing there is a whole world down there that no one up here knows about. Just like your world, Azrael. A fairy tale place full of possibilities.”

“Yes, but the miracle of this place is far greater than mine,” Azrael replied. “You will see soon enough. It will take your breath away and make you believe. Even you, Diana, trust me.”

“Oh, I trust you…” she replied, drawing him closer in the warm darkness, and for the first time he didn’t immediately try to back away. Progress…she smiled secretly.

“It’s our home down here; it’s where we live,” Alex told her, as he made sure he’d locked the door again before leading the way deeper into the smothering darkness. “Some of us have nowhere else to go. When I was four years old my father sold me to settle his drug debt, but I refused to go. So he tried to force me by burning my back with cigarettes. Instead I ran away and Mouse found me hiding out in the subway tunnels. He saved my life. In return I help to keep our world safe from harm and unwanted intruders.” From his scowl, the young boy seemed to include Diana in that last statement.

“And Alex is only one of many children this hidden world protects and cares for.” Azrael followed confidently, not needing his young guide’s help now. He was sure-footed in this world of night. But Diana was glad of his support, so she kept close to him, almost treading on his heels as he led her deeper into the blackness.

And again he did not draw back. It seemed he had finally made up his mind about her. Her breath hitched with dawning excitement. She hadn’t felt this giddy since her first prom date. And that hadn’t ended so well. The boy had torn her dress in his pathetic eagerness to kiss her and she had never spoken to him again. No, this new adventure, she determined, was going to end differently. She would make sure of it this time.

Wrapped in her chaotic thoughts, she walked into the solid strength of Azrael’s back as he stopped. It was all she could do to prevent herself from reaching for him right there and then. Assuage the rising turmoil rampaging through her by testing his limits of endurance. She wanted him to kiss her — she wanted to kiss him! Make him understand fully, what he was doing to her.

“Are you okay?” Azrael put out a hand to steady her and she could feel his gaze on hers, like a physical caress, in the darkness.

“No, not really…” Diana used the moment to draw closer, going up on her toes...reaching for him…

“Diana…” Azrael breathed in a tormented tone. His hand moved from hers to unerringly cup her cheek, his thumb tentatively defining the shape of her parted lips. “I once thought that there couldn’t be a future for us. But now I—”

Suddenly there was the scrape of a match being struck and a lantern flared to life in the gloom. Alex held it high and turned to frown at Diana, who dropped her hands and quickly stepped away from Azrael. In the last few moments she’d forgotten the boy was there. She could sense Azrael’s accelerated breathing and she was satisfied. For now... She wondered what he had been about to say.

“Follow Azrael and do as he tells you, then you’ll be okay,” Alex directed, surveying them both with narrowed eyes. “He knows the way down from here.”

Picking up the bag of gifts he’d been carrying, he turned away to duck through a low door before leading the way down some crumbling steps into the basement. Azrael briefly left Diana’s side to help the boy push aside a large storage unit. Behind it a narrow opening had been chipped through the basement’s brick and plaster wall. Alex glanced at Diana before bending through the hole and disappearing into the echoing darkness beyond.

“Down the rabbit-hole we go once more,” Diana remarked drily as she stepped through after her guide. “This had better be worth it. I don’t have time for any more wild goose chases…”

“You need to learn to trust a little.” Behind her Azrael turned back to pull the storage unit back into place, blocking the hole once more from prying eyes. He pushed a steel bar into place across the back of the unit, securing it to the brickwork, before he came to take her hand again, and Diana didn’t demure. It felt so right to be with him again. If she were being honest, she missed the time they had spent alone together down at the sulphur pools. She smiled…

He’d already seen her naked anyway! It was way past time she caught up! They stood side by side in the warm darkness as the light of Alex’s lantern faded into the distance.

“He’s going to leave us behind if we don’t hurry.” Diana stared after the diminishing figure, but she made no attempt to follow him. In the lantern’s light, the large bag of gifts slung over the boy’s shoulder cast an ever-moving shadow across the tunnel walls, making him look like an eldritch Santa Claus.

“Don’t worry. I know the way down. The darkness is my friend.” Azrael shrugged. He removed his sunglasses, pushing them into the pocket of his jeans as he moved closer to link both their hands together, watching her with his fathomless black eyes that surely saw far more than was possible. “You forget the first time we met I did not need illumination to find my way in this world. When we met I was alone and, even though I tried, I could see nothing for myself or us. My father’s insanity had defined my future and it was only filled with darkness and despair. But the truth I now know is John Pater may not have been my father. So once again I am truly alone. But I am also finally free to be myself and make my own choices.”

In the distance a subway train rumbled along, and a soft tapping, like someone banging on the pipes, echoed into the rush of its passing. Then only the sound of the metallic tapping remained. Diana remembered hearing that sound before, as she had followed the Mouse boy down into the gloom of the underworld.

Her breathing hitched. “I do understand that feeling of being alone. Of always being on the outside, looking in at what others have. But mine was a conscious choice.” Now she and Azrael were finally alone, her courage to say what she was feeling had suddenly fled. She looked away into the darkness where Alex’s tiny illuminated figure was now barely discernible, the large sack on his back swaying rhythmically with each step. “But your aloneness was imposed on you by your parents. That was unforgivable, and I’m sorry it happened to you.”

“Diana…?” Azrael brought her attention back to him with a questing fingertip beneath her chin. “Do you trust me to lead you through the darkness once more? To take you where you most desire to go…”  

“Ah, now there’s a leading question…” Diana breathed, her heartbeat accelerating, tripping over itself. “It looks like I don’t have much of a choice,” she mused with a soft laugh. “You’ve tried to keep me out of it for long enough. I guess I’m running on trust now. A unique feeling, I must say. I don’t trust easily.”

“Nor do I. But you trusted me in the darkness the first time we met. Even though you also longed to recover your gun and shoot me.” He laughed softly. “We all respect the fact that you have kept our secrets. You could have so easily betrayed us for your own advantage. But I said you would never do that.”

“You should know you can trust me. I could never do that, especially to you,” Diana whispered, losing all definition of his face in the deepening gloom. But she knew he was still watching her, probing her thoughts and emotions with the deft touch of a skilled surgeon. He could read her mind like an open book, and she could sense his satisfaction at what he found there. She didn’t even try to hide anything from him. It was pointless anyway. “But I would be lying if I said wanting to know where you were going and who you were with — when you kept disappearing on me — wasn’t driving me crazy. You boys really should learn how to share. I’m guessing Elliot Burch and Joe have their own entrances to this world. They have probed all its secrets.”

“They are both our helpers, yes.” Azrael nodded. “They keep this place and its secrets safe from harm. We trust them implicitly, as we have come to trust you.”

“So, is that what I am now? A helper?” The thought made her more than a little scared. What if she couldn’t measure up to such a huge responsibility?

“Yes, if you choose to become one.” Azrael raised her chin on the back of his fingers before cupping her face in both hands. “But it is a huge responsibility and a privilege that some people would rather not take on. Our entire fate would lie in your hands. You could destroy us with one incautious word or thoughtless action. It is an enormous responsibility.” 

“I wonder how Mouse would feel about that. I don’t think he likes me very much…” Diana teased softly, her breath becoming jammed somewhere high in her throat as Azrael’s thumb moved gently back and forth across her parted lips once more.

Several times he’d come close to touching her like this, but he’d always shied away at the last possible moment when she was sure he’d been about to kiss her. That night at the gallery opening she had badly wanted to get him alone, to take him back to her apartment and make him aware of her as she was becoming so intensely conscious of him. Make slow passionate love with him beneath the blind gaze of her painting and know he would be there beside her in the morning. She wouldn’t be alone again…

Her body heated at the thought. It seemed like an eternity since she’d physically loved anyone – anyone who’d wanted to hang around afterwards, that is. All of her previous relationships had been mercifully brief and ultimately unsatisfactory…until now…

She sighed ruefully. Of course, her crazy work hours didn’t help much. She was away a lot, chasing down leads and suspects. And then there were the things she couldn’t show just anyone. Her home was also her office, so bringing back some stranger for a one-night-stand when she was feeling down and lonely was just not possible. Besides, John Russell would love to get some dirt on her. He was quite capable of setting her up with some random date so he could trap her into betraying herself so he could —

“Diana…?” Azrael questioned the troubled trend of her thoughts. “Stop it. Stop being so hard on yourself,” he whispered. “You have so much to give… You just have to believe as I have come to believe that there is a future for us…”

“Ah, you and your fairy stories…” Diana shook her head. “Funny thing is, right up until this moment, I’d always prided myself on my self-sufficiency. It’s a hard habit to break, to let someone else into your life. Care for someone else’s opinion for a change…”

Her body tightened with a wanton need she could no longer deny. Now was the time for Azrael to run if he was going to…but it was as if the surrounding darkness had given him a renewed confidence. Diana remembered the times they had shared down at the sulphur pools and her skin heated with conflicting emotions. There was a raw appeal in remembering those times, when her life and liberty had hung in the balance. And she realised how much she wanted him to kiss her, to show her that obviously sensual side of himself that he’d always kept hidden and under tight control.

“I am sure Mouse would recover from his disappointment in time…” Azrael slowly lowered his mouth to hers, drawing her up against the full, hard length of him under the softly tenuous contact, teasing and eliciting a response Diana could not deny him...even if she wanted to do so.  

She wound her arms around his waist, blindly following where he led, responding to his gentle teasing with an intense need first born in that impossible darkness far beneath where they now stood. It felt as if she were coming home. To whatever home was meant to be when you finally dared to share a little of your guarded heart with another human being…

Catherine stood waiting quietly. She had finally chosen the bluff overlooking the newly finished garden as the best place to meet Diana. It was familiar territory to the investigator and sufficiently far from the home tunnels that she would not find her way there easily if she did not agree to their conditions. And Azrael knew the way here intimately. Alex had told them the couple were on their way down. He’d been sent on to alert Father.

Mouse hovered anxiously at Catherine’s side. He wasn’t sure he trusted that that Diana Bennett. She’d been told to leave her gun at home, but Mouse wasn’t sure she would do it. The skin between his shoulder-blades crawled with well-remembered unease, and his face crumpled into a frown of deep mistrust. He glanced behind him with concern.

“What’ya think, Vincent?” He demanded of the deepest shadows. “We gonna be all right? Sometimes she can be mean.”

“It will be all right, Mouse,” Vincent replied from beyond the reach of the lantern Mouse was holding up. “I think we can trust Diana to do as we asked.”

“Mouse not wanting to be shot again,” the tinker complained in honest disgust. “Not good for Mouse. It hurts too much.”

“Don’t worry, Mouse.” Catherine smiled as she put an arm around him and hugged his hunched shoulders. “I think Ms. Bennett is more interested in what we have to show her now. You will be safe enough with me.”

“Okay good, okay fine…” Mouse’s brooding expression didn’t waver.

“Maybe…but Mouse glad Vincent is back there. And James and Richard in the other tunnel. And Father’s coming soon. Good to be prepared. Just in case…”

“They are here…” Vincent said quietly.

Suddenly there was movement in the outer darkness along the main tunnel leading to the garden area. Azrael shadowed up out of the gloom, leading Diana by the hand. He nodded when he sensed Catherine waiting and watching for them.

“Finally…” Diana was glad to see the light. Stumbling around for what seemed like hours in the dark, even with an attentive Azrael as her guide, was not the most pleasant experience. She moved quickly forward to stand beside Azrael, watching Catherine closely. Though she was dressed like the others in an assortment of leather and fabric, she made her simple gown of soft tan linen look like the best couture.

Beyond Catherine the Mouse boy hovered uncertainly, looking as if he would rather be anywhere else but here. Diana smiled ruefully. She didn’t really blame him. She had been hard on him from necessity.

“Welcome, Diana.” Catherine extended her hands. “It is good to see you again. It has been too long.”

“Thanks for finally inviting me.” Diana accepted and returned her warm embrace, before drawing back to glance around at the shadowy gloom. She could discern no one, but she knew Vincent was there. She felt that same prickle of awareness, just as she had first been conscious of him that long ago night at the carousel.

“The news about my father…” Catherine shook her head and compressed her lips before continuing. “Is a debt I can never hope to repay. But I sincerely hope our trust in your word about what you see here will recompense you in some small measure.”

“I’m here now, thanks to you.” Diana nodded. “I can guess what it has cost you, to trust me this far.” She glanced out over the extensive garden. “You know, when I first saw this I never dreamed it was even possible. Now you have brought it all up to where you live. Truly amazing.” She turned back to Catherine. “But please know that I could never betray you. Or Vincent.” She looked again into the shadows behind Catherine. “I guess the scales are about even now. Azrael has filled me in on quite a few of the details.”

Footsteps sounded from yet another tunnel entrance, accompanied by the businesslike tapping of a cane. Alex appeared, minus the sack of gifts, accompanied by an older man with a stern, upright bearing and an uncompromising frown. They both moved to stand beside Catherine, and Diana found herself under the intense scrutiny of the old man’s cool, blue eyes. He looked more curious than welcoming.  

“This is Father,” Catherine introduced him. “He is the patriarch of our world. He has agreed to meet you, to explain a few things to you about how we live down here and where. You must agree to our terms before we continue.”

“Then please tell me. I am more than ready to learn.” Diana looked the older man over with interest. “Thank you for the trust you have placed in me. I won’t let you down.”

“I will admit to being deeply curious to finally meet you, Ms. Bennett,” Father acknowledged with a slight nod. “You have haunted the edges of our world for long enough. But you have intrigued me for quite some months now. You are a woman of excellent courage and infinite resources. I do not know many who would have gone out of their way to help us as you have done. I did wonder how our world would benefit from having ongoing contact with you. I am pleased to admit that, so far, I have not been disappointed.”    

“Threatened to shoot Mouse,” the tinker grumbled honestly. “That was not so nice.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sorry about that, Mouse.” Diana grinned, holding out her hand towards him. “Friends?”

Mouse stared at her hand for long moments of indecision before he took it gingerly. “Okay, maybe. Have to wait and see. For Father to say so. Where’s your gun now?”

“Back in my loft. Okay, I can see this is going to be a hard sell.” Diana linked her fingers through Azrael’s where he stood silently beside her, listening to the interchange. “Thanks…” she whispered for him alone. “I won’t forget this.”

“I know…” Azrael breathed, his fingers tightening around hers in warm possessiveness. “You can thank me properly when we get back Up Top. I have a few ideas that I do not think you would disagree with…”

“Fair enough.” Diana ducked her head and smiled, her face heating with colour.

“There are some things we need to discuss before we take you any further into our world, Diana.” Father drew her attention as he looked around the small gathering. “We hold this place in trust for those who have nowhere else to go or cannot live in your world. And we cannot allow anyone to break that sacred bond. That would spell the end for us all. We must be able to implicitly trust those who help us and keep us safe from discovery or harm. We keep each other safe, down here. This is our home and our sanctuary.”

“Then I will do all in my power to make sure nothing happens to you all,” Diana told him. “You can trust me never to betray your presence here.”

“Then may I bid you welcome to the world Below, Ms. Bennett.” Father inclined his head before indicating the tunnel he had appeared from with his cane. “May I show you something of our world, Diana? I think we might just surprise you a little.”

“Thank you, I would like that.” Diana linked arms with Azrael as she glanced once more at the deepest shadows where she knew Vincent was still standing. She could barely discern the glint of a belt buckle and the sheen of watching eyes reflecting in the light of the lantern. She raised one hand in acknowledgement and thought she saw an answering movement in reply.

“Can I finally see you now, Vincent?” she asked the shadows. “Have I done enough to earn your trust as well? I mean you no harm.”

“I am not what you may expect,” Vincent replied quietly. “I do not look like other men. We are not sure you are ready to see everything.”

Catherine came up on Diana’s other side. “We all protect Vincent. He is the reason we all must keep this place a closely guarded secret. There is nowhere else for him to go. This is the only home he has.”

“I’ve already worked that out for myself.” Diana nodded. “I know he was with Mouse down in the lower tunnels looking for me and Azrael, and at the carousel that night he saved you from those gunmen. And I know there is something about him that is different. Otherwise, why all the need for such secrecy? I’m a big girl. I can handle it.”

“She has a point there, Vincent,” Father offered thoughtfully. “I do not think Ms. Bennett is at all afraid of what is different.”

“Very well…” Vincent replied as he advanced slowly into the light, pushing the hood of his cloak back from his head.

Diana’s grip on Azrael’s arm tightened as she watched Vincent approach. Her heart rate picked up, and it felt as if she’d been holding her breath for countless minutes. Her intent, unblinking gaze took in everything about him, from his unique and incredible face, his tumbled mane of tawny hair, before her eyes dropped to study his unusual assortment of clothing. Then she met his solemn gaze, and she smiled.

“Hello, Vincent. Nice to finally see you at last. You look truly amazing. Thank you for trusting me.” She glanced at Catherine. “There are many things I never dreamed were possible until this moment. I am more than ready to be really astonished now. So boys, show me what you’ve got hidden down here. No chance you’ve also got Elvis stashed away down here somewhere, is there? I mean, now that would be really amazing.”  

“Then come with me.” Azrael smiled down at her. “Now we will show you something truly breathtaking. Even you will be astonished.”

“I think we are going to be in for an interesting evening.” Father watched Diana warily as she and Azrael walked past him, and then he turned to follow, shaking his head. “Or am I just growing old. Maybe May is right after all…”

“So who’s this Elvis you’re all looking for?” Mouse grumbled huffily, following in Father’s footsteps and disappearing into the tunnel, still muttering. “Elliot said that too. That time we went way down Below to find Azrael. No one tells me anything. I’m always the last to know stuff. Don’t tell Mouse. He don’t need to know. Look out, here he comes. Watch out for Mouse…”

“I think that went very well.” Catherine turned to Vincent the moment Diana and her escort were out of sight.

“I’m not sure Mouse is convinced.” Vincent laughed softly as he looked after the party before he came forward to slide his arms around her waist, drawing her in close against him from breast to thigh as he leaned down to kiss her with a deep longing and urgent passion.

Catherine groaned as she responded in kind, running her hands up through the rich texture of his mane to fist handfuls as she lost herself in the rising heat of her sensual awakening to the raw power that surged and flickered like sheet lightning through the many layers of their mutual bond, colouring it with a million different hues.

Everything inside her danced and flowed, building ever upwards towards that realm of light where their spirits were joined. It would always be like this… She found it hard to wait until they could be truly together again. Even now she was laying her plans to get her husband entirely to herself in the near future…

“Always…” she whispered raggedly against her husband’s mouth before they drew back fractionally from each other, resting forehead against forehead.

“To give you back everything you thought you had lost…” Vincent ran questing fingertips down the curve of Catherine’s cheek, his claws whispering softly against her skin. “I would have done everything and anything…”

“I know. But how much longer do we have to wait?” Catherine turned her mouth into his palm, planting a series of lingering caresses. “I cannot bear it.”

It has been too long already.”

“Elliot and Joe are working as fast as they can.” Vincent drew her back into the warm shelter of his close embrace. “We can only pray the end is finally in sight.”

“I will try to be patient…” Catherine looked up at him. “We have so much to catch up on…”  

Going up on her toes she sought the warm welcome of Vincent’s sensuous mouth once more, and the world turned and fell away beneath her feet, leaving her with only the certain security of his tightening embrace to cling to and keep her safe from harm…

“I don’t understand any of this or why you’ve brought me here.” James Chambers sat in the luxurious surroundings of Elliot Burch’s plane and refused to be mollified. “There must have been some huge mistake. I’m just a simple building contractor from LA. I don’t have any connections in New York.” He indicated the cityscape rising beyond the confines of the airport. But there was an underlying current of fear in his voice. Like he wanted to be anywhere else but here right now.

“It won’t be long now. Everything will be explained to you.” Cleon Manning sat at his ease, legs crossed at the knee, watching his reluctant companion with wary respect.

The guy was good, very good. He’d doggedly maintained the same tired story all the way from LAX. He had the act down word perfect. He almost made a believer out of Cleon. Almost… But whenever Chambers renewed his protest that same under-tone of fear crept into his voice, as if he did have something to hide and he was terrified of being caught out in a lie…

And he certainly looked considerably older than the first time Cleon remembered seeing him. It had been at some expensive charity function Elliot had held years ago. Cleon frowned, trying to remember…Yes, that was it. It had been a party where his new boss had gifted a whole art collection to the Metropolitan Museum. Cleon’s agency had been providing the security that night, their first major contract for the Burch Group. Elliot may have decided to give the paintings away, but he didn’t want them stolen beforehand.

Cleon shook his head, frowning at a resurfacing memory. As it became clearer in his mind, his eyes narrowed as a fresh revelation hit him. Catherine had attended that function with her father. But when Charles had left early to attend another business event, his daughter had chosen to stay behind.

And that was the first time Elliot had seen Catherine, and he’d been immediately intrigued. Especially after she’d accepted a ride home with him in his limo, and had given him her card. That first evening had held such promise, it seemed. Elliot had been quite sure of it. Cleon had never seen him so excited over a woman before. Usually it was only buildings that animated his powerful boss, stirred his blood, and made him restless to begin anew.

But in the end, that promising relationship hadn’t worked out either. Somehow this seemingly perfectly-suited power couple had drifted apart. Cleon knew it had something to do with Elliot’s great tower project. Another curious issue he’d refused to discuss. Or had they been torn apart by outside influences over which they had no control…

Cleon exhaled sharply...had this whole, incredible world of secrets and half truths, clandestine meetings, mysterious disappearances and downright craziness, started from that one encounter? And what did Catherine’s father know about any or all of it?

The investigator brought his attention back to the present, and he cast a speculative glance over his visibly reluctant companion. He longed to interrogate him, but it wasn’t in his brief. Find him and bring him back to New York — those had been Elliot’s instructions, pure and simple. But Cleon’s clinical detective mind itched now more than ever to know the truth.

But seeming far too thin and a great deal more careworn, with his silver hair close cropped now and dyed a rather drab brown, the man before him looked nothing like the rich and successful corporate lawyer of old. The witness protection people had certainly done their job well. Perhaps too well. The poor guy looked as if he was about to pass out or have a heart attack at any moment…

Cleon tried again. “Joe Maxwell and Elliot Burch have put a lot of time and effort into finding you and bringing you home. And they’ve copped a heap of flack by doing so. They’ve had to soothe a lot of ruffled feathers and fill out a mountain of paperwork in triplicate. They’ve had to guarantee they’d be responsible for your safety if they brought you back here. Joe will be here soon, to escort you into the city.”

“Who’s Joe Maxwell?” James stared at him levelly, though his hands were shaking. “As I said before, you’ve got the wrong guy. Now, look here…” He sat forward, hands raised in frustrated supplication. “You said you wanted me to quote on a building contract in Napa for some rich client of yours.” He pointed out the window. “Kidnapping is a federal crime, you know.”

“The offence was to take you away from the one person who truly loved you.” Cleon drew a folder from the briefcase beside him. “And to keep you separated beyond what is permissible after the threat to you both has been removed some time ago. There is your crime.” He held out the file. “This is your way back to the truth and your old life. If you choose to accept my word and understand I mean you no harm.”

“What’s this?” James stared at the folder suspiciously, only accepting it when Cleon finally pushed it into his hands.

“Relax, you’re among friends here. I think it’s way past time you went home, Charles, don’t you? They do say home is where the heart truly is.”

“Maybe, but my home is back in LA. If this is some kind of trick, some ruse to get me to admit something to you…” James reluctantly opened the file. “I can tell you now, it won’t work. I’m not who you think I am. I don’t know any guy called Charles…”

“Read that and then tell me you’re not Charles Chandler,” Cleon advised quietly. “Then maybe I’ll finally believe you.”

Despite his protests, James frowned as he scanned the pages quickly, his increased rate of breathing sounding harsh in the ensuing silence. Finally, he looked up from the open file and his ashen face crumpled.

“Catherine…” Tears of silent regret and unfathomable pain welled up in his faded blue eyes, and he began to cry.

Diana stood in the warm, semi-darkness of her bedroom, before her painting of the sulphur pools. She frowned as she reached out to touch a forefinger lightly against the painted background where the deepest shadows hung, suggesting there were places unseen and unknown. It had been five days since she’d first visited the secret world beneath the city, and her mind was still full of images and more questions.

And a wish to return as soon as she’d wrapped up the Gabriel case. She prayed it would not be long now before she could interview Catherine’s father and finally put the whole sorry affair behind her once and for all. There was so much living she was suddenly impatient to get on with.

Sensing what she was seeing, Azrael moved closer against her back, sliding his arms around her naked waist before burying his face in the russet fall of her hair. “In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors,” he quoted softly against her fragrant warmth. “I’ve always loved that line. I’ve tried to make it real in my work. Paint in all the doors of possibility.”

“That’s William Blake, isn’t it? It’s one of my favourites too…” Diana shook her head. “I never quite believed it before. But now I can see it is so true. You know, I have searched my whole life to find those doors. I had thought I was someone who could never believe in magic. I deal in facts and figures; they don’t let you down. But all this…”

She traced a reverent line down the painting before turning within the circle of his arms, reaching to cup his face in her hands. Without the shield of his sunglasses, his eyes gleamed ebony witch-fire in the darkness. “I used to stare at it at night, trying to figure out its secrets. But you’ve painted in more questions in there than there are answers. I thought what you had created down there where you lived was incredible enough. And then you showed me this new world…”

She shook her head in bafflement. “It took my breath away. It is truly incredible. Thank you for finally opening all the doors for me and allowing me in.” A shiver feathered across her skin. “Even now, it still seems unbelievable…”

“You are most welcome.” His eyes gazed unerringly into hers, the loving glow in their depths suffusing her whole body with heat. “And yet it’s all so fragile. One unwise word could bring it all crashing down.”

“Then we must do our very best to make sure that never happens.” Diana reached to kiss him slowly and lingeringly. “But I cannot wait to go back. There is so much more I want to see. And to understand.”

“Well…” Azrael trailed a line of kisses from the side of her mouth down the long column of her neck. “We do have an invitation to a party. It’s a triple celebration and everyone is invited. Would you care to go?”

“And when were you planning to tell me this? What else have you been keeping from me?” Diana drew back to stare at him, her heartbeat racing as he smiled at her, a slow smile that promised so much.

“Sometime…” Azrael’s hands travelled down to cup her butt, bringing her up close against his naked body. “There is a certain appeal in getting to know you better first. Before I must share you once more,” he teased. “There is so much you still must teach me. And show me. I thought I knew you when I painted this…” He indicated the painting. “But now I know I was wrong. These last few days and nights have been a…revelation.”

“I think that’s the understatement of the century…” A sensuous warmth mantled Diana’s cheeks as she chuckled. “I’m amazed we’re still standing…”

For a man who only a couple of days ago professed to never having made love before, Azrael had an unerring talent to find just the right places on her body. Exactly where to apply precisely the right amount of pressure or questing touch, to force abandoned cries from her on more than one occasion. No man before him had ever come close to making her lose herself as completely as he did.

Of course, he was an artist, a blind man who worked with his hands and the intuitiveness of his incredible inner vision. He saw what she saw and felt everything she was feeling. But she had started to wonder what the neighbours must think about the orgasmic noises coming from her place.

Maybe they needed to move… She and Azrael hadn’t left the apartment for three days. The take-out deliveries were starting to get a bit boring. Not that they ate much of anything…

“Standing is okay, but I’d rather go back to bed,” Azrael murmured, nipping gently at the side of her neck.

“Is there a request in that statement?” She ducked her head, burying her face in the solid strength of his chest. “Or shall we eat first?”

“What I am hungry for does not come on a plate,” Azrael breathed, his long fingers defining the flare of her hips before rising with deliberate slowness to enclose the full, firm roundness of her breasts. “Of course if you do have food in mind, perhaps we could order more take-out?”

“No…no, not right now…” Diana managed to breathe as his fingers began to tempt and tease, sweeping back and forth across her skin, trailing fire and making her squirm.

“Excellent…” Azrael laughed softly. “I think it is past time for another lesson…” he said, as he bent his head to capture her mouth and sweep them back into that secret world far beyond that newly discovered door, where only they existed…

 Part Four

Story Index