The Gift She Gives Ch. 14

"Shut up, you."

"Vesper, what is happening to you?" He asked, whispering, but still the sound was too much.

"Leithio nin!" Vesper hissed at him suddenly, her body jerking back against the wall when he took a step towards the bed.

"I don't have a hold of you, Vesper, this is the reaction to touching her. You're okay."

"Daro! Ego!" She shouted at him.

"Vesper, what do you need?"

"Gwanno ereb nin!" She scooted herself along the wall until she was in the corner, hands over her ears and her body scrunched up, her legs bent, her knees half hiding her face.

He frowned at her for a moment, then looked over at the doctor who was watching the exchange with confusion clear on his face. The angel motioned to the doctor to follow him out and they slowly walked to the door and stepped through it. When they closed it behind them, Vesper felt a relaxation take hold of her that she hadn't realized had gone. She had felt practically suffocated suddenly, what with the voices in her head and the presence of the men in the room with her. It had been overwhelming. She was still wallowing in the feeling of it when she realized that the woman on the bed was now sitting on her shins, her arms wrapped around the front of her, and her big, brown eyes staring curiously down at Vesper where she sat huddled along the wall.

'Try to concentrate on just my thoughts, it helps.' Vesper tensed and tried to do as she'd said, it wasn't easy to try to block out everyone else.

"Your brother can only hear humans." Vesper spoke quietly.

'You don't have to speak, I know it's loud. I can hear you think. My brother is fully elf. I am a cross. We have different fathers. He doesn't know I can hear everyone, please do not tell him.' The girl scooted off of the bed and sat in front of Vesper on the floor.

"What are-." Vesper frowned, 'what are you a cross with?'

Ennostiel smiled gently and moved her hand up, her index finger pointed forward, and she drew a triangle in the air, which was strange, where her finger went, a white glowing line was left behind. Then, when the triangle was finished, she cupped it within her hands and then her whole hand seemed to glow for a moment and when she moved it away, there was what looked like a 3D hologram of a wizard's cap. Vesper gasped, a wizard?

'I may look elf, but I'm not much like one at all. I grew up with my father's people. He didn't get along with my mother much. I barely knew her. Call me Natasha, please. Ennostiel doesn't suit me at all.'

'How did this happen to you?' Vesper knew the question seemed impertinent, but this young woman seemed to have been through a lot. She had wanted to be left alone, completely alone when she'd touched the elf. She hadn't started to feel better until the men had left the room.

'I was with my lover, Elarinya's father. We were somewhere we shouldn't have been. He was looking for others of his kind. We didn't find them, but we did stumble into a group of minotaurs. They're quite beastly.' Natasha frowned, tears welling in her eyes as she thought about that day. Vesper felt her gut tighten as she received the thoughts. Yes, Natasha had been through quite a lot, more than anyone deserved.

'Aonghas, he was a unicorn?' Vesper had received a clear picture of a great white horned creature and how he had fought to save her and had unfortunately failed to do so.

Natasha didn't wipe at the tears that fell. Instead, she shook her head and smiled at Vesper, giving her a picture of him in his more human form. It made her gasp, Elarinya had the same mark on her forehead. 'She has never changed. I don't know if she can. It doesn't usually occur until puberty.'

'She wasn't with you.'

Another head shake, 'No. She was with my father, Sargon Majerei. She knew when it all happened. My father asked my brothers and sisters to find me.'

'I'm sorry it took so long.'

Natasha sighed and took Vesper's hand in between both of hers, 'I am, as well.'

'Your baby-.'

'The baby would not have lived long even if I had held it longer. The elf, magic, and minotaur, it was conflicted. It is better this way.'

'Are you feeling better?'

'Are you?'

Vesper furrowed her brow and concentrated on how she felt now, 'Yes. In the past when I have healed a nonhuman, I have been affected quite differently than I was affected by you.'

'I know, I've been prying into your recent memory. Elf trick. Sorry.' Natasha looked anything but as she let go of Vesper's hands and smiled shyly at her.

'It's all right, I suppose it means we can forgo who I am and how I came to be here.' Vesper lowered her legs to the side and sat up a little straighter.

Natasha nodded, 'It does. Thank you for taking care of Elarinya. I did not know if they would bring her. Thorontur, he was not...overly amused that I had chosen Aonghas as a mate. He was already irritated that I wasn't fully elf, though he still demands that I act only as one.'

'You chose to be brought here, to Faeron.'

Natasha nodded as she stood up, helping Vesper to her feet, as well, 'Yes, Faeron is more level-headed from what I remembered.'

'Thorontur isn't happy that Faeron imprinted on Shi, is he?'

Natasha let out a quick chuckle, 'No, not in the slightest.'

The door opened again and Vesper looked to see that it was Faeron that opened it. He looked at them with genuine concern in his gaze and Vesper felt the spell that had been woven around the two of them lessen a little. She looked at the woman next to her and sighed.

'You'll always be able to talk to me and hear me, but just me. The rest is already wearing off, isn't it?' Natasha had looked at her quickly but then had looked back at her brother.

'How?'

'I told you what I was, Vesper, I can do a great many things. But not heal people, that is a rare and special gift.'

"Are you all right, neth?" Faron asked, and Vesper realized that his voice wasn't a loud rumble anymore, nor did it echo around in her head.

"Yes, hanar. I am all right. Vesper saw to me." Natasha spoke to her brother softly, she seems nervous again and Vesper moved a little closer to her.

"I'd like to take Natasha upstairs," Vesper noticed he frowned when she spoke his sister's preferred name, "get her bathed and find her something more comfortable and clean to wear. Will you watch Elarinya for a while? Maybe show her the conservatory if it's not in use?"

Faeron frowned, his eyes going slowly between the two of them, and then he nodded and went back through the doorway. Vesper turned to Natasha, "He really does care about you. You have nothing to fear from him."

"Vesper, you know so little about nonhumans. Elf families are patriarchal in nature, despite the fact that my oldest sister is the head of the wood elves. She does what Thorontur suggests most of the time. Faeron is my brother, which means I must obey him. And he doesn't like who I am."

"And who is that?"

"Wood elves are born of the darkness," Natasha sighed as she walked around the bed with Vesper and they both headed to the door, "I am of the light."

"How?"

"My father's side. Magic comes from a place of purity, Vesper. The wood elves have powers, but they are limited in the fact that their darkness clouds everything that they do. It wasn't too long ago when Mr. Hughes would never have allowed someone such as yourself in the presence of my kind."

Vesper looked at Natasha as they made their way down the hall and to the staircase that would lead them out of the basement. They passed only a few servants as they made their way up to the floor where Vesper lived with Mr. Hughes, and she saw one of the new maids standing outside one of the rooms, an empty one across the hall from hers, and they walked inside together.

This beautiful, mysterious woman had already been through so much more in life than Vesper. She'd loved deeply and born a child, and been hurt and lost another. Vesper knew that Natasha still held fast to many secrets, but she knew that the woman was someone that she would like to get to know. For all that was an enigma, there was an overwhelming kindness to the girl. Vesper sensed that and was warmed by it. As they set about getting Natasha out of the tattered dress that she'd been wearing and set about washing off the blood and fluid that covered much of her body, Vesper felt for the first time that she was making a real friend, and not just one born out of need, like the friendship she had with Shi, but a true friend that was hers before anyone else's. It was a very pleasant feeling.

~*~*~*~

"That area where your inner thigh curves in and rounds to the lips of your cunt, I like that part of you."

"That's not exactly what I meant, Mr. Hughes, when I said we should list off things that we like about one another." Vesper chuckled deeply as she shook her head before scooping up another line of peas with her fork.

"Then I don't understand your suggestion." The angel frowned from across the wide table that they had had brought into a smaller, private dining room on the first floor.

"I meant that we should tell each other what we like about each other BESIDES our bodies. I know full well how you feel about mine, and I am certain you understand that I hold yours in equal esteem. Save the stubs of your wings, which do nothing but anger me." Vesper sighed as he arched a brow at her.

"I'm not very fond of your tongue sometimes..." He muttered and she laughed a little louder this time, he was trying to be humorous and serious at the same time.

"I like the way you speak to Elarinya. It was very nice of you to take her around the conservatory this evening and talk to her about the flowers that she liked. She is very scared, Arc." Vesper told him.

"Children are a mystical thing to me. I was not around children...in a positive way...until after I had fallen. I have met many since, and they fascinate me in their innocence. They have such...unconditional love for others and the world."

"Well, I like the way you care for her." Vesper nodded at him, urging him to say something more substantive than 'I like your thighs.'

"I like how you take charge when someone is hurt, you're not afraid to jump in and do whatever it takes, no matter the cost to yourself. You're very much at your best in the care of others, which doesn't surprise me seeing as how your mother was cut from the same cloth."

"How very little can be done under the spirit of fear." Vesper sighed and watched him smile.

"Florence Nightingale?"

Vesper nodded, "She was the quintessential nurse, was she not?"

"She also said, 'The world is put back by the death of every one who has to sacrifice the development of his or her peculiar gifts to conventionality.'"

"She must not have known a lot of nonhumans, I should think." Vesper frowned.

Mr. Hughes chuckled, "You're undoubtably correct, Vesper. She would have known some of us have had to hide our true selves for quite some time."

"I like that you are giving the wood elves a chance to redeem themselves. I know Samir didn't think they deserved one." She put a piece of chicken in her mouth, enjoying the seasonings the cooks had added to the dish.

"Samir has his reasons, and they are very sound ones."

"He told me."

"He usually doesn't like to tell those stories."

"I had mentioned how kind I thought Faeron was, and he was quick to inform me that not all wood elves were of that same ilk. They have much to atone for, and I think Faeron is trying."

"Their treatment of their sister may prove their undoing. She has a child and she is not imprinted. That is not something they approve of."

"That's rather old fashioned of them."

"Pot meet kettle." He winked at her and she chuckled a bit.

"I like the way you eat toast like it's the finest meal from the finest house in London."

"Toast is the finest meal. I won't hear you even hint at disparaging it." Vesper scoffed.

"I would rather have a medium rare steak."

"You can have your steak. I'll stick with my toast." Vesper shook her head.

"I like how you try to make people laugh when you're nervous." She watched his eyes move up to grab hold of hers and she smiled.

"I do not get nervous."

"Oh, yes you do."

"You wound me, my dear."

"I've been told that before by you."

"I like how you treat those two beasts over there," He indicated the napping kittens that were on cushions on her bed, "like they aren't furry little balls of teeth and claws."

"Oh, you love Barnum and Bailey. Don't tell me lies." Vesper grinned, "I am going to take them over to Elarinya tomorrow. She seems very lonely. It must be hard on her, to know her father is gone, and to have had her mother missing for so long."

"She was with family."

"She was with her uncle, who is apparently very domineering."

"Thorontur would probably not be who I chose to look after a child as delicate as her, but she was not alone. And yes, she would probably like to see the cats."

"I like how you get all feisty when one of the men here talks to me for more than five seconds, but I don't like when you act on it." Vesper continued, watching his ears go a little red when she spoke.

"I can't help it. You are...enchanting and half of my staff is in love with you, and the other half would be if that was their orientation. It didn't help when you cried at Derrick's funeral."

"Everyone cried. His death was tragic."

"Yes, but when you embraced them, it made them feel better. You have an affect on people, humans and nonhumans, Vesper."

"You don't like that about me?"

He shook his head, "I didn't say that. I like that people appreciate and adore you, I just don't like men's cocks getting thick in your presence."

Vesper blushed this time, "Arc, behave."

"As long as they do, I will try."

"I like that you treat your staff respectfully, and you pay them very well. That's something, these days."

"I expect secrecy and compliance from my staff, I must deserve their trust and discretion." He nodded.

"They admire you."

"Some do, I think some just put up with me because they feel welcome here."

"You're very self deprecating at times." She muttered, then took a sip of the water in her glass.

"I am learning humility these days. It's a hard lesson."

"It always is."

"I like how you accept everyone here for who they are."

"As do you."

"Not really, I changed Anya. I made her thinner, tried to turn her into something she couldn't be. I ended up changing Domino."

"Domino chose to change herself, you had nothing to do with that. And Anya," Vesper shook her head, "I think I am going to make the decision that you and I don't speak about her in context of you and this spa. Not ever. As mad as you get about men looking at me, I am equally, if not more furious as to the relationship you had with her. She is responsible for the pain you feel. Had you not cut your wings off, we might have been together long before now. I might have been able to touch you."

Mr. Hughes looked at her closely for a long time before licking his lower lip and nodding, "If that is your wish. I won't bring her up. I didn't really mean to tonight."

"That's okay. It wasn't all that long ago that she was here. It's just...painful for me to think about her."

"Since you brought up something you don't like about me, can I say something I don't like about you?" He said quietly, as not to upset her.

Vesper nodded, they needed to be honest with each other.

"I don't like that you've had another man's cock within your body."

"Well, I understand, but I didn't know you then. And I was going through something."

"I know, but I still don't like it."

"I don't like how you treat me like I'm made of glass sometimes, especially when it comes to sex."

"I don't want to scare you."

"It scares me more that you would choose to hide parts of yourself from me rather than admit that they're a part of you."

"I have been on my own for so long, Vesper, you cannot expect me to just snap my fingers and change." He sighed, waving over a servant that had just entered the room to collect their plates.

"I know, and I am working on that. It's hard, and I know I've been really selfish, but I am working on it." Vesper was telling the truth, she had thought a lot in the past few weeks about how she had been treated and how she had treated Mr. Hughes. She had been very selfish.

"I like how you sit in the trees and think. You look very peaceful up there."

"I like that you're building me a house."

"I don't like that we fought over how many bedrooms to put in it."

"I don't see a problem with having several spare rooms. Not everyone who comes to the spa is a client. Like Natasha and Elarinya. If my house was complete, they could stay there with me instead of here." She pointed out, smiling as a servant set down a bread pudding in front of her.

Looking from the dessert to the man across the table from her, she grinned wide, "bread pudding is like toast in dessert form."

He smiled back and the warmth from it made her heart beat faster. "It's white chocolate raspberry, I asked for it specifically."

"You know how to get to me." She chuckled and picked up a spoon.

"I took a chance. They haven't always worked out where you're concerned." He picked up his own spoon.

They ate their dessert more quietly, relishing in the fresh flavors of the chocolate and fruit. When their plates were empty, they stood up and looked at each other.

"Can we go upstairs?" He asked, expectation in his voice, a voice that was slightly huskier now.

Vesper felt ribbons of coiled pleasure vibrate through her and pool in her pussy. She bit her lower lip and looked up at him with eyes that portrayed a matching desire as the marbled gray ones across from her. "I think maybe we should."

They walked towards the door, Vesper leading the way, and slowly, nervously made their way up the staircase to the hallway on the third floor that led to their room. Vesper had just put her hand on the knob when they heard a scream across the hall and they both changed direction, dangerously close to one another for a second as they moved to the closed door of Natasha's room. Opening the door, Mr. Hughes stepped inside with Vesper going through right after. Natasha was on the bed, sweating and tossing in her sleep, struck in the fear of her nightmares.

Vesper looked in the far corner and saw Elarinya, clutching her doll closely in front of her, in a nightgown that someone had driven into town to get for her since she'd been brought in just what she was wearing. Her eyes were wide and filled with fear and when she realized Vesper was there, she ran over, arms extended, and hopped up into Vesper's protective hold. While Mr. Hughes watched, his eyes filled with an emotion she wouldn't comment on, for nothing needed to be said, him seeing her holding a child was enough, Vesper backed out of the room and took Elarinya across to their room and walked inside with her.

She set the little girl down on her bed and made quick work of changing out of her dress and into her nightgown, only leaving for a moment to use the bathroom. When she came back in the room, Mr. Hughes was there, watching as she walked over to her big bed and climbing under the covers with Elarinya, who curled into a ball at her stomach. As Vesper settled her arms around the little girl's shaking body, she looked across the semi-darkened room at Mr. Hughes as he readied himself for bed and climbed onto the twin mattress near her bed. Their eyes caught and held for a long time.

"I love you, Vesper. Even if one day you realize that I can't give you what you want."

Vesper felt tears fill her eyes, she knew what he was talking about, it was what a great many things seemed to come down to these days. They couldn't touch, and even if they could, he couldn't get her pregnant. They were trying so hard to get through their past, and in many ways succeeding, but this...this was something that would most likely prove to be far beyond their reach.