Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

James sent Alice home immediately, much to her displeasure. She wanted to help but James simply wouldn’t have it. James wouldn’t let Henry go alone either. Henry was glad he could depend on his brother to always protect him, just like he’d protected James from himself over the years.

Vernon had gone to the trouble of bringing both Ebony and Ellen to London, and he wouldn’t do so just to discard them. They were in London for a sadistic reason, the same reason that involved Vernon creeping into Ebony’s bed at night. He wanted them both, so there was every chance that he would visit them after the opera performance concluded. It was only a small chance, but Henry would take it.

Henry and James lurked in an alleyway in view of the King’s Theatre. If Vernon exited the building, they would see. The performance had finished in the last few minutes and the audience had begun to file out, happily chatting away.

“I’m sorry I missed your birthday while I was away,” Henry apologised after a few hours of staring at the door. He’d just realised that his brother and sister had turned thirty in March and he’d missed it.

James shrugged. “I’ve had twenty – nine others. I’ll live. But you did miss a good meltdown from Kitty, though. She was complaining of her advanced age.” James chuckled.

“They’ll be others. You know Kitty.” Henry smirked and returned his watch to the theatre doors.

“You are really fond of her, aren’t you?”

Was it not obvious? He’d trekked around the country for her. He was about to confront her captor and rescue her. Ebony was more than just any woman. She was the one who’d changed everything for him. He was no longer tongue tied around all females – it was now just her. “Yes,” was all he said in reply.

“I felt exactly the same way when I fell for – Vernon!” he exclaimed.

“What?” Henry furrowed his eyebrows but then realised his brother was pointing to the producer who had walked out of the theatre with a skip in his step. Henry gritted his teeth. ‘Not tonight, and never again,’ he silently thought.

“He’s getting into a carriage,” James hissed. “Come on, let’s run.”

The brothers took off running behind Vernon’s carriage. Alice had taken the carriage back to Ethridge. Both Henry and James were quick runners after years and years of chasing their sisters about the Ethridge house and grounds. The kept a good distance behind the carriage, which wasn’t going terribly quickly anyway.

After fifteen minutes of running down every side street in London, the carriage finally came to a stop outside a small townhouse on a quiet, secluded street.

James pulled Henry behind a small wall so that they could watch Vernon exit the carriage. The carriage then drove off. From where they were, they could see the door open. An old woman greeted Vernon with a tight hug and kiss. It wasn’t his mother, so Henry presumed her to be an aunt or grandmother. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but by the look on her face, the conversation seemed intense.

Henry was about to charge but James held him in place. “Don’t be stupid,” James hissed quietly. “You don’t go charging into battle with a blindfold on. You evaluate and make an informed decision. Come.” James and Henry crept across the empty street to the window on the house Vernon had gone in to. A sheer curtain covered the window which Henry hoped would shield their faces.

Vernon and the old woman stood in the narrow sitting room and they appeared to be having an argument. The woman’s arms were flailing about as she emphasised her points and Vernon simply stood there with a stern look on his face with his arms crossed.

“There’s only two of them in there,” Henry whispered. “Let’s go,” he urged.

“One more minute,” James replied. “If you go in there without any proof that Ebony and Ellen are in there then you’ve ruined your rapport with Vernon and then you will have no way to lure him into a false sense of security.”

At that moment Vernon kicked the rug on the woman’s floor and both James and Henry gasped to see a trap door revealed. His grandmother had something similar in her home to store jams and pickled vegetables. Henry couldn’t imagine Vernon had an interest in jarred goods. “They’re in there!” Henry would not let James stop him now. If it were Alice in there, James would have already kicked the door in. “I’m not leaving her alone again. She will never be subject to his cruelty, not while I’m alive.” Henry jumped the small retaining wall that separated the steps up to the front door and the small area where he and James had been looking in the window. James followed Henry has he nearly pulled the door off its hinges. He heard a surprised cry from a woman as he rounded the corner to the sitting room where Vernon was half down the ladder into the cellar.

“Henry?” he asked, surprised.

Henry didn’t hesitate or bother responding. He pushed Vernon hard. He fell backwards and missed his footing on the ladder. He landed with a hard bang on the floor of the cellar and was knocked out cold.

“What are you doing to my nephew?” the woman screamed and grabbed a hold of Henry’s arms but he brushed her off easily. His aunt then, Henry decided. The woman had Vernon’s cold, grey eyes.

“Your nephew has been raping, blackmailing and beating his employees for years, and he has two women down there that will no longer be subject to his violence.” Henry’s blood was pumping so fast, he could hear his heart beating and his skin was slick with sweat, partly because of the running, but mainly due to the amount of energy that he had.

“How did you know that?” She gasped.

Henry wasn’t going to dignify the moronic question with an answer. “James,” he called, motioning for him to follow him. He climbed down the ladder and stepped over Vernon’s unconscious body to get his bearings. The cellar was small and filled with shelves containing jars and crates of stored food. At the end of the cellar though, sitting around a small, glowing lamp, was Ebony and Ellen.

They cuddled together, Ebony supporting her friend. Ellen’s face was covered with blood that had dried around her obviously broken nose. Ebony’s face was covered with bruises as well. Her right eye was black and a cut on her forehead had caused blood to dry in her outrageous curls. Their clothes were torn and their legs were on show. It took little guessing to know what Vernon had been doing, and planned to continue to do.

“Henry?” Ebony asked breathlessly.

Both he and James immediately began to tend to Ebony and Ellen. James lifted Ellen into his arms and Henry went to help Ebony up. Before he could though, she threw her bruised arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

“I knew you would come,” she whispered in his ear. “Thank you for saving Celeste. I got the letter.” She pressed her lips to his cheek and Henry felt humiliated as his cheeks reddened. It was not the time or place to get embarrassed.

“You’re safe now, I promise,” Henry swore. He checked her body over, looking for any open wounds. He would bind them before they left for Little J and Harrison’s practice. She was finally safe, and she could be reunited with Celeste. Henry could not wait to spend more time getting to know her. He knew she was special but he didn’t know much about her personally. But he wanted to, and they had the time.

Henry heard James climb up the ladder with Ellen. Just as he was about to help Ebony to her feet, she tensed and cried out.

It was as if time stood still, or at least slowed right down. Henry spun around to see that Vernon was no longer unconscious. He was on his feet and charging at Henry with a knife.

Henry didn’t even think about the defence techniques that William had showed him. His priorities were not self-preservation. He made sure Ebony was safely behind him and out of harm’s way. As he did so he felt the metal blade pierce his abdomen.

He stopped breathing. He stopped thinking. He stopped feeling. He lost control of everything as he fell to the ground. His eyes fluttered and the world went black as he died.

An earth-shattering scream left Ebony’s mouth as she saw Henry collapse before her with Vernon’s dagger in his stomach. Blood was pouring from the wound and his shirt soaked with the dark red liquid. He was dying right before her eyes.

“No!” she cried in pain. She fell to her knees and threw her arms across Henry, protecting him from any further damage that Vernon could do to him. She felt her torn dress soak up his blood but she didn’t care.

Vernon’s sadistic smile washed over her as he lunged for her. No sooner had he grabbed her arm roughly, he was pulled away by a murderous man. Vernon was knocked unconscious with one punch but he did not stop. His fists crushed Vernon’s facial bones. “You murdered my baby brother!” he yelled, his voice filled with pain.

Ebony wept over Henry’s body as she realised how much she cared for him. Nobody had ever done so much for her. She’d finally found somebody who knew she could trust and depend on, and now he was gone. With her head on his chest, she froze when she heard the faint hum of his heartbeat. He was alive! Barely, but he was.

“Stop!” she screamed at Henry’s brother. “Stop, he’s alive! Help me!”

Henry’s brother stopped beating Vernon and looked at Ebony with a face full of unimaginable pain. His dark blue eyes were full of tears. He abandoned Vernon at the foot of the ladder and immediately joined Ebony at Henry’s side. He placed a finger at his neck to feel his pulse.

“Give me your skirt,” he said bluntly. Ebony didn’t hesitate in ripping a section of her dress and handing it to him. He quickly removed the knife from Henry’s body which caused the wound to pump even more blood out. “Hold this here. My sister is doctor. We have to get him out of here and to her practice. It’s not far from here, only a few streets over. I need your help.”

Ebony nodded, unsure of how they were going to carry him up the ladder without making things worse. He packed Henry’s wound with the cloth from Ebony’s dress and then demanded another piece from her. He then tied it around the packing.

Henry’s brother seemed to summon an enormous amount of strength. He lifted Henry over his shoulder and he hung there motionless. If she hadn’t heard his heartbeat, she would have sworn he was dead. “Let’s go,” he called over his shoulder to Ebony. He climbed up the ladder and Ebony followed him, careful to step around Vernon’s unconscious body. He was still breathing, she could tell. When they were back in Vernon’s aunt’s sitting room, she saw old Mrs Shaw crying on her settee and the battered Ellen was sitting in an armchair with a shocked look on her face. “Bolt the door, Ebony,” he instructed coldly. Ebony quickly closed the door on the cellar and then bolted it shut. “Dare to open that and you will wish you had never been born, Madam,” Henry’s brother threatened. “Let’s go.”

Ebony grabbed Ellen’s hand and pulled her out of the chair so that they could follow Henry’s brother from the townhouse.

It was hard to keep up with Henry’s brother. He walked so quickly, even when carrying a fully grown man. Ebony and Ellen’s bruised, tired legs did not aid them. A fortnight of having Vernon force himself upon them had seen to that.

She’d never seen Vernon angrier than he was when he’d caught her with a letter. It was not the one Henry had written her, she’d destroyed that as soon as she’d read it. It was the letter that confirmed that Celeste was safe and in the care of a trusted family member. It was neither signed nor addressed to anyone, which was what angered Vernon the most. Since Ebony would not tell him who had sent the letter, or where Celeste was, he decided that he would torture her and Ellen, Ebony’s ‘accomplice’, until she relented. She couldn’t tell him even if she wanted to. All she knew was that Celeste was safe. She could endure anything with that knowledge.

What she could not endure, though, was Henry dying because of her.

She was an impure girl who’d stolen and cheated in her life. She didn’t know if she had any merit with God, but if she did, she prayed that he would spare Henry’s life.

James stopped suddenly and banged on the door of a small building. Two plaques on the front door read ‘Dr Harrison Gray’ and ‘Dr Jane Gray’. She breathed a sigh of relief. They could save Henry. “Little J!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “Open the door! It’s Henry! He’s been stabbed!”

A moment later the door opened and before them stood a couple in their nightclothes. The woman, Henry’s sister, looked nothing like the brothers. Her hair was golden and her eyes were blue. She didn’t panic though, not like Ebony, she was calm and was straight into action. “Bring him inside. Harrison, prepare a surgical tray immediately. James, go fetch mama and papa.” She spoke to Henry’s brother so Ebony had learned his name.

“I want to stay with him,” James insisted but his sister shook her head.

“You are shaking James, you will just distract us. Go home and bring mama and papa here.”

James placed Henry down gently on a table in a neat office. Harrison and Jane, the one James referred to as ‘Little J’, were quick to remove Henry’s coat and shirt. His chest was black with blood and both doctors stopped for a moment to evaluate.

“Don’t leave, James,” Harrison instructed. “Little J, he’s lost far too much blood. Any more lost and he is beyond the point of return. I suggest we infuse another’s blood into him.”

“Are you mad?” Little J exclaimed.

“What about Jean-Baptiste Denys?” Harrison reminded her. “He performed transfusions using animal blood. They worked, Little J, should not the blood of a brother?”

“They worked? Did you read the same journals as me? Many of his patients died because of such a procedure. We need to cauterise and conserve as much of his own blood as we can,” she argued. “I will not let you put foreign blood into my brother.”

“Focus, Little J,” Harrison murmured to his wife. “This isn’t your brother, this is your patient. He has lost too much blood to cut him open and start repairing the damage. James’ blood is our only chance.”

“I’ll do it,” James agreed rolling up his sleeves. “Whatever it takes. Take my blood, take my bones, I don’t care. Just save him.”

Little J cupped Henry’s lifeless cheek. “Come to me, James. I must find a vein.”

“It’ll be alright,” Ellen whispered to Ebony as they stood to the side of the room watching Little J and Harrison work.

She prayed she was right.

---

In those days, blood types didn't exist so blood transfusion was VERY risky as people often died from an allergic reaction to the foreign type in their bodies. At that time, it was most successful to have someone of the same gender give blood, but even then, doctors were sceptical. Jean-Baptiste Denys performed the first successful transfusion using sheep's blood, and it worked as he used a very small amount so the body had an opportunity to fight off the allergic reaction. I find it fascinating learning about how they did things back then - then again, it took me AGES to find out how they treated pneumonia before penicillin. When I was writing the part about Ebony hearing Henry's heart beat I was thinking 'Can you actually hear a heart just by laying on one's chest?' and I was sitting next to my mum, carefully concealing my laptop from her because I don't like people seeing my stories (except you of course!) and I said "Mum, can I test something?" and she said "Yes" so then I just put my head on her chest and there it was :)

I also just want to say a HUGE thanks to everyone who sent me private messages of support regarding my message last night about OCD awareness week. Your stories have shown me how incredible you all are, and just how many people this awful disorder affects. I shared with you all what I have to compulsively do and again today I listened to my car volume on '14' and I didn't have any anxiety.

Also, anyone you knows me knows my music taste is VERY varied. I love everything except heavy metal and when I was a kid I IDOLISED Cyndi Lauper. She was my heor and I loved everything about her, still do :) "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" was my anthem :) When I was 9 I sang it at a New Years Eve karaoke party, you know, before I learned that it was embarrassing to sing in front of people :P I didn't do too badly, people told my parents I did really well (go me!) but yes, Cyndi is amazing :) Taylor Henderson is a contestant on X Factor Australia this year and I am in LOVE with his voice and him. He is incredible and he sang my anthem last night in the semi final and subsequently made it through to the final tonight :) I hope I make some of you Taylor Henderson fans with the video on the side :) I sort of identify with it - "MY FATHER YELLS 'WHAT YOU GONNA DO WITH YOUR LIFE?'" Hehehe

I went to the movies with some friends today and opposite the bathroom was a cardboard cutout of One Direction where girls can go and have their picture taken with the band so to scare my friends I went and stood with my arm on Louis or whatever, I can't tell the difference between them :P And my friend Izzy comes out and goes to my friend Tamlyn "Where's Laura?" and they looked right at me and thought I was part of the cut out hahaha. Then I cracked up laughing and scared the crap out of them :P I then had to drive my brother to his golf lesson and we rocked out to 'Teenage Dirtbag' in the car :) James irritates the hell out of me and sometimes I want to sell him for concert tickets or something but he can be good fun when he wants to be :P Turns out all my brothers have good taste in old music :D

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