(17) Papa Don’t Preach

(17) Papa Don’t Preach

     After Carter left, Marquis Roarke made a few more passes around the basement. But for the most part everyone had settled in. The information that had been his to give had been given, and no one had any more official duties for him to distract with. Since then, he had taken over a corner of the basement pacing a line back and forth. His fancy shoes striking the floor over and over. Tip tap. Tip Tap.

It had all happened so fast. Carter had hidden the severity of it all from him. The Aristocrats had offered no help, as usual. How many rituals had he overseen in his twenty years as Marquis. Maybe a dozen.

It had always been a handful of capable people, dealing with a negligible problem. Now they had a giant house sized problem and maybe one capable person if you put the five of them together. And one of them was his own daughter. His legacy.

Victoria would have never allowed something like this, and yet at the same time it could be argued this was all her fault. How had she never mentioned any of this.

     It was his job as Marquis to hide his groan when Carter swept back into the basement. He watched as she scanned the crowd and spotted him. What he could not hide was the confusion and near disgust on his face when Carter rushed over and wrapped him in a hug.

As Carter backed away the Marquis let slip, “Oh. Carter. I’m not sure what is going on that would make that appropriate.”

     For better or worse, Carter didn’t notice. She sped right through to what could have been easily mistaken for a rehearsed speech. “I am so very glad you are ok. Thank goodness and the gods. Would it be possible for us to speak somewhere, privately?”

     The Marquis sucked in his breath. “It’s not Bliss?”

     Now it was Carter’s turn to flinch. “I know for certain that Bliss is fine. Could we just speak privately? I really need to explain.”

     “This is private enough. You will speak now.”

     Carter did as she was told as quietly as she could. She explained to the Marquis that the house woke up, destroyed a lot of houses including his own. She didn’t even really give him any time to process that before she was moving on.

     Carter told the Marquis. “I need your help. Now.”

     The Marquis pushed past Carter as if she hadn’t said anything after destroyed town.

Carter followed the Marquis upstairs to see outside in all its horror. Marquis Roarke stood just outside the temple door, trying to take it in. Trying to make any sense of it. His arms reached out and jerked around. Trying to make it real while also being aware of the house. His eyes kept pulling to it.

And then his eyes found the red and white squirming pile of something near the worst of the destruction. Before he really even knew what it was, he had leaned over to the side and thrown up.

     He shot Carter a look of pure hatred. “What. Is. That.”

     Carter leaned in and murmured, “Bodies.”

     Marquis Roarke’s body tensed straight, an overtightened string. “Bliss. The people in the house.”

     Carter shook her head. “It isn’t them. We believe it some people who chose to stay in their house over there.”

     Marquis Roarke said without even thinking, “The Georges. They thought they would be safer in their own house.”

     Carter was smart enough to keep her mouth shut. She just gave the Marquis some time, even if she stayed annoyingly close. They stood there together trying to see and not see at the same time. Once the Marquis’s color had returned, and he looked a little steadier on his feet, Carter moved in for the strike.

     “Would you like to talk to Bliss?”

     The Marquis’s head snapped to Carter. His mouth was just a little bit open, and Carter could see the Marquis’s tongue was pressed hard against the back of his teeth. He closed his mouth, thinking better, and said, “You are more cunning than I gave you credit for.”

     It was possibly the most honest communication the two had ever had and Carter received it poorly.

“I’m not sure what is cunning about helping you talk to your daughter, Marquis.”

     The Marquis shook his head, and looked around. Carter wasn’t his daughter, that was Bliss. And his daughter needed him. The Marquis’s senses were starting to return. “I see the young men scattered about. Who are they?”

     “Most of them work for the stable. I asked them to help keep a look-out.”

     The Marquis saw that most of them had weapons, and a couple of them had binoculars. His eyebrows go up, and he bounced a little on his heels. “That is very impressive of you.”

     Carter stepped further off to the side, and pointed with her arm out and away. “They have seen Bliss sitting in the window around the back side of the house. We think she has seen us, but she hasn’t come out.”

     The Marquis looked at Carter knowingly. “Yes. I see.”

     Carter’s aim was to get the Marquis on side, but that seemed almost a little too easy. She had a wary look in her eyes, but she agreed, “Ok. Good.”

     Carter and the Marquis walked together looping far out and around the courtyard. About halfway around, lined up off to the side of the house Carter stopped. She gave the Marquis a shoulder pat of encouragement, and then waved him off the rest of the way on his own. At first, he moved slowly. The snow thankfully dampened his shoes.

But every rustle of the trees, and certainly the pile of bodies he was ignoring off to the side, meant he was making a face like he was walking towards his certain death.

     And then he saw her. Suddenly he had to remind himself not to run. There had been years he had come home to this exactly. Bliss’s sour little face waiting in the window for him to get home from work. Hair a complete mess, and ready to start an unnecessary argument. The Marquis used to drag his heels back then.

Not now, not today. And it all worked just the way everyone had hoped.

     Like a magnet had pulled her, Bliss’s face turned directly to face her father’s outside. Without even a thought, as if she had completely forgotten that the house had gotten up and destroyed so much. Bliss got up and ran out the back door of the house and into her father’s arms. They stayed there, crying, hugging, just existing for minutes.

Finally, Bliss, with her nose full of snot, pulled out of her father’s coat that smelled just like he always did. She choked out, “The house was destroyed and I was so scared dad!”

     The Marquis tucked Bliss’s head back into his shoulder, just like she was five years old again. He smoothed her hair, and soothed her with shushes. He told her, “You are safe. It’s ok. It’s ok.”

     And for a second Bliss accepted the comfort. And then the world crashed back in. She pulls back away, out of her father’s comforting embrace. She wasn’t five years old anymore and things were more complicated than soothing words, unfortunately. Her face showed the hurt of the betrayal, in a way only a parent could see.

     Bliss’s voice cracked, “You were safe. But I wasn’t safe.”

     The Marquis looked like his dinner was bad fish. He tilted his head back, mouth tight. “I am sorry you were chosen darling. You shouldn’t have been doing the ritual at all and you know that.”

The Marquis held his arms out to Bliss. “I am going to protect you now. Ok?”

     Bliss softened. “You want to protect me?”

The Marquis nodded, “Of course I do. I always do.”

But instead of going back to her father, and his open waiting arms, she turned as if she were going back into the house. The Marquis rushed forward to catch her.

“Bliss. Where do you think you are going?”

     Bliss turned back around, hair bouncing, a smile on her face that the Marquis hadn’t seen in a long time. “To get my friends. To tell them we can figure something else out. Right?”

     The Marquis’s eyes flickered towards the pile of destruction that was once his home. And back towards the temple, and the people can he could see dotted around.

     “There is some kind of plan. I don’t know.” He stopped himself, and took hold of Bliss’s hands. “I can protect you, Bliss. Do you understand?”

     Bliss looked down at her father’s hands gripping her own so tightly. Her face showed the weight she was trying to manage. “I don’t know if I could face everybody if my friends died, dad.”

     The Marquis was starting to run out of patience. “I will send you wherever you want, Bliss. Why do you have to negotiate everything?”

     Bliss tried to take a step back but the Marquis still had a solid grip on her hands.

     He tried again. “Be realistic. I can’t imagine you were doing too much to help in there anyway.”

     It was unclear whether he meant just Bliss or any of them. This time Bliss succeeded in pulling her hands away from the Marquis’s.

“Who had a plan?”

The Marquis stayed quiet, lips in a thin line. Unfortunately for him, Carter had stayed closer than he knew. She walked over and declared, “That’s me.”

     Carter told Bliss, “I think you are very brave for going back into the house.”

     Bliss held her hands up, “Do not mistake it, Carter. I am not brave. I am angry and very stupid.”

     The Marquis interjected, “And you are going to risk your life and this town for your anger?”

     Bliss didn’t hesitate. “Yep.”

     The Marquis made a noise somewhere between a growl and a groan. “Fine. Then.”

     And the Marquis left back towards the temple.

     Carter looked at Bliss thoughtfully, “I could make it a little less stupid for you. I also want to help my sister, of course.”

     Bliss raised her eyebrows, “I am listening, but I am not an idiot.”

     Carter nodded. “I need you to find the legs and destroy them. The Marquis has never done something like that.”

     Carter was trying to weigh if she had laid it on too thick, but she has wildly overestimated Bliss’s ability to pay attention. “How are we supposed to find the legs of this thing?”

     Carter looked around. “I don’t know Bliss. I am pretty sure they are somewhere inside. Does the house have a basement?”

     Bliss’s brain finally made it to then end of what Carter had said. “That would be something.”

Hope lit in Carter’s eyes. Bliss nodded slowly back and then turned to go into the house. Carter caught her before she turned too far, and like a true politician shook Bliss’s hand. Again, heavy handed, but potentially effective. Carter was working like a sledgehammer.

     Bliss turned and walked back into the house, murmuring, “Damn,” as she went.