He downed the glass of Midnight she handed him, and then she practically pushed him into the bed. "No arguing. Sleep."
Cory wanted to go check on his father. He wanted to thank Raven and Marcello, but as soon as his head hit the pillow, he felt the tiredness overtake him. He lay with his arms around Maddie and fell into a deep sleep. Theresa watched as his body took over to heal itself, and then exited the room.
***
Kate looked up to see Lorenzo still standing in the doorway, wide-eyed. "It's okay, Lorenzo. Daddy’s okay, and Cory and Madison are safe."
The child nodded his head.
"Go to Gita, please. I need to take care of Daddy."
As Lorenzo turned to leave, Kate laid against Shade's chest as his arms surrounded her. "Come with me."
She led him to their bathroom where she stripped him from his leathers and removed the blood-caked boots from his feet. Shedding her own clothes, she stepped with him into the shower, as the hot water cascaded over them both. Her hands washed him, as he bent his head to her and fed.
98
Madison had lost track of time. She lay curled up in a ball in the safe haven of Cory's bed. He’d stayed by her side, brought her food and drink, and soothed her each time she woke in a panic. She slept sporadically, but every time she slept, she dreamt, and in her dreams, she felt the fangs of that monster at her neck, she saw the carnage left by Cory's father as he ripped that monster apart and the room was splattered in blood. She’d never seen so much blood. Her last memory was of the severed head landing only inches from her face, those dead eyes staring into hers, right before the large black bird plucked out the dead man’s eye. She couldn’t remember much after that. She couldn’t remember coming back here to Bel Rosso.
Kate checked on her periodically, but Madison wasn’t ready to talk, and always pretended to be asleep when Kate entered the room. She felt Kate’s hand stroking her back, brushing her hair away from her face, her voice soft as a whisper, encouraging her to come back to them. It only made her retreat more deeply into herself, and she wondered if she’d ever want to leave the safety of this room.
Cory had healed from the ordeal. It was slow, but his dad's blood had helped the progress. His heart was breaking for Madison. The terror she felt after everything she’d witnessed had traumatized her, and now, he couldn’t reach her. She responded to no one but him, and even he was limited in his abilities to pull her back. She never left his bed, and he’d stayed close to her side. He held her when she woke in panic attacks, dreaming of the kidnapping.
Madison made a small moan, and he gently pushed back the hair from her face. "It's okay, Maddie. I’m right here, everything’s fine, you’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you."
He looked at her haggard appearance. He’d bathed her every night as she just stared blankly ahead, and then returned to his bed. He was scared for her mental health but had no idea how to reach her. Rubbing her back and massaging her shoulders, he watched as she sank back into her stupor, curled up like a baby in the womb.
Creeping slowly from the room, he went down to the kitchen to retrieve some hot soup and a drink for her. His mind was whirling, he’d not been sleeping much either.
Looking up as he entered the kitchen, Shannon was fixing herself a cup of coffee. "How's Madison today? Any change?"
His hair was a tangled mess, and Cory pushed it out of his eyes, his voice sounding hollow as he answered in a monotone. "No change."
Shannon took a sip from the steaming cup of coffee, and then blew on it to cool it down. "No offense, but you look like shit, Cory. Do you want me to talk to her? Kate says she’s unresponsive. Does she talk to you at all?"
He sighed. At this point, he’d try anything to get her to talk. "She wakes in a panic. I bathe her, I have to feed her. She stares at nothing, she doesn’t see me. I’m losing her, and in the process, losing myself. No mortal should have seen what she saw or experienced the hell that bastard inflicted on her. I just want her to respond to something, anything!"
Shannon set the mug on the counter and put her arms around him. “Listen. Why don't you go to Luca's suite, take a shower in there, and then get something to eat for yourself. You're no good to her if you fall apart too. In the meantime, I'll go talk to her, okay?"
Hanging his head, his voice sounded low and defeated, "You know, even if she comes out of this, Maddie may want to leave me. I don’t want to go on without her. She was learning to understand our world, and now, look at her. This isn’t fair."
Shannon guided him in the direction of Luca’s suite. He moved like his shoes were weighted down with lead. He wanted to scream, hit something, but knew that wasn’t going to fix anything. He was lost too.
Leaving him to shower, Shannon took a deep breath before heading up the two flights of stairs to Cory's suites. The rooms had a stale smell to them. She pulled back the drapes to let in the sun, and even though it was cold out, she cracked open the windows to let in some fresh air. She looked around at the dishes Cory had piled on the coffee table and shook her head. Calling to Emma, she asked her to come in and get the rooms cleaned up.
Emma rushed in with maximum efficiency and started to clean the rooms.
Shannon took advantage of her help, asking for her assistance to change the bed linens. "Let's get her bed changed while you're here."
Emma nodded and scurried off to get fresh linens. Shannon entered the dark bedroom and opened the drapes, cracking open those windows as well. She heard a disgruntled moan from Madison, as she lay with the covers pulled over her head. Shannon sat down on the side of the bed and gently drew back the blankets, exposing the young girl’s face. Madison still looked pale and had dark circles under her eyes. Shannon stroked her face but spoke with authority, “Okay, girl, here's how this is going down. You're going to get up and walk with me to the bathroom, where you're going to take a shower. And while you're doing that, Emma is going to get this bed changed. Understood?"
Madison looked back at her with pale eyes and nodded.
"Good, come on." Helping her from the bed, Shannon led her to the bathroom as Emma rushed in behind them. Shannon turned to Emma, "And bring us some coffee when you finish with the bed please, Emma."
Shannon guided the young girl into the shower and turned on the steaming hot tap. She helped her lather up and washed her hair. "We're washing him away, Maddie, all of it. Right down the drain. Max can't hurt you now, understand?"
Madison didn’t answer but looked back at her, and that was a start. Shannon helped her from the shower and dried her off briskly, stimulating her skin, helping to get her circulation going again. She pulled a comb through her wet hair, and then used a hair dryer to blow out her golden locks, letting them dry into their natural waves and ringlets. "There, you look better already. Now, come with me."
As they returned to the bedroom, the bed had been made with all fresh linens and blankets, the room dusted and vacuumed. The pillows were stacked against the headboard and Shannon pulled back the covers for her. "Sit up in bed."
Madison did as she was told and climbed back in the bed, resting her back against the stack of pillows. Shannon handed Madison a hot mug of coffee from the tray left at the bedside and took one for herself.