The Beauty Within the Beast

Chapter Eight

Something whizzed past Eleanor’s head, making her bolt out of bed. An arrow thudded into the wall above her.

“Come out and face me, demon-wolf!” a voice bellowed from below her window.

She stepped closer to it, careful to keep low to the ground so the man wouldn’t see, or shoot at her again.

She was dragged backward, Wolfgang’s arms wrapping around her, his hand clamped to her mouth.

“Shh,” he hissed in her ear. He was trembling all over.

He’s afraid.

She shrugged him off.

“Who is that?” she whispered.

“I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure he’s here to kill me.”

For a split second, this possibility thrilled her to her core.

“Why?”

“I don’t know, do I? I probably ate his pet goat or something,” he said, irritated.

“Wolfgang!” the stranger called. “Come outside so I can kill you!”

“Who are you?” he crouched under the windowsill, keeping out of view.

“It’s me, Thaddeus, your long-lost brother,” he laughed, dark and cynical.

Wolfgang’s face lit up for a moment with recognition and surprise.

“Teddy?” he said, quiet and incredulous.

In reply, another arrow came flying towards him, narrowly missing his head as he ducked out of the way.

Wolfgang laughed, his head thrown back and his eyes screwed shut as the sound erupted from his belly.

“You better have something a little scarier than a little bow down there, brother,” he said, lips curled in a mocking smirk.

“Hi, I’m Eleanor,” she interrupted, wanting to be part of it.

He laughed again, loud and harsh and obnoxious.

“You have a girl in there?! What did you do, kidnap her?”

Well. Yes.

“What are you doing here?” Wolfgang asked.

“I told you,” he stood back from the house. Eleanor caught a glimpse of his dark hair and broad shoulders. “I’ve come to kill you.”

“Why?” she wasn’t excited by it anymore. The thought sent waves of panic to her brain. “He’s your brother.”

“I’m here to avenge my sister. He murdered her in cold blood.”

Now Wolfgang was laughing.

“You can’t kill me. You’re human.”

His mouth was twisted in contempt, his eyes filled with savage pride. He was so completely confident in his own power.

“I’ve killed bigger things than you. Lions. Bears.”

Wolfgang sprang to his feet. He stood in the window, his shoulders square, his head high, his wild hair in his raging amber eyes.

“You always talked a big game when we were young, but I beat you every time,” with that he leapt through the window, shifting as he fell, the wolf landing on all fours in front of Thaddeus.

“Wolfgang! No!” Eleanor sprang to her feet and raced downstairs. She threw the front door open.

Wolfgang looked over his shoulder at her and snarled.

Eleanor ignored him. She was too busy staring at the man who stood before them. He was opposite in every possible way to Wolfgang, taller, with short, dark hair and deep brown eyes. He was broader and tanner too.

He wore a fitted leather cycling suit and he had a massive long bow in his hands, a quiver full of arrows strapped to his back.

“Do as he says, Eleanor, go back inside so you won’t get hurt,” he was smiling, and there was an open, earnest expression in his face, belying his violent intent. He looked nothing like the villain she had conjured in her mind.

Wolfgang took his distraction as an opportunity to pounce. He leapt for his brother, his front paws on his shoulders, his jaws open and seeking his throat. They fell to the ground in a heap, rolling over each other, both wrestling for dominance. Eleanor imagined this had happened many times before in their childhood. Except now they were fighting for their lives, and Wolfgang made clear this fact as he clamped his jaws around his brother’s shoulder.

Thaddeus gave an almighty shove upwards with his legs, propelling the wolf over his head. They both sprang to their feet, but Wolfgang didn’t wait for him to compose himself, instead, he disappeared into the trees. Thaddeus wiped his sleeve over his wound, smearing blood all over his jacket.

“Come back here!” he shouted, giving chase.

Eleanor hesitated for a second, then followed.

“Wait! This is ridiculous! You can talk about this. It was an accident, Thaddeus!”

They both ignored her.

Wolfgang ran ahead, easily leaving them behind, an intense air of purpose in the way his ears were flattened to his skull and his head ducked low to the ground. He was leading Thaddeus somewhere.

Eleanor realised with a little pang of pleasant surprise that he was drawing him away from her. But she followed them still, because she couldn’t bear for anything to happen to him.

Thaddeus stopped suddenly; it was all she could do not to crash into him. He pulled an arrow from the quiver, set it against the longbow, drew in a deep, steadying breath, and began to release the bow string.

“No!” Eleanor shouted, diving for him, not caring that she skinned her knees and caked her shins in mud. She knocked the bow aside, sending the arrow hurtling off in the wrong direction.

Wolfgang’s head whipped around to watch it thud into a tree not far away.

Thaddeus was so angry he could only manage a grunt as he shook her off him.

“Stay away,” he hissed. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

He stood up and carried on following Wolfgang.

Eleanor didn’t heed his warning, but slowed down a little. The arrowheads didn’t look particularly inviting.

They came to a clearing, and Wolfgang stopped suddenly and, with a burst of speed, disappeared. Thaddeus walked slowly out of the cover of the trees, into the open.

Wolfgang erupted in his direction, snarling, and knocked him to the ground. He was gone before Thaddeus could get hold of him, darting in and out to snap at his brother’s head, hands, and feet.

He covered his face with his forearms, shielding himself from the wolf’s savage fangs. He flipped onto his stomach, exposing the back of his skull to Wolfgang’s attacks. In one fluid movement, he got up onto one knee, picked up his bow, pulled out an arrow, and shot at him. In the same instant, Wolfgang ran at him, leaping into the air. The arrow sank into his foreleg and he dropped to the ground.

Eleanor let out a strange, strangled, hysterical sound; halfway between a sob and a laugh.

Wolfgang was only hindered for a moment; he yanked the arrow out with his teeth and then hauled himself back to his feet. He faced his brother, baring his teeth and growling, the sound building from deep within his chest.

Thaddeus stood too, clutching his bleeding shoulder, cursing softly under his breath. He backed up quickly, walking backward into the cover of the trees, and preparing to shoot again.

In a moment of frenzied delusion, Eleanor leapt between them, blocking the path of the arrow with her chest. She was thrown backward, landing in Wolfgang’s arms as he shifted. Blood seeped out around the arrowhead.

“Eleanor?” he pulled her top out of the way, his fingers hovering over the shaft, unsure what to do.

“Ouch,” she said, smiling up at him, the colour quickly draining from her face.

“Look what you’ve done,” his voice was a blurred bellow, his eyes flashing, every muscle in his body coiled and ready to strike at his brother.

“I told her to stay away!”

Wolfgang gently lowered Eleanor to the ground and then lunged at Thaddeus. He grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the nearest tree.

“I could end you right now, brother, but I’m not going to, because you are going to take Eleanor to the hospital.”

Thaddeus started to protest, but Wolfgang squeezed harder, cutting off his air supply.

“If you don’t do it, she’ll die. I know that’s not what you want.”

He gave a tight nod.

“Good.” He released him slowly, not yet certain he could be trusted.

“Did you come here in a car?” Wolfgang asked as they both walked back to Eleanor. Her head was dropped limply to the side, her mouth hung open. She had passed out from the pain.

Thaddeus nodded as he crouched at her side and reached for the arrow shaft.

“No!” Wolfgang yanked his arm away. “We have to leave it in. It’s stopping her from bleeding out.”

“My car is about a 10-minute walk away. I don’t think we should carry her that far. It might make her worse.”

“We don’t have any choice. We can’t call an ambulance. It’ll take even longer.”

Thaddeus suspected that even if an ambulance was a viable option, he wouldn’t want any outsiders near his home.

“We should lay her on something flat and strap her to it then.”

Wolfgang nodded and disappeared. He came back moments later, now wearing his coat, and dragging the shed door behind him. He slipped his arms under Eleanor’s shoulders, and with Thaddeus’s help, they carefully slid her onto the door. Wolfgang tied her to it with the rope he’d pulled out from his pocket.

They lifted her into the air and carried her above their heads, through the forest, and to the car. They balanced the door across the back seats, holding it in place by wrapping the seatbelts awkwardly around it.

“Drive extremely carefully,” Wolfgang said. “If anything happens to her, I will never forgive you.”

“Well, I guess we’d be even then, wouldn’t we?” Thaddeus scowled at him.

“I know you don’t want innocent blood on your hands.”

He nodded tightly, refusing to meet his brother’s eye. Undoubtedly, he had seen what would happen to him if he didn’t comply. Wolfgang had been toying with him the entire time, he could’ve easily destroyed him without a second thought.

Thaddeus got into the front seat and started the engine. Wolfgang bent down to plant a tiny, tender kiss on Eleanor’s cheek. She stirred a little, but her wide eyes didn’t open to stare back into his. He wished they would.

Wolfgang closed the car door, and without a backward glance, Thaddeus drove off.

***

“Why is there an arrow in her collarbone?” the paramedic asked.

“Umm…it was an archery accident?” Thaddeus looked around wildly, searching for a believable excuse. His face was flushed and his hands were shaking.

“OK, we’ll take her through to the emergency room if you want to follow us?” the man glanced up at him for confirmation, but Thaddeus was already gone.

***

Eleanor’s eyes opened, and then immediately screwed shut again as the bright lights burned into her pupils.

“Where am I?” her voice wasn’t much more than a hoarse whisper.

“Hello, Eleanor. You’re in the hospital,” she didn’t recognise whoever had spoken.

Then she remembered.

“Wolfgang?” she asked, panic rising in her chest.

“Your friend didn’t stick around to see if you’d be OK. Which is pretty inconvenient because the police wanted to speak to him.”

“Police? Why?”

“Just to make sure it was actually an accident.”

Eleanor opened her eyes again, blinking rapidly to help them adjust. It took a moment for her to realise what the nurse meant.

“It definitely was an accident,” she said. “I don’t want to press charges, so the police don’t need to speak to him.”

The nurse scribbled something on the notepad in her hand.

“Ok. You need to stay overnight for observations but everything went well with the surgery to repair your clavicle.”

Eleanor wasn’t really taking in anything she was saying. All she could think about was Wolfgang.

“Can I just have your surname? Your friend didn’t seem to know it and we need it so we can access your records. Also, what is your home address? We need to know where we are discharging you to.”

She looked up at the nurse, her brows pulling together. She shook her head to clear her mind and opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out for a moment.

The nurse laughed a little, almost as if she was nervous.

“My surname is Fynn,” Eleanor said, at last, her cheeks flushing slightly.

“Ok. I’ll be back in a minute. If you need anything before I get back, you can press this red button.”

Eleanor nodded, already turning away to lie down.

By the time the nurse returned, Eleanor had dozed off.

“We called your next of kin,” she said as she bustled in, rousing her from her nap. “So your parents are on their way.”

Eleanor groaned, rolling over to face her.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”

Inwardly, she rolled her eyes.

Obviously.

“That’s OK,” she said, although the polite smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“Here’s your pain meds. I’ll leave you to sleep until your parents get here.”

***

“Hey El,” her mum’s voice woke her. She stirred, groaning softly, and sat up.

“Oh, hi mum,” her words were still slurred by sleep.

“Are you OK?” she asked, and Eleanor’s eyes began to sting. Her throat was suddenly tight; she swallowed hard as her eyes filled with tears.

It surprised her; how much she’d actually missed her mum. Instinctively, she leaned into her, burying her face in the crook of her neck. Her mum wrapped her arms around her, a little too hard, making her wince audibly. Eleanor felt the slight curve of her belly press against hers.

“Sorry, honey,” she said, loosening her grip.

“That’s OK.”

“What happened to you? Where have you been all this time?” she still hadn’t let go of her completely.

“I was staying at a friend’s. It was an accident.”

“What friend? Do I know her?”

“His name is Wolfgang. You don’t know him.”

Her mum’s face screwed up, her brows pulled together.

“You were staying alone with a strange man?”

Eleanor pulled away from her, rolling her eyes.

“I’m an adult Mum, I think I can keep myself safe from strange men.”

It wasn’t till that moment that she noticed Alex and Luke standing behind the bed. Luke’s eyes were fixed firmly on his feet.

“Well, you don’t need to go back there,” Erin said. “You can come home with us, can’t she, Alex?” she looked round at him, as if she needed his approval.

“No thank you, Mum,” Eleanor said. “You guys don’t have enough space for me, and Wolfgang is giving me a place to stay in exchange for some help around his place, so I’m basically working now,” she could feel herself rambling but she couldn’t seem to stop. Really, she was just angry that her own mother had to ask for permission to let her come back to her own house. She’d lived there longer than he had.

The nurse was back, hovering behind them and waiting for a chance to speak.

“She is being discharged in the morning. As long as she rests and doesn’t re-injure herself, she will be fine.”

“Well, they can’t discharge you to a stranger's house, especially since he isn’t here to tell us he’ll look after you while you recover.”

Eleanor opened her mouth to defend him, but no words came out.

She’s not wrong.

“You can come home with me,” Luke’s voice piped up from the corner.

Alex snorted.

“Don’t you still live with your parents?” he asked.

Erin shot him a withering glare.

“Yes,” Luke slid over to the bed, avoiding eye contact. “But they’re away on a week’s holiday, they won’t mind.”

“Are you sure Luke?” Erin asked, not bothering to check if Eleanor was OK with it first.

She didn’t even know what to say, her entire body ached and her vision was beginning to swim in a dangerous, sickening way. Her eyes closed and she let her head fall back onto the pillow, taking her body with it. Someone asked if she’d passed out but she ignored them, their voices gradually fading away as she fell back asleep.

***

When Eleanor woke, her Mum was sitting by the hospital bed in the same clothes as before,

“How long was I asleep?” she asked.

“Oh only a few hours,” said Beth, looking up from her phone. “Luke and Alex left though.”

“Where’s Susie? Can I see her?”

She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes, and Eleanor saw for the first time how tired they were.

“Of course, you can, El. I’ll ask Alex to bring her after dinner when he comes to pick me up.”

Panic rose in her chest and filled her head.

“You’re not staying overnight with me?”

For some reason, the thought terrified her.

Her Mum laughed, and it was slightly harsher than she probably meant it to be.

“You’re not a kid anymore, El. They won’t let me stay here with you. I’ll be back to pick you up and take you to Luke’s tomorrow.”

Eleanor scowled.

“I didn’t agree to that.”

“Yes, well, your friend isn’t here to take you back to his, is he? If he really cared, wouldn’t he have come to the hospital with you? I would’ve thought he’d want to be here to make sure nothing serious had happened.”

“I broke my collarbone,” she said, rolling her eyes to mask the pinprick of tears. “I’d say that was pretty serious Mum.”

Why is it so impossible to think someone actually cares about me? But he isn’t here, and he probably doesn’t even care.

Beth laughed lightly.

“You know what I mean.”

She turned back to her phone, typing what Eleanor could only assume was a text to Alex.

Eleanor settled back down in her bed to wait for Susie to come. She noticed a phone on the bedside table, and picking it up, realised it was hers. Wolfgang must have made sure it was with her when she was brought to the hospital. She switched it on, half hoping that a message or missed call would be waiting for her.

Idiot, you know he doesn’t have a phone.

She sighed, swallowing her disappointment, and sank further down into the bed, wishing she could drown her feelings in the covers.

A nurse pushed aside the curtains, pulling a cart behind him.

“Dinner time,” she said, smiling in a falsely cheerful way that made Eleanor feel even more miserable.

“I’m not hungry.”

Her mother finally looked up from her phone.

“Eleanor,” she said, her brows furrowed, making her look older than she remembered. “You need to eat.”

“Did you forget? I’m not a kid anymore. You can’t make me eat if I don’t want to.”

The nurse pressed his lips together, his eyes darting between them, and quickly placed the tray of food on her bedside table.

“It’s there if you change your mind dear,” he said and scurried away before the conversation got any more heated.

Beth stood up.

“I don’t understand what I’ve done to you, El. You’re so angry with me all the time. I’m just trying to help,” her voice was a little rough like maybe she might start to cry.

“I’m not angry-“

“You are though El, all the time. You were gone for weeks and you never called. I was so worried about you. I didn’t know what had happened. I even called the police but they didn’t take it seriously because I told you to move out,” her eyes glistened, but still, Eleanor didn’t feel bad.

“They weren’t wrong though, mum; you did tell me to leave,” she said, unable to hide the hard edge in her tone.

“Yes, but you have to understand, I was in an impossible situation. I know you don’t agree with my decision, but it doesn’t mean you should stop calling, we’re still your family.”

“You weren’t acting like family.”

Now it was Beth’s turn to be angry.

“What does that mean? Of course, we’re your family. We raised you, didn’t we?”

Eleanor’s throat closed up and her eyes began to burn.

“You abandoned me, Mum! Just like Dad did!” she blurted out as tears spilled down her cheeks.

Her Mum's mouth closed, she had nothing to say.

“I’m sorry baby,” she whispered, holding her arms out to Eleanor. She slid off the bed and let herself be wrapped up in a hug, burying her face in her mum’s jumper.

At that moment, Alex walked in holding Susie’s hand. Beth let go of Eleanor as she pulled towards her little sister.

“Hi baby,” she cooed, a smile instantly erupting across her damp face.

“Ellie!” Susie’s small chubby hands reached for her face, squishing the tears into her cheeks.

“How have you been?” Eleanor asked, in a slow, sing-song tone. “Aww, I missed you, Susie,” she pulled her onto her lap with one hand, wincing as she involuntarily moved her arm in the sling.

“You OK Ellie?” she asked, a worried pout pulling at her mouth and brows.

“I hurt myself, but I’ll be alright, don’t worry,” she smiled brightly, but there was a heaviness inside her that hadn’t been there before.

“You come home now?” Susie asked.

"No baby, not yet, but soon, ok?" Eleanor lied, feeling the tears threatening again. She cleared her throat and tried to smile. "I love you, Susie." She planted a kiss on her soft, chubby cheek and handed her back to Alex.

"I'm going to stay at Luke's house tonight, and then tomorrow you can come and see me, okay?"

Susie nodded.

"I miss you, Ellie."

"I miss you too, baby."

"Come, Susie, time to go," Alex said. "Say goodbye."

"Bye Ellie," Susie leaned forward to wave. Eleanor blew her a kiss and watched as her family walked out of the ward.

"Goodbye," she whispered, her voice choked and hoarse.

"Are you alright, dear?" The nurse was back again.

Eleanor looked up at him, blinking hard. She nodded and smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. He handed her a tissue and patted her hand.

"Would you like something to help you sleep?" he asked.

"Please," she said, not caring if it was a good idea.

He went to the medication cabinet and took out a small bottle.

"These will help you get some rest if you take two now."

"Thank you," she said. He smiled and left.

Eleanor popped the cap open and tipped two pills into her palm. She swallowed them dry and lay back down on the bed. It didn't take long before her mind began to grow foggy and her limbs became heavy.

As she drifted off to sleep, her thoughts were on Wolfgang.

***