In Death 09 - Loyalty in Death

stop.
    But it didn't, it only changed, with the sounds of Clarissa weeping, then pleading. He was raping her now, there was no way to mistake those sounds.
    Zeke caught himself at the foot of the steps, shocked to find his hand curled around the haft of a hammer. The blood was roaring violently in his ears.
    My God, dear God, what was he doing?
    Even as he set the hammer aside with a shaky hand, the sounds quieted. There was only weeping now. Slowly, Zeke climbed the steps.
    It had to stop. Someone had to stop it. But he would face Branson empty-handed, and as a man.
    He walked through the kitchen. Neither of the two remote domestics who worked there paid any attention to him. He moved into the wide hallway beyond, past the beautiful rooms and toward the sweep of floating stairs.
    Perhaps he had no right to intrude, he thought, but no one, no one had a right to treat another human being as Clarissa was being treated.
    He moved down the hallway to the right, judging which room would be directly over the workshop. The door was ajar; he could hear her crying inside. Placing his fingertips against the polished wood, he eased it open. And saw her curled on the bed, her naked body already blooming with bruises.
    "Clarissa?"
    Her head came up, eyes wide, and her swollen lips trembled. "Oh God. No, no, I don't want you to see me like this. Go away."
    "Where is he?"
    "I don't know. Gone. Oh please, please." She pressed her face to the tangled sheets.
    "He can't be. I just came up the front stairs."
    "The side entrance. He uses the side. He's gone, already gone. Thank God. If he'd seen you come up..."
    "This has to stop." He came to the bed, gently untangled a sheet, and draped it over her. "You can't let him hurt you this way."
    "He doesn't mean -- He's my husband." She let out a sigh that ripped at Zeke's heart. It was so hopeless. "I have no place to go. No one to go to. He wouldn't have to hurt me if I wasn't so slow and stupid. If I'd just do what he says. If I -- "
    "Stop that." It came out sharper than he'd intended, and when he laid a hand on her shoulder, she flinched. "What happened here wasn't your fault, it was his."
    She needed counseling, he thought. She needed cleansing. A safe place to stay. Both her body and her self-esteem had been battered, and such things harmed the soul. "I want to help you. I can take you away from here. You can stay at my sister's until you decide what to do. There are programs, people you can talk to. The police," he added. "You need to file charges."
    "No. No police!" She gathered the sheet close and struggled up. Her dark violet eyes were brilliant with fear. "He'd kill me if I did. And he knows people on the force. High-up people. I can never call the police."
    She'd begun to tremble, so he soothed. "That's not important now. Let me help you get dressed. Let me take you to a healer -- the doctor," he corrected, remembering where he was. "Then we'll talk about what's next."
    "Oh, Zeke." Her breath shuddered out as she lay her head on his shoulder. "There is no next. Don't you see this is it for me? He'll never let me go. He's told me. He's told me what he'd do to me if I try to leave. I'm just not strong enough to fight him."
    He slipped his arms around her, rocked her. "I am."
    "You're so young." She shook her head. "I'm not."
    "That's not true. You feel helpless because you've been alone. You're not alone now. I'll help you. My family will."
    He brushed at her loose and tangled hair, cloud soft under his hand. "At home, my home," he said, keeping his voice a reassuring murmur. "It's peaceful. Remember how big and open and quiet the desert is? You can heal there."
    "I was almost happy for those few days. All that space. The stars. You. If I believed there was a chance -- "
    "Give me the chance." Gently, he tipped her face back. The bruises on her face nearly broke his heart. "I love you."
    Tears swam into her eyes. "You can't. You don't know what I've done."
    "Nothing he's made you do counts. And it doesn't matter what I feel, but what you need. You can't stay with him."
    "I can't drag you into this, Zeke. It's wrong."
    "I won't leave you." He pressed his mouth to her hair. "When you're safe, if you want me to go, I will. But not until you're safe."
    "Safe." She barely breathed the word. "I stopped believing I could be safe. If there's a chance..." She drew back, looked into his eyes. "I need time to think."
    "Clarissa -- "
    "I have to be sure I can go through with it. I have to have