Epilogue

Kenton angrily tossed his coat and hat at his servant. “Leave me! I don’t wish to be disturbed tonight.” He waited until the servant had scurried from the room, before moving into his shadowed bedchamber and locking the door behind him.

“Kenton, I am disappointed,” a rasping voice, that was painful to the ears, spoke from the bed.

The councilor felt his blood freeze. He dropped to his knees and crawled to the bed. His voice was a pleading whine. “Master, I tried my best to see that he was held responsible. I…”

“No, Kenton, I’m disappointed that you tried to harm him. I am the only one that may punish my brother. The likes of you are not worthy to touch him.”

Kenton shivered and cringed. “I am sorry, Master. I did not realize.”

A hand, heavily bandaged, reached from the depths of the bed to caress his head. The man shivered in pleasure at the contact. “It’s alright, my pet. I have not been in a proper state to guide you. But you must be careful. We would not want anyone to connect your approval of the Dampier construction to me before I am recovered enough to defend myself, now would we?”

“No, Master,” he murmured, panting as his master’s light touch sent pleasure coursing through him. No Hedgewitch whore had ever made him feel so good as a single caress from his master. It was more addicting than spice, and Kenton would do anything to experience the euphoric sensation. “What will we do when you are recovered, Master? Will we begin gathering again for the god?”

A grating chuckle rose from the shadows. “I don’t repeat failure, pet …but then this wasn’t a complete failure.” Kenton looked up to his master, and shivered to see the pale glow of witchfire where his eyes should be. For a moment he felt bile rise, knowing the horror of what was left of his master, and the elated feeling faded. But a moment later, his master’s hand was again upon him, and the doubts faded into a moan of pleasure.

“No, not a failure at all,” the croaking voice mused, as he absently bound his servant’s will ever tighter. “I know the gods are real.” A smile cracked the blackened lips of the thing in the bed. “And I know they can be controlled.” He tilted Kenton’s head up to see his pleasure-fogged eyes. “If the gods above and the gods below are real, then the god that walks the earth should be just as real. Oh, my pet, I have quite a quest on my hands. As soon as I am well enough, the search will begin. There is great fun ahead.” He felt a twinge of desire and anticipation at the thought, and instinctively reached for his brother’s mind, but was stopped short with a hiss of pain. He was still too badly damaged to reach out. He sighed. “Soon enough. He will suffer. She will suffer. And they will both be mine.”

He glanced at his servant, and saw that he was now fully lost to the desire that had been stirred in him. “But first I need to get well enough, don’t I pet?” The servant groaned in agreement. He lowered his voice, annoyed that he could not yet create the purr with which he had entranced so many, but the man was already so closely bound that he did not require the subtler persuasion. “Help me get well, my pet, and I will cherish you beyond all others.” The man eagerly climber onto the bed, like a dog whose master had finally given him the freedom to go where he was not normally allowed.

Night smiled as the man’s lips descended on his own. Clamping his bandaged and skeletal hands behind the man’s head, he held him there as he drank deeply from his life force. By the time they were finished tonight, he should have completed the major internal healing. The servant would not last much beyond a few more weeks, but by then he should have enough repairs completed to leave Bedlam. Once that was done it would be simple enough to find others to replenish him. The magic would take the longest to repair. He may need as many as a dozen lives to bring it back to a reasonable level. But he was not concerned with the time this would take. He would spend it productively by beginning his search, and rebuilding his followers. And in the end, he would come back stronger. And he would take them, his darling brother and his beautiful witch. They would be his.

A/N: So as you can probably guess from this, there will be sequels!! Yay!! Cue the death threats. There will be a total of two sequels. They were a possibility from early on, but they were supposed to be optional, until Nigel turned into such a great villain, and demanded that he be allowed to come back and wreak more havoc. I’m sorry, especially as I don’t really plan on working on these right away. Sadly enough the third book is more developed than the second book, but the second one is actually beginning to take shape in my head. Also I would like to try writing some of the other stories running around in my brain. But I’m thinking I’ll try writing a couple stories at the same time, because outside of busy-ness, lack of motivation has also kept me from writing at times. So if I’m working on more than one, I can switch off as I lose interest, and thus take a break when I need one. If you’re interested, please check out whatever I decide to start. If not, keep an eye out for the Bedlam sequels. If you let me know, that you want to know, I’ll send you a message when I finally do post them…so you’ll, you know, know. (Did that make sense? :) )

Anyway, I would just like to thank all the people who have ever reviewed Bedlam, for providing me with so much inspiration and pleasure. And I would like to send a special thank you to those who have stuck with it. Your kind words, care, and interest have meant so much to me. This is the first novel-sized story I’ve finished, and you are a big part of the reason I persevered and did so. Thank you.

Wildrook.