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| Constable Gregory Reigns investigates a crime |
A shadow of darkness gloomed over the island of Welshport like a menacing fog as the authorities, lead by the new constable of the island Gregory Reigns, swarmed the Village Park in the center of Welshport Village where gunshots were heard in the darkness of night by neighbors.
There they found the dead body of Christian Evans and Jacob Lord--still alive--but barely.
"Get this one to the hospital." Gregory ordered as two firemen dressed in thick black suits with red and yellow trim quickly lifted Jacob onto a gurney and into a hospital patty-wagon and rushed him off the near by Welshport Hope Hospital.
Gregory then knelt down and observed the bullet ridden body of the man he replaced as constable, Christian. Christian looked strange to Gregory. Stranger than any other body he had seen over the years as a sergeant of the law in Philadelphia.
Christian's face seemed twisted and tired. His lips looked cracked and dried as if he hadn't had a drip of water in days. He had lost some weight, his bones were quite visible at his neck and chest.
"What is it, sir?" A police man asked standing over Gregory.
Gregory shook his head unsure where Christian's life went wrong. His mind had started to falter shortly after his affair with Evie when they all thought Sebastian was dead. He was losing his grip on reality which was the reason he was replaced as Constable.
"He's been through a lot. I don't really know what got him to this place in life but...he's clearly had life kick the shit out of him And now, to die by gun. What a mess." Gregory noted. "I want you to note in the record of his body, the manner of it's disposition. Sickly. Warn down. Fragile even. Mark down that I personally mentioned he looked this way." Gregory again noted.
What Gregory Reins didn't know was that Christian's body had been under a battery of medical tests and torture at the hands of Dr. Andrew Kim for weeks. Kim saw an opportunity to use Christian's fractured mind when Christian was taken to Windcliff. Kim forced the former constable's mind into an ever darker place than it was; his body into a powerful maw of darkness and sinister murderous thoughts thanks to the brainwashing and cellular deconstruction of the experiment with the tissues of a former patient known as the Cannibal. And now, the poor man lay dead on the cold cobblestone pathways of Village Park.
****
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| Filipe’s dream takes him the depths of the sea |
Asleep in his bed, Filipe Braga's face winced in pain, but it was not pain that he felt physically. It was mental. In his mind, thanks to the sweeping horror that was the coming nightmare.
He lay there, the golden brown skin tone of his torso melting into the pure white of the sheets like caramel oozing into smooth vanilla. There were beads of sweat sparkling at his forehead slowly slipping off and pooling on to the soft pillow.
In his mind he was dressed the same, shirtless, house shoes and his favorite linen pants that he slept in. But he was awake and searching for something in the darkness of a room or a hall. There was no sound in this dream, in fact it almost seemed as if he were under water. He shouted out for someone and no one replied to his soundless yelp. And then, he began to float. His pants inflated and he noticed shining of light from a surface above him.
In his mind, he was indeed underwater. And drowning.
He began to try and move but he just floated in the darkness of this strange black glob of water. He attempted to shake himself free, to yank his strong body out of the water that locked him in place suspending in the murkiness of his nightmare.
There was a some sort of light fluttering about him. Something swimming. Something circling him with scales that hit the light in translucent tones of green and blue. He could see it, whatever it was, a creature of the sea floating in the black water of the bog he was in.
Filipe reached for the creature, it's face turned and it was clearly a woman's face. Some type of female with hair floating in this invisible water but then in the fractals of light coming from the surface a disembodied arm latched on to Filipe's extended arm, but did not pull him up at first. The arm released it's grip on Filipe's arm and reached down and grasped his head. All five large fingers gripping on to Filipe's scull like a man holding an orb of flesh and bones. The arm from the surface pushed Filipe deeper in the dark water pushing him deeper and deeper to his death.
And with the quickness that the switch from arm to head happened, the arm switch ideas and again latched on to Filipe extended arm and yanked him out of the black water onto an invisible shore.
Filipe, still in this nightmare of drowning in darkness, coughed up water and vomit onto the invisible surface. He was soaking wet still in his pajama bottoms. This invisible shore, created by Filipe's dream absorbed his vomit and spit-up. It vanished before his eyes and when he turned over to see who saved him. the shock almost killed him ---it was Sebastian Lord. His friend. His blood brother. His savoir. His terror.
"Sebastian." Filipe said, as his own voice echoed in the chamber of his dream.
"You were such a good friend to me." Sebastian said in a cold voice. "But you've abandoned me. You left me to the darkness just like everyone else."
"NO! Sebastian I didn't. I didn't abandon you. I've had to be sure that everyone was safe in your wake. There was so much to handle while you were ... I don't know what you were... brought back to life in this form. I had to watch and help---" Filipe said before being interrupted.
"LIES!" Sebastian shouted as he dropped to one knee to face Filipe eye to eye. "I was left in a cold grave to rise again and you did nothing but move people whom I love around and around this cursed island hiding them from me. I needed them. I needed all of them and you hid. You kept me at bay, I know that now. I know where your loyalties lie, and they are not with me."
"That's true Sebastian. I was protecting people from---"
"FROM WHAT!?!" Sebastian growled, his teeth beginning to peek out from under his top lip, his eyes were cold and black, Filipe backed away.
"From what Eliza did to you. What she did to us. My blood was used to create you, we are apart of each other. You must remember that. I have been spending day in and day out protecting those you love from this... this person you are today. The change, it's not the Sebastian they knew. I didn't want them to see this version of you." Filipe explained.
Sebastian moved closer to Filipe on all fours like a black cat hunting, he was purring like a cat, his eyes flashed from white to yellow and he was licking his lips getting closer and closer to his old friend.
"This 'version' of me is the ultimate version. The only version that needs to be known and seen and now and forever shall be who I am. There is no way out for me. For us." Sebastian's said in the most sinister way possible.
Filipe began to back away when suddenly his old friend, the friend he knew since he was a child hissed like a crazed animal and lunged at Filipe's neck ready to bite and drink his blood. Filipe screamed and saw that in the background of the blackness of his dream he saw the sea-creature rise out of the water and pull on Sebastian's leg backwards away from Filipe but Sebastian latched on to Filipe's arm and scratched his way down causing blood to pour out.
Filipe screamed in pain and suddenly he was awake in bed.
Alone.
He was breathing heavily. Sweating. A pool of sweat formed in the indention at his neck just above his collar bone.
Filipe looked to his left and saw that Celeste was not in bed. He got up and went down the hallway following the candle light where he found Celeste at the kitchen table writing out notes to a telegram.
"Celeste?" Filipe asked, startling her in the seat.
She shifted her body weight away from him so he could not see the growing baby in her belly.
"My god, you're covered in sweat! Are you sick?" She asked jumping up from the table and purposefully making her night gown flow out so that her bady was again camouflaged.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I just had a really horrible dream that's all. What are you doing up so late?" Filipe asked looking at the cuckoo-clock on the wall.
"I was writing a letter---a telegram. To my brother Johnathon." She said.
"Now? So late?"
"I couldn't sleep and was thinking about him and had to get this on paper before I forgot or put it off. You know I haven't seen him in so long that I thought it was now or never. Please go, back to bed, I'll be in in just a moment." She said putting his hands on his warm naked shoulders.
"Are you ok?" Filipe asked, noticing she was quite pushy to get him back into the room.
"Of course! I am! It's just this thing with my brother has been on my mind lately and I really need to get a hold of him." Celeste said not mentioning that she was summoning her brother Johnathon to tell him the truth about his paternity, once an for all.
Filipe smiled at his beautiful partner and kissed her on the lips. She felt the love he had for her flow into her like an elixir of powerful passion that only he could give her. She loved him in return but the secrets she held inside of her, both figuratively and literally burned like wild fire in her mind.
She loved Filipe more than anything but she had to handle things with the Lords one at a time, without Filipe knowing.
Filipe returned to his room and sat on the side of the bed. He reached over to a side table and opened the top drawer and removed a white folded handkerchief and wiped down his torso from all the nightmare's sweat. The room's atmosphere was heavy, the air thick with perfumes of the evening seeping in through the window.
When he went to the window to open it and let in a gulp of fresh air.
He thought of the nightmare again and he thought of the strange sea creature that saved him from Sebastian's grasp.
"God help me." he whispered to himself as the night fog crept along the cobble stone streets of the Village outside.
****
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| Charlotte waits while Rebecca prays in the chapel |
In a candlelit chapel deep in the center of Tirymor House as the clock struck the midnight hour, Rebecca Lord knelt on an ornately carved kneeler with a red velvet pad hidden under her overflowing black dress. Her back curved over the kneeler, her mind deep in prayer as the her rosary beads clicked away in her boney and feminine hands.
Her lips mouthed prayers in silence as the flickering light of the candles lit her in an orange glow.
Rebecca was praying for her son Jacob who had caused a horror scene at dinner that night and attacked Evie when all his secrets were revealed. He felt cornered, Rebecca thought, like the walls were closing in on him.
She didn't yet know of the scene at the park.
She prayed for Sebastian too. And for Evie who was nursing a cut to the neck from the knife Jacob held to her throat. She rolled the beads in her hands and began to pray for Charlotte, her sweet 11 year old granddaughter who just happened to be standing in the doorway of the Tirymor Chapel.
As Rebecca prayed with her eyes closed, she began to see dark spots come together and make a large black blob in her mind. She ignored it, continued to pray as the candles flickered in their glowing orange light and then then dark blob of black in Rebecca's mind formed the body and the frame of her son Jacob. He looked at her. He was crying, he was screaming then he fell to the ground into a puff of smoke.
Rebecca gasped and opened her eyes just as before but one of the candles had been extinguished and the smoke was floating above the blackened wick.
"Grandmother." A sweet voice from the chapel doorway spoke. It was Charlotte.
"What are you doing out of bed, darling. It's late." Rebecca said ushering her granddaughter into the chapel and into her arms.
"Are you praying?" Charlotte asked.
"Yes." Rebecca said cuddling her granddaughter.
"Are you praying for daddy?" She asked sweetly of Jacob who had caused such a terrible scene just hours before when all his lies were exposed when Sebastian and Evie returned.
Rebecca nodded her head confirming who she was praying for.
"Daddy did terrible things grandmother, terrible. I wish he was different. I wish he was nicer. I wish he had never done what he did. He hurt Sebastian and Evie so much." The young lord heiress said looking down at the marble floor shyly.
"I know my love. I know. He'll have to come to terms with what he did in his own time. And when he does we will love him just the same. On the bright side Sebastian and Evie are home. They're safe now" Rebecca added, showing her maternal.
"I missed Sebastian. It was like he vanished then came home and everything has a chance of being back to normal again. When he was gone, I ... I don't know. I was less happy, I want to be happy again." Charlotte said.
"You love him, I know." Rebecca smiled.
"Do you think he missed me?" Charlotte wondered, her blue eyes sparkling.
"How could he not? You're the love of his life, my dear. Sebastian adores you. He always has. When you were just a baby, and your daddy brought you home, Sebastian was just a boy of 16. He cuddled you and kissed you so! He always wanted a sibling and since his mama was no longer with us, somehow, god provided him you. It was like a dream come true for him." Rebecca explained.
"REALLY?" Charlotte exclaimed glowing as the spirit of Sebastian's mother Sabrina warmed inside of Charlotte little body remembering how loved Charlotte was by her son Sebastian.
"Oh yes! He's loved you forever. As for you daddy, well, like I said, he'll come around and realize what he's done in his own time."
"Do you believe that? After all he's done?" Charlotte asked.
Rebecca paused. She wasn't sure what to say. She knew that in her heart-of-hearts that some kind of reckoning would come for her son, Charlotte's father but Rebecca wanted to let that be up to the god she prayed to. The same god she prayed to bring back her son David, and have save her daughter Victoria. Those prayers had not come to fruition but, in the strength of her faith, she held onto the hope that for Jacob, her prayers would be answered.
"I believe that everything will come to a head and your father will learn the error of his ways. Even the darkest cloud in the sky sheds it's rain to once again fly clean and bright. Your father just needs to let the rain go from his cloudy heart." Rebecca answered sweetly.
Charlotte smiled allowing the words to flow from her grandmother's heart but Charlotte was no ordinary child she knew that Jacob was a monster. Her father did things that not even God could forgive and for all her strength and power, Rebecca had broken down this evening and allowed the tragedy of her son Jacob's schemes to soften her.
Charlotte looked over at a large wooden crucifix in the chapel that was over 175 years old. It was mounted on a large mirrored plaque that shined in the candle light. In the plaque’s reflection, to Rebecca's back, was the spirit that dwelled inside of young Charlotte, the spirit of Sabrina Spencer-Lord, Jacob's first victim--- & his brother David’s late wife.
Sabrina, whom Jacob had been so obsessed with the point of murdering her and framing David, knew exactly what kind of man Jacob was, and he was not going to go without a fight, and the scene at the park was proof of that.
As the Grandmother, and Granddaughter cuddled in the chapel in the candle light Jane, the maid, came and begged her pardon for interrupting the moment or private prayer.
"Ma'am, there's someone in the drawing room for you." Jane said.
"At this hour?" Rebecca asked. The servant nodded yes and Rebecca and Charlotte followed her to the drawing room where Dr. Peter Ward was standing in front of the fire place with his back turned to them staring up at the portrait of Rebecca's late husband and his old friend, Albert.
As a heavier set and older man, Peter was seemingly out of breath from his dash up to Tirymôr from the hospital.
When the Lord women entered, Dr. Ward turned and composed himself by wiping his sweaty brow with a white linen handkerchief.
"Mrs. Lord, Miss Lord, I apologize for coming at this hour. But I’m afraid this couldn’t wait."
"I should say so. It’s almost one in the morning and my granddaughter will have to be up for her lessons.” Rebecca snapped, her notorious hard exterior showing once again.
“Ma’am, there's been an incident in the village earlier this evening and I wanted to be the one to alert you before the morning came, I know how you don’t like being surprised." Dr. Ward said.
As he continued to speak it was as if the words were not coming out of his mouth anymore. It was just sound when he finally got to the late night attempted murder of Jacob who was now fighting for his life at Hope Hospital.
Rebecca gasped and grabbed Charlotte's hands tightly. Charlotte's eyes widened in shock and in her mind, the ghost of Sabrina who lived in her like a second conscience celebrated.
Rebecca defeated. All the praying she had done. All the masses she attended. She felt as if there was nothing she could do, no guidance or wise words, no prayer could right the lost ship that was her family. In her mind she felt like a total failure in that moment, not only had she lost Sebastian to Eliza's spell of vampirism, but her other son David was also gone from their lives, lost to a scandal involving the murder of his wife Sabrina. Both men were casualties to the curse that had such a choke hold over them all.
And now Jacob fell victim to a would be murderer.
She clung to her prayers in hopes for some sort of light from heaven to reach her and her family but in her subconscious Rebecca wished to sell her good soul for something to come along the way and change the trajectory of her family’s path.
“Save us all.” She whispered to herself as Dr. Ward’s voice trailed off explaining Jacob’s condition.
****
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| Evie & Sebastian in a romantic moment |
In the darkness of the human mind we can move about as if we were in another world. In his mind, the vampire Sebastian was awake and floating, still remaining in the black bog of the subconscious mind where he was with Felipe. He floated there under the dark invisible water with his eyes open ass the creature with the female face and green and blue scales swam around him. She circled him. Swiftly swimming near his face and looked him in the eye almost too fast for him to see who it was.
It was Alice Winterborn, the mystical woman who had unknown sources of powers.
She swam around and around him as he floated in the center of the bog now alone since Felipe was awake. She whipped her tail in his face and he reached for her to pull her close enough to bite but was suddenly awoken in the middle of the night by Evie.
"Sebastian?" Evie said, as they both lay in bed in a dark secluded part of Tirymor House. "You're tossing and turning. Are you alright?"
He shook his head as if to shake out the image of Alice in her creature form from his mind.
"I was just having a dream." He replied, starting to feel somewhat human again
Evie smiled and moved herself close into his arms as they cuddled in their bed. She only had a few hours before the sun would rise and when he would need to go into hiding. She hugged him close. He tightened his hold on her.
"I've missed this. I've missed you." He said sweetly.
"I have too. It feels like it was all a bad dream."
"A dream --- yes. But it's real and now its over. I'm so glad everyone has had a chance to come to terms with what...I can't even say it...." Sebastian said.
"With what you've become?" Evie added finishing his thought.
"Yes."
"I don't think we truly understand it, Sebastian, not really. It's so difficult to wrap our minds around but all we know is that we all love you and we are happy you're not dead. It's a miracle that everyone in your family just wants to celebrate." Evie said.
"Celebrate." He said smiling. "Did you see little Charlotte's face when she saw me for the first time since I went away? She lit up like the sun. I hope that I can live up to her light. She's the heart of this family. That little star, a beautiful child." Sebastian added lovingly.
"Sebastian." She said. "Speaking of children....now that you are back, now that we can finally start our lives together for real this time...I want to have your child." She whispered.
Sebastian looked down at her bright green eyes. He couldn't believe his ears. After all the pain and suffering they had shared in the last year they had finally reunited and even though their lives where in somewhat of a strange place, she was still willing to have his child. It had never occurred to him that they'd continue in the marriage as usual even though he could not live a normal life with her.
"But...what about me? What about all this?" He asked, unsure if she really understood what she was saying.
"I don't care. I love you. You love me. Let's make a child together to bridge our love. Don't you want that too?" She asked holding on to his naked body under the sheets.
He did. He truly did. And without a second thought he rolled on top off her and kissed her passionately. She didn't need a to answer her with words. The passionate love making gave her the answer she wanted. He made her feel like her skin was on fire, a fire of true love something that she had never felt before. Her whole body was in ecstasy. She could feel his sweat on his back, he could feel hers too. Their two bodies coming together as one in the candle light glowing like two embers in a fireplace hot like the surface of the sun in hopes that soon she'd be with his child.
As he kissed her neck he could feel the throbbing blood in her jugular. Her pulse raced showing the racing heart beat of a woman in the thralls of love making. His eyes went black, his mouth opened feeling her juglar with his tongue, he contemplated biting her and drinking from her, turning her into what he was. And as she dug her fingers nails deep into his back he lifted his head forcing himself not to bite and saving her from his own existence.
"I Love you." She whispered in a breathy voice into his ear.
He kissed her neck and hoped that if they were to bring a new life into the world, he'd be far away from it. He wanted to give Evie what she wanted, his child, but feared how his new life would damage the little one as it grew up.
****
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| The shootings makes front page news |
As the sun rose over Welshport Island, the news of the terrible events over night filtered through town. People stopped on street corners gossiping about Jacob Lord's hospitalization and the death of the terrorized former constable Evans. People were in shock at what they heard leak out of the Constable's office of the supposed confrontation between the two men, and someone mentioned a gun.
"Look its right here in the paper, ‘Lord heir shot’!" One man told his friend reading the headline of the local paper as they smoked outside of a newsstand.
"Think he deserved it?" The other man wondered as he fiddled with his handlebar mustache.
"What do you think?" The first man replied smirking devilishly as he tipped his hat to his friend.
Over at the Gramercy Café two older women gossiped over their morning tea.
"I heard it was some sort of altercation up at Tirymor, as if Rebecca needed any more horrors in her life. What happened next is beyond me." She said as she sipped her tea.
The woman across from her in a blue hat rolled her eyes and nodded in agreement.
"There's more...my friend Mavis Collins is friends with Judith Donnelly. Judith's cousin is a Jane is a maid at Tirymor and I'll have you know that there was indeed something very peculiar happening last night in that mansion. You know I've never really understood why they kept themselves so cooped up in those stone walls. Its no wonder half that family has lost their minds and gone mad!!"
Both women agreed the Lords were perfect subjects for fodder.
**
And as the family awoke, the newspapers, papers they produced and printed via their own companies began to circulate over the breakfast table.
"I can't believe he's dead." Evie said to Celeste who had arrived from her own home for Charlotte's morning lessons and who didn't seem too surprised about Christian's downfall.
"He was on a path that no one could really control. We all saw him slowly going deeper into madness." Celeste observed.
"He was so kind to me. He wanted to protect me and I feel like I let him down. I didn't do enough. I should have supported him like he supported me, Celeste. My god, I failed him." Evie replied guilt ridden of Christian's death.
"You had no idea how bad it would get Evie. You had no control over any of it." Celeste said.
"But he loved me. And, truth be told I think at one time I loved him too. Even for a brief moment. I did." Evie confessed.
Celeste's heart sank but she knew the reality of the situation and replied "Evie, Something in him just snapped and that's why he went to Windcliff, the staff there should have protected him more and not let him escape to do whatever he was going to do in the Park that night." Celeste added.
Evie lifted a brow at the mention of Windcliff. She knew all too well how Dr. Andrew Kim treated the patients there. "I wouldn't even dream of putting all my eggs in that basket. Windcliff and Dr. Kim have a lot of answering to do. I hope someone finally does start asking the questions. What they did to Alice, and me!... I'll never forgive." Evie added.
"No thanks to Jacob." Celeste reminder her.
"No thanks to Jacob." Evie replied.
"Speaking of, Perhaps I should rearrange Charlotte's schedule and take her to the hospital to see her father." Celeste wondered.
Evie put her hands on her neck where the cut was still visible from Jacob putting a knife to it.
"He was like another person. Someone deranged. He could have killed me." Evie said looking off into the distance.
"Thank god he didn't. Thank god for Sebastian." Celeste replied to Evie's smile.
"Is everyone ok?" Nik asked entering the breakfast room. They women confirmed they were. "What a strange turn of events! Has anyone heard from the new Constable about who could have shot them?" Nik added as he put down his own copy of The Welshport Globe.
"There aren't many details. I just hope whatever happened we can keep it from Charlotte as best we can. She doesn't need to know all the gory details." Celeste said just as Rebecca and Charlotte entered with Aaron Hamstead, Rebecca's personal Paige.
"She already knows. Good morning." Rebecca replied as she motioned for Charlotte to take her seat at the table.
"Good morning Mrs. Lord. Are you ok?" Evie asked truly concerned.
"It seems the devil has laid his eyes on us once again, hasn't he? Celeste, Charlotte's lessons should be moved to later this afternoon I think it's best we take her to see Jacob at the Hospital, is that ok?" Rebecca asked, her stiff upper lip the envy of everyone at the table.
"Of course ma'am." Celeste replied.
"Good." Rebecca said.
"Mrs. Lord if there's anything I can do, please let me know. I am at your disposal no matter what Jacob has done I know that you're concerned nonetheless. If you need me to take care of things with the household I'm here." Evie said.
"Thank you Evangeline, but I'm sure there are other more pressing issues on your schedule considering my grandson's...." Rebecca paused unsure of what to say "predicament." She chose.
Evie smiled uncomfortably unsure of how to take Rebecca's words as no one truly comprehended the details of Sebastian's new life. As they sat at the table and ate their breakfast no one even mentioned or thought to ask where Sebastian was. It was a bizarre feeling, especially for Evie, who wanted to shout it from the mountain tops that he not only was sleeping in a dark room upstairs but that they were going to try for a child.
Rebecca was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of Sebastian in the house, but her love for her family was just a strong a force as any kind of spell Eliza could place on any one person. Rebecca would once again look the other way and let Evie have her husband close.
"Mrs. Lord, Mr. Jordan, this just arrived for you." Georgina said entering the room with a telegram for Evie and Nikoals.
Nik took it and opened it. He read the words on the paper and then put his hand over his mouth in shock.
"Niky? What is it? What's it say?" Evie asked as she slowly lowered the shining solid silver fork in her hand.
"Its from mum. She.... she says..." Nik couldn't bring himself to say what was in the letter. Not more bad news. Not after everything they had survived.
"Nikolas? What is it?" Rebecca asked.
Nik handed the telegram to his sister Evie and then got up and stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders prepping her for the news that was written on the page.
Evie, with a stoic and brave voice read the telegram and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
"Evie?" Celeste said as Georgina sat down next to her.
"My mother writes that my father died. Two weeks ago. He... he's dead." Evie said as Nik silently cried behind her.
"Oh dear, I... I'm so sorry. I will send your mother funds to help with his funeral. Richard Jordan was a very kind man when we met all those years ago. I am very sorry." Rebecca said.
"Oh Evie, Nik, I am so sorry!!" Celeste said leaping to her feet and hugging Evie who broke down in her friend's arms.
"There's no need to send anything Mrs. Lord," Nik replied. "My mother is on ship on her way here. The telegram was sent to us on the day she left from Liverpool. She'll be here in a few months, her trip was a long one. She purchased a multi-stop journey to save money." Nik Explained.
"I see." Rebecca answered.
"She has no one in England. I hope that you won't mind if she stays here until we find a home in the village. I understand if it's too much especially with how much your own family is going through." Nik added.
"Nonsense! The Jordans are part of us now. All of you. We'll be happy to have your mother Aurora here for as long as you and she would like." Rebecca replied kindly. "Charlotte, go on, finish your milk and come with me we should freshen you up to see your father."
"I don't want to go Grandmother!" Charlotte replied to Rebecca's annoyance.
"Young lady, listen to your grandmother, come on now, let's get a fresh dress on." Celeste replied to her pupil. "Evie, Nik, if you need me, or anything that I can help with. Please let me know." She said standing up and leaving with Rebecca, Charlotte and Hamstead to start their day.
As Celeste got up, Nik saw her growing baby bump through the various layers of petticoats and corsets. He squinted and realized just what he was looking at then commented to the others in the room.
"She's pregnant." Evie and Georgina looked at him strangely for noticing but then look at each other and realized they had noticed a small tummy too. Evie dried her eyes and although her heart was broken she smiled when thinking of the possibility that her best friend was pregnant when she was trying to get pregnant herself.
Georgina on the other hand, did not seem too happy about the possibility, knowing full well how close Jacob had gotten to Celeste now that she was Charlotte's governess; Georgina's own history with Jacob came to mind because she was really Mary hiding in Georgina's body.
It made her skin crawl to think that perhaps Jacob had done the same to Celeste that he did to Mary.
****
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| Eliza summons THE HUNTER |
As the wind blew over the two small islands off the coast of Maine in the Frenchman Bay the trees on Goode Island swayed back and fourth in the current.
Eliza Goode paced in front of her burning hearth awaiting news from Welshport.
Her heart was pounding and she didn't sleep the whole night. She thought about what she had done. It seemed as though her whole world, all the good and the bad had culminated in the decision she made the night before. She thought about the terrible way her sister Sabrina died, and how her daughter Mary’s child Charlotte was taken from her, and she thought about her poor nephew Sebastian and everything he had gone through—things she was and wasn’t responsible for.
She hoped she could finally move on now that it was done.
Eliza’s mind went back, back to the night before as the yellow glow of the fire in her hearth sent out a warmth that kissed her face and drew her mind to the night of the shootings in the park:
**The night of the shootings**
Eliza was uneasy all night. Angry even. The spirits all around her were telepathically showing her visions all night. Eliza’s mind was racing. She could not get the warnings from her spirit guides out of her mind keeping her awake.
She saw the altercation at Tirymôr House. She saw Jacob’s crimes finally being exposed. She saw him on a rampage lashing out at his whole family.
Eliza has had enough!
She rushed into her spell room and grabbed the thick leather bound book of spells that had been passed down from generations of witches before her.
She could sense the book too was angry as it was hot too the touch, so hot it singed her finger tips causing her to drop it to the ground.
The book flipped open on its own as if a wind had flipped the pages. Eliza was shocked to see what spell appeared as it lie open face up. She fell to her knees in genuine praise of the ancient spell.
This was not ordinary witch's curse. It was showing Eliza a spell that was off limits to many witches and should only be used in the utmost urgency.
Eliza felt this urgency.
She sat back on the floor. She closed her eyes.
She extended her arms and hummed a deep hum that came from her stomach just as the spell said to do.
She held her humming deep into her bones.
Then the lights of the candles began to flicker off all alone without a single touch, extinguishing the flames all on their own leaving Eliza in the shadows of her room.
The summoning occurred.
Eliza summoned the shadow of the man who was born in the stars; born in the mists and legends of all sorcerers. The witches of Eliza’s now extinct coven called him: The Hunter.
He was powerful as a storm and controlled Eliza’s powers as she had pledged her life to him to gain her strength so many years ago when she was mortal.
The pages of the book of spells flipped in the ghostly wind and she called in The Hunter who stood before Eliza in a dark cloak as a golden necklace with a pentagram sparkled in fire light.
In a deep on ghostly voice The Hunter asked:
“What is thy request witch? Thou has brought me forth for a favor of life? A favor of death?”
“Of death.” She replied removing Jacob's gun from her apron pocket and sliding it across the cabin floor to him.
The Hunter, snickered and asked “I need not such mortal weaponry."
"It must be done with this firearm to make it seem as though another mortal has caused the death. No one must know it was you." Eliza explained the gun's necessity.
"And whom shall I take from this earth in thy name? A reminder, The price of this is thy life and the life of thy loved ones for all time.”
Eliza nodded. “Jacob Lord.”
“You know the price.” He repeated.
“I know the price and accept it. Take Jacob but, again do it with this weapon as to shroud it as a mortal crime. He must pay for his crimes against Sabrina. Against Mary. Against Sebastian. Against Evangeline. This is the only way.” Eliza explained requesting The Hunter to not kill him with powers but with the gun.
The Hunter agreed and vanished into a blue and black cloud of mist that took him from the cabin to the park to do Eliza's bidding.
**
Eliza had been waiting for The Hunter’s return all night and into the next day and night. She expected him to come back right away but he did not.
He left her waiting like a click ticking it’s hours.
As she stared into the fire thinking about what she had done, the front door of her cabin suddenly blew open in a violent bang throwing leaves and dirt and loose grass to spray in startling Eliza who jumped in her skin and looked towards the open door.
There a figure in dark clothes, a cloak black as the night, was standing in silence.
"Enter." Eliza said relieved to see the cloaked figure finally return. "Where have you been? It’s been more than a day!" The witch asked.
“Do not question me.” The blank faced spirit growled.
“Is it done?”
The Hunter said nothing and only extended their arm that was covered in the dark cloak and handed Eliza back the gun; the very same gun Mary had once used to shoot Sebastian that Eliza hid away for her daughter.
Eliza smirked as The Hunter nodded finally signaling his part was done.
Eliza grabbed the gun and replaced it in a drawer with a secret panel that covered gun so no one could find its location.
"I am pleased. The Lords deserve peace in their lives after all that I’ve done to them. And this one last death will end their pain once and for all." The witch said, seemingly contradicting herself.
Jacob was the source of so much chaos in his family's life, that Eliza saw his elimination as an open door for then all to finally find real peace without his constant scheming and treachery.
The Hunter moved strangely in it's ghostly body. It moved in a way that sent a sound wave out, not words, to Eliza who understood the telepathic sound. The witch winced as if the sound gave her pain before she replied.
"How would killing Jacob bring them happiness?" The witch responded. "He is the root of all evil. Since childhood. Since his birth. He is the rotting of society incarnate. By removing his monstrous soul from this earth I save that family even more pain and suffering which he would soon bring. No doubt." She added
The Hunter then spoke.
“The root of all evil does not dwell on this planet, however, I find thy thought of such thing interesting." The hunter said as if to insinuate there was someone even more evil than Jacob. "There was another. His life was taken too." The Hunter added.
"Another??? Another killed? By you?" Eliza asked in shock.
The Hunter nodded yes then replied "Christian Evans."
"You killed him too?"
The black cloaked figure nodded yes again confirming.
Eliza thought for a second remembering how close he came to arresting Mary for Sebastian's murder. She remembered how she erased his memory hoping that he'd let go of accusing her daughter of the murder, then she replied coldly" "Collateral damage I supposed. Now that it is done, it's back to your place and this secret will stay between us. Understood?"
The black figure agreed.
But reminded her or the price she paid.
“A time will come Eliza Goode, when I will return ready to be as I once was in human form. Thou MUST preserve thyself for me. If thy death shall come prematurely the bond will be broken and I will be able to run free —that is a promise -- beware. My freedom means thine own destruction. Thy powers, bestowed upon and gifted to thee by me, will be useless because they will be mine as payment. Thy life for the life of another will fuel my return to this place. Never forget what has ben promised me: Thy whole life eternal.”
Eliza gulped. She would remember and hopefully not regret what she had done.
Then in a flash of bright light the dark creature, The Hunter, within the cloak released itself from the inside the garment and floated over to Eliza in a blue and black spinning orb. The figure in this form continued to move closer and closer to Eliza who's eyes got wider and wider in wonder of what she was seeing.
Then, in a the reflection of the a window that was next to Eliza the figure's face finally appeared.
The face of death, the monster that takes us all into the depths of the universe opened it's eyes and evaporated in a puff of black smoke above Eliza who fell to her knees and breathed in the smoke left after death itself evaporated into thin air.
The final binding of the two: mortal witch and sinister soul of hell.
Eliza, her heart pounding, her eyes glowing in a strange black light, became overpowered by the darkness and she spit out a thick liquid of black tar.
She had now bound herself even more with the dark arts all in an effort to end the Jacob's reign of terror. Once and for all. She had promised herself, her whole body to this being, and if she were to die, this creature would become a living being and come to earth to retrieve what Eliza could not.
Her death, per their mystical pact, could only occur naturally. She was bound to this earth, to life, until her old age took her to the world of the dead. Then and only then, would this creature release her from her pact.
She could not die any other way other than old age.
“I am bound to thee.” She said to the dark spirit who gave her so much power.
“I am bound to thee.”
