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| Celeste & Charlotte visit Hope Hospital |
The halls of Welshport Hope Hospital reflected the sun off the white tiled floor. Nurses and orderlies busily rushed around watching over the various patients in their rooms. It was a place for healing and rejuvenation with classically all white walls that matched the floors. It was clean and sterile and safe.
Walking down the hall to visit Jacob in his convalescence was his daughter Charlotte with her hand safely clasped in her governess Celeste's hand.
Charlotte tightened her grip nervously as they approached Jacob's room then stopped mid stride.
"What is it?" Celeste asked looking down at the young blonde girl.
"I have to tell you something, something Grandmother and I didn't tell you the other night when we got home from visiting daddy." Charlotte replied.
Celeste's eyes narrowed with worry. She caressed her baby bump and took a deep breath waiting for the other shoe to drop with Charlotte's news.
"Daddy can't remember what happened to him the night he was shot. Dr. Ward says that he may not remember a lot more either but only time will tell." The young girl said.
Celeste knelt down so that she and Charlotte were eye to eye "Sabrina....are you speaking to me now?" Celeste asked as Charlotte young face morphed quickly into Sabrina's and then back again to Charlotte's confirming who was speaking.
"Alright Sabrina, how much more don't I know?" Celeste asked the ghostly woman in the young girl.
"This is our opportunity to keep your baby safe and also to make sure Jacob begins a new life of honesty and truth. We can morph him into a new man!" Sabrina said through Charlotte.
"But what if he does remember conceiving the child with me? We don't know how far back he doesn't remember, or... do you know that too?" Celeste asked.
"We don't know. But today we will find out. If he doesn't remember the night you conceived the baby with him, you're free and clear to never tell him. You and that child will be safe. And ... we can all be safe too! We can all make sure we use this moment in his life to guide him into a better one." Sabrina said.
"Do you really think so?" Celeste asked, hoping the ghostly woman in the young girl was right.
"Let's find out."
They walked together biding their time hoping that when they entered Jacob's room--- he would still have no memory, and when they did, Dr. Ward was just finishing he morning rounds with Jacob.
"Ms. DeViana, very good to see you again. And Miss Lord, how lovely you look. Here to see daddy again so soon?" Peter Ward asked sweetly.
Charlotte back to herself again, shyly nodded yes.
"I'll leave you three to catch up." Dr. Ward said exiting the hospital room.
"How are you feeling Mr. Lord?" Celeste said, testing Jacob right away.
"I feel...." He paused, Celeste and Charlotte held their breath. "....foggy."
"Foggy....sir?" Celeste said, still treating him as her employer and not the man who had most recently blackmailed her into bed.
"Things in the last few months are a bit cloudy in my memory as I'm sure my mother warned. I can't seem to grasp what's been going on in our family. In fact I had not known that you had moved on from being Evangeline's maid and now governess to my young sweet Charlotte." Jacob said revealing his memory loss had indeed a large gap in it.
Celeste and Charlotte looked at each other seeing the open door to finally getting Jacob in the straight and narrow and hopefully the secret Jacob was holding over Celeste and her younger brother being Albert Lord's love child was be kept secret forever.
"I see," Celeste said "has Dr. Ward mentioned when you would get all that time back?"
"If I get it back." Jacob replied. "It's not certain I will get all those months back. It does feel strange to have one's life cut up in so many shards. Dr. Ward says it's mostly because of the lack of oxygen I must have suffered after the shooting. It could come back, or it may not. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise." Jacob added.
"How do you figure that sir? You don't mind missing parts of your life?" She asked.
"Miss DeViana, I am only missing a small portion-- I remember most of everything in my past. I don't exactly feel as thought I should be proud of it, so in the last 6 months, if I was the same then as I was in the times I do remember, then yes I do see it as a blessing to forget. I'm oddly being given a new lease. And with this new lease, I've asked Dr. Ward to send the bill of Christian's funeral to or company. I feel strangely responsible for his death and, well perhaps it's survivor's guilt, I don't know, but I hope it helps his family grieve." Jacob said.
"His family I'm sure will be very grateful for that." Celeste replied smiling to see Jacob had zero memory of what he had done to her and was even caring enough to help Christian's family in Boston even though his body never reached the city.
"So what are your plans for the day, you don't need to be cooped up here with me at all. Charlotte, why don't you have a wonderful day at the beach with Ms. DeViana? Huh? I know you like it there. I can see through this sunny window that there is a break in the cool autumn for you to have a nice after noon there." Jacob added.
"What do you think?" Celeste asked Charlotte who jumped out of her seat like any 10 year old would at the sentiment of the beach on a school day.
"You mean I don't have to do my lessons???" the young girl giggled.
"Well I'm sure we can figure some things to learn about when we get to the beach. Perhaps how sea-glass is made, or if we find a rogue jelly. There are plenty of beach-like lessons." Celeste smiled, her face feeling the strange tug at both sides of her mouth. It had been weeks since she had a genuine smile.
Charlotte squealed with joy and ran over to her happy father. He kissed her on the cheek and told her to behave herself at the beach as he knew she would. This was indeed a new Jacob, there was indeed a new light in him that perhaps would save them all mostly Celeste who could not pass her pregnancy off as Filipe's with no fight from Jacob.
This was perfect! This was wonderful!
And this was all a sham.
Jacob had NOT lost his memory. He knew exactly what had happened the night he was shot. He remembered everything from the moment he jumped through the French doors and cut himself with glass after attacking Evie to the moment the shadowy person shot him and killed Christian.
In fact, the only thing he did know who was the person in black with the gun was.
Celeste got up from her seat next to the bed and tried to calm the young woman who was excited about spending the rest of the afternoon at the seashore.
And when she did get up, Jacob noticed her stomach too. He saw the bump. He saw the baby growing in her and as she grabbed Charlotte's hand to head out of the room on their way to their special day on the beach a memory came to his mind.
It was of him and Celeste in his bed. He saw himself kissing her neck. He saw himself kissing her lips
He could almost smell her perfume again, the same perfume that she had on in the hospital room.
He could feel her skin on his, as if it were happening right there again.
He remembered making love to her, he remembered how good it felt and he remembered how much in love he was with her. Those memories actually did fade away after the shooting. But the baby bump, HIS child growing in her was a surprise.
That he did not expect.
Then, ass Celeste successfully calked the giddy Charlotte down, Jacob grabbed the governess' hand from this bedside. She paused, her muscles tensed, she tugged her hand back slightly unsure of what he was doing, but he squeezed it tightly.
"Thank you." He said, as she nervously turned to face him thinking her profile would reveal her stomach more.
"For what sir?" she asked while his grip intensified.
He smiled, there was a twinkle in his eye as he pretended to not really see what was growing in her body, his child, the child they created together under such a vile circumstance.
"For taking care of my child." He said, cryptically hiding which child he was talking about, the one at the hospital door happily waiting her adventure to the beach or the one growing in his governess' womb.
Celeste smiled politely, and nervously and yanked her hand back.
"Of course." she replied.
Then, she and Charlotte left.
As Jacob's thoughts on a new child ran rampant in his mind it suddenly dawned on him that perhaps it was Celeste who had shot him. He knew too much about her family secret, a secret love child his own father had had with Her mother.
He knew by blackmailing her into bed with him put her guard up and that she perhaps would do anything to get herself and her family out of his crosshairs.
Even murdering him.
Jacob smiled to himself when he realized just how fun it would be twisting the screws on Celeste while she carried his child and when it was the perfect time, he'd reveal he never lost his memory and that is when he would strike like the venomous viper he truly was.
That child was his, and he would move heaven and earth to make sure she never took it away from him.
For now, however, he'd play the innocent man; victim of a crime until he was ready to pounce on her once again, returning to the arena he was always meant to run.
****
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| Georgina visits Eliza |
On Goode Island, Georgina was desperate to meet with Eliza, her mother. The events of the night before at the hospital had proved to be favorable now that Jacob had lost his memory. She felt free and clear to be near her daughter Charlotte without fear of being found out by Jacob.
Her disguise, in this new body, how worked and she felt free and clear to continue.
"What are you doing here????" Eliza asked when she opened the door to find her daughter Mary, Georgina's real name, standing there smirking.
"Rebecca gave me the day off. I rushed over here as soon as I could to tell you the news." Georgina answered.
"Mary, you know you cannot be seen here!" Eliza warned yanking Georgina into the cabin but not before making sure she wasn't followed.
"No know knows I cam here, trust me." Georgina said. "And you need to stop using that name. No one can know who I really am." She added.
"You're my child, I gave you that name, and whenever I have the chance I will say it. Proudly." Eliza replied. "Now what are you doing here?"
"I have news about Jacob. Straight from the monster's mouth. He doesn't remember a thing." Georgina said.
"Are you sure?" The witch Eliza asked as she ushered Georgina into the kitchen where they could talk.
"I was at the hospital last night, he came to and had no memories of the events of the night he was shot and it seemed like it wasn't just that night that he couldn't remember. I'm free and clear! He'll never guess who I am and I can be happy with Charlotte in peace. We don't have to worry anymore." Georgina said happily.
"My darling, darling girl...Jacob is as cunning as a sneak in the grass, we need to constantly keep an eye out on him. Never turn your back. Memories may be gone now... but, how do we know they're forever? We don't." Eliza further warned.
"Why would we think otherwise? Dr. Ward didn't seem optimistic about it." Georgina answered.
Eliza's face, as pale it naturally was, turned whiter with the fear that even she was feeling deep in her bones. She knew more that she was letting on and Georgina sensed it from her body language. She didn't have to be in her natural body to feel the connection to her mother to know there was something she wasn't telling her.
"If there's something you're not telling me, mother, you should tell me now. Do not let it go on and one before I know the truth about something that you knew all along." Georgina said.
"I, don't know what you're talking about." Eliza said, standing up and moving over to a counter where she began to pour a pitcher of water into a small glass with tiny sunflowers etched into it.
Georgina's face scowled, she knew her mother was lying. And then something strange happened. Eliza did not have a shadow. The sun, albeit covered by shutters on the window of the kitchen, should have cast Eliza's shadow downward onto the floor at least partially.
Georgina stood up from the kitchen table and placed her arm in the way of the fragment of sunlight that did come into the window and there it was, the shadow of her arm. She waved it around as Eliza's back remained turned pouring the second glass of water.
Still no shadow of Eliza to be seen.
"Mother." Georgina said. "What is happening?"
Eliza turned around and saw that Georgina was pointing the shadow of herself on the floor but no shadow from Eliza who lifted a brow and realized her spell from the night she sent her spirit in shadow form to kill Jacob had not warn off.
"This is perhaps what you were feeling, or sensing. I have to show you something. Come..." Eliza said as she extended her hand to her daughter's and lead her down the dark hallway of the cabin.
The cabin's hallway was lined every few feet with lit candles. They were glowing from the floor shining an orange light upward to those who carefully walked down.
The women, in their long white and flowing dresses that almost strangely seemed to match without trying, continued to walk down the cabin's dark hall slowly and methodically. Eliza's heart was pounding. She was about to tell her daughter what she had done.
Then, Eliza stopped at the door of one room of the cabin that Georgina had always know as a private room that she was not allowed in as a child. It was the Spell Room.
"What are we doing here?" Georgina asked knowing the room was off limits and this would be the first time she had entered.
"The truth will be shown to you, but you have to promise me you will not react irrationally." Eliza asked.
Georgina's brows furrowed but she agreed to stay calm.
Then, Eliza turned the knob of the door and walked into the room of Spells with Georgina who's body instantly turned back into Mary's in a flurry of strange bursts of light that surrounded her body and seemed to peel back the disguise of the face and body of the other woman and the balls of light floated off into the distance of the room the like fireflies floating and vanishing into the darkened room.
"No spell works in here because this is where they are all born. All things done in black magic return to their regular form once they go through this door. This is why you are back to your normal body. But do not be fooled, this is only as long as you are in this room." Eliza explained.
"Why are we in here? What has happened?" Mary back in her true body asked.
"I had to do something that would keep us safe, and although I failed, I know that at least I've kept us safe for a short time. I had to Mary, I had to do it. Jacob needed to be punished." Eliza said, her voice sounding frantic and worried.
"Mother--what did you do???" Mary asked.
Eliza walked over to a desk that was small and painted black. The desk's feet were like the feet of lion's carved perfectly into them. The drawers were etched with various jungle scenes of panthers and gardens and waterfalls. It was from the orient, this beautiful desk, and Eliza pulled open the top drawer releasing the scent of jasmine and orchid into the room.
Mary stepped closer to see what was in the drawer, but Eliza closed it quickly.
Eliza's right hand was balled tightly into a fist. Her left hand over it.
"What do you have?" Mary asked quivering in her own mother's home, a home she grew up in and had never felt afraid in, in the way she was now.
Eliza opened her fist and showed her a ball of twin twisted and knotted and made into a small ball.
"This ball of twine represents life, all life; life that I control and life that I do not control. Some of it mortal and here on earth the other spiritual and otherworldly. When unraveled, Mary, this time has the power to send me, my spirit somewhere else. Anywhere else, to a place that I command it to but leaving my body here in it's place. To keep me, soul and body united, I must always keep this twine balled up like this." Eliza explained.
"And?" Mary wondered.
"The night Jacob was show and Christian was killed, I unraveled it. I took this twine and I stretched it end to end across this house and sent my soul to right the many wrongs of Jacob Lord." Eliza confessed.
"You... what???" Mary asked shocked at what she had just heard.
"I shot Jacob Lord with the very gun he gave you to shoot Sebastian." Eliza made clear.
"MOTHER! How?? How could you have done this? Do you know the mess you have put us in? If Jacob should remember, if he should have any inkling that you were involved he will come for you and he will destroy you!!!" Mary shouted.
"That is why I am afraid his memory loss is not permanent." Eliza said.
"Well I can see why!" Mary exclaimed. "Where is the gun? You must destroy the gun right away." Mary demanded.
"No one will ever find the gun." Eliza said.
"This was the most foolish thing you could have ever done. You've put my place near Charlotte at mansion in real jeopardy. I already only get to see her on small occasions when Celeste isn't with her, should he discover the treachery we've committed it will be curtains for all of us. Now we MUST make sure he never regains his memory. We absolutely must." Mary said angrily.
"I wish I had killed him." Eliza said.
"Well, you killed the wrong one. Your soul, your disembodied soul, killed Christian Evans, and not Jacob. Now we have to deal with that too. Oh, mother, this was absolutely a massive mistake." Mary said.
"I had to do it. Jacob was gaining too much power in the position he was in. Constantly pulling jockeying for more and more power within his family by killing them and lying about them, and ruining their lives only to make himself even more viable for more power. It would have been a disaster for all of us had I not preempted him by putting two bullets in his chest." Eliza said coldly.
"But he survived mother! HE SURVIVED!"
Eliza's eye brow lifted again. She put the twine back into the drawer of the jungle table and turned to her daughter still in her true form. "I will not let us go under without a fight. We still have leverage." Eliza said of the situation.
"And what leverage is that?" Mary asked.
"You." Eliza noted. "You've been given the powers of the coven. You can control him too if you tap into the powers bestowed on you. It's all in you. You can keep him with lack of his memories and kind... all the while seeing your daughter up close and personal for all time. Just tap into your powers Mary. You can. And you should." Eliza added.
"I think you've lost your mind living in seclusion like this. You have no idea of the real world. I've been such a fool myself, allowing you to do all the things you've done and now look! Look at where we are. You've killed an innocent man with the dark magic you think is helping and yet the man who should have died lives! It's all backwards. I wont do and become what you have by tapping into anything!! Not now! Not Ever!" Mary shouted.
"Mary.....no! You must harness the gift you've been given to save us all." Eliza said.
"Save us all? Save us all the way you tried but ended up making things much much worse? The police are investigating this mother, Constable Reigns is searching for this killer and since that is you... he is searching for YOU! Do not leave this island--- IN ANY FORM! Stay here. Stay away from this room and never ever use your powers this way again. Do you under stand me?" Mary shouted "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME???" She shouted again shaking her mother who nodded her head yes.
As the two left the Spell room Mary's body reverted back to Georgina's and the two rushed down the dark hallway, it was clear that the baton of power within the Goode family had suddenly been passed from Mother to Daughter. Eliza's attempt at righting the wrongs of Jacob Lord by killing him with her disembodied spirit had proved to be gamble that they both should not have bet on.
"I want you to listen to me and listen to me well," Mary said, now in Georgina's voice. "Do not leave this house. In ANY form!" She repeated.
"Mary, I was only trying to help you and Charlotte stay together." Eliza reiterated.
"But you didn't, mother, you didn't help. You've made things worse and now I have to get back to the Welshport and make sure Jacob never ever gets his memories back. Ever." Georgina said.
Mary again nodded her head that she understood the mess that had been made and hugged her daughter goodbye.
"I love you." Eliza whispered.
Georgina's eyes watered. Her heart hurt to be so angry with her mother but she was sure the life of loneliness and magic was taking it's tole on her. She was losing grip on reality and doing things like shooting Jacob and Christian that was now putting them both in the cross hairs of being exposed.
"I love you too mama." Georgina said, hugging her.
As Georgina quickly made her way out of the cabin on Goode island she wondered just what she had to do next to save herself from Jacob's memories. She was almost certain that whatever Jacob saw the night he was shot would most certainly lead him to her mother Eliza, and Jacob would most certainly kill Eliza in return.
Then Georgina, who was really the disguised Mary remembered, if Eliza died, Mary too would go back into her regular body and become revealed not to be who she was. Everything they were hiding would come out and Georgina knew she would never ever see Charlotte again if it were.
It was a house of cards slowly tilting off an table's edge.
Eliza watched from her cabin window as Georgina quickly made her way through the thicket of trees that surrounded the cabin and down to the dock where the small boat that brought her here from Welshport Island was tied up awaiting her return. As she looked on a fly began to zip around the windowsill.
Then another fly. Then a third fly.
Fly after fly began to appear on the window, in the cabin and outside the cabin covering almost a fourth of the glass.
Eliza gasped at the sight of so many of this cryptic sign.
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| The Hunter sends a message |
She knew who it was from. THE HUNTER sent his messages in the most in opportune ways.
Flies scattering over glass was just one way of show Eliza his presence.
Eliza swatted the flies away and in seconds, they disappeared as mysteriously as the had appeared.
Message taken.
Then, Eliza came back to her thoughts son what she had done with Georgina,.
The insurance place was to keep her child safe: She had purposefully told Georgina the truth, this truth of Jacob's shooting would force Georgina into finally using her magic for the first time, it would finally push her daughter to spread her wings into the coven of witchcraft she was born into to save herself by fixing what Eliza had done to Jacob. Eliza had thus created a mess for Georgina to clean up using her gift of sorcery.
"Fly on my little sorceress...fly on." Eliza whispered to herself softly as she picked up a picture frame with a stoic Mary inside with one single remaining fly sniffing the glass.
Eliza had gambled once again with this secret and forced initiation into dark arts. And this game was in the hopes that her daughter, born a true witch, would finally fly own her own into the Blackmagic world of her inheritance.
****
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| Evie finds Nik snooping in the library |
In a small library at Tirymôr House, Nik Jordan looked around the large shelves that went from floor to ceiling filled with stories and history for decades and decades. Some books spoke of the law, some books spoke of business, some of love stories and stories of pirates and kings and queens.
It was a cornucopia of knowledge that Nik took in with every glance of his hazel eyes. He wanted to know more he wanted to know it all, and truthfully he wanted to find a book or any kind of informative script on the island of Welshport itself.
It's history, shrouded in mystery, had his attention.
"What exactly are you looking for?" Nik's sister Evie said as she entered the impressive Lord family library.
"Truthfully?" He answered as he climbed a latter that was attached by small wheels that could take him from one end of the shelf to the other.
She looked at him strangely. "Of course. The maid told me you were in here, I thought we were having tea in the drawing room. So what's made you change our plans?" She asked annoyed at her younger brother for being so secretive.
"Anything I can find on Welshport." He said quickly.
She sat on a chair, carefully crossed her ankles in her dark green dress and rolled her eyes.
"Nikolas Jordan come down off of that latter and tell me what's going on!!" She shouted at him.
He huffed and did as his older sister said and sat down across from her.
"From the moment I set foot on this island I've felt strange about it. Haven't you? It's been one strange occurrence after another. I've tried to sort of brush it all off as just odd coincidences, but I can't pretend I don't notice it anymore. You can't really tell me you've never seen these things either. You've been here longer than I have." Nik said as he rested his arms on his legs to stare deeply into his sister's eyes.
"Welshport is very strange. I'm not blind or def. but there is absolutely nothing in here that is going to tell you what makes it this way. This is the family's library, Niky, not the village's." She answered.
"That's just it, I think I would find something here at Tirymôr, and not the village library." He replied.
"What do you mean?"
Nik stood up and straightened his vest. He went over to the three large rectangle window and stared out of it allowing the day light to warm his face. He reached into his vest and pulled out a thing cigarette and lit it, he hated smoking but his nerves had gotten the best of him recently. The taste of Tabaco soothed them.
"Alice, she told me that she had these strange feelings about not only Welshport, but the house. This place. This family. " He said as Evie walked over and removed the cigarette from his mouth and put it out on the ashtray on the desk next to her.
"Why are you discussing my in-laws with Alice Winterborn?" She asked slightly annoyed.
Before Nik could answer, as most things in the house did, they came alive, and yet again, the eyes of another painting on the wall were removed and replaced with real eyes of someone listening in to the Jordan siblings and their conversation.
It was common in the walls of Tirymôr for someone always listening in to people who were not directly blood related to the family. This helped them protect themselves from plotters... the eyes belonged to Rebecca's most trusted hand-- Hamstead.
"Can't I? they're my in-laws now too. And besides, she has first hand knowledge of the odd things revolving around this family.
"What do you mean??" She asked.
"Sebastian. She's had ... well I guess you can call them dreams. She's dreaming of Sebastian and Sis, they're not the best dreams." Nik said frowning down at his extinguished cigarette.
"Why would she be dreaming of Sebastian?" Evie asked, as Hamstead continued to secretly listen in from behind the painting.
"That's the thing. she's not too sure. Well, she thinks she's not sure." Nik said cryptically.
"Niky... what does that mean? What has she dreamt?"
"How well do you know him? Does he seem as if he's just let his family's legacy go or is he fully into it." He asked.
"You have to stop talking like this, what do you mean???"
Nik sighed in frustration and let it all out:
"Evie, Alice things Sebastian has something to do with all the evil vibrations she feels that come from this house and this family. She feels that he is the one who came at her and attacked her while we searched for you at the Thicket. Evie, I get the feeling she's terrified of him and honestly, I don't see how she can't be. If he's really the creature or the monster that came at her and attempted to kill her in the way she described, well, I would be terrified too. And I'm also afraid for you."
Evie scoffed. "Nikolas Please!!"
"Evie listen to me, how safe are you going off with him to the Thicket? How safe are you?" He asked her.
"He loves me Nik, and I love him and he wouldn't ever hurt me. Alice is wrong." Evie said defending her husband.
But in the pit of her stomach, she actually knew Alice's premonition and fears were true. The moment at the Thicket when Sebastian's dark side came out she knew she needed to watch out for herself and truthfully others all around her. He could flip at the drop of a hat, he could switch from his loving kind self to something from a nightmare and almost kill anyone. He could, kill, he had killed and he'd most likely kill again. Evie knew it, Sebastian knew it--- but the question was WHO and WHEN it would happen.
"I don't know he loves you, but... are you safe with him? We know that there could be something quite worrying about what he's become. I just want to know if I'm right, if I'm not and this village and this family isn't some sort vortex of evil, then I will let go of it, but I want to know. I NEED to know." Nik said.
"Niky, I can understand that there is this large question mark over this whole family and the village and yes even Sebastian but you have to let it go and stop. Just stop all of this. Do not go looking for trouble because you may not be able to handle it once you find it." Evie said as Hamstead listened in.
"Sis..." Nik began before she interrupted.
"I'm serious. Our mother will be here any day now," Evie reminded him of their recently widowed mother Aurora's immanent arrival to Welshport from England. "we need to show a united front to welcome her here and if you're going to be throwing around strange accusations about Sebastian and the Lords while she lives here, I don't know how comfortable she'll be. After losing father all alone, the least we can do is try and welcome her with the least amount of familial turbulence the better."
"I have no intention of making mother feel like uncomfortable, Evie, but I want her to be safe here just as I want you to be safe here and with Sebastian." He said.
"I am safe!" She answered assertively.
"Then I'll just have to make sure you are. I wont rest until it's proven to me that Sebastian is no threat to you or anyone else on this island. And that goes for all the Lords." Nik replied to
"Like I said don't go looking for trouble...even though you might have already found it with Alice."
Nik smirked seeing his sister now turn the tables on him and his budding relationship "And what does that supposed to mean?"
Evie shrugged and sat back down on the library's fluffy chair.
"When she and I were in Windcliff, a nurse told me something about her that gave me some pause about getting too close to her. She was... very peculiar. She helped me, she was a good friend and showed me things I had never seen before. She's indeed very special, but she has a dark past." Evie replied.
"Who doesn't?" Nik replied.
"I've never murdered anyone. Have you?" Evie retorted.
"Murder?" Nik asked curious to what Evie knew.
"The nurse said that Alice has this connection to the sea or some kind of draw to the sea. She lured a friend of hers there one night and, she drowned her. She drowned her own friend. They thought her mad, and she was placed at Windcliff until, well she left." Evie explained.
"I don't believe it. I don't!!" Nik said as Evie shrugged again.
"All I'm saying is maybe we should just both keep eyes out for each other. Me with Alice and you with Sebastian." She replied as the maid finally entered with the tea she had ordered for the other room.
"Miss." The maid said, as she placed the tea on the small library coffee table.
Evie thanked her and she continued with her thought. "If you really think I'm in danger, and I really think Alice is dangerous, we should do what brothers and sisters should always do-- watch out for each other."
Nik sat down and let it all sink in. He wasn't sure the story about Alice was accurate but he was still eager to learn more about the village and it's secrets and how, if at all, were the Lords connected. He didn't want Evie to get involved with his relationship that was so fresh, but if it would give him access to watch out for her in her relationship with someone so dangerous as Alice believed Sebastian was, it would be worth it.
"Fine. You watch for me, and I'll watch for you." He said as he clinked his tea cup with his sister's.
Then, the painting's eyes returned to their original painted-selves.
Down the hall, Hamstead opened a secret door that lead from inside the walls into Rebecca's private back drawing room that was tiny and could only really fit four people. It's walls were tall and covered in large paintings of Lockwood family members, her family members---which was a departure from the covered walls of Lord family members.
"And what did the Jordan siblings have to say?" Rebecca asked as she knitted.
"Mr. Nikolas wants to be sure he knows everything there is to know about the Lord family, including Mr. Sebastian. He thinks the library will have the fruits of those secrets." Hamstead replied.
Rebecca chuckled which turned into a giggle that turned into a loud cackle. She dropped the kitting needles and the scarf she was knitting and bent over in a hilarious laugh holding her side while doing it.
She found it funny that he would even try and attempt to dig into the Lords. No one had ever done that and survived. And Rebecca, in her hysterical break knew that even young Nikolas Jordan was no match for her. No match at all.
"Oh let him try.... let him try and let him die trying." She said through her insane laughter.
Hamstead bowed his head quickly and left her to knit alone again.
****
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| Alice has another nightmare |
The day was soon coming to an end. The Sun, a shimmering ball of orange began to set in the distant hills over mainland Maine. Alice Winterborn stood on the porch of the home in the village she shared with her brother Matthew and watched as the falling leaves from the drowsy trees began to collect in little orange and yellow piles in the corners of the cobble stone laid street.
Alice, her mind cloudy with thoughts of things unpleasant to anyone who wasn't of the supernatural world, was quivering with worry. She thought of her friend Evie and wished to see her again. She missed her. Their talks while at Windcliff had often helped her mood. She hadn't had a real friend in decades.
Alice closed the door to the chilly air and walked over to a rocking chair that creaked with age. It was her grandmother's chair, one of the only things her family had left after they were all vanquished by decades of genocide and loss.
She knew she would never see Evie again if Sebastian, this creature she could not figure out, was still walking the earth. He was a threat to everyone, not just Evie. Alice had seen first hand how awful a "thing" he was. His thirst for the flesh and blood of other humans wasn't just something outsiders should fear, but Evie herself (Alice thought) was the most in danger.
Alice rocked back and fourth on the rocking chair that creaked and squeaked and lulled Alice to sleep and in no time, she was back in the black bog of her mind where there was no sound except for footsteps in the distance.
"Who's there?" Alice asked as the echoing footsteps got louder and louder.
She stood her ground. Her dress, seeping in the black water as she stood on what seemed like the surface of a black lake.
The bog. The black bog.
"SHOW YOURSELF!!" Alice said, her voice echoing in the emptiness.
"What do you want?" The sinister voice came from the shadows.
"It's you, isn't it creature. I can smell your evil." Alice said as a smoky atmosphere in her mind moved away revealing Sebastian Lord standing on the wavy surface of the black bog.
"Why have you summoned me as I sleep? What do you want from me.?" He asked. standing safly away from her.
"I want you to leave this island and leave Evie alone. Vanish into the dark and never ever return. She isnt safe as your wife." Alice said confidently.
"No one is safe, this is a cruel world, and I can't be held accountable for the cruelty of others. Evie is safe with me." Sebastian said with a hiss in his voice.
His face was cold and stone-like. He was asleep in his own solitude away from Alice's small house, but the two supernatural creatures had a strange connection, mostly because Alice knew how to harness her powers to summon him at her whim. She was more used to that power given to her by her people, Sebastian, still fresh from his own grave was a novice of sorts and truly had no choice but to heed her yank into her mind like a dog on a leash.
But he too could hurt her if he wanted to. All he needed to do was strike.
But he waited to see how she's react.
"This isn't a question of what other evils there are on this planet, humans are tarnished with imperfections but you are an abomination and thirsty to kill others; I can see it Sebastian Lord. I can smell it on you just as you can smell my powers on me. Do not think I cannot and will not vanquish you. I'm giving you the choice first." Alice said.
Sebastian laughed at her bravery. He knew she was powerful, of course, but there was nothing he feared now that he had seen death, and he could tell she would not do anything that would anger Evie--that loyalty to her, he could also see with his own telepathic powers.
"Evie and I were meant to be, there is nothing you can do now, nothing. And if you interfere I will make sure that you pay...trust me Alice Winterborn, trust in my words. Interfere with Evie and myself and you and all those you love will pay for that interference." Sebastian warned.
"My brother is innocent. He has nothing to do with you or what I want from you." Alice replied.
"Oh? And what of Nikolas? Is he also an innocent?" Sebastian said surprising Alice that he knew she was in love with him.
"Do not touch him! He is Evie's brother! You would hurt your own brother-in-law to spite me?" She asked attempting to push him into a corner about threatening Evie's own brother Nik.
"Dear Alice, you of all people know what I am capable of. There are things that can happen to people where my fingers-prints would never be found. Nik seems like a good man, I enjoy him and Evie adores him, which is why he is the perfect pawn. I just want you to know that I have the taste for blood--- anyone's blood. Even his." Sebastian further threatened.
Alice became incensed and she lifted her hand out in front of her and balled her hand in a fist, Sebastian began to feel pressure around his throat that got stronger and strong. He began to feel his airways cutting off and he fell to his knees into the bog below him. The blackness started swirl all around him and the black water below him began to splash and crash in his attempt to release Alice's tight grip around his throat via her tightening fist.
"I warned you." She said as she watched from a safe distance.
Sebastian writhed on the ground gasping for air, Alice began to walk forward hoping that she would end his life right there in her own mind.
And as she got close, as she inched her way, almost touching him, Sebastian stopped moving and his arms fell to his sides as he lay there in the black water created by Alice's brain.
She dropped her arm and released her fist and stared at his frozen-like body.
And then, as she looked at him, his eyes snapped open and he lunged at her! Hissing, mouth agape with sharp teeth craving her taste. She screamed and fell backwards into the water and he jumped in the air to fall on her and bite her and kill her.
She screamed again and covered her face and awoke in the darkness of her living room still on the rocking chair.
Her brother Matthew entered the room from the front door returning from a fishing trip at work. He dropped all of his gear and rushed over to his sister who was panicking in the rocking chair in a sweaty heap.
She was ripping at the top of her dress. She was hot. Her whole entire body was on fire, as if she had a fever.
"Alice! ALICE MY GOD! What is it? Are you ill??? What's happened???" Matthew asked, begging for an answer.
She screamed thinking he was Sebastian and slapped him across the face. Matthew again reached for her, the darkness of the room concealing his face. She lifted her hand and Matthew entire body lifted into the air and flew across the room into the wall breaking a table and chair in the wake.
Alice got up, and lit an oil lantern to see her attacker, knowing the night brought out the creature Sebastian, but when she saw it was Matthew she gasped in shock and rushed over to her moaning brother.
"I'm so sorry. I was having a nightmare." Alice explained.
"Alice, what is going on?" Matthew asked rubbing the back of his neck sore with the jolt of Alice's powers.
"Its Sebastian, we have to do something about him Matthew, we have to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. His evil is so dark, Ive never seen anything that dark before in my whole life. He'll kill us all. His hunger is never ending, I can feel it. I can feel the danger, Matthew. Please help me, please help me rid this monster from our world. If we don't we will all pay. I have to protect Evie. I have to!" Alice said.
Matthew didn't know what to say. All he could do was hold his sister close and pray that this would pass, but deep down in his heart he knew it would not. They would have to do something, anything, to free this curse of Sebastian Lord’s vindictive and dangerous existence from them all.
