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| The Lord family breakfast table |
A shining white sun floated in the turquoise sky above Welshport Island bringing with it's bright rays the cool spring breeze off the Atlantic Sea. The large rectangular windows of the breakfast-nook that were grouped in two pairs of three at Tirymor House were open allowing the fresh and cool air in while Aurora, Rebecca, Charlotte, baby Fabian and Celeste were all enjoying their morning together.
Celeste sipped from her morning coffee and finished up her soft boiled egg in it's silver cup and tending to the baby's feeding.
"He's getting so big." Aurora said as she spread butter on her toast.
"And handsome." Rebecca added just as Caspian, the newest house guest entered the breakfast room.
"Good morning ladies."
They all replied in kind. Charlotte never lifting her blue eyes from her plate.
"I should be off. We're meeting daddy at the Publishing House today, aren't we." Celeste said standing up from the table and getting the baby out of his oak high-chair.
"Ahh, getting Fabian prepared to take over the family business already?" Rebecca smiled.
Celeste did not reply, only smiled. "Come Charlotte, we should get you dressed for your lessons."
Charlotte quickly got up from her chair to escape the room but the hem of her dress got caught under the chair, snagging and causing her to drip and fall onto the breakfast-room floor face first.
Her nose felt strange after the blow to the floor, and when she lifted her head, a river of blood fell down her lip and on to her collarbone.
Still on the floor, a hand came into her view, Charlotte took the hand believing it to be Celeste's but when she looked up it was Caspian smiling at her with this dark eyes and crooked teeth.
Charlotte's mind began to flash images of fire, large flames, terrible screams, dark echoes of nightmarish horrors. She screamed a blood curtailing scream frightening the entire room and quickly let go of Caspian's hand. The whiplash of her release was so forceful, Caspian’s hand hit his own nose causing it to bleed.
“Caspian! You’re bleeding!” Rebecca exclaimed.
"There, there. No harm done." He said wiping the blood.
"Are you alright darling?" Rebecca asked as Celeste came over too to check on her step-daughter.
Charlotte looked at Caspian who smiled at her waiting for her to reply to Rebecca but she couldn't get what she saw in her mind when Caspian touched her. It was confusing to the 12 year old girl. What was it? Why did that happened when he touched her.
Charlotte reached for Celeste and grabbed her hand.
No fire images. No darkness.
"Honey, are you ok?" Celeste asked. "Say something."
"I'm fine. Let's go. Let's go." Charlotte said, her voice trembling with nerves and her yes not leaving Caspian. "Miss. Kildare should be here any moment." The young Lord added mentioning her new tutor by name.
Celeste looked at the rest of the room, everyone seemed a bit worried for Charlotte, but Celeste mouthed "she's fine" attempting to ease their feelings as they exited the breakfast room.
"Well! That was a jolt to the system. No need for coffee." Caspian joked unaware of what Charlotte saw when she touched him. "How are the ladies of the house doing this morning?" He asked to Rebecca's annoyance as SHE was the true lady of the house, not her newest in-law Aurora.
"French-toast?" Rebecca said quickly changing the subject as she passed him something to eat from a silver tray.
Caspian smiled and took the try. "Have the two of you thought about what I proposed last night?" He asked.
Rebecca smiled. Aurora grimaced.
"I believe we can find arrangements for you, Caspian." Rebecca replied.
"And you, Aurora? How are you feeling about what I asked for. You're an intricate part of this entire plan. the three of us can do so much good for the world but, the child is needed. Its the first step in my success in saving us all."
"I have so much to think about. You said you wanted Evie's baby but, what does that even mean? Want it for," She paused to think "yourself? To raise?"
"If anyone can help me, it's you darling. You are the major key to the baby being brought up the correct way. In my way. You must trust me in knowing that all of our spirits will benefit from this child becoming my child. Through you Aurora, this can happen." Caspian said.
"I believe you." Rebecca added. "Ive seen the darkness of this world Aurora, and for what its worth I hope that Evie's baby will be the light to save us all as Caspian says it can be under his guidance. Look what he's done for me in such a short time? I'm happier. He's made me happier. I'm calmer. He's made me calmer. The baby can do this for the world." Rebecca said, her eyes suddenly flashing the amber from the mind control of Caspian.
"Yes, you've said that, Caspian as said that, but how? This child is my grandchild Rebecca, and your great-grandchild. How can we just help him take the child from Evie and give it to Caspian? Caspian you must understand my own hesitance." Aurora said.
Caspian took a deep breath and licked his lips free of the honey from his French toast. He picked up the white cloth napkin and dabbed the corners of his mouth and got up from the table and moved down to chairs to sit next to Aurora. He reached for her dainty elegant hand and held it in his perfectly soft and masculine ones.
"You are good to worry. A good woman. I understand the hesitation." He said as her beauty fell into his eyes like a perfect spring flower blooming. "But I promise you, having this child grow up in my own house and in my own way of life will do the world good in so many ways. I need the child Aurora, and I need you. Desperately." Caspian replied.
“But you haven’t explained why you need the baby.” Aurora said suddenly.
Her resistance was becoming a problem. His whole plot to sacrifice the newborn child to gain incredible supernatural powers and ultimate control of the universe was to remain his own personal secret.
Caspian reached for and squeezed Aurora’s hand. She had not been touched like in such emotionally intimate way in years. His eyes pierced her...she could feel him inside her mind, it was a strange feeling like work wiggling in her brain. He knew how much Evie trusted her mother Aurora, and if anyone would help him take the child from Evie, this very special child born of a human and a vampire, it would be Aurora.
The plot, to take Evie and Sebastian's baby at birth was a macabre one. Caspian's complete control of his powers only could happen if he took a child; this very special child.
He would be given unlimited and unparalleled powers that could bring every source of light and good on earth to it's knees. This was his ultimate dream come true. When the witch Eliza conjured him and brought him to the surface of the earth he was powerful but now that he was now in control of his own life-being because Eliza was dead and could not vanquish him back to the underworld, he could now find his way to an incredible power grab---ultimate power, ultimate control. And Rebecca and Aurora were pawns in his plan.
Aurora felt his touch, it was something she could only describe to herself as sexy, desirable, feverish. Rebecca saw this. It felt like a slap to her face in her own breakfast-room. She was the one who met Caspian and brought him to Tirymor, she was the one who hired him to be her Svengali, her religious Guru, her all seeing guide.
"I can do more than just look on." Rebecca said. "Evangeline trusts me, I care for her. She will understand that giving the child to you is the right thing. Aurora may be too close to the subject to complete this for you Caspian."
"What do you think Aurora?" Caspian said, hoping his new fascination would agree.
"I..." Aurora said, her mind a mix-bag of confusion and desire.
Caspian licked his lips again after a bite of his sticky breakfast. Taunting her. Giving her this feeling he was being overt with her. He wanted her too in all ways. He felt as though she could not only be his wife in this devilish game, but his true wife, the one he'd love the one he'd lift up and create to be a powerful being too. She was perfect for him. She could tell he was attracted to her. She was too, albeit so far, reluctantly.
"We can do this all together. The gifts that will come, Aurora, will be otherworldly." Caspian said to her in a sexy deep whisper.
"What about me?" Rebecca said, her eyes flashing amber still with Caspian's spell.
"You too, the three of us will change this world for the good." Caspian answered with a bit of a lie, he wanted Aurora, Rebecca was more of a worker for him.
"I promise you, I will do all that you need. I want the world to be better. I want to see it shine again. It's been such a dark and morose since my Albert died, that I can't see anything more beautiful than helping you save us all." Rebecca said, her mind in Caspian's complete warped control.
"Aurora, do you feel the same?" He asked, knowing that any minute now, his touch would again ensnare her in his spell.
Aurora's mind again felt mixed, confused, but hot. Wanting. Desiring his touch again. And then, like the flicker of a candle flame the amber glow appeared. Caspian's mind control spell finally snapped and Aurora too agreed the baby needed to be Caspian's and away from Evie.
"Yes. I want this too." Aurora answered in a monotone voice.
Rebecca's brow lifted. She wanted her not to be involved, too many "wives" meant competition. But Caspian was the boss.
"Very good, very very good. Once the baby is born, I want it brought to me. Not even an hour after. It must be at the moment of birth. Once it is mine and in my hands it will instantly change the dynamic of us here at Tirymor first. First us, here at the mansion...." Paused and turned to Rebecca who was behind him smiled at her and grabbed her hand, "then the earth over." He finished grabbing Aurora's hand next to him so that all three formed a chain with him in the middle linking Aurora and Rebecca as his two so called wives.
"It will be divine." Rebecca said, totally under his spell.
"Divine." Aurora replied, equally locked in his twisted came.
"Freedom for us all is in the birth of this child. Freedom for all us." Caspian smiled showing his crooked teeth again, lying to them both about why he really wanted the baby for himself.
****
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| Evie & Aaron at the Welshport docs |
Evie, 7 months pregnant now, waved goodbye with a white scarf like a small flag to the man she had come to love so much. Her protector. He white knight in a time when she had seen so much turmoil. She loved him so much, and he her. She spotted him on the deck of his boat waving back at her with a beautiful smile.
"Ready miss?" he asked.
"Miss! What is it? Are you ok?"
"I think so. I'm ok. I'm ok." Evie replied.
"Are you sure? I can drive you to see Dr. Ward." Hamstead said.
****
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| Celeste & Fabían visit Jacob at Lord Publishing Co. |
The afternoon blew a cold wind across downtown Welshport as a small car puttered to a stop in front of the 5 story brick building with arched windows on the very top floor reflecting the golden sun down to the street.
Celeste and baby Fabian had arrived at The Lord family Publishing Company's office building to show off the new baby prince to the various literary agents and publishing agents in the office.
In truth, Celeste wanted to keep her eye on Jacob who had just come back to work after his recuperation after being shot. She had her own misgivings about his sudden desire to return to the office. She wanted to be sure he was plotting against her and her brother Johnathon. Not to mention her worry about Genevieve's eerie resemblance to Sabrina, the woman Jacob killed.
As she made her way through the various floors, meeting agents, and publishers and even some writers who had made it all the way to the island in hope's their book would be picked up and published, Celeste kept one eye on her baby and one eye on the small golden elevator that would take her to her husband's office. A kind secretary finally released her from the various grabbing hands of happy office workers and got her into the elevator.
"Top floor ma'am?" The elevator attended asked.
"Please." She said with a smile. Fabian giggled.
As the golden doors of the elevator opened, she thanked the attendant. She turned slowly out of the elevator, her dress swooping and swishing into Jacob's office foyer. He was standing there waiting for her.
"How did you know I was here?" She asked with a slight grin.
"I own this place. Nothing happens here that I don't know about." He replied, gesturing for her to follow him into his office.
Celeste grinned playfully and replied "Your mother owns this place."
The entered his office that took up half of the 5th floor with six of the arched windows faced the west over the small channel of water that separated Welshport Island from mainland Maine.
It was like floating above the clouds, Celeste thought. The building was one of the tallest in the village.
"So what do I owe this very good and surprising visit? You've never been here before, have you?" He asked as he sat behind his dark oak desk with stacks and stacks of unpublished manuscripts that he was going over.
She walked over to him and handed him their son. The baby giggled again as he lovingly touched his father Jacob's face.
"Have you read all of these?" She asked, dodging his question. She didn't want to say she was basically spying on him.
"Almost. Some are actually quite good. Take this one," he said pointing to a stack of papers from a man in New York. "its about a woman whose lost her memory and she goes around searching for clues about who she was, who she knew, as she tries to piece together how she even lost her memory in the first place."
"Did she really lose her memory or did she fake it like you?" Celeste teased, reminding Jacob of his own memory loss just after the shooting.
"Very funny. I didn't fake it, did it?" He replied adorably asking his baby son who replied with drooling.
"Actually I came because I wanted to speak to you about what's happening at the house. I know that we'd be able to speak freely here, you know with everyone at home." Celeste replied.
"What do you mean? What's happening at Tirymor? Because after all you and I have discussed and decided on, nothing should be happening at Tirymor. You promised me your brother," he paused to correct himself, "our brother knows nothing of his connection to my family. So NOTHING should be 'happening' at home. Unless that has changed." Jacob continued, his voice becoming more serious as the realization that she might have told Johnathon the truth, that he too was an heir to the Lord family fortune, a direct challenge to Jacob's authority.
Celeste lifted a brow, her lie had to remain intact. She reiterated that Johnathon didn't know.
"That's not what I mean." She said sitting in front of him on the other side of his desk. "I'm talking about Genevieve."
Jacob's face turned serious. The idea that Celeste would be worried about Genevieve annoyed him. He had a futile hope that people would ignore the fact that Genevieve looked so much his late sister-in-law Sabrina, the woman he once loved, the woman who was married to his brother David, and the woman he killed on the beach and framed his brother for the murder. In Jacob's warped mind he wanted to pretend Genevieve's face wasn't a horrible reminder of the crime he committed all those years ago. Not to mention, his obvious attraction to the woman who's face he still dreamt of.
"Everything is fine." He replied coldly.
"Jacob, she's Sabrina's exact copy. How can you act like it's not a big deal. You think I don't know or that no one talked about any of it, but everyone knew. All the staff, everyone who worked closely with your family. Trust me when I say that everyone knew how you felt about your brother's wife. And now, it's like she's back from the dead. For real this time." Celeste explained.
"What people believe is a lie. Viscous gossip, and I'd hope my own wife would understand that about me by now. They'll always talk about what my brother did to Sabrina, and they'll always want to absolve him of what he did and blame a phantom or me. The truth is, Sabrina's memory does not haunt me. Not even now, not even with Genevieve in my view." Jacob said. Lying.
"What about Sabrina?" Celeste said, mentioning the spirit that once lived inside young Charlotte.
Jacob, again, did not want to acknowledge the existence of a real haunting, the ghost of the woman he killed.
"Celeste, I've told you, the only thing I am worried about is that we are sure that our agreement continues to be as solid as our marriage. Johnathon. That is it, not ghosts, or spirits, or anything related to the woman my brother killed. Is that clear?" Jacob replied curtly as he stood up and handed his son back to the baby's mother.
"I need to know that what you're saying is true." Celeste said. "I've told you over and over that Johnathon will remain in the dark about his relationship to you but I always want to feel secure in this marriage---this solid marriage."
Jacob stood in the center of his office in the bright light coming from the six arched windows. His smile curled at the edges of his lips when he realized Celeste wasn't there at this office to check on him, she was there because she herself was threatened by Genevieve. She herself saw Genevieve and her Sabrina matching face as a threat to her and her position as his wife. Jealously is what brought Celeste to the Lord Publishing House, and it made him tingle with delight to see her squirm.
"Do I sense a bit of worry that perhaps you believe your husband has the wondering eye for Johnathon's fiancée?"
Celeste's rolled her eyes. "Please."
"Ahhh there it is, my wife is jealous of the new woman in town that just happens to look exactly like someone who once walked the same halls of Tirymor. Well, well, well, the pious Celeste DeViana-Lord has a bit of a jealous side. It's quite sexy." He teased.
"I want to be sure you're not going to make another mistake on the beach." She replied, slapping him with words and truth.
His teasing smile quickly switched to a cold stare. The glimmer in his eyes vanished. The rosiness in his cheeks turned pale and white. He became empty. Dark. He walked over to her, a quick 5 step pace from where he was standing in the office to the desk where she was sitting with the baby in her arms. He reached down, grabbed her arm and lifted her and the baby up out of the oak chair with the lion feet so that the three were now standing so close she could feel his warm breath the smelled of coffee on her face.
"I never. Ever. Ever. Want to hear you say that again. Ever. Do you understand me Celeste?"
His hand gripped her arm. It tightened as she hesitated to answer.
"Let go of me." She replied stoically, unafraid and showing she had her cards to play on him.
"Did you hear what I said to you?"
Celeste knew that the revealing that she knew the truth about Sabrina's death by connecting the dots from the gossip she heard over the years, from knowing Jacob, from seeing first hand how cruel he could be and from his obvious attention toward Genevieve was a card she could play in the future. An extra insurance for herself and her position at Tirymor house that no one could take from her now that he knew she knew.
"David is innocent, isn't he?" She whispered. "He was always innocent. Maybe if someone else. Maybe it was you." She whispered.
Jacob’s eyes narrowed at Celeste’s obvious attempts at getting information or an admission of his guilt.
"Celeste," he said squeezing her arm tighter, "I'm going to give you one last chance to answer me before I change my mind about being kind to you as I have been the entirety of our short marriage. Never speak that way about Sabrina's death. David is responsible, do you understand? David and David alone!”
“And Genevieve? How does she fit your world?” Celeste asked.
Jacob then understood. With Genevieve and Sabrina so closely resembling each other Celeste felt Jacob’s clear attraction. Jacob released his wife’s arm and breathed in deep. He needed to get back on the same plating field as Celeste to shore up her loyalty.
“It is what is. Genevieve is not a threat..to ANYONE at Tirymor." Jacob added earring the way for Celeste to feel more relaxed.
Celeste got what she wanted. Jacob admitted her position as safe and whatever attention he was giving Genevieve was innocent and that she had nothing to worry about, no matter how much she looked like the woman he was so obsessed over, so obsessed over that he killed her.
Celeste lifted a brow, released her arm from his tight grasp and replied "I understand."
She gathered her things. Kissed Jacob on the lips as she continued to stand in the center of the room like a roman statue and told him she'd see him at dinner. Jacob did not reply but kissed his baby son on the head and watched as Celeste made her to the elevator once more to go back down to the lobby.
Celeste had shown her cards, and for the first time, Jacob felt like he had been played.
****
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| Sabrina’s spirit visits Genevieve |
As the late afternoon sun fell towards the hills of the Westridge Woods, Genevieve Thorne sat in her room at Tirymor reading a book, her mind however, could not concentrate on the words on the page.
She got up from the plush chair and walked over to a mirror. She stared into it, hoping to see some sort of facial difference in hers that could change the idea that she looked like the woman in the portrait down the hall: Sabrina.
But there was nothing, no difference. Not even a slight wrinkle around her lips or in the corner of her deep blue eyes. She was indeed the spitting image of Sabrina Spencer Lord.
As Genevieve continued to look at herself, tilting her head slightly to catch the dipping sun light from the far off window, a separate glow came in from the right near the door. It was blue in tone and emitted a warmth in the air.
Genevieve turned, it was her doppelganger, Sabrina's spirit floating towards her with her hair flowing in a nonexistent wind. She seemed to be floating under water yet she was right in front of Genevieve in mid air.
"No, no no no, this can't be happening again! YOU DO NOT EXSIT!" Genevieve yelped, covering her eyes and turning away from the ghostly Sabrina.
Sabrina felt terrible for frightening her, she only wanted to see her up close, to see her own face again win life. Flesh plump and warm. In the world of the living again, touched by real sunlight. Breathing real air. Wearing actual garments made of fabric and not cloaked in light from an another world.
"Don't be frightened of me, I promise I am not here to hurt you." Sabrina's echoing voice said. "Do you know who I am?"
"You're not real!" Genevieve replied but not turning back to the ghost of Sabrina.
"Turn to me, I promise you I will not hurt you. Please. Please turn to me." Sabrina asked.
Genevieve had a sudden feeling of calm come over her, her heart rate slowing to normal, yet her breathing stayed at a steady rapid pace. She took a deep breath and slowly lifted her head and began to turn towards the warm blue light that was Sabrina.
Their identical eyes locked.
Sabrina floated around Genevieve examining her body and how much she remembered looking like her in life. They were truly the same, it was uncanny.
"How can this be? How can we be so much alike? I have but one sister." Sabrina said, referring to her late sister Eliza Goode.
"I don't know. I have one brother, who has died. There is no way we could be related much less the same woman." Genevieve replied. "What am I doing? Why am I talking to you? You're not REAL!"
"Miss Thorne I am real, I have been real, and I will be real long after you're gone. This is place, this house, these rooms have for some reason locked me in place. Trapping me forever." Genevieve explained.
"What do you want from me?" Genevieve asked.
Sabrina looked at her look-alike and smiled. She knew what she wanted from her, she knew what she could do but perhaps it was not yet time to jump into her body and live again. That was truly what she desired to do. But they were strangers, Sabrina felt that they at least needed some time to befriend each other before she possessed her as she did Charlotte.
"The only thing that I can tell you now, is to be safe. This place is not what it seems at first glance, especially when it comes to the family members themselves. There is tracheary, always treachery. Beware Genevieve Thorne, beware of the eyes of this house---the living ones and the dead ones." Sabrina said.
Then, Johnathon walked into the room. In a split second, Genevieve turned to see him walk in then turned back to face Sabrina but she was gone.
"Honey? are you ok?" He asked her.
"We...we have to go. We have to get out of here Johnathon, we have to leave Tirymor and Welshport and this part of the country, I don't care, anywhere! We have to go! WE HAVE TO LEAVE!!" She said sounding hysterical.
"Calm down, calm down. What happened? What's the matter?"
Genevieve's heart began to pound again and she began to feel faint. Johnathon grabbed on to her arm and helped her to the soft white chair and sat her down in a fluff of white taffeta and silk fabrics of her dress. He rushed over to a small bar near the window and poured her a small tumbler of water.
She sipped, wiped her pink pouty lips and stared at him dead in the eyes.
"I will not bring my son into this house. He'll be here in a few days and I want nothing to do with this place." She replied as the color came slowly back into her beautiful face.
"You have to tell me why, what happened?" he asked as he kneeled next to her.
"Sabrina came to me." She began as he lowered his head in frustration.
"Not this again."
"She warned me about the people here, this place. She told me that I needed to worry about the family and how... how there was treachery. Or something. I'm starting to forget. I don't know. John, listen to me, we cannot live here. Morgan, my son, cannot live here. Are you listening to me?" She asked.
"Gen, I am, I am listening, I promise I am. But now listen to me: We have to say. We just have to. I am so close to getting into this family's business, my family business. I was denied it all my life and now that I am here and that I am the son of Albert Lord, I can get part of my inheritance and live a happy life. With that money we can leave here with Morgan and live somewhere far away from here. But we can't leave just yet. I have to do this slowly and I have to be careful of the way I do do it." Johnathon explained.
"Do what? What do you plan on doing? Your sister told you not to tell anyone you knew. If you do, it can damage her place here. You don't want that do you? None of us do. So let's just go---we don't need their money." Genevieve said.
"No, we don't their money. We don't. But we deserve it. All the years this family held back my mother and my father and Celeste and me...all the things we could have done if we hadn't worked for the damn Lord family had I known I was Lord too. They owe this to my mother...Albert must of loved her at some point. Whatever he left behind, part of that belongs to me. I just have to figure out how to get to what I am deserved without it hurting my sister." John said.
"Its just money, John, that's it. We have our own money .You've worked for years and years and you've made a wonderful life for yourself and now for me and Morgan. Sabrina told me---" Genevieve began before being interrupted by an increasingly flustered John.
"ENOUGH ABOUT SABRINA! She's dead!! Do you understand me? DEAD! There are no ghosts, there have never been ghosts, you are imagining these things Genevieve. That's it, imagining!" He yelled.
Genevieve got up from the chair slowly allowing his angry voice to settle in her mind. She scowled at him. He had never raised his voice to her in the 7 years they were together.
"Don't you ever speak to me that way, ever again." She said.
"Im sorry. I don't know what came over me." He replied calmly.
"I know what I saw Johnathon. I know what she told me and I believe her. But fine, if this is what you want, if this house this money, this family is what you seek to somehow make yourself feel more compelete then fine, I'll stay. But once Morgan comes, if anything happens again to me or him or you, I am out of that door and my son is coming with me." Genevieve said as she began to make her way towards the bedroom door.
He reached and grabbed her hand holding her back.
She turned, their arms extended both not budging from where they stood, standing their ground on in more ways than one.
"Thank you. I love you, and I promise, we'll be ok." He said.
She loosened her hand from his and walked over to him. She put both hands over his face, feeling the soft flesh of his cheeks, the rough stubble on his perfectly chiseled face and she kiss his full lips feeling the energy of his love for her from his lips to hers.
"I'm giving this a chance because I love you too Johnathon. But I am remaining firm. If something more occurs and my son is here, I will not stick around to see anymore ghosts or ...or whatever else can occur." She explained as she quickly made her exit from their bedroom.
As she waked down the hall and passed the painting of Sabrina, the paintings eyes moved and watched Genevieve make her way down the giant main staircase. Sabrina knew it was now or never, she had to get into Genevieve's body and live again. Live once more in her own body in her own face and end Jacob's reign of terror once and for all...before it was too late.
****
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| Peter discusses Nik’s future endeavor into medicine |
Over at Welshport Hope Hospital, Dr. Peter Ward read through a stack of papers that came the state that allowed him to begin an apprenticeship program where a person could become a doctor via on the spot training verses years and years of medical school. It was a special pilot program that would help rural areas like Welshport Island gain better health care via local physicians instead of waiting for the state to send one to help.
The hospital staff, especially the three on call doctors, needed the help-- desperately.
Dr. Ward wasn't alone. He was looking over the papers, an application for the program to be exact, with Nikolas Jordan, who signed up to be this new style of doctor with Ward's careful eye constantly watching.
"Mr. Jordan, your application is definitely very good. I'm pleased to see that you've already had some kind of medical teaching from London." Ward said to Nik. "Why didn't you finish school?"
"Money." Nik replied quickly. "My family lost everything and we all had to go to work, find jobs and support ourselves. My father, god rest is soul, couldn't afford to keep me in school. It was a tough decision but I understood." He explained.
"I'm very sorry about that." Ward replied, thinking of his own young life struggling through medical school without his own family's support.
As the two continued to speak, Nurse Asha Hoffman came down the hall and turned towards then. She was on duty at the hospital and walked up to the two men and dropped her own application down on the counter.
Nik turned to see the gorgeous nurse. Her face glowing with happiness at finally deciding to take the jump and go from nurse to doctor under the new program.
"Well! This doesn't come much as a surprise, Nurse Hoffman. You're a very talented professional." Dr. Ward said reading over her application.
"So you'll consider me??" She asked.
Ward smiled, nodded his head and replied "The more the merrier. Have you met Mr. Nikolas Jordan? He'll be with you on this wild journey."
"I have yes, hello Mr. Jordan." She replied.
"Please, I'm Nik." he said, transfixed by her beautiful grin.
"Nik." She replied smiling back, noticing his equally handsome featured. "I'm Asha."
"While you too get more acquainted, I'll sign off on these papers and get you both a start date. Excuse me." Dr. Ward said leaving the two alone in the busy hospital hallway.
"How do you like it here?" Nik asked Asha of working at the hospital.
"It can have it's ups and downs, like any workplace. I worked here part-time until recently. My other job was on the mainland and Windcliff Sanitarium." She revealed.
"Oh! That's right, I thought that you seemed familiar." Nik replied. "I have a bit of a strange history and connection to that place. I think I saw you there. about a year ago or so."
She scrunched her nose "Were you a patient?"
"No, no, no..." he laughed "my sister was. Well, she wasn't supposed to be but she was. Anyway, it's a long story."
"Oh! Jordan! Evie Jordan-Lord is your sister. I remember. The doctor I worked with there, Andrew Kim, he had complicated and to be honest very destructive behaviors that finally caught up to him. I'm glad she's out of there." Asha said, not mentioning she was the reason Andrew was gone, in prison for his crimes against his former patient, her father and---for other crimes she framed him for.
"Right. He's been locked up for a few months now. Good riddance, right?" Nik joked.
"Good riddance."
"Listen, I'm really glad I'll have someone to sort of go through this whole process with. I hope we'll be great friends." Nik added.
Asha smiled. He heart warmed, it had been so long since she had a real friend. The other nurses at the hospital often kept their distance from her since she was always in and out working on the island and on the mainland. It was hard for her to have a friend. But Nik, Nik seemed different. He seemed like he was kind and genuine and wanted to really get to know her even in the few minutes that had been speaking she could see he was a true person.
"It's going to be great. I can't wait." She said as Doctor Ward came back.
"Alright you two. Sign and sealed." He said handing them both envelopes with acceptance letters.
"I can't believe it. I'm going to be a doctor!" Asha said, feeling her life come full circle.
"We need more women doctors if you ask me, so I'm glad to help in that department. My own granddaughter Samantha sometimes mentions she wants to be a doctor like her old pop-pop, so seeing you start out under my guidance will be wonderful for her to see." Ward mentioned.
"That's right you said you were now raising your granddaughter. I'm sorry for the loss of her parents." Nik replied.
Ward smiled uncomfortably as the mention of his daughter and son-in-law's recent death that caused him and his wife to gain custody of their young granddaughter Samantha. "A tragedy yes."
Nik patted Dr. Ward on his shoulder.
"Well! I have to be off, I have rounds." Asha said breaking the tension. "Nik, I'll see you on start day." She added.
The looked at each other. The was a spark, a spark Nik hadn't felt since Alice's death. He was excited to start this new journey, a journey that would give him purpose to help and heal people and perhaps this new life and journey would bring him new love too.
Things in life, for Nik and Asha, were beginning to bloom in the light instead of the darkness.
For once.
****
 |
| Aurora meets Gregory in the village |
In the village, Aurora walked along the darkening streets in town with a bundle of fresh flowers she had just purchased. She needed the fresh air and the dusk sky felt somewhat comforting to her despite the signs of a possible coming spring thunderstorm.
She adjusted her feathered at that tilted to one side by the cold wind and then pulled up her leather gloves. The flowers were so pretty. They were white and pink peonies. She smelled them, allowing the fresh perfume to fill her air pathways with their scent; it calmed her. It took her mind off of the strange relationship she was beginning to forge at Tirymor with Caspian and Rebecca.
"Those are very beautiful." Gregory Reigns said, startling Aurora as she stood on the sidewalk.
The constable of the village was just leaving The Village Constable's station ending his day shift and was heading home for so much needed rest before he was on call again early the next morning.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you." he added.
"It's ok, I was sort of out in another place mentally I guess." She said, flashing the most beautiful smile Gregory had ever seen.
"You're Mrs. Jordan, Evie and Nikolas' mother, yes?" He asked.
"Aurora." She said giving her first name. "I am." She added, re-wrapping the bouquet. "You are?"
"Reigns, Gregory. I'm the ---uhh.. .cop in town." He joked. "What brings you to the village to buy flowers at 7pm?"
She signed and held tight to the bouquet "It's been one interesting week at the house. I just needed to get out and get some fresh air. And this is my favorite time of the day."
Aurora then turned and looked off into the distance towards the docks down the street where the ocean refelcted the orange sky above of the setting sun. "You see? Look at that sky. How calming is that?"
He smirked at the innocence in her words. It had been so long since he knew someone who'd look at a setting sun like she did.
"It is quite beautiful, yes. And those flowers, I guess I wouldn't be able to resist buying them either. So tell me, what exactly has made your week at Tirymor so interesting?" He pressed.
She thought for a second. She wasn't sure how to explain her feelings about Caspian and Rebecca's very growing closeness and how she herself was bring dragged into the net that bizarre relationship. How could anyone explain it? Aurora felt like she was two people, she was very much herself when she was along like now, but when she was with Caspian and Rebecca, she became someone else, someone trapped in Caspian's gaze, someone who couldn't make her own decisions and someone who wanted to please him.
But she didn't know why? She didn't understand why Caspian had that strange alluring power over her, not to mention Rebecca. And then there was the more serious problem of Caspian's plan to take Evie's baby as soon as it was born and how she, Aurora, was the star in this plot. The only person who could deliver the baby to him.
Needless to say, Aurora was feeling a widening chasm between her two lives and she wasn't sure how to close it so that she could feel more like herself.
"I wouldn't want the law involved." She giggled, hiding her honest and true feelings. "It's fine. I guess I'm just getting used to it there. Do you know my children? At least more than their names." She added.
"Ive had a few encounters with them here and there yes. But I wouldn't want their mother to worry. They're wonderful kids, raised well." He said.
"Thank you." She obliged.
"And Mr. Jordan?" He asked, fishing for a clue to her availability.
But this wasn't a talking point she wanted to get into. She became visibly tense, her arms tightened around the bundle of flowers crushing the brown paper that held them. She gulped, unsure of how to answer.
"He's dead." She said quickly, shocking Reigns who wasn't expecting her to be so frank.
"I'm sorry, I didn't ... " he began before she interrupted.
"Constable I should be getting back to the house. Evie is expecting me for dinner soon. It was nice chatting with you." She said.
"Wait! Aurora!" he said, she turned back still visibly uncomfortable with the topic of her husband. "I didn't mean to say something that made you upset. Truly. I'm sorry."
"I understand, but really I should get back." She replied coldly.
"Could I come see you? At the house." he asked daringly.
She thought for a second. Unsure of how Caspian would react to Gregory being around the house, but then she thought maybe she'd feel more safe, maybe even the whole plan of taking Evie's baby would blow up if Gregory were to come to see her once and a while.
"That would be nice. Yes." She said, then quickly turned and got into the awaiting cab she flagged down.
Gregory watched as the small black taxi cab puttered up the long shining cobble stone street of the village carrying the stunningly beautiful Aurora. She beguiled him, and at the same time worried him. And in that taxi cab, Aurora wondered just how long she could keep her two sided secret. On one side she had the strange powerful draw that Caspian had over when she was in his presence, and on the other the secret of her husband's death and what lead to it, what caused it, and the truth behind it all.
She didn't want any of that second part to be revealed. Her children needed to never know the truth about Robert Jordan's death, if the truth came out it would shatter too many lives, especially Aurora's. Perhaps, Aurora thought as the car continued on its winding way up to through the darkening Tirymor forest to the mansion of the same name, if she gave in more to Caspian he'd help her keep the secret of Robert's death.
She didn't like Caspian, she was afraid of him. She didn't trust him and his plans. He wanted to take her first grandchild of all things, but she could tell he was powerful. Perhaps Rebecca's new spirtual guru was the real thing and if Caspian wanted something from Aurora, she thought, maybe she could get something from him even if she hated the idea.
It was protection. Maybe.
Aurora was about to make a deal with, of all people.... the devil, to keep her secrets buried all the way back in London.
****
 |
| Filipe, Sebastian & Mary strategize |
A crash of waves hit the rocky shoreline of Goode Island. In the fog the little cottage where Mary and Filipe now lived was warm and inviting with a glowing fire burning in the hearth that illuminated the logs that formed the small cottage's walls.
Sitting in a yellow chair facing the fire was Sebastian Lord awakened from his daytime slumber. He had been up at the first hour of the fallen sun hunting for something in the forest to nourish his thirst for the red nectar of blood he needed to survive.
He turned from the burning fire to a small table next to the chair that had a porcelain oval serving tray from Mary's kitchen; on it he placed a dead rabbit.
Sebastian reached over and grabbed the rabbit by the head and sunk his teeth into it's neck sucking the rest of the blood from it's shriveling body.
"I'll never get used to seeing you do that." Filipe said as he came over from the kitchen with tea to sit by the fire with Sebastian.
"Then don't look." Sebastian replied coldly. His mood this night was as icy as the Atlantic sea that washed over the rocks on the beach. "I'm sorry. I'm just getting impatient." The vampire said as he wiped the side of his mouth of blood.
"We have to try, Sebastian, Mary is doing all she can to figure out how to rid us of this creature, this Caspian person. It's not as easy as we think. Its even more dangerous too. Caspian is unpredictable and his powers are a mystery. You wouldn’t want Mary to lead into something unprepared would you?”Filipe asked.
"I've already said I'd sacrifice myself to get to him and protect Evie and the child she's carrying. My child." Sebastian replied, his fangs slowly detracting revealing more human-like canines.
"I don't think any of us want you to do that. I trust Mary. She'll figure this all out. She'll find a way to connect with whom ever is left over from her coven and together they can ---" Filipe was interrupted.
"They can WHAT?" Sebastian yelled, showing his vampire fueled anger again and knocking over the dead rabbit on the table to the floor breaking the tray. "Attempt some sort of abracadabra magic spell and just HOPE he disappears? We can't wait for that! We can't just assume anything she does will work with these …sisters, these Highgrove sisters or whatever the coven is called."
"Sebastian calm down!” Filipe shot back.
“This is just so east for you! All you do is sit back and let my cousin Mary do all the work, what kind of man are you? GET UP! Help me figure this creature to its death!” Sebastian exclaimed, clearly once again out of sync with the entire careful process of Mary’s powers.
Filipe stood up, his chest wide and strong, a man much taller and bigger than Sebastian. He married his eyes and leered at his one time friend.
“Now you listen to me: We've welcomed you in this house because you has nowhere else to go. We invited you in without fear, and without prejudice. But if you raise your voice to me ever again, I'll drag your sleeping body into the day light myself and watch you turn to ash. I won't think twice, Sebastian. We’re doing this by our rules, so that the only one who dies is Caspian." Filipe warned.
Sebastian sat back. His eyes were dark, cold. His anger was building but he knew when to back off Filipe.
In the bedroom, Mary was sitting on the floor with her bright blond hair down around her shoulders, sitting cross-legged and her hands resting on her knees.
She took deep breaths, focusing on the silence in her room and the feelings she was getting in the pit of her stomach.
She breathed: IN -- OUT -- IN -- OUT, letting her body talk to her.
As Mary slowly lifted her hands and placed them on her stomach and pressed down she felt a bright surge of energy brighten up her insides, it was like an electrical spark running the coarse of her entire circulatory system. In her mind she saw it, right there, the sign of what she had suspected for week.
Not only was Evie pregnant, but she was too. Mary was pregnant with Filipe's child that they had conceived while they were both locked in the Tirymor turret room.
She had suspected she was with child for weeks but waited for her third month to be sure. Mary’s first pregnancy lead to her beautiful daughter Charlotte and Jacob took the girl away from her after their turbulent relationship fell apart. Jacob’s subsequent blackening of her name turning her into a Welshport Village pariah gave Mary pause when she realized she’d be a mother again. But Filipe was not Jacob.
Mary Trusted him.
She got up from the floor and pulled her spell book off of the desk in front of her. In its pages held the secret to reverse her mother Eliza’s conjuring of Caspian. The words of that reverse spell were so far illusive and desperately needed.
With Only news of her baby coming, Mary went into the living room, spell book in hand, to tell Filipe he was going to be a father.
Mary entered the living room and could feel the tension boiling over between her cousin Sebastian and her new love Filipe.
"What's this? What's happened?" She asked.
Filipe motioned with a hand lift to Sebastian.
"I'm ready. I'm ready to rip that monster's throat out and protect my family, our family” Sebastian corrected “...the longer we wait here doing nothing the longer Caspian has to hurt not only Evie and my child, but Charlotte too. Your daughter is in just as much danger as anyone else at Tirymor." Sebastian added hoping the addition of Charlotte's name would press Mary to push forward in their plan.
"I'm well aware of the dangers that lurk around my daughter's life every second of the day, Sebastian. I don't need you to tell me. What I do need you to do is to calm down and give me time to prepare." Mary said.
"Prepare for what?" Sebastian demanded to know.
"His end." she replied as she opened the spell book and sat down next to Filipe. "I searched for clues in my mother's book. I read it over and over again this whole thing and I finally understand what happened. She summoned him. A demon, some sort of creature from the underworld. I don't know exactly why she did it, but for whatever reason he was manifested and gained control over his waking body. Meaning, she broke free somehow from the control my mother's spell had over him. He became his own, his own being --- alive, like you and me." Mary explained.
"What does he want?" Filipe asked.
"According to the spell book, if this should happen, a demon escaping the spell or control, he'll need a child of his own either blood related or taken in from someone else, to keep himself alive. He'll bind his soul with the child soul and together they'll grow all powerful and --- control the globe. No child born in Welshport is safe. None." She said hesitating as it dawned on Sebastian's face that his child was indeed the target.
"I knew it!! I KNEW IT! He wants my child!" The vampire said, raging in his skin.
"Yes." Mary replied pensively. "It seems that could be possible since Evie is in his sights now that he's living at Tirymor. But Sebastian listen to me, he can't do anything until the baby is born so this does give us time. From what I can tell, from what you said and from the timeline I believe I correctly created, Evie is only about 7 months or 8 months along. It gives us a window, but a very small one, for me to locate the last Sisters of Highgrove. Only together, the witches of the coven that brought him to this earth, can take him down. It's the only way."
"Where? Where do we find them????? I WILL FIND THEM!" Sebastian yelled.
"We can't just have you running around looking for witches! Are you mad??" Filipe replied.
"No, wait, this may be the only way." Mary interjected.
"What do you mean?" Filipe asked.
"You and I can't leave here Filipe. We both escaped Tirymor by the skin of our teeth. We'd have to board a ferry from the main island to the mainland to then get to Boston, thats where the sisters will be. But we'll be spotted instantly. Jacob doesn't know I'm still alive, remember, they believe I'm dead." Mary reminded them.
"So I'll go. In the dead of night. I will go." Sebastian said.
"They think you're dead too." Filipe reminded Sebastian.
"It doesn't matter. I can handle anyone who thinks they saw Sebastian Lord's ghost. It's safer for me to go and for you two to stay." Sebastian again said.
Mary agreed. She got up and gave Sebastian a small folded piece of paper she had written with instructions on how to get to Boston and the area known as Highgrove where, hopefully, the last witches of Eliza's original coven were. Their last hope to seek help in ridding the globe of the monster, the devil, the dangerous Caspian Casador.
Sebastian left the room and went to pack a bag for his journy.
Filipe then stood up and looked over at Mary with a concern in his eyes.
"This is crazy." He whispered. "Sebastian is unstable, how can we trust that'll get to Highgrove and come back safely with the coven?" Filipe wondered.
"He'll be fine. He has a strength in him that we don't possess. I have faith he'll be able to do what he needs to do for the baby." Mary said.
"His baby." Filipe repeated realizing the power of a father's love.
"Not just his." Mary said as she grabbed Filipe's hand and placed it on her small little bump of three months.
"What?" Filipe asked with a giant grin on his face. "Us too?"
Mary smiled grabbed hold of her lover and kissed him. He held her tightly then looked into her eyes. His dark brown eyes meeting her deep blue eyes.
"You're going to be a father too." She whispered.
"Then this baby too is in danger." Filipe then realized.
Mary swallowed hard and nodded yes.
"Sebastian cannot fail. Now we too have something at steak if all children are in danger of Caspian's plot." Filipe said.
"He won't fail and as soon as Sebastian returns with the coven survivors, if there are any, then we'll all be safe. Me. You. Our child." Mary said holding Filipe's hand tightly.
"If not, if he does fail, I'll kill Caspian myself. I won't stop until he's dead. I promise you this."
Mary smiled back at the father of her second child nervously...she knew he was serious. Death and danger was all around them and yet all she could do was hope and pray her new baby would be safe in the coming months.
But noting was certain, no one was safe, and all their lives were about to change forever.
