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| Sebastian & Caspian’s confrontation at the docks |
Dark ocean waves kissed the black rocks under the docks of Welshport. They lapped over them washing over the dark green algae like a watery blanket over and over revealing tiny crabs scattering about the sand in the dark.
The moon, a crescent shape light in the dark sky, lit Sebastian Lord's way to the dock-side where he quietly hide and stowaway among the many large crates that were being loaded onto a cargo ship of fish from Welshport to the mainland where it would eventually find it's way to the Massachusetts Bay.
As he slowly got close to the entrance of the ship the waves in below froze.
The men in the ship yard froze as well. The swinging opened crate of fish lassoed from the dock to the ship also froze in mid-air. Sebastian was the only thing in motion.
"What the devil?" the vampire said to himself under his breath.
Then, the sound of an owl landing on a withered dock post that was scarred by it's decades long standing near the sea. The owl called out a deep whoo.
It blinked in Sebastian's face and then it's eyes turned a glowing yellow like two burning suns.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes. He knew what was coming.
Without a second to spare the owl lifted it's wings, spread them open and began to transform into the shape of a man, cloaked in the same dark color as the feathers of the owl. His eyes glowing yellow just as the owl's were. The face morphed from it's bird like wide eyed masterpiece into the face, the very twisted and sinister face, of Caspian Casador.
"And where are we off to?" The creature said to Sebastian slowly making his way onto the long dockside as time still froze around the both.
"Get out of here. GET OUT OF HERE!" Sebastian roared, his fangs quicky forming in his mouth, ready for a bite.
"Such aggression, young Sebastian. I'm not here to hurt you or fight you. No, nothing like that. Think of this as us catching up. Comparing notes. So, tell me, how are things on that little drip of an island you all call Goode."
Sebastian's fangs spiked. His eyes turned black. The anger in him boiled to intoxication.
"I swear to all that is holy that if you touch one hair on Evangeline or my child's head I will rip your heart out and force you to watch me devour it. I have no time to deal with the devil."
"You are a very violent creature. That is your nature, I know. You can't help it my son." Caspian replied patronizingly. "But again, I'm not here to fight. You're not match for me. This is the place where you and I can form a bond, Sebastian. The two of us together can do so much. Imagine the powers that would come to us if we united. Me, you, your child. Together. We can even somehow make it so that Evangeline too could join us. All you need do is bite her."
"I WOULD NEVER turn her into what I am! And I would never ever join whatever the hell you're planning. Not in a million years." Sebastian hissed.
"Hell. Yes. It is hell. In a vague sort of description yes, but it is oh so glorious. I wish you could feel it, Sebastian, I wish you could see it, taste it, know it, love it, want it, desire it, lust for it, make love to it. Everything. It can be inside of you. This power and fury I feel every second I breath, it can be for you and your child. All of us. We can combine ourselves in something this planet has never ever seen and only ever read about in books. The mortal world has no idea what I have instore for it, Sebastian. You can join me and live forever in an even more powerful light. Just say yes." Caspian explained.
"I'll watch you die before I ever join you." Sebastian replied quickly.
"And your child? You know it's mine now, don't you? There's no way it can escape being mine. It's already too late for it. Mine! MY CHILD! You'll never see it again the way you think you will. No, no, no, no. It'll be sad for you really, you and Evie, once that baby is under my control and rearing. But, that'll pass--the sadness I mean. It'll go. Because you'll be dead and I will be in the seat of power over all the globe. Souls will be mine. Power will be mine. All will be mine. But join me, and it can be us. Together." Caspian again tempted.
Sebastian hissed and lunged at the dark creature with his mouth open ready to attack, but Caspian's body quickly disappeared into thin air. Sebastian fell to the floor, his hands skidding over the old wooden dock launching several large splinters to slit into the palms of his hands.
Caspian grabbed Sebastian by the shoulder lifted him up and flipped Sebastian's hands over revealing the bloody slivers.
"Tsk tsk tsk." Caspian said. He put his own hands over Sebastian's and the slivers vanished. The wounds healed and Caspian smiled. "You see what I can do? I can do much more than that too. I want to show you and teach you."
Sebastian balled his now healed hand into a fist and punched Caspian in the face.
The soreness quickly vanished, and Caspian smiled psychotically at Sebastian's grit.
"You've been warned." Caspian replied in a very deep voice. Then, Caspian's menacing eyes then went black too. Black as night, black as the darkness of closed casket. He lifted his arm out, spread his fingers and Sebastian began to float above the docks. His feet struggled to touch the wooden beams of the dock. As he rose, 9 feet up in the air, then 20 feet into the air, then 50 feet Caspian laughed at the vampire as he attempted to bring himself down to earth unsuccessfully.
"You petulant child!!!" Caspian screamed in his madness.
Then, the demon lifted his arm quickly over his head and Sebastian was launched into the air. His body flung across the ocean at a high rate of speed then quickly dropping and falling all the way down in a heap of splashing ocean water into the sea where Sebastian plunged into the deep.
The crash of Sebastian's body in the water restarted time as if nothing had happened.
The fisherman continued to load the ship. The waves continued to crash on the black rocks.
The moon continued to shine in it's crescent shape in the sky.
The owl continued it's watch from the withered post on the dock.
And Sebastian feel deeper and deeper into the dark sea unconscious. And drowning as Caspian smirked evilly and began to make his way back to Tirymor whistling a song to himself like nothing happened.
****
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| Jacob & Rebecca quarrel in the drawing room |
Morning light came and over coffee and small finger sandwiches of sausages and tomato in the large pale green drawing room at Tirymor House, Celeste DeViana-Lord played on the floor with her now 9 month old baby Fabian. Her large bell like skirt overflowed in dark eggplant purple fabric that seemed to make her mocha skin sheen with a golden tone in the morning sun.
The happy father, Jacob Lord, looked on over his own cup of coffee and news paper. He was vert proud of his new son. He was very proud of his new wife. Everything in his life recently seemed to finally align in his favor despite his penchant of twisting of truths, evil lies that helped him get where he was.
Rebecca and the mansion's head maid Jane, entered the room and looked around. Rebecca was uncomfortable in her own skin that morning. Her eyes seemed empty and restless. She motioned for Jane to come with her towards the far corner of the sitting room and they discussed the removal of furniture and photos that were on the far wall. Jacob and Celeste shot each other looks. Rebecca was not the type to redecorate. Tirymor, for her, was like a museum of the Lord family. Everything in it and on its walls were put there from past ladies of the manor and Rebecca often never changed a thing to keep those ties to family members who gone before her.
Then, Rebecca's trusted Paige Aaron Hamstead entered with a large painting in his hands, the only painting ever to be removed from the walls in the estate’s history.
"Over here ma'am?" he asked as he set it down and removed the white cloth over it.
It was the painting of Vivian-Victoria, or Vivi as the family called her. The baby Rebecca lost so long ago. When the child died, all remnants of here were put into the attic. Now Rebecca was bringing some out in hopes Caspian's promise to bring her back would come true.
"Um. Mother? What is all this?" Jacob asked coming to the spectacle near at the wall.
"I'm doing some changes." She said without turning to her son.
"I see that. Why?" He asked.
She turned and showed him a cold look. "This is my house Jacob. I can do what I want."
Jacob turned back to Celeste who shrugged.
"A little higher Aaron." Rebecca instructed Hamstead who was hanging the portrait of Vivi back on the wall.
"And this one ma'am?" Jane asked hold a smaller framed black and white photograph of the Lord siblings Jacob, David, and Vivi when they were children. Rebecca grabbed on to it and held it close to her chest as if she were hugging it.
"This one stays with me." Rebecca replied warmly.
"Mother, you can understand my confusion. You've never once taken portraits or moved around furniture this way. You've certainly added to our collection of course as the years have gone by but removing--never. You're taking down a picture of my great-grandmother, a woman you met just before she died all those years ago. You've always revered her. And now you're taking down her only portrait? What's changed?" Jacob wondered.
"Everything, darling. Everything has changed. Caspian has brought me fresh eyes. A new outlook on things here at the house and I feel like it's time that I refresh these walls. Especially with Vivi. I missed her face. Haven't you?" Rebecca asked.
"She is lovely." Celeste added coming up to see the portrait of the child Vivi as she held tightly to her own.
"She was my golden child, my baby. And I don't want to leave her in an attic any more."
"This Caspian fellow sure has you on a high, doesn't he? I feel that maybe he should slow down his teaching or whatever he does with you. Too much too soon can't be a good thing. Baby steps." Jacob said, seeing his mother's sudden change in behavior was very worrisome especially with what Jacob had over heard just a few days before between his mother and Caspian.
"Jacob, do I have to tell you again who's home this is? It's mine. And Vivi deserves to be on the wall. Where-ever I choose. I would hope that you of all people would understand the importance of keeping our loved ones close, we never know when they might show up again." Rebecca said, then turned to her grandson Fabian and pinched his cheeks.
"I don't follow." Jacob replied confused.
Rebecca turned back to her son, she smiled and shrugged with a glimmer of Caspian's yellow controlling glow in her eyes. "Well, look around you. Genevieve Thorne is your Vivi...isn't she? Her resemblance to Sabrina is uncanny. Sometimes when I see walk the halls I'd swear it's Sabrina's ghost. But we all know ghosts don't exist....Or do they?" She said cryptically.
"Mother, stop this." Jacob said, knowing full well she was taunting him with the secret what lead to Sabrina death.
Celeste could feel the tension in the room rising.
"I don't want Vivi to be another ghost in the hall. A memory. Something haunting my dreams. She deserves to be out here, with us. Caspian agrees." Rebecca digressed.
"What other things has Caspian said in your sessions with him? What have his cards told you?" Jacob wondered.
"That's personal." Rebecca replied coldly.
Jacob already knew from his eavesdropping, but he wanted to know more. The darkness that he could see in his mother's face, was beyond concerning. Her total confidence and obsession with Caspian seemed almost bone deep. The business of the portrait of Vivi was a constant source of sorrow for Rebecca. She almost destroyed it decades ago but even then she could not bring herself to burn it, throw it away. Seeing her now so happy and gleeful staring up at this symbol of her most powerful pains as a mother, the loss of a child, was bizarre. A flip of 180 degrees was completely pout of Rebecca's wheelhouse.
"Personal? Mother, you always shared with me what your other guides expressed. It was something you enjoyed telling me. You used to even encourage me to see them myself for my own life problems. Why is Caspian different?" Jacob pressed.
"Yes, my other guides, like Gaspar." Rebecca shot back, reminding Jacob of the charlatan man Jacob hired to keep Rebecca under his thumb with predictions and visions that benefited Jacob's evil plans.
"And others." Jacob said just as coldly seeing his mother's snark-ridden mention of Gaspar.
"Consider yourself free of my strange meetings. They're mine now, I won't bother you with them. Now, if Celeste wouldn't mind, I'd like to take my beautiful grandson for a walk in the gardens." Rebecca said pushing Jacob off her trail just as Caspian would have wanted.
"Of course, just after he eats." Celeste said hoping Rebecca would instead be too impatient to do so.
"Very well. I'll come back and we'll take him together, yes?" The grandmother, smiling ear to ear, asked.
Celeste agreed and Rebecca and her staff left the room leaving Jacob and Celeste completely shell-shocked at Rebecca's new attitude.
"She's … different." Celeste said after kissing the baby's cheek.
"Yes. It's that new friend of hers and I'm very concerned on what they're doing up in that room all day long." Jacob said turning back to his little sister's portrait. "She hated that painting. Not because it wasn't beautiful, it's gorgeous, but because it reminded her so much of my baby sister's death. She suddenly has this passion for seeing her again? Just like that? No. No. I over heard a strange conversation between them and I can't even begin to tell you what I overheard. I have to get Reigns in on this. There's too much on the line." Jacob said, finally reaching the point where the law would work for him and his needs, instead of the other way around.
"What did you overhear?" Celeste wondered as Charlotte walked in.
"It sort of goes along with this." Jacob said pointing to his baby sister's painting. "He promised her my sister. He promised he could somehow bring her back. I can't imagine what he meant. It was just this bizarre conversation, and he has her under some kind of spell. He's worse than the ones I used hire for her." Jacob admitted.
"You hired spiritual guides for your mother?" Celeste wondered as Charlotte carefully looked up from the book she was reading from the tea colored sofa.
"Well, I don't like to talk about it but yes. I did. Many. It was a way for me to deal with her spiraling obsession with spirits and religion and her superstitions. She was obsessed at one point. The last one however didn't work out as I had hoped. He..." Jacob paused before accidently revealing Gaspar's bloody death in the foyer and Jacob subsequently burring him under the new gazebo in the garden. "didn't work out." Jacob repeated.
"Jacob, should I be worried? I mean she brings Caspian around our children all the time, do we want them around him? She wants to go for a walk with the baby later. What if Caspian is there too? what should I do?" Celeste wondered, her maternal worry building up inside.
"She wouldn't hurt him." Charlotte added surprising her father and step-mother.
"Why do you say that?" Jacob asked her.
"She will do anything for us, she protected me in event at the chapel." The young girl said.
Jacob and Celeste looked at each other confused.
"What event at the chapel?" Celeste asked walking over to sit next to Charlotte.
"A few weeks ago Grandmother and I were in the chapel with Father Ryan and something happened. The room changed. It got hot, unbearably hot. It scared Father Ryan out of the house. Grandmother stood there with me until it was all back to normal and kept me safe. I had a very un easy feeling -- I still do." Charlotte explained.
Jacob slowly walked over to his wife and children. He could see the strange look in Charlotte's eyes. She couldn't explain why the room suddenly changed temperature in seconds as it did. She didn't know why she felt uneasy. She didn't know she was feeling the things that she was feeling on that day and since. But to her, it was as if something in her mind kept showing her images of something that she again could not explain. Her 12-year-old mind she could not make sense of it. Jacob pressed further.
"Try, darling, try to explain to me what and how you're seeing and feeling what you are feeling." Jacob begged.
"I don't know. I just don't. But daddy, something is not right and has not been right since that man has come here. It could be just --- what is the word? Co-e-see-dence?"
Jacob patted his daughter on the shoulder. She was 12, and he could tell whatever she was feeling was tortuous to her because she couldn't make sense of it.
"Coincidence." Jacob said correcting his child for the mistaken word. "And there are no coincidences. No, not here and not ever."
Celeste stood up leaving her baby son with his big sister and pulled Jacob aside away from the ears of Charlotte who seemed terrified by what was happening.
"Do something. Get this man out of here. Whatever you have to do, do it. We have enough issues going on in this house and we don't need this man here pushing some kind of cult on your mother. Whatever he is, wherever he came from, send him back. You can do it, if anyone can get rid of someone, its you."
Jacob lifted a brow and looked over at his beautiful children and his worried wife who went back to them on the sofa. He then turned and looked up at the painting of his baby sister and wondered what he should do next. He was sure Caspian had to be ousted from the mansion and away from his mother's very obsessive mind. She had clearly grown too close to a man who was promising her strange and impossible things, and the reason for his promise, the give for Rebecca's take, was still a mystery.
Jacob wondered why he would promise Rebecca Vivi --- he hadn't heard that part of the plan the other night while he eavesdropped. Jacob knew that he had to speak to Reigns and perhaps, even Father Ryan to find out what he thought happened in the chapel.
Another person on his list was Aurora. She was involved too. The puzzle in Jacob's mind to piece together who the hell this man was in house was just now being put together. But once it was all one full picture, The Lord family would certainly need more than just an eviction notice from Reigns to Caspian.
They would indeed need Father Ryan's help --- and that help from the saintly local parish priest would come in the form of something so shocking, the family would never be the same again.
****
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| Matthew, Evie & Caspian in the library |
In his lantern lit room despite the available electrical lights, Caspian knelt down at long rectangle table draped with a black cloth. On the table a bronze statue of a goat's head with horns crowned with a strange 5 pointed star.
Caspian's eyes glowed yellow as he reached for am empty golden goblet sitting at his knees. He lifted the gold goblet up into the air and began his chanting in Latin.
"Da mihi potestatem. Da milhi virtutem. Da quod scis meum est."
He repeated this phrase three times then as an energy brewed inside of him he brought the empty golden goblet to his lips. It suddenly became filled with a red liquid that stained his lips the same crimson color. He drank from it allowing the liquid to fill his body and give him power and strength. The lanterns in his room lit by oils flickered and suddenly extinguished.
Caspian stood up in the dark room with only a sliver of sun light beaming in from the widows that were covered with thick black curtains blocking out the majority of the day's sun.
He removed his tie and shirt slowly. He then removed his shoes and unbuttoned his trousers and lowered them to the floor stepping out of them.
He stood in his room naked with his arms stretched out. His bare feet cool to the touch, his legs strong and firm. The light that peeked in from the sliver between the black curtains highlighted the ripples and lines of his thick body as the lanterns again lit with bright flames re-illuminating the room.
He could feel the power fill his body again. His hair thickened, his eyes sparkled and his skin glistened in the glow of the lantern light. Then, like a strange wind blowing in, his clothes lifted from the ground and became filled with an energy. He began to laugh, feeling this power from somewhere come into his body giving him more and more strength.
Caspian needed the power. He needed the energy from the depths of the darkness to keep him alive until he could use the child in Evie's wombs as a source.
He opened his eyes and his body was dressed again. As if nothing ever happened.
Caspian grabbed his cloak, lined with blood red velvet, and left his room in search of Evie.
He didn't have to go far. She was walking up the stairs with Matthew as they had both come to Tirymor to spend the afternoon together. As they made their way into an upstairs Library, Caspian followed suit.
"I've had a really good few days. No problems! I promise!" Evie confirmed to Matthew as she carefully sat on the leather couth in the library.
"Good! I was hoping for that bit of good news. Have you seen Dr. Ward again since the last time?" Matthew asked.
"Not yet, but Nik is working at the hospital today and said he'd make an appointment for me." Evie replied.
Matthew smiled "He's been there a lot lately. How's he working out as this new village Doctor?"
"Well he's not a doctor yet! He has almost a year to go before he get's certified to become an intern, then more learning, then hopefully, he'll get to be a full fledged doctor. It's a sped up program the state created for this rural area to get Dr. Ward and the other two Doctors some extra help." Evie explained.
Matthew looked over at Evie and she was telling him things he already knew which gave him the impressions she was nervous and just making conversation. He sat down with her and handed her a clear glass of water that she graciously took.
He could tell the pregnancy was frightening her. The idea of having Sebastian's baby without Sebastian around was frightening to her. How could she explain the baby's father to the baby when it got older? How would she explain all the things that happened to her before the baby was born. Her history. Her strange life that lead to it's conception and birth. It was a long story that she had to make sure was truthful without being traumatizing.
It was her constant source of stress.
Caspian continued to listen outside the Library. Carefully picking on queues he would need to take for himself as the baby's birth came closer. He would be the father. He would be the nurturer.
"You know that I'll always be here for you, right? There's nothing to worry about. I'll be everything I can for this baby." Matthew expressed.
She smiled and squeezed his hand "I know."
"Have you thought about what I said? Moving in with me?" Matthew added to Caspian's shock.
Under NO circumstances could Caspian allow Evie to leave his presence.
In his surprise then Caspian made a noise outside the library that got the attention of Matthew and Evie.
Matthew quickly went over to the door and pushed it the rest of the way open.
"What are you doing??" Matthew asked Caspian angrily.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude. I was coming here to choose a book and heard you both having a conversation and didn't want to interrupt." Caspian said lying as he gazed over strangely to the beautiful pregnant Evie as she stood up.
Caspian's freshly strengthened body felt an jolt of energy go through it, chills that up his spine at the sight of Evie's beauty. Her bright blue eyes and soft light brown hair that sat curled perfectly on her shoulders dressed in white and blue that made her eyes stand out.
Matthew noticed this, and stood in front of Caspian blocking his view of Evie.
"Maybe you should come back for your book." Matthew said clearly making a point for Caspian to leave.
"Of course, of course. Is miss Evie alright?" Caspian asked.
Evie took a breath to answer but Matthew interrupted "She's fine Mr. Casador. If you'll excuse us we'd like to continue our private conversation."
"As you wish, Mr. Winterborn." Caspian said as he tilted his head over Matthew's shoulder and looked at Evie once more. His mouth watered.
Now alone, Matthew closed and locked the library door. "I don't like him." he said. “His whole presence makes my skin crawl.”
"He's harmless." Evie giggled. "Just someone looking for purpose in life and finds it in helping Rebecca connect to the spiritual realm. It’s all very cloaked in mystery and faith.”
Matthew chuckled then teased the mother to be “You seem to know a lot about his job!”
“Oh stop!” She said rolling her eyes. “I met Rebecca’s last one, he was ... well, interesting." She said not mentioning the terrifying séance she experienced 2 years ago. "I think too, Caspian has been trying to figure out how to maneuver around this family. It's not easy you know." She added.
Evie's kind and forgiving heart made Matthew smile. But he knew better than to trust when trust was something earned and to him Caspian's spying at the Library door didn't merit anything of short of suspicions. It didn't help that Matthew's own surprised supernatural powers much like his late sister's were peeking curiosity every time he stepped into Tirymor House. It was like the walls of the mansion were static electricity reaching out to him pulling at every hair on his body. But Matthew, ever the specialist at keeping his powers at bay, knew how to hide the creepy crawly feeling he'd get.
"If it's all the same," Matthew said reaching for the his new love's hand "I really would like you to consider moving in with me some more. We can hire someone to stay with you while I'm out at sea or maybe you can ask your mother again. To make sure you're safe, Evie, I need you out of this house."
"Matthew I have thought about it. I really have." She said squeezing his hand, seeing the sincerity and love in his eyes. "But I can't."
Matthew's heart sank. It was like she reached into his chest grabbed hold of it and crushed it in the palm of her hand.
"Why? Why can't you?" He asked.
"The Lords have given me a lot in the 2 and a half years that I've known them, and like it or not I'm a Lord now too. This house is a part of this child's heritage and I don't want to run from it. Warts and all." She explained.
"But what if that heritage comes with cruelty and terrible secrets? Do you want the baby to inherit that too? That kind of baggage is no good. It's unhealthy. At least at home with me you can be free of any of that pressure. You can raise the baby free of the reinstructions the Lord family would put on you as a mother." Matthew replied.
"Matthew I can handle anything that comes at me. I have in the past and I will in the future, you have to trust me." She said to him.
He pulled her close. He knew in his heart she was right. She had withstood so much terror in the past and not only survived but strived in the shadowy world her ex-husband and his family plagued her with. Regardless of Evie's decision, he wouldn't let up on being by her side as much as he could. No one would deter him from his protection.
Matthew smiled, his big sea-warn hands gripped her waist and tightened it's grip. He pulled her even closer and whispered "I'll protect you either way." She smiled back and tilted her head and they kissed a passionate a long kiss with a heat of love that could melt the old candles sitting in their silver holders at the base of the large fireplace in the library.
Outside, standing quietly in the shadows of the hallway that lead to various other rooms at Tirymor, Caspian listened in again. Unbothered by their love. His plan of taking her child unchanged.
****
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| Aurora visits Nik at Welshport Hope |
Welshport Hope Hospital was basking in the setting sun off in the distance. The large 50 room hospital sat on a hillside off in the distance above the village and although built for a rural island community if often saw plenty of patients.
On the this day the quickly came to evening, Nikolas Jordan read over paperwork at the nurses station in the west wing of the hospital where outpatients came to see doctors for minor ailments. He was learning his new passion of healing. It was a grueling schedule as he had to cram several years of medical school into actual hours of work in the pilot program for doctorhood.
"You look tired honey." A voice said from his peripheral left side.
Nik looked up and saw his beautiful mother Aurora in a dark blue dress with a white bow under her chin. He smiled and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Well I came to see how you've been. Since I've been in town and you’ve been working here, I haven’t seen so much of you. Tirymor seems so ... drafty and strange without both of my children around me." Aurora said.
"I'm sorry. I'll do better to catch up with you when I have some time but you know, all I do is study and help Dr. Ward and...don't hate me." He said shyly.
"OH!!!" Aurora exclaimed reaching over for her beloved younger son. "I know you're working hard, of course! I'm just missing you is all. Plus this gives me some time to get away from the house."
"Is everything ok?" Nik asked escorting her to two wooden chairs near a white wall to get out of the way of the rushing around nurses.
Aurora wasn't sure how to answer. Things weren't ok at Tirymor. The whole situation with Rebecca, Caspian and the baby bothered her so much but she couldn't tell her son. She knew how protective Nik was of his family; this strange obsessed of Caspian's with their own flesh and blood, Evie's baby, would surly set Nik off. She wanted him to focus on his studies at the hospital.
"Fine. Fine. Everything's fine." She said lying.
"Hmm, I can tell something isn't exactly right, you know I can always tell." Nik replied.
Aurora smiled and patted his hands that were filled with papers from the hospital an attempt to lead him away from fishing for anymore information. She was worried about the situation with Caspian but not enough to concern Nik over it who was busy with his own life at the hospital.
As Nik and Aurora continued to make small talk, Asha Hoffman and Gregory Reigns were walking together down one of the hospital corridors towards the wing where Nik and Aurora were. They had become close friends after their troubling connection to Dr. Andrew Kim a few months back. He watched out for her, like a big brother. She appreciated it his attention and help jailing the man that did so many horrible things to her father back at Windcliff Sanitarium.
As the two made their way into the wing making small talk, Asha stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her fellow hospital student Nik sitting with his mother. A look of calm fall over her face and sparkle in her eye. Gregory could see she was a bit smitten with the soon-to-be Doctor Jordan.
"Well, well, Doctor Hoffman." Gregory said with a grin. "Seems you've found another friend here in Welshport."
"What? What do you mean?" She asked, not realizing her expression had given her away.
"I know that look anywhere. I've seen it too, in my own face. Love is something we can't hide." Gregory advised.
"Love? Please. Nikolas and I are classmates. That's all. I admire his work and we've sort of become very good friends since we've both began this schooling. He's very good. I've been a little ahead of him because of my nursing training but he's rather a quick study. It's impressive." She replied.
Gregory gave her a half smile knowing she was all talk. "Alright."
"Its true!" She said, hoping he'd drop the subject.
"My only advice my friend is this: whatever happens in the future, between you and your so-called classmate, be honest with him about everything." Gregory Reigns said as Asha's face turned from glee over seeing Nik to quick concern.
She knew what he meant. Her past. Her father the murderer. Dr. Kim. All of it.
"Don't hide a single thing, when the time comes and it's appropriate to discuss; do it!" He added.
She took a long breath as Aurora and Nik made their way through rushing nurses and came up to greet them.
"Constable Reigns, so good to see you again." Aurora said. Gregory's eyes then turned as sparkling as Asha's did when she saw Nik.
"Good evening Mrs. Jordan." He answered.
"I was just saying goodbye to my mother Asha, should we head over to Dr. Ward's we have a lesson in about 10 minutes." Nik said breaking up the foursome.
Asha nodded and Gregory grabbed her by the shoulder "Remember what I said Ash."
She looked at Gregory, nodded yes then went off with Nik to their lesson.
"What was that about?" Aurora wondered sensing the big brother/little sister relationship tone of his voice.
"Just a few words among friends. Advice. Love Advice." he replied.
"Love advice? From you? Very interesting. What exactly would a hardboiled village constable know about love and romance?" Aurora asked with a wink in her eye.
"There's a lot more to me than just being the village's constable. I have a past too. Good past. Bad past. Lonely past. Not so lonely past. As I'm sure do you." He said, flirting.
"Possibly." She replied coyly.
"Perhaps we could discuss our mutual pasts over some coffee Gramercy Café? Or some wine at The Siren's call? My treat?" Gregory offered the beautiful Aurora.
Aurora opened her mouth to answer, but she hesitated. She wondered what Rebecca would say to her visiting this way with Gregory, a man she specifically told her not to become involved with. Not to mention how Caspian would react. Being away from Tirymor made Aurora think more clearly but the small bits of spell that Caspian had over her still pulled her towards fearing him and fearing what he'd do to her if he knew she'd been with Gregory no matter how platonic their relationship was. It didn't help matters that Aurora herself, a nervous wreak about many things, had her own issues back in London that she feared would bubble up should she start friendships in her new life at Welshport.
"I don't know, I would have to think about it." She said finally.
"It's just drinks Aurora." Gregory said.
Aurora became visible uncomfortable. Caspian. Rebecca. Her past. She could escape the three. She didn't want to accidently put herself in a terrible position of revealing a bizarre scheme at Tirymor that she hoped Rebecca had squashed and what she did in London.
She didn't trust herself with both situations on her mind and her defenses down with a new friend. She knew she'd break and something would come out if she began this connection with him.
But, oh how she wanted a new friend. A new romance. A new connection.
"I said I'd think about it." She then replied.
Gregory could take a hint. He wouldn't push her too much. But he offered to walk her to the front of the hospital where an awaiting taxi would take her back to the mansion. Their walk to the front was quiet with the exception of small talk as per usual. He wanted to find out why she was pushing him off this way, it wasn't as if they had had poor interactions before. In fact they had very pleasant ones, interactions he thought garnered more time together. Something in Aurora's behavior, demeanor, style made him think she was hiding something.
It was obvious to him, in fact. She was clearly pushing someone who knew how to pull out information from someone away so that he couldn't get close. Which made him even more curious about what that was.
Aurora said goodbye in a polite way. She shot him a beautiful smile that beguiled him all the more. The beautiful American widow from London was hiding a secret, two secrets, so dark she couldn't bare to allow herself some freedom to enter into new connections.
Especially not with him. He could tell.
She got into the taxi, it began to turn around in the long circle driveway in front of Welshport Hope Hospital. He saw her look back at him through the wet glass of the taxi's back window.
Whatever she was hiding. He would help her become free of that heft of a secret on her shoulders. He wanted her. And she wanted him. No secrets would block him from this new destiny.
****
 |
| Johnathon & A changed Genevieve in Albert’s office |
Johnathon was getting more acquainted with his new home. He was happy to go through old Lord family albums and read their family's history. It was his history now too that he was discovered to be Albert Lord's secret love child with Cristina De Viana.
But that secret, for the most part, was still under lock and key. He Roamed the halls looking at paintings and read family trees and books and maps of land they own.
At one point he even snuck into Albert's old office to read through his old files to backtrack and learn about the family business that when the time came, he'd be there to take over the family business. He was sure that eventually Jacob's crimes, that Celeste had filled him in on, would catch up to him and Johnathon would need to step in and be the head of the Publishing Company that made the Lord family incredibly wealthy.
As he looked up at a painting of Albert, his fiancée Genevieve walked up behind him. But Genevieve's mind was completely taken over by the spirit of her look-a-like Sabrina Spencer-Lord.
"It's wonderful isn't it? The way the lights and the darks come together it always looks like a photograph. It wasn't even painted from life. Albert had died 2 years before the painting was commissioned by Rebecca." Sabrina said in Genevieve's voice.
Johnathon turned around and shot her a strange look "How do you know that?" he asked.
Sabrina recovered quickly. "You're not the only conducting history lessons on the family." She said, but of course she knew the truth because Sabrina was alive a the time of Albert's death and the subsequent years after.
"Are you feeling better about staying here then? After all you're doing research. That makes me feel like you are." Johnathon replied.
"I still have my concerns." Sabrina said keeping with what Genevieve would say "but I think things will work out here. Besides my son is coming and I have to be here for him. I have to make sure he's safe and that he gets on well here at the house."
"San Francisco is a far different place than Welshport Island for a boy to grow up in. That's a positive I think. I grew up here. Moved away to a big city. I did the reverse. I like it here more." Johnathon assured her. "I promise you Genevieve. Once everything starts to get into place so much of what is due to me will be mine. We just have to be patient. This family owes me for the years I was kept away and hidden by my mother and Albert." Johnathon replied.
Being in Genevieve's mind, Sabrina already knew the secret. She knew and she didn't care. In fact she welcomed anyone in the world to come and try and bury Jacob for all that he had done, not only to her but to Sebastian and so many more people.
Sabrina was in the best place -- she couldn't have dreamed of anything more perfect. She was now alive, breathing in a body that looks exactly like the one that died 10 years ago, seeing through eyes that were identical in color, in hue and in shape-- just like the ones she had 10 years ago, and her new host body was with a man who wanted to destroy Jacob about as much as she did.
It was almost too perfect.
"I will do anything I can to help you. Whatever it takes. I'll be here. But I want to make sure Jacob pays. He has to pay for his crimes. That is my only stipulation." Sabrina as Genevieve said, sounding a bit different than normal. Calmer. More serene. More comfortable in her surroundings.
"Why is there such a new aura about you? All of a sudden you seem fine where we are. Only two days ago you wanted to run for the hills. What's happened?" Johnathon asked pushing for the truth.
Sabrina smiled back under Genevieve's face. "You think too much." She leaned in and kissed his full lips. He tasted like a bright wine with hints of strawberry.
He melted in the kiss. But pressed further.
"You're not telling me everything." he said. "that's fine, I'll let this go for now but only because I'm happy that you've come to terms with us living here and knowing that it's the best for us. My sister is adamite that eventually Jacob will get what's coming to him and when he does we'll both be able to live a happy and full life with the inheritance I will be due once I can get my hands on it. There is nothing anyone, not Rebecca not Jacob, not anyone, can do to keep me away from what is rightfully mine." Johnathon said confidently.
Sabrina smiled again and kissed him again, this time quicker. "And Morgan and I will be here to support you in that moment too. No matter what happens, but as long as it DOES happen." She said again with Genevieve's voice. "I want him to pay. Pay for everything he's done."
Johnathon's smile quickly faded. There was an obvious hint of obsession in Genevieve's attitude. Something that did not truly make sense to him. As she let go of his hands while they were embracing she excused herself back to her room where she wanted to rest before dinner was served. He watched her walk back down the long hall towards their shared room, even her steps, her walking style, seemed more confidence in the house.
The Genevieve that arrived at Tirymor walked in a way that showed her apprehension of her new surroundings, this Genevieve walked almost as if she had lived there before. Quickly. Aware of her surroundings without fear.
It was different. It was new.
But he'd leave his questions about that and her sudden obsession with getting even with Jacob for some reason for now. He had more papers and history to learn.
****
 |
| Sebastian wakes up on the beach |
The dark waves of the night continued to crash up against the rocky shore. Further down the shore, on a sandy wet beach under the spinning bright beam of the light house a body washed up on shore.
The light spun around and around flashing over the dark sea as a beacon to the ships at sea indicating the islands existence.
Face down in the grains of wet sad was Sebastian Lord who Caspian had thrown in the sea as far was he could, but not far enough.
Exhausted from his long swim in the ice cold Atlantic, the vampire arose in his soaked clothes. He shivered as he made his way down the shore closer to the spinning beam of the Welshport lighthouse.
He was angry. Furious. Burning in his chest was the desire to kill the monster Caspian where he stood. He needed the devil dead by his own hands if he was going to save his unborn child and woman that he loved from the clutches of Caspian.
Sebastian, still in the sand on the beach, looked up towards the cliff and stared at the spinning light. He went around and around never stopping, constantly at task lighting the way back home to the fisherman and seagoing people back to shore.
He thought of his father and how so long ago his father jumped from that very same lighthouse to his presumed death, into the icy waters below.
As the sound of blasting wild waves crashed in the distance Sebastian thought of how much he wanted to be more like the constant light house toiling and working to keep people safe at sea than his father who gave up and jumped from the glowing tower.
He would not give up this easy. Sebastian ripped off his heavy soaked coat and head up the cliff towards the road that would lead him around the island back to the docks on the opposite side of Welshport where he'd proceed on his stowaway trip to Boston to find the remaining sisters of the powerful coven of witches known as The Sisters of Highgrove.
As he walked, exhausted still, he thought of the warning Caspian gave him before he was sent to drown in the sea. He thought of how Alice tried to drown him too. He thought of the light house again and it's constant burning glowing light never ending never extinguishing a literal metaphor for Sebastian's never ending burning passions to save his family.
No witch. No Sorcerer. No wide-eyed owl or devil would deter him now.
Sebastian would end Caspian. One way or another.
