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| Sebastian the stowaway |
Three hours passed midnight. The cool wind brushed across the tops of the thick brush of trees just across the dockside of Boston, Massachusetts. A large supply ship filled with crates, packages and mail from Maine had settled nicely in the bay as sailors were eager to begin the process of bringing down the crates from the ship's lower decks.
Two sailors however weren't so eager.
Their nerves were on edge.
A fellow sailor had gone missing in the middle of the night. He had gone down into the hold to check on a particular parcel that had a live animal in it that was transferred from a zoo in Augusta, Maine to be given to the Zoo in Boston.
They entered the bottom level of the ship's dark hold where stacks and stacks of heavy wooden crates were being stored awaiting their turn to be lowered out. It was damp and something seemed off.
"What time did Nigel come down here?" One sailor asked the other as the light from a lantern glowed on his face.
"'Round midnight, I suppose. He never came back up. I went to his quarters and he wasn't there. No one's seen him since." the second sailor replied.
"Nigel. Nigel!?" They called in hushed wishers.
Nigel, the fellow sailor they were looking for had not been seen most of the journey from Maine to Massachusetts. They called to him, he did not reply.
But this was the only place he could have been and was the last known location of him.
The two men continued to walk through the dark ship hold when something in the corner of the damp room shook. The two men turned quickly towards the noise. Then they heard a growl.
"It's the tiger." The first sailor said.
They walked towards the caged animal and saw it laying patiently in it's locked cage. There was something in it's mouth. Something dark colored with a twinge of light color coming off the edge.
"What the devil?" the first man said as he looked closer.
"Jesus Mary and Joseph!" the second man replied when they light from the lantern shown down inside the cage.
The tiger was eating Nigel, the man who had come down into the hold to check on the beast.
There was blood everywhere. The two frightened sailors looked down. Their shoes were in giant puddles of red blood. They couldn't breathe. Their hearts were pounding. Their eyes could not look away once they saw the rest of the devoured body of their friend Nigel. The second man's stomach cramped and he vomited to the side.
But things were not as they seemed down in the ship's hold that night. As the clock struck midnight, Nigel did come down to check on the zoo animal, but something else put Nigel in danger. Something more dangerous and more hungry than a tiger.
The Vampire Sebastian Lord.
Sebastian had escaped Welshport Island as a stowaway in the ship's hold along side the wild beast from the zoo. When Nigel came down to check, the hungry vampire stalked him and watched his every move. Sebastian was starving. He hadn't eaten in days. He could feel the blood pumping in Nigel's warm body. He followed Nigel as Nigel carefully made his way over to the tiger's cage. Once things seemed fine with the animal, Sebastian tapped him on the shoulder.
Nigel became startled not excepting anyone down there with him, when he turned around expecting to see one of his fellow sailors, he saw the hungry, starving, cold face of Sebastian Lord with his eyes black as night and his fangs sharp as daggers.
Sebastian said nothing. He lunged at Nigel the sailor who's face was frozen with fear. Sebastian snapped the man's neck and as the tiger stirred and roared in it's cage watching the violet act. Sebastian fed from Nigel's neck then, like passing off a good meal to a friend to taste, opened the cage's trap door over the tiger and dropped Nigel's body inside allowing the tiger to eat and covering his own vampire tracks.
As the two shocked sailors tried to understand how it happened, how Nigel fell into the cage and was eaten by the tiger, Sebastian quietly made his way out of the ship through the opened unmanned door and out into the starry Boston night in search of the last witch of the coven known as The Sisters of Highgrove.
Sebastian walked out into the first street around the dockside. The fog was quickly moving over the sea and over the slick cobble-stone streets of Boston.
There were only a few people walking the night. Early morning bakers. Some mail carriers arriving at the dockside to pick up packages and letters in boxes and crates from Maine that came on the ship, the zoo was there as ready to bring home the new tiger with its belly full.
A cloaked woman too stood near a flickering gas streetlamp with her face obscured in shadows.
She was there for Sebastian. He did not see her. But she saw him. She watched him and kept her eyes squarely on the man she had such strong feelings about. Feeling that had kept her up late at night for weeks and weeks.
As he made his way into the city in search of the witch that he needed to help fight off Caspian, the cloaked woman followed. She followed because she knew he was coming and she knew they would soon cross paths.
She was warned of this man named Sebastian. As she walked silently behind Sebastian in the shadows she was followed by a murder of 7 crows that kept their own silence as they floated roof top to roof top in pursuit of the woman who was in pursuit of Sebastian.
His search for the last witch of the Highgrove coven would begin as soon as the next day's sun went down. And the cloaked woman began to follow Sebastian to an Inn where he'd sleep during the day. She planned to watch his every move and make sure that he NEVER found the woman he was looking for.
****
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| Sabrina taunts Celeste & Jacob from inside Genevieve |
As Sebastian made his way to Boston and settled in at the Inn, back in Welshport the sun was beginning to rise and light the patio sitting room where fresh flowers were sprinkled around in porcelain pots giving off their fresh scents of morning dew and honey.
In the room reading the local Welshport Globe newspaper and smoking his pipe was Jacob Lord. His legs elegantly crossed at the knee as he flicked through the pages reading the news the paper his family owned reported for the day.
His wife, Celeste, watered the plants and flowers on the other side of the room basking in the morning sun that shined down on her caramel skin.
Unnoticed at the room's screen door was Genevieve Thorne carefully watching.
Genevieve, however, wasn't herself. She was possessed by the spirit of Sabrina Spencer-Lord who continued to relive her life inside a familiar face.
Genevieve Thorne's body had given Sabrina a new lease on life. Sabrina was no stranger to possessing someone's body but Genevieve's body was special. They were identical in all ways. Face. Body. Hair. Eyes. It was almost meant to be for Genevieve to find her way with Johnathon to Tirymor and for Sabrina to begin her quest again to finally get justice for her own death at the hands of Jacob Lord.
"Come in!" Celeste said finally seeing Genevieve at the door.
"I didn't want to interrupt." Sabrina replied in Genevieve's very familiar voice.
"Not at all. There's coffee, tea." Celeste answered motioning over to a large tray set that was brought in by Jane the maid with kettles of tea, pots of coffee, the most beautiful white china with blue painted scenes of seascapes and ships.
Genevieve smiled and poured herself some coffee and drank. Inside Sabrina, the spirit, relished the delicious warm coffee she was sipping. She had missed it so much in the years that she had been gone. While she possessed Charlotte body, the young girl never indulged in the things that would remind Sabrina of her life--- the age different of course restricted her.
But while in Genevieve's body, it was like time had not stopped and she had not died.
Then Johnathon entered.
"Good morning." He said, going over to his fiancée Genevieve and kissing her. Sabrina relished this sensation as well.
Jacob watched the kiss with a curious eye.
"Go on, sit down Johnny. Tell me. Tell me how you're hating life at Tirymor." Celeste joked knowing Johnathon was enjoying every minute in his new home.
"It's really a remarkable house. Every day I'm here I find a new and more exciting place or room or statue or molding I never saw before. It's wonderful here. Gen has been enjoying it too." Johnathon said.
"Is that so? Tell us, 'Gen', what is your favorite part of the house?" Jacob wondered, stepping into the conversation and turning all his attention to Sabrina's look-a-like.
Sabrina, inside of Genevieve, burned with hate. She was now looking at the man that took her life almost 13 years ago. But now it wasn't through the eyes and psyche of a child, like it was when Sabrina dwelled inside of Charlotte. Now Sabrina could think through a woman's mind-- a woman who looked and smiled, and felt just like her.
Genevieve wanted to expose Jacob right there in front of Celeste and Johnathan but the strange reality of her possessing a body would cause almost anyone to think Genevieve had lost her mind. Sabrina kept herself collected and answered that she loved the room they were in: The plant filled Patio Screen room that look out onto the vast gardens passed the gazebo that was built not too long ago.
"Yes, the gardens do seem to be so much brighter this spring. I'm so glad you're here to see all the opening flowers." Jacob replied.
"I'm sure Genevieve has seen many beautiful springs in her life, right darling? This one is no different." Celeste replied seeing Jacob's eyes unable to leave the beautiful face of Sabrina/Genevieve.
"Perhaps but never has she seen a Welshport spring. The two of you should know, you've lived here are your lives. The springs here are spectacular." Jacob said referring to Celeste and Johnathon's childhood. "Sit! Genevieve sit! Please!" he added.
Sabrina could see Jacob was being his flirtatious self. She played along and sat.
Johnathon also noticed Jacob's pushy eagerness to sit next to Genevieve then went over and sat in a chair that blocked Jacob's view of Genevieve from his conniving half-brother Jacob.
"I don't quite recall being so enamored with Spring time here." Johnathon replied as he too grew up on the island before moving away. "But I'm sure Gen and I will enjoy our time here which ever season it is. Together." he added grabbing on to his fiancée's hand, a signal to Jacob.
"You know I wouldn't mind showing Gen around the island. You've both already seen much of the village but there's also the Westernridge Woods, the North Shore cliffs." Jacob said before being interrupted by Genevieve.
"The beaches?" She said, reminding everyone in the room suddenly of the location of Sabrina’s death; by Jacob.
Jacob smirked uncomfortably. "Yes. Uhh The beach too." he said softly in a bit of shock at her request.
"You don't want to go to any old beach, Genevieve, really, it's damp and messy out there. What else would you like to see?" Celeste asked.
"I think I'd like to see St. Thomas' Cemetery." She replied shocking the room again.
"Why on earth would you want to go there?" Johnathon wondered.
Sabrina gave a half smile "Seeing all the old paintings of everyone who's lived here, the family, I thought I should pay some respects to them. Bring them flowers. Especially Sabrina. You know looking like her so much must bring back old memories and painful ones at that. Right Jacob? It must hurt looking at me. This face, your sister-in-law's face. It must strike some sort of cord with you. Out of everyone you knew her the longest." Sabrina said through Genevieve's voice.
Celeste marked the interesting way Genevieve was talking. It didn't seem like it was coming from the same woman she had met a few weeks ago when she and her brother Johnathon first came to town.
Jacob too felt a bit taken aback by Genevieve's request and reasoning.
“How would you know how long Jacob knew Sabrina?” Johnathon wondered.
Celeste cleared her throat and shifted in her seat. “I think that would be…” she paused.
"Kind.” Jacob said finishing Celeste’s sentence unexpectedly. “That would be very kind of you Ms. Thorne, but you don't have to do that. My family's mausoleum is quite lush with flowers here from the house. Hamstead takes fresh ones there every week. As for your resemblance to my late sister-in-law...." he paused himself and stared at a woman's face he had been so obsessed with years ago. The woman he fell in love with, the woman who was married to his brother, the woman he killed in a shocking act of passion and violence that he then framed his brother for. "I'm able to separate the two of you quite well. Sabrina died and we miss her. But you are not Sabrina." He said.
Celeste could see that Jacob did still have a strange attraction to Sabrina, and now perhaps Genevieve. She was afraid of what thoughts and passions would rise up out of him now that such a memory was back and alive in their house, in their view. She could not allow him to go down that path again, for her sake, for their son's sake and most obviously for Genevieve's sake.
"Well if its all the same I think I still would like to go. Sabrina is sort of a kindred spirit." Genevieve replied.
"We can have Aaron Hamstead take the flowers for you, in your name, and leave at Sabrina's grave." Celeste said.
"No." Genevieve replied quickly. "I want to take them myself."
"Gen, what is this? What difference does it make if you or Hamstead take the flowers to Sabrina's grave? Just let the man do his job and we can do something else. We have plenty to do, you know we have things to discuss and to look into about what we can do here." Johnathon said, emphasizing his hopes to learn more about the family and it's business so that he would be able to take control soon once the secret was out that he too was a Lord.
Both Celeste and Jacob shot each other a look. Jacob had blackmailed Celeste to marry him so that Johnathon's paternity was kept secret, Celeste betrayed Jacob and told Johnathon anyway. Now it seemed Johnathon was insinuating something, perhaps the very thing Jacob did not want him to know and if he did know it, Celeste was the one who told him.
"What do you mean 'do here'?" Jacob asked Johnathon. "Do as in work? Are you looking for work?"
"I am." Johnathon replied. "In publishing."
The two were talking in circles. Johnathon hinting he knew the truth by using the family business as the work he was interested in. Jacob was burning inside. The idea his bastard half brother would stroll into town, decide to stay and then attempt to make his mark in the business of the family all under the guise he knew nothing of paternal background was an all out assault on Jacob's authority over the vast portfolio of money and power the Publishing company the Lord's owned.
It was Jacob's worst nightmare. Many had already died so that he could be the soul heir of the family business and now it was clear Celeste most likely Johnathon the truth.
The beating around the bush in the conversation was forcing Celeste's insides to become knotted at the fear it was all about to blow up in her face.
Open secrets. Lies. Money. Celeste's regret of every bringing her brother to town in the first place burned in her mind. Her safety and status in the mansion and in the family relied on how well she could keep Jacob happy and Johnathon and Genevieve were both now threatening that by their very presence at Tirymor.
"Listen, let's all just agree that maybe there aren't enough interesting things to do around the island. I'll take Genevieve to the cemetery later this afternoon so that she can pay her respects and then maybe Johnathon and Jacob can discuss his new found interesting in publishing. Something I think he mentioned to me that he would have loved to get involved in many many years before he moved here, isn't that right Johnny?" Celeste said attempting to patch up the holes in her sinking ship.
Johnathon took the hint and saw his sister's panicked expression.
"Yes, Ive been enquiring in the business of publishing for as long as I can remember and being here now living with people who know it better than anyone else, I mean, why not take up the opportunity and ask questions." Johnathon said attempting to save face.
Jacob lifted a brow but then, the corner of his eye Genevieve's face came again. She, the spitting image of Sabrina, calmed his suspicions of whatever Johnathon knew of whatever Celeste had told him. It didn't matter anyway now... the truth was, there were other bigger, more sinister, fish to fry like Caspian, within the walls of Tirymor.
"Of course, Johnathon. You're family now....now that I'm married to your sister." Jacob said quickly reminding him of the ONLY family connection he wanted Johnathon to know about, the much less inherited DeViana family. "I would be happy to discuss with you positions that are open at the firm. Of course, of course." He added reaching for his pipe and puffing.
"Yes. Positions at the firm." Johnathon said with a grin knowing his place was at the head of the firm as the son of Albert Lord.
Celeste could see still Jacob's attraction to Genevieve no matter how hard he tried to hide it or how many topics popped up to cover up for the last more uncomfortable one. Celeste was worried that all of this was coming to head. She decided, right there and then, as the ghost of Sabrina Spencer-Lord looked out through Genevieve's eyes and smiled at her, that the look-a-like and Johnathon could not say on island much longer.
Too much was at stake and her brother was relentless at getting what he saw was partly his but at the cost of his sister Celeste's position as the new Mrs. Jacob Lord. He was willing to sabotage her marriage to get it, he was willing to sacrifice his sister's position of power and wealth as this new wife so that he too could get a piece of the illustrious Lord family pie.
The entire group was preoccupied with keeping secrets and plotting the demise of their rivals.
Celeste felt betrayed that Johnathon was attempting to break their pact and never tell anyone that he knew the truth. She could tell that's the direction he was going, he promised he wouldn't -- for her safety, but he was clearly attempting to poke the bear that was Jacob.
Jacob could tell too that the secret of Johnathon's paternity was no longer a secret, but Caspian was his bigger worry. The whole time he had the paper in his hand and in front of his face, Jacob wasn't even reading it. He was sitting there smoking his pipe pondering a way to rid the whole house of Caspian the devil.
And as the other three sat and stewed in their secrets, lies and money over coffee and tobacco, Sabrina was lying in wait. Her own elaborate plot would fulfil her destiny: She would kill Jacob once and for all with the bare hands of Genevieve Thorne and justice for her murder would be served once and for all.
****
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| Caspian grills Aurora on her resistance to him |
Later that afternoon, Rebecca fussed with the housekeeper Jane about making sure the household work was properly done. It wasn't that Jane and the other maids weren't keeping the house to Rebecca's standards, it was more that Rebecca's anxiety about the coming birth of her great-grandchild was keeping her mind out a razor's edge of madness.
Rebecca wanted to please Caspian. She wanted to give him what he wanted so that in turn she could get what she wanted too: her child Vivi back and a live. Rebecca was consumed by this idea, she had been praying for it every since the day Vivi passed away. It was for her a miracle that it could finally happen and all she need do was give Caspian the child Evie was carrying.
A give and take. A Quid pro quo.
As Rebecca made her way down into the main drawing room she noticed Caspian and Aurora together in the room. Caspian was especially interested in the new woman in the house, and that had been evident to Rebecca since they day Caspian had been introduced to her. It made Rebecca feel a jealousy that she had never felt before, no one had ever made her feel threatened in this way as Aurora did now that Caspian was clearly interested in her.
Rebecca crept into a small door in the hallway outside of the drawing room that lead into a narrow passage-way between the walls of the mansion. There, in that secret passage, she could listen to their conversation without being noticed.
Within the dark passage way, Rebecca slid a small piece of wall that opened in the drawing room behind a the eyes of a painting and watched and listened.
"I can still sense your resistance about the plan, I thought we had an understanding." Caspian told Aurora who had proved more difficult to control that Rebecca.
"There isn't anything I want more than for my grandchild to grow up in a loving and happy place, but I have a lot of trouble seeing that as being with you Caspian. No matter what you say or how you try and convince Rebecca and myself to help.:" Aurora said getting up from the sofa and turning away from Caspian.
"You resist me." He said.
"I resist your ideas. Why is that so hard to understand?" She replied.
Caspian smiled, intrigued by her resistance to him. He found her alluring. He walked over to her as the sunlight lit he beautiful face and hair. He could see how much Evie resembled her. He moved her hair from her shoulder. Her sweet perfume engulfed his face and he breathed it all in as if his life depending on every ounce.
Rebecca hidden in the walls fumed at the site of his touching her.
"We can make this child's life much better, together. Away from the eyes of people who seek to harm it. Including it's father. Imagine what it's life would be like knowing what his father has become." Caspian said.
Aurora shivered with disgust of Caspian's touch and turned to him, her facing showing confusion. She had no idea what Sebastian was.
"What the child's father has become? What are you talking about it? The father is gone. Dead. He died shortly after the baby was conceived." Aurora informed him,
Caspian felt confused. He knew Sebastian was not dead, he knew that Sebastian was like him, a supernatural creature who's life depending on the shadows and the darkness. He had no idea how long Sebastian had been a vampire and apart of the dark world of the undead. He had always assumed it was after the baby was conceived not before, but by Aurora's reaction, it seemed that Sebastian had become this creature of the night way before.
If Aurora was right, than this posed a problem.
Caspian could not take a child as his own if the that child was conceived by one parent that was of the supernatural world. His powers would only have part control and Caspian wanted full control, he needed it.
"When Sebastian died," Caspian asked, trying to pull more information from Aurora, "did he know his wife was pregnant?"
"I don't know how he could. My daughter had barley known herself. Sebastian had been kidnapped and when he returned they were only together for a short time before he died in a fire." Aurora said continuing the lie the Lords told of Sebastian's life pre-vampireism and final hours.
Then it was true, Sebastian and Evie's baby was conceived after he was vampire not before as Caspian has originally believed.
Caspian turned, balled his hand into a fist with anger and took a breath.
He could not take the baby.
Then he turned back to Aurora and noticed her beauty once more. Rebecca continued to watch. He walked over to her and smiled, then touched her face. He had a new idea, an ever better idea that could only work if she allowed it to.
Caspian could not take someone else's baby if the child was born by a parent that was part of the underworld, but he could father one himself.
He had thought that there would be no viable person to be the mother to his biological child and thus concocted the idea to take Evie's but a child of his own with a mother like Aurora was now his best bet in taking full control of the world with a baby. His baby. His true blood baby.
This, to him, was a better idea.
"Well then we have to think of other options." Caspian said with his crooked grin.
"Other options?" She answered as the back of his hand caressed her face. She slowly began to see him differently. His powers overtaking her. Her eyes glowing yellow and his touch warm, loving and suddenly she felt her heart and body want him. Want him in many ways.
Rebecca covered her mouth in shock. She could see them from her hiding spot in a way that she had feared. He was attracted to her more than she wanted him to be. If Caspian was abandoning his plan to take Evie's child and sacrificing it to gain more powers that mean to Rebecca that he was abandoning his promise to bring back her dead child Vivi.
Rebecca became infuriated at Aurora.
“How dare he? How dare SHE?!” Rebecca thought to herself.
Rebecca quietly came out of the hiding spot behind the wall and decided that Aurora was not going to ruin her plans too. Caspian had promised her Vivi for Evie's baby. And nothing was going to stand the way of that. No one.
Rebecca stormed off into her room to think of the best way about it leaving Aurora and Caspian to themselves.
He looked into her eyes that were glowing with his powers. He leaned down and kissed her lips that felt like sweet plump strawberries. She opened her mouth and their tongues touched. There was an erotic power about him that Aurora could not understand and in fact she did not want to understand.
He was controlling her every move. And she could feel it, she could literally feel his power of her but it was too strong for her to push back. He was a demon with eyes to destroy the world as it and with her he would make a new world, with a child of their own now that Evie's baby was too dangerous to obtain.
If Caspian was truly was going to do this, he would need to make love to Aurora.
And soon.
Upstairs, Rebecca fumed. She dragged her arm across her vanity pulling down all of her perfumes knocking them to the floor,.
She ripped down pictures from the wall, knocked over lamps and watched them crash the floor shattering all over the place.
"MADAME?!?!" Jane said, running into the room. "What's happened???"
Rebecca turned to Jane. Her breathing was heavy, her eyes bloodshot from crying furiously at the idea that Aurora had some how caused Caspian to change his plans.
Jane noticed how different she seemed. Her anger, it was an anger that was unatural for Rebecca who was usually calm and controlled. The broken class, and perfume bottles, and picture frames all over the bedroom floor was a sign that Rebecca had lost all control.
Caspian's powers were now in Rebecca's body festering a darkness that Jane began to fear. It was pure and cold and the maid fell to her knees and began to scoop up the broken glass with her bare hands.
Rebecca watched as her maid nervously put the broken glass in mounds all over the floor and vowed to herself that she would not let the original plan end. The baby, Evie and Sebastian's, was the key to bringing back Vivi. This was the promise she was given, and this was the promise she would force Caspian to keep.
One way or another, Aurora would not block Vivi's rebirth. Caspian owed this to Rebecca and she planned on getting what she wanted, no matter what.
This was the deal they made. This was the deal they'd keep.
One child for another.
****
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| Evie & Matthew on an evening stroll |
Along the shores near the village, Evie Jordan-Lord and Matthew Winterborn walked arm-in-arm watching as the waves came in and crashed along side them.
The fresh sea air was a welcome distraction for Evie who had been suffering a bit of morning sickness throughout her pregnancy. She was now close to 8 Months pregnant and her belly was round and perfect. She rubbed it lovingly as she and Matthew walked together below circling seagulls that guided the loving couple down the small sidewalk along the shore.
Evie hadn't felt this way since she met Sebastian. She felt safe, she felt at home and she felt so loved by Matthew and how protective and secure he was in the idea of raising the child that wasn't his. She was a strong woman in her own right and didn't fear raising the child on her own but knowing that Matthew would be there by her side, as her best friend, partner and lover, felt all the better.
He loved her. He wouldn't want it any other way.
As the big blue Atlantic sparkled in Evie's equally blue eyes off in the distance Matthew pulled her aside and sat her on a wooden bench with it's withered planks from decades of exposure to the salty air.
"I wanted to bring you here for a reason." Matthew said holding Evie's gloved hand tightly as they sat. "Its my favorite spot on this side of the island."
"It's so peaceful here. I can't believe it's been almost 3 years now since I've moved to this place and never was able to just sit and breath in this air like this. I guess it's just been a whirlwind for you too since you met me." She replied with a giggle.
"I wouldn't want it any other way." He answered. "Evie, I'm going back to sea soon and I know that we agreed that I'd help you raise the baby in all the ways I could, but I want to do something that would not only let the everyone know how much I loved you but also let them know that I was ready to support you and the child officially." Matthew said.
Evie gave him a half smile and tilted her head to the side. It was a strange conversation. He recited what he was saying as if he had practiced over and over again, perfecting every single word.
"I know, and I'm so grateful for that, I truly am, and I care for you so deeply." She replied, truly unsure of why he was rehashing the conversation of their relationship.
He smiled then got up, the seagulls called to each other almost as if to say 'come see this!' Matthew got on one knee, turned to his coat pocket and removed a tiny pouch lined with velvet.
He pulled the rope that kept the pouch closed and reached into it, and pulled out the most beautiful diamond ring Evie had ever seen.
She gasped, covered her mouth in shock as tears welled up in her eyes.
"I want to call you my wife, Evangeline Jordan. I want to call you my wife, keep you in my heart and in my home and in my life forever and ever. There is no one else I can imagine living this life than you. From the moment I saw you I knew I wanted to protect you and love you all my life long. Will you marry me?"
Evie wrapped her arms around handsome Matthew's neck and kissed his checks over and over and over. Then, he lifted her up, they were eye to eye and they kissed on the lips as wild waves crashed just below where they were standing.
"Is that a yes?" He giggled.
"YES! Yes I will marry you Matthew! I will be your wife and I will be by your side to keep you just as safe and show you just as much love as you show me. I am so lucky, so lucky to have met you and be able to see myself part of your life for as long as I live."
Matthew then had his own tears in his eyes. They kissed again, both cried, and hugged under the bright blue sky of Welshport Island.
"I know it's soon but I want to do this as soon as we can. Before I go out to sea once more. I need to." Matthew replied.
"That's in just a few days, are you sure you don't want to wait a few months when you're leave during the rainy season?" She asked wiping away his tears.
"No, I can't wait, I think we should do it as soon as we can." He replied.
She smiled and he removed the glove from her left hand and placed the diamond ring on her finger. She looked at it as it glistened in the sun. It was a symbol of love, a symbol of their love. She loved it. He loved that she loved it.
"Ok. We'll do it soon. We'll go over to the court house and file but I have to tell my family first. I can't just run off and get married without telling them. I know that you said you'll be here for the baby but the baby is still a Lord. I think I owe it to the Lords to tell them, after all they've done for me after the whole tragedy of Sebastian and my relationship, I want to give them at least a few days to really feel the impact of this. Not to mention my own family, they'll have to leave Tirymor. My goodness! Everything is going to change, and so quickly!!!" She said.
Evie began to feel a bit nervous. Everything was indeed happening so fast. She was engaged, she was in love and she was pregnant with her supposed dead vampire ex-husband's child. It was the most bizarre situation to find herself in but at the same time it felt rather normal considering everything she had been through since she came to Welshport.
The idea of telling the Lords of her intent to marry Matthew and move out of Tirymor with the new heir to the dynasty made her nervous too but then like a breath of fresh sea air she looked over at Matthew's beautiful happy face and she was instantly calm again.
He was there for her. She wasn't alone. She didn't have to do anything else alone ever again.
"Tomorrow." She said after a beat of thought. "I'll tell them tomorrow. Today is for us."
He smiled and nodded his head understanding that she needed a second to compile her thoughts. She replaced the glove over hear ringed hand and held it close to her chest as if to let the symbol of their love fill with the motions from hear heart.
They hugged again, kissed and cuddled on the withered old bench and watched the sea swell and crash against the rocks below.
Love, was in the air.
But so was danger.
And the Lords, Rebecca specifically, was not going to let Evie and the baby leave her protective eyes so easily. Not for a wedding. Not for anyone or anything.
Evie had her work cut out for her in every shape and form.
****
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| Charlotte & Sabrina/Genevieve make a pact |
That evening, after supper, Charlotte sat at her painting isle and wondered what would happen now that the ghostly Sabrina was now inside Genevieve. She looked at how she had predicted this in the painting. She was worried, she was confused, she was terrified at how she could have even done that without really thinking about it.
Then, like a flash of light in her eyes, she saw in her mind Genevieve coming to her bedroom door.
Charlotte shook her head not understanding the vision.
And seconds later--- Genevieve, or Sabrina in her new body, knocked.
Once again Charlotte had predicted something and she didn't understand how.
"Come in." Charlotte said in a soft voice.
Genevieve entered and closed the door behind her. She turned and smiled but despite having the life-like face of Genevieve Thorne, all Charlotte could see was the rebirth of her late aunt Sabrina, face et al.
"I know this must be shocking to you, darling, I really do, but think of how happy this makes me? I'm free do be -- well -- myself again! I hope I'm not frightening you." Sabrina said through her new voice.
"What about Genevieve? How will her life be now that you are inside of her?" Charlotte asked concerend.
"I won't put her under any danger. I promise." Sabrina replied.
Charlotte looked at Sabrina and she sensed an energy from her like she had never before felt. She could sense deception, she could sense a lie, she could sense something cold coming from a woman she once loved and protected when Sabrina lived inside of her. She wanted to believe Sabrina, but she also could not deny all of the sensations she was having right there in the room.
"Make me a promise." Charlotte said standing next to her painting.
"Alright. Name it." Sabrina replied.
"Whatever you do now, from here in this moment, do it with good intensions and know that I can sense when you lie. We are a part of each other and were so connected for so long when you and I were one person. You took a lot from me too, Aunt Sabrina, all I want now is for you to do good things. Be a good person. This is a second chance for you." Charlotte said with a wisdom and heart beyond her years.
"You don't think I'm a good person now?" Sabrina replied.
"Not if you are suppressing Genevieve. She doesn't deserve that. She is innocent in all of this. She has nothing to do with what my father did to you or to anyone." Charlotte answered.
Sabrina lifted a brow and took a breath. Charlotte was right. She had done some questionable acts while living inside Charlotte, mainly attempting to get Charlotte to kill her own father when he was in the hospital, but now she was seeing things from a fresh pair or eyes, eyes that looked like hers.
Charlotte was telling her she had a second change and she literally did now that she was in a body that was practically identical to her own. Sabrina couldn't lie to Charlotte any more. She decided then and there that she would try her best at changing the page and starting fresh.
"Genevieve's son is coming soon. He's about your age. For you, for him and for Genevieve I will do everything I can do be a good person and not hurt ..." Sabrina paused. She realized she was going to say Jacob's name, she was really going to give up on her vendetta on the man that killed her.
"You won't what?" Charlotte said pushing for Sabrina to finish the sentence.
"I wont hurt anyone." Sabrina said.
Charlotte tilted her head and pushed Sabrina further "Even my father?"
Sabrina gulped. "Even him."
Charlotte smiled and rushed her aunt and hugged her tight, and when their bodies connected a rush of energy ran though Charlotte like a roaring river and light. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and Sabrina gasped and placed her on the ground.
Charlotte seemed unconscious yet her eyes were open, glazed over in some sort of frozen state; her body stiff, her mind floating in a place of white light and energy.
She was having yet another vision. Touching Geneveive's body ripe with the energy of Sabrina's spirit forced Charlotte into this euphoric state overcharged with the supernatural powers flowing through her.
Sabrina frantically tapped Charlotte's cheek trying to wake her while Charlotte's mind continued to float in this world of white light and energy.
"Charlotte, dear god, Charlotte? What happened honey? Wake up, wake up darling! Wake up!"
In her frozen state, Charlotte's mind showed her a baby. It was sweet and smiling standing in an all white crib. She walked over to the baby that smiled and giggled at the site of her.
She looked at the adorable child with giant green eyes and bright brown hair. The baby's cheeks were peach toned with lips were pink and perfectly shaped like the bow and arrow of a cherub matching the baby's adorable chubby legs.
She reached over to touch the child and he grabbed her finger and bit it drawing blood.
The baby laughed with a small touch of blood on it's lip and Charlotte pulled back her finger to see two tiny little cuts that quickly healed.
It reminded her of when Evie first came to Welshport and she bit Evie in the same place.
"Who are you?" She asked the child, feeling as if the child was more than just a baby.
The little baby stopped giggling and stared at her with a darkness that shook Charlotte to her core. Then, in a sudden lunge like a panther leaping from a tree to catch it's pray the baby leaped from the white crib and into the air. Its eyes were yellow, his teeth were sharp like a pirana and as the monstrous child came down on top of Charlotte she sudden awoke.
Back her in room with the tapping on her cheek by Sabrina.
"Are you ok??" Sabrina asked.
Charlotte was only out for a few seconds but it felt longer. She didn't know what to tell Sabrina. She didn't know to even describe what she saw in the vision.
But so far, she had seen two things that came true, and now she wondered: was this new vision coming true too? Was the baby she saw Evie's?
Only time would tell but Charlotte was now on high alert and wondered just what fresh evil was coming in baby form.
