 |
| Jacob & Gregory visit Father Ryan |
In a silent room at St. Catherine's Perish om the west side of the village, Father Donavan Ryan genuflected on prayer bench. His eyes tightly closed his hands gripping the beads of his onyx rosary. The sound of his murmured prayer faintly bounced from his lips on the flames on the candles in front of him.
As he continued to pray, his mind wandered to the frightening mass at Tirymor House a few weeks ago. In truth he had never forgotten about that day. He prayed about it constantly. It worried him. He wondered how it could have happened and what he could have done to have thwarted the danger that he knew was living at that house.
He also felt guilty. He had done nothing but pray all these weeks about the evil he sensed at that mansion. He told no one. Not even the Bishop. He had also not gone back to the house since, using weak excuse after weak excuse as to why he needed to declined Rebecca's invitations to share a private mass with her.
Father Ryan wanted nothing to do with the chapel at Tirymor. Not now. Not ever again.
As he continued to pray the light in the room changed. He did not notice.
The candles in front of him burned hotter. The unlit larger candles behind him on stone holders carved with Christ's face and angels suddenly burst into flame at the wick.
The sound of the newly lit candles flickering startled the young priest and he turned around to see who had lit them but there was no one there.
He started to feel hot, like when he was in the chapel at Tirymor. He looked down at the rosary in his hands and he was heating up, the beads were burning small little circles into his fingers. He gasped and dropped the beads on the floor and watched them melt into the marble tiles of his own small prayer room.
Father Ryan jumped from the velvet upholstered prayer bench and stepped back at the sight of the now melted rosary beads. Then, just as he began to catch his breath from the shocking melting of the beads and the sudden lighting of the larger candles behind him, the three large crucifixes in the room began to spin on the wall counterclockwise until they were upside down.
Father Ryan quickly grabbed the cross around his neck that glistened on it's golden chain and stretched it out in front of him. "BE GONE DEMON! I see you attempting to stoke the fears in my heart. BE GONE!!"
Then the small bowls filled with holy water began to bubble. The heat in the room intensified, the three arched stained-glass windows began to heat up and bake the room with an unseen fire that seemed to melt the walls.
Father Ryan long black robe lit on fire at the bottom hem. Ryan gasped and ripped the robe off and put out the fire with his feet stomping it out quicker than it could engulf his whole body.
"GET OUT! In the name of all that is good, GET OUT!" Ryan screamed into the hot room.
A menacing laugh echoed in the room; it was Caspian continuing his evil reign of terror of the island.
"You're attempt at taunting me will not last long, demon. I will figure you out and bring you to your knees." Father Ryan said.
Caspian's disembodied laugh stopped and he said "Such a fine invitation, Father. I welcome that encounter soon. Very soon."
Father Ryan's eyes narrowed, annoyed with Caspian's fearless attitude. He fell to his knees and cupped the golden cross in the palm of his hands and began to pray out loud "O Holy Father, O queen of Angels, Saint Matthew and Saint John please protect me, this perish, this island from the demon that searches us and attempts to control us with his evil and malicious curses. Bring me the strength to take him on, show me his face in prayer, show me who this creature is. I pray to Saint Matthew the Apostle, protect me sir, protect me Saint Matthew!"
Caspian only laughed again but as Father Ryan's prayer continued to sing in the air, the demon suddenly saw the face of Saint Matthew the Apostle in his mind. Saint Matthew was Father Ryan's favorite saint, but when the face of the long dead saint appeared in Caspian's mind, it was not the face of the man who lived over 2000 years ago, it was the face of Matthew Winterborn.
Caspian took this as a sign that Matthew Winterborn was a symbol of good and a symbol of virtue there on the island of Welshport. The handsome fisherman in love with Evie could quite possibly be the one thing that stood in Caspian's way should he make a mistake. It was clear as day now that Rebecca's fears of Matthew Winterborn taking the Evie away from Tirymor was not just a neurotic woman attempting to block Evie's autonomy on her own life, but it too meant that Matthew himself could end Caspian.
It was no coincidence that the favorite saint of the perish priest had the same name as the man who Evie fell in love with, the man who swore to protect her, the man who was going to keep her and the baby she carried safe for all time in marriage.
Caspian, then, realized he needed to rid himself of the potential threat of Matthew Winterborn--and after that, he'd deal again with the Priest Donavan Ryan.
Father Ryan, for his part, fell to his knees as the temperature of the room slowly began to come back to normal. The feeling of being naked alive in his own room of prayer dissipated and a knock came at the door.
Sweating and disoriented Ryan opened his eyes from praying and saw that his rosary beads had returned to normal. He got up from the marble floor and composed himself by straightening his vest and putting on the still singed black robe.
"Yes?" the priest said opening the door seeing a nun standing there. "Sister Patricia, what can do I do for you?"
Before she spoke the nun saw her priest looking slightly disheveled from his encounter with Caspian "Are you alright father?" She asked.
"Fine, fine, thank you. What can I do for you?" he asked again opening the door to the room to her.
"There are two men here to see you, Father. I saw you were in prayer, but they said it was urgent. One of them is Jacob Lord." Sister Patrcia explained.
"Jacob? What would he want with me?" Father Ryan wondered.
"And Constable Reigns." Sister Patricia added.
Father Ryan nodded and followed the sister down the long echoing hallway of the attached rectory that led them into the main part of Saint Catherine's Perish.
Saint Catherine's Church was built by members of the Rebecca Lord's maiden family the Lockwoods and Churchill family that came to Welshport over in the mid 1700s. Those first settlers built the large church in a neo-gothic style that was perhaps too large or the community it would serve but being that they were some of the wealthiest people to come from the Bristish Isles and settle on the tiny island and were funding the church's construction themselves, they wanted the building to show the money that poured in free from the coffers of the Vatican.
To Vatican officials who traveled to see the Church's splendor after it's construction, this showed their devotion to their church, to those first settlers it was a flex of their wealth and power.
The large wooden beams that held the vaulted ceilings of the church were made of the thickest oak the island could give from it's many forests of trees. There were paintings of angels and saints on the ceilings that rivaled those of the Sistine Chapel.
Sitting in its many pews were Jacob and Gregory awaiting in the dim candlelight of the church below the setting sun that shined through the faces of the Holy family in the various Stained-glass windows.
"Gentlemen." Father Ryan said as his voice echoed in the empty church.
"Father Ryan, its good to see you." Jacob said standing up to shake Ryan's hand.
"I've been wondering where you've been. Your mother, Mrs. Lord and your children come to Sunday mass often without you." Ryan said with a slight boyish grin.
"My wife and mother are very devout yes. I on the other hand run a business. Sunday's are my days of rest. I believe God would understand." Jacob replied with excuses from his church absences.
"We're here on a more serious issue however Father. Could we have sometime with you." Reigns interjected. "Alone." He added glancing over at Sister Patricia.
"Sister." Father Ryan said, gesturing for the suspicious nun to leave them.
Once Sister Patricia's footsteps became too distant to hear, Jacob sat back down in the pews and asked Father Ryan to sit as well. The priest could see the seriousness of their facial expressions not to mention the oddity that the two of them would come to see him together.
"What's the meaning of this visit?" Ryan asked.
"Father, I know that there have been a few decades long stories and gossip that surround my family and the home we love and live in. For the most part they are the things that fill our small towns with character and lore, and my family rarely corrects the record when we read about them." Jacob began.
"Especially since you own that 'record'." Reigns said in a joke referring to the newspapers the Lords owned.
"Yes, well, that's just part of the perks of our business. Nevertheless, there are things that occur that we as a family need to stomp out---like a rogue flame." Jacob finished.
"A Rogue flame." Father Ryan said, finding it curious that Jacob would use this imagery considering what happened just moments ago in the prayer room. "How am I to help in this rogue flam scenario?" he added.
"It's my mother. She's been in a way, infiltrated by the man she's trusted with her guidance in all things spiritual. I'd hope you would be who she went to for her spiritual guide and all things religion but she prefers to have someone in her corner that is private. She's had many, and currently she employes a man by the name of ..." Jacob said but just before he could name him, Jacob was interrupted.
"Caspian Casador." Father Ryan said.
Jacob looked at Gregory. "Correct." He replied.
"Have you met him?" Reigns asked.
"Not in the way men should meet men, no." Ryan replied.
Reigns' furrowed his brown confused in the way the priest phrased his last sentence. "Then how?" He asked.
"I've done many masses at Tirymor and the last one was..." He paused. "...different."
"Yes. Charlotte told me." Jacob confirmed. "I don't know what he is or what he's done, or how--- It's all just very bizarre, Father, but you seem to understand what I mean by all this. We're all on the same page here. Caspian is not like us. He's achieved some sort of power over my mother somehow and her way of thinking and behavior in general is all out of control. We cannot decipher how he did it or why. But you perhaps could. Charlotte believes he's evil. She described the prayer meeting you were at as ... hellish almost. She believes he was responsible." Jacob explained.
"And it's not just Rebecca. Aurora Jordan too. He also seems to have control over her. Not always, but there are glimpses of it --- I witnessed it myself Father. He's evil." Gregory Reigns added.
Father Ryan lifted a brow and got up out of the Church pew. He took a deep breath and stared up at the grand Alter of the where a giant crucifix with Chris hanging off it stared down at three men. The shining colors of the stained-glass reflected a rainbow of geometric shapes on his face and shoulders and turned and looked them both dead in the face and said "He's a demon."
"A demon?" Reigns replied.
"Evil. From the Devil. I've been working through prayer in hopes of ridding him from your home, this island, everything. But He remains. And he taunts me day in and day out. I wouldn't put it past him if he is somehow listening to us now. The power of his evil is something I have never seen. I haven't slept well in weeks. I haven't eaten well in the same amount of time, the idea of this monster walking among us haunts me every single day and I don't know what else I can do. I pray. I pray every day and every night and yet -- he remains." Father Ryan said, his voice shaking with nerves.
"There must be something you can do? I have two children in that house! Evie has one on the way. Its impossible to believe it's safe for us to live with him any more than we already have!!" Jacob shouted, his voice echoing in the rafters of the church.
"I don't know what else I can do!" Ryan replied.
"Donavon, listen to me. If know how dangerous he is. I can see it in your eyes, I can hear it in your voice. If this has to be pushed on to someone else, meaning, for approval of what I think we need, then lets do it!!" Reigns said using Father Ryan's first name.
Jacob looked at Gregory confused "What? What do you mean? Who's approval?"
"They'd never go for it." Ryan replied.
"Who!?" Jacob shouted again.
"We have to try, we have to. This is clearly life or death and if Caspian is as dangerous and evil as you say, then it's not only dangerous for the Lords, its dangerous for everyone on this island-- or worse. The world." Reigns explained.
"What the devil are you both talking about? Who's approval do we need and for what?" Jacob said again as the bells of the Church began to chime the new hour.
They were deep, the knells echoing in the air. The clock had struck late into the evening and still the villain that was Caspian lived a happy life in the Tirymor forest in the mansion with the same name.
"Who?????" Jacob replied in frustration pounding his fist into the church pew.
"The Vatican." Father Ryan answered. "Gregory means I need approval from the Vatican to ..." the priest paused again realizing the gravity of the situation.
"To expel Caspian from here. From the body he is in." Reigns finished.
"An exorcism?" Jacob asked plainly and in shock.
"That's right. It would be the only way to rid us all of him and forever." Father Ryan said.
Jacob locked eyes with the priest who's face was frozen with fear, worry, discomfort. The act of exorcism was not something the Vatican would grant a small perish priest like Donavan Ryan so easily. There had to be proof. There had to be undisputed proof of something evil lurking inside a person that was causing spiritual damage and dangers to all around it.
It was a heavy and powerful experience that could possibly hurt or kill anyone involved. Father Ryan knew this, Reigns too -- who himself attempted to do many to witches back in his day. Unsuccessfully.
But Jacob had decided right there in the center of the house of God known as Saint Catherine's Church that his family needed to be saved from the demon known as Caspian. He would not leave those hallowed walls without Father Ryan agreeing to it. He was adamite about it. He was secure in his own powers in the village that should Ryan resists, he himself would get to the Vatican and make them do what he wanted. If an exorcism was the key, then Jacob would do everything in his power to do the unlocking.
"It's not as easy as me just showing up and praying over him Mr. Lord." Ryan continued.
"You'll do what you have to do an I'll help you. We'll get this done, Donavan. We will. Bishops half a world away in Italy need not know. This is an urgent matter, and if you don't do this for us, save us, help us--- well--- I don't know what will happen to my children. Could you live with yourself Father, if your inaction against the man you yourself call a demon were to kill innocent children?? Could you?" Jacob asked.
Father Ryan stared at the two men. He wanted to help, he knew the dangers that Caspian could cause if left out of control. He was like a festering wound that would never heal if not cleaned, cleansed, sewn up.
Fathe Ryan was the remedy to the infection that was Caspian--this was clear. So he made his choice. He would secretly, but with the help of the two men in front of him, do the exorcism of Caspian Casador and, by the will of God himself, save the village and perhaps the world of the potential deadly wrath of the Devil himself.
"Ill do it." Ryan said. "Ill do it."
Jacob and Gregory breathed in deep with relief.
Together they'd take on the fires of hell for the lives and souls of women they loved.
****
 |
| Sabrina & Charlotte speak in Fabían’s room |
The ticking of a clock on a the pristinely white painted mantle in baby Fabian's nursery clicked away the afternoon hours into the coming dusk. The blue and white painted walls of the baby boy's room resembled clouds and made the room feel light and fresh calming even in a house that was in constant turmoil.
Baby Fabian, now 9 months old, lie sleeping like a cherub in swaths of white, his plump cheeks so perfect in their roundness pushed his little pink lips into a perfectly shaped heart.
Standing over him, smiling happily as we all do in the presence of a beautiful sleeping child, was Sabrina Spencer-Lord inside the body of her look-a-like Genevieve Thorne.
Sabrina, and Genevieve, both loved children. Both women had baby boys. Both women had been pulled away from their boys at a young age, Sabrina in death and Genevieve leaving her son with her former mother-in-law so she could search for a better life East.
Fabian was a symbol of their love of their sons. Sabrian, in control of the body, then reached down into the crib and caresses his caramel-colored hair.
"Don't hurt him." a voice whispered from the nursery door.
Sabrina turned and saw her young 12-year-old niece Charlotte whom she once inhabited.
Sabrina, in Genevieve's voice whispered back "I wouldn't."
"What are you doing in here anyway?" Charlotte asked coming into the room and closing the door behind her.
"I came to visit the baby. You know it's been so long since I've held a little baby like this. Sebastian was just a little younger than you when I left him. It feels like its been forever." Sabrina said.
Charlotte smiled as she turned to her sleeping half-brother. "He is really cute."
"Very."
Charlotte took a breath "I want you to know that I think daddy has changed. He's really starting off in a different light. Maybe daddy's world got better once he married Celeste and when Fabian came into the world. He's really trying."
Sabrina tilted her head wondering where Charlotte was leading her.
"Maybe you should let go of what happened and lived your life or moved on.... I don't know. Be happy. Find happy." The young girl said.
"Let go? Let go of what? My murder? Charlotte think about what you are asking me. I thought you and I had an understanding long ago, when I lived inside of you and not inside Genevieve. You know what he did to me, you know what he did to so many others. Why should he get a free pass now that you see him in a different light?" Sabrina asked bluntly.
"Because everyone should get a second chance." Charlotte replied as she grabbed Sabrina's hand. "You too are getting a second chance. You could live your life free of all this anger and pain happily inside of Geneveive. You can both inhabit the same body if you just let her in on what happened to you. Live a second life. Rais her son Morgan as you wish you could have raised Sebastian. Think about this... this could be your second chance too." Charlotte said speaking with wisdom beyond her years.
Sabrina squeezed Charlotte's hand. She knew how much Charlotte wanted peace within their family. It was a long time coming, especially for the years that she lived inside Charlotte's own body and mind. She had seen how strong a child she was. Her mind was a fortress that was practically impenetrable, not like Geneveive's. Sabrina was able to crack Geneveive's mind and control her whole body easily. But not Charlotte.
So, there in the bedroom of the newest Lord prince, Sabrina realized that maybe Charlotte was right.
"Maybe you're right." Sabrina said. "Maybe I could give this whole thing a shot." Sabrina said looking out of the window as the sun was setting.
"There is so much out there. Life. Love. Happiness." Charlotte added as she too looked out onto the horizon.
"I wouldn't know where to start. It's such a big world and I haven't been able to live like this in so long." Sabrina said.
"I guess it feels better to live in Genevieve's body than mine huh?" Charlotte joked.
Sabrina looked down at the young girl, her blue eyes sparkling in the sun that was falling below the hills and sea just outside the window. Her hair too, blond, bright, so bright, seemed to glow in that setting sun of orange and yellow. She was so innocent, Sabrina thought, and so kind to have let her go on and on about revenge and destruction of her own father that perhaps Sabrina owed Charlotte something, something big--- like this. Granting her the wish of Sabrina finding peace within Genevieve's body.
"Where would I go?" Sabrina asked.
"Well, you don't have to go anywhere, or you can go where ever you want. That's the thing about freedom. It's where your heart desires." Charlotte again spoke with wise words.
"David." Sabrina said mentioning her missing Husband and Sebastian's father. "I could search for David."
"Uncle David?" Charlotte asked.
"Yes. I know he's out there somewhere. When Jacob framed him for my death he vanished into the sea. Everyone thinks him dead but I know he's not. He's not on the other side. He's still out there--- somewhere." Sabrina said.
"He would be shocked to see you. Alive." Charlotte replied. "In a way alive." She corrected.
"We could start again, a fresh start would mean I could truly find my happiness with the man I loved." the ghostly woman said in the body she posessed.
"And what about Mr. De Viana? How would you explain it to him?" Charlotte asked.
Sabrina shook her head. There was nothing she could do at the moment anyway. A young boy named Morgan was on his way by train from San Francisco and Sabrina, being inside the boy's mother's body, couldn't just leave in search of David without at least being there when Morgan arrived.
She couldn't leave the boy believing his mother Genevieve abandoned him. As for Johnathon, she knew that breaking off their engagement would sting, but he'd survive. He had his own Lord family fish to fry.
"I'll wait for Morgan to come, then I'll decide." Sabrina said.
"Decide what?" What's all this?" Celeste asked as she stepped into her baby's room.
Charlotte gulped.
"Oh! I was just telling Charlotte that I would wait for my son to arrive at Tirymor before I decided what school he would attend, either in the village or here with Charlotte." Sabrina said as Genevieve.
"And you both decided to have this conversation in Fabian's room? He could wake at any moment." Celeste said annoyed.
"You're right. I'm sorry Celeste." Sabrina replied.
"Me too." Charlotte added. "Miss Thorne caught me in here with Fabian, it's my fault we stayed here chatting."
Celeste lifted a brow, she could tell in the tone of their voices they were lying. Charlotte wasn't a good liar to begin with. Celeste had always know when she told fibs. She would bite the edge of her lip right after the words left her mouth and she awaited the other person's reaction. Whatever it was they were hiding, Celeste's distrust of Genevieve only grew now, and she wanted the woman out of the house and away from Jacob's wondering eye.
"Well I think maybe we should all go before we wake him, don't you?" Celeste said continuing to see Charlotte nibble on the corner of her lip.
"Yes, yes! Let's have some tea. Ill get it and bring it to the Yellow drawing room." Sabrina agreed, as she hurriedly rushed out of the room and away from Celeste's suspicious gaze.
As Charlotte nervously followed, Celeste grabbed her step-daughter by the arm and held her back.
"What happening?" She asked the girl.
Charlotte nibbled her lip. "Nothing."
"Charlotte, I know you're lying, tell me what you and Geneveive Thorne were doing in here? It wasn't just small talk about Morgan." Celeste added.
"It was, it really was. She just wasn't sure about school. I promise. Can I go now?" Charlotte replied.
Celeste inhaled through her nose dissatisfied with the answer but let the girl go too only allowing a deeper sense of suspicion to enter her body and believe that there was now something even more to worry about with Charlotte and Genevieve's new friendship.
Celeste walked closer to her sleeping baby. His innocent face quickly melted away the grimace on hers. She felt threatened having Genevieve around with that face, that constant reminder of Jacob's true love, his dead sister-in-law Sabrina. She couldn't get it out of her head that if Genevieve continued to live in the same house as her scoundrel husband she'd lose her own place in the house -- that fall from grace could spell disaster for her if Jacob were to fall in love with Genevieve and do something drastic to Celeste.
This paranoia, this fear, this worry, was eating away at Celeste slowly. But it was gaining strength and her mind was plotting. The plotting of a plan that would rid Tirymor of the visual ghost of Sabrina Spencer in Genevieve's face was for her son Fabian's place too in the house and the son of Jacob, it would all be for him.
"We won't let anyone take what we have given up so much for, will we?" She whispered to her sleeping baby. "No one."
Indeed, Celeste did give up much for her marriage and life at Tirymor. Her former Lover Filipe. Her life outside the walls of Tirymor. The protection of her mother's family secret. All of it was on the line.
No ghost of a former obsession of Jacob would take it from her. No one.
****
 |
| Caspian seduces Aurora |
When night-fall came, Aurora sat at her vanity and combed her hair with a silver brush that glistened in the low glow of the lamp next to her. She stared into the glass back at herself thinking about her life and how things had gotten to where they were.
She thought about Robert too, her husband. The man she poisoned back in England so that she could cash in on the life insurance to save her from further destitution. The weight of her act was pushing down on her mind and heart like an anchor of a ship sinking to the further depths of the sea.
But anchors would eventually find the bottom of the sea and stop; Aurora's guilt felt like it would never stop her sinking.
As she then opened an oval silver case that matched her brush filled with fresh white hand cream Caspian slowly entered her room without her noticing.
He was enamored with her. He believed she could be the one person to bring forth his own child of flesh and blood since Evie's baby was now obsolete. He watched the beautiful Aurora, her long light brown hair curled at the ends looked perfect in the light.
His eyes glowed yellow and a power grew within him that came out through his skin and made him glow just as his eyes did.
Several curious yellow eyed owns landed on a thick oak branch outside Aurora's window and gazed in as their human counterpart lurked just behind Aurora.
She looked up at the window as the owls' low hoot seeped through the glass of her window, and then in the glass of the reflection she saw the blurry, strange shapely creature that was Caspian Casador.
Startled at his entrance to her room, she gasped and turned to him quickly, dropped the case of cream all over the floor.
"Caspian!" Aurora said, her voice suddenly chocked with his overpowering energy.
He lunged at her and took her in his arms. She at first pushed her first up against his sturdy thick chest but then, his energy once again took over her body... he kissed her long and deep.
Aurora fell under his spell and kissed him back. Caspian knew that control of Aurora was only short term as her secret life back in England and what she did to Robert allowed him only to control her for a short time, her act so grievous a crime nullified her innocence.
Caspian could only overpower and fully control a pure innocent.
Murder, like Aurora had committed, removed that from her.
However, the length of his control, Aurora could feel the power of his arms pull her in. She wanted him to kiss her more, but at the same time she wanted him to stop. But the wanting won, and she held on to him, under his power, and continued to kiss him back imagining he was Gregory the whole time.
They looked at each other, him controlling her every move, she betrayed by her own desires for Gregory. Caspian took her hand and walked her to her open bed, and she laid down. He followed suit and rolled over to her in the white sheets of Aurora's bed tangled their legs like a web.
They kissed again and she removed his shirt reaving his tan skin and hair chest. He peeled away her silk robe that exposed her soft peach toned body that he craved. They were now in a passionate embrace and slowly began to feel each other's nude bodies together that felt warm to the touch.
Two becoming one.
Aurora, her mind trapped in Caspian's mind control, felt as if she were melting in warmth of the sun, focusing as much as she could only on the man she was falling in love with: Gregory. Caspian too felt the deep heat of passion inside of him. Her eyes, watery and wanting, opened to see the man over her, in her mind it was Gregory. The face was the man she loved. The body was the man she loved. Caspian knew this too; he had transformed himself into Gregory Reigns: Body. Face. Everything was now in form of a person she really wanted to make love to.
The trickery consuming her senses only so he could continue to make love to her.
This mind game worked, and whatever resistance Aurora had in her faded and she gave herself fully to the man that her mind was now showing her. The fantasy was now a reality and the trick worked. She truly believed for the moment, in the moment of passion that Gregory was the man making love to her.
They Continued to make love in the yellow glow of her lamp: three times in fact.
This was The first step in Caspian's hope to conceive a child with Aurora Jordan replacing his plan to take Evie's baby as his own.
Certify his power over the island of Welshport would soon be proven, and then THE WORLD.
****
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Highgrove Neighborhood
 |
| Sebastian confronts Jacqueline |
Jacqueline Gray, the woman who followed Sebastian from the docks when he arrived in Boston sever nights before and attacked him and a woman on the streets of Highgrove by a murder of crows sat stoically in a chair in the center of a room in her home.
She was staring down at a make-shift coffin made from a create that she had created not long ago. She had anticipated Sebastian's arrival. She knew what he was. She could feel it in her bones. She could sense him his dark aura like a waft of rosewater perfume entering into a room.
She sat there staring at the closed crate since the night before when she locked him inside and waited for nightfall when she knew he'd finally awaken.
As she predicted, the coffin she made began to shake. The lid began to bump up but because of the lock she placed over it, Sebastian was unable to open it. Jacqueline carefully got up from the chair in the center of the room the faced the rectangular coffin and walked over to it as Sebatian continued to kick to get out.
He said nothing.
She crouched down and unlatched the lock, the lid flew open and there was Sebastian, gagged and tied up in the coffin. His face was bruised from the crow attack. He struggled in the coffin, groggy from his sleep and sore from his fight.
Jacqueline walked over to a side table and brought him a cup filled with the red liquid Sebastian needed to survive. It was blood. She removed his gag they exchanged no words and she poured the blood into his mouth giving him instant rejuvenation.
As the blood finally seeped into his system bringing him back to some sort of life, he sat up.
"Untie me." He growled.
"What do you want here?" She replied fearlessly as she sat back in the chair across from him.
Sebatian looked around the room. It was rather empty. The floorboards were old. Withered with time. The walls were darkly painted, nothing appeared to be on them in terms of decoration. There was a faint smell of sage in the room, he could tell she had prepared for his arrival especially with the makeshift coffin she had tied him up and locked him during the day while he was unconscious.
"I said untie me witch." He repeated.
She snickered and rolled her eyes. "Not until you tell who you are and what me what you want from here. Why are you in Boston?"
"My name is Sebastian. I've come to look for someone, and I think I found her. You." He said.
"Me?? Or that woman on the docks? Unfortunately, Sebastian, she didn't make it after the crows came for her. Sad sight. She seemed like a good person."
"You did that, didn't you? You made those crows come down on us like that. You are the person I am looking for. Its you!" Sebastian exclaimed.
"I don't know who you think I am." Jacqueline replied attempting to confuse Sebatian. "But I will tell you that I am not afraid of you. If I untie you, you will leave me here, and go on your way back where you came from." Jacqueline added.
"I can't do that! I've come from far away and I need you to come back with me. It's urgent and it means life or death for us all if you don't. Only you can help. Tell me, tell me who you are and prove me wrong." Sebatian replied.
"Jacqueline." She said, giving her first name. "But I'm, nobody. Just a Boston seamstress. That's all. No more no less. And I don't know what you're talking about and wouldn't know why you'd need me for anything."
Sebastian growled.
She lifted a brow sensing his danger. "Maybe I'll just keep you tied up in this box. Or maybe I'll just let the sun come in. How's that? Should I do that? Should I open up these shutters in the morning and let you see the sun?" Jacqueline threatened.
"The sun...you see, you know exactly what you're doing. You know EXACTLY what I am! IT IS YOU! You are the one I'm looking for!" Sebastian exclaimed.
He was right. Her senses and powers had warned her. The coffin she built was proof of that.
"You should be careful with your words." She warned, no unable to keep the lie.
"Clever witch." He said realizing he was in a coffin. "Listen, I'm not here to harm you. I need your help. I swear, it's the truth. Look, there, in my coat. In the inside pocket there is a photograph. The photograph is why I'm here."
Jacqueline turned to another side chair in the shadowy room where Sebastian's coat had been slung over. She didn't know if she could trust the vampire, but he seemed to be telling the truth, he was adamite, he seemed concerned and desperate.
Jacqueline got up from her chair, she slowly walked over to the where the coat was, the shadows of the room obscured her face to Sebatian who now only saw her in silhouette as she went through the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out the photo of the three Highgrove witches: Eliza, Sabrina, and .... Jaqueline's late mother Alora.
She gasped at seeing her mother's face, a face she had not seen in the years that she had been dead.
"You see. Those other two women. The older lady is my aunt Eliza, the younger is my mother Sabrina....and the third...." Sebastian paused.
"My mother." Jacqueline replied.
"Your mother." Sebastian said pleased with finding the piece of the puzzle. "We need your mother's help. Please."
"I'm afraid my mother can no longer help. She died years ago. Many years ago. A man killed her. Killed her and many of our..." Jacqueline paused before saying the word coven. "Um... many others." She finished continuing to try to hide her connection to the Highgrove witches.
"Look, there is no need to hide what you are from me. I'm the son and nephew of the other two in that photo, and clearly, you know what I've become. A creature of the night, a man who needs the blood of strangers to live. That is how you got me to revive, that's what's in that cup. You know. And you're not afraid. So, untie me. Help me. Come back to Welshport with me and help me destroy the evil creature that is there." Sebastian asked.
Jacqueline came back to where her chair was, in front of the coffin Sebastian was still sitting up in. She looked at him, the dim light of the room only brightening half of his face. He was handsome, she could tell he had seen many dark things in his short life. The life, or lack thereof, of a vampire was hard. The constant struggle to hide and lie and survive was not easy. But there he was, a descendant of her own coven that she continued to try and lie her way out of.
She didn't know what to do. She feared it was a trick.
"I can't help you." she replied. "The coven died with these three women. It's gone."
"NO!" Sebastian shouted back in frustration. "My aunt's daughter is alive. She has powers. Mary...Mary needs you!"
Jacqueline's ears perked up. She didn't know of Mary's existence. Another witch? Another like her. It made her stomach knot in excitement.
"Mary." She said out loud.
"Mary Goode. Eliza's daughter. She is my cousin; she has inherited Eliza's book and powers and there is a demon that has run amok in Welshport threatening to take my unborn child and grow more powerful with the baby's lifeforce. We can't let that happen. Eliza summoned that demon, and he killed her. He destroyed her and he is now out of control. Mary said that only the powers of the coven can reverse his actions. Please....help us." Sebatian explained.
Jacqueline crouched down again and stared into Sebatian's eyes. She closed hers to feel his energy: was he lying? Was he truthful? All of the powers in her body that she pretended not to have filled his in a green glowing light. The light swirled around Sebastian who breathed it in. He felt her searching his mind for deception, for lies, for trickery. She wanted to feel his honest heart...and she did.
She could tell that he wasn't lying. This wasn't a trick. This wasn't some witch hunter coming to kill her and finally end the line of the Highgrove witches.
But as she searched his mind, something stopped her. A face. An evil dark face in yellow energy came and knocked Jacqueline out of Sebastian's mind.
The demon Caspian.
The jolt from Caspian's powerful block knocked Jacqueline over. Her face fell into the withered old wooden floorboards oh her house. Sebastian too fell back into the coffin and hit his head.
Jacqueline knew now that not only was Sebastian telling the truth but the force of evil swirling around him was more powerful than she could even understand. Caspian was a monster. A vicious creature from hell that could reach into any mind he wanted to keep anyone from taking over and removing him from the world.
Jacqueline got up, her heart pounding, Sebatian moaned and rolled in the coffin hurting from not only the soreness from the attack from the crows but now the jolt of energy from Caspian's electrifying power.
The witch, fearing Caspian would find her using Sebatian furrowed her brow. She looked down at Sebastian, he was frightening. She was angry. And she wanted nothing to do with any of it.
She reached for the Coffin's lid just as Sebatian was coming to.
"No, no, no, no please!!" He shouted trying to block the closure of the coffins lid with his tied up hands.
Unsuccessfully.
Jacqueline locked the lid and left Sebatian in the coffin again alone.
Her life away from that evil was safe. She would not enter into any of it. Not now. Not ever.
****
 |
| Asha discovers a mysterious book at Matthew’s |
The fog rolled over the village, cool, wet and fresh. It dampened the cobble stone streets making them slick coated with the condensation of the salty sea air.
In Matthew Winterborn's small home in the village, cloaked in wisteria and willows, a beautiful dinner table had been set up in celebration for four people.
Matthew and Evie had invited Nikolas and Asha over to share a meal.
The group came together at the antique round dinner table covered in a white linen tablecloth. The white porcelain dinner plates of roasted chicken and asparagus with a fresh grape-tomato salad. All cooked by Evie. They were there as a celebration of the recent engagement, Nik and Asha's foray into the medical field and their budding new romance and also as a goodbye party for Matthew who was going off to sea once more.
"This is all so delicious." Asha said, the candlelight illuminating her beautiful caramel skin.
She picked through the tomato salad and chose three small round red orbs to eat with delight.
"I never knew you were such a good cook. In fact, I don't think I ever saw you heat a pan in your life." Nik joked of his sister.
"Ok, ok, I know. Back in London we had people around our house that helped and Tirymor has much of the same. So I admit, Jane helped me." Evie admitted. "BUT! I helped-- alot!" She added as they all laughed.
"How long will you be at sea?" Nik asked Matthew as he ate up his meal.
Matthew wiped his mouth, his belly filled too. "Well, usually about two weeks but because Evie is expecting I want to be back soon. Hopefully we can do that."
"I told him he didn't have to rush home, I'm still about two months away from the baby being born but Matthew is as stubborn as he is handsome." Evie said, reaching for Matthew's hand.
"I'm so happy for you both. We all are." Asha added.
Evie turned to her and smiled before refreshing her own memory of how she and her brother's new love had met. "And We are for you! Asha, you've come a long way since you and I first met at Windcliff."
"It feels like a lifetime ago. I've been through so many ups and downs that I feel like a new person." Asha replied.
"That, I can totally understand." Evie added, as she too had gone through so many of life's transformations over the years in Welshport.
"Not only that but we're very happy you both found each other." Matthew added to the new couple. "Evie and I too came together under terrible circumstances, so we can see how the two of you would be drawn together. My sister Alice would be very happy for you Nik."
Nik's eyes filled with tears suddenly thinking of the woman he once loved and who died, Alice Winterborn.
"I hope so." Nik answered.
Asha suddenly felt a small knot in her stomach with the mention of Alice's name. She had a lot on her plate and meeting Nik felt like a breath of fresh air, but Alice's ghost seemed to cloud her world even though she felt somewhat confident in her connection with Nik.
And yet still... the Alice's shadow loomed large over her.
"I think that with everything that's ahead of all, all the good things I mean, we should just put the past behind us and move on. Alice would want that too." Evie added of her old friend Alice.
"She was an incredible person from what I remember." Asha added, of her old patient Alice at Windcliff.
"Beyond incredible. She was special. Otherworldly." Nik said, as he wiped his eyes and sipped from the white wine.
Asha reached down and grabbed his hand, squeezed. He squeezed back but did not look at her. She was falling for Nik, she felt she could truly be happy with him and Nik too felt it was time for him to move on from the tragedy of Alice's shocking death. Asha, for Nik, seemed to be a breath of fresh air, a new lease on love. But it was often difficult for him to break free from how much he did love Alice too. He was in love with both of them. Alice and Asha. But he needed to somehow, soon, break free from his memories of Alice to give his new love a chance at survival.
As for Asha, she had to hold on to keep Nik, but she too had a breaking point.
"Would you excuse me? I'd like to visit the powder room." Asha said.
"Of course!" Matthew replied as he and Nik stood up from the table for Asha. "Down the hall, third door on the right passed the bookshelf.
Asha noted the directions and carried on her way. She went down the blue painted hallway looking at all of the old photographs of Matthew's family. Father, mother, grandparents, cousins. Aunts. Uncles. So many photos of the Winterborn ancestors who were photographed on the land they loved. On horseback. Fishing in the sea. Planting crops. These were the many members of Dænian tribe that lived on the island for centuries before the British settlers came and vanquished them and took their land.
It was an interesting little bit of history, posted to the hallway walls, and Asha smiled seeing how beautiful the family was. She even saw a photo of a young Matthew and Alice.
The photo of the two was right next to the large bookshelf Matthew mentioned in his directions to the home's bathroom.
The books were of all sorts of topics Asha noted. History, fiction, fairy tales even. But one book, very large in a red cover bound with that seemed like old twine stood out to her. It was larger than all the others on the shelf and was not placed in the standing position on the shelf like the others, instead it was laying on its side. It had no title on it's spine like the others, it had no author named. It was just a book with old brown pages that were different lengths sent from the margin.
As Evie, Matthew and Nik, continued to chat over dinner in a room just down the hall, Asha opened the mysterious book. It revealed names and more names. Names from page one to the page 30 and more. It was just names. A book of names.
She read over these names; they had numbers next to them. Three sets of numbers.
She continued to flick through the pages unsure and finally came to the final page of names and noticed the final name on the list.
It was Alice's name.
The sets of numbers next to her were: B1887 | D1912 | 40 59 20 4N 68 21 00 7W
She didn't understand what all the numbers were or what they meant. Asha flicked back to the other names, and they all similar sets with the same grouping of numbers at the end. A number starting with B, and number starting with D and then a group of numbers.
She thought over and over as quickly as her mind could calculate and then noticed notes on some of the older names. The very first names in the book did not have letters but actual words only further on in the pages did things began to become abbreviated.
In these first pages B meant Birth and D meant Death.
And the numbers... Asha realized that those were all the same numbers after every single name. She thought about how they were written, the selection, the codes.... then, like the flickering on in her mind, it was obvious to her:
The group of numbers after every single name in the boo were coordinates for a map.
Asha flipped back to Alice's name and stared at it. Where did these coordinates lead?
Asha slowly and silently walked back towards the dinner table and peaked into the room where Evie, Matthew and Nik were giggling and laughing and having a wonderful dinner.
Asha looked at Matthew, a member of the Dænian Tribe. A member of a world that was mystical and dealt with nature and life the way someone like Asha who studied science and medicine could not understand.
She continued to look at Matthew and then Nik. What was Matthew's book hiding? What was at those coordinates?
Asha whispered to herself as she turned her gaze back at Matthew "What the hell you Winterborns hiding?"
The fun dinner party quickly turned into worrisome event of anxiety and stress. Asha suddenly felt Nik slipping away from her if by chance Matthew was somehow, someway, hiding a secret place where Alice was hiding.
Asha not only felt paranoid about the whole idea but she felt foolish to think this--- but stranger things had happened, and she knew well enough that all was possible on the island as mysterious as Welshport.
If Alice was out there, by some chance, and alive hidden in a secret place for her safety would she and Nik have a chance to continue their relationship?
The questions churned in Asha's mind and made her physically ill. She quickly rushed back down the hall, replaced the book on the shelf and turned into the bathroom where she was able to make only to the bathroom sink and vomit into it.
Suddenly, everything in her world had flipped. Asha Hoffman again felt on the defense, and when she was on the defense, no one was safe; Andrew Kim was proof of that.
Now poor Matthew Winterborn was in the crosshairs of two of Welshport's residents very destructive residents with their eyes set on one thing and one thing only: their own agenda's.
The question remained: Who would act first? Asha or Caspian?
