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| Dr. Peter Ward & Nurse Danielle Holten |
A busy afternoon in Welshport meant fishing fleets were near their return to shore with a fresh load of everything. From cod to crab, from yellowfin tuna to blue mackerel and sardines.
Nothing made the afternoon busier than the gossip swirling around town still of the deadly night before at Village Park when Filipe Braga, in werewolf form, attacked and killed several villagers including the Village Constable Gregory Reigns.
At Welshport Hope Hospital, Dr Ward filled in the new Nurse Danielle Holten of the night’s events. She had luckily missed the whole thing due to her shift at the hospital that night.
“My god doctor, that’s terrible. I read the paper but your account sounds so much more …I don’t know, chaotic and horrifying don’t quite seem to fit.” The dark haired young nurse said.
“But it truly was horrifying. I’m just glad we all got out alive, well almost all of us.” Peter replied thinking of Reigns. Then he noticed papers in the nurse’s hand that weren’t from the hospital. “What’s that?”
“Oh I apologize, I shouldn’t bring in personal things here but with all my shifts I just have to. These are formal documents to declare my father dead. I have to mail them to Denmark where he was from to declare him deceased there. It’s just to cover our bases in the event someone should contest my late mother’s wishes.” She explained.
“Oh that’s right you mentioned that your father had been missing for more than a year now. Im sorry you have to do all this.” Ward added.
“It’s surreal for sure. When my parents moved here a few years back I never expected him to go missing and her to pass away so soon after. We say she died of a broken heart. She never got over his disappearance.” Daniell further explained.
“Well Nurse Holten, feel free to take a moment on all that paper work when you can, and try to keep up.” Peter winked, knowing Danielle would not neglect her actual job.
Danielle smiled. She had been struggling for years to find her father who up and vanished from Welshport without a trace. Viktor and Lina Holten and come to Welshport only the year before Viktor’s vanishing from Copenhagen while Danielle lived in Boston. Her mother, who died shortly after Viktor vanished, had left a fortune, the paperwork was all to settle her family’s estate now that her father was finally going to be declared dead in America and his native Denmark.
Danielle, who permanently moved to Welshport and was living in her parents’ home, stared down at the papers in front of her. She had been hesitant to check the box next to her father’s name that said AFDØDE, the Danish word for deceased. It just felt so final. It was the end of a long sad journey.
She’d be a grown up orphan now.
But it had to be done.
Danielle checked the box and placed the folded papers in the envelope set for Copenhagen.
***
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| Nik reveals Asha & Gregory’s secret |
Elsewhere at Hope Hospital, more drama was unfolding.
Asha Hoffman who had survived captivity in a secret room at Gregory’s and the fire that burned down the building still lay asleep in her hospital bed.
The fire all but pushed Asha's body to the brink as smoke filled her lungs. Her brain, unable to get the proper oxygen, locked her into a coma.
Nik, sat at her bedside worried that she would never wake up and tell them everything.
"Dr. Jordan, she's going to be alright." Dr. Ward said entering the room with his paperwork on Asha's case.
"Huh?" Nik replied, seemingly in his own coma or trans thinking about everything that happened.
Ward smiled and patted the young doctor on his back "I've seen this before. It'll take time and with the proper care Dr. Hoffman will come out of this."
"I have to tell my mother." Nik then said.
Ward nodded. "She's here with your sister. They're speaking with a chaplain about what to do with Gregory."
"He's really dead then?" Nik asked, his emotion showing nothing but disdain; Dr. Ward nodded. "Alright."
Nik stood up and reached down for Asha's hand as she slept. He squeezed it and told her he'd be back. After a few minutes and several hallways later, Nik found his mother and sister sitting in a small brightly lit chapel where a man was finishing up arrangements for Gregory. Aurora had also given instruction on where to find his family who would probably want to bury him in his home town.
"Mother." Nik said in a whisper.
"Oh! Nikky!" She said standing up and rushing over to her son who she had heard saved Asha from the fire.
"Nik, what's going on? How could Gregory have done all of this to Asha?” Evie said, she too in shock over Gregory’s sheep in wolf’s clothing.
"I don't even know where to begin." Nik said.
"So it’s true you found Asha in some room at Gregory's? Dr. Ward filled us in on some things but honestly, it's all unbelievable—from everything I’ve gone through that’s saying a lot." Evie added.
Nik nodded. "I had a hunch she was there; it just didn't make sense that she would have left without saying goodbye. And I was right.”
"A hunch? What would make you think she was hiding at Gregory's?" Aurora asked misunderstanding that Asha was not hiding but being held.
"No mother, Gregory was keeping here there tied up in that room." Nik said.
"What? No! Why? What are you talking about?" Aurora asked.
Dr. Ward and the chaplain noticing the family needing a minute alone, quickly made nervous exits.
"A few weeks ago, here at the hospital I was coming back from a meeting with Dr. Ward and when I went looking for Asha, I came across her speaking with Gregory, but it wasn't a very normal conversation. I heard them arguing about something, something that the two of them were keeping from you, from all of us." Nik explained.
Evie stepped forward and grabbed her mother's hand expecting to hear about an affair.
"What was it?" Evie asked.
"Asha was upset over something the two of them had done and she was feeling guilty about it and wanted to come clean, and Gregory was furious with her because he had helped her with something and now, she needed to pay him back by keeping this secret of theirs." He explained further.
"Oh God." Evie said, still believing an affair was about to be exposed.
"Go on..." Aurora said now feeling the same as Evie.
"It was about the night you gave birth to the baby, mother. Asha was there." Nik said.
The room suddenly felt heavy. Aurora had not discussed much of the night she gave birth to Caspian's child, a child she conceived while believing she was making love to Gregory, only to discover it was Caspian's possessed body morphing into Gregory's. The baby, she believed had died.
The truth -- was coming.
"Gregory did not want you to have this child, he feared your connection to Caspian would somehow rui your relationship with him, mostly because he felt you would be too anchored to a child that would pull you back into that terrible moment you realized it was Caspian who fathered the child and not Gregory. The night of the conception. So, he drugged you. Asha provided him with drugs that would make you sleep and when the baby was born, they took the child from you and said it did not survive. They took the child and now someone else somewhere has it, mother. Your baby is alive. The baby did not die."
Aurora and Evie gasped. They locked arms and held each other hearing such horrible shocking news of something Aurora had already mourned for so long. Almost a year! She didn't want to believe it. She felt her knees shaking and asked to be seated on the edge of a pew. Her heart fluttering. She began to see stars all around her and she lay her head back and looked up towards the ceiling. The tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.
"Where's the child now? Did you overhear that too? Why didn't you tell us Nikolas??? Why did you hold on to this for so long?" Evie scolded.
"I didn't know if it was true! I had to find out first if there was truth to any of it so that I could tell you with certainty that this baby, this boy, is alive somewhere."
"Boy?" Aurora asked. "I had a girl." She recalled.
"Another lie." Nik said. "Gregory lied about the child's sex, probably to keep you away from any baby boys you saw, I don't know. But Asha hated all of this, she wanted to tell us all but Gregory refused her and blackmailed her. He had something on Asha and when she continued to push, he took her and locked her in the room."
"We realized when her goodbye letter came that it couldn't have come from her. It was typed and not handwritten and made very little reference to anything Asha would have truly said. It didn't make sense. Nikolas told me everything and I agreed to help him by diverting attention from Gregory while at the Park so that Nik could search for Dr. Hoffman." Dr. Ward explained.
"I can't believe this. I cannot believe any of this." Aurora said, Evie quickly going to sit next to her.
"After you were told the baby died, mother, you always said that you felt it wasn't true. Something inside you felt that." Evie recalled.
"But for Gregory to have done this to me, he said he loved me. He said he cared for me and would protect me and after all this time, he was doing something horrendous behind my back." Aurora realized. "Asha! We have to speak with Asha, I need her to look me in the eye and tell me this is all true and to tell me where the baby is!"
Nik and Dr. Ward looked at each other with worried expressions.
"What is it?" Evie asked, clocking this.
"It's Dr. Hoffman." Dr. Ward began. "She's unable to tell you everything-- right now."
"What does that mean? Was she detained by the police for this?" Aurora asked.
"No, no, she's unable to speak to you on this because when the fire broke out, the ceiling collapsed on her and Nik, and when Nik pulled her out, she was unconscious. We believe she inhaled too much smoke for too long and it has rendered her in a coma."
"A coma!?" Aurora shouted. "Is it permanent?"
"We don't know yet." Nik added. "We weren't under the debris for too long so it could very well be temporary while her brain begins to get more of the oxygen it was lacking while she was under and breathing in all the smoke, but we have to wait."
"She also suffered burns on her legs and arms, more than Dr. Jordan, so the body too needs to recuperate from that." Dr. Ward explained.
"I just can't believe all of this. Gregory is dead and my child is alive." Aurora said before pausing and letting the entire heft of the moment sink in. "Gregory is dead. And MY CHILD is alive!!" She repeated.
Evie grabbed her mother, and they held each other in a tight embrace both sobbing over the realization and shocking news that had come out just overnight. The truth was painful but, in a way, there might finally be a ray of hope for Aurora who had always known something about the birth of the baby never made sense. She felt perhaps she was being silly, or that she had some sort of dream while the baby was being born that made her believe an alternative story that the child did survive.
In truth, Aurora was right all along. Gregory had been gaslighting her.
"I need to find him." Aurora said to Evie. "I need to find my child."
****
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| Mary meets with Jacob |
While staring at her wedding ring the newly married Mary Goode stood outside the front door of Tirymor House. She promised she'd come to the family mansion to give Celeste the news of what was happening to the second man they had in common, Filipe.
It had been a strange coincidence that Mary and Jacob were together years ago and Filipe and Celeste were together years ago, and in time, the universe found ways to switch these two couple in ways none had ever imagined.
For Mary, Celeste deserved to know of the dangerous road ahead for Filipe.
The door opened after Mary's rang the bell and head house-keeper Jane Donnelly opened it.
"Ms. Goode." Jane said. "What can I do for you?"
Before Mary could answer, Jacob passed the foyer and saw his daughter's mother at the door.
Mary saw him too and watched him slowly walk to the door with a very familiar confident swagger, the one that lured her in many years ago.
"Run along Jane." he said.
Jane obliged and rushed off sensing the heavy awkwardness of two ex's facing off.
"I need to speak to Celeste." Mary said.
"Why?"
"Jacob, this message is for Celeste." Mary replied.
"Why?" Jacob again asked, refusing to budge.
"It's about Filipe, and I think she should know from me before it gets out."
"I can deliver the message, what is it?" Jacob asked.
Mary's eyes narrowed at Jacob who's stubbornness never ceased to amaze her. She rolled her eyes and realized she probably would win the argument.
"Jacob it’s important that we don’t play games here.” She said.
Jacob flashed his wicked smirk “Ahhh but I do love games.”
“Please. I’d like to see your wife.”
Jacob crossed his arms. “No.”
“Fine… have it your way, but I’m urging you to tell Celeste — truth.”
Jacob smirked again. “Far be it from me to lie, you know that’s not my style.” Jacob replied clearly being ironic because even that was a lie.
Mary sighed.
“In the days to come there will be some very disturbing information coming out about Filipe and I want her to know that I'm doing all that I can to fix it and to make him whole again. He’s under going something so horrible that — well we weren’t sure he was going to survive. But I’m doing all I can to make sure he does." Mary said skillfully skirting the truth of the matter, Filipe lycanism.
"What does that mean?" Her ex asked. “Is he ill?”
“In a way, it’s about what the news is saying about Sebastian and the killings.” Mary said.
“Sebastian?”
"Yes, the news is wrong, it's not Sebastian that is doing all these horrible things; he's not the monster everyone thinks he is." Mary said, still unable to say it all out loud.
"We all know he’s not this supposed monster. I can attest to that. But... wait, are you saying that it's Filipe? Is Filipe responsible for all of this? How??" Jacob asked, finally connecting the dots.
Mary only nodded.
"How?" Jacob asked again. "How is it possible that he's responsible? I saw that thing last night Mary, I saw it rip though people and its jaws ... I saw its body, that couldn't be him? Could it? That was Filipe?"
Mary nodded again. "I can't explain everything, but I can assure you and Celeste that I have a plan to save him."
"And what's the plan?"
"This is where Sebastian now comes into play. I'm going to Bellmore Beach to see Evie. If she knows where he is, and I believe she does, I think he can be the source of saving Filipe from everything. They're connected, Filipe and Sebastian, and I'm going to make sure we're all saved from this--if it's the last thing I do." Mary explained.
"Mary this is insane, all of this. Everything has been insane for years and when I think about you involved in this you make me think of your mother, do you understand that? Your mother was a lunatic who believed in all of this black magic and nonsense. You're just going to make matter worse."
"Are you saying you don't believe all the things that you've seen with your own eyes for the last few years? Jacob, you assisted in an exorcism for god's sake." Mary reminded Jacob.
Jacob took a deep breath. He did believe it. He knew what he saw, he'd know the truth for years now of what Sebastian was. He knew what Caspian was. He knew what her mother was and how all of it was indeed real. But it was hard for him to admit out loud, especially admit to Mary herself, a woman he wanted to foil at every chance he got. But, it was too late. The truth was out there and now there seemed to be more of it in front of his face.
"Bellmore, huh?" Jacob said of the house where Evie was living now, a gift from Rebecca. "That was supposed to be our house, you and I." Jacob reminded Mary of the happier times of the relationship before Charlotte was even born.
"It was David and Sabrina's." Mary corrected him, throwing back in his face the couple he was most envious of.
"Yes, well it should have been ours."
"Tell Celeste, Jacob." Mary said. "Tell her that Filipe is in trouble but I'm going to help him and everything will be fine. I don't want her to worry when more and more news come in. Baxter Murphy is on a tirade and I want her to know the Filipe she remembered and loved is still there. I think that's important."
"She doesn't think of him." Jacob said with a bit of snark in his voice. And jealously.
Mary lifted a brow and smirked "Of course not. she only thinks of you."
"That's right."
While the two ex-lovers caught up, they were not alone. Jacqueline Gray, a witch herself had sensed Mary's energy when she stood at the front door. She crept slowly down the winding main staircase and just before she hit the midway point, she slowly became invisible to human eye.
She slinked over towards the front door and stood directly next to Jacob and listed to Mary explain what she was doing there at Tirymor House. But nothing seemed interesting until the mention of Sebastian's name.
Sebastian -- Her beautiful missing Sebastian.
Jacqueline needed him, missed him, wished she could find him too but he was gone. Every feeling Jacqueline had of him had vanished. To Jacqueline it was Evie who hid him away and for intense and purposes--killed him in her universe. He was gone but Mary believed she could convince Evie to unearth him wherever he was.
"Do you think Evie will tell you where Sebastian is? That is, if she actually knows." Jacob said.
"She has to know. She's the last person who saw her and once I tell her about Filipe and how I need Sebatian to save Filipe to save us all, she'll help me. I trust her." Mary said.
"Well good luck then, I think you'll need it." Jacob said.
As Mary tuned, feeling somewhat fulfilled for delivering the message to Celeste, she heard Jacob call her name.
"Tell our child I said hello, would you? And that I love her." Jacob said of their daughter Charlotte, one again displaying his rare warm side.
Mary smirked and nodded that she would.
"Oh! And... be careful Mary." Jacob added.
Jacqueline quickly passed Jacob in the doorway invisibly as she began to lift her feet off the ground as to not leave track marks in the sand. Jacob felt the cool wind blow passed him that was Jacqueline's invisible body. He felt the chill that there was something there, an entity that had slowly made it's way through the doorway.
He quickly closed the front door.
Mary too felt something follow her. Her witchy senses perked up like antenna. She tuned to look behind her as Tirymor House got smaller and smaller behind her. She could see the warping of the air as Jacqueline's body floated and followed Mary to Evie's Beah House.
Mary turned quickly and lifted her arm in the air, large boulders and logs on the side of the road vaulted into the air and towards the strange warped transparent air in front of her. Jacqueline, the source of the warping energy, moved quickly and camouflaged herself within a bush.
Mary knew she was being followed. But didn't know by what. She reached into her bag and removed a small vial of salt and encircled herself in it.
"Post lapsum. Recedunt. Non hodie. Neque persequeris." A spell Mary receipted in Latin.
Jacqueline, hiding in the bushes chuckled. It wouldn't work on an invisible entity.
Mary stood on the road and listened to the wind swish the through trees for several moments. She felt nothing now, safe.
She continued to Evie's and Jacqueline followed slowly making her invisible way to find her believed Sebastian hopefully within the walls of Bellmore beach house.
****
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| Cora confronts Lear in front of Lucas |
Down in the village, Lear and Lucas were watching clean up around Village Park and the burned down Constable station. They couldn't believe all the destruction that happened all in one night.
"I don't think this town has ever seen anything like this before." Lear said.
Lucas sighed a deep sigh. His heart full of sadness for everyone affected by the creature's attack the night before. But something else was on his mind. Something about what he and Lear overheard at Tirymor House -- the family drama that Lear was clearly trying to avoid.
"I know that we're still getting to know each other, but if there is anything you'd like to talk about, I'm a good listening." Lucas said.
Lear smiled "I know, if this is about what happened at Tirymor, I --- I wish I could tell you more, I really do. I just need some time to really get to that part of my life." Lear explained.
Unfortunately for Lear, that time may was coming faster than he anticipated.
Coming up the block, as Lear and Lucas looked on during the cleanup, was Cora Tyler in a furious stride zig-zagging through other town's people to make her way to Lear.
She wanted the truth, all of it, and she wasn't going to take no for an answer.
Lear turned to his right and by sheer coincidence, there was Cora standing dead center on the pavement.
"Is it true?" Cora asked knowing Lear knew exactly what she was talking about.
He stammered "Cora, hi!"
"Is it true, Lear. Tell me." She demanded.
"What's this about?" Lucas asked her.
"He knows."
"Cora, please..." Lear began before she interrupted.
"Baxter told me everything but I want to hear it from you, now tell me the truth, Lear. Am I Maggie Lockwood?"
Lucas looked at Lear in complete shock, knowing what he had just overheard at Tirymor House and putting together what Cora was trying to as well, he could tell the family secret of Lear's past was once again rearing its head into his present.
"Cora, consider your source. Baxter, as you know, is on some bizarre rampage to tell stories and make things into something that they really aren't for his own gain. Think of what would mean? His sister is really a member of the extended Lord family? Come on." Lear deflected.
"He seems very sure of himself on this one." She replied forcefully. "I always felt I was different from him and from our parents and if this is true, if I am actually your sister then …”
“Then what? Cora? What would that change in your life?” Lear asked.
Lucas’ heart sank.
“I need to hear it from you, and I need to hear it now."
Lear wanted to tell her. All of his best and good instincts told him to tell her, to be honest, to finally reveal the truth and finally have his true sister back in his life but he lied. He stared her dead in the eye and lied again. He didn't even know why he lied, he just did. He told her no. He told her she was not Maggie Lockwood, the baby sister his desperate for money father sold to the Baxter's for $50,000 when she was just a baby.
He lied to her face. He lied and Lucas could tell he lied, he had only know Lear for a few months and they had become close, and it was as plain as day -- Lear was lying.
"Why would Baxter say this if it's not true?" She asked.
"Lear..." Lucas began to say before Cora interjected again.
"He told me everything. He said Henry Lockwood, your father, ruined his life and lost all his money. That he was desperate for cash and somehow convinced your mother to sell their child, their baby girl. A baby girl that was adopted by the Baxters-- Me. Was it me? TELL ME!?" She begged.
The story was starting to sound quite similar to what Lucas had overheard at Tirymor, everything started to click in Lucas' head and inside he was begging Lear to come clean. Cora was pouring her heart out n front of them and all she wanted was to know who she was, the truth of it all.
"She deserves to know." Lucas said.
"Lear... please." Cora added.
But Lear stood his ground, there was too much still to do and if he was going to tell the truth about Cora/Maggie than things for him would crumble all around him. He wanted Maggie to still be missing. He wanted that child not to be found, for him it was a way to keep the pain in his mind fresh and real and as long as it was still fresh and real in his mind that his baby sister was missing, he could continue to blame Rebecca for it all.
Everything he had done so far was in order to make Rebecca pay for what Lear saw her responsibility on his family's destruction. Nothing was ever the same after little Maggie vanished into the black-market, and she couldn't resurface now. Lear was not done with Rebecca no matter how innocent she really was in all of it.
"Just like so many of the things he's putting in the paper, Cora, this too is fantasy." Lear said.
It was a complete 180 from what Lear wanted to do. Initially he wanted to tell Cora the truth, but hearing Jacob tell the story of what happened changed his mind. To Lear, his Lord cousins only saw him as the son of a man who sold his child. Poor. Destitute. Common. No matter what he did, no matter how many degrees and accomplishments Lear achieved in his life, he'd always feel like he was at the bottom of the world when it came to the Lords, his little branch of the family tree was just a sad story for them to tell.
He'd never let them get the relief knowing Cora was safe and sound, no, he'd continue to use it to his advantage and ruin their lives.
Cora's eyes welled up with tears. She was confused. Hurt. Broken down.
"I want nothing to do with you or Baxter. Do you hear me??? DO YOU HEAR ME LEAR!? Leave me the hell alone!!!" She scared as bystanders began to see the strange outburst she was having right there in the middle of town.
Lear's heart sank as he watched his little sister rush off in tears away from them back down the block. When he turned, he saw a very different expression on Lucas' face.
"You're lying." Lucas said.
"Lucas listen," Lear began.
"No. No. I have to go." Lucas said, his stomach feeling cold and empty. He couldn't stand a liar.
"Lucas wait! PLEASE!" Lear shouted.
"When you are ready to tell the truth, all of it, to that poor girl, come find me. I'll be at Matthew's."
Lucas went off back to the Winterborn apartment, leaving the lying Lear along on the street with an audience of Welshportonians watching the drama of secrets and lies unfold like a live play.
****
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| Jacqueline follows Mary to Bellmore Beach |
A cool wind washed across the white golden sand dunes of Bellmore beach where Evie's two-story cottage stood in all its cape cod style elegance.
The white paint of the front facade had slightly scratched away by salty winds over the years. Mary Goode noticed how different it looked to her eye as she stepped up it's brick front pathway.
She knew the house well, but it held no happy memories for her.
In the shadows, invisible to the human eye, Jacqueline Grey stood and listened and watched. She followed Mary in hopes for news of Sebastian Lord.
Mary took a breath and knocked on the door. She waited a few seconds and was surprised to see Matthew Winterborn on the other side.
He opened the door, his hair a tussle of dark curls crowning his chiseled square jaw, his eyes foggy, his handsome face was glowing; the picture of love in the afternoon.
Mary smiled, recognizing the look. "I'm sorry to bother you." She smirked.
"What can I do for you?" He asked.
"Is Evie here?" She asked, her eyes darting to his open shirt.
Matthew smiled shyly and buttoned his very open shirt.
"She is, but she's with her son, he's just waking up from a late nap." Matthew explained.
"Matthew its very important that I speak to her...very important." Mary replied.
Jacqueline slowly made her way closer to the conversation. She was certain she'd discover where Evie had hidden Sebastian away -- she'd get to him first, faster than Mary. This was her one last chance to find the man she loved more than anything and take him back.
Matthew stepped outside and leaned the door against his body he was apprehensive at letting in the witch Mary Goode; something inside of him, an instinct he could not understand made sent a red-flag up.
"I don't want to upset Evie, she's been through enough." Matthew whispered.
"Matthew, I know you and I don't know each other well, but this is about life and death and only Evie can help me." Mary explained.
Jacqueline, impatient with Matthew's hold out, lifted her invisible hand in front of his face. She closed her eyes and whispered a spell that sent an invisible light into his mind releasing his apprehension. His eyes sparked a bright light only visible to Jacqueline.
Mary felt a cool air wash over her face too. She turned to her right and then to her left trying to find the source of the mysterious coldness but there was nothing there.
Then, Matthew surprised her.
"Come in." He said without any further a due.
As Mary entered Bellmore House, She saw how fresh and new it looked inside. It had been remodeled just for Evie and Gabriel. A new look for a new life. Gone were all the old furnishings and paintings she had seen there decades ago when the house was to be hers.
Hearing the voices in the front room, Evie came in elegantly dressed in a cream-colored silk robe. She held a silly Gabriel who tugged on her ear lobes and giggled in a glow of light from the afternoon light.
"Mary." Evie said, surprised to see Sebastian's cousin and one-time attempted murderer. "What are you doing here?"
Mary took a breath to speak realizing she had a large dose of shocking news to tell just as the invisible Jacqueline Gray passed through Bellmore House's wall.
"I can tell I interpret you all," Mary began. "but I had to come here. I had to see and ask your help on a very urgent matter."
The invisible Jacqueline slinked around like a snake in the brush. Her eyes zeroing in on her rival Evie's mind, locking in to her psyche to make sure whatever lie she told to Mary would be clear to Jacqueline. The search for Sebastian was that intense, that important and that vital to everyone's survival.
"What is it?" Evie asked balancing little Gabriel on her hip.
"It's about Sebastian." Mary replied to a silent room.
The name was burned deep into Matthew's brain. For all the of the months he was lost at sea and stranded in the Azores Islands he had full regained his memories. He knew of the woman he loved, the woman he soon found to be Evie. He knew something kept them apart, he saw slight memories of the fire at Lockwood Thicket that took Alice's life. The flashes and short memories were slow to come but when Mary said his name -- a sudden flash came to his mind of the vicious vampire that almost took his life and too the life of his sister Alice.
Matthew remembered Sebastian's bloody mouth. His fangs. His vicious cold and blackened eyes The same feeling that came over him every time he came into contact with Sebastian suddenly hit him again, this time like a piano falling from a 5th story widow and cashing over Matthew's body.
Evie could tell Matthew was bothered by Mary bringing up Sebastian's name.
"I don't know what you'd want from him. He's gone." Evie said.
Jacqueline sensed the lie and got closer.
Mary gulped, "I know you want everyone to believe that Evie but I think you and I both know that isn't true. I need to see him and I need to get his help. It's a matter of life and death."
"Is someone sick?" Matthew asked.
Mary only nodded yes.
"Mary what's going on?" Evie asked in a serious voice, sensing there was something Mary wasn't telling her.
"It's Filipe." Mary began. "I'm afraid something very serious has happened to him and Sebastian may be the only one to help keep Filipe from ... well from dying Evie. He's on the brink of death and I can't tell you much more than that."
"Evie tells me Sebastian is gone, and I don't recall too much of my exposure to him but the small bits of memory that I do have, I think his vanishing is for the best." Matthew said. "Why would we want to bring him back into the fold?" He added.
"Because he could save Filipe's life, in fact I know he can." Mary said.
Evie sighed concerned with the request. She knew where Sebastian was. The two of them had agreed that he should be hidden from everyone -- it was the safest option for all involved is his cursed life. Bringing him back would only interject more terror into everyone's lives and that was not something Evie wanted, especially now that Matthew was back, and she had Gabriel back.
"I don't think you understand exactly what you're asking me Mary." Evie said "There isn't any way I can help you. Not like this, not with information on Sebastian. I'm sorry."
"Evie, listen to me," Mary said, her voice growing deeper and much more serious in tone to match Evie. "you do not know what you're saying. When I speak of life and death, I don't know mean Filipe's. This could mean everyone on this island, we are all in danger of --- of --- you saw what happened last night, didn't you? You read what they're putting in the paper, haven't you? They're saying it was Sebastian who did that, they're saying he's the monster running around the island killing fisherman and young women in alleys and -- even Gregroy. They're blaming Sebastian, but I know it wasn't him."
The invisible Jacqueline sensed Evie's mind open up more. She was curious.
"But you know who or what it was?" Evie asked.
Mary nodded and replied. "Filipe."
Evie's eyes widened, Matthew's too. "No. That beast was.... it was Filipe? How? How can that be?"
Mary shook her head "I don't know all the details, but it happened weeks ago, and the power of the full moon compels him to do this, in that form. It's what I was saying, it's like Sebatian. Sebastian isn't the truly at his core the creature he became but he can't help himself. Neither can Filipe, but the two are connected in a way that is only understood by the powers of the supernatural. One can heal the other and only together in person can they do that."
"This is insane!" Matthew shouted. "You're asking her to go against her own judgement to keep one killer away to save another?"
"Matthew you don't understand." Mary began.
"I do understand. Sebastian took my sister's life, so I know very well what we're dealing with here. I know what you mean by life and death. I may not have all my memories back but of Sebastian, I am very clear there. He is a killer. Even he knows how dangerous he can be. We don't want to dig up old graves Mary. Not now. Not ever again."
"Matthew..." Evie said, showing signs she was sympathizing with Mary. "we should listen to her."
"Why Evie? She wants to bring back the man that almost killed Nik, the man that killed Alice, the man that was responsible for bringing that Jacqueline Gray into your life, the woman that became so obsessed with him, she faked your death and had you buried alive!"
The long laundry list of nightmarish events in Evie's life didn't sit well with her -- or the invisible Jacqueline who snarled in her transparent body at him. The anger inside Jacqueline was so potent that as she moved around the room, her invisibility spell started to slightly break free. Her hand slightly brushed up against a picture frame and knocked it over.
Matthew, Mary and Evie's heads snapped to the fallen frame. It was still a remnant of Sabrina Lord's decorations -- a baby picture of Sebastian.
Evie went over and lifted the picture frame up and looked at it. Little Gabriel patted the glass of the frame with his little hand. He looked exactly like his father, in fact Gabriel was the same age as Sebastian in the photo.
"Please Evie, I know this is hard for the both of you, but I need to find Sebastian and I need to get him to help Filipe. He would, I know he would. He and Filipe were the best of friends for so many years and they'd do anything for each other. Life has been different for us all in the last 4 years but I know in my heart that my cousin would not hesitate to help Filipe if he knew he could."
Evie turned to Matthew, he shook his head no.
"I can't let Filipe die." She told Matthew.
"Its not just Filipe. So many more people can die if we don't get him help right away." Mary added as she turned to Matthew. "Matthew if I could take back what Sebatian did to Alice, I would. I swear to you I would, I'd do it in an instant. But the truth is, that isn't an option and if we don't find Sebastian as soon as possible then, well, frankly this village will see more and more Alices in it's future. Filipe has already destroyed more lives than I can think of in a very short amount of time -- there's no telling what will happen if Filipe isn't saved."
Jacqueline swirled around the three like a ghost, an invisible puff of smoke chilling the room hoping any morsel of information on her beloved Sebastian could slip out of Evie's mind, but Evie had learned long ago to protect herself. Too many times had people tried to pry things from her hands, her heart her mind without her permission. She held herself strong, her mind like a steel trap, illusive with information that forced Jacqueline to sit and wait for something -- anything -- to come from the meeting.
"This is a huge risk." Matthew said. "I dont want to lose you again, we've only just gotten to this point and now we're thinking about going back down the Sebastian road? I love you Evie, I love you, and Sebastian causes you so much pain and heartache, I jsut want to be sure you're going to be ok. Both of you." Matthew added patting little Garbriel on the back.
"Go on, tell us, do it Evie. You know you want to." Jacqueline thought.
Evie still said nothing.
"I don't know."
"Evie please." Mary begged. "Please. Think of your son's future. This is about him too. If Filipe isn't saved there may not be a Welshport for him to grow up in. For my baby too. I want Caleb to know his father, the real Filipe. Not what he has become; only Sebastian can do that."
"How can you be certain?" She asked.
"Evie, no." Matthew said again sensing Evie's tilt towards Mary.
"I promise you. I know he can."
Jacqueline couldn't wait any longer. She opened her hands in her invisible form and a light that could only been seen with her eyes, began to filter through her body. The light lifted out of her hands and formed a ball of white light with tiny blue strands swirling around it. It floated over to Evie. Gabriel turned and saw the ball and reached for it.
Confused, Evie lowered the giggling baby's hands. Mary felt a cold chill and turned towards where the invisible Jacqueline was standing.
The ball of light from Jacqueline went into Evie's body, Gabriel saw it and did the sign with his little fingers for "bye, bye"
"She's here." Mary said.
"What? Who?" Matthew said.
"She's here." Mary said again scanning the room. "Come out. Where are you. Come out!" Mary said.
"I'll take you to him." Evie suddenly said shocking the room.
Mary turned back from her search from Jacqueline, the temporary distraction suddenly less important.
Jacqueline's ball of energy was like truth serum in a witchcraft form. Her mind became unlocked, and all the secrets of Sebastian's were going to be free for Jacqueline to take.
"Go on, tell us, tell us." Jacqueline thought to herself, dying to know where he was.
"I'll take you to Sebastian."
Then, the room warmed. Mary turned to where she thought she felt Jacqueline. The sensation had subsided. Gabriel again did the "bye, bye" sign to what he may have seen in the room.
"We have to go now." Evie said.
Mary agreed. Time was of the essence.
"Evie, please don't do this." Matthew begged.
Evie's eyes watered. She knew how much Matthew loved her and worried for her. But if Sebastian was key to saving Filipe, a person Evie always saw as kind and strong and would do anything to protect the world he lived in when it was decent and good, then she too would do whatever she could to preserve the world too. She owed it to Filipe, she thought, to help.
"I think he'd do it for me." Evie said.
"Filipe would." Mary said.
"No, Sebastian." Evie corrected. "If he knew that I was the key to helping save someone and he was the only person that knew where I was he'd do whatever he could to help." Evie explained to Matthew.
"But... what about..." Matthew began before she interrupted him.
"We'll be fine. You and me, and this little one." Evie said. "But I have to do this."
Matthew knew there was not changing Evie's mind after she had decided. He nodded his head and kissed her on the crown of hers. He took Evie and her baby in his strong arms and held them tightly. He loved them with all his heart and now that they were back in his life and he in there's he wouldn't let anything destroy it -- not Filipe's Monterious murderous creature and not Sebastian's.
"I'm going with you." He said.
She smiled and kissed it "I wouldn't want it any other way." She grinned.
Evie packed up the baby and his things and as they left to drop him off with Coraline, she'd take Mary and reveal the location she hid Sebatian Lord -- the undead Vampire who'd blood ran cold with Filipe's life force.
****
 |
| Mayor Churchill arrives at the Pub |
As Evening approached the Siren's Call pub saw a slew of villagers gathering to air their grievances and mourn the shocking events of the night before at the Full Moon Celebrations.
Women came in with boxes of candles for the candlelight vigil slated for the coming night. Their husbands, brothers and sons on the other hand groaned in beer and wine filled frustrations with Baxter's infamous and inflammatory column in their hands.
"They've always been hiding this, always been!" One fisherman yelped.
"It's no wonder there's always some kind of dead body up there. Why, Albert Lord himself must of been one of the first victims of this Sebastian monster, who knows!" Another man shouted.
"Who'd ya think killed that Sabrina lass?" A third fisherman from Scottland shot out. "They say it'd be David himself, but my eye's on the devil boy from hell, Sebastian. He killed is grandpa and probably his ma too!"
"That's enough all-a-ya!!" Shouted one of the bar maids in her own Irish accent. "We don' know the truth to any o'dis!'
"Ahhh I see a Lord-Lover there, mates!! Maybe she's one of Jacob's gals!!!" The drunk man laughed linking the barmaid to a long whispered rumors of Jacob supposed many mistresses.
"Alright, Alright let's all just keep our heads and wits about us." Said a voice in the crowd.
Everyone turned to see Mayor Timothy Churchill standing in the center of a group of people from his administration drinking and discussing the events of the night before over their own brews.
"Mayor, you know as well as us all what them Lords have up there at Tirymor. It's its in your own family tree!" A man shouted.
It was true, Mayor Churchill's family was one of the first 5 families that settled on the island, and he knew the Lords, Lockwoods and the other's backwards and forwards. He knew the mysterious ways they behaved and all the money and power they wielded.
The truth was, the richest family on the island only believed their secrets were there's -- in fact the whole town knew about them, talked about them, spread them around and made them their own.
"What would you suggest sir? Should I call them out the way Mr. Baxter Murphy has? I think the damage on that has already been done!" The mayor reflected realizing it was column itself setting the town in deeper into a fervor.
"We don't want to wait for this bastard to come back and kill more of us, Mayor, we need to end it before he ends us!!" A man shouted.
"End it?" the mayor asked.
"Take him down!!!" A fifth man shouted out.
"TAKE HIM DOWN! TAKE HIM DOWN! TAKE HIM DOWN!" The crowed in the bar began chanting.
A woman chimed in through the chants "We have to save us or no one else will!"
"YES!" A woman lighting a candle said.
"Look what he's already done! Look at all the bloodshed!" Another woman shouted as the barmaid hid in the back.
The crowed continued to chat and the mayor did his best to calm them but realized it was now out of his hands.
"Friends! Tell me then!" The mayor said as the crowd began to listen. "As your mayor I'm here to listen and to do what you as the people who elected me want me to do. So then, I ask, what shall we do?"
The mayor's aides shot each other looks worrying that this would be a dangerous path to slide down, one where drunken and angry towns people were going to dictate to the mayor what they wanted through the fog of their grief and frustrations. It was a tinder box that mayor was about to light.
A man stood up and removed a revolver from his waste side: "TO TIRYMOR!!!!"
"That's it! Let's go to Tirymor and take that creature down where he lives!" A woman sceramed.
"AYE!" The Scottish fisherman added. "Let's go up to that house and kill the creature before he kills the rest of us!"
"TO TIRYMOR!" The crowd screeched over and over.
The mayor turned to his two aides and shrugged. "You heard them boys, looks like we're going to Tirymor!"
The crowd gathered their things. They jumped on to their horses, carriages and puttering automobiles.
Some had firearms. Some had sticks. Others had daggers and knives.
They wanted blood. They wanted Lord blood.
And chaos was about to reach a fever pitch on the island once again.
