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| Roman & Evie finally meet |
The day was late. Evie could see by the glow of the frosted over west-facing window that the sun was dipping back down below the horizon. The only way she could tell the time was by the change in the colors of the glass throughout the day.
No one had come to see her. She was hungry. Tired. She hadn't slept. She hadn't seen Gabriel in what felt like forever but it had only been little more than 4 days - yet to a young, desperate and frightened mother that was enough to send her to the brink.
Evie paced the room.
Back and forth, back and forth passed the mound of broken glass from the vase she had thrown at Sebastian. He'd never sent for anyone to clean it up. She worried he'd forgotten about her. But deep down she knew he’d never forget. She worried she'd be left there to die.
She thought about all the other times she'd been locked away. The asylum. The coffin. The jail cell. Her anger was building into painful memories that she could not shake loose.
Then Evie stopped dead in her tracks in the room. Her arms fell to her side. She lifted her head and faced the portrait of the mysterious woman staring down at her. She made herself a promise.
"If I get out of here alive with Gabriel, this will be the last time, I swear to it, the very last time anyone ever locks me away. I will never be taken again." She thought as her hands balled up in fists.
As Evie continued to think of her past and her future trapped in her current predicament. A key began to jiggle in the lock of her room. She gasped and stood back. The sun was still up, even if it were beginning to fade, it couldn't be Sebastian. Not at this hour.
She backed away from her stance in the center of the room towards a shadowy corner. She wanted to fight, she wanted to be free but she realized, not know who this was it could kill her not knowing her opponent. She thought of lying in wait before pouncing.
The door slowly creaked open. It was a tall, slender man. His skin tan and caramel in tone. His hair dark and slick. He was beautiful to Evie, and so, so familiar.
It was Roman Ashby. But Evie could not yet place how she knew this person.
"Evie?" He whispered. "Evie, where are you?"
The door closed behind him and Evie, still in the shadows unseen reached for a candle stick. Roman walked over to the bed that was covered in shadows thinking Evie was asleep. She crept up behind him, candle stick, upside down with the heavier base high above her head. Just before she was to bring it down on his head, the candle slipped out and fell to the floor.
The noise startling Roman. He quickly turned and grabbed Evie by the wrists. They struggled. She kicked him in the shin; he yanked at her arm. The force throwing them both on to the bed. She got free of his grasp and jumped back off the bed in search of the candle stick. He too went to her, grabbed her by the arms and yanked her back up so that they were now facing each other.
"EVIE! EVIE STOP! It's me!!! IT'S ME ROMAN!!!" He shouted as they were face to face.
The name froze her solid.
"Roman?" She asked. She knew of only one Roman. He material younger cousin, the son of her aunt Miranda. But they hadn't seen each other since they were much younger. Over 10 years. Way before Evie left England.
"I swear to you, it's me. It's really me." He said.
Then she realized it was her cousin. She saw him now, yes, his face was grown, his voice deeper his body taller. It was him.
Evie's body relaxed and she jumped to him embracing him and kissing him over and over on the cheeks. She was saved!
"ROMAN!" She said finally allowing it all to click. "What are you doing here? How did you get in? It was Nikky wasn't it! Nikky and my mother, they realized I would never have left home without saying goodbye and the sent for you in England. ENGLAND! Is that where I am??? Has Sebastian brought us to England????" Evie said, her mind spinning in the face of hopeful freedom.
"Evie, slow down. Slow down, take a breath." He said with a grin as he sat her on the bed. "We have to stay calm now."
"I need to know where Gabriel, is Roman, I need to find him so we can get out of here."
"I know, I know you do. But we have to talk about what this place is." He repeated.
She nodded, her mind finally calming. "Ok."
"Sebastian has brought you and your child to Scotland, we're in a village called Goodwick. Now, Evie, this place, this castle, is owned by a very, very, VERY old and wealthy family from far away. They've moved here centuries ago and have remained here ever since. They're the Doshalls. The village is quiet, not very large, but the Doshalls sort of rule over it like Dukes. Its a power dynamic, they give the town money and safety in return for privacy and protection from the outsiders."
"Sounds familiar." Evie said with a chuckle thinking if the Lords in Welshport. "By why has he brought us here?"
"Ironically, Johnathon DeViana told him about me and this place. He told Sebastian to come here."
Evie was confused. What did Johnathon have to do with any of it? Roman continued.
"Johnny and I have known each other for a very long time. He lived in London years ago, where he and I met and we remained friends. We bonded on our ties to America and became fast friends. Eventually I became entangled in something bad. I made mistakes and I owed a lot of money to people. The Doshalls helped me and I vowed to be in their service, but I didn't realize exactly what that would mean. When I came to work for them is when they showed me what they really were. I told Johnathon to free my mind of the guilt for helping them do what they do and, as a good friend would, Johnathon never told a soul. Until Sebastian."
Evie began to realize what Roman was saying. The connection of a secretive group of people who hid in the shadows, how lived only in the night and that Johnathon believed would appeal to Sebastian. The people of this castle were the same as Sebastian. Vampires, dwellers of places only nightmares could invent. Evie stood up. Her mind slowly seeping into a dark place worrying for her child that she had not seen now somewhere in the gullet of this castle with creatures all around that could hurt him.
"I need you to get me to my child, Roman. For the love of god, please. I, I need to see him and take him from here." She said with tears in her eyes.
Roman stood up to console her and grabbed his cousin's hands. "Evie no harm will come to Gabriel, not in a million years. I can guarantee that."
"How can you? He's already in danger being without me. I need to be with him." She said.
"Gabriel is much too important for anything bad to happen to him. I promise you, I am watching over the mixling with very careful eyes." He said.
Evie shook her head confused "The what? The mixling?"
Roman felt his heart drop. He'd said too much. "The mixling, it's what the Doshalls call the child they've been told about forever, they've been waiting for a child like Gabriel who's born of a mortal and a vampire. He's very, very important. They need him safe to sustain themselves." Roman explained, leaving out a very important secret detail as to not frighten Evie any further.
"And Sebastian knows this?" She wondered.
"I don't know what he knows exactly, but it will become clear to him soon."
"No." Evie said. "We cannot let anything become clear to him. I don't care what this mixling thing mean, but he is my child and I will not allow anyone to put him into danger, Roman. You have to help me. Please!"
"I am, I promise you I am. But as you know we only have time in the day to escape and even then there are spies all around that protect the castle. The villagers know who comes and goes from here and the understand what the Doshalls need from them. They would not let anything leave here without first hand knowledge that the Doshalls have approved it. It's the deal this village has made. Protect the castle, and much abundance and fortune will come to the village."
"But they have no right to keep me here." She said. "Or Gabriel."
"Sebastian has given them the right." He said. "He has brought you all here and now they've taken you in and in essence given you sanctuary. For this, they have taken possession. You are like their property, not guests."
"That's insane!" She shouted. "That's absolutely insane! We are no one's property Roman, not even you. We have to leave here, do you understand me, we have to get out and go back home. You can come with me. You can be with me and Gabriel and Nikky and my mother. Take me to Gabriel and we'll go." She said.
"Evie, its not that simple. Not yet. We have to be sure it's safe and that none of the spies around the castle and the village will find you out. But trust me, I will free you." he confirmed.
"And Gabriel?" She asked, realizing then that he continued to only speak in terms of freeing her.
Roman paused. He knew the Doshalls would not let the mixling go without a fight. But this was his family. His true family. His true blood. If there was going to be a moment in his life where he finally let the past go and began formatting his way back to his true self and face the mistakes he made head out without the manipulations and his captors and employers, the Count Doshall and his daughter Dominque, he had to start somewhere.
And Evie and Gabriel may have finally been the linchpin in his own freedom.
"I promise you, I will not leave this place without ----" he paused realizing he was now going to say the part out loud he feared the most, he was going to betray the Doshalls.
"Roman?" Evie asked, reaching for his hands secretly praying he'd agree to help both of them.
"I will help you both, Evie. I promise you."
She released his hands and pulled him in to her by the shoulders into a tight hug. He had missed his family. The feeling of closeness and love that had been vanquished by the darkness of the Doshalls. They had given Roman his freedom from monetary debt but had placed him in their own debt for years and years and only now could the young man finally see his exit. It would be a dangerous escape but Roman would soon plan it.
"We'll have to be careful and it won't be soon, just be patient. I have a plan in the coming days when the rest of those that live here are together. On that night is when we make our escape." He said.
Evie nodded her head. "I love you. I am so glad to see you." She said to her cousin.
He smiled, tears welling in his eyes. And they hugged again not realizing the sun had gone down almost 20 minutes after their conversation had begun.
While this happened, the two cousins had no idea that they were no longer alone in the room. A small shadow of a person had entered the room through a secret passage that only it knew of. It had been watching. It had been listening, and it had been careful not to reveal itself.
Not yet anyway.
When Roman left Evie again, locked in her room realizing the night had come, the small shadow person, not much bigger than a 10-year-old child, also left with the information of what it had overheard.
Evie, now truly alone in her room, waited for Sebastian to return. She needed to play the part of someone now coming to terms with her imprisonment. She had to remain calm. She had to do this to keep herself and her child safe and alive.
But time was of the essence.
****
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| Sebastian meets Dominque |
Night soon fell across the rocky Scottish shoreline that locked in the village of Goodwick. Homes in the village below the castle lit their front window with one single candle that would last the whole night through -- a sign of allegiance to the so called saints that watched over them who slept all day and roamed all night.
Inside Cyfrinach, coffin lids creaked opened and pale gaunt figures dressed in fine robes and coats of silks and velvet emerged. Their faces soon plumped to normal human like form as they levitated from their sleep. It was as if the oxygen in their quarters re-inflated their whole body to what it was before they were creatures of the night. A clever guise to trick the eye of mortals all around them.
They were hungry, of course, and this being their time to feed continued together from their many rooms down to a giant ball room with 5 glittering chandeliers, tables set as if it were a great king's banquet, a group of villagers in tuxedos playing music, a dance floor shimmering and reflecting every bit of candlelight the room was sparkling in.
This was routine. This happened every night. Their dusk meant time for a ball, and they awaited their regent Dominique who acted on behalf of her ill father the Count Alexandre.
For her part, Domnique was always fashionably late to this nightly ball. She sat in her own room dabbing her lips with a crimson tone, her eyelids she shaded with a light brown tone that brought out the amber of her irises. She slipped on several golden rings that had stones of various dark shades and then placed her customary lace vail over her face.
Almost no one knew what she really looked like under the veil, a very small select number of courtiers were privy to Dominique's face -- she would only reveal herself to those she trusted, those she deemed worthy and those she knew would never attempt to take her life.
As Dominque stood up to leave her room, there was a knock on her door. She turned not expecting anyone to come to her. Roman, her trusted mortal guide, always met her at the bottom of her private staircase.
"Enter." She said, trustingly.
It was in face, a nervous Roman.
"Roman, what is it?" She asked.
Roman stepped aside and Sebastian Lord entered. "Ma'am, Mr. Sebastian Lord."
Dominique let out a low gasp of air; she had no idea he was so handsome. He almost looked -- normal. Not like her. Not like the rest of them. There was something about his face, his skin. It was different, more lifelike. She stared at him as he bowed his head and reached for her hand to kiss the back of it. Her skin to his lips felt colder than he'd realized it would be.
Sebastian was somewhat new to the world he now belonged in. Not 4 years had it happened to him. He still contained a bit of his humanity, it would seem, to Dominique surprise. She had been in her present state for over a century. Most of the followers there are Cyfrinach too were long in their vampirism. Sebastian's freshness gave her a jolt she had not felt in what seemed like several lifetimes.
"It's a pleasure Mr. Lord." She said softly.
"All mine, your grace." He replied.
"Please, would you accompany me to the ball?" She asked.
"The ball?" He replied, still unfamiliar with the nightly custom. It was his first since arriving days ago.
"Every night, when we wake, we join together in a meal. Sort of like family gathering before we all set off on whatever it is we need for the night. It's where we celebrate my father and all he's done and hope for his healing which, I hope comes soon." She replied.
"Yes, Roman here has mentioned to me how ill the Count is. I hope that my family's addition to your group has not caused any unneeded stress to your family situation." Sebastian said.
"Not at all!" She countered quickly looping her arm into his and walking him to the corridor and the red-carpeted staircases that led down to the ballroom. "I understand how that may seem, but I assure you, you and your son are very welcome here."
"I have also brought my son's mother." Sebastian said, noting Dominque did not mention her.
The descended the stairs slowly, Roman behind listening carefully, plotting the escape behind her back, literally.
"How could I forget, yes, Mrs. Angeline." Dominique said, purposefully mispronouncing Evie's name.
"Evangeline." Roman corrected.
Dominique stopped cold on the stairs and turned to Roman, she still wondered what he was holding back. "Of course." She said coldly. "Evangeline."
**
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| The others: Evan, Sinead & Jean-Marc |
They resumed their descent into the main hall, a room filled with glass figures on the walls, portraits of Doshall family members from centuries behind them. Candelabras of iron crowned with thick white candles that the villagers replaced every single night so that they each night new ones were lit every night.
The three entered the ballroom to the sound of an audience pushing back their seats and standing for Dominique to enter on Sebastian's arm. Whispers filled the room. This was the first time they had all seen Sebastian; some had seen him from a far, some had only heard of him. But now he was one of them.
Dominique and Sebastian walked down a center isle that split the room into two parts. The floor was smooth limestone that looked like brown ice and it led to a bordered wooden dance floor and a small stage that had two golden seats on it. It was as if a queen was entering her thrown-room ready to take on the grievances of her public. A large red banner draped behind the two soft chairs held the emblem of the Doshall family: two black dragons tangled in thorns that had three large black dahlias at the bottom. In the center the dragons held a shield that was broken into four parts. The lop left three littler shields in black, the top right a crown, the bottom left a heart with a nail through it and the bottom right another dragon.
Dominique sat at in ones of the chairs, the other - her father's - remained empty.
"Please! Enjoy! Carry on!" She said with her arm in the air.
Then several villagers came out with the night's feast.
Endless gobbets of blood.
Seated among the many inhabitants of Cyfrinach Castle were the fraternal twins Sinead and Evan Sheernan. Sinead was the elder twin, by only 3 minutes, and had large chestnut eyes with golden specs. her full lips always perfectly pouted. Her hair tied back in a tight bun was per her custom, and her ears always crowned with elegant drop earrings of pears and gold to match the strands around her neck. She was the picture of a baroque princess that suffered something viscous over 90 years earlier that made her who she was.
She, in turn, did this to her twin brother Evan.
Evan Sheernan, a large man, handsome and fierce, thick in the chest with large hands and big legs never had enough of the goblets. He could drown himself in the blood served and it would never be enough. His eyes were large like his sister's but darker, softed around the edges, and his smile wider and warmer. He was once a man Dominiuque bedded, a man she saw as her suiter but like many things in Dominique's life, she tired of him. He never forgot that. He never forgave that.
Sinead seemed entranced by Sebastian who was searching for a seat. He was the newest edition, a world away from his old life. In his heart he hurt for keeping Evie locked away, but he continued to tell himself this was the best for them all. A safe place among those like him.
"Here!" A voice said to Sebastian. When he turned it was a boy of only 12 or 13. This was Jean-Marc Clopan. "You can sit here."
Sebastian smiled and walked over to the boy's table, the chair facing the twins, to Sinead's delight.
Jean-Marc was Dominique's favorite. She found him, years ago, a small baby of Paris, just learning to walk and roaming the streets like a hungry wolf. No one at the table knew how Jean-Marc became the child vampire he was. Everyone that is his adopted mother, Dominique, but she never revealed the truth. Everyone at Cyfrinach knew the code: never ask, she’ll never tell. Especially because there was a code, children were off limits, no one dared create a child into what they were. Jean-Marc was one of a kind.
"How are you finding Cyfrinach, Mr. Lord?" Sinead asked sipping her goblet.
"Dark." Sebastian joked. "But welcoming."
"It'll only get darker." Sinead giggled. "It's Scotland after all."
"It's our home." Evan replied sharply feeling a sense of sudden rivalry with Sebastian as he walked in on Dominique's arm. "And your wife? Has she decided not to join us?"
Sebastian gulped "Evie is not like us." he said. "She's has her life intact."
Sinead's eyes widened more than they naturally were. She had no idea there was a mortal among them. Evan too, his heart raced. The feeling of fresh human blood seemed suddenly to excite him. The blood they drank every night at the balls were from the many cattle and livestock the villagers provided. They only had human blood every full moon to mark the hopeful coming of the mixling.
"Does she know?" Sinead said, referencing the often-secretive life of vampires.
"She does." Sebastian replied as a goblet was placing in front of him. He sipped.
"What about your son?" Jean-Marc suddenly said to the surprise of the table. No one was to speak of the mixling unless Dominque did first. The child, of course, knew no rules he did not want to break.
"Jean-Marc!" Sinead said. "You know not to be so nosey."
The boy frowned and played with his white linen napkin twisting it around his finger in several knots.
"It's alright." Sebastian replied. "Gabriel is doing fine. I've done my best to keep him happy and Roman has also been a great help."
"Yes Roman is a wonder to us all." Sinead replied to Sebatian, as she looked over at Roman who was standing with his arms behind him at Dominique's side.
"Roman," Dominuque said softly from under her vail. "Come here."
Roman nodded and stepped up where Dominique was seated as a woman from the village handed her a goblet. She carefully lifted the front of her veil to drink as Roman came closer.
"Yes?" He asked.
"What is it?" She wondered.
"Ma'am?"
"Something is different with you. I've noticed how distant you are since the mixling arrived and I'm beginning to worry for you." She said.
"Distant? No, I've been at your service as usual." Roman protested.
"Not physically." She said. "You've blocked me." She replied.
He knew what that meant. He knew that anyone around her was obligated to allow her always to be in their minds. It was the way of Cyfrinach, no one, not a single person there, mortal of vampire, was allowed to mentally block the preverbal crowned princess Cyfrinach. She had total control while Count Alexadre was considered ill. Roman felt trapped, caught in a web he did not know he was in.
In truth, Roman did not know he had blocked her mentally, it was a natural event his psyche created itself to help him process what to do next for Evie and Gabriel. The idea he did it on purpose was dangerous and if it were to seem her was doing it to thwart anything done for the sake of Alexandre's life -- it could mean death for him and Evie.
"Not at all, it must be the excitement of the mixling's arrival, or perhaps tiredness. It has been a very long week. I assure, I have not done it to you on purpose." He replied, truthfully.
Dominique lifted her chin so that their eyes met. She still could not enter his mind telepathically, and touching him would cause a great rumble in the room, vampires only touched mortals to enter their minds, it would have been a sign of distrust from her part.
"Sleep." She said to him. "I need you to sleep, we'll find someone to watch of the mixling in the day." She said, believing Roman's mind block was due to his exhausted brain."
"Yes ma'am. I'll have one of the village women stay."
With that, Domnique stood up and the room fell silent.
She handed Roman over her goblet which he took and then he went back down the three steps from the stage and Dominique moved from the two thrones over to the edge of the stage to address her followers.
"My dear friends. Thank you for joining us once again on this night. The ballroom is filled with an energy I have not felt in my veins in over a century." She said, glancing over at Sebastian through her veil. "I suspect you feel it to."
The crowed murmured agreement.
"We have come to a great place in our history. The hope of my father's revitalization could be days away and it is with my hope and heartfelt love that all of you will join me in that celebration. I raise this glass to his name, may the future come swiftly for his return to this room with us in sorely missed."
The crowned lifted their own glasses of blood and cheered "Here! Here!"
Sebastian felt something in his body. Something he too had not felt in a long time. It was what Dominique was talking about. The energy of the room. It was in him. It was apart of him. And in reality, it actually was him. He was making this energy. He was the fresh new life (so to speak) that was bringing on the hope of the future.
And yet -- he was not. Sebastian foolishly had yet to realize his own child was what they were talking about and hoping for and expecting. The mixling, the blood of this child he loved was to be the formula to bring back the dying vampire to save him from death.
"Let us now join together in thanksgiving for the new day is coming." Dominque said.
The room stood. Sebastian, unsure what to do, stood as well.
Every table locked hands. Jean-Marc smirked and grabbed Sebastian's hand and mouthed "Close your eyes."
Seeing the room begin this ritual, all of the village servants quickly scattered back into the rooms outside of the ballroom, all except Roman.
A flash of lightening lit the six long slender windows of the room.
Dominique began to levitate above the stage.
All of the others soon did too. They hissed, shaking their fangs, they laughed gleefully, wickedly. There was a heat in the air of the room of mysterious origin.
A wind came from nowhere blowing through the room. Chanting begin. The fireplace at the back of the room burned hotter. The windows blew open allowing the cold air to swirl around.
The chanting called for the sun to never rise again. For the world to be theirs. For their lives to last forever without resistance from the outside world, for the continued leadership of Count Alexandre Doshall, for the continued guidance of his daughter the veiled Dominque and for the power of the mixling's blood to life their world higher in power and prestige with Alexandre's recovery.
The mysterious wind blew stronger.
Roman's eyes watered knowing his own family now was at the mercy of this feverish, bloodthirsty cult.
Dominique would stop at nothing, now, for the power of the mixling.
The room calmed. Sebastian felt an immense power within him. Something he had never felt before in all his life. He felt invincible and strong.
"Come! COME!" Dominique said to Sebastian.
He went to her on the stage and she slowly came back down to the ground.
"HE IS THE REASON!" She shouted to the calming room. "Sebastian Lord is the reason for our celebration, the fruit of his being shall forever bring us life!"
The thunder clapped again and the room cheered their new favorite.
Evan's eyebrow raised, he was not impressed with the American vampire, but he stayed quiet while his elder twin sister Sinead squealed with delight at the handsome Sebastian's newfound fame.
“You see, this is the place you belong.” Dominique said to Sebastian. “This can be your home now too.”
“I’d like that, I think.” Sebastian replied.
“We could be — close Sebastian. We can make things work in magically ways. Together.” Dominique said as her hands rested on his shoulders.
He looked into the veil that covered Dominique’s face to find some sort of softness to her. She lifted her veil sensing his search of her face to show him a woman that seemed to be in her early 50s, but in reality much older. She smiled almost shyly but all of this was a clever plot to bring Sebastian into her hold— her bewitching gaze deepened.
She stood on her tip toes and closed her eyes.
He felt a strange pull towards her that he did not do. There was a warmth in his stomach, nerves, erotic lust for a woman he just met. But the kiss, so destined by Dominique did not come.
“I…I should go back.” Sebastian said nervously.
Dominique opened her eyes, disappointed, but not defeated. “Of course.” She said moving aside for him to go back into the audience.
As Dominique sat back down over on one of the thrones and Sebastian mingled with the other members of the Saints of Goodwick, Sinead walked over in a flurry of happiness to throne and approached.
"May I?" She asked standing just below the steps leading to the stage.
Seeming annoyed, Dominique allowed her to come up.
"I just have to say, this is some of the most excited I have been a in very long time, Dominique, you must be ecstatic." Sinead gushed. "What will we do with him?" She added turning to look out at Sebastian in the distance of the room.
"We?" Dominique asked with a arched brow. "What is this we?"
Sensing Dominque's sudden mood change after the ritual of the blood where everyone seemed to explode with joy, Sinead dipped into a small curtsey.
"I only mean us, as a whole. The court."
Dominique stood up and walked over to Sinead who was still down in her curtsey. She put her hands under Sinead's chin and lifted her face up so that their eyes met. She could sense the eagerness of the younger more beautiful vampiress, almost like a bee searching for more flowers to pollinate. But this touch was not just to look a rival in the eye, Dominique's skin touching another could see into their mind. See into their soul, if they had one, and see into their every desire and want.
Sinead, hunger for the affections of the Doshall dynasty, wanted this attention and wanted to somehow be more to the Court than just another thirsty face. She wanted Sebastian and all the glory that came with it.
"You keep your head on your own pillow." Dominique said with a stern voice. "I'll handle the future of this court the way It's supposed to be handled until my father's health returns. Are we clear?"
"Yes, of course." Sinead replied. "I did not mean to offend.
Evan watched this interaction. His own history with Dominique a sorted affair gone wrong. She was the one that made him, and he made Sinead. A chain reaction of violence mixed with lust and love that no one ever dreamed of. He wanted to intervene, he wanted Dominique's hands off his sisters face. But he he knew his place. He sat back and watched the vampire queen rule from her throne with her sickly touch.
Dominique narrowed her eyes and released her hand from the beautiful face of Sinead, "You never do, love. You never do."
"When will the mixing be ready?" Sinead asked.
"In four days time. Arameed must perform a ritual after the first sickle moon comes."
"Then I await with great patience." Sinead said as she left the small stage and headed back into the audience.
"What was that?" Evan asked her, grabbing his twin by the arm as she passes him. "I've warned you not to get too close."
Sinead yanked her arm out of his grasp. "You wait too long for our time to rise, I work at it every day. Just you wait, by the end of four day's time you and I may be the one's sitting on that throne."
**
In another room far away from the ballroom a mystical man sat at Count Doshall's bedside.
They called him Arameed and he too was one of the saints of Goodwick. But with extra powers that would lead to the mixling lifeforce entering Alexandre.
Arameed's powers were strong. Supernatural. Bewitching.
His beard, white as snow tickled the top of the bedsheets Alexandre slept in as he checked on the dying vampire.
"He breathes." Arameed said softly to himself. "In time. In time." He again said patting the boney shoulder of the skeletal man needing the blood of the infant to live.
As Arameed sat back down and rested his tired eyes, he saw something in his mind.
A ship.
The sea.
And a coming threat to everyone in the castle.
 |
| Hope & Matthew on the ship to Scotland |
The ship carried the sleeping Winterborn siblings Matthew and Hope.
Sleeping in the small cots, Matthew and Hope suddenly felt a large jolt, so strong, Hope fell out of her cot and woke. She gasped as the ship violently lifted in the sea and crash back down to the surface. Matthew awoke and went over to his sister who was sliding backwards toward the wall of their tiny room.
"What's happening?" She said.
They were drowning in their own room, thanks to the powers of Arameed.
Matthew was able to unlock their door and open it, he yanked on Hope's hand and pulled her down the small corridor though the belly of the ship. The water followed.
It was at their ankles. Then their knees. Then their waists.
"Are we sinking? We're sinking!!" She said.
She was frozen with fear and only looked back to where their open bedroom was and water was gushing like a waterfall.
"Matthew, my god, you were having a nightmare." She said.
Matthew swallowed hard. "Something doesn't want us in Scotland." He said.
"I'm afraid, Matthew." Hope said. "I want to help you, but this is frightening. The powers that you sensed just now in your dreams are something I don't think our people have ever encountered."
"But how? When we sleep, we're vulnerable. Just like tonight."
