“I’ve met a vampire warrior who wants to save me,” she whispered as she gently ran her finger down the cleft in my chin. “I think your mother would be very proud. What happened to her? Did she leave your father?”
Taking her hand in mind, I lightly kissed her palm. “Parting from you will certainly drive me insane.”
“I don’t want to leave you,” Caroline replied. Her eyes brimmed with fresh tears. “Couldn’t you go with me?”
“If it was that simple, I would. Yes.” I stood up to put a little distance between the two of us. I struggled to think as a sense of foreboding lodged in my stomach. Being next to Caroline overloaded every nerve in my body. I wanted to make love to her beneath the palm trees. Immediately I redirected my thoughts. With the dragons missing, something was certainly wrong. I decided to continue my story. “Are you cold?” I asked.
“A little. Did you want to start a fire?”
“It’s almost sunset. I’ll make a small one, so we can watch the sun go down and I’ll finish my story. Okay?”
She nodded. “If you promise to sit with me.” Caroline rubbed a place on the bench next to her a time or two with her hand.”
“You drive a hard bargain, my princess.”
I heard the soft chuckle of laughter float along the breeze towards me. The sound was that of an angel.
“When my mother learned what my father had done, what he had allowed to have happen, she demanded that he apologize to me. I had managed to find my way home after being gone for several months and my mother thought I was dead. My father had refused to apologize to me or even act like anything had happened, and this made my mother very angry. She cast a spell on him and turned his skin red. She said he should be the color of blood to remind him of the blood he almost spilled, his son’s blood. For her defiance, my father banished her to the Beyond.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Some two or three decades now. I haven’t seen her in a very long time. I’m not even sure if she’s still alive.”
“Do you think we will see our loved ones again?” Caroline asked.
Realizing I had brought up a sad subject again, I scolded myself. From the pile of wood she had gathered, I took a few arm loads and tossed them in front of the bench she sat on. The grief she knew because of my father’s actions outweighed mine. I arranged the logs in a stack on the sand. “I hope so,” I insisted. “There’s a lot out there we still don’t understand. Like the river. I never knew that was a portal. There could be more and we just don’t know about them. You could be right. If we can find the door, we may be able to see our loved ones again.”
“I’d like that. Doors to other worlds. What if it is like that? We could ask your mother when you find her.”
I paused and glanced over at her as I got ready to light the fire. Her comment caught me off guard. “I’ve never thought of that.”
“What?”
“To search for her. I always hoped she’d come back to find me.”
“But what if she can’t?” Caroline joined me in front of the stack of wood. A need of urgency suddenly made her move toward me. “My aunt always said sorceresses are very powerful people. What if she calls to you, but you don’t hear her because you don’t know how to listen? You should try calling to her instead.”
“Voices from the Beyond you mean? I never thought that was possible. I’d love to hear her voice again.” The thought saddened me for a moment until I heard Caroline speak.
“How are you going to light that by the way?” She grinned at me as a fire in her eyes already burned.
I winked at her because she knew without asking what I was going to do. “It’s one reason I want to join the Order of the Dragon.” I aimed my hands just under the stack of wood and sent a fireball from the center of my palm, hitting the wood dead-on and igniting the logs.
“You cease to amaze me.”
“Like I told you, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. Help me move the bench a little closer so we’ll stay warm.”
***
As Caroline and I watched the fire, I felt the flames burning in my loins. I wanted to make love to her. I wanted to taste every part of her before it was too late. I pulled her tighter into my arms. When a gust of wind drifted by, her golden hair wildly whipped around her face and shoulders, lacerating me a time or two on the chin. Occasionally, I sent another shot of flames at the fire to keep it going. I wrestled with my thoughts. Was it the right time? I decided to take a chance and tell her what I was feeling.
“I know our time together has been short and we don’t have much time left before you go home, so I want to tell you something.”
“Raphael, I don’t…”
“Please let me finish. I’ve never done this before. It’s not like me to voice my feelings. Okay?”
She nodded.
“I don’t need a century to figure this out. I knew from the minute I saw those wolf eyes staring at me from that cage that I wanted to claim your heart. I won’t deny it and I won’t spend my life being some macho shit. I don’t have time for it. Life is now. Here and now and I want my life with you, Caroline. If it means, it’s only a few hours more or millenniums, I want you beside me always.”
Unexpectedly she pushed her hands into my chest. “No,” she whispered hoarsely. “They’ll kill you. I can’t do this. I can’t do this anymore.”
“Do what?” I asked, growing alarmed at her actions. I pulled her again into my arms.
“My father sent me to kill you, the son of the lord demon. That’s why I’m here, Raphael. To kill you.”
“No.”
She nodded as tears rolled down her cheeks. In her agitated state, she pounded her fists repeatedly into my chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to mislead you.”
“What were you instructed to do,” I asked her through clenched teeth, struggling to maintain my anger.
“Papa had said to stand out in the meadow, to help any strangers who passed by on the road at the bottom of the hill. I didn’t know I’d end up in the Dark realm. But when I did, you were there and I thought you could help me. I thought maybe I could escape and maybe I’d find this demon along the way. Then that transformation happened after I drank your blood and…”
“Your father, King Lycaon told you to go to the meadow?”
“Yes,” she replied. Her eyes wide and alert. “Why?”
“That’s where my father found you. In the meadow?”
“Yes. I don’t understand what that means.”
“It was a trap. You’ve read stories of demons roaming meadows looking for the innocent, haven’t you?”
She shook her head as she wiped away her tears. “No, that can’t be right. If Papa told your father then that means he led us all to be slaughtered.”
I sighed. “I can’t say for sure, but I’d suspect your father has gone dark. I’m sorry, Caroline. He’s probably been in league with my father for some time.”
“Then I have no home to return to,” she muttered in between sniffles. “I was too late to save him and my mother. Oh Raphael, this can’t be. My family is lost.” She fell into my arms overwhelmed again by grief. I let her cry it out as she rested her head on my shoulder.
***
When Caroline finally fell asleep on the bench I had made for her, I looked for more wood which was scarce. The fire was low and only a soft glow of coals remained. Now and then Caroline mumbled in her sleep and I’d check on her. Her angelic features radiated in the dying firelight. She was the most gorgeous creature I’d ever seen. My heart jerked and I felt a dull ache of foreboding. Did I want to send her home, back to the Golden realm now? What if my hunch was right? As I took my shirt off and draped it over Caroline’s shoulders, I decided I should try to contact my mother. The suggestion Caroline had made that I should call to her from the Beyond was a smart idea. Why had I not thought of it before?
I dug a six inch wide trench in the shape of a circle around Caroline and where the previous fire had been. I lit
the sand on fire and watched the flames chase around the dug trench, each forming a circle that stacked on top of the other until it created a dome above us. As I retrieved my sword and stabbed it into the ground in the most center point of the circle, I called upon the Moon Goddess, the one entity I knew who could find my mother.
“Al di là, al di là, la dea della Luna, fatemelo sapere di mia madre. Al di là, al di là, la dea della Luna, fatemelo sapere di mia madre.”
I called out with all my might, stabbing the sword again and again into the ground. Leaving the tip in the sand, I whirled the blade in a circle left, and then right. “To the beyond, to the beyond,” I said again, “Moon goddess, bring me word of my mother.”
Suddenly a large gust of wind from the South blew out the flaming dome of fire. My vision adjusted as I noted how completely dark the night had become. Caroline whimpered in her sleep. I went to her and placed my fingertips on her wrist. She still had a pulse and breathing evenly. She’s fine, I thought. I looked out across the water to where the strong wind had surfaced. The waters were calm like all life in the sea had stopped. Something was wrong. I glanced out at the end of the pier, thinking I wouldn’t see anyone, but I did. The moonlight appeared, bathing the figure in light. The person retreated and sat down in the hammock, looking my way beckoning me to join him or her, then reclining in the hammock, rocking back and forth, whistling. I remained frozen, closing my eyes temporarily, so I could focus on the sound. Did I know the tune? I could hear the song floating over the breeze. Hush, little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird.
My throat tightened and my legs lurched forward. Could it be? My mother had sung that lullaby to me when I was a child. Could it be her? Cautiously I made my way out along the pier, hoping against hope it was my mother. When I approached the figure, I realized she was a woman. She wore a white chiffon dress that hovered and moved around her. The dress sparkled with gems that had been woven throughout the sleeves and upper bodice.
Taking a moment to stand, the woman tossed her gray hair away from her face and over her shoulder, just the way my mother did. I recognized the gesture immediately. Her face, I did not recognize. But her eyes. Her eyes I recognized. Tranquil pools of blue love gazing up at me.
“Raphael, my son.”
“Mother?” I ventured. It had to be her.
“Yes, my son,” she said. “Don’t let my appearance concern you. It is me.”
“What happened?” I asked as I took her feeble hand in mine and guided her along the pier towards the beach. I wanted to hug her, but I was afraid I’d break her in half. She was so gaunt and frail.
“The last token of love from your father before he banished me. He took my looks. Since then, I’ve aged more learning my magic. The previous Moon Goddess retired and handed things over to me. I have some big shoes to fill.”
I halted in my tracks, glancing down at my black boots, and then at her. “You are the Moon Goddess?”
She simply winked at me, a hint of calculating knowledge crossing her features.
“This is wonderful!” I exclaimed.
In response, a grin beamed on her face. “You were always such a good student. You understand, yes?”
“I think so.”
“Let me look at you,” she stated, again changing the subject. “You are so tall, so well-defined, Raphael. My goodness. So unlike your father.” She stifled a thin giggle. “Do I look that old to you, my son? Too old to hug? Oh what am I saying? That doesn’t matter, let me look at you. You sent for me. That IS what matters! I’m so happy to see you!”
It was indeed my mother! Her constant chatter. Her changing subjects often. It was indeed her. When we made it to the end of the wooden pier, she whirled me around and fastened both her hands on my elbows like clamps. There was no mistaking. She may look old, but her grip was strong and firm. Her strength had increased, not diminished. Her magic probably had as well. It would have to if she was now the Moon Goddess. Her nails dug into my flesh and I quietly cringed, pretending I felt no pain.
“It’s been so long,” I said, wrapping my arms around her waist as I hugged her. Delicately, I cradled her bony frame in my hands and foregoing the formalities, I planted a huge kiss on each of her wrinkled cheeks, which seemed to delight her.
It seemed Father had drained the very life source from her. I felt enraged. A wave of anger flashed across my face and I was sure my mother had seen it. I’ll kill him for this.
Immediately, she turned my attention to the beach. “Are you alone?”
“No,” I replied, patting her hand like she was a hundred years old and I was but a boy. “I want to meet this woman I saved.” I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the moonlight seemed to follow us, shining a spotlight on us.
“She is close to your heart, yes? I feel this radiance permeating from you.”
“Yes, Mother. I think I…” I paused, not daring to utter the words my heart already knew. “I think I love her,” I finally admitted. Feeling ashamed, I quickly shut down and blurted out. “I saved her from Father’s clutches and that’s all that matters.”
She contemplated me, never once believing my hesitation. My mother could always see through any of my charades. She ran her fingers slowly over her lips in a circle, listening intensely to me, but thinking at the same time as she carefully composed her next statement. It was a habit that drove my father nuts. However it was a habit that served her well in the Dark realm until that one day she couldn’t hold her tongue anymore. “Have you told her, Raphael?”
“No, she has said the words, but I have not. What if I can’t protect her? I didn’t protect her family. They are dead because of me. I did nothing. I looked away. I don’t deserve Caroline’s love. I know that, but I want her safe. I’ll give my life if I have to.”
Mother pressed her index and middle fingers to her lips. Her light blue eyes darted about as she thought. Then she heaved a great sigh. “Hush that silly talk, my son. You act like you don’t deserve happiness. Sweetheart, we all deserve happiness if our hearts are pure. Just because you are the child of a demon does not mean you should deny yourself love, not the kind of love your father and I had, but the kind of love that is real. True love. You must seek it out always and if you have already found it, then you must hold on to it and never let it go. I can tell by the look in your eyes, Raphael. You have found it. I’m not going to let that shit of a father of yours rob you of it. Remember you are the son of a goddess, not the son of a demon. Stop letting him control you. Those burdens you hold on to. Set them down. Great things are in store for you, my divine warrior.” She chuckled softly which was a laugh of hers I loved to hear. It was a quiet sound that lodged in the back of her throat when she knew she risked all by vocalizing a response in front of my father or one of his brothers, but she did it just the same. The sweetest of threats.
My heart soared. Perhaps Caroline and I did have a chance. She patted me on the hand, as I had done to hear previously, almost in a mocking manner. Perhaps it contained motherly love with the advice only a caring parent could give, but her tone reminded me of the elite air of a god, something she probably already possessed and it made me immediately understand that I did not completely know this side of my mother. This old woman before me was a source of unknown power like all the celestial goddesses.
“Amore. I couldn’t wish anything more for you, my son. I’m so pleased. You’ve done very well, Raphael,” my mother mused.
Once we made it to the sands of the beach, she paused for a moment as she looked at her feet. “I miss the beach,” she muttered. “It’s been too long.”
I stood by, collecting my thoughts as my mother danced about in the sand. The moonlight rays reflected the gems lined in her dress and she sparkled amid the night. Visions of her past beauty haunted me. A savage desire to kill my father rose up in me again.
My mother reached out and took my hand in hers. “Raphael, my son, you must move on.”
“I’m sorry? What
do you mean?”
“You can’t keep hating your father. He’s angered the gods. He will pay. I have it on good authority. You will have your revenge, but it will not be by your hand.”
Throwing my head back in a roar of laughter, I let my voice reach to the heavens and then listened as the echo returned to us from across the water. Finally I asked my mother in a low, thunderous voice, “I’ll stop hating him when he’s dead and gone. What do you mean I will not have revenge? He will pay for what he has done to you, what he’s done to us. He will pay.” I clenched my fists over and over, glaring down at her, forgetting the small creature in front of me had given birth to me, not as a man, but as a vampire.
I felt a soft and familiar warm touch on my elbow. Caroline.
“Raphael,” she whispered.
I recovered and, like a statue, I introduced the women, getting the distinct impression they already knew one another.
“Let us sit down.” Caroline motioned for me to escort my mother to the wooden bench under the palm trees. Gently Caroline touched my arm and my angry mood lifted. “Who will have revenge on the demon of the Dark realm, Moon Goddess?” She uttered, directing her question to my mother after the ladies had settled on the bench and I stood nearby. The moon bathed us all in its light.
When my mother answered her, I nearly fell to my feet.
“You know the answer to that, Caroline,” she began. “You’ve already tasted Asmodeus’ blood. It flows in my son’s veins. And you have tasted Raphael’s blood, have you not?”
Caroline nodded.
“Then you know the rest. I can inform you that you will be allowed to seek revenge for the deaths of your family members. There are more than just your aunt and brother unfortunately. If you are strong enough, my dear, then you will have your revenge.”
I watched stunned as Caroline faced my mother, the Moon Goddess, her angelic features almost turning to stone. Fear suddenly took hold of Caroline. The color drained from her tanned face.
“No, Mother. You can’t do this. I’ll go. I’ll go instead,” I argued.
“I see love has found you as well, my dear.” She motioned to Caroline, reached out, and wiped her face. Caroline was crying. I knelt by her and gathered her hands in mine. “I won’t let you go back. I’ll go instead. Mother, Caroline is not going back. You can’t do this!”
Redemption: My Vampire Lover Part #2 (A Dark Realm Novella Series) Page 7
