by Jade White
But there would be none of that.
“Victor wins again,” Flavus chuckled at the sight of his hand. “I can’t say I’m surprised. For centuries, he has been roaming the earth, hunting our kind. He has yet to accept what he is, but one day he will. He can’t kill every vampire, but I think I’ll show him the trouble of dealing with mortals and trying to make them part of his life. I’ll show him the futility of it, so that he can better understand his folly. It’ll be an education of sorts.”
“You can’t harm Blake,” she said to him. Shawna dug in and knew there was nothing she had to worry about when she was with her son. He was going to be just fine.
“I know,” he said with a grim expression on his face. “That’s unfortunate. But, I know Victor cares about you. He wouldn’t have gone through all of this if he didn’t truly care about you. I think I’ll kill you and let him know he still has weaknesses. It’ll be good for him to see that even the great Victor has his weaknesses.”
Flavus walked toward her and she realized that her child was only helpful for her if Flavus had intentions with him. There was nothing she could do holding him. She realized that her holding him was putting him in danger. He could kill her and she could accidentally drop her child. That would be the doom of Blake.
She set him down softly and she reached out, grabbing a piece of wood that had broken off the doors when Flavus had been hurled through them. She was going to defend herself to the very end. There was no way that she was going to go down in this fight.
There was no way she was going to die. She was adamant that she was going to live to see another day and defeat this creature, or at least, keep him distracted until Victor could show up and take over.
“You cannot win this, human,” he snarled at her, just inches away from her and moving calmly, like he didn’t have a care in the world.
She felt nervous, like this was the end of everything she had worked for. There was no protecting her son now.
Shawna wasn’t going to be able to save him from this.
“When you’re dead, I’ll burn this place down around your child,” he told her with the utmost confidence. “There won’t be anyone to save him.”
That was it. He had struck a nerve with her and she wasn’t going to give him the chance to threaten her and her child like that. He had gone too far and she was going to show him that she wasn’t afraid of him. Gripping the piece of wood like a spear, she knew she was going to put this piece of wood through him and turn him into ash.
Taking a deep breath, she snarled at him and let out a war cry, charging at him and trying her hardest to remember what Victor had told her. He had said ancient vampires had bones that were like stone and the only way for her to kill him was to slip a piece of wood or metal between his rock hard ribs and pierce his heart. The thought of it was something that was going to make her wish she had never thought about this before. She was going to do whatever it took.
As she aimed the piece of wood and charged, she watched him dance aside from her strike and grab her, throwing her down the aisle between the benches and pews like she was nothing more than a child’s doll to be played with.
She let out a cry and felt herself flying through the air, everything slowing down and making her feel like she was floating through the air for a second. Her thoughts were clear and she knew she was going to hit the ground hard. She could feel the panic welling up inside of her. She wasn’t ready for this.
Hitting the ground as hard as she figured she would, she landed on her shoulder and she was fairly certain she had bruised the bone and the muscle around it. She was going to be feeling that pain tomorrow and weeks to come, of course, if she survived this. Gritting against the pain, she looked down the aisle to where Flavus was looking at her child like a fox who couldn’t quite get to the hens. She glared at him, highlighted by the lights of her car.
“You should give up,” he said with a wicked voice, enjoying every second of this. “I have lived a thousand lifetimes and I’ve seen more than you could possibly comprehend. I’ve killed more people than your entire bloodline. I’ve done more horrors than you could possibly imagine.
“Your death, it will pass as if nothing happened and I won’t even be able to recall your face when I think back to this moment. All I’m going to remember is making Victor ache and making his heart break at the sight of you dead with your child.”
“He’ll kill you,” she told him sternly, watching him walking toward her, leaving Blake alone and shifting his full focus to her. His eyes were vicious and cold, like the eyes of a snake going in for the kill. “He’s killing your army right now.”
“Armies can be replaced,” he assured her with a grin on his lips. “Armies are cheap. All I have to do is find some fools who want to be my eternal slaves. That’s all I have to do.”
He was standing over her, grinning like he was about to deliver the killing blow to his oldest enemy, but she knew he was going to be sorely disappointed. There was no way he was going to survive this. He thought he was so powerful and that was his greatest weakness. He thought people were insignificant playthings for him.
“Go to hell,” she said to him.
Before he could laugh or he could say something funny to her, she slammed her arm upwards and drove the piece of wood in between his ribs, slamming it as hard as she could into his chest. She looked at him as his eyes widened just a hair, staring at her with a fixed gaze as he felt the alien object inside of him, unwelcome and no doubt going to kill him any second now. As she jammed the piece of wood into him, she didn’t feel bad about it. She didn’t feel anything inside of her dying or part of her soul changing. When she killed the monster in front of her, all she felt was a void inside of her.
It was a strange sensation, killing something. Shawna had gone her whole life without being violent toward another living thing; she hadn’t even hit a squirrel in the road. She was one of those people who let spiders out when she captured them instead of killing them.
She had gone an entire life without killing a single thing and here she was, twisting a piece of wood that was inside an ancient living thing, hoping it would be gone once and for all. As she twisted the wood, she gave it one more push and drove Flavus to his knees.
The other vampires had died so quickly, without any kind of ceremony or fuss, but when Flavus was on his knees, he just looked at the piece of wood that was jutting out from him and stared at it. He looked like he was wearing some kind of costume, like none of this was real. There was no blood and there was nothing to indicate it was anything special, but as he reached up and clutched the piece of wood in his pale fingers, she knew he was done for. There was no coming back from this and he was as good as dead.
He looked up from the piece of wood at her and she wondered if he could feel the weight of his years slipping off his shoulders and all of the horrors he had contained within him over the centuries of killing and slaughtering, whether they all came gushing out. She wondered how many ghosts were inside of him right now, clawing to be free finally.
“How is this possible?” he asked her, looking at the chunk of wood again. “I should have lived forever.”
“No one lives forever,” she told him and watched as his skin began to peel away, like embers drifting in the breeze, glowing and turning to ash as his whole body began to break and crumple, turning into nothing more than a heap of ash filling the sanctuary with the ruins and the wastes of Flavus.
She thought about all the people who probably died for this and how many had been hurt because of Flavus hunting her. As she watched him turn to ash, she didn’t feel bad for him. All she thought was that everything she had been through had been such a waste. Everything had been so stupid up to this point. How could they have been so foolish?
A soft cry rang out through the sanctuary and drew her attention. She turned and looked at Blake who was still lying on the floor and she ran as quickly as her legs could carry her to the little bundle of love and purity. She coul
dn’t believe that she had given birth to something so perfect and so precious. It seemed impossible that they were finally free of Flavus and his minions. She looked out at the sloping knoll of the church and she could still hear the sounds of the battle happening.
She thought it would be over by now, but it sounded like they were in retreat. Something told her they could tell Flavus was dead and that they were in trouble. With nothing left to fight for, they fled. They were safe for now and as she cuddled with Blake, she knew it was time to go home. It was time to set things right that they had lost. She was eager to start again and all she could think about was finding Victor.
She hoped he was still alive and well. She hoped he would live to see his son grow up into an immortal who was all the great and wonderful things a vampire could be, but without any of those dark and terrible negative effects.
Now that they were free of Flavus and his kind, she wondered what his life would be like. Were there other immortals out there who would recognize him or sense that he was out there? Would there be other immortals who would come for him?
Honestly, she didn’t know, but something told her they were going to be just fine from this day forward. She rocked her son, looking at him with a smile on her face. She didn’t care what was waiting for them; so long as she had him with her, they were going to be just fine. They were going to be safe and secure with Victor. She looked out at the cloud of ash, praying that Victor was still with them.
As the cloud began to fade, she watched a single figure coming through, walking slowly with exhaustion weighing heavily on his shoulders. She smiled at the sight of him. Yeah, they were going to be just fine.
THE FINAL CHAPTER
Coming home was the best part of any day and when Shawna finally walked through the doors, she knew she was finally back in the world where things made sense and she was going to be able to make things happen. As she fumbled with her keys and unlocked the door to her apartment, she threw open the doors and looked inside, staring at Greta playing with Blake. He was laughing and squealing and all she could think about was that she was jealous of her nanny for getting to spend time with her little Prince.
“Hi, everyone!” She called out to them as Greta and Blake walked over to her. Blake ran as quickly as his little feet could carry him, calling out “Ma!” all along the way like the little vocalist he was turning into. She dropped her bag and reached down, scooping up the man she was infatuated with and hugging him as he giggled and hugged her sweetly. He was the kindest person she knew.
“He was great today,” Greta told her. “We had a whole lot of fun.”
“Did you?” she asked him as he squealed and tried to tickle her.
It had been months since she’d had to worry about the vampires that had tried their hardest to capture her and her son. The more she thought about it, it had been a year and a half since her son was almost taken from her and she was grateful that the thoughts rarely came into her mind anymore. The last thing she wanted to worry about was losing her son. It had been a horrifying experience, but it was behind her. It was all locked away in her memory and she wasn’t going to worry about it ever again.
“All right,” Greta said, packing up what she had brought with her.
Shawna smiled at Greta and knew that she was very fortunate to have someone as helpful as Greta. There was nothing this young woman wouldn’t do to help make life easier. She wanted to make sure Greta knew that.
“I think I’ll head out of here. Bo is waiting for me.”
“Big date night?” Shawna asked playfully. She had taken more time to get to know Greta in the passing months, savoring the friendship she had at her disposal, rather than taking her for granted. She wanted to have a full and complete life and that meant having everything she needed at her disposal.
“Yeah,” she said with a nervous smile on her face.
Shawna loved seeing her friend in such a state. There was something about Greta that made her feel young and she liked having her around. Greta was always welcome in her house no matter what.
“I’m really excited,” Greta replied.
“You like him a lot?” Greta nodded and grinned at her.
“Good,” Shawna said with all the confidence in the world. “Make sure you hold on to him if he’s worth it. Good guys are in short supply these days.”
Greta nodded and gave Shawna a hug before she left and went on her way. Shutting the door behind her friend, Shawna hoped there would be a day when her friend would truly understand that and she would have the kind of love Shawna had in her life.
Turning around, she scooped up Blake and played with him, savoring the time she was given with him.
“Do you want to help make dinner with Mommy?”
He nodded gleefully and she was grateful he was more than willing to be her little helper. They always made a habit of never watching TV or wasting a second of their time together. She wasn’t going to lose the chances she had been given with the son she almost lost. She wanted all the time she had with him to be quality time. It was something she was working very hard to understand and to be a part of in her life.
Every morning, when she woke up, she made sure she went through a routine that reminded her of the life she had been given and the chances she had with all the things that mattered to her. She didn’t want a single day to pass her by without seizing the potential it offered her.
She wanted to make sure that all around her, the life and beauty at her fingertips, was understood and harnessed with all of the energy she had inside of her. She would wake up before Blake decided to get up and take the time to focus her mind and her soul.
She wanted to be a mindful person and she wanted to know there was purpose in everything she was doing. She wanted to know there was more than just random chance in her life. She was a person with a purpose and she was going to harness it.
“How about spaghetti?” she asked him with a smile on her face. He didn’t know what he was agreeing to, but he liked to nod and agree with her. She kissed him on the forehead and listened to him as he babbled and walked around the kitchen. It was amazing she had only had him for a year and a half. It felt like she had been with him forever. He was the kind of little person she was never going to get used to or take for granted.
It took an hour for them to prepare it and when it was ready, she pulled up his booster seat to the table and cut up the pasta so that it was tiny enough for him to manage. The two of them sat at the table and she talked to him, telling him all about her day and how much she had missed him. She didn’t want a single day to go by where he didn’t know how crazy for him she was. She laughed at his little personality and how he would often try to talk with her.
He had a mind of his own and there was so much going on inside of it. She would nod along with his jibberish and smile at him, thanking him for sharing with her. She loved listening to his soft little voice.
“Are you full?” she asked him when he was tired of eating and refused to open his mouth anymore.
She kissed him on the forehead and she knew that he was going to start putting up a fight if she didn’t act fast. Washing his face and hands, she took him out of his high chair and let him run around for a while.
She had no way of comparing him to other children, but when she took him into his room and changed him into his pajamas, she was certain that there was going to be a point in his life when he fought with her, but not quite yet. She had a ritual and a routine with him at night that made him all ready for bed.
They would go to his rocking chair and she would sit down as he walked over to his bookshelf and selected a book for her to read. She never really knew what went through his mind as he made his selections, but she knew they were serious and he was talking her through the process the entire time he was over there.
She smiled and nodded, telling him it was a very good choice as he would run as quickly as he could over to her and wait for her to pick him up.
She brushed his dark
hair out of his eyes and she wrapped her arms around him as she opened the book, beginning the adventures of the dog who had lost his spots. She would read the first book with him, tickling him and talking with him through all of it. He would point to the pictures and talk in his cute little voice. But when he went to go get the second book to read, she was quiet and soft, drifting him into the lull that was coming for him to float away into the land of dreams.
When they were done reading, she would close the book and tell him that she loved him. She would rock him slightly before picking him up and taking him over to his crib. She knew that in a few months, her little Prince would be too big for his crib and she was going to have to start thinking about a bed for him. That was a terrifying thought to her.
Setting him down inside of the bed, she watched him as he was oddly willing to participate with her. She thought about how easy he was and wondered if parents had this kind of ease with all the little toddlers in the world. He would let her put his blankets over him and she would tuck him into bed. As she would hum to him, whatever song was stuck in her head at the moment, he would watch her and smile, whispering to her in his strange little language.
