by Darci Darson
“It’s all my fault,” Yasmeen whispered.
“No, Yasmeen. This is my entire fault,” Cherry said quietly. “I can’t go back. I can’t go back to save you both. There are rules and I’m not able to break them...I tried to save you both, Imre and you, and I couldn’t. There is that invisible wall that I can’t force through. I can only watch him dying over and over again. I had ignored my origins for so long and this ignorance has hit my family, killed my husband. I’m happy that we can share this truth about our family now.”
“I don’t blame you, Mum,” Yasmeen responded. “You thought that you were making the right choices but it’s better this way.”
Chapter 14
“Do you want anything to eat?” Cherry asked with an unexpected and warm calm. “You haven’t eaten or drunk for ten weeks. You weren’t showing any signs of life until now. Your body waited, frozen like an empty shell. It healed within a week but you did not come back. Only once did you opened your eyes but I was unable to connect with you.”
Yasmeen nodded although she was not hungry. She just did not want to upset Cherry.
“How did you manage to come back?” Cherry asked.
“I killed myself,” Yasmeen responded. “I think that I killed my body in Iioliv for good. My way of travelling is kind of unique, don’t you think, Mum?”
Cherry stood, looking stunned and frightened and muttered at last, “We are unique... Don’t... try this again.”
“My Alyssa jumped and took her body with her,” Yasmeen continued. “She is more of a Varuh than me. I also suspect that you, Alyssa and I are not quite like the rest of the Varuh. It is as though there is something more in us.”
“Maybe,” Cherry said and fell silent, biting her nails for a moment. “You... you are such a brave woman. I’m proud of you, Yasmeen.”
“Thanks Mum,” Yasmeen murmured.
They walked downstairs and entered the kitchen. Everything was exactly as Yasmeen remembered. It had been ten weeks in her dimension but around twenty years in Iioliv.
“I spent twenty years there,” Yasmeen said, dropping into a chair at the kitchen table. “I think it was twenty years as I couldn’t count exactly. We lived with the Elves in the place called Iioliv, Mum. You would have liked it there... castles, fairy tale houses and beautiful gowns. I was happy with my family and friends.”
“Who is the father? Who is the father of your Alyssa?” Cherry asked with sheer curiosity, putting the food and drinks on the table, moving like a robot.
“Radveriel. Your friend, Radveriel,” Yasmeen answered, tilting her head and supporting it with her folded arm as her cheek rested in her palm. “Surprised?”
Cherry smiled mysteriously and came closer to stroke Yasmeen’s hair with her right hand whilst the left one became a victim of her nail biting.
“He is a good man,” Cherry said. “I remember when he left me at the prison. He was so scared and felt so guilty. He deserves to be happy. I hope you are happy. I don’t understand why and how you managed to meet him. I knew he would be a very important person in my life but I never expected him to be my son-in-law.”
“Yes, Mum. We’ve been so happy. We are destined to be together and that bond between us is like a miracle. We are happy.”
Cherry’s face clouded with confusion as her eyes narrowed. She stood still for a few seconds, her hands clenching in front of her stomach, making her appearance a bit desperate.
“That is strange,” Cherry whispered. “You are not a pure Varuh. The bonding should not have happened but maybe our family is unique and it works differently for us,” Cherry continued in a louder voice. “I’m so happy you’ve found Radveriel. He is a good man and he will love you forever.”
“This bond is nothing like yours; it’s not so powerful, but it can heal and we can sense each other,” Yasmeen said, suddenly realising that it was only thanks to her parents’ unusual origins she had met her Rav. The thought coursed through her head like a bullet, changing her entire perspective as, at the same time a sharp stabbing went through her heart. She broke her promise that she would never leave her husband. She knew that he would be strong yet completely devastated with her abrupt leaving. They were both independent as Ettrian and Rav had to travel a lot for the business but each time her husband returned, there was the same passionate thirst for her in his eyes, unchangeable and stronger with every year that passed. She had felt entirely his, sometimes even being embarrassed with Rav’s blunt and irritated attitude towards other women. He treated them like trespassers taking up his precious time saved only for Yasmeen. “Mum, I also met your friend Felicia Reese,” Yasmeen added. “She was a grandmother to my Alyssa. She was so kind to my family, you know. You don’t need to feel guilty about her. She had a happy life with her daughter and husband. She died when Alyssa was ten years old.”
Cherry seated on the chair, stood up in a nervous movement and then remained immobilised, her expression showing curiosity and disbelief as Yasmeen continued, “Felicia told me she would be with us as she had promised to you. She will be with all of us. Mum, say something...” Yasmeen raised her hands in a gesture of anticipation but Cherry remained mute as if unable to produce a single word.“And you, old Fogey? Are you going to talk to us?” Yasmeen asked to interrupt the lull that had gathered in the kitchen like a heavy storm cloud. She felt angry. She straightened up and fixed her eyes on Drasa as if trying to force him to give her some answers.
“I am happy for you, Yasmeen but if you will excuse me I want to go and visit my son in the churchyard,” Drasa said in a low voice. His crimson glance emanated anger and pain.
Yasmeen felt as if an icy grip had crushed her heart. She felt sick and dizzy, trying to escape from the flood of sad and painful thoughts in her mind.
“I’m going with you, Grandpa,” she said. “Only, I need to put some decent clothes on.” She scanned her garments and realised that she had been wearing a Minion T-shirt with matching shorts.
Drasa nodded and swept the walls with his eyes, fixing them at last on Cherry’s face, full of suffering.
“And you? Are you going to see him at last?” Drasa sent his dry question to Cherry.
Cherry’s eyes filled up with tears as she shook her head in despair. She stood still, her eyes blinking as if she had been contemplating something in her head. Her cheeks flushed red as she buried her face in her hands.
“I will change my clothes,” she murmured at last. “We will walk there together.”
When Cherry disappeared onto the first floor, Yasmeen crossed the kitchen, going closer to Drasa.
“What’s going on? What is wrong with my mum, Grandpa?” she asked with her shaky voice.
“She doesn’t want to acknowledge Imre’s death. She asked me to bring him back but I am not able to do this. He found his peace and went to the Further.”
Yasmeen shuddered but did not want to ask more questions. All she wanted was to visit her dad and say her goodbyes to him. The rest of that creepy story needed to wait for a more appropriate moment. “I saw your wife there, Grandpa,” she added. Her statement emerged as if from her subconscious, sending chills down her spine as she fell silent.
“Sweet Portia... How was she?”
“She fed on my daughter and I lost my Alyssa because of her.”
“When you see Portia next time, kill her, Yasmeen, with no mercy.”
Yasmeen nodded, disorientated. She did not know whether it was a warning, or a heavy joke. She thought that maybe Imre and Cherry had been right about protecting her from the gloom of her origins. Her parents had tried to make her life as normal as possible, keeping her far away from vampires and angels and their cruel fate. Now that Alyssa was missing, Imre and Cherry’s intentions seemed justified and clear because Yasmeen would have done anything to protect her own daughter from what was to come. She moved towards the stairs but hesitated for a moment before walking out of the kitchen.
“Your hypnotism was broken when I woke up in the other dimension,”
she said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. “Don’t you dare to do this again!”
Drasa grinned in his unique and grotesque way and remained silent.
They left the house soon after. Yasmeen talked to Cherry about Iioliv and her life there, just to keep herself occupied with something as her heart raced like mad. This was all too much for her, Alyssa’s disappearance, losing Rav and Imre’s death. Her brain switched off the majority of her emotions. She knew that she would have to deal with her feelings later but for now she just wanted to see her father’s grave. A thought crossed her mind that the three of them, the immortals, were going to visit a place which was a reminder about mortality.
The graveyard was situated immediately along a small church, a fifteen minute walk from Westfad Manor. The location was hidden away from nosey eyes behind the walls of overgrown and distorted plants. The Greydalk churchyard dated back several centuries, its history drifting in the spooky atmosphere of the place.
Yasmeen followed Drasa, her knee-high boots trampling the decaying leaves that filled her nostrils with their unique scent as she zipped up her biker jacket and took out a handkerchief from the pocket of her skinny jeans. She had been in the churchyard once before, with her mum, as Cherry had always loved sightseeing. Now the area looked ominous as old headstones emerged from the darkness lit by her torch. Some graves were obscured by vegetation and lichen and moss grew on most tombstones, dispersing the humid and distinctive smell of peaceful infinity. Some graves were so degraded that the lives they had once marked, the memories of beings from the past had vanished forever. Gloomy and dark, the outline of the crumbling old chapel made of grey stones emanated an eternal silence as the graveyard sinking in the fog, looked as though possessed by ghosts hiding behind the overgrown trees. The atmosphere stroked Yasmeen’s hair with its cool and misty inevitability.
They reached the far corner of the churchyard and stopped in front of a small cross with a tablet containing two words: Imre Szabolcsi.
Yasmeen glanced at Drasa. His crimson eyes burnt in the dark as if his whole pain centred on his gaze.
“Is this legal?” Yasmeen asked, a little furious but unsurprised. “This burial ground is no longer available, it is only a museum now. But of course our freakish family is not supposed to obey the law,” she muttered.
“Your mum did not want him to be buried in Hungary where his ancestors rest and she did not want to cremate him, either. Imre was born a Christian and he would wish to be buried in a Christian graveyard,” Drasa explained. “And yes, it’s not legal but I created a wall around his grave. Nobody will see it, except for us.”
“Who was my dad? I mean I met Grandpa Xavier once. But Rav told me that my dad had been a vampire before I was born. Who was the real Imre?” Yasmeen questioned as her eyes locked on Drasa. “And of course now I can ask why I have two grandpas who are both fathers to my father.”
“Imre was my son,” Drasa said firmly. His face was tense, ominous and full of suffering. “He was born as the third son of Gyula Botond Szabolcsi, a Hungarian prince who lived in medieval times in this dimension. When I saw his trapped soul I felt compassion for him and brought him to life as an undead. I wanted to give him a second chance as his life had ended so abruptly. I watched him from a distance for a thousand years. I could hear his voice and I could feel his pain and ordeal. He had to experience all the pain. After a thousand years I sensed his hope and joy. It was when he met your mum for the first time,” he paused and he turned his head towards Cherry. “Do you know, Girl, what he was thinking about you, then? He thought that he would die million times for your one smile,” Drasa took out a silver flask out of the pocket of his military jacket and passed it on to Cherry. “Drink, Girl. The Boy was stubborn and angry and scared that such a beautiful and good girl like you would never love him but he loved you with all his heart,” the last two words were quiet as though they were squeezed by Drasa’s narrowing throat.
“You knew he would bond with me,” Cherry said in a sharp and unpleasant tone. “You knew from the very beginning.”
“I knew that the Boy was important, I just did not understand why. I knew I needed to relieve his trapped soul,” Drasa responded. “I was in the Mesopotamian Empire when two Varuh established Felicia’s coven. They told me the coven was to protect one of their kind but they did not know when or where she would appear. They established similar covens in other dimensions as well to protect the creature that would save the Seven Dimensions from the flood of the Opyri. I recognized you when Imre first saw you. Your bond was screaming to be sealed.” he paused and looked at Imre’s grave. “He was happy with you. He had the life he had always dreamt about.”
Cherry took a decent sip from the flask and passed it on to Yasmeen.
Yasmeen’s hands shook. She felt tears filling up her eyes, the thin streams flowing down her flaming cheeks. They were the creepiest family in this dimension but they loved each other unconditionally. She brought the flask to her lips and drank for her dad, for Alyssa, for Rav and for Cherry and Drasa. She heard leaves rustling as if nature was singing a tribute to Imre and paying its respect. She could swear that her ears had caught the whispers of the spirits inhabiting the churchyard, peaceful and supporting. She wanted to hug her mum but when she looked into her eyes she felt chills going down her spine. A dread crept into her head and gripped her mind with its sharp claws pinning her brain down like real nails.
Chapter 15
Cherry’s eyes blazed in the dark. The hyacinth flame of her iris had been replaced by the sparkly dark redness of blood. Yasmeen stepped back, startled. The changing appearance of her mother immobilised her, sending shivers to every single muscle of her body.
Two black wings appeared from Cherry’s back and her nails turned into sharp claws. Her skin glowed. The area resembled the landscape from a dream, filled with Cherry’s laser blue mist. Surprisingly, Yasmeen hoped that the claws would not ruin her mum’s favourite knee-high black boots. They did not. Her wings had not damaged the black hoody and black leather skater dress as well.
Yasmeen was not sure who her mother was. She observed a creature emerging from the body of a teenager. It was a beautiful glowing and unearthly being. Yasmeen thought that Cherry also looked really scary, emanating an eerie and somehow primeval charm of something forbidden and unavailable from human perception.
“Drasa, look after my daughter,” Cherry said in a firm voice tinged with some translucent and deep trust. “I will reunite my family. I will bring back Radveriel, Alyssa... and I will bring back Imre. Aaldir was right. I was a puppet for Destiny or whoever had created that cruel plan for me and my family. I refuse to be attached by strings to my fate and I will fight for my family at any cost.”
“Girl, you are choosing a dangerous path,” Drasa said with his hoarse concern. “You will become like Aaldir.”
“I’m nothing like Aaldir. I am much more,” Cherry said in a harsh voice full of rage and resentment.
“Mum, mum what are you doing?” Yasmeen asked as her voice stirred.
“I’m doing the right thing, Honey. Drasa will look after you,” Cherry said with a murky calm.
“Mum, mum your other friend Taharial is stuck in your... your homeland or in what is left after one of the volcanoes erupted,” Yasmeen said in a quiet and timid voice. “Rav told me that she had done something very wrong and your weird ancestors abandoned her. She is stuck in the wasteland preserved in a time bubble or something. You have to help her.”
“I will fix everything,” Cherry said with a determination on her face. Her wings outstretched and her arm made a sweeping gesture as if she wanted to hit an invisible wall with her palm and in that second, she vanished followed by a fast and intense explosion of laser blue light.
The wind from Cherry’s wings pushed Yasmeen backwards with a violent and unexpected strength. She sat on the soft grass and jerked her arms to support her back. The ground was cold and wet, the moisture absorbed by her clothes as her eyes were adjusting.<
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“Shit,” Yasmeen muttered and picked up the torch from the ground, directing the light towards Drasa’s face. “Does she fly? She has panic attacks each time when she stays more than two metres above the sea level. I hope people won’t call the fire-fighters. And you, talk to me, you old Fogey, or I will kill you!” she shouted.
“What do you want to know?” Drasa asked with his usual frivolous calm.
“Everything!” Yasmeen felt an unstoppable urge to take the content of Drasa’s head out with her bare hands. “What do you know about my scar?” Her appearance was not the reason that she had asked that question as she had felt so beautiful and attractive with Rav that this tiny flaw was no longer a problem for her. It was just her curiosity and an impression that it had something in common with her weird family.
“This is your mum’s scar. Aaldir hurt her badly when she faced him in Atlantis.”
“But her face is flawless...I don’t understand,” she said as she lifted herself up to a standing position, wiping her palms against her lap.
“It must have remained as an imprint from her previous life, in her genes and she passed it on to you.”
“And I passed it on to Alyssa. She has got Rav’s eyes and is so beautiful...” Yasmeen’s throat tightened and she trembled. “Who are you, Drasa? Who are we?”
“I don’t remember who I am. My last and only memory is Portia infecting me with her darkness and abandoning me. I can remember I loved her and that she was my wife. The rest is blurry and concealed. Some sentences and images crowd in my head, some premonitions... The older I am the more things become clearer.”
