The Haret (The Haret Series)

by Denise Daisy

  The one who appeared to be the leader tossed his head back and let out a hideous shriek then stepped toward Felicitas and with one incredible move of his hand swept her to himself lifting off the ground. He flew upward hovering over the gruesome massacre forcing Felicitas to watch as his comrades spewed forth their lethal flames incinerating each remaining person.

  He placed his mouth against her neck and whispered in her ear. His breath was hot against her blistering her cheeks. The odious smell of sulfur hung in the air with each breath he exhaled. “See what happens to those who dare try and help you? They become marked and destruction will be their end.”

  She watched as Esther made a futile attempt to attack the drake standing near her. He knocked her hard across the face thrusting her into the burning brush. She screamed in pain as she tried to crawl away only to be engulfed by his fiery spew. The last victim was her mother who stood helpless looking up into the sky sobbing and calling out to her. Felicitas screamed as she watched her mother fall in agony tormented by the flames. The drakes continued to vomit out their wrath of destruction until all was consumed. She fought hard against the one holding her screaming hysterically while pounding her fist at his face. He pulled her close to him, holding her so tightly she could barely catch her breath. Then his voice changed and softened.

  “Calm down Taz! Wake up. You’re dreaming.” Grant held onto her while ducking her sporadic blows. “Girl you’re dreamin’ wake up.” He didn’t shake her, knowing that was the worst thing he could do. Instead he wrapped his arms around her holding her tight against him as she tried tearing herself away from his clutches.

  “Taz, honey. It’s a dream. Let it go….let it go.”

  She relaxed her body at the recognition of his voice. Pulling back she focused in on his rugged face, unmarred by flames. The room was quiet, still and cold. No roaring fire, no flames, just the peaceful sounds of the night. Relief flooded over her as second by second she became aware that all those she thought lost were alive. She wrapped her arms around Grant’s neck, clinging to him.

  Sharon burst through the door.

  “What’s going on in here? Why is she screaming?”

  “Night terror no doubt brought on by the drakes.”

  Felicitas looked over Grant’s shoulder relieved to see her mother alive despite the suspicious look on her face.

  Sharon scowled and swatted at Grant.

  “Get off her bed this instant!”

  Grant recoiled ducking in case Sharon struck again.

  “Damn it lady what do you think I’m doing? I heard her screamin’ like a banshee so I ran in to help.”

  Sharon sat down near Felicitas forcing Grant to move aside.

  “Taz dear are you okay? Is he telling the truth? Was he hurting you?”

  Grant rolled his eyes and began mumbling something under his breath.

  “He wasn’t hurting me mother I was dreaming.”

  “Are you sure he wasn’t doing something to you and you just thought you were dreaming.”

  Grant had enough. “Come on lady, I don’t know what kind of perverted mind you got but….”

  “Sharon, my names Sharon, not lady. I do not have a perverted mind but what I do have is a seventeen year old daughter who is pregnant and thinks she got that way in a dream.”

  “Cause she did! Why do you find it so hard to believe that?”

  Sharon stood from the bed and faced Grant.

  “Are you seriously asking me that question? I find it hard to believe because it’s never happened before and I’m pretty sure that scientifically speaking it’s impossible.”

  Grant rolled his eyes. “And what would you know about science seeing you didn’t even finish high school?”

  Sharon stood there dumbfounded that he knew that information and appalled that he let out such a secret in front of Felicitas.

  Her eyes flashed as she began a stare down with Grant.

  “How do you know that? You are a stalker aren’t you? You’ve been stalking my entire family not just Felicitas. Maybe you’ve been sneaking in her room for years now making her think she’s dreaming. She disappears for a week and then we find her out here with you. You’re probably some kind of cult leader or something, drugging young virgins while they sleep making them think they’re dreaming, and then getting them to trust you saying you’re some kind of guardian and protecting them from shape shifting dragons.”

  “How’d you know that?”

  Sharon gasped. “So I’m right. You admit it?”

  Grant rubbed the stubble on his face in frustration. “No, I’m not a stalking cult leader. I meant how did you know the Drakes were part dragon? I never said that. You know about them don’t you? You‘ve encountered them before.”

  Felicitas pulled the covers around her shivering body and stared up at Sharon while remembering a part of her nightmare where the drake had a connection with her mother; how he seemed to recognize her, taunting her with a knowing nod and a gallant wave of his hand.

  Sharon crossed her arms in front of her and frowned. “I’ve half a mind to take my daughter home tonight and get her away from all of this asinine, irrational, hogwash. I will not have her terrorized as I was or brainwashed into believing yours and my mother’s romanticized illusions.”

  Felicitas knew it was a common trait of her mother to resort to attacking her opponent with a myriad of adjectives when she felt backed into a corner but Grant wasn’t intimidated. He continued to press the matter.

  “Denying it don’t make it any less real. You just keep pushing it back but you can’t keep the memory buried. It’s gonna claw its way to the surface and you’re gonna have to face it.”

  “I don’t have to do anything but protect my daughter.” Sharon looked down at Felicitas who was still shivering under the covers. “We are leaving first thing in the morning.”

  Her mother’s announcement caused a hopelessness to overwhelm her like never before. She felt as if she were being neglected in the whole scheme of things. Not once had her mother or father asked how she was feeling about being pregnant or if there was emotional damage after disappearing for a week or with any of the craziness surrounding the situation. They neglected to take the time and really listen to her heart and her side of the whole story. Each of them were only hell bent on being right and taking charge of a situation they seemingly knew nothing about. Their thoughts on the matter were merely logical explanations and even with those they still fell short of knowing what the actual situation was.

  Her dad believed without question that she was willingly meeting someone at night after being made aware of her nocturnal journal. However he hadn’t taken any time to discuss it with her? He had only suggested county mental health as a way of bullying his daughter into telling him the truth about her personal affairs. His method was not restoring her in love but punishing her for misbehaving.

  Her mother appeared to care by taking a rare stand against her father but now Felicitas saw this as simply a power play not an affirmation of believing her let alone helping her. Her mother’s power play continued on by arguing with Grant, trying to act superior and take the control she obviously had lost with her husband. Felicitas felt like a pawn in their game and did not like it one bit.

  “You’re acting just like dad right now mother and it’s disgusting. What makes you think I want to go home?”

  Sharon was displeased. “I really don’t care what you want at this point Felicitas Rebold. I only care about what is best for you whether you believe it or not.”

  “Well I don’t believe it. Not for a second because just like dad you don’t show that you care.”

  Sharon’s mouth fell open. “I am here aren’t I? Have you forgotten the stand I took for you today more than likely to the detriment of my marriage?”

  Felicitas rolled her eyes. “You didn’t take that stand for me. You took it for yourself. I had the worst dream of my life right now, and I am not sure if it was a dream or some kind of omen of what is goin
g to happen next. I may be awake but I am still terrified and you haven’t even asked me about it. I didn’t sign up for this. No one asked me if I wanted to carry some prophesied child. No one on either side seems to give me a second thought. All you are trying to do is pull rank and take me away from the one person who seems to believe me and really care. You’re ready to walk out of the room and leave me alone and scared.”

  The accusing look on Grants face did nothing to soften Sharon’s demeanor. Felicitas bold accusations and defiant attitude only added fuel to her mother‘s flame. She did not back down.

  “No dear, the only nightmare here is my seventeen year old daughter wanting to run off with a forty year old man. I blame your dad for this. Maybe if he had given you the attention you needed you wouldn’t be romanticizing it with some rugged mountain man old enough to be your father!”

  Felicitas ripped away her covers and stood on the bed towering over her mother. She swept her long auburn waves away from her pale face and pointed her finger to the door. “Get out!”

  Sharon’s perfect posture gave way to slumped shoulders as she stood there flabbergasted at her daughters demand.

  “What?”

  “You heard me out. We’re strangers. You don’t know me at all if you really believe that.” Felicitas looked away from her mother but held her position pointing at the exit.

  Sharon headed for the door in silence. She spoke quietly before leaving the room. “So where is he Taz? The one who got you pregnant. Why isn’t he here for you? According to the story book once the baby is conceived he is free to come through the portal and protect his love. Think about it….if he is so real, then where is he?” With having said that. She closed the door behind her?

  As hard as Felicitas tried she could not hold back the tears stinging in her eyes. Once one escaped the others followed soaking her cheeks. She fell to the bed sobbing. Although Grant wanted nothing more than to hold her and let her cry on his shoulders he refrained and slipped from the room not wanting to bring any more accusations on himself or her.

  Felicitas lay across the bed and gazed through the skylight in the ceiling. Tears rolled off her cheeks and onto her pillow. All her mother’s words stinging, still hurting long after they were said. She slid her slender fingers across her flat stomach. By looking it was not evident that life was growing inside of her. But it was there, she could sense it even though she hadn’t had much time to dwell on it. She thought of sneaking from the house and running but where would she go?

  She lay there hoping to fall asleep and dream of Raine but in spite of her exhaustion sleep escaped her. So she lay there waiting and hoping he would come until the sun rose shining through the window filling her room with light.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Sharon didn’t rest well after she returned to her room. Instead of falling back to sleep she lay in the bed staring at the rotating ceiling fan and wondering when she had lost control of her daughter. Felicitas had always been different not at all like Lisette and Hayley. She was a nonconformist from early on and as strong willed as any child Sharon had ever known, questioning everything and everyone. Sharon often wondered if it was due to the fiery red curls growing out of her daughters head.

  Felicitas wasn’t a bad child in fact she was very agreeable and obeyed better than Lisette or Hayley. It was just that Felicitas was a bit of a silly heart always fantasizing things, sensationalizing the most mundane details of her experiences to the point of ridiculousness as Melvin always put it.

  He had the hardest time with Felicitas because unlike her sisters she didn’t simply accept his word as truth on any given subject. Especially where the Bible was concerned and that annoyed Melvin greatly seeing he felt he was an expert on the book. Felicitas studied the Bible too and would challenge her dad during many an evening meal, sometimes backing him in a corner. Melvin would get flustered when Lisette and Hayley would applaud their sister and hold up hand written score cards deeming Felicitas the winner in the debate. He would launch in to a three point sermon overpowering their voices and then leave the table. On one such occasion Felicitas announced at the dinner table that Eve hadn’t taken a bite of an apple in the Garden of Eden but had sexual relations with Satan and conceived Cain. Melvin nearly choked on his pork chop. When he vehemently opposed her statement she rebutted instantly pointing out that Cain wasn’t listed in Adam’s genealogy therefore was not his son. She went as far as to ask if Cain wasn’t Satan’s seed then to whom was God referring when he told the serpent he was declaring war between his offspring and Eve’s. She said it made sense because Cain killed Abel. Felicitas made the same declaration at a youth group meeting a few weeks later, which resulted in angry parents filling Melvin’ inbox with concerned letters. Melvin confided to Sharon that he felt Felicitas was becoming a heretic to which Sharon laughed only infuriating her husband more. If the truth were known Sharon secretly admired her daughter’s unconventional beliefs and although she would not admit it to her husband, thought Felicitas actually showed more faith than any of them.

  Sharon gave up on getting any more sleep and climbed from the bed as the first rays of sunlight filtered through the lace curtains. She stumbled in to the adjoining restroom and opened the complimentary toothbrush from the basket of toiletries sitting on the countertop. She figured the home was some sort of bed and breakfast Inn considering all the beautifully furnished rooms upstairs. She wondered when her mother had moved here and just what her relationship was to the cowboy who resided here as well.

  She brushed her teeth, ran a comb through her platinum hair and rummaged through her purse applying what little cosmetics she carried in a small silk case. She redressed in the tailored suit she wore yesterday and sighed. It was the first time in years she had worn the same outfit two days in a row. She smoothed the wrinkles from the skirt with her hands while slipping her feet into the high heeled pumps sitting at the end of the bed. She lifted the delicate earrings from the nightstand, tilted her head, and placed the expensive stones on her ears. She took a final glance in the antique mirror hanging over the mahogany dresser before heading downstairs. She wondered why she cared how she looked being stranded out in the boonies somewhere in Pumpkin Holler. She denied the answer that rushed into her thoughts and left the room.

  Grant and Rosie were already up, drinking coffee in the kitchen, accompanied by Sheriff Edwards. Sharon figured the Sheriff had feelings for her mother and smiled at the thought. She wondered at how much her mother’s life had changed over the years. Rosie had raised Sharon alone since she lost her dad at the age of six and as far as she knew had never dated. There had been a man named Paul that came around from time to time that Sharon adored but then one day he simply disappeared. Rosie worked hard to support them both and any free time she had she spent with Sharon. They had a special bond back in those days when it was just the two of them. Her heart ached for what had been lost but as she did with all the emotions she refused to deal with, she pushed it aside, straightened her posture and entered the room in a façade of self-assurance.

  Sharon noticed the conversation stopped abruptly when she entered but she was used to it. It happened so frequently at ladies gatherings at the church. Whenever Sharon arrived hushed whispers would be exchanged for boisterous flattery but she was smart and didn’t buy into their pretense for a minute. She knew the women discussed her passionately and did it in the most holy of ways so not to be accused of gossiping. She could only imagine the prayer chains flooding the internet and cell phones regarding her daughter and the latest turn of events. Dread along with hunger pains gnawed at her stomach as she headed to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup.

  “Please don’t stop talking on my account, I didn’t mean to interrupt your scheming.”

  Grant stood abruptly from the table and left the kitchen, never making eye contact with Sharon. She figured he loathed her right now but she didn’t care. She spooned sugar into her cup and followed it with sweet cream stirring ever so daintily not ma
king a sound. She placed the spoon in the sink then turned around and faced the table as she leaned against the counter sipping her coffee.

  Rosie eyed her daughter with a look of disapproval forming across her face.

  “You owe that man an apology, young lady. You spoke out of turn and what you accused him of last night is inexcusable.”

  Sharon took another sip and remained completely indifferent.

  “I found him in my daughter’s room on her bed after she woke me screaming. What was I supposed to do?”

  “He was helping her recover from a night terror, you had no right in accusing’ him of anything else.”

  “I call them like I see them mother and I’ll have you know I am taking my daughter home today and that is my right.”

  Rosie gave a sarcastic laugh.

  “Call them like you see them, well that certainly explains your behavior. You make stupid, asinine decisions all the time because you don’t actually see anything anymore. Tell me Sharon, when did you lose your wonder?”

  Sharon nearly choked on her coffee. Felicitas had asked her the same question two days ago at the police station. Her words had stung but Rosie’s had only inflamed her.

  “Do you mean when did I grow up? When did I get some common sense?”

  “Yes!” Rosie bit back “When did you become common? When did you become blind to the world around you?”

  “Oh I didn’t mother. I woke up. I woke from this frightening wonderland you raised me in. Melvin helped me escape your little rabbit hole and thank God I haven’t had to run from the jabberwockies or drakes or whatever you call them in a long time and I’ll be damned if you try and indoctrinate Felicitas in your belief system. My life is good momma and they life we have provided for our daughter is a privileged one where she is well taken care of and has everything she needs. You should have never interfered.”

  “I didn’t. Felicitas got pregnant and came to me. I have simply listened to her and given her the answers that you wouldn‘t.”