by Lyra heart
18
Elizabeth arranged to meet Marshall the following day at the House. George sat with her sharing a bottle of expensive white wine while he explained the problem to her.
“He’s haunting us.”
“I was wrong,” Elizabeth said, shaking her head.
“I know what he wants. He wants to ruin my happiness with her. It’s revenge.” Marshall looked serious.
“Do cheer up! You must not be glum about this! It’s a most curious case! I have heard about ghosts. It’s not a surprise.” Elizabeth was merry from the three glasses of wine she had drunk.
“How do we get rid of him?” Marshall insisted, not in the mood for Elizabeth’s bourgeois air today.
“Exorcism perhaps?” She took another sip of wine. “Problem, though! Jasmin, she lives with you now.”
Marshall let out a long sigh. What was he going to do? He dreaded to think what Max would tell Jasmin over time.
“Is this your best solution, a fucking exorcism?” Marshall yelled.
“Mind your manners mister! And yes, it’s all I can think of. We could consult the House formally. Yet, I must warn you,” looking hazily into his eyes “they’re on Chloe’s case, and you my friend, will always be a part of Chloe. They will investigate this and all of your other secrets.”
“So, I’m fucked?” sounding defeated.
“Quite,” Elizabeth said matter-of-factly. “What are Max’s weaknesses?”
George thought for a moment. “His mum and dad and fuck me... Jasmin?”
“Now, mister, explain how you can milk these for all they’re worth?”
It was simple as a clear summer day to Marshall how he was going to use his best friend’s weak points to his advantage. All he had to do was threaten to kill them!
“I’ve got a plan,” he stated with renewed confidence.
“Perfect!” Elizabeth clapped her hands theatrically. “Now, there’s something I need to tell you! In a matter of days, two days to be correct, a fantastic event will be taking place at the House!” Pausing for dramatic effect, she looked at him. “You know a little about parallel worlds don’t you?”
He nodded.
“Well,” she continued. “In two days the House allows its first class members to open a portal and experience other worlds! We have found ways to enter worlds like Chloe’s and other similar dimensions in order to explore them and bigger questions like ‘Is there a God?’ and, if so, did he or she create the universe?”
“Huh?” George exclaimed totally confused.
“Like all great covens of vampires, our knowledge of life on Earth evolved over centuries, just like humanity’s. Beginning in the 1950’s we began to develop our own reality, one completely independent of this one or any other, one that we alone own! It is called Neava,” Elizabeth beemed.
“How can you own a reality?”
“We made it, through magic. Unfortunately, it is a magic, which I myself do not understand. What I do know, though, is that this universe is a whole grand universe with the same physics belonging to Earth, was created by the House. In two days the House will allow those first class members who have tired of this world to cross over into the new one.”
“Do you know what Neava is like?” Marshall asked.
Elizabeth said, “The sky is pink and the ground is red. There are two magnificent suns. And to think this was just one planet in an ever-expanding universe. It’s beyond imagination.”
“Tell me everything!” Another world was opening to George, a world he might one day take Jasmin into when she was immortal and he became a first class member.
“First of all, you have to think of the big black night sky of the universe,” she said. “Then try to picture all of the young planets, each designed by a different member of the House and all beautiful from the red sandy planet to a tropical paradise!”
Marshall suddenly noticed a text on his phone from Jasmin, distracting him from his conversation with Elizabeth.
Won’t be home tonight babe. Staying at my Claire’s. xxxx
Elizabeth carried on explaining Neava, “No other coven knows about it.” Elizabeth looked disappointedly into her empty wine glass.
“All right,” Marshall said, no longer really paying attention to Elizabeth’s story. “So, I’ll see ya’ Sunday? Or is it only for first class members?”
“Even though you are not yet a first class member, the House loves you. We see you as our pet!” she said with a drunken cheerfulness.
“Charmed, I’m sure.” Marshall gave a weary smile.
* * *
When Marshall arrived home after meeting with Elizabeth he found Max sitting on his leather couch looking blankly at him. He expected him to talk, but Max just looked at him, which Marshall found even more irritating then if he had of engaged in caustic conversation. Jasmin didn’t come home till early Sunday morning, two days later. He felt as though he was losing her. When she got in, she stated coldly how she was really tired and just wanted to sleep.
Marshall left Jasmin at the flat and drove to the ceremony which was being held at an estate in Oxford. George found his way easily to the address beyond the old-world city centre and into a village just on the outskirts. Marshall was unimpressed by the building’s brown bricks and large garden, none of which screamed the significance of tonight.
Ringing the doorbell, Marshall was welcomed by Elizabeth. She was dressed in a pair of tight jeans and a long grey cardigan—again, not at all what he had expected for the event and he suddenly felt overdressed. She led him straight to the attic. Inside the clean, unfurnished room he found a small crowd of people huddled together. He recognized the man with green eyes and dreadlocks.
“Everyone’s here now,” the man with dreads stated as if he was a lawyer.
Marshall looked at the group, noting a tall man holding an Elvis record and a woman with long ginger hair and freckles holding a dress from the Victorian times.
The man noticed Marshall’s look of confusion and said, “Givin’ up all ma possessions. This is the one thing I’m allowed to take with me. I’m a hopin’ they’ve got copies of all the good stuff from the day.”
Elizabeth spoke, “How does it feel to know you’ll never look back at the world again, Cliffe?”
“Feel’s real damn good.” Cliffe laughed. “Six hundred years is a long time!”
“Quite, quite right!” Elizabeth embraced Cliffe firmly. “Farewell, old chap.”
Pink swirls like cotton candy had appeared, floating in the middle of the attic, expanding as the gateway to Neava opened. Holding his record firmly Cliffe leapt into the pink void. The ginger woman followed suite. Not being well acquainted with anyone in the room, she waved and bowed before stepping daintily into the swirling void. Once she was gone, the man with dreads looked at the void before closing it by placing a large pink crystal about the size of a persons hand close to the void. It seemed to liquefy and before turning into a mist that was absorbed by the crystal, causing it to glow.
“Too hot to touch at the moment,” he stated looking at the crystal. “Give it a little while to cool. Then it will be ready for storage for the next year”
“What would happen if it got lost?” Marshall exclaimed.
“It would find it’s way back to the House,” he stated, as if this was so obvious.
“How did we do for money this time?” Elizabeth asked the man.
“From old Cliffe, we got a great deal of information, all sorts of memorabilia and precious keepsakes, and, as far as money goes, he managed to save eighteen million, as well as six properties. With Amilia it was all keepsakes and properties.”
“You see, Marshall, we gave them a new world and in return they help us expand and become one of the most wealthy covens on Earth,” Elizabeth said proudly.
“Could I one day live there?” Marshall asked.
“Yes, of course. You and I are heading for great things!”
19
Marshall’s heart lay heavily in his c
hest. He hadn’t wanted to have this argument with Jasmin but couldn’t help himself. “What’s wrong with you lately? You don’t even touch me in bed anymore?”
“I’ve been going through some shit, it’s not that I don’t—” Jasmin explained.
“Love me anymore?” Marshall sneered. “Sure, it’s just your not in love anymore right? I knew this would happen. I always knew this would one day happen.”
“Marshall, your my world! Can we just drop this stupid conversation?”
“What is it? You’re acting so rattled lately! What the fuck is going on with you?” He asked, though he already knew the answer.
“I keep…” Jasmin’s voice trailed off.
Marshall could feel the fear and pain all involved with her memories radiating from her. He could also sense that the ghost wasn’t a bad thing in her life as far as she was concerned. Marshall was filled with a seething rage. “Thinking about another guy?” he growled.
“No!” she shouted.
“You’re going cold.”
Max’s image flickered into existence across the room. Jasmin tried not to notice, though Marshall could sense her awareness of his dead best friend.
“The truth is,” Jasmin said. “I’ve been seeing a ghost…” She paused before continuing. “It’s the ghost is the dead friend of a guy I met when I was fifteen. Thing is, this guy I met back then, he wasn’t human.”
. Marshall felt as though he was in a movie. “You really believe this?” He controlled himself, pretending to have left the heat of rage, replacing it with concern.
Max was now standing next to Jasmin, looking at him.
“He’s standing right here, right now. The ghost,” Jasmin said quietly. “I guess you can’t see him, can you?”
“I don’t see anyone but you,” Marshall lied.
“Maybe you don’t see him, but I know he’s not part of my imagination. You would believe me if you’d seen the things I’ve seen. Marshall, I’ve seen a real vampire and this ghost, he’s connected to it all. He was killed by one of the vampires! He keeps telling me I’m in danger and that something terrible is going to happen!”
“Babe. I can’t believe you because I don’t see any ghost!”
“I guess you think I’m delusional?”
“I just think you’re under stress.”
“I’ll try not to be, ok?”
He kissed her on the lips tenderly. “Let’s forget about this conversation?”
Jasmin retired to the bathroom to soak and relax. The door of the bathroom was unlocked. Marshall entered and gazed down at Jasmin where she lay in the bathtub. She looked back at him with tired but loving eyes. He bent down as if to kiss her, but instead bit her on the neck. She screamed, struggling with her hands pushing against his chest, to no avail as he continued to drink from her.
“I wanted to protect you,” said Max to Jasmin.
Marshall looked at Jasmin, beautiful in her last moments as a mortal. He noticed how his arm had become yellowed, green in parts like a reptile’s skin. What was this? This moment was meant to be glorious, forcing her to be with him forever, ensuring their love was eternal! Panicked, Marshall left Jasmin in the tub and rose to stare at his reflection in the mirror. No longer did he look like Marshall. He had George’s geeky awkward features, but they were sloppier now, as if they were made of putty that was a mottled green and yellow. “Marshall” was no more. He glanced back at Jasmin who now appeared asleep in the water as the new vampire blood began to take effect. In terror and misery he ran to the living room where his mobile lay on the table by the sofa. He began to dial Elizabeth’s number thinking she may have a hand in this turn of events, but quickly he realized there was no way she would do that to him. Suddenly the phone rang.
“Georgie, I was expecting you to call me tonight!” Chloe’s voice sounded cross.
It occurred to him now that it had been Chloe. Tears rolled down his cheeks. “Why did you do this to me?”
“Because George, you betrayed me. Nolan and I agreed as your maker it was my duty to teach you a lesson. I told you to kill Jasmin, but you didn’t.”
“But I love her?”
“You belong to me—I’m your maker. Don’t worry, I don’t care if she lives now, I mean, what can I do? You’ve already made her immortal.” Chloe scoffed.
“You fucking bitch!” he sobbed. “I did so much for you and you have to be so cruel!”
“If I wasn’t this cruel, I wouldn’t have turned you. I gave you immortality because I saw weakness inside you.”
“I did everything for you.”
“No you didn’t George. You did what you had to do and when it suited you. When the House replaced my role as the most important authority figure in your life you didn’t even come to support me when I was on trial. But relax Georgie, the spell won’t last forever—I can lift it if I choose.”
Relieved that the spell could be lifted, George hung up and returned to the bathroom where he discovered Max looking over his sleeping beauty. He wasn’t powerful enough to go into her dream, but the ghost that stood starring at her probably was—it was strange how, in this situation, Max was more powerful than him.
“When she wakes up, she’ll see the hideous monster that you really are,” Max stated.
“You won. I’m the broken boy I was at seventeen all over again.” Tears ran down George’s reptile face.
“I never hated you when you were human,” Max replied. “I guess the day you killed me was the day you truly died to the world.”
George could not bear for Jasmin to wake up tomorrow morning and look upon the freakish monster that he had become, to look into her eyes and most likely see hatred and disgust starring back at him. Shaking like a demon cast out of hell, he left her in the cold bath water. He took a sports bag and filled it with jumpers, his cards and a phone. Quickly, he wrote a final love note to Jasmin, begging her forgiveness. Hiding his face with scarves beneath a hat, George left the flat and drove off into the night.
— THE END —
I would like to thank Gabrielle Faust for her editing.
