No, no, no... somehow my heart started beating faster again.
Not him, please. Not him!
I'm here, take me, damn it!
Caelinus moved in between us, breaking up our locked eyes. He wanted me to see. And with his narcissistic demeanor, he smirked, unleashed a sword and beheaded my love for all to see. That was it. The breaking point. I lost all control. I couldn't feel my emotions. I couldn't feel my pain. Something vengeful coiled out of its long, deep slumber from deep within. The fire lit in my eyes. My tears halted. The masquerade became meaningless and suddenly, all life - Cognati or human, lost its value to me.
I am Halona.
Let me take over.
I felt the power of a thousand men surge through my veins. The sum of vampires that held me down were no match for my rage. I got up and tossed them all aside with vehement telekinetic force. Caelinus hesitated in fear while the royal guards surrounded me with their spears. White light encased me like a dim aura, and I felt absolute purity. Everything was clear. In that moment, I felt nothing. I flowed. I was not myself. I was really, Halona.
The fear that shot across the room was undeniable. They knew they had awakened a sleeping beast. I stood tall for all to see. Fearless and detached, I eyed the room for the perpetrator and when I found him, I stared right into his pathetic, dandy eyes and this time - I made certain he saw the 'aftermath' of what was to come.
'I will destroy you.'I spoke into his mind. 'You and all your wretched kind.'
The guards tried to lunge at me, but the Halonic energies formed a barrier around me, distorting space and time and with a short, eventful implosion - I teleported away.
It wasn't possible for me to face them all, an army of vampires, at that time. I needed to train in greater strength, master letting Halona out more. It would only be for a few days that I would be lost, without memory. Once I awakened, I found myself at the edge of an old, abandoned, ancient forest. The pain quickly returned to me once I gathered myself and figured I was still alive. I held my stomach, and although my dark gifts had healed the wound - I stood still, caressing my stomach, thinking on my unborn child as if she were still there. Nathaniel's face decided to come to me and take the pain just a little bit further.
"Go home. Live. Fight for tomorrow. One day it will be well."
But nothing will be well, my love. This is the life I told you I was damned to, the life of a creature of shadow, locked in a haze of unending - looking for a glimmer of hope in an eon that will never come...
Interlude VII
Samuel Speaks, 2017
"Alexia... " I have to put the paper down to take a good look at her. All those burdens, all that pain and loss... so troubling. I don't know what to say. She's just looking at me, hoping I'll be the one to ease the sad silence. I take her in my arms, holding her tight, hugging her like an unspoken promise.
"Alexia... " I whisper in her ear, kissing her cheek with solemn tenderness letting her know I'm here. Let it all out on me. But she doesn't cry. Not a tear in her eye. Just that statuesque face she always wrote about. I can't stand to see her this way. I can't stand to read any of her journals anymore either. For some reason, I start... remembering.
Remembering her. Remembering me.
Nathaniel felt very 'at home'. I could relate to him. He wasn't words on a paper. To me, he was a real person. To me... he was - me. In another time, another place; a forbidden love that came back ages later to haunt us. I remember it. I remember her. Now things come full circle.
"Why do I remember?" All jokes are set aside, and not a doubt remains in me the moment I start crying, "Why do I remember, Alexia?" I gently hold her face as we gaze in each other's eyes in this moment.
"Because... " Her voice cracks. She's actively struggling not to cry. "He was you."
What?
"True love comes once in a thousand lifetimes. I knew it was you again, reborn, the moment I met you." She quietly speaks.
I'm speechless. I kept looking at her trying to find answers, trying to find meaning to all of it and now, all of it, finally, makes sense.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I find the strength to ask.
"I couldn't." She shakes her head. "You're not bound to me. This life you live now, is not the life you lived with me then."
"How could you say that... "
"Samuel, please. Don't do this. Not again."
"Don't do what?! Can't you see how amazing this is? We have another chance!"
"No. We do not." She moves away from me, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I shouldn't have done this. You were fine without me, and you'll be fine when I'm gone."
"Never." I get out of the chair. "Never, god damnit! Never!"
"Stop, Sam. Please... " She finally starts breaking. "Don't do this again."
I brush her hair aside and keep my eyes on hers, even though she tries looking away. I know Alexia isn't going to listen to me directly. I know I need to do something more.
"Look at me." I demand her attention, "Look at me!"
She gazes at me worried and afraid. An expression I never saw before.
"I'm not letting you go again. Never again." She needs to understand.
The spell takes hold. My hands move across her beautiful, pale face, trailing down her shoulders as I reel her into my lips - locking her as mine, and mine forever. This isn't just some random makeout session. This is love. Centuries old, and centuries more to come. I want this to be it. If this is my last time with her, then it will be the greatest moment of our lives. I have to show her how much she means to me, and how much she will always mean to me.
Those burdens, that pain; just forget it love. Be with me here and forevermore. Let me undress you. Be naked, whole and pure. Let your fingers intertwine with mine. Never let go. Feel my warmth across your body.
A love that goes beyond death. No stranger to the wheel, the cycle. Hold onto me, my lady. Let me feel your excitement, renew me. Let me restore life to your hollow bones.
And never let go. We're here; together, now is as good as ever. Better than then, more than what's to come. This is the day it is well. Never let go... Stay with me... Stay with me...
My Alexia...
I love you so...
I'll never forget her. I have to hope my actions spoke louder than my words. It was the only thing I could really do. She wouldn't listen to me otherwise. Except, when I get up, there is no Alexia. She's gone.
No note. No trinket. No proof. No evidence. Vanished.
Alexia. Gone.
Chapter Eight
To The Depths to See Her Again
Was it all a dream? I can't put my head together to think how this could happen. She's gone. Alexia is actually gone. Gone where? To her death? No, I can't think like that. I can't think like that! I have to find her. I'm not gonna' let her slip away again. I will find her, and I will make her safe. I can do this. One last time.
Days went by as I ruthlessly searched every single record, every log, every encounter of contact I had with Alexia - phone, online, anywhere and everywhere; you name it, I did it. How far is a man willing to go for his heart? You just don't fucking get it. Put it like this - the whole world switches off. Night becomes day, and day becomes night, and everyone and everything cease to matter until you see her. That's how far a man is willing to go when he's fallen in love.
No vampire will get in my way to find her. I have something they don't.
Some good old recon after hitting up some of my contacts to track down and find Alexia would pay off. Her identities were dead leads, but a classic Reverse IP search revealed a trail that led me to somewhere out in Greece. I pinpointed the location. It was a longshot but it was something. Better than nothing.
I grabbed what little supplies I had, swiped my card for an electronic ticket and flew out to Athens. With some help from boys online, they were able to lead me to the exact location I needed to be. It was a small apartment, out in the suburbs of Athens. Excitement boiled over in my heart. I was sweatin
g. Will she be there? Or is she dead already? I knocked on the door, but I was surprised when I found the door ajar, saying'hey, walk on in.'
It was abandoned. No one had been there for... ages. The stuffy atmosphere and the old scent had me writhing inside. I was shaking my head, gnashing my teeth in disbelief. Since when did Alexia gain such networking knowledge to throw me off her scent?
"Why the hell!" I wanted to understand why I had to go through this bullshit. Why couldn't she let me just help her, damnit! There's a will, there has to be a way. I sat on the musky old chair, thinking on everything I'd been through. All the letters, and the memories that came flowing back to me. I remembered drawing her, painting her beauty in those pictures - stapling her into something eternal, something endless; giving her the pearls she deserved.
"Alexia... " I quietly whispered in despair as if she could just somehow hear me.
Then the cracking started. I started sobbing, thinking on yet another lost chance. How long would it be until I see her again this time? One lifetime? Two? A hundred? A thousand? A million? Never?
So stupid. How could you let her go?
Go to DIE?
How could you?
"Yes, boy. How could you?"
What the hell! Who was that!
The stuffy-hot room suddenly became freezing cold the moment I heard that voice. The accent was weird. Sounded too proper, too foreign.
"Who's there?!" I reached for the pocket handgun I picked up on the way here. It was the least I should carry if I were to go up against real vampires. Problem was, I knew I needed more.
"Step the fuck out!" I pointed the gun.
As if this wasn't weird enough, things got turned a whole level upside down. This man - pale, white, ornament faced man, dressed in all black with a coat, came sliding from the shadows like he was hovering off the floor. I instinctively fired the moment I saw the freak show, but the bullet passed right through him. He looked at me with a fiendish grin.
"What the hell... " I immediately thought this guy had to be a vampire. There was no more doubting these things were real and I was staring one right in the face. I fired again and again and nothing made any impact. It was like the bullets didn't exist. They passed right through him.
"Are you done?" He smirked.
I panted in confusion, but I wasn't ready to just back down. If he wanted to kill me, I wasn't going to bend over and take it. I was ready to fight him to the death. I was ready to fight anyone to the death if it meant getting her back.
"What do you want, man?" I asked.
"I want what you want." His tongue was slippery. "Alexia."
The testosterone kicked in when I heard her name and I became momentarily unstoppable. I dropped the gun and charged at him. He didn't budge. I passed right through him, crashing into the wall like a damn klutz. He appeared behind me, amused at my struggling.
"We can do this all day, little human." He snarled.
"Where is she!" I shouted, "What did you do to her!"
"I made her what she is."
"What... " Alexia's journal came back to me. The way this man moved, acted and spoke? I connected the dots - but I couldn't believe he was still alive. Alexia said he died.
"Aristide." I silently discerned him, "You're Aristide, aren't you?"
"Wise." He commented. "Wise indeed."
"You're supposed to be dead. How is this possible?"
"Many things are possible, mortal. Of this world, you know not as much as an inkling of the truth."
"I'm tired of hearing that." I crunched my fists and rose to my feet, ready to tackle him again.
"What did you do to her? Where is she?"
"I did nothing to Alexia but make her into the blood drinker she is. Where she walks now, is of concern to us both."
I stayed quiet. Clearly he had more to say.
"She has told you much of our kind. Much of her journey, no doubt. I cannot help but wonder, if she told you of the times in the 19th century."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I didn't trust him.
"Ah!" He scratched his chin, turning his back to me while he strolled across the living room, "So she did keep some of her secrets. Yes, yes, my precious Alexia - you've grown too well."
"You need to make sense, right now. Alexia is going to die!"
"And what is it you think you can do, boy? You are nothing but flesh and bone."
The way he talked down at me should make me feel like shit. It should make me feel insecure; want to go hide in my little bubble and give up finding her, crying in dubious pity - but it didn't. I didn't care. I could give a shit less who said this or that - vampire or human. All that matters right now, is her.
"I have something you don't." My confrontation was no bluff.
He hawked me like a plague, observing me as if I were some infected demon - "You think you do, don't you? You think you have our whole world figured out, hmm? You think you know Alexia inside-out."
"I never said that."
"But clearly, you think you do!"
"No, that's not what I -"
AHHH!!!
A blazing pain scorched my shoulder as he practically teleported in front of me and dug his nails in deep, bringing me to a ruthless agony that had me screaming like a little girl. I'd never felt anything like it. It felt like I was burning alive.
"Do you think you know what it is like to live in a life of shadow?!" He shouted so loud I thought the cops would bust in any moment.
"No!!" I wanted him to stop.
"You think you can just cross into this world and walk away?!"
"No, no, no!" I really, really, need him to stop.
"You think you matter in the grand scheme of things!"
"No, damnit! No!" I was begging him to stop.
"You think you love her?!"
The pain persisted, but my heart was moved, and it suddenly soared. I was crumbling but what he said hit a switch in my head. The pain was there, but I couldn't let him win. I said what was within.
"Yes! I DO!" I screamed right back at him. If this was how I was going to die, then I'd die with no regrets. I'd die without a lie.
He kept looking at me, probably thinking how crazy I had to be to throw myself to the wolves. His hand sunk deeper into my flesh and my whole arm became numb; blood draining by the buckets. I couldn't feel the pain anymore. Finally, he decided to show mercy. He released my shoulder as I cringed on the floor, rolling in agony.
"Grrr! Why, why - why! You're supposed to be on her side! Why are you doing this?!" I pleaded. All I'd get was a blank stare. Aristide kneeled down and held my cheeks with his rough, cold hands, observing me like I were some lab rat.
"How far would you go for her?" He asked.
"I'd die for her." I announced, still trying to catch my breath from the agony.
He peered at me in a deep contemplation, his near-pupilless eyes warning me that I had gone too far - "Then that is your destiny."
I didn't know what to say to that. His hand moved to my shoulder and I felt a warm sensation, twisting through my arm, healing me. He reverted my injury. Should I say thanks?
"Now I will show you something you must know." Aristide closed his eyes and his fingers drifted to my right temple. As if the pain before wasn't weird, and agonizing enough, my whole mind went blank and I was transported to another time, far, far away...
Chapter Nine
The Maker's Lost Tale
Aristide's Memory, 1847
It was a darker time. Men grew weary in their hearts, and the revolution of industry and coal, steam and cog, had taken its toll, unveiling how easy it was to control the common man, turning producer into consumer. I wandered for years, staying away from the perils of my kin. There was a new thirst, or should I say, an old longing reawakened - to meet my lost creation. My sweet, sweet, Alexia.
Nightwalker's luck, I would find her again, but she was not the same, curious, wide-eyed, little girl I found in the court of Constantinople. Alexia had become
something dark. A scarred feline who'd seen the bitter hell of our damned world. A sense of pity and disappointment coursed in my veins. Had I done wrong by her?
I didn't expect Alexia to accept my reappearance. It had been centuries since I last saw her, and I'm sure she had had ample time to convolute the promises we made back then. Nevertheless, I had my ways with her, and I was certain it would only need some effort to put the pieces back together again.
The dark corners I'd found her in were an interesting place. She took up residence in a local ghetto; apparently, she was going by the name 'Lilith' at the time. I made way inside the hedonistic squabble. A depraved night's band played on while I stepped over the unconscious overused, over-sexed, mongrels - human and Cognati alike, who I'd come to understand - were Alexia's slaves. She had ghouls in the place, serving their mistress.
It was with a slow, cautious pace, I opened the master bedroom door after hearing some women giggling, and there, I found her. Laid naked in the middle with only black silks to cover her as she squirmed around, moaning in pleasure from the fondling of the two whores at her sides. They were serving her well, and she was, indubitably, the queen of this black temple. But she could sense me there, and it was not long before I was called out of the shadow.
"That smell... " She whispered in a sultry manner. "Aristide? Is that you?" She halted the two ghouls on her side and sat up more directly, facing the doorway. I took a step out from my hiding place so she could see my worn face.
"What are the chances... " She coyly grinned. "Are you going to just stand there, or will you be joining us in paradise?"
To see Alexia in this state had me worried. Her attitude was reckless, demanding, brave and uncaring - "Alexia, I must have words with you."
"Can it wait? As you can see, I'm busy. Then again, it's been a while since I've had a real man."
"Please, it is important we speak."
Her sardonic gestures came to an end, and her face became... angry - "Leave us." She demanded the whores be gone.
Cognata: A Vampire Romance Page 13
