by L. A. A. Law
Taking in a deep breath, she continues. “That’s one of the reasons he went after her.” She nods toward me. “Before they were married, he knew what would happen if they got together and the product of such a union if they remained on this land. Why do you think he was so delighted when she died in the gorge? Even if he can’t have her this time, he will get her extension in this battle, especially now that Marlena is human and has the seed. The only question is whether he can get to and change Marlena’s mind before she does something stupid, she is ingrained with such hatred for the human condition that it may cost him his chance. He won’t be able to get her on this land and if they...” She stops abruptly. “It may be best if you both leave.”
Andrew stares at her. “You were just speaking about Mia and you know something that affects her. I think that before we leave you need to explain yourself, now.”
Reginald touches Amanda’s arm and his eyes become unfocused for a moment before he stares at me and I know he somehow saw exactly what she did. I have no doubt that she can see the future and it is not good, at least for Andrew and me. Reginald’s tone is very slow and deliberate. “She can’t tell you Andrew, it would be disastrous for you both. You have to let this unfold if you want any chance at all.” His desperate plea seeps through his façade confirming the other visions I saw when touching Amanda.
Amanda interjects. “I can tell you this, what I see does not involve something happening to your children. I believe that they will be strong. I wish I could be more help Andrew, but right now all I can see if I interfere at this juncture is disaster. I am truly sorry.”
As we leave, I hear Reginald questioning Amanda. “Is there any chance or will we lose them both?”
“I can’t say right now, it keeps shifting because the time line is not set. It was averted once already and then I thought when I first arrived, it would happen during the escape, but I’m just not sure now, you saw, the vision is too uncertain and the future too undecided. The sacrifice made is generally rewarded and with more than just this time, but she knows and will not allow one to suffer on her behalf, she will try to interfere. The wager will be made and although it will be fought in a short time, and certain things will not be allowed because of the initial sacrifice, I cannot see the outcome or the commencement.”
“I’ll be back. We have a lot to discuss.”
Andrew pulls me down the hall, and I hear Amanda’s door creek behind us. Reginald is at our side immediately. “Andrew I know you heard and if I’m right, Mia heard as well.”
“Reginald I know you saw what is going to happen and it involves Mia. If he is coming after her again, I won’t let him take her!”
“Andrew you cannot do anything to risk yourself.” I turn, intertwining our hands. “Please you can’t do anything that will take you away from here, from our children.”
Turning to Reginald, my tone reveals my anguish. “How many will be hurt trying to protect me?”
“It is not like that and he is not coming in the way that you think, he can’t, not this time. Trust me, it is not what you fear, but it may explain some of what is happening. I wish that I could go into it, but it would not help you now, it would only hurt you both. You just need to hold on to your love and remember that no matter what, the heart never lies!” His voice is full of emotion and he grips my free hand. His anxiety seeps through the rigidity in his touch revealing that he is afraid for me and what I will face. I have some indication from what I saw, but could my visions mean more, they were so unfocused and fuzzy, shifting, and only revealing what I now fear is a small part of what occurred and what is to come.
“I don’t understand.” My eyes search his knowing he cannot give me an answer, but hoping for some type of revelation.
His voice turns quiet, maybe in hopes of calming my racing pulse. “I know, but you said that your heart led you back to Andrew during your darkest time, don’t ever let go of that. Looks can be deceiving and the brain does not always register the truth.” Frustration wells within me. Reginald puts his hand upon my shoulder and I feel a strange surge then drain of power as he speaks. “It’s alright, Mia I know it is frustrating, but we are trying to help you and you have others who only wanted to help you too. You still have work to do here and we have so many answers still to find that I believe everything will work out.
Andrew interjects. “What did you do to her? I can hear the difference in her heartbeats.”
“I took back the power which I transferred to her. I didn’t realize that it was taxing her system until Amanda showed me.”
“What do you mean you transferred power to her?”
“When we were at the estate, I knew that my quest to find answers could be dangerous. I didn’t realize what I was going to find and if I died, I did not want certain powers to die with me. At the time, the power I transferred to her also worked in conjunction with your powers of healing to help her. She was not in danger I assure you, but Amanda did not like the way it was slowing her heart down and worried about complications in the long run.”
“How do you know this?”
“Amanda had the gift of sight even before she embraced her other powers. When we were children, she had the ability to share her visions with me. I need to get back in to her and you should go and see Catherine, Andrew, she needs your reassurance and support.” Turning on his heels, he reenters the suite.
Outside of our suite, Andrew pulls me into an embrace. “Are you going to be alright if I leave for a while?”
“I’ll be fine. I need to speak with Eva anyway.”
He kisses me gently before leaving.
Entering the suite, Eva is not there, but Jackson is sitting on the couch. “Is everything alright, you look worried?”
“Not really.”
“What happened when you spoke to Amanda?”
“Reginald was there. Jackson, we have trouble coming.” Realization as to what else they revealed to me hits like a wrecking ball and I’m glad to have a few minutes with Jackson alone.
“What kind of trouble?”
“Jackson, where’s Eva?”
“She just ran to our suite for a moment, she got a phone call and needed to grab a file.”
“Then I need to speak with you before I explain the trouble coming.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Amanda has the ability to see futures. She let Andrew and I know that there is something that is going to happen with us, but says that she cannot let us know what it is because it would interfere with our future and could lead to even more trouble.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to watch over Andrew and make sure that he doesn’t do anything foolish.”
“I don’t understand?”
“I’m not sure that I understand fully either or how much I can reveal but I fear what’s coming for me will separate us. I’m afraid of what Andrew may do when it happens. You need to promise me that you will keep him out of trouble and safe, please.” My hands are gripping his as I fall on my knees.
Pulling me back to my feet, his features fill with understanding, but his eyes reflect his fear. “I promise, but Mia you know that you and he are connected and if something happens to you, I fear for him.”
“I do too, but you have to do all you can to protect him and protect my family, that’s all that matters.”
“I promise.” He hugs me quickly and leads me to the couch. “What kind of trouble is coming?”
“William’s men are coming for Marlena and they will get her. Amanda seemed pretty confident that we would fail in our attempt to keep her. Considering where she is being housed...”
Eva walks in and seeing us, her facial features turn concerned. “What did I miss?”
“We have trouble coming for Marlena.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“At least five, maybe more very barbaric members of William’s coven, they are going to come for her and from what Amanda revealed, they will be suc
cessful in getting her.”
“If someone is coming for her, we need to move her away from the others to ensure no one gets hurt and that our patients do not see what is on the land. They will probably enjoy killing whoever is in their path and they won’t hide what they are. We don’t need that type of problem. Since everyone is up here, maybe we should concentrate on having them spread to the residency and have them move to the rooms in the recreation building on a semi-permanent basis. Then we can move down toward the school. If they come, at least they will be away from the main buildings.”
“Jackson rises. I’ll alert the others.”
Eva rises as well. “Can I talk to you a moment?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Eva, when you found me down in the gorge what really happened?”
My question catches her off guard and her eyes shift toward the floor. “Why are you bringing this up now?”
“Something happened that day and I need to know what it was. Amanda seemed to intimate that what happened that day will now affect my and Andrew’s future.”
A somber expression flits across her now resigned face and her tone turns thoughtful. “What did she say exactly?”
“It isn’t so much what she said, but what she seemed to be hiding. I thought I got a flash of something and I’m hoping I am wrong, but I need you to tell me what happened that day.”
“We found you there and you were dying, but we stabilized you enough so that between Andrew and the medical procedures, you healed.” I could hear the lie rip through her tone.
Concentrating on the vision, the picture begins to clear and reveals the truth. “You’re lying. I saw Michael there. You risked your future and sacrificed your immortality to save me, why?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Mia, please you were in very bad shape, I’m sure that what you think you saw was in your imagination.”
“Eva, it wasn’t in my imagination, it wasn’t what I thought happened during that time; it was what Amanda saw and tried to hide. You reached me first and were calling out to Michael for help. He finally came to you when you called out that you were willing to sacrifice your own existence for my life. He was so touched by your true willingness to give up your existence for your brother’s happiness that the two of you brokered a deal. If you met any type of trouble that could end a human life, other than natural causes, you would be extinguished. Why would you do that?”
Her eyes shoot around the room as if seeking divine intervention as to whether to tell me the truth. After what feels like hours, she takes my hands. “I did it for you and my brother. The day of our conversion, he risked everything to try and save me. Then when I found Jackson and sent him away to save him, he was the one with me as I suffered. He always watched out for us and tried to protect us. He saved my existence more times than I can count when we were fighting amongst ourselves and when others came to destroy us. I couldn’t allow him to suffer your loss, not when he had just found you. The thought of it was intolerable.”
“But you risked your own forever for us.”
“I would have done anything to give him time, to give you both time. You deserve to be together, it was not the time for your story to end, not before it even began. He deserved happiness and you deserved a life. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
“Eva, I need you to stay here. I’ll be back.”
“What are you going to do?”
“The only thing I can do. I’ll be back.”
She grabs my hand. “You can’t do whatever you are thinking. You have a family, a life here, you need to think about this and not do whatever is in your mind right now. It will be alright, I knew what I was doing and would do it again.”
I wrench my hand from her. “I love you, but I need to go.”
Running through the crisp night air and dense forest, I know I don’t have much time before Andrew returns and comes looking for me. Running as fast as I can to where this all began, I call out for Michael. “I know that you can hear me and I am begging you to please show yourself to me. Please this cannot end as I fear. Michael, she cannot die because of me! That is not right and you are all about what is right and just. You have always helped this family in the past and you know that they strive to do the right thing in return. I need to do the right thing now, please help me!” Closing my eyes, I hold on to the hope and continue my plea.
After several moments, I feel the light of his presence and open my eyes. Seeing the beautiful angel before me, I drop to my knees. “Thank you for coming.”
“I do not have much time. The sacrifice that was made for you was of one pure of heart who wanted to give you and her brother the life she had always hoped for him.”
“I understand that, but it cannot be bought upon her life. I know what she wanted and I thank you for the time, but she cannot sacrifice herself for me. Andrew will always have the best part of our love, he will have our children. When the time comes for her to pay for this gift I am begging you to take me instead and let her immortality be restored. That is the way it should be and you know it! Please allow me to take her place, the place where I should be anyway. I am begging you. You know that it is what is right and proper, please do not take Eva’s life, you need to take mine.” Taking in a deep breath, I can’t help but wonder if in trading my existence, it will be for eternity within the fires of his realm, the realm which haunted my nightmares for years after being bewitched. Shaking my head, it doesn’t matter, I will take whatever comes. Leaning back on my heels, “I am ready to join the fight on your plane or the fires in his.”
He smiles and his face glows, calming my anxiety. “Mia, I don’t need to take anyone’s life.” Although it is admirable that you would be willing to go there, that is not how it works, especially when the sacrifice is made pure of heart.
“I don’t understand.”
“I can see that you are willing to take her place freely and openly despite what you fear and what you will lose. Because of what both of you are willing to sacrifice for the other, your eternity will be here, but you will have no recollection of your children or of Andrew, it will be a very different life. You will not have the benefit of the powers which you now possess or the knowledge of what is waiting to come for you. He will try again. You will be vulnerable and can be influenced. Remember, you have made quite a few enemies in his world. Although he himself will not be able to come for you at this juncture because of your willing sacrifice, there are others who will be all too happy to turn you and make you his to gain power in his underworld. You are what he desires and anyone who is successful in turning you will be well rewarded by him for their efforts.”
“I am ready, but please may I ask just one more question?”
“You may.”
“Will my children and Andrew still be here or will my children disappear because of this?”
“No your children will be fine. They will still exist. This choice does not erase the past, it changes only the future. In their memories, you will have died, but there future will still be tied here and to those you have surrounded them with. They will continue to grow up with the love and support of those around them and those to come.”
“Thank you.” Tears of relief escape over my lids. “I’m ready now. Thank you.”
“Tomorrow, Mia. In order for you to trade places with Eva, you must stop Edmund from staking and burning her when they come for Marlena. Also, you are to tell no one of this or that you are leaving.”
Panic fills my heart and I interrupt him. “I have already made a mistake.”
He holds his hand up. “You had no confirmation of your fears when you voiced them to Jackson so don’t worry about that. You must go now, Andrew is almost done with Catherine and you must be back before he returns.”
“Thank you.” Thankfully only Eva is in the suite when I arrive, she is pacing wildly, distress ripping through her normally serene facade.
“What did you do?” She grabs my hands.
Running back, I had already fixed my features into an unwavering mask. “I couldn’t do anything. No one would respond to my plea.” Wrapping my arms around her, “I love you.”
Her telephone rings and as she departs I enter the children’s room. They are sleeping with the most angelic looks on their faces. I sit by each one, whispering in their ears, hoping that subconsciously they register my utterance so that it will always be with them. “Never forget how much I love you, how proud I am of you, and how strong you are becoming. Be happy, you are surrounded by love and I will love you always.”
I hear Andrew gently clear his throat in the archway and I don my mask once more, despite the raging emotions in my heart. Turning, his perfect features reflect the wonderful life we share and the time that I am so grateful for. Although it is ending, I am truly blessed to have shared this unbelievable love that will forever touch my soul, no matter what tomorrow brings. Moving closer and wrapping my arms around him, I pull him into an embrace. “How is Catherine?”
“She’s doing better. Did Jacob wake up with a nightmare again?”
“No. Why?”
“I heard you whispering and thought you may have been trying to help him go back to sleep.”
Placing my head on his chest so as not to risk him seeing through my mask, I lie to him for the first time since we met. “I saw him stirring and thought it may help.”
“Have you eaten anything?” He puts his hand under my chin forcing my face to meet his.
“I’m all set. What I would like to do though...” Slowly backing away, I intertwine our hands and walk into our room. If I only have tonight, I want to leave him with a memory of how much I love him and will always love him. Backing him into our bed, I sit beside him. As he turns to me, I kiss his glorious lips tenderly and run my fingers across his cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Mia, are you sure that everything is alright? I heard what you said to Jacob and it sounded more like a goodbye than comforting. Are you afraid because of what Amanda said?”
