by Max Andren
The vision showed Júlia in a hospital and laboring. The nurses were asking her questions about having any family nearby. She replied that she was recently widowed. I could feel the empathy from the nurses who were by her side. The joyous moment was weighted in sorrow and they all felt it.
Tears of pain and grief glistened on Júlia’s pale cheeks and caught strands of her blonde hair. One of the nurses, Caitlyn I heard her called, turned away to wipe her eyes, clearly touched by the young woman’s grief and wanting to hide it from the others.
“Come on now, lovey,” Caitlyn said to Júlia, “You’ve got ta push your wee one oot.”
The nurses helped to deliver Júlia and Kristóf’s child—a baby girl. Once washed and swaddled, they handed her over to Júlia. The love she had for her daughter filled the room and the nurses glowed with the abundance, though Júlia remained pale.
She knew what was coming and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The inevitable end was near. Her death.
She held her daughter cradled in her arms and nestled right next to her heart—constantly touching her and stroking her pink cheeks. She kissed each of her fingers and counted all ten of her toes.
It was beautiful to see and heartbreaking to watch. Tears slid down my cheeks at the poignant moment and for once, I didn’t suppress the overwhelming emotions. I looked over to Sterling, who was likewise affected, though his eyes were closed concentrating on the scene, tears flowed unchecked in a river of sorrow.
I didn’t need to look at Dreah to feel her sorrow. We were all captured within this heart-wrenching scene, knowing without a doubt, how it would all end, yet helpless to change the outcome…
“Our beloved child, we have wanted you for so long. We never thought to conceive, though we prayed for you every day. Your father loved you so much, little one. Oh, he would have loved to see you in person—to hold you close to his heart. I know he can see you from the other side and feel how strong you are.
“I can’t bear to leave you…but I know…I know that I will and soon,” Júlia told her daughter.
Her emotions caused her breath to hitch, just as they did mine. Not wanting to intrude, Violet sent gentle waves of warmth from where she lay inked on my skin, it was her way of sending comfort as I watched the mother and daughter…
“Be happy, my daughter. One of the nurses will adopt you, the seed has already been planted. You will be well loved, I know it. She’s longed for a child, but was not blessed with one of her own, so I will give her my most treasured gift—you. She has a beautiful aura that glows with love and a healing spirit.”
Her daughter was starting to cry and fuss, sensing her mother’s distress.
“Be strong, beautiful.”
Caitlyn came over to ask Júlia if she was feeling okay. Júlia shook her head, without answering, but the answer was clear. She was rapidly losing color. She placed her daughter to her breast.
“Before I go, baby girl…you…you must drink of my essence as you drink from my breast. I will give you all that I am and…as I do…I will tell you about your name.
“We chose your name deliberately for its meaning—beloved child. That is what you are to us. I wish I could be here to remind you just how cherished you are, but you will have my essence running through your soul. I will give you every ounce as I fade…that way, I will…I will always be within you.”
She whispered furtively to her daughter of her love and of her regret. She knew her time had come. I could see the vibrance of her aura diminishing as she began the transition to the other side to join her mate, Kristóf…
“Drink of my essence. Take in all that I am, so that you may live eternally and fulfill your destiny. Remember that we loved you…fiercely and without reserve.”
“I love you…Mia.”
I quickly wove the strongest musical shield I’d ever created. I couldn’t allow Sterling to know what that name meant to me.
Oh God!
Dreah knew and understood. I could hardly catch my breath for the tears that threatened to choke me as they poured down my throat. But the pain wasn’t over yet.
12
I watched helplessly as Júlia, my beautiful mother, transferred every bit of her dragon essence to me before she faded to the other side. I didn’t even know that was possible…
The nurses took me from her arms so they could attempt to save her life, but it was futile. She was dragon, they just didn’t know that. The infant that I’d been was crying inconsolably and so was I, though only the infant-me could give free reign to the devastating emotions—empathic, even then.
Caitlyn held me in her arms offering comfort, words of love, and stability with the future she had planned out. Caitlyn doted upon the infant me waiting for the day that she could adopt me. The hospital dictated a waiting period of six months to allow for family to come forward. I was placed in an orphanage of sorts that was attached to the hospital.
Everything was going as planned, until Dr. Hanley saw me on his walk through the hospital as a visiting physician. He felt the current of my true self and manipulated the normals into getting what he wanted—me!
Hanley and Hulbetto were responsible for destroying what should have been my life. They killed my parents and took me from the woman my mother chose to raise me.
They gave me to Sebastian and Helena, who ultimately hated me for what I became—imperfect. They threw me away when I was eight years-old, and incarcerated in Hanley’s asylum for not being their perfect little Snow White.
Hanley carved into my skin, then stole and imprisoned a portion of my essence in Hulbetto’s Amulet of the Dead and allowed me to die from malicious neglect!
My shield was fortified and impenetrable by everyone except Violet, as she was still resting against my skin. I would have blocked her if I could, or asked her to shift, but she couldn’t right now, not in front of Dreah and Sterling.
I let go of Dreah’s hand when the vision ended, just as Helena was carrying me away from the hospital. In the background, I could feel the confusion and sadness from Caitlyn, another victim to the drampires diabolic machinations.
I didn’t know how to deal with the revelation that I had been loved. I had been valued. I had been wanted. As a result, I didn’t dare move or speak, I was far too raw and yet, I was consumed by hate and rage.
“I need to find the people who took baby Mia from that hospital in Scotland. I sensed Hulbetto was involved and the doctor, too,” Sterling commented, “but she could be anywhere.”
Dreah answered him, because words were beyond me, and, with my shield up, I had no idea the state of his emotions. He was difficult to read even when I was wide open, but the tenor of his words conveyed his agitation.
“Dr. Hanley was his apprentice. They are both dead now. We don’t know who that couple was or where they could be with Mia. If I have another vision, I will let you know,” Dreah told him, and then turned to look at me, adding, “both of you.”
“I have to find her. It’s imperative,” Sterling said, shoving his hand through his dark hair.
“Why…” I tried to ask, but croaked instead. I cleared my throat several times to get my husky voice working again.
“Why is it imperative, Sterling? Perhaps Mia is happy in her new home,” I replied, my voice huskier than normal, as I barely hid my emotions from coloring my words.
“I realize she is an adult now and doesn’t need parents to raise her. But as the daughter of our leaders, the clan leadership would fall to her and her sibling.”
I had avoided looking at Sterling until that moment, “Mia has a sibling?”
“Yes, she does,” he said, then paused. in reflection and debate.
I understood all too well the need to protect coveted information such as this. I was doing the same. But, I wanted to know who this sibling was and where they were, more than he could possibly understand.
“Together, Mia and her sibling would share responsibility for the leadership of their parents’ clan. Her brother
has been doing it alone while the clan searched for answers to where Kristóf and Júlia were located. We knew they had moved on to the other side, but not how. I’d hoped there might be a child, given the delay I felt between the death of Kristóf and Júlia.”
“Isn’t it unusual that you felt their deaths so acutely?” I asked.
“As a child, Júlia saved my life with the healing of her dragon essence. In that moment, she became a mother to me and I loved her as a son would love his mother. She was such a selfless soul and transformed my father’s life when they mated.”
I couldn’t contain the gasp that escaped my mouth. I had a brother and his name was Sterling.
“I have to go,” I said desperately.
Leaning forward, I kissed Dreah gently on the forehead and told her to get some rest.
“Reach out to Cipriano, would you? Let him know that you’re okay and that I had to run an errand.”
“I will, Charani, but you do realize it’s the middle of the night, don’t you? Can you go in the morning?”
“No, I have to go now.”
I nodded to Sterling to follow me out of Dreah’s room. As we left, I heard Dreah call out, “I love you, Charani. Be well.”
She was the daughter of my heart. I understood exactly what Sterling was saying in regards to his bond with Júlia. I had the same with Dreah.
“I’ll chat with you tomorrow,” I said abruptly.
I turned and ran down the stairs and out the front door, still wearing my robe. By allowing my emotions to overrule my head, I completely ignored one of the most sacred tenets of safety and self-preservation, be cognizant of your surroundings.
13
As soon as I cleared the front door, I rapidly shifted to shadow and just as quickly, shifted into my dragon. I fled the estate, like the hounds of hell were chasing me.
I had no destination chosen, just away from the demons clawing at my mind. Running proved futile, just as I knew it would. I couldn’t escape my mind nor the implications screaming at me.
Sterling was my brother!
How do I reset my way of thinking? How would I adjust to this new reality versus the reality I’d come to believe? Everything I knew about myself—who I was and where I’d come from—had been false. As a result, I could feel the stability of my foundation crumbling beneath me.
I kept flying away. That’s all I wanted—to be away from everyone and everything.
There were numerous caves around the estate and throughout Missouri, so I headed for one that I frequented all too often. It was hidden away from normals, but accessible to me, which made it the perfect hideaway.
When my demons became too vocal to contain, I’d escape here to be alone. I wouldn’t allow my problems to stress the family, besides I preferred to fight my demons alone. Once I beat the voices back into temporary submission, only then would I allow myself to return to the estate.
My demons and I had a love-hate relationship.
They loved to torment me and I hated the hold they had over my mind and my emotions. They loved to attack me when I was asleep and in the dreaming. They would remind me and quite vocally, how I was worthless and then illustrate that fact with vignettes I had to relive from my time in the asylum dungeon.
Good times!
Once I arrived at the cave, I shifted seamlessly from dragon to human and sat on a rock that flanked the secluded entrance to my cave. The estate was located miles away to the west. I’d created a home there—a surrogate family. What would this new information mean for them? For us?
The vision of my father, Kristóf, fighting for his life against Hulbetto and with the same apprentice who had tried to kill me, kept playing through my mind.
He’d tried to shift repeatedly, but his injuries had made the transition impossible. He was denied the well of his dragon essence where all the magic originated.
Most dragons lived for a very long time, centuries even, and some were immortal, like Phoenix Dragons. A mortally injured dragon could not survive without intervention, even if they were immortal. Kristóf might have survived if a dragon with healing abilities had been nearby.
However, no dragon could survive an arrow shot through the heart, especially one made with Damascus steel. There would be no coming back from that, no matter what.
It wasn’t fair that we had this weakness. What was the drampires’ weakness, besides their mortality, which they’d managed to circumvent? There had to be something and I would find it.
I vowed here and now, that I would find Hulbetto’s apprentice and kill him. He would pay for all the grief and pain he had caused me and my family. Not only was he responsible for killing my father and therefore, my mother, he had stolen Aiden, still trapped within the Sword of Dramascus, when he ran from the warehouse.
Hulbetto was dead. Dr. Hanley was dead. The apprentice would be next.
Death, pain, loss, grief, and rage threatened to tear me apart. Visions of my birth and my mother’s death left me emotionally defenseless. I’d just lost both of my parents today and the weight of that grief was suffocating.
I couldn’t help but feel responsible for my mother’s death or at least for the fact that her joining my father on the other side, had been delayed. I couldn’t imagine how she must have felt knowing that her death was inevitable and there was no way for it to be averted.
Was she in a constant state of emotional warfare? Anticipation and dread fighting for supremacy within her heart? Was she anticipating the moment she would transition to the other side to be with her mate, my father? Was she dreading the moment she would deliver her daughter and take her last breath, leaving her daughter defenseless?
No matter how I tried to analyze what I’d seen or how I tried to put a positive spin on it—I couldn’t. Nothing good had come from what I’d learned.
I gained a brother, that was a positive, I think.
Kristóf and Júlia’s love had been tangible within Dreah’s vision and it continued to echo through me—enveloping me with its resonance. Sebastian and Helena had been connected in a similar way and despite being normals, they behaved as if they were mated dragons.
Thinking about my adoptive parents elicited mixed feelings. I saw the love that Helena had for me in Dreah’s vision when Hanley handed me over to her. I’d heard the story of my adoption hundreds of times, but watching it within Dreah’s vision gave the moment added depth and perspective.
My cheeks and lips really had been chapped red, just like she’d always told me. My black hair was wild and standing straight up and my blue eyes were wide with fear, but when I saw Helena, I’d practically jumped into her arms…
“We shall name you, Sarah. It means princess and you, my darling, will be ours, and with your blue eyes and black hair, you’ll be our little Snow White.”
I would be many things in my life, but I’d never be a princess and I was only their Snow White until that fateful night. That’s when everything changed and the world as I knew it had ceased to exist.
I’ve tried to capture the remnants of that love, but it was overshadowed by their shame. I wondered where they were now and how they were. They believed I died in a fire at the asylum.
Would the lens of time grant them a different perspective of me? Would they ever remember me with fondness, if not with love?
“I’m sure they loved you, My Lady. Perhaps they love you still and mourn your death,” Violet said, as she shifted off my skin to sit upon my knee.
She didn’t look at me, but looked out over the view. We had been together long enough, that she knew exactly what I needed and when. No one knew of her existence except Cipriano, who had been there the day I’d found her. She wanted privacy, which I completely understood and therefore, respected her wishes.
Her long tricolored hair was hanging down her back and between her beautiful wings. Shifting had caused random strands of her hair to become tangled with her wings, so she flapped them with an impatient huff when the strands didn’t settle perfectly into place.
Though laughing at her pique, I reached forward to straighten the wayward locks of her hair.
“You’re a mess, Violet!”
She looked over her shoulder at me, her purple eyes conveying her thoughts to perfection. I shook my head and laughed.
Pot and kettle.
“My Lady?”
“Yes?”
“I think it wonderful that you now have a brother. A real brother, Charani. You’ve chosen each member of your surrogate family, of which I’m a part of—thank you very much,” she said with a nod of her head. “There are several brothers in that family now, but Sterling has no family, only you, and he doesn’t even know that yet.”
Violet had a way of breaking things down to the simplest of terms.
“You’re right, but before I address the issue of my brother, I think I’ll mourn Kristóf and Júlia in private for a little while longer. It’ll be our secret for now,” I told her.
I had come to love and appreciate my little faery. Violet had become a close friend to me, like Isabella and Dreah. They were the sisters of my heart.
Violet rarely shifted off my skin, preferring to rest there. When I asked her why, the answer she gave was just vague enough to be a non-answer, which was okay. I didn’t need to understand, as long as she was happy.
Her demons rode her hard, just as mine did. We both carried internal scars that continued to affect how we interacted with the world around us, like Violet hiding as vibrant ink upon my skin, instead of moving on.
The past would always and forever impact the future. The question was whether Violet and I would allow that past to blind us to the present and deny us our future. Would we always remain a slave to our demons?
