by S. C. Lewis
“I know, Nathan, I love you, too,” she answered in a whimper. A wave of energy shot through me, a feeling of complete peace and pleasure coursed like the blood flowing throughout my moving body.
“Sophia!” I quavered, biting at my lips.
The pain submerging inside me became one with the feeling, one with the pleasure.
“Yes, Nathan, that is the Lady Sophia,” Ramiel’s voice again said. The past returned to haunt me one more time.
“Remember what I told you?” Ramiel said.
“I don’t believe it,” I whispered. I couldn’t believe how beautiful she was. I immediately fell.
“You must. It’s your destiny,” Ramiel angrily snapped back.
It’s your destiny.
Had I ever accepted his destiny?
A passion of emotion shot within me and I felt the ecstasy overcome me. Sophia quivered beneath me, and after a while, she was silent. I kissed her neck, lying in her arms, unable to move. Sophia’s naked body curled beside me, and she fell asleep in my arms.
For a moment, I lay listening to the silence perhaps wondering if Seth or Ramiel would enter and force me away. After a moment of waiting, nothing happened. The only thing I could hear was Sophia’s breathing as she lay beside me. I couldn’t sleep and rose instead, glancing back at Sophia before struggling across the room, half undressed. I pulled at the white robe from the closet door and stumbled into the small bathroom at the other end of the room. I had made up my mind. I would fight this. I would fight for Sophia. I would tell her and leave with her, tonight when no one was looking.
I’d asked the others to join us, perhaps Eric could make the necessary arrangements so we could all leave. We could sneak away with the money I had saved. I was no fool; I had planned my own escape for some time now fearing Ramiel’s change in tone. I was glad I had listened to that inner voice.
We could use that to survive until we could get on our feet. It was more than enough. I would go to Europe, perhaps visit Paris. Perhaps the vamps had friends in the area. Eric had lived in London before, and wasn’t Santiago originally from Spain? It didn’t matter; we would go far away to protect Sophia from Ramiel and Seth. I knew the vamps would help me. We would hide out, change our names if we had to.
I grabbed at my stomach. The pain was unbearable. How much more could I endure? Doubt began to sink in. Could I truly escape this? Would I make it out alive? What control did Ramiel have over me?
I bent over the sink and splashed some cold water over my face, looking at my reflection in the mirror. I had to protect Sophia, that’s all I knew. I had to save her from this disgusting situation, that’s all that kept going through my mind.
This can’t be right. None of it.
“You’re not my father!” Then who was I? What was all this?
It was time to take action.
I lowered my head, gripping the sink, and then glanced in the bathroom mirror at Sophia’s figure on the bed. She stirred, but didn’t wake. How could I tell her the truth, that we had been brought together by a force that now wanted to pull us apart? I was a dead man waking up from a dream I couldn’t let go of. A dream that wasn’t mine. I couldn’t believe it myself, but I knew it was true.
In fact, I believed we had been part of something much greater, something of which we had no real understanding. Something we had never been aware of, until now. However, I still couldn’t completely understand. Perhaps there was no sense understanding it, no point now.
I looked at my reflection in the mirror and began to cry. My tears could not save her. I stared at my image. At a second glance, I saw a blur race across the mirror. I looked again, but found my own reflection staring back at me. I turned from the mirror to grab the towel on the rack, when I was confronted by a figure. The image of a man with long, white hair stood blocking my path. I stumbled back as the stranger stared right into my awestruck eyes. Who was he?
I heard the voice again as I felt the pain growing inside me. The stranger lifted a hand to my face and touched my forehead. Immediately, I felt light-headed. A swarm of voices yammered. It sounded like the wails and wheels on a carousal, along with screaming children running down streets storming inside my head. I saw an endless vision of a dark place expanding over the horizon. A realm was now revealed beckoning me forward.
Eerie music grew and became louder, and a shapelessly, distorted face showed me a place with old buildings once resembling large cities that now lay in ruins. On the horizon, an unseen band played a church organ melody; it was a theme that haunted the deserted roads and buildings of this spooky place. Just in the distance, there was a circus, strangely inviting, it looked like Hell had come alive.
Images of children playing and running into the circus and in the ruins of a playground materialized and disappeared into the dark cobwebbed tunnels of an oblique maze. Even their innocence was distorted. Beneath a rusted path of tiny holes- like hollow eyes sockets- and gaps revealed darkness and fire, suspended over an abyss. The carousel horses, once plastic were now made of wood. The fading paint had been eaten away by time.
Here, the rivers were made of waste; blood dripped from the bright red roses, and no birds perched on the branches of the dying, leafless trees. Large vultures and bats flew around in a darkly macabre overcast crimson sky.
29
The apple has been rotting
Amael
My name is Amael. I remembered, did he? I lifted my head, staring at the reflection of myself in the mirror. I touched my face, looking over my features in complete wonder. Had this been my face all along? There was a smile upon this face. How different it appeared, but this was me. I looked over at my hands; they had been foreign to me. I turned sideways, the grin on my face softened when I caught a sight of her figure upon the bed. I turned hurrying out, balancing on the walls when I lost my step, then on the frame of the bed.
Walking seemed to be new to me, foreign like the smile on my face, like these large black eyes and this thin, body. However, I managed to stumble to her side and took a seat on the bed. She was lovely, how I missed her… her touch, her scent, her warmth.
I reached over and touched her face; Sophia slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me with a smile. I bent over and kissed her, longing to touch her.
“Come to bed, Nathan. Hold me,” she whispered, before closing her eyes.
She saw no one else but Nathan. She didn’t know my true name.
I nodded and rose clumsily to remove the robe. But stopped, and for a moment watched her sleeping and wondered if she could feel me now better than before. She hadn’t given me any indication this was true; perhaps it was too soon to tell. I had to wear the body, connect with the flesh. Then she would see me.
“I’m here,” I whispered, but Sophia didn’t move; she just lay still, fast asleep.
I felt like a fool. Had I hoped she’d jump in my arms, delight in my coming? I had hoped for a more romantic reunion.
It would not be easy. I wanted to wake her, explain to her who I was, but I knew that would be pointless. She had to see for herself. She had to feel me, come on me. She had to find me on her own. When she was ready, she would know. Until then, I would be here, waiting for her. Waiting and protecting her from the danger of which she was as yet unaware. Wasn’t she?
I pulled the covers away, and then froze. Even in this body, some of my senses were familiar and I could still feel the presence of another, of my enemy.
I fastened the straps of the robe around my waist and moved towards the door, almost entranced by the sense of someone approaching. I glanced back at Sophia before I reached for the doorknob; then, I walked out into the open passageway, which was dark and deserted. I’d never feared the dark; it had always been my friend. I moved down the passage, feeling uneasy by the shadows and shapes cast by the lights at the other end.
I came to the end of the passage and looked down and over the rails, moving underneath the arch. I continued, now descending the stairs one-by-one. I could get use
d to this body; though it was small, I would manage. Its growth would follow in time, and I would change it to better suit me. However, I would wait until my being occupied every single space of the skin. Until it became attached, and it would with time.
I stopped at the end of the steps, still unable to find what I was looking for. My powers and abilities were easily lost in this new form. With time, I would regain control. I continued down another flight of stairs; below was the oval office, the door of which laid wide open. I stopped at the bottom, took a step or two towards the entrance, and sneaked a look. No one was there; I was alone. I came closer, touched the wall, and examined the interior and its mirrored glass window. I moved away from the entrance, stepped over the edge of the grand staircase, and looked down at the bottom.
An unidentified presence seemed to hover nearby, close to me. Why couldn’t I identify its source?
The presence seemed to vanish, and I examined the interior of the Cathedral for any signs of it, but I saw nothing, nor did I feel it. I wanted to return to Sophia. I would rather be with her and lose all my abilities than to be alone and powerful.
I moved away, but a cold breeze brushed the back of my neck, like a hand moving down behind my shoulder. It seemed to knock into me and shove me forward.
I spun around, trying to balance myself. I still hadn’t gotten hold of the body’s legs. Yet I moved, reaching out, I found Seth standing and blocking the path behind me.
The youth grabbed me by the collar, lifting me. We face each other. I was powerless, my body was like a porcelain doll in Seth’s hands. I attempted to take flight, only to realize my human body would not allow me to escape.
“It’s time to die, old man! Don’t worry about Sophia—I’ll take good care of her!”
Had he known? Did he know Nathan was inhabited by the figure that stood before him? I had saved Nathan the agony of this diminished and cruel death, yet as one, we would share the end together.
Seth shoved me with one quick push, letting me fall back. I tried to reach out, but failed to grip Seth’s arm. I tumbled backwards, unable to hold onto anything, hitting the steps headfirst, cracking my skull at the first bounce. One-by-one, I bounced on each step, rolling back, snapping my collarbone in two places, and finally landing at the bottom of the stairs, where I couldn’t move. Surely Nathan wouldn’t have survived such a fall.
Upon the body of Nathan’s last breath, I moved through it, aching to escape before death had me again. I streamed out of the mouth, and as Nathan’s breath elapsed, I heard the last beat of the heart behind me, then it finally stopped, and this body was dead.
I saw Seth standing at the top of the staircase, slowly moving back, swallowed by the darkness, concealed in what he had once known. The shadows now protected him. I only saw his image one last time before I was forced to flee, defeated once again.
30
The Reality
Sophia
I opened my eyes and looked around the room, spotting a figure walking up to the bed. He kneeled along the side of the bed near me. I turned the light of the lamp on, and noticed it was Nathan. He seemed to be sobbing.
“Nathan, what’s wrong?” I asked, sitting on the bed a few steps from him.
Nathan stared up at me with a difficult attempt of a smile on his face.
“I love you, Sophia. I always have. You know that,” he began to say.
I didn’t like the sound of his tone.
“Yes, of course I do,” I said nervously.
“But I failed you. I let him come between us. I’m sorry…”
“Nathan, what do you mean? I don’t understand. Who? No one’s come between us. Please, tell me my love, I don’t understand.”
“I knew, and yet I did nothing. I couldn’t, you see. I’m sorry. I thought you would have…. I thought you would have known…. But you didn’t, and then he came. I don’t want to lose you, but he took the chance from me.”
Nathan dropped his face into his hands. I didn’t understand who he was talking about. No one could ever take me away from him and I wanted him to know it. I dropped from the bed to his side and reached to touch him, but I couldn’t feel him. It was as though he wasn’t there. But he was; I could see him. I gasped, pulling back.
I wasn’t scared; I didn’t understand what was happening to him.
“Nathan?”
Nathan lifted his face and reached out to me. I moved to take his hand, but in that moment his image faded, and he was gone. All I could hear was his voice, softly and gently weeping and fading around me.
“Forgive me, Sophia.”
“Nathan?”
I awakened and sat up on my bed. I’d been dreaming but why did it feel so real?
I looked around the room, and jumped out of the bed. Somehow, I felt doubtful. I rushed to the bathroom, throwing the door open and looked inside, but it was empty. I began to sob, doubt burned inside and grew.
“No, it couldn’t be…Nathan!” I called out, looking here and there for signs of my husband. I feared the worst. I sensed it in my very core. I screamed and rushed to the door, and then raced down the passageway, hoping to see Nathan foolishly standing by the rails, looking back as he had many times before.
“Nathan!” I cried again; the walls echoed with my voice.
I couldn’t stop crying; the feelings were overwhelming. All I wanted was to see him, to scold him for frightening me. I could feel his arms around me. I could see his smile penetrating the pale, smooth skin of his face. All I wanted was to hold him once more.
What could the dream mean? Had it been a dream? I couldn’t be sure anymore. My dreams, my reality were growing into one unknown world. I didn’t want to believe it, none of it. I didn’t want to believe something bad had happened to Nathan. Yet, the feeling was there, and I couldn’t shake it.
“Nathan, please be alright! Please!” I stumbled forward practically leaping down the flight of stairs to the second level, and swiftly stood steps away from the entrance of the oval office, staring in.
Flashes of Nathan’s face, images of his times with me crept into my mind, twisting me so horribly I shook them away.
I stopped. His smile in my mind found me as well as the taste of his kiss on my mouth. His scent was on my hair.
“Nathan!” I screamed; my eyes bulged, my hands trembled, as a cry was torn from my lips again, twice as loud.
I dropped to my knees, spotting Nathan’s body at the bottom of the grand staircase, lying still and in a spreading pool of blood.
“NOOOOOOOO!”
I rose with difficulty to my feet, balancing myself on the stair rails and hurried to the bottom. I kneeled by his side. I took his head in my arms and began to cradle him, hoping I could revive him, but as much as I wanted to deny it, I knew it was too late.
“Please, darling! Please, be all right!”
My cries brought the others to my side. The vamps found me by Nathan’s side, weeping. Eric came over and kneeled beside me trying to pull me away. I resisted at first, then fell into his arms, a weeping mess. The others dropped to their knees, some sobbing, and some praying.
“This can’t be!”
31
A death in the family
Eric
“Someone call an ambulance!” I pleaded, trying to be brave for Sophia.
No one moved at first.
“Go! Now! Get some help, damn it!”
Angelo and Damon scattered to their feet, racing to the oval office to make the call.
“Please, tell me he’s not dead, Eric! Please, tell me he’ll be okay!” she begged me.
However, I knew better and could do nothing else but shake my head, and hold her in my arms. I couldn’t stop thinking of what I had heard. I had to tell Sophia about Nathan’s confrontation with Seth and Ramiel. I wondered if they had something to do with Nathan’s death.
I didn’t want to think about it. However, the thought wouldn’t leave my mind. I feared for Sophia, now more than ever.
I pulled S
ophia to her feet, and away from Nathan’s lifeless body. In the distance, I could hear the sirens drawing near. The place would be crawling with medics and perhaps a few policemen taking statements, then everyone would leave, and it would be quiet again, but it would not change anything.
Nathan would still be dead.
Sophia’s eyes flickered before she lost consciousness and collapsed in my arms. I lifted Sophia; my lips touched her soft mouth when I cradled her close against my body, feeling her helpless in my embrace.
Santiago and Valentino jealously observed me, lifting their gazes off the floor away from the mangled body of Nathan. I could almost sense what they were thinking; Sophia was now completely alone, and utterly helpless.
Sophia’s lips kissed my ear softly in a whisper; then she nestled close to me, wrapping her arms around me as she sobbed again.
“Will you stay with me, Eric?”
“I shall not leave your side, my dear.”
Damien and Riccardo came to my side and followed me up the flight of stairs as I carried Sophia in my arms to the second floor and into the oval office. Entering, I lay her on the leather sofa. The Elders entered, along with the others. Damon and Angelo were near the desk. Angelo hung up the phone as I kneeled in front of Sophia.
“They’re on their way.”
“I wish they’d hurry!” Riccardo mumbled sadly and nestled near Damien.
Damien held Riccardo closely, ruffling the black hair on his head softly like a nurturing mother. Damon stepped over to his companion and put his arm around her and Riccardo, holding them closely.
“It’s gonna all be fine,” I tried to assure them, but I wasn’t sure myself anymore.
Damien looked up at her companion, doubtfully, as she broke into silent sobbing. I rose, sighing and very much troubled at what I had to revealed.