For a moment Vincent thought he would go mad with the desire that was sweeping through him like a tidal wave. However, when he looked deeply into Catherine’s eyes, so full of trusting love, he finally realized that his fear of losing control was unwarranted. Catherine’s gentle hand was holding the Beast’s leash, and that was all he needed. For the first time, Vincent allowed himself to savor the anticipation of expressing their passionate love for each other by becoming one, both body and soul, with his beautiful Catherine.
Catherine whispered breathlessly, “Make love to me, Vincent.”
Whenever Vincent spoke her name it was like a gentle caress, and he breathed it now. “Catherine!” He took her in his arms, covered her lips with his, picked her up, and carried her to his bed.
Hours later, as Vincent held Catherine curled up against him, he basked in the warm afterglow of their love-making. The realization of their dream of being with one another in marriage was more heavenly than he had ever imagined it would be. Life was so sweet!
Catherine propped herself up on her elbow, looked into Vincent’s eyes, and sighed happily as she picked up one of his hands. “See? I told you that these hands of yours are beautiful! Your gentle caresses take my breath away. I am so happy, Vincent! How do you feel now?”
Vincent smiled tenderly at her. “There truly are no words.”
Catherine giggled softly at him. “Try one!”
Vincent looked at her for a long moment, and then he said, “Complete—ours is a wondrous completed symphony now, composed by love, and beyond mortal description.” Vincent paused and then asked, “How can anyone treat such a beautiful expression of love casually or sell it?
They can’t have any idea what they are cheating themselves out of by doing that!”
Catherine nodded, “You are right, they can’t. I’m just thankful that I waited for you and that you found me!”
She laid her head on Vincent’s fur-covered muscular chest and heard a low, soothing rumble. She lifted her head again and giggled with delight. “Vincent, you’re purring!” Vincent smiled at her. “It seemed appropriate. Do you want me to stop?”
Catherine’s eyes were twinkling, “No! I love that
sound. It is so wonderfully comforting. I could go to sleep to that.”
Vincent stroked her cheek. “Then by all means sleep, Catherine Love.” She laid her head back on his chest, cradled in the safety of his arm, and soon he felt her relax as she drifted off to sleep.
For a few all-too-short weeks they were blissfully happy and had settled into what was supposed to be a temporary routine. Catherine lived her life above in her apartment during the week as she continued to work on cases she couldn’t abandon, and Vincent lived below. On the weekends, she would come below with the little velvet bag of wedding rings, and they would enjoy living together as man and wife in Vincent’s world. Those precious moments spent with one another were always like a dream to both of them.
Then their world came crashing down and shattered. Paracelsus had been monitoring the pipe communication in Father’s world, and he had been made aware of Vincent’s happy union with Catherine. He decided that it was time to bring Father’s world to its knees by destroying Vincent.
Paracelsus was determined to bring Vincent’s Beast to the surface and keep him there. In his twisted mind, that would make Vincent his own son and not Father’s. Paracelsus had a follower who was highly skilled at creating vinyl face masks of those Paracelsus wished to impersonate. Paracelsus could also reproduce the voices of others by altering his own. He used this talent to carry out his evil plan.
By impersonating Elliott Burch, Paracelsus convinced an ambitious newspaper reporter by the name of Bernie Spirko to be conveniently on hand to snap pictures of Vincent rescuing Catherine from vicious attacks by murderous assailants whom Paracelsus had hired. Paracelsus knew full well that he was sending those men to their deaths, and that was part of his plan. Paracelsus had hoped that Vincent would be unable to control the Beast awakened by the danger Catherine was in, and he would go on to kill Bernie Spirko when he realized that the reporter was taking pictures of the events.
Paracelsus’ agenda included provoking Vincent into killing an innocent person in the wake of killing Catherine’s assailants. That plan failed when Vincent was able to stop himself, and so Paracelsus killed Bernie Spirko himself. Paracelsus didn’t want Father’s world exposed to the public by the reporter. He just wanted to be able to take control of it himself.
Vincent and Catherine were unaware that Paracelsus was behind the attacks, and they didn’t know that Bernie Spirko had been murdered. So, the entire community held its breath in horror as it waited for the reporter’s pictures to be published. That incident marked the beginning of the devastating illness which destroyed
Vincent’s connection to Catherine.
Vincent and Catherine both began experiencing each other’s nightmares, and Vincent even started sleepwalking. Vincent sent Catherine above permanently, because he feared that his deteriorating mental condition was a danger to her. Because they were sure the pictures would soon be published, Vincent made plans to leave Father’s world, and go deeper into the tunnels, to keep those he loved safe from the hunters who might come after him. When Vincent held Catherine in his arms for what he feared would be the last time, she was shaking with terror over what might happen to him, and with pain over the prospect of being separated from him forever.
Now that Paracelsus had managed to isolate Vincent from those he loved, he carried out the next phase of his cruel attack on Vincent. He allowed Bernie Spirko’s body to be discovered by the police. That brought Vincent back to the community, but great psychological damage had already been done. Vincent was severely stressed and in a fragile state-of-mind.
Paracelsus then carried out the last step of his plan to destroy Vincent. He sent Father copies of the pictures Bernie Spirko had taken along with a note to come to a penthouse at 1900 4th Avenue, which Paracelsus had rented, or Father would see the pictures published.
Father, of course, burned the pictures and then went to the penthouse. Paracelsus knocked Father out and then tied him up, gagged him, and hid him in a secret room behind a wall panel. He didn’t want Father dead, because he wanted Father to see the destruction of his world. Paracelsus then showed up in the tunnels disguised as Father.
He proceeded to tell Vincent cruel lies about where he came from. Paracelsus, disguised as Father, told Vincent that Paracelsus’ wife, Anna, had been Vincent’s biological mother. Vincent was then told that Paracelsus had experimented on his own wife because she was barren, and that Vincent had been the result. Vincent was in a state of shock over the news that Paracelsus was his actual father, but the next lie that Paracelsus told him sent Vincent careening over the edge of sanity. He told Vincent that he had been born in blood, that after only three months of gestation, Vincent had ripped his way out of Anna’s body with his claws, killing Anna.
The Beast had emerged at that point in uncontrollable anguish and anger, and Vincent just barely managed to keep the Beast in check. Paracelsus then goaded Vincent further by asking, “Why do you resist your own nature?” Once more, the Beast emerged. When it looked like Vincent might be able to get his Beast under control again, Paracelsus went on to add horrific details to the lie about Vincent’s birth. He described how Anna had screamed in painful agony for hours as Vincent clawed his way out of her body. Vincent could take no more, and he delivered a fatal blow to Paracelsus. As he was dying on Father’s Council table, Paracelsus removed his mask,
revealing his true identity, and he said to Vincent, “It’s all right. Don’t be afraid! At last, you are my son!”
Meanwhile, Elliott Burch had been incensed when Catherine made an enraged appearance in his office accusing him of manipulating the reporter, Bernie Spirko. Since Elliott was innocent, he launched his own investigation into who had impersonated him. When Bernie Spirko’s corpse was found with Paracelsus’ signature wound on his bo
dy, Catherine went back to Elliott and apologized for accusing him. Elliott then took Catherine to the penthouse Paracelsus had rented. There they discovered Father imprisoned behind a secret wall panel.
Catherine and Jamie had Father supported between them when they entered the Council chamber as Paracelsus was dying. Vincent was nearly catatonic at that point, and mental illness combined with a burning fever swiftly ravaged his mind and body.
Father told Catherine that Vincent had suffered a similar illness as an adolescent after the incident with Lisa, and that no human medicine he had tried had worked on Vincent’s physiology. They finally had to restrain Vincent during that illness. During those long months of that teenage illness, Father had read books to Vincent. Father told Catherine that they had thought Vincent would die, and that his vital signs had actually ceased. Then he suddenly recovered and became well again. He came out of that illness a scholar from all of the reading Father had done with him.
This illness was far more devastating, though. As Vincent slipped further and further into delirium, he became obsessed with a poem by Dylan Thomas, “And Death Shall Have No Dominion.” He repeated over and over again these lines:
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
He wanted Catherine to hear those lines of the poem, so he went up to her apartment looking for her. She was still below discussing Vincent’s deteriorating condition with Father, and they were not aware that Vincent had left the tunnels to go find her. Vincent became confused by Catherine’s absence, and he ripped through her apartment looking for her before he finally collapsed. Catherine called in sick to the District Attorney’s office, and with Peter’s help, she nursed Vincent for a week in her apartment. However, they were unable to determine the exact nature of his illness, or come up with a way to successfully treat him.
Vincent finally awakened in Catherine’s bed to her recitation of these lines from Dylan Thomas’ poem as she
was holding him:
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
Vincent opened his eyes and asked her, “You know those lines?”
Catherine told him, “You’ve been repeating them for three days. Who wrote them? Was it Dylan Thomas?” Vincent slipped back into unconsciousness before he could answer her.
When he awakened again, Vincent realized that he was still sick, and that he was a danger to Catherine, so he went back to the tunnels. Once there, he fled from everyone deep into the caverns beyond the burial catacombs, and he took refuge in one of the small caves there. His anguished roars, reverberating throughout the tunnel network, communicated a combination of rage, confusion, and terror. Vincent’s illness had driven him mad, and the madness of the Beast within him was destroying him. While community members kept watch outside of the cave nearby, Father went to get Catherine.
When Father and Catherine finally arrived near the cave Vincent was in, Father tried to stop Catherine from going into the cave with Vincent. He told her that Vincent was not himself, and that he might end up killing her.
Catherine’s poignant response was, “He is my life! Without him, there is nothing!” Then she left Father and the others and went into the cave after Vincent.
The Beast was in full possession of Vincent as Catherine entered the cave, but she was determined to save the man she loved. When Vincent’s distorted vision made out the small figure coming toward him, he charged forward with another terrifying roar of fury. His hand was raised and ready to strike.
Somewhere deep inside of Catherine, Vincent’s psyche connected with hers. Catherine held her ground and let out an ear-splitting, blood-curdling primal scream of her own, one word, “VINCENTF The Beast was at once quelled and quieted. Vincent’s vision cleared, and he beheld the angelic countenance of his little wife standing fearlessly before him.
Vincent reached both arms toward her and whispered her name, “Catherine.” Then, like a giant oak which had just been struck by lightning, Vincent fell. In a desperate attempt to cushion the impact as he crashed, Catherine rushed forward, threw her arms around his barrel chest, and went down with him. As they were falling together, Vincent’s hand caught the crystal on Catherine’s necklace, and the clasp gave way.
By the time they landed on the floor together,
Vincent’s vital signs had ceased. Aware that he wasn’t breathing, Catherine was desperate. “Vincent! Vincent!”
She felt for the pulse on his neck, and there was nothing. His great heart had stopped beating. In despair Catherine cried out, “No! No! No!” She laid her head on his chest and listened carefully, but there was nothing.” She gently shook Vincent. “No! Vincent! You can’t! You can’t! Not without me! I won’t let you! I won’t let you! No!” Catherine bent over and kissed Vincent’s mouth urgently and passionately as grief and anguish began to sweep over her.
The moment their lips met, Catherine felt herself being propelled by some unseen force into Vincent’s mind, where her thoughts merged with his in a powerful telepathic link. As Catherine entered his mind, she found herself still in the cave with Vincent, but she was standing at the back of the cave, and Vincent was walking away from her toward the mouth of the cave from which brilliant light was emanating. Catherine could feel that she was just about to lose Vincent to the eternal realm and be separated from him in mortality.
Catherine called out to him in heartbreaking desperation. “Vincent!” He stopped and turned around to face her, but he looked confused. She pleaded with him in the anguish of her grief. “Vincent, you can’t leave me alone! I need you! I need you!”
Vincent smiled softly and opened his arms to receive her. Catherine ran to Vincent and leaped into his arms. Vincent caught her and clasped her against his body as he kissed her deeply with hungry passion and sank to the
floor with her. The vision ended and Catherine was back on the floor in the cave kissing her beloved husband. Vincent was unconscious, but he was breathing and his heart rate was restored and steady. Catherine closed her eyes in ecstatic relief and a prayer of thanksgiving as she gently lifted his head onto her lap. His fever had finally broken, and he slept.
A few hours later, when Father decided to venture into the cave to check on them, he found Catherine sitting on the floor with Vincent’s head on her lap. Vincent awakened and they took him back up to his chamber.
This illness had severely impaired his memory, and everything seemed unfamiliar to him. Vincent couldn’t remember his chamber, and he was struggling for words and names missing from his damaged mind.
Catherine was the only person he recognized. He knew that she was the woman that he loved, but he felt lost because he couldn’t remember her name. When she reminded him, and he whispered “Catherine” for the first time since his illness in the caressing tone that she loved so much, he smiled with happiness to have that most important word restored. The memory of their marriage, however, was completely gone. Then Vincent began the long, slow process of recovery as his brain struggled to create new pathways to his lost memories.
Vincent soon came to realize, though, that this illness had taken more than just his memories. It had also taken his connection with Catherine, and he felt an acute sense of loss because of that. Catherine had wanted to tell him something, something important. However, when she arrived in his chamber, he was distressed that it had taken a sentry to tell him that Catherine was coming. Before, he would have felt her approach. When Catherine realized that Vincent was also devastated over having to actually see her need to talk to him on her face, rather than feeling it, she had simply hugged him and told him not to worry instead of telling him what was troubling her. Later, Vincent had received a note from Catherine telling him to come to the tunnel access under her building, because she had something very important to
tell him. Catherine never came. She was kidnapped by Gabriel’s henchmen before she could tell him.
Six months later, as Vincent lay in bed resting for a few hours before resuming his search of the city for his lost Catherine, he felt an heartbeat. Vincent followed that heartbeat, convinced that it was Catherine’s, to the old Battery Arms building. There, he broke down every barrier Gabriel had erected, slaying Gabriel’s armed guards in the process, until he finally arrived on the roof. Vincent watched in agony as Gabriel stared at him out of the window of the helicopter that had just left the helipad, taking someone precious away from him.
Vincent yelled out an heartbreaking, “CatherineF
Then behind him, Vincent heard a woman’s soft voice call out his name, “Vincent!”
Vincent whirled around. Catherine had climbed up the steps to the roof and was swaying before his eyes. He rushed forward and caught her in his arms as she collapsed, “Catherine!”
Tears started streaming down Vincent’s face as Catherine smiled softly at him. She struggled to speak as her strength was ebbing. “We loved. There is a child.” Vincent looked confused, “A child?”
Catherine spoke more softly. “He is beautiful!” Then as she began to fade she said, “Though lovers be lost...” Vincent finished the line. “Love shall not.” Catherine lost consciousness, and Vincent quoted the last line of Dylan Thomas’ poem as he pulled her body against him, “And death shall have no dominion.” Then Vincent realized that the heartbeat he had been following was his son’s, and that the man he later found out was Gabriel, had taken the baby away in his helicopter after murdering Catherine.
When the vision closed and Vincent found himself back in the present, the journal he had started to read had fallen to the floor. He bent over to pick it up, but then he felt something—an heartbeat. He sat bolt upright,
startled and confused. It wasn’t Little Jacob’s heartbeat he was feeling. This heartbeat was much slower, but the feel of it was beginning to fill his entire being.
Beauty and the Beast Page 23