“Here, take this, it will help you!” said Tudor as he bit his wrist and gave his blood to the witch to drink.
After she drank, she began to feel better and her wound even started to heal.
“I have failed. The Constantines will still be able to continue existing.”
“We can stop them.”
“No! You need to run. Take Ava somewhere safe. They will be hunting you all now. Your identities have been discovered. Any plan that you have will not be of any use if you are dead.” said the witch. “Your desire to take down this Order by destroying one member at a time will not succeed as they are too many. Your only chance is to, one day, find four witches born in the same day, they will be able to increase their power so much that they can take down this Order and can give you the life you want. My kind has been at odds with yours for over a century, but now I see that we all want the same thing: a normal life. It will probably be after I am dead that you will find them, but you will.”
“Ava could die by the time I find four of you born on the same day.”
“Constantines will try to hunt you down from now on, but if she dies, she will be born again. As long as the Order exists, she will also exist.”
“What?”
“Once the anchor was born, if she stays human, she does not go away until all unnatural energy is being destroyed. But turn her into a creature like you and she will die. All you can do is make sure that, after the four will be born and will be able to use their powers, Ava will be fully conscious of the events that led to that day.”
Lord Emerey was not pleased with what he heard, but it was too late to change anything. Amara got well rather soon and the two headed west toward a port where he knew he would find Wesley and Ava. There, Amara got on a boat south, while the two dracos and the girl headed to the New World.
The events of the past months were hard to take in, but they were all trying to be happy they were still alive. Wesley tried to bring the mood up while on the boat. They landed in a small port on the north-east side of the American continent and they stayed in a city just for a few days. Then they kept moving from city to city for the next few months, and ended up settling in a colder city in the north-east of the United States. Soon after, the lord and Ava tried to build a new life together, far from everything they had in England. The two married and right after the wedding, Wesley left for Washington to verify how things were going with his and Tudor’s business. There, Tudor was known as Jonathan Tudor and Wesley was known as Mark O’Keefe, Jonathan’s right hand in business.
The next year, the three traveled to Central America, South America and then they finally settled in Washington. Ava could finally satisfy her need for knowledge as she had the privilege of learning from some of the great scientists of the places she visited and of the United States. They felt safer in Washington than anywhere else as Jonathan’s business was there and they had security all over the city. No Constantine could enter the state without them finding out about. Mark did not settle down with anyone but he did enjoy the company of women almost every day. And the girl, now known as Arina Tudor, and Jonathan Tudor lived a very happy life while still being on the lookout for any witches being born at the same time. They sent spies all over Europe and the New World to verify the existence of witches, but no one found anything.
It was the year 1814 and winter had come sooner than expected. During this cold November, snow was covering the ground, children were filled with the joy of Christmas a month early, and many snowmen were built by them. It was a happy time, there was laughter and there were songs sung in the streets by children of all sorts.
The trio also felt like they should join in on the fun, but then tragedy was imparted upon them. The unthinkable happened: Constantines entered Washington under false identities. They found out where the three were living and they headed to Ava’s home when she was there alone. She was in the garden moving a small snowman closer to the porch so as to be able to always see it from behind the windows of the living room. When she got up from where she placed it, Constantines tried to grab her. She had a knife which she used to displace the small snowman off the ground and the rest of the snow. Ava heard steps from afar but there was no way of knowing whose those belonged to as the two men approaching did not speak at all so no voices were heard. By the time, she realized danger was approaching, the two were already too close, so she got a stronger grip on the knife and tried to get away. As one of them caught her by the arm she shoved the knife right in his chest. But, from behind, the second man fired his gun and the bulled went straight into her heart. He then ran, leaving the woman and the other man dead on the snow.
It was at that moment that Jonathan arrived from work and saw Ava lying on the red snow, with no breath. He tried everything he could, he gave her his blood, but it was too late, she had already given away her last breath. Mark also arrived on the other side of the road, in front of the house, a few moments later, and he knew he had to convince Jonathan to leave as soon as possible. But, before he could cross the street to go to Jonathan, he saw members of the Order capture the draco and take him away along with the two bodies.
The Constantines, for a long time, had been trying to find a way to turn dracos back into humans and now they had a priest who swore on his life and on everything that was holy that he could lift the curse and turn the beast into a man. They chained Jonathan, or Lord Emery as they knew him, put him in a cage deep underneath the ground, in an old ore. They tortured him, for an hour, as punishment for the death of their brothers. But worse than all, they laid the body of his wife in front of him and only then proceeded to hit, cut, pierce, and push his skin. But none of their actions felt more hurtful, more despicable, more hateful than the murder of his wife.
“Ejus spiritus comburet! Ejus spiritus comburet” spoke the priest in Latin. “Ejus spiritus comburet! Ejus spiritus comburet!” repeated the man while trying to turn the draco back into a mortal.
“What are you doing to me? What are you saying man?” asked the draco as he felt his blood starting to boil in his veins.
“Your spirit will burn” screamed the priest “and then you will be a human again. Ejus spiritus comburet! Your spirit will burn!”
The draco’s skin was turning red, his eyes turned the color of a fire burning and the pain was too much to withstand, but he kept looking at the body and he decided it was not the day for him to be at the mercy of his creators. His will was strong. The Constantines had created a monster and he would stay that way, he would find his wife reborn and he would give the Order what it deserved. As the priest was shouting “Ejus spiritus comburet!” Jonathan’s hands burst into flames and melted the chains holding him down. He was on his knees and, as he lifted his head, he saw the priest get scared. The beast then pushed his hands to the ground and two waves of fire rushed toward the man and burned his cloak, burned his skin, turned him into ash in a matter of moments. Constantines then tried to attack the beast with their guns, but he turned them all into ash. He grabbed the body of his wife and ran outside of the ore to find Mark who arrived there to help him escape.
The two managed to flee and, in the evening, they made a funeral pyre, placed the body of Ava on it, and set it ablaze while letting it float in the ocean. As the funeral pyre was moving away, Jonathan felt out of breath. It was like all his bones were crushing under the weight of the world. His muscles did not want to hold him up anymore. The man collapsed on his knees looking at the body of his wife getting even further away from him.
“Why?” asked the man as his whole body and soul did not want to accept the harsh reality. Tears were coming down his face. He did not feel water in his eyes since he was a child, nothing got him into such a state before, not him being turned, not the torture, not the long time spent on Earth without knowing if he could make the Order pay for its sins, nothing. But now he was broken.
“Listen to me man! By staying here, we are vulnerable, they know who you are and they will just send more to hunt
you. If they do capture you another time, you might not get so lucky.” said Mark trying to convince Jonathan to leave at once.
“I’ll burn them all!” said Jonathan. “I’ll burn the bastards” he screamed from the center of his lungs. “I’ll rip them to pieces” he said while grabbing Mark’s leg with his shaky hands. “I’ll see their blood flow.”
Mark understood that he was in shock, he needed to do something to make him snap out of it, but what? He then came up with an idea. He remembered what Jonathan had done to him when he was in need of calming.
“Listen to me man!” said Mark as he got down next to Jonathan. “Listen to me: we are going to go away from here, we will gather our strength, we will find their weaknesses, and then, we will crush them. Envision the goal man and pull yourself together.” he said while grabbing Jonathan’s head with his hands. “Envision the goal, envision their suffering, envision it and we will do it!”
Lord Emery was beginning to show signs of getting his mind to think clearly again. Then Mark added “Ava will be born again and you will find her. All is not lost! You will find her! Live, live in spite of this, live for the goal!”
The lord finally went back to being himself, still horrified with grief, but he could react now. “They did something to me, I, I burned the bastards in the ore.”
“One day, you will burn them all, but now, any thought of revenge is too dangerous. We need to go, we are exposed here.” added Mark. He could barely take Jonathan away from the place, but, when the pyre was no longer in sight, they left the state of Washington.
Back in England, Henry was alive and well, but he was no longer in charge of the Order. Lord Tully was dead for over seven years and Henry’s other counselor, Eric Stevenson, was now in charge of the Constantines. George, before dying, convinced the Order that Eric was a better leader as Henry was too emotionally involved in what had happened. George told Constantines there was no time to bring into and train another one of his siblings. Henry was pushed out of the Order and he continued doing business, but he never stopped hoping he would find his daughter. He sent men, in secret, to find her, and he himself traveled in hopes of finding her, but seven years passed and he received no word of her whereabouts, until December 1814 when he heard the news: his daughter was dead, killed by the members of the same Order he once pledged his life to.
“Eric tried to hunt all the dracos remaining in the world, and then he tried to create some whom he could control with the ash of the white oak and use them for his goals. No Constantine survived that knew my face during that night the witches found us. Even when we were inside the Mayflower, George did not manage to see my face, but he recognized Jonathan. So, after Ava’s death I basically had to force him out of Washington or the members of the Order would have found him and killed him. He was devastated, but he promised himself he would always look for her and he would never let go of his plan to destroy the Order. However, he told me we should split. We would both look for witches and for the girl and, if we found either one, we would let each other know of the discovery.” said Mark.
“So when you found me, you let Jonathan know.” added Rene.
“Yes! And now I have to ask you to try to locate the other three.”
“So you know about their existence.”
“Your mother gave birth to you at Albert Memorial Hospital. I was there that night. I was aware of what she was and I also knew about your sister. I saw the full moon on the sky and that is when I knew four of you were going to be born. When a full moon is on the night sky and a witch is born, that means three more are born somewhere else. Amara told us that before she fled to Spain. She was too weak to help us afterward, but she told us how to find you. The Constantines, however, don’t know about the connection of the four and they do not know how to find a witch either. So I thought you would be safe, I never imagined that your parents would die in a car accident and I did not think members of the Order would end up discovering what your sister was. I was supposed to come to you only after we had found Ava again. But when news reached my ears about the death of your sister I went looking for you and I found you in that orphanage.”
“And you found a loving family for me.”
“I am sorry I was not there when…”
“There’s nothing to be sorry of, what’s done is done and it was not your fault.” interrupted Rene. “Did you see Jonathan in all these years?”
“No! We communicated but we never met, we knew how to send messages to each other but we never actually met in person in two centuries. Now, can you locate the other three?”
“I can, I will do it tonight.”
“After that, all we need is to wait for Ava to regain her memories completely.”
Chapter 4
Time has come
During that night, Rene located the other three witches. One was in Hong Kong, one was in India, and the other was in Egypt. Rene then tried to touch their minds so as to let them know of one another’s existence. All of them then realized they needed to meet and Mark sent men to bring them to London in safety.
In the morning, Jonathan asked “Alright, so are you ready to enter the Order? They took the bait.”
“Bait?” asked Mark.
“Do you think I would only now begin the process of making you seem like a fit candidate for them? Here is your new identity!”
“Michael Farrell, 38 years of age, owner of Diamond Trade Company. Wait, what? There is no way they are going to believe that. If they do a simple verification they will realize that I am not the owner of that company, even if the real owner is a very reclusive figure.”
“Actually they will, because Michael Farrell is the name I used when I bought the company. Well… I did not quite buy it. Let’s say I received it as a gift… after threatening to expose the owner of murdering his wife and children and using a little fire. Well maybe more. I burned the walls of his house with him inside. The man was so scared he signed the documents immediately.”
“What happened to the ex-owner?” asked Mark.
“Two days later, after it was known that Michael Farrell acquisitioned the company, I incinerated him. He killed his family, the bastard did not deserve even a day of life. The Order had contacted him to become a member and I suspect they will contact you now. I set up everything. They must have used these past weeks to verify your identity. You have nothing to worry, there is no way for them to realize who you are.” said Jonathan
“Easy for you to say, you are not the one heading into the lion’s den. But I’ll do it, if they contact me.”
Jonathan gave Mark all the documents he needed, including a new identity card, bank accounts and driving license with the new name. The next three days passed uneventful, but, one by one, the three witches arrived. And every night, the girl was remembering more and more about her past, but still, the last few days of her first life eluded her. The witches worked on the spell they needed to use in order to disband the Order, but, to conclude their plan, they needed Mark to become a member of the Order.
“Your memory will not be affected,” said Rene “but you have to be inside the veil. Now there are many more Constantines than two centuries ago and they are scattered everywhere across the globe. That underground cellar is their seat of power, it is where this all started, it is there where it must end. Once the spell is complete, they will not know what happened to them, they will not know why they are in there so you will be able to walk away free, just act surprised and unknowing like them.”
“Easier said than done.” added Mark.
“Ava is close to remembering, it will be no later than tonight that all her memories will be unlocked from her mind.” said Fei.
Right when Fei finished her sentence, Mark’s phone rang. It was Francis Bouviere, French banker and known Constantine. Mark was invited to a meeting with a few members of the Order, in the next 24 hours. While Mark was meeting with the Constantines, Jonathan, having also received the shares from Max Graham, was now the largest s
hareholder of Jameston Oil Corporation.
“You must be insane!” said one of the shareholders who realized what Jonathan was doing. “This press conference cannot begin!”
A press conference was announced at the London headquarters of Jameston, Jonathan invited journalists of all major media outlets and lawyers of several countries.
“Mad? I beg to differ; I am the only one who is sane. All your treachery must be stopped!” said firmly Jonathan as he was stepping toward the podium with copies of the books of the corporation. The other shareholder did not step foot on the podium and he was taken to a different room, he was not allowed to participate.
“Ladies and gentlemen, when I acquired the shares of this company, I never imagined I would do this. Even now, as I sit before you, it is difficult to say these words. But I would not be an honest man, nor would I be able to live with myself knowing of the wrongs of this company.” Jonathan continued his speech and told everyone what all the big secretes of the company were and gave away the copies of documents to lawyers and the press and a mass of suits were filed against Jameston. He granted access to the official documents to the lawyers filing suits on the same day. The press hailed him but vilified the other shareholders who were now trying to find a way to get out of the mess.
After Jonathan was finally able to get home, Mark greeted him at the door.
“They have invited them to their home, the Order’s home, the cellar! I have to go there tomorrow. If Ava does not remember it all by tonight, we just might fail this time also. Who knows what they will do to me inside the cellar. If they somehow find out what I am, they will kill me and they might even discover you all. This war can be won by them.”
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