Encompassing Love
Page 25
Renfield composes himself and responds, “Keep eating that junk and you’ll get slow.”
“When have you been?” Solstice asks of her father.
“I’ve been here and I’ve been there and I’ve been in between.” Renfield, overwhelmed to see her again takes her into his arms and hugs her again.
“Dad, you’re acting weird. You smell odd and those clothes, ugh. Plus, I’m pregnant, so be careful with me.” Solstice moves to the counter, but she knows her father knows something that is bothering him and that bothers her. She searches his mind. He has it closed tightly, but she hears something then turns to ask, “When did you see Illumna last?”
Renfield, not at all caught off guard by the question said, “She was doing some gardening.”
Solstice, not believing that response said, “Okay, well tell her I said ‘Hey’ the next time you see her. Whenever that is.” Then she turns away and begins slicing a tomato. “So much for not changing the timeline. You obviously have.”
“It wasn’t me, but that’s a long story.” Renfield says as he tosses her an apple.
Solstice instinctively catches it. As she takes a bite she says, “You’re not looking well. That can’t be good, Dad.”
“I’m happy now. I’ve one more thing to do.” Renfield replies. Then he thinks to her, “Why didn’t you ever tell me about Tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?” Solstice searches his mind although he is very good at blocking it, but she knows her father well and gets a clue. “Sara? She’s our sister, Dad. She may not be your daughter, but what does she have to do with anything?”
“I see. Your mind is as sharp as ever, Solstice. Now I understand what she did not - when she said it.” Adam looks at the spot by the table that he doesn’t want to think about.
“When was that?” Solstice stops and looks at her father trying to hear more.
“Just don’t tell Sara I was ever here. As in never. Understood?” Renfield says with finality.
Solstice knows what is coming next and she runs towards her father while begging, “Don’t click. I know what it does to you and...” Solstice watches her father’s grin as he disappears. She decides she can’t change him. She had seen his face. She knew had recently killed someone he had considered for a while but didn’t do all of the other times. She considers he was trying to subtly change something.
Not sure if he is in the right time at the right place, Renfield thinks to himself, “If I had stayed I would have changed too much. I miss Solstice. I wonder if she realizes she is why all of this began. I hope not.”
He smells at the air and a familiar scent of a familiar woman enters his senses on every level. He looks over. Tomorrow is beside him. Renfield reaches for her and climbs above her while pulling away what little she has between them. She welcomes him with a smile, wondering at the sudden passion. She grabs at his back and crosses her legs around him to pull him into her deeper. He wonders which time this is, but he is nary to complain about the circumstance. As he feels her buttocks tremble below him he realizes that he and Tomorrow are about to bring Joy who will create their Destiny.
As Tomorrow and Renfield relax into each other they both sense it and click to opposite vantage points. She can hear him thinking fast, “The Hunter, that’s us before now.” She knew as soon as he appeared that Renfield had been clicking time again, but she ignored it. She realized he had specifically said he couldn’t travel into the future anymore. But at that moment she got that he could travel into his past if the future was his past. Then she understood how he did what he did. She clicked.
Adam clicked to the Hunter as Tomorrow appeared and took out one of its knees. Renfield took out its other knee when it turned to grab Tomorrow.
Tomorrow could hear Adam think, “They must have evolved to hunting in packs.”
She thinks back to him, “What does that mean?” Then she hears a loud sound nearby.
Renfield, knowing what the sound was ignored it. Then he leaped on the Hunter’s back and shoved his hand in its mouth so it couldn’t bite at her. He could feel it bite down hard on his hand and the blood start pumping into its mouth as it began sucking at the arteries. Tomorrow clicked again and wondered why Adam did not. She fell on it with the maximum velocity of 128 feet up with a branch in her hand and bashed it in the skull. Adam winced as it bit down harder on his hand. He could hear Tomorrow thinking to him to click, but he knew he shouldn’t. This other Hunter would change too much if it lived and he had to live long enough to try his best to keep it from surviving.
Tomorrow felt a quick moment of Adam kissing her behind and grinned that he was still the gentleman even though they were probably about to die. Then she felt the extremely strong fingernails of the Hunter tear into her thighs. She knew she was out of options, but wanted to try one last maneuver. She paused when she heard Adam’s mind.
Ignoring the extreme pain he reached around and pushed his fingers, from his other hand, through its eye socket. It turned, allowing Renfield leverage to push further. He grabbed at the base of its brain. The one area he knew was exposed to the spine and then he pulled hard. The Hunter fell, but remained twitching in some odd way.
Tomorrow breathed in relief, but then looked at Adam, “You’ve over-clicked.” Tomorrow said. Noting that he could have clicked out of that and trying to figure out what to do for his arm.
“I’ve yet begun to click.” Adam replied and then grinned at her. He was obviously in pain, but he was shrugging the major damage off as a scratch for her benefit.
“Whatever, Adam. So what’s all this I heard your mind scream about Joy and Destiny?” She looked down at the body of the Hunter and thought about how insane the world was that such a thing could be made from a human. She turned and said, “If we do ever get pregnant, how about we name her Eternity, or if it’s a boy I suppose Ethan?”
Renfield grinned. “I suspect you will remember our Joy.”
Taking in the leaves on each tree around her, she listened and then said, “I am pregnant aren’t I? You know?”
But there was no one there to hear her question. She made a “Pfttt” sound as she rolled her eyes because she had grown used to him doing that. Then she noted something inscribed on the tree in front of her. It was old and almost grown over, but she could still make out the heart with an arrow through it. Inside the heart it said, “Renfield loves Tomorrow*” She looked for the side note because it was obvious that the asterisk was carved into the bark at a different time. She read, the words, “I’ll see you soon, Sara.”
She clicks in time to watch a skycrawler nip a hawk’s wing. She watches as the hawk with the injured wing flies over her head. Looking at one cliff she sees herself with Renfield. To the other she sees Brian with Phillip. A butterfly flies past her head and she notes that it is odd that it would be here of all places. She holds up a finger and it lands on it, fluttering its wings slightly. Then she turns and sees a woman looking at two young adults as the female punches the male in the arm and then they follow the woman. She realizes who the woman is. That woman is her too. She watches as another skycrawler takes off at high velocity and sees it headed to the stars. She smiles understanding why Adam had brought her here so long ago. Loopholes, as he had said. Adam knew how to get around Stephen’s defenses all along. She thought to herself, “Deoxyribonucleic acid. The twists and turns that program every being and map which direction they are going in evolution.” She laughed to herself as she finally understood how he was him. She thinks to herself, “He really was first!” She smiles in understanding and then thinks, “But I love him for so many other reasons! “One day Destiny will bring us back together.” She realizes he has spent thousands of iterations setting up the board for the ultimate game. She looks up at him and herself on the cliff as he waves down at her. She thought out to him, “I understand now.” Concentrating deeply, on the hardest lesson Renfield had ever taught her, Tomorrow disappears.
Encompassing Love