Nicolai’s voice faltered. “Angelina, what is it?”
Laurana’s loud scream filled my ears. “Help me!” she mouthed.
“How?” I asked the horrific image.
Nicolai wrapped his strong arms around my hunched over body. “How what?” he asked. “Angelina, you’re scaring us.”
“Kill me,” Laurana begged. “Please, don’t let me suffer.”
Warm tears escaped my eyes. “I can’t.”
“Angelina?” Nicolai called out helplessly.
Her voice engulfed my mind. “Kill me,” she repeated.
My index finger began to subconsciously draw an invisible x into the air. “Death,” I whispered, and Laurana’s pleas grew silent. Her face disappeared from my mind and the so did the agonizing pain I shared with her. I sat up, dizzy by my escapade.
Bethani nodded at me in approval. “You did the right thing.”
“You know?” I asked.
She put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it lightly. “Yes, I know.”
“How can it be the right thing if I ended her life?”
“Because you let her die in peace.”
Overhearing our conversation, Jeremiah walked over and put his hands on his hips. “Who died in peace?”
I couldn’t look at him. How was I supposed to tell him I had just killed the woman he loved? I looked to Bethani for help.
“Jeremiah,” she turned to face him, “Laurana’s dead.”
His mouth dropped open. “What did you just say?” he asked in disbelief.
There was a blank expression on Bethani’s innocent face. “You heard me right the first time,” she said.
He looked at me helplessly. “Wait, Laurana’s dead?”
“Angelina saved her from an agonizing death. You should thank her.”
“Thank her?” he repeated.
Bethani nodded.
His voice grew louder. “You’re saying I should thank her for killing my fiancée? The woman that was meant to be my wife? The woman who was carrying my child.”
I stared at him in horror. “No.”
Awkward silence filled the air. Nicolai stared at the faces around him. “Jeremiah, you can’t blame her, she didn’t know.”
“She did the right thing,” Bethani reiterated.
Jeremiah made a fist and punched the wooden telephone pole that stood beside him. “Why does everything I love get taken away from me?!” He hit the pole again, sending shards of wood splintering onto the ground.
I stood up and my legs quivered beneath me. Somehow, I managed to stumble to my friend’s side. “Jeremiah, life can be cruel. There are things that will happen to us that we will never understand, but blaming me or yourself will get us nowhere.”
An angry cry escaped his lips. “But I loved her, Angelina, I loved her.”
“She knows that,” Bethani chimed in.
He looked up at her with a puzzled look on his face. “How do you know?”
She pointed to a faint shadow in the distance.
Knowing of Nicolai’s keen eyesight, Jeremiah looked to him for help. “Is it her?” he asked.
Nicolai studied the image and nodded. “What Bethani claims is true.”
Without hesitation, Jeremiah took off running towards her. “Laurana!”
Laurana held up her hand and he stopped a few inches from her. “Jeremiah, can you hear me?” Her mouth was unmoving, yet he could hear her voice.
Tears filled his eyes. “Yes, my love, I can hear you.” He looked at the small bundle in her arms. “Is that…?”
She nodded. “Don’t be sad.” She reached out and caressed his cheek. “We are at peace.”
“Did Tristan do this to you?” he asked angrily.
She nodded once again. “And there’s a traitor hiding in your midst.”
“Who is it?” he demanded.
“I cannot tell you, as his fate is his own, and he must answer for the choices he has made.”
“He?”
Laurana smiled. “My love, death calls to each of us at our own time. When it does, we have no choice but to answer.”
“But our child,” he said.
“I know.” She pulled the blanket back slightly. “She’s beautiful.”
The color left his face and his electric-blue eyes widened in surprise. “She?”
“Yes, come.” She motioned for him to come closer.
The color filtered back into his face and a warm smile appeared as two sleepy, little electric-blue eyes peered up at him.
“She has your eyes,” she pointed out.
He reached out to touch the little bundle in her arms but stopped the moment he heard a faint cry. “Was that…?”
She smiled warmly. “Yes, that came from her.”
“Is she okay?”
“She knows you’re near and is upset that you cannot hold her.”
“I want to hold her so badly,” he cried out. “I want to let her know that her daddy is here to protect her and keep her away from all the evils of the world.”
Laurana’s spectral image began to grow lighter and her voice grew faint. “She already knows.”
Desperation filled Jeremiah’s eyes. “Wait!” he called out, motioning for her to stop.
She looked up at the sky and back at him. “We must go, we are being called home.”
“Please, don’t go,” he begged.
“We will see each other again, my love. This I promise to you, but for now, we must return home with our ancestors.”
He grabbed the knife from his boot holster and held it firmly against his throat. “Then I will return with you.”
“No,” she held up her hand, “you will not do any such thing.”
“My life without the two of you will be nothing but a life of emptiness.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Jeremiah listen to me; your job on this earth is not over yet. Even if you were to slice your own throat, you would not die, as death is not yet ready to call you home.
Blood trickled down his neck from the pressure of the blade. “But it’s the only way we can be together,” he said.
“We will be together soon enough,” she promised.
“Please don’t ask me to travel this world without you, I can’t do it alone.” he begged.
“Jeremiah, yes, you can. You are the master of your destiny. You must seek out Tristan and kill him before the Crimson Moon rises.”
“Why is he doing this?” I called out behind him.
Laurana looked past Jeremiah and her eyes met mine. “You know who he is, Angelina, all you have to do is remember.”
I frowned. “So, we’re back to this remembering crap.”
She narrowed her eyes in annoyance. “Angelina, he’s coming for you, and he will not stop until you are his.
Her image grew faint. “We must go.”
He dropped the knife and reached out to her. “I will find him, Laurana,” Jeremiah promised, “and I will kill him.”
Her voice was barely a whisper. “I love you, Jeremiah. In fact, I’ve loved you from the first moment I met you.”
He reached out to caress her face but was met by a cool breeze that rushed through his empty fingertips. Her spirit was returning to a place he could not follow her to, but in his heart, he knew they would once again be reunited when the time was right.
The realization of Laurana’s death weighed on each of us heavily as we listened to the faint cry of a newborn drifting through the gentle breeze above us. I looked at Jeremiah, saddened by the events that had just taken place. That moment, I knew I had to make Tristan pay for the pain he had caused my friend.
Chapter 11
Daniel’s Song
I knocked on my father’s door feverishly until he answered it. There was a worried look on his youthful face. I pushed past him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“You must come with us now,” I urged. “There’s no time to waste.”
“Aren’t you going to tell me what’s going
on?”
I pushed him out the door. “We can tell you on the way,” I said.
He raised his eyebrow in suspicion. “It’s that urgent?”
“It’s that urgent,” I said.
He stumbled down the front steps. “Very well then.”
Bethani, who happened to be standing at the bottom of the steps, embraced him with a friendly hug. “Well, hey there, Mr. Adams!” She flashed him her charming smile. “Long time, no see!”
He chuckled. “You’re right, Bethani. It has been quite a while.”
“You’re looking as young as ever.” She giggled. “Did you shave?”
He stroked his smooth chin and smiled. “Ah, you noticed!”
Her lavender eyes sparkled in amusement. “Of course I did.” She nodded.
My father changed the subject. “So, why the big rush?”
I looked at him solemnly. “Laurana is dead.”
The smile left his face. “Dead?”
Looking past him, I stared at the crimson-colored tree line. “Yes, and I believe her body is in there.”
“Angelina, why would someone want to kill Laurana? Sure, she’s not the nicest creature to walk the planet, but she had no enemies that I knew of.”
Bethani coughed and motioned towards Jeremiah.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to imply that she was unlikeable…” he muttered.
Jeremiah kicked a pebble down the stone driveway. “It doesn’t matter, she’s dead now, remember?”
Glancing over at my sullen friend, I grimaced. “Father, he did it to get to me.”
“He?”
Just saying his name made me want to vomit. “Yes, Tristan,” I replied.
He looked at me sharply. “What did you just say?”
By the look on his face, I knew he recognized the name. “I said Tristan. Do you know of him?”
He ignored my question and began walking briskly down the driveway. “We have to go.”
Running to catch up with him, I noticed we were headed back to town. My companions could be heard not far behind me. “Wait, you know him?” I repeated.
He stopped and turned back towards me slowly. “I knew he would find you, Angelina. I just knew it.”
“You do know him!”
“We don’t have much time. If the Crimson Moon rises, all we know of this world will be lost.”
My father turned to Nicolai, who had been standing quietly near a neatly stacked woodpile. “We may want to involve Daniel.”
Nicolai gave him a cautious look. “It’s too risky.”
My interest was piqued. “Who’s Daniel?” I asked.
They both ignored me. “He would be a powerful ally,” my father said, trying to state his case.
Nicolai shook his head in disagreement. “No, Josiah, we can’t bring Daniel into this.”
“We’ll be careful.”
Nicolai shook his head again. “No.”
“Hey! Both of you, stop it,” I demanded. Crossing my arms angrily, I took a firm stance. “One of you had better tell me what’s going on.”
My father held his finger up. “One second, Angelina, this is important.”
Hurt by his “hush,” I zipped my lips.
“You know he can help us, Nicolai, and he’ll keep her safe.”
Nicolai grew quiet and by the look on his face, I knew he was deep in thought.
“Maybe you’re right, Josiah.” He finally nodded in agreement. “Let’s go find Daniel.”
Chapter 12
Crush
Something tugged at the back of my mind. I had heard the name Daniel before. Where had I heard it…then it hit me. “Are you talking about Daniel the mechanic?”
Surprised, they both looked at me in unison.
“Angelina, how do you know Daniel?” my father asked suspiciously.
I shrugged. “We live in Buffalo, a town with the population of 657 people. Not many people here go unnoticed.”
His eyes narrowed and he gave me a stern look. “Can please you clarify?”
“Clarify what?”
“That you know him, or that you only know of him?” he said.
Sighing, I rolled my eyes. “Does it matter? We don’t have time for this.” I replied.
“Yes, in fact, it does matter.”
Nicolai moved from the woodpile he had been leaning against. He took my hand in his and tilted my face up to look at him. “Angelina, please, this is important.”
My stubbornness immediately melted away. “I only know of him. Marie, my high school best friend, used to have a crush on him, okay?”
“But you’ve never personally met him or talked to him?” Nicolai asked.
I tried to look away, but he held my chin firmly. “We walked past his shop one day while he was working on an old truck outside. Marie saw him with his shirt off and thought he was hot. We never actually talked to him.”
Nicolai let go of my chin and gently kissed my forehead. His cool lips felt good against my warm skin. “Thank you, my love. That’s all we needed to hear.”
My father turned back towards town. “We should hurry.”
I threw my hands in the air angrily. “Are you kidding me? You’re not going to tell me anything?”
“We will tell you when you’re ready, Angelina. Until then, there is nothing to tell you,” my father said.
Bethani came up behind me and squeezed my shoulder softly. “Listen to them, they know what’s best.”
Sighing, I followed behind them. “All these stupid secrets are going to drive me mad.”
She gave me a gentle push and laughed. “We’re all mad here,” she quoted.
Bethani always knew what to say to make me laugh. “Alice in Wonderland, really?”
“What?” She shrugged. “It fit the moment.”
Laughing again, I motioned for Jeremiah to follow us.
“What’s the plan?” he asked, jogging up to us.
“Apparently, we’re headed into town to talk to Daniel.”
“The mechanic?” he asked.
Nodding, I smiled sarcastically. “Maybe he’s a magic mechanic.”
A smile finally broke through his sullen face. “Maybe he has a magic wrench that could magically fix everything.”
“I sure hope so,” I replied, laughing again. It was good to see him smile.
We made our way back to town in silence. Daniel’s shop sat just south of my father’s house, only a short distance away. A few moments later, sweet music filled the air.
“Is that Elton John I’m hearing?” My father called out.
A man in a dirty blue grease monkey uniform emerged from under the front end of a beat-up old Ford pickup truck. “Is that Josiah’s voice I hear questioning my taste in music?” he asked.
Laughing, my father walked over and shook the man’s dirty hand. “Well, I would prefer Billy Joel’s rendition of this song, but I suppose this is alright.”
Daniel dropped the metal wrench he had been using and it hit the ground with a loud clang. He slammed the heavy truck hood. “What brings you to this side of town, old man?” he asked, wiping his greasy hands on his overalls.
My father’s voice grew serious. “Tristan has returned.”
Daniel stopped wiping his hands and stared at my father momentarily before picking up his tool box. “I see. What’s our time frame?”
“I’m not quite sure yet, but I would guess we don’t have much time,” he replied.
Daniel’s dark, serious eyes met mine. He was a handsome man, in a rough sort of way. His large, dirty hands matched his muscular frame and chiseled face. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to decide if that was stubble on his tan skin or just grease and grime.
“Why the odd expression?” he asked roughly.
“Nothing.”
He smirked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his overalls. “Nothing, huh.”
Nicolai, amused by their exchange of words interjected, “It’s obvious she doesn’t remember you, Daniel.”
“I
like how you talk about me like I’m not right here, Nicolai,” I said.
“She hasn’t regained all of her memories yet, and it’s best we keep it that way,” Nicolai warned.
“Maybe you’re right, Nicolai. I bet she hasn’t regained all her memories, including some of them that involved you,” he replied, sarcasm heavy in his deep voice.
Nicolai didn’t utter another word. My father stepped in between them and once again hushed me before I could ask another question. “Look, there’s no time for bickering. We have to get to Tristan before time runs out.”
Daniel picked up the wrench he had dropped earlier and threw it into his rusty toolbox. “Why did you come here anyways? It’s not like I can help you.”
Nicolai took a step forward. “You can help keep her safe—”
My father finished Nicolai’s sentence for him. “—and we need you to find him.”
He sighed and ran his hands through his dark, messy hair. “Tell me, Josiah, what’s in this for me?”
Jeremiah spoke up suddenly. “Why does there have to be something in it for you? This guy killed my fiancée.”
“And your point is?”
Jeremiah made a fist and lunged towards him. Nicolai stepped in between the two of them and held his hands up. “Woah, fellas.” He pushed them apart and frowned. “Now, Daniel, we go way back. If I recall, you owe me a favor.”
Daniel made a disgusted face and sighed again. “Well, damn.”
“So, you’ll help us?” I asked, hopeful for a new ally.
“I’ll help him,” he answered, glancing back up at Nicolai, “only because I owe him.”
“Wow, aren’t you charming,” I commented under my breath. I felt his sharp gaze upon me and shrugged. “What?”
Without saying another word, he opened the door that had “Office” spray-painted across the top of it and went inside, slamming it shut behind him.
Jeremiah smirked. “Way to piss him off, Angelina.”
“What?” I asked again with a shrug.
He shook his head, the smirk still gracing his handsome face. “Oh, Angelina…”
Crimson Moon: The Crimson Chronicles Book 2 Page 4