Shadows of the Past (A Time Travel Romance)

by Carly Fall

  A flash of recognition gleamed in its eyes.

  Bella heard Jayden softly curse as she took a step toward the animal. “I never got the chance to thank you.”

  The wolf came closer, and she held her breath, waiting to see what the animal would do, afraid that it would pounce on her and shred her limb from limb.

  Instead, its fur began to shimmer yellow, the same color as its eyes, then in a brief flash of light, a naked woman crouched before them.

  She stood, her black hair a snarled mess around her torso, her body thin, yet muscular. Her mahogany gaze showed intelligence and she showed no embarrassment about her nudity.

  “You’re welcome, human.”

  Bella stared at the woman, her heart pounding in her chest, but she didn’t know if it was from fear or excitement. Today, she’d felt more alive than she ever had.

  “M-My name’s Bella.”

  The woman smiled, baring her canine teeth. “And I am called Celestria.”

  She turned to Jayden, tilting her head back and sniffing the air. “You aren’t human. I can smell it. You’re from another plane.”

  He nodded. “Yes. Heaven.”

  She grinned again, as if it was something she heard every day. “I’ve come across other Heavenly ones like you. I’ve also seen a few demons from Hell. The Heavenly ones are waging a vicious war against Evil.”

  Jayden nodded. “My kind are very strong and willing to do almost anything to eradicate the evil.”

  Celestria gaze narrowed as she studied him. After a moment, she asked, “Were you here the last time this happened?”

  “Yes, but not in the same capacity as I’m here now.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “It was terrible. So much death and destruction.”

  “But you didn’t return to your side,” Bella said.

  “No, my pack didn’t. We were running for our lives when the rift closed—a band of humans hunted us. When we realized we would never get back to our universe, we adopted this area as our own. This time, we fight for our own survival during this occurrence, as well as the humans.”

  Saint’s Grove had always been steeped in legends, and Bella once again recalled one of them being that a pack of werewolves lived in the wood surrounding it. In the 1970’s, a hunter claimed to have shot a werewolf in the forest, but all they had found was the remains of a naked man.

  It was also said that if you look up at the mountain during a full moon where a mining accident had taken place in 1905, the ghosts of the minors could be seen walking around in front of the mine. However, she’d never noticed them.

  The towns’ founder, Peter Saint, had a very religious wife, Beatrice, who claimed she had been visited by an angel dressed in white with large, white wings. The angel had told her fantastic stories of battles of Good versus Evil that had taken place in the area many, many centuries ago. Beatrice wrote down her meetings with the angel in her diary, but it had also been noted that she smoked peyote in order to open her mind to talk to God.

  Bella had never given much thought to any of the legends as she tended to be very pragmatic. If she didn’t see it with her own eyes, she had a hard time believing it had happened. Legends equaled fiction to her, and stories as fantastic as some of the ones floating around Saint’s Grove were either untrue, or had been blown so far out of proportion, they didn’t even resemble the original tale. But now, she began to wonder about the validity of all of them. She was standing in a forest talking to a werewolf with an angel by her side.

  She turned her attention back to the conversation as Celestria spoke.

  “Why are you here now, Heavenly One? What is your purpose?”

  He glanced over at Bella, as if uncertain whether he should answer or not, the muscles in his arms rolling beneath his skin as he held on tightly to the knife. “My job is to protect Bella from a demon.”

  Celestria raised her brows, her dark gaze piercing as she looked her over from head to toe. “I’m sorry for you, Bella. Demons are horrible creatures.”

  She smiled, hoping her fear didn’t show. Noticing that Jayden hadn’t offered up much of the story, she decided to do the same and keep the conversation to a minimum. “Thank you.”

  Celestria glanced at their weapons. “What will you do with the sword and the knife?”

  Once again, Jayden hesitated before answering. “I’m teaching Bella how to fight off and kill the demon.”

  Celestria nodded. “Right now, you’re in our territory, and that is why I came to you—to warn you off. However, since you are on the side of Good and here to fight Evil, we will allow you to use our lands to hone your skills. We will also keep guard so that you aren’t disturbed by a demon or any other entity.”

  “Thank you.” Jayden bowed his head, seeming to relax a bit. “I wish you well in these strange and dangerous times. Your fierceness will certainly protect you if you, and your pack, have managed to survive for this long.”

  “Thank you, Heavenly One. Be careful, Bella.”

  She stared as Celestria turned and walked back into the trees, and a wave of relief washed through her. She couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off her face. Just yesterday, she’d been so bored with her life. Then, she’d become so terrified, she could barely move. Now, she felt empowered and excited. She had a pack of damn werewolves watching her back!

  “What goes through your pretty head?”

  She hadn’t realized Jayden had been looking at her.

  “Well, I was just thinking that this has been the most exciting, yet scary, time in my life. Yesterday, I was going through the motions, then I was paralyzed with fear, and now … I don’t know. It’s as if everything in my life has come together in this perfect storm and I feel … I feel alive.”

  He placed his hand on her shoulder, his dark eyes smoldering, a small smile playing on his lips. “We still have much practice to do with the sword, and then we shall move into the handling of knives.”

  She nodded, feeling ready for anything. “Let’s do it.”

  9

  The next day, Arabella announced that they desperately needed food. “As much as I'd like to, I’m not going to be able to survive on muffins and tea.”

  He didn’t like the idea of going into the town square, especially with the portal to other worlds being located there. However, Saint’s Grove had only one grocery store, and it sat in the heart of town, in the square.

  Surely, Ulric had begun to grow tired of causing havoc and destruction and would come hunting her soon. The closer to town they went, the better the chance would be for him to sense her. Yes, she’d done well with the sword and knives today, but she still needed practice. If confronted with the demon, she wouldn’t win.

  Nevertheless, he saw no reason why he couldn’t fight off the demon again—just not kill him—and then seek him out for the final confrontation when Bella was ready.

  Easier said than done, as he’d imagined drawing Ulric’s blood again for centuries, to watch the life drain from his evil eyes.

  Bella sighed. “Even if we can just get a couple cans of soup, that would help. I don’t need a lot to make it through until Halloween.”

  He considered breaking into some of her neighbors’ homes. Many people had cleared out of town after the universal seals had been shattered. Her quiet neighborhood felt abandoned, and he wondered how long it would take the humans to either come back, or forget what had happened and start to repopulate the town.

  “We should check your neighbors’ houses first.”

  She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “No. What if they come back? I don’t want to break windows and have them come home to forest animals in their homes, or worse, vampires.”

  He stared at her, trying to come up with another way to feed her.

  Grinning, she approached him and laid her hand on his forearm. “We can make it to the store, Jayden. You and I can do this together.”

  The warmth of her touch almost buckled his knees, and he casually gripp
ed onto the kitchen counter for support, hoping her effect on him hadn’t been very noticeable. All he needed to do would be to reach out, wrap his hand around her waist, and pull her close. Then, he’d lean down, their lips brushing together softly as his blood raced through his veins and his body trembled with desire.

  “Jayden?”

  Hearing his name brought him out of his reverie, and he smiled at her as he gazed down at her hand still placed on his arm. Now was not the time to relive his sweet memories—his Princess was hungry.

  In their past relationship, he’d have had to hunt and skin a rabbit, then cook it over the fire in order to feed her. Now, he had to make it to the grocery store without running into a demon.

  How he longed for the simpler times.

  They’d have to go, as he certainly wouldn’t let her starve to death. “We’ll go in later today. At least then, we won’t have to worry about vampires in the daylight.”

  She sighed. “No. Just demons, werewolves, ghosts, and probably a bunch of other entities we haven’t even seen yet.”

  He laughed. “You’re probably right.”

  10

  As they walked down her empty street toward town, she once again questioned her sanity. Yes, she felt alive, like she had an important purpose in life, but she kept having flashes of places and things she wasn’t even sure existed. In the forest, there had been an intense feeling of déjà vu when Jayden had touched her, and she’d bet her life that that moment had happened before. It all just seemed too real.

  For instance, just a few moments ago, her world had begun to morph, as if she had been transported to another time and place. She had caught glimpses of a lake to her right and had felt the soft earth under her feet. A warm summer breeze had rustled her hair, and the sun had warmed her back. Happiness had flowed through her as she’d looked over at Jayden, and her heart had beat a bit faster, as if it had been filled with … love. She’d gazed up at her knight, taking in his strong jaw covered in a thick beard, his kind eyes, and broad shoulders. Yes, she’d fallen in love with him, but an abrupt thought had overshadowed her happiness—they could never be together.

  Then, suddenly, as if she’d been sucked through time and space, she’d arrived back into the present. Fear and excitement had replaced her happy emotions as she walked down the streets of her neighborhood with Jayden. It almost seemed as if she’d become someone else for a few brief moments.

  Had she and Jayden been in love?

  She’d come to accept that he told the truth about being an angel, because it would be silly to try to deny it. If she could come to terms that vampires existed and a pack of werewolves did indeed live in the forests beyond town, she saw no reason to deny Jayden’s fantastic story.

  However, she did have a hard time believing this was her second life.

  Yet, she didn’t know what to make of these strange flashes of scenery and the feelings that went along with them. It seemed as if she really did travel from the fourteenth century and back to this one.

  These brief bursts of a different existence unnerved her.

  She sighed, reminding herself she needed to pay attention to her surroundings. Glancing over at Jayden, she decided to find out more about her so-called past life, but nervous butterflies tickled her belly when she considered her next question, one she’d avoided asking.

  “In my past life, how was I a bad influence on you?”

  He grinned, but averted his gaze from hers. “You have to understand the times. You were a princess. I was a knight. The Sergeant at Arms didn’t like me. I used to partake in some activities that people of that time considered ungodly. He caught me fighting after drinking too much ale, and when your father, the prince, asked for someone to watch over his daughter, he required someone honest, trustworthy, and reliable. The Sergeant at Arms thought the assignment would be tedious and boring, but at least I’d be out of his hair.”

  “So he chose you.”

  “Yes, he did. However, that wouldn’t be enough for an unmarried man to spend time with an unmarried princess. Your father, the prince, also trusted me because I had saved his life during a battle.”

  She contemplated the thought for a moment, trying to envision a battle with such archaic weapons, and she imagined blood flowing on the combat field as they slaughtered each other. Today, whole countries could be wiped out with the press of a button. She didn’t know which choice was the worst.

  How times had changed.

  “And was our time together a complete bore?”

  He grinned. “Now you sound like the princess I knew.”

  She ignored his comment. “Are you going to answer my question? Was watching after me a snoozefest?”

  His smile widened. “On the contrary.”

  “What happened?”

  He shrugged. “We became friends.”

  She stopped and looked at him, her gut coiling with nerves. “Did we become more than friends?”

  As he gazed at her over his shoulder, she wasn’t sure if she wanted the answer to her question, but with all the flashbacks and the intense feelings that went with them, she needed to know.

  After studying her for a beat, he answered. “Yes.”

  Her cheeks burned, but she questioned whether it was because of his answer, or the burst of desire that suddenly flushed through her.

  “Ours was a forbidden romance because of our stations in life, but you and I together were like fire and paper.”

  She furrowed her brow. She’d heard of oil and water, indicating two entities that didn’t get along, but she didn’t understand the connotation of his words. “Fire and paper?”

  Taking took two steps toward her, he placed his hands on her shoulders. He stared down at her, his dark eyes smoldering as he stood just a couple of inches away, completely invading her space. Her logical mind said she should move away, yet her body yearned to close the space between them. She just didn’t understand her attraction to him.

  He tracked her jawline with his knuckle, his touch sending a shiver through her. “Yes, Arabella—fire and paper. You completely consumed me.”

  He turned and continued to walk down the street. She stared after him, wondering exactly what that meant, and not sure she wanted to know.

  * * *

  They walked side by side, the town square just about a quarter mile away. His skin tingled at the presence of many supernatural beings, but he didn’t detect a threat from any of them. Thankfully, Evil usually preferred to work at night.

  Her question had made him think of their first kiss, and he couldn’t help but smile. The woman had been so exasperating, yet endearing, clever, and funny.

  * * *

  A fortnight passed, during which he and Arabella had spent more time together than apart. While in the presence of others, he pretended not to enjoy her companionship, and she ignored him, as if he were a chair in the room she didn’t like. However, they strived to find time alone daily, and it was during these moments that he found himself the happiest. Arabella had slowly stolen his heart with her smile, her charm, and her humor.

  As he lay outside her chamber at night, tears stung his eyes for the love in his heart. It beat so strong for her, his body cried out to hold her, but his was a love that could never be known. He imagined being in her warm bed, his arms wrapped around her so tightly, she’d wonder if he’d ever let go. Surely, he’d bury his nose in her hair and sleep as though he’d died and gone to Heaven, her presence such a soothing comfort to him.

  Each time the prince summoned him to his solar for a report on his daughter’s activities, fear coiled in his gut, making him feel as though ice ran through his veins. It wasn’t the discovery of their friendship he feared, but that the prince would announce he’d made a match for Arabella.

  However, his troubled thoughts would dissipate each morning when she emerged from her room, giving him a smile that made his knees grow weak. Sometimes, she’d glance around to be certain they were alone, then reach out and squeeze his hand. Ot
her times, her cheeks flushed crimson as she gazed up at him, and he would hold his breath, certain she would stand on her toes and kiss his cheek. He’d never wanted anything so badly in his life, yet feared nothing more. If she ever dared to lay her lips against his skin, he wouldn’t be able to fight off his urges to pull her closer to him.

  The princess made him feel like a loyal guard dog at its master’s feet, ready to obey any and all commands given to him. Truthfully, he would not want it any other way.

  Today, they walked alongside the lake lying beyond the castle walls, her arm entwined with his. The sun glinted off the blue water like diamonds, and a soft, summer breeze cooled the air. He told himself that if anyone were to ask, he would say he held the princess so she wouldn’t stumble, fall, and hurt herself on this dangerous land bordering the water. It had become his duty to protect her. However, the grassy lakeside was far from treacherous, and his true reasons were hardly so noble. He simply wanted to touch her, to have her close. Thankfully, few people ever ventured this far into the woods, and as he glanced around, he knew they were alone. Large trees hid them, and the path had not been trodden upon in a long time. Weeds and grass bent beneath their feet with each step.

  “Did you go into town last night, Jayden?”

  His brow creased in confusion. “No. Why do you ask?”

  She shrugged, and the corners of her mouth turned downward. “I worried that spending all this time with me would bore you, especially when I know the sort of company you are accustomed to keeping.”

  He glanced over at her. “Arabella, I am not certain what you mean. I quite enjoy my time with you.”

  She stopped and turned to him, her eyes glinting with mischief. “Ah, Jayden. I have seen you at the whorehouse. I have watched you drink too many ales, then approach a whore, who then took you upstairs. Later that night, after you had finished with her, you had more ale and proceeded to engage in a brawl. It was not the same night the Sergeant at Arms saw you, but a different evening. I have snuck into town many times.”