“Well, Sweetness, it wasn’t me,” Devon said.
“Hmmm,” she said. “That’s odd. Were you thinking it and I heard it that way?”
“I don’t think so. I was working on the computer back in the bedroom when I heard you say something. If I was thinking something, it would have been about wiring the house in Ireland and what I need to order for Sean and his brother to get started over there,” Devon explained.
“I was so sure it was you,” she said.
“Nope. Not me.”
“You sure you’re not just messing with me?” Darby asked.
“I would never do such a thing…” he smiled coyly, “but seriously, this time it wasn’t me,” Devon said.
She put her knitting into a bag on the coffee table and pondered the information. “That’s really weird. Anyway, do you want to go up to the house and eat?”
“Sure. I could go for a bite,” Devon said.
“A bite, huh?” Darby joked.
“Very funny,” he said as he held out his hand to help Darby to her feet and stole a kiss as a payment for doing so. Then they walked up to the house hand and hand.
*****
Rowan was bundled up like an Eskimo when Blake found her in the bedroom.
“What’s up? Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m just cold for some reason,” she answered.
“I don’t know how you could be; after all, it’s like 80 degrees in here with the fire going.”
“I don’t know what to say…I’m cold,” Rowan insisted.
“Are you getting sick?” He reached for her forehead.
“I don’t think so. Just have a chill. Once I get warmed up, I’m sure I’ll be better,” she said.
“Maybe you should have a nice, hot shower after dinner with a tall, handsome vampire?” Blake suggested.
“You think? Who would you recommend?”
“Me, of course,” Blake said matter-of-factly.
“Oh…well, I’ll have to think about it,” she said as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his chest.
“You’ll think about it? Have you received a better offer?” Blake asked.
“No. Just wanted to get a rise out of you,” Rowan quipped.
“Uh huh. I see. Shall we head to dinner?” Blake said.
“Sure. But didn’t you just eat like an hour ago?” Rowan asked.
“Yeah, so?”
“Where exactly do you put all that food?” she asked sarcastically.
“I don’t know, guess I burn a lot of energy keeping you happy.”
“Oh…is that so?” Rowan said.
“Yep. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it,” he said as he opened the door and led her to the stairs.
“I wish I could eat like that,” she said as she slipped her left arm around his waist and he reciprocated by wrapping his right arm around her shoulders.
“It’s a very specialized talent. Takes a lot of practice.”
A shiver ran up her back as she said, “Does it, now? Who knew?”
“It’s a researched fact. Oh, yes. You can’t just binge eat on a whim,” he said as they walked past the library, when out of the corner of his eye he saw what looked like the fireplace burst into flames where there had been none before. “Holy moly! Did you see that?”
“See what?” she asked.
“In the library, the fireplace suddenly had a huge fire in it.”
She took a step back and peeked into the library to see a lovely, flickering fire in the fireplace. “Are you sure? Looks like the fire in there has been going all evening.”
“It does, doesn’t it? That’s weird. I could have sworn there was no fire in there just a second ago,” he said, puzzled.
They continued on to the dining room and the same thing happened when they passed the fireplace in the salon.
“Did you see that?” Blake said.
“What now?” Rowan asked.
“The fireplace. Again, it burst into flames as we walked by!” Blake said.
“Are you okay, Blake? You seem to have fire on the brain. What’s up?” Rowan asked, rather concerned.
“I…I… don’t know. You really didn’t see that?” he asked.
“No, handsome. I didn’t see anything but a fireplace with a fire in it,” she said.
“Weird,” he exclaimed as he opened the door to the dining room, leading her in.
*****
Dean had been jumpy all day, which is exactly how Sally was feeling. She’d never seen him jumpy before; in her eyes, he’d always been courageous and it was really throwing her for a loop. She wished he had been his usual self since she was feeling so edgy.
When they sat down in the dining room for dinner, she asked Dominic a question. “Mr. Larsen, I was wondering if you could tell me who the woman is in the portrait at the head of the stairs?”
“Aw. She’s lovely isn’t she? That is my dearly departed wife, Sophia,” he proclaimed.
“Yes. She is very beautiful and Anton has her eyes. May I ask how she died?” Sally inquired.
He finished chewing his bite of lasagna before answering, “In childbirth. She never even got to hold Anton in her arms. It was a terrible time. We were so excited anticipating his arrival and then tragedy struck and we lost her.”
Darby said, “That’s odd though, isn’t it? She was a vampire - a born vampire, right?”
“Yes, and from one of the finest families,” Dominic admitted.
“So why couldn’t she heal herself?” Darby asked.
“I’m not sure of the details. I just couldn’t bear to hear them at the time. I suppose I ought to have asked Michael about it later, but I know he did everything he could for her. I mean he’s my oldest and best friend,” Dominic said.
“You mean Dr. Rowe?” Sally asked.
“Yes, my dear. Michael oversaw the delivery. All I know is there was a lot of blood. He said he couldn’t get the bleeding to stop,” Dominic explained.
“Hmmm,” Darby said.
Blake asked Dean, who was across the table, for the parmesan cheese and noticed Dean had traces of tears down his cheeks. Blake was going to leap into razzing him about it when he got a look from Sally that made him think better of it. Puzzled by the emotional display, he barely noticed when the parmesan met his hand, but everyone else at the table had. The bowl with the parmesan floated up and across the table into Blake’s hand while Blake watched Dean, and everyone else watched the bowl float to Blake. That’s when he noticed everyone staring at him.
“What?” he said defensively.
“What?” Dominic said. “That bowl just floated over to you from the other side of the table.”
“What? You’re joking!” Blake said.
Everyone at the table shook their heads.
Dominic asked, “Has this ever happened before, Blake?”
“What? Bowls of food floating to me? Only in my dreams,” he said half joking.
Rowan shook her head in disbelief.
“What? I do dream about food coming to me. That’s not so weird,” he tried to defend.
Devon interjected, “Blake, I think what Dominic meant was, have you ever had items come to you at will? And that doesn’t mean in your dreams.”
“Oh! No. I just figured it was Dean or Mark playing a joke on me,” Blake admitted.
Mark and Dean both shook their heads, completely blameless this time.
“How interesting,” Dominic said. “Can you move something else?”
“I guess…” He put his elbow on the table with his hand open as if waiting for something and closed his eyes. Nothing on the table moved, and after a couple of seconds they had all resigned it to being a fluke, when in from the kitchen doorway an opened beer floated about four feet above the floor into his hand.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Blake said as he took a swig of ice cold beer. “SWEET!”
Dean’s eyes were huge with envy. “Do me. Do me
next!” he said overly excited and even Mark looked at him oddly.
“Aw, get your own, dog face,” Blake joked.
Dean got up abruptly and stomped out of the room like a little girl throwing a temper tantrum, slamming the dining room door behind him.
“What’s up with him?” Blake asked.
Sally slowly got up and said, “He’s been really emotional lately. I really don’t know what to make of it. I’ve never seen him like this. He’s really not himself, Blake. I’m actually rather worried about him.”
“Sally, how long has he been this way?” Dominic asked.
“I don’t know? A couple of days? It’s gotten a lot worse lately though,” she answered.
“So since we got back from the Heart Island?” Dominic prodded.
“Yes. I guess it started around then. Why?” she asked.
“Just wondering if maybe, like Blake, he has a new power, like the prophecy said.”
“You don’t think this has anything to do with the prophecy, do you? I mean, Dean and I aren’t Larsens,” she said.
“Actually, yes. That is what I think, and I would be willing to bet that anyone in this room would consider you all to be family,” Dominic countered.
“I guess that would explain some things,” she said distractedly.
“Like what, Dear?” Dominic asked.
“Well, I don’t mean to freak you out or anything but I have been seeing things,” she admitted.
“Seeing what?” Rowan asked.
“People….that I shouldn’t be seeing.”
“People? Like who?” Darby asked.
Sally scrunched up her face, then blurted out, “Like Sophia….and the blonde woman in the portrait over the fireplace in the Library….and some very handsome guy who is tall like Blake, but has Devon’s eyes.”
Dominic and all the others were stunned as they took this in.
“You mean to say, you are seeing the ghosts of Sophia, Abby, and Nathaniel?” Dominic asked.
“I guess,” Sally said timidly.
“Can you talk with them?” Blake asked.
“I haven’t tried. I don’t think they know yet that I’m the only one that can see them.”
“Wow. That’s cool and creepy at the same time,” Blake said.
“You’re telling me,” Sally agreed. “I’m going to check on Dean. Blake…I think once he’s cooled off, maybe you could talk to him. You really are his best friend; maybe he would confide in you as to what’s going on with him?”
“Yeah, Sally. No problem. Anything for ‘dog-breath’,” he said.
Devon commented, “Maybe you should keep the jokes to a minimum, Blake, until he can get this…whatever it is…under control.”
“Oh. Right. Definitely. Sally…anything he needs, you just ask and don’t hesitate. And…if you do talk to my mom…tell her I miss her,” Blake said.
Sally smiled as she left the room, closing the door behind her.
Pretending to cry, Mark sniffled, “That was so ….adorable, Blake,” and then he started to laugh. Alyssa elbowed him in the ribs. “Ow. You’ve got the boniest little elbows.”
“Well, if you kept your foot out of your mouth you wouldn’t know anything about my elbows. I think you should take Devon’s advice and keep the jibes to a minimum too,” Alyssa suggested.
“All right, all right,” he said as he got up to go in the kitchen to get a beer. “Just wish I was a fly on the wall upstairs to hear the conversation between Sally and Dean,” he said laughing as he left the room.
Everybody brought their attention back to Dominic when he said, “Well, it seems we have some very interesting things going on. Anyone else having any strange things happening to them in the last couple of days?”
Everybody looked around mumbling and shrugging their shoulders when Blake said, “Well, every time I walk by a room the fireplace bursts into flames.”
Rowan rolled her eyes at his comment and said, “Only because you are mental.”
“Am not. I’m telling you that I know what I saw and I saw those fireplaces light up as we walked by,” Blake retorted.
“We walked by? Does that mean you were with Rowan when you saw these ‘flames’?” Dominic asked.
“Yes. On the way down to dinner, the fireplace in the library and the one in the salon both jumped into action.”
“Sure they did, Blake,” Rowan joked, “you’re such a joker.”
“I’m not joking. I saw what I saw,” Blake insisted.
Dominic watched them both as they bantered back and forth, but he noticed Rowan bundled up in a sweater and a hoodie when it was at least seventy-two degrees in the house.
“Are you cold, Dear?” Dominic asked her.
“Yeah. Just can’t seem to get the chill out of me,” she admitted.
“You should see her in bed, she’s like a little Eskimo and she steals all the covers. I swear in the morning she’s a big burrito of blankets, leaving me with nothing but a pillow,” Blake explained.
“And these symptoms…how long have you had them?” Dominic asked.
“I don’t know? A couple of days, I guess,” she answered.
“Oooh! Is she going to be like ‘iceman’ and shoot ice out of her eyes or something?” Blake asked excitedly. Rowan jabbed him in the ribs.
Dominic chuckled, “I doubt it, Blake. I actually was thinking quite the opposite. Pyrokinesis.”
“What? You think I made Blake’s imaginary fires?” Rowan joked.
“I think it’s possible,” Dominic said as he licked his thumb and forefinger and doused one of the candles closest to Rowan in the candelabra in the center of the table. “Rowan, see if you can light the candle.”
“How?” Rowan asked.
“Your choice. Either by touching it with your finger or by thinking it with your mind,” Dominic answered.
“This is silly. I can’t make fire just app….,” she said as she absentmindedly touched the wick of the candle and a flame appeared between her fingers, igniting the wick. “Pppear…,” she finished, dumbstruck.
“Flame ON,” Blake said referring to the Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm character.
“Funny, Blake. Very funny,” Rowan said. A fly flew in front of her face and she swished it away with a wave of her hand.
“Well, I guess that explains the fires, Blake. I think Rowan was so cold that as she passed each room she ignited the fireplaces to warm herself.”
“But I don’t remember doing it or wishing it,” Rowan said.
“I’m sure you are right, my Dear,” Dominic said. “I think these new gifts are so deeply imbedded in our subconscious that it isn’t necessary to think it. It just happens.”
Darby said, “So you think we all have some new power?”
“I think it is very possible,” Dominic answered her.
“Then what’s yours, Dominic?” she asked.
“I’m not sure yet. But if there is one it will show itself with time like it will with all of us.”
“That’s a little scary to think about,” Darby said.
“Scary, but exciting too,” Devon said.
“I guess,” Darby said unconvinced.
“Well, try to be aware of anything odd happening around you and we will talk again in the morning. Maybe the others have some things they’d like to add.”
“Right,” Blake said and he and Rowan left.
“I wonder what happened to Mark? Of course the way that man eats, he’s probably got a stomach ache. No offense to your cooking, Bernard. The lasagna was wonderful,” Allysa said.
“None taken, Ms. Sarducci,” Bernard returned.
“I better go look for him,” Allysa said.
Devon asked Dominic, “Should we be concerned?”
“I don’t think so, Devon. They all seem pretty harmless. The more we are aware the powers are there, the better prepared we are.”
“I suppose you are right. Sweetness, shall we head back down to the guest house?” Devon asked Darby.
And with that, everyone headed off in different directions for the rest of the evening.
Chapter Seven
Dominic’s dreams were fitful that evening - a collage of a drugged Katarina being moved from one bed to another and to another. Dominic appeared to be watching through a square window in a door and as Katarina passed by the window, they locked eyes. Dominic smiled, but Katarina’s reaction was pure hysteric fear. Dominic’s heart plummeted to his knees and deep sadness consumed him. He hoped to have a second chance with this lovely creature. He had thought he had been protecting her by leaving her to live a normal life. If he’d only known she was carrying their child, Josh.
He sat straight up in bed; a cold film of sweat encased his body and tears ran down his cheeks. Just a dream, he consoled himself. He laid there taking deep breaths and praying that would not be the outcome of their first meeting after so many years. He closed his eyes again and pushed the sad dream out of his head and fell back to sleep.
Blackness replaced his thoughts of Katarina and a scene appeared before him just near the edge of the woods in a place Dominic didn’t know. He watched a tall, dark man taking instruction from a shadowy figure behind a tree. Dominic could not make out what was said, but given the location and their periodical glances over their shoulders, he knew it was a secret meeting. Somehow, Dominic knew that it wasn’t a pleasant conversation either by the way the tall man held himself. He could see in his posture that he was angry, but not at the shadowy figure.
The scene faded and another appeared in a barn. A meeting of lovers, Dominic assumed, by the greeting of kisses and embraces. The woman had her back to Dominic but he could clearly see the man’s familiar face. Given it was a scene in a dream, Dominic’s mind did not place a name with the face immediately. Based on the apparel of the couple, it had to have been sometime in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. When he made that distinction, his brain jumped into gear and he remembered who the familiar man was. It was his great uncle, Owen Larsen. Next he saw a collage of stolen kisses and meetings between this young woman and Owen.
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