CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

Bangkok, Thailand

Yvonne knew it was coming. She had felt sick for a couple of hours now. Reminiscent of morning sickness, Yvonne had been pregnant twice before; the first wasn't exactly on purpose and the other was a miscarriage. This took her back to that most painful time in her life, a time she truly never came back from. Yvonne knew she wasn't pregnant, and knew this pain was something foreboding. So she just sat in her room and waited.

DarkFlood teleported onto the beach during the amber double-sunset on the tropical paradise. He admired the quintessential scene over the calm ocean before he went inside. There Yvonne was sitting beside the fire. DarkFlood entered and Yvonne didn't even flinch. She was to be just like the others, but already Philip could feel something different about her. Thankfully he got to her before anyone else did. Philip knew DarkFlood had many enemies out there both known and unknown, getting to Yvonne before she was brought to the United States was crucial.

Humanity was in the twilight of its innocence.

DarkFlood knew this, so did Yvonne. The had come to terms with the future like she had psychic abilities herself. But that was not why Philip was here. "You're not what I expected."

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing about a girl from Thailand, but then again Yvonne isn't a native name now is it?"

"My parents are French, and very wealthy. This was the only place I could go where they would not to follow."

"Is a rich family so bad?"

"Money has been my family's history for too long."

"Then what would you have your legacy be?"

Yvonne was struck by his use of the word, as if she had trouble thinking of it herself. She turned her eyes back to the fireplace and pretended not to care. She was good at that.

"My legacy is already written."

"Speaking as someone who has seen the future…Not yet it isn't."

Yvonne turned back around, this time with passion in her eyes. She got up and grabbed DarkFlood by the collar, "What have you seen? Not the same as me, no. My life only has one path," she released DarkFlood, walking away, "and it is paved in the shadows."

"Yvonne, I am not going to lie, I have seen great tragedy at your hands in many of my visions. But you still have the choice. Everybody has a choice."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"What is my ‘choice’ Dark Crusader?"

"To come with me now, or wait for him."

"I am only here to rule by his side."

"You are like him, but you are not one of them."

"What am I?" At last she broke down her polished reserve and showed a glimpse of her fleeting humanity within her desperate humility. Philip approached her and she began to cry.

He got down next to her and picked her head up gently by her chin. "You are beautiful."

"You know what I am...what I become, just tell me."

"Before the sun rises you will be invincible, but at a price. You will need to kill in order to survive."

"How is that even possible?"

"There is a lot that cannot be explained, but you must trust that I am right and make the choice now, before the turn."

"What if I choose wrong? And end up becoming Queen of the Damned?"

"No matter what... it is your choice, and always will be. Don't let fate live your life for you."

Yvonne knew what was at stake in this one simple choice to stay or go. If she went with him now she would avoid all temptation. Having DarkFlood there to stop her from killing people and finding a suitable substitute. But if she stayed she would succumb right away to her new found urges and ride the slippery slope to madness and murder.

"I have to stay." Her answer seemed to blurt right out of her mouth on its own.

Yvonne was right. If she went with Philip now she would avoid her natural temptations, only to explode later in pent-up rage. No, instead, Yvonne would stay and accept her new life, taking her place in destiny, confronting her own darkness, and maybe one day...overcoming it.

"I can tell you this, Yvonne, I know you are not like the rest of them, because of the psychic link we share. They are beasts, reactions to the cruelty and chaos of natural order, but you, you are so much more. Never forget that, please."

"I won't."

"Till we meet again, Yvonne. Hopefully, it will not be on different sides."

Philip walked out of the room and back down the beach to have one last look at the other side of the world before he returned to New York.

"WAIT!" Yvonne yelled as she ran towards him.

This was it. He thought for sure that she had changed her mind; that he had said something to persuade her in the right direction, that together they had defeated fate. But alas she merely asked, "Who are you?"

"What?"

"I don't even know your name."

DarkFlood turned around with his fists on his hip and his cape in the wind, "I am DarkFlood."

Yvonne stared back at him with that unsatisfied French reserve now up again.

He shriveled under her French-ness, the dark crusader façade dissolving along with it. She was beauty, mystery, and darkness all wrapped up into one. "My name is Philip Dresden and I am sorry this has to happen to you."

Philip teleported away. The last glimmer on sunlight left the beaches of Thailand along with Yvonne’s humanity.