“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
- Stephen King
I was given a room and a bed to sleep in, within the palace of Atannica. Given the events of the previous twenty four hours, it was no wonder that my dreams were chaotic and I woke several times during the night, my heart pounding though I couldn’t remember why.
It was a relief when the clocktower chimed loudly and I climbed out of the bed and dressed.
My room was near Rafael’s. I decided to see how he was and knocked. There was an odd, muffled response so I pushed the door open and peered around cautiously.
Rafael was only dressed in trousers, wrestling with a shirt of red, trying to get it on over his arm which had been broken in the fall from the throne room. Faelan had concentrated his healing on Rafael’s internal injuries, his divine light waning thin by the time he focused on the broken arm. While it was no longer in three pieces, it was still healing and Rafael couldn’t use it like he used to.
“Do you need help?”
He turned in surprise at my voice, not having realised I was there. His features were still pale but the deathlessness about them had softened into a human hue which sat between the cold matte finish of a vampire and the luminous glow of an elf. His hair was fully black without any trace of red, loose down his back. His eyes were a warmer shade of blue, his pupils no longer startling pinpricks.
“I…”
“If I help, we could probably get your arm into the sleeve.” I offered, moving over to him.
Rafael swallowed and nodded. I took the shirt and eased it over his left arm, sliding the sleeve up to his shoulder before pushing his hair aside, exposing the scars on his back. I tried not to notice them, holding the right hand side of the shirt out so he could put his uninjured arm through.
Without asking, I did up the buttons, feeling his eyes on my head.
“Thank you.”
“Buttons are hard enough with two working hands…” I excused lightly.
Rafael’s fingers touched my chin and lifted my eyes up to meet his.
“No, Bethany…thank you.”
I smiled. “Thank goodness for your dependence upon coffee.”
“If anything my addiction on two fronts made the breaking that much worse.” Rafael muttered. “I…what I said…”
I put my fingers to his lips. “It wasn’t you.” I said firmly, picking up a scarf, using it to make a sling which he could rest his arm in.
“Are you sure?”
He was broken, his emotions fragile and his eyes, pleading.
“I could never mistake that venomous, depraved creature for you. Not in a million years.”
Rafael nodded. “Well…maybe seventy or eighty…I’m human again. I’ll start ageing.”
“Well, if your father is any indication, you’ll age quite…” I slapped my hands over my mouth and stepped back.
“It’s alright,” he breathed out slowly, “I know.”
“Oh…” I lowered my hands and pressed my lips together. “When?”
“Well, now I know for certain.” He grinned and I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. “I have always hated the way I look…because I resemble my mother. It’s like looking in terrible mirror…except for my eyes.”
“That can’t be it, surely.”
“It was enough to start me wondering…the timing fits, his service to the same vampire lord that my mother seduced…and then there’s the fact that Adela really does look like his daughter.”
“She does.” I picked up his jacket and held it out. “Rafael…you know today she will be faced with a choice…what will she do?” Rafael put the jacket on his right arm, draping the left side over his shoulder. He didn’t respond. “Rafael?” I leaned to catch his eyes. They were pained.
“I don’t know.” He breathed. “Adela…she may simply wish to end her existence…it’s hard enough imagining my life as a human, let alone starting out as a five hundred year old child…”
“That’s why it’s important that she has you and your father.” I insisted. “Rafael, you can’t let her…”
“Adela has been in a prison of my mother’s making for five centuries,” Rafael swallowed, “I think it’s time she made her own choice.”
I stared at him. “Her life would be over…but would you be able to live with that?”
Rafael closed his eyes and looked away. I folded my arms, my heart aching. I spied a comb on the bedside table.
“I’ll…brush your hair.” I whispered. Rafael sat down and without another word exchanged, I slid the comb through his black hair until it was sleek, a single glossy sheet.
There came a knock on the door.
“Rafael? Are you awake?” The door opened and both looked up to see Darla in the doorway. For a moment her eyes narrowed at me then shook off her annoyance with great forbearance. “Pardon my intrusion. Abram wanted to let you know that we’re ready to escort the vampires to the guillotine.”
“Thank you.” Rafael nodded and stood up. He turned to me and held out his good arm. I didn’t want to refuse it but I was worried how Darla would handle the gesture. I glanced at her fearfully as we walked by her. She didn’t seem bothered like I thought she’d be.
The march from the palace to the guillotine was a harrowing one. The vampires were bound, hand and foot and even their mouths were gagged. The lords were designated two guards each and the minor vampires were herded by the resistance. Abram led the way with Rafael and myself by his side. I looked at the parade of vampires and their guards following us as we walked the curved outer street to where the guillotine was set up.
“Why walk all this way? Why not execute the vampires in the courtyard of the palace?” I asked softly.
“This march is for the people.”
“The people?”
Abram nodded then pointed. “Look.” Humans were watching from doorways and windows, eyes wide, their beaten and downtrodden hearts barely able to hope that the end of their oppression was near. “We need to show the people that we are victorious. We have lived too long in the shadow of the vampires.”
As the long, grim parade continued, humans began to follow, pouring out of houses and shops, astonished and disbelieving. Yet, as we walked, I could hear their voices begin to whisper victory and condemning the vampires. By the time we reached the guillotine, the whispers had become a shout.
There was no love lost for the vampires.
No mercy.
No kindness.
No compassion.
The guillotine was set upon a large round platform that rested beyond the edge of the city, reached by a short bridge. There was a stone stage in the middle of it, the guillotine built on its hard surface, its blade glowing dimly in the dull light. There was a basket in front of the stage, about the size that could hold a watermelon. I shuddered at the sight of it as Abram, Rafael and myself stood at the base of the stage.
The vampires were chained to the bridge in order of their execution queue.
Catina was at the front.
Her eyes were full of hate and they burned towards Abram.
The humans of Atannica lined the edge of the city, some hanging out of windows, others sitting on the rooftops while most were pressed against the railing. They were held back from the vampires by the resistance, keeping anyone from attempting to exact their own form of vengeance.
“People of Atannica!” Abram called loudly and the crowd hushed as his voice carried across the frozen lake. “Today you bear witness to the end of the tyranny of the vampires!”
The humans cried out in joy, rallied by the resistance.
“Today marks the beginning of a new day for humans, one that need not live in fear of the vampires!”
Another shout echoed loudly.
“Let it be marked, not only with justice…but with compassion.”
The shout that followed was a little confused. Abram gestured for Bastian and Rob to bring Catina forward. They unchained her and marched her to the stage of the guillotine. Abram faced her calmly. I didn’t envy Abram’s position. If looks could kill, Catina’s rage would have seen Abram cut into a million pieces.
“Catina Grayson, you were once human…and as such I give you this chance to become so again.”
I heard a murmur of dissent amongst the humans. Abram ignored them.
“If you choose to endure the breaking, the shedding of your vampiric curse, then I offer amnesty for your crimes against the humans.” The murmur became a shout. The humans were angry that Catina was being offered compassion.
“You can’t do this!”
“She deserves to die!”
“Kill her! Kill the vampire queen!”
“You will listen!” Bastian roared and the crowd fell silent.
“These vampires were once human, like you,” Abram cried in the quiet that followed, “and some never had the chance to choose for themselves. I offer that choice now.”
I clung onto Rafael’s arm, my nerves drawn tight by the tension in the air.
“Catina,” Abram’s voice softened and he looked at the vampire queen who seethed before him in her quincentenary gown, soiled from her imprisonment in her own dungeon, “will you endure the breaking? Will you be human once more?”
He nodded to Rob who undid her gag. Immediately she spat at Abram, saliva striking his face.
She said nothing but only barred her teeth at him.
Abram wiped his face clean and sighed. “So be it.”
Bastian and Rob walked Catina around to the back of the guillotine. She tossed her head imperiously and knelt, putting her head into the cradle. Bastian fastened the top part of the headstock into place then he and Rob stepped back.
“Bethany…”
It was Rafael’s mother who was about to die yet I was shaking violently and he had to comfort me. I could see Adela, next in time, her young face far too serious as she gazed at her mother at the guillotine. There was no grief in her expression or fear.
Abram knelt near Catina’s head.
“One last chance, Catina…”
She gave a mocking laugh and twisted to glare at him.
“I do hope you’re better at this than the last time.”
Abram sighed and stood. “I have learnt from my mistake.”
“What does that mean?” I whispered to Rafael.
“Abram killed my mother once before,” Rafael explained, “however, if you bury the vampire’s head in the same coffin as the body…”
“She lived through that!”
“It is the reason for the scar around her neck. Abram will not make that mistake again.”
Abram’s fingers hovered above the latch.
“Catina Grayson, for your crimes against humanity…”
“Let all here bear witness, that I, Catina Grayson…”
“…you are condemned to death…”
“…have outlasted any other male on any other throne!”
“…your body and your head will be burned…”
“You may take my life but I will live on as the greatest vampire and the greatest queen in all history, human or vampire!”
“…never again to rise…”
“Bethany,” Rafael grasped my shoulder, “turn away…”
I felt like a coward to do so but I did, pressing my face into Rafael’s chest.
“What about you?”
“May your sins be forgiven…”
“I…” Rafael trembled and I looked up at him.
“Look at me.”
“Drop the blade or are you a coward?!”
“Rafael…please…”
He forced his blue eyes away from the guillotine and he stared at me. We held each other’s bodies and gaze until we heard the slight click of the latch, the swish of the blade and then a terrible thump signalling the end of its descent…and of Catina’s life.
Rafael’s eyes filled with pain and he closed them. “Mother…”
Abram sighed deeply. “Bastian, would you take her body to the pyre…leave her head in the basket.”
I scrunched Rafael’s shirt tightly, feeling nausea rise.
“Adela Lucia Grayson…”
“No…” I whimpered, unable to stomach this anymore.
As it turned out, I was not the only one.
Someone screeched with an animalistic venom in words that were barely comprehensible.
“For my beloved queen!”
Someone hit me so hard I struck the railing yet it didn’t stop me from toppling over it. I landed on the frozen lake, skidding across its surface, my body torn between being in agony and attempting to put air back into my winded lungs. I tried to get to my feet but the rage twisted face of Petre filled my vision, his hands reaching out for me as he sprinted across the ice.
However, he never reached me.
The ice gave way beneath our feet, the inch thick frozen surface splintering, dropping Petre and myself into the frigid flow. A thousand knives stabbed me all over. I writhed and screamed through the water, scrabbling at the wrong side of the surface, dragged away from the city by the current.
It was cold.
It was so very cold.
So unbelievably cold!
“Help!” I screamed, releasing precious air, attempting to strike at the ice. My clothes were soaked and pulling me down. “Help!”
There was a loud crash nearby and the ice exploded as a clawed hand plunged into the water and grabbed my hand. I held on for dear life as my rescuer tried to pry the ice apart but it was thicker where I had drifted to.
“Hold on!” He commanded and I gripped the edge of the ice so that he could use both hands to tear open a hole big enough for me to climb out of. “I’ve got you!”
I had just gasped a lungful of precious, sweet, glorious air when I felt something grab me and pull me out of Bastian’s grip and into the darkness. I kicked and screamed, Petre clawing at my body and the weight of my sodden clothes dragging me down once more, the light from the hole in the ice fading from my eyes.
Abruptly a body dove in the water, like a human spear and Petre’s grasp on me was torn away, his body sinking into the darkness. I couldn’t fathom kicking or swimming. I was drawn back to the surface, Bastian’s strong werewolf body able to swim against the pull of the water and he heaved me out of the hole and onto the ice.
I didn’t have any energy to do anything. My body was a lump of meat that was growing steadily colder.
“Hold on, Bethany!”
I was so numb I could barely feel Bastian’s arms as he picked me up and began to run. My head bounced around and my arms flopped. I stared up at the clouds that swirled above, writhing and twisted, my mind going as numb as my body. I could hear people talking hurriedly, my body lowered to the ground, my soul sinking further and further away. Everything was going dark…I was going dark.
“…get her warm!”
“She won’t survive!”
“…Faelan?”
“In his world.”
“Get Eustace!”
“…searching for the missing vampire.”
“We’ve got to do something!”
“…drink my blood!”
My head lolled to the side, a young voice breaking through the cacophony around me. Adela strained at her bonds, a blurred figure at the edge of my vision. I stared at her, unable to comprehend her words…my world going silent.
Oh…so this is what dying felt like.
“You can’t be serious!”
“If she drinks my blood and I bite her neck, she will die but she’ll live as a vampire! If Rafael can endure the breaking, so can she!”
“Release her bonds!”
Adela’s golden curls formed a halo around her head as her face sharpened into focus. Her teeth tore her skin and the blood that oozed was bright and red.
“Drink, Bethany. Drink and live!”
My head rolled back, their words droning into a hum so that I couldn’t tell where words began or ended. My eyes looked up at the sky, the clouds twisting and wrenching as though something was trying to break through its heavy, stubborn veil. A glimmer of gold…the shine of something…new yet as old as the earth.
My body bumped upwards, Rafael’s face coming between me and the clouds.
“Bethany, please! I’ll stay by your side during the breaking! I won’t leave you. Please!”
I summoned every ounce of strength, every drop of stubbornness and every fibre of my being to lift my arm which was as heavy as lead and mumble incoherently, pointing upwards. As they looked up, my arm flopped to the side and my head dropped, my mind going dark.
I couldn’t feel anything anymore.
I was sinking below the surface of life, further and further away from the light…so far nothing could reach me.
I had died.
And yet, as the final drop of consciousness trickled away, escaping my mind, I heard a voice captured in the pulse of the wings of a flock of birds as they rushed overhead, soft at first then louder before fading away.
“…door…”
I frowned.
“What?” I asked, my voice echoing in the chasm of my life’s end.
“…fifth door has…” The words rippled past me again. I turned my head to follow the sound.
“Door?”
“The fifth door has been unlocked.”
I couldn’t comprehend the words.
What door?
What fifth door?
Why was it locked?
Why had it been unlocked?
I sagged, a heavy weight on my chest pushing me further and further into the endless abyss of nothing.
Suddenly there was a loud clap of thunder and the voice spoke with such authority I could imagine it commanding the world to be reborn.
“Arise!”
A shaft of light broke through the darkness, stabbing my heart, passing through my body like I had been harpooned. It drew me upwards, pulling me through the beam of light. My body began to fuse with the light, the warmth of its presence soaking me to my fingertips and toes. It occurred to me that I had forgotten how to breathe. I opened my mouth and sucked in air…
…and coughed mightily.
“Bethany? Bethany!”
I heaved and coughed and breathed and coughed, doubling over as I rejoined the land of the living.
With tears squeezing out of the corners of my eyes I peered up at the crowd surrounding me, their countenances so much warmer than I remembered.
“Wha…”
“You’re alive!” Rafael’s arms embraced me and I heard his heart fluttering in his chest. “Praise be, you’re alive!”
“I…I was dead.” I whispered. “I’m sure of it.”
“So were we.” Abram chuckled.
“How…”
“The light returned to Engaland,” Rob remarked calmly, “and you returned to us.”
“The light?” I twisted and looked up, seeing the remnants of the clouds dispersing as sunshine drenched the landscape. “Oh…the sun!”
“It broke as you died.” Bastian shivered.
“To avoid any brushes with pneumonia, we should get her inside, out of those wet clothes and in front of a fire as soon as possible.” Abram ordered. “Bastian, would you carry Bethany to the palace? You also need to get in front of a fire.”
“There was a fire lit in my room.” I looked at Adela who gazed at me with something I hadn’t seen in the five hundred year old gaze of the eleven year old girl. It was wonder. “There are clothes there too…”
“Thank you.” I rasped as I was picked up.
“I will go with you.” Rafael vowed.
I was carried past the queue of vampires awaiting their deaths, hearing a murmuring amongst their ranks.
“Perhaps there won’t be as many beheadings as we thought there would be.” Bastian remarked as I slumped against his chest.
“I hope for one less…” Rafael glanced over his shoulder and I knew he was looking at his sister.
I felt like I needed to say something but couldn’t think of anything. I reached out clumsily and touched his shoulder. He turned and smiled at me.
“Rest, Bethany…we’ve got you.”
A day later, a much smaller parade left the palace of Atannica. Abram led the way towards the clock tower, having been able to shed his heavy outer coat now that the sun was out. I followed, dressed in my dried clothes with Bastian, Rob, Eustace and Rafael walking with me.
In order to reach the clocktower, we had to cross several bridges and for the first time in five hundred years, the bridges weren’t just there to ford the ice. As we passed the palace gardens I paused and looked up, the channels and fountain heads making so much more sense as water poured through the gothic architecture, streams diverted from the waterfalls that had appeared once the ice had melted. Overnight, Atannica had gone from a frozen winter land to a city with the appeal of Venice. The sound of water flowing echoed throughout the city and underneath our feet as we walked over the bridges.
“Waterfall…not bloodfall…” I breathed. “The symbol on the door…is a waterfall. The element attached to this world is water.” And it was a lot of water, the waterfall making up for lost time, sending streams overhead and through the channels, the river on the other side of the lake bursting its banks with the sudden rush. “I hope Atannica doesn’t float away…” I gulped.
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“Thankfully the ice that had sealed the ruins melted and the water is flowing through rather than battering against.” Abram explained. “I am relieved that the books were salvaged from my precious library before the ruins beneath flooded.”
“That would have been a terrible loss.” I looked around at the humans who were walking the streets, greeting Abram and enjoying the sunshine. “Although, even Aunt Jo would have said the cost was worth it.”
“If pressed.” Abram winked then chuckled. “It is a beautiful day in the city.”
“It is indeed.” I glanced at Rafael and smiled. He returned it with his own, small, precious smile. He had several lifetimes of habits to break in learning how to be human but he was already making progress.
“Query, if the ruins are flooded, where will you hold the breaking?”
“I am no longer sure that the breaking requires a cold environment. I think simply surviving the withdrawals is enough to break the control with the familiar spirit.”
We turned onto the curved road and strolled passed the shops that were open, the smell of bread baking teasing our noses. Without the vampires to appease, the humans of Atannica were wasting no time in enjoying being masters of their own lives. I had been told that Catina had exacted stiff taxes and kept the humans poor and barren. A little girl with a basket of round rolls dashed out of the bakery and offered each of us a roll. I took one and broke it, seeing the steam rise from the soft white fluffy bread on the inside. I stuck my nose in it and inhaled.
As I opened my eyes, I noticed Rafael doing the same thing.
“It’s nice to enjoy food properly again.” He breathed.
“All my fine cooking…wasted on that vampire palette…” Bastian sighed.
“If Faelan were here, he’d have some smart remark to say about that statement.” Eustace chuckled, wolfing down his roll.
“I’m glad he wasn’t.” I sighed then caught their surprised look. “Well…I know his sacrificial nature. He would have given his life to save mine after I went through the ice.”
“I still regret patrolling the open land for that other vampire…” Eustace muttered. “I should have been there…here I mean.”
“It was more important to cut off any warning that the vampires in Atannica had been captured.” I insisted.
“Still…”
“Do we know how he broke his bonds?” Bastian asked.
“Turns out, they were never fastened properly.”
“Eh?”
Abram sighed. “I should have realised something was wrong when Darla brought him to me and said she’d captured him by herself.”
I paused, thinking this over. “Wait…you don’t mean…she deliberately let him loose?” Abram cleared his throat and continued to walk. I looked at Rafael, shocked. “Why would she do that?”
“I think she sensed an opportunity to revenge herself upon you.” Rafael explained softly.
“She seriously put the revolution at risk out of spite?”
“Love makes us do crazy things…”
We looked at Abram’s back, wondering if he realised we’d all caught his words.
“What will happen to her?” I asked quietly.
“Darla has chosen to leave Atannica…she is not to return.” Abram said sternly. “Her collusion with Petre into attacking you was evidence of a vengeful nature and that has no place in the ranks of those who will lead this city.”
His words left us a little emotionally winded. I could understand his concern and it was hard not to resent Darla for what she had done. I couldn’t be as kind as to call her actions understandable in the name of ‘love’ and felt that vengeance was a far more accurate description. However, in allowing her jealousy to dictate her actions, Darla had been robbed of a life in Atannica or anywhere near Rafael.
That, in itself, was pitiable.
“When Petre shoved you, it was against my broken arm,” Rafael gestured to the arm that was no longer in need of a sling thanks to Eustace’s healing ability, “I couldn’t hold you…”
“No one could have foreseen Petre doing what he did.” I assured him as we turned down the alley which finished in a dead end, where the door would appear shortly. “He met his end and he didn’t die knowing he’d succeeded.” We continued down the alley. “I was so relieved that Adela chose to break the vampire curse.”
“It was your ‘resurrection’ that sealed her decision.” Abram shook his head. “She told me flatly the night before that she had seen all that there was to see and that the world held no more interest for her. She wanted to die…”
“How did she take the news?” I looked at him pointedly as he came to a stop before the dead end.
“With little to no reaction,” Abram shrugged, “she always wanted a father…but not as much as she wanted the end of her life. Hopefully, once she has endured the breaking, I can give her a second childhood…with an involved father.” He turned to Rafael. “I…know it seems strange to offer something to children as old as you and she…”
“I am not saying it would be easy,” Rafael admitted, “however, I would appreciate the opportunity. Perhaps, then, I should stay…”
“No, go back to ‘House of Figs’ and enjoy some time in familiar surrounds.” Abram insisted. “I will call for you when Adela begins the breaking. In the meantime, you are responsible for Jo’s world. I would not like to see her vocation, which I called a ‘job’, fall into disrepair. I owe her that much.”
“I’m sure she didn’t resent you the way you’re imagining she does.” I argued.
“Who knows?” Abram shrugged then looked up. “Ah, the chiming of the hour.”
Everyone apart from Rob clapped their hands over their ears as the clocktower chimed loudly and I could almost feel the ground quiver from the force of the bells.
At the last chime, the door to my world slid into view.
Eustace grasped the handle and peered in. “Home sweet home.” He glanced at Abram and shook his head. “If you’re ever in need of a fly boy to do some reconnaissance…”
“I know who to call.” Abram nodded then shook Bastian’s hand. “Thank you, all of you, for standing with us in our, well…not to sound overly dramatic and cliché but, in our hour of need.”
“Not at all. It was good fun. We should do it again sometime,” Bastian chuckled and tossed his tawny mane, “or not.”
Abram nodded then held his hand out to Rob. “Many thanks to you too, Rob.”
“I am pleased to have been of service.” Rob bowed his head and walked through the door.
“I’ll go next.” I said to Rafael and gave Abram a hug. “I’ll let you know the moment I have any news.” I whispered into his ear.
Abram squeezed me then let me go. “Thank you, Bethany.”
I smiled and nodded, stepping through the door quickly to give father and son a moment to speak without anyone listening.
As I did so, I spied Bastian standing in the doorway to his world. He was standing with his arms outstretched, his feet planted in the two bottom corners of the threshold. There was something strange about the pose, like he was trapped in the doorway…a fly caught in a web…
“Bastian…what’s…” I darted across the Observatory, suddenly coming to an abrupt and solid halt. My legs wouldn’t move like my feet were embedded deep into cement. I flailed my arms, only just able to stand upright. “Bastian!”
His eyes were closed, his tawny hair shifting slightly in a breeze I could not feel and in the gaps between his legs and arms, his arms and his head, there was a shimmering, like the heat that rose from a road on a hot day.
He wasn’t moving.
He wasn’t even acting like he was caught.
He was just…frozen.
Next to him was Eustace in his doorway, his eyes closed and in the same repose as Bastian’s, his white hair dipped in blue rippling ever so gently.
“Rafael!” I cried, twisting right to look back at the door to his world, spying Rob trapped in his doorway in the same manner.
“Bethany? What’s…”
“Don’t come in!” I shrieked.
“I don’t…” His voice fell silent. Not a protest. Not a cry of fright. Nothing.
He was directly behind me. I could only just twist enough to see him out of the corner of my eye. He had stepped into the unseen web of the doorway, his body caught and his eyes, closed. The world behind him was a blur as though, it too, was frozen mid picture, motion forever captured.
I looked around the Observatory, Rafael, Rob, Bastian, Eustace and even Faelan were all pinned in their doorways…like a boy would pin bugs to a board to catalogue them.
I couldn’t move my feet. It was as though my legs had become part of the ground of the Observatory itself. I grunted and strained but it was no use.
Panic had set in fully and I was working myself up to breaking through my resolve to let out a scream when something moved outside of the Observatory. I leaned as best I could, straining to see what or who it was. Adding to my terror was the sight of a body on the ground. Clothes made for comfort, orthopaedic shoes and the faint whiff of mothballs…
“Gary…”
Someone stepped into my vision, drawing a long cloak on and flicking up the collar.
“Jet!” I cried instinctively, my voice dying as it left my lips as he stood and looked down at the fallen form of his grandfather before he turned and faced me. My spine quivered at the cold manner of his gaze. It wasn’t Jet’s usual socially awkward or lacking in empathy expression. It was calculating and somewhat…pleased.
“I was beginning to think you would never get the vampire on board,” he said with a tilt to his head and a sly smile on his face, “thankfully his desperate circumstances and your sacrificial nature was enough to melt his icy demeanour.”
“Jet…” He entered the Observatory and looked around at the five guys trapped in their doorways. I couldn’t fathom it. Who he was, how he was acting…how he didn’t seem to care. “Help me.”
“Oh no, my dear,” he chuckled, “it is you who are going to help me.” My skin prickled as he walked around me. “Oh sacred feminine, goddess divine…you have been a long time in coming. I was sure Jo would be the one but she was too clever for her own good. Hiding the incantation…”
“You…” I breathed. “It was you! You put her in a coma!”
“You think you know me? You think you know what I am capable of? My intent?”
“You bastard!”
“Yes, I suppose from your perspective, I am,” Jet nodded, coming around to stand in front of me, remaining out of reach of my hands that tried to grab and shake him, “however, I suspect you would not be so quick to judge should you hear my tale.”
I seethed at him. “You could never justify what you’ve done!”
“Oh,” Jet shook his head, “am I not handsome enough for you? Broken enough? Haven’t I involved you in my shattered existence, your presence causing a catalyst that binds you to me through sympathy and empathy?” He waved his hands. “You despised several of these young men before you succumbed to their terrible tales. Even the one who violently assaulted you with blood rape. Am I really so different?”
“You lied to me! You lied every day!”
Jet paused then pointed to Faelan. “Liar,” he pointed at Rafael, “liar,” then he turned to Rob, “big fat sex bot liar.”
“Jerk!”
Jet dropped his hand and shrugged. “You do not need to love me to make this work.”
“What work?” I demanded through gritted teeth.
Jet smiled, the corner of his mouth turning up into a leer. “Why…the creation of my world.”
Before I could speak he lifted his arms up and I found myself rising into the air, suspended a foot above the ground as if I were caught in a twister, my arms no longer under my control. I was completely helpless.
“I had hoped that the divine goddess would be a little more…ethereal…” Jet studied me. “However, that is easily rectified. After all, your likeness will be worshipped for all eternity…you wouldn’t want to be immortalised in jeans, would you?”
He began to move his hands and my body twisted and turned. Everything was in a state of flux. My clothes flexed and shifted, my coat dissolving into billowing sleeves that didn’t seem attached to me at all. My top ruptured and morphed into a daring bodice that seemed to be made entirely out of starlight and my humble jeans and boots disappeared into a layered skirt that constantly moved around my legs, exposing my bare feet as it did so.
I gasped, doubling over then flung my head back, feeling long locks erupt from my head, a mane of raven black curls drifting around my face.
“Much more appropriate. Much more memorable.”
“Change me back you psycho!”
Jet tutted at me, pressing his hands down so that I came down level with his eyes.
“You’re about to give birth to the seed of creation…you really ought to generate a little gratitude. After all, you’re going to be the mother of my world…it’s salvation.”
“Don’t you touch me!”
Jet smiled and tapped my forehead. Words and numbers ripped across my eyes, flashing brilliantly, blinding me as they tore out of my subconsciousness and poured into the air, spinning around me in a language I couldn’t begin to comprehend yet understood instinctively.
“Ah…” Jet breathed. “Isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it perfection itself?” He shook his head, his countenance glowing with the light of the words and numbers. “All those haikus containing something so simple and yet…so profound. Ah’Man…you were a genius and in your one eyed approach, shutting me out, you created the ultimate creation incantation…but it was like a terrible bushfire, needing to destroy before new life began. If you had just included me in your research, none of this would have been necessary…”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded, trying to shake my new curls out of my face.
“Enough words,” Jet waved his hand, “I have waited long enough. The incantation is complete but now, the spell requires the elements of creation.” He turned me around until I was facing Bastian. “Werewolf, you who make your home in the earth…” He tapped Bastian’s forehead and suddenly his amber eyes flew open.
“Bastian!” I cried but he couldn’t hear me. His gaze was filled with amber light.
“Now…reveal the key and unlock the element.”
“Don’t do it!” I cried just as my mind whirled and I was thrown head first into…a memory?
My body was heavy and it ached with more than just physical wounds.
My soul was heavy as it sat in my chest.
Several times I felt the pull of death trying to drag me down. It yearned for me and I yearned for it.
Slipping into the abyss seemed easier than dealing with the mess I had made and the way I had acted.
However, the elf had given much of his life for mine.
To die now would be to hold his sacrifice in contempt.
Despite all appearances, the dratted holier than thou elf was my friend.
I rose through the layers of consciousness and as I reached the pinnacle, I opened my eyes.
Eyelashes fluttered in front of my vision as I blinked over and over, trying to convince myself that I was awake and not asleep. I forced myself to focus on the ceiling, the rafters and the spider dancing from beam to beam, spinning its web.
At last, the heaviness that saturated my body left, my eyes at least and I was not in danger of falling asleep should I close them again. One of my eyes felt swollen. I tried to lift a hand to touch it but the lead in my arms was an insurmountable obstacle. My werewolf body would heal my eye and anything else that was still injured, given enough time.
I was lying mostly on my back in a bed that was not familiar to me but as I recalled the events that led to my unconscious state, I recalled that I was in the home of a human who lived within the walls of a fortified village who despised my kind.
I looked around as best I could but the room I was in seemed empty…except for a lump lying nearby, her head on the mattress near my hips, her hands resting against my body as if attempting to infuse me with healing.
The ache returned tenfold as I gazed at the top of her head.
Ache…and shame…
To think that I had professed myself a gentleman.
What a hypocrite.
I had thought myself a better werewolf than my father. I certainly applauded myself for my character and integrity…
…yet the moment that I found myself in a terrible place, grieving, angry…my body desperate for solace of any kind…I had nearly forced myself upon her.
It was not as though she was unattracted to me. I could smell the pheromones, the lustful drive in her the same as it was in me. We had been seared together, our hearts and lives welded in that terrible moment when the bodies of the skinned werewolves had been discovered. She was as desperate as I to drive the burn from her veins…
Dear, sweet Bethany…stronger than any werewolf…who said no even when every pore of her being screamed yes.
I lifted my hand and rested it upon her head. My arm felt like it weighed a tonne. I couldn’t moderate my touch, my limbs were still so heavy.
She yawned as she stirred.
“Princess, you’ll get a crick in your neck if you sleep like that.”
She lifted her head, her eyes finding mine and lighting up with pleasure at my conscious state.
How wretched her joy made me feel.
I was undeserving of her kindness and compassion.
“Hey, you’re awake.” She sat on the edge of the bed, my hand slipping back to the mattress. “How do you feel?”
I turned away, unable to meet her gaze.
How did I feel?
“My physical wounds do not compare to the shame of my behaviour.” I said gruffly, burning with a shameful red blush. She insisted I had saved people, that I had nothing to be ashamed about. How could she say so? How could she view me as anything less than a predator? Anything less…than my father? “But the one I was charged with looking after…I nearly forcibly seduced.” Whatever barrier she had erected between my conduct and her pain, I tore down. Better that she see me for what I was…a monster.
“Bastian, look at me.” I closed my eyes and shook my head. She would argue, protest…even excuse my behaviour but I would not allow her to be so kind nor so naïve. “I…I wanted to say yes. I wanted to throw myself into your bed and lose myself in the moment,” I could not escape the scent of her body, responding to the memory of the heat of the moment when she nearly allowed me to seduce her, “to be safe in your arms where the memory of what I’d seen wouldn’t be able to reach me, even if only for a little while.” Oh Bethany…please…do not be so kind. I would have been an attentive lover, a passionate love affair driving back the darkness of the world…but in doing so, I would have brought a different kind of darkness into our very bed. Neither of us would ever know, for sure, the reason the other was there…or the bond that would be formed as you became my mate…
“But I’ve been down that road before, driven by grief and rage…and ended up in Eden’s bed.”
Eden, the insidious boyfriend who had belittled Bethany’s existence in the vulnerable aftermath of her mother’s death.
“You see me as a type of Eden?” I was not accusing her. How could I? What right had I?
“Oh no,” her refusal was so determined that I found myself glancing at her fearfully, me, a werewolf alpha who had faced off against bears and werewolf challenges was afraid of a human woman, “no, you are nothing like Eden. You are honourable and kind and selfless…” I snorted and looked away yet she put her hand on my cheek and gently turned my countenance towards her. “No really, you are.” Her fingers lightly stroked my mane, unafraid of my werewolf body despite its beast like form. “Maybe…we wouldn’t have regretted sleeping together…but can you really see me as your alpha mate? Strong, courageous…buxom?”
Could she really not see how extraordinary she was?
Despite my determination not to engage her compassion, I argued, “any alpha would be lucky to have such a mate.”
“Really? Me? Here…Bastian…what if I’d gotten pregnant?” The ramifications of a single night of desperate union would have lasting consequences. Bethany would have become my alpha mate…and it would have been more than likely that she would find herself with child…my child…a werewolf child. I would have bound her to my world, permanently and without hope of a normal human life ever again, mated to a werewolf alpha that she did not…
“And you don’t love me.” The words were out of my mouth before I realised I was speaking. I caught her gaze, my heart trembling.
“I…I do love you,” sweet balm soothed my wounded pride and aching heart, “but I am not in love with you,” before I had to look away, my fickle hopes crushed. “The truth is…if I stayed here for much longer or if I let my guard down around you…I could quite easily fall in love with you. You make any woman feel like she’s a goddess and who can resist a man like that? But my life is a mess as it is, Aunt Jo is depending on me and so is ‘House of Figs’. I can’t add falling in love with a werewolf alpha from a fictional world on top of what I’m already dealing with.”
You had faced the same choice once before and succumbed.
This time you had remained strong, even against a werewolf’s deepest desires.
Bethany…you’re going to be alright.
“…any…me…idden…emory…ope…ong…”
I was dragged out of the memory, having seen myself through Bastian’s eyes, my heart pulsing strongly, overcome with emotion.
Was that…how he saw me?
Bastian…
“Earth of Alte Fehde…where passions run deep and the nights are warm with pleasure…” Jet said and looked at me. “See how the ribbon of love connects you, binding you to him and to his world?”
I looked down to see a rich amber ribbon of light streaming out of Alte Fehde, striking my gown and pouring into me. Visions of werewolves running across the endless oceans of grass, going deep into the Wand and emerging in the valley that became the home of Befest. I could see it all…the greying edges, the colour wicking away from the sky, sucking the life out of it.
“No, no, no!”
“Yes!” Jet cried in glee. “It’s happening!”
Stone tore from the ground beneath me, shards breaking through and up all around, my skin cracking like clay, my body captured in marble.
“Stop it!” Visions of humans and werewolves running from the bleakness filled my mind, the world withering, death streaking across the once vibrant and beautiful country. “Leave them alone!”
“Their lives are mine, their world, designed and created for this one purpose.”
The stone splintered and disappeared but it was not gone. Oh no, I could feel its foundation deep inside of me, a heavy weight within my chest and mind…the sacrifice of countless lives in Alte Fehde.
“You’re killing them!”
“They are fiction…you cannot kill fiction.” Jet mocked and walked to Rob. “Now, tin man, it is time for you to unlock the tether to this world.”
“Please, please don’t!” I shrieked as he tapped Rob’s forehead and his eyes opened, filled with artificial light.
My body was dragged into a memory with such force I thought I would strike my head against the wall in front of me.
“Inquiry as to the status of outmoded S3X-A model upgrade?”
Upgrade at seventy three percent…seventy seven percent…seventy nine percent…
“Service required of S3X-E bot as soon as upgrade is complete. Appearance to be as close to original S3X-A model as upgrade will allow.”
Understood. Upgrade at eighty five percent…eighty eight percent…ninety one percent…ninety five percent…ninety seven percent…initialising core reboot system. IDV intact and secure. Selecting appearance settings. Designation ‘Rob’. Establishing seduction parameters at fifty percent persistent pursuit, twelve percent flirtatious, twenty three percent tender and ten percent smoulder. Selecting vocal pattern settings. Testing response. Hello Rob.
“Why, hello.”
Query, who is your master?
“Bethany St James is the reason I live, the passion of my existence.”
S3X-E has met all standard performance tests. Resorting to live test of sexual programming and physical ability upon reuniting bot with master. Releasing restraints.
The lock on my feet was released but I made no move without hearing a command.
Rob, proceed to habitat level three, room five for immediate seduction of Bethany St James.
“Understood.” I smiled. “I know I can’t wait to see her…”
I walked without accompaniment out of the upgrade centre and took an elevator which opened on the third level of the habitat ring. I exited the elevator and proceeded to walk along the corridor, heading towards the room where Bethany, the woman I was designed and programmed to make happy, was in. I knew in my upgraded form, I would be able to do just that. My previous existence was so bland, so lacking in empathy and instinct that it would have been like having a relationship with a block of metal.
In just a few minutes, I would be showing her just how ‘extensive’ my upgrade had been.
I approached her door and leaned against the frame, knocking against it, sensing she would prefer the tactile sound over the clinical ringing of a bell.
Through the semi-opaque door, I saw her standing in the room.
Any moment now, she would be in my arms and I would fulfill my programming.
“Come in?”
As the substance of the door went from semi-opaque to transparent, allowing me to gain access to the room, I tilted my head slightly until I heard her footsteps approach and then I looked up with a first class smoulder. Her reaction was perfect and beautiful. Her cheeks flushed, brightening her eyes and I could hear her heart fluttering frantically within her breast. Knowing I had her full attention, I moved towards her with the confidence and intensity of gaze that a predator cat would give unsuspecting prey.
“Bethany, how I’ve missed you.” My voice was textured and deep, designed to resonate with her spine, to stroke her soul…to inflame her lust. “Have you missed me?”
She was breathing rapidly, her heart no longer fluttering but racing. Her pleasure was mounting and I continued to pursue her, pushing my hand through my hair, feeling it rest across my forehead in a fetching manner.
“You…you’re not my Rob.”
As one of the triune directorates spoke with Bethany, I continued to gaze at her, computations racing through my mind as I imagined seduction scenarios, calculating the likelihood of her succumbing to each and every one. Her tone was agitated, frightened even. She needed me to be strong, to be sure. My instinctual programming increased my seduction parameters in order to compensate.
“I want my Rob back!”
I cupped her face and brushed away her tears. She shook off my attentions and my computations began anew, increasing my tender settings, my gaze softening to sympathetic in order to compensate for her distress.
“It’s all fake! All of it!” She accused.
“Bethany,” I maxed out my vocal warmth settings, adjusting my tone, “all I want to do is love you.”
“Query, what is love?”
I blinked, finding the question an odd one but I was nothing if not adaptable. She needed to know for sure that I was going to always be there for her. That I would never leave her. That I would make her happy for that was the ultimate fulfillment of my programming, whether through physical intimacy or companionship.
“Whatever or whoever you want me to be, I will be it.”
“I want my Rob…”
I continued to gaze at her, computations running again through my matrix, sifting through the scenarios, coming to the conclusion that I would require direction should I proceed.
“If you had any settings saved within the IDV of the outmoded model, they will have carried over in the upgrade. You only need to provide the password.”
“I didn’t have a password.”
“It is usually something significant or memorable.”
Bethany, her teardrop face with her pixie cute dark hair, her eyes shining with tears and her cheeks flushed with emotion…what would you have me do to make you happy?
“Kiss…me.”
Direction! A command to fulfill! I scooped my arms around her and drew her to my chest. “My pleasure.”
She pushed away from me and my arms fell void, puzzled by the conflicting information I had received. Bethany stood in front of me, her hands on her hips.
“No. What I want to do is kiss you. Just…stand there…and don’t initiate and don’t react.”
“Whatever makes you happy.” I responded sincerely.
This was easy. I would wait for her lips to make contact with mine and, after a moment, I would soften my lips into a deep, passionate kiss as my hands slid around her body, feeling her reluctance melt away.
She stood on tiptoe before me, licked her lips and pressed her lips against mine.
I was poised, ready to seize the moment…
…when my IDV activated and a flood of data assaulted me.
Names, places, times, dates, information uploaded into my matrix, my computations running wildly out of control as my mind was renewed with an outdated yet remarkably empowered and dynamic version of myself. Johanne West, Bastian Wolfgang, Rafael Grayson, Faelan Iffah, Eustace the water dragon and Bethany St James…
…I knew you all.
No…I know you all. No longer just fragments of memories deemed unworthy and outdated by the triune directorate. My friends…my colleagues…who like me for who I am.
I know who I am.
I had been caught in an upload seizure for nearly three seconds.
As my updated matrix coalesced with my old self, my previous setting now recognised as default, I blinked…
…and Bethany St James gasped.
Her situation, the triune directorate…all the information I had heard yet not taken notice of…the way in which she had been imprisoned…all of it now running through my instinctual programming led me to an inevitable question.
I tilted my head and gazed at her. “Query, do you require rescuing, Bethany St James?”
She screamed in delight her acquiesce and threw her arms around my neck. My arms wrapped around her, drawing her close into a supposedly lover’s embrace.
“Query, do you trust me, Bethany St James?” I whispered into her ear.
“I do.”
I walked towards the bed with Bethany St James in my arms. I was entrusted with her safety. I would do whatever it took to get her home. She, who had listened to my story, to my existence before I discovered ‘House of Figs’ and my new life as Rob, not as a sex-bot…Bethany St James…I will always come for you. I will always save you and I will always bring you home.
I had a resonator which acted as a heart in my chest. It was controlled by my programming to simulate a heartbeat that would further my adaption as a human lover. I could control its rhythm to within a millisecond…yet it was now beating rapidly without controlled input from me.
Though I was artificial, the emotion I felt was real.
Though I was controlled by programming, the decision I made to love her was my own.
Finally…my query was answered.
“…Bethany…me…idden…memory…ope…ong…coming…hold…on…”
As I returned to the Observatory, I dragged air into my lungs as though someone had punched me hard in the chest and winded me. I coughed and spluttered, tears stinging my eyes.
“Stop it!” I begged, unable to wipe them away. “Please!”
Jet reached up and gently wiped away my tears. He was so close I could see the very faint freckles on his nose, his hazel eyes with the woodland green threaded through the soft brown of his irises and the individual hairs that fell across his forehead from his scissored haircut that was starting to grow out.
Why had he done this?
Why was he doing this?
Where was the kind yet socially awkward young man who had made me angry when we met yet endeared himself to me so deeply that after Rafael’s assault, I wanted him to stay with me, to keep the nightmares away…
…when had he become the nightmare?
“Jet…please…”
His eyes flickered to mine and for a moment, a brief moment, I thought I saw grief in his expression but it hardened as he stepped back.
“Can you feel it? The cold, hard bite of metal? The unkindness? The steel embrace that is more like a prison than a hug?”
My head tilted back, visions of Infinitus flashing before my eyes. I could see the people, robots and the humans who didn’t know they were robots, fleeing the greying of their world. The metal, silvery grey was absorbed from every surface, every person, sucking the artificial world dry…and soaking into me.
“I can feel it…” I whimpered, a rod of steel in place of my spine, liquid metal in my veins instead of blood and a pump where my heard should have been. Spears of metal struck my body, lancing through me, binding me, enforcing its merciless will. “Cold…so cold…”
“Query, can a metal man love?” Jet chuckled and the metal subsided from the Observatory only to rest in my veins. “It seems as though the answer was there all along. It just took the right…stimulation.”
“You son of a…”
“Next!” Jet turned me around until I was facing Rafael. “A vampire so lost in his own torment…until he found the courage to be vulnerable…”
“Leave him alone!”
But Jet had already tapped Rafael’s forehead and his eyes opened, unyielding white light blazing, glinting off the merciless edge of a guillotine’s blade…
My mother was unafraid of her imminent death. She hissed and spat curses, mocking Abram van Helsing, my father, even as her neck rested in the cradle of the guillotine.
Cradle…what a cruel irony.
A safe place when you are born.
A place of judgement just before you die.
Oh mother…born with a vampire’s lust for power before she had made the covenant with the darkness within her own soul…even now she refused to recant.
Bethany was beside me, having brought me back from death itself, pursuing me beyond the brink of oblivion as if I was someone worth saving.
I could feel her trembling and suddenly realised that executions, though common in Engaland, were not in hers. Watching someone die would be deeply traumatic for her. I grasped her shoulder with my good arm.
“Bethany, turn away…”
She pressed her face against my chest, shaking her head.
“What about you?”
What about me?
Why was she concerned with my life?
My life…my human life…
I stared at the guillotine where my mother ranted and raved at Abram as he passed sentence on her.
I was transfixed by the edge of the blade, the head of my mother…the vulnerability of her neck…
All my trauma, the cause of my five hundred year torment was about to meet her end.
“I…” I shook mightily.
“Look at me.” Bethany’s voice cut into the tether that bound me to my mother, the unsettling need to see her die fighting with the horror of witnessing such an event. “Rafael…please…”
It was a physically violent motion that finally tore my eyes from the guillotine to find her eyes. She stared at me, my eyes locked onto her intense gaze. The world beyond our embrace blurred and the words turned into an unintelligible hum. I heard nothing, saw nothing except her eyes which anchored me to something so much more than five hundred years of agony.
There was a thump and I felt something break within my heart, knowing that the blade had fallen.
Grief riddled me.
It seems I could still grieve for one who had caused me so much pain.
“Mother…”
Bethany’s fingers tightened on my shirt and I could feel her distress rise as Abram called for my sister to face the choice of enduring the breaking or ending her life at the guillotine.
“For my beloved queen!”
Before I could even register the meaning of the words, a violent force struck us hard. Bethany’s body was driven against my useless arm and despite my attempt to grasp her, she was torn from my embrace, thrown over the railing and onto the ice below.
“Bethany!” I shouted! “Bethany!”
I watched her body skidded across the ice, my leg already over the railing, instinctively going to follow her regardless of the peril it presented.
“Rafael, stop!” Abram cried. “The ice!”
The cracking of the surface of the lake was like the shattering of a crystal chandelier. One moment Bethany was in view, clutching at her ribs, attempting to rise and the next, she vanished beneath the surface through a hole in the ice. Petre, the vile little vampire that had attacked her, dove into the hole.
“She’ll drown!” Panic like I had never known thrilled my body, setting my veins alight. Had I been a vampire still, I could have saved her in a heartbeat. I had been faster, stronger and more agile than any other creature ever encountered…but now I was a lowly human still recovering from my own brush with death.
“Rob!”
“I am too heavy.” He lamented.
“I’ll go.” Bastian said, leaping the railing, transforming into his wolf form just before landing on the ice hard. It cracked beneath his weight but he was so fast that he was sprinting away even as the cracks formed. He slid his weight across to the hole and sniffed.
“She won’t be there.” Abram moaned. “The tide will have dragged her away.”
I held my breath as Bastian put his nose to the ice and sniffed before he lifted his head, howled and ran.
“Run, damn you!” I cried. “Run!”
I was helpless.
I was hopeless.
I was useless.
Bastian…run!
“She won’t survive.” My sister’s cold voice cut into my frantic mind and I looked at her in horror as she gazed at me without emotion. “She’s been too long in the water…even if she hasn’t drowned, the chill will kill her.”
“Shut up!” I cried, hearing my voice break and cursing its weakness. “You don’t know her!”
I turned back to see Bastian smash through the ice, his hand plunging into the freezing water.
“He’s got her!” Abram cried.
We watched from afar, the execution of the vampires forgotten as the werewolf managed to pull Bethany out of the lake. My breath stalled in my chest as he carried her back.
She looked like she was dead.
Bastian lifted her up to us and many hands willingly grasped her, lying her gently on the ground. I pushed closed to her side.
“We’ve got to get her warm!”
“Run her to the palace.”
“She won’t survive!”
“I won’t give up on her!” I roared at Adela then turned to Bethany. “Where is Faelan?”
“Still in his world.”
“Get Eustace!”
“He is out searching for the missing vampire.”
Everywhere I turned, every person I looked to gave me the same, bleak expression.
Even I had nothing to give.
The chill in Bethany’s body would kill her.
Nothing could stop that now.
I wept, holding her head, cradling it in my lap.
“I can’t lose her…”
“Let her drink my blood!”
I looked between Rob and Abram to where Adela strained at the chains that bound her. Her eyes were not on Bethany…they were on me…and for the first time since time immemorial, there was compassion in her gaze.
“You can’t be serious!” Bastian heaved.
“If she drinks my blood and I bite her neck, she will die but she’ll live as a vampire! If Rafael can endure the breaking, so can she!” Her words were for me and me alone. She was entreating me, offering the only means to save Bethany’s life.
“Release her bonds!” I cried. The moment she was free, Adela ran to Bethany’s side, her teeth tearing at the skin of her wrist, pressing it towards Bethany’s head as I cradled her body in my lap.
“Drink, Bethany. Drink and live!”
Her head lolled lifelessly in my arms, her eyes fluttering, rolling back into her head.
She was dying. I shook her, entreating her to stay.
“Bethany, please!” Hear my words…hear my heart that has only just begun to beat with the hope of life and love. “I’ll stay by your side during the breaking!” I’ll stay by your side forever. “I won’t leave you.” I can’t…I’m a part of you and you are a part of me. “Please!”
“…Bethany…can you…me…hidden…memory…hope…strong…coming…hold…on…”