Beauty and the Beast (37 page)

Father spoke up at that point. “I am so grateful that you saved him, Elisia. Vincent’s vital signs had completely stopped, and I thought that he was dead. I never could understand how he came back and recovered so quickly after that.”

Tanimus raised an objection. “Elisia doesn’t give herself enough credit for her efforts with Vincent. She wasn’t clumsy in my opinion. She hasn’t taken into account the fact that, just like Vincent, she suffered terribly from the sudden loss of her empathic connection to her parents when they were killed. There was also the handicap of the remote separation from Vincent. She was the one with the closest biological link needed to effectively treat Vincent, and what she accomplished as a child, in helping him was remarkable even by Tandin standards.” Elisia then went on as she smiled at her uncle. “Uncle Tanimus is lovingly biased in his thinking. Anyway, the second part of that name issue is the fact that I had to be invasive when Vincent became dangerously sick the last time that Paracelsus attacked, and I learned the rest of your names then. The first time Paracelsus attacked Vincent with the drug he was manufacturing, I had felt Vincent’s empathic attachment to Catherine, but I didn’t know her name. I was, though, able to link with her empathically through my link with Vincent. I helped to support her mind when she went to Vincent and pulled him out of that hallucination which had made him so dangerous. The second time Paracelsus attacked Vincent with his deception and lies, I learned Catherine’s name as I was trying to help Vincent. I was with Vincent telepathically when he fled to the lower cave, but he was just too sick for me to help him by myself remotely. We thought that we might have to come to you then. When Catherine arrived, I was able to support her mind without invading it, so she could help Vincent when she went into the cave after him.”

Pascal then asked, “Can you read all of our minds?” Elisia giggled as she answered him. “No! We cannot read anyone’s mind with whom we are not either emotionally or biologically connected, unless we are invited into that mind. We can project telepathic thoughts into your mind, but beyond that, unless you open your mind and reply to us telepathically, our power is mostly empathic. Even among those we can read the minds of, we don’t invade unless there is some very compelling reason to, which there was when Vincent was dangerously sick.”

Jamie spoke up and asked, “How do you keep from reading people’s minds? If I had your ability, I’m sure I would be reading minds even if I didn’t want to. I don’t understand how you can control that.”

Elisia smiled at her. “The Tandins’ mental abilities have been developing over many centuries, so using and controlling them is as natural to them as breathing. It is a little more challenging for those of us who are not purely Tandin, but with patient teachers like Uncle Tanimus, we do eventually learn how to control our abilities.”

Uncle Tanimus added to Elisia’s explanation of their empathic and telepathic abilities. “Dr. Dominik Vlas was an heartbreaking example of the necessity of being let into people’s minds in order to help them. Dominik was being tortured mentally, unable to forgive himself for allowing Adrian and Gabriel to bring such great sorrow and destruction into the Tandin World. He wouldn’t allow us to help him, and he wouldn’t forgive himself. Then he disappeared from us altogether. Dominik didn’t feel that he deserved the healing help we could have provided him with our mental abilities, so he wouldn’t allow us into his mind. We never knew what happened to him after that, and it broke our hearts to lose such a dear friend. His ancestors helped to bring our people here from Romania.” Diana filled in the missing piece of history for Tanimus. “I am so sorry to have to inform you that Gabriel ended up murdering Dr. Vlas by strangling him in his sleep.” Tanimus’ eyes filled and overflowed with tears.

Vincent told his uncle, “We have all of Dr. Vlas’ journals of his work with the Tandins. We even have the one in which he explains what happened when our parents were killed.”

Tanimus smiled through his tears, “I would really enjoy seeing those after we get your Catherine healed.” Isaac expressed the curiosity everyone felt. “Elisia, we have all been told the brief history of the Tandins from Dr. Vlas’journal. I would love to hear the account from you.” Rebecca had been signing for Laura as everyone spoke. Now, as Elisia began telling the story verbally for everyone else, she also signed for Laura. “Well, the Tandins were refugees from Romania two centuries ago. They stowed away aboard vessels sailing from Europe, escaping from vampire and werewolf hunters, for which they were mistaken because of their appearance. You can see by our appearance why. Because our women have nearly hairless faces and only an upper set of canine fangs, it was the women who were most often mistaken for vampires. The men, with their extra body and facial hair and their double set of canine fangs in both jaws, were most often mistaken for werewolves. I said that our people stowed away on board those vessels, but in reality, their passage was paid for by their human friends. Those human friends simply kept them hidden in their cabins on board. The Tandins had made many wonderful human friends over the centuries, but the vast majority of humans were afraid of them, and would have destroyed

them altogether if they had stayed in Romania.

“Dr. Vlas’ ancestors were among the friends who protected the Tandins. Some members of his family were archaeologists. They had discovered the natural underground tunnels and caves under New York, and they had realized that the tunnels would be a safe sanctuary for the Tandins. It was then that the Tandins were hidden aboard the vessels by the Vlas family and other human friends who had paid for passage from Romania to New York. They found these tunnels to be a very safe refuge and began building up a civilization under the city.

“The Tandins are artisans, botanists, craftsmen, engineers, doctors, and scientists, with many who are also skilled in the fine arts. We still have descendents of some of our Romanian human friends living with us. We have also offered sanctuary to many human castoffs from the world above, like your people do. We live symbiotically with them, and it is an arrangement which has worked extremely well over the last two-hundred years. We have human community members who take the credit in the world above for scientific and medical discoveries, books, inventions, artwork, fashion clothing, and other products that we produce in our Tandin world. In exchange, they are provided with a safe home, either below or above, an education, medical care, and the sharing in common of the proceeds and products. The homes and businesses that we own in the world above are equipped with access doors to the tunnels below them. We also have electrical

lines from those homes and businesses which have been extended down into our tunnels.

“We have conquered the mystery of cold fusion, so we have unlimited power from sea water. We haven’t revealed that technology, among others, to the world above, because it would have devastating consequences to the world economy in its present form. It would also endanger anyone bold enough to reveal it prematurely. The world simply isn’t ready for some of the technology we have developed yet.”

When Elisia paused, Jerry asked, “Elisia, if you have cold fusion available as an unlimited power source, why do you also use electrical lines from above? It seems like that would be unnecessary.”

Elisia smiled at him. “That is a really excellent question, Jerry. We continue to need a conventional power source to manufacture electrical products that are sold in the world above. They have to operate using the power that is currently available there.” Everyone smiled and nodded as the logic of that became obvious. Then Elisia continued, “Our humans and Tandins often intermarry as Vincent’s and my parents did. Ours was a case where two Tandin brothers married two human identical twin sisters.”

Susan looked at Tanimus and asked, “Tanimus, were you and your brother also twins?”

Tanimus smiled at her and replied, “No, when we married, I was twenty-six, and Gaylin was thirty-one. My

Letha and their mother, Loren, were twenty. One year later, Gaylin and Loren had Vincent and Elisia.”

Everyone had been so engrossed in this fascinating story, that none of them had heard the elevator doors open and close down the hall. As Tanimus was speaking, Narcissa showed up at the door, and she immediately went to Tanimus. Diana took Little Jacob from him, and then Tanimus quickly stood up and grabbed both of Narcissa’s hands. Everyone was shocked that she had left her sanctuary and had come up here.

Narcissa exclaimed smiling, “You are the one who led me to our dear Vincent! I felt your powerful mind pulling me here. I have to thank you for allowing us to keep him. He has been the glue that has held us all together, and he is the only one who doesn’t think I’m crazy!” They all chuckled over the joy on both of their faces and at Narcissa’s unique way of expressing herself.

Tanimus then responded, “It is I who must thank you, Narcissa, for rescuing my brother’s child for us. I was desperate to save Vincent, and I was grateful for your receptive mind!” Diana and Joe squeezed over some more, and Tanimus seated Narcissa on the sofa beside him.

Vincent looked at Elisia and smiled. “I assume that Narcissa makes twenty?” She nodded and smiled back at him. Then he spoke to Narcissa. “Narcissa, do you feel up to a trip to the Tandin world?”

Narcissa lit up, “Why Vincent, child, what a very silly question! You know perfectly well that I love exploring

new places in the tunnels.”

Vincent chuckled at the elderly woman. Then he looked at Tanimus. “Uncle Tanimus, we know what happened to our parents from Dr. Vlas’journal and from Narcissa’s account. Even though it is painful, I would really like to know what happened from your perspective.” Tanimus then began to explain everything that happened when Loren and Vincent were nearly kidnapped. “I was still in the tunnels on my way to your maternal grandparents’ home when I received the telepathic message from Gaylin that Loren and Vincent had been attacked. Gaylin showed me that he was being shot in the solarium, and he showed me the door out of which Loren had escaped with Vincent. The last thing he was able to do before he died was to help Loren to connect with me telepathically, so I could track her in the city and try to get to her and rescue her and Vincent. My wife, Letha, was carrying Elisia, and my parents-in-law were with her, as I passed them running through the tunnels. They were terrified and in shock, but I was relieved that they were safely headed for our world. When I arrived at the solarium, Gaylin had already bled to death.

“I couldn’t even get a third of the way to Loren before she had already put Vincent’s clothes on a discarded baby doll, had wrapped Vincent in trashed linen, and had laid him in the window-well behind St. Vincent’s hospital.

Then she decoyed the men who were chasing them. I knew that I couldn’t get to both of them in time, and the

weather was severely cold, which made me worry that Vincent would die of exposure if I didn’t find someone closer to rescue him. Our people have known about your world from the time Father first organized it, and we knew that you had high ideals and also took care of people lost by the world above, so I began searching among your people for a receptive mind. Narcissa’s mind was very open and receptive, and she followed my promptings flawlessly.

“While I was prompting Narcissa, I was also tracking Loren. It broke my heart when the men caught up with her before I could. She absolutely refused to reveal where she had put Vincent. The last thing I saw was what she did, Adrian’s cruel and furious expression as he strangled the life out of her. Then he just left her body lying in the alley. My brother and I could always tell the difference between our wives, but it was severely heart-wrenching to carry Loren, who looked so much like my Letha, back home to our grieving family. Of course, we closed that home down immediately, sealed up the tunnel access, and sold the property.”

Vincent was sober as he told his uncle, “Thank you Uncle Tanimus. That now gives us a complete picture of exactly what happened.”

Elisia then asked Vincent, “Vincent, you have now spent about a week participating with awareness in Catherine’s dreams since you found her. Before that, you didn’t realize that she was alive, so you couldn’t really make sense out of what you were seeing in the visions. What have you learned now about the fears she is facing?” Everyone’s eyes turned to Vincent, and he felt their concern for Catherine as he answered Elisia. “Catherine’s fears are fueled by an overwhelming combination of emotions stemming from the events that occurred following my illness. Part of her problem is a sense of guilt. Catherine blames herself for not telling me that she was pregnant and not staying below with me. She was trying to protect me from burdens that she thought I was still too weak to trouble me with. Catherine knew that I was already distressed that our connection was severed. She just wanted to wait until I was stronger and more emotionally stable to tell me we were expecting a child, especially when I didn’t even remember that we had married, let alone conceived a child together.

“Her nightmares are a strange combination of symbolic terrors and straightforward frightening memories. There have been recurring images of various venomous snakes.

I am convinced that they represent Gabriel with his shots of first truth serum and then the nearly fatal dose of morphine. Catherine endured an horrifying ordeal during the time that she was missing. With the time I have spent participating in her nightmares, I think that I have finally pieced together most of what happened to her.”

Elisia said softly, “Go ahead and tell us, Vincent. The more we know about what has trapped her in this state, the easier it will be for us to help you to free her from it.”

Vincent then went on with the account. “The last time I saw Catherine before she was kidnapped, she had wanted to tell me something. When she saw how distressed I was over not being able to feel her need to talk to me, because I had to wait to actually see it on her face, she just hugged me and told me not to worry about it. I now know that she had wanted to tell me then that she was pregnant. Later, she decided to go ahead and tell me, and she sent a note down with Bennie asking me to meet her at the tunnel access in the basement of her apartment building. When she left work and walked down into the parking garage to go home, so she could come down to me, she was betrayed by the corrupt District Attorney, John Moreno, and he handed her over to Gabriel’s men.