Redemption (20 page)

“I’ll be just outside. Marla and I need to catch up anyway.” Abe leaned over and kissed her forehead before whispering, “I’ll be here whenever you need me.”

Silently, Abe led Marla out of the room. Becca heard a few muffled voices before a tall gentleman entered sheepishly.

“Rebecca?”

“Senator Holt, please sit.”

“It’s Bradford.” He slipped his black overcoat off his shoulders before sitting in the chair Abe had recently vacated.

“Then you can call me Becca.” She attempted a smile, but the exhaustion of the past hour was catching up to her.

“I won’t keep you long. I still have a lot of information to absorb; I’m not sure how much more I can handle.” He laughed softly and a pang struck directly at Becca’s heart.

“You laugh just like him or, I guess, he laughs just like you,” she sniffled, as she brought her hand to her chest in attempt to rub the ache out.

“Since the day he was born, everyone has said he’s my miniature.”

“I can see why.” She tried to calm her nerves, but sitting only feet from an older version of Ian made her concentration less than stellar.

“I just need to know if you think he’ll be alright.”

Becca closed her eyes as she nodded, taking a deep breath before launching into her story. “I told Ian everything.”

Becca told Bradford about their first phone call, their first dinner, and then the trip to Manchester. She explained how he willingly went with her and Sam to Iceland after he found out about Lily and her past, and told him how Liam had kept them away from Sam, knowing there was no way out.

“Let me make sure I’ve got this right.” Bradford sat back and steepled his fingers in front of his chin. “You tell my son that your mother, the woman he’s desperately in love with, is a vampire, then you both go off to Manchester, which is basically supernatural headquarters, looking for clues? Then, you leave for Iceland together, before being kidnapped and held hostage naked, when he realizes he loves you instead… Now the vampire is in a coma, you’re down several pints, and your father’s an angel, making you half angel. I got it all?”

“That about sums it up in a nutshell,” she replied, smiling as much as she could in her weakened state.

“What’s next?” Bradford questioned, as he raised an eyebrow to Becca.

“We find Ian.”

Ian spent most of the journey from England to Iceland in and out of consciousness. He fought to stay awake, but the pain from the healing of his skin often caused him to just pass out. The most he could make out was that he and Gideon had boarded a private jet at some point, and were currently making their way back to Iceland.

When he would rouse, he noticed Gideon smiling over at him from his seat across the aisle. He could occasionally make out a few words here and there, but the pain had been so intense that moving, speaking, or even thinking was out of the question at that point.

He was jostled awake fully when he felt Gideon lifting him up.

“Where are we?” Ian asked, his voice hoarse and throat incredibly sore.

“We’re close. We have to go on foot from here on out.”

Ian let his vision return to normal then surveyed his surroundings. He was standing beside a black SUV on snow covered ground. He turned to see that they were not far from the base of what he was sure was Hekla, the Queen of Iceland’s volcanoes.

“Why here?” Ian turned to see Gideon admiring the volcano. “Is there some reason it has to be here?”

Gideon took a deep breath, filling his aging lungs with the scent of the volcanic ash. “Since my beginning, this is always the place where I have come to rest. This body will join my others, as will yours someday. This is where my father brought me to life and it is where my power was born. The humans have their theories and superstitions, but most are far from the truth.”

“So, this isn’t the gateway to Hell?” Ian approached Gideon with a slight groan as his skin still stung with the slightest movement.

“Oh no, well... Actually, they were right about that one. It’s not something you could just stumble over, mind you. You need special skills that no human could ever posses to gain entrance.” Gideon placed his hand on Ian shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. “It’s time.”

That was the lowest moment of Ian’s life. It was the moment he gave up – as he was no match for Gideon’s powers. He knew no one was coming to rescue him, and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he would soon be standing on Hell’s doorstep.

The pain that began to radiate throughout his body was no longer from the healing of his skin. His entire body was wracked with only what he could attempt to name as heartache. His whole being mourned at the loss of his future; of never seeing his family again, never kissing the woman he loved, never holding his child or grandchild... It was the most atrocious feeling one could have, to lose all hope, to know that your forever was about to end.

His feet led him without his brain telling them to do so. He made it up the steep rock face, across jagged volcanic rock ledges, and up to the cavern where Gideon had finally stopped.

“Not too much further.” Gideon walked in front of him towards a light glowing in red and amber hues.

Ian’s stoic movements continued as the light got closer and brighter, before the light went out and both were cast into darkness.

“Gideon, son of our Father, demanding entrance!” Gideon shouted as loud as he could. His voice echoed off the cavern walls for several moments before the light returned.

“See,” Gideon said as he smacked Ian on the chest. “They know me here.”

The two of them entered through the lit doorway into a separate smoldering hot cavern.

“It’s best to just take off your clothes. The heat can be unbearable to humans at times, but we’ll change that soon enough.”

Ian began to disrobe without thought while Gideon just removed his shirt.

Gideon came to stand before a completely bare Ian.

“It won’t hurt much. Just a few moments and it will all be over.”

Gideon held Ian’s inner arm and took a palm-sized volcanic rock to slice into his flesh from elbow to wrist. Gideon handed the rock to Ian and instructed him to do the same on Gideon’s inner arm. Ian did so without a second of hesitation.

The rock was placed off to the side and Gideon placed their inner arms together; blood to blood, flesh to flesh. Warmth traveled throughout both of them as the blood flowing between them began to boil. Pain from the heat brought both of them to their knees, but their connection could not be broken. Ian felt as though Gideon’s arm was melding with his own. When he regained enough of his faculties to open his eyes, he could see that was exactly what was happening. Gideon’s arm and hand were being absorbed by Ian’s as their blood brought them together.

Gideon’s body fell away as the arm and hand were completely absorbed.

Ian’s eyes turned to see Gideon’s lifeless body. He attempted to rise from his knees to his feet, but instead he found himself crawling on all fours towards the body. Ian protested, attempting to force his brain to send the signal to make him stand, but it was as if he was shouting into an abyss where no sound was heard.

Ian blinked several times and felt tears falling from his own eyes. His lips kissed each of Gideon’s closed eyelids.

“You were a good vessel, my brother. Now you will lay in peace as your reward.”

Ian could hear the voice leaving his body as his own, but had no control over its actions. It had worked. Gideon had completely taken over his mind and body, yet he could still see, hear, and feel everything around him. There was no way that could be right.

Gideon, now controlling Ian’s every move, picked up his old body and moved it closer to the glowing light which turned out to be a slow flowing river of lava. He tossed the body in and watched as it was consumed by the molten river. He sighed one last time before gathering all the clothes and redressing his new body.

Ian continued to shout as his body made its way back down the volcano’s face and soon, the SUV was back in sight. One journey had come to an end and another had just begun.

Ian really had no idea how to feel. He was trapped in a dark corner of his mind that wasn’t even his own anymore. He could scream and yell, but it did no good. Either Gideon couldn’t hear him or chose not to.

He wondered if that was how he was going to spend the next three hundred years, seeing, hearing and feeling the world but not ever experiencing it for himself. It had only been a few hours and he could already feel himself being driven mad.

Gideon finally brought the SUV to a stop as he reached the small landing strip where the plane was waiting for him. He began humming softly as he exited the SUV then walked with a slight swagger over to the steps to board the plane.

“We are ready for takeoff. Just take your seat and relax. We will be landing outside London on schedule, Mr. Holt.”

“Thank you.” Gideon nodded to the pilot with a smile before he took his seat.

Ian’s mind raced as he realized they were returning to England. Gideon was going after Becca. He was going to take over Ian’s life.

Gideon began humming the tune again as the plane took to the air. Ian began to concentrate on the sound and realized that it was his own composition – one that had never left his mind. Ian thought about the rage he would go into if he could. The complete violation and destruction of his entire world was more than he could fathom. He curled up into a ball in that dark corner that was no longer his own mind and attempted to forget.

Ian came out of his darkness when he began to feel incredibly strange. Gideon was standing face to face with the pilot, when all of a sudden, he fell to the floor of the plane’s cabin.

Ian thought Gideon had received some sort of shock as the energy surged through their body. Eyelids blinked rapidly over tear-filled eyes as everything came back into focus.

Fingertips massaged at temples as the pain still surged, footsteps were heard descending the stairs of the plane. Everything was so muddled, but getting back into the seat was not too difficult.

“What the hell was that?” Ian asked to the empty cabin.

Hearing his own voice matching his own thoughts caught him completely off guard. Ian told himself to stand, he stood. He told himself to sit, he sat. All actions were done rather sluggishly, but they were under his own control all the same.

He reasoned that Gideon must have left his body to possess the pilot. What he hadn’t expected was that he would be able to have back control of his body when Gideon left it. Weak, but in control, hope returned as he began to believe his forever hadn’t ended after all.