Valley of Dust (14 page)

That’s when I went back to the hazy chair where the children waited for me. I held their hands and let go of the astral projection. When we opened up our eyes, the haze was gone, and the kids and I were in Carla’s room. We heard footsteps running to the room and wondered who would be coming into this room at a time like this. When the door opened, tears came to my eyes. “What are you silly bats doing in Mommy’s room?” Carla said. Charlie, Serena, and I were the only ones with memories without her; and seeing Charlie’s face as he jumped into his Mommy’s arms was enough for me to be satisfied for all the mistakes I made in my past. Now Carla and I were truly soul mates; we were bound to share immortality together. We may have shared the same immortality, but she had gained no powers from this spell. It was a good trade-off. I knew she would never want to have become an undead. That was probably why she was happy at her moment of death because she truly had everything. Sadly everyone else didn’t have everything, because without Carla we were not a family, so I hoped she would forgive my selfishness of giving her immortality. I just hoped no one would ever find that my weakness was no longer in my body but in my best friend’s.

Carla looked at me with an all-knowing look and touched her heart. We both felt the bond, and she remembered what I had done. She ran to me and hugged me, crying at how much she missed me. The memories were flying through my head; it wasn’t like I was truly not with her. We had created a new time line, one where Carla lived. Even if only a few of us could remember what really happened. I knew that Serena and Charles in a few years would forget their childhood memories since they were so young and would never have to deal with the loss of love and mixtures of time. The only one who would remember the time indefinitely was me. I also knew what I had to do with Anton. The reversal spell of the true name spell had worked without any catastrophic reaction, and it was supposed to be the hardest to make work. I knew I could bind Anton. He would keep his immortality, but he would never have powers. He would be as weak as a mortal. I laughed thinking of Anton helpless, but I knew this was the best way of going about it. Even if I got Marcus back, I would hate to have Lucian lose his brother and Marcus to never know his real father. I asked Carla if she would come with me back to my mansion so I could talk to Anton. I needed everyone safe, so I wanted her to watch the children upstairs in the house while I went down to the basement. She agreed without hesitation. We all got to the car, and the children were smiling as Carla sang them nursery rhymes.

The trip was pretty long. I hadn’t realized before that she lived an hour away. Driving to James and Carla’s house to change the past felt much quicker than it did now. I knew I had some hesitation to see Anton. I had not seen him in over five years. I didn’t want him to see me suffer, so I left him in the basement to suffer in solitude as I had on my own accord. When we arrived at my home, I asked Carla if she could bring them to Serena’s play room; she smiled with delight. Serena was truly spoiled by Lucian; everything a girl could imagine Serena had. I knew it was Lucian’s way of making up for the love I couldn’t give Serena these past five years. He was truly a doting husband and father. He never once gave up on me.

The walk down to the basement was an excruciating walk. It was about six flights of stairs down just to get to the cell where we had kept Anton. I knew Lucian had one of the maids down here to clean it every so often because it was definitely impeccably clean. As I approached the cell, I looked in. I was astonished to see his cell was furnished with normal living room furniture. He even had a TV. Lucian was truly weak hearted to his brother. I knew this was his doing; who else would pamper a cell for someone who stole his wife’s child? That’s when I saw Anton. He was sitting on the couch just lying there. His hair had become as long as I remembered it. His hair was stunning as it flowed off the pillow. Seeing this beauty awakened something hidden in my memory. Anton was the one who saved me from that rapist. I never noticed before since Anton always had his hair in a ponytail. However, today it was long and unrestrained. Part of me was relieved that he saved me, and part of me wondered why he did it even though he knew I couldn’t die. I knew as of today I would never get those answers. He was a sly dog, and he would never allow anyone to see his weaknesses. I knew part of him was jealous that I ended up with Lucian, but I also felt that in a way he was using me as a pawn to get to Lucian. He was never a good brother, but Lucian was a softy and I knew it was up to me to handle the punishment. He was lying there asleep when I started to perform the binding spell outside the cell. I knew getting too close to him would not help if he tried to use any of his remaining strength to escape, so the only way to do it was while he was lying there sleeping. I focused on his soul’s true name and repeated it in the Gypsies’ ancient tongue. The spell could not be forced too quickly, otherwise it could go wrong and I could kill him. I was trying to bind the name to me but not for immortality but to gain access to his inner power. When I felt the burning sensation in my heart, I grabbed it and repeated the words for binding him. This spell could be undone but only by killing the binder, because I had bound his power to my soul. No one knew the true name spells but me, and I had burned the last book I had found on the powers. The power needed Gypsy blood to perform, whether taken or being born with it. I knew I needed to keep this a secret to protect everyone from this dreadful spell I was using. In the wrong hands, someone could kill or gain immense strength just from a few incantations. The spell was finally complete, and I saw Anton shoot up; grabbing his heart, he stared at me in utter shock. I opened the cell and closed it behind me. “Hello, Anton. How do you feel?” Anton looked at me and smiled. “My, my, Selene, how age has suited you well. You are even more beautiful than the first time I met you,” Anton said. “Spare the lies, Anton, and tell me if you bound Marcus’s spirit from wandering,” I asked. He looked at me confused. “You do know how to bind a child strigoi spirit from wandering, don’t you?” I asked. “What are you talking about, Selene? I don’t have that power, and even if I did, why would I bind my own son from trying to join our society?” Anton said. “Hmmm, well, the first reason is because you took him away from the very society you say you want him to join,” I said. He laughed when I said that. “I was jealous of Lucian having my son. You and he shut me out. Why wouldn’t I want to hide Marcus from Lucian? Hurting you was unintentional. I didn’t think you would love something that came from me.” Tears welled up in my eyes; how could he say those words, especially about his brother who furnished this cell like a man cave so he wouldn’t be too lonely? I saw Anton’s arms try to use energy to push me out of the way, but he was shocked to find nothing happened. “What did you do to me?” Anton said. “It is simple. I used my Gypsy powers to bind you. You may be immortal, but you are no stronger than the mortals you despise.” I smiled. “This is your punishment. When I bring Marcus home, you will have rights to him, but you will never be able to go far from me. Your soul is mine to control now. This is for all the misdeeds you have done to countless women. I want you to learn humanity, and I will be learning forgiveness by letting you live and see Marcus,” I said. “You found Marcus?” Anton asked. “Not yet, Anton, you will remain in this cell till he comes home, but when he does, I will free you and you can live like a mortal would. I’ll ask Lucian to grant you some land here so you can build a house and be close by. Remember the burning sensation in your heart because it’s how I will find you.” I turned around and headed for the door when I heard Anton. “Wait, you’re not going to cut me off from my son. You promise I will get to be with my son?” Anton asked. “Of course, Anton, he will also have a half sister.” With that last sentence, I left. Anton was in shock at the mention of a second child. Maybe he felt that he had truly lost me, but he never had me to begin with even if we shared Marcus. He was never my first love, just my first mistake. Parting with him was the right thing to do. As I walked upstairs, I smelled the familiar scent of Jacques’ cooking. I ran to see what he was making. He looked amazed to see me up and about around the house. I guess in the last five years I truly was horrible to live with. I kissed Jacques on the cheek and said, “I am sorry I worried you, old friend. What’s on the menu today?” He smiled and said, “Well, I was thinking since we have Carla over we could make some filet mignon wrapped in bacon and have asparagus with hollandaise sauce.” “Mmm, that sounds delicious, Jacques, keep up the good work. I am off to Serena’s play room. Take care.” He waved good-bye as I left the kitchen to the second floor where Serena’s play room was. It was truly amazing; there was a mini train that the kids were riding in around the room. Lucian truly had outdone himself. In the corner of the room I saw Carla and I sat down with her. “So what did you do to Anton?” Carla asked. “How did you know, Carla?” I said. “I had a feeling you went down there. You didn’t kill him, did you?” Carla asked. “No, I did something much worse; he has no more powers,” I said. “You did what? How? Is that possible?” Carla said. I gently nodded and smiled and put one finger over my mouth and said, “It’s our little secret.” Watching the children have fun was quite relaxing with Carla by my side. Now we just needed Marcus to be complete.

F
LYING TO NEW York knowing his family was safe was all he could think about. When Lucian arrived in New York, he took his carry on and headed out for the limousine that would be waiting to drive him to the Ritz Carlton. The drive was wonderful as he remembered the first kiss in five years he had with his wife. It was unreal to him. He knew Carla would keep Selene company for the next three days while he discusses any unusual activity reported by young strigoi trying to reach out to his society. They were never hard to find once that had astral projected a couple of times. It was just the matter of when to take them. There were custody issues since they were born of mortal parents. However, Marcus’s case was different: this was completely an illegal abduction, and once we located the source of astral projections, it would be easy to get Detective Michael Jones in to get him to the proper home. Michael had promised us when we found Marcus he would do everything in his power to bring Selene’s child home, and Lucian believed him even if he was a bit jealous of him sometimes for being so close to his wife. The limousine had stopped at their destination, and he knew he needed to check in. He came a day early to prepare for the meeting, and he knew he wouldn’t leave this meeting early like the last one they had in New York. The council was calmer since Lucian took control over it again. He was happy that Selene had stepped down, because he felt her emotion were getting in the way of being able to fully govern their people properly. Lucian’s chauffeur brought his bags into the hotel while he checked in. Check in was always quite simple for him; they had his card on file, and since the meetings always took a whole floor of the building, he was known by name. When he got to his room, he tipped the bell boy twenty dollars and lay down on his bed. There was so much to think about. He was worried how the years of Marcus being in the mortal world would change him. Would he accept them as his family or would he become destructive? Serena would not develop the power to drain life just yet, but he knew Marcus was two years older and there was a chance he would be like Anton and have to feed off the humans he grew up with. He cringed at the torment it could bring the child. He remembered his first time killing to restore his strength, and it wasn’t an enjoyable experience. One thing he wondered about his own child, Serena, was why she was developing powers so quickly. He wondered, if he hadn’t put a mental block on Selene’s powers, would she have been like their daughter? There were so many questions he had on his mind he couldn’t stop thinking. He went to the wet bar and knew there would be some Blue Label scotch for him to try. He took some ice from the container at the wet bar and relaxed as he poured the scotch over the ice. The smell was robust and full of flavors. It was definitely a mature scotch. He never asked Selene what her favorite drink was; he pondered what it was. She was after all a bartender when he met her. He realized he needed to know more about her, and when they found Marcus, he would make time to get to know his wife more. He knew she also needed to get away from it all after being trapped in her own depression. With the scotch getting in his system, he felt warm and went to lie down. He finally felt relaxed as he set his alarm for eight in the morning.
The meeting would go smoothly,
he thought as he fell asleep.

As Lucian went to the meeting room, he realized Alexander was outside the door waiting for him. “Lucian, good morning. So what is so urgent for this meeting?” Lucian smiled at how curious Alexander was and then said, “My friend, your grandchild and my daughter have given me and my wife new hope to find Marcus.” Alexander was shocked. “Well, Lucian, what did they tell you? Remember they are only five-year-old kids. They can’t do much yet.” Lucian smiled at this. “Except all live strigoi children astral project out of their body to find the society. Don’t you remember this?” Alexander’s face looked dumbfounded. “Shit, we never thought about that. This is good news. Let’s go share it with the rest of the council. Maybe we can find some clues on any recent live strigoi activity,” Alexander said, and with that Lucian and Alexander entered the meeting to address everyone about Lucian’s latest discovery. Many of the council, after hearing Lucian explain a way to find his son, were dumbfounded for not remembering this basic way of finding their own kind as children. Lucian knew this was partly because most of the council was well over a thousand years old. It was a minor detail that meant a whole lot in searching for Marcus. The last known whereabouts of Marcus was in Colorado. Lucian decided to send one person there to scan the area, but he believed the people involved with Anton would have moved on. James would be sent to California with Alexander because he trusted them the most to have a keen eye in such a large state. Alexander’s other sons had volunteered in the search party, and after such a massive support from his family, everyone on the council decided to ship their families out to each state looking for simple powers being used. Children always left a trace of their magic since they had no idea how to control it, and that would be the search parties’ beacon to find him.

Lucian started with the United States because he knew five hundred thousand dollars would not get them to Europe to live without the need for more money. He was curious who had abducted Selene’s child. Who could have masterminded this with Anton? He knew asking Anton would be no use, and he hoped Selene would not find out that Lucian felt sorry for Anton and revamped his cell for comfortable living. He knew if she discovered this, he would surely be in the doghouse.

The meeting was going places now; for the first time he didn’t feel bored by the politics of it all. There was so much hope in finding Marcus, even though Selene thought he didn’t care for Marcus because he wasn’t his son. Marcus was his son at heart, but he knew what they did to his brother was also wrong. It was hard enough for a strigoi to find another live female strigoi to have a child with, and the fact that they had lied to Anton and the council didn’t help the situation. There were a total of three strigoi females to one hundred males. Only the very lucky found their match; others settled with an undead female who could not bear children. Only James had been lucky to have had a mortal live through a birth. Lucian had warned Carla how incompatible they were, but she was stubborn, and he was glad she was the first and hopefully last mortal to deal with such a burden.

After James and Carla’s pregnancy with Charles, the council implemented a new law prohibiting live strigoi men from having relations with mortal women. It was too dangerous, both for the mortal woman and their secret society. James was somehow lucky with Carla, and she had become an undead, but in the past no one was so lucky. Lucian and Alexander decided as punishment for what James had done he would be the in charge of mortal affairs with Carla.

Lucian decided after sending everyone else to different states to stay behind in New York. Lucian figured that the easiest way for everyone to get in touch with him was to stay put in his hotel and wait by the phone for leads. Lucian knew Anton had told the person who had Marcus to avoid places with high activity of live strigoi. That is why he knew New York was a dead end and a perfect place to set up base to focus on the one-hundred-man search party. Another benefit of New York was it was the best airport hub to get to any state. Days went by and Lucian only had a few false alarms. There was a new live strigoi in Wisconsin. The strigoi was a female and would make the live strigoi women’s number go up to five when Serena and this child in Wisconsin grew up. She would be strongly welcomed into the society when she turned eighteen. Lucian would have to file all the false alarms as well as find Marcus. Leaving a known live strigoi unwatched when they grew into their powers was dangerous, and it was always why the council had a department to investigate these cases.