December Moon (The Raven Saga) (32 page)

Suddenly, large droplets of water began to splash in the ocean in front of them. Seconds later, they too were feeling the rain on their faces.

"We didn't bring umbrellas. Maybe we should go back," said Oliver.

"No... there's no need," said December with a grin as she said a few strange words and moved her hands gracefully to produce a huge transparent bubble all around them. As the rain poured harder and harder, the group remained dry.

Oliver, Chris and Lilly giggled as December kept the bubble around them by silently chanting the same words. Soon, she was able to keep the spell going without even thinking about it.

As they sat, enjoying the bizarre moment, December felt a familiar sensation. There was someone close, but she knew if she turned behind her there would be nobody there.

December... he can be saved. Walter can be saved. His bloodline... you can use....
but as the words startled her, the spell was broken and the bubble popped, leaving all of them drenched in a matter of seconds.

As the others giggled and began running through the trees back to the dry safety of Rose's cottage, December took her time, trying to figure out what the lost soul had been trying to tell her.

Reaching the house, the three stood under the porch still chuckling.

"What happened?" laughed Lilly. "I thought you had it covered!"

"You mean, we thought you had US covered," joked Chris.

But when they noticed the look of confusion on December's face, their expression changed and the giggling came to a sudden stop.

"What? December what is it?"

"Huh?" she said, "I need to get inside. I need to speak to everyone."

They opened the door and piled in as quickly as they could.

"My, oh dear... you four are wet to the bone! I bet that was wonderful. It's been years since I felt the sensation of rain on my skin. Oh what I wouldn't give to feel that sensation once more," sighed Ruby more to herself than to everyone else, "Whatever is the matter, dear? You look like you've seen a ghost".

"I heard him, I heard the lost soul again!" she exclaimed as she took off her sopping wet jacket and hat.

"Well, what did he say?" asked Ruby.

"He said we can save Walter."

Rose gasped and jumped up, "How, my dear, how?"

"He got cut off but he said something about his bloodline."

"Goodness... that's it!" said Moira as she hopped up from her seat and looked around all the faces until she found the one person she was searching for. Tabitha.

"Me"?

Moira nodded, "He needs the blood of one of his offspring... his bloodline, that's you. Tabitha, you need to give him some of your blood."

Meredith rushed from the bedroom where she had been checking on Walter, "He's taken a turn for the worse. He... he hasn't got long, Rose. You should go to him now."

Rose rushed passed her and to Walter's side, sobbing.

Carmelo produced a needle and a tourniquet, ready to take blood from Tabitha, but she rushed passed him to the kitchen, where she grabbed a sharp knife and ran into the bedroom, yelling, "There's no time for that!"

Before anyone could stop her, she had sliced into her skin and wincing, held her arm to Walter's lips.

"Walter, Grandfather, drink... please drink..."

Walter was so still that she thought she was too late but soon as the aroma of blood filled the air, his eyes very slowly opened and he put his mouth over the open wound, drinking in the warm soft liquid.

Rose sat by his side, still sobbing quietly.

"Rose, Rose... it's working, look," whispered Tabitha as the family crowded round the bed to watch the miraculous recovery.

Rose stopped her sobbing and looked up to see Walter slowly returning to his old self. Although he continued to look like an old mad, he was beginning to look more like a healthy old man, his strength returning to him second by second.

"Okay, okay, Tabitha that's enough," said Carmelo.

Tabitha tried to pull away but Walter gripped her arm tightly.

"Walter, that's all you need, you can stop now," insisted Carmelo.

But it was only when Rose said, "Walter, stop!" that he let go of Tabitha's arm and fell back to the bed.

"Tabitha, forgive me," he said in disgust with himself.

"Walter, you took it because you needed it. There's nothing to forgive," she smiled as she wrapped a cloth around her wound, a cloth that Meredith had handed her.

"Rose, that is precisely why I fled to Portugal... for fear of harming one of my loved ones," Walter said quietly.

Rose looked at him with nothing but love in her eyes.

"My darling... look, you're alive, you're my age, Tabitha is fine. Like she said, you took what you needed and you stopped when I asked you to. You wouldn't have harmed Tabitha. I just know it."

Rose literally fell forward into his arms then and they kissed each other softly on the lips as everyone, a little embarrassed, quickly left them alone in the room.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

"Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Lilly

Happy Birthday to you!"

Sang the huge crowd of people in the grand dining hall in the mountains.

Lilly leaned forward and blew hard at the fifteen candles on the beautifully designed black cake that was the image of her namesake, a raven.

It was by far her best birthday ever. Surrounded by friends and family, there were no secrets to keep from any of them. Lilly was deliriously happy and it was easily noticeable by the constant grin that spread across her glowing face.

The only downside was the lack of one particular person, the person who continued to be missing after sixteen months. Her father, Jackson Tulugaq. But Lilly was determined not to let that spoil her day. Although she still thought of her father often and there were days when her heart felt like it had been ripped out of her chest, she was still confident that he would eventually be found, alive, human (not vampire) and well.

But on that day, her fifteenth birthday, Lilly did not want to dwell on the sadness in her life, she wanted to concentrate on all the great things and that included all her family and friends who were with her.

Even Meredith hadn't picked up on her sadness at losing her father for a while, but that was perhaps because Meredith was grieving for her own loss.

After Lilly cut a multitude of slices of birthday cake and they were handed around the cave, Oliver pulled her to one side and embraced her before looking into her eyes and kissing her deeply.

It was at that moment that she knew she had fallen completely and hopelessly in love.

At the same moment, she shivered all over and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled.

Oliver pulled away and looked at her quizzically, "Are you cold?" he asked, knowing the room was actually very warm.

But Lilly shook her head, "No, that was weird. You know that old saying that someone just walked over my grave? It was kind of like that," but she shrugged it off and fell back into his arms for another long kiss.

She shivered again. Suddenly, she felt as if someone else was standing right behind her, but when she turned, she found no-one.

"Strange," she said, telling Oliver what had happened.

"Isn't that the same thing that happens to December before that so-called lost soul communicates with her?" he asked and she nodded in reply.

"Do you still feel a presence?" he asked and she nodded.

Looking around the room, Oliver scanned the crowd for December. He saw her standing in a corner with Chris, Sammy and Tiffani. She was practising her magic, showing them some of her tricks as she juggled three lit candles without the use of her hands.

"Look, she's over there. Let's go ask her."

Suddenly, a strange expression appeared on December's face and the candles dropped to the floor.

Chris smothered them quickly to prevent a fire.

As Lilly and Oliver approached her, she turned to the three of them and said, "I just heard him again."

"I got that weird feeling too. I felt like someone was standing right behind me yet there was nobody there. What did he say, December?"

"It wasn't something he said, it was something he shouted."

"What, December? What did he shout?"

"HELP!"

#

The Lost Soul

The final part of The Raven Saga

Coming March 2012

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