Descended (27 page)

“Violet?”
Carter said as a question.

“Yes,” she replied still in her Carter trance, not realizing she had just responded naturally to her Guardian name.

“Yes, what?”
Carter asked her.

“What?” she said confused and trying to focus on what had just happened?

“Well, I said Violet and you said yes? What were you saying yes to?” Carter questioned.

“Think Violet, think!” she said panicked.

“I…I thought you said sunset,” she tried to cover her mistake quickly. “Look!” Vie pointed to the sun getting ready to set behind the tower. “It’s beautiful,” she said trying to keep the distraction going.

Carter looked at Vie and said, “Yes it is beautiful, but not nearly as beautiful as what I am looking at right now.”

Vie looked at Carter to see what he was looking at and to her surprise he was looking at her. She suddenly felt her cheeks get warm and thought she would feel the need to look away but she didn’t. She decided she wanted to enjoy every second of every moment here with Carter. Then he put his hand under her chin lifting it up so that he could look into her beautiful eyes and repeated the words he had spoken a moment ago.

“Violet,” he said again, “I can almost see violet in your eyes,” Carter restated while staring
into her beautiful electric
eyes.

Vie panicked. If Carter could see the violet in
her eyes what else could he see?
“I can’t let this happen, not now,” she kept thinking to herself. “Do something
Vie
,” she heard Gabriel’s voice speak to her. “Distract now!” she heard him say.

“I’ll race you to the top!” Vie yelled out unexpectedly, grabbing the lead and hiking her butt off.

“Hey no fair!”
Carter yelled up to her with a look of surprise on his face. “Only one of us can be firs
t partner climbing Vie!” he shouted up to
her.

“Well I guess that person will
be me then,” she said shouting back
down to him smiling at her victory. Carter looked up watching Vie hauling as quickly as she could, leaving him in her dust. He did like her competitive streak but hated that she finished first. When she got to the top of the tower she stood with her hands on her hip waving down to Carter, who was impressively only a few steps behind her. Vie extended her hand to Carter as he reached the top of the ledge.

“A little help?” she asked.

“Very funny Vie!”
Carter said back to her. “Let’s just see who rappels down first” he joked.

“You’re on cowboy!” she taunted him back.

Vie watched as Carter used his wickedly strong arms to hoist the rest of his perfectly sculpted body up to where she stood. She extended her hand and Carter grabbed it.  Her body was again ignited by his touch. In an instant there was a flash of light and then Vie felt Carter stare through her eyes and into her soul. She felt completely exposed and vulnerable. Then suddenly his eyes
grew wide and his facial expression changed to disbelief. “OMG what did he see?” she thought completely starting to lose it. First he could see her real eyes and into her soul and now what? She couldn’t stand it any longer she had to know what he saw.

“What?” she yelled at Carter to fill her in.

“Oh my god Vie, look!” he said completely astonished by something other than her.

“No, wait…don’t turn around yet,” he said very excited about the something.

He quickly unstrapped her harness, removed the gear and gently placed his hands over her eyes.

“What are you…
”
Carter stopped her mid-sentence by putting his lips right up to hers. Her mouth watered, tasting his sweet breath on her lips. Vie tried to speak again and all he said was, “
Shhhhhh
….patience princess,” in a soft sweet undertone. “You are about to witness the most spectacular thing you will ever see,” he whispered with his lips still pressed closely to hers. Vie could feel the vibration of his words against her lips. Her knees started to quiver.  For the first time in her entire existence she felt weak, almost limp by his touch. She wanted so badly to succumb to her feelings but was still uncertain as to whether or not she was actually experiencing them or if it were her vessel Vivian. Their bodies stood still with nothing but a warm and gentle breeze that blew over the tower. Then Carter turned Vie around, slowly slipping each finger away one by one until his hands were free from her eyes. Vie stood breathless looking at the sky.

“Isn’t it the most perfect thing you have ever seen?” Carter asked Vie.

“
It’s
heaven,” Vie said smiling beautifully in its light.

“No, it’s actually a Brocken
Spectre
,” he said dismissing her claim.

“Oh
Really
?” she said wondering why he couldn’t see it the way she did.

“So what is this Brocken
Spectre
thing?” she said challenging his claim and waiting for a response.

“Well,” he started, suddenly remembering he was with the pastor’s daughter.  “It’s a phenomenon actually. The
spectre
appears when the sun shines from behind the observer and the light from the sun projects their shadow forward and the mist and the fog form below.” Carter pointed to the fog now blanketed below them. “The shadow is really just an optical illusion that…,” before Carter could finish Vie was standing a mere breath away from his lips. Now Carter could almost taste her intoxicatingly fresh breath and just like Vie was before, he was yearning for more. Then slowly and gently she moved her lips to speak.

“
It’s
heaven,” she whispered, vibrating her words against his lips.

“Whatever you say,” Carter responded with his body heating up from the touch of
Vie’s
lips to his.

He wanted to kiss her so badly, to taste her tongue in his mouth and he couldn’t stop his urge to kiss her any longer. Carter grabbed her face and pulled her body in tightly to his. Both of them ignited full throttle giving into the intense passion they were feeling for each other. Carter, still holding her face in his hands, put his lips to hers and just as he parted his lips to kiss her, the ground beneath them began to shake.

“Carter?” Vie called his name wondering if he knew what was happening.

He looked at Vie having no answers and let go of her to gather the gear. The rumbling continued to get worse. Vie took a step back and looked back to the sky where the Brocken
Spectre
was and what she saw shocked her to her very core. It was Lucian standing in the
Spectre
light now watching over them and smiling with his evil grin. “
It’s
Lucian! Lucian is responsible for all of this,” she thought. She grinned back at him with a smile that let him know she was not afraid of him and she was ready for battle. Just then, the corner of the ledge of the tower that Vie was standing on began to break away and Vie yelled out to Carter while trying to keep her balance.

“Vie grab my hand!” he yelled while running to reach for her.  The ledge gave way and he was too late. It shattered, sending Vie free falling down the side of the tower.

“Vie
Nooooooooo
!” Carter screamed out in agony.

Vie saw Lucian’s shadow still watching her as she was falling to her death. The sinister grin upon his face that she once feared now inspired
anger
in her and suddenly she felt transformed back to the warrior she truly was. She felt a surge of strength and power that she had never felt before. It was a stronger more intense energy that came out of nowhere. Vie used it and reached out grabbing one of the metal
choks
left from their climb on the side of the massive rock causing her to slam hard into the wall of the tower, cutting her head. There was a lot of blood coming from her wound and that freaked Vie out since guardians don’t bleed.

Carter ran to the edge of the tower with his heart pounding in total fear of what he would see. Of course he expected the worst but he leaned over the edge and thankfully saw Vie clinging to one of the
choks
anchored to the wall of the tower.

“Holy shit Vie!” he yelled down in relief. Vie looked up at him with no fear at all. “
Uhhh
…a little help down here please?” she said guardedly clinging to the
chok
.

“Vie hold on, I’m coming down,” he said immediately.

“Be careful Carter, it’s not stable up there,” she said noticing small boulders falling from the top of the tower.

Carter quickly grabbed her harness and anchored one end of the rope to the tower to secure it. He leaped over the edge repelling at the speed of light down the mammoth tower. He reached Vie in seconds flat.

“Vie, I’m so sorry! Are you alright? Are you hurt?” he asked in a rattled voice.

“I don’t think so,” she said holding her one hand on her head.

“Just hold on Vie,” he said maneuvering quickly now to get to where
Vie
was dangling in midair.

Carter reached her, swinging himself over to the wall where she hung and grabbed on to the
chok
that Vie was gripping tightly.

“Let me see,” Carter said moving her hand away from her head. Immediately he saw blood pouring out from the wound above her eyebrow. It was deep and Carter was worried, but he remained calm and focused so that he could get them out of this mess. He held on to the rope with one hand and helped Vie put the harness back on. Then he clipped the rope to her and told her to put her arms around him and to hold on tight.

“Can you do that Vie?” he asked.

“Yes,” she responded confidently.

Vie put her arms around Carter’s neck and took one last look into his eyes. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen but when he looked back into her eyes she felt safe, like nothing could touch them. Vie had never felt so protected, except when she was with Gabriel. Ca
r
ter explained what he was going to do and asked Vie if she was ready. Vie nodded.

“On three….okay?”
Carter said.

“Ready? One…two…three!” he said and they jumped away from the wall and began to repel again together.

Suddenly the rope stopped feeding and it jerked Carter and Vie to an abrupt halt. There they sat, suspended a thousand feet in the air, clinging to one another on nothing but a tethered rope. Carter looked at Vie as the last ray of sunshine beamed in her eyes and said, “We’re going to be fine Vie. I promised you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you and you should know that I always keep my promises” he said reassuring her that he would get them out of this. Vie was not the slightest bit worried because she had every faith that Carter would do exactly as he said. Vie was completely at ease and felt a peace within her soul.

“I know,” she replied back to Carter with a sweet smile as she put her head to his chest.

Then they heard a “Snap”.  It was the rope and before either of them could react, they began free falling down the side of the tower. They were still holding on to one another and neither Carter nor Vie showed any sign of fear at all. Then Vie closed her eyes and Carter looked above him toward the Brocken
Spectre
and did something he had not done since he was a young boy. He prayed. Not for himself, but for Vie, asking God to please save her. He closed his eyes and then “THUMP”, they hit the ground hard.

Carter and Vie lay lifelessly still on the impressions of their bodies in the ground from the impact of the fall. Falling from 3000 feet would prove to have dire consequences for the two young lovers for sure. Carter’s eyes were still affixed to where the Brocken
Spectre
had appeared high above the tower and that was now gone. All that was in the sky was an eagle circling around Carter and Vie, squawking loudly as if he were trying to speak to them. That eagle was Gabriel.

Still locked together Carter feared the worst as he lay still with
Vie’s
body on top of him. Then he felt the most amazing thing ever. It was her heartbeat on his chest. Through the harness and thick clothing he felt it beat stronger and stronger and he rejoiced inside.

“Vie?” he said her name softly.

Carter waited anxiously for her to respond, to speak to him, even to just look at him. He couldn’t imagine how he would feel if anything happened to Vie. Suddenly it was real, his feelings were exploding in a way that they never had before. His heart felt heavy just thinking about Vie not waking up. He couldn’t breathe. “She has to wake up, she just has to,” he thought. Then slowly she began to move, lifting her chin up from his chest and gazing into his eyes. He was elated and finally able to take a deep breath and marvel in the moment. He looked up to the sky with a tear in his eye to say a quick and proper thank you and then he looked into
Vie’s
precious eyes.

“Vie, are you okay?” Carter asked. But before she could speak a word he said in a voice ridden with guilt, “I’m so sorry Vie!”

Carter gently rolled her to his side and began to frantically examine her body from head to toe. “Are you hurt? Is anything broken?” he asked looking over every inch of her.