Ever After (17 page)

The decision Doc had to make would determine the fate of his existence and that of his coven. The newspapers were beginning to report the deaths of numerous people and they were all in the local area. Damon was getting sloppy and he didn’t care if he exposed the them. Doc had decided to disown Vincent and banish him from the coven forever, never to have contact again.

The other choice, which I had always wondered about, was soon explained to me. I had always wondered why Doc ever moved here. Doc explained the area where they lived was too corrupt now, so he decided to move the coven eastward to Cambridge, Massachusetts. The distance was great from New Orleans, and he hoped the horror stories of a murderous vampire on the loose would not follow them.

He also explained how William came to be in the area. I wondered why he had just moved back to the coven and Cambridge this past fall. Doc as a measure of protection against Vincent often sent Lydia and William to London for long periods to keep Vincent guessing where they were. They went on these trips two or three times a year or as often as needed. Doc was quick to explain why Lydia and William had to be kept away from Vincent.

It seems that Vincent, before he was banished, had fallen in love with Lydia. She of course would have nothing to do with him ever. Doc had made it clear to him that Lydia would choose her own life partner and he was not it. He never got over being jilted. She had chosen Andrew, another coven member who was good, and a follower as she was.

Vincent seethed with anger at her refusal. The coven was on high alert for rebellion for weeks after they relocated to Cambridge. Vincent sent threatening letters and called her threatening her and William with horrible things.

William was the other major problem then. Lydia refused to move, at that time. Will was nearing adulthood and Lydia wanted to be close to protect him from Vincent. Doc could not allow her to stay. He had to trust that William would be safe and that Vincent’s anger and hostilities would remain focused only on Lydia and the coven.

This was sadly not the case. Vincent knew of Lydia’s extreme love for her only child, and he knew how Doc had favored Will since his birth. The way to seek revenge on Lydia for denying him and Doc’s banishment of him from the coven was to destroy what they both loved and that was young William.

Vincent set out to find William and kill him. As Doc told me this story, it seemed to be very hard for him to talk about. He went on to say Vincent was hell bent to hurt the ones he felt wronged him so deeply. He set out to return to the South. He had been wandering since his banishment, all a ploy to make Doc believe he was not going to harm William.

He had no trouble finding Will; he was right where he had been his whole life, living with his father and his stepmother. William was about to start his first year of college and about to begin his adult life, but that was not to be. Vincent had spent weeks forming a relationship with William; he had posed as a college advisor. The whole thing was a set-up so he could get close enough to William to kill him without the authorities knowing right away.

Will fell into the trap easily. He was very trusting and could not comprehend what was about to happen to him. I didn’t push Doc or William on the day of this conversation as to how Vincent attacked Will. I could see the pained look in his eyes as Doc spoke. Will looked down at his hands for most of this story, clearly upset. I did not want him to have to relive that memory to feed my curiosity. I knew in time if he felt strong enough to tell me, he would, but not this day.

I listened to how Doc and Lydia learned of what Vincent had done. Doc did not learn of William’s changing until six months had passed. William was desperate to escape Vincent’s control and the dark coven he had formed in the Deep South. Will was trapped in this dark evil world, and he was very confused as to what he should do. He knew killing was wrong, and he had to leave somehow.

The only good thing Vincent did for Will was to tell him who Doc really was and all about his birth mother, Lydia. He knew if he wanted to escape, he had to find Doc’s coven. Doc came to William when he finally was able to contact him, telling him of the horrid things the dark coven was doing. William was desperate to leave as Vincent was grooming him to lead the coven one day. Damon had plans to go to Europe and start a dark coven there. He had plans to become the master of all the dark covens, and to be the most powerful and unstoppable. He seemed to be severely protective over William, and he was irate when he ran to Doc and his coven.

Vincent vowed he would watch over William, and when he came to his senses, he would welcome him back to his side. Lydia explained to me that she wrote Vincent on a regular basis to appease his need for information on his “son.” This is how he viewed Will as a son and refused any other title for him.

To Vincent he would always be Will’s true father. The worst thing I learned was that he was now growing restless. He was calling Lydia now, pushing for why he was hearing strange things about his son’s behavior. Vincent has a gift of sight and was getting glimpses of his son acting more human than he should be. The other bad thing was he was getting glimpses of me… and he didn’t like it at all.

Doc was worried that Vincent would return for William if he ever thought he was not behaving, as he should. Lydia feared when he learned of the relationship Will and I had, he would come back, and possibly kill me. I was sick at this thought and I could see it was of great concern to Doc and the entire coven.

William was silent as we discussed this; he didn’t even move. He was obviously terrified of Vincent. I felt very afraid at that thought. I had never known of
anything
Will was afraid of. I had to think Vincent was evil in its purest form, and I prayed we would not have to face him. I couldn’t imagine losing William or my life to a creature so horrible.

Doc had warned that Vincent would want me dead, as I was the one altering Will’s behavior. Doc explained of Vincent’s extreme hatred of humans, and he would never stand for his “son” to be in love with one. I could deal with it. I guessed, but to lose Will was too much to think about. I knew this thing could get ugly really fast.

I had been in a fairy tale in my own mind. I should have known the real world would seep in eventually, and it was now. Todd on the other hand had apparently fallen off the face of the earth. The police could not track him down. Roth, the cousins, and other coven members could not track him either. This was unheard of since Todd was a human. They should have been able to track him with no trouble.

Doc was checking in with other friends he had around the world and in Mexico to try to find him. I had caught small bits of conversations between Will and Doc; they seemed very worried about losing track of Todd. I heard Doc mention something about him being dead, or the worst-case scenario, him having been turned into a vampire. This could be one of the reasons he was un traceable to them. I couldn’t even think about such a thing right now, it was un nerving to me.

The Fairy tale Ends

The extreme lesson on how Will came to be as he was now was just the beginning. I learned more every day. I had been sick again to top it off; the headaches never really went away all summer, but they had been less painful. I was able to hide them, but the past two weeks going into the fall, it was nearly impossible to keep from William.

I had only one refill of an old pain medication left and the aspirin didn’t even lessen the pain anymore. I was terrified something was really wrong and I was going to have to face it. It was getting to hard to hide the pain from everyone. Facing whatever was wrong with me, was something I didn’t want to do. I had no choice though; soon I feared it would be impossible to hide. William hid nothing from me, and I was feeling horrible hiding how I felt from him. I knew this had to end.

Chapter 24

The Truth about the pain

William was over one crisp fall afternoon helping me plan the Halloween party we were to have here at my house in a few weeks. The school year started again as well. It was our junior year. Will and I were looking over decorations and I passed out from the pain inside my head, right into his arms; we went to see Doc that afternoon.

Doc was quick to order a battery of tests and by that evening, we learned what I had feared. I had an inoperable brain tumor. The tests after Todd’s attack when I was in the hospital somehow did not pick up on it. Doc explained it was growing at such a fast rate that at that time it might have been too small to detect.

I of course, had to explain how much pain I had been in and that I had been hiding it. I was supposed to have gone to Doctor Mott for a follow-up months ago and I didn’t, so I was facing this now. Doc called my father to his office, we all had a major discussion on my medical future, and it was not good. My father wanted the best specialists, mid eastern medicine, anything that might heal me. Doc had no good news; it was indeed terminal. Will was frozen in shock as I was. He looked over to me and I nodded. We both knew as we looked over to Doc what would have to happen to keep us together and to keep me alive.

Doc exhaled loudly tapping his pen on his cherry wood desk. My father was oblivious to what we were all doing, looking at each other as he read a homeopathic medical pamphlet. Doc looked straight at William for a long time. I knew they could hear each other’s thoughts as many vampires could. Will squeezed my hand and nodded once to Doc; he then leaned over and kissed my cheek tenderly.

“Worry not, all will be well. This will not separate us. I promise you.” Will whispered in my ear. I smiled knowingly as they had decided to save me, and I would not have to suffer a painful human death. Will wrapped his arms protectively around me. I tucked my head up under his neck; this was where I was happiest, and this was where nothing could touch me.

The next couple of weeks were very difficult for William and me; many choices had to be made. I was feeling worse each day since my visit to Doc. I felt weaker and my headaches were more intense. Doc was quick to mention a clinic in upstate New York to my father, I had never heard of it before. I knew Doc had many connections, so it clearly had to be a good place.

This was a special place Doc told my dad, where they might be able to help me. This was just a cover. Should I become near death, Will explained to me later, Doc would tell my dad I was going there for treatment. I would really be at Doc’s home and he would oversee my change to become like them.

I knew it would be hard to do this, to leave my family, especially my dad. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I also didn’t want to die either. This was going to be the hardest thing I had ever done in my life, but I had no choice now. Things were getting serious, and if I didn’t do something, I would lose all the people I love.

Doc was extremely diligent in my care; he made sure I had everything I needed to be comfortable. I had the best pain medicine and numerous other medicines to keep me relaxed. My dad was inconsolable; he spent all his free time looking for new cures for brain tumors. I hated to see him so frustrated and heartbroken. He spent most of his time with me, when he didn’t have to be at work. I was spending
my
time
trying to reassure myself that joining William’s world was not going to totally freak me out.

I knew I really had no choice, my body was failing me, and my time was running out. I would lose William and all I knew. My body was betraying me. I had just found my soul mate, the love of my life and now I was facing certain death. I had very few options, it was hard not to panic when I stopped and thought about everything.

William rarely left my side. He stayed with me nearly all the time; of course, he made it look like he went home to my parents anyway. I was thankful he didn’t leave. I was scared to go to sleep without him there. If something should go wrong, I didn’t want to die or get close to it without him there or I would miss my chance to change.

Doc warned that if I became too weak, I might not survive the process to become a vampire. I had to be monitored very closely now. William held me in his arms while I slept. He watched every breath. I had some nights worse than others. He did his best to ease the pain of my body slowly getting weaker. I started having blurry vision and blackout spells more often. I was having trouble eating, the high-powered pain meds made my stomach hurt. I was sleeping much more than I wanted to. I had a hard time even getting out of bed, but Will was at my side for it all.