Rise of the Death Walkers (The Circle of Heritage Saga) (16 page)

Grandmother Cara placed her hand on my head and looked at Katie "Katie I bid you welcome to our family. My grandson chose his mate wisely and I see many grandchildren in your future."

Katie looked shocked and bowed blushing in front of her. "Thank you Grandmother. I am hoping so too."

Grandmother Cara looked pleased and said. "I was not hoping this, I know this."

Katie looked confused so I spoke up. "Katie, Grandmother Cara has a very good sight about things of the future. She predicted to the child how many children my mother would have a full two years before she got married to my father. It's her gift to do such things."

Grandmother Cara smiled at me as I explained this and said, "I will still be in this world for your first two children but will not live to see the third."

This was the first time my grandmother had ever predicted her own death but she was close to one hundred right now as it was and it surprised me.

"We will be sure to visit as often as we can grandmother." I stood up and bent down to kiss her on the cheek. "Thank you for coming to the reception."

Grandmother Cara placed her hand on my head and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes they seemed to be clouded with worry then she smiled and pinched my cheek.

"I was also at the dance Grandson and your wife performed it perfectly. I just needed a ride over here after the dance because the old bones cannot ride on a horse anymore. Now go you two and have fun Mimi and I have things to discuss." She waved us away and began talking fast in the ancient tongue.

I pulled Katie away and walked back to the table where we sat. Katie leaned toward me with her eyes still on the two women. "What was that about?" She asked.

"She was making sure that Mimi would train you properly for your duties within the tribe." I replied in a light tone.

"My duties within the tribe?" she asked puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"

"Katie, I mentioned this before but you may have forgotten it. Traditionally the true leaders of the tribe has always been the oldest female in the line of chiefs. Some day that will be you. To fill this role you will be trained by Mimi who is the Great Mother of our clan. Because my mother has passed on you may have to fill this role sooner than normal.

Since my father is not a member of the tribe, the next in line would be me but if Mimi decides that it would be in the best interest of the tribe that someone else besides myself be the chief, then her decision is final. I may be the next chief but after Mimi passes on you will be the next great mother. There is no alternative to that." I looked at Katie when I said this and she looked a little scared.

"That's an awful lot of responsibility to think about." She said.

"Mimi will prepare you properly love so don't worry about it. The females and males on my side of the family have always had long life spans barring accidents or things like happened to my mother. You will probably not have to worry about this for the next thirty or forty years. since Mimi is so young." I patted her hand in assurance.

"How old is Mimi? I have never asked her because, well, it seemed rude." She asked.

"Mimi just turned seventy this year." I noticed the shocked look she gave me. "Grandfather started late in his life with marriage. He told me he was too wild as a young buck to settle down." I laughed lightly as I said this.

Grandfather came up to us and winked at me. "Spreading lies about me again grandson?"

"Who? Me?" I tried to look as innocent as possible. "You're the one who told me you were wild in your youth."

"I can't remember back that far boy. I think that was before fire was discovered." He started laughing at the expression Katie had on her face. "Don't worry Granddaughter I make sure I scrape the mold off every morning."

Katie smiled at him and said. "I doubt any mold will grow on the tough hide of yours grandfather."

"You got me there Katie." I had gotten used to the easy banter between the two of them. Katie had seemed like a member of the family so long now. Grandfather continued. "And now it's my job to take the both of you to your hotel. Mimi wants me back so she can force me into slave labor for the rest of the night."

Katie laughed and accepted the arm he had put out for her and the two of them walked out of the doorway. I went and bid goodnight to Mimi and Grandmother Cara as was proper and was stopped by Dr. Grant on the way out. He slipped an envelope into my hand and said.

"Take good care of Katie for me son."

"I will sir." I replied. "And thank you for the gift of the honeymoon."

"You will see the start of the rest of the gift when you get back son." He smiled at me and pushed me toward the door.

I started to say something else and he said. "Go son, Your wife is waiting on you." I turned and walked out the door puzzled by his comment. I thought the gift of a two week honeymoon was more than adequate as a wedding gift and I wondered what else he had planned.

Grandfather dropped us off at the front desk and said "The honeymoon suite for these two Jack." He waved to us and winked at me. "Remember you have all the time in the world to sleep on the bus tomorrow." He laughed at my expression and left quickly before I could say anything to him. The porter escorted us up to the honeymoon suite on the third floor and left us at the door.

I folded Katie into my arms and kissed her deeply. Then I scooped her up into my arms and carried her into the room. I set her down and looked around the room with a slack jaw. Our bags that we would be taking on the trip were already in the room and there was a bottle of champagne in a bucket near the largest whirlpool I had ever seen in my life. The room had shag carpet which was royal blue right up to the edge of the whirlpool. The whirlpool was already running and the lights were dimmed a bit. This was only the outside room. I could see what looked like it was a dining room off to the left and to the right it looked like a walk-in closet.

Katie grabbed her bag and took off deeper into the set of rooms. "Ooooo." I could hear her from the other room. "The bed is heart shaped and big enough for ten people, I bet."

I laughed and went into the bedroom, to see what she was talking about. She was right you could fit my whole family on the heart shaped bed and still have room for Katie's family.

I put down my bag and asked. "What would you like to do first love? The whirlpool?"

She reached out and grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the bed. "Not on your life Mr. White. I have waited too long for this..."

Back at the reception that was now winding down Sam White, his wife and her mother were deep in a conversation concerning Jason.

“Are you Sure that this is the way we have to handle this Cara?”

“I have checked over and over Sam. Every other variation ends with Jason not being strong enough to lead us in the war.”

“Mother it seems so cruel to do this to Jason. You know how hard it was to know what that monster was doing to Kira and the children. Especially Jenna.”

“I know Amanda. It has to be this way. As soon as Jason finds out Katie is pregnant we have to perform the ceremony to take Jason’s memory of the events that will occur in Niagara Falls. He has to believe Katie dies there or his wife and daughter will never live to see the beginning of next year.”

Sam hated how he had to manipulate his grandchildren to force the timeline into what was needed to defeat the enemy. He knew that how a person ends up is governed by what trials and tribulation they face as they are growing up but there had to be some limit set somewhere.

“Enough of the bickering!” He hardened his resolve. “The memory altering ceremony will be performed at the time you have set Cara. We can’t allow the timeline to be anything short of what we need to defeat the enemy.”

Chapter 15 - Second Life

I looked up into the burning sun of the Oklahoma skies. It was late in the summer season while, leading my training platoon in one of the many mock battles I had been participating in over the past few days. To say my life was changing was an understatement in the most drastic form. The dark days after I had lost Katie, the woman of my dreams, had run together in what was now a merciful blur to me. I tried hard not to dwell too much on what had happened but there were times where the memories forced themselves back into my life without warning.

The memories that plagued me day and night were always present, always the same.

I would be standing near the railing overlooking the falls waiting for Katie to return to me with the hot dog she had purchased from the stand we had passed earlier. My attention had wandered from her for a mere second as I watched a couple with their children who were screaming in delight at the majestic view of mankind's most beautiful wonder. I glanced at the forming of the ever frequent rainbows that were viewable in the mist of the falls on a sunny day. Katie's piercing scream tore through the morning brightness casting a dark wave of terror into my mind as I turned my head toward the sound.

What I saw caused me to hesitate for a second before I exploded into action. The sight of Katie over the shoulder of a burly man would been enough to incapacitate any other person. The now familiar flash of unique color only viewable by someone trained as I was shattered the incapacitation.

I had tried to force myself through the now scrambling crowd toward the man who seemed to have little problem moving around. The frequency of Katie's scream reached earsplitting levels. The man reached the railing surrounding the deep crevasse that marked the edge of the basin of the waterfalls hundreds of feet below. I stared in horror as the man simply flung Katie over the railing and turned back toward me with a grin of malice on his face. The action had caused my mind to lock in terror and I could not move for close to a minute.

"Human scum, you now have the choice to leave us alone as we do what we must on this world. Bow out now before you lose everything and everyone you have ever cared about in your futile life." The huge man had sneered at me before turning to attempt to leave.

My mind was horrified with what it had just registered and my jaw went slack. Instincts kicked into overdrive.

Suddenly I found myself in the same place only it was ten minutes earlier. I had a memory of what had happened but when I turned to my right, Katie was standing next to me gazing out over the beauty of the falls before us.

Katie turned to me and said, “I think I would like something to eat, maybe a hot dog. What about you?”

I shook my head to clear the memories of what could possibly happen from my mind and turned to smile at Katie, “A hot dog sounds good to me.”

I scanned the crowd searching for the face of the man in my memories as she walked away to the hot dog stand to get us something to eat. I spotted the man and cut loose with a stream of mental energy that would be sure to scramble whatever thoughts he had in his head. I planted the thought in his mind that he was suffering from a heart attack. The crowd parted when the man fell.

I turned my attention to my newly-wed wife who was returning from the stand with two hotdogs in her hands.

As she reached my side she turned to look at where the commotion was coming from and then looked at me. “What happened over there?” She asked.

“Looks like someone passed out I think.” I replied without pausing. I took the hotdog she offered me and took a bite out of it. My mind was racing to explain to itself just what had occurred. Was this sudden clairvoyant episode another facet of my abilities or were some outside influence responsible for what had just occurred. I would have to wait until I had some quiet time to attempt contact to the one being who possibly had an explanation of just what had occurred. I was still chewing on the one bite I had taken when I saw Katie’s eyes narrow at my lame explanation.

“It is unusually warm for this time of the year love so anything is possible.”

“Yeah,” she sighed, accepting my explanation. “That's true I suppose.” She began to consume her hot dog as she watched the medic's arrive to take care of the man who had collapsed.

I hated to keep her in the dark about things but I had no choice given the fact there were dark forces on the move lately and this attempt on her life was just one of many that would take place in the future. The enemy was outraged with each failed attempt and they were trying at more frequent intervals to attack people in my life who were important to me.

On our return from our honeymoon we were surprised by the gift Dr. Grant and his wife had arranged for us. The house which had been under construction for us was about halfway built. When Katie objected to such an extravagant gift my father in law had just waved his hand and said it was the least they could do to start us off in our life.

Katie started college that fall in Canton and even though I did not need the advanced education in such a formal environment I registered for some basic educational courses at the community college on a part time basis and for the rest of the time I managed the corporation my grandfather had built up. Since I was the most direct heir to the fortune my grandfather had built he inserted me into the daily duties he used to perform and slowly withdrew himself from the company.

Grandfather Sam began to take more time away from his daily duties and spent most of his time in the forest communing with nature. I had told him of the attempts that had been made on Katie's life and he grew more thoughtful and more withdrawn as the weeks passed by. On the day we informed him that Katie was with child he sprang into action. He sent me a note that I was to meet him at the Circle in the evening as dusk was falling.

I met with him at the appointed time and the conversation that took place rocked and shattered my world. “Grandson you now have to disappear for a number of years. You have to stay away from Katie and start a new life apart from her.”

I looked at him in shock. Leave my wife and disappear? How could he expect me to do this? Start a new life when the woman I loved was with my child? I glared at him and prepared to begin a confrontational conversation when his next words shocked me to the core of my existence.