Secrets Of Sanctuary Hospital Nightmare Of The Dark Shadows (44 page)

“How do you know this?”

“Amanda had the gift of sight even before she
embraced her other powers. When we were children, she had the
ability to share her visions with me. I need to get back in to her
and you should go and see Catherine, Andrew, she needs your
reassurance and support.” Turning on his heels, he reenters the
suite.

Outside of our suite, Andrew pulls me into an
embrace. “Are you going to be alright if I leave for a while?”

“I’ll be fine. I need to speak with Eva
anyway.”

He kisses me gently before leaving.

Entering the suite, Eva is not there, but
Jackson is sitting on the couch. “Is everything alright, you look
worried?”

“Not really.”

“What happened when you spoke to Amanda?”

“Reginald was there. Jackson, we have trouble
coming.” Realization as to what else they revealed to me hits like
a wrecking ball and I’m glad to have a few minutes with Jackson
alone.

“What kind of trouble?”

“Jackson, where’s Eva?”

“She just ran to our suite for a moment, she
got a phone call and needed to grab a file.”

“Then I need to speak with you before I
explain the trouble coming.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Amanda has the ability to see futures. She
let Andrew and I know that there is something that is going to
happen with us, but says that she cannot let us know what it is
because it would interfere with our future and could lead to even
more trouble.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to watch over Andrew and make
sure that he doesn’t do anything foolish.”

“I don’t understand?”

“I’m not sure that I understand fully either
or how much I can reveal but I fear what’s coming for me will
separate us. I’m afraid of what Andrew may do when it happens. You
need to promise me that you will keep him out of trouble and safe,
please.” My hands are gripping his as I fall on my knees.

Pulling me back to my feet, his features fill
with understanding, but his eyes reflect his fear. “I promise, but
Mia you know that you and he are connected and if something happens
to you, I fear for him.”

“I do too, but you have to do all you can to
protect him and protect my family, that’s all that matters.”

“I promise.” He hugs me quickly and leads me
to the couch. “What kind of trouble is coming?”

“William’s men are coming for Marlena and
they will get her. Amanda seemed pretty confident that we would
fail in our attempt to keep her. Considering where she is being
housed...”

Eva walks in and seeing us, her facial
features turn concerned. “What did I miss?”

“We have trouble coming for Marlena.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“At least five, maybe more very barbaric
members of William’s coven, they are going to come for her and from
what Amanda revealed, they will be successful in getting her.”

“If someone is coming for her, we need to
move her away from the others to ensure no one gets hurt and that
our patients do not see what is on the land. They will probably
enjoy killing whoever is in their path and they won’t hide what
they are. We don’t need that type of problem. Since everyone is up
here, maybe we should concentrate on having them spread to the
residency and have them move to the rooms in the recreation
building on a semi-permanent basis. Then we can move down toward
the school. If they come, at least they will be away from the main
buildings.”

“Jackson rises. I’ll alert the others.”

Eva rises as well. “Can I talk to you a
moment?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Eva, when you found me down in the gorge
what really happened?”

My question catches her off guard and her
eyes shift toward the floor. “Why are you bringing this up
now?”

“Something happened that day and I need to
know what it was. Amanda seemed to intimate that what happened that
day will now affect my and Andrew’s future.”

A somber expression flits across her now
resigned face and her tone turns thoughtful. “What did she say
exactly?”

“It isn’t so much what she said, but what she
seemed to be hiding. I thought I got a flash of something and I’m
hoping I am wrong, but I need you to tell me what happened that
day.”

“We found you there and you were dying, but
we stabilized you enough so that between Andrew and the medical
procedures, you healed.” I could hear the lie rip through her
tone.

Concentrating on the vision, the picture
begins to clear and reveals the truth. “You’re lying. I saw Michael
there. You risked your future and sacrificed your immortality to
save me, why?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Mia,
please you were in very bad shape, I’m sure that what you think you
saw was in your imagination.”

“Eva, it wasn’t in my imagination, it wasn’t
what I thought happened during that time; it was what Amanda saw
and tried to hide. You reached me first and were calling out to
Michael for help. He finally came to you when you called out that
you were willing to sacrifice your own existence for my life. He
was so touched by your true willingness to give up your existence
for your brother’s happiness that the two of you brokered a deal.
If you met any type of trouble that could end a human life, other
than natural causes, you would be extinguished. Why would you do
that?”

Her eyes shoot around the room as if seeking
divine intervention as to whether to tell me the truth. After what
feels like hours, she takes my hands. “I did it for you and my
brother. The day of our conversion, he risked everything to try and
save me. Then when I found Jackson and sent him away to save him,
he was the one with me as I suffered. He always watched out for us
and tried to protect us. He saved my existence more times than I
can count when we were fighting amongst ourselves and when others
came to destroy us. I couldn’t allow him to suffer your loss, not
when he had just found you. The thought of it was intolerable.”

“But you risked your own forever for us.”

“I would have done anything to give him time,
to give you both time. You deserve to be together, it was not the
time for your story to end, not before it even began. He deserved
happiness and you deserved a life. I would do it again in a
heartbeat.”

“Eva, I need you to stay here. I’ll be
back.”

“What are you going to do?”

“The only thing I can do. I’ll be back.”

She grabs my hand. “You can’t do whatever you
are thinking. You have a family, a life here, you need to think
about this and not do whatever is in your mind right now. It will
be alright, I knew what I was doing and would do it again.”

I wrench my hand from her. “I love you, but I
need to go.”

Running through the crisp night air and dense
forest, I know I don’t have much time before Andrew returns and
comes looking for me. Running as fast as I can to where this all
began, I call out for Michael. “I know that you can hear me and I
am begging you to please show yourself to me. Please this cannot
end as I fear. Michael, she cannot die because of me! That is not
right and you are all about what is right and just. You have always
helped this family in the past and you know that they strive to do
the right thing in return. I need to do the right thing now, please
help me!” Closing my eyes, I hold on to the hope and continue my
plea.

After several moments, I feel the light of
his presence and open my eyes. Seeing the beautiful angel before
me, I drop to my knees. “Thank you for coming.”

“I do not have much time. The sacrifice that
was made for you was of one pure of heart who wanted to give you
and her brother the life she had always hoped for him.”

“I understand that, but it cannot be bought
upon her life. I know what she wanted and I thank you for the time,
but she cannot sacrifice herself for me. Andrew will always have
the best part of our love, he will have our children. When the time
comes for her to pay for this gift I am begging you to take me
instead and let her immortality be restored. That is the way it
should be and you know it! Please allow me to take her place, the
place where I should be anyway. I am begging you. You know that it
is what is right and proper, please do not take Eva’s life, you
need to take mine.” Taking in a deep breath, I can’t help but
wonder if in trading my existence, it will be for eternity within
the fires of his realm, the realm which haunted my nightmares for
years after being bewitched. Shaking my head, it doesn’t matter, I
will take whatever comes. Leaning back on my heels, “I am ready to
join the fight on your plane or the fires in his.”

He smiles and his face glows, calming my
anxiety. “Mia, I don’t need to take anyone’s life.” Although it is
admirable that you would be willing to go there, that is not how it
works, especially when the sacrifice is made pure of heart.

“I don’t understand.”

“I can see that you are willing to take her
place freely and openly despite what you fear and what you will
lose. Because of what both of you are willing to sacrifice for the
other, your eternity will be here, but you will have no
recollection of your children or of Andrew, it will be a very
different life. You will not have the benefit of the powers which
you now possess or the knowledge of what is waiting to come for
you. He will try again. You will be vulnerable and can be
influenced. Remember, you have made quite a few enemies in his
world. Although he himself will not be able to come for you at this
juncture because of your willing sacrifice, there are others who
will be all too happy to turn you and make you his to gain power in
his underworld. You are what he desires and anyone who is
successful in turning you will be well rewarded by him for their
efforts.”

“I am ready, but please may I ask just one
more question?”

“You may.”

“Will my children and Andrew still be here or
will my children disappear because of this?”

“No your children will be fine. They will
still exist. This choice does not erase the past, it changes only
the future. In their memories, you will have died, but there future
will still be tied here and to those you have surrounded them with.
They will continue to grow up with the love and support of those
around them and those to come.”

“Thank you.” Tears of relief escape over my
lids. “I’m ready now. Thank you.”

“Tomorrow, Mia. In order for you to trade
places with Eva, you must stop Edmund from staking and burning her
when they come for Marlena. Also, you are to tell no one of this or
that you are leaving.”

Panic fills my heart and I interrupt him. “I
have already made a mistake.”

He holds his hand up. “You had no
confirmation of your fears when you voiced them to Jackson so don’t
worry about that. You must go now, Andrew is almost done with
Catherine and you must be back before he returns.”

“Thank you.” Thankfully only Eva is in the
suite when I arrive, she is pacing wildly, distress ripping through
her normally serene facade.

“What did you do?” She grabs my hands.

Running back, I had already fixed my features
into an unwavering mask. “I couldn’t do anything. No one would
respond to my plea.” Wrapping my arms around her, “I love you.”

Her telephone rings and as she departs I
enter the children’s room. They are sleeping with the most angelic
looks on their faces. I sit by each one, whispering in their ears,
hoping that subconsciously they register my utterance so that it
will always be with them. “Never forget how much I love you, how
proud I am of you, and how strong you are becoming. Be happy, you
are surrounded by love and I will love you always.”

I hear Andrew gently clear his throat in the
archway and I don my mask once more, despite the raging emotions in
my heart. Turning, his perfect features reflect the wonderful life
we share and the time that I am so grateful for. Although it is
ending, I am truly blessed to have shared this unbelievable love
that will forever touch my soul, no matter what tomorrow brings.
Moving closer and wrapping my arms around him, I pull him into an
embrace. “How is Catherine?”

“She’s doing better. Did Jacob wake up with a
nightmare again?”

“No. Why?”

“I heard you whispering and thought you may
have been trying to help him go back to sleep.”

Placing my head on his chest so as not to
risk him seeing through my mask, I lie to him for the first time
since we met. “I saw him stirring and thought it may help.”

“Have you eaten anything?” He puts his hand
under my chin forcing my face to meet his.

“I’m all set. What I would like to do
though...” Slowly backing away, I intertwine our hands and walk
into our room. If I only have tonight, I want to leave him with a
memory of how much I love him and will always love him. Backing him
into our bed, I sit beside him. As he turns to me, I kiss his
glorious lips tenderly and run my fingers across his cheek. “I love
you.”

“I love you too. Mia, are you sure that
everything is alright? I heard what you said to Jacob and it
sounded more like a goodbye than comforting. Are you afraid because
of what Amanda said?”

Drawing myself up on my knees, I wrap myself
around him now. “I’m not afraid and it wasn’t a goodbye, you must
have misunderstood. I’m fine. It’s just that we haven’t spent much
time together since everything that happened and I miss you.” I run
my fingertips down his sculpted torso.

Although he shivers, he is not deflected and
I wonder if we are more connected than I ever realized. “Mia,
nothing is going to happen to you. Amanda is wrong, nothing is
going to separate our future.”

I kiss him again as my heart races. Knowing
this is our last night, I don’t want to talk. I want to be near
him, to love him, and to give him one last memory of us together.
“I’m not worried Andrew, really. I just want to be with the most
wonderful man on this plane or any other.” Slowly, I unbutton his
shirt. As I unfasten the last one, he pulls me into his chest. The
entire night, I refuse to let my eyes shut, even once. I want to
memorize every fleck of his glorious, ocean eyes and feel every
contour of his muscles. Even if consciously I won’t remember, I
know his soul has imprinted upon mine and will touch me throughout
eternity.