Shifters Rule (Rule Series) (17 page)
Chapter Fourteen:
SCENES FROM THE PAST
.
.
Lovely walked her land with a grown dog on her heels as Jack stood off to the side, watching.
In the distance she saw Alexander and William.
They had grown up, too.
In their early twenties now, they were carrying packs as if they were going hiking.
Lovely stopped to watch them.
She didn’t bother to cry out to them.
Barking, the dog darted forward.
She called for it to stop, but the dog ignored her.
As she watched in stunned silence, the dog ran to the boys.
“Hey there,” William said.
He bent over and patted the dog on the head.
Lovely gasped.
She raced forward, but when she reached the end of her land, she hit the invisible wall.
It knocked her backwards.
She landed in a clumsy heap on the ground.
The boys kept walking.
They hadn’t heard a sound.
In desperation she ran along the invisible fence and yelled their names.
“William!
Alexander!
Can you hear me?”
A minute later the dog returned to her side.
“I had been rescued,” the voice from above said.
“The king hadn’t taken my powers away, but I wasn’t able to use them to escape.
I was always looking for a way to bring someone inside so I could at least have company.
The dog could leave, probably the cat as well.
So I used them to perform a spell.
I melded their spirits with the boys and that made it possible for the boys to visit me in my home.
“It was not my intention to create monsters.
I thought if part of the cat and dog were melded with the boys, they could come onto my land freely.
It worked.
Because I could no longer sleep, I needed company at night and during the day.
I melded the cat’s spirit into Alexander so that when the sun began to rise each morning, he would become sleepy.
He had no choice but to go down to the cellar.
Instead of cat naps, he slept for hours.
Sunlight didn’t originally kill vampires.
That happened over time.
“I put the dog’s spirit into William.
When the sun began to go down each night, he would get the irresistible urge to run free in the woods.
It was perfect.
William kept me company during the day while Alexander slept in the cellar.
Alexander spent the nights with me while William hunted, slept under the stars, and howled at the moon.
Part of me loved them both.
We were together for years.”
Although Jack wasn’t sure she could hear him, he asked, “What happened?
If it was so perfect, why is
Jersey
crazy now?
Why are we being reincarnated?
Why?”
No answer.
The scene changed again and again until Jack had to close his eyes to fight a surge of dizziness.
.
*****
.
William (
Jersey
) sat in the parlor with Lovely.
She knitted a sweater while he read a book to her.
There was love shining in his eyes.
He had been blind with love for her.
Jack almost felt sorry for him.
When her cup was empty, he hopped up to fill it with warm tea.
His hand stroked the side of her face.
“I wish you would marry me,” he said.
“We’re friends, William.
Don’t ruin it.”
“We can be married and still be friends.”
He knelt before her.
“I want more.
I want to call you my wife.”
“Everything is perfect the way it is.
Leave it be.”
Desperation twisted his features.
“We cannot live like this forever.
I want to marry and have children.
If you don’t want those things, I need to find someone who does.”
The disembodied voice added, “He was wrong.
By this time he had already been with me for over a decade.
The boys never wanted to travel to the village.
That was an important part of the spell.
They didn’t remember each other, didn’t remember their families, nothing.
Time remained frozen.
Every day and night was like the ones before.
Perfect.”
.
*****
.
Jack saw Lovely and Alexander walking under the
sky.
The boy pointed out stars to her and shared the names of them.
Every once in a while she giggled and snuggled closer.
Facing each other, their laughter mingled.
It was an intimate scene even before they kissed.
“Do you ever want more from me?” she asked, probably remembering what William had said to her.
He shook his dark head.
“I have everything I want right here.”
A blissful smile graced her face.
“You are right.”
Howling interrupted their moment, and Lovely shuddered.
“What’s wrong?” Alexander asked.
His arms went around her, tight.
“Are you cold?”
“I am never cold with you by my side.”
His eyes narrowed.
She repeated his question.
“What’s wrong?”
He slowly shook his head.
“I don’t know.
Something about that, what you said, troubled me.
It sounded like a poem.
Something about it is bothersome.”
From above Lovely said, “I had to be careful in every word I whispered to him.
Once in a while Alexander got a faraway look on his face as if he was remembering his brother, his past.
Although my life with them was perfect, fear kept me from truly enjoying it.
Without meaning to I had made my cursed life better and worse at the same time.”
.
*****
.
Back in the parlor, she poured tea for William.
Jack was getting dizzy again from all the jumping around.
He squeezed his eyes shut for a long moment and took deep breaths.
When he opened them again, he found her dancing with Alexander.
William was gone.
It was night.
They were still in the parlor.
Music filled the room, played by an invisible orchestra.
Jack noticed how she used her powers.
The boys seemed ignorant of the fact that she was a faerie.
The unseen narrator said, “The king had meant this place to be torture, but I loved it.
It was the best thing to ever happen to me.
I never wanted it to end.
I was happier here than I’d ever been at home.
Once in a great while my
popette
would even visit me.
Everything was wonderful... then something happened, something we hadn’t considered.
It destroyed my... everything.”
The scene changed.
.
*****
.
William and Lovely were in the parlor again, their usual place to enjoy each other’s company.
Sitting on the floor, William was fixing an unstable wooden chair while Lovely played the harp in the corner.
For a moment they looked like an ordinary married couple, together for decades.
The room darkened as if a storm overpowered the sun.
The darkness grew.
An eerie presence settled on the cottage, filling it.
Something was wrong.
William’s hands clenched.
In pain, he bent over until his forehead touched the floor.
A tortured groan rumbled out of him.
Lovely’s hands froze on the harp strings.
“William?
What is wrong?
Are you injured?”
She jumped off her tiny stool and dashed across the room to him.
The groan turned into a growl.
William raised up on all fours, threw back his head, and howled.
He was changing into a werewolf in the middle of the day.
It wasn’t possible, yet it was happening.
Lovely screamed when she saw his golden eyes and sharp teeth.
“This was the first time I’d seen William change.
He always left the house before it happened.
I think he left to protect me.
This day was different.
There was an eclipse.
Not being from your world, I didn’t even know it was possible.
Day and night got confused long enough for my world to be shattered forever.”
As soon as the words began to fade so did the light.
A nearby door slammed against the wall.
Alexander was awake, thinking it was his turn with Lovely.
William lifted his head, snarling.
Alexander hissed, flashing his fangs at the werewolf.
The two men, drenched in superhuman strength and out of their minds, ran at each other.
They collided in the center of the room.
Lovely stood in the corner, pleading with them to stop.
Tears filled her eyes.
Alexander pressed forward, trying to bite William.
William reached up with one hand and scratched Alexander’s face with invisible claws.
Alexander collapsed on the spot.
William jumped through the window and ran to the woods.
Broken glass hit the floor.
Tiny pieces caught the sunlight as it returned, sparkling like diamonds.
Lovely ran to Alexander and dropped on her knees beside him.
“No!
Alexander, I love you.
Don’t leave me.”
Sunlight infiltrated the room.
His body turned to dust.
Lovely screamed.
When William returned a few minutes later, he found Lovely sobbing in the center of the room.
A pile of ashes covered the floor in front of her knees.
Her hands were dirty as if she’d scooped up the ashes to try to put Alexander back together.
Lifting her head, she sent an accusing glare in William’s direction.
“You killed him.”
“I know.”
The words were said without an ounce of remorse.
“I loved him,” she cried.
“I know that, too.”
William shrugged.
“And that is why I am leaving you.
If you wish to stay here forever and mourn his loss, do so.
It means nothing to me.
Stay here.
Be alone.”
Her limbs trembled.
As if realizing she couldn’t stand living alone again, she rushed to William.
Forcing a smile through the tears, she grasped at his clothing and pleaded.
“Don’t go.
I can love you.
We can marry.
It’s what you’ve always wanted.
I will marry you, and it will be just the two of us.”
An insane light danced in his eyes.
“But I do not love you.
I never did.
Alexander was right.
I only wanted you because he did.
Now that he’s gone, I am going to seek my future elsewhere.”
“You can’t leave me here alone.
You can’t.”
“Watch me.”
He walked out, slamming the door behind him.
Lovely crumpled, going to her knees again.
“I was still trapped because I didn’t kill
Jersey
.
Although I fell in love with one boy with my whole heart, I failed to kill the other.
For the next few months I suffered through daily visions, visions of a bizarre future.
After writing them down I put a spell on the diary.
I also put spells on the stone and on the dagger charm.
Then I used a spell to be certain that those things would go to the right family.
Before hanging myself, I used a powerful spell that would reincarnate you and me over and over again until I could get my happy ending.
“Alexander and I have lived several lives, each more satisfying than the last.
Jersey
always kills us before we can marry.
You have to kill him to stop the curse.
Kill him now.”
.
*****
.
An explosion knocked Jack off his feet.
When he opened his eyes to look around, he was back in his living room.
The flames in the hearth slowly died, and the diary rested near his left knee.
He grabbed it with both hands.
Perhaps if he ripped the pages to shreds this nightmare would end.
Red-haired Lovely appeared nearby, her body nearly transparent.
“The diary cannot be destroyed.”
Was she reading minds now?
“There is a spell of protection over it.
It cannot be broken as long as we walk this earth, you and I.”