Within the Cards (23 page)

“Ellie, we’re supposed to be together. I was never a mistake or an indiscretion. I’m your intended life partner, and you’re mine.” I assured her. She smiled and kissed me.

Ellie was pleased she created me so many years ago. This was a fear I carried with me. I worried after she lived her life as it was for the last one hundred years, she would regret her choice so many decades ago. She didn’t, and I felt the love that radiated from her very being.

Our love was given back to us. It was a love that re-saturated the new love we found in each other. We walked along the shore's edge, holding hands and reliving the last few weeks. The water that retracted from the pressure of our footsteps warmed the white sand beneath our feet. Two sets of footprints trailed the water’s edge only becoming one when I picked her up to carry her in my arms. We both knew we would do whatever it took to be together forever.

“Ellie, I can’t believe you are back.” I spoke as I held her tight. I couldn’t let her go. I feared she would disappear never to remember me.

“I know Daught, a few days ago I couldn’t stand to be around you, but now I just want to be in your arms.” She admitted. She didn’t want to let me go either.

“I promise you, I will never let you leave again. You'll see what an insane stalker I really can be.” I laughed.

“I can’t believe I thought you were crazy.” She spoke.

I smiled at her and held her tight in my arms. She smelled as delightful as the mixture of fragrances I remembered. I wanted to inhale every ounce of her scent.

The moon light created by Ellie was so bright that it caused the waters of the sea to sparkle like tiny diamonds that ran millions of miles into the horizon. The waters rolled gently to the shore as the source of light dictated. Ellie was so beautiful in this blue cast of light. The alabaster skin covering her arms was soft and glowing. The aura of her face was bright and pure. My eyes didn’t want to leave her form. I feared I would wake up as a human and this would all be a dream that was in a tug of war with the nightmare that would be of my waking. Needless to say, I was no human. I was immortal, and I stood before an immortal that I loved. I pledged my every existence to her. I belong to Ellie and only to her.

We consummated our love as we vowed to each other so many years in the past. For all intense and purpose, she was my wife. We made love for the first time as one complete being. I never thought it could be more satisfying than our lives before or the love we shared since our re-uniting, but I was totally wrong. If one could travel to this blue moon that sat in the sky above us and danced on its axis, this would still not explain the complete breathtaking feeling that making love to Ellie bestowed on my being.

I cursed the rising of the sun because it replaced the moon Ellie hung to return to me. We walked along the shore in the morning light. Ellie playfully kicked the water and splashed me with the warmth of its wet lavish. She ran in front of me as I pursued her. She allowed me to catch her, and I embraced her beauty. We laughed and played along the shore for many hours.

I looked to see Elizabeth standing on the sandy beach. It amazed her to see the radiation of love Ellie and I shared. She called to Ellie.

“My dear Eleanor” she spoke as she walked in our direction. Ellie looked at me with a slight look of disgust. She loved her grandmother, and she was grateful she had returned and restored her memory, but she held the same feelings as I. She didn’t want our reunion interrupted, but she respected her grandmother.

“Yes grandmother.” Ellie replied.

“I feel you spent your night well?” She asked us. Ellie smiled. This was in itself an answer to her question. I pulled Ellie close to my side. We were happy. Neither of us had felt happiness in a long time.

“Yes.” She replied as she grasped her arm around my waist tightly and smiled up at me.

“I’m glad you have had time to catch up with your presence, but we must concentrate now on the task at hand.” She proclaimed to Ellie. I felt Ellie loosen her grip on my side. I knew she wasn’t ready to give up our time alone together.

Ellie bowed her head knowing the task her grandmother was referring. We had completed one of our intentions last night, but now we had to deal with her sister Suzi and the Lords. We followed Elizabeth back to the village of witchyres. There we could feel the unsettling of its occupants. Dee was standing with one of the groups when we arrived. I knew her feelings of distrust cast upon me. Ellie knew her thoughts. She projected her feelings of irritation toward Dee for taking her memory in the first place.

“Hello Dee,” Ellie spoke and smiled.

“Ellie,” Dee acknowledged her presences, but looked in my direction and glared. Ellie saw her reaction.

“This hatred has to end, Dee. We pledged our love to each other. He is my husband again. You have got to get over your feelings of disgust for Daught.” Ellie invoked. I saw a small part of the new Ellie that still lingered in her. She glared at Dee as if she were ready for a fight. Dee continued to look in my direction. She wasn’t as trusting in my devotion to her kind as Ellie and Elizabeth were. She had fought against the vampires for many centuries, and she saw me as one of them. I wasn’t a true hybrid. I was Ellie’s creation. I felt bound to the witchyres. However, my thoughts were as Ellie’s were. We were both of different intentions than either clan. Hate was a wasted and tiring emotion that too many immortals dwelled. Our existence wasn’t like the others. We loved and cared about the future of the races. Mine was a race that only I was a part of, and Ellie’s was one she wanted to change for the betterment of all.

“It’ll be hard to accept you as one of us. Your scent is different and disgusting, although not like a true vampire.” Dee admitted as she sniffed the air.

“I understand Dee, but I’m a part of Ellie, and I’ll stand behind her and those she loves. She loves you. She would give her existence up to fight for you as would I.” I assured her. I looked down at Ellie and smiled.

Dee took my hand and bowed her head. She was trying to make amends for the hatred her kind felt for mine. Ellie's attempts to reconcile our races pleased her. I knew Dee and I would again come up against each other. This was just a peace treaty for the moment. She couldn’t bring herself to trust me completely.

“Dee, I do love you.” Ellie told her and returned a smile.

“I hope to know the love you share one day. I have constantly felt the attraction to protect you, and I have unfailingly cared for you as my sister, but I don't understand this love you speak of,” Dee said. She looked in my direction and smiled.

“Dee you have the love inside of you, you just haven’t let it engulf your being. You’ve witnessed it with our grandparents, and now you’ve witnessed it with Daught and me. Please trust our love is real. He’ll be true to our kind. We’re now a kind that’s different from the rest. We’re all outcasts.” Ellie contested and took Dee’s hand as we walked toward the center of the village.

The villagers continued to feel unsettled. They were moving and acting as if they were preparing for a conflict. I looked around to see their eyes looking in my direction. They wouldn’t be as easy to persuade as Dee had been. They looked at Elizabeth as they looked upon me. She was from a much different race. She was an immortal being turned into a vampire, but she was a hybrid witch, as well. Her powers were more powerful than the witchyres witchery. Although, she was much like the witchyres, she wasn’t born of this race. She was turned, as was I. Therefore, they looked at her as different; an outsider.

We must prepare for their arrival. The Lords and Suzi would be coming soon. Ellie looked over the village. She used her ability of influencing others to change the feelings of the villagers. They would now settle down and invite Elizabeth and me to join them. We were outsiders. In reality, we were all exiles in this immortal world. I saw the change in them as we all began to work together. We worked on our plan to find out when Suzi and the Lords would come to capture Ellie and Dee. They would soon know of Elizabeth's resurrection and this would anger them. They knew Elizabeth would invite the witches and wizards to help. Our power would increase with their assistance and this was what the witchyres feared. This clan would prepare to come at us with everything dirty and underhanded they could find to use against us.

Chapter Twenty

PREPARATION

As the day passed, the village was in an uproar. Constant movement was going on everywhere. Ellie and Elizabeth were making plans for the Lords impending arrival. Dee was still trying to comprehend and grasp this new concept of love. It was new and among the other unsettling aspects, she had a hard time dealing with everything. She walked along the shore that Ellie and I had shared last night. Her thoughts were loud in my mind. She knew I had been loyal to Ellie when I came to the lair. She witnessed the love of her grandparents so many centuries in the past. This concept was bewildering to her, but she did wonder if she would have the same feelings of love for a male that she hadn’t yet known.

Her husband wasn’t one she selected. He was only away to reproduce offspring to increase the witchyres numbers and power. She didn’t feel love for him nor did she feel love for her own children. They were of the hating group of witchyres. They were grown and when this war came, they would stand against their mother. Their beliefs were far removed from the ones she newly learned. Dee would have to fight against her own children. Her time as the leader of her clan was no more. She was an outcast as were the rest of us. The village in which we occupied was now a village of witchyres that had a fate much like ours. Their welcoming our refuge had now put them in danger.

The impending doom was null compare to the preparation for the coming of the Lords. Elizabeth had gone to summon her witch ancestors. We were in hopes they would rejoice over the return of Elizabeth and would come to our aid. The powers of Ellie, Dee and Elizabeth combined would hold the witchyres for a while, but they wouldn’t be a match for all of them. We didn’t know the time of the attack, but we knew it would come fast, and it would be unforgiving.

Dee began to sense a message from Suzi. I read her thoughts. Suzi offered a peace treaty, but it had conditions. The Lords requested Ellie as a wife. Dee would have to turn Ellie over to the Lords, and return Elizabeth to the abolishment of the other world where they sent her so long ago. Dee would be spared, but exile to live among the village in which we were present never to contact them again. My fate would be doomed to Ellie's killing me. Dee was at a cross roads in her existence. I couldn’t allow this. I had come too far to gain the existence I longed for so many years, and I wouldn’t stand for this treaty. Ellie was my wife, and she would never belong to another.

“Dee, don’t answer her.” I demanded and walked in her direction. She took a defensive position.

“Daught, I don’t take orders from you.” She hissed and glared at me. She was ready for an assault.

“Don’t do it, Dee. It’s a trick. You know the ways of their actions.” I told her. I tried to plead with her, but if she thought I would allow her to turn Ellie over to them, she was crazier than Ellie thought I was in the early part of our reunion. She hissed at me. She felt confused. She wanted the life she had before, but at the same time, she wanted the love she learned from Ellie and Elizabeth. She didn’t know what to do next. She shook her head as if she were trying to clear it.

Ellie arrived from seeing her grandmother off. She could see the tension between Dee and me. She jumped in front of me. I knew she would fight Dee to the finish if she tried to attack.

“What’s going on?” she yelled. I couldn’t stand to tell Ellie what her sisters were up to. It made me sick to think Dee would entertain such a possibility.

“Ask you sister.” I implored and then glared at Dee. I still saw the hatred in her eyes. She wanted to tear my head off, but she knew Ellie would never forgive her for harming me.

“Dee what’s the matter?” She asked. Ellie’s voice was harsh. She demanded Dee tell her why we were fighting. Dee looked at me and hissed in my directions. I returned her hiss.

“Suzi offered a treaty.” Dee told her. She was embarrassed by her concealment. She held her head down and was unable to look Ellie in the eyes.

“What kind treaty?” Ellie asked. She looked at Dee and concentrated on her thoughts. Before Dee could answer, Ellie read her thoughts as well as mine. I could tell by the horror on her face. She was angry. I grabbed her around the chest before she could lunge for Dee. Dee again took a defensive position. I held Ellie tight as she yelled at Dee.

“How could you even think to consider such a proposal?” She blasted Dee.

“I am trying to stop this war. We may not survive.” Dee hissed back at her. Ellie kicked and scratched at my arms. She tried hard to get free from me, but I knew she would regret what she would do if I let her go.

“We will stop them. We have no other choice but to defeat the Lords and dethrone our sister.” Ellie demanded. “You don’t have the right to make that decision for us. We must make them as a family for the best of all of us, not just your greed.” She continued to hiss at Dee.

“You mean for the best of your vampire.” Dee looked at me. Again, Ellie began to twist and turn in my arms. She tried to get free.

“She means for the best of everyone, including you.” I defended Ellie. I wanted to let Ellie go so she would tear Dee apart, but I knew I had to hold on to her.

“You don’t have an input in this decision. You’re a mere vampire, and you mean nothing to me.” Dee spat her venom. I started to loosen my grip, but then realized I wasn’t protecting Dee. I was protecting Ellie from herself. If I let her go she would kill Dee, and I knew she couldn’t live with herself.

“He’s my husband, and he has every part in this decision.” Ellie demanded. She settled down in my grip. I didn’t have to struggle to hold her. I felt her body relax, but I held her tight.