Chapter Twenty Eight: Blessed Are The Forgetful

They entered the living room, and she headed to the kitchen and Aiden followed right behind her. “How are you feeling today?” She asked, getting three more mugs.

“Lorraine, I’m asking you to be careful. Cedric is dangerous, even if he’s helping right now.” He noticed the way she looked at him when they arrived and it didn’t settle well with him.

Her hand hovered over the mugs for a second, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Cedric has been helping, I’m grateful, and that’s all that matters.” She poured the coffee, “When are they going to find Victoria though?” She wanted to change the subject and he knew that, so he told her they’d be going in a bit. Aiden was beginning to worry about Cedric’s presence, and not because he was dangerous, or because he was evil. It was about Lorraine. He was beginning to feel that there was something going on between them.

They met with the others in the living room, and Lorraine handed them their coffees then sat down. “We’re finding Victoria today, and Aiden would hang around here just in case.” Bates started taking a sip of his coffee.

“I think Aiden should try and find Mark. They’re brothers and maybe if Aidne managed to talk to him, he’ll sway him from that cult he’s in.” When Cedric gave her a look of disapproval, she continued, “We would know if they are who they say they are or fake.” She shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of coffee looking at him from under her lashes. “I’ll stay here with my mom so I don’t think anything will happen.” The three looked at each other, and when Cedric nodded his approval, Bates turned to Aiden who seemed rather reluctant. It was a battle he was having within himself, and Bates understood as much. Before anyone could say anything they heard a loud scream coming from upstairs. It sounded petrified. Lorraine shot up and ran the stairs skipping on the steps. Cedric, Aiden, and Bates followed behind her. She opened the door to her room and found her mom sitting on the bed, her hands waving in the air and flapping. Suzan’s eyes were wide open and tears were falling freely on her face.

Lorraine approached her, called her several times, but Suzan’s unfocused gaze didn’t seem to even see her. She moved to wrap her arms around her only for Suzan to slap her on the face. Lorraine pulled back surprised and even a little hurt. “Mom, just calm down. You’re safe.” She used her softest voice to speak to her, but it didn’t seem to work.

When she tried to move closer to her again, Cedric held her back by the arm and shook his head. “Let me help her”. His eyes were demanding her to give him her trust. It took a moment before she nodded her head while biting her lower lip. Cedric sat on the other end of the bed, held Suzan by the arm and stared right in her eyes. She was struggling in his hold, trying to break free. Suddenly, all her movement stopped.

She moved closer to Bates and Aiden, who were still standing by the door. “What is he doing to her?” She asked in a whisper.

“It’s one of the powers a deathless have.” Bates started with an equally soft voice, his eyes not leaving Suzan and Cedric. “They can get into a human’s mind, manipulate their thoughts, read them, and even take away certain memories and replace them with others.” His eyes turned to Lorraine, “Vampires can force a human to forget a certain memory, which doesn’t necessarily work all the time. Sometimes we can compel humans to do something, but again it depends on how strong the will of the human is.” Bates let out a breath, “I think we should wait outside. It’s a delicate process and we don't want to interrupt the connection.”

Lorraine looked at Suzan’s frozen form sadly, then nodded her head. She leaned on the wall, letting out a sigh, “I just don’t know what to do anymore.” Her voice came broken and tired. “I’m way over my head here. I have no way of helping. And apparently a witch with a cult of vampires is after something I don’t have.” She shook her head and gave pleading looks to both Aiden and Bates. “What should I do?” Aiden came closer and held her hand. He pulled her off the wall and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. Lorraine leaned onto him, seeking any kind of comfort.

That was how Cedric found them when he came out of the room. His eyes narrowed at the scene, curbing his anger, he said, “She doesn't remember much.” His voice made Lorraine pull away, giving him her undivided attention. “All she recalls is how she was taken, the room she stayed in, and the face of one of the vampires we killed earlier.” After a short pause, his eyes caught Lorraine in it. “I made her forget everything about vampires.”

“That wasn’t your decision to make.” Aiden started in an angry tone.

Lorraine held his arm, “This is for the best.” Aiden was about to argue, but she didn’t let him. “Why should we turn her life around, change everything she had ever known? Why be so cruel?” They didn’t think she was talking about Suzan, not anymore.

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Cedric and Bates were in the car; the ride had been silent for the past fifteen minutes. “There was a time when you trusted me the most.” Bates started. He had noticed the looks Cedric was giving to the girl, the way he got angry when he saw Aiden hug her. Bates knew Cedric and it was easy for him to catch on his small gestures.

“Then you left” He deadpanned, turning back to the road ahead.

“I had my reasons, which you should understand. You live in the past, in the memories of her and what had happened all that time ago. It made you lose all senses of humanity, even the flicker I saw every now and then kept diminishing as time passed.” Cedric didn’t say anything, his grip on the steering wheel tightened briefly. So, Bates continued. “I did nothing to betray the trust you have given me.”

“Where are you going with this?” Cedric asked in a grating tone. It was the last thing he wanted to talk about, and he found no reason to speak about it now.

“How do you feel about her?” Bates asked, deciding that being straightforward is the best option. There was no point beating around the bush with Cedric.

“Her?” feigning ignorance was not one of his strong suits, but he wasn’t willing to speak about that, not with Bates. He knew he heard him speaking with Lorraine in the kitchen; he knew it was inevitable that Bates would question him about it.

“Don’t play coy with me” His flat tone left no room for messing around. When Cedric didn’t say anything and his eyes didn’t leave the road ahead, Bates continued, “Do you feel something for Lorraine, Ric?” His tone was inquisitive but equally tender.

Cedric scoffed as if offended at the notion, “You’re overthinking it.”

“Am I? Do you think I didn’t see the way you’re looking at her? You looked jealous.”

“I think it’s better you shut it, Bates. You have Aiden to talk to about feelings and girls. He has humanity after all, I don’t.”

The ride fell back to silence. Bates knew there was no point in trying to continue that line of conversation; it was clear that Cedric wouldn’t say much. However, his evasive answers were an answer on their own. Bates realized that, in some strange and twisted way, Cedric cared for Lorraine. He only dreaded the day Aiden came to the same realization.


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Lorraine had been trying to call Judy all morning, and as the morning drifted to late afternoon she was beginning to feel worried. After Cedric left, her mom had fallen asleep and every now and then she would go and check on her. She woke her up a couple of times for water and a quick meal. However, Lorraine was slightly worried about Judy; she had left her several texts, and they remained unanswered. “She’s still not answering?” Aidne asked her and she shook her head at the question.

She stared at her phone for a minute longer, then said. “I’m just worried about her.”

“I’m sure she’s okay, handling the loss of a loved one can be really hard.”

Lorraine nodded, then turned to him and asked, “How are you? Like really, how are you?”

“You’re worried about me, about Judy, and your mom. But what about you, Lorraine? How are you handling all of this?”

She didn’t know how to explain her reason. Aiden thought it was out of the goodness of her own heart, while in reality Lorraine sought distractions from her problems with others’. She didn’t think he would appreciate such honesty. In fact, she didn’t think he would even believe it. She gave him a small smile, “I’m handling it.” It was a lie; she wasn’t handling anything. She knew he was about to debate and argue, but she didn’t give him the chance. Lorraien got up with a wide grin, “I think our basement needs serius tidying. Our things are all over the place there. So, how do you feel about some cleaning?” Aiden attempted to smile, and softly nodded his head.