Chapter 75

I could finally feel what it meant to be connected mind body and soul with someone else. With Luke it was always like I could switch on and off the connection at all times and we could just speak to each other in our minds and telepathic communication was just about the extent of it but with Credence it felt a lot different. It did not feel at all that we were separate. It felt like we were the same creatures sharing one soul merged together and even when he was sleeping like the dead. Literally like the dead.
Credence went to sleep literally in the crypt of the palace. It was a dark and dank place which I even shuddered to look at. I knew that it was a part of the home that I resided in but now I did not even want to think about it.
Willie and Winnie both had woken up and came and sat by me and then Winnie said,” It hurts no?”
I nodded and she said,” It is a good thing that he is separated from you, Sis. If he was in you then it would have hurt a lot more.”
I did not know what I was supposed to say. My sisters were five years old but they were a lot more older than I wanted them to be. I did not know whether it was a blessing or a curse. But I nodded at them with a soft smile and said,” You both need to know that I am going to do whatever it needs to be done to keep you safe because I would die if something happens to you. To any of you.”
“We know,” they both replied in unison and I kissed the top of their heads.
Suddenly Willie said out of the blue,” When you hear what the nightmare is saying and either make the necessary changes or soothe the inner child-self, it will be as sunlit rain and vanish into the air.”
“What does that mean?” I asked her and she looked at me sagely and said,” You will know that when the time is nigh.”
Serafina came inside and said,” They are all ready, Sin. Do you want to start?”
I looked at my sisters and said,” there is a cheese burst peperoni pizza freshly baked and out of the oven waiting for you in the kitchen. What do you think?”
“can I have some more extra cheese on it?” Willie asked in her normal voice and at that moment I was happy that I was being able to provide her the normalcy that she deserved in her childhood and not this nonsense that I had to put up with as a Queen.
“You can have anything you want. But remember, not too much and have a warm glass of milk later on. We want our bones strong as well for shifting, don’t we?” I asked and they bobbed their heads like obedient kids and I looked at Fiona and gestured for her to take them.
Once they were gone, Serafina said,” There is a vision that I have received when I was close to the plant, I mean, close to Dahlia. I think that there is something that is giving us the notion that they want us to see these things. Before we start interviewing I think you need to see this.”
“What is it?” I asked. I did not know that such things could also happen with her. She was a witch and this was not something that was really came to her. I nodded and she came ahead. Serafina placed her hands in mine and I saw a boy….
It must be said that I was a little nervous as I walked down the cold street; the damp street that ran along the dank and dark city. The yellow tinted lights that hung shivering in the night air cast ominous shadows on the dismal old walls of the buildings. The church bells chimed; chimed eleven times echoing through the empty alleyways and crevices of the brittle brick work of the buildings. I run late; late from nervousness that causes my legs to walk more slowly than normal. If I did not arrive in time it would be too late. If I did not arrive in time then I would surly perish. A newspaper blew threw the air; it seemed to know where it was going as it blew upwards in a spiral then back down again and out of sight. Rays of light shone in the night sky above my head from the few people still awake in their towers.

Do they know where I come from? Wretched souls -- busy body eavesdroppers. They surly suspect that something has happened. I was not quite enough.

That old lady is watching me from her window sash. She stares -- stares at me from her wretched soulless eyes. I must walk faster and at one with the shadows. The lightlessness provides some relief from the inquisitor and her black eyes -- the darkness always provides some relief. I had no choice in what I did, the man was a beast. A beast of the night that wanted my soul -- a vampire prepared to drink my health. I must hurry, how much time has passed since the count down to all hallow's hour. Another person at their sash looks for me; looks from his sentry tower, prepared to sound the alarm. His dog must smell something as it peers into the emptiness below it. It is a curious looking dog with lines of character and pert ears that twitch at the slightest sound. I must stay still or it will hear me. My heart beats too fast; thumps with a ferocity of a thousand stampeding horses.

I must be calm -- quite.

Time seems to almost stop as I stand their locked in the silence by an enemy that knows something is their but unknows its location. I stay in the shadow until his view passes away. The man's dog leaves after him, satisfied that it was nothing, that the sounds it heard was the wind or an idle nothingness.

The moon above shines new from another month having passed. The few trees in the city show their gnarled flesh as they give away their last few leaves to winter; begging to grow again but ultimately being told no by the mother of all things. A dark stranger with a black cloak walks towards me from afar. He keeps his head bent towards black boots making it difficult to view into his eyes. Was he one of them? Do not show fear. Keep walking. The man approaches towards me slowly as I walk towards my destination. A glimour of something refracts the glowing street lamp in my direction.

A KNIFE!

The creature carries a knife towards me, undoubtedly intending to push the hot steel through my flesh.

I cannot allow him.

He is still far enough away. I pick up a bit of iron leaning on a nearby building; quickly hiding it under my cloak. As the creature draws close I prepare my preemptive strike, holding tightly to my iron rod. The man's foot steps match the thumping of my heart; slow and methodical but heavy with intention. I swing quickly with determination striking the man in a downward motion at the base of the neck where it is most tender. The wretched thing falls quickly to the ground looking miserably up at me with a most defiant expression on his face. I know I must make sure that the man does not get up ever. The iron slams though the eye of the man sounding a clank of iron on stone as it burst though the skull to the ground below.

I pick up the body and move it to a nearby alley dropping it to the earth to rot with the rats. I look out from the shadows, everything appears quite. But suddenly I hear a woman screaming something. The banshee's sound comes clear to my ears.

"MURDERER! MURDERER! GUARDS COME; THERE IS A MURDERER!"

Bells begin chiming in a chaotic rhythm from different directions! Lights begin to shine in a cascading effect from the windows aligned down the street.

"MURDERER! GUARDS! GUARDS!"

I feel an intense pulling at my navel and a tightening that threatens to implode my head as adrenaline courses through my body. I begin to run; run for my life. Lights continue to come on as people run to their window to see what mischief is afoot. People join with the old hag from all sides.

"I SEE HIM! I SEE HIM!; Mummy he is down here!

"GUARDS HE IS HERE! COME QUICK!

My heart threatens to burst as blood flows faster and faster through my body trying to keep oxygen flowing to my over worked lungs. My lungs push and pull air as quickly as possible to gather much needed oxygen for my strained muscles. I feel my heart pumping in my throat as I run from the human sirens.

Ahead I see guards arriving on the street.

Oh no! They see me!

They run towards me shouting to each other. Blades begin to refract light once again.

"We got 'im now boys. Draw your swords."

I leap at the first guard like a trapped badger, biting his nose off as his sword clangs to the street. I get up from the bleeding body; blood dripping from my chin I pick up the unused sword lying on the ground. The guards begin to circle around me. As I spit the nose to the ground I size up my enemies. The one I had attacked was young; unproven. The rest would not be so easy to take down

"On guard fellas. He's a regular carnivore!"

I swing the sword quickly at the closest Centurion, causing the man to falter to his knees. Focusing on the single guard I forget to look behind me. The first guard runs his sword through my lower abdomen to the hilt.

IT HURTS! aaaAAGGGHHHH!! IT HURTS!

I swing wildly behind me cutting the man in the arm. He stumbles away as another guard stabs me though the back. Then another stabs me through the chest. I fall over hitting the ground hard.

It doesn't hurt so much anymore. The pain has eased.

My blood flows out of my body and pools in the street. The guards help their injured get up.

I sucked in my breath and looked at Serafina.
“What was that?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. But I am hoping that you would be able to help me understand.”