The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls (29 page)

* * * * *

"What do you think you're doing with my
daughter?" Michael asked David, who sat in the large chair by the
window, looking at the floor. Slowly, he looked up, as Cristian
stood in the doorway. "She's innocent, David. The two of you are
tainting her; I see that now."

"I love her, and so does Justin." David
said, softly, in his defense then closed his eyes. "This is
something we all wanted, Michael, not just me, or Justin, but all
three of us, and it's done, so, there is nothing you can do about
it now."

"I can stop you from seeing her."
Michael replied. David stood up and shook his head.

"That's bullshit and you know it." He
answered, watching the expression on Michael's face. "You take her
from here, and you risk exposing her to whatever it is that's out
there, Victor especially."

"How do we know this whole thing isn't
because of you?" Cristian asked.

"Keep your nose out of this, Kingston!"
David snapped.

"He's right." Michael swallowed, hard,
and then looked at the auburn haired man in front of him. "How do
we know that you didn't bring Victor here? Or, that you switched
the spells to let him out?"

"I wouldn't do that to her, not now,
not ever." David said softly. He looked over at Julian, to see if
he could get support, but, it seemed Julian was only there in case
of a physical battle. "Yes, when I came here, I did so with the
notion that Victor was still alive, still out there, and yes, I
thought that Sage was something evil, but she's not and I would
give my life to protect her and that baby."

"Why all the secrecy about your
relationship with her?" Michael asked.

"Oh, come on, Mike. You can't tell me
that you would have let it continue if you found out can you?"
David asked, just then he felt the pain in his stomach and he
looked towards the door, as Sage's panicked voice called out his
name. David looked towards the others and he ran out the
door.

He found her holding Justin, in one of
the rooms that looked out over the green grass in the backyard, and
he knelt by her as she looked up, with a tear stained face, her
eyes pleading for help.

"What happened?" Julian asked from
behind them.

"It just started to come out of his
mouth." Sage whispered. David reached over and put a hand on
Justin's chest, feeling the slow beat of his heart, and then he
took Sage's hand.

"He'll be okay, Sage." David whispered,
and then he touched the black liquid on the floor and looked up at
Julian. "What the hell is this?"

"I don't know, but I think we should
bring him to his room." Julian replied and watched David scoop up
the unconscious young man. Sage thought, for a moment, about how
heavy he must feel to David, but then she saw the determination in
his eyes and she knew that no one else was going to touch him as
long as he was around. "Sage, honey, maybe you should find the
girls."

"No! Julian, don't think for a second
that you can dismiss me like one of your children. He's mine, and
I'm going to stay with him." Sage stood strong and walked passed
them after David, who was already almost up the stairs.

* * * * *

I watched David place him down gently
on the bed and it was then that I started to cry. For the first
time, in the seemingly endless minutes that had gone by, I realized
how serious this all might be, and the only thing I could do was
lower my head and cry, but strong arms wrapped around me and I
looked up at Michael, who held me against him while David and
Julian checked for vital signs.

"Is he going to die?" I asked, quietly,
forcing the words from my lips. Julian looked back at me, making no
gestures in any directions. Michael caressed my head as I closed my
eyes, hoping and praying that Justin was all right, but planning
for the worst.

I don't remember much after that but
when I opened my eyes, I was resting comfortably on a bed in a
different room, with someone's protective arms around me. Slowly, I
turned over and looked at Michael's sleeping face. I sighed at how
peaceful he looked right at that moment, and I quietly slipped out
from under that arm and crept out of the room to where Justin had
been last.

The room was dark, except for the
twilight that seeped in through the windows and it took me a moment
to see the figure that lay motionless on the bed. Slowly, I made my
way over, glancing at the other sleeping body curled up in the
chair in the corner, and I knelt down by Justin. His face was pale,
soft to the touch, and gave off a surprising heat that made my
fingers tingle.

Gently, I ran my left hand over the
skin of his bare chest that was hidden under the blankets that were
pulled up to his neck, as I stroked his forehead with my right.
That was when the images started to come; strange, unrecognizable
images of a place that I wouldn't know. I was drawn into these
images and was suddenly standing in a room from my mind.

There were old paintings on the walls
and in the large fireplace was a blazing fire. I heard the rustle
of sheets behind me and turned to look at the large king-sized bed.
A young woman, from what I could see, was sleeping, nude, under the
covers. The mark of the vampire was on her neck, in plain sight,
and as I stepped closer, I could see the blood on the
sheets.

The door opened, making me turn quickly
to look at the person who was now walking in the room. Justin,
looking as young as he had sleeping on the bed back in the real
world, stepped in and looked up from the paper in his hand. He
looked at me; quite taken back that I was standing there, and then
he regained his composure and walked, swiftly, to where I stood by
the bed.

"What are you doing here?" He asked,
with a strain in his voice, as if he were trying to hold back any
emotions that he felt towards me. "Do you realize how dangerous
this is?"

"Where, exactly, are we?" I asked and
watched the girl in the bed shift under the covers.

"Devon's castle," Justin said, reaching
out with his fingers. "Are you real?"

"We're not at Devon's castle, Justin;
we're in your head." I replied and moved towards his outstretched
hand, letting his fingers touch me. "And, I'm as real as you let me
be." I looked around and stepped back, giving him space. "I can
help you, Justin, if you tell me what is going on here. What is
this place, and why here?"

"This is where it began." Justin
smiled, looking over the room. "Michael and Cristian are in rooms
near here, but this is where Devon used to visit me, this is where
my darkness began."

"Okay, so what are you doing here,
now?" I questioned. Justin shrugged. If he didn't know that maybe
it was up to me to find out. "Why would it bring you
here?"

"What?" He asked, getting a bit
annoyed, as he looked out the window. "God, could you please stop
mumbling?"

"The black liquid that was coming from
your mouth, do you remember it?" I asked, watching his body tense,
as if it were fighting himself, then he turned to me, shock in his
eyes.

"Sage, what are you doing here?" He
asked me, stepping closer. "There's something not right. The
darkness, it's trying to take over me, and I don't know if I can
fight it."

"We can, together." I
replied.

"No!" He snapped, and I watched his
face turn to anger. "Don't you understand it's in my blood; you
can't fight it. It is part of me."

"It doesn't have to be." I
replied.

"Oh!" He shouted then walked up to me
quickly covering the space between us. "You silly girl, don't you
know when you're defeated."

"I'm not defeated." I smiled at him.
"And, neither are you."

"Get the hell out of here, Sage!"
Justin whispered, his tenderness peaking through. "Get out before I
hurt you."

"You can't hurt me." I replied,
confident that I knew what I was talking about. Justin threw his
hands up in the air and shook his head. "And, you can fight this,
Justin, trust me."

"I don't even know you." He snapped;
looking at me with that anger again, his eye told me that he,
indeed, did not know who I was.

"Can I touch you?" I asked
him.

"No, you can't touch me, who the hell
do you think you are?" He asked, stepping back towards the window,
shrinking away from my fingers.

"I'm your soul mate." I whispered.
Suddenly, as if he had been hit, Justin was thrown forward to the
floor. He curled up as much as he could, into a fetal position, and
covered his head with his arms. "Justin?"

"It hurts; like something’s attacking
my head." He mumbled as I knelt down on the floor beside him.
Justin looked up at me, with blood red eyes, his way of dealing
with the pain. "Sage, you have to leave, it's not safe here, not
with the baby. Please."

"Okay." I whispered, leaning over him.
"I'll leave, but I'm coming back for you."

"No, you can't." He pleaded, rocking
himself. "It's too dangerous."

"Don't worry. I'll have help." I smiled
and kissed him on the lips. It was then that I saw it, when our
lips touched, when our skin made contact; a blue light began to
form around the two of us, and the redness subsided in his eyes.
"Justin?"

"Go, quickly." He whispered as he took
my hand, holding onto that light. "I'll see you soon."

I released him, letting go of his hand
and his mind, as I brought myself back to that bedroom, and when I
opened my eyes, I turned to look at David, who was staring at
me.

"He needs our help." I answered, then
turned the rest of my body and sat on the floor facing him. "I
think I know what's going on with him."

"Where did you go?" David whispered,
coming closer to me. I looked up into his hazel eyes and shook my
head, then took his hands and let him see what I saw by pushing the
images to him. David sat back. "Who's holding him like
that?"

"He is, or, the darkness inside him
is." I replied. It was then that the door opened and Michael looked
in, with Cristian peaking over his shoulder. I looked up at the two
of them, and then at David, who turned his face away from everyone.
I stood, slowly, still holding David's hands, and looked at the two
of them. "Justin's in trouble and we have to help him."

"Sage, you're pregnant, you should be
thinking about the baby." Michael said, softly, as I tugged on
David's hand to pull him to his feet. I stopped, as we began to
walk by, and looked right into Michael's eyes.

"I am thinking about the baby, Mike.
Justin is his father, regardless of what the two of you think and I
would like to have him around to see his child grow up." I snapped,
then walked passed him.

David and I made our way to the
library, where we commenced to take any magic books off the shelves
and began to look through them.

"What, exactly, are we looking for?"
David asked, glancing up at me from across the table.

"Anything that has to do with ridding a
person of an evil spirit," I sighed, letting him know that this was
new to me too, and then I saw it, in the book that David was just
about to toss aside. The book had opened to a passage, written on a
piece of paper that wasn't attached to the rest of the book.
"Wait." I hollered just before he was about to toss another book on
top, and snatched the paper out from the book. Slowly, as I read it
over, it became clear that this is what we were looking for. I
looked up at David and smiled. "This is it."

"What is it?" He questioned. I smile,
walked over to stand next to him, and laid the paper down on the
table.

"It's to reject the evil
self."

"Okay, so what does it say to
do?"

"Um, well, it's kind of strange, but I
think I got it." I looked over the paper twice more before speaking
again. "It say's to remove the guilt that rest upon your head, and
the evil stain upon your hand: go forth and cast your shadow dark
upon the land."

"Okay, so the sun has to be up." David
shrugged. "No big deal, the sun comes up every day."

"But, Justin is still unconscious, so
maybe the light in his mind will work."

"Well, what else does it say to
do?"

"Ah," I hesitated then went on. "Pierce
the image with a stake and drive it with a heavy stone; let both
weapons stay to mark, the deed you shed, the self you scorn. I
don't get it, I mean, I get the whole weapons part, but I don't
know if letting Justin scorn part of him is such a good idea." I
looked up at David, who shrugged.

"You're the witch, so, it's your call."
He replied.

"Well, it's the best one we've found,
so it has to work." I sighed and grabbed the paper, and then the
two of us walked out of the room.

* * * * *

David watched her as she walked around
the bed, lighting the white candles that surrounded it. Sage's
black hair came down in layers and encircled her face, which, by
the candle light became hauntingly beautiful. He would take of her,
if Justin didn't make it through, which he knew he would, but there
was something else underneath all of these strange events that he
couldn't let go of. Victor was out there and the 31st was coming,
quite fast.