Fated Absolution (20 page)

“It’s my little sister and me. She had that tea set, Marie Jane. My sister had that same tea set when she was six. My mother took in laundry to pay for it, the watch too. She washed other people’s clothes to get them for us for Christmas one year. I had a gun, a little toy gun, it shot little pellets. It was destroyed when our house was burnt to the ground some years later. Those were sold as I said for my father’s physician and then for his funeral.”

The children played with the small tea set for a while and the adults talked. When Maddy had finished her second slice of pie and laid back on the couch, Mac came and sat beside her and started eating a hunk of cake.

“I have to give you your message. I remember it all now. You have to let me tell you.”

Maddy nodded for him to continue. “Your Grammie said I had to hurry. She said you have free willie and you should never forget that.” Mac had his mouth full, but no one seemed to notice, especially Maddy.

“I’m sorry, did you say free willie?” She was slightly confused then it hit her. “Oh! You mean free will, well yes, everyone has free will. What else did she tell you?” After the past few days, Maddy was willing to believe anything, even a six year old.

“Yeah, she said she loves you very much, and that she’s sorry she left you. Where did she leave you Aunt Maddy?”

Maddy thought about how to answer him, death was such a touchy subject for some people and she didn’t know the MacManus’ well enough to make any kind of statement concerning her grandmother death.

“Well, she passed on. Although, I’m not so sure she’s actually passed on just yet. She left me when she died I guess. I miss her terribly and I loved her too. Would you mind telling her that next time you see her, that I love her too?”

“Of course I can do that. I like you Aunt Maddy. You’re special.” Then he laughed. He really was a cute kid she thought.

The kids were put to bed a little while later. Their treasures put in their rooms and marveled over again and again. Maddy kissed each of them good night and received another hug from them. She really liked them.

“David called me this afternoon, just after Carol’s accident. He said that you and he had talked,” Aaron said as they settled back down in the living room.

“Yes, but we argued more than talked, but okay. He…I think that the murder of Ms Martin was meant for me. I should have been driving that truck, and if you guys hadn’t of gotten me one, I would have been.”

“Why? I mean why do you think that? Is there something going on that you haven’t told us? And does it have to do with the dreams at the hospital?” Kyle put his arm around her, pulled her close as he asked.

“The dream at the hospital wasn’t the first time I’ve dreamt about this guy. He…I’m not even sure it’s a guy, just an eerie feeling. Anyway, he comes to me and we’re in this void with stale air. He hisses, all of his ‘s’s all snaky like. And it says that I’ve been promised to him and that we are to breed lots of children, that the first will be his son.”

“What do you mean void? And do you see him?” Pic asked. She had a very old and very large book in front of her with a laptop. She was making notes in the latter while she thumbed through the book.

“No, I’ve never seen him, like I said, I’m not even sure it’s a guy. But the breeding part kinda makes me think it is. The void? Well, that’s another weird feeling. It a completely white place, but not a room, a…void. I’m sorry, that’s the best I can describe it. The air is stale and old smelling, as if it’s been closed up for centuries and a breeze has never passed through.” She felt ridiculous telling them of a bad dream, but thought that if telling it could make them go away then great.

“No, please you’re doing great,” Pic smiled encouragingly. “You can smell? Are you smelling the room then, or are you thinking that it smelled that way when you wake up?”

“Oh I see, did I add it later. Let me think…no, I smelled it when I was there. I remember thinking that at the time just how bad it was. The air, the second time, it was hot and hard to breathe. Then there’s the pain, it horrible, just burning and searing.” Maddy looked around the room. At first she thought they didn’t believe her, and then she realized that they did. She wasn’t sure which was more frightening.

“What does he say? Does he tell you why he’s there, why now?” Pic was still making notes and had hardly looked up since she started.

“He told me his name if you want that.” Maddy looked up from the glass she has just sat on the end table. The room had suddenly gotten quiet, deadly quiet.

“He told you his name? Maddy do you have any idea what it means to have his name,”

Sara said in awe. “No, I can see that you don’t. There is great power in having a name. Has he ever used your name, your whole name?”

She thought for a few minutes, over each word that had been exchanged between them, what he had called her and what wording he had used.

“No. He’s never used my name in any form, not even ‘Maddy’. All he has called me is his love and ungrateful bitch. His name is Patcalus, but he pronounces it Patcalussss. He claims that I was promised to him, that all I need to do is tell…oh my god! Mac! Mac told me that I have free willies, err, free will. That’s what she meant. I don’t have to go to him, I can keep telling him no.”

“You can keep telling him no, but it won’t last for long. He’ll tire of asking and just take what he wants. And when he does, he’ll kill you for mating with someone else and your mate,” a woman said. “Hello all. It’s so nice to see you all.”

Everyone in the room turned to look at the woman who had just suddenly materialized in the room. No one moved nor did they seem the least bit surprised to see her. Mel and her mother Savannah were just behind her, one on her right the other her left. Maddy looked at her hard and had a slight…memory or feeling she knew her.

“I know you…I…I remember you from somewhere? With my grandmother, but I…I was smaller.” Maddy couldn’t place her, her mind refused to let her remember fully. “You’ve not changed. You’re very beautiful then and now.”

“Thank you my child. I’m Morrigan, the Goddess of all Faeries. And you are the fair Madison Shelby Harm, direct descendant of mine, my seventh daughter of seven times seven.”

“I don’t think so. No, I have no family, no sisters. You’re mistaken.” Maddy began backing away from her, towards Kyle. Towards where she knew she would be safe.

“No, you were to be watched and cared for until such time that it was safe.” The woman, the goddess walked toward her as she spoke. “It is nearly that time, Madison Shelby Harm, time for you to be released from the bonded of magic that has held you safe until now.”

“Maybe you should sit down and tell us what you mean,” Aaron stood up. Maddy felt the room expanded and suddenly knew it was magic. Strong and powerful it seemed to come alive in the room. She looked over at Aaron and knew that it was coming from him.

“Maddy, please sit with Kyle,” Aaron said softly but with a bite of anger. “Mel, Savannah, you know how I feel about things like this brought to my home. I would very much appreciate it if when you bring magic into my home, you’d let me know in advance. Perhaps you’d like to explain this to us all?”

“I contacted Morrigan just after you told me about her grandmothers cross,” Mel said with as much hostility in her voice. “It seems that Maddy has been missing since she was three.

Her grandmother, the woman assigned to care for her was to leave her keep and never let anyone find them until Maddy reached the age of maturity.” Mel motioned for Morrigan to have a seat and then took one herself.

“No, she was my grandmother,” Maddy said. She didn’t like where this was going. “You make her sound as if she was a sitter, she was more than that. Much, much more. I loved her.”

“Of course you did.” Morrigan went on to explain. “She had been caring for you since birth. There were twins born to your mother, you and your brother. You were born second, the seventh daughter of hers, as she was the seventh and so forth back. Your father, a man who fooled us all, killed your mother just after your brother was born. You should have died with her, still in the womb, but you were birthed, whisked away and hidden with a spell to keep you safe.”

“But I don’t understand. Why? Why now? Why did I need to be hidden, who cares what happened back then?” She let Kyle put his arms around her glad for the comfort.

“Because I have been waiting for you for millenniums, Madison Shelby Harm, you are the hope of all fairies, the next in line to take my place. On the date of your majority, you will become all, be all that I am and more. You must make a choice, the right choice to come with me, it’s time to—”

“No,” she shouted. “No, I don’t want to be whatever. I want you to go, I want…there’s been a mistake. You’ve got the wrong person. I’m just me, nothing special.”

She was panicking, she could feel her heart pounding, her head was light and she felt dizzy. She was afraid too. Afraid that what these people were telling her was true, that she’d been taken away from her family because they’d been—

“You bear my mark, Madison Shelby H—”

“Stop calling me that,” Maddy shouted again. “I’m just Maddy. I’m nobody. And you’re wrong. I don’t have a mark, not even a birth mark. You’ve got the wrong person.”

“She doesn’t have a mark. I’ve seen her, her skin is flawless.” Kyle held her tighter now, and she could feel his comfort like it was a favorite shirt, worn jeans and comfy socks.

Morrigan reached forward and said, “If you believe that I have the wrong girl, then you’ll let me touch you. Once I do, the mark that I have given you through your mother will show itself or it won’t. If it does not then you are correct, and I have the wrong woman. But if it does then you’ll let me explain, all right?”

Maddy looked at the outstretched hand, inches from her arm. She looked over her shoulder to Kyle and searched his face for a clue what to do. There was nothing, he was leaving this up to her. She looked back at the woman who held the key to everything she was and would be or nothing but a mistake. She nodded once and felt the hand close over her arm.

Flashes of her life passed in seconds. Her birth was first. The pain of it, struggling to live while the woman who had carried her inside of her breathed no more. Her flight in a warm blanket, bundled in someone’s arms, tight and close. Learning to walk, and then run. Climbing the tree in front of a small cottage where she had fallen and broken her arm. The lessons on how not to bring attention to herself, and then college going into law instead of majoring in general fine arts as her grandmother wanted, and her disappointment. The dreams, she’d had them as a child too, many times she would wake up screaming and crying to be comforted by Grammie.

All of this passed in seconds, each hitting her mind like a slap.

The burning began next, the searing pain in her shoulder. She didn’t have to look or to be told what it meant. It was the mark, the mark Morrigan had told her she had. The one her Grammie told her was there, but wasn’t to ever be talked about.

“Maddy? Are you all right?” Sara had come forward. “Maddy, honey, are you all right? I can feel your magic now. Please. Please tell me your al—“

“I’m…I think I’m gonna be sick.” She jumped up and with her hand over her mouth ran to the bathroom. After closing and locking the door she sat in front of the toilet and threw up everything on her belly, then the dry heaves began, leaving her weak and drained. Once they subsided she lay on the cool tile floor and rested. She couldn’t think, didn’t want to, she just laid there.

“Madison, honey, are you all right? Let me in, I need to see you.” H
e had gently entered her mind, but she could still feel him close, maybe as close as the bathroom door. She didn’t have the energy to look and see, much less let him in.

“I’m all right. I’ve just had…I’m all right, I just need a few more minutes. Tell her she
was right, the mark is over my right shoulder, I can feel it now.” S
he could still feel him close, and wanted to let him in, to have him hold her, but she knew if she did that, she’d fall apart, so she just waited. “
I’m sorry Kyle. I swear to you I didn’t know.”

“Baby, do you think I care? I love you, Madison. I need you. Please believe that. I’m here
for you, everyone is here for you.”

He would be too she thought, no matter what because he needed her. Didn’t he tell her before that now that they had mated, bonded completely, he couldn’t feed from anyone else, he’d die without her? She was his food.

She needed to get away, she needed to think. Looking around the tiny room she spied a small window and wondered if the fall would kill her and worse yet, did she care if it did.

Standing as quietly as she could she opened the window and peered out, then down. She just had to come up to the second floor didn’t she?

Taking a deep breath she threw her legs over the sill and sat there for a few seconds then dropped. It seemed to take forever, but as soon as she hit the ground she rolled and tumbled as she had been taught in self-defense classes. She lay there for a full minute trying to catch her breath and take a quick inventory of her body. She was fine, but she would probably be sore tomorrow. She stood up and keeping out of the window light, ran to the wooded area behind the house.

She’d been running for about ten minutes when she realized they could probably track her. Hadn’t she read somewhere about how once a vampire took your blood they could follow you everywhere.

“Shit, shit, and double shit!”
Oh well
, she thought,
no help for it now
and she kept running. When she’d got to the high fence she nearly sobbed with relief until she realized the stupid thing was humming. Electricity ran through it, and according to the little sign she found just before she threw a stick at it to test it, there were one hundred and twenty thousand volts going through it. Even she knew that would probably sting just a little, “Well duh, you think?”

The forest suddenly got very still, no birds, insects or leaves were making any sound.

That’s when she heard the noise. It was large, very large and coming at her fast. The hair on the back of her neck and on her arms stood and her skin prickled. She thought about hiding, running again, but couldn’t make her feet move. It was as if they were stuck to the ground. She turned her head around slowly and faced whatever it was, ready to be run down, or rescued. She could almost hope it was a rescue.