Within the Cards (25 page)

“
With all my love and being, Daught
.”

It was the exact ring; I gave her over a hundred years ago. The ring still looked the same as the day I put it on her finger.

“You see Daught, you have powers and abilities that you didn’t realize you had.” She professed. I sat in the chair in front of her, and I looked at the ring in awe.

“How did I do that?” I questioned. I looked up at her, and she touched my hand.

“During your making, Ellie transferred her abilities to you. I feel you have many of her abilities. You just have to concentrate and master them.” She explained. She read my thoughts of wondering what I was. My mind was moving faster than even I could keep up.

I never realized I could do such things. I don’t think Ellie realized I could do these things either. How could I have expected her too? She hadn't realized the extent of her own powers much less had she took the time to realize what I could do. I hadn’t cared about my existence after Ellie was gone. Before she left me she did all of these things so I had no reason to attempt them.

“Daught, think about what is happening. Think about the Lords and their plans. I think you can see things in the future, as well. Try to see when they plan to attack. Look for their plans.” She again instructed me. I tried to focus and bring my thoughts back to looking for the lords.

I closed my eyes and pictured the Lord's lair. I looked deep into the pits of their castle. I could see them sitting and planning, but this wasn't what they were doing at this moment. The time seemed to be early morning in Vancouver. This was what they would be doing tomorrow when morning comes. I could see the future. Elizabeth was right. I saw Suzi pacing. She looked uneasy because she knew and feared the Lords abrupt change in their loyalties to her. She knew they felt she had failed them. I then saw the time they plan to attack. They would appear when the moon was New. It would be dark and their attack obscured by the blackness of the night.

“Concentrate Daught. What are their plans?” She asked. She continued to touch my hand. Again I concentrated. I drove my mind deeper into their conversation.

“They have a key.” I told her. She leaned in closer to me.

“A key to what?” She asked.

“It’s an old key. He said he would use it to open a box.  He said something about a box called Pandora’s Box. He’s laughing.” I told her. “What is Pandora’s box?” I turned and asked.

Elizabeth got up from the chair and walked to the window. I could tell she looked deep into the distant of her memories. She sat lost in thought and didn’t answer my last question. She studied the air as if it were a book that gave her information. She smiled.

“Look and see Daught, do they have this box?” she asked. I searched for the box, but I could not find it. However, I didn’t know what to look for. What did it look like? How was I supposed to know if they had it or not? I had no idea what the box looked like.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to look for.” I told her. I got up and walked around the room. Elizabeth again stared into the distance. She didn’t have the answer to my question. She didn’t know herself what this box looked like, but she knew who did. Ellie had gone to retrieve this being. Her last thoughts caught my attention.

“What? Ellie is gone, where? You sent Ellie outside the protected shield.” I shouted. I started for the door. I had to find Ellie.

“She’s fine my son. Dee and one of the wizards followed her to protect her.” She explained. “He has arrived. She did it again, and now he will know the answer of this box.”

I had to find Ellie. I started to leave the hut when I saw Ellie and Dee walking up with a tall figure. He was different from the rest of the immortals I had known. He had long blonde hair that glowed in the moon light. He was a muscular giant against Ellie’s small frame. His clothing was like Elizabeth's clothing. They were from another time. Elizabeth followed behind me as her eyes remained fixed on him. Her thoughts said his name, Ultress. This was the name of Ellie’s grandfather. Ellie had reenacted the spell and brought her grandfather back from the other world. I hadn’t noticed the descending moon had become full again. Once again, Ellie revolved the blue moon. This time she reversed time to the same blue moon that brought her grandmother back.

I knew they shared a love that was the same as Ellie's and mine. I could see the electricity radiate from their touch. He loved her in life, through her immortality and through the time of their extinguishing. Nothing had dampened the love they felt. Ellie looked at me knowing I did not approve of the secret she kept, but I pulled her close. I felt relieved she was safe and back in my arms.

“Would you just try to stay inside the protected shield from now on, please?” I requested. She looked at me and smiled. Her accomplishments pleased her. I pulled her closer to me. I knew Ellie could take care of herself, but I felt the need to protect her. If she would just let me, but then again, I knew Ellie. Dee rolled her eyes and stuck her finger in her mouth as mimicking gagging herself. I hissed in her direction as Ellie pinched my side.

Ellie told me the witches enlightened Elizabeth that Ultress was the only one that would be able to remove his sons from their rule. He was here to reclaim his rite as the leader of this clan. He was the only one that knew how to defeat his sons and the only one that could abolish them.

The silence was long lasting. Ultress's adoring of Elizabeth ended with her remembering my vision. She turned to me as she brought this giant figure in my direction. He was a towering being, one that I wouldn’t want to anger.

I heard the excitement in her voice. I felt proud that Ellie’s grandmother maintained such confidence in me. However, I felt a knife-piercing glare from Dee. Ultress turned and looked in my direction. His features were bold and frightening, but his speech was as gentle as Elizabeth’s tone.

“Tell me my son what have you seen.” He spoke.

Ellie looked at me with many questions. She hadn’t realized her grandmother had found that I indeed had many abilities transferred to me during my making.

“What is she talking about?” Ellie asked.

“Silly woman, I got tricks.” I remember what she said to me back at my dorm when I tried to Google the blue moon. I began to laugh, but I knew she didn’t think it was funny when she pinched my side. Dee smiled. I wasn’t sure if she smiled at the comment I made or the pinch Ellie gave me.

“He can explain later Eleanor. He must tell your grandfather what he saw.” Elizabeth pulled me back into the hut. The others followed.

I explained my visions as I had told Elizabeth. Ultress listened unwavering. He didn’t interrupt me nor did he allow anyone else too. I finished telling him about the key and this box I heard them speak about at the meeting. He understood I had no idea what it looked like. He smiled.

Ellie knew this wasn’t good from many years of hearing stories about this Goddess. She knew the convictions of the Gods and the evils they could pass on to one that had done them wrong.

Pandora was the first woman goddess. Zeus, the God of Thunder had her created. Each one of the Gods gave her a gift creating her into a beautiful, evil, seductive woman. Her creation was a punishment for Prometheus, who Zeus accused of stealing the secret of fire.

Prometheus knew Zeus would punish him, and he warned his brother Epimetheus not to accept any gifts from Zeus, but his brother didn’t listen. When he saw Pandora, he couldn’t control his urges. Zeus gave Pandora to him, and he married her. Zeus had given Pandora a box and warned her not to open it, but he knew she was gifted with curiosity that would ultimately cause her to open the box. When she opened it, all of the box's evil escaped and brought sorrow, misery and death to all around it. This was the punishment given to Prometheus that Zeus intended when he gave Pandora to his brother.

“The one that holds the box controls all evil and can use it against all immortals.” Ultress explained. “To control the box, you must have the key and the box together.”

Ellie began to rub her head. She heard these stories, but they never said anything about being able to harm immortals.

“I thought it could only be used against humans.” Dee said as she stood in the corner of the room. She heard the same stories Ellie heard as a child. She and Ellie were of the same thoughts.

“My dear granddaughters, with the changing of time our ancestors handed down this box to one another. Those that are immortal created things and added them to this box. These things can destroy all immortal kinds.” He spoke and looked up at Elizabeth.

“Ultress, you’re the only one that knows what this box looks like. You must show it to Daught so he can see if they have it.” Elizabeth pleaded.

Ultress pictured the box in his mind then he touched my shoulder. I read the pictures he placed in my mind. I then concentrated hard to return to the castle of the Lords. I couldn’t see the box I now pictured in my mind. However, I heard their conversation. They were searching for a witch. She holds the truth, and she holds the box.

“Anesidora,” I said loudly. Ellie looked at me knowing whom I was talking. She was the old witch that had told me how to return Ellie’s memories. “This can’t be”. I looked at Ellie, and she knew what I meant.

Ellie told him the new moon would be in twelve days. I knew we had to return to New Orleans to the store called Anesidora’s. The man that was at the counter must know something. We had to find him. He was Anesidora’s friend. He must know where she hid her belongings before she passed to the next world.

Chapter Twenty-Two

ANESIDORA’S BOX

Ultress, Ellie and I traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana. Dee and Elizabeth stayed with the others at the village to continue preparing for the arrival of Suzi and the Lords. It was nighttime when we arrived at the store that carried the name ‘Anesidora’. It was dark and looked like it hadn’t been open for several weeks. The books and candles that were on the shelves no longer sat in place. All the shelves were bare. I attempted to open the door, but I found it locked.

“I guess we’re going to have to break in.” I exclaimed. Ellie turned to me and gave me a strange look.

“You vampires are something else.” Ellie laughed. “Sorry grandfather.” Ultress smiled at Ellie. He lived with Elizabeth for many years and knew Ellie was very much like her. He knew what Ellie was thinking. Ellie gave me a bashful smile. She thought she had said the wrong thing.

Ellie snapped her fingers, and we were inside the store. I went to the back room where my meeting with the old witch occurred. There was nothing left in the room except for the table and chairs where we sat and the burnt candle that flickered so softly that night.

Ellie sorted through the desk used as a counter in the front room, but found nothing. She then joined Ultress and me in the small, dark room in the back of the store. Ultress told me to close my eyes and see if I could feel anything the witch may have left for me. I tried to recall her soul. It was blank darkness. I concentrated on the male that was at the front desk. I could feel a vibration in the direction of the back of this room. I followed the vibration. It led me to a door in the back corner of the room that remained closed. This was where the table sat at our meeting. The room was dark during the meeting, but I remember the table being in the back corner just in front of the door. The table was no longer in the same position. I went to the door and opened it. The smell that radiated from the open door was of human death. On the floor laid the male that never looked at me when I entered the store so many days ago. He was dead, drained of his blood. The Witchyres had been here.

I closed my eyes again, and I could see the message he was trying to tell me. The box; he moved the box to a safe place. Anesidora made him promise he would keep the box safe no matter what the cost. He had done what she asked. He gave his life for this treasure of hers. I was sure the witchyres didn’t make this an easy death. I knew they tortured their prey if they need to get something from it first. They tortured it until the information they sought came freely, then and only then would they render it the sanctity of freedom through death. He kept his word to the old witch named Anesidora. He hadn’t bowed to their intimidations.