Follow the Bloodshed (The Executioner Trilogy Book 3) (6 page)

Chapter 11:

Precious Moments

The sun was hanging high in the sky. It was around noon I guessed and time for bed. The day time was the best time to sleep. Crawlers could go out in the daylight, but preferred the darkness of shadows and, well; vampires were nestled in their cocoons of cold gloom. We were now lying in bed, Gordon in a pair of sweat pants and me in a tank top and shorts. It was slightly warm in the room with the blackout curtains drawn across the windows. The door was shut, holding the near suffocating heat in. At least I was hot. Gordon seemed fine as he lay next to me. In the little light making its way past the edges of the curtains I could see the sweat resting in a fine sheen on my skin. Gordon’s was perfectly smooth.

I was lying on my back using my arm as a pillow and he was on his stomach watching me. I was exhausted and knew the life growing inside of me was taking its toll as it adjusted to being on the surface again. The nausea kept coming and going, but I swallowed it. The miniscule amount of energy I had left was being used to keep my eyes open for another second. Gordon shifted, moving to his side and placing his head on my stomach and his hand on my belly.  I could feel his thumb moving along my skin in a sweet and gentle way, caressing me like he was trying to feel the baby inside. He could feel the energies rumbling within. Only I could hear the still small voice.

I placed my other hand on his head, intertwining my fingers in his soft dark hair as he continued to rub my slightly distended abdomen. I wasn’t sure if I was showing or if I was bloated, but either way I knew there was a wonderful reason for it. I heard him sniff and then felt a drop of wetness land on my flesh. Gordon was crying.

“Hey,” I whispered. It was like I was scared to wake someone. There was no one to rouse from sleep but the darkness made you want to speak only in soft murmurs. He turned and looked at me, placing his head ever so gently on my belly. There was a slight glimmer of tears in his eyes that I could see in the near pitch black. I reached down and wiped one lonely tear away. He took my hand and kissed my palm, placing my hand on his warm cheek. I couldn’t help but smile.

I couldn’t keep my eyes off of his face as we lay in perfect stillness. His eyes continued to well with tears and I wasn’t sure why. I opened my mouth to speak, and that was when he finally felt I needed more answers about him and his life before he became a demon. Before he was Gordon. When he was Radu. I had to admit that most only knew about Vlad because of his taste for blood, but not many spoke of the betrayal of his younger brother. I just happened to be one of the few. He hadn’t explained much when we were trapped in Hell, but I knew he was willing to share a bigger part of his life before demonhood. I wanted to know everything about the father of my child. We hadn’t had enough down time to discuss it.

“Robin, I want to tell you more about my life before all of this. Before I became Gordon the demon. I was human once and I want to share that part of me with you.” He paused and sat; crossing his legs I did the same. I could feel butterflies spring to life in my belly as he looked at me. The nervousness made me wonder if I was ready to know everything.

I laid my hand on his knee and gave a reassuring squeeze and said, “If it’s too hard we don’t have to do this now. It can wait.” I was trying to buy myself time. I knew some of his history, but not on such a personal level and had always doubted the existence of the dark prince as a vampire until he confirmed his past identity as his brother.

“No, I feel I should. We’re having this baby. I need you to know everything. No secrets.” He stopped and cleared his throat like the words were stuck. “I’m not that secretive and sinister demon anymore. I’ve become more since we met but it may not seem like it from the outside.” He took my hand and placed it over his heart where I could feel it beating feverishly. “It’s in here.”

I nodded and let him continue. There was no reason for me to stop him just because I wasn’t ready to hear it all. He was ready and I wasn’t going to stop him. Not when he was so willing.

“I wasn’t a good man. I chose others over my own family and betrayed my brother in favor of the Ottoman Empire. If you’ve heard the history you should know this already, but I wanted to make it clear that the history books were right. But I was much more vicious than anyone believed.” He took a deep breath and I could feel his heart skip a beat with anticipation of the next words. “I had a wife and a daughter. I never got to see my daughter live a full life. This is why I hold this so dear.” One single tear escaped his eyes. “They say my death was unexplainable, but soon after I knew exactly what had happened. When I betrayed my brother I triggered something in my soul that turned me into something unrecognizable. A demon and the most viscous in Hell. One of the most beloved creations in the realm. I’m not that man anymore.”

This last fact was something that I knew in my mind, heart and soul. You could feel the change in him from a truly dark soul to one who began to embrace the light.

“I had been Radu for so long, but felt I needed a new name to reflect the new me. I changed my name before I ventured out of Hell and, believe me, it was the hardest journey I’ve ever had to make.”

He let me pull my hand away and place it in my lap. “What made you leave?” I was petrified to hear the answer, but curiosity got the best of me. He smiled.

“One of my specialties was image projection,” he said as he held his hands out to me, “I can show you.” This new ability was something I hadn’t known of before, just like his ability to conjure ice and snow. These were all things I didn’t know demons were even capable of. I cautiously raised my hands and let them hover over his. I was so scared of this ability that it nearly stopped me from learning more about the man I was fated to have in my life. “I could explain it, but that’ll take longer. And I think you’ll understand better this way.” He wiggled his fingers, hands out to me with palms facing up. “And you can let go whenever you want.”

Inside I was panicking, thinking about someone else being in my mind and forcing memories and images into it.  It didn’t matter that it was Gordon. What mattered was that I wouldn’t have a choice once our hands touched, but he did tell me I could stop the exchange when I wanted. I didn’t have to do it, but I needed to because I wanted to know more about this man in front of me. My hands were still hovering above his, mere centimeters apart and I could feel the electricity between us. It was tingling along my palm and between my fingers as we stared at each other. I closed the gap and felt a cool power flow through me, running from my hands and throughout my entire body and into my brain like a jolt of lightning.

Pictures flashed. The first was of my mother in a gossamer gown, surrounded by fog. She was speaking of a woman, the Executioner, who Gordon was meant for. It was our fate to be together. She came to him in a dream just like the woman who told me of my destiny in the same way. Same gown, same fog, same everything. My eyes were clenched shut but I could feel the tears threatening to squeeze their way out to spill down my cheeks. I could feel his curiosity and his wonder at what my mother was saying. Her blue eyes were brilliant against her alabaster skin and dark hair as she spoke to him. Then another image came into focus.

Gordon was standing before the mouth of the pit, arms outstretched as fear and anticipation ran through him. There was another emotion under the surface as the flames inside of the pit reached to rap themselves around him and draw him down. Another picture made its way in and I recognized it instantly. The night club, the flashing red laser lights along the walls, the music. I watched as he approached me and I stopped dancing to look him that unmistakable look in my eyes that said it all and the feeling that churned in his gut at that exact moment. I felt his urge to take me in his arms and put his lips to mine and never let go. I could feel everything and it was breathtaking. Then everything went dark and my eyes shot open as I gasped, my eyes taking all of a few seconds to adjust to the near darkness. My lungs ached like I had been holding my breath and it took everything I had not to lie down on the bed to be able to gain my composure.

My eyes met his and there was a perfect moment of understanding. Fate worked hard to bring us together and I couldn’t help but think that reason was our little bean. Our child was meant for something and it was big; possibly even larger than the whole thing with Lilith. I wasn’t sure what to do besides sit there and watch his reaction as he watched me respond to the revelation. How was I going to use this information? I was still reeling from the emotions that ran rampant through me.

Chapter 12:

Visitation

Something startled me out of a dead sleep. I had been dreaming, but couldn’t remember and I wasn’t sure I cared. I shot up into a sitting position and could barely breathe. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and struggled to bring air into my lungs; they seemed to be fighting me. It was almost as if someone had been sitting on my chest. Dragging in shallow and labored breaths I decided I may just need to slow it down. The pounding in my chest convinced me that I had been having a nightmare and that was what had woken me.  If only I could remember it.

I got up on shaky legs and walked to the bathroom, holding onto whatever I could until the adrenaline induced shakes disappeared. Gordon was fast asleep and snoring softly. I was happy not to have woken him in my panic. Reaching past the door in the near darkness except for the light filtering in from a street lamp outside, I found the light switch and flipped it, flooding the bathroom in blinding white light. I had to blink past the light and stumble my way to the bathroom sink where the small white vase full of jasmine was still sitting. The whole bathroom smelled of it and I took a deep breath in. The smell still reminded me so much of my mother.

Turning on the sink, I let it run until it was warm and splashed water on my face. The sweat running down my forehead had drenched my hairline and began to sting my eyes. I rubbed the water into my eyes and the sting began to subside. With my eyes shut I turned off the water and reached up to the small towel bar by the sink, grabbing the hand towel and dabbing my face with it. My body felt stiff as if I had slept in one position the whole time. I had been exhausted by the time we had fallen asleep. Gordon pushing images into my mind didn’t help either. It was a tiring experience and it hadn’t even taken five minutes.

I opened my eyes and could see the reflection of a dark figure standing in the bedroom, at the bottom of the bed watching him sleep. I couldn’t make out much as I watched the figure in the mirror. Only that it was female with extremely long hair and she was swaying back and forth ever so slightly and watching silently. I froze. It wasn’t Beth. Beth’s hair was shorter.  I heard a soft drip. The silent figure in the room was watching the man I love sleep, but why?

I turned slowly, not letting my feet make a sound as they slid across the tiled floor. I had finally stopped shaking, but now fear was creeping into my bones, causing the beast inside of me to wake. It was completely interested with the figure and I had to swallow down the growls. I crossed the threshold, but the figure began to turn away from Gordon and towards me. I should’ve known as soon as I saw the dark hair that mirrored my own and met those same green eyes I saw in the mirror every day. My mother, whose presence had terrified me once, was now here again and in the same place she had been before. What the Hell did it mean?

“Mom?” The word came out in a whisper. I pushed myself away from the doorway and walked to her, wanting to touch her to see if she was real but I couldn’t. Gordon was still fast asleep and I was praying that he would remain that way until I could make sense of it all. My mother was drenched from head to toe and that was when I had realized it was raining outside again. Just like the night I had returned from Hell. She reached out to me, water dripping from the same white peasant dress she had been buried in. It was her favorite when she was alive. Was she really here? I let my arm drift, palm facing up so she could easily place her hand in mine. Her skin was ashen and as pale as the moonlight filtering in and drifting across the hardwood floor. Her hand was almost touching mine when a loud noise startled me. Gordon awoke with a start and as I turned from him and back to where my mother had stood I realized she was gone. Again. She wasn’t back like I had hoped
.
The noise came again, drawing our attention outside.

We crossed the cool floor to the window, Gordon barely making it there first. A shimmer was spreading from the bottom of the barrier and spreading up throughout and passed into the sky. It was towards the road so I couldn’t see what was happening or who was doing it. We would have to go outside, something my mother was possibly trying to warn me against. She had a tendency to pop up when something bad was about to happen.

Gordon took my hand in his and we headed towards the bedroom door. His palm was warm and sweaty, and I was sure mine was the same. The blows to the barrier were rhythmic and caused small vibrations through the floor. However Beth had concocted this thing, I was going to need her to teach me.

My heart was pounding and the beast was stirring and I was trying to control it, but that didn’t stop the slight glow at the center of my chest where my heart rested. It was beating along with the hits to the barrier. Gordon’s hand was squeezing mine so tight that I would’ve told him to let go except I was doing the same. The terror running through us both was palpable as Gordon opened the bedroom door. We were greeted by the sight of Beth and Chase frozen at the top of the stairs. I had a feeling this wasn’t a regular occurrence. If anything, it hadn’t happened before now. Then I smelled it. There was a faint smell of ozone in the air and I wasn’t sure if anyone else could sense it or not. It tasted bitter and metallic in the back of my throat, making me to want to spit. I held back the urge.

Gordon stopped as soon as he noticed them. I dropped his hand and moved past Beth to make my way down the stairs. I felt a cold and sweaty hand grip my arm and turned to see Beth there, holding onto me like she knew something would happen to me if I made it out of that door. Her concern and fear was appreciated. I also felt with absolute certainty we were safe inside of the barrier no matter what was on the other side trying to break it down, but you never knew sometimes. My blood was singing as I looked at her, like the force outside was calling to me and drawing me out. I needed to go out there, and I couldn’t let Beth hold me back. No matter how scared I was.

I jerked my arm away from her and said, “We have to see what’s out there. It could possibly bring the barrier down.”

She just began to shake her head. What I had said to her wasn’t a lie. The whole shield could come crashing down around us if we let this onslaught continue. I let the hand rail guide me down and realized I was shaking slightly from the fear. I took a deep and steadying breath and continued on. My heart was threatening to come out through my mouth and I swallowed, choking it down as best as I could. I had to face this. I could feel eyes on my back and turned slightly; enough to see Beth’s eyes intent on my back and Gordon a few steps behind me. He wasn’t about to let me go out there by myself. Chase was a still figure, mouth slightly open and watching the door like nothing else existed. There was only one thing left to do. Open the door and that’s exactly what I did. It was now standing wide open and in the light I could see a figure standing beyond the barrier.

I turned my focus back to the open door and closed the distance; placing my hand on the door jamb as I made my way past. The same energy was vibrating through the floor and I could feel it through the cool wood, which sent it humming through my system. Gordon’s hand slid down my arm and into mine, our sweat mingling and our breathing heavy. I could still feel Beth and Chase at the top of the stairs.  If it weren’t for the barrier I would’ve been able to feel whatever it was on the other side. The light of the shimmering energy was bright as it rose from the point of impact all the way out and up. Because of the light I couldn’t see the figure that was causing the barrier to react this way. I could only see the silhouette of the figure standing in the yard. That had to be Sam. There was no one else. There was no way to know who was on the other side unless I could get it to stop. My bare feet touched the wood of the porch and I made my way quickly down the steps, Gordon by my side. We were a force to be reckoned with, I felt, and nothing could stop us.

At least this was my thought as we neared the position of the figure that was causing the commotion, passing Sam as she stood, watching the barrier shimmer with each blow like she had been hypnotized by it. The light was beginning to die down and I saw a shock of bright blonde hair, a pale face, and a thin body sheathed with a delicate white dress. Then she spoke.

“Executioner? What a nice little surprise!” The words came out in a high trill, like a cat watching a mouse struggle under its paw. And that was the same exact look I saw in Lilith’s eyes as she watched the fear take over.