A/N: Thank you to all that have been so patient with this story, and with me. I hope you continue to enjoy.
Fair Warning for some graphic descriptions in this chapter.
Seems Annie is still trying to deal with Wyndam. Perhaps she has some sapphire in her after all...
…darkness and steel…
Annie frowned as Samuel pushed back the door. It opened without a sound. She'd been expecting it to creak or groan, like in one of those old monster movies. Like the monster movie she was now living. A shiver skittered up her back as she realized just how quiet it had become. There was no whisper of air, no echo of dripping water, no scurrying of small animals in the dirt. Without looking, she knew Wyndam was unmoving. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she saw Samuel staring at her. Her frown deepened. They weren't behaving like monsters.
"Oh my…" she gasped. Her eyes darted to Wyndam. He stood against the far wall of the cave, his body twisted away from the door. Shoulders hunched forward and head lowered, he glared at her over his shoulder. Ice blue eyes were unblinking, frozen on her, as though looking for something but unwilling to see. Could he be…no, she dismissed the unbelievable thought.
She looked at Samuel and inhaled sharply. His eyes were wide and unblinking, his hands were clenched at his sides. He, too, was staring at her, and his tongue darted across dry lips. That thought flared again, and she realized it's truth. They were afraid! Of what was inside this room. This room that Wyndam wanted her to enter, to face what was inside. She wanted to run.
You're already dead. Whatever it is, it can't hurt you. She tried to convince herself.
Glancing again between Wyndam and Samuel, she willed herself to stay where she was, to not rentaghost back to Honolulu Heights and her comfy chair. Or even to Wyndam's hotel. Or anywhere that wasn't here. She shut her eyes tightly and ground her teeth against the fear that that surrounded her.
Tom. Remember Tom.
Taking a deep unnecessary breath, she slowly opened her eyes and found Wyndam's eyes still locked on her. She knew he was waiting for her to move into the room. Samuel gave her a slight nod, and she again reminded herself.
Tom.
Raising her chin, she stepped into the doorway, silently praying she could face what was inside.
"Aaahh!" The scream escaped before she could clap her hands over her mouth. Without thinking, she jumped backward against Samuel. He grabbed her arms, holding her upright and in place. Her eyes shut tight against what lay before her. Her palms ground her lips against her teeth holding back another scream. She inhaled sharply and the stench made her gag. She stopped breathing, and tried to will away the sight. After long moments, she slowly opened her eyes and felt her stomach roil and lurch.
She pushed backward against Samuel, trying to get away from the sight before her. He held her in place, not moving her forward but steadying her. She forced her mind to not think of rent-a-ghosting away. Still not breathing the smell of death and darkness, she made herself take in the scene before her. Her mind refused to understand what her eyes were seeing. It made no sense. Shaking, she shook her head in denial.
After long moments, she regained control of her body, and calmed the shaking. Feeling Samuel's hand at her back and the slight pressure urging her forward, she reluctantly took two steps into the room, and froze.
The…creature…that lay on the ground could not be alive. Or dead. Vampire or human, this could not exist. It was skeleton. With patches of skin barely covering decaying bones. Lying on its right side, facing her, she could see gray bone protruding through thin patches of ripped skin on its left cheek. What used to be lips hung in ragged bits over yellowed and blackened and broken teeth. The two incisor teeth – extended fangs - were chipped and rotting. Blackened skin stretched over sunken eye sockets. What should have been a nose was no more than a pointy beak of cartilage and shredded flesh. The scalp was dotted with bits of bone pushing through thinning and transparent skin, and a few wispy strands of black hair. This…could not exist.
Her stomach clenched and pitched in horror, wanting to vomit the image from her mind. She looked down to escape the sight of the rotting face, and saw that the creature had no arms! Her mind pushed back against the thought, refusing to believe it. She stared at where arms should have been, seeing only faded black covered with dirt.
"Oh!" She finally sorted it. The creature was wearing the remnants of a black straightjacket, its arms and hands hidden by sleeves tied at the back. Below the waist of the jacket, shredded bits of fabric that were once trousers hung over area of thinning flesh. Sharp-angled bones, stripped of skin, made up what should have been feet.
Annie tried to grasp that this rotting carcass had been a man, but her mind told her this couldn't be. It shouldn't exist. Or be alive. Or whatever vampires were. Nothing could survive this.
A soft sob escaped from Annie. Regardless of what this creature had done, no one deserved this. She rounded on Wyndam, her fear turning to anger and frustration. Silently he shook his head. Her outrage stuck in her throat, not allowed to vent. Shaking fingers curled into fists, and it long moments before she again reminded herself of Tom. Steeling her nerves against the sight, she turned back to the creature.
She took a hesitant step forward and the creature's eyes flew open. Eyes of solid white stared at her, unseeing and unfocused. Not only a skeleton, but blind. Wyndam! How could he be so cruel? She clenched her teeth. She heard Samuel clear his throat and she forced herself to exhale and open her hands.
She took another step forward and suddenly the creature's white eyes had a sharp pinpoint of black in their centers. A black mist started to form around the creature's head as shredded lips drew back in a snarl and a low hiss escaped from its throat.
Her skin crawled and she shivered. The creature hissed again and waves of the blackness rolled toward her. Crying out, she jumped to the side as the blackness shot past her. The creature's black pinpoint eyes snapped over to her. Another hiss and she could see the blackness gathering again.
She took another step toward the creature and held her hands out to it. The blackness came at her, cutting and sharp, trying to stab at her heart and her face. Instinctively, she threw her arms out in front of her for protection. A pale lavender mist emanated from and surrounded her. As the blackness sharpened and became more forceful, shooting toward her, the lavender mist turned to a deep amethyst.
What the…? Annie watched as the blackness tried to cut through to her, but couldn't. Whatever was surrounding her was protecting her!
"Oh!" Annie gasped as understanding came to her. It was her own aura. She could see it, and as the creature tried over and over to strike at her, her aura grew stronger and deeper.
Suddenly, the creature's blackness pulled into itself and then launched at her with a roar. She gasped again the stabbing force was deflected around her. Her brow knitted as she concentrated on her strengthening herself, and as the deep amethyst of her aura began to pulsate, it repelled the blackness back toward the creature.
"It can't hurt me," she whispered with sudden clarity. Fear subsiding, she took another step toward the creature and began to speak softly.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you," she whispered, slowly holding out her hands to it. It hissed louder and tried to recoil from her, but it was now too weak to move. "Shhh, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you. You need help. Let me help you."
The creature's eyes narrowed and the blackness continued ineffectively to attack her. She moved closer to the creature. Hissing snarls gave way to a threatening growl. Ignoring that, Annie slowly moved forward and knelt next to the creature's head. Annie's eyes filled with tears as the creature's growls turned to a low wail. Her aura expanded and began to envelope the creature. It groaned in pain but didn't try to pull away. Annie didn't move.
A deep and visceral moan, filled with pain and despair, came from the creature. Annie made to pull away but the creature rolled its head closer to her leg. She realized it was trying to move deeper into the amethyst haze. She willed her protection to cover the body of the creature and gently embrace it. Its moan turned to a soft sob of pain filled with relief.
"Shhh, it's alright. It'll be alright. I'm going to help you." She slowly reached out, willing herself to touch the creature despite her revulsion. Her fingers trembled as she gently brushed against the creature's sparse hair. Like a mother comforting a sick child, she slowly stroked its head, all the while softly talking to it. The creature tried to nestle its head deeper against her leg, but Annie only felt a light pressure. It was too weak to do more. Moving slowly, Annie shifted closer to the creature and gently lifted its head into her lap while softly murmuring to it.
"You're safe now. I'm going to take care of you. It's alright. It's ok. Easy now. I'm going to help you." She kept repeating her words, speaking softly and stroking the creature's head. She could not bring herself to touch its face, afraid the slightest pressure would pull the remaining skin from its bones. The creature closed its eyes, and she felt it slowly relax. Its wails subsided and the shaking slowed until it seemed to be asleep.
Glancing over her shoulder toward the door, Annie felt Samuel slowly enter the room. She heard a noise and a moment later, an object rolled up against her hip. Looking down, not taking her hands from the creature's head, she saw a glass vial filled with a dark fluid.
"Give it to him," Samuel silently mouthed the words before backing slowly out of the room.
Annie continued to whisper softly to the creature, giving it comfort and stroking its head. Reaching down with her right hand, she picked up the vial. It was cold and its contents were red. Pulling out the cork stopper with her teeth, she smelled rust and salt and something she couldn't identify. Blood of some kind, but not human blood. At the same moment, the creature's mouth flew open but its eyes remained closed. Annie tilted the vial and let the blood run into its mouth. The moment the blood touched teeth and skin, the creature's eye's snapped open and it roared weakly and tried to pull away from her.
"No, it's ok. You need this, drink it. It will help you, I promise," she whispered, holding its head steady as she slowly poured the blood into its mouth. She could see it wanted to fight against the blood, against her, but then instinct won out and the creature swallowed greedily. Too soon, the vial was empty and she tossed it behind her. The creature licked the rotting flesh of its lips, taking in every drop of the dark red fluid. Its eyes closed and its mouth continued to suckle on the taste of the blood. She felt the creature's shoulders stop shaking. She watched as its breath slowed until its chest was not moving, just as Mitchell's would cease to move, and she knew the creature was in a vampire's sleep.
After several moments, she slowly and gently lifted the creature's head from her lap and laid it back on the ground. Her aura disappeared as quickly as it had come. The creature didn't stir.
She rose to her knees and continued to watch the creature, her sympathy growing. It was so close to death, its face so much bone and ragged bits of skin.
"Ahhh!" she suddenly gasped. The skin over the creature's left cheek was growing - repairing itself, generating and covering the exposed bone. Unable to look away, she watched as bone disappeared behind translucent skin. The ragged and torn skin of its lips started to repair, knitting together and forming the shape of lips. In moments, full lips covered the teeth and blackened fangs, and the semblance of a face began to take shape. She stared wide-eyed as the rotting flesh of the nose seemed to grow. In the span of a few breaths, the skin had turned a dark brown. Flesh grew and expanded over the eyes and forehead, and she could now see the face that the bones revealed. This was Gareth. The blood was healing him, restoring him before her eyes. How was that possible, so quickly, so thoroughly? She leaned in to better see what was happening.
She jumped as she felt hands suddenly grab her from behind. She looked up to see Samuel standing over her.
"Come. We must leave. Let him heal. You can return later."
She considered saying no, but felt exhaustion flood through her. She let Samuel help her up and she stumbled out of the room, finally collapsing against the clay wall across from the door. Wyndam stood watching her, still silent and unmoving.
"How?" she finally whispered. "How could you do that to someone? One of your own?"
"I told you, I did not do this to him. I am trying to restore him."
"I don't believe you," Annie shook her head. "You should have killed him. This is...barbaric. You truly are a monster."
"One day, you will know the truth. For now, thank you for helping him. It's time to leave."
"I'm not going anywhere with you, ever again," she found her voice and her anger. "You are…I don't even have words. To leave someone like this. I will do nothing for you. Nothing!"
Before she could blink, she felt Wyndam's fingers digging into her arms, his face just inches from hers. He hissed at her through tight lips.
"You forget. I own you. You will do as I say. You have no choice." Just as suddenly, he was again standing several feet away from her. "And in case you think I'm a monster, perhaps you should speak to your precious Mitchell. He left one of his own down here to starve to death, after smashing the fangs out of her mouth. With a stone." Annie shook her head, not believing him.
"Oh yes, this is true. John left Cara down here to starve to death, much like Gareth has been doing. And," Wyndam's lips curled into a cruel smile, "John did this so the Bristol vampires would declare him their king."
Annie gasped. Tears welled in her eyes and her hands clenched in fists. She shook her head and opened and shut her mouth several times.
"You lie!" she finally shouted. "Cara was at the house, she didn't die down here." Annie lifted her chin defiantly. She would not fall for the game Wyndam was playing, trying to turn her against Mitchell. Wyndam laughed softly.
"Oh yes," Wyndam nodded, "John sent someone to rescue her. Only after he decided he needed her - to resurrect Herrick. Did your Mitchell forget to mention that? It's all true, Annie. He was made king of the Bristol vampires, after he had George kill Herrick. And then…well, how interesting. It seems John didn't want you to know him very well after all. You can ask him yourself when he returns from his assignment." Wyndam chuckled again and shook his head. "But enough. For now, I made you a promise. Come. I'll take you to Tom." Wyndam turned and walked away from her.
Annie didn't move even though Samuel gestured for her to follow. Tom. She'd finally be able to see Tom. That's what she needed. Pushing away from the wall, she squared her shoulders and set aside any thoughts of Mitchell. She would remind Wyndam of this day when she proved him wrong. Nodding, she stepped forward.
Yes, she would remind him. As she destroyed him.
ooooooooooooo