Author's Note:

http:/[ ]i1049(dot)photobucket(dot)com/albums/s399/Heerayni/Fmtree1(dot)png

remove the space[ ]after http:/ and "(dot)" from the Url to see a visual family tree for Eric and Godric for my fanfic. I thought it will be help full with all the information I presented in the last chapter. As the story progresses, I will add to this family tree alongside more info, yes, there are more people to be added in it. I will also gradually be adding info to the family tree which will include Date of turning and current status and position. I also plan to post my visual depiction or inspiration for the original characters that I have created for this Fanfiction.

I can't express enough, how severe my need for reviews is. So please, whoever is reading this, Please please review!


11. If Only - Chapter 10

Godric POV

"You have been on the run for a whole year? Theo made you leave without any protection whatsoever after his so called paranoia regarding your safety?" I hoped my face looked blank because on the inside there was a raging storm.

"I have been on the move for past whole year, but no, I was not unprotected since I have been away from Theo, if anything my protection and security has been the strongest since I was turned, it is still intact."

"Of Course, We made a trip to bossier and back tonight and I did not see any security surrounding you. I am a 2000 year old vampire I think my senses are sharp enough to detect your security if it were present. Even if it is present as you say it is what kind of security is this? That did not even retaliate when Eric brought you here?" I was irritated with the calm expression on her face. She was deluded.

"It did not retaliate because it was aware of who Eric was and don't tell me you did not sense my security, you have the gift of detecting mage, and I know you must've detected it retracting at my death and my rising." she was now looking at me intently, I had felt the mage it was true but I could not understand it. When I did not deny it she continued. Her eyes glued on my face, my arms still tangled around her. "Theo commissioned Two Kohkaaf Ifrits for my safety, both of them over 5000 years old who move with me and protect me from all kinds of oncoming threats supes, Humans, mother nature. They were briefed thoroughly about you and Eric before I was released. They obey me. This is how I have remained undisclosed for so long He negotiated with them through a Luminary in Tehran, if you still do not believe it, I will show them to you now." I did not even realize in my shock that she had moved away from me and it took me a few seconds before I realized what she was about to do. She was about to summon. I jumped up and took hold of her wrist.

"No, Anahita!" I roared and yanked her arm in order to stop her before it was too late. She paused.

" They are faithful Godric, they would not do harm and if it will make you any less angry at me or Theo I think it is necessary that you be convinced. That I am not a naïve vampire who trusts Theo just for the sake of it."

"If Theo has commissioned Ifrits for your security then either he has gone mad, or things are much worse than even our darkest imagination. What you must mean to him, I can hardly imagine. For him to go to such drastic measure, it is unheard of and maybe even unimagined, and to think Theo going to such unfathomable lengths," I did not realize I was saying all of what I was thinking before the last word slipped out of my lips. I was however finally able to pull Anahita back on the sofa she looked angry and hurt and I found that I could not stand the concept. I pulled closer to her and touched the frown lines on her brow showing her I was calm and sane again.

"What I mean Anna… is that Theo must have gone through changes of colossal measures during the past 700 years if I may judge him by his actions regarding you." I said taking hold of her face in both my hands looking deep into her dark eyes that were about to spill again. I looked down to her hands which were lying in her lap. Replaying the scene that happened just a minute ago. She was about to take hold of that bracelet on her wrist just before I stopped her. It was a thick Beaded gold chain link bracelet, made rather crudely and looked ancient. I slowly ran a finger over it and felt the magic running through me.

" Is this part of their magic and protection?" I asked.

"yes." She answered and then took the other hand and unbuttoned first 2 buttons of her shirt to reveal her neck and a little pendant there made crudely out of gold a simple round stone setting with a curious looking black stone in the middle of it. It was no bigger than the digit of my index finger. "this too." She whispered as I touched the pendant and felt the same magic.

"I have never felt such a magic before, I would not have believed it if I had not touched this, tell me about Ifrits. Your knowledge must be first hand." I managed to smile at her. She sighed

"They are one of the most powerful creatures in the supernatural world. According to the Muslim holy book, they are winged creatures made of smokeless fire." I nodded.

"They live in a veiled world just beyond ours, invisible to all except those chosen ones who can see beyond all fabrics of creation those humans who carry light in their souls the Luminaries, and of course only those can communicate with them." I nodded some more and passed her another smile.

"An Ifrit's power is infinite, but their nature is extremely volatile which is why they are limited to their own world by forces of nature. Only a luminary can lead them and even bring them beyond the veil, control them, use them but luminaries themselves are so very rare." Okay as far as ifrits were considered I could believe in them but luminaries? This was getting ridiculous. Anahita definitely saw the shift in my mood.

"I have not come across a real Luminary in my 2 millenniums and I have practically seen everything there is to see. It was my curiosity for luminaries that lead me to Esfahan all those centuries ago when we met Theo and all this happened but I never came across one, they do not show themselves. Most of my kind don't even believe they exist, but I do, I always have. I heard of two who I suspect were Luminaries but never had the chance to see them or to have any confirmations. Mostly because we are creatures of Darkness and they are the light as suggested by their name. I suspect that is the major reason why we ourselves are never approached by Luminaries, logic suggests that we should keep away from them at all costs since our biggest enemies have been the religions that sprouted out of the teachings of the Two Luminaries I know of and now you are telling me that not only did Theo find out about an existing Luminary, he actually made contact and also acquired their help which is… I don't even know what to say about this anymore.."

"Luminaries are not partial to Vampires Godric. That is a common misconception about them. They are partial to evil, yes, So only if you believe that all vampires are evil can you logically call yourself on the opposite side of a Luminary. Forgiveness is second nature to them. Kindness does not differentiate, not according to them. They do not mind our blood drinking as they believe that we were created by God this way, since they believe that the devil does not have power of creation only to corrupt. And we are not corrupted humans, we are turned into vampires. So they do not think we are Devil's spawn, it's not like we can survive on human food but choose blood instead. It is our food source. It is like calling a Lion evil for feeding upon smaller animals. But unlike an animal that runs absolutely on instincts we are blessed with a mind and a will to choose, we can overcome our instincts easily… and let's face it, we are unkind, unjust and totally deluded by our powers. We inflict pain for pleasure whilst pleasure can also be gained other ways. Inflicting pain is not a necessity, nor natural for a vampire, it's wrong and we choose to do it hiding behind our so called vampire nature which does not require what we inflict in the first place. Sure there are accidents, those can be forgiven.."

" So you are telling me that Theo has given up his evil vampire ways in order to gain a Luminary's favor? Theo has now become the kind messiah with infinite wisdom and divine approval?" I was laughing at the thought.

"No Godric I never said that. I was not talking about Theo and his relation or matter of business with this particular Luminary. I was arguing against your statement that Logic suggests Luminaries are partial to our kind because of the silly notion some stupid mutation of a religion has suggested that we are all evil. On one hand you believe that the religion that suggests it is wrong and on the other hand you see and present yourself in the exact same light. Hypocrisy, how very stereotypically vampiric!" She shook her head, but as I really thought about what she was saying my smiles of victory and mockery were fading

"so what are you saying about Theo then?" I wanted to change topic.

"Theo is a Vampire high-ruler, he has connections most people can't even dream of though that was not what was required here. No. the only thing he did was take a little risk no other vampire in his position would be willing to take, what the humans call fondly 'a leap of faith' the faith that he was doing the 'right thing'. He went out of the usual vampire way. The 'vampire way' which your flawed logic supports and actually approached the Luminary, he did not change any of his ways, wrong or right, he just discussed the situation with the Luminary, and logically enough, the Luminary agreed to the plight and the deal was made. The luminary did not ask for anything in return for the help, he did not even suggest that Theo change anything only that he meets me before I am provided with the special brand of security. Tolerance being their golden rule. The meeting was arranged, and I met the luminary, he did not say anything to me apart from very human and common pleasantries if you are thinking that all my talk has been in anyways influenced by him. He just gave me this bracelet and the pendant. Theo still pledged himself under debt of the luminary in return for the help. The Luminary already held a large area of Persia under his control and sent his security forces. Theo also offered the Ifrit something in return of their services, but I do not know what it was or if they accepted."

" Dear little Anahita! The way I see it, it would be very typical of Theo to manipulate you in such a way. My Blood is his blood, and our past with him suggests quite an opposite picture from what you are painting. Theo does not take leaps of faith. Theo manipulates, Theo plays, Theo conquers and Theo gets what he wants. Now I do not know what he is looking to gain at this time, but whatever it is, it certainly requires your complete loyalty to him and so you are. You are so vehemently loyal to a vampire who is the sole reason you were made vampire. He saved only you from the Mongols and let you family die, he forced my child under torture to turn you against his will and then he took you away from your maker to complete his menagerie of beautiful and powerful things. He did all these 'evil' things and 'inflicted unnecessary pain' on you, on me and my child who were blood of his blood, the kind of pain one has to suffer for an eternity, does closing of the bond justify the pain he inflicted? Does it somehow remedy all the wrongs done to us? No, it was for his convenience. Just so that he can gain your trust and control you as an asset. Now I am sure he has sent you here to gain back our trust and bring us to his side to do his bidding like we did before. You are after all his most trusted and dangerous weapon. He is using you even now and you do not even realize it due to your Naiveté ." I was trying to calm down my rage that was about to spill over any moment.

"I see." She said and when I looked up at her she was… smiling. I had expected anything from her but the smile that her face adorned. Before I could be further confused she said.

"You know, you are right about Theo, he gets what he wants and gets it exactly the way he wants and in exactly the place he wants. You are absolutely right about me too. I obviously am Naïve if I ever thought I stood a chance against him. Of course stupid and spoiled enough to make a bet with a 4 and a half millenniums old vampire. One does not get that old without being the best at what one is and if there is any one thing that Theo is, he is a Winner. I mean even if it's a leap of faith, he still has to win, he has to win everything."

She was laughing now. She looked at me and whatever she saw made her laugh even harder. It was suppose to be annoying but just the sound of it made my heart sing. My anger dissolving away like sugar in hot water but I was still confused. I had expected anger, tears, regret, after the speech I had just made but none of it was there. No, I could only see amusement. It ruffled my feathers to be laughed at but I wasn't as offended as I was supposed to be.

After a whole 2 minutes of incessant laughing she finally calmed down. I was still looking at her puzzled. She took me out of my misery.

"You see, Theo sent me here to be kept and protected. He never wanted you and Eric to go to him, he never expected it from you, he never asked for that. Never even suggested it. He just wanted me safe, and he told me how it was supposed to be and how it will be. I on the other hand wanted you to come together again, because he is at war with his own kin, and I know only his own kin can help him. I of course disagreed with his orders out of my sheer stupidity, even made a bet. He knew the exact things you were going to say when I suggested it, almost word to word, in fact he claimed that you would say what you said even before I made the request I wanted to make of you. I knew he was right, but a fool forever hopes. Theo would never ask this of you because he knows and recognizes all the wrongs he did to you even though in his defense he says that it was necessary at the time. Why exactly? He never told me." She paused for a moment. Her face taking a serious expression.

"He has been a fair master and mentor to me for all 700 years that I have been next to him. He loves me more than he has ever loved anyone and it shows. He knows that this conflict that he is about to face might result in his final death and in that case he wants me taken care of even if you don't keep me. He broke the bond with me on his side with the breaking of the pledging knife, so that I will survive his final death. Right now I feel nothing but I know he feels the bonding sickness because it's still there on his side. He made you sacrifice by force, he has made some sacrifices himself now. Eric was parted from me after 3 days of knowing me and turning me. Theo has parted me from himself after 700 years of teaching me, training me, 700 years of constant devotion and companionship. I will never be a part of Eric the way I have been a part of Theo, Eric never even wanted me, And with all his complaining about me not being his choice, what did he do when given the choice Godric? Eric abandoned me last night. He rejected me, if that was his choice all along, why blame Theo?" she paused for a breath before continuing again.

" Even if you think Eric will come around and want me, I do not want to be with him or next to him, because in my 700 years I have always been cherished and wanted and needed, I was never abandoned, Theo has wanted me for every single day that I have existed in his knowledge. Call me conceited if you like, but the truth is I never knew that pain of abandonment and rejection until last night. Theo separated me from him, but he did not abandon me. He suffers. He suffers like nothing he has ever inflicted on others and he prevents me from feeling it. He knows Eric's pride. He even claims that his own is only rivaled by yours and Eric's in all of his kin. He knows how he wounded it. He knows your pain because pride is what he himself holds the highest. Still he stands to win, stands to prove that he is the winner no matter what the challenge, even if it is in enduring pain and he does! You are not so very different from each other. Which I think was one of the main reasons Theo had Eric turn me." What blunder did Eric make last night? There must've been some kind of misunderstanding on Anahita's part. I was sure of it because when Eric had left my chamber with her last night I could feel his desire for her and his affection as well. She must've said something or done something. I needed to get to the bottom of this.

"There must've been some kind of misunderstanding Anahita, Eric would never do that. Yes, it's true that circumstances of your turning were not favorable, but Eric knows better than to blame or hurt you for it. The only way I can see Eric acting like that is if you advocated for Theo just like you did now with me. it is a sore subject and Eric is very quick with the temper. His tongue lashes are one of his vices but he never means them deeply. I am his maker, I would know." Her face had turned more ashen, the tears were gone replaced by fury.

" Godric, you do realize that even though I have not manipulated my bond with him since I opened it last night, he cannot block it from me even if he wishes to. I know you felt it yesterday how harsh it was on his side, how jagged, It is atleast 10 times more harsh on my side. Hence my depleted energy. Once we left your chamber, we did not say a single word to each other, and I would not take his verbal lashing for the value of it, no, the rejection and abandonment happened in his mind and heart Godric. He was all desire and want at one moment and then he flipped, he did not care about it, infact he opened his side, which he was blocking to show me exactly how disgusted he was with my existence how he never wanted me, how I was a nightmare a curse for him. He showed it to me Godric, I would not have taken his word for it, I would have had my doubts, but to feel it running through my veins. Left me under no illusions." The fury was replaced with despair. Her beautiful face etched with lines of pain. I had no counter-argument.

This was a disaster. Why? How? I could not even begin to fathom. How could he do that? To his own child? His own child who was hurt and vulnerable and come to him all on her own? Eric himself had told me that he could not detect any deceit or trickery in Anahita, Only insecurity and vulnerability. Anahita would not lie to me, but If Eric did this I did not know anything anymore. Had I gone wrong somewhere in dealing with Eric? Was this my fault? Had I not shown him or taught him how to be a fair maker? Had I failed? Because Eric had failed. Eric had not only failed Anahita but also failed me. I was disappointed. I wanted to punish him for this. When did his pride over-take his sense of fairness and propriety? My rage was growing more and more. No wonder he ran like a coward back to Shreveport. He had abandoned her, his talk of not getting involved was not just a delay tactic or irritation. He really had abandoned Anahita.

I could not meet Anahita's eyes. She was right, if this was Eric's choice all along then why did he gripe about Theo's unfairness for all those centuries. I had given up so much for Eric after that. Abandoning whole of my blood-line for Eric, for the unfairness Theo had imposed on My Eric and now I find, that Eric's pain had not been his separation from his child, no, it had been the stupid pride. Ego, and self-centeredness of being denied his own whim. I was seething, and I knew I would not be able to hold my anger for long. So I tugged him through our bond, I had not done that for more than 9 centuries. I sent him a tug, giving him a warning. I wanted him to know that my wrath was coming. I wanted him to feel the dread of it. I felt Anahita's hand slipping into mine all of sudden. When I looked up at her, her eyes were wide, she must've felt it through Eric. I felt Eric's panic and then his dread and then his fear. I was still staring in Anahita's eyes when my phone started to ring, I knew who was calling. I was not going to answer it.

"Godric please!" her voice was shaky.

"he will pay!" my voice came out harsher than I expected.

"He will hate me even more for it Godric, I don't think I can bear anymore of it from him." tears escaped her eyes.

"He will learn this lesson and he will learn this the hard way." The phone was ringing again. I ignored it again.

"Godric Please!" she pleaded again. I did not want her to suffer and even though I wanted to punish and I would punish Eric, I knew this was not the right time. I eased the tug. Before taking hold of my phone which was still ringing and turning it off. Anahita visibly relaxed.

"Only for now! He will be punished for what he did! This I vow to you Anahita."

"I do not want him punished Godric. i am going to stay next to you, as long as you will keep me and if my presence ever becomes unwanted for you, I just want you to come out and say it to me, so I can leave with my dignity." I felt her words piercing my heart. I was never going to abandon her. She was still my blood even if by an unwanted proxy. I wanted to make her understand how welcome she was to be next to me for as long as she wished.

"You will always be wanted and welcomed next to me. Understand this Anahita, Eric is a fool. He does not see beyond his pride and ego and I will look to it that he does, it's still not too late. But you can stay with me for as long as you wish it. I will not abandon you. Ever."

" I know Godric." she leaned forward her head resting in her hands she looked tired and depleted.

"let's not talk about these things anymore. You need to feed I will send for a donor for you." I said looking at the time. It was half past 11.


Info :

Ifrit: Ifrit are supernatural creatures, a form of Djinn but with wings and are much more powerful than normal Djinns. They are malevolent creatures and are usually the ones with the tendency to haunt and posses humans.

Kohkaaf: Kohkaaf is a legendary mountain in Russia which is said to be the home of millions of djinns and other veiled supernatural creatures. I do not know if it exists in reality but it is referred to in many Persian and Afghani folklores. There is no human population in Kohkaaf according to legend.