Chapter 18
As Max's memories flashed before their eyes, Barnabas and Max watched one materialize. As the scene took shape, they began to notice a woman holding the hand of a toddler as they walked down a residential street toward a public playground.
Excitedly the little girl asked, "Are we going to the playground, Mommy?"
"Yes, Bree, we are going right now. After that, we are going to have lunch in a pleasant café and then I'm going to take you shopping with me," the woman replied as she turned her head so Barnabas and Max could see her face. They recognized her immediately and anxiously thought, 'Maeve!'
'Barnabas, I'm confused,' Max thought, 'Maeve looks just as she does now. How can that be?'
'It's a long story. Let's see if the 'Powers-to-be' will explain it to you.' Barnabas thought, as he watched the past unfold before him. Watching Maeve and the young Bree at the playground placed Barnabas in a melancholy mood.
While Bree ferociously played on the jungle gym, swings, several varieties of slides, and ran around with some of the other children, Maeve called her over. "Let's go have lunch now, Bree."
"Oh Mommy, can't I play a little longer. I'm having so much fun."
"I know dear, but we have things to do. Come." Maeve held out her hand as Bree begrudgingly followed her. "Come now, dear, don't pout. We'll have fun together." Maeve looked down at her young charge and hoped she was making the right decision.
At a quaint Italian café, Maeve and Bree enjoyed a delightful spaghetti lunch. Maeve amusingly observed Bree as she assaulted her plate with savage hunger.
"Slow down, Bree, we have time. Chew every bite." Maeve instructed as she continued to watch the hunger child. "That's good."
"Mommy, are we going to live in this town?" Bree asked with a mouth full of spaghetti.
"Would you like that, dear?"
"Oh yes, there are lots of kids here. I can make friends." Bree thought a moment and with a tear in her eye, she said in a weepy voice, "I don't have any friends."
"I'm sorry, Bree. My job requires us to move around so we are unable to live in one place for too long."
"I don't like your job," Bree said defiantly. "Can't you do something else?" Bree asked as she felt a shiver run up her spine at the thought of her Mommy's job.
"I'm sorry Bree, but I can't to that." Wishing to cheer the child up, Maeve then offered a solution. "You know, you are getting to the age where next year you'll be going to school." She watched Bree wipe her face. "You like the idea of going to school, don't you?"
"Yes," the youngster said slowly. Thinking it over, she smiled and added, "I can play with other kids if we live in one place. Oh, Mommy, I would like that very much." Bree said happy again. She stopped eating and stared into space, thinking about all the various things she could do and the friends she would make.
"Bree, dear, I would have to leave you here for long periods of time while I work," Maeve replied sadly. Watching the sad face reappear on the child, Maeve offered, "I could look for your daddy. Would you like that?" She watched her young charge nod vigorously smiling from ear to ear.
"Mommy, do you know him?" she asked excitedly. "Do you know where he is and what he's like?" The young girl stared into Mommy's eyes feeling a sudden sadness overcome her. "Is there something wrong, Mommy?"
"No, Bree, I was just thinking." Maeve looked away from the perceptive child and hailed down the waiter. After paying the bill and leaving the café, both were very quiet, observing their own thoughts.
Barnabas and Max continued to observe the pleasant time Maeve and Bree had shopping as the day passed quickly.
Before anyone realized it, the sun had set. Nervously, Maeve looked down and smiled at Bree who innocently looked up at her. Surveying the street, Maeve noticed a figure walking behind them.
"Do you remember what I told you to do if I had to work?" Maeve asked.
"Yes, Mommy," Bree said smiling but her expression changed quickly when she saw Maeve looking over her shoulder. At that moment, Max started to twitch and Barnabas held her close to him.
"It is very important that you do it exactly as I taught you," Maeve said trying to stay calm for the child's sake. The girl turned her head in the direction her mother had just looked and saw a figure walking quickly towards them.
"Mommy, you aren't going to work now, are you?" the girl asked stressfully, looking back at Maeve.
"Yes, but I want you to promise me not to look, please promise me, Bree," Maeve said firmly, kneeling down to look into the child's eyes. "I don't want you getting nightmares again," Maeve said hurriedly as she watched the figure approaching them swiftly.
"Mommy, please don't work tonight, I'm scared," Bree started to beg and tugged on Maeve's hand. "Let's run!"
"I'm sorry, dear," Maeve sorrowfully replied, "I must take care of this. Now, do as I say, NOW," Maeve said, standing and hurrying the child towards the shop to their left. Bree quickly walked towards the building and stood looking in the window, while the figure leaped into the air at her.
Barnabas and Max watch in horror as the vampire leaped for the small child but instantaneously, Maeve stepped in front of its path and swiftly thrust the attacker straight backwards into a lamppost. The stunned vampire got up, growled at the intrusion and attacked Maeve instead.
As Maeve did battle with the vampire, Barnabas stared at the young girl standing against the wall. Max fixated on Maeve's performance with the vampire. This was the first time she was aware of what Maeve actually did and the realization hit her. Bree turned defiantly and looked at her guardian fighting with this scary person. Watching the destruction of the attacker, she covered her eyes, started to cry and slowly slid down the wall to the cold concrete ground. Placing her head between her knees and folding her arms around her legs, young Bree started humming as she rocked back and forth. Barnabas felt Max's body tremble in his arms at the same time the child hummed and rocked.
Maeve ran to the crying child and knelt down. As she held Bree tight in her arms, Maeve quietly cooed to her. Although the child did not understand the words, the soothing voice calmed her.
"Oh Bree, I am so sorry you are exposed to all this mayhem. I have tried to protect you from this horror every day of your life but sometimes I fail. I promised your mother that I would care for you but I am afraid my responsibilities are preventing me from doing an honorable job. This was the reason I had to give up my own child so long ago." Maeve rocked the child in her arms as she began to fall asleep. "I thought I could make up for all those torturous years I had to just stand back and watch my descendants, never getting involved. I must think of your welfare and do what is best for you. In time, we will meet again and I hope you will forgive me for what I have to do now."
As Maeve continued to rock her young charge, Bree fell asleep. Speaking to the sleeping child, Maeve told the story of when her mother was pregnant and attacked by a vampire. The vampire's diseased cells entered her mother's blood stream and mixed with the unborn child. The injuries and lose of blood started the labor causing Maeve's own birth. Her mother died and she, as an infant, was sent to an orphanage. "As you see my sweet child, I am either blessed or cursed, however you look at time. I cannot die as mere mortals do, for my body heals itself. Therefore, I must fulfill my mission in which you cannot be a part of."
Maeve kissed Bree's forehead and stood up. As she walked down the street humming, the sounds echo in the distance as Barnabas and Max watched the scene fade.