Chapter 15
Damian moved through the vale that was the ninth hell. His strut was as arrogant as his attitude towards those around him. The only two beings that could share an ego as large as his were his two brothers. Caan had thoroughly irritated him. "BAAL! Quit torturing souls and join me!"
In a flash through the impenetrable darkness, the figure of Baal dressed like a Caesar appeared on his thrown holding his obsidian staff. "Damian, to what do I owe the displeasure of your visit?" Stated more as a statement than a question because he really did not care and was annoyed that his brother had shown up.
"I really can feel the love brother, you make it so warm and inviting."
Baal sighed his displeasure and picked at some imaginary lint on his cloak. "What do you want Damian?" Damian rocked on his heels locking his hands behind his back, studied the floor and said his brother's name, glancing up when he said Caan's name and watched his brother's reaction and was not disappointed.
The apoplectic look that over took Baal's feature told him enough to let him know he had hit pay dirt. "Caan." Baal spat the name out with such force and distaste that it brought a smile to Damian's lips.
"So, what has our dear brother done to bring about such wrath?"
"He stole something from me. He took a possession that I highly valued and was amusing me."
Damian sighed and rolled his eyes. "Was it one of your whores?"
Baal held a fever to his gaze as he looked upon the face he had come to loath. "NO, this was no whore she held the power of the Guardians' light in her soul and she would not be broken."
This had caught his attention hearing about the Guardian's light. "I thought that such a creature was only a rumor nothing more than a myth. How was it you came upon the bearer of the Guardians' light?"
Baal was feeling generous as he waved to his servant to bring a chair for his brother. "Purely by accident but it is unimportant. Caan took what was mine for the love of some slut that dared to say she would kill me later! The impertinence of such a being."
Damian sat with the patience of a lifetime and waited for his brother's rant to stop. "Who was the guardian's light?"
Baal sighed and smiled, he had a secret that only he held and started to laugh thinking of his deed. "Oh she is unimportant now that I have her children."
Damian looked with a degree of respect to his brother. "You have the guardian's children?"
Baal crowed so proudly at such a feat. "I impregnated her and took her children from her and they are now my children."
Damian was interested. "How were you able to impregnate her?"
Baal waved it off, "It was really very easy. She was totally devoted to her husband. She was so faithful and in love with him that she would never willingly give of herself except to him. So, I took possession of his body and made love to her. It was magnificent to touch such purity and taste such sweetness. It was like a drug inhaling all that she was and is. Every time we made love I took a little more of her essence."
Damian thought about the feat his brother had accomplished and was mildly impressed. "So, how have you gone about exacting your punishment against Caan and the 'slut' he had grown attached to?"
The mention of his brother brought him to a temper tantrum. "That traitor! I have not thought of anything vile enough to pay him back."
Damian was reminded of a child having his favorite toy stolen and the brother refusing to give it back. "Why not kill him?"
Damian offered. To which Baal rose from his chair and began to pace furiously back and forth. "Death would be too quick too merciful. NO! I want him to suffer as he made me suffer!"
Damian sat sideways in his chair and waved his hand for Baal to get on with his rant. "Yes, yes, he should suffer the burning fires of a lifetime. Baal, it seems to me you have repaid him and the beauty of it all is you have won one over on Caan and he has no idea of what you have done. That is the beauty of this whole situation, you took something back and Caan is so stupid he did not realize what you had done."
Whether it was the voice of reason or the fact his revenge on Vicki was so complete he had not realized that by harming Vicki he had harmed Caan. Baal stopped in mid rant and smiled. "I think I see that you are right. I have won." He thought a moment then frowned, "But I want to see him suffer."
Damian sighed, "Brother, you know that the only way to make Caan suffer is to get one up on him. You have done that. And it was done without his knowledge and there was nothing he could do about it. Now all that remains is to tell him what you have done."
Baal thought a moment. "No, if I tell him, that slut who is a time folder will go back and prevent my accomplishment."
Damian sat forward, "You said she was a time folder?"
Baal nodded, "Yes, she inherited her talent from her mother. The one that should have belonged to me."
Damian was immediately interested. "This time folder is she Victoria Winters?"
Baal looked up and studied his brother, "Yes, why do you care?"
Damian waved off the question. "No reason so is she the one you thought to take and is she the one that holds the guardian's light?"
Baal nodded then with a sly sideways glance at his brother. "Why do you care who she is or was? Her years have moved on her and she is no longer the young woman she was."
Damian smiled, "Brother when was the last time you bothered to check on your toy?"
Baal thought and shrugged, "When I took her children and then allowed her to see them briefly as toddlers."
Damian folded his arms and rested his head against the soft back of the chair. "How long ago was that?"
Ball thought again, "They are now 17 so it has been 15 years."
Damian sighed, "Then would it surprise you to know she has barely aged? That she looks as much today as she did when you took her as your lover?"
Baal ordered the seeing pool brought. He waited and he studied his brother, how would he know whom Victoria was or how she appeared. "How do you know of Victoria Winters?"
Damian was not so quick to give into his anger, that was more from his mother's family, hydras had enough heads they could afford to take their time and not give in to anger.
"Because I was looking for a time folder and sent Valor to get her and bring her to me."
Baal watched the pool basin was wheeled into the room. "Really Baal? Why do you not go digital? It is of the age to do so, you play in the past as much as you play in that pool."
Baal gave an annoyed glance to his brother he had been out of touch for a while. Baal commanded the pool to show him his heart's desire. The pool rippled then an image formed, he looked upon a nearly timeless beauty that was Victoria Winters or he thought, the image drew back and he was presented with a view he had never thought he would see.
Damian was equally interested. Sitting up and leaning forward Damian looked at the vibrant beautiful woman that sat bareback on her horse. "I think that is the daughter Jeanette, she is the one that favors her mother in looks."
The image drew back and another woman appeared riding next to her twin. "It is amazing they look so much alike, they could be twins instead of mother and daughter."
Damian observed. His glance went over his brother's face and saw how enraptured he was of the two that rode on the beach. He found his brother was truly besotted by this woman. "What is it that attracts you to her brother? I have never seen you so taken by any one woman."
Baal sighed and waved his hand and the image was dissipated. "I am attracted to her and I do not know why. She has such a quality that she is like catnip to a cat."
Damian was curious as to what could force the demon of the under dark be so infatuated by a mortal female. Sure she was attractive but she was no Helena of Troy that a nation would go to war with another nation over her.
"Why do you need a time folder brother, you have neglected to answer that question."
Damian shrugged, "I just thought it would be nice to go back in time and change the outcome of some wars, and war mongers destiny. I would like to see more chaos in the world than there has been. You know how we thrive on chaos."
Baal was not convinced; his brother never did anything just because. He always had a plan and he was holding this information from him. "I really want to know what specifically you want with a time folder brother."
Damian was not about to tell his brother he wanted to alter the time flow to keep Baal's birth from happening so he could take over his position in the ninth hell, that would be a bit of nasty business that might disrupt his time flow. "Think about it brother if you could fold time, would you not alter Caan from betraying you if you had a chance? Would you not bring about the willingness of your precious Victoria to come to you of her own accord and beg to stay with you? Just think of what you could do if you held the power of a time folder in your hand."
He had diverted Baal's thoughts to his ego and his ability to have whatever his heart desired by playing on that very same ego that would be his undoing. "It might be amusing but I have what I want and I had my heart's desire lying with me willingly and giving of her self in ways I could only imagine."
Damian smiled, "But do you have her with you now? Is she the mother to your children where you can raise those children together?"
Baal had to concede he had a point and he had wondered what life would have been had he held her affection to have her with him in his bed nightly might have been a new experience. Though most women had bored him after a week and so he was on to his newest conquest.
"I am content with what I have. I have a son that looks like me and a daughter that, has her qualities."
Damian stood and moved to his brother's side, leaning into whisper in his ear, "But does she have her looks?" Baal was thinking about his words. "No, she looks like mother, but she has that sensitivity that is Victoria." Damian was growing bored and weary and was thinking of doing an id insinuation on him. He was pathetic; he wanted a woman when he could have any woman.
Why this woman? What was so special about this one woman? In his slave house he had many women that were far more beautiful than this woman. Far more talented in meeting the sexual pleasures and desires than this woman who was or had been to her knowledge with one man. So what was the attraction? Well it mattered not he wanted her for the talent of folding time, and he wanted to make sure his father saw him as the worthy one to rule the ninth hell. "So Caan and this woman Josette Collins who is the daughter to your Victoria dared to embarrass you in your own home and so now your vengeance is to make him pay? How would you make him pay have you even figured that out?"
Baal looked around and the studied his staff a moment. "I will take what he loves and make it mine."
Damian smiled, "And how do you propose to do that?" Baal was imaginative when he wanted to be imaginative why was he stymied now?
"Brother if it were me, I would make her one of my slaves, my sex slave and flaunt it in Caan's face. He would see how I control the thing he desires and she belongs to me."
Baal gave his brother a sardonic look. " Why would I want to do that? He would just tell me to keep her and what would I have won? Nothing, no my revenge will be one he won't forget and will long remember and will not allow him to betray me again."
Damian sighed he had tried. He had manipulated and he had cajoled now he was tired of this prattle and whining. If his brother would not take what he wanted he would.
Damian stood back from his brother. "Then I wish you luck brother. Me, I am going to go take what I want."
Baal turned and glared at Damian, "What exactly are you going to do brother?"
He laughed, "I am going to make my brother's life miserable unlike you who wishes to sit here all safe and sound and wanting to just plot. You get what you sow brother and I am going to sow havoc. "
With a moment's hesitation he disappeared leaving on a slight popping sound as he created an opening in the realty that was the ninth hell.
Damian estimated the location of the two women and appeared on the over hang of Look Out Point. He watched the two cantered their horses towards a rocky foundation and focusing his energy he pushed with his mind and sent a psionic blast to the most vulnerable part, and watched as the rockslide began to tumble down towards the horses and riders.
Vicki had raced a head and was the closets to the rockslide. The horse hearing the rumble of rocks reared and sent Vicki sliding back to the sandy ground with a hard thump winding her and paralyzing her for the moment. Jeanette seeing he mother slide screamed, "MOTHER!" In that precise moment, of the horse bolting away from the danger, Jeanette opened a slipstream under her mother and she vanished.
Damian also vanished to slide with her through the slipstream of time. Feeling panic surround her Jeanette slipped from her horse and went in pursuit of her mother. Arriving at the opening point to discover there was no signature of her mother or of the steam having been opened at all.
Jeanette slumped to the ground in frustrated tears and as she slid to the ground her life began to unfold as the time was changed. Everything was going into reverse for her and faster than she could stop it. Realizing a major distortion wave had been created she pressed her alert button and fell through the fabric of time and continued to fall hoping she would be found and that timeline would not be changed so drastically that their lives would be altered forever.
Vicki fell tumbling and then free falling through time and space, when she finally landed she looked down to see her body lying in the 18th century gown once worn by her when she was Sarah's governess. It was an odd sensation as she felt her body absorbed into her body and she became one and the memories she had were no more. They were the memories of that time in that reality. Weakly she reached for and read her last entry.
1795
My name is Victoria Winters, my journey began nearly three years ago, when I first arrived in Collinsport Maine as a Governess for a troubled boy named David Collins. I had such hopes and dreams. They are but gone and I fear that all of my tomorrows may never come. My happily ever after I hoped to share with the man I thought I had fallen in love ended in my yesterdays. Peter was hanged at dusk, and I had to witness his last breath as his bound body was thrust down the trap door by the executioner. He was executed for a murder that I had committed and soon I will join him for I have been tried and convicted of witchcraft.
The irony is that I may die of a fever that wracks my body as I lay here in my cell. Apparently, the good citizens of Collinsport would prefer to have me healthy to hang me, rather than let me suffer from the malaise of this fever. I once remember when I was in the foundling home; that a favorite nurse of mine went away. I was devastated by her departure for I had hoped I could be her little girl and she my mother. I was heart broken, for here I was a mere child of such tender years of 6 maybe 7, I had felt my world crumble around me and I felt lost. Set adrift on a sea of isolation and loneliness. That is when Mrs. Parker told me "Victoria, as long as you have hope, you have a future. Remember that without hope you have lost."
Today, I in my delirium now realize that my choices and my decisions were wrong and what hope I had with a man I had dared to marry and dreamed of having his children was lost to me forever. I am dead inside and I am prepared to die.
The yellowed cured paper that she released and watched it drift then lay on the floor of the straw covered cell joined the discarded quill pen. Victoria laid in a fetal position on the single cot simultaneously shivering and perspiring under the thin blanket. The fetid smell of what was left on her stomach filled the room.
Victoria Winters drifted in and out of her delirium waiting for death to take her. At one point she dreamed she was back at Collinwood in the year 1967 and sitting at the breakfast table with David Collins, Roger Collins, Carolyn Stoddard and Mrs. Stoddard. For a moment she felt at peace and wondered if this is how it felt when you passed on, with your past lives drifting before you.
One face appeared to her more often than most and that was of Barnabas Collins. His sad soulful eyes, when they studied her with appreciation and much like a puppy with such care and devotion. The way his stoic countenance would relax and he would light up as he spoke of things long passed.
Perhaps the most heartfelt memory was of the last meeting together when he proposed marriage to her. She had been so foolish and turned him down. Now, it was way to late, and soon she would be to him nothing more than a passing memory, dust in the wind. Perhaps she was too hasty not to accept his proposal.
He said he was very fond of her. She did not need nor want fondness, she wanted love, and to be loved and cherished as the first Barnabus had loved and cherished his Josette. Sighing she drifted into her fitful sleep waiting, waiting, waiting for . . . death did not seem to come like she had hoped. So, she slept and she muttered his name . . . "Barnabas why could you not love me? I need to be loved."
This did not feel right and she knew there was something wrong. She had no idea how she was going to escape from this new hell. Fever racked her body with a succession of chills. She wanted to die, and not by the hangman's noose. Hearing the rattle of keys by the jailer she waited, wondering who it would be that was coming to the holding cells. A very refined voice of a gentleman demanded the access to her jail.
When a protest was sounded, Vicki distinctly heard him say he was the young lady's new lawyer and had obtained her release. Through her fever filled mind she saw the man dressed in a brocade satin trimmed deep blue frock coat lined with golden silk and waistcoat with heavy embroidery accenting the cut of the coat to his shape, then on the sleeves of his frock coat was gold braiding, he was dressed as a nobleman with his satin breeches with black riding boots. He smiled preteding to hand over a parchment paper and told the man to read it. The jailer took the paper though there was no paper and looked at it. "Sorry sir, come this way."
He led the man to Vicki's cell and nodded, "She is in there." The man looked with some degree of concern to Vicki in her condition and wrinkled his nose as the odor that permeated the air around her. "
Why was she allowed to stay in this condition? Open the door man, allow me access." The jailer opened the door and stepped aside. Damian in the guise of a nobleman brushed past the man and moved to Vicki's side.
"Come and lift her man take her to my carriage." The Jailer handed him the keys and moved to get Vicki, lifting her limp body he carried her out of the goal and to an awaiting carriage. Damian waited as the jailer lifted Vicki to the inside of the carriage.
Damian felt very proud of himself as he handed the keys back to the jailer, "Now go in to the cell she was in, lock yourself in, then throw the keys out of the window. You will lay down and when you awaken, you will remember nothing."
Damian smiled up to the coachman then opened the door to come up short. Caan sat holding Vicki's body in his lap. He smiled with sadistic pleasure, winked to his brother, gave him a wicked little salute then disappeared. Sending Damian into a fit of rage. "Damn you Caan!" Looking around he sighed; it appeared he was now stuck in this time frame until he found a timefolder. Enjoying his cover as a Duke, he decided he would make due and wait. Time was to him irrelevant.