Chapter 5

A week passed and Daemon and Janelle were drifting apart. He tried every bribe he learned through their twelve years of marriage. Nothing worked, not even the chocolate fudge. Well, who was he kidding? Sometimes he could not even get close enough to her. She placed a lock on her room. He wasn't allowed there and was livid. Kaelas delivered the Queen's message. It was a command. Damn gigantic cat, he was jealous and the cat found his annoyance amusing. Why was he allowed on his Queen's bed? Usually it did not bother him since he was there but now it was unacceptable. Kaelas is still a Warlord Prince. Desperation was setting in and his temper grew by the minute. No sex to work off the anger, only Lucivar's exhausting drills to help him burn some of the anger out. He was a lover, not a fighter.

Lucivar had taken pity on the Hall's residents,knowing how terrifying it would be to stay around the Sadist in times like this. He decided to step in. "Nosey Prick", Daemon sighed. How did this happen? 1700 hundred years to get himself in that bed and in one night he gets booted off and replaced by a damn cat? He was not sleeping .The bags under his eyes were huge. Lucivar had seen the Witch fire created by the Sadist consumed everything and everyone around him when unleashed. He was not worried about Jaenelle. He knew Daemon would instantly shield her from harm but what about the rest of the people and kindred?

Every time he had to talked to Jaenelle, The Queen gave him a formal reply, turning everything into a court matter. Unless it was official business, she had no interest in discussing it. Panic set in. At any moment, he could be asked to return his ring. A Queen could brake a marriage contract if his loyalty was at any point questioned. Time was running out and he needed to act fast. It was a slippery robe. Nothing else mattered more to him than Jaenelle. 1700 hundred years without her was enough torture. He needed to see the one person who could offer him some hope.

He prayed that today, of all days, was the one were Tersa, his mother, could hold on to the real world longer than before. She gave him hope 700 years ago when she promised Witch was coming and gave him hope when he almost lost her after Witch unleashed the Witch Storm that got rid of Dorothea's taint. Somehow Tersa always found her way out of The Twisted Kingdom when her boy needed her the most.

"Is my boy, do you want to drink some milk?" He held her face between his hands and looked at her with golden eyes full of love. "Sure darling", he responds. They talked about many things. She let her know about the spells that Jaenelle and she were working on together. She loved Jaenelle. She always included her on their conversations. That made him smile.

Her eyes became distant. She was looking at some empty spot intensely. She was toggling between The Twisted Kingdom, a vision and the real world. She grabbed his hands and looked at him fiercely. "I know why you are here. I know what haunts you. Some things are certain but some not. Your mirror, I have seen him. Jaenelle show me in the abyss. I thought it was you". Tears filled her eyes. He wanted to believe her. "Your heart is breaking but let me tell you, my boy, this is certain. Do as your heart desires. The child must be brought to us by love. Only your love is the key to the new Dream. The Dreamer will give you your heart's desire. Your dreams helped to shape the Dream but there were not enough. The new Dreamer is strong enough. Love is the key."

Just like that, Tersa return and looked at him like nothing happened. What does she mean? He knew her words were the answer to what he seeks. But he was more puzzled than ever. His dream was not strong enough? He was the most powerful men in the history of the Blood. Your mirror? What in the name of Hell? Was she talking about him? He was his father's mirror. Did she get caught up between the past and now? Was it his son? Mother Night, please let it be that. Then again, Tersa seemed to walk a fine line between memories of the past and future. Hell's fire! He was about to cross a point of no return. If he interpreted her words erroneously, he could lose Jaenelle. She said to trust his heart. That is what he was going to do. Love was the key. If Tersa saw his son, that meant that Jaenelle was right all along. He had been a fool. He was certain of what he needed to do. Hopefully, it was not too late. "Come on old son, your Queen is waiting for you. May the Darkness be merciful; I am going to become a father"

In her bedroom, Witch looks at the web and cannot make the male's face. All seems to be blurry, too much mist, too many lights everywhere. She realized that she won't be able to interpret the web and it's too unstable. She is losing the hold on it. It is fading. Sometimes a web can come true but sometimes it is just a materialization of fears and hopes. She could be seeing a possible future, a moment that may come true. Her sapphire eyes are deep in thought. Who could this silhouette belong to? She catches an unknown psychic scent. What she recognizes is the pull of the Black. This is very unsettling.

"Who are you and why are you here?'

"All in time pretty eyes. First, I must admit that you intrigue me. Since the first time I laid eyes on you, hungers that were burried in my soul have been awaken. I knew arousal before, but this goes beneath the flesh. Is it love? I do not know. Am I capable of loving? A question that remains unanswered. I guess we will find out. Why I can't do is share".

Witch looks at him and laughs sarcastically, bewildered by this male's audacity. "Insolent, you arrogant son of a whore…how dare you talk to Witch like that. I am Queen and I am Witch. I belong to Sadi and he is bound to me. How dare you question my loyalty? I should strike you down and finish the kill right here and now." The man laughs hysterically and comes closer. He looks at her from top to bottom, admires her exotic beauty and licks his lips. No doubt that the man is aroused. His long black nails study a brew that she just finished preparing.

He caresses her face and licks his fingertips. "Do not fool yourself and do not try to fool me. This is not wise Lady. You are Witch but no longer hold the power that made you who you were. You have become a decimated version of a myth. You deny yourself your Self. Do not confuse me with that arrogant bastard. I am not Sadi, nor do I serve you. I am not scared of you. I am intrigued by you. This is the only reason why you stand on your feet. Loyalty does not restraint nor weakens me. I do not question your loyalty as it is you who questions Sadi's love. I have looked into your inner webs and seen your fears".

He points at the brew that he was studying. She just made a compliance brew. A brew that will force Sadi to do as she says; just as the one she drank when forced to marry long ago. He sees the shame in her eyes. Memories of that moment took her. "You will trick Sadi into making you with child. You'll betray him and hurt him deeply. You are selfish and will do to him what Dorothea intended too. You'll turn him into a breeding stallion. This you know and can't forgive yourself. He would rather leave you childless than give you his willing seed".

"You are a liar!" Witch says with tears in her eyes.

"Am I? Who are you to claim to have the right to get rid of all the taint in the Blood? Yet, you saved Sadi from the Purge. How many innocent lives he took? Don't make me laugh. The SaDiablos are a bunch of hypocrites. Saetan, the executioner, the man who destroyed an entire race…allow me to vomit Lady. You cry because you know this, don't you? Daemon never had another option. He belonged to you. He was forced by his blood to serve you, just as Saetan and Lucivar were. The poor bastard could not even get his cock to respond to any other bitch. At least the uncultured Eyrien bastard was able to ride some bitches while at it. Daemon was short-changed. All that sexual heat and his cock can only serve you. What a shame."

"Silence, they love me. Your words are poison!" Desperation sets in. There is no ice and there is no anger; only despair and emptiness. Something is breaking inside of her.

"Has anyone really loved you? Blood is afraid of Power and you were Power like anything known before. Your own family feared you. People can't accept what they fear. Others will love what they are forced to love. That is what Blood is. Did you destroy the taint? You can't ever erase the taint as the nature of the Blood is tainted. Your will is my life. Says it all, doesn't it?" He laughs and get closer, enough for her to feel his body heat. "You have asked yourself this as well. What is the real reason for Sadi's denial to you?" He walks around her with an evil smile. He is a predator examining his prey. He is testing her weaknesses.

"He says he was scare that I could not survive motherhood. That I am not completely well and he does not want to lose me."

He looks at her with an emotion that could only be interpreted as sorrow, pity and all those feelings that haunted her for so long. "You are healed, completely healed, pretty eyes. Sadi knows this well. Deep in your heart you knew Sadi expects you to die in a few decades. That is nothing for a man from the long live races. He never intended to have a child, at least, not with you. You know this well. Don't kid yourself. I will return. I will come back for you pretty eyes. Soon…" He caressed her face with a delicate touch and leaves the room.

Jaenelle wakes up from what seems like a dream, or is it? She could still smell that psychic scent. She knows well it was not a dream. She thinks about Daemon and asked herself. "What have I done to you my love? I am sorry". A shattered heart, an inconsolable sobbing that shows a woman at a breaking red as blood stare outside the balcony and she drops to her knees.