Adam felt utterly exhausted as he sat next to the cabin's lone window and stared up at the stars. His thoughts had stopped flowing a long time ago and now he was motionless, watching the moon traverse the sky as it passed behind cloud after cloud after endless cloud. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, his back arching to relief the sore muscles in his back. Too tired to function, he stood stiffly and shuffled over to the kerosene lamp, lowering the wick and blowing out the struggling flame.
Moonlight streamed through the window and touched his sad countenance as he came to stand by the cot. Angelina was stretched out on her back, her arms crossed over her chest and two blankets pulled up to her neck that he had tucked carefully. Grief threatened to consume him again as he sank to the cold, dirt floor next to her. He tried to remember that she would wake up at any time but it didn't help the pain gnawing a hole in his gut. He wanted her hands to caress his face, her body to be pressed against his and her lips to be violating his own, but, most of all, he wanted to hear her voice again. How long would it take for her to wake up this time? What if she never woke up?
A shiver coursed through him at the thought and he couldn't bear it. He placed an outstretched hand over her stomach and, with the other hand, gently stroked her hair. An exhausted sigh filtering out into the quiet room, he laid his head down by her ear.
"Come back to me, Angel," he whispered thickly, "Please open your eyes for me...I want to do so many things with you and for you." He raised his head to see if there was a reaction but none appeared; she remained in death. He raised up on his knees and leaned over her, slipping a hand under her head and pressing his cheek to hers so that his mouth was next to her opposite ear. "I know that you can't hear me but...I am going to tell you a few of those things. First, I...I want to take you back home to meet Pa and Joe and Hoss. Then I want to marry you, right there in the front room. That night, I want to love you as you have never experienced before. I want you to scream because of my touch and cry out my name. I want you to know how much I love you. Our honeymoon will go on for as long as you want, full of travels and new sights. And when you are ready, we will settle wherever you want and I'll build you a house like you have never seen. Bigger than the Ponderosa and more grand than any around. White columns, a gardened veranda, ornate furniture, a huge staircase and the biggest bed ever made. All of it will be for us alone. I'll even hire a few servants to take care of the cleaning and what not so you don't have to lift a finger. So much love will fill that house and our children will thrive within its walls."
He drew back to see if she was awake but there was no change. Her face remained in repose and motionless. The grief that he had been holding at bay for the last three hours broke through and he allowed a sob to overcome him. Pulling himself to his feet, he then carefully climbed over her legs and stretched out next to her. He gathered her cold body into his arms and close against his chest. His fingers stroked her silky tresses, bringing one of them up to be kissed. Despite his valiant attempts to the contrary, his eyelids became heavy and he eventually slumped beside her, his hand upon her waist.
I* * * * *I
Far from being dead to the world, Angelina had heard Adam's every word. However, she was unable to respond. While her body remained in a deathlike coma, her mind was alive and filled with the most brutal pain imaginable. Never before in all her years had she known such agony, not since her body had transformed into a vampire. Now, as her organs shifted, her skin began to warm and her biology was rewritten for the second time, screams filled her being but were unable to be expelled. Panic consumed her and she felt herself slipping away. Under the crushing pressure, she wanted to give up, to succumb to the pain and never wake but there was a reason to keep fighting.
While begging what powers-that-be to either kill her or ease her suffering, she was transported into a dream. Caught up in a desert storm, she felt the sand cutting into her face and blinding her eyes. When the haze dissipated, she was back in the scorched desert. Instead of girls at play, however, she witnessed the bodystrewn camp of her nightmares.
Standing amid the carnage, the old sorceress held a twisted smile upon her face. "So you have found love at last, have you?"
The demon's voice sent chills through Angelina and she took a step back. "Yes, I have and your hold on me will be over after I wake up!"
"Is that so?" the old woman cackled, a sour laugh spilling out of her toothless mouth. "Jarsin Saab, you may have broken the curse but you will never break the hold I have on you. Whoever your man is, he has inherited his own fate. Do not forget! You are death embodied and you will bring such an end to him."
"No...no, I will not! He loves me and I love him! I would never harm my dearest love," Angelina cried.
Preying on her insecurities, the sorceress continued, "I will be in your dreams, your memories and in every beat of your human heart. What makes you think that I will not simply find you again? Did you think me dead?"
"In one hundred-and-fifty-one years, you never appeared to me so, yes, I assumed that. Are you not?"
"Oh, yes, I am dead, in body that is, but my spirit drifts with my Lord, the procurer of all evil in this fallen world. He will never let you live in peace. So forth, he has charged me to haunt you for the rest of your days. Everywhere you look, there I will be and in every moment, the fear will consume your mortal soul. I own you!"
Horror filled Angelina and she stumbled away, collapsing on the ground. Something touched her hand and she screamed, seeing her husband's corpse and its lifeless eyes staring up at her. As if on a puppeteer's strings, his arm shot out and clamped around her wrist.
"Yes, my stupid whore, you will bow to me and mine. Never will you escape me!" His blue lips moved with the sorceress' voice although his eyes remained cold in their sockets.
Screaming, Angelina tore herself from his bony grasp. She scrambled to her feet, cutting her eyes in all directions as her murdered tribesmen haltingly rose up on skeletal legs and surrounded her. The hideous undead began to chant those same horrible, degrading words, over and over again. She covered her ears and fell to her knees, sobbing and shrieking in terror. The sorceress laughed again and her mocking voice echoed among the mob.
As despair tore through Angelina's sobbing body, one voice outnumbered the rest and brought silence to fall among those present. The tones were warm and vibrant, sending a peace cascading to her heart. Wiping at her tears, she looked up and beheld the form of her beloved a far off. Dressed in golden robes that shone bright as the sun, he walked with pride, his head held high. Behind him, there came a widening vision of a flowering forest, violets waving at the trees' roots. The further he walked towards her, the larger the panorama grew. The multitude of undead parted and cowered in fear as he strode into their midst, stopping in front of Angelina.
A smile came to his handsome face as he extended a hand and drew her up in front of him. A sadness swept through his eyes as the desert wind tousled his black hair. "Why are you afraid, my love? Do you not know that I am with you even now?"
She fell against his chest and was held within his sheltering arms. "Oh, Adam, I want to believe but I cannot shake the demons of my past. They will haunt me forever and will destroy us both. I cannot fight them alone!"
His warm chuckle rumbled deep from his lungs and he drew away to cast his compassionate, hazel eyes upon her. "When have I ever said that you have to fight anything alone, my beautiful angel? Come close and we will face this together. Never again will you have to be alone."
Her heart too full to speak, she let herself be pulled close to his side, sheltered against his shoulder as she clung to his neck. Then he turned on the old sorceress, who was appearing less certain of her threats. He stared coldly, his eyes flicking to the old hag then to the undead skeletons and back again.
"Your control is no more. Be gone from this place of horror, you no longer have any power."
"I think not! I own that woman and I will do what I like with her destiny. Young man, stand aside! I am taking her with me into the darkest depths, to live in eternity with me."
The sorceress cackled gleefully and gestured for her army to advance, their bony fingers reaching outward for their prey. Angelina gasped and buried her face in Adam's neck. His voice boomed again, louder and stronger than a multitude a thousand strong.
"Angelina Dioli cannot be claimed because she already has been. I, Adam Cartwright of the Americas, declare my ownership of this desert flower!"
"We shall see for you are powerless to stake your claim. What strength do you possess that will begin to compare to mine?"
Angelina looked up fearfully but found a smile to be spreading across Adam's face. He peered down at her, winked and then raised his gaze to the colorless sky above. With his right hand, he held her tightly against himself and with his left, he reached for the heavens.
"I call upon the powers of pure love to be on my side and fight the evil before me now! Come forth and join me in this most noble of causes!"
At first, nothing occurred and the sorceress began to laugh again, mocking his entreaty. However, then Angelina felt the strangest of feelings wash over her, a warmth that filled her being. Looking down, she discovered that her mother's white kaftan, its rips having been repaired, had been placed upon her and a glittering necklace of the purest gold glistened by her throat. Her attention was captured by the sky as it turned indigo, cream clouds clashing together with a clap of thunder. The airy plumage swirled faster and faster until culminating into a perfect heart. Then with a boom of the loudest magnitude, the heart cracked in two and lightning streamed down to be caught in Adam's hand. His eyes dissolved into pools of blinding light, his hair turned white and power surged within his body. The electrifying stream from the heavens was linked to his fingers as he turned to the sorceress.
For the first time, the old woman appeared afraid and Angelina could not believe her eyes. Adam chuckled once more but with a hard edge that sounded gleeful. Extending his index finger, he let the blue electricity snap from his grasp and hit the hag. She screamed viciously as her body burst into flames and was instantly vaporized. In one blinding flash, every one of the gruesome skeletons were each struck and dissolved into dust, blown away by the wind.
The radiance caused Angelina to bury her face into Adam's chest until the light began to dim. Quiet fell across the desert, the clouds dissipating as she slowly moved from Adam's side. The tents still stood but they were but empty shells of a lost life. She thought about searching their interiors and seeing what secrets they may hold but decided against such action. She needed to let those memories go. Craning her neck, she looked back to her love who had regained his earthly appearance, his golden robes fluttering gently in the breeze. He cocked his head, regarding her thoughtfully. His hand was extended to her and she smiled, joyful tears spilling from her eyes.
Breaking into a run, she jumped into his arms and hugged him tight. He spun with her, laughing at her abandonment. When he set her down, she placed her hands upon his chest.
"Let us go home, Adam, I want to go home."
He nodded and smiled, taking her hand within his own and placing it in the crook of his left arm. "Then lead the way, my lady."
With one last look back at her past, she faced forward and matched steps with him, walking into the forest. As she admired the violets and smiled up at Adam, his gentle face blurred into darkness and the pain returned. This time, however, she wasn't afraid and braced herself to ride out the agony. At length, darkness overcame her and she gave herself up to it.
When her eyes opened again, the cabin's rafters greeted her gaze and Adam's even breathing was brushing against her cheek. Turning her head, she beheld his beautiful, tired face in deep slumber. She tried her hardest to listen to his heartbeat but, try as she might, that blessed sound wouldn't come. A startling realization struck her, being that the crazed hunger that had dodged her every moment was no longer in effect. She couldn't smell his blood nor craved its delicious sweetness. While she would usually hear every single noise outside, now only the sound of his quiet breath filled her ears.
The gift of human form had been granted her and she was mortal once more.
Tears streamed from her eyes and the joy overwhelmed her. Turning her body carefully so as not to disturb her beloved, she brought her free hand to his neck. She gasped, not ready for the warmth that could be felt under her fingertips. Her fingers traveled over his shoulder, his side and to his hip. All along his body, she could feel the heat and felt an overwhelming desire to snuggle close. She realized that she felt...chilled!
She inched herself closer and curled against his chest, slipping her arm under his and grasping his back in a hug. There she remained, sheltered in his quiet strength, and then let the tears flow. She cried until there was no more moisture to be found. Her eyes ached and felt puffy which was strange but more pressing was the fatigue that came over her. The strangest wave of contentment passed over her and she realized that her body was falling asleep. As he lay with a hand upon her waist and his nose buried in her hair, she held Adam's exhausted body in her arms and fell asleep for the first time in fifteen decades.