Spellbound

Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. I have been so neglectful of my other stories that I've been working extra hard at fixing the mistakes that I'll probably miss but I'm making the chapter extra long to make up for my neglectfulness. I hope that you all enjoy this bonus chapter. Until next time, happy reading and remember ...the characters belong to CH but as always, the story idea belongs to me.

She was in a dark room. Darker than usual and it was an unusual darkness. It wasn't like any darkness she'd ever known. It was a darkness that she couldn't see in. It was a scary darkness. It was an eerie darkness. It was a deadly darkness. She sat up in what she believed to be a bed and waved her hand in front of her face. Nothing; she saw nothing. She couldn't see her hand. She couldn't see her surroundings. She could see nothing.

She then closed her eyes and smiled. She almost laughed at herself. She realized that she may have popped herself in their bedroom without even realizing it while she was sleeping. It could have happened; especially with her senses being out of whack and the overwhelming need to be near her husband. That's probably what is.

"How can I be so stupid?" she asked herself. "I'm in our room." But as soon as the words left her mouth, she knew that she was wrong. She was dead wrong.

She reached for the bedside lamp and just as she suspected, it wasn't there. There was no lamp. There was no nightstand. There was nothing. Again, she closed her eyes but this time she didn't smile. She knew that something wasn't right. She wasn't in their bedroom. She wasn't in their home. She was in danger. She knew all of this but showed no fear. Her pulse did not quicken. Her heartbeat did not race. Her breathing remained steady. She did not perspire. She remained seated on the bed … the chaise … the cot or whatever it was and said nothing.

She remained calm.

As she opened her eyes, she opened her hand; expecting her light to fill the room but there was nothing. She wanted to call out to her husband but something told her not to. She decided that it was best to listen to the little voice in her head and keep quiet. She began to think of where she could possibly be and who she could possibly be with but no place and no one came to mind. She then placed her hand on her stomach. For some reason, she felt that she needed to comfort the baby. The baby was fine and for now, the baby was in no danger but she had a strong feeling that they both could be. As she comforted their baby, she was filled with something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. It wasn't fear. It was something that she'd grown to know all too well since she and her husband had reconnected.

Anxiety

She was no longer with him. He wasn't close by. He was nowhere near her. She couldn't sense him at all. They weren't together. She couldn't smell him. She couldn't touch him. She couldn't feel him. It isn't that he was gone. She is but she wouldn't be for much longer. She needed to go back to him. If she didn't, it was going to be bad. It was going to be really bad. They wouldn't survive without each other. She had to be with him. He had to be with her. There was no other way around it. They are soul mates. She had to get home to him and nothing was going to keep her from doing so. She wasn't going to wait for something to happen. She was going to make it happen but she was too late.

There was a booming sound that filled the hollow room that she was being held in. She'd heard the boom before; the metal door slamming into the concrete wall. She then heard another sound. This too was a familiar sound. It was the sound of footsteps echoing in the vacant hallways. The sounds didn't worry her. The sounds didn't make her freeze in place. They made her curious. They made her wonder how she knew these sounds and why she couldn't quite get a grip on where she was.

The scratchy blanket that once covered her legs was soon kicked to the floor. Her bare feet rested on the cold, damp, and concrete floor. She was in a basement; a familiar basement. It then dawned on her. She knew where she was. She wondered how on earth she'd ended up in this basement; in this place. This was a place that held the unknown. The uncertain stayed here. Not their people. It wasn't a place that they were supposed to go to on a whim. Only certain members of the fae were given access here. She was the only member of the royal family that has ever been allowed in this basement.

Before his death, Niall made it law that no one but her and a select few were to ever be allowed in this room. She was allowed because of her gifts. It was a death sentence for others. Even he never stepped foot in the basement without someone being with him. He said that it was not because he was fearful of what it held but because of what it means. He said that it's the home of the worst kind.

"How did I end up in Faery? How did I come to be in this room?" she whispered to the darkness. When she'd laid down for her nap, she was at home and laying on the couch in the living room.

Her thoughts were broken when the sobs of children filled the stale, damp air. She got up from the bed and ran to the door. Resting the palms of her hands against the door as she pressed her ear to it, she could hear the sobs of the children getting louder. She stepped away from the door and looked at the knob. The little voice in her head told her to stay put and to leave the children alone but this time she ignored the voice. With her eyes still on the doorknob the turned and it happened.

It opened.

Without an ounce of hesitation, she walked in the direction of the sobbing children. They needed her to save them. She could see them in her head. They were being held captive and they had no way to escape. She could feel their fear. They were frightened. They were alone and only she could save them. She was their only hope. The little voice told her not to go but she has to go to them. They were children. She couldn't standby and watch children suffer. She couldn't knowingly leave them without at least trying to help them. The idea of them being lost here was more than she could handle.

She was no longer walking. The bun that she'd worn her hair in was gone. Her blonde hair flowed behind her. The long, lacy white gown that someone had dressed her in was fluttering around her feet; the dampness from the cold, concrete floor soaked the hem. With her hand protectively cradling her stomach, she ran as fast as she could.

"Mommy!" they called out.

There is no mommy for them. She knew that there was no need in looking around to see if someone else would magically appear. She knew that she was the only one there. The footsteps that she'd heard earlier had no owner. She knew that they were mere echoes in the empty hallway. She was alone. She knew that the missing mommy wasn't going to suddenly appear because she nowhere to be found. The mommy wasn't coming to save them but she couldn't tell them that. They were scared and lonely children. She had to do what she had to do. She would save them and tell them the truth.

"Mommy," they yelled louder and louder.

"I'm coming!" she called out to the children. "I'm coming!" She ran faster than she's ever run before.

She ran until she reached the end of the long and empty hallway. There were no children there for her to save. The sobbing had stopped. The fear that the children had felt was no longer saturating the air. They were gone. The children had vanished.

"Where are you?" she cried out.

Nothing; the children said nothing.

She began to cry. "Where are you? I can't help you if you don't tell me where you are." For the first time since realizing that she was no longer in her comfort zone, she began to panic. She began to feel fear.

Suddenly, everything stopped though no nothing was moving. The hallway was no longer empty. She was no longer alone. When she turned to her right, there they were. The children stood behind a glass wall. She walked over to the glass wall and stared at the little boys. She almost reached out to touch the glass but she heard the little voice again and this, she knew to listen. She didn't take another step forward. She looked down at the hand that rested on her stomach and then back at the children that were on display.

The children were no longer sobbing. They were smiling and jumping up and down. They were reaching out to her. She'd never seen two happier children in her life. The two tow-headed little boys with the bright brown eyes stared back her. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that they knew her … that they were waiting for her. They acted as if she was the mommy that was supposed to save them. They knew that no one else was going to come to save them. It was supposed to her all along. No one else was supposed to save them. There was no mommy. There was only her.

"Mommy!" they said to her as their smiled broadened.

As she studied the boys' faces, she realized that she knew them. No; she knew of them. She'd seen them before. They were the little boys from her dream. In her dream they were the sons that she shared with Eric; or so she'd thought but she was wrong. They belonged to another. Their father was a faery. He wasn't her husband. Their father was man that she didn't know. She'd never seen the faceless man. She didn't know these boys either. She didn't want to know them. They weren't hers. She could suddenly feel something evil and dark coming from them. She took a step back; this time wrapping her arms protectively around their unborn child.

"I'm not your mommy," she said.

"Mommy, you love us," they sang to her. "You love only us, mommy."

"No. I don't know you."

"Don't be cruel, mommy. You have to let it go. We are your children. We are your children." They repeated it over and over again. Pointing at her stomach, they said, "That's not real. That's not your baby."

"I don't know you," she screamed at them.

She took another step back. Suddenly her pulse began to quicken. Her heart began to race. Her breathing became shallow and hurried. She began to perspire. She took another step back and pretty soon her back was pressed against the cold concrete wall. The boys hated her husband and their baby. They wanted to cause harm to Eric. They wanted to kill the baby. Her arms tightened around their baby.

"No," she said.

"It's not like us. It's not good for us."

"This is our child!" she yelled as she cradled their unborn child. "You don't exist. You're no more than a faded dream that was never meant to be. You're a nightmare!" she screamed.

"We don't have to be," they sang to her.

She stood tall and said, "But you are. You'll be no more than a faded dream."

They boys were no longer smiling. Their faces were emotionless. Their eyes were dead. Their bodies were pressed against the glass. The children wanted to harm the baby that's going to change the fate of the supernatural world. They wanted to harm the baby that was made because of the love that a vampire and fae share. They didn't want this baby to be. They wanted to take the place of their baby.

"Why?" she whispered as tears fell from her eyes.

"Because we are your children," they said. "We are your true children. We are of your blood."

She sobbed for her baby.

"Mommy!" they growled at her. Their faces were pressed against the glass. Their little fists began to bang against the glass. Their eyes were black and lifeless orbs. "MOMMY!"

She screamed as her arms tightened protectively around their unborn child. She slid down the concrete wall and screamed.