Part 6
"We've been expecting this for some time Alex," said Damon Blake.
Alex had left New York with great reluctance, but knew that she truly needed to think before she made any irreversible decisions. She needed to talk to her parents at least. She missed Aaron intensely and Dave nearly as much, as the three of them had spent the last week talking and laughing for hours together. Aaron had been right in the fact that Dave was a very charming man, but then, a lot of Italians were. She had canceled her return ticket to Washington and got another to Kentucky where she had grown-up. Her parents had greeted her with surprise, but also happiness at her visit.
"What do you mean you've been expecting it?" Alex questioned immediately.
"Just that I had a dream," Damon explained looking a little uncomfortable. While Damon Blake was a warlock and a powerful one at that, he wasn't comfortable talking about certain aspects of it. Not everybody accepted those with magic and so it was better just to keep it to yourself. A lot of normal people wanted a witch's power and there was no way to give them to anybody who had not been born with the gift. It didn't mean that magicals hadn't been kidnapped before and experimented on, so Damon had every right to be cautious.
"A dream about the future," Alex said knowingly. Damon was a powerful seer but luckily, future dreams didn't bother him very much. Those dreams had saved the lives of her father and her brother Scott though unfortunately, Danny had died. Her father still felt guilty about that Alex knew, but sometimes there was nothing you could do to prevent a tragedy, even within your own family. Some things were simply meant to happen that no one could prevent.
"Yes," Damon answered. "It wasn't so much a dream actually, as a vision."
"So what did you see?" Alice asked.
"I actually saw this woman that could be your identical twin and she told me her name was Blaire and that we were distant descendants, related to her through her son, Bryce. She was nothing more than a ghost really, a shade and appeared right in our bedroom. She explained she had come to me for a reason and then told me what that reason was."
"Both of us were rather shocked at what we learned," Alyssa, Alex's mother, added.
"She told us that she had cursed your Aaron with immortality, because he needed to learn a lesson about how to treat others and this was the only way. She said he was rude, arrogant and entitled, but that there was a great compassion and kindness in him if it could only be awoken. She said that he had been raised in a rather...well, not abusive environment precisely, but still, he wasn't raised with appropriate rules for bad behavior."
"She then showed us a scene of you and Aaron together and both of you looked very happy. You were heavily pregnant with child and looked absolutely blissful," Damon added. "I have no idea whether it was your first or some other child that the two of you were having."
Alex was nodding at this because it matched with what Aaron had told her. The fact that she had gotten pregnant by Aaron according to the ghost of Blaire was something she was going to have to think about later.
"It basically matches with what Aaron told me," Alex explained. "He told me that he was never abused, not physically, but was basically left to grow up on his own. He also said that he didn't dare make friends, with any of the servants children, as his parents would've heard about it sooner or later and the whole family would've been kicked out of their home, for allowing such a travesty to occur."
"Not as much was known about children back then," Alyssa said. "It probably never even occurred to the parents that children need others to play with."
"No, Aaron said they were rather cold and distant and didn't spend any time with him at all. He was sure their marriage was arranged, as that was popular back when he was born especially in wealthy families. Of course, he didn't know for sure, but it does make sense and is likely exactly what occurred," Alex said.
"Yes, it does, and it's very likely that it was considering the time," Damon said.
"What else did Blaire say," Alex asked curiously.
"She said that she was a powerful seer in her own right and that she was requesting that we not object when you did meet this Aaron who had a rather sordid past. She said that he will be a good man when he and your daughter meet and to not put up any resistance to the relationship, just because of his past, as that would only hurt you and would probably make you keep your distance from your family, because you would've gone against our wishes."
"Something I will never allow," Alyssa said firmly. "I've already lost Danny I'm not going to lose my daughter to just because of Damon's stubbornness and my daughter's pride and stubbornness. You would still be alive, but you wouldn't visit us, or talk to us over the phone or email. You're stubborn and prideful enough to cut off all contact if your feelings are involved. It would take a long time to heal such a family rift, even if it was possible. According to Blaire this Aaron Hotchner she and you have mentioned is now a good man, so his past shouldn't matter nor should his age, since he probably looks about as old as you do," Damon said.
"A few years older actually, as he looks around 40 so I suspect that's when he was turned immortal. 40 was quite old in the time he was born."
"So are you going to tell us how you met him sweetheart?" Damon asked.
"I met him in New York, where I was given a series of lectures at Columbia," Alex explained. "They had been wanting me to come and give some lectures on linguistics for some time and I had always turned them down in the past, as I was happy in Washington. I finally gave in though. I had heard about this place that was named for the original in Italy. It was called the Rosewood Villa. I was fascinated by the history of the place and not just the one in New York, but the one that used to exist in Italy outside of Florence."
"You and your history," Alyssa chuckled.
"Hey!" Alex protested with a smile. "I can't help that I find history very interesting, especially about places that have so many stories to tell. If only walls, floors and ceilings could talk the stories would be endlessly fascinating I'm sure. Besides, those that don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it or at least that's what a famous author once said. In any case, it's a very finely built hotel that is not an exact copy from what I understand, but close. I enjoyed my stay there very much and I never expected to meet anyone that fascinates me as much as Aaron Hotchner does. I felt drawn to him from the very beginning and I wasn't sure why until fairly recently. Yes, there is such thing as lust and attraction, but it was always more than that. We bought each other breakfast on opposite mornings in the hotel's restaurant, nearly every morning I was there. He took me out to many restaurants, and to a concert in the park one afternoon. I've never enjoyed the company of a man so much."
"It sounds like your decision is made then," Damon said. "We'd like to meet him of course, but will be happy to accept him into the family."
"Not quite yet, dad," Alex protested. "I need time to think and I told Aaron as much. He understood and said it would not be fair of him to beg me to stay. He told me his heart is now on the line, that he had never allowed himself to fall in love, because he knew most people would never accept his past or believe in immortality."
"Or they would, but want it for all the wrong reasons," Damon said and Alex nodded soberly in agreement.
"You do love him Alex. It's as plain as daylight," Alyssa told her daughter gently. "The way you talk about him is enough to let me know that you have the same feelings he does. From what you've told us that poor man has been through so much if he really is 700 years old. That means that he was born in the latter half of the medieval period and there were many dark times back then. Many people died at a young age due to some incurable illness."
"People were tortured, particularly witches and warlocks when they were discovered," Damon added with a grimace. "Magical users were often not accepted back then, depending on the country and whether or not the authorities used magicals in various positions in the government. It was a dark time for witches and warlocks. That this Aaron Hotchner survived all that and turned into a decent man says something about his personality and intelligence. You know that some people never change no matter how many life altering experiences they have."
"I know," Alex agreed, as she sipped her tea.
Alex's feelings were in turmoil, which was really not surprising considering. Did she really want to uproot her whole life over a guy? She was well aware that the relationship might not go anywhere despite the ghost of Blaire showing up in her parents bedroom. Why would she want to move thousands of miles away, from where she had settled? Did she really love Aaron Hotchner enough to change her whole life? Magicals were supposed to be flexible and move if they had to, but she was also human and she was settled where she was.
There had been times in the past where somebody would try to kill the local magical user and their entire family who had done no one any harm, just because witches and warlocks were often feared and misunderstood back during the dark ages especially. The dark ages were long before they had gathered in communities, in most large cities like Kentucky. There was a magical section in most cities now just like there was a section for the Chinese, where magicals of every stripe could gather and be themselves. Visitors were of course were welcome, so long as they meant no harm.
They had their own police force that was mostly made up of magicals, with a few regular cops thrown in, though they did have to go to the police academy, just like the regular cops and get qualified. That wasn't to say that weren't some magicals working in the parts of the city that were mostly regular people, with maybe the odd magical thrown in, ones that didn't want to live in a magical section of the city, because they were married to a mundane, or because they had a regular job.
Was her mother right? Did she love this Aaron Hotchner enough to last for the next five centuries and more? Could she stand losing her family and living centuries after they were gone instead of joining them eventually. She might not visit as much as she liked, but at least she saw them a few times a year and they kept in constant contact.
"That you need to think about it is obvious sweetheart," Damon told his daughter. Privately though, he agreed with his wife that Alex was already in love with this Aaron Hotchner, but his daughter was also stubborn, so it was better to let her figure it out for herself. If they didn't, then Alex would only dig in her heels and resist her feelings, which would cause her untold pain and this Aaron as well.
"So does your Aaron have any close friends?" Alyssa asked, already knowing the answer.
Alex didn't protest at Aaron being called hers, even though she wasn't sure she agreed with her mother or not.
"Yes, David Rossi, he owns the hotel I stayed at, the Rosewood Villa. He's also immortal, as Aaron turned him when he was dying, with his permission."
"So this David Rossi was dying you said," Damon questioned with interest and Alex nodded.
"Yes, according to them both he had been stabbed in the belly, a fatal wound. He and Aaron had been friends for several years. According to Aaron he was on his way to visit his friend. It was apparently a nightly thing to talk for awhile, to share a nightcap. Dave always had decent alcohol according to Aaron, as he had done quite well for himself. He was a scholar and helped people write letters and other documents. At the time scholars were in high demand as literacy wasn't exactly very common, except in the higher class. Aaron found him not far from his home with a knife in his belly. It was long enough ago that it was unlikely the doctors would be able to do anything at all, because even if blood loss didn't kill him, infection would."
Damon and Alyssa were nodding at this. What had happened to Aaron's friend Dave happened long enough ago that he might've had a 10 to 15% chance of surviving. Any type of doctor, even if one could be found in time, would've had a very low chance of saving Dave's life. While possible, the odds were against it. While some magicals had the ability to heal, there probably hadn't been any close by and even if they had been they probably wouldn't have thought of it if there was.
"Aaron admits that he wasn't sure his blood was going to work, but his friend was dying anyway, so he figured the risk was low. Dave of course, agreed to it and Aaron was glad, as he was the only one that knew his full past, accepted it and didn't disdain him for it, wasn't disgusted or outraged. Aaron had tried to tell others he was close to in the past, although not about the immortality of course and they turned away from him when they learned about what kind of person he had been."
"Well, there's a lot of idiots in the world that don't like to have their worldview dramatically shifted. They are determined to see the world exactly the way they want to, and nothing is going to change that opinion, because as far as they are concerned it's set in titanium." Damon commented and the two women laughed, because this was a common saying in the Blake household. "Some people just can't or refuse to understand that somebody can change it they go through something life altering."
"That's exactly what I told Aaron to, as he feared I would reject him for his past alone. I had gotten to know this current version though and it's someone I like very much. He's intelligent, kind, compassionate and generous with the fortune he has made over the centuries," Alex said
"So have you ever heard of this Blaire before her ghost appeared to you, dad?" Alex asked next.
"No, but it was so long ago that if anything was ever written down would be lost or turned into dust by now," Damon said shaking his head. "It's unlikely that the magical authorities would have approved of what she did no matter how rude Aaron happened to be. They might not even have been forgiving if Blaire had told them about what she had seen. Of course, if our ancestor really did have a vision then it was going to happen anyway, but it still, could've gotten her in a lot of trouble. It was still in the dark ages after all and witches and warlocks were often reviled instead of accepted. I'm not really surprised that there is no documentation or that stories weren't passed down from generation to generation. She might even have been put to death for it and it would have depended on if the authorities had believed she'd had a vision or thought she was making it up. I would say she had no more then a 40/60 chance of them believing her and the odds probably aren't even that high. Come to think of it, that's probably why she appeared to us, as there would've been nothing to guide us into making the correct decision about you and Aaron once you had met him. Your mother knew I might very well have decided against him in the end, which would've made both of you miserable and I have no doubt that you would've disobeyed us."
Alex was nodding at this, as she knew her magical history. Her father had made sure she and her brothers had learned, so that they wouldn't make any of the same mistakes as their ancestors. While magicals were more accepted in what was the 21st-century that didn't mean there hadn't been some incidents and tensions were still high in some places, mostly small towns. This was why witches and warlocks tried their best to blend in. They didn't let very many people know that they were different from mundanes.
"Back to the subject of Aaron's friend, I doubt the council would have approved of him turning this Dave immortal, even though he was dying. Yes, it was something of a lucky chance that Aaron thought about trying his blood, considering the time he was born, where a lot of medical knowledge had not been discovered yet. The decade would have been what? About the end of the dark ages?" Damon said.
"About that," Alex agreed. "Dave was changed around 200 years later, less a few decades."
"You realize of course, if you are going to accept Aaron's love that you will have to be changed as well, as I can't see Aaron ever accepting you dying on him. He seems like the type that once he gives his heart to someone, it is forever and is unchangeable as the sun rising," Alyssa said.
"I know, that's one reason it's such a hard decision." Alex said. "We would have to go to the council, explain what happened. Aaron can hardly be penalized for being changed into an immortal, because while it was his actions that caused our ancestor to cast the curse in the first place he had no idea that she was a witch or that such a thing was even possible. While they might penalize him for turning his friend, it happened so long ago, I don't see them doing that considering he had no idea that he had to go to the council, as he didn't even know that such a body existed."
"And it didn't until about 400 years ago," Alyssa mentioned.
"Exactly," Alex agreed. "Now, if either man had committed any major crimes recently, I could understand the council punishing them for it, even though they're not magicals themselves. After all, you can't exactly prosecute an immortal through a mundane court, as the judges, lawyers and so forth would never believe in immortals and even if they did they would never understand."
"You can't really put an immortal in prison, particularly for a life sentence, as it's not like they're going to die in a few decades," Damon said. "They're never going to age after all, though I suppose they can die in a prison fight."
"From all indications they're both good men," Alex said. "Dave created someplace similar to where he grew up. It's as close a replica as possible. He grew up in the servants quarters of the Rosewood Villa outside of Florence and was the son of the main cook and the chief stableman. It was a place he loved, so I could see him having it built as closely as he could to the original, even if he had to use different materials to build it. There are also things like electrical wiring for electricity and being up to code, something that didn't exist in the time Dave was born. Still, he did a good job of it having an old world ambience, with a modern feel. The service is exceptional. The other one had a stable, but this one doesn't, since horses are no longer used for the most part."
"Well, horses were basically the only way to to get around back when Dave was born," Alyssa said. "Other than carriages that is, which would still be pulled by horses."
"And carts to carry supplies from the nearest city, or to move goods from place to place," Alex added.
"The decision is yours Alex," Damon finally told his daughter. "Are you willing to uproot your life to be with this Aaron Hotchner. I don't see this Aaron ever marrying if you reject him. He might even find a way to kill himself as that's possible."
"Surely, he wouldn't do that," Alex said completely shocked.
That idea had never even occurred to her.
"It's happened in the past, sweetie, something I know you are aware of," Alyssa told her daughter firmly. "You told us yourself that he had never allowed himself to fall in love and from your descriptions perhaps he was turned immortal, so that you could meet in this time. Perhaps, Blaire knew that you were meant to be together, though her ghost didn't actually say so. You really do look like her twin you know, she had to know that she could never be with this Aaron in her own time, as she wasn't of the wealthy set and she was married, even had children. Those of wealth almost never married anybody beneath their station back so long ago, though it happened occasionally I'm sure," Alyssa said.
"You think I might be her incarnation," Alex said understanding where her mother was going with this.
"Yes, sweetie, it's very possible, you know that. I suppose it's also possible that you just look like her twin, as you are apparently from the same family after all, which means that it would be possible for you to grow up to look a great deal like her, without being her reincarnation."
"You think that she and Aaron were kept apart because of their different social classes back then and also because she was already married with a family," Alex said.
"You know that's the likely explanation, sweetie. Aaron should've been married himself if he hadn't left his home, because he didn't want to marry some 15 or 16-year-old. The fact that his parents didn't pay him any attention as a child might also have had something to do with it. You said he left, because he was restless and also because he believed his parents might've been arranging a marriage for him once he turned 25. You said he was surprised that they hadn't tried that when he was 21, but isn't it possible, that there was no females in his class that were of the appropriate age to marry at that time?"
"That's very possible actually," Alex said thoughtfully. "Not to mention arranged marriages back then took a lot of time to write up the contract, come to an agreement on what each family was going to receive once the marriage was complete. The father might not have necessarily informed his son that he was arranging a marriage for him, especially since it's apparent that they weren't close. Aaron however, would've known how his father's thought, as he was raised to know his place in society and what was expected of him, which is possibly the main reason he left and not just because he was restless."
"I can't exactly blame him for not wanting to be married to someone he likely never met," Damon said. "Someone who would likely be 5 to 10 years his junior. If he was a decent human being, at least in that way, he wouldn't want to be married to someone so young, as it might very well have seemed wrong to him, even if it was just the way things were done. Some people would not want to accept that that was just the way things were."
"I don't think he wanted to be married at all, or at least not to someone who would have been considered a child in our time. Of course, I realize that females would've been considered ready for marriage in the time Aaron was born and were also property where the father had the only say in what happened to his daughters. However, I can see Aaron not wanting to marry at all, so as to not have the same type of relationship that his parents had with each other, which was cold, unaffectionate and loveless. I can see him not wanting to put any child of his through such a lonely childhood, one where the parents ignored the child or children, to where they were raised by the servants or a nanny. To where they were never given a kind word or encouraged to do well in their studies, nor shown any type of affection at all, like a hug, or a kiss on the cheek. From what Aaron has said his parents were not the loving or affectionate type, not even with the child they had made together. The least they could have done was show the child they had created some affection."
"I'm sure he was glad to leave home, if the father really was planning his marriage. I'm surprised he didn't leave sooner," Alyssa said.
"It's possible he didn't get his full inheritance until he was 24 or 25," Damon said. "That might be why the father didn't arrange a marriage for his son either, as the parents of the woman that was chosen for Aaron might have been waiting for him to come of age, to get his full inheritance before the contract was signed. Of course, as Alyssa said, it might be that there were simply just no females of the same social status, of appropriate age until then."
"I can see that actually, though 24 was pretty old in the time Aaron was born, not so much in the wealthy class I suppose, but definitely for the poor," Alex said, not having considered that angle before and she doubted Aaron had either.
The three Blakes continued to talk after they had refilled their drinks for awhile longer, before Alex went to the old childhood room to rest, as it had been a tiring flight.
~~~Aaron, Dave, Alex~~~
Just two more chapters to go! Please I'm begging you review!
