He was waiting for her, as she finally made it home. Usually she wouldn't be happy about him standing in front of her door and waiting. What if the neighbors saw it? What if anybody who knew him and her saw it? But today she was too exhausted to think about it. As soon as she stepped out of the car, his arms were around her. Despite the darkness he could see her red and puffy eyes, the tear streaked face.
"What happened? Where have you been Vera? You didn't answer any of my texts." She didn't read them. Actually when she was sitting at her daughters grave, she had left her phone in the car. And even after that she didn't dare look at it, knowing very well that he would try to reach her. "I'm tired" Was all she managed to say and he didn't try and stop her, when she went for the front door.
He knew better than to push her. Instead he just followed her, helped her out of her jacket and and when she went straight to her bedroom, he didn't say anything either. She let herself fall onto the bed, too exhausted to even get out of her clothes. And then she looked up at him. "stay with me tonight?" He usually never did, mostly because his friends already grew suspicious enough whenever he stayed out late. Sometimes he did wonder if they really were his friends or rather his parents.
But as Vera was looking up at him with those sad eyes, he couldn't say no. He wouldn't have said no anyways, no matter how she would have asked. But this was actually the first time she had asked him to stay, so he crawled on the bed right next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "As long as you want me to." With her head on his chest she listened to his heart beat and it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.
Hamish on the other hand stayed awake for quite a while, just watching her, wondering where she had been and why she had been crying. Maybe she would tell him, maybe she wouldn't. He would just have to wait and give her some time.
Something was watching. She could feel their eyes following her around, as she walked down the path. The sky was already darkening, as she finally managed to reach a village. But this place, it was empty, abandoned, not a soul around. And some of the houses looked like they were about to collapse. What was this place and why did she come here? A couple more steps and suddenly she felt a hand wrap around her waist, pulling her back against a body. A cold body. "You're here, my love."
She would recognize that voice anywhere and without hesitation she turned around, capturing that mans lips in a heated kiss. And once they broke apart he stared at her, with those beautiful eyes. Silver eyes that looked straight into her soul.
"I missed you so much." His voice was deep and soft and as always it sent shivers down her spine and she couldn't help but smile at him. He gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, wrapping his other arm a little tighter.
"They will come for you soon." Her voice was thick with worry. "They hunt what they fear and they fear you, for they don't know you. You need to hide or leave-"
"Will you leave with me then?" He wouldn't let her finish because he knew what she wanted him to do. This wasn't their first conversation like this. "You know that my father would never let me go. If he ever found out about us. He sees you as a demon." Her voice started shaking. "If he could, he would drag you to hell himself only to keep me away from you." A single tear made its way down her cheek. "And yet you are here, in my arms and he is nowhere to be seen. If we were to run now, he would never know where we were going."
It was a beautiful thought, being with him and no one else. Just the two of them against the world. But the world was no weak opponent. The world was huge and cruel. There would always be people after him, misunderstanding and hunting him.
Suddenly the scenery started changing, The sun was rising and there was no abandoned village. She was standing on a field of flowers, beautiful colorful flowers. Was it spring? Or maybe early summer? And the man in front of her was a different one. Blond locks framing an angelic face with piercing blue eyes.
"Don't worry, what he is asking me to do, I will not. I could never force you to do that." A voice fitting of the angelic appearance. She was crying now and he didn't dare touch her the same way that other man did before. "Joan, you love him, don't you?" She barely managed to nod, her body now shaken by sobs. "And he loves you too? Are you sure about this?" Finally she managed to look up at him, nodding again.
"We talked about it. And even though he was not happy, he agreed this would be the only way. My father will never believe you otherwise. You can lie to him as much as you want, he will know. He always knows everything." It was a truth the man could not deny. Yet it broke his heart to think about what she was proposing. What everybody in this situation was proposing actually. How could a father be like that towards his own daughter? He could never understand. But then again, he was no human. Never had he been able to understand those creatures and their intentions.
And once again the background blurred, the man disappeared. Only the face of the woman, Joan, stayed where it was, until she was inside a house. Her eyes half closed, face covered in sweat. And somewhere in the background somebody was crying. No it wasn't just somebody. They were babies. Her babies. "Look at them, aren't they beautiful? Two very beautiful girls." A woman said to her as she came to the bed, giving her one of the babies. "Two?" a stern voice came from somewhere beside her. "Let me see them." It was a mans voice.
"No, Joan, what have you done?" He sounded angry with a side of disappointment. "Father I-" He wouldn't let her speak. Instead he just got angrier. "Quiet. Don't call me father if you can't be the obedient daughter you should have been. You have brought disgrace over our family. What would your mother say?" It was then that the midwife stepped in. "Sir, your daughter is weak. This is not the time to talk about these matters. I'm not saying you can't scold her but maybe give her a day to rest first."
He wasn't used to women talking to him that way, but he could see the state his daughter was in. And despite how angry he was, he did not want her to come to any more harm, so instead of ranting he just left.
And as soon as he was out of the house the midwife turned towards the exhausted woman. "you have to leave. You have to take your daughters and go as far away as you can. Of course you will need to rest a little but as soon as the sun goes down I will help you get out of here unnoticed." She had to leave? But why? Her head was too foggy, too tired to really understand what was going on and so it was no surprise that while the midwife was still saying something to her, she was already drifting away into darkness.
And for the first time in a while, Vera did not wake up screaming or shaking, but instead very confused about what she had seen. It was the same woman from before. Joan, was that her name? Ignoring the arm that was draped around her, she suddenly jumped out of bed, running towards her purse. That action didn't get unnoticed as it woke Hamish up and left him confused.
And as he followed her to see, where she was suddenly running, he found her in the living room, a piece of paper on the table, scribbling some words onto that paper. As he got closer he saw the drawing. "Vera? What is going on?" She didn't answer him. Instead she just kept making notes, by now on a second, blank sheet of paper. He sat down next to her and tried to read what she was writing, only to be confused once more.
"Hey." He grabbed her wrist and stopped her motion. "Talk to me, what is this about?" Finally she tore her gaze from the paper towards him. "Her name is Joan, the woman from my dreams. And she was in love with a werewolf. They had twins, sisters." Suddenly she turned back to what she was doing and wrote down some more stuff.
Hamish couldn't help but stare at her. "What woman? And what dreams are you talking about? Vera, are those dreams a reflection of what's going on with us?" She could hear the mockery in his voice. And she knew he was grinning, without having to look at his face. Of course, they had never really talked about what it was between them. They knew they felt for the other, but never said those words out loud. But this dream was not about them.
"Hamish, those sisters I told you about, the prophecy. It is linked to that woman from my dreams. I believe she is their mother." That being said she took the drawing and literally held it to his face, wiping the grin right off of it. " He took the drawing from her hands and looked at it for a moment. She was pretty. Her eyes reminded him of Veras, the lips as well. "Did you draw this?" She blushed slightly and chose not to answer. He was the second person now to find out about her secret skill. "You should draw more often."
It wasn't that bad of an idea, actually. Thinking back to the other people she had seen in this dream, suddenly she jumped up again. "You're right, I need to draw some more." That being said she disappeared only to return with a bunch of pencils and paper. "Hamish, she was in love with a werewolf. I saw him, his silver eyes. And everybody was afraid of him. Her father wanted to kill him." Listening to her, this really did sound like a reflection of themselves. If anyone were to find out about their relationship, the order, which would be an equal to the father, would go after them. After him in particular.
"I think, what if the curse has something to do with that secret love of theirs, with him being a wolf? Or maybe the father did something." She had already started scribbling and this time the face took shape a little faster than before. "Ok, Vera, you know what, I'll make us some tea." Did he not believe her? Vera was a little confused about his reaction. Or maybe it was too early in the morning. What time was it anyways? A glance at the clock revealed it was 4 am. "Lavender for you?"
When he returned with the cups she took hers and started sipping. "And now, you can start from the beginning. Tell me everything about those dreams, when they started and what they were about." She had not expected that from him, but was relieved and so she started explaining everything she knew so far.