Chapter Thirty – An Enemy Uncloaked
I can’t believe I wasn’t attacked and lift my head. The frightening shadowy creatures, vampires and even Nicholas and Jackson are gone. Pulling Marcus’ body further up shore, I call out to Jackson and Nicholas, hoping they were able to at least escape, but there is no response.
Straining to listen, I hear rustling through the trees, rise and begin running. My wet clothes are heavy; their weight slows me down. Seeing a faint incandescence in the distance, I move quickly towards it and can now see Jackson’s beautiful porcelain face and sandy hair. He is amidst three tall dark haired vampires shrouded in a dark mahogany radiating glow; his arms and legs are flailing, trying to break free. He kicks one in the face, but cannot free himself. My eyes search wildly for Nicholas, hoping he can help, but there is no sign of him as they move Jackson deeper into the now ominous forest. How am I going to help, if he can’t break free with all his strength? As they move forward, so do I. I need to catch up, do something. As the tall trees allow the darkness to claim us once more, I catch sight of a golden light streaking through the foliage toward Jackson. My eyes affix upon three of the most unmistakably beautiful porcelain faces.
I shake my head, they are in Brazil, it has to be an illusion, but the vision does not change. Eva, Serena and Damian are closing in on Jackson; Eva throws herself at one of the vampiric demons. Knocking him to the ground, she stabs him with a wooden stake in the torso. The creature opens its mouth as if to scream, but there is no sound, no movement as she leaves it immobile on the ground. She charges at one that is holding Jackson’s arm while Serena and Damian rip off the last one grasping his leg, successfully freeing him as others encircle them. Jackson hurls himself into the air, crashing into the one who is about to jump on Eva. As they fall toward the ground, Jackson’s hand is extended; Damian tosses him a stake which he catches without even looking up. Thrusting the stake into the vampire’s heart; Jackson pulls a lighter from his pocket and immediately, the vampire’s clothes are on fire. Some of the others retreat, while others forge ahead unfettered by the fact that one of their own lay burning.
Nicholas is nowhere in sight. Knowing I cannot help in this mayhem, I move in the direction the others came from calling out his name. If I can find him, I can at least alert the others and get him help. Straining to see, I finally catch sight of a crimson streak amidst the trees, darting after it despite the screams for me to stay, something pushes me down. Scrambling to my knees, my widening eyes focus on the horrific sight of Jonathan and another vampire, shrouded in mahogany light, attacking Nicholas, trying to rip him apart as he struggles without success to wrench his arms free. Gabriel and Andrew are approaching from behind. Their soft shimmer will soon give them away. My heart seizes, my blood turns cold and I am immobile as I watch with horror at what is approaching behind them. Bloody and fierce faced figures of Marie, Edward and Stephan shrouded in flaming shadows coiled like predators ready to strike them.
Calling upon every last vestige of strength I can manage, I force out a blood curdling scream that echoes off of the trees. Hands rise from the darkened earth grasping my ankles, fastening them to the earth. I struggle to wrench them free.
Stephan grabs Andrew from behind. Relief washes over me as Andrew tosses him like a rag doll, sending him cascading through the trees. Marie dives for him and misses, crashing into Edward. They disappear through the trees.
As Jonathan realizes the approaching threat, he calls out “Now!” Several creatures jump down from the trees, blocking their access to Nicholas.
I can’t believe Andrew is here, it has to be a mirage. I keep staring at him, but his image remains unchanged. His face focuses on the shadows that are enshrouding us all.
Jonathan pushes Nicholas towards me, shouting. “This is your last chance to survive, kill her!”
Nicholas yells. “Mia, run!”
I want to, but I’m tethered to the earth. Jonathan reaches into his pocket, removes a stake and plunges it into Nicholas’ chest. Nicholas falls to the ground motionless. At the same moment, Andrew falls motionless as well, but no shadow has touched him. Gabriel knocks down the vampire now grabbing him while lighting another’s shirt on fire. Reaching Andrew, Gabriel shakes his head searching wildly for the cause of Andrew’s immobility. A shadow is flying towards Andrew, but Gabriel lunges forward knocking him off balance. Jackson, Serena, Damian and Eva find us and join the fight, while Andrew and Nicholas lay helpless on the ground.
Jonathan twists the stake deeper into Nicholas. “You will destroy her and free yourself! He will destroy himself going after you and all of his power will be yours, if you don’t I will destroy you both!”
As I watch this unfolding horror, Eva lunges herself at Jonathan. I finally break free and crawl to a nearby Nicholas. Putting both hands firmly on the stake, I pull with all my might but the stake barely budges. Reaching further down, I pull again, removing it. Nicholas’s eyes close, but he lay there still and I don’t know if he is dead or alive.
I want to rush to Andrew but before I can get up, Marie, Stephan and Edward resurface, encircling me. Stephan’s ominous voice rings in my ears. “You led us here to die! How could you let us suffer like this?”
Edward chimes in. “Please save me!” Edward shrieks in pain. “Save me!”
I reach out to him. “What can I do?” I scream.
Jonathan breaks free and is approaching me, yelling out. “You can still save the boy if you trade places!”
“Don’t hurt him and I’ll...”
Nicholas hoists himself at me, his hand outstretched, knocking me to the ground grasping my mouth. “Don’t, it’s a trick. It’s not your family! They’re safe.”
Jonathan lunges at him, while he is still on me. In a flash Nicholas is on his feet and as the two collide, I hear a deafening crashing noise.
Sitting up, Stephan and Marie are upon Andrew who is fighting them while Jonathan and Nicholas are rolling around violently. They hit a tree, but merely leave a dent. I hear Jonathan. “I don’t understand what happened to you! All you had to do when your connection with him strengthened was to destroy her and allow him to seek revenge, bringing him to the darkness, and then you could have consumed him and all of his power! Why couldn’t you fulfill your destiny? How could you let her destroy you by siding with them? You will always be subservient to Him. There can only be one ruler in His world and it will never be you! Your own family will not even ever love you knowing what you are. There is still a chance, kill her and everything in the underworld, his world will be at your disposal!” They rip at each other shredding their shirts. There is no longer a hole in Nicholas’ chest from the stake.
Andrew successfully stakes Marie and Stephan, each lay paralyzed and no longer resemble my brother or his wife. He moves to help Serena who is surrounded. Jonathan and Nicholas continue to struggle. Their pendants tangle, intertwine and click several times. Nicholas’ once crimson light turns dull, pink almost, as if the crimson has mixed with white. I gasp seeing the light hovering above the pendant and then thrust into Nicholas’s chest, his body recoils back. Jonathan seizes the opportunity and bashes his head into the ground. Nicholas’ grabs his head. At that same moment, Andrew does the same.
Everything that is happening to Nicholas affects Andrew. My dreams of Nicholas emerging from Andrew along with the child being ripped in two blazes before me as the painting of the angel ascending on its shadowy counterpart flashes across my mind’s eye. Their touches are unlike any of the others, one icy cold and one hot. The connection and feelings that Nicolas described pushes their way to the forefront of my mind as Jonathan’s words concerning Andrew going after Nicholas and Nicholas consuming Andrew scream in my ears. The image of the missing light in Nicholas’ pendant for his mother collides with everything which is now revealing itself to me. Realization of a truth beyond comprehension hits me like a wrecking ball overwhelming me as my conscious observations and unconscious dreams
flash across my mind like an engrossing movie running parallel with the unfolding war between the incandescent and crimson lights. They are all connected, but my conclusion has to be wrong, they can’t be connected that way, but then how? My mind is spinning out of control. Time is running out, I need to make the true connections, quickly.
Jonathan lifts Nicholas throwing him like a rocket toward the jagged rocks. As he flies across the air, Nicholas features change, he looks more and more like Andrew, his hair even darker than this morning. His back hits the rocks. Undeterred, Jonathan hurls himself toward Nicholas, as Nicholas recovers and lunges himself at Jonathan. The fight is getting closer. I turn, Andrew is holding his own. Turning back, my mind cannot process what it sees and hears. “I’ll make it look like you killed her. You will be destroyed. No one will save you. No one will love you and you will forever burn in the abyss with your mother!” Although I hear Nicholas’ voice, his menacing utterances have to be coming from Jonathan, but how? Frozen, I stare at the two bodies rolling toward me. It is impossible to tell who is who, they both look like Nicholas.
In that very moment the meaning of his words become crystal clear. Jonathan is going to use his power of deception to make it look as if Nicholas kills me. Nicholas’ soul has been released, that was the strange light I saw thrashed into him. Andrew will avenge my death and by destroying Nicholas, he will destroy them both. Nicholas will die and Andrew will have made the decision to do evil, forever tying him to the darkness.
Even concentrating, I could not shift the images, see who is who, they are moving too quickly. They are inches from me. I’m knocked out of the way by something cold and hard. My shoulder cracks. I cannot breathe! Someone is protecting my head with his cold hands. I shriek. “Mia, I’m sorry. Where are you hurt?” It’s Jackson. I fight to focus, knowing there are only seconds before Jonathan will break free and carry out his plan.
“Jackson, listen!” I gasp. “You were right. Nicholas and Andrew are connected and Jonathan is going to destroy them both!” Jackson is ripped away from me and sent flying into a large spruce tree, cutting it in half. As the top topples, I scurry out of the way. A pair of hot hands grabs me. Looking up, I meet the fierce face of a vampire who bears her teeth. I scream. Someone yells. “She’s mine!” Digging her sharp nails in my already broken shoulder, I yell. Andrew has been driven at least fifty yards away from me, but the look of horror on his face is unmistakable. He struggles against two burly vampires holding him down. Tears veil my eyes, I blink furiously. I need to see where the yelling is coming from. I see Nicholas approaching me, but his murderously fierce eyes tell me it’s Jonathan. Scanning the area, for the real Nicholas, he is being held down, his mouth clamped by two vampires, moving him into the darkness.
I scream to Andrew. “It’s not Nicholas, its Jonathan! It’s ...” The vampire covers my mouth. I am going to be killed and Andrew is going to kill himself going against an innocent Nicholas.
As Jonathan’s words ring in my ears, my thoughts shift quickly through everything I heard, the connection he claims they have, how one will consume the other, how Nicholas believes he lived Andrew’s memories. These thoughts flood my consciousness as all of my unconscious observations finally force through and the wrecking ball which hit me earlier forcing the connections around in my consciousness meets the lightning bolt hitting my unconscious observations, forcing everything to intertwine in the forefront. Light finally pierces through the shadowy deceptions and I see the connections clearly. The realization which I thought beyond comprehension and forced aside is true. Andrew is not affected by Nicholas because they are twins. None of the others ever experienced anything remotely similar. Nicholas isn’t hearing Andrew’s thoughts or feeling an intimate connection now because of a special sibling bond. Andrew is affected by Nicholas and Nicholas by Andrew because they are one in the same, two sides of one coin! That’s why Andrew’s soul appears so white, Nicholas’s so red and all of the others are a mix. That’s the reason Nicholas is not remembered by Andrew or Eva, he wasn’t there before the conversion. Nicholas’ appearance resulted from the conversion.
Nicholas figured it out. He was right, he could feel Andrew because Andrew is an extension of him, and they are an extension of each other. He must have suspected that they are one in the same, but the realization was just too fantastical even for him to believe. Maybe that’s why he asked me if I could still love Andrew if Andrew had some of Nicholas in him.
The conversion fragmented not only Andrew’s mother soul, but Andrew, the good Andrew and bad Andrew (Nicholas). Then when Nicholas, despite what they wanted him to be, wanted him to do, chose to do good, it manifestly weakened their hold on this family. That’s why they attacked.
If the good Andrew chooses to do the wrong thing, if he chooses the evil solution, avenging my death and kills what he thinks is his brother, his darker side (Nicholas) will become more powerful, and he will consume the Andrew who wants the light. Both sides will converge, but it will be the dark side of Andrew (the old Nicholas version) who will victoriously emerge, forever threatening to hold this family to the darkness.
During their fight, Jonathan released the part of Andrew’s soul held in Nicholas’ pendant. In destroying Nicholas, Andrew will be destroyed too. Killing Nicholas will release a part of Andrew’s soul to be claimed forever by the abyss ensuring that he will always belong to the dark shadows.
I see a bright light encircling Andrew and he breaks free, but Jonathan is only a few feet away, he will never reach me before Jonathan does. All he will see is Nicholas kill me. It’s over. My heart sinks. I struggle, but can’t even free my lips to scream the truth to save either of them! If only I could have told Andrew what I finally figured out, at least my death would not have been in vain. I close my eyes as Jonathan lunges at me. I hear an intense crack but I do not feel additional pain. Am I dead? If I am, why do I still feel the pain in my shoulder? I’m falling sideways. Hitting my broken shoulder, pain radiates through my body and my eyes fly open. Cold arms embrace me, lifting me off of my shoulder. I can’t be! Andrew is holding me. My mind briefly registers Gabriel moving away from Jonathan as Jonathan is being forced back by three bright, golden, translucent light figures and one faint light reminding me of an echo. Blinking wildly, my mind is stunned. The illuminations resemble the little girl on the train, the young student in Minnesota, my mother and a beautiful young woman with golden hair and sparking hazel eyes.
Andrew lifts me. “We can’t leave Nicholas!” Andrew’s beautiful face contorts with anger. “He just tried to kill you! I have to get you out of here!”
“No!” I yell. “It wasn’t him, he’s over there!” I raise my good arm pointing to the trees.
Andrew turns and then his head is whipping between Nicholas in the trees to the Nicholas being driven back by the ghostly figures.
Jonathan registers what’s happening and yells. “Destroy him now!”
“Andrew, you have to save him or you’ll die too!”
The vampires kick Nicholas’ legs out from under him and attack. Andrew falls. We crash against the hard ground. Andrew’s immobile, but I know he isn’t hurt. Scrambling to my feet, I run toward Nicholas yelling. “Jackson, Gabriel, anyone, please help me save him!”
Jackson and Eva reach the vampires attacking Nicholas and throw them off, but not before they light the match. He is ablaze. I throw myself at him trying to put out the flames. Jackson is at my side extinguishing them, but Nicholas lay there still. He is dying, I know it! He suffered too much damage.
Lifting his neck with my good hand, I shimmy myself under him, stroking his face. “Nicholas, please you can’t die, please!”
“Mia, it’s too late. I’m sorry, I tried to save Andrew! I did. I’m sorry.”
My tears overflow. When he dies, Andrew will be lost to the darkness forever. I cry out. “Mom, please help me save him. I’ll do anything!” The echo of my mother’s light appears at my side as Nicholas struggles with his
last breaths. “Mom, please what can I do? I need to save him, help me!”
“Mia I can’t tell you what to do but you only have moments to figure it out. Trust your instincts.” She drifts away to help the others, her echo glints on his empty pendant.
I look at Jackson desperate for answers. “What are your instincts telling you, Mia?”
My eyes shift down to Nicholas. At that moment I see Andrew, I would never be able to tell them apart now. My heart races wildly, I am losing Andrew, both sides of him. I have to win! Leaning down, my lips are at his ear as the angel kneels by him, stroking his temple. “Nicholas, I do love the part of Andrew that is you.” I kiss his cheek softly. “Stay with me!” I plead. A slight smile crosses his lips despite his struggling to breathe. “You have to be together again. You can’t exist apart any longer. Please, I love you, both sides of you, please help me!”
Nicholas’ eyes turn pale. He lifts his hand, stroking my cheek and with his last breath whispers. “Mia, I love you.”
As he takes his last breath, the light that was thrust into him during the fight is now hovering near me. As a similar light escapes from me, I’m thrust back, darkness is piercing my peripheral vision and I am barely cognizant watching my light encircling Nicholas’. Jackson’s voice is a faint echo. “Andrew, tell Mia that you love her now. It’s the only way!”
I can’t hear Andrew’s response as the last of my fleeting breath escapes. My eyes roll back and I am floating over myself, looking down as I had after the accident. Jackson is holding me while Gabriel moves Andrew next to Nicholas’ body. A brilliant light eclipses the darkened sky and streams upon Nicholas and Andrew. The light is blinding. Within its brilliance, a beautiful angel emerges; his face pure perfection, eyes brilliant sparkling blue diamonds and hair the color of gold. I hear Gabriel call out to him. “Michael, I thought you could not interfere?”
“I didn’t, when you turned Nicholas away from the darkness so that Andrew’s shattered soul could be reunited and reemerge as the one tied to light, you saved yourselves and activated the key that may be used to free you from your prisons. Andrew will be fine as soon as I leave. Since they failed to turn him and activate the key in a way to release all of you only to the darkness, the key can only be used to release your souls back to you.
Grab the key before it is dragged back to hell, where you cannot reach it! Release yourselves. There is no more hold on your souls except your own. If the time comes when you are destroyed, your actions will decide where you go.” Then all goes dark. Looking to where Andrew and Nicholas lay, only one remains. The golden haired angel is still with him, whispering in his ear.
Descending back into myself, I crawl to him. He’s stunned, but carefully embraces me while staring at the angel whom I can now hear answering an unspoken question. “Andrew I have been watching since my passing. Forgive yourself. You saved me that day so that I could go on and live a happy life. I know you are a good man and did not leave by choice, why do you think I sent my descendants to help you. Finally, after these many hundreds of years, I found a soul on this plane bright enough to lead you out of the darkness which tried to rob you of your morality, compassion and purity of heart! Now that you have found her, watch over her, protect her, he won’t give up on someone like her, but most of all, love her. She loves you and it’s time that you allow your heart to love someone back.” She kisses his cheek and disappears.
Andrew’s face now gazes upon me. “I love you.” I can’t believe he is actually here. His face is perfect, serene, his eyes brilliant blue and sparkling, but not as light as before. His hair is no longer raven but a dark sandy brown. His arms embrace me lovingly and I notice that they are cold but not ice cold as they had always been. I’m elated. I can tell by his changes that both sides of Andrew survived. My eyes shoot to his pendant. The light is no longer a brilliant white, but salmon.
All of the shadows are gone, only Jonathan remains and he no longer remotely resembles Gabriel. Instead, his face is the portrayal of the demons of Judgment Day. The brilliant figures still surround him. My mother moves toward us. “I can’t wait. I’m sorry. We have to send him back.” Her eyes are pleading. There’s something I’m missing. I look towards him. “Wait! Andrew, get me to Jonathan.” He flies at him and I grab the pendant. As Jonathan swipes my hand, my mother knocks him to his knees.
“We have to go. I love you Mia.”
“Mom, I love you. Thank you.”
“Be happy. Tell your father I love him.” She comes closer and I feel her warmth, her happiness. She and Jonathan disappear with the young boy.
The little girl from the train approaches. “Forgive yourself. I was so grateful to not be alone.” She disappears too.