The Worlds's Greatest Lover---Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Vicki continued to stare at Mary and Jessica stunned that the two women were safe and, from what she could tell, in relatively good shape. Her mind replayed the bloody scenes found in both of their homes. She thought to herself No one can live with that much blood loss. Finally her voice caught up with her head and she voiced her concerns.
“So are you OK?”
Jessica saw the many questions on her face and responded. “Of course we are, why wouldn’t we be?”
“Oh I don’t know because you lost a tremendous amount of blood and have been missing for the past few days. We confirmed that the blood found in both of your homes belonged to each of you respectively. So do care to explain?”
Mary and Jessica looked over at John, who was still being held in a choke hold by Henry. John sighed before requesting Henry to release him so that he could explain. Reluctantly Henry let him go and allowed him to collect himself and his thoughts. With a heavy heart, John began to relay his extraordinary tale of love and loss. He explained that centuries ago he had fallen in love with Nox. She was the beautiful and charming daughter of Chaos and the mother of Eros, the God of Love. When Nox’s father found out about their amore, he swiftly put an end to the romance, but not before creating sheer havoc for the young lovers. Nox had pleaded for her father to allow her to stay in human form and remain with Casanova. She professed her love for him adamantly and stated that he felt the same for her, so much so that she was willing to relinquish her immortality to be with him and live this one lifetime as a couple. Chaos did not believe his daughter nor did he feel that this human was worthy of her love, so he made her a deal. He would grant Casanova immortality and place Nox’s soul into a human, but the lovers would be parted. Nox’s soul would continue to pass from descendent to descendent until Casanova was able to find her. It would be the true an ultimate search of soul mates. If he gave his heart to another besides Nox then the lover would die a horribly painful death. Nox’s human form would also be placed with the same curse. All those that she would love besides Casanova would die, as well. The two would be left to wonder the ends of the earth in loneliness until they were able to find each other. If they were truly destined to be together than eventually their souls would recognize its counter part and be re-joined to live the rest of their days in peace.
Once John had finished his story, Vicki quickly began the interrogation. She was somewhat skeptical of this whole soul mate story that he was trying to spin.
“So what does this have to due with Mary and Jessica?”
John wearily eyed her and then with an exasperated tone, frankly stated “Mary is the descendent of the original soul bearer that Nox’s essence was placed. She carries Nox’s soul and therefore is my intended.”
Vicki stating the obvious blurted out “But she was married and has a daughter. What about the whole die a horrible death thing if you stray from the path?”
At this point Mary spoke up to answer Vicki’s question. “My late husband Frank was a good man and just as the prophecy predicted, he met a terrible end to his life all because he dared to love me. The one blessing that I was given was my daughter. She was the gift of our love. You can’t imagine the guilt and mourning that I have felt since the realization that my love was the cause of his death. It wasn’t until after he had died that I became aware of my soul’s search. When John finally found me, it was as if the flood gate of love, passion and acceptance swept over me. I finally felt complete.
After a brief pause Henry spoke up “What was the purpose of the blood ritual? I could feel the use of magic in both of your homes.”
“Well sir to complete the joining of our souls, we not only had to find each other, but we also had to seal our commitment with the combining of body and blood. For Mary’s part, we had to consummate our relationship, and then we had to join our life essence with the co-mingling of our blood. Mary’s body is not fully immortal until the sacrifice ritual is complete. As far as, Jessica is concerned, she too would be granted an immortal life through her connection to Mary and her unconditional love. It was the gift granted to her by her son Eros.”
Mike piped up and said “So I don’t understand, is Mary and immortal or not?”
With this question voiced, John lowered his head with a look of defeat.
“No. To complete the ritual, Mary and Jessica must drink from the stream of eternal life. Unfortunately, somewhere within all of this madness we have misplaced the vial that contains the precious elixir. We are unable to complete the ceremony.”
“So what happens now if the ceremony is not completed?”
With a pained expression, John answers in a whisper “Mary and Jessica will die. We are running out of time, if the ceremony is not completed by midnight then they will both die and I will continue to roam this earth alone.”
Realization hit Vicki like a ton of bricks. “Wait I think that I can help you. We found a vial at Mary’s that first night. I took it to Rajani to examine the contents. It was in an antique looking perfume type container.”
“That’s it. Can you get it and meet us at this location?” John was handing Vicki a slip of paper with the address of the botanical gardens.
“Yes, but we are going to have to hurry if we are going to get it and meet there by midnight. It is already after 11:00pm”
Henry took John and the ladies to the botanical gardens to begin making preparation for the upcoming ceremony while Mike drove Vicki to the morgue to obtain the vial. Hastily they ran into Rajani’s office only to find the door locked.
“Shit. What are we going to do Mike?”
“Well Vic, unless you can sprout some keys, I guess we are screwed.”
“Not acceptable. We can’t let’s those women die.”
Vicki spied the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall and went to grab it. She started to swing at the glass when Mike grabbed her arm.
“What the hell are you doing? You can’t break into her office. Have you lost your mind?”
“Mike I don’t have time to wait for the night shift to come in. We only have 20 minutes until midnight.”
“Do you have your lock picking tools?”
Vicki padded her jacket and looked frantically for her purse, but then remembered that she had left it in Henry’s car.
“Damnit, Mike I don’t have them on me.”
With a heavy sigh, Mike looked at the Vicki and then at the door. “Well here goes, but just so you know if I get fired for this, then you will be forced to hire me.”
She smiled at him and said “Deal.”
With the glass broken, they quickly entered into the office and began to seek out the needed substance. After what seemed like an eternity, Vicki finally found it and screamed in triumph.
“Got it. Let’s roll.”
Pulling into the designated location with only a few minutes to spare, Vicki and Mike took off running towards the gardens. When they approached the rose garden, both could see a triangle shaped pattern outlined with flickering candles blazing in the darkness. John stood at the pinnacle of the triangle with each woman flanked on the far corners. In the center of the triangle was a bowl filled with a mixture that looked suspiciously like potpourri and a sweet smelling aroma of smoke billowing from it. The trio was chanting in unison with their arms lifted towards the sky. Vicki ran to John and handed him the vial. He smiled tenderly at her, whispering “Thank you” which she simply nodded her acceptance. She then walked over towards Henry and took her place at this side. With the last words of the chant completed, a cloud appeared to hover over the three. John lifted the container up towards it and all watched as it simply disappeared from sight. At that moment a jolt of lighting projected out of the cloud, striking all of the figures, dropping them to their knees. Once they were able to catch their breath, a figure began to appear out of the cloud. It approached Mary, taking her in its arms.
“Nox your faithfulness has been rewarded and your soul will finally be joined with its life mate. Immortality is granted to your human body for both you and Jessica. She is beautiful by the way.” With an outstretched hand, the figure reached for John. It then joined the two lover’s hands and continued to speak. “I never thought you worthy of my daughter, but you have proven yourself over the centuries with your unparalleled pursuit of her soul. You will be given all that you desire and entrusted with my most precious gift, my daughter. Take care of her, guard both of your hearts and souls to be bathed in each other’s love for all eternity.” Chaos smiled sweetly before turning to the remaining people standing in the distance.
“You vampire and mortal one, please step forward.”
Henry grabbed Vicki’s hand and did as he was instructed, knowing that whatever was about to happen he and Vicki could handle it together.
“I am in your debt for assisting my daughter in her quest of eternal bliss. My kind does not let a debt go unrewarded. As such I will grant you your greatest desires and fulfill your life’s quest for the perpetual uniting of its soul’s counterpart.”
He gently placed a hand on the top of Henry and Vicki’s head. Suddenly a bright light engulfed all of them and a sensation of floating overtook the two. As Chaos looked into their hearts and minds to reveal the secret desires placed their, he smiled at his discoveries. He then began to speak in inaudible language. When he was finished, he joined their hands.
“I am truly amazed by your love for each other and willingness to sacrifice for the other’s happiness. The longings that each of you had in your hearts, revolved solely around the other’s pleasure, so because of your selflessness, I am granting those desires. For you mortal one, I give the gift of immortality. With this gift you will be able to walk all your days at the side of your beloved. Both of your lives will be interconnected from this day forward, if one should perish so will the other. Also, all of your physical aliments will be healed, never to be touched by sickness again.”
Slowly Chaos turned to face Henry. He started to speak, but was hastily interrupted by Henry.
“You have just given me the greatest gift that I could ever expect. Nothing else could possibly make me happier than I am right at this moment with the knowledge that I will spend all of my remaining days with Vicki.”
“I am glad that you are pleased with my gift, but I can assure you that what I have given you will add to your happiness. From this day forward vampire, you will be able to walk in the day and feel the warmth of the sun on your skin. Also, I give you the ability to father children with your beloved if you so desire.”
A stream of tears rolled down Henry’s cheeks. He was rendered utterly speechless. Finally composing himself, he simply let out a “Thank you.”
“You are most welcome. Cherish your gifts, as well as, each other. Stay true to your heart and the love that has been formed there. When two souls are joined for a life’s journey, they are given strength and purpose that transcends all understanding. Go with love.”
With a burst of energy and a spark of light, Chaos was gone. Vicki and Henry stared at each other in disbelief before finally merging into a passionate embrace. Realizing that the others were staring at them, Vicki immediately became uncomfortable. She reluctantly pulled away from Henry and turned to the others.
“Wow talk about a family reunion. Christmas must have been a blast at your house.” This solicited a roar of laughter.
Mary responded “Ms. Nelson we don’t actually celebrate Christmas where I am from, but yes my father has always been a little eccentric when it came to bestowing gifts.”
On their way back to the condo, Henry glanced over to Vicki to see how she was handling all of the changes that had just taken place. She decided to break the silence and asked him “So what do you want to do tomorrow on your first day back in the sun after almost 500 years?”
“You mean besides buy the strongest sun screen made?”
“Seriously”
“Oh I don’t know. I would have to think about it. It’s not been an option for so long that I would not even know where to begin. Why don’t you take me to do some of your favorite things and help me get reacquainted with the world?”
“Hmmm. I think that I can do that.”
“Vic, how did you feel when Chaos said that we could have children if we so desired it?”
“It definitely opened up some possibilities.”
“Are you saying that you wouldn’t be opposed to the idea?”
Pondering his question momentarily, Vicki responded “Henry there is no one that I would rather have children with than you, but do you honestly think that the world is ready for another Vicki Nelson?”
“I think that the world would be blessed to have such a wonderful and perfect creation in the form of a smaller version of you.”
Henry always knew the right thing to say and Vicki was touched by his words. She smiled and then leaned in towards him to place a tender kiss on his cheek.
“Well Henry, you know what they say about having kids?”
“And what is that?”
“Practice makes perfect”
With that statement trailing in the air, Henry speed off to his home to begin their life of bliss and the pursuit of the “perfect” child because even if he had another thousand years to practice with her, it would still not be enough.