I swipe it open and order an Uber to drive me downtown and then search for my shoes and keys. Mr. Dunhurst will help me. He will have what I need to make this right, to help me get back to Luca. I wait impatiently with my back to the stairs, facing the front door and take deep breaths to stop myself from going back up to wait in front of the mirror. Eight days. There are eight days until the full moon. I can’t just sit there and wait. I have to try and find a way to go back sooner. Mr. Dunhurst will have the answer. When the car pulls up I force myself not to run out but to close and lock the door behind me first. The driver turns to look at me but an expression of disgust crosses his face and he’s quick to turn back around and start driving. I don’t care. He doesn’t have the answers I need, he just needs to take me to the person who will.
The farther we drive from the house…the mirror…the more my skin itches to go back to the only thing that will take me to Luca but I push through and stay focused on the buildings that we pass. We are almost there when the car stops for a red light in front of the same building as last time. The new nightclub, Gothic. That incredible statue catches my eye again but the two people walking past it has the air in my lungs freezing and I shove the door open and almost fall out of the car until I catch my balance and start running their way. My Uber driver is yelling from behind but all I can do is race after the man walking with a woman with long black, almost blue hair.
“B-Bas? Sebastian?” I call out desperately. It can’t be him. If he was here he would have come to me. I suck in a gasp when he stops and turns to face me. Oh God! He’s here, my beautiful, sexy man is here! He will help me. He will take me to Luca. Tears form and start trickling down my face as I take in his strong handsome face but…but he…he’s mad, angry, not happy to see me. I freeze in place as he strides toward me and flinch back when his hand comes up to wrap tightly around my neck. He leans in so close that I can see the hate he has for me in his eyes and feel the spittle from his mouth as he snarls at me.
“I told you if I saw you again, I would kill you! You’re just lucky there are so many people on the street to witness it or I’d snap your neck right here.”
My mouth o’s in complete shock and I try and shake my head but his grip is too tight around my neck. What has happened? How can he hate me so much?
“Who’s this, then?” A woman asks and I tear my eyes away from Bas’ hate-filled ones to see who she is just as he lets me go. I start shaking my head in a daze of shock and confusion. It’s her! The bitch who started all of this…wrongness that’s happened. How can he be with her? She leans closer to me for a better look and then rears back with a look of distaste.
“Oh my, the smell of this one.” She fakes a shudder. “Is she homeless? One of your pet projects? Really, Bas, you should train them to not approach us in public.”
I finally find my voice and swing my eyes back to Sebastian. “How could you? How could you be with this…this…fucking bitch! After everything she did? She’s the reason I died! Sebastian…where is Luca? I need to find him!”
He shoves me away just as my Uber driver catches up to me and grabs my arm.
“Hey! You can’t just bail on the middle of a fare like that!” He yells. “I’m closing the ride and docking your rating. Find some other way to get to your destination. I’m out!”
I ignore him with all my focus on Sebastian even as Keket’s eyes narrow as she tries to place me. “Luca! Where is Luca? I need to get back to him!”
Sebastian starts to back away from me, pulling Keket with him and shaking his head. “You’ve done enough to Luca as it is. Leave him to his madness. I swear, if you approach me again, witnesses or not, I will kill you!”
I stand there with people walking around me and stare at his back until he disappears into the building. I don’t…he can’t…what the fuck is happening? I grab handfuls of my hair and pull as I squeeze my eyes shut at the pain and confusion wracking my body and mind until my feet start moving. I need to go back. I need to go to the mirror so I can get back to Luca and…fix this somehow. I need to go back.
Sebastian – 1868
Ileave the store with my package tucked under one arm so I can scan the newspaper headlines as I walk. The war has been over for three years now and the practice of slavery has been abolished. More states are joining the Union and rebuilding has begun. None of it matters to me in the least other than where to direct my fortune so it will continue to grow. I stand on the wooden sidewalk and scan the nearby storefronts in search of a reason to stay in town and not return to the monument that Luca has built for a woman that will never be coming back.
I step out of the way of other shoppers and sigh. I miss my brothers deeply. Finn and Cade have still not returned and it’s been a few years since I last went in search of them. I have begun to resign myself to the fact that I may never see them again. I miss Luca as well. At least, the man he once was. Eden has been gone for ninety-three years now and I hate that I still keep track. I will love her forever but the damage that love has done to all of us is catastrophic. Luca insists she will return at any time no matter what I say so I now humor him to avoid the argument. It doesn’t help that for years he would watch the video of her and the wolves that they took on the device she left behind. Over and over again, he would play it - causing her laughter to ring through the house, haunting me at every turn until the cursed device finally stopped working altogether.
With no other reason to delay returning home, I turn away from the stores and make my way to where I have left my horse. A distant crack of thunder has me scanning the sky for storm clouds but when I only find the pleasant blue of a summer’s day my steps falter. I feel a shiver race down my spine as doubts creep into my mind. She wouldn’t. She made a promise, a vow that she wouldn’t come back and do this to us again. Eden wouldn’t hurt us that way. She knew how much pain we all went through the last time. She made a vow not to do it again. My steps quicken as I rush to my horse and quickly flip a coin to the stable lad as I accept the reins. I have to be sure. If she has come back, I need to intercept her. I can’t let her do this to Luca. He is one thread away from slipping into complete madness. Seeing her die again will take him from me forever.
I kick my mount in the side as soon as I clear town to gain speed. She said it was ten miles the last time. In a field, ten miles from town. I ride hard scanning in every direction and push out fifteen miles at least to be sure but find nothing. The relief of not finding her settles like a cold weight in my stomach as I turn my horse back in the direction of town. I have a perfect picture of her in my mind. The mass of her fire-red hair rippling down her back as she lifts that perfect face up to me with a smile so sweet and laughter in her emerald green eyes. I clench my fingers tighter on the reins as a sharp spear of longing pierces my chest. The damage she caused does nothing to lessen how badly I want her back in my arms.
I slow my mount as we enter the busy town once again and ride to the other end and in the direction of the house Luca built. I cannot call it home. Men’s rough laughter and a woman’s cry have my head turning and catching a glimpse of dull red hair. The crowd shifts enough that I’m cursing and launching from my horse. I toss the men aside that have crowded around her and one fierce look has the rest scattering like the wild dogs they are. My jaw aches from clenching my teeth so hard as I reach down and haul her to her feet. Her tear-filled eyes meet mine and fill with relief. I do not give her a chance to speak as I pull her with me to my horse and swing her up onto it, quickly vaulting up behind her. She lied to me. She broke her vow and now I need to do what I have to, to protect my brother and myself.
“Bas! Bas, thank god you found me! I didn’t know where to go or how to get to you. I need to find Luca. Please, will you take me home?” She begs as she tries to turn and look at me.
I hold her tighter in place and frown at the greasy matted hair and the smell coming from her. Something is wrong, something has happened for her to be in such a state. She’s also wearing those tight form fitting pants and a strange jacket with a hood that has words on it. Why would she come back in her modern clothing? I need to get her out of sight and somewhere Luca will not stumble upon her by accident on his infrequent trips to town. I take her to a poorer section of town and secure a room above a tavern. I ignore her pleading to go home to Luca and pull her to the stairs after ordering a bath to be brought up. Once we are finally alone in the room with the door closed, I turn and face her, taking all of her in.
Her green eyes are dull and have a desperate look in them. There are dark bruising shadows around them that scream exhaustion. Her features are sharper too. Her cheekbones are more pronounced and her chin seems more pointed. I reach for the zipper and undo it spreading the dirty stained jacket apart and find her naked underneath. My fingers can’t help but skim over her sharp collar bones and down over her pronounced ribs. She has lost an unhealthy amount of weight since I last saw her causing worry and concern to soften my tone when I ask,
“Why, why did you come back? You promised you wouldn’t come back, Eden.”
Her hands shake as she lifts them to my face and her expression crumples as she cries, “Please, please don’t hate me! I’ll fix it. I promise I’ll fix whatever happened to make you hate me. Please, Bas, please I need you, I need Luca and my wolves. Please help me.”
I don’t know why she would think that I hate her but before I can ask further there’s a knock on the door. I settle Eden on the bed and wrap a blanket around her before letting the servants in with a wooden tub and steaming buckets of water. I follow the two men and two women out into the hall and compel them.
“After you bring more water, no one is allowed on this level unless I command it. Clear all the rooms of any guests and leave them empty until I say so. No one is to enter this room unless I am here or have given you orders.” All four of them bob their heads as the compulsion settles into their brains so I shove a handful of notes their way to cover the cost of renting the entire floor and stand guard until they come back with the next round of hot water. One of the women hands me a small sliver of soap and a thin, stained towel as I dismiss them. I toss the soap and towel to one side of the door. I will not use such dredges to clean her.
Eden is still sitting on the bed but she’s rocking back and forth like she’s in pain and twisting her fingers like she can’t bear to be still. I watch her with a frown. I have never seen Eden like this before. Something is very wrong with her but I don’t know what. I need to get her cleaned up and settled before I do anything else so I cross the room and kneel before her, taking her fidgeting hands in mine.
“Eden, I need you to stay here and not open the door to anyone but me. I will only be gone a short while. I just need to go to the nearest merchant to buy you some clothing and soap. I promise to be back before the water in the bath has grown cold.”
Her grasping fingers squeeze my own even as she shakes her head.
“No, no, no, please, take me home to the others. I need to get back to Luca, Bas. Please!”
