This time I choke out the words. “It is agreed. We will not interfere in the future.”
I see them nod from the corner of my eye as Luca brings the ax down to split another log, his mad rambling faint from the distance between us. A distance that we will never be able to cross due to his shattered mind.
With no last words, the wolves walk away. I watch them go and when they reach the treeline see them shift to their wolf forms and disappear into the shadows. As if he knows our pack is no more, Luca bellows in rage, throws the ax as far as he can, and drops to his knees clutching his head. As the rain pours down the sorrow I feel is replaced by a hard, icy coldness. Everything I let myself love is dead and gone. She gave us a reason to live and then destroyed us all. I will not search her out and interfere as agreed but should I cross paths with Eden Kelly at some point in the future…I will kill her myself for what she has done to us.
Eden
Ididn’t eat today so there would be nothing in my stomach to throw up. I choke back the dry heaves and push to my feet in the dim room. I don’t need the light to know every inch of the space that has been my world for so long. I give the mirror a wide berth as it glows softly and start pulling boxes down from the wall that Adera created to hide this space. Once books and papers are scattered everywhere, I pick up the lamp from the dressing table and unplug it, holding it in my hands as I take one last look at the mirror from the side. It gave me everything and then destroyed it all.
I flinch when I hear the doors on the other side of the box wall open and when the lights come on, I hear the characteristic popping sound of a bulb burning out. I know I’m out of time, out of hope so I raise the lamp in my hand back and throw it as hard as I can at the glass of the mirror.
As it shatters and pieces of glass fall to the carpet, I look down at my hands and watch dry-eyed as they start to fade away. There’s no rush of wind this time. I’m not traveling anywhere…I’m being erased and with it all the love and pain. This is how I fix it all. I will never go back and they will never meet me. There will be no love and because of that, there will be no pain. I fix their faces in my mind as I close my eyes and then darkness takes me.
Eden
At the top of the stairs, I dump the packing supplies and pull open the double doors to the turret before waving my hand inside to find the light switch. When I finally locate it, the lights come on with a pop of noise as two burn out, leaving the large circular room half in shadows. Great, I’ll just add that to the shit sandwich my day has become. A crashing sound from deeper in the room has me flinching back and making my heart race. My stomach rolls with nausea from it and I sigh, so fucking tired of being afraid of everything.
I blow out a breath at the stacks of junk in front of me. Aunt Adera was so kind to me when I desperately needed it but I didn’t know her very well. She was that weird aunt that flit into our lives randomly between long absences as she traveled the world. Cleaning out a lifetime's worth of belongings has been eye-opening.
The woman was obsessed with history. I’ve sorted through stacks of old - like hundreds of years old - newspapers, research books, thick historical tomes, and documents all wedged in between the most beautiful antique furniture. There was so much crammed into the house that I had to rent two storage units, one for the papers and books and one for the furniture. Once I finish clearing out the turret, I plan on having a few different assessors go through the storage units to see what should be donated to historical societies and museums and to evaluate the antique furniture for auction. Before that can be done though, I need to clean out this final room.
I pause just inside the doorway and imagine the stacks toppling over me, trapping me under the piles of history until I smother. Shaking my head at the dreary image, I slide sideways between stacks and work my way deeper into the room to see just how bad it is before I start sorting. I suck in my stomach as I squeeze through another passage and find a pleasant surprise on the other side. I judge I’m halfway through the room when it opens up into a cleared space. Turning to look back I can see the boxes and stacks of books and papers creates a sort of wall that hid the second half of the room. Shaking my head at Adera’s eccentricities I turn back and take in the space.
The first thing I notice is a beautiful cushioned window seat with bright throw pillows dulled by dust. Beside it sits a small table with a china teacup on a matching saucer. I can just imagine my aunt sitting there while reading one of her history books. Turning away from the view I spot a dressing table with old pots of dried makeup and a hairbrush scattered across it. On one side of the table there’s a clothing rack filled with what can only be described as period piece costumes and on the other, the most gorgeous full-length mirror leaning against the wall. The floor in front of it has books, boxes, and papers scattered everywhere. I feel goosebumps flash across my skin as I take in its stunning beauty. What looks like ancient runes twine around the frame, made up of crystals in every imaginable color. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear they were real diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires but that would make the mirror worth millions of dollars. That is, if the glass inside the frame wasn’t completely shattered. The simple act of me opening the doors must have shifted the air in here enough to topple one of the stacks and break the mirror. That must have been the crashing noise I heard.
I kick some of the fallen junk out of the way, snag an empty box, and carefully start picking up the pieces of broken glass and dropping it inside. I wonder if I can have new glass installed in it. It’s such a shame that something so beautiful got shattered. I wish my broken life was as easy to fix. Once all the glass shards are picked up and in the box, I push it over to sit under the frame of the mirror and get to my feet to start cleaning the fallen junk. My mind goes to everything that happened today at the gym and my reactions. I think about what first, Diesel said and then how Kevin basically echoed it. I take a deep breath and let the pity party I’ve been having for myself go. This has to end. I either need to take the coward’s way out and kill myself or get help to start living again but something has to change.
I pull my phone from the deep pocket of my bathrobe and swipe to my email and tap out a quick message to the therapist my aunt’s lawyer recommended. I hit send before I can change my mind and then pocket my phone again and get to work cleaning this place out. I’m tired of being sad, lonely, and afraid. It’s time to live again.
Gothic
Miles away from a broken mirror and a woman determined to get her life on track, Seattle’s newest, hottest nightclub is jam-packed with people dancing and drinking. The loud music throbs through the speakers as bodies writhe to the beat and arms and hands wave in the air. The theme of the nightclub is dark pleasure and the style leans heavily to blacks and reds with statues of a man and woman in the throes of passion in different positions scattered on every level that rings the vaulted dance floor. The club is dark and erotic with dimly lit, tucked-away nooks and crannies that are extremely popular with the more adventurous club-goers and their chosen partner for the night to explore the pleasures the club welcomes.
High above the dance floor, above even the VIP level, is a glass balcony where the owners can look down on what they’ve created. Four tall, exceptionally good-looking and powerful men lean on the railing as their eyes take in the revelers of the night. They have spent centuries together traveling the world and sampling all its many pleasures in search of that one thing that will fill the empty void they all feel but can’t explain. Seattle and this club is just the latest venture to try and find a meaning to their long existence.
As one, they all stand straight, stiffening as something washes through them. The first two men’s eyes turn red and one of them speaks.
“Something is coming.”
The last two men lift their faces to the air and inhale the scents filling the club as their eyes glow gold. One of them shakes his head.
“No, not something…someone.”
To be continued…
Check out the preview for my post apocalyptic standalone RH novel –Dying To Love,following the Afterword.
Book 3 in Time After Time –And Shattercan be found here!
And Shatter on Amazon
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