The Blood-Book III

Chapter 14: Memories Part I

"Come and see."

"Come and see Charlie."

"Come and see," it whispered.

Transfixion.

I felt like I was in a dream but I knew I wasn't. I knew it was real yet I couldn't help but look at the glowing rock in front of me; my fingers were itching with anticipation and my feet were carrying me there.

"Come and see." It was like a siren. The lights were like the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, pulling me like a drug pulls you into a high. I wanted a hit.

"Come Charlotte," it whispered to me, caressing my ears and tugging me forward a little more hurriedly. I had to touch it. I felt like I was floating–in that place between asleep and away, but I had to see. I had to touch the lights.

"Charlotte?!" Ethan called out. He called but his voice sounded like it was coming from the end of a long tunnel.

"Come and see," it sang to me.

I couldn't help but walk with my hand held out in front of me. Ethan was yelling at me, but it was like the blood was pulling me–like it was drowning out everything else out around me. I pressed my palm against the smooth boulder with glowing palm prints in front of me.

And I was pulled.

I was pulled and it felt like something was fighting to pull me. I felt tugged in one direction, only to be yanked in another. It was frantic; both of the pulls were frantic.

Until one pull one. It won and it felt like it was hugging me to it as I landed in a room.

There was a man. The same man that told me I was his daughter. He was talking to a woman. The woman who looked like me.

"I want to be with you," she said.

"You will never be safe," he replied with a sad smile.

She shook her head. "I'm not safe with or without you. He knows who I am–he will take me," she argued back.

"Why don't you let me hide you away?"

"What fun is hiding if we can't do it together?"

I was pulled again.

The room was dark. It was a living room–a cabin somewhere. A man sat in a chair at a table with a shotgun laid across it.

"I knew you would come."

"Then you know why I'm here."

Dominic.

Dominic looked at the man across the table. The man who claimed to be my father. Dominic's eyes were bright, almost glowing as he casually took a seat across from him at the table.

"So do it. End me. Do as you're told errand boy, I'm done running from you."

Dominic held his gaze. His eyes swirling before he abruptly stood up. He walked towards the door and reached out to the handle, twisting it and slightly pulling the door open before he looked back. "I'll kill you later."

And I was pulled.

The man was eating dinner in the same room. It was Craft macaroni and cheese. He was reading a worn copy of 'The Outsiders,' in the room painted a muted yellow that looked probably much better with the sunlight than in the dark.

"Mac and cheese again? Don't you eat anything else?"

"Here to kill me, Dominic?"

"Come on Hadrian, I thought you liked my visits?" Dominic asked as he walked from around a corner to sit across from Hadrian at the table.