Rot & Romance (Rewriting)

Chapter 89

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(Sienna Falls, Montana, early 1800s)

Ulysses was impressed.

Not only did his wife make him and his children immortal, kept them safe while they were in hiding for half a century and foretell a disturbing prophecy about his near future, she also found them a home. A permanent one.

The Morrison Manor.

The carpet and walls were still blood-stained from the former owners, Thomas and Lillian Morrison and their six children when Ulysses and his family settled in. The Morrisons were a wealthy family, living a life fit for a king.

A king or a god amongst men.

It was unbecoming for the first undead man in the world to be living in filth and seclusion. Unbecoming for the first undead family.

The Primitive Family, as they have become known to be called.

They had adopted the Morrison name and the lifestyle they so deserved.

When his daughter, Isabella, brought Benjamin to their manor in nineteen forty-seven, Ulysses was livid. He almost killed the boy on instinct.

Restrain yourself he heard his wife's voice in his head, giving him a warning glance as they stood at the top of their manor's staircase landing.

But it's the boy! Ulysses thought. I can't risk letting him get away.

You can and you will! Ursula replied telepathically. Your daughter is infatuated with the boy and has been for months. Think about what killing him would do to her.

You're being foolish, Ursula! I have to act now!

You will not! Ursula's voice thundered in his head. And soon he found himself unable to move.

"Mother? Father?" came Isabella's voice from the bottom of the staircase landing, Benjamin Crawford standing nervously at her side. "Did you hear me?"

"We heard you, sweetheart," Ursula said warmly. Are you ready to behave, Ulysses?

With great displeasure, he surrendered to his wife's demands.

"Of course, Isabella. And welcome . . . Benjamin, was it?"

When Benjamin ran away just forty-eight hours later, Ulysses was furious.

"You foolish woman!" he yelled at Ursula in their bedroom as he threw a lamp at the wall. "The boy escaped! We had him and now he's gone."

"Ulysses!" Ursula bellowed, her irises glowing bright emerald. An indication of her indignation. "I would not have allowed you to harm the boy while our daughter possessed feelings for him. That is simply out of the question."

"There are plenty of boys in the world and she has an eternity to find her suitor--"

"But she's fond of Benjamin Crawford. I couldn't allow you to harm him for our daughter's sake!"

Ulysses screamed at the walls as he paced back and forth.

"I-I'm going to have to find him," he said. "Going to have to track him down. Isabella doesn't have to know it was me."

"Ulysses, stop!"

"No, you stop!" he said to her face. "This is your fault! The boy would have been dead!"

"You don't have to kill the boy," Ursula said softly. "I'll help you. I'll use magic to gather an army to find him . . . and kill him if need be. At least grant your daughter the serenity of knowing it wasn't her own father that took away her first love. Stay here, Ulysses. Stay here with your family."

Ulysses turned to stare into the deep blue eyes of his beautiful wife.

"I suppose you owe me that much, love."

* * *

Ulysses Morrison wasn't sure what compelled him to relive some of the frailer moments of his past as he and his army were making their twelve-hour drive to Oregon. Perhaps it was the need to revisit the earlier chapters of the first book in his life story before coming to an end that night.

Tonight is the night!  

Ulysses and his followers wasted no time; once Tarik's ring presented itself, he got a witch to perform a tracking spell and they were on their way to Sancova.

Ulysses would finally come face-to-face with the boy that eluded him for over sixty years.

He would finally kill Benjamin Crawford.

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To be continued in Chapter 90...

(The final confrontation approaches...)