A Requiem Eternal

Chapter 40 - A Life Remembered

Sara O'Duinn, Grimoire Entry, 21st November, 2008 - Somehow Tasha felt protected in my garden. She went there to forget the inevitable. There were no minds to invade her thinking. She found a sense of peace in wishing for the calm of her friend.

The silence of Tasha's hiding place was shattered with Sorin's voice to her mind.

"I had no quarrel with your friend. She sensed my presence in your life and sought me out."

"You fed from her so deeply it caused catatonia. Why did you let me go to her knowing what I would find?" she replied.

"She did not understand the bond we share. I cannot tell you what it is to be Psyon. I wanted you to see...to know, to feel the pull of it...the power. You need not worry for your friend. She will recover."

"Will she be the same Sara I knew?"

"Yes, but for a time with no memory of the witchcraft she used for harm."

"Sara would never harm anyone without a good reason."

"Do you remember Tasha, I gave you the chance to have me walk away, never to see you again?"

"Yes--"

"You could not resist because you did not want to. I believe your soul spoke to me for a reason. You secretly wished to no longer live life as a victim. You wished so much to escape the fear of human life...your subconscious took over with the resolve to feed from me. Now that you will be transformed and shed this affliction, you question it?"

"No it's not true! What if I've changed my mind? What if I want to continue life the way I was?"

"Tasha, if I do not transform you it means certain death. The Psyon will kill you simply because you know of us."

Her time was short. He was on his way to Tasha. His progress as he read her was remarkable. He was not far and she was in no way prepared.

"No, just a moment more...please, Sorin."

"You are becoming weak and should feed soon, to Psyon you are beacon they cannot resist."

"Good, maybe they will find me and end this," she said defiantly.

She saw him then in the clearing with a red glow swirling to cover and envelop him. His anger with her compelled him to speak aloud. "Still you speak of ending your life...a life in which you will have equality for the first time in centuries. I do not understand. Why do you not regard this as a gift, a new beginning?"

"How did you take the sacrifice of your soul so lightly? Is that how you thought of it? As a new beginning?"

"Yes...but I was deceived."

"Yes Lorelle. She is where all this began. You need us. Yet above all is to control us. It's why you loathe women to this day. That's what makes it so easy-- lying to me now."

The full force of his anger was revealed in the white hot pain of him plunging into her body. Begging was no longer an option. Tasha's body was immobilized. Her mind's eye turned to a black swirling canvas. At first, she thought she was dying and seeing the culmination of events in her life. It was Tasha, but in another time. She was curled up in a trunk on top of a king's ransom in jewels. The air inside was thin. Her breathing was shallow. She was weak and hungry after a long journey. The jewels scratched and punctured her skin. Still, she didn't dare make a sound. The carriage containing her hiding place stopped. A muffled conversation took place between a regent and his servant outside. Tasha listened carefully to be ready if she was discovered within the wooden chest.