Within the Cards (36 page)

Suzi stood in restraints before us all. She begged us to save her from her impending annihilation. Her existence was one of greed and the allurement of power, but in her final time, all she could conceive was she needed her families help. When I unleashed the evils of Anesidora’s box, I thought the movement of the wind would blow the horror away from Suzi’s path. However, when the wind cleared and the evils returned to their resting place Suzi was gone. She no longer stood in the shackles that restrained her. I felt the pain of Lauren’s vision. I projected my thoughts of sympathy to her. She smiled.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save Suzi.” I softly spoke and lowered my head.

“Daught, you have no reason to apologize to me.” She replied in her gentle voice.

“I still wish I could have brought all of your daughters together again.” I told her. She reached for my hand. When she touched it, I could see the pictures of her thoughts clearly now. She was in appreciation of my saving her two remaining daughters. However, in her mind was the picture of the opened box of so much misery. She as well as I knew this box had to remain closed forever. Never again should this box cast its evil on anyone, mortal or immortal. She smiled. She knew I understood her thoughts.

Ellie and Dee came to sit with their mother. Ellie sat on my lap as Dee bounced on her mothers. Graylee came running full force and jumped in Ellie’s arms. This small child almost knocked both of us to the ground. She giggled and hugged Ellie. Ellie didn’t know what to do next. She had never had a child show her affection. I started to laugh. Dee looked at the thoughts of Ellie and began to laugh as well.

Ellie ran her fingers through Graylee’s hair. My thoughts drifted to the day when Ellie and I would have our own children. The smile on her face told me she had the same thoughts. Dee looked at Graylee and stuck her finger in her mouth to mimic gagging. Graylee began to laugh. Lauren interrupted our playfulness.

“Ellie’s responsible for that. She told me the story of Pandora and her box. It held evil against mortals as well as immortals. I knew the one that opened the box controlled its power and it would respond to my command to return to the box once its intended task was accomplished.” I explained. Ellie looked at me as if she didn’t remember. She felt shocked that I gave her the credit.

This was the reason we could not let the Lords have control of the box and the key. I had seen in my vision they had the key, and I knew their thoughts were to use the box against us as I had against them.

“Daught as mad as I was at the time about you having me restrained, I have to ask you. How did you know to hide me?” Ellie asked. I looked at Dee and smiled.

“When Dee and I were practicing my abilities. I focused on the Lords. I saw their intentions of capturing you and Ultress. They were going to do this before we could start the war before the meeting of the leaders in the center of the battlefield. I had no choice but to remove you from their grip,” I relayed to her. “You’re the one that gave me the idea when you told me what Elizabeth asked the witches to do. Dee helped me finalize the plan.”

“Oh thanks vamp; I knew you would get around to blaming me for tying her up.” She again hit my upper arm, and we all laughed. Ellie looked at her with an evil look.

“What are you looking at? After all, it was your idea.” Dee leered at her laughing.

We continued to review what transpired on the open battlefield. Ultress and Elizabeth returned to join our conversation. He conveyed his first order of business. We had to keep the promise he made to Anesidora. We had to separate the key from its mate. The lock on the box must never be accessed again to reveal its content.

Ellie also knew we must hide the book of spells that Dee possessed for so my years. Elizabeth smiled. Her thoughts showed the book was no longer an issue. The witches had taken it when they left to keep it safe. It would be kept safe until we needed the extraordinary book again. The job Anesidora intended it to do so many years ago was done.

“You kept it safe for a long time, now it’s back in its rightful place.” Elizabeth told Dee and touched her face.

We enjoyed the rest of the day as we rejoiced our freedom and reminisced over what all immortals would continue to know as The Great War.

Chapter Thirty-One

LAST RITES

When the moon began to fill with light, we retrieved the box that held the doom that saved our existence. The time had come to return it to the one that protected its contents for so many years. We knew she would conceal it for all eternity, so its powers would never again propel the wrath of the Gods that made it.

The villagers assembled to invite us to make our home with them, but Ultress knew where his rule must be. Elizabeth, Lauren, Dee and Ultress would go back to the home where this race started. Ellie and I would return to school and retrieve our so-called normality. We would leave this place of refuge and return it to its paradise of peace.

First, we had to pay our last respects to this magnificent witch known as Anesidora.

“Ultress our ruler, again we beg you to stay with us,” spoke the leader of the tribe as he held his hand out in admirations.

“I have to attend to the many wrongs of my sons. I must take my family and return to our rightful place in my castle to rule with my original intentions.” He replied and shook the tribe leader’s hand.

“Please reconsider my Lord,” spoke another of the tribe members as he bowed his head.

“My friends, I am no Lord. Please, I beg you to refer to me only as Ultress. I am but an immortal being that had the opportunity to correct the mistakes of my past. Your place of paradise will forever be home to us. This is where my wife and I were reunited, but I have many tasks ahead of me.” His voice was soft in his response. He looked upon the vast crowd that gathered to bid us farewell.

The villagers understood his request. He would be simply Ultress from this time forward. He was our rightful leader. Little Graylee ran up to Ultress jumping into his arms. She kissed his cheek and spoke.

“Thank you for not killing my brother. I love you.” She smiled and squeezed him.

“I love you too little one, and you’re very welcome.” He smiled.

“I don’t want you to leave.” She proclaimed with a sad look on her face. Her bottom lip dropped into a pout. Ultress looked at Thomas.

“Graylee, how would you like to see Ultress all the time?” Her brother asked her as he looked at Dee. I turned and looked at Dee with question as I raised one brow. She smirked at me.

Graylee hadn’t realized Ultress offered her brother a role of leadership. They would be coming to Vancouver with them to live at Ultress’s reclaimed castle.

“You’re boyfriend is coming to live with you?” I asked Dee in a low whisper and pushed her arm. She gave me a look that told me I could go to hell, but the smile she ended with told me I was right. She turned and smiled at Thomas, and he returned her smile.

We said our good-byes as Ellie and I looked upon the shore where her memory returned, and our existence of eternity restored its dream. This place would be where we would return one day to celebrate our union and bring our children of the future. She smiled at my thoughts. I leaned over and kissed her softly.

“We will have a child together.” I said and kissed her again.

“One child isn’t enough, I want many.” She laughed and kissed me back.

“Anything you want.” I sighed and smiled until I heard Dee making a puking sound. Dee looked at us and rolled her eyes. Graylee laughed.

“Great, I wonder what they’ll smell like.” She laughed and turned away. I noticed she headed in the direction Thomas stood. I couldn’t help, but laugh. Thomas put his arm around her. Graylee looked at them, but turned back to Ultress. She was happy knowing she was going to live with her best friend.

Ultress conveyed his gratitude to the villagers for their protection once more then we began our trip to New Orleans. This city had recently seen the destruction of the Gods and the powers Mother Nature conveyed. It felt right that we used the burial ground in this historical city that had seen so much devastation to seal this box of evil forever. This city had seen enough destruction. The Gods would shield these grounds to protect the box.

Standing at the arch of the cemetery, I recall the fight that ensued the last time we walked these grounds. Ellie knew my thoughts. She wrapped her arm in mine as we walked thought the graves of so many fallen. These victims of natural and unnatural mortal events and others of unnatural immortal acquaintance rested in this place of solitude. At one time, I thought of these bodies as the lucky ones because their bodies stopped existing when their souls left their mortal form. Now, I was the lucky one for my soulless form continued to live in an eternity with the one I loved more than I loved my mortal life.

I held Ellie’s arm tight in mine. Ultress and Elizabeth walked along the graves remembering some of the mortals that once crossed their path. They both knew Ellie’s way of only partaking of the dying would be their new way of existing. Lauren, Dee, Thomas and Graylee followed us to the parapet that housed the remains of this foreseeing witch that made it possible to save our race.

The backside of the cemetery seemed cleared of the overgrowth it had on our last visit. This low-lying ground was now cleaned and manicured. Its beauty lay to honor and respect the bodies that rested here. I looked at Ellie and knew she was responsible for this newly found clearing. I again realized she amazed me every minute of our eternal lives. I shook my head trying to remove the daze she put me in with her beauty.

“Thank you Ellie.” I told her and pulled her close to me.

“You're welcome my love.” She replied with immense admiration and a smile. She remembered my feelings of isolation and sadness for the graves that humans forgot. She gave respect to these souls for their achievements on earth.

As we approached the parapet, Ultress stopped. He honored this resting place. We joined him in his moment of silence for the fallen immortals.

“Daught, this is it.” Ultress stated. I could see the door to the parapet. Since our last visit, the tomb laid untouched. I pulled on the door as it opened to reveal the staircase once again. We made our final descent into the resting place of our friend. At the bottom of the steps, I saw a flickering of light. The candle that was once burnt out had come to life. Ultress and I walked toward the vault that held Anesidora. I removed the flaming candle and pushed the lid back. Ultress replaced the box in its rightful position and sealed the lid in place.

“As I promised my friend, I have returned your treasure. Rest in Peace.” His gentle voice spoke to the one that rested in the world beyond.

I replaced the candle that flickered with light to see the illumination of a note resting on top of the lid. I saw my name written in an elegant script on the front: Daught.

I opened the note to read:

My dear friend,

You have completed your journey and retrieved your love. Your task completed. I thank you for righting the wrongs that my box unveiled on the Gods of the past. You are a true warrior. I pray the Gods will walk with you through the rest of your eternity on this earth
.

Pandora

I smiled at this revelation. The witch I knew, as Anesidora was the Goddess made my Zeus. Her box cast its evil on her husband’s family and doomed them to death. She gave me the chance to use this box for good. She was now truly at peace. This was Pandora’s Box.

I looked again at the candle as it began to dim. I saw one last gift from Anesidora. A card from the same deck that laid on the table in front of her at our meeting sat on top of her tomb. I picked up the card and smiled.

With the box in its resting place and concealed so its powers could no longer be used for evil, we left this enormous tomb and ascended up the steps. Ultress pushed the door to the parapet closed sealing it for eternity.

“Daught, what did the note say?” Ellie asked and looked in my direction.

“She said thank you.” I smiled and pulled her close. Elizabeth looked at me and smiled. She knew the true identity of this witch that had befriended me.

“She will always watch over you.” Elizabeth stated.

“She was a true friend to our kind. Just as Elizabeth, she never judged us for being different from the witches.” Ultress spoke.

Ellie realized through our thoughts this witch had been Pandora. Once she opened the box and unleashed its content changing the world by introducing evil in its mist, The Gods dethroned her as a Goddess and left to live out her eternity on earth as a witch.

Elizabeth explained when the Gods dethroned Anesidora they removed her eyes of ice. Only two others held her eyes. I turned to look at Ellie and Lauren. Their eyes were the gray ice glaciers of that of the Goddess Pandora. Anesidora’s eyes were not the brilliant gray of these two women, but Elizabeth touched my hand. She projected the picture of Pandora passed down through the minds of the females in her family of witches. I saw the beautiful woman with the ice eyes. I smiled at Ellie knowing she held the same eyes the image held.