After breakfast, Samantha and Kevin talked quietly in the hallway after she told Howard to go on into the library to wait for her. She sensed he was having some difficulty being in the Manor & she wanted to know why.
“Kevin, I sense something about this young man, a connection, almost. I can’t place it just yet, but let me explain things to him. Please?” she asked Kevin, her eyes asking him more than permission.
Kevin couldn’t help but smile slightly, knowing he could never refuse his wife. “Alright, explain it to him. He may surprise us & accept it.” He bent and kissed her lips gently, then walked outside, finding the young priest walking through Samantha’s rose garden.
Samantha walked into the library, closing the door quietly behind her. Howard was standing by the window, admiring the view of the rolling countryside beyond the yard.
“Beautiful, is it not?” she asked quietly.
He jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. “Uh, yes. Yes, it is, m’lady,” he said, bowing slightly.
“You don’t have to do that, Howard. But tell me what is on your mind? I was a little out of sorts yesterday when we got home. I apologize again for that. But I have all my wits about me this morning. Talk to me.”
“I just have some questions that bothered me last night. I didn’t sleep well because I couldn’t stop thinking about them,” he started, looking at her with haunted eyes as he sat down on the large couch.
She sat in the chair across from him, her sword across her lap. “What are your questions? Believe me, I doubt they are stupid questions. Ask your questions & I will try my best to answer them.”
Howard fidgeted a bit where he sat, took a deep breath and asked his first question. “What did you do yesterday to see my memories?”
“It’s complicated. I was born with the gift naturally, but only in the last four years or so been able to control it. I am able to see if you have left any details out, purposefully or not, and also able to see what you have forgotten. Next question?”
“Why does this place seem familiar to me? And the others here, they seem familiar to me also.”
Samantha saw the look of uncertainty, fear & panic in his eyes. “What do you mean by ‘familiar’, Howard?”
“I feel I know this place, somehow, even though I’ve never been here before.”
“You’re having memories from a past life, Howard,” she said calmly. Her voice had dropped to almost a whisper. She put her sword on the floor next to her chair & beckoned to him, “Come kneel at my feet, Howard.”
He did as he was asked without a question. He looked up into her dark green eyes, seeing that they had taken on a faraway look.
“Close your eyes and relax. This won’t hurt, but you will be sleepy afterwards.” He felt her gentle fingers brush his hair away from his temples, then felt a slight pressure on his temples as she placed her fingertips on his temples & forehead. He felt his breathing slow & felt himself relax under her touch.
Samantha slowed her breathing, closing her eyes to concentrate better on the regression.
Ten minutes later, she opened her eyes and looked down. Howard was asleep, his head resting in her lap. She smiled slightly, gently smoothing his dark brown hair back, whispering in his ear the information she discovered. She knew he would remember when he woke.
She sensed someone at the door and looked up to see Kevin and Brian in the door. Kevin grabbed the young priest quickly, holding him back, hissing in his ear, “He is asleep, nothing more, my young priest. He will awaken soon. Until then, sit quietly and we will try to answer all your questions when he awakens.”
Brian sat quietly on the couch as he was told and waited for his cousin to awaken.
Samantha rocked gently back & forth, humming an ancient tune quietly while gently stroking Howard’s long dark hair. Twenty minutes later, she felt him begin to stir & waken from his sleep. She looked up at Kevin & Brian and said, “He’s beginning to awaken.”
She bent down slightly, her long hair falling over him as she whispered in his ear. “Howard, you will remember what I told you & you will remember us.”
As she leaned back up in her chair, Howard’s eyes opened & he looked around. His eyes turned up to hers and she saw that he remembered.
He pushed his hair away from his face as he sat up and looked around, seeing Kevin & Brian watching him closely. “How long have I been asleep?”
“About twenty minutes or so. Do you feel better? I hope your questions have been answered?” she looked at him, smiling.
“Yes, m’lady. My questions have been answered,” he said as he sat back on the couch.
“What questions?” Brian asked from his seat on the couch. This young woman made him nervous, but he couldn’t understand why. And why was a sword by her chair?
Samantha saw Brain’s eyes go to her sword and she picked it up, cradling the long silver sword in her arms. “My sword is always with me, Brian. It is never far from my sight or my grasp. My life and my friends’ lives depend on it. Now, I believe you have some questions that want to be answered also?”
He wasn’t expecting that particular answer, but he had to admit he had a lot of questions.
Samantha & Kevin both saw that the young priest was having some difficulties figuring out what he wanted to ask first. Kevin nodded toward the bar & Sammie got up & brought back several goblets on a silver tray.
“This will help you, Father,” Sammie said, handing him a goblet of red wine. She then handed Howard & Kevin a goblet each, only then sitting back down & taking her own goblet.
“Howard now understands why he seems to remember this place & us. You may ask us anything you wish & we will try our best to answer your questions,” Sammie said.
Brian was still not sure if wanted to voice his questions or not. He looked first at Sammie, then Kevin, then finally on his cousin.
Kevin spoke up, drawing his attention. “I saw your expression yesterday when my wife called you a ‘youngster’. What we are about to tell you may seem very odd & contradict your beliefs in your God. But what we tell you will be the truth. You have questions, just be prepared for our answers.”
“I’ll try,” Brian said, now unsure if he really wanted his questions answered.
“Good,” Samantha said. “Now, before we begin, how old do you think we are?” she asked, indicating herself & Kevin.
“I don’t know, mid to late 20’s, I guess?” he took a wild guess, hoping he was right.
“That is what we appear to be. In mortal years, I’m 48 years old, I won’t even begin to guess my husband’s true age. I was killed by a vampire during a sword fight when I was 24 years old. I was able to come back due to the fact that Kevin & I had done a blood exchange. He & I, along with everyone else in this house, are immortals. The only way to truly kill us, is to take our heads,” Sammie began.
“You mean like in the ‘highlander’ movies?” Howard asked.
“That was my exact reaction when Kevin explained it all to me at first. But yes, except there is no ‘prize’, just survival,” she said.
“You said a ‘blood exchange’? You mean you actually drank blood?” Brian asked, his features pale.
“Father, when you take your Holy Communion during Mass, do you believe that you are taking in His Body & Blood?” Kevin asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“Then what difference is it, that I took a small amount of Sammie’s blood, and she took some of mine? It helped her to live & I was able to keep my soulmate with me for eternity,” Kevin asked. He took a deep breath before continuing, then began again. “I lost my young wife in the year 600 A.D. She had gone into early labor while I was out hunting & she & my daughter both died an hour before I got home. I was blind with grief & decided to go back out riding, not caring what happened. I was attacked by three bandits & was killed. Two hours later I woke up, not knowing why but knowing, somehow, that I needed to live long enough to find my true soulmate again. I found her 1400 years later, in Samantha. We married almost six months from the time we met & I adopted her young son as my own. He, his wife & their three children still live in the States.”
“You are telling me I should believe in vampires & immortals & such? You people are crazy!” Brian yelled, getting out of his seat. Samantha, close to being enraged, quickly grabbed by his shirtfront.
She bared her small fangs at him, lifting him slightly off the floor. “Does this look like I’m crazy, Father? Tell me the truth!”
“Oh, my dear God!” he whispered.
“As long as you have your Faith, Father, you will be protected by Him & us! Your Faith will protect you & guard you against the vampires, but it will do little good against anyone else in this Manor. The reason being is, we have no use for your blood. We do not crave it, we do not need it to survive. But there are others that do; including those that killed my best friend! I now know what the bastard looks like & he better hope that he doesn’t come across me when I’m in a foul mood.” She gently let Brian’s feet touch the floor once more and told him, “Now sit & we will try this again.”
“As, as you, you wish, m’lady,” Brian stuttered as he sat back down.
It took two hours and everyone - including Howard, to convince Brian of the truth.
Samantha was the first one to see the belief enter his eyes as he saw the picture of her & Kevin, holding Logan at their wedding. They were now alone in the library looking at the pictures on one of the bookshelves. “We went to North Carolina on vacation, as a family & had decided it was the right time to marry. We found a Justice of the Peace willing to marry us on short notice. Kevin had made a very large contribution to the Chimney Rock National Park & they allowed our small wedding to take place in the park, after hours. There were only the six of us & the ceremony was very short, but very special. You now believe, do you not?” she asked quietly, reaching and brushing a stray tear from Brian’s cheek.
“Yes, m’lady, I do. I know in my heart, now, that you haven’t lied to me.”
“I will never lie about something like this. It isn’t in me to do so. I will do all I can to protect those that I love & very dear to me. You do know that you & Howard are only safe as long as you are with us?” Samantha asked.
“Yes, I know. But why does he have those memories & I don’t?” Brian asked.
“You probably have them, they just may not have surfaced yet. If they are there, they will surface in time.”
“What do you mean ‘if’?”
“You may be living your first life, Brian. It is very possible that you haven’t lived before,” she explained.
“You mentioned something earlier. I believe you told me that before Alex & Angel did an exchange, he ‘marked’ her. What did you mean by that?”
Sammie took a deep breath before answering. “Alex took a small amount of blood from Angel, leaving a small mark on her neck. It disappeared within minutes to her eyes, but to any other immortal, and us it stood out like a brand. It stated that she was his ‘property’ - that she belonged to him. But to this day, she will not pick up a sword; one of us is always close enough to protect her.”
“Why do you carry a sword, tho?” he asked innocently.
“I am the last of my line, Brian. I am the last of the great Gaelic Amazons. My sword has been passed down to the women of my line since about 400 B.C. I will never be without my sword; if I am without, I’m dead. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Remember what I told you about your Faith, Father. Just as I am never without my sword, never be without your Faith. It will keep you alive.” She kissed his cheek softly, then turned and walked out of the library, leaving him with his thoughts.
