Fog enshrouded dreams floated through her mind. A distant, voice called her name. She recognized the voice. It was the man with flaming red hair and golden eyes like a hawk.
Slowly, the dream unfolded again, drawing her inside its ever growing web.
"Edward, why kill her?" A woman dressed all in black with a creamy colored scarf on her head cried. She was kneeling over the tiny body of a girl who was dressed in a soft gray woolen gown a tiny mop hat on her head. Puritans, the New England Puritans something told her. Suddenly Beth was the older woman and the girl was not a girl, but a teenager. A tiny boned slender teen. She had soft brown hair and vacant brown eyes that stared straight ahead . Thick scarlet blood trickled from the corner of her perfect mouth. A huge piece of wood protruded from her chest.
"She was a demon, Sarah!" Edward paced the floor, "We must destroy the demons before they take over;" He grabbed Sarah by the hair of her head and flung her face first against the wall. Her head made a loud cracking sound as it crashed into the giant logs that made up the small structure, "including our son." He hissed, kicking her in the back, knocking the breath out of her. "He has sold his soul for that dead bloodsucking demon bitch."
Sarah's head ached. Wet, warm, stickiness trickled down her face. She saw two husbands in place of one. The floor seemed to buckle and roll under her. She fought against the dizzying blackness that tried to swallow her and pulled herself up using the table for support. Her kidneys seemed to quiver from the blow he had given her back. Cramps shot through her abdomen and her hand flew immediately to her stomach. The babe, she thought frantically.
Hunter!
Her mind called out to him before she could stop it. He couldn't come here. Not now. Edward would kill him. He would kill John too. Sarah tried to regain her senses, to argue with Edward even if it meant getting killed.
"Please don't kill him, Edward. God said judge not least ye be judged."
"Silence woman!" The echo of his hand against her face bounced through the small room. Sarah fell backward hitting her head against the sharp corner of the table. The impact caused a deep indentation in the back of her skull. "I will see thee hang too if thou try to protect John. Mother's love has no authority over God's"
A loud ringing filled her ears. Her face burned with the imprint of his hand. The sweet, coppery taste of blood filled her mouth. She couldn't move and the room was quickly becoming a black and gray blur. A serene sense of calm overwhelmed Sarah and she knew Hunter was nearby. He was coming for her.
"No." She whispered, knowing he could hear her voice.
A loud crash startled her. Despite the growing nausea and pain spreading through her stomach, Sarah managed to look up at her rescuer. Hunter's face was hard with fury. His eyes sparkled with an angry golden flame.
"Ah, the demon's father has come to claim his daughter's body. I'll see thy family burn at the stake."
"I have no fear of thy wrath Edward Quinn." He lifted his arms and great black sheets seemed to drape over him from the tips of his fingers to his waist. His clothes ripped over the rippling muscles that bulged in his arms and back. Tiny pointed ears peeked out of his hair.
"Hunter please don't" Sarah whispered. She wanted Hunter to comfort her as she died, but in the same desire she wanted Edward to die as well.
Sarah cowered by the table, but she couldn't take her eyes off the scene taking place in front of her. Hunter punched Edward, his head snapped back. She heard the bones in Edward's neck crunch. Edward's pitiful screams pierced the murky evening as Hunter stood in the shadows only his eyes showed prominently glowing a blazing gold. There was no where to go. Unable to move Edward began to pray.
"That's right pray for your black soul for I am the wrath of thy God." Hunter's voice was low and soft.
She recognized the inflection, "Hunter."
"May he have mercy on thy black soul." Then, like a great bird, Hunter flew across the room. He lifted Edward's limp body in the air.
"Is thy soul prepared?"
Edward's eyes were huge with fear. He made a pathetic whimpering noise, but he didn't speak. Sarah felt a strange sense of calm settling over her; death was near.
The black wings outstretched blocking her view of Edward. She a surprised gasp and the sound of flesh being sliced into in the same second, followed by eerie silence. Strong arms lifted Sarah and Hunter held her close to his heart.
"He will never hurt you again." Hunter whispered against her hair.
"John?"
"He will be fine. He's just confused."
"But . . ."
"Hush, save thy strength little human." He gently lifted her into his arms. She felt safe. Even in his strange form Hunter was still the kindest of souls. Her eyes drifted shut.
Sarah didn't remember the trip to Hunter's secret home. The world was black and icy. She shivered and searched mentally for Hunter. She could sense his presence even if she couldn't see him. She tried to open her eyes. Slowly they found a focal point. Maeve.
"Don't move." Maeve said in a hushed whisper.
"Hunter?"
"Hunter is outside. I will allow him to see thee after I finish this spell."
Sarah's whole body seemed stiff. She couldn't move. Her heart seemed to stop and her lungs felt frozen. She needed to sit up. No, she HAD to sit up. She found no resistance when she sat up. Standing wasn't a problem either. She glanced back at the pallet and felt faint. Her body was still lying there. Her mouth gaped open in horror.
"I told thee not to move." Maeve tossed crushed herbs and leaves over Sarah's body. "Soul departed find no rest until thou hast found the silver thread of love again."
"I'm dead?" She moved to stand and stare at her body. Her face was swollen, black and bloody. Blood matted her hair to her head. Her clothes were torn and stained with blood.
"Yes." Maeve's eyes filled with tears; "There was nothing we could do to save thee, if only Hunter had found thee when thou wast younger."
"Younger?" Sara saw a blinding light and never heard Maeve's response. The tunnel spun around her and exploded.
Hunter ran in. "You let her go?"
"I couldn't help it. She moved and then she was gone." Maeve pressed herself against the wall afraid of what Hunter might do in his grief.
He only knelt by Sarah's body, "Weak human. Thou wast so damned weak."
"No Hunter, do not curse her weakness." She whispered, laying a trembling hand on his shoulder.
"Do not speak to me of curses, witch." He shrugged her off.
Maeve frowned, "I might be thy wife, but thy heart belonged to the little human."
"I have no heart." He said flatly.
He gathered Sarah's cooling body against his and smoothed her hair. Maeve turned away as his broad shoulders began to shake. Tiny Roseclear stood in the entrance.
"Come little one, father is sad." She said taking her by the hand.
"Why, mother?"
The word soulmate seared through Maeve. She had known Hunter didn't love her. Their marriage was only to bind the witches to the lamia and end the bickering. Besides, love had no place in this repressed era. But seeing the actual proof that soulmates existed and proof that Hunter truly loved someone else hurt more than Maeve could have ever imagined.
"Thy father's human soulmate has died."
A flash of blue lightening sizzled outside Beth's window, startling out of her sleep.
"Great, a storm." She muttered, feeling strangely exhausted by her dream. She shuffled to the window and closed it. Hunter's voice was still in her head.
"I'm crazy, I have to be."She said, rubbing her throbbing temples.
She flopped on her bed and shut her eyes. The voice became louder. Something deep in her heart responded. He needed her.
Beth slowly rose. She didn't remember pulling on the robe or going outside but when she awoke she was standing at the water's edge scanning the horizon.
"You have to see a psychiatrist." She told herself as she turned away. The burnt black spot on the beach stopped her in her tracks.
"Probably where the lightening struck." Beth looked up. The sky was full of stars and the moon shone brightly on the ocean. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. "What the . . .?"
In the center of the burnt spot something shifted and groaned. Beth stood transfixed. It was him. Hunter Redfern. Her soulmate.
No, her mind shouted, it's impossible! He's just a dream! But the dream was lying on the ground in burnt clothing and in pain.
Without knowing why, she ran the short distance, and knelt beside Hunter. She turned him on his back even as she recognized the burning tingling sensation shooting through her fingertips.
Dear God, he was real. She thought in shock.
My soulmate, her body seemed to sing in profound joy. We've finally found each other. Tears slipped down her cheeks. Surely she was dreaming this too.
Hunter's eyes opened and immediately his teeth dented his lips. Beth reared back. He didn't recognize her.
"What do you want human?"
"What?" Beth repeated, confused by his reaction.
Hunter turned and flipped her to the ground in one catlike move. Strangely enough, Beth felt unafraid.
"Don't you fear me?" He clicked his teeth for emphasis. He laughed wickedly, "You should." He raised his head and opened his mouth wide fully intending to tear her throat out and darted toward Beth's neck.
"Hawk, no!" Beth heard herself scream.
The damp skin of his teeth grazed the flesh of her neck. He seemed to be wrestling with his own sudden awareness of the electricity that sizzled between them. He raised his head and despite herself, Beth stared straight into his eyes. She saw flickering rage, pain, and disbelief.
"What did you call me, human?" He hissed with such hate that Beth flinched. A little tendril of fear curled in her stomach.
"Hawk, you are Hawk." She reached a forfinger up to touch his teeth but he shied away.
"How do you know to call me Hawk. No one has called me that in over three hundred years."
Though his teeth had retracted, he was still very agitated. Beth knew she must remain calm, no matter how scared she was getting now that the danger had apparently passed.
"I have dreamed about you for six years."
"Dreamed?"
"I've dreamed about Sarah Elizabeth Quinn and my husband Edward, and my son John Quinn, and Dove and about you." She couldn't seem to stop the words. "Maeve said she couldn't do anything for me and I was dead, you were crying."
Hunter put his hand over her mouth, "You weren't there, how do you know these things?" Gold eyes searched hers accepting the truth even as he tried to verbally deny it.
"I told you I dreamed them."
He looked doubtful, "What is your name?"
"Elizabeth Sarah Quinland, my folks call me Beth . . . " Her voice trailed off as Hunter ran his hand through her jet black hair.
"It can't be." He was whispering. "She died, in my arms, she died. I couldn't help her."
"I was too old." Beth said, finishing his sentnece for him.
Hunter's eyes narrowed. "Why do you call me HAWK if you are truly Sarah Quinn?"
"You have the golden eyes of a hawk. Your name is Hunter. The hawk is a hunter."
Hunter sat back on his heels in confusion. He had an old soul who happened to be his soulmate lying on the ground in front of him. By law she had to die because she was a human with knowledge of his world. But by all that was sacred, he couldn't carryout his own law. He couldn't kill her. Instead, he wanted to carry her into her cottage and make love to her until three hundred years of longing were gone.
He swept her up in his arms, the last memory of carrying her playing in his mind like a nightmare. He reminded himself that she wasn't dying this time.
"How old are you?"
"Why?" Beth asked even as something from her previous life answered the question for her.
Now Hunter looked concerned. "Do you remember anything about me from your previous life?"
"You mean about your being a . . ." Reality slammed into her. "Vampire."
With one shove, Beth wrenched herself free from Hunter. She stumbled backward but somehow managed to keep her balance. She wasn't dreaming, those teeth he had sported just moments earlier were real and she was in real trouble. She wanted to kiss him and run like hell at the same time.
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