49.
The
journey was fast, or rather, the father and daughter only woke when they
arrived at the mansion. They disembarked from the carriage, and for the first
time, Lauren looked at the huge mansion. The drive unloaded the baggage and
then took off.
“It
looked huge.” Lauren said.
“Yes,
it is……. Wait, you can see it?” Spielberg looked at Lauren.
“I
think so.” Lauren smiled. “Since last night before supper. I was ……unsure. Was
it a dream or ... real?”
“Can
you see me?” Spielberg asked.
“I
think so. You look older.” Lauren reached out with the right hand to touch the
father’s face. “You have a smoother chin.”
“Oh
my God, you could see.” Spielberg wept in tears of joy. “I …...”
“I
did when I said the carriage was waiting for us. It was a gift from Carmilla.”
Lauren looked at the father. “Are you glad?”
“I
… I do not know. I meant I am happy you can see, but how and why baffles me.”
Spielberg embraced his daughter.
“Shall
we go in, Father?” Lauren led her father.
Soon
they were back at the dining hall, and the table was laden with food and
drinks. There were also the witches’ items in front of Carmilla: a
mini-pentacle, or paten, a disc-shaped altar consecration tool with
a sigil, or magical symbol, engraved or inscribed upon it.
the athame, the carving knife, black-handled and usually inscribed in
the Theban alphabet. It is used to direct energy for the casting
of magic circles, controlling spirits, and other ritual purposes. There
was also the wand, symbolic of the element of air or fire. It can be made from
any material, including wood, metal, and rock, and Wiccan wands are sometimes
set with gemstones or crystals. It was to summon certain spirits with whom it
would not be meet to use the athame. And not to be missed was the chalice, or
goblet, ritually in use as the symbol of the element of water.
The
palm-sized cauldron was at the side of the items. It is often used for making
brews like oils and incense-burning and can be used to hold candles. The fire
is often lit within the vessel, and the flames are leaped over as a simple
fertility rite or at the end of a handfasting. If filled with water, a cauldron
can be used for scrying. It plays a large role in Celtic magic in a
similar fashion to that of Cerridwen's cauldron.
Facing
it was Carmilla.
On
the right side of the table were Annabelle and Lissa.
“Mother?”
Lauren looked at the figure that resembled her mother. She rushed towards the
figure.
“Yes,
darling. It is me.” Lissa replied. “I am here.”
The
mother and daughter embraced there next to the table before they sat next to
each other.
“Sit
down, Spielsdorf.” Carmilla invited the man to the table. “Please be seated
across from your family. The food and drinks are real. You may induce them. My
other guest had arrived.”
There
was a whiff of wind, and the guest arrived.
“Lady
Karnstein, I am pleased to see you.” Vlad ‘Dracula’ Tepes appeared at the other
end of the table. His brides were not with him. “You looked……”
“Pale?
I am bloodless, if that is what you meant.” Carmilla smiled. “I made my peace
with the sisters. We are no longer at conflict.”
“I
am glad.” Vlad ‘Dracula’ Tepes lowered his guard. “Please forgive me. I was
only wary of us meeting here ……alone.”
“Shed
your oafish behavior. Do be seated
there.” It was the voice of Annabelle. She was motioning to the other end of
the table. “We are to talk.”
Vlad
took his seat there and faced Carmilla. They are a table length apart and a
table width from the ladies but still a distance. He saw the mortal taking the
seat on the other side of the table. He sensed no hostility there.
“Vlad,
I have called my peace with the covens. You may have sensed it. I am dying.”
Carmilla looked at the vampire.
“I
could cure you. I offered you immortality.” Vlad leaned forth on the
table.
“I
am aware of your cure, but do not forget I had it……unknowingly, but the witches
held an elixir to the vampire’s lust.” Carmilla smiled. “I should have studied
that before we meet.”
“Then
it would have been …… just physical interaction between us.” Vlad smiled. “I
have to be discreet in the presence of the ladies, more in particular the young
innocent ones.”
“Well,
a f…… Ok, we will be discreet.” Carmilla saw Lissa staring at her. “As I was
saying, Vlad, our union cannot be done. It is not that I am dying now, but I
held no love for you. I do, however, love one other.”
Carmilla
stared at Lauren.
“I
had given her my real love and my blood essence to revive her life force and……
her sight.” Carmilla smiled. “Yes, my dear Laure. This is me, Carmilla, your
friend.”
“You
are beautiful. As I had imagined then, and now seeing you told me I was not
wrong.” Vlad looked towards Lauren.
“I……”
“Hold
your lust, Vlad ‘Dracula’ Tepes!” Lissa cried out. “You…”
“I
held none, mother of the child. My love is for Carmilla… only her.” Vlad smiled
at the child’s mother.
“Just
in case you changed your mind, Lauren is different.” Annabelle looked towards
Vlad. “Have you heard of the Power of Three?”
Vlad
felt the tingling on his spine.
“The
power of three is universal and is the tripartite nature of the world as
heaven, earth, and waters. It is human as body, soul, and spirit... It
is a symbol of the unity of body, mind, and spirit. Also, three is the
number of perfections, or completion.” Lissa explained.
“Lauren
holds ours. She is the Three.” Carmilla smiled. “Vlad, you are no match for
her.”
“I…….
I meant no harm to her. I shall take my leave then.” Vlad stood up and turned
to the door. “However, she …….”
“Do
not tempt me, Vampire.” Vlad heard the call and found himself stuck to the wall
above the doorway, face facing the stony surface.
“I
am the Three.”
“Oh
God!” Spielberg looked with dismay at his daughter. She stood there next to her
mother with her right hand held out.
“How
…….” Spielberg looked to Lissa.
“It
is our legacy, my love. For us to protect Lauren, we have imparted our powers
to her. She will be more powerful than all of us combined; with our power, she
will head the coven now.” Lissa looked to Spielsdorf.
“Lissa,
she is our daughter. How could you do this?” Spielberg cried out to his lover.
“For God’s sake, she is……”
“Father,
I am well. I knew of my existence and my role to the coven.” Lauren looked at
her father. “When … during the accident, I was given the vision of my
existence. Mother had told me I will need to learn. For me to do it, I was to
see myself. I was given a new vision. I had years to prepare for Carmilla. She
saw me at the mansion and recognized my role. She felt drawn to me, like a
sister, which I never had then. We confided and slept together, dreamt in
unison…….”
“Stop
it, Lauren.” Spielberg called out. He looked towards his lover. “I cannot……”
“Accept
it, my love. Lauren is a witch, not made but born. Annabelle has three sons, no
daughter…. Her lover wanted a girl, but
she knew if she did, there would be……. She did not want it. She loved her sons;
there were two then, and then the last was a son too. She felt he was not
ready.”
“Yes,
I was not. My love, your Общий; my Alf will never accept it. I was not ready
for him to raise a daughter. He was a monster in his own life. He killed many
innocent lives, including some of my own kinsmen. He raised two of them in William and Victor.
I saw it in them, the brutality in their ways, and when Ernest was born, I
refused to let them raise the last son. I nurtured the last son. It was
unforeseen when Ernest, who was to be a scholar, took up my skills. He found the
cauldron first and was playing at it. Soon, he learned to read and found my
books. I knew he was not my daughter, but he inherited her in him. I indulge
with him, unknown to Alf. He was good, but he was not a daughter. He had the
ailment of movement, and it was one method to cure him, but I failed. I died
not long soon after.”
“Witches!”
Spielberg sighed out.
“Yes,
we are. Our coven required daughters. Spielberg, I love you.” Lissa pleaded
with the man. “I never meant to …….”
“Hurt
me? No, you did not. You destroyed my life.” Spielberg looked at Lissa. “We
never should have met.”
“It
was our fate, and she is our legacy.” Lissa looked at Lauren. “You hold
something that she needs. Please hand back the jewel.”
Spielberg
looked at the cane in his left hand. The jewel there glowed. He wanted to toss
it away.
“Lauren
needs it to complete herself. Please give it to her.” Carmilla said,
"Spielsdorf,
you may hate us, but do it for your daughter. Her journey has just started, and
to survive, she needs that. Do it for Lauren, please.”
“Hey,
someone please free me.” Vlad called out.
