Reclaimed

“Jesus,” he whispered as his face paled.

“First, she broke one arm, followed by the other, before I passed out. I could still feel the pain, and hear everything going on. Even unconsciousness didn’t give me any relief.

“I heard Louisa go to Elijah and bite him. I think she worried whether he bled too heavily and would die,” she said in an afterthought.

“Probably. It wouldn’t be any fun for her…if he died when she didn’t pay attention, he wouldn’t get to live through eternity with her.” Bitterness laced through his tone, reminding her of all the evil woman had put him through.

“Yeah, it makes sense. Anyway, she broke both my legs and I looked at Elijah. She tried to focus on him as she died. Elijah screamed, and my chest hurt. I looked down and saw a dagger sticking out of it.”

Isaac paled before asking, “Do you remember what it looked like?”

Remember? I’ll never forget.

“It looked silver, and had a jagged edge. One of those really lethal-looking weapons you see only in movies? On the hilt it had two blue topazes side by side. Above them was a ruby, and below, a diamond.”

Isaac cursed and nodded. “The two blue topazes are me and Elijah, the ruby is my mother, and the diamond my father. We each received one on our seventeenth birthday.”

She couldn’t help but be shocked Louisa had used Elijah’s treasured gift as a weapon to finish off Amelia even though she’d proved herself to be a ruthless monster. “I see. Well, after that she died. And I woke up. I could feel the pain as she felt it. It hurt. It was excruciating. And the look on Elijah’s face. It killed me. So horrible.”

She shuddered and buried her face against his chest, inhaling his scent in a plea for sanity. God, the pictures would not stop barraging her. Isaac lay on the ground, neck bent; Elijah crying out her name while pinned to a tree; Louisa taunting her as she broke her apart, bone by bone; the dagger sticking out of her chest. And the pain—oh God, the pain.

Isaac pulled her against him again and tucked her head under his chin. “Yes, it was.”

“Where is the clearing? Is it the one you don’t like me being in? The one where I found you the other night? The same one from my dreams?”

Isaac sighed, and replied, “Yes, it is. In your dreams, Elijah is showing it to you like Amelia remembered it. It was a meadow we often visited.”

“So you all died there?”

“Yes,” he stated.

“But if you were there, then you lived near here? And so did Amelia?”

He tensed and looked away. “I lived down the road,” he admitted sheepishly.

“And now?”

“Still do,” he replied.

“And Amelia?”

“Are you sure you really want to know?”

“Um, yes?” She wondered why she wouldn’t want to know.

“A few thousand feet from here.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re living in what used to be Amelia’s father’s barn.”

“Oh. My. God.”

“Yeah, I know. I couldn’t believe it when you told me where you lived. Unbelievable. Why did you pick this place?”

“I don’t know, it just seemed…right. Like it had been made for me.” She caught the look of amusement on his face and glared at him. “Oh, shut up.”

“Sorry.” He laughed.