Freedom's Horizon (WLW) (Full Trilogy - Ongoing/Editing)

Book Three: Part Five: Chapter Two

Along the Cliffs of North Point, Barbados, October, 1928

"Are you sure you are alright, my love?" Aimee approached Esme from behind and she partially turned around, glancing at the love of her life for the last almost three centuries.

She sat down beside her along the cliff edge and ran her fingers through the back of her hair as Esme replied with a heavy chest, "I don't know, Aimee. Something just feels wrong. This letter..."

She raised the parcel in her hand and held it out for Aimee to take. Once she had, she also grew visibly bewildered and looked back up into her eyes with that same irked, somewhat docile expression she wore each and every time something threatened to disrupt their harmony. It hadn't felt this strong in a long time, however. Nearly two centuries had passed since they dismembered and separated Francisco Senior's body across the globe, but something dark festered within the world. It painted it an opaque gray the likes of which only came around when a multitude of occurrences were aligned. She looked into Aimee's eyes and tried to calm her breath, yet it was of no use as she turned her gaze back toward the sea beckoning them once again.

Truth be told, it never stopped, though at this particular moment it was growing worse and Esme couldn't put her finger on precisely why. Was it a dark harbinger flaring its wings to bring them more untold great tragedy? Was it just her being over vigilant? Paranoid? Esme couldn't be sure, but the last instance wherein she felt such tumultuous anxiety revolved entirely around a maddened man's lust for blood.

Aimee pulled her close, resting her forehead along her temple as she took her hand. "Tell me. What do you feel, Essie?"

"You here with me, lassie. And..." Esme straightened her head and looked into her love's eyes, calling on all her strength to let herself sense all blustering within herself that threatened to tear her apart at the seams.

"And...?"

"And the others. Something isn't right with them." Esme placed her hand on her chest, then onto Aimee's. "Can you not sense it?"

Aimee appeared conflicted as she slammed her eyes shut, then opened them and cast her gaze toward the sea. "Someone is coming our way..."

"Yes! You do feel this, right?"

"I do. I can feel," Aimee closed her eyes once more and took a long winded breath. "Him." She glanced over at Esme through an anguish inducing stare and she cupped her cheek. "We must make haste and ready our things. Something is amiss in the world and the only manner of remedying it is to unite once again. He... I think he's back."

Getting to her feet and looking down over the cliff, then out toward the water, Esme nodded. "Let's go, lassie. We haven't much time."

"Esme..." She glanced over at Aimee and found her pointing toward the east, pivoting that direction once she'd helped her to her feet. There on the horizon sailed a single small vessel and Esme grasped her looking glass from her hip. Despite changing her attire with the times and more apropos spyware, she still loved her old nautical ways and always kept the looking glass which Margaret made her so many moons ago strapped right at her waist at all times. Margaret... Is she doing alright? Shaking her head free from her thoughts, she listened to Aimee as she gazed through the glass. "We know them...?"

A smile graced Esme's face as she spied just who was sailing toward them and brought down the glass. "It's Felipe!" She watched the corners of Aimee's full mouth turn upward and held onto her as she wrapped her arms around her side. Gazing back through the looking glass, Esme's grin fell as she spotted Felipe growing nearer and something about his person looking very, very off. "He's injured!"