Dark Matter: The Secret Revealed

Chapter 11: Michael

I heard the sound of a motorcycle pull up to the house as soon as I closed Damien's bedroom door. I had set up the oxygen tank, which had facilitated Damien's breathing giving us a little more time. I moved down the stairs at immortal speed into the family room where Mrs. Garant was sleeping. I took the packet of potent sleeping powder I had retrieved from my medical bag, opened it and brushed some of the white powder over Mrs. Garant's lips. She licked her lips immediately and then turned her body sideways so that she could nestle into the back of the large velour couch. I did not want her to wake up. I had given a very small amount to Belinda the night before and suggested that she dissolve it into some tea to help Mrs. Garant sleep. It would be wearing off about now, especially in light of the commotion upstairs and the sound of Thomas's motorcycle. A second dose was certainly in order, sparing this dear lady for a few more hours from the reality of having both her loved ones in harm's way.

As I made my way into the front foyer, I realized that I had not seen Belinda as sad and fearful for many centuries. It brought back memories of the state of mind in which I had found her. I could not believe I was seeing the very same sad and forlorn woman I had met then.

I thought about the things I would place in her mind before she left on her journey. She was too distraught to remember anything I could tell her right now. I would use telepathy to inform her that her essence would enter the psyche of her past self. Her body, as she knew it, would no longer exist in that past. She would occupy the body of her past self. Initially she would remember that she was Belinda, but as time went by she would increasingly become the person she had been in the past. Her life as Belinda would become fainter.

I would also convey that she would find herself somewhere in the late sixth century in the vicinity of the Irish Sea where I had found her. I had never told her the truth. I had made her believe we had met in Paris away from where I had first set eyes upon her. Tristan, an Old Immortal and old friend, had asked me to come for Belinda and watch over her. He had helped me to form the Group of World Servers late in the fifth century and he had been serving on the Group's Council for many years.

He told me that Belinda was a new immortal who had suffered a tragedy. It had driven her mad and her state of mind was imperilling her new life as an immortal.

"She is in so much pain and turmoil, dear friend," Tristan had said. "You must take her memory when you find her. Only when she has a clean slate will you be able to train her as an immortal healer to serve in our new Order."

He had also told me that she was being stalked by an immortal that wished to do her harm.

"This dark presence sets his will against hers. He is in pursuit of her, dear friend, and you must keep her from immortal society. It is the only way she will be safe," Tristan had confided.

And then I remembered him leaning in close to my ear and whispering.

"She must be protected at all costs. I trust no one to do this, but you."

"Who is she?" I had asked. It was not like Tristan to go to such lengths for just anyone.

He became very serious when he answered.

"Dear friend, the less you know of her story the better you can protect her and protect her you must. She is the daughter of a dear friend."

I was not convinced of everything he had told me, but I did not press him. He had once accepted a request I had made of him without questioning it. In fact, he had shown me his understanding and had expressed public support among our brethren for my unorthodox departure as the Group's first Supreme Councillor.

We had just established the Group in Italy late in the fifth century, and I had just been appointed its Supreme Councillor, which was the greatest honour I had ever received. I set to work the first two years of my tenure and put in place our codes and laws, and along with Tristan and others, had named seven other Councillors to the Group's High Council. Then, I disappeared.