Magic & Mystery

Chapter 5 The Final Goodbye

            I woke up early the day after arriving back in my home town. I was back in my childhood home and walking around the house without them here broke my heart. Even with all of the vampires here it felt empty. It just wasn't home anymore without them but I decided I would never sell the house and when we left I would try to come up with the money to hire a caretaker to look after the place for me. I knew one day I would come back here if for no other reason than to visit and revisit old memories. I sobbed quietly when I went into my grammas room and smelled her perfume and looked around at the place I came in the middle of the night when I had nightmares because mom worked overnights. The tears just wouldn't stop and I had my head buried in my grammas pillow breathing in her scent more. I didn't even hear Stephan walk in or feel him sit next to me but I felt his hand suddenly rubbing my back.

I don't know how long we sat there before I got up and went to shower and get dressed. It was almost 9am now and I had an appointment at the funeral home at 9:30am. We made it on time; yes Stephan came with me with all of my new bodyguards. It was incredibly hard to choose the caskets and all but I managed by noon. Next I went to the florist to pick out the flowers and made sure all of the rest of the arrangements were made including the announcement in the newspaper and ordering the headstone. The funeral would be in two days.

When we finished we went back home but stopped at the grocery store my mom worked at on the way. The manager recognized me and came to offer his condolences and also handed me my mothers final paycheck and gave me the information to claim her retirement fund. I started sobbing right there in front of him again and the manager actually hugged me and took me into his office for a little while and even gave me the security tape from my moms last night of work in case I wanted to just watch her doing what she always did even when we worked overnights together. I thanked him and gathered groceries and returned to the register. The manager refused payment and just bagged it all up and told me to let him know if I needed anything and said he would see me at the funeral service. I thanked him and hugged him before heading back out to the car.

Finally I got home and cooked dinner for myself only since I was the only human in the house. That made me feel even lonelier but I let it pass with only a few silent tears. One of the vampires came into the kitchen just as I finished cooking and said that I had guests at the front door. I sighed not looking forward to more condolences right now because I knew I would get plenty at the funeral on Friday. I stepped toward the front door and saw them through the screen door. I froze and with a fury, remembered that they were the reason I had to run and leave my family vulnerable. Shannon and Edith were there at the door with sad apologetic looks on their faces. My fury was incredibly powerful and the sparks emanating from my body as I levitated to the door were intense, red and filled with my fury. I opened the door without touching it and suddenly the girls went flying out into the front yard. They tried to speak but I threw the energy at them like lightning bolts that sent them flying again and stunned them. My eyes were red with flames of my pure hatred and unadulterated fury burning uncontrollably like a wildfire. Suddenly hundreds of birds were flying in by my will swarming the girls, pecking them mercilessly.

They were begging me to stop but I laughed an evil laugh that I didn't even recognize or know where it came from for that matter. I finally released the birds and saw the girls bleeding with even their eyes looking to be injured. They still tried to beg me for forgiveness but I couldn't forgive them, not now that they cost me my only true family. Then Edith said "We tried to protect your family...both of us and our families. There were just too many of them for us to protect them from all angles of attack and they slipped past us. I held your moms hand as she took her final breaths and Shannon did the same for your grandmother. We are both so incredibly sorry for being the ones that ran you off. I hope one day you can find it in your heart to forgive us."