July29, 1999
New England, 1689.
Robert was depressed. He had searched through the day and long into the night. Unable to find the women of his dreams- either the one he loved, or the one who had quite literally come to him in his sleep- he was discouraged, and ready to give in to defeat.
It was at this point that he spotted a woman standing in the shadows, merely watching him. She was stark and beautiful, and had the eyes of a cat. He realized that she was the woman from the night before. She watched him with all of the intensity of a preaditor, causing Robert to shiver.
He thought about turning around, and leaving this woman to the shadows, but was not about to lose the woman he loved. He made his way to where she was, as she started to fade into the mist. "Wait!" He whispered loud enough for her to hear. He did not want to attract any attention from onlookers, who might think him crazy. Something he himself was beginning to think.
He started to almost run to where she was, but by the time he arrived, she was gone. "If you want me to find her so much, then why will you not help me?!?" He whispered loudly in anger.
"Taken to speaking to shadows, Preacher?"
Robert blinked and spun on the familiar voice. "Thierry!"
Thierry nodded to the shadows, suspiciously. "Who were you talking to?"
Robert sighed. "A ghost from my imagination."
Thierry nodded expressionlessly, and started walking, inviting Robert to join him. They walked together in silence. Thierry fighting to find the exact words to say what he had to, Robert doing the same. "Rosa is... in danger... You... You are the only one that can help her..." He seemed ashamed at this fact.
"I know."
Thierry blinked. "You know? How?"
Again Robert sighed. "I was told." He was beginning to think himself delusional, and didn't want to try to explain to this man what he had seen.
Thierry stared at him hard, studding his face, and then he nodded almost as if in understanding. Robert did not know how that would be possible, but didn't question it. They continued to walk in silence, out of the town, and long into the woods. They came across a river where Thierry offered Robert a drink, filling a wineskin himself.
They then came across a rather large house. Thierry opened the door and walked in, inviting Robert to follow. They went down a set of stairs into a cellar. Robert shivered at the dampness, wondering why they were going there, but remaining silent.
Thierry opened the door to the cellar to reveal a stone fortified room with no windows, filled along the edges with tables. Upon the tables and the floor sat candles. There was a path through the centre where Rosa lay unconsious upon a table.
Robert ran to her side. She was strugling in a delerious fevor, and was damp with cold sweat. He took up her hand, and was frightened at how cold it felt. He touched her forhead and found that despite the moisture, it was burning up. "She needs a doctor,"he uttered in worried tones.
"No doctor can help her now." The small voice came from the other side of the make- shift bed, and Robert was startled that he had not seen the other person.
He lifted his eyes to her, and his mouth dropped open in shock as he once again was gifted by the vision he had seen the night before. This time however she was entirely solid, and showed no signs of leaving him. "Who are you?" He whispered.
"That is not important." She turned to Thierry. "I assume that you haven't told him what he needs to do."
Thierry shook his head, and Robert was ellated in discovering that he was not the only one seeing this woman. The woman sighed deeply, and Robert turned back to her. "Robert," she uttered, then paused as if gathering her thoughts. "I assume you notice the condition of Rosa on the trip across." Robert nodded. "Do you have any inclination as to why she was taken so ill?"
He shook his head. "None of the ship's physicains could find anything wrong."
Thierry took a deep breath and began relating the story. "The Salvatore blood line has an unusual circumstance. One of our ancestors, a man named Marcus, was... One might say Possessed by a deamon's spirit. A priest was called to Exercise the offending creature, but something went deadly wrong. The deamon was left in a state of half life; Still inhibiting the man's body, but not quite taking entire control of it. Discouraged and angered by this lack of control, the deamon cursed him.
"The curse was supposed to prevent him from continuing our life line, by eradicatingthe possibulity of him having children, but again something went wrong. In the deamon's state of half life, and half power, the spell was cast incorrectly, and the effects were changed."
Robert was pale at the thought of a deamon inhabbiting someone's body. He had only heard rumours about such circomstances. "How?" He managed to croak out.
"Contrary to the ideals of the spell, he was indeed quite able to have children. He had two in fact. A boy and a girl. But they were the ones who suffered from the curse. Allergic to the sun, and lacking in blood, they needed an outside supply to survive. This was accomplished by the simple drinking of animal blood." Robert made a face. "But there was an upside to this curse as well. They were now apparently invounrable... Immortal. They were faster and stronger and more intelligent than the other children around them, and they knew it. It was because of this that they began to become discontented and argumentitive.
"Years passed. Their parents long since turning to dust, when Antony, the Salvatore boy got in a fight with one of the other boys. In the fight Antony bit the other boy on the throat, and drained his blood, killing him. His sister, Miranda, was horrified. She saw the evil in her brother, and ran from him, confining herself to her home in fear that she would end up the same way. It was a month before anyone came looking for her, and to her dismay, the one who had come was Antony.
"He was pale and sickly, with large black circles under his eyes, but carried an air about him that bespoke the feroisity and animal instinct that he possessed. Miranda could smell the stench of death all around him, and was afraid of him. He was not to be argued with."
"What happened?" Robert was mortified, and yet at the same time mystified by the odd story. He had heard tales of such creatures, but never one so convincing.
The woman came forward and stared him in the eyes. "She was sitting at her kitchen table when he arrived. He just stood there watching her, almost daring her to move with his sunken, sickly eyes. And she was terror- stricken enough to stay still. They remained like that through the night. It wasn't until the first rays of dawn began to shine through the window that either of them moved. Antony frowned at the glass hole, and then he passed her by and ventured into the house.
"Miranda let out a breath of air, as if she hadn't breathed the entire night. When she drew up the courage and strength to move, she ran from the house. She found a gypsy preistess named Melissa, and told her the story of herself and her brother. Melissa told Miranda that she could do nothing to save her brother, but would help Miranda protect herself. She cast a second curse which would erase the first from Miranda's soul."
"Did it work?"
"Essentailly. it was effective in ceasing the cravings, and she was no longer tortured by visions of deamons but, as it was said to her 'Only a kiss of True passion from one who could see beyond the evil would ever truly erase the curse from her blood'. Also, to her dismay, the death she longed for did not come as she had hoped it might. And similar as it had been to her father, the curse would be passed to any sons she might have."
"Just the sons?"
She nodded. "Melissa changed the curse so that it would only effect the male Salvatores. The women were almost free from it's touch."
"Almost?"
She sighed out of frustration. "You ask a lot of questions... The curse is latient in the women. It would not effect them as it originally did Miranda and Antony. But if one of them were to have a son, he would share Antony's fate."
Robert could see how annoied she was becoming with him, and didn't want to upset her any farther, but still wanted to know more. "Whatever happened to them?"
"Years passed, and finally Antony attacked Melissa. He had wanted Miranda to join him, and was angry that Melissa had saved her. Miranda managed to kill him, but not before Melissa was killed. As Melissa died in her arms, Miranda swore that she would make sure that the blood line would be destroied, and never again would a creature like Antony be created."
"But I thought you said that Antony was immortal? How then was he killed?"
"Immortals, much like externals, can be killed. It's just difficult."
"I'm sorry... externals ??"
The woman looked annoyed by his ignorance. "They are of no concern at the moment. Right now our main concern is protecting Rosa from the curse. And only you can do that."
"Wait a minute, you said that only the males were affected, why is this effecting her?!?"
Thierry came forward, breaking the silence that had fallen over him. "That would be my fault."
Robert turned back to Thierry. Realization struck him, that since Thierry was a male member of the Salvatore family he would be prone to infection. "What do you mean?" He stammered.
"As I'm sure you've already guessed, I am effected by this curse. On the trip across, I needed blood to survive. Rosa provided me with that. Had I have been aware of how ill she was becoming, I would never have taken so much. But that is not the problem here. Apparently the lack of blood has caused the curse to some how manufest itself inside of Rosa's body. She is changing into what the women of our herritage have always feared. And I can not stop it. You, however, can."
Robert was perplexed. "How?
Thierry handed him the wineskin. "Holly Water." At Robert's questioning gaze, he continued, "Because of the origional failed excersism, our kind is vounerable to it."
Robert took the wineskin. He eyed it thoughtfully. "What else are you vounerable to?"
Thierry looked offended. "Are you planning to write an article?"
Robert blinked at the statement. He hadn't attended to be rude, or to come off the way he had. "I was merely curious as to how it was that Antony was killed. I didn't mean anything by my querry." An uncomfortable silence followed, as Thierry tried to asertain if Robert would become a threat. "Right... I'll get to work on this then..."
"Sunlight," the woman began suddenly. "Because it represents good. Antony became vounerable to it when he first began to kill, and it only got worse as time went on." She had, apparently, already figured that Robert was no threat, and wanted to show some sign of trust. "Crosses," she continued, pausing slightly in thought. "I do not pretend to be an advocate of the Christian religion, but as the excercism used these objects, they became strong signs against the deamon's power. Also these," She pointed to her forehead. Around it was a set of beads that were similar to the ones Rosa had worn, only older and more intricate. She didn't explain why they fought off the deamon's presence, but merely that they did.
Robert nodded.
"Wait a minute. Do you mean to tell us that Gambit's not only hundreds of years old, but that he's a vampire." Bobby once again interrupted. "That's just some old story made up to frighten kids around campfires! No way they really exist."
Jean Luc sighed. He had expected such a response, and still hadn't figured what to say to asuade some of the doubt. He was merely telling the story how it was told to him. He had taken it as truth without question. After all, the life of his son counted on it. He sighed in discontent.
It was fortunate for him then, that Wolverine did know what to say. "Just 'cause you never saw somethin', don't mean someone else hasn't," he grunted.
"Are you saying that you've seen vampires?" Bobby eyed him skeptically.
"Plenty before I joined the X- Men, and plenty since," Logan responded easily.
Bobby didn't know what to make of what Logan meant by that comment, so instead he brought up a different point. "Oh come on! Don't you think that a little something like 'Hey I need to suck your blood to survive' may have come up before now?"
Jean Luc sighed. "And I'm sure that would have gone over just as well as 'Hey, I was de one dat caused de death of de Morlocks'."
"Point taken," Hank agreed. "But I was his physician, and there were nothing in his DNA that would have caused him to be even the slightest bit enemic."
"Been tryin' to figure dat one out for years, mon ami. No one really understands that to the fullmost. Maybe his mutant DNA interfeered with the curse," he ventured. "I don' really know."
Beast gestured for him to continue. Jean Luc nodded, trying to get his train of thought back in order. He peered at Scott, and wondered why he had been so silent for so long. He hoped to any God that would listen that Scott believed him. If he believed him, then the others might be so inclined to do so as well.
"Robert blessed the water, and Thierry gave it to Rosa to drink. He believed that by having the water inside of her, it would protect her from the inside out. They prayed that it would do more good than harm. As it was, Rosa screamed out in agony as the liquid slid down her throat.
"They waited hours for some sort of change, but none seemed to occur. She strugeled and fought as if possessed, or mad. It wasn't until the first rays of sunlight that she began to quiet."
"But you said there were no windows in the room." Bobby reminded him.
"It didn't matter. De night was over, the darkness done an' gone. And with the first rays of light, Rosa began to feel better. In fact she felt great. It wasn't long before she and Robert were wed, and four years later, much to the dismay of Zoë, Remy was born."
" Zoë ?" Jean asked.
Jean Luc nodded. "The woman who was in Robert's Dream . Zoë Salvatore. She was related to Rosa... I'm not sure how. I've been told dat maybe she was Rosa and Thierry's sister."
"You don't believe this though?" Scott asked. He shook his head. "Well who do you think she was?"
"I'm not here t' tell you what I think, I'm here to tell you what I know." He sighed deeply. "But I t'ink that maybe she was Miranda. It just seems fitting."
"Why do you say that?" Ororo asked.
"She was adiment 'bout stopping Rosa an' Robert from being married, and when she learned of Rosa's pregnancy, there was a screaming match that ended in a fist fight. Had Thierry not come between the two, I have no doubt that one of them would have ended up dead.
"Then, once Remy was born, she loved him like no other. She didn't like kids at all, but when Remy was concerned, it was like a part of her heart melted, and she protected him from anyone and everyone she thought may have done him harm.
"Amazing, non? Dat a woman who was so dedicated to Remy's destruction could have ever loved him de way she did." He took a moment to ponder over this before continuing. "The young family, joined by Thierry, and Zoë, soon made the biggest mistake they ever would. They took up and moved to Salem."
Ororo went pale. "Salem...? By the Goddess..."
Jean Luc nodded in agreeance with her sentiment. "None of them were aware of the hysteria surrounding anything supernatural at the time. They had wanted to find a small quiet place where they could raise Remy without casting any suspicion to his unusual eyes. Robert and Thierry had bought a home on the outskirts of Salem. They believed that it would be peaceful enough for them to live without being bothered by any of the locals.
"The trip there was rough. Remy was young and though not as apt to cry as most infants, he would still keep one or more of them awake long after sun set. When they arrived in Salem, they all began to have feelings of uneasyness.
"Zoë was unsettled about the entire experience. Finally she gave in to her suspicions, and bought a ticket back to Europe."
Salem, Mass. 1694.
Zoë looked out over a deck. In her arms she held a small sleeping baby. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, and she enjoyed feeling the warmth on her face. "Do you see that little one?" she whispered to the young boy.
He stirred at the sudden sound, blinking at the sky before him. He could not possibly be expected to understand the words coming out of her mouth, but still Zoë continued on. "Your Uncil can never know the beauty of dawn. He gave up that privledge a long time ago. But you... You will be different. You will be loved and you will be happy. I will not allow the mistake of one man hundreds of years ago destroy your innocence, as it has to so many who have come before you. This I promise to you: You will forever know the dawn."
He blinked at her and yawned. "Now Rembrant, I don't want you to think that I am abandoning you. But I have to go away for some time. I know that you will be raised to appreciate all the life around you, and under the guidance of those around you, that you will never feel the hate and pain that your family has always had to endure. Your parents are more than capible of taking care of you," She sounded almost as if trying to calm herself than anything else, as she walked into the house and headed for Remy's cradle. "And with Thierry's help they will do a masterful job of protecting you from those that would do you wrong."
"They're going to have to do so without me," Thierry's voice came from in front of Zoë.
Zoë looked up at him in shock. Not because she was suprised to see him, she had known he was there, but because of his words. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm going with you. I don't think that the people in town are very found of me."
"You are paranoid Thierry." She thought the same thing about herself actually, but didn't want him to feel bad by hearing her agree with him.
"Oh really? Then why are you leaving?" He asked, knowing full well why.
Zoë frowned. "I don't know. It's just that I feel like something's wrong. I can't stand being here. And... The town... They're suspicious of the whole lot of us. To make matters worse, their suspicions are well founded." She took a deep breath and then looked down at Remy, who had once again fallen to sleep. "I'm worried for his safety Thierry," she whispered. "Only harm can come to him if he stays."
"Try telling them that."
She frowned, making her disapproval auidable in her voice. "I have. They're so stubborn. They say that they won't let prejduce kick them from their home again." She inhalled deeply. "I'm half tempted to bring him with me."
Thierry sat down far away from the window. "You'd have to get him a ticket first," he replied casually, taking a mouthful of water.
"I already have," she stated quietly without raising her eyes from Remy.
Thierry almost choked on his drink. "Are you serious?!?"
She nodded. "I have tickets for all of us. I am not leaving any chance that they might come with us be ruined by the fact that they don't have tickets."
Thierry nodded. After a comfortable silence he asked, "When do we leave?"
"Tonight. So we have until then to convince them to join us."
Thierry finished his drink and set his cup on the table. "Until then." He then left the room and headed off to sleep. Rosa approaching him as he went. "Morning Rosa," he said in passing and kissed her on her cheek.
"Good morning Thierry. Have a good sleep," she replied as he went to the cellar, shutting the door behind him.
Rosa went to Zoë, who handed her Remy. "Hello sleepy one. Did you have a good visit with Zoë?" Rosa asked him. He yawned at her in response. Rosa smiled at him. "You are going to sleep your life away."
Zoë eyed Rosa carefully. "Rosa. I do think that you should reconsider and come with us."
Rosa was about to argue, but got caught up on the word us . "What do you mean us ?"
"Thierry has decided to come back. And I really think that you should follow in his lead."
"Zoë we're going to be fine here on our own. I've always managed before, and I will continue to do so long after you're gone."
"You were never alone before."
"I have Robert."
After a long pause, Zoë said quietly, "Have I ever been wrong before child?"
Rosa frowned. "No... But you have never accused an entire town of conspiring against innocent people before. The simple idea that this entire community is trying to have us killed is rediculas. And for the claims of what crimes would they do this? Dealing with the Devil? Robert is a man of the church. They would not accuse him and his family of such crimes."
It was now Zoë's turn to frown. She had always known Rosa to be a stuborn person, but this time she believed that her attitude could end up doing her and her family grave harm. She seriously contemplated knocking her and Robert unconscious and dragging them aboard the ship herself. "I can't make you do anything against your will," she replied resigned. "But I beg you to be careful."
Rosa smiled. "We will. You worry too much. You'll see. Everything's going to be fine."
Zoë smiled back, but she didn't feel it in her heart. "You're probably right."
The rest of the day went off without a hitch. Zoë packed her and Thierry's things, and made ready for their trip. Nothing went wrong that she could put her finger on, but she could tell that something wasn't right, and it was tearing her apart inside.
When night fell Robert accompinied them to the ship. The skies were darker than usual, and the cold seeped through their clothes. They hadn't wanted to take the chance of Remy getting ill, so Rosa stayed back with him.
When they got to the ship they began loading their possitions on board. Just as the three were saying their last goodbyes, Zoë looked up and concentrated on the town.
She had the same intense look on her face as the first day Robert had met her, and he had the same reaction as it had before, nervous shivers running down his spine. Robert looked at Thierry and found the same expression on his face.
Thierry took a step towards the town. "Get on the boat," he commanded intensily.
Before Robert had even half a chance to respond, Zoë had him by the arm and was leading him up the gangway. By the time they were half way up, there was a large flash of orange tinged light that filled the air, and brightened the dark night. Robert turned back to look at where it had come from.
In the distance, on the outskirts of town, they could see their small house burning to the ground. Across the town, there were other houses a light. The entire sky was filling with a putred black smoke, comprised of people's homes, their posetions, their memories.
Robert shrinked Zoë's grasp and ran back down towards Thierry. "Rosa and Rembrant. They were in the house." His face was ghostly with fear, and his eyes wide from shock.
"Wait here Robert. I'm going after them," Thierry stated.
Robert grabbed his arm. "I'm going with you."
Thierry pushed him off forcefully, and turned him to the ship. "No, you stay here where it's safe."
Robert turned back on him, anger and desperation in his eyes and voice. "Nowhere is safe with out my wife and child... My life is nothing without them by my side."
Thierry sighed. "Wait as long as you can for us!" he yelled to the captain who nodded in response. Then the two of them took off into the town.
"What do we do?" Robert asked Thierry as the two of them peered from the back of the crowd.
Robert was shocked as a low growl emmiting from Thierry came to him as his response, but not as shocked as he was when he heard Zoë's voice cut into his thoughts. They want deamons...? She hissed, Then we give them deamons... As Robert turned to look at her, he found she was once again semi translucent and he found himself almost afraid of her.
"We distract the crowd, and you get my sister," Thierry's voice seemed different to Robert somehow. When Robert looked closely, he saw that Thierry had acquired a set of fangs and his eyes were glowing like hot coals.
He wanted to jump away, but found he couldn't. "What about my son?" he asked, more calmly than he felt.
"Leave that to me."
Robert barely had time to nod his agreeance before Thierry lept from the back of the crowd and went straight fot the man holding his nefew.
"Give me the boy!" He hollared angrly at the mob's leader. For a moment the crowd backed up a step, almost as if stunned by the fact that they had been right all along... But only for a moment.
One man close to Thierry jumped at him and stabbed him with a pitch fork yelling "Monster!"
Almost immediately following his removal of the foreign object, Thierry's wounds healed themselves. "Do you really think you can injure me with that pitiful toy?!?" He exclaimed. "Better men than you have tried to put me out of their misery and failed! What makes you think you'll be any different?"
The stereotypical villianous canter Thierry was spouting almost fooled Robert into believing that the deamon had overtaken his body. Soon though Zoë's voice cut into his head urging him to free Rosa.
As Thierry occupied the crowd, Robert snuck around them, and managed to get to his wife. He untied and ungaged her and urged her to go to the ship. As she started running he moved to untie the others. By the time he reached the third person, someone began to notice what he was doing.
He felt a quick pain in the back of his head and for a moment everything went black. Shortly after, he felt a strong hand pull him up, and opened his eyes to see Thierry's face. A moment after he regained his equalibrium, he noticed that Thierry held Remy in his arms.
"Get moving!" Thierry ordered, thrusting the small bundle towards Robert.
Robert looked around to notice that he was being luged along by Thierry and one of the men he had freed. Just ahead of them were some of the others who had been tied along side of Rosa and the entire enterage was being chased by the mob.
"For the love of all that is Holy..." Robert muttered. He took Remy from Thierry, and started running from his own power. He nodded his thanks to the other man, who nodded back.
Thierry, by this point, had turned around and was now facing the crowd, trying to buy the others enough time to get clear. The horde was, for the most part, scared back by Thierry's show, but not entirely.
Robert could do nothing but run, as the relentless mass started attacking and bringing down those along side him. He huddled Remy closer to him. By now he had reached the docs and could see the boat. Rosa and Zoë were standing on the gang plank, ill looks on their features.
Someone from behind him bumped him, and he fell hard to the ground. Feet kicked and hands pulled as he tried to get back up. Someone latched on to his ankle, but he kicked them away and got to his feet.
He was now close enough to the back of the crowd that the mob was just behind him. He felt a sharp pain in his back, and knew that he had been struck by a pitch fork. It wasn't deep enough to knock him down, but the throbbing pain that went through him was enough to slow him down.
Thierry came beside him and pulled him along. "You have to keep going," he hissed. Rocks and torches were whirling past them, and Robert leaned hard on Thierry.
Without a word, he handed Remy to him. He looked long and hard into Thierry's eyes. "I can die a peaceful death, knowing that my son is alive..." he whispered.
Thierry didn't want to take Remy from Robert, knowing that if he did, Robert would have no reason to continue to fight, but Robert didn't give him much of a choice, as he dropped Remy without waiting to know if Thierry had a grip on him. The two were then separated by a small group of the accused Witches . The last Thierry saw of Robert, was his head disapearing beneath the crowd.
Robert was afraid, but knew that Thierry would protect his son. The mob had overtaken him, and were kicking and beating him. He lay in a battered heap, just taking the assult without fighting back. If the mob was concentrating on him, then they weren't concentrating on catching his Thierry.
Oblivion was close for him. The loud yells of the crowd began to dim in his ears. Then the beating stopped. At least that's what it felt like. He could still feel the jars of each blow, but didn't recognize the pain. He felt a tender touch light on the side of his face. His eyes opened as much as they could, and he saw the face of an angel. Rosa was laying beside him, enduring the same beating he was.
At first he thought he was imagining things-- he hoped he was imagining things-- but somehow he knew he wasn't. He reached out to her and took her hand in his. She had run from her sanctuary when she had seen him fall, and was now going to share his fate.
As the darkness surrounded him, Robert felt a sickness unlike any he had ever felt before. He was going to die. And not only that, his wife was going to die by his side. Pointless deaths that would prove nothing. It was not the way he felt their lives together should end, but he took solace I knowing that Remy was safe.
I've come across a mistake. In part six of this story, I said that Remy was born in 1693. This was because I had read tha the Salem Witch Trials took place in 1694. Now, just recently I came across a book that says that they happened in 1692. I don't know which one of these is correct, so I'm just going to stick with 1694 since it makes sense with my story. Sorry if I'm chosing the wrong date, But I can't very well have Gambit's parents killed before he was born now can I?
I am truly sorry about Jean Luc's accent. At first I thought of him having little to no accent because of how he was more of the 'Upper class' theif, but in reading the new 'Gambit Series' ('bout friggin' time Marvel...) I see that his Cajun is just as thick as Remy's, if not more so. *Sigh* So now I find myself waning back and forth between trying to slowly work it back in, and thinking that I've used it too much. If it gets over used, or left out entirely, please ignore me. It's late... Or early depending on how you look at it... And I'm tired out of my mind as usual (It's been over a year since I started this thing and Yes, I am still an ensomniac, but at least now I have a computer in my room!!! If you have no clue what the Hell I'm talking about, read what I wrote at the end of the first part...)
WHAT THE HELL WAS I TALKING ABOUT?!?!
Oh, right, accents... Yeah... Whatever... Sleep... Need sleep...
Crimson.