Chapter 8 Part 3 - Revised

   Cyrus reacted before Skye did. “What the fuck does that mean!” Skye recoiled like she had been slapped and looked at her son shocked to the core. He moved towards Dominic quickly, but even faster than him were Chase and Maury. In a flash they were standing right in front of him blocking his way. Chase with an arm outstretched preventing Cyrus from going any further and Maury blocking him in on the right side between himself, Chase and the table. Cyrus tried to bat his arm away but stayed where he was, looking from Chase to Maury with loathing and more anger than he thought possible. Skye was taken aback to say the least that Cyrus had acted that way and was also surprised at her lack of feeling about Dom’s last statement. When she opened her mouth to say something she had the feeling that there was nothing to say…just to listen.

   Dominic was about to begin again and this time before he spoke, Skye put up one finger to stop him for a moment. She turned to Cyrus and said as only a mother could “Cyrus, please take your sisters upstairs. I need a moment alone with your Uncle.” Her tone was flat and held no edge but the intention was clear that this was not a choice but an order that he had no other option but to leave. Kyra stood up quickly with no hesitation like she didn’t want to be there anymore anyway and reached across the table to take her little sisters’ hand.

    She didn’t want to hear any more anyway but Cyrus stood stock still looking at his mother with his mouth open. “Wh… what?” he stammered. Skye saw the look of hurt pride and disapproval in his eyes and although she felt bad but this she didn’t think this was something that they should hear about until she could piece together the validity of the apparently facts she was being told. Not until she got the whole story anyway and figured out why Dom was telling her this now and what it all meant for what’s left of her family.

   “Please Cyrus; I’ll fill you in later… I promise but the girls are scared enough already and I don’t want them to hear any more of this after Uncle’s clear insensitivity on the subject he just mentioned.” She saw the flash of frustration in his eyes and then the quick change to disappointment and sadness and as much as she felt horrible about it, she knew that he was still too young for this even if he didn’t think so. “Please Cyrus…now” Right then he looked like the 6 year old boy she remembered on the verge of a temper tantrum, about to stomp his feet and yell and scream but he was bigger now and as if he knew where her mind was he straightened, lifted his head, squared his shoulders and marched out of the room without looking back. The girls trailed behind him walking hand in hand.

    The silence that filled the room was loud.

   Skye sighed as she laid her head in her hands and mental steeled herself to hear more. Surprisingly calm, she lifted and turned her attention back to Dominic just as a feeling of distrust bubbled up within her, so small but there none the less. “Would you care to explain what you mean by that Dominic?” she said steadily as she stared at her hands flipping them over repeatedly looking for some kind of a difference in them. He smiled at her then and she felt the ping of anger.

    “You would not technically be the one we killed Skye,” as he tapped the box. “It’s the one in here that we would have to get rid of and have done so on more than one occasion.” As much as Skye had trouble and didn’t want to believe any of this, she felt deep down that something was familiar about what he was saying. She still trusted the man in front of her because Deacon had. He had unwavering trust in Dominic and there had to be something to what he was saying and yet, at the same time inside her, there was a conflict going on.

   He continued… “The being… inside of the statue… in this box has no regard for anyone other than herself. She was cursed because of that disregard after she killed the coven of Witches that were her followers. She left one alive to provide for her and to keep worshipping her but the witch tricked her and trapped her in here.” He tapped the box once more.

   “Lies.” The voice hissed.

   A slight inclination of Skye’s head did not go unnoticed by Dominic. “You…can hear her right now can’t you? Inside of your head?” He asked. Skye’s quick flare of confusion told him he was right. “You’ve never heard her before have you.” More of a statement of fact as opposed to a question, he continued. “You hear her now because you have the statue here with you and you have physically touched it.” His fingers travelled across the top of the box. “No matter where we take her, she always finds a way back to you. Sometimes sooner than later but this time around it took a very long time.”

   Skye was very wary and knew there was a whole lot more to be said but only had one question despite everything she had heard so far.

   “Why did he say ‘there were never kids before’?” At that it was Dominic turn to look a bit uncomfortable as she could see the wheels turning in his head. He looked at Chase before he continued and up until now Maury hadn’t said anything. “May I boss?” Maury asked and Dom hesitated before he waved a hand for him to proceed. Maury took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. “Skye…we’ve know each other for a very long time and we’ve always had kind of a…” he paused and to another breath. “Brother and sister type of relationship. So I’m going to be as honest as I can with you.”

    Skye must have shown confusion yet again because the raised eyebrows in the room implied that they could see in her face that she did not believe that at all, but Maury continued. “You couldn’t have children, you had no reproductive organs. Having kids should have been impossible and we all knew it.”

    Inside her head a distant insane laughter tickled the back of her mind...

Chapter 8 Part 2 - Revised

   Skye could only sit, stare and barely blink at Dominic. There were silent conversations going on all around her but the thoughts swirling in her head were the only ones she heard. “What, you don’t believe him?” asked an unfamiliar voice, yet it felt familiar and almost warm. The memories were rising and falling like breathing in her head, one would come to the surface as another one faded “Oh come now Skye…as they call you now” the voice teased “You have always felt I was here and I always will be…” It paused and whispered to her softly “set me free…”

  Skye could feel the words taunting her, feeling them swirl inside of her but was more concerned with the memories she couldn’t latch on to and dismissed it as nerves. As she tried and tried to pull up something of her past before Deacon or her childhood and parents Skye felt like something was there and she couldn’t quite grasp it. More things came and went in a faded haze that didn’t make sense. Clothing that wasn’t right, a landscape slightly changed and she could feel herself starting to get agitated again and then little noises from the room started seeping in like a TV being turned up. She looked around and suddenly wanted everyone to go away, she needed time so she could understand what she was being told. Wanting to scream and rip her hair out but doing neither she let her eyes had settle on the white milky box in front of Dominic, the sounds quickly evaporated and was then replaced by another sound.

   Thump-thump she heard and her body began to replace the tension filling her muscles with soft vibration and she felt more serene.  Thump-thump she heard again and then somehow felt this one deep within her like a pulse. The box appeared to rise and fall again like it had before and this time she was more aware of it, more aware of how it didn’t seem to move like wood should and briefly wondered if anyone else saw what was happening. How it looked soft and wanting to be touched and caressed. Skye leaned forward with her hand outstretched wanting to do just that.

Just then there was a loud smack on the table and she jumped.

   Skye was no idea that she had been holding her breath until she tried to gasp and coughed out the stale air. Inside for a moment she felt lost and disoriented as well as unsettled in her skin. She chalked up the thumping to being her own heart pounding in her ears. Too much was going on and she wanted it all to stop but more than ever she wished the love of her life was here to make her feel safe.

  “It’s not your heart…” whispered the voice inside her head and she barely resisted the urge to shiver.

                                                                  ***

   Dominic had heard enough of the racket going on around him, it was growing louder and louder after she startled Skye out of the trance he knew she had fallen under. Cyrus was yelling at everyone to get out but the men stood their ground and disregarded him. Chase was trying to calm Kyra while she was reacting to the tension in the room and sitting with her knees pulled up under her chin on the chair rocking back and forth. He could feel that something was off with her but not spending much time with her made him hesitated because he didn’t know if this was normal for her since Deacon was gone. He had no idea that she was feeling the Shadow coming and there was almost a shimmer in the air around her mother that she could see and thus scaring her more.

    Chase had approached her quietly and rested a hand gently on her shoulder as he squatted down to meet her eyes, he could see tears beginning to form. He took a finger, placed it under her chin and then turned her to face him. “It’s ok,” he said softly. “It will be quiet soon.” Kyra took a slow shaky breath and although she felt like she had no reason at all to trust him… soon found she had no reason not to either.

   Dominic sighed heavily stood up and barked at the crowd of men that had spread out in in the small space creating even less of it. “Chase, Maury you stay here, the rest of you go wait out back until we’re done with this.” No one argued and a few even seemed relieved. One by one they moved out the back door as they grumbled to each other but were otherwise grateful for the extra room and to be out of the tense kitchen.

   After a moment Kyra slowly stopped rocking and lowered her feet to the floor, Cyrus had stopped yelling but continued to pace behind his mother mumbling under his breath that she couldn’t hear and Savannah as she still sat on her mother’s lap held Skye’s hands in hers patting them lightly and hummed.

   Skye removed her hands from Savannah’s and leaned forward on her elbows as they were around either side of her daughter. “Ok, I don’t understand. What you’ve said it sounds crazy!” frustrated she added “You’re cryptic and shady Dominic so just tell me the truth…Please…or are you just trying to rattle me.” The exhaustion was coming back and Dominic knew he would just have to spit it out. He let out another heavy sigh and felt another 100 years older. “Like I said…you are a vessel trapped in this form and cursed to live and die over and over again. In the statue you are so eager to touch it the spirit of the goddess that will take you over and causing you to no longer exist on this plane and she has control of your body and mind while she lives.” He paused and motioned for Chase to get him a glass of water.

   “You never age,” he continued “You never change. When you die you come back on the first full moon afterwards and usually we have someone there to meet you.” Chase returned and handed the glass to Dom. He took a big gulp of water. “The statue in this box houses the soul of essentially both souls at separate times because you cannot inhabit your body and mind at the same time.”

   Skye shook her head slowly, disbelievingly and at the same time felt like there was a stitch of truth in his words and that absolutely terrified her. “How do you know this and why should I believe any of it?” He took a quick look across the faces around him and replied soflty, “Because we’ve been looking after you for a long time Skye, we were sent to protect you in this form…and if necessary kill you in the next.”