Evil Unearthed: Chapter 45

Chapter forty-five

For the woman known now as Evangeline Abbott, life had never been a straightforward affair. Hers had never been the path of romance or of marriage, of rearing children or of running a household. Even if she did hold a job, at least a part of the reason for doing so was so that she could find a foothold in a world which had changed dramatically from the time when she was young, the time before the strange and secret ritual which she had undergone to prolong her life over three-hundred years ago. Instead, she had lived a life of conflict, conflict between the calling which she knew she must inherit from her father one day and the vistas which the world as it moved on began to open before her. Yet, after her father's death and her own feigned passing on Maljardin, she began to realize that the old ways did have meaning, and after forty years of steeping herself in them, she had become what her father had been to the people during his time as the Conjure Man: a font of wisdom, a healer and a leader, yes, but never a true friend to any. Even the servant-girl who had given her life for that ritual had been more of an acolyte, she knew, when she had decided to allow herself to be sacrificed on the altar of blood. And as far as the people she had met on Maljardin when Jean Paul Desmond had been its master, few had truly believed in her abilities and even fewer had really made an effort to come to know her, with the possible exception of the Reverend Matthew Dawson of course. She had known that he was trying as far as he could to enter into the battle and to be her ally, but he had come to believe in the evil too late, and she had not been able to help him to fight it.

Now, however, everything had changed, and the change had begun with the coming of Robert Barrett to these islands, even if at their first meeting she regarded him with disdain. She had thought him a mere dilatant, an intellectual popinjay who just wanted to worm a few secrets out of her so he could publish them for his own financial and academic gains, but as she had come to know him, she realized that he genuinely cared about her people's way of life and wanted to learn to live it. So, little by little and in spite of his declining health, she had trained him and taught him and had, after long deliberation, made him her High Priest, and yes, her lover. However, she knew that theirs was not a true communion of souls. No, the only time she had ever approached even a glimpse of that kind of communion had been during some of her talks with the Reverend Dawson, and when she saw his nephew for the first time, she knew that he was made of the same stuff.

Then there was Kathleen O'Dell. She had no business being a simple assistant to Miss Julia Desmond. She was strong and steadfast, and could, if she had not been touched by evil, have learned to use her gifts to help others in her own right. Still, Vangie thought as the dawn after their last meeting came creeping across the floor of her little cabin, perhaps it was ordained to be so. Perhaps she had to discover the danger as well as the power. Perhaps...

"No," she said aloud to the empty room. "I mustn't dwell on what might be. The present is all I have that is certain," and with that, she stood up from the stool where she had passed a sleepless night and began going about her daily chores. There was the garden to weed and herbs to cull while the dew still lay upon them, and she was grateful for all this activity. It would keep her mind off the events of the past few days. Though, she reflected ruefully, if she ever did need reminding, all she would have to do would be to stop and let herself be sensible of the deep cold which still seemed to be a part of her being no matter how warm the day might be. It had never left her since that last night on Maljardin, and though her healer's knowledge told her otherwise, a part of her felt that it never would.

As the morning dropped down humid and thick upon the island and the outdoor chores became too much for her in that atmosphere, she went back inside and brewed some tea. She surprised herself by setting out two cups and by brewing more than her usual amount, but just as the kettle boiled and she was pouring the water over the leaves, a sudden knock informed her that she had known subconsciously that someone would be coming, and after setting the tea to steep, she opened the door to find a red-eyed and raging Kathleen waiting there.

"Kat?" The anger coming from the other woman seemed to hit her like the blast of heat from an oven when it is opened quickly. "Are you--"

"I didn't know where else to come," she said, stepping in and allowing Vangie to close the door behind her and to guide her to a seat. "He's mad! Stephen Dawson is raving mad!"

"Have some tea, Kat," Vangie said in what she hoped was a soothing and not a tired tone, "and tell me what this is about."

"He wrote me a letter," she began without preamble. "He told me that he thought that Julia would like to be pregnant as a result of--of that encounter between them or between Erica and Jacques, I suppose. He said that during his talk with her yesterday, she seemed not to remember that encounter, but something in her eyes told her that she really did. I thought we'd beaten Erica! I thought she was gone! I can't do what he wants me to do, Vangie! I can't!"

"What does he want you to do?" She was trying very hard to keep her voice level and her expression calm, but what Kathleen was saying chilled her to the bone. If Jacques Eloi Des Mondes were to find a way to incarnate in a living body from its infancy as he had originally planned, there would be no telling what evil might be unleashed.

"He asked me to try, if Julia in fact is pregnant of course, to convince her not to have the child. I can't possibly do that, Vangie!"

"Well, Kat, you have to do what your heart and conscience tell you to do. I'm sure that Stephen would understand it if you declined to do what he wanted. Anyhow, the point may be moot. Before I came to you that last time on Maljardin, I found the conjure doll of Jacques Eloi Des Mondes and also the silver pin. I wove the spell again and put the doll with the pin in its temples into the coffin. Stephen himself saw it there if he fulfilled the promise he made to me."

"He did. I was with him and saw it," said Kathleen, "but there's something else. Julia wants to stay here for the remainder of her life. She wants to live in the house, Vangie! What if--what if she's tempted?"

"Then she must be the one to fight it. It isn't as though she has not been touched by evil before, Kat. Now she knows more! Surely that will weigh heavily in the balance if he--if that devil tries to coerce her to set him free."

"But what if he doesn't have to coerce her? What if she's really not completely free of him or--of Erica?"

"Then those who can will have to join the battle again. I can see, however, that you mustn't get involved again, Kat, no matter how much you love your friend."

"You're right," she said, and this shook Vangie. Never before had Kathleen agreed with anything she had to say which involved leaving Julia behind.

"I'm surprised to hear you say that!"

"You shouldn't be," the other woman said, and all at once, Vangie felt the hardness in her come to the fore. "I'm finished with all of this once and for all. I'm tendering my resignation and leaving here as soon as I can."

"I can't say that I won't miss you," said Vangie, taking her friend's hand in hers, "but I can say that your plan has lifted a weight from my mind. You do have a gift, Kathleen, and I have a feeling that it will not leave you entirely alone, but to remain here or to live on Maljardin would be dangerous for you. Even with the island cleansed, it is still a place of power. You will need to do something that is, I think, very difficult for you. You will have to let life take whatever course it will take. I hope you will be happy, whatever you end up doing."

"I intend to try my best, Vangie, and if that means letting Stephen down, then so be it."

"I think his request was born out of fear, and if I can, I'll tell him as much, though I will not tell him you came to see me."

"You can tell him. He'll know soon enough that I've left, after all. Let him think what he will of me! I have to do what is best for me."

"Yes you do," said Vangie sadly. "I would expect nothing less from you after all you've been through."

"You know what it's going to lead to, don't you?" Kathleen's green eyes bore into hers. "You know that my decision will lead to more evil!"

"I know nothing of the sort," she replied. "We don't even know if Julia is truly pregnant." But just then, she remembered standing on the roof of the north tower of the chateau and looking into Julia's eyes. She had thought then that another life lay nestled inside her, but until today, she had not been certain of it. "I only know that what will come will come, and that our choices are what define us as people, Kat! If you had agreed to Stephen's request, I think you would have ceased to be your true self. Please understand that if evil does come as a result of this, I will never reproach you for beginning it. It began a very long time ago and it is for those who can and who are willing to deal with it as it rebounds across time. There will always be someone manning the front lines, Kat. Never fear!"

"Well then," Kathleen announced as she got to her feet, "I suppose that this is truly goodbye!"

"Never that, Kathleen O'Dell," said Vangie as they embraced. "Never that. We will meet again before the end. That much I can see. So, I'll say farewell for the present. May your journey through life be rich and filled with wonders!"

"Thank you again for everything, Vangie! I'll think of you often," and suddenly breaking from the hug, she walked deliberately to the door and put her hand on the latch.

"I will come, you know," she said. "I will come if you call me."

"I know, Kat. I know, and thank you." And watching the woman out of sight and onto the path through a mist of tears, she once again found herself alone with only the surrounding silence for a companion.

She suddenly felt the familiar weakness come over her. It always dismayed her to experience it, but she knew that it would ebb in time. She had laid herself open and unshielded in the path of the elemental powers of these islands after all, even reaching beyond mere physicality, and for that there had to be a price. She had felt the change the moment the power had left her barely conscious on a deserted beach of this island and when Michel had carried her from there to this cabin. She had been grateful that her psychic call to him had been received and acted upon with such alacrity and that Martine and some of the other women had come to tend her while she had lain feverish and unable to move, and while she had known very clearly that she would not die, she had also felt certain that the mysterious life force which had sustained her for more than three-hundred years had now been spent and that she had at last rejoined the truly mortal world. Now, as the morning was advancing to noon and as the rain which had thickened the air was beginning to fall, she found that she could do nothing but lie down on her bed and listen to the wind and the thunder as they vied for sonic supremacy and drift in and out of sleep despite the noise of the storm.

When she at last fully woke from this lethargy, she heard the sounds of the night around her and saw a clear and star-filled sky outside her window. The drums were beating at the sacred gathering place. Her people were performing yet another rite to beg the Great Serpent that she be returned to full health, but there was also another drum beating much closer at hand. It was this sound, she realized, which had brought her out of her stupor, and as she listened to the beat, she smiled. Only one person could be in the other room. Only one person could have called her back. He had come at last. He had sensed her living presence and had come. This was what she had hoped for, but now that it had come to the point, she was uncertain how to proceed. It was not only herself she had to consider. There were her people as well. Would they accept him? And what about the news that Kathleen had told her? Was he indeed a worthy partner for her? She did not know anything for certain, but as his drumming continued, she knew that she could no longer ignore it.

Getting slowly to her feet and rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she moved softly across the floor and into the main room of the cabin. A fire was glowing on the hearth and Stephen sat where he had been on the night when she had told him that she loved him, her drum between his knees and his hands playing like lightning across its head. He was wearing Barrett's robe and pendent, and the serpent staff lay beside his chair. He had come. He had really come and he had made his choice. He would not be conflicted, she knew. He would choose her every time, and in choosing her, he would also choose her people. He would be what a true priest ought to be, and he would also be someone with whom she could share however many days and nights she had left to her. Never again would she have to face the long wastes of lonely years stretching into the unknown. Still, she had to be certain. She had to ask.

"So," she said softly, caressing and thereby stilling his hands on the drum, "you've come at last!"

"I have, my Lady," he said, setting the drum down and taking her into his arms.

"And will you stay? Will you stay with me?"

"I couldn't do anything else," he said, sobs choking his words.

"Then welcome home, Stephen Matthew Dawson," she said, herself beginning to cry. "Welcome home!" The kiss which followed was long and lingering, and as she led him gently to the bedroom, no words were exchanged. Instead, the two went silently and joyfully, leaving all worries and fears behind them, and lay twined for hours in each other's arms. What would happen later was unknown, but Vangie decided to let it stay a mystery for now. For her, the present was too glorious. Here at last she had found a kindred soul. Here at last she had found fulfillment. Here at last and beyond all hope, she could finally rest.

THE END