The Road w/ Anna Part 15
For an hour she lay that way until the ambulance arrived only then did she wake up in slight shock from the sudden intake of oxygen with his dead body lying by her side with blood still pouring out of him. She felt as if something happened within that past hour as if her life had just been drained from her. She didn’t respond when the police asked her if she was all right.
“He’s dead.” Was all that would come out of her mouth as they took her to the hospital for the doctors to make sure she wasn’t harmed during the attack and even then she didn’t feel as if it were real. She sat there in the doctors’ office still wearing the clothes that had Trents blood now staining the fabric. She felt numb all over as her father came in to wrap her up in his arms.
She looked into her fathers’ eyes with her eyes empty, “He’s gone. It’s my fault that he’s dead. I saw the knife and I should have stopped it but I didn’t. I was too late to stop…any of it. Now he’s…dead because of me.”
Her father shook his head as he moved a strand of hair from her face, “There’s nothing you could have done to save him. The knife penetrated his heart and he lost a lot of blood. Not even the best surgeon could have saved him from wounds like that. He loved you so much, Annie. Always remember that about him. Did you by any chance see who did this to him?”
She nodded as anger replaced her sorrow, “He’s not going to get away with it either. If it’s a fight he’s after then I’ll gladly give him a war. I’ll go as far as to tear out his black dead heart if I have to.”
He looked at Ana as he whispered sharply, “Revenge is never the answer, Anastasia. You’ll only give him more of an advantage to use it against you. You’ll be dead before you take another step towards him.”
She took out her knife from her pocket as she sliced deep into her arm to reveal a darker shade of blood red, “I don’t know if you hadn’t noticed yet but I’ve been dead since the moment Trents’ heart stopped beating.” The wound quickly healed, “I figured out what triggers the transformation and it’s something mom never told you the rest of the truth. Once a true love dies the heart of the connected dies as well and I’ve been dead for the past six hours now so revenge is all I have left. I won’t allow Damon to get away with this. This is where it all ends. No one else will ever get hurt again not while I have the power to stop him. I need you to understand this, dad. There’s no turning back remember? You know what you have to do and I need you to trust me on this.”
Tears started to pour from her fathers’ eyes as he held her by the shoulders, “Just promise me that you won’t give into the darkness.”
“I may have power but I sure as hell am not a blood sucker with evil intentions towards the innocent.” She said as her eyes flashed from black to normal, “I really must go before anyone starts to have suspicions about me.”
He gently placed a hand to her cheek, “I love you, my daughter. My Anastasia Rose I shall miss you most of all.”
“And I shall miss you as well, father.” She said as she kissed his forehead before leaving the room. She made her way passed everyone knowing that in the basement lay her beloved all alone but never far from her thoughts. She was dead to everyone around her yet they couldn’t tell that she was cursed to live forever this way. She felt so alone but her sense knew where to go if she needed to claim her vengeance.
She arrived by the bay just before dawn to find Damon staring out over the still water. Not even the wind could touch the water that reflected their images back up at them.
“This is a most peaceful place before the light comes and ruins it all.” He said with a shake of his head, “It’s nice to see that you’ve learned how to use your abilities so quickly unlike your mother she took a year to use hers even with my guidance to help her along. She still has trouble at times even when she thinks that she’s got a handle of it at last there’s always a time to slip up.”
“Where is she?” Ana demanded angrily as she took a step towards him, “Where is my mother, Damon? I know you have her just as I know that you were the one who killed Trent.”
“You always did like to get to the point as quickly as possible.” He said with a smirk, “I still remember when you were just a little girl and used to call me uncle Damon not knowing who I really was. Those are times that I treasure most when you’re innocents over ruled your instincts.”
“A lot has changed since those years when you deceived everyone about you who you really are. I’ve grown stronger than you to know the truth so why don’t you just stop trying to change the subject and tell me what I need to know.” She said as she grabbed him by the throat and tightened her grip, “I could snap your neck in half and I wouldn’t even bother to shed a tear. No one would ever miss a monster like you living in this world.”
“I’m here, Ana.” Said a familiar voice from behind her, “Let him go so we can talk. I promise that he won’t bring any harm to you so please trust me when I tell you to do as I ask.”
Ana let go of his neck as she turned around to face her mother, “How can you have so much trust in him after all that he’s done to tear us a part?”
“Because he’s your father, Ana. I have no choice but to trust the man I love even if it means betraying you by doing so.” She said softly as she walked towards her, “I wanted to give you a life that you could be happy with so I trusted my best friend to care for you making him think that you were his own blood when you weren’t. It is a lie that I knew must be done to ensure that you lived.”
“Steven Carter is my father not this bloodsucker who took you as well as everything else from me.” Ana spat bitterly, “You could very well be lying to me so why should I trust you now?”
“Because you know that she would never lie to you.” Damon put in as he stood next to her mother, “You are the first half breed to ever exist, Ana. We couldn’t raise you when we were still unsure of ourselves. I’ve been watching over you for almost twenty years. Your mother wanted you to live as a human while I just wanted to have you as my daughter. I wanted to be there for as long as I could help you through the transition but your mother said that it would be too dangerous. You would find love to only have it taken from you. It wasn’t me who killed your beloved Trent Lunas my dearest daughter but that of another of our kind who discovered him and killed him for what he knew of you causing the transition to only come quicker. We knew this day would come but not this soon.”
“So you expected to have a family reunion then?” She said with venom in her tone, “That I would somehow believe that after sixteen years I’d run into your arms with understanding of why I was abandoned. For years I thought you were dead, mom. I went to your funeral and cared for my brother thinking that it was what you would have done if it had been Steven in that casket. You wanted me to live my life to only make it so that I would have time before I had to die. I was dead long before I met Trent and he brought me alive again. I was supposed to marry him or didn’t you already know that little piece of information? I didn’t want my life to suddenly end the way it had but the moment his heart stopped so did mine. That’s when I realized that I was walking around without a heartbeat. So explain to me why out of no where am I to not want to kill Damon when he was the one I was warned about?”
Her mother took another step towards her, “You would kill him without knowing the truth in attempt to take vengeance. I know how you work inside your heart, Ana, because I would have done the same. He loves you far too much to wish to bring you any harm. I know that you can sense it just as much as I to know that he speak only of the truth. We did what we could to protect you from this life with little help from anyone else. I had hoped that you would understand all this in time for that was the reason for those letters I left behind for you to find. I gave you insight to who I was before I transitioned into what I am now. It was the only way I could keep my memory strong for you.
When your brother was born he was weak and I knew that the transition wouldn’t pass through him as it had with you so I had no choice but to die. I had waited long enough to know that the both of you deserved a proper up bringing by a mortal who loved you no matter what you were. Steven kept our secrets long enough to make you and Jack strong. I don’t regret any of it because of what I see in you now. You are immortal whether you wanted it or not it’s in your blood, Ana. This is something you can’t change.”
Tears welled up in Ana’s eyes as she looked away from them, “This explains why dad told me that our family was seeped in secrets more importantly your secrets. I just never knew I was a part of that until now that is. Did you know that I wrote a letter to you every year thinking that somehow you would have all the answers I needed to hear? I needed you so much back then and you weren’t ever there to make it easier. When dad told me the truth that you were still alive I felt so angry and betrayed because he had lied to me for so long right when I should have been angry with you for not coming forward in the first place. It wouldn’t have mattered though for you were still gone even if I just wanted to have you back even for a moment.”
Her mother looked over at Damon, “I don’t think she’s ready for any of this right now in her state. It’s just too much for her to take in when she’s just transitioned only twelve hours ago.”
“She is ready, my love.” Damon whispered softly to her, “The doubt in her heart is fading now. She needs us here and now while we are still able to help her through all of this. She is our daughter after all with nowhere else to go.”
Ana glanced over her shoulder at the both of them as she thought of all those times she had waited to have the answers she craved yet now they seemed none existent from where she stood. They spoke the truth of the reason things had to be yet a part of her wanted to wake up from this nightmare. Was she really not going to take vengeance on this creature that now claimed to be her true father? From the moment she stepped foot onto this dock her anger had quickly subsided to loss. A loss only Damon had for her and she sensed that. It was a father’s loss of a child that he barely knew and Ana had the urge to console this man who she was warned of to be dangerous.
She knew of the true reason Steven had warned her for he didn’t wish to admit it to himself that she wasn’t any part of him. Her mother had loved only one man and she stood next to her gazing at his creation that held so much doubt in all that was spoken to her. Ana had once prided herself on accepting only the truth yet now she much preferred to be lied to just so she wouldn’t have to deal with any of this. Her brother suddenly crossed her mind and of his son that her mother never knew of.
She turned to face her parents then, “Could you do something for me?” They both nodded, “Go see your grandson and leave him be. Jack would have wanted you to at least meet him. It’s time that you knew that your blood didn’t end with me, mother. I may have my doubts about all that has come to pass but I hold family above anything else. It was all I cared for when I was alive and I shall care for it now. Nothing could ever change who I was before.”
“Then will you come with us?” Her mother asked with hope in her eyes, “Will you come home to England with us where you are safe?”
“I have no other option but to follow you where ever you go, mother, but all I ask of you is to see this child and to understand what my brothers’ love for one woman created before he passed away. I have seen love create the most magical of things but his was the one that conquered all.” She stated as she moved passed them.
They arrived at Nikki’s home where they went into the room where her nephew lay sleeping. Her mother gently held him in her arms as she gazed down at him with a mothers’ gaze.
“He holds such an angelic face as your brother once did. Such a beautiful child he was even at such a young age.” She whispered so only Ana could hear, “He will grow strong this little one. Far much stronger than how own father.”
“Do you see now that not all hope is lost from us, mother?” Ana whispered to her softly, “We will survive through him alone as we always wished for. Jack will never be lost to us anymore as he was in life for he will live through his son.”
“You are indeed the proudest aunt I have ever known to see any beauty in all of this, my daughter. One day we shall come back to see what this little one has become and you shall be even more grateful to see him. To speak of his father as you once knew him for you shall be the storyteller of how his father lived his life to the fullest.” Her mother said with a smile upon her elegant face.
Ana nodded once more as her mother laid her nephew back down into the crib without even a whimper from him. She followed her mother out of the house just as swiftly as they had come in. She stared up at the darkened house listening to the steady beats of the living hearts inside. Her best friend was in there and in a couple of hours he would find out that she was dead. She hoped that Steven would break the news to him kindly for her sake. Dmitri knew that she craved to have a family and now she had no other choice but to leave him behind. It was the only way she would be able to survive any of this without him.
Her mother handed her a cloak, “Be very careful with this, Ana. It once belonged to Damon’s mother long ago. It’ll keep you hidden once we get to England then you can go wherever you wish. Your road does not end here, my sweet, and neither does your heart.”
Ana knew that her mother heard her thoughts of the song that Trent had written for her. No matter where she went or what road she took Trent would always be alongside her. It was a love she would never forget for love would never die just as he had promised her. Love was the one thing that saved her from herself and now she lived on without him to remind her of a life they could have shared. She would sometimes look back on this day and feel the pull of a time that was lost to her forever yet she knew that forever was a long time to dwell on such things as a love lost.
