My Dreams of a Warlock

Of course there was my constant companion and best friend or, so I’ve been told, again whose name had slipped my mind until my much older sister Nina had reminded me of him.  The disconnected memories came flooding back when I discovered mental triggers like that, but oddly my mind was still blank for many things in my early life, or not so oddly as I found out not too long ago.

My other consistent and not so pleasant memory was of my parents fighting constantly about anything that crossed their minds, more bickering actually, but in spite of all that negative stuff, they were always oddly quite affectionate to each other, so go figure about that crazy one too.

From what I remember however, most of their disagreements centered around my mom feeling isolated from her obsession with her artwork, specifically portrait oil paintings, and missing the glamorous clientele and lifestyle to spur things along.

Through the years, and after their eventual split, neither one had ever dated anyone else or spoke of a passing interest.  They never even considered divorce as a viable option.

This always seemed kind of odd, at least to me as my mom Marta was as beautiful as my dad Kendrick was handsome.

I had many friends along the way whose parents had called it quits, but it seems mine never got around to it.

As I grew older, Mom always had a lot of people around; interesting friends, star fuckers actually, due to her well-earned eventual fame in the art world, but never anyone even close to what could ever be called a romantic interest by any stretch.

Both my parents were quite good looking as I said, and both are of Italian heritage, but I really never knew much about my family heritage on either side.  They retained their youth and energetic attitude through the years we were apart and never seemed to age, just grow more refined and wonderfully interesting.

Dad and my sister Nina, who seriously resembled my mom, along with Dad’s father Grandpa, remained in constant touch with me through the growing years.  Both of my parents had many interests, and both were active and involved in my life despite their long separation from each other.

Thankfully, I’d inherited those same physical traits from them along with my mom’s dark blue eyes and my dad’s almost black auburn hair and I closely resembled him too.  I was fortunate to have a slim toned build like him that mercifully didn’t require a lot of boring maintenance to stay in shape.

Leaving my thoughts of the past, I saw that the town from what I could gather from my recent Internet searches before driving over here, was still the same small somewhat familiar place.

My searches told me there were about three hundred people permanently living in the town or close by surrounding the beautiful large lake.

The town itself had been founded back sometime in the 1800s by one of my greats on my dad’s side of the family that came here from Italy.  He had once mentioned some sort of ancestral home that still existed there, but that was about the extent of my family knowledge on his side.

My grandfather Daniel was still the major property owner in the area, with vast tracts of land surrounding our small town as more or less a buffer.  We did have tourists passing through on their way to the canyon, but the small lake resort where we lived was kept private for our returning guests.

Grandpa’s resort complex consisted of a gorgeous large lake front home and several rental cabins scattered in the trees with stunning lakefront views.

When my parents split up but never divorced as I said, I was only about five years old.  I then went to live near Seattle Washington with my mother where she was originally from, having met Dad in college.  My older sister Nina, almost eighteen at the time they split, stayed with Dad and Grandpa in Arizona.

Through the years my parents had kept in close, almost regularly in touch with each other as I mentioned, but never visited except for when Dad would come to us for a rare special occasion.  Even though I never physically visited my old home or other members of my family after we left, they always remembered holidays with gifts for both of us, birthday remembrances, and the like.

When I did happen to mention it to Mom, she simply changed the subject as if I had said nothing, while politely refusing to talk about it.

My parents did seem happy enough to hear from each other when they contacted each other frequently about their children or other matters, but the phone calls were very formal and short conversations about once every day or so depending on what was going on.  Those calls were obviously only to make sure we were well taken care of and nothing more personal between them at least that I knew about, that is until four weeks ago.

Through the years since we left our broken family, I had to admit life had been good and I had a lot of fun and yes, it was entertaining with the myriad of people around us most of the time.

Mom tried her best to be an interested parent and in a lot of ways best friend, but her true interest was in her rather great painting skill.  She spent most of her time hidden away creating her own masterpieces that they truly were, but never once had a cross word for me if I interrupted her concentration, but I seldom did just for that reason.

In the meantime, while I was attending private schools, I’d grown up basically on my own except for our friend Janet but was often left to my own devices when not studying.  I eventually went through the university, and then finally settled on a career as a freelance photographer.

Mom was delighted with my choice to no end, that I had decided on a creative interesting career in the arts.

Using my home, actually Marta’s huge condo near the water in Seattle as a base, I’d traveled the world alone for several years, seeing and doing many wonderful exotic things, but my family never seemed far away, and either Mom or our friend Janet would pop in to see me at the oddest times, making me wonder how they could stand to be on planes so frequently when I was on assignment for several months at a time.

I’d also partnered businesswise with an extraordinarily creative agent, another recommendation from Mom, who exclusively sold my works to online magazines and journals, along with creating a fine income from reproductions and coffee table books.

Life had been undoubtedly good to me.  I truly enjoyed being single while traveling alone was a given for me.  However, recently after about ten years of non-stop travel photographic assignments, I was ready to come home on a permanent basis, back to what I at least assumed was home; Seattle.  I wanted to try to create something new out of my life and put aside, at least for now, my extensive wandering ways.  I felt something odd pulling at me, but I didn’t have a clue what it might be, a nagging sort of feeling that never seemed to stop and was growing as time flew by.

I thought that maybe this time I’d even plant a few roots somewhere and perhaps find some male companionship that I’d been strangely and suddenly starting to miss, yet again, surprising myself with those unfamiliar thoughts.

It gave me the impression that I was beginning to think about that subject a whole lot more lately, pestering almost and that concerned me since I have never sexually touched another man, or even seriously kissed a man before.

This recurring thought seemed odd to me, since it was in my mind almost constantly despite swearing off relationships and never having met a man that I wanted anything more with than a simple friend.

I was left hurting most of my life by my parents many arguments and final separation, but after the damage they inflicted on our family when they split so long ago, I swore I never wanted that for myself and felt I was better off alone.

A real problem with these thoughts about settling down in the Seattle area was that it was starting to dawn on my conscious level, after I returned from my travels, that after spending years away from living in a big city, I was now realizing that the constant racket and insistent crowds were truly not for me.

I knew from the start that Mom would flip when I finally got the nerve to mention it to her.

Mom on the other hand, had commented more than a few times that finding the right someone for me might be a useful thing in my life to help me stay safely grounded with whatever that meant.

In her very offhand sort of way she was attempting to push things along, but I’d never really felt any motivation toward that elusive and to me, prickly goal considering my role model’s on-going relationship failures.

Naturally through the years I’d managed to attract the attention of several genuinely nice men along the way, but when anything began to progress past a single momentary chaste goodnight kiss and casual hug, I ended it flat, and without warning or explanation.

For some unknown reason any progression in the romantic department had always seemed firmly wrong to me, and at times was starting to give me a real concern about my own mental health.

Since the only time Mom had stepped up to introduce me to one of her quite handsome and well off agents, things went promptly south right away, when he expressed more than a casual interest.

It was the last time when in frustration, she’d stopped trying or even commenting about my personal life, much to my exhausted relief since Mom could be tenacious, but I knew she was sharply upset with my disinterested attitude.

She wasn’t shy about being extremely disappointed by this and made that quite clear to me, several times in fact, but Dad on the other hand told me to take my time when I mentioned it to him and wait for the right person to come along and I would know it immediately.

Like he should know.

I do however think Mom’s real disappointment was because along with their close and highly successful business relationship, they were extremely good and longtime friends, and this was quite awkward for her.

She was pretty damn pointed in her disapproving comments of my actions until I finally told her to knock it off, because it is my life, and she wasn’t about to live it for me after her personal performance in that arena.

However, when I carefully yet pointedly explained that to her with examples, reminding her that my role models had royally fucked things up between them, her interest in the subject dropped, and at once.

She barely spoke to me for the next week, trying for the occasional guilt trip but I was on to her and didn’t fall for it for a second.  I mean I’m over thirty after all and she needs to knock it off.

Strangely enough, I did happen to notice a momentary very odd and unusual glance from her after our conversation.

So now we arrive at the terribly hard stuff of my meandering tale, including revelations, regrets, and such.

One ordinary afternoon, a bit over a month ago, I received an emergency call from Mom’s best friend Janet who was barely coherent with her rushed words to me on the brief and terrifying emergency call.

She told me that Mom was in a nearby hospital and had been in a terrible auto accident.  She said that I needed to get there right away since she was seriously injured and may not survive and she was on her way there herself, having received an emergency call from the hospital she mentioned.

Needless to say I was there within minutes, and after talking briefly to the doctors, it didn’t sound at all promising with multiple broken bones including her neck, internal injuries, you name it.

She was going into surgery within the next several minutes, but the surgeon made it painfully clear to me she may not make it due to her massive and extensive injuries that included her punctured lung and damage to her heart.

When I all but ran into her room, she was barely conscious.  I saw her appearing so small in her hospital bed with the extensive and invasive apparatus surrounding her along with the severe looking neck brace.

It seems she had been driving her small Mercedes convertible sports car, no seat belt, while talking on the phone and not paying attention to the traffic.  On impact, she had been thrown from the car, and from what was said, it was a miracle that she was conscious much less even still alive.

I forced myself to carefully approach her raised bed.  Sensing me drawing near to her, she opened her eyes and turned them to look directly at me, her once stunning face bandaged and starting to heavily bruise.

“Listen to me Carlo, and don’t talk.  This is extremely important for both of us.  I am dying, no drama here, just a fact.  You must now contact Kendrick immediately and tell him, and I mean it.  Do it without question.  I, no we, have been remiss with you about your heritage, but now you must learn the truth and fast or you could be in unimaginable danger.  Due to our combined birthright, your father and I performed a mate bond with each other when we first married before your sister was born to us.  Now because of what is unexpectedly happening to me at this moment, he will soon die from this connection too, as part of the supernatural mate bond’s requirements between us.  Please let him know how terribly sorry I am and how much I now regret my selfish foolishness.  Let him know and make it clear to him for me that I still deeply love him and always have,” she said.

She was barely able to speak, wincing with each slurred difficult word through her broken painful teeth and lung damage.

“Mom, you can’t talk like this, and we have to get you through this.  The doctors will help you get better, please don’t think this way.  I’ll let Dad know right away, but I know he loves you too and will be devastated that you’ve been hurt.  I have no idea what you meant by the mate bond, I’ve never heard of that before, but I can ask him so you can rest,” I told her, unable to control my tears.

“No Carlo and listen to me here.  He will die if I do Carlo, that is the nature of a mate bond, to keep us together even in death and there is no way around that for us.  You have to get a grip here and deal with it as every one of our kind does, it is just a fact of life in our realm.  Now brace yourself with what I’m going to tell you and believe it as your own life now depends on it.  You are a witch like your parents but so much more.  I’m sorry to be so abrupt but I don’t have much time left to talk.  Once we are both gone our binding spells controlling and hiding your powers will suddenly disappear starting with mine the moment I’m gone.  So you must prepare yourself for this incredible wonderful yet frightening event.  You will need help to hide it from others that would harm you.  You must learn to control it quickly, or the damage could be unbelievable.  You were born special to us, blessed with an unusual mind blowing gift.  We tried to keep you safe from it until you were ready, but we have failed to let you grow into your potential.  You will desperately need help to undo our terrible mistake with you, because we thought we were giving you a normal life, but we were disastrously wrong.  This gift of power is now coming at you and is unstoppable and overwhelming.  Kendrick will know exactly what to do as will your wonderful grandfather.  This change will begin to start immediately to release you from our mistakes.  You are not ready to handle this alone.  But please listen to me and know this for the absolute truth, my dearest, wonderful little boy.  I love you Carlo, with my whole being and soul as I do your sister Nina.  We both always have and always will even after we have gone away together, we will be with you; believe it as your life depends on it.  Be assured at least, that we will be watching over you together if the Fates will allow it,” she whispered, and then I felt a strong hand on my arm.

“It’s time to take her in now, please wait in the room down the hall.  We’ll update you as soon as we have something for you about her progress,” the doctor told me, before ushering me quickly from her after she closed her eyes.

Following a last touch to her hand, I left the room, as my entire world suddenly fell away from me.

It was all I could do to get my dad on the line I was shaking so hard, and my tears were blurring my vision.

He answered immediately.

“Dad?  Mom told me to call you right now, and,” I began but he cut me off while sounding overwhelmingly devastated.

He was crying and trying to talk.

“Carlo I am so sorry for having done this to you and we never meant to hurt you in any way.  We only tried to protect you from what will soon happen to you without question.  Yes, I sensed what is happening with Marta, and knew she would have you call me as soon as you could.  So she must have told you a few things I’m assuming, or was she able to talk to you with her injuries?  Is she in surgery right now?” he asked rapidly, sounding strangely defeated to me, with the sound of heavy tears in his deep voice.

I could hear Grandpa’s soft voice in the background but could not make out his words over Dad’s sobs.

“Yes, she is, but before that it was just strange incoherent stuff Dad.  I’m only guessing they have her really drugged up and her extensive injuries are horrible.  She was thrown from her car without a seatbelt on, and there is nothing to know yet on how widespread her injuries are until they come out and let me know, and how soon she will recover.”

“She won’t recover Carlo; I can sense that.  You must listen to me; your life depends on it.  What kind of strange things did she tell you son?  We must talk about this at this moment, as time is no longer on our side and the consequences of the coming change to you could be incredibly disastrous for everyone.  One important thing from this point on, when and if things allow, I want you to come here to me as soon as you can, while planning to make this your permanent home, this is imperative, and you must do this immediately.  If I can and am allowed, I will come to get you, if not, then come soon by any means possible, you must not be alone any longer or you could be in terrible danger.  Once we find out about your mother one way or another, and if she is able, she will return here with you as it should have been all along.  It is absolutely critical to everyone involved that you do as I tell you and without discussion son, that will follow when you get here.  You must listen carefully to me on this and follow exactly what I ask you to do and without delay.  Do you understand me my sweet boy, now tell me what she said?” he said to me barely able to talk through his emotions.

While I listened to him, I could again hear the faint sounds of Nina sobbing and talking with Grandpa in the background.

Dad was sounding frantic and hopeless, almost hysterical, and very unlike his normally laid back calm self.

“She was talking out of her head Dad and was seriously having trouble even speaking with her injuries and drugs as I told you.  She mentioned something about the two of you having what she called a supernatural mate bond, and that I’m a witch at least, of all things and that this situation could get extremely dangerous for me and soon as you have told me too.  She also said if she dies, you do too because of that terrible bond whatever it is.  That your deaths will release me from being bound by both of you, whatever else that means, but she didn’t go into it very much since we ran out of time together.  She only talked about some kind of strange and potent supernatural powers or something like that, but I didn’t follow what she was telling me about it as it made absolutely no sense to me.  Probably the most important thing she said Dad, and something she told me explicitly to tell you, is that she had always loved you and regretted her terrible mistake of ever leaving you in the first place,” I told him.

By now I was barely able to talk to him myself, after being caught up in the gravity of the situation and realizing that my mother was dying, while my own overpowering emotions overwhelmed me.

I glanced at the clock, and it looked like about five minutes had passed but seemed like an eternity.

About that same time I heard quick footsteps coming down the hall and felt my heart drop, but it turned out to be Janet Sanwick that had called me about this.

She is Mom’s best and oldest friend, who quickly sat next to me and grabbed my arm tightly, hardly able to control her own tears when she saw me.

“Hold on a sec Dad, Janet just got here,” I told him, then let her know the score as she tried not to cry.

“Okay I’m back,” I told him.

I could hear him take a deep ragged breath.

“She told you the absolute truth Carlo, and even now I can feel her through our mate bond, slipping away from this life.  This is not something terrible as you called it son, but a beautiful promise and link that will keep us together in eternity.  The mate bond is now pulling at my own life to go to her and to be with her again in time without an end for us.  Please, let me talk to Janet just for a moment.  She will know what to do for you there and will help you while taking care of you and protecting you, my precious boy.  Trust her with all your heart and soul and love her as you love your mother and me,” he requested with another groaning sob.

Again I could hear the others in the background trying desperately to comfort him.

I handed her the phone, feeling numb.

I saw Janet then take a deep breath and swallow hard before she acknowledged him briefly on the phone.  They only spoke momentarily for about a minute or two with her softly saying, ‘I fully understand the gravity of this situation Kenny and of course you can trust me to do as you wish.  I’m so deeply sorry it came to this, I don’t have the words to tell you, but you can forever depend on me to care for and watch over your family as I have been doing.  I will get him back to Daniel where he will be safe and protect him until I do.  I am so profoundly sorry my heart is broken for you my dear wonderful child,’ she repeated several times.

She then with shaking hands, finally handed the phone back to me, this time unable to stop her flowing tears.

“Okay Carlo, we don’t have a lot of time now and our time together on this world together is ending.  I’m intensely broken that you are having to deal with this without your family with you, but Janet is our most trustworthy friend, family, and recognizes the incredible magnitude of this intense situation and the coming unimaginable events it will spawn.  She loves you as hers like we all do, and she has always been like a mother to me.  I’m so sorry it has come down to this tragic end without any warning for you.  We never wanted this to happen to you Carlo, please believe me we only tried to protect you.  Janet will help you through all of it and keep you safe you until you can come home to be with us.  I repeat and know this as the absolute truth my precious son; you can trust her as you always have, and she will save your life.  Most important of anything I can say to you at this moment, is that you have to know that your mom and I both love you and your sister with all our immortal souls Carlo.  We have foolishly tried to do our best by you to keep you safe from your destiny but now we both know we were dead wrong to keep this aggressive and unstoppable outcome from you.  Mom told you the truth about us.  Janet can help you find a way to understand it, but both sides of your family are from ancient powerful witch lines, utterly amazing supernatural beings.  You and your sister are both incredible, but Nina already is aware of her witch heritage.  Your mother and I chose to mate bond out of our love for each other and to bring us closer in this life and the one to come.  This mate bond ties us irrevocably together for eternity, melding our minds, feelings, and we are able to hear each other’s thoughts if we wish.  The mate bond also ties us together in death so we can be together again should that happen to one of us as it is now.  We knew this when we created it and we both accept it now as our fated destiny together.  I can feel this strong fated pull to go to her getting greater and from her as well, driven by the Fates that Janet will explain to you.  You must understand that we never stopped loving each other Carlo as she told you and is the absolute truth.  You must know this as the pure fact before the universe and believe it for it is all that matters now.  We bound your powers to keep you safe as you were born with extraordinary powers, far beyond those of a normal witch.  Please know that we did this for you with love, misguided yes, but love in the end.  So please call me with anything you might hear.  Janet will help you to go through this change as I keep stressing to you, but for now she is your absolute lifeline.  You cannot handle this alone, or it will kill you or cause unbelievable damage when it comes to you.  She too is a witch and so much more than a loyal friend to all of us as I mentioned.  I repeat to you that she will get you through this challenging time, I promise you, my beautiful son.  She will be your trusted guide with whatever is to come your way until you meet the one fated for you.  My one regret in my life is that I am not going to be with you as you assume your fated role and discover your fated soulmate who now waits impatiently for you.  Now Carlo about that,” he started to say, then I heard the sharp intake of his breath, just as his uncontrollable sobs flooded the phone before he suddenly hung up.

Janet took the phone from me, as I started to cry.

“She’s gone Carlo,” Janet whispered to me with tears of her own.

She grabbed me to hug me close, as we heard reluctant sounding footsteps coming down the hall.