One Thousand Years to Forever (20 page)

“
Enough!” The man screamed. His
hand shook but he leveled the gun to Katherine’s heart. “You go to
your dead husband, who you were so proud of.”

Katherine took a deep breath, saw
Colum, saw that his eyes that had turned to a blood red, and felt
his love. She saw Travis standing next to Colum one moment, and the
last thing she saw before she heard the gunshot, was Travis flying
though the air. She heard the boom, felt the heat and then the pain
shoot through her. Everything slowed down as she started to fall.
She thought the man would push her into the water of the quarry. As
her world became dim she felt her body being lifted up and away.
The last thing she heard was a scream rending the air. Then all
went black.

The man shot her in the heart, and
Colum watched the last seconds of his beloved Kat’s life. He saw
Travis land behind her, the man didn’t even know. Colum was on the
man, sinking his teeth in then ripping his neck wide open. The man
fought for a few seconds and then his body went still. Colum
dropped the body of Katherine’s assassin on the ground. He wiped
his mouth and knelt down by Katherine’s still body. Blood had
poured from her wound but had now stopped as Travis sat back on his
haunches. Colum could see a neat bite mark on her slender neck. He
bent and kissed that spot. It disappeared.

Leaning into her chest he heard
nothing.

“
Sir, it may take a few minutes. I
am sure it’s worked or the wound my fangs created wouldn’t have
disappeared with your kiss.”

The woods were hushed. The other
four men stood quieter than anyone their size would be capable of
standing quiet.

Colum watched Katherine’s body. No
movement. Nothing. He scooped her up and his scream broke the
morning’s silence.

* * * * * * *

Katherine felt herself going faster
than she ever thought possible. It was like a race to see how fast
she could travel in this brightly lit tunnel. There, in the
distance, she saw John waiting. She reached him and took his
hands.

“
Katherine, you can’t stay. You
were never meant to be with me forever.”

Katherine could hear someone
yelling her name, She saw John standing there, but no sound came
from his lips, only thoughts were coming into her head.

“
He’s calling you... you were
always his... go to him.”

Katherine turned towards the sound
of the
voice
. She knew that
voice
. It was that love
who had followed her down through the ages.

She turned and saw John but he was
a great distance away. She saw him raise his hand in good-bye and
then he was gone.

She was moving back towards the
voice
and pain. Pain was seeping into her body as she came
to the end of the tunnel. She heard other voices.

She opened her eyes and heard
Travis say, “See, Sir, she lives... ”

Sally sat on the chair next to her
mother’s bed. She had just gotten home from school. Thor and Odin
said they would be by in an hour to take her to Olivia’s house.
Odin had just given her a Christmas gift. It was small box wrapped
in gold paper. She held it now in her hand. Tomorrow was Christmas,
so she would be spending just a couple hours with her friend, then
be coming home. She looked up to the sound of the door opening, in
walked her grandparents.

“
Sally, you go to your friend’s,
if anything changes we will let you know.”

Sally got up but placed a kiss on
her mother’s ivory cheeks. Her mother’s coloring had changed in the
last week. It had become flawless, just like porcelain. This
morning she had noticed a beautiful rose color on her cheeks, like
she had been outside in the cold.

She walked out and closed the door
quietly.

* * * * * * *

Colum was almost home from
Portland. He had gone to the family vault to get Katherine’s
jewels. The ring that had been hers before in her last life, he’d
had reworked into a new setting, similar to the one that had been
on the Titanic and had recently been found in the wreck. It had
three blue diamonds in the shape of teardrops. They were each 3
carats. A necklace to match was in a blue velvet case.

His phone buzzed. “Yes?” He
listened and a smile spread on his face. “I’ll be right
there.”

He turned onto Bay View Road. His
Jaguar XK purred like the animal it was named after, sending gravel
spraying as he took the curves in the road fast. He came up to his
gate and hit the rock. The screen opened. He touched it and the
gate flew open. The car spit gravel out from under its tires as he
sped down the drive.

* * * * * * *

Katherine opened her eyes again and
blinked. All around her faces stared and smiled down at her. Her
mother, she could see, was crying tears of joy. Then she saw Travis
and her boys, with her father squeezed inbetween Thor and Odin. She
saw Sally and Issy sitting next to her on the bed. She opened her
mouth to speak, to ask where the most important person was when she
heard steps approaching and the bedroom door crashed
opened.

Katherine saw Colum fill the
doorframe and for the first time knew that this very second,
started forever.