Secret Of The Crest (12 page)

   ‘Did you call your mom yet?’

   ‘I didn’t really get the chance yet. We have only a few hours that we decided it. I’ll call her later on tonight’ she replied. The evening continued with wine, song and dance. They all had such a wonderful time that they forgot all about what had happened that morning and felt threatened no more.  In the wee hours of the morning, after a night of crazy celebration, Sarah and Sam got up to retire.

   ‘Thank you both for a fairy tale evening. We need to turn in before I pass out!’’ Sarah said hugging her friend.

   ‘Scotch, champagne and wine is a deadly mix sweetie, you’ll feel better after you sleep it off. Thanks again, you two. Congrats! See you tomorrow!’ Sam said.

   ‘Goodnight, guys!’ Rebecca responded. 

   Cassandra was ready to say goodnight too but Gregor asked her to stay.

   ‘Cassandra, please stay with us a little longer, I would like to tell you a story from long ago’ he told her. He looked at his fiancé waiting for her approval. Rebecca nodded affirmatively.

   ‘Okay, what the hell! I can have one more for the road!’ she said as she picked up her wine glass and refilled it.

   ‘I hope you don’t mind but I would like to ask my grandmother to join us and fill us and help on the parts of the story that I don’t remember very well. Is that alright with you?’

   ‘You know I love the woman as if she were family, of course I don’t mind!’

   Gregor and Rebecca looked at each other and smiled at the irony.  Gregor sent Fanis to call on his grandmother who came and sat next to Cassandra. In her hands she held a small jewelry chest. A wooden chest that had flowers hand carved upon the top of it and the family crest. Gregor poured his grandmother a glass of wine.

   He finally sat down himself and started to talk about the history of his family. He introduced three generations of the Dracopoulos family. This included the time up until he was born.

   ‘My sister Cassandra and I, as I told you last time, are the fourth generation. Remember I said that she had been taken by a nice couple during all the turmoil? After many years when I was old enough to travel alone and take care of myself, I started searching intensely for her. I wanted desperately to find her. She was the only family I had left. My grandmother raised me saying I should never lose hope and that one day I would find her.’

   ‘Well, did you?’ asked Cassandra.

   ‘I went to the police many times in search of a way to find her. They sent out information through Interpol to all other countries executing a world wide search. At the time it wasn’t easy but I had a friend in the precinct that told me he would make it happen, if I would be patient and I was. I waited years to wake up one day to the news that he had finally received positive feedback.’ Gregor’s eyes were all excited as if he was living that very moment again.

   ‘Oh, so you did find her!’ Cassandra exclaimed. Mrs. Marina showed Cassandra a picture of Gregor at his sister’s christening. He was holding the baby girl in his arms and kissing her forehead.

   ‘You are so cute in this picture with your baby sister.’

   ‘My friend at the precinct asked me what seemed like the hundredth time, what the last name of the couple who took my sister was. I told him and his search showed over ten thousand names all over the world. Then he said that he needed more time to refine his search.  In the mean time, I gave him a drawing of the locket that my mother had put around my sister’s neck that day. It was very hard to do because I had never seen it but my grandmother described it in great detail since it had ran through our family for generations and she knew it well. The drawing was posted on many social sites and all other places that the police thought it would be seen. The hope was that someone would see her wearing it, if she wore it at all and send us information as to where the pendant was spotted. It was a long shot. After a long period of time I realized nothing would come by this action. Then a couple of months ago I received a call from the station. My friend had finally gotten in touch with the couple and said that I would be informed soon enough. I was delirious with joy and excitement!  Only a few days later my sister’s foster father called me.’ Gregor paused.

   ‘Go on, this is so exciting!’ Cassandra begged.

   ‘The man told me that his daughter didn’t know that she was adopted and that he didn’t have the heart to tell her now. He sounded like he was a very fragile man. He went on telling me how much he loved her, that he knew she needed to know the truth about her real family and that she had a brother and a grandmother who were alive.’

   ‘So, he finally told her.’ Cassie sounded impatient to find out the rest quickly.

   ‘Actually, he did not. Instead he gave her a destination where she was to go and meet her brother by introducing herself all the time, not knowing that the person she was going to introduce herself to was her brother.’ The old woman gave her another picture.  This time it was a woman with a baby.

   ‘Is this your mother, Gregor? She looks familiar’ said Cassandra. Rebecca took the picture too.

   ‘Cassie, Gregor looks like her so much.’

   ‘Yes, you’re right he does.’

   ‘One day,’ Gregor continued, ‘grandmother told me a young girl was coming to our inn  to stay a couple of days. She said that it had been arranged by her foster father that she stay here while working. We prepared ourselves and expected her at any moment. Finally, our anticipation ended. The girl came with some friends. She had made reservations for the accommodations herself not knowing anything about what was about to happen.’

   Cassandra was so mesmerized by the story itself; she hadn’t yet put two and two together.

   ‘Okay, what happened?’ she asked.

   ‘You. You happened Cassandra. Here, look at the locket on the baby’s neck. It’s the very locket you are wearing on your neck this very moment. You are the same Cassandra I have spoken about all this time. You were given that locket the day our mother gave you to the couple to escape that attacks. You are my lost sister and Marina’s granddaughter, Cassandra!’ Gregor waited for what seemed an eternity for her response. All three of them looked at her while silence covered the room. Cassandra had become like a statue looking at the picture hearing everything Gregor had said all over again in fast forward in her mind and yet she didn’t even twitch. 

   ‘Cassandra, you are a Dracopoulos. That is why your father told you to come out here. He couldn’t tell you himself.’ Gregor took her hands and continued. ‘We are blood. We have finally found you and we don’t ever want to lose you again.’

  Marina picked up the locket Cassandra was wearing on her neck and opened it.

   ‘My dear, look at the baby in the picture here and the child in your locket. They are both you.’ After another period of silence Cassandra finally spoke.

   ‘There is no need. I saw the resemblance from the beginning. I always felt different. My colors were different than theirs. In the family photos everyone was white and blonde, some even freckly and I was the only one that was dark. When I came here I felt an immediate attraction that I could not explain. An attraction to the place itself but to both of you as well.’

Then it was like Cassandra was shocked by electricity and was awaken.

   ‘I can’t for the life of me understand why they would keep it from me after I had become an adult!’ she said aggravated. She stood up and hugged her grandmother a long strong hug and then she turned to Gregor and opened her arms to embrace him. They were all overwhelmed with feelings, especially Cassandra.

   ‘Now I can die in peace’ said the grandmother.

   ‘I can’t believe my parents never told me I was adopted! I have had a great life with them and never once did they make me feel that I didn’t belong to them. Although when I came here I felt a very strong attraction and I thought it was because my father had told me such wonderful things about the place, I already knew it. I loved the place even more since daddy had shared his and mom’s memories here so I had a piece of this place in my heart already whether I came here or not. In any case, now we are family and it will take a while for me to take in everything that has happened so fast but here’s to family!’ She lifted her wine glass. They all toasted.

   ‘Do you want to continue Gregor?  Would you like me to leave first?’ asked Rebecca.

   ‘There’s more? Continue, please! And why should you leave?’ asked Cassandra.

   ‘Yes, I’m afraid there’s more. Rebecca, stay’ Gregor said. She poured them all another glass of wine. Gregor continued.

   ‘Do you know the reason we were not attacked by the ghouls today, why they didn’t tear you to shreds or drink from you?’

   ‘I don’t know, everything happened so fast and it was quite frightening I didn’t really think about it.’

   ‘When we were kids, we lost our parents as we knew them but they are still alive in new forms?’

   ‘Oh, wait a minute! Tell me you are not saying that those two ghouls are our parents?’

   ‘That is exactly what I am saying.’ Gregor took a deep breath. ‘They recognized you when they saw your locket. That woman didn’t want to let go of you because she had her daughter in front of her for the first time since she lost you.’

   ‘This is a nightmare!  I am torn between lies, love, family and fear!  I don’t know how to react to all this and to think I am the cool one in this bunch!’

   ‘There is nothing to fear, they will never hurt you. They will only protect you if you should ever be in danger. As for the lies you have been told, I cannot say for sure but I think that they were told to protect you as well. I believe your parents wanted to do what was best for you. I can guarantee that you were, are and will be loved by us forever.’ A small moment of silence filled the room. ‘Please, do not be hasty to judge our parents either. They do not want to be what they are. They gave you up to another couple in order to keep you from dying or worse becoming like them.’

   ‘Yes, I know you are right, I owe them all that I am, really. And that I am alive but I need some time so that everything can sink in. What else? I want to know everything there is, don’t hold anything back!’

   ‘Yes, well after that night when our parents were lost in the woods, remember I told you that our grandmother had found me the next day and it had taken me a while to recover from the shock. It wasn’t only the shock I needed to recover from. I had been badly bruised and torn up by the ghouls. They had scarred me and drank my blood so many times it was a miracle that I survived!’

   ‘Oh my goodness! You were attacked the same day that I was being sent away! You didn’t want to leave and ran off to be mauled by those monsters!’ Cassandra said in awe. 

   ‘Yes, I was.’

   ‘I am so sorry! They should have kept me here, they shouldn’t have separated the family! If we had all been together maybe things would have turned out differently. You must have gone through so much pain all of these years, I am so sorry!’

   ‘You have nothing to be sorry about, Cassandra. You were a baby at the time and there was nothing you could have done and from then on you couldn’t have known that I even existed since you weren’t told about your real family. The story though doesn’t end there. Grandmother cleaned up my wounds, nourished me back to health and she helped me get over the frightening nightmare that I kept having repeatedly for months afterwards. After almost a year, she found the she found the courage and the manner to tell me the disturbing truth about how I had been infected and had gradually turned into a ghoul too!’ Gregor took his eyes off of Cassandra now and looked deep into Rebecca’s eyes, wanting to feel her devoted understanding to regain his voice once more. Cassandra took Rebecca’s hand into hers and squeezed tightly.

   ‘Did you know about this?’

   ‘Yes, I knew. He told me just a few hours ago. Cassandra, Gregor has been honest from the very beginning.’

   Cassandra continued. ‘You may be a ghoul or whatever but I have seen the side of you that I want to know. Besides, you are my brother, my blood, my family. How could I possibly reject you? I want to get to know you and love you and catch up to everything we should have done all those years damn it! I don’t care if you’re a damn ghoul!’ Cassandra got up and hugged Gregor tightly. Gregor’s smile lit up the room. He took both girls in his arms and let out a sigh of relief. He was thankful that the outcome was a positive one.

   ‘This is the happiest moment of my life! You have given me more joy than all the joy throughout my entire life! I can hope to finally live a normal life again. I love both of you so very much!’

   ‘We love you too!’ They both answered in a voice.

   They all sat back down and continued to talk in detail about their lives passing into the midnight hours   finally Rebecca decided to end it.

   ‘I think it’s time we give it a break and turn in.  We will wake up to a new day of adventures that we will be sharing from now on.’

   ‘You’re right!’ said Cassandra ‘Come, brother dear, escort us to our room, please.’

   ‘It would be my pleasure.’ He took both of them by the hand and soon they were on the upper floor outside of the girls’ room. He gently kissed Cassandra on her forehead.

   ‘Goodnight sister, sweet dreams.’

   ‘Goodnight, Gregor. Thank you for revealing the truth. See you at breakfast.’

   Gregor then turned to Rebecca as Cassandra went into the room.

   ‘I can’t find words to express how happy you have made me. I only hope that I will be able to live up to your expectations.’

   ‘You have already done that! Good night, my love. Sleep peacefully from now on.’ They kissed and parted.

   Daylight came but everyone was still in a deep sleep. Marina and Fanis along with two female staff members prepared for the days events. It was open season for hunting boars and this was the first day of the season. Hunters from all parts of Greece came in every year to hunt boar, rest and eat Mrs. Marina’s special cooking. It was already Thursday and it seemed as if there would not be enough rooms to accommodate the hunters if Cassandra’s friend didn’t leave on time.

   Marina had already found the solution though and had the staff prepare the renovated rooms as fast as possible for the weekend. Marina may have been old but she respected her customers and knew all too well that it was important to keep them happy if she wanted them to return the year after.  Boar season was actually the time of year that gave extra income which made it possible to support the inn’s expenses all year round. The rest of the year not a soul showed up.

   ‘Come with me, Sophia, I’ll show you what is to be done in this room. Maria, you take the two rooms that are next to Gregor’s room and don’t forget to take the paint buckets downstairs later.’

   Marina, Gregor and the staff had been doing the renovating in these rooms quite awhile before the English arrived. They hadn’t finished but now they needed all the space they could get. As Maria wiped the dust off the furniture she felt a draft that made her look around for an open door or window. Nothing was open and so she continued her duties. She set the sheets on the bed and straightened the cushions on the love seat. This room was quite dark. Only a tiny window above the bed let in some light but it was only for a few minutes a day that it was bright as the mountains blocked the sun. The young woman started cleaning the mirror which was covered with a think layer of dust.  Suddenly, her cloth fell out of her hands and she let out a loud scream. She looked into the mirror again but saw nothing this time. This left her to wonder if she had seen anything in the first place or if she had imagined it.