“The circle is now complete. A few things remain to be done, and then I can…rest.” His voice was deep and soothing; reassuring – almost hypnotic. “How is my Elias? Is she happy in the life I’ve designed for her?”
Elaine said nothing. She deliberately altered her route to take them even further from home. In spite of her strong feeling that he could have their best interests at heart, there was no way he was going to get close to her family with her help, especially after seeing his face. She increased her speed slowly, her mind racing. She had a full tank of gas and if, in her judgment, he posed a real danger to them, she wouldn’t hesitate a second before driving the car into a brick wall. She pressed the child safety button on the armrest, locking the car doors in the back seat against being opened from the inside.
“You need to relax a bit, Elaine. I have no intention of ‘invading’ your beautiful home at this time. You may drive wherever you like…and as rapidly as you wish.” He paused, “I have some things I would like to discuss with you, but first I need to know. How is my Elias? How is your Butterfly?”
She caught her breath. How could he know Eli’s nickname? “Eli is just fine. And she will continue to be that way if Dr. Dawson and I have anything to say about it.”
“When’s the wedding Elaine? Still having problems with the cure? How long has it been now? Thirteen years? You should give it up and marry him. He won’t wait forever, you know.”
She felt the anger rise up in her. No matter what his intentions, he had no business snooping into their private lives like this. “He’ll wait as long as it takes! I know him and I have absolute faith in him!” She really did know this she realized, now that she had said it out loud. It just hadn’t sunk in until she put it in words. She smiled to herself at the thought of him waiting patiently for her, respecting her position at his own expense, without giving it another thought. She realized at that moment how very much she loved him for it. And she finally knew with conviction that he loved her unconditionally.
“Thank you, Elaine.” He said softly. His voice hardened. “Are you both prepared to spend the rest of your eternal lives together, your love for each other unconsummated, as you baby-sit two eternal children? Taking care of them, knowing they’ll never progress beyond their current age? Knowing they’ll be frozen forever as they are, with no hope of ever growing up or being able to understand the real world? Frozen in their ignorance?”
“Yes! Yes! Whatever it takes! We love them with all our hearts. And no one will ever succeed in coming between us or harming our family!” What was he trying to do, she wondered. It almost sounded like he was going down a list of questions on a job interview.
“How seldom in life do we hear the correct answers to the difficult questions! And how seldom are these answers given with honesty and conviction.” he sounded satisfied, even proud. As though he had finally won some great battle.
“What’s your point? Get to the point! I’m not in the mood for games! Too much is at stake here!” The road was straight here. She could safely build up a great deal of speed if she needed to.
“Every day in our lives, we make choices. These choices determine the path our future will take, and we try hard to make the right ones; however, sometimes those choices have unexpected results. For example, just by staying at work too long and arguing with your wife a few seconds longer that you needed to about whether or not to drop everything to accompany her and their son to a soccer match, you make her just miss the second stoplight on her route to the field, causing her to enter an intersection a minute or two later than she normally would have, and …you lose everything you worked for in a ball of fire, when the poor man who struck your car would have sailed harmlessly through his red light if she hadn’t been delayed. Your final decision to stay at work will have killed three people. The rest of your life would be profoundly affected by those few seconds she was delayed.”
She felt a chill. Was there anything about them that he didn’t know? “What are you trying to tell me?”
“I am my father’s son. Ask Elias about my father, and she will tell you my father had a ‘gift.’ She wouldn’t have known what to call it, but she knew about it. He could see some not insignificant distance into the future, as can I. You would think that this would be a good thing, but it’s not as straightforward as it sounds. The consequences of reading the future are many, but the most important one is, that by knowing it you can’t help but change it. Let me give you an example. You’re a Cambridge student studying for an exam. You need a good grade or you’ll lose your scholarship. You stay up late, form study groups and ace the test because your fear of failure is so strong it drives you to do your best. What if you had the ability to see into the future a few days, and saw that you had aced it? Fear of failure would no longer motivate you to study that last section of the book that made the big difference on the test. You might slack off just a bit, just enough to change your final score, causing you to lose your scholarship. But then you would be able to see that new result and become afraid again.” He paused a moment. “And this is a very simple example of the endless loops that foreseeing the future can trap you in.”
“Am I supposed to sympathize with you at this point? Forgive me if I’m finding it difficult.”
“Merely the act of making you aware of all this is changing your future as we speak. I can see it subtly flowing and redirecting itself in my mind with each new piece of information I give you. For example, I know you will marry Dr. Dawson sometime within the next five years. This has become clear to me within the last five minutes. Evidently, something that has transpired in that time has solidified that future for you.” He paused a moment, then continued. “And revealing this information to you at this moment has had no effect on that future. Congratulations! Your marriage is now part of what I, with slight trepidation, like to call the ‘Stable Future,’ that future that is comparatively difficult to change. Whether or not you want to risk changing it by telling Dr. Dawson about this part of our conversation is up to you,” he teased.
Having completed a wide circle through the local side streets, she pulled back into the parking lot at her art supply store, parked and turned off the lights. She turned in her seat and looked directly at him, studying him carefully. The only thing about him that was familiar was his face. She realized now that he was slimmer and looked significantly younger than his father’s portrait. He was actually very distinguished looking. He didn’t exude that sense of arrogance and overindulgence that his father’s portrait portrayed and he was wearing a modern black business suit, complete with tie. “Forgive me.” She said sarcastically. “I appear to be underdressed for the occasion. You should have informed me of the dress code, as well as given me a bit of advance notice of our meeting. Now, why are you telling me all this?”
“I’m trying to make it easier for you to understand the great difficulty I have had trying to protect Eli from harm for almost 140 years while guiding her on a path that seems most likely to make and keep her happy. You see, I owe her everything.”
“I’m not sure I can give you a passing grade on your efforts,” she said curtly. “Eli’s life for the last 140 years has been almost as much of a nightmare as the first 100 years, except for these last fourteen. Why didn’t you just take her in and protect her yourself if you cared so much?”
“Haven’t you been listening?” he said sharply. “That would have destroyed us both. I saw it clearly. Don’t you think that would have been my first choice if it had been possible? You don’t know how difficult it was for me to finally accept the truth of it. I could find no way to protect her while keeping her with me at the same time. Every path led to disaster. No, protecting her from afar was the only solution – until I found her a family.”
“But she survived on her own for over 200 years, going through her own hell dealing with pedophiles, scumbags and even angry mobs.”
“You know Eli quite well by now. Do you really think she could have survived on her own all that time? The first 100 years before I was involved were relatively easy; population density was quite low, society was much more loosely organized and communication between villages was primitive. She could have been an idiot and still survived. The last 140? Not so easy. Civilization has advanced further technologically in that last 140 years than in all the previous centuries combined. And the population of the area mushroomed. She’s bright, but she’s only twelve. She’s impulsive, careless, and relatively weak. Believe me it’s been a nightmare just protecting her from her own mistakes. The only rest I got was when she was hibernating. And even then, there were a few close calls because the locations she picked were not as secure as they should have been. And I had to protect her without her realizing it. She absolutely could not know that I was involved. It would have weakened her resolve, with disastrous consequences.”
“I don’t like your characterization of Eli at all! These may be flaws from the viewpoint of pure survival, but her virtues far outweigh them.”
“Of course they do! Her strength of character alone is a large part of what has made it possible for me to save her. Without it, her life would still be a nightmare, and she would still be alone.”
Elaine was getting a bit irritated. “How have you ‘designed’ her life? That sounds arrogant to me; as though she had no part in her current happiness; that it was all your doing.”
“Far from it! She and her ‘virtues’ as you call them were pivotal in directing her future at every juncture. I only set her up for her successes by giving her opportunity. There were many over the last century, but I will cover only the ones you are familiar with. Håkan, for example. I burned his house and forced him to flee to the streets where Eli eventually found him.”
“Why?! He was a pedophile!”
“Because if I hadn’t, Eli would have made a different choice; a critical choice that would have destroyed her sanity, and eventually killed her. Your ‘Other One’ was indirectly involved and would have been directly involved later if that future had come to pass. It’s a small world isn’t it?” He smiled grimly. “Håkan was the lesser of two evils. And, just as important, he had connections in Blackeberg. I…arranged for the apartment next to Oskar to be empty at exactly the right time. He jumped at the chance after he blundered while trying to get blood for Eli.”
“But…why Oskar? Clearly you knew of him before they moved to Blackeberg.”
“I was desperate. Everything else I had tried had failed. Eli was too suspicious, too alienated from society and frightened to ask for help. I set up several scenarios, but she was unable to make that critical step or take that final chance necessary to make the connection. Finally, I thought that if she had a ‘connection’ to someone her age, but not as jaded, I might be able to break the cycle. With difficulty, I found several possibilities, but Oskar was perfect! He was just dark and lonely enough. I knew I had guessed correctly once Eli and Håkan moved in next door to Oskar and I could see the possible futures for her spread out like healthy branches on a vigorous young tree. Once I put them near each other and they fell in love, all their own doing by the way, everything else was comparatively easy.” He paused for a moment.
“But their happiness together overwhelmed me,” he said softly. “I hadn’t considered it. I hadn’t planned for it, and more importantly, for some odd reason, I hadn’t seen it in their future, but there it was in all its unique magnificence. Who could have anticipated it? It was a holy thing to me. Oskar, an unassuming 12-year-old boy had given my Eli something she needed most desperately; something I couldn’t show her for over 100 years, no matter how much I wished to.” His voice wavered. “Consequently, their ‘Stable Future’ became so inevitable that I didn’t have to interfere again until they were in Karlstad. And all I had to do then was put the good Professor’s flyer in their mailbox. Oskar’s natural intelligence, respect for education, and childish naivety, won over not only Eli, but set up the professor also. Dawson’s great loss, which I take absolutely no credit for, made him far more sympathetic towards the children than would otherwise have been the case. Another stroke of incredible good luck. But it was close. If I didn’t know better, I would be inclined to think there was another guiding force in her life beyond mine – perhaps the ‘Great Leveler of the Playing Field,’ or the ‘Great Mathematician,’ who’s sole job is balancing the books of life.”
“And then there was you,” he continued. “I agonized over you because their future was somewhat stable without you. I could have redirected Eli the night she flew to the cemetery that first time, but her future with you in it was so much better, that I decided to let the chips fall where they may. And your ‘Other One’ appeared in Eli’s future on fully 50% of the paths she could have taken, with terrifying results. It was as though their paths crossing was a Stable Future; one that I had to circumvent at any cost. The path with you in her life was the only one in which he was…dispatched. It was an easy choice.”
Elaine was angry. She didn’t like the idea of being somehow coldly manipulated behind the scenes by this man, no matter what his intentions. “You mean, you put Eli in the Other One’s hands, and made her go through that hell, just to get rid of him? How could you have done that to her!?”
“Did you not understand me? It was the path with the lowest risk to her. I knew she would survive. The other paths…not so likely. Your nightmare with the Other One was nothing compared to what could have happened to Eli. Remember, she’s a child, and he was a pedophilic sexual predator. And frankly, you were a surprise. Not until the Other One was dead, did your future with Eli solidify into a stable one. One very interesting development is that Eli does seem to be getting much better at surviving. She’s learned quickly that the more people that are on her side, the better. Her choices are getting better and her more directed impulsiveness brought you into their family, kicking and screaming.”
Elaine smiled, “Well, on that point I agree with you completely. Now, what is it you want of me?”
“I would like to meet Eli face to face one time. Once is all I can risk. More than that, and the future gets cloudy for her. I don’t know why, but she and I just don’t mix nicely. Perhaps it’s my family curse.” He paused for a moment, “Everything I have done recently; the photographs, the cameo, this meeting, and the eggs – especially the eggs, have all been done to soften her towards the idea of me. To perhaps prepare her for our meeting. Before I continue, however, I do have one question that has been bothering me since my little family left Karlstad. It’s a small inconsequential thing, but…how did the good Professor find Eli’s birthday? It was only after much difficulty that I discovered it going through records that have long since been destroyed.”
“So! You can’t see everything. You’re fallible. But that’s obvious to me, albeit not to you. If you and your famous father could see the future correctly all the time, how is it your father was killed by mortals and you were forced into the dark life you obviously would not have picked for yourself? I’m tempted to keep the answer from you just because your obviously unjustified arrogance in thinking you can control other people’s lives like you do, has gotten out of hand. I sense that it has caused you to cross the line many times, and what’s more I think you know it; but I think the answer to your question is interesting enough that I’ll tell you anyway. Richard gave her that birthday because it is exactly ½ a year from Oskar’s. No other reason than that. I’ll leave it to you to figure out what the odds are that that particular day is the correct one. And in case you are mathematically challenged, I assure you the odds are NOT simply 1 in 365, except to a mathematician with no imagination and no understanding of yin yang.”
“Frankly, I’m not interested at all in your take on my ‘arrogance,’ or your simplistic off-handed account of my father’s death.’” he said angrily. “My concern has been, first and foremost, Eli’s safety.” He stared coldly at her as his rage boiled to the surface. “Believe this: If I thought for a second that any one of you was becoming a negative force in her life, that person would be eliminated. Don’t underestimate my resolve in this. Not one of you is off limits.”
“Do you really think you’re going to win a pissing contest with me?” she said heatedly. “If so you’ve underestimated MY resolve! You care about her only because of some ancient outmoded idea of maintaining family honor and your misguided sense of duty. She earned our love! She didn’t get it from us because of some twist of fate. Do you really think that she thought about what the results of her stealing the egg would be? She was simply hungry and opportunistic. Your fondness for her is based on a faulty antiquated ideology!”
His face turned red with anger and his eyes turned golden. She could see the fangs slowly lengthening in his half-open mouth.
“Go for it! Give it your best shot!” Elaine’s claws and fangs crackled into being as she rose up in her seat. “What does your future look like now?!” she snarled. “As I’m sure you must realize, ignorance of my immediate future will almost certainly bring out the worst in me, considering what’s at stake! The crystal-clear determination I have isn’t diluted by one your ‘endless loops.’ How’s your ‘loop’ working out for you right now?”
“Foolish woman! Everything you have; your Richard, your Eli, your Oskar, you have only because of me!”
“Perhaps, perhaps not. I only know that it is impossible for you to undo what is done. I have Richard, Eli, and Oskar in MY care and you will NOT be able to harm any of them without going through me. Do we understand each other?” she glared at him.
“Have I aroused your motherly instincts, Elaine?” he hissed. “You, who have considered yourself neutered for over 40 years?”
“Don’t patronize me with your bullshit stereotypes. As intelligent as you are I would have expected you to move into the 20th century with a bit more ease than you have. Or are you too old and set in your ways, frozen forever as you are, with no hope of ever being able to understand the modern world?” she mocked him with his own words.
“What would you do if I were to tell you that your future in her life has changed; that it now spells her doom?”
“And I’m sure you’re telling me this as a disinterested neutral party. Don’t waste your breath!” Their faces were now only inches from each other.
He took a deep breath, backed away and sat down suddenly. His eyes rapidly lost their iridescence and his fangs retracted. “Elaine, I think that we need to agree to disagree. For our own individual reasons, Eli’s welfare is still our common goal. You need me as much as I need you.”
“Debatable! Why do we need you? Eli was becoming a happy, reasonably-well-adjusted child until you began frightening her with your messages. In spite of our assurances that you’re probably no threat to her, she’s regressing; she’s becoming fearful and distrusting again, solely because of your mixed messages with their sinister overtones. ”
“Sinister overtones? How dare you accuse me of trying to deliberately frighten her!”
“How dare I? How passé! Does anyone in real life ever say that anymore? Do you realize how stupid that sounds today? No of course you don’t. 20th century, remember?”
He sighed deeply, “Okay! You win! Let’s start over. I apologize for underestimating your ‘Resolve.’ And you DON’T need me as much as I need you. My ‘designed life’ for Eli has taken on a mind of its own – yours!” he smiled at her. “You’re quite formidable, you know. I’m not used to…accommodating other points of view other than my own, and I intensely dislike hostile criticism. What’s your excuse?”
“I don’t like being treated as a means to an end. 40 years of it have made me a bit sensitive to being manipulated by someone who has no business playing with other’s lives.”
He sighed again, “Okay, now that we understand each other, I promise not to ‘manipulate’ you without your permission,” he said sarcastically. “In return I expect to at least be given the benefit of the doubt before you jump down my throat for the perceived mistakes I’ve made. Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do was frighten Eli. Don’t you understand that if she hates me, I’ve lost?”
“You’ve lost only if your desire to help her is primarily self-serving.” She paused, “But I do understand that you would like her to know what you have done for her and why; it’s only natural after 140 years of hard work.”
“There! Now was that so hard? What can I do to make this happen?” he sat back in the seat.
“Let me discuss this with Richard, Eli, and Oskar,” she said. “I promise, I’ll try to talk her into it, but it’ll never happen if she refuses. Are you okay with that?”
“No, but it’ll have to do. Now, would you unlock the door for me?”
“How will I get hold of you? No, wait. You’ll get hold of me, right? It’s your talent.” She smiled at him.
“I’ll contact you within the next few days, if that’s all right,” he said, as he stepped out of the car. If only she knew how difficult predicting their future had become for him over the last few months. It was as if their future had become enveloped in fog. Elaine had been right. He was actually unable to see clearly the outcome of the violent confrontation that had almost occurred. It had flickered before his eyes like an old silent film. He tasted her blood as his fangs sank into her neck and she died in his arms; He felt himself die as her oddly-shaped, razor sharp claws decapitated him; he died, she died. The only constant was the sound of Eli sobbing. He had to back down this time. And, he was worried. The distance he could see into the future was getting shorter and shorter. He found himself having to guess half the time. And his own future? He saw only blackness. The last time this had happened was just before he had killed his father.
======================
“No! I won’t do it! I will NOT dishonor what’s left of the family name!” Gudmund paced back and forth in front of his father. “What you’ve become is on you! I refuse to wallow in the filth and inhumanity you seem to enjoy so much. If you feel you need company in your little games, why don’t you just turn Jacob? He enjoys the mutilations almost as much as you do!”
“What a hypocrite! Do you not kill with as much zeal as I? Do you not enjoy a good meal the same as I?”
“Perhaps! But I don’t relish it as you do. I’m quick and my victims die a painless death. I didn’t choose this life; you chose it for me. And now look at the trouble your arrogance has gotten us into. Alexander’s men are demanding that both eggs be returned to them, and we’ve only got one to give them. Didn’t you see this in your future? What’s the matter, Papa? Getting old and careless?”
“How dare you speak to me like that?” he growled, “I’m your father and I expect you to show me proper respect.” Secretly, Törnkvist was concerned. Gudmund was correct; he hadn’t seen the outcome of his little ‘escapade’ with the eggs. The theft of the black egg on the road had caught him completely by surprise, and Alexander having traced them back to his estate before he was prepared was an even bigger surprise. He had always had trouble seeing the future when his son was nearby, but he knew that was the result of the natural uncertainties caused by the interaction between two people whose knowledge of the future was constantly redirecting it. When alone, it had always been crystal clear, although the distance he could see varied greatly from path to path.
“You lost your right to my respect when you turned me against my will. And your insistence that all my children and their children’s children face a similar fate, is unacceptable to me.”
“Unacceptable or not, time will tell, and as I’m sure you can see as clearly as I, this will all come to pass. It’s out of your hands now.”
“You’re lying! For the last week, I’ve seen nothing but blackness in our future. I’m not even certain which door you will leave through when you’re finally done enjoying yourself at my expense.” His hatred of his father knew no bounds. He had already decided that there would be no more children. He would not put his poor wife through any more anguish. Losing one son to his father would be hard enough on her.
“I’m though with you! Go hide under your pregnant wife’ petticoats. I’m going to cut off the snake’s head tonight. Without Alexander to lead them, they’ll soon lose their resolve and go back home with their tails between their legs. Then I can get down to the business of finding the thief.”
Gudmund smiled to himself. He had already narrowed down the possible culprits with his father’s unwitting help. His journals of sadism and sexual exploitation of children for over 100 years had been quite detailed. Since he had persuaded the men who had seen the child run into the forest to describe the wounds on its victims, he felt certain they had been killed by a vampire. A vampire child. And there was only one source for those. He saw both witnesses off, purses full, to parts unknown. He had to keep ahead of his father on this one, although he would have loved to have seen his father’s face when he learned who had caused him so much trouble.
Both of them turned suddenly as the sound of gunfire echoed through the hall and Jacob rushed in breathlessly. “Master, they’ve come! You said we had more time! What are we going to do?” His disgustingly fat body shook all over as he fell to his knees in front of Törnkvist.
“Go look after the children!” he snapped. “If you keep them calm, keep your fingers out of the girls, and none of the boys have peed in their pants by this evening, I may let you have one for yourself tonight.” He watched, amused, as Jacob waddled towards the side door smiling broadly.
General Sandeen moved purposefully across the hall flanked by two Lieutenants. “Master, they’re attacking from the north and west, but my men are easily holding them off. Your Elite Guard is still at your disposal, and on your order, we can move around behind them through the forest trenches and trap them in a crossfire.”
“Okay General. Give me a few moments.” He turned to Gudmund, as the general made a fast exit through the main hall doors. “And if you’re thinking of slipping away during the excitement, just remember. I have given instructions as to the final disposition of your wife and unborn child if such a situation arises. And she WILL have more children!” he said coldly, “If you’re not up to it, I’ll accommodate her myself. See how that future looks to you.” He smiled pleasantly.
Gudmund felt the rage rise up in his throat. Enough! Why have I endured this for so long? This will end today! Two quick steps took him to the wall where, with all his strength he pulled hard on the heavy drapes. The massive iron rods groaned as the wall brackets bent and then broke, sending a twenty-foot high wall of royal velvet drapes and iron curtain rods crashing to the marble floor. The full light of the afternoon sun bore down on them through the huge windows, but he stepped quickly back into the shadows, drew his sword, and as his father raised his hands to his face and turned angrily towards him, swung with all his might. Törnkvist’s hands reflexively grasped at empty air as his head bounced and rolled across the great hall. His headless body swayed in the sun for a moment, then crumpled to the floor. Gudmund could smell the burning flesh as he quickly headed for the door that a fat, smiling Jacob had stepped through only moments before.
He turned and for a moment watched the flames rise, blackening the ceiling and igniting the mountain of velvet. “How does your future look to you now father? You’ll be happy to know I finally did your bidding. I cut off the snake’s head!” He hurried through the door. One more evil creature to deal with, some village children to release, then he and his new family would escape through the aqueduct at the rear of the estate. Suddenly his future became clearer, and a great sadness washed over him. His only child would be born sterile, and he knew he would have no more. No more of his children would ever have a Vampire as a father. The Törnkvist lineage ends here. The family honor had been destroyed beyond redemption and no one would mourn its demise. He could dimly see his future descendents wink out of existence one by one as his resolve hardened, and his future became fixed. He smiled grimly to himself as he imagined them all soundlessly thanking him for what he had done on their behalf.