Our Last Hope

Two Pink Lines

The house was quiet, William was out hunting and Gregor was outside standing guard. Gregor was able to bring me some bagged blood from the hospital. His childhood friend was the unit chief of the ER department, he had easy access.

My days were filled with sneaking around with Gregor and looking after the babies. William was becoming more and more scarce the last couple days, it was starting to scare me a bit. The whole thing was a little suspicious.

I was prepping the twin’s bottles when I heard the back door un-latch. The aura was off so I knew that it was William coming back from his mid afternoon run. He only really interacted with me when I was ‘ripe’. I was thankful for the lack of attention, I don’t know how much longer I can do this. I was counting down the days until our rehearsal dinner, we were only 4 weeks away. I had to work hard at keeping my focus. Staying strong was my biggest struggle. Every time I saw William, I wanted to lop his head off with the meat cleaver from the butcher block. I shook my head to clear the dark thoughts.

“What have you been up to today?” I heard the icy tone to his voice from the living room. He was hovering over the bassinet, looking intently at the twins. William hardly ever let me out of the house, he didn’t trust that I wouldn’t run off. I was important to his plan, but I desperately wanted to know why. There was nothing stopping him from taking Henry and running into the woods behind the cabin. I felt the knot twist up in my stomach as I mulled over that possibility.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and turned off the faucet. I dried my hands on the kitchen towel and turned to face William.

“I finished the laundry, tidied up the kitchen, and deep cleaned the house.”

A small smirk spread across his lips, “Good girl. I think that you deserve some free time. I have to head into town for a while. I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

He looked almost too happy to be leaving again. He had an air of caution around him, I was worried that he had me under surveillance.

Without saying another word he walked towards the front door and slipped into his jacket. I was surprised when William walked into the kitchen where I was frozen still. I hid my flinch as he pressed his lips to my temple.

“I’ll be back, stay out of trouble.”

He turned on his heel and headed for the door.

I waited until I couldn’t hear the tires of the gravel before sending a link to Gregor.

Coast is clear.

Within seconds, Gregor walked through the back door. I met him halfway and he pulled me to his chest. I felt safe and protected, I couldn’t think of a better place to be. I tilted my head up and pressed my lips to his.. I let out a content sigh as I felt the bliss set into my muscles. I haven’t been able to fully relax in days.

“How are you?” Gregor’s arm were still tightly wrapped around me. I shrugged my shoulders as best as I could and sighed.

“I’m okay. Just mentally drained, I don’t know how much longer I can last.”

Gregor pulled away from me a bit and placed his finger under my chin. He tilted my head up and looked into my eyes.

“I wish that there was something that I could do to get you out of this sooner.” I knew that this was tearing him up. There was nothing that he could do to speed this up, if William was going to die, we had to time it right. He may not be able to help me with that, but I knew a great way for him to distract me.

He looked down at me with mischief in his eyes, he read my mind. In one swift motion, he bent down, scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder. I let out a loud shriek at his surprise attack. He carried me up the stairs to the bedroom where we would spend the next couple hours.

***WILLIAM’S POV***

The sun was just beginning to set as I flew down the highway to the outer banks of the city. I think that it’s funny how everyone in this family thinks that I am oblivious to what’s going on around me. I know that my in laws are trying to get me rid of me. I also know that my wife is f*****g my brother. I don’t know their entire plan, but I won’t give them the opportunity to take me out. What they don’t know is that I have a plan of my own.

I got an anonymous phone call the other night. I wasn’t sure who it was but he knew what was happening to me. I had the whole world against me and he offered to help me out. I was told to come alone to the outer banks tonight so we could talk in a mutual location.

It was about an hour drive or so, I couldn’t stop my thoughts from wandering, I didn’t know what was in store for me tonight, but I knew that it would be better than the alternative.

I pulled down an abandoned service road off the main highway. There was a shift in the atmosphere, the sun had fully set, covering the forest in a dark blanket of light. The trees were restless above my head and the forest was dead silent. I came up to a small clearing and tucked the Jeep between the trees. I hopped down to the ground and heard a twig snap under my foot. I switched off the headlights and took a few steps into the center of the clearing.

I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, who ever I was meeting with was watching me very carefully from a distance. There was something familiar about my surroundings, I had a strange feeling that I have been here before. I heard rustling out in front of me. I followed the sound blindly across the tree line but couldn’t see anything.

“It’s good to see you again son.”

I was paralyzed by the possibility that my father was actually somewhere out there. How could he be alive? We may have never found his body, but the castle was completely destroyed, there was no way that he could have survived.

“Show yourself!” I called into the trees, this must be a hoax.

Suddenly, a shadowy figure stepped out into the moonlight. I couldn’t move when I realized that it wasn’t my father.

My mother stood in front of me with confidence. She clasped her hands in front of her and tilted her head to the side as she looked me up and down. The usual look of disappointment played at her features.. She was always harder on me than my father was.

I still couldn’t comprehend how she was here in front of me. I found her dead in the dungeon all those years ago. But, she looked like she did in her glory days. The moonlight reflected off of her bright, silver hair. Her bright purple eyes were the only source of light that I saw. She wore a smirk on her red, painted lips.

“It’s good to see you again my darling.” She relaxed a bit as she took another couple of steps towards me. I still couldn’t believe that she was in front of me, I felt like I had just seen a ghost. My brain had shut off as she walked closer to me.

“Are you just going to stand there or are you going to come give your mother a kiss?”

I took a cautious step towards the center of the clearing, I didn’t understand what as going on and I didn’t have a good feeling about this. I had so many questions, but I was afraid of the answers that I was going to get.

I stiffened a bit as I felt her arms half heartedly wrap around me. She placed a small peck on my cheek before quickly pulling away to get a closer look at me.

“You look fantastic my darling. How have you been?”

I started to stammer as my brain tried to form a response.

“I’m doing fine mother. But I would much rather know how the hell you are still walking on this plane.”

She lightly laughed at my earnest attempt to answer. She patted the side of my face lightly.

“Oh my darling, there will be plenty of time for that. What I want to know is how my grandchildren are doing?”

It petrified me that she knew about Lilly and Henry, I don’t think that she would cause them any harm, but I was worried that she would use them for leverage for her own gain.

I needed to understand more about her mission before I gave her anymore information.

I took a step back from her and her face dropped.

“Mother, I will not tell you anything about my family unless you tell me what the f**k you are doing here.”

She tsked at me, “William, I don’t appreciate your tone.” She huffed out of frustration. “You know that I would never hurt a child. I am not your father.”

She crossed her arms in front of her body and c****d her eyebrow. She was right, I was not one to talk. I stood by as she was mutilated and tortured for years. I held up my hands hoping that would calm her down.

“I’m sorry mother, but up until about two minutes ago, I thought that you were dead. Can we just take a minute to reflect on how you just lured me an hour out of town to a dark, abandoned forest? I’m sorry that I am a little suspicious about you suddenly dropping out of the sky. But forgive me for not openly telling you about my two infant children when I thought that you were dead for the past 15 years.”

Mother softened a bit as she took a step towards me. I froze as she reached up her hand and cupped the side of my face.

“I’m sorry my darling. I didn’t mean to be so illusive, I just had to play this right. I know that there is a lot going on, but I needed to make sure that you didn’t have any outside influences around you. I have a plan and I need your help.”

***EDWINA’S POV***

Gregor and I were sitting on the couch with the babies. Will was no where to be found yet again, but I wasn't going to question it. Other than Gregor popping in occasionally to help with the babies, I was doing it all by myself. It was becoming easier now that the twins were now nearly 3 months old. We had to purposefully keep them up later so they could sleep a little longer in the morning. Gregor was bouncing Henry on his knee, making him smile and giggle with each bounce.

Lilly was much more passive, she was fighting the urge to sleep as she rested her chin on my shoulder. I decided to steer into the skid and let her fall asleep. I rubbed her back and hummed my favorite song in her ear. Before long, she was lightly snoring with her mouth agape.

William still hadn’t come back yet, he had been gone for almost four hours. Once Lilly fell asleep, I leaned my head over and rested my ear on Gregor’s shoulder. I felt his lips graze my forehead just as Henry started to coo, he too was fighting the urge to sleep.

“We should put them to bed, William will be home soon and I know that he won’t want to deal with them.”

Gregor nodded his head and we slowly sat up trying not to disturb the babies. I settled them into their crib and felt my own exhaustion set into my bones. Gregor pulled me into his arms and held me. I knew that he didn’t want to leave, but he had no choice.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Gregor kissed me before leaving me standing alone in the living room. I watched him walk out the back door and my heart broke in two. I walked over to the couch and wrapped myself into a burrito. I didn’t feel like climbing the stairs right now. The fire was still roaring in the hearth so the heat felt wonderful. I collapsed on the couch and closed my eyes. I was thankful that sleep found me quickly.

I shot up from the couch a few hours later when I heard the Jeep tearing down the gravel driveway. William was finally home, but there was something wrong. The headlights were still beaming through the front window. I sat up and rubbed my eyes as I heard the engine being cut. I rose to my feet and stretched out my arms just as William came barreling through the front door.

I hadn’t seen this much rage in a while, I was about to acquire some knew bumps and bruises. I prepared myself as William wrapped his hand around my throat and pushed me up against the wall.

“You’re f*****g pregnant and you didn’t tell me!?”

I was numb to his violence at this point, but I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. I blinked at him with giant doe eyes, I think that I would know if I was pregnant or not. William dropped me to my feet and I gasped for air.

“I don’t know what the f**k you’re talking about.” I had to squeak but I got the words out.

“Oh yeah? I suppose that you’re going to deny f*****g my brother too!” He was in my face, almost nose to nose.

My mouth dropped open, how did he know about that? It made me think about the surveillance possibility from earlier, he must have eyes on me. When I didn’t respond he leaned in more.

“Did you really think that I didn’t know about that? You’ve been busy sneaking around behind my back.”

He suddenly grabbed tight onto my wrist and started dragging me up the stairs. I wasn’t quite sure what he was planning but I was ready for it, there isn’t much more that he could do to me. He pulled me past the bed and into the bathroom. He swung me out in front of me and I lost my balance. I tumbled to the floor next to the toilet.

William went to chuck something at me but missed. The small, plastic object ricocheted off of the tub and flew back to the center of the room.

“If I find out that you are pregnant with my brother’s child, it will be the end of both of you. Now pee on that!” He pointed down to the object by my feet, it was a pregnancy test. I still didn’t believe that I could be pregnant, it’s only been 12 weeks since the twins were born, I would know if I was pregnant. I couldn’t feel our mate bond anymore, he was probably just speculating.

I slowly rose up from the floor and bent down to pick up the test. I turned towards the vanity and splashed some cold water on my face. William banged on the door to warn that I was taking too long. I patted my face with a hand towel and huffed out loud. I’m surprised that he was wasn’t in here hovering over me. I swiped the test off the counter and opened the wrapper with my teeth.

I did what I had to do quickly, now we just had to wait three minutes. William burst back through the door and snatched the test off the counter.

“We need to keep that on a flat surface until it is done-“

Without skipping a beat, William backhanded me so hard that I stumbled backwards.

“You have no room to talk, you’re lucky that I am allowing you to live. Now shut the f**k up!”

I placed my hand over the spot where he slapped me, it was already becoming warm from the impact. This is no where near as bad as he used to beat me. William stared down at the test in his hands and his features pressed into a hard line. I could feel the rage radiating off of him. He tossed the test on the counter and turned on his heel. I took a step towards the counter and stared down at the two faint lines that had formed. It had only been two minutes, they were about to get even darker.

My heart stopped beating and I couldn’t breathe. I clutched at my chest and stumbled around until I found the toilet. I buried my face in my hands and felt the emotion ripple through my body. I couldn’t be pregnant, not again. This cannot be happening, not with the imminent danger that surrounded us constantly. I felt Gregor pop into my mind.

Are you alright? Something is off.

I couldn’t bring myself to answer him, I didn’t have room for my own thoughts, I couldn’t deal with this right now. I certainly didn’t want him to know that I was pregnant. Although, I prayed that it was Gregor’s, I don’t think that I could stomach bringing another one of William’s spawns into this world. Regardless, I would protect this baby with my own life.

Things were about to change once again.