Chained To Fate

Chapter 4

~The Past~

He didn’t wait long, knowing the others were probably looking for them. He lifted her into his arms, clutching the baby as well, and wrapped them both in her cloak, trying to make it look like she was just sleeping peacefully. Her hood slipped, her head bald as all the women were, and he lifted it back up to cover her. The first place he went was a local morgue in the small town below the coven.

Charles wanted to make sure that no matter what happened, he would always have a part of her. He didn’t have time to bury her, he knew they were looking for them. She was the purest, they would want her back. With tears in his eyes, he stared at the mortician, using his mind to tell him to cremate her, to save her ashes, and place them into a necklace. With a sigh, he looked at the baby sleeping peacefully in his arms and he requested two necklaces instead.

Charles wasn’t sure what to do with the baby. Should he keep him, raise him as his son? Somehow, he wasn’t sure if he could do that. Seeing the boy every day, watching him grow to look like his mother, the remainder of the woman he loved, he wasn’t sure if he could do it. Then again, the idea of just giving him to a stranger to raise and losing the one connection he had to Autumn, he wasn’t sure if he could do that either. He was stuck between two hard choices, and he wasn’t sure what to chose, or where to go. In the end, all he wanted to do was reverse time, go back even one week ago, and maybe she would have been healthier to last for a doctor.

If only he hadn’t been so scared, so indecisive. He could have tried to steal Autumn away before, but over the last year, he failed to work up the courage to do so. She would tell him time and time again that it was fine, that she understood his fears, but even still…he should have acted sooner. His heart broke, again and again, that day. He left the newborn baby with the wife of the man who ran the morgue, convincing her that he needed a few minutes to grieve his wife’s death. He walked outside into the crisp air, the wind howling and biting at him as the cruel and beautiful sun mocked him. So many times he wanted to take Autumn outside, to show her the sun and all of the world she’d never been given the opportunity to see. He had so many plans, so many, and it was for nothing. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, staring down at the words written on it in his messy handwriting. So many places around the world, each one researched thoroughly, when he should have been planning a better escape. A waste of time, all of it.

Charles dropped the paper on the ground, watching it fall for a moment, before the wind picked at it, lifting it teasingly. Charles could hear it, as he stared at the paper. The sound of Autumn’s voice in his head. The way she stared at his hard work with a smile, tears in her beautiful eyes as she thanked him over and over again. She had been so excited for this list, going over it time and time again, asking Charles over and over again to describe the places. He would sneak her pictures of the silliest things, a bird, a tree, a nighttime picture of waterfalls, anything to give him an excuse to see her smile. Every time she saw a new picture she lit up, pulling out that damn list, and asking where on the list the items came from.

Charles cussed, picking up the paper before it blew away and took a deep breath, before shoving it gently into his pocket. He stared at the trees, watching the way they moved in the breeze, the colors starting to change, and wondered what would happen if he just left. Took the necklace of Autumn, and left without the baby. The man and his wife were nice, and the woman found a formula to feed the baby, taking care of it, and washing it, all the things a newborn baby needed. Even still, the thought of leaving him behind, made Charles’s heart ache. Her last wish had been for him to find a loving family for the baby, and he wouldn’t be safe here. The coven would find him fast, noticing his genes and his similarities to the werewolves locked in their warehouse not more than an hour away. Charles knew what he had to do. While the man worked and the wife watched the baby, Charles went into town, into the closest thrift store. He was glad the town was mostly quiet and empty, even if they didn’t know about the existence of vampires or werewolves, they could sense the cruel and harsh waves from the warehouse, and most had moved away, only the most stubborn and uncaring remained. Charles only had to use his mind control on the shopkeeper of a thrift store. He quickly changed his clothes out of the dried blood outfit, and into fresh clothes. Because of the chill outside, he grabbed a long black jacket, and took an extra minute to grab a soft blanket for the baby. He grabbed a map and hung it on the wall, taking out one single dart and throwing it blindly at the map.

Noting the location he nodded, tearing the map into pieces and making the shopkeeper forget he was ever there. Once outside he went back to the morgue, assuming they were finished. He wasn’t very surprised to see they were, and as the man handed him a necklace filled with his beloved’s ashes he took a moment to shed a few tears, wishing more than anything that he had at least one picture of her, something, anything to remember her by. But then he realized, as the woman handed him the baby and he placed him in the soft warm blanket, he stared the little boy in the eyes and realized he wouldn’t have been able to handle a visual reminder of her. Just seeing the son laying in his arms, warm and cooing, was enough to make him want to give up and cry. It was better this way, having her ashes in his grasp where he could feel her close to him, but he wasn’t given the daily reminder of her beautiful blue eyes or the full shape of her lips. He knew, as he stared at the baby asleep in the warm soft blanket, that he was doing the right thing. He thanked the couple before wiping their minds of his visit, taking the one necklace and putting it around his neck, before slipping the other one in his pocket. He didn’t know if he’d ever see him again, but just in case, he wanted to have something for him. The boy that would have been his son, if only Autumn has lived.

Charles went back out into the town, noting the sun was slowly setting, and knew that the other vampires would be looking here soon for him. Making sure to have left no evidence behind he gathered the small baby in his arms and inside of his coat so the wind wouldn’t get to him and started running. Because Charles was a vampire he was exceptionally fast, able to run from one state to the next in a matter of minutes. The destination he chose with the darts was five states over, and in only thirty minutes he was at his destination. He walked out of the dark alley he ran into, blending immediately into the crowd of others. He was in a town filled with tourists, lots of different families visiting from all over, and he was confident that he’d find a person that wasn’t originally from here. That way, he’d never have to worry about the boy again, because he’d never accidentally run into him or feel compelled to search for him if he didn’t know where he ended up.

Charles waited until it was dark before walking into the hospital. The baby has been a fussy mess earlier, but he found a woman with a baby and used his mind control on her to make the baby a bottle, feed him, before the baby fell asleep. Now, the boy was resting peacefully in his arms, and he carried him easily into the practically abandoned and quiet hospital. He had to force a number of nurses and doctors to forget he was here, but otherwise, he wasn’t given much trouble as he made his way to the baby center of the hospital.

Charles stood outside the glass, watching the babies either crying or sleeping in the small little beds. Each bed had a name above it, a name that no doubt matched the bracelet on the baby’s ankle. He watched, waiting, unsure what it was he was waiting for. Would he be able to slip the baby inside one of the empty beds? Leaving him behind? He chose the hospital, because the mothers residing here were happy and eager to recover their new baby, and if there wasn’t a mother for a baby then a family would be found for it. He kept telling himself it would be fine, just drop the baby boy in one of the beds unmarked, and leave him behind. If a mother didn’t claim him, then the authorities would, and then Charles would never know where he’d end up.

Suddenly, a doctor and a nurse ran into the room, in such a great deal of panic that the door besides Charles was left open, and Charles stuck out his foot, catching it before it closed, and slipped inside. Charles hovered behind them curiously as they walked to a bed big enough to fit two babies, twins. He could hear it, the loud blaring cry of a baby, a healthy cry, but as Charles walked around the beds he could see it, the one they were working on was the other baby, who wasn’t breathing. Charles watched as they tried to get him breathing again, but no matter what they did it didn’t do anything.

“We need to inform the parents, time of death.” The doctor said, pulling off his gloves as the nurse held the dead baby in her arms. She nodded, her face sad but calm, the type of face belonging to a nurse that has seen countless deaths in her long life as a nurse.

“They are good parents, from another state, here for a meeting, they said. I believe they’re important, rich. They’ll want lots of tests done to discover what went wrong.” The nurse warned as they doctor sighed, rubbing his hand over his weary face.

“When was the baby born, and what is the gender of the baby?” Charles asked as he stepped closer to them. The other baby was screaming its lungs out, having lost its sibling, and the warmth of it sleeping beside it.

“Sir, you can’t be in here,” the doctor started to say as Charles stared at him, watching the dull look in his eyes as he turned to the nurse, controlling her mind as well. Simple, easy.

“The dead child is a boy, and he was born this morning, right before the sun started to rise on the horizon.” The doctor replied, as Charles nodded.

“This child didn’t die, I’m holding it right now. Take the bracelet off of the dead baby and put it on this one. Finish what you were doing, cleaning and whatever you need, then bring the babies back to their mother. Nothing is wrong, nothing happened. She gave birth to two beautiful babies.” Charles told them. The doctor nodded as he took the sleeping baby from Charles, laying him down and fixing the crude way Autumn tied and tore his umbilical cord. “Hand me the dead baby. I will dispose of it.” Charles said as the nurse took the bracelet off of its ankle. She handed Charles the baby as she placed the new bracelet on Autumn’s son, and Charles sighed as they started to examine him and clean him. He was fine, healthy, strong. He would survive, do well. Charles was glad that the other baby looked like Autumn’s child, and he leaned down, placing a swift kiss to the top of his head, before telling the doctor and the nurse to forget about him.

As the doctor started to discuss the mother paying for the boys' circumcisions, Charles walked out the doors, carrying the dead baby in his arms. He paused, realizing he didn’t know the baby’s name, but continued walking as he left the hospital. He went to the local cemetery, attached to a church. He took a shovel and dug a deep hole in front of the tree, and then placed the baby inside of it gently. Charles never was one for a lot of deep and meaningful words, but he understood the fact that he committed a harsh crime, robbing a family of a chance to mourn their baby properly and instead gave them another woman’s baby to raise in its stead. Charles closed his eyes, remembering the look on Autumn’s face, her beautiful eyes, and the smile on her face. Charles opened his eyes and stared down at the newly planted dirt in front of the tree, a sadness in his eyes.

“I know I wronged you, little one. For that, I’m sorry. But wherever you end up, I have to hope and pray that you were sent to the same place as Autumn. My Autumn wanted desperately to be a mother, to raise her baby in peace and happiness. You wanted to have life, to grow and live. I hope, I have to have hope, that somehow you’ll find each other, and be together. It’s the best I can do, little one. Forgive me.” Charles whispered. He stayed long into the night, until the sun started to kiss the edge of the horizon, before running off as fast as he could, until he couldn’t run anymore. He knew he couldn’t go back to the coven, and now that he’s met and loved Autumn, he didn’t want to. He was a coward, and as Autumn had told him, she had been right. He didn’t want to go back to the warehouse to save the others. All he wanted to do was find a new home, sit down in it, and cry. Cry for the loss of the only woman he ever did and ever would love, and cry for the loss of the boy that would have been his son, I’d only she had survived. What it would have felt like to be a father, to be loved.