Tyler’s POV]
“How is my precious Carl Washington doing today?” Jocelyn asked as she stepped into the study room. I had been expecting her presence after seeing the terrestrial ball she called a portal dancing next to the door.
I shrugged. “I’ll never get used to that name,” I said.
“It’s okay. I can just call you Tyler if you’re more comfortable with that. It’s not like the authorities are always present to monitor everything we have to say,” she explained, then sat down on a stool beside me and eyed the map I had been working on.
A month ago, all the documents had been processed and finalised, and I had been able to move to New Orleans with my family, as well as the other members of the Crescent Pack who had also acquired new identities.
The estate I had been able to acquire was more than enough to house the remaining members of our Pack, and slowly, we had been adapting to the human way of life and maintaining our territory.
In the near future, we were going to transform more humans to werewolves to increase our population in addition to procreation. The goal I had was to mark my territory in New Orleans and force everyone, including the useless government on their knees. There could only be one authority, and that was the authority of Tyler Jefferson.
“I’m having trouble locating the source to actually help you in killing Celeste once and for all,” I stated.
Jocelyn had a frown on her face. “You know it, Alpha Tyler. She once told you in the past and once you see it, you would know. I’ve helped you out, and now, you must help me,” she said.
I turned to give her a distasteful look. “I don’t feel any connection whatsoever with any of the locations I can see here. How sure are you that Celeste once told me where the source is?” I asked.
“Because she informed us that you were aware. Or do you need help in finding it? I can conjure a spell that would help you remember it fully,” she offered to help, then placed her hand on my head.
I flinched, and pushed away her hand disgustingly. “You have no right to touch me. Anyways, I’ve tried my best for today. I need to do something meaningful, so I would continue later,” I said, folded the map and stood up to leave the study room.
She held me by the hand and shook her head repeatedly, looking really unimpressed. “You can’t just leave, Tyler Jefferson. You might think you can discard of me after using me like you do to others, but I am Jocelyn. You can’t treat me the same way. I’ve helped you, and you must return the favour,” she said, using an eerie tone.
I clenched my fists angrily and pushed her aggressively against the wall. “I never said I won’t help you. I certainly will, but at my own pace and time!”
“And when would that time be? When Celeste has become better and gone to the source’s location to get more herbs to sustain her for the next one hundred years? Don’t you get it? It’s either now or never! In that fire, every one of her potions and herbs perished, including the main ingredient for her masking potion. She is still weak from the fire incident, but she’d get surgery soon enough and become better, then she’d go and get it and all our plans would fail,” Jocelyn explained.
“I get it, Jocelyn. I really do, but what I don’t get is how you somehow believe I know the location of where the source is, but I don’t remember ever being told,” I explained.
“That’s because you’re not putting your heart into it. Without finding that location and destroying all the herbs there forever, Celeste would acquire more years and Lucien wouldn’t be delivered into the palms of your hands like you’ve always wanted,” Jocelyn said.
“Well, I couldn’t care less about that. As long as they’re far away from me and not doing anything to bother me, they could stay on earth forever. It’s none of my concern,” I told her, then turned around to leave.
She scoffed. “Wow, Tyler. I should have known you’d turn your back on me after helping you settle down here. Let’s see how you’d get your son, then,” she yelled at me.
Again, I turned around to look at her and approached her menacingly, then all of a sudden, I started cackling. “Oh, come off it, Jocelyn. It’s not like you even meant it anyway. Malia can’t have a child and you can’t say for sure how you’re going to make that desire happen,” I said.
She was going to respond, but was interrupted by a childlike scream which came from downstairs. We both headed to the window and watched what was going on. My daughter, Talia, was playing dress-up with her friends, and they were being loud while her mother just stood there, smiling and looking really proud.
It was as though she noticed my eyes were on her as she looked up, and seeing the displeasure on my face, she immediately whispered something to Talia and led her away.
I shook my head in annoyance and hit my clenched fist against the wall, bitterly.
“So, tell me, Tyler, isn’t it better to take even the slightest chance to do all you can to have a son that won’t embarrass you like that?” Jocelyn asked, with a semi-mocking tone.
I ignored her, closed my eyes and tried to remember anything that could lead to the source’s location. I pictured Celeste in my mind’s eye and slowly, I remembered seeing her even before the time I had first seen her at Lucien’s mansion.
With a low voice, she had said, “I just discovered a way to live longer than the mortal lifespan would allow. It’s at the Oregon Coast, just next to the Pacific Ocean. Snap your fingers thrice and you’d see it… a budding garden filled with only herbs of a specific kind. Take my gift of eternal life and leave the witches alone forever,” she had said.
The words echoed over and over in my head even as I jolted back to reality. She had said those words to me a very long time ago; not in this lifetime, and several hundreds of years ago.
“Who am I? Who really am I? This isn’t the first life I’ve lived, right?” I asked, turning over to Jocelyn.
She smirked. “You’re right, but that’s a story for another day. The look on your face tells me you’ve remembered. Tell me, where is it?” Jocelyn asked.
“No. You tell me first, who am I?” I inquired.
She rolled her eyes with annoyance. “That’s unimportant! Whoever you were in your past life doesn’t matter. That’s all in the past. What matters is the present and if you don’t tell me where the source is now, you might just be destroying your own future and letting history repeat itself. Help me destroy the source and I will tell you everything,” she told me.
I thought about it for a moment, then heaved a deep sigh. “Fine. Let’s do that, but are you sure you want to destroy the whole thing? Won’t you also like to buy yourself some more time on earth?” I asked.
She scoffed. “We were given the time that the creator deemed sufficient enough for us to live. Trying to change that is sheer greed and nothing but eternal darkness awaits those who try to cheat destiny. However, we won’t destroy it all. I have a plan in mind,” she said, smiling with utmost delight.
I simply shrugged. “Whatever you say.”
I gave her the information of where the source supposedly was, and with a mischievous smile, she chanted some incantations and then the terrestrial ball; the portal, appeared and soon, we had gone through it.
In a matter of hours, we would be done with getting rid of the old witch, Celeste, and this time around, the vampire would be unable to save her.