AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I'm so sorry I couldn't save you… I couldn't save you the first time…my little girl…please… please forgive me… forgive me and find peace for this is the only place you deserve to be when finding your eternal rest,” I said with tears flowing freely as I lay my head down so as my forehead was cradled in her still hands. The scars and evidence of how hard she had fought against the evil will of her mother, now long faded away. For the spells cast by a witch were lost the moment the power of life was gone.
I raised my head up, without bothering to wipe away my tears. The evidence feeling as though it would stain my skin just as her strength and bravery had once stained hers. I didn't even flinch when I felt the presence appear at my back.
For I knew who it was.
For I knew…our time had come.
“Tell me… she is… at peace,”I stammered out, forcing the words to be heard through the thickness of my emotions.
“She is, for it is her time.” The voice of Jesus struck me like the holy lance, the spear of destiny I had embedded in my vessel had just been ripped out only to be pierced into my lung.
It had been so long, I thought I would have forgotten it by now. A foolish thought indeed, for how could I ever forget? How could I have honestly believed my faith in this man so dead that I would not have known him? When in truth…
I remembered…Everything.
It seemed as if two thousand years was not enough to bury such loyalty. Which was why I found the bravery to speak again,
“You kept your word.”
“I did… as you kept yours.” I started to shake my head at his words, making me say down at my daughter’s hands,
“I thought lying was still a sin.” At this he laughed and even that managed to sweep away more of the dust on my memories, revealing them so purely, it took my breath away.
“So is drinking until you fall off your stool and declaring to all you will pay for their drinks, despite us all knowing you had not a coin to your name.” This ignited a strange sound from me, like a scoff that finished on a sob as my emotions were near too much to bear. Because hearing this and I knew it was my turn to laugh. Which was when I finally found enough courage to turn and face my past, and the moment I did I could not help my reaction.
I fell to my knees and lowered my head. Then I held out my hands, cupping them in front of me as I had done all those years ago when first declaring my life forfeit to his cause. Hands he had once filled with wine from his own cup, before raising them to drink from. And for the second time in my life, I begged for the life of my child.
“I have no right… I know I do not. I had forsaken my faith the moment it was tested too far for me to be able to live with. I know this. I have always known this. You were my brother, my father, and my friend…”
“And you felt as if I had abandoned you… as if I had forsaken you, my brother, my child, my friend,” he said, making me look up at him, seeing him finally just the same as I had that day. A face even lips or mind or fear could not describe. A face that had haunted my dreams for so long, it felt as if just looking at him now was penance for my sins…my atonement.
“I did,” I said as tears continued to run freely before he placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Then we were both wrong… ask it of me once more, Judas.”
“Please… please, my Lord, please I beg of you, grant me back the soul of my daughter…at the very least… let me… say goodbye this time.”Jesus bowed his head the once, and told me,
“I did this once before, as it was your choice to make, however, this time…it is hers…”
I turned my head when he gestured behind me and gasped the moment I saw my daughter draw in her first heavenly breath. I was up on my feet and gathering her in my arms in the time it took for my heart to be faster.
“I will give you two a moment alone.” I looked behind me to see that he was no longer there, and we were in fact now alone.
“Father?”
The glorious second I heard her voice, a shuddered breath escaped me. I then held her tighter to me for a moment before pulling back and cupping her face. Her beautiful face, one that still belonged to that of my little girl. Now a grown woman, with eyes that remained the same, eyes that at one time may have looked as black as the soul that had taken her from me…but not now.
No, now they were the bright and vibrant hazel I remembered them to be. Those swirls of amber framing the irises that I used to adore seeing in the Jerusalem sunrise. She had always been an early riser and it had always been our time. Her sun-kissed skin had once matched my own, along with that little dip in her left cheek. Brown hair with its streaks of blonde from playing outside for endless hours, and it warmed my heart to see it once again paint the strands like the sun was still with us.
“Kala, my beautiful girl… my beautiful daughter… I am here,I am here now.”At this she grabbed on to me and hugged me back, holding on for dear life as she too started crying.
“For so long… I dreamed of this moment for so long!” she told me, now sobbing her heart out, and I too did not have the power to stop the tears, not hers nor my own.
Minutes past, but then again, it could have been hours for everything felt right finally having her in my arms. Yet despite this, I knew that our time was limited and there was a lifetime of things I still had left to say. So, I pulled back gently and in turn, she moved so as we were both sitting on the altar.
“I want you to know… no, no, Ineedyou to know… I tried everything. I didn't know… I didn't know Jesus had brought you back… if I'd have known…Gods…”She covered my hand with hers, giving it a squeeze before telling me,
“I know you didn't know about me. They tried to make me hate you. For a long time, they made me believe that you had abandoned me. That you had abandoned both of us, my mother and me, all so as you may live a life as a Vampire King. That you chose power over us.” At this I sucked in a sharp breath, taking her hands in mine so as I could raise them to my lips to kiss before assuring her,
