Disclaimer: I don’t own anything related to Summerland. Period.

Author’s Ramble: You know how in every centurylanguage changes, have you ever wondered what language will be like in a hundred years or so?

Thanks to Cynthia1993!

REVELATIONS

Serena woke up, but didn’t open her eyes. She wanted to stay in Bradin’s arms just a little bit longer. When she finally opened them, she grabbed the toothbrush and paste Emma was holding in front of her. Coming, back she stood in front of John and looked at him. John shifted slightly. She began to run in the opposite direction.

“Serena, where are you going?” Arianna asked.

Serena came back and replied. “Thanks for saving my ass, but I’m leaving.”

“You can’t go!” Wyatt and Emma said in unison. Wyatt continued, pointing at Bradin, “You can’t leave because of this idiot!”

“Did it ever occurred to you guys that I have my own agenda? I am not a good girl, I never was. Think about it.” Serena said mischievously with a wink. She looked around with a smile. Glancing over at Lucas, he met her gaze before he lowered his head. Serena walked towards Emma and cupped her face. “Wyatt, I would take good care of your wife. She could’ die at any given time.”

Wyatt snarled as he pushed Serena away. Emma couldn’t believe her eyes. She had trusted Serena: they had bonded as sisters. Emma replied, “This isn’t you. You wouldn’t do anything stupid. You love Br- humans.”

Serena walked over to Bradin and sat next to him. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his neck. She grinned, “You just said it. I love humans. Bradin, if I were you, I would ask your girlfriend for help. You know the little white witch? Wynnfrith Thomas? She has this pathetic crush on you. It’s kind of sad actually. Anyway, you should ask her to place a protective shield around you.”

Arianna looked sad. She felt heart-broken until she noticed her husband‘s reaction: John looked undisturbed by all the commotion. Serena turned to William, “I just have to get this off my chest. William, you’re a great fuck. I hope you can join me in Brazil.”

“Nikolas I said this a hundred and fifty years ago at our ball and I’ll say it again: I love you.” Serena said as she grabbed his hand tightly and kissed him passionately. Nikolas didn’t respond, but kept a pretty good hold of her hand. Nikki looked hurt. Bradin wanted to hurt Nikolas and Serena. When they finished kissing, Serena went West. William went South.

Everyone stayed speechless for what seemed like an eternity. Nikolas, bitterly, broke the silence. “I think it’s best if we head home. That way we won’t waste anymore time. I should‘ve have known.”

Nikki walked with Bradin. She was mad at Nikolas and at Serena. Serena loved Nikolas? Did Nikolas feel anything for Serena? What did she mean by our ball? Bradin and Nikki were deep in thought. He had come all this way and for what? To be told that he was worthless? Lucas walked next to Nikolas, who looked like he was going to beat the crap out of somebody. Arianna looked at John, but he signaled for her to wait. Wyatt was comforting Emma. However, he was deep in thought about Serena’s words.

No one spoke throughout the long, slow ride home, except John and Arianna. However, no one heard their conversation. Nikki, Bradin, and Lucas had to stop at the Henessy’s to gather their stuff. When they entered they saw a calm Serena inside the kitchen with Shannon baking food. Tarot cards were strewn over the table.

“What the bloody hell?!” Wyatt said loudly as he entered.

“Arianna did you do it?” Serena asked as she ignored Wyatt’s question. Arianna nodded quietly as she re-arranged the living room to fit ten people comfortably. As she began to hand out tea to the humans and blood to her family, she firmly said, “I need all of you to sit down. I’ll explain everything.”

Nikki and Bradin sat as far away as they could from Serena and Nikolas. John and Arianna sat next to Lucas and Shannon who sat next to Serena. Wyatt and Emma sat in between Nikolas and Nikki. Serena began, “Nikki, I’m so sorry if I hurt you. The only reason I did it was because I needed someone to see what happened and why I was behaving that way. I though you guys were in riding together. That way he could have explained everything.” Nikki nodded bitterly, but continued to pay attention as Serena added, “When I turned Nikolas, he began to live with us. Back then, it was badly seen if I man moved in with a family, if they didn’t have any business or family relations. Since it was a small town, everyone knew Nikolas owned nothing, we all thought it would be best if Nikolas and I played the role of a married couple in public. A socialite invited us to a ball and we had to attend. I had to say ‘I love you.’ As soon as we moved to England, that charade ended.”

“Okay. That doesn’t explain why you had to bring it up.” Nikki said jealously. She looked over at Nikolas who looked at her with pleading, loving eyes.

“Okay. Maybe this will. Arianna a little help please.” Serena said as she looked really hard into her palms and everyone saw the molecules being glued together to form an image. Everyone stared into her hands. At first it was blurry, then they could clearly see a family standing inside a house. Shannon stood up and went into the kitchen to get more tea and blood for everyone. “John, Emma, Nik, I might your help. What you are about to see, is random memories from our past that lead to this moment.”

Madrid, Spain. Circa 1709

“Serena, please don’t go anywhere after we leave.” A man asked imploringly to a young girl who was sitting doing embroidery. Behind him, an older woman was praying.

“Daddy, don’t worry. I know the rules. ‘Don’t go out after dark, it’s dangerous.’” She said in a mocking tone. “’Young lady! It’s for your own good.’ Mom always says. Daddy, why can’t I go with you? Mom goes. Emilio goes. Why can’t I? Don’t tell me because I’m a girl…”

“Because mom knows the consequences and I’m older than you.” Emilio said in an authoritarian tone. Every night, her mother, father, and older brother would kill vampires.

“Fine.” Serena said as she saw them leave. She hated being cooped up in her home, especially since she knew about the “unholy” creatures of the night.

She continued her embroidery after she put a kettle to boil on the small stove by the corner. Soon, there was a knock on the door. She opened it and she saw a man. Her smile widened. “Lyonard, my love. You can’t come in. My family’s not around. I don’t want people to start gossiping…”

“Shh. I’m not coming in. Let’s go out for a walk on the moonlight. Didn’t you tell me you loved the moon?” Lyonard said as he seductively smiled at her. Lyonard had short brown hair, green eyes, fair skin, bushy eyebrows, and a toned body. Serena protested, but Lyonard kissed her to shut her up. She slowly responded as he carried her away from her house to an abandoned area. When she looked around she panicked a little. She had barely felt moment, but they were at least a mile away from her house.

“What’s going on?” She was frightened. Serena began to deduce what was going on. She knew that she should’ve never opened the door, much less have a secret lover behind everyone’s backs. Sometimes she thought that maybe she was damned to hell, tarot card reading was an unusual gift too. Now she knew she was going to hell.

“I promise it won’t hurt.“ Lyonard kissed her neck, then he bit it. At first, it didn’t hurt, then as his blood lust became unbearable, she felt pain spread throughout her body. Soon, she passed out.

When she woke up, she only wanted the pain to end. She felt as if she were in a fire with a thousands knives poking at her body mercilessly. She felt someone’s presence a few feet from where she was writhing. She tried to get up, but failed miserably. Lyonard came to her rescue. They were walking out of the abandoned house. He took her to the outskirts of Madrid. There he taught her how to follow and kill prey. When she took her first sip of blood, she felt the pain subside. Soon, she no longer felt pain. She threw the lifeless body aside and walked towards Lyonard. For the next couple of years, they hunted and destroyed cities together. Thanks to him, she was given the finest there was. To them, killing humans seemed like the Christian thing to do: end their misery. All was good until they arrived in Germany. After leaving a small town full of chaos and fires, they were being persecuted by Serena’s brother: Emilio.

Lyonard chose to hide inside a tavern. Serena hid in a barn. Emilio followed her inside. Swiftly, she drained the blood from his body. For her, it was nothing out of the ordinary. But this time, she felt remorse as she looked at his body lying on the ground like a rag doll.

*********

Frankfurt, Germany. Circa 1745

“Arianna, please get me some blood. I don’t think she has fed in a while.” John said as he laid Serena on a bed. Arianna left to get some pig’s blood. Emma and Wyatt came in. They looked curiously at the young girl. John whispered into her ear. “Hang in there.”

“Mr. Henessy.” A fairy said as she popped into the room. “You are to surrender Ms. Courtez to the Ministry of Magical Creatures in a month. That’s when her punishment will be dictated.”

John sighed loudly. As Emma helped Arianna feed Serena. It took a while, mainly because Serena refuse to drink it, even though her body screamed for it.

*********

Serena Courtez stood in front of a tribunal. A tall man said, “You are hereby sentenced to a sixty years in prison for the countless murders of humans.”

********

Mesa, Arizona. Circa 1859.

“Can you act more like newlyweds?” Emma discreetly whispered into Serena’s ear. Serena looked at Nikolas and back at Emma. She took a big breath and said “I love you.” When the host of the party heard it, she clapped her hands and proposed a toast to honor the “newlyweds.”

After the ball, Emma said, “See that wasn’t so hard. I’ll all be over when we go to England.” Serena sighed quietly. “Don’t worry. We will all be there for you. You’re not a monster. You changed. Look at the plus side, you don‘t have to sleep together!”

*********

London, Canada. Circa 1954.

“Wyatt, why are they sick? They can’t be sick. We don’t get sick.” Serena’s voice was full of anguish. Arianna and a pregnant Emma were shaking and sweating as if they had a fever.

“I don’t know. They came back from walking, then suddenly they began to complain from pains. John and Nikolas are in South America; we can‘t ask them.”

“I’ll go check my cards.”

“No. I want to see. Try that thing were you hold her hand and you show me by holding me hand. You did it once.” Wyatt said firmly. Serena bit her lip, but agreed to try.

*********

“STOP!” Serena yelled as she stood between Alderlee and Wyatt. Wyatt had ran out of the house as soon as he got a good idea of why his wife and mother were suffering from an unknown illness. Serena had stayed behind to make sure she had gotten the right information.

“Serena get the hell out of my way or I’ll kill you too!” Wyatt shouted angrily. Serena didn’t move. “I don’t want to kill you.”

At that moment, Alderlee tried to stab Serena’s heart from the back, but Wyatt pushed her aside. However, she made a cut in Serena’s arm. Serena immediately killed Alderlee. They stood motionless there as they looked at her.

Firmly, Serena said, “Wyatt, there, she’s dead. Now get the hell away from here.”

“I’m not going to lea-”

Serena sighed deeply before saying, “Don’t you see? What if the kid makes it? You’re going be away in a prison cell. I got nothing to live for or die for. Please go before the Ministry sees you.”

*********

“Ms. Henessy, you’re hereby sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of world-renown witch and peacemaker Alderlee.” A toad-like man said in a deep voice. He continued, “ You are warned: if you put another toe of out line after your punishment is over, we won’t be so forgiving.”

“Nathaniel, see what you can get out of this weasel.” Lyonard ordered.

Looking firmly into William’s eyes, Nathaniel managed to keep William in line. Like all vampires, Nathaniel had an extra power, he could hypnotize people. Nathaniel said, after a couple of minutes, “He’s ready. Fire away.”

Clicking his tongue, Lyonard began, “Okay. What happened back there in the clearing?”

Like a good boy, William repeated everything that was said and done by Serena. Nathaniel and Lyonard smirked. “Nat, put him to sleep. I’m hungry and we got to meet Serena in Brazil, if in fact, she’s in Brazil.”

“So, you’re like a law breaker?” Nikki said quietly as she looked at Serena.

“Pretty much. Had I known about Lyonard from the beginning, none of this would have happened.”

“Okay, I sorta understand why you were imprisoned for 60 years for eating a lot of people, but why did you get 40 for killing a witch? Why did you kill her in the first place?’ Bradin asked as he grabbed the cup of tea from Shannon.

“Back then, killing a human wasn’t that terrible. But, killing a witch was. It was like killing the someone really important. Wyatt, do you want to answer why I killed Alderlee?”

“I’ll explain.” Emma said firmly. “It’s extremely hard for a vampire to get pregnant. Many magical creatures don’t believe that it is okay for us to have children. At that time I was pregnant, Arianna and I went shopping to a bazaar. A flea Market. It was customary to offer free samples of stuff they were selling. Arianna and I took a sip of a drink. Unbeknownst to us, there was a weird potion in the drink.” Wyatt wrapped his arms protectively around Emma. John and Arianna were holding hands. Emma continued, “The poison caused me to abort my child. Alderlee had been traveling around the world tricking vampires into drinking a poison that would make it damn near impossible to have children. No one ever suspected anything. Not even the ministy… They all thought that she was creating ‘peace‘ between creatures.”

At this revelation, everyone stayed quiet. Lucas broke the silence. “I would love to stay the rest of the night and day, but Shannon and I have to get up early to continue practicing. Ciao.”

“Did you meant everything you said back at the clearing?” Bradin asked timidly.

“Well, I do love humans, but not in the ’Yum, they’re so tasty way.’” Serena said with a chuckle. “The only things I lied about were the ’I still you love you Nikolas’; the William thing; the agenda thing. I have never and will never sleep with William. That’s just wrong, man.”

John stood up and said, “It’s getting late. Bradin…Nikki you should probably sleep.”

“Nikki can sleep in my room!” Nikolas said somewhat loudly. Everyone stared at him; John, Arianna, and Serena raised their eyebrows. “I can sleep on the couch.”

“Bradin, you can take my room. I don’t feel like sleeping tonight.” Serena said quietly. “Unless you want to go somewhere else. I mean, you can bunk with Wyatt and Emma can stay with me.”

“Sometimes I wonder why the Ministry can’t catch us?” Lyonard said loudly as he slowly walked the streets of Mexico. The natives didn’t even pay attention to them.

Nathaniel laughed loudly. “They are so stupid and naïve. That is kinda sad.”

Lyonard joined the laughter as he eyed a homeless girl from afar. The was walking around panhandling. Licking his lips viciously, he asked, “Nat, are you hungry?”

“Do you have to ask?”

“This is your room?” Bradin asked loudly as Serena invited him into her room. It had family pictures in frames hanging from the walls. The walls were white and light pink. In her desk, magazines and books were strewn. In a bookcase there were different kinds of music and books organized. The music ranged from Mozart to Britney Spears and everything in between; the same with the books, she had from Aristotle to J.K. Rowling.

“Were you expecting coffins?” Serena said somewhat bitterly. Bradin quickly apologized. Serena continued, “Do you want hot chocolate? Tea? Coffee? A bit to eat?”

“No thanks.”

Hesitantly, Serena said, “Well, goodnight.”

As she was about to close the door, Bradin said, “Wait. Can I talk to you for a while?” Serena slowly nodded and closed the door behind her. She sat at the corner farthest away from him. Bradin motioned her to sit next to him in the bed. She faced him.

They stayed in silence until Serena broke the silence: “What did you want to talk about?”

“I want to apologize. I’m sorry about my reaction…I-I was scared. I guess. Did you and Lyonard ever get married?”

“Apology accepted.” Serena smiled kindly at Bradin. “We were never married, but we were together. I thought I was in love.”

"Oh!" Bradin whispered. His face hardened. He didn't know why that information shocked him so much, but it did.

Serena felt compelled to explain. She cared about what he thought...about her. "When someone becomes a vampire it is easy to lose oneself. You forget friends, family, and everything you held dear. Moral values are thrown out the window. All you care about is ending the blood lust."

"Are all those myths about vampires true?"

"Well garlic and crosses won't kill us. Neither will the sun. However we look almost transparent in the sun. Knives, silver bullets, spells, won't kill us. We don't eat food because it tastes like cardboard. But, Arianna found this neat trick so that food has some sort of taste." Serna looked at Bradin and began laughing when she realized what he meant. "Vampires are sexual. Some just know how to keep themselves under control."

Blushing, Bradin said "That-that's not what I meant. I-I..."

"Well, then, now you know." Serena said as she headed out the door.

“Don’t go.” Bradin said as he caught up to her. He grabbed both sides of her face and kissed her. Confused, Serena stood still and then she gave in. She kissed him back. Wrapping her arms around his neck, he grabbed her waist and deepened the kiss. She broke the kiss by pushing him; however, his arms were still around her waist.

“If you need anything, just holler.” Nikolas told Nikki as he led her to her bedroom. “Want more hot cocoa? I’ll bring you some.”

“It’s okay. Do you know where Serena is? I haven’t seen her since she told Brae where to sleep. Did she ever go downstairs?”

Nikolas thought hard for a second before saying, “Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen her. Maybe she slipped past us or something. Do you want to see Bradin?”

“Maybe he knows where she is. I wanted to talk to her.”

Nikolas and Nikki headed to Serena’s room. He opened the door, wide enough for them to see Bradin’s head in Serena’s lap. Looking sweetly down at him, Serena brushed his hair with her fingers. She looked up and Nikolas and Nikki felt awkward at having interrupted them.

“Um…we didn’t-we…we’re just going to go.” Nikki tried to apologize.

“Don’t worry. He’s asleep.”

“Ms. Thomas what brings you here.” an elf asked Wynnfrith as she approached his desk. Wynnfrith thought that maybe the library down at the Minstry might have information on Alderlee. For some reason, there was no record of who she was down at the library at the Witch Council.

“I’m looking for some information. Can you help me anything you have on a person named Alderlee?”

Let me know what you think!

~Karla