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There is a storm in my soul and I am matched by the elements outside. Clouds part like reluctant lovers and dissipate in the quiet night. Oleanders and night blooming jasmine permeate my senses through an opened window. Rain glistens like morning dew on their petals; such stillness in the wake of a summer downpour.
I’d just risen and foolishly, I stayed in my own home during the day, drawing thick velvet curtains of silver and lilac over high paned windows. It was decedent to sleep in my own bed and as I padded about in bare feet smelling the rain that had been and listening to water drip down the eaves…there was a knock at my door.
How unexpected and I didn’t even sense or hear them.
I stopped. Stood still. Waited for it.
A tenuous greeting from a mind I did not know.
Talamascan.
She was shy and quite afraid..this one. She should be. I was in no mood for their company and had she not been so terrified – I may have actually killed her on the spot.
A letter. Much like the one I’d received before….yet this one had my name scrawled across it in bold, black letters.
Merrick.
I could tell he wrote it with a tad of impatience and was slightly perturbed. It was from Walter Vanhoutte of course. The Talamascan Superior General. I had ignored his last letter and was not surprised that he was annoyed.
She was shaking but trying to control her fear and revulsion all at once.
“You’ve never seen the walking dead up close before have you?” I asked her.
She only managed to shake her head. I smiled and gently took the letter that she held out for me.
“Thank you,” I said with politeness. “Don’t ever return here, do you understand me?”
She nodded and then quickly took her leave as I closed the door behind me, bolted it – and tore open the letter.
Dearest Merrick,
I do hope this finds you well and I sincerely apologize for my persistence. You must know by now that I mean you no harm and am only trying to re-establish a connection that should never have been broken. My dear…we raised you and love you deeply. Can you not understand how heartbreaking it was for us when you left?
You took the wrong path that night and you cannot understand the horror among us when we found out you had committed suicide. This would never have happened had you returned. We would have counseled you, cared for you like no other.
You have many that love you here Merrick Mayfair. Not a day goes by without mentioning your name in these very halls, which you recently fled. Please, I implore you, let us talk once more.
Janice was always a foolish child and although you were responsible for her demise, I cannot blame you and you alone. She was taken by greed and the romantic idea that immortality was somehow what she wanted and needed. She never would have made it as long as you had, even with our council. She was never as strong as you were. I know you know this.
Please Merrick, I write to you in kindness and love from your friends here. That you’ve come back to us is a miracle, yet I am not surprised! You always were a determined woman. Nothing could ever stop you. Not even death.
Let us talk. I offer so much and I ask for only a little of your time.
I will await your answer with patience.
Yours in the Talamasca forever,
Walter Vanhoutte.
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