Samuel leans against the matte and white marble bathtub, he stretches his hand toward his burnt clothes on a stool and his hands get busy. He checks the pockets of his jacket and cusses when he doesn't find what he is looking for.
"Ah, damn it. I remember Amanda took it, fuck", he lies back against the bathtub and rests his elbows on the sides of the bathtub.
He raises his head and sighs as the warm water relaxes his body. The pains that filled every muscle and bone dissipates and his body accepts the soothing warmth it feels.
He rubs his toes together to feel the water pass through the thin space between each toe; his mind relaxes for a minute before his fears sing to him tales of a scary end, filled with death and failure.
He wonders if letting Rachael go would solve the problem. If she dies he won't get jealous over her love for Gabriel and he won't have to contemplate bringing his brother back.
If he saves Gabriel and Rachael is still alive, they will be together and this time he won't leave but he will have to watch them love each other and hold his heart as it breaks under the weight of envy.
But then again, the thought of Rachael makes his heart sing songs and lose its rhythm. The way she smiles and fights on even after all her losses, the way she seems like the one who always needs help but when tested she shows up.
He shakes his head and throws away the thought of letting Rachael McQueen die in a world she knows nothing about.
Who would do that for you? Go into unseen dangers for you? Who loves you that much?
The thought increases the covetous weight on his heart and the hurt of letting Rachael belong to anyone else pricks hard.
I can't let her die. I wouldn't forgive myself, he thinks.
His heart feels a tug of war between priorities begin; he can return to the Sea of Stars and continue the journey to Mount Nagas or take a detour and look for Rachael in a pool of a thousand worlds. Rachael could be anywhere in these plains and there is no way to find her.
None of her properties with them to use a spell, no connection between their soul or blood. The clothes she brought into the Otherworld are all the way in Gallowway and there isn't enough time to go back for it.
How are they going to find her?
He raises his hand up and closes it into a fist, he opens and closes it for a minute before return it to the water.
"Yes, there is the thing about my powers. My power is diminishing, what is going on?" he thinks.
Samuel float on thoughts, asking himself questions he has no answers to. Wondering how he will fare against the future that he cannot anticipate. What will happen when he meets Alucard? Will he even be strong enough to face him.
A knock on the door shifts the Sphinx's gaze to the wooden door as it swings open, "Mortem," McAllister starts as he enters with a folded pair of clothes in his hands.
"I brought some clothes since the one you brought seem to be, unavailable" he says and steers a quick glance at the burnt clothes on the stool.
"It better not be something like the shit you are wearing," Samuel says, "No, I promise these are more stylish," McAllister says with a smile that creeps the sphinx out.
"I don't know if I should be worried or scared," "Don't worry my fashion sense is on point. Hurry and join us, lunch is ready" McAllister says and walks out of the bathroom.
"On point? Now I'm fucking worried," Samuel hisses.
He dresses up and joins them in the sitting room where the adults are seated around a table with a bowl of soup in front of them. The kids seem to be out as he can't pick up their heartbeat from the house.
"Quite a nice place you have here, sorcerer. A nice house, a nice family, you have it all," Samuel says and sits.
McAllister looks down and smiles before he looks at Samuel, "In truth, I am just lucky. I don't deserve any of this but here I am, happy" he says. "Maybe one day you could start your own family," McAllister says and Samuel cringes at the idea.
What would life be like if he had little ones running around and bearing his name?
"You know that can't happen. Sphinxes shoot blanks, it's the Nephilims that have it good.
They are immortal and they can go on giving birth to sphinxes for sacrifice or whatever reason they deem fit to procreate," Samuel says as he carries a spoon on the side of the plate and takes his first spoonful of the soup.
"Hmm, this is good" he says.
"You can't tell, Mortem. Fate has a way of giving us things we don't ask for, things we need" McAllister says, "Well I need blood, do you have any?" Elma suddenly says and Hazel stares at her strangely.
"Sorry love, I love the soup but I'm a vampire," Elma flashes a pair of fangs, "Blood comes first for me," she says.
"We don't have any," Hazel says, "Damn it, I miss New York already" Elma laments.
Samuel glances at Hazel, he looks at her long hair and her hazel eyes, she has thin lips and an oval face much like Rachael's. She is a beautiful woman and it beckons the question, how she fell for the sorcerer?
"What did you see in this one?" Samuel asks bluntly, "His heart. When I met him he was in a dark place but I watched him grow, help people including myself.
And he blossomed," Hazel says.
Samuel rolls his eyes, "Are you two lovers?" she asks, "No," Samuel answers sharply, "Do you have someone you love with all your heart?" "My brother," "Someone else, not bound to you by blood just bond," she says.
Samuel looks at the soup in the plate and a flash of Rachael's face comes to mind, but is that really an answer? She isn't his.
"No. I don't think I will ever have something like that," he says, "Don't say that. There is love for everyone, someone out there is waiting for you" she says and he scoffs.
"What about you?" Hazel asks Elma. The vampire rolls her hair and looks up at the ceiling as if to think, "No. There are a few guys but nothing special," she says.
Hazel smiles at her, "You will find someone," she says.
"Let me get some water," Hazel says and leaves the living room.
The visitors turn their gaze to the sorcerer, "Wow, this one is a keeper" Elma says, "She is," McAllister nods with a smile. "If fate led me to her then everything, good and bad, they were worth it" he says.
MEANWHILE, AT THE SEA OF STARS
Amanda flies out of the waters and lands on the ship. The number of possessed people seemed to have dropped drastically leaving only a few of them in the midst of the waking passengers.
Guards start to restrain the possessed as they seem to be weakened by something.
Amanda grabs one of the possessed and jerks him against the wall of the ship, "You are Legion so no matter how many bodies you possess you share the same consciousness. Where are my friends?" she asks.
The possessed laughs hysterically, "You won't see them again. They will all die," he says.
She slams his back against the wall and growls, her eyes shine blue and her wings spread wide, "Don't make me hunt you demon. You wouldn't like it," "Do your worst sphinx. At the end of the day all your friends will be dead regardless," he says.
"Then allow me to share in your consciousness," she says and places a hand on his head. Her eyes flicker as her mind connects to his like an earpiece to a ear.
Her mind draws through his like a muddy floor with thick and dried leaves in them; she feels darkness and the yearnings of her darkest desires rise but she tosses them aside, she sees a woman on the edge of a mountain and quickly recognizes her as Rachael.
Where is she?
Everything turns blank and she is thrown out of his mind only to realize that the possessed is now dead.
"Damn it, he destroyed the body so I wouldn't find out more. Rachael is alive but she isn't with Samuel or Elma. Fuck, what the hell do I do?" trouble fills her mind as she paces about for a solution.
She raises her head and finds that the ship seem to have changed course while they were under attack.
A thundercloud comes over the skies and lightning strikes into the sea, "We are heading into the heart of the sea, brace yourselves" the captain says.