Helen trailed Hazel and Enid. She had a bounce in her step she quickly made herself scarce when Sir Arl appeared to greet his new guests. He was out of his arm and dressed in the finery of a nobleman. Though he looked unaccustomed to the clothing. He had house staff arrayed to meet the pair. Along with a ten-year-old boy who was dressed halfway between peasant and noble. His hair was unruly and he was definitely a bundle of trouble if his eyes were to be believed.

“Ladies Sarah, and Hazel, thank you for gracing my home with your presence.”

Sarah curtsied with practiced ease. As long as it had been, she had found many occasions to practice courtly etiquette as Lady Sarah of Savia.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Sir Arl.”

“Please let me show you to your rooms.”

“With respect, Sir Arl, I’m sure the lord of such a keep and these lands had better things to do then help ladies to their rooms.”

Sir Arl blushed.

“I assure you, at this moment nothing is more important than you, Lady Sarah.”

Hazel nudged her mother from behind and spoke quietly in Russian.

“Seriously mom? You’re flirting?”

Enid elbowed Hazel back.

“I apologize Sir Arl, my companion still doesn’t understand how rude it is to speak in a language our host is not familiar with.”

Sir Arl waved his hand dismissively.

“It is of no concern. Please if you will.”

He led Hazel to her room first then. He walked noticeably slower as he guided Enid to hers. He kept glancing down at her.

“Tell me Lady Sarah, how come you to have such acumen with armor and how to deflect weapons so effectively?”

Enid adjusted her bangs so she could see her hosts face when she looked up to it.

“You know of my task, is it not a task for a soldier?”

“I did not think. You are such a small and delicate woman.”

“Looks can be very deceiving, milord.”

He opened the door to a room. It was obviously previously used by a noblewoman, Enid would guess the lady of the house.

“Milord it is too much.”

“Nonsense, it is better than sitting empty.”

He looked at Enid.

“Do you hide your true form?”

Enid smiled.

“My hair is naturally red. Otherwise, I am as I was born on this Earth.”

He looked at Enid long and hard.

“I see that about you. Why do you hide your hair?”

“I like it better black currently.”

Enid shrugged.

“Also, the prey I hunt are looking for a red-haired maiden.”

She walked inside the room and glanced back at him as he was hovering at the door.

“I must apologize milady; You have come at a busy time. I would rather you have the quiet you seek to do what you must. However, my mother has requested a tournament to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of my elder brother’s coronation. This the very eve of the arrival of our guests.”

Enid nodded.

“I will do my best to stay out of the way, milord.”

He nodded and turned to leave then paused again glancing back at her.

“I have no right to ask this of you, having attacked your person without cause, and knowing whom you serve, but…If it would not be too much…”

He seemed caught in between fleeing and just standing there awkwardly. Enid could infer what he may be requesting and approached him.

“It should not interfere with my mission unduly, milord. I would be honored to pretend to be courted by you. My spouse has passed, and it would not be improper.”

His eyes softened.

“Was it arranged?”

Enid shook her head.

“No, it was love.”

He nodded she could see a deep sorrow hidden behind his manly bravado. She felt a kinship with him in the moment.

“It is a hard thing to lose love. If you’ll excuse me milady, I have tasks to attend.”

Enid curtsied and watched him leave. His head lowered and his shoulder’s slumped. She glanced over the room. It was immaculate and well kept. Whomever had resided here was loved by the knight and his household. She walked to the arched window. It was glass, rare and expensive in 12th century England. The top of the arch was filled with intricate patterns of stained glass showing two dragons. She folded her hands behind her back and looked out over the green fields behind the keep. Workers were already busy building the stands for the tournament. The banners that that were already being raised were the crest of the King of England.

“Interesting.”

She heard the telltale footsteps of her daughter. Hazel had a very identifiable gait and rarely tread lightly unless she was trying to be unseen. Enid glanced back at her. She spoke the modern 29th century English.

“So, you figured out when and where we are yet?”

Enid nodded and motioned to the window. Hazel approached and looked out of the window. She wrinkled her nose.

“Their glass sucks.”

“This window could probably feed a family for a year if it were sold, but yes I have identified where and when we are.”

“Well?”

“Lincolnshire, October 22nd or 23rd. Year of our lord 1156.”

“All that from some banners?”

Enid shook her head.

“Sort of, I recognize the Heraldry. King Henry the Second of England. Sir Arl told me this was to celebrate the second anniversary of his coronation, which due to my time as Lady Sarah of Savia I can tell you was on October 25, 1154. The guests are set to arrive presently, so I assume two to three days before the tournament.”

Hazel blinked at her mother.

“Sometimes you scare me mom. How do you remember everything?”

Enid smiled.

“I don’t remember everything. My husband’s family was related to the King. For some reason they celebrated his coronation every single goddamned year. My mother-in-law was a strange woman if I’m being honest.”

Enid shrugged.

“Still, it’s been centuries.”

“For some reason the things I despised with all my being seem to stick in my memory the best.”

Enid shrugged again.

“How many people are going to be showing up?”

“Well, before she was a noblewoman in Normandy, Sir Arl’s mother was the Holy Roman Empress, along with her retinue. The king of England, his guard, and retinue. The knights from all over Europe, their retinues. The nobles mostly from the isle likely and their retinues. Peasants, merchants. There are going to be a lot of people. They didn’t get much in the way of entertainment. Some of the nobles might even winter here.”

Hazel blinked at her mother.

“How are we going to keep a low profile?”

“I have no idea. I agreed to pretend to be courted by our host. So, I will be indisposed. However, with the attention on me, you should be able to fly under the radar so to speak and seek out what we’re here hunting.”

“Mom? You agreed to that?”

“Two noblewomen traveling alone to a tournament is highly improbable unless one of them was involved with Sir Arl. But if you would rather take one for the team far be it from me to get in your way.”

Hazel wrinkled her nose.

“No! I’m not going to be some idiot knight’s arm candy. I hate these people. They stay fat standing on the back of the peasants.”

“So, you will sniff out the demon and I will keep attention on myself.”

“I maybe should pretend to be your child, so they’ll pay less attention to me.”

“Do you really want to admit to being my daughter? I mean lately you’ve seemed to wish I wasn’t your mother.”

Hazel clenched her fists.

“Mom, that’s not what I am saying! I am just worried about you slipping into old habits, like the woman who drowned the world in blood for thousands of years.”

“I am not. I’m still the mother who raised you.”

Hazel frowned and leaned on the stone beneath the window.

“If you’re going to be pretending to court the Lord, you should know I heard some things.”

Enid looked up at Hazel.

“Like what?”

“That his sister died in childbirth. She was giving birth to the Lord’s child.”

Enid nodded.

“Makes sense. He seems pretty lost in sorrow.”

“Makes sense? He got his sister pregnant. Disgusting!”

“I married my brother.”

“You were adopted at like twelve or something.”

Enid shook her head at Hazel.

“Rumors are rumors until they have been verified and even so, love is a strange beast. And we should not judge someone’s actions without walking in their shoes.”

Hazel threw her hands up.

“You judge people all the fing time mom!”

“After they try to murder me. Look, with Sir Arl on our side we have the free run of his lands. If it takes me being his betrothed to make it happen, I see no issue. Hell, I’ll have sex with him if I need to.”

“Eww mom, just Eww. Your wife has been dead for like a month.”

Enid frowned at Hazel.

“That has nothing to do with this. We’re here to hunt demons and it will go easier with the local Lord and Church on our side. We wouldn’t be here if there weren’t any demons.”

“There weren’t any demons in dinosaur land.”

“I know they are here. Something is different here though. Like more malignant. A cancer? I don’t know… Especially in this room.”

“Is that why the hairs are standing up on the back of my neck since we got here?”

Enid shrugged and half nodded.

“I do not know, I’m not a wolf born. I have no basis for comparison. Maybe consult the spirits? I’m going to see if I can get a read on some of the objects as soon as night falls.”

Hazel fiddled with the beads on one of her thin braids she finally nodded. She sat down cross legged on the floor and traced runes in the air as she finished the last one, they flared to life briefly before vanishing into the air. She jolted as her spirit left her physical body. Enid glanced out at the setting sun. As it crested the horizon the power of the first vampire flowed into her small frame her fangs extended and she grinned briefly. Enid rarely used her ability to sense the history of items it opened her up to many risks and sensations, however she was feeling quite full of herself and pulled off the gloves that accompanied her noblewoman’s dress and picked up the first object that caught her eye. A hairbrush.

Enid felt herself pulled into the objects past. A brief vision of a woman about her general size and height. She was sitting in the chair in front of the vanity table and mirror. Her steel grey eyes took her form in, Enid could sense self-disgust as she peaked through the memory. Her minds eye could see the woman’s true form but in the woman’s eyes she felt bloated and disgusting. Her nose was too large and her skin blotchy. She felt utterly unattractive. To Enid she was average, but not the hideous troll she saw herself as. She waved Erma who was hovering behind her away. She pulled a handful of her long red hair aside and dragged the brush through it. The memory faded. Enid’s head felt the sting of the brush. The memories often left imprints that could be distressing or painful. It faded quickly.

End glanced around the room and found a ruby and gold ring, something one might buy for their lover. She picked it up and opened herself up to the psychic impressions left on it. Again, she was seeing through the woman’s eyes. She was tired and weary from a long day arguing with her mother. She was naked under the thick blankets. For all her exhaustion she was waiting for her love to join her. Likely delayed by her mother’s oddly kept hours. Enid bit her lip as she felt the strong-arm wrap around her midsection. Then saw the ruby ring in front of her face. The woman rolled over and kissed her lover with closed eyes. When she opened them, Enid saw the Arl in his full hairy chested glory. The woman spoke but it sounded distorted as voices and noises often did. What she lost in audio she gained in sensation, and she forced herself out of the memory as she felt the Arl spreading his sister’s legs and pressing against her with his rather large manhood. Enid put the ring down quickly. She felt like a peeping tom suddenly.

End glanced around the room again, nothing that she could see would likely give her an image of her death. She checked under the bed and just within reach saw a bloody handful of linen. She stretched and tugged it towards herself with two fingers. She sat on the bed and looked it over. The blood wasn’t fresh of course, but it also wasn’t years old, more like months old. She steeled herself and opened herself to what the cloth may show her. Pain! It was all she could feel blinding pain. She’d felt it before many times. Childbirth. She felt cold. The images she was seeing were all blurring together. She’d felt this sensation before when she lay dying in the snow. Bleeding out. She heard a baby cry and she focused on the child. She saw the future laid out before it, a future that included Eyre’s eventual birth. The pain the woman was feeling as the baby cried pulled her back into the moment. She tried to separate herself from the woman’s agony and impending death to focus on the woman holding the baby. She could see a twisted demonic form’s shadow behind her with strings attached to her arms. The bloody cloth Enid held in her hands was stuffed into the baby’s face. And there was silence. The mother tried to scream but she was too weak. Enid was stuck in the moment of death and the terrible imponent anger and the pain of loss. It became a whirl of Miko dying in her arms and Maria telling her Amee was dead.

Suddenly she was back in the quiet of the current day room with Hazel holding the bloody linen and shaking her.

“Mom!”

“You were screaming.”

The Arl and three of his men arrived shortly afterwards. Their eyes locked onto the blood cloth. Hands reached for hilts before Enid stood and motioned for calm with her hands.

“I had a fright, my daughter snapped me out of it. I am sorry to have caused you concern milord.”

Sir Arl motioned his men away and approached.

“I do not believe you, fair Lady Sarah.”

Enid looked to Hazel then her eyes moved to the door. Hazel nodded and walked out still clutching the bloody linen. Enid looked to Sir Arl.

“I sometimes get impressions and memories of people and places. I saw your… sister’s death.”

Sir Arl went pale.

“I also saw and felt… the other things you did.”

Sir Arl stumbled backwards and began to cross himself.

“I… am prepared for your judgment.”

Enid kneeled in front of him taking his hands in hers.

“I will never judge someone for love given freely. You took nothing that wasn’t offered of her own free will.”

“But my sin killed her.”

“No, childbirth killed her. Like all things there is a natural order. God does not punish, and I only punish the wicked. Sir Arl, I… I believe…”

Enid couldn’t believe what she was suggesting at this very moment. The child that was too be born was to be her husband’s ancestor. The child that was murdered by a demon. This wasn’t some random killing, this was targeted. If she never met Eyre’s father, then Eyre would never be born, she would not become the woman who defeated the Black Son… The demons were trying to cause a grandfather adjacent paradox. She would need to put things back on track and the child would be hers. She knew it would work. She did not know how or why but to set things right she would need to have a child with the Arl.

“I believe we should court for real. Your child was very important, and he is gone now.”

“He was stillborn.”

Enid shook her head.

“No milord. No. He was murdered by the midwife who was under the influence of a demon.”

He looked at her with his tearstained face.

“What?”

“I saw it… before I got lost in my own pain. I know what it is to lose a child I lost one just a short time ago in the scheme of things. She died in my arms.”

He was starting to spiral. Enid grabbed his shoulders.

“Look at me milord, do you understand? We need to have a child to set God’s plan back on track. He has shown me as much.”

“What? But… I don’t understand.”

He pulled back suddenly. His mind starting to go through possibilities, suddenly he looked at her.

“Are you a charlatan here to get your talons into an heir to the throne?”

Enid got angry at that he opened his mouth to call guards he was cut off by the slam of the door as she waved her hand towards it slamming it shut with her telekinesis. She had many ways to prove her power but for some reason she reached out and summoned the Staff of the Universe and pointed it at him.

“I am many things mortal, but I am not that!”

The tip of the staff began to glow. She pointed the staff in front of him and a beam of energy struck the stone disintegrating a portion of the block. Arl stumbled backwards knocking a chair over and spilling the contents of a chest. Enid waved her hand and the staff vanished. She had her other hand extended as the door vibrated as his guards trying in vain to breach it.

“Do you believe me now?”

Sir Arl nodded his eyes wide in both awe and terror.

“I beg your forgiveness once again. I spoke without thinking.”

Enid released the door four guards stumbled over each other as the door gave way suddenly and without warning. They landed in a pile of chainmail and short blades. Sir Arl looked up at Enid she could see in his eyes the recognition that the guards were nothing next to her might. He motioned them away and pulled himself up.

“I tripped over the chair. You may go. Close the door.”

One guard in particular the eldest of the four seemed hesitant his eyes looking to the smoking stone at the Lord’s feet but decided the better of getting involved. Sir Arl looked down at Enid.

“I did not understand. If it is what our Heavenly Father wills, then his will must be done.”

“I am sorry for scaring you.”

“I was being a brash and arrogant nobleman. You have reminded me of my place in service to God and country.”

Enid sighed and could still tell he was frightened of her, what did she expect? She just summoned a divine relic that was not hers to influence his will. She had violated their trust just as assuredly as if she’d used her vampiric powers to bend him to her will.

“Milord, you misunderstand me. If we are to do this, we need to be equal partners. I will most likely need to leave the child in your care and go on with my mission. This isn’t about… me having more offspring. This is about countless lives. The child must grow up and he must marry, and he must have children. None of these things are possible if he comes with me. Think of it as a replacement for the one you lost. It is terrible to speak of a child or human life as such, but I have come to realize recently that my feelings and the feelings of those around me are secondary to my task. All I can promise you is the child will never know sickness, he will live a long life and he will be physically stronger and faster than other mortals.”

He looked at her she could feel the swirling mixture of emotions in him. She wasn’t close to him emotionally, so she wasn’t blinded as she usually was to people, she was going to have children with or marry. Rarely could she use her gift to discern Amee’s feelings one way or the other, or Rolf’s before her.

“I understand. As a noble I have certain responsibilities to my family. It will be as if it were an arranged union.”

Enid sighed and her lips curled into a slight frown.

“It does not have to be loveless. What feelings develop, develop. Let us not dwell on the why. Let us think to the how.”

She reached out her hand he took it and as their skin met, she felt her heart start to beat and warmth flood into her. Once again, she was mortal as if willed by God. She cursed his incessant interference once again. Though there was this nagging sensation at the back of her mind that he was not to blame. She ignored it, why would she lower herself to mortality again? She was perfectly capable of carrying a child as a vampire, she’d proven that.

“Your hands are cold, milady.”

“They will warm quickly to your touch, milord.”

“They are calloused like a soldier.”

“As are yours, milord.”

“We must convince my mother your noble heritage.”

“Of course. I am Lady Sarah, daughter of a Scottish nobleman. Descended from the great chiefs of old. That fought the Romans. Who knows I might even have the same blood as King Arthur himself?”

He looked at her quizzically.

“Is any of that true?”

“Would you like me to tell you my mortal history?”

“Very much so, milady, if it pleases you, I would know who I am to wed so I may please her.”

“I was born to a powerful chieftain of Scotland. He did things to me, that no man or woman should do to a child. Finally, he left me for dead in a snowbank. The second creation of God reached down and pulled me from deaths door with a golden fruit from the tree of life from the Garden of Edan. I grew up in the Imperial City of Rome, of course it was not an empire when I first arrived. I married his son, we had two children. I died young and have ever since been in service to the greater good. There are other stories of me, but I recall not if they are true.”

He looked down at her.

“How old are you milady?”

“Older than you think milord.”

“What other stories do they tell of you?”

“That I am the first daughter of God. That after the betrayer it was I who was created. That I am the 2nd coming of Christ. That I am the Dark Mother who defeated the betrayer with his own cursed blade. And many more. But to you, I can simply be Lady Sarah, for to have your child I will be as mortal as you.”

“You give up so much! What if the forces of evil attack?”

“My daughter is fully capable of dealing with them. She is far more then she appears. She will not be pleased with this turn events however.”

“Does she not support you in your mission?”

“Our home is a place of plenty and comfort she has a betrothed and they will be apart for as long as we are here. She didn’t want to leave yet however my spouse died and there was concern I may do something rash in my rage, so I was encouraged to… continue my task.”

He looked at her still holding her hands tightly as if she may vanish if he let go.

“The staff.”

“An artifact that has been granted to me in furtherance of my goals.”

“What does it do?”

“Have you read the story of Moses parting the red sea?”

He smiled.

“Of course, as a child I learned of this.”

“It was I who parted the sea, with the staff. And my daughter who fought off the demon possessed Egyptians who crawled from the sea with their broken bodies.”

He blinked down at her.

“Such power.”

“Comes with a cost. It nearly destroyed me. I should not wield it lightly. As I did earlier this evening.”

“Do you wield a blade as well?”

“Yes. I used to have a glorious blade of my own construction, however I had to leave him in protection of my mother.”

“You can forge weapons?”

“Yes. I picked up bits of knowledge here and there, mostly self-taught, but I haven’t lifted a hammer in many years.”

“Is there anything you cannot do?”

“So many things. Milord, so many things.”

He nodded.

“I’m still concerned about proof of nobility.”

“Do not be concerned. I have a sealed patent from the Lord Chancellor of Scotland. It is authentic and can be verified as such. I had business there and convinced him that a being of my… linage was indeed of noble birth. Your mother can scrutinize the documents and badger the Lord Chancellor all she wants; She will find no faults.”

She produced the patents with the seal from her pack. There were vampiric incidents in the courts of Scotland during this century and the patents of nobility ensured she didn’t have to mind control several hundred people to get her way. She’d also used them as the basis for the newer stack she’d had prepared for Lady Sarah of Savia. Why she had always had a preference for the name Sarah was behind her. He looked them over and looked at her.

“Mother will be pleased.”

He offered them back. Enid took them and put them into her pack.

“Now, one more thing. We need to squash this rumor about your sister.”

He looked pained at her words.

“Were you discrete?”

“Yes, no one knew, I am not sure how it got out. I used secret routes only the family knows of.”

“Servants see much. For our child to have a chance there needs to be no question if our piety and purity, do you understand?”

“I…what would you have me do?”

“Does your mother know her child was yours?”

He frowned.

“Based on her letters to myself and my sister, yes, yes she does.”

“Has anyone left your employ recently? Any male servants?”

“Yes, one of my men, I gave him leave to return to his home in Ireland.”

“Will he ever return?”

“No, he was ill, he wanted to return to his family’s lands.”

“How ill?”

“He is likely passed by now.”

“He will work nicely. Your nosiest servant, who is it? The one who starts the rumor mills? Every house has one.”

“Likely Iris.”

“Then assign Iris to your mother. I know your mother has her own servants, just say, so that her servants have less hassle dealing with your household. In confidence when she is nearby tell your mother the man who left… that you sent him away because your sister was being inappropriate with him. That you had fully intended to take the child in but it was not yours and it was his.”

“My sister’s legacy…”

“Your sister is either an incestuous harlot, or a harlot, what do you think is worse for her legacy?”

“It would cheapen our love.”

“It will doom your nobility. She would want you to save yourself. Honor is all fine and good when the person you’re protecting is alive but if they are dead, it will not bring them back, nor mend your broken heart.”

He frowned but Enid could tell she had gotten through to him.

“You have such a calculating wit.”

“I unabashedly paraphrased a play. Are we together on this? I told you equal partners. I will be here to hold you when you mourn the loss of her honor. If we marry it will not be for show and a child. Until I am pulled away by my mission, I will be your wife in all ways. I take the vows seriously. I expect the same from you.”

He nodded to her. Then he blinked at her.

“The dowry!”

“I will attend to that presently. Send me a small bound secure chest. Now go, we are not wed yet. I want no question of our child’s standing. Until we are wed, we must minimize time in private. Deal with your mother’s tournament and we will see to the wedding afterwards.”

He released her hands and nodded. He waved to her as he left the room. Enid was glad for it she felt like she’d been standing forever, and she was now exhausted because she was once again mortal and she’d been up for a very long time. She crawled into bed without getting out of her dress and passed out.