Tethered Souls Read online

  Aengus clenched his fists at his sides.

  “Aengus what’s going on? I’m not stupid, I know that something is going on, something that cannot easily be explained.” She paused and looked up into his face. “I wish you would just tell me what was happening, whatever it is, I can handle it.”

  “Abby, I swear to you I will explain everything to you, but we need to talk to Myria first.”

  “They aren’t dreams, are they? What I’ve been having, what’s happening to me, it's real isn’t it?” She knew what he was going to say but still wasn’t quite ready to accept it.

  “It is very real Abby.”

  Later that evening Sheamus, Myria and Abby were sitting in front of the fireplace, while Aengus stood staring at the flames. She had relayed everything from that night to Myria and Sheamus, as well as the dreams she had when she had been a child. They sat in silence for a few minutes while Myria absorbed what she had said.

  “I agree with Aengus, I think it's time you tell her.” Sheamus offered and at Myria’s look of betrayal he stood. “I’m going to go get some whiskey and glasses, I imagine we will all need one at the end.”

  Myria turned to face Abby. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. Myria looked over at Aengus and with a sigh of defeat began to speak. “Abby do you believe in magic?”

  “Magic? Like wizards and witches?”

  “In a way, yes.”

  “I don’t know, I’ve never dismissed it, but it’s not anything I thought much about.”

  Myria held her palm up and a small ball of light formed. She lifted it and the ball began to float in the air just above their heads. Abby’s jaw dropped as she watched it.

  “What if I told you that magic not only existed, but that Aengus and I are over two hundred and seventeen years old. That you were killed nearly two hundred years ago and were recently reborn in order to reunite with Aengus.”

  Abby watched in awe as the ball of light expanded and images started appearing in the center. She saw herself but dressed differently as if it were a different era. She was standing on a stool dusting a shelf when Aengus came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. The image faded and another appeared. She was running through the forest chasing a young girl who she recognized as the one she had been dreaming of. They giggled and her heart began to ache. The image changed again and she saw herself clutching the small girl to her chest. Tears began to stream down her face.

  “Myria stop this.” Aengus came towards her.

  “No, she needs to see it Aengus. You wanted to tell her. You pushed for this, so lets let her see it all.” Myria held her hand up and Aengus stopped, Abby didn’t hear them she was too focused on the scene in front of her.

  The man from her nightmares stood in front of her as she held the girl in her arms.

  “You monster!” She screamed at him.

  “I am no monster! This was your fault!” He screamed back at her and smiled as she charged him with a dagger she had hidden in her dress.

  He raised his hand and knocked her back to the ground. The guards on either side of him moved towards her and she quickly got to her feet. “You won't get away with this, Caipre. Aengus will see to it!”

  “Let him come. I will destroy him as well. Grab her.” She turned and plunged into the forest.

  The images faded and the ball of light dissipated in front of her. Her face was wet with tears as she sat staring where it had been. What was she supposed to say? How the hell was she supposed to handle all of this? They wanted her to believe that she had been reborn, that they were all over two hundred years old? But she did believe it didn’t she. As crazy as it sounded, it explained everything. Her dreams had actually been memories, and unfortunately, her nightmares had been real as well.

  She stood and walked to the window. Sheamus came in with the whiskey and the glasses. “Give me a double.”

  “A girl after my own heart.” he mused. He poured some into a glass and handed it to her.

  She turned the glass up and drank deeply as if it were water and not the whiskey that it was. No one dared say a word. They all just stood and watched her.

  She had no idea what she was supposed to do now. She knew that something was going on. That day in the woods had confirmed that. But to have it all laid out in front of her was almost too much. If what they were saying was true, then that meant she had no idea who she was. She set the empty glass down and turned to head up the stairs.

  Aengus moved to stop her, but Myria placed her hand on his shoulder. “Give her a bit Aengus, she needs to process.”

  When Abby got to her room, she saw that her rolls of canvas were now stretched over frames. She smiled, so that’s what he had been working on, how had she not seen it? She ran her fingers over the empty face and realized she hadn’t painted a thing since she had been there. As silly as it was, she felt there had been no better time to paint. She pulled out her paints and brushes and started on the canvas. They started as simple strokes. She ran the brush over the canvas and a picture started to take place.

  Abby painted well into the night. Something about the brushstrokes calmed her, made her feel as if her world hadn’t just been ripped apart at the very seams of everything she had once believed. Who was she supposed to be now? What was she supposed to call herself? Was she Aine the housekeeper or Abby, the painter?

  She stepped back to look at what she had painted. The blank canvas had now been replaced with an image of a man and woman. Why couldn’t it be that simple? Just as simple as a woman who loved a man and nothing more. No curses or two-hundred-year-old souls. No crazy sorcerer hunting her.

  In her painting, Aengus had his arms around her, but not the her from this century. A large stone hung at her neck in a deep purple. An amethyst. Her gown, a deep green hung snug around her body and her eyes were turned up while she smiled at the man behind her, her love.

  Abby’s eyes filled. She loved him. Even now, when she knew nothing of their past together, she knew that one thing held true. He was her life and she would do anything to spend it with him.

  Abby curled into herself on the bed and closed her eyes. It was time she started facing facts, no matter how crazy they seemed.

  Chapter Eleven

  He had nearly lost it when he saw her standing at the window clothed in only a blanket. He knew what she had done, knew that she had given herself to him yet again. The whore. He would see to it that she paid for what she had done.

  Caipre smiled into the dark. Oh it had been nice to see her that way though hadn’t it? Soon he would be seeing all of her, she would look like that after being under him. It may take some time for her to come around to enjoying it once he dispatched of the boy. But she would have no choice, there would be no one left for her.

  He turned and walked to the corner where he had set up a bed for her when she came to him. He ran his fingers gently over the shackles that he had chained to the wall. He could almost see her there now, and soon she would be.

  It was time he went and got his woman back.

  Chapter Twelve

  Abby took her time getting dressed that morning. She wanted every bit of quiet she could muster in order to get a handle on her thoughts. She was over two hundred years old, or rather her soul was anyways. She had been brought back in order to have a second chance at love, but for some reason, this psycho, Caipre she remembered, wanted her as well.

  “And I thought my life had been complicated before.” She muttered.

  When she left her room, she noticed Aengus’s door partially open. She walked to it and knocked on the jam. Might as well get started facing things.

  “Come in.” Just the sound of his voice had her heart racing and her blood pounding. She saw that his back was turned so she very quietly came in and shut the door gently behind her. When the lock clicked, he turned.

  The surprise on his face turned to guilt. “Abby. I’m so sorry for everything last night.” He stood facing her now, shirt in
his hands.

  “For which part?” She walked towards him slowly. It hadn’t been her intention when she walked to his room that morning, but she knew what she wanted now.

  “All of it, I didn’t mean for you to find out that way. We should have been more gentle with it.”

  She began to slowly undo the buttons on the front of her shirt. She saw him swallow hard and it pushed her blood into a full on boil. She gently nudged him back on the bed and climbed on top to straddle him.

  “You didn’t want me to know the truth?” She was toying with him now, trying to distract him just enough to keep him vulnerable.

  “Of course, I wanted you to know.” She began to trace kisses down his neck and used her hands to reach under her and undo his pants. She slid off slowly and took them with her. “Abby.” The fire was in his eyes now and Abby couldn’t have been more thrilled.

  She needed him, needed to feel grounded in some way. She knew that she loved him, knew that she had been with him countless times before, but if anything that made this moment that much more special. He sat and grabbed her around the waist. His mouth crushed to hers and in seconds he was removing her pants.

  The same fiery need that had taken them over before was there and she relished in the feeling.

  He looked down at her. “Oh, Abby. You are magnificent.”

  She smiled. “Then show me.” His mouth met hers as his hands ran down her body. She moaned when he found her and cried out when he slipped inside of her.

  He groaned in response and began to move. She knew at that moment that she would do whatever was necessary to hold on to him, to remember whom she had been before. She was never going to let him go.

  “Hungry?” Aengus stood and began getting dressed. It had been three glorious hours since she had stepped into his room and she still wasn’t ready for them to leave yet.

  “Not really, but I suppose it would be good for us to eat.” She smiled and stretched out lazily on the bed.

  “You keep that up and we may starve.” His eyes watched her hungrily and she took her time getting up and getting dressed.

  She grinned at him and looked around the room. It was similar to the one she was staying in except the curtains were a deep blue color versus the green in her room. She began to look at the pictures on his wall and she stood gaping at one she recognized.

  “Where did you get this?”

  “You should know, it's one of yours.”

  “I know its one of mine! It's my favorite one.” Her fingers gently touched the frame that she knew he must have built for the canvas. The little girl who had stolen a moment in the gardens. Tears filled her eyes for no good reason other then it was the sweetest thing she could imagine. He had bought one of her paintings.

  “A friend of mine called and told me they had found a piece I might be interested in, so I bought it before anyone else could get their hands on it. You don’t remember that day do you?” He asked gesturing to the painting.

  She looked at him now. “This actually happened?”

  “Oh yes.” He laughed. “You had a habit of sneaking into my mother's private gardens. We all knew about it, even her. No one minded. I used to follow you and just watch. You always looked so happy when you were there as if nothing in the world could bother you at that moment.”

  “I used to dream of them. I could tell you how each flower smelled and how I felt when I was there. Are they here?”

  She caught the sadness that flashed into his eyes. “They are, but nothing has grown there in quite some time.”

  “I would like to see them if that’s okay?”

  “Of course.” He put his arm around her and she leaned against him.

  “I want to remember Aengus, I want to know everything.”

  “You will, love. It will come back to you.” He kissed her on top of her head. “What would you like to eat?”

  “I could go for some soup.”

  “Soup it is.” He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. “I know you don’t remember, but I have missed you.”

  “Somehow I have missed you too.” She stood on her toes and kissed him gently. She hadn’t realized it, but a piece of her had been missing, a piece that he just so happened to fill.

  The knock on the front door jolted them out of their embrace. “Who could that be?” Abby saw the worry on his face and that told her that whoever was out there was not an expected guest.

  “So nice of you two to finally join us.” Myria winked at them from the bottom of the stairs and went to open the door.

  Abby’s heart dropped when she saw who was standing on the other side.

  “Emit what the hell are you doing here?”

  “It's nice to see you too Gail.”

  “I have asked you not to call me that. How did you find me?” She walked down the stairs and moved to stand between him and Myria.

  “That’s really no way to greet someone who just flew across the country to see you.” The irritation in his voice set off the anger she had been trying so hard to keep at bay.

  “I didn’t ask you to. In fact, you were a large reason as to why I wanted to get away.”

  “You aren’t going to talk to me that way, not after all I have done for you.”

  She laughed. “Done for me? Are you kidding me? What in the world have you done for me Emit? Followed me around when I have specifically asked you multiple times to leave me alone? Sleep with my agent so that she continues letting you into venues I have pulled you off of the guest list? Which I imagine is how you found me here.”

  “You better watch your tongue.”

  She was too damn tired of being pushed around to notice the anger on his face.

  “You have absolutely no right to be here!” She started to shut the door in his face, but he grabbed it and had started to push it open when Aengus stepped in.

  “Abby has said that she doesn’t want you here, in which case you are not welcome.”

  Emit backed away from the door quickly.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  “Somebody who is not going to tolerate you harassing her.”

  “That bitch doesn’t know what’s good for her.”

  That did it, whatever restraint Aengus was using broke and he grabbed Emit by the throat and shoved him back.

  “You will not speak to her that way, in fact, you will not speak to her again unless she chooses to contact you. Now get the bloody hell off of my property before you truly begin to regret your trip.”

  “You will all pay.” He laughed and ran off.

  “Myria,” Aengus said without looking away from Emit who was running down the drive.

  “On it.” She had already turned and was headed down the hall.

  “What’s going on?” Sheamus approached and watched as Myra disappeared past the kitchen.

  “Sheamus, you hear a car drive up?”

  “No, no ones been up our drive today.”

  “Abby, how long have you known him?”

  “About five years I guess, I met him at a coffee shop about a month before my parent's accident. Why?”

  “Do you see a car out there?”

  She looked and saw nothing. She hadn’t even noticed that there had been no car behind him.

  “He could have parked off the main road, or been dropped off by a cab.”

  “Aye, he could have parked off the main road, if he had been dropped off then he must not have been planning on staying. No bags.” Sheamus noted.

  Aengus stood in silence watching the road for any movement.

  “I don’t see him, but that doesn’t mean he’s not working with him.” Myria walked up just as they were closing the door.

  “See him? What’s going on?” Abby looked around confused.

  “Nothing yet, we just need to keep our eyes out,” Aengus responded half-heartedly.

  “Aengus be honest with me, haven’t I proved that I can handle it?” She knew he knew more than he was letting on.

  “Caip
re is resourceful, I am concerned that they may be working together.”

  “Emit?” She laughed. “He may be an ass, but I seriously doubt he would be working with a two-hundred-year-old psycho.”

  “Maybe, but as Aengus said, its best to be careful,” Myria answered. “I have the ability to look for people if that makes sense. It’s difficult to explain. I can sense connections between people, I don’t sense one with Emit and Caipre, but Caipre’s magic has expanded its possible he has learned to hide from me.”

  “Alright.” Even with Myria not being able to see him, it couldn’t hurt to be cautious. Part of her was more concerned that they were right. “Do you guys have a phone? That can call internationally?”

  Myria answered. “Yes, it's in the kitchen, why?”

  “I want to know how he found me.”

  Later that evening as they all sat around the dinner table, she couldn’t help but laugh. She had only been in Ireland a short amount of time and yet she had found two of the best friends she could ask for in Myria and Sheamus and she had fallen in love. She looked up at Aengus. He had been smiling a lot more lately and it warmed her heart that it was because of her.

  She had been trying so hard to force herself to remember but each time she only ended up with a horrible headache and no new information. It was incredibly frustrating. She surprised herself at how quickly she had accepted what was going on. She had always been taught to trust her instincts and they had been screaming ever since she had stepped foot in the beautiful country. It helped that it explained everything as well. Her dreams of Aengus and Isleen, of the Dark Man. She now knew why she had always been drawn here and how she had painted scenes from a countryside she had never stepped foot in.

  “Would you like to go see where the gardens were?” He asked her. His voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she saw that everyone else had gotten up and were working on clearing the table.

  “I would love that.”

  They walked out the door and into the dark. It was so peaceful outside and when Aengus wrapped his arm around her, she leaned into him and felt completely at ease. He had a way of doing that to her, of making her feel as if there were nothing to be afraid of because it was just the two of them.