Chapter 480: What If...
[This Chapter is dedicated to Janell_Apple for her prior comment and gif. Thanks for the idea, Janell!]
"Are we all ready for this?" August asked, glancing at Nedra and Penelope.
Seth and Zagan both had their arms crossed over their chests like they were bracing themselves against the anxiety this unfamiliar scenario was giving them with their mates. But honestly, August couldn’t see how this could be safer.
The vampire was trapped in a cage, and they were all going to be using positive intentions to perform healing like they had for Zagan. The only danger August could think of was if Nedra became fatigued again, but the fact that her and Seth were mates and had completed their bond meant that she was likely better than ever and more than capable of performing this. It seemed quite safe. The males would just have to deal with their insecurities of being unable to do anything more than watch and support their females from the sidelines. If Graeme could trust August being as far away from her as he was, then these two would be just fine.
"Wait," Penelope said, walking toward the cage where the other two were already standing. "I should probably do something else first."
Nedra and August both glanced at each other in confusion before turning to look at her in question.
"What do you need to do?" August asked.
"Well, none of us have done anything like this before. We don’t know what the result will be. What if we concentrate so much healing and... you know... light into him that he can’t take it and he explodes into a million pieces or something?" she exclaimed, gesturing toward the vampire whose eyes now went wide.
The caged vampire stood dumbfounded at Penelope’s suggestion of what could happen when they performed whatever fae witchcraft they had in mind. Was him exploding really a possibility? There was no way. But the idea had him slowly retreating away from the invisible barrier that he had been pounding on.
Would his vampiric nature cause him to survive something that destructive to his physical being? He couldn’t imagine how painful that might be. He could deliver torture without so much as batting an eye—in fact, he loved to see the immense suffering he was capable of creating in others. It gave him a thrill like no other, which was why he was so looking forward to taking Zagan back with him to Gray Vale. But he certainly didn’t want to be the recipient of torture, especially when it involved something like chunks of him being dispersed all over the place.
"You think he might... explode?" Nedra’s face screwed up in disgust. "Should we wear protective gear or something? I don’t want to be splattered with anything gross."
August couldn’t help but giggle at Nedra’s reaction. "He is not going to explode! Are you two serious?" It was hard to believe that she could find something humorous at a time like this, but for some reason the idea became absolutely hysterical to imagine.
"Are you sure?" Nedra frowned, which only made August laugh harder.
"I am sure. The healing that worked on Zagan was out of profound love from within all of us that was made greater when it connected with the infinite amount that exists within the universe. We all felt it. There is no way that it can cause something as gruesome as what you are describing," she shook her head, sighing as her laughter died down.
"Okay, well maybe he won’t explode. That’s just an example of what could happen, because we don’t know what the outcome will be," Penelope said. "But if he dies before I get a chance to use the memory enchantment on Zagan and somehow Gray Vale is aware of it, then they could send more of him after us. Who knows, they may even be sending more vampires right now. And if they arrive before the memory enchantment is complete..."
She didn’t have to finish the rest of the sentence. They understood what she was saying. The order of how they went about healing the vampire and performing the memory enchantment on Zagan could make a huge difference. The memory enchantment should be done as quickly as possible
Penelope looked back at Zagan who was standing just behind her. There was no way she was going to let more of his kind threaten his life if she could prevent it. Almost losing him this time was enough. She never wanted to experience that again. And now might actually be one time that her knowledge and skill of the memory enchantment could work for a good purpose rather than all the times she had obscured the past of individuals for others who were seeking to manipulate an experimental subject like August.
Penelope’s concern was enough to make August’s giggles fade, though the image in her mind of the vampire exploding kept a smile on her face. "You’re right. I’m glad you thought of it before we got started."
"What do you need for the memory enchantment?" Zagan asked.
"I need to know who you were closest to in Gray Vale," Penelope told him. "I can target the enchantment on Gray Vale in general, but those who were closest to you need special consideration as will any lingering reminders of you that might be found there."
"Reminders?" He asked, his eyebrows pinching together in confusion.
"Like physical reminders... objects that would reference you. When I did this on August..." she swallowed uneasily, her eyes sliding to August’s. The humor that had been on the girl’s face was gone now. "I... I’m sorry."
"You did it for Eliade," August said softly, shrugging even as the painful thought came back to her of potentially losing her mother and others forever. Perhaps they would never remember her.
"We can fix it, August. I will break the enchantment for you," Penelope assured her. Her eyes found Zagan again. "In that case, I uh... I removed all traces of her from her childhood home. She had a bedroom there that needed to be... fixed."
"There are no physical reminders of me in Gray Vale," Zagan told her. He had left long ago, and when he did he made sure there was nothing of him left behind.
"Then this should be easy enough."
