Chapter 26: Tennan

"Vincent has contacted you."

I heard a voice in the bushes, and turned around to see a strange man standing in front of me, stating something he couldn't possibly have known. His eyes glowed as if they were light bulbs in his head.

"Excuse me, who are you? And how do you know of Vincent? Are you stalking me or something?"

I was starting to become immune to the weird shit that kept happening to me, finding it easy to simply ask questions of people. The man brushed off my comment, and simply answered my questions. He was eerily calm.

"I am Vincent's descendant. My name is Tennan Agosti."

"What's with your eyes?"

"I am a vampire."

Hmm.. not even this seemed to phase me, Vincent was a vampire, and if this guy was a descendant... then it made sense that he be a vampire as well.

"You know about the curse then?"

"Yes."

"Were you related to Trent Agosti?"

"Yes."

"Was Trent a vampire?"

"Yes."

Tennan's short answers were kind of annoying me. I always had to ask him more questions to get him to spill the goods.

"How? I thought vampires were supposed to be immortal. He definitely didn't have eyes like you do. Or fangs. I'm also pretty sure he drank water, not blood," I replied a little too snottily. I didn't want to be rude to Tennan, but he seriously needed to start answering me with more than just a 'yes'."

"Our family was affected by Vincent's romance with Alexandra. Eleanor wasn't able to kill us off, but she did manage to use dark magic to take away vampire abilities from our weakest family members. Descendants of these family members were born human, with the vampire gene. It just lays dormant in the body. Trent was a descendant of one of the humans in our family."

"Why are you here?"

"I am your protector."

"What does that mean? And why do bad things keep happening to me when I have a protector? You're not doing your job very well, Tennan."

"Ever since Vincent and Alexandra happened, the Agostis have watched over the Zenteris. I cannot prevent bad things from happening to you because of Eleanor. Surely you must know that. Her curse on your family is extremely powerful. What I mean by protector is that when I watch over you, I can see what goes on in your life and help guide you towards an answer."

"Is that why weird crap keeps happening to me? The dreams? The coincidences?"

"Yes. I have been trying to help you figure out how to lift Eleanor's dark hold over your family. The reason your dreams come in snippets is because I have to find out about it first before I can deliver it to your mind."

"Do all Zenteri ladies have a protector?"

"No. Just you. We believe that you are the only one who can stop the pain from continuing."

"Why me? What's so special about me?"

"I can see inside your soul, Sicily. You have the heart, the determination, the strength, and most importantly, the will to be happy. The other Zenteri females gave up too easily. You have suffered two losses and you have not killed yourself. Also the fact that you have not been the least bit phased by my sudden appearance speaks to your strength."

I was flattered that he thought I was strong and determined, although a little creeped out that he said he could see into my soul.

"So it's true then, everyone kills themselves?"

Tennan looked down and nodded.

"Do you know anything about why Vincent visited me last night?"

"Yes. He visited you for two reasons. The first was to give you hope about Austin, and the second was to alert me that the time was right for me to come see you."

I got a little sad again when Tennan mentioned Austin's name.

"Why would you give me hope about Austin when the police said they are done? His file is a cold case now, they've given up completely."

Tennan's eyes lit up as if he had good news for me.

"The police are right. There is nothing more they can do for you. But I know of his whereabouts."

"You know where Austin is?"

"Yes. We are keeping Austin safe. Vincent told you he was stuck in the middle. That is true. He is in our world."

"Can I have him back?"

"No. You have to find out if he is your true love first. Your task is not nearly close to completion."

I became furious with Tennan as soon as he told me he was keeping Austin from me so I yelled a little too loudly.

"WHAT do you mean? STOP being so damn cryptic for berry's sake!"

Tennan looked at me calmly, not flustered at all by my sudden outburst.

"Sicily, please sit down. I can explain. Eleanor was an incredibly evil woman, and she kept all details of the task to herself on purpose, probably in order to ensure the Zenteri's eternal suffering. I am convinced that the answer to lifting the dark magic has something to do with true love. As for Austin, if we bring him back to this world before the time is right, he will die instantly. Please believe me when I say that we are keeping you apart from each other for your own good. While we were watching over you, we saw Austin too. We saw how you interacted and were convinced you and Austin both cared for each other deeply."

"Do you know what happened to him?"

"Yes. What the police told you is true. He responded to an emergency and put out the fire in the yard. The fire was very large and he had just finished putting it out when a branch from the tree that had been on fire started falling. The branch was very large and very high up. It started falling, heading straight towards him. As it fell, it started gaining momentum rapidly. Austin looked up a little too late to react. I was watching the situation and analyzing all the possibilities of whether he could survive such an impact. Every scenario I ran through ended with the branch crushing Austin's throat, killing him instantly. I knew that you loved him very much, so that was why I swooped in and saved him, transporting him to my world."

"You saved him. Thank you."

"Well, it is my job as your protector."

"OWWWW!"

Our intriguing conversation was interrupted by intense labor pain. It was then that Tennan broke his calm exterior. It was actually kind of funny to see him panicking, since it was usually others who panicked around him.

"AAAAH! AAAAH! I will take you to the hospital!!" Although he was freaking out, he knew exactly what to do.

He ran incredibly fast into the living room, grabbed my keys off the hook, and resumed his calm exterior. Later that day I brought home my little boy Francisco.