19/21 (300 Years of Sin) Read online

  “How do you know the man is guilty?”

  “He was found guilty in a trial.”

  “But what if he is not?”

  He saw her hesitating and continued: “Does that make you uncomfortable?”

  “I do not want to see the innocent die, Lord... I mean Tudor.”

  The man about to be hanged stood on the wooden planks waiting when, out of the blue, he noticed Lord Emery and looked deeply at him. Ava noticed the exchange of looks, but before she could ask if they know each other, riot burst and people started pushing and shoving themselves into others. Lord Emery covered Ava and pulled her out of the crowd gone insane.

  “What is happening, what are these people doing?”

  “Come on, get into the carriage!”

  She noticed other people going next to the convicted murderer and free him, while pushing aside the soldiers guarding him.

  “Wait! “He is getting away! The criminal is getting away! We have to do something”

  “We will let the authorities deal with this, right now, my carriage is taking us back home, we do not need to get involved with the riot or any other of these events.”

  Lord Emery seemed to be deeply lost into his thoughts, a fact noticed by the girl, but she considered it not to be the right time to ask him about it. The carriage arrived in front of her house, she stepped down and then the vehicle continued on its way to the hotel where Tudor was staying. He had paid for the room for the entire month of February, but he was out of the city for most of the time.

  Two more days passed and the city was in a commotion. Everybody was talking about the fugitive, about his escape from hanging. The police concluded he managed to sail to France and they would most likely never see the man again.

  “He will never dare to show his face here again. That crooked bastard Jack Smith.” said Captain Cook.

  “Surely you won’t let the man escape justice.” said Clara.

  “There is nothing we can do.”

  “You mean there is nothing you would do. Captain, it is no news that you do not like the French, though I have to say I really see no reason why you cultivated this dislike of yours. But, come to think about it, this is exactly why you did not send the portrait of the fugitive to the French patrol. Are you hoping he will commit more crimes there?”

  “Ava, what is this my ears are hearing? I can’t think that you are accusing the captain of the London police of such a thing.” said Clara, with a dash of indignation.

  “No, surely, I am not.” said Ava, sarcastically.

  The Mayflower mansion, Ava’s home, was the scene of a party. Henry Burke, governor of Bengal returned to London as matters of his business called him back to his home town. The sprawling mansion of two floors hosted the party in the large salon which had in the middle stairs that would lead to the second floor. The salon was embellished with sculptures and paintings as the Burke family was a patron of the arts. The wall behind the stairs however, was covered by shelves of books in English, French, Latin and Ancient Greek covering every field of study that has ever existed.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, after an absence of five years, I present Duke Henry Burke!” Said the butler as the salon orchestra was signaled to stop playing music.

  The duke came down the stairs, went to his only child, then went on to salute the rest of the guests whom he had to entertain with stories from the east. Wine, cake, and fine food was everywhere, while music was delighting the ears of the guests. Two hours into the party and a man entered the doors of the house. It was none other than Tudor Emery. He took his hat and coat off and gave them to the butler and Henry signaled the musicians to stop singing for a while.

  “Do my eyes deceive me? Tudor Emery, is that you?” asked the duke.

  “Father, do you know this man?”

  “Duke, I see Bengal is working wonders on you, you surely seem more chipper now.” said Tudor walking toward and shaking hands with the duke.

  Henry put a hand on Tudor’s shoulder and said “Everyone, this is the man who saved my life in 1799 when a Frenchman was about to kill me. It was right before we allied ourselves with the Austrians and the Portuguese against the French. If it wasn’t for this man, I would not be here tonight and I would not have seen my daughter grow into this beautiful and stubborn young lady.”

  The crown burst into laughter as Ava was indeed known for her stubbornness to succeed in all that she set out to do and, unlike most women of her time, she set out to be a scientist in her own right, a path supported by her father.

  The duke then presented Tudor to the rest of the crowd and only words of praise came out of his mouth for the man. Tudor was close to turning 31 at the time, while Henry was a man of 50 and his daughter Ava was only 21 years of age. After hours of display and talks, people began bidding farewell and heading to their homes.

  “I am afraid it is now time for me to leave.” Said Tudor

  “So much talk, but I forgot to inquire about where you are being accommodated now. I remember you sold all your properties here.” asked Henry.

  “I am staying at the Stanton. It is quite a comfortable hotel.”

  “You are staying at a hotel? This is nonsense! You must immediately come and stay here, you shall be my guest. No man who saves my life will ever have to stay at a hotel.”

  “I am afraid I will be staying for at least a few months starting today. I must stay at the hotel, otherwise I would intrude far too much.”

  “Nonsense lad, I will send someone to get your belongings from the hotel and you shall stay here from now on. Please, stay as much as you like! You will not be of any bother and nobody will bother you. There are fifteen rooms in this house, pick one in the east side and you shall have all the quietude you need there. My daughter and I reside in the west wing.”

  “Well then, I see there is no way I can back out of this.”

  “None whatsoever, you shall be my guest.”

  The Lord went back to the hotel along with the butler who helped him get his belongings and then moved into the Mayflower. The first two weeks went by uneventful, but he bumped heads with Ava a few times. Ava was fascinated by Lord Tudor’s knowledge of the New World and science and philosophy, but she was irked by his cocky attitude, especially since he seemed to spend a day with a woman and the next with a different one. But the duke did not mind this attitude of the Lord as it reminded him of his younger days, before he met Ava’s mother, who tragically died when Ava was still a child. She was brutally murdered in the streets of London. Police said it was an animal attack, a lion who escaped from the circus. But her death was no animal attack or at least not the known kind of animal. The members of the Constantine Society covered up the murder and made it seem to be an animal attack. They even let out the lion from the circus. Afterward a massive search for the lion began and, when it was captured, it was killed.

  The sunlight was hitting the girl’s eyes and as she woke she found herself on the hotel bed in the shirt given to her by the blue eyed man that found her covered in blood the night before. Next to her there were a white dress and everything else she needed to get dressed. She looked at them not knowing where they came from when she heard the man, Jonathan, come in.

  “I see you are awake.”

  “Why are these here?” said the girl blushing a bit as there was more than just a dress on the bed.

  “Don’t worry, I was not the one to pick those, I just picked the dress. Somebody else picked those for you, it was a woman. I am surprised you did not hear me leave early this morning. Oh well, I suppose you are not fully awake yet.”

  “I am awake.” said the girl, not understanding that he was referring to something completely different.

  “This is so strange, I dreamed of…”

  “You dreamed what?”

  The man standing in front of her was identical to one of the men in her dream. The same face, the same posture, the same voice.

  “Nothing, forget it. My mind is just playing tricks on me.”<
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  “Be ready in an hour. I will come back and we shall start.”

  Before she could say something else, the man left the room and she was alone again. She showered and got dressed and saw ash in the garbage bin in the bathroom. There was just a small piece of white cloth left and she realized those were the clothes she wore the night before. A maid entered the room while she was in the bathroom and the girl was taken by surprise when she came out. The maid left and, right when the door closed, it opened again and the man came in again.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Famished.”

  “Then why not eat the maid?”

  “Are you insane? What did she do to deserve such a thing?”

  “Hmm… good, I see you passed the first test.”

  “What? You knew she was coming in? This was a test to see if I would do to her what I did yesterday?”

  “Yes. You see, that maid is an innocent woman, a good woman. And yesterday you said you do not want to kill innocents. But tell me: is there a type of human that you like to kill?”

  “I do not like to kill, I want this to stop. But I do seem to be attracted by the worst kind. And I…”

  “Go on!”

  “That man, he was a criminal, a rapist. I can’t say how I know it, but I know it. I do not have concrete proof, but I felt it in his gaze. There was nothing innocent about him. I just wish I had proof…” she said with a sad look.

  “If you had proof he was a very bad man, would you feel any better?”

  “I don’t know… I think so…”

  “Well then, let’s find that proof!”

  As the man finished his sentence, the door opened again and red haired, green eyed, thirty something year old Irish entered. When he let go of the door knob the girl rushed to his neck but, right before she could reach him, Jonathan stopped her even though she was violently trying to push him aside.

  “Stop, control yourself now! Your blood lust is getting the best of you!” screamed the man. Then he turned around and told the Irish to get out of the room for a few moments.

  As they were left alone, the girl calmed down, but she was famished.

  “Here’s your proof! The man last night was a criminal. This man that just went outside killed, whored, betrayed and plotted against hundreds. He truly is one of the scum of the Earth and you jumped to his neck, but the innocent maid was of no interest to you.”

  “I do not know the man, I just know I am famished and I want to…”

  “Here, drink this now” said Jonathan taking the same knife he used the night before and cutting down to his left wrist.

  She pointed her doe eyes toward him and, without hesitation, she took the wrist and drank. The same feeling of excitement and warmth enveloped all the cells in her body.

  “You are just now beginning to awaken and your lust for blood will only grow until the moment of your full awakening.”

  “What is this awakening you talk about? I am fully awake now, as you can see.”

  “Listen to me! There’s much more to you than you know and I wish I could explain it all, but I can’t now, it all must be said at the right time. All I can do is make sure, this time, there are no mistakes made, that this time, this story has a better ending.”

  “You really are not making this any easy.”

  “Ok, do you still feel famished?”

  “I don’t think so, but I can’t vouch for it.”

  “I’ll let the man back in. You have to stand still, don’t attack him again!”

  “She is a feisty one isn’t she?” said Mark, the Irish, coming back in. “Still feel like you want to kill me little one?”

  “I would rip your throat out if I could.” said the girl angered. “But I think I can manage not doing it now.”

  “Yes, two hundred years later and she still hates my guts. You surely know how to hold a grudge”

  “Well, she has enough reasons to hate your guts.”

  “Are you two mocking me now? What’s this talk of two hundred years? As far as I know I have only been on this Earth for the past twenty five years.” Said the girl annoyed to an extreme.

  “As far as you know…” Jonathan went on. “Now, we should be on our way. There is still much to do before the night sets again.”

  The three took a cab and headed to a house just outside London. It was an old building, late eighteen century style. An old man was waiting inside, he looked like time forgot him, long beard, white hair and long moustache, but still very dignified in posture.

  “Professor Gutenberg, I found her, I finally found her!”

  The girl recognized him immediately, it was the other man in her dream.

  “You, I know you! I dreamed you! how is this possible? I thought my mind was playing tricks on me but I dreamed you without ever seeing you. What is going on?” said the girl astonished.

  “Oh, my little girl, it’s been two centuries since the last time I saw you. Maybe now I can finally find my peace. I am old, I am too old and too tired to live in this world another day and you, only you, can give me that peace I so much long for. Let’s all take a seat and talk.”

  “Yes, please, I need answers.”

  They all sat on two sofas in a living room filled with books.

  “This is all I do lately. I read and I wait.” said the professor.

  “What do you wait for?” asked the girl.

  “Death, I wait for death. I have been trapped in this body of an old man since I turned 80. I had hoped to die, but 150 years later I am still an 80 year old man.”

  “I find everything that is happening difficult to believe, and yet I can see it is real.”

  “That dream of yours, what was it about?”

  “You showed me how Galvani discovered bioelectricity, a man, Jack Smith escaped execution, there was Clara, a policeman and I was the daughter of a duke, someone called Henry Burke. I have a father, he is a wonderful man, he is my father, not that Henry Burke. And I also dreamed Jonathan moved in with us and he was very annoying.”

  “Annoying? How was I annoying? You were just little miss goody-goody. ” continued Jonathan.

  “Did that really happen? If so, how is that possible? I am living in the present not in the early 1800s.”

  “You are not dreaming, you are remembering. It is all part of the process of awakening.” said Gutenberg. He then continued: “As time will go by, you will remember more and more about your past, about the life you had long before this one. And until you will recover all recollection of that time, your hunger will grow. If you will not be careful, you will reach a boiling point and that is when you will start to kill innocents and you do not want that.”

  “So you are saying it is only going to get worse until it’s going to get better.”

  “Yes, but we were expecting this and I worked on something that can help ease your hunger. Take one of these little pills every morning, but do not take them and this desire to kill will only grow stronger.”

  Next, the door slammed to the wall and a man said: “Cars are approaching. They belong to Constantine.”

  “Quickly, you must go now, don’t come here again, not until you have fully awakened! Come then and take this miserable life of mine. Now go!” said Gutenberg rushing them out the back door.

  Jonathan knew who was approaching and he drove the car out of the garage which was situated to the back of the house, but he did not drive the same way he came, he changed direction so as to not meet the men of Constantine. On a street, five minutes away from his hotel, he stopped and let Mark out so he could continue his search of a different person. Next stop was in the underground parking lot of the hotel.

  “I won’t stay here.” said the girl.

  “You don’t like the room? Fine, we can move in a different one or we can change the hotel.”

  “No, I mean, I won’t stay with you here. I…”

  “You have to!” interrupted the blue eyed man. “I am the only one who can supervise you. What if you do somet
hing foolish? Even worse, what if someone finds you doing something foolish like I did yesterday? I can’t risk that.”

  “Why is this so important to you? Is it because the events of 1807? I only dreamed… sorry, I mean I only remember you being very annoying. I don’t recall us getting along too well. The only thing I liked about you was that you seemed to have some knowledge.”

  “Do you really not remember anything else?”

  “No, not the least bit.”

  “Please understand that you have to stay here.”

  “Fine, I will stay with you. I guess I do need you, after all, not all men will react the same way as you did if I will do it again. But, what is the next step? I just take these pills and I wait?”

  “Exactly! We wait until Mark will be back with Rene. He’ll find her and she will help us, she will help you remember all the events of your past. Once you remember them, you will be in full control of yourself again.”

  “And when will he be back with this Rene?”

  “When he will find her, when that will happen, however, I do not know.”

  “Great! Those are some words of encouragement.”

  The hours passed. The two spoke and the man tried to teach her methods of withholding her lust for blood or masking her rage to the sight of people such as the one she had killed less than 24 hours early. Two days passed and the girl had no more dreams. And then Mark arrived with the other woman, Rene.

  Rene performed an old ritual meant to help the girl remember her past life. Blood was taken from her veins and burned and then the remains were put on the palms, forehead, and the chest of the girl, but nothing happened. The ritual was used for over two hundred years with complete success in other being, but it did not work now, not on her.

  “So what do we do from here on?” asked Jonathan.

  “It should have worked.” answered Rene.

  “But it did not, so what now?”

  “Now we wait.”

  “Are you telling me that there is no other ritual to awaken all the memories in her?” asked Jonathan, angered.

  “I am saying that what I know does not work on her.”