Sam was gone. I hadn't seen him in months, none of us had. The last time I saw his face, it was an ominous surge of anger that petrified us in our own home. His pitch black eyes… and that voice. It was a warped… twisted version of his normal voice. He left shortly after. He was struggling on the inside.
We had seen a news article about a human trafficking ring that had been busted. There was a van full of missing people that was saved by some "shadow." That's what one of the girls called him. They said they just heard something killing the men outside of the van, and then they were set free by the hooded figure. That's all they said, but we knew it was him. The deaths of the kidnappers were so fast and brutal from the description that it couldn't have been anything else. Sam had saved them.
Eleanor wanted to check on him. She knew it was him the story spoke of, and she worried about him. He had killed three men that night to save those young people from the fate forced upon them. It wasn't because those three men were human... if they had captured those people and did those unspeakable things the victims claimed... they deserved it. No... it was because Eleanor always said that something happened to Sam in that place where he took her. She just couldn't remember anything.
Once we reached out and had him over, it all crumbled quickly. We questioned him too fast. We should have eased into it since we still didn't know too much about his true nature. He wasn't even inside our house five minutes before he left in a flash of anger and shame. His eyes darkened rapidly right in front of us. Autumn, Eleanor, and I all saw the anger shift his attitude quickly. We were shocked that he wouldn't tell us what had happened to him and Eleanor that day, but we wouldn't push. I felt we should focus more on him and how he was doing. But it was too late. The damage had already been done. Something about what happened had set him off. But why had it happened then, and not when he first came back? Our first meeting the night Eleanor came back was so good… I just didn't understand.
After that unfortunate evening, I didn't see him again. It was weeks before Martin told me that Sam had been in his bar almost every night. More often than not, he'd pass out from all the blazing star powder. From what Martin told me, Sam was not in a good place. Martin also told me that Sam had been sporadically staying in his safehouse we built for him a few years back. I knew exactly where he was the whole time, but I didn't go to him. If he wanted to see us, he had an open invitation, and I didn't want to push. Not like we already did.
I never told Eleanor or Autumn either. If Eleanor knew where he was, I know she would have gone to him on her own to try and fix what happened that night, and to just make sure Sam was alright. If Autumn knew… well, I don't know what she would have done. I think in the beginning she had hope that she could salvage some kind of relationship with him, even though I didn't like that idea, but as time stretched on with no sign of Sam, I wasn't sure what she felt.
Shortly after that, Martin told me what happened the last time he saw Sam. From what Martin described, Sam went into some kind of trance for a minute or so. He said it was quick, but when he came out of it… he said it was like Sam was a whole other person. He never said a word. He never even looked at Martin… it was like he wasn't even there. Then he disappeared.
After that, I was honest with the girls about what I knew. I told Eleanor and Autumn everything Martin had told me. They were both angry at me for not letting them know. They both said they would have gone to him, but that's exactly why I didn't want them to know. Now they couldn't talk to him or try to repair the damaged relationship. He was gone. We all wondered where he went… what he really was… I wondered if I'd ever see him again. The girls were both hurting for a long time. We didn't tell anyone else that we knew where he had been. We thought it would be best if the rest of the family just kept moving forward. Besides, it truly seemed like he was just gone forever.
As the months passed, Autumn started off quiet and secluded in her room, but most nights, she actually stayed inside her dorm. The longer Sam was gone, the harder she dove back into school and spending time with her friends. At one point, she had gone out with some friends and actually brought Patrick Wicklow along, which was strange to me since I knew she wasn't happy with him in the past. I think she still thought of him as just a friend, but I knew for a fact that was not where Patrick's feelings stopped. I just hoped she wasn't acting out and doing things she'd regret later… if Sam ever showed back up. She honestly seemed kind of cold whenever the subject of Sam came up. A way to protect herself, maybe. I knew she had a lot of unresolved feelings about him; we all did, but she had been much closer to him personally.
Winter crept by, but not a single day of it passed where Eleanor didn't wait outside on the back patio, staring into the woods. She was waiting for something… or someone. She'd never really talk about it. I'd ask, but she'd just brush it off. She'd assure me she was just clearing her head. She worried me.
We were still unsure exactly how Sam had brought her back. The Wicklows made it abundantly clear that even with necromancy, you can never fully return someone from the dead. However, Eleanor was here like nothing had happened to her. She was excellent, obviously affected by something, but it was her. This made all of our desires to know even more about Sam intensify. The Wicklows couldn't explain it.
Martin kept his feelers out for me, notifying me anytime he thought he might have heard even a whisper of something that sounded like it might be Sam.
I felt sorry for Sam more and more as the time passed. Martin said he drank himself into a hole every single night he was at his bar, spiraling down into darkness. Martin said he could see the sadness in Sam, but he could never get him to open up about anything. Martin could hear him talking to himself at times. Like he was talking to people who weren't there… memories maybe.
I wished I knew where he was. I owed him so much…
Then one night, I was lying in bed next to Eleanor, dead asleep. Suddenly, Eleanor yelled out for me in tears.
"Carter!"
It was almost a whimpering cry like she had been punched in the gut. As soon as her scream reverberated throughout the room. I jumped from the sudden scream, instantly awake.
"El… what's going on?" I asked, confused, trying to reach over to her and calm her.
She was burning up, sweating feverishly. She sat up in our bed, crying uncontrollably. She was sobbing like someone had just died. I hadn't seen her this emotional since the day we found out about what happened to Allen.
I spoke up again, "Eleanor, what is it?"
Autumn came running from down the hall. She heard the scream and shot up from bed immediately. She burst into the room only moments after I was up. The fear of losing her mother again remained ever-present in the back of her mind.
"I…" Eleanor tried to speak through the raw emotion that was choking her up.
"Mom, what's wrong? What happened?" Autumn asked anxiously as she stood in the dark beside our bed.
"It's Sam…" Eleanor stuttered.
"What about him?" I asked.
"Where is he?" my wife cried, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"I don't know, sweetie," I answered.
El was crying, like she was talking to him, "Oh Sam… I'm so sorry…"
"What about Sam, Mom? What's happening?" I heard the emotion in Autumn as she joined her Mom in tears.
Eleanor's watery eyes looked straight into mine, "Carter… I remember everything."
In the dark of the room, I saw right into her eyes. She did know. She remembered everything that happened to them in that other place. Even though Eleanor was crying her eyes out, I knew that she finally had peace about what happened there. The truth was just harder than expected.
Then, it was morning. We had spent most of the night trying to console Eleanor and calm her down. Eleanor hadn't fully explained what she meant earlier in the night; everything she was remembering had her crying in fits every few minutes at first, then every hour or so. Then it was just a few stray tears that would trickle past her eyelids.
She wouldn't tell us what she had remembered yet. She told me to call everyone. She wanted everyone to hear what had happened the day that she died. Plus, she didn't seem fully ready to narrate the events of her memories yet. Until everyone had arrived, Eleanor just sat on the back patio, just as she had for the past six months, curled up in a large lawn chair as she gathered her thoughts.
Slowly throughout the morning, everyone had gathered back to our large house for the first time since the day Eleanor had died. We had all converged on our house after we fled Wicklow's old residence when the immortals, Mercy, and Phineas, had come to wipe out our extended family.
The Wicklows: Bartley, Shelta, Sarah, Patrick, and Annabelle had all arrived. This was the first time I had seen Shelta in a while. She had been absent from almost all of our dealings with Sam, but her family kept her well informed. Clara, Wayland, Delilah, Frank, and Jane all arrived as quickly as they could. None of the other Talbots had come, however. Jane was their leader, and she'd pass along the information to them as she saw necessary. Plus, she didn't want to add more stress to the already intense situation by bringing more werewolves to the house.
I called Martin as soon as things calmed down in the middle of the night. He rushed over while the sun was still down, very much wanting to hear what Eleanor had to say. He stayed with us, sticking to the shadows after the sun breached the horizon.
We were all outside, quietly waiting around the covered patio as we gave Eleanor some space. She had moved her padded wicker chair away from the covered area and sat it in the grass as she stared into the trees, gathering her thoughts. Her makeup had run down from her eyes, but she didn't care. Whatever she had seen ripped everything else away, filling her mind for the time being.
"How long has she been like this?" Sarah asked. She and Eleanor were friends, but she hadn't spent much time with her after everything that had happened. I could tell that Sarah was worried for her.
"Ever since she woke up last night," I answered.
After a few minutes of everyone standing around the patio waiting, Eleanor stood from her chair. She walked back over to the rest of us. She dabbed the corners of her eyes as she took a seat next to Annabelle, who reached over and patted her crooked hand on my wife's shoulder.
"Whenever you're ready, dear," Annabelle reassured.
She took a deep breath and then began, "I remember everything." She took another second or two. "I remember being on the couch," she pointed to the inside of the house, "falling asleep. I was… tired. Then, the next thing I remember was standing in that place beside Sam."
"Just like before?" Bartley double-checked.
"Yeah. Everything I remembered before is still right, but now I can see all of those gaps and missing pieces. It's like everything is back in focus," she explained.
"What happened, El?" Frank nudged her to continue.
"When I was aware again, and I saw where I was… I was confused. I saw Sam… he said, 'You're alive, I knew it.' He knew he could bring me back, or at least he sounded pretty sure he could." She played out her memories carefully. "I told him we were all sorry for what happened, and that Autumn," she motioned to our daughter, "didn't mean to shoot him that night on the roof when we found out he wasn't human. Then he told me that I had gotten hurt, and I started to remember fading away. I realized that I had died, and it rattled me. I was scared for all of you… and what you'd have to do without me here." Eleanor began getting emotional again. "I just didn't want to leave all of you… my family."
I rushed over to her side, putting my arm around her, "El, it's okay. You're here now. You're safe. We all are."
She breathed deeply to calm herself enough to resume. She continued as fresh tears spilled over her eyelids.
"There was another man there. His name was Jon. Sam was talking to him, asking him to bring me back. He blamed himself for Phineas killing me, and he kept saying that he 'wouldn't do it anymore,' if they didn't bring me back." She quoted with her fingers.
"They?" Annabelle asked curiously.
"There was another out there with us, besides Jon and Sam. He came after. First, Jon told him that they couldn't just send me back," she explained. "That's when Sam kind of lost it. He started screaming at Jon, saying he had already lost too much. He'd given up his family, he said he had a twin brother, a wife, and a daughter…" She began sobbing through her words, "He wanted me to tell you he was sorry, Carter. He said he was sorry he didn't tell you the truth." Then Eleanor turned to Autumn, "Sweetie, he said he cared for you. He never lied about that."
I felt a knot start to lump up in my throat. We were all more affected than I think any of us thought we would be. Wayland had a visible reaction when Eleanor said he had a daughter. None of us saw that coming. I glanced over at Autumn, who was staring down at Eleanor's feet as she spoke. She was lost in her head as these new revelations were uncovered. She tried to maintain her composure in front of us, but I knew that on the inside, Autumn was falling apart. I could see her hand shaking as she wiped the mist from the corners of her eyes.
"He thought he lost us… he thought of us as his new family," Eleanor continued. "Then, Jon said that he could send me back if Sam traded his life for mine. I think… Sam thought he was killed when he was changed into… whatever he is. But Jon said he never really died… I think. The look on his face… it seemed like he didn't know that until right then," El remembered. "He could have gone back to his normal life if he wanted. Jon acted like he had some kind of choice about being that thing he turns into." She took a few moments to remember the events clearly. "Then, Sam looked at me and said I was going back. That's when the other one started to show up. There was a feeling out in that place, like nothing I've ever felt before. It was overwhelming, like a pressure pushing down on my whole body."
"What was it?" Bartley asked.
"They never said a name or anything, but Jon kept saying that 'He' will make the trade. Whoever, or whatever it was, had power like I've never felt before in my entire life. I wasn't there much longer after that. Once Sam had decided, it was only another minute before I was gone. I remember everything, but it was mostly panic at that point. The fear of the third person that was approaching us made everything dull and muted. It was hard to think clearly. Then, I was in the water, swimming to the top for air. That's when you found me," she looked at Annabelle.
We all spoke at length about everything Eleanor had said she remembered from her time in that other place. None of us could make heads or tails of where or who the others were. We were only sure of one thing: Sam had sacrificed much more for our family than we ever knew. I think that's why he had acted the way he did… it had to be. He had given up his chance to be human again and return to his own family. He chose to save my wife and stay as that thing; the ruthless killer that claimed countless lives since it entered the city limits of St. Louis.
"There was one other thing that stuck out while I was there," Eleanor said, regaining our attention. "Just before Jon spoke about Sam's chance to go back to his life or trade his for mine, he was talking about Mucia. Wasn't that the name you said he spoke to the witch, Mercy?" she asked Annabelle.
"Yes… it was," Annabelle perked up, looking very intrigued at this piece of information.
"Jon told Sam that the other thing was willing to make the deal for him since he had brought "Mucia" to her final rest. He also talked about balancing something. I didn't hear that part that well. Everything was too intense."
"Interesting," Martin said from underneath the shadows of the awning.
"Very," Bartley agreed.
"He still hasn't shown back up?" Wayland asked Martin.
"No," Martin replied. "He was going to come with me that night… ready to talk. I think he was finally ready to be honest about what happened. But whatever happened to him that night in the bar… I can't explain it. It was like he wasn't even there. His eyes were pitch black, but he was calm… focused… controlled."
About two more weeks had passed since Eleanor had recovered her memory. Sam was still a ghost. He never revisited the bar, nor did he return to the safe house that he was borrowing from our mutual vampire friend. We even went back to the old, dilapidated factory, hoping to see him, to pull him back into the fold and do everything to try and repay him. But there was nothing. Jane sniffed the whole place out. She said nobody had been in there in a while. We were in the dark. We couldn't do anything to find him.
Sometimes when I thought about everything that Sam had done for us, I'd get choked up to the point of tears. It felt like he was another son… and I lost him just like Allen. He fit in so well with us, and he was willing to do things for this family that no one had ever done before. But Sam was dealing with the loss of something substantial. He had been in hiding in St. Louis, away from his family, and now he lost the chance to go back. I could understand why he was so angry before. He was trying to deal with it all: being what he was, losing his wife and child, his family, us… everything. And we were just prying for answers. We didn't even ask how he was, not at first. I felt like a complete piece of shit… and a horrible friend. I just hoped that wherever he was… he was okay… safe.
We carried on with life, waiting to see Sam turn a dark corner at any moment. Yet, as time passed, we never saw him. Everything was entirely as normal as it usually was before we met our mysterious friend; that is, until I got a call that changed everything.
I was sitting inside my office on the second floor of my house, trying to get some work done for the company. I felt the buzzing inside my pocket. I pulled out my phone to see that Frank was calling me.
"Frank, what's going on?" I asked my brother, just like any other time he called.
"Carter," he said very delicately over the speaker. It was not his usual tone… and it scared the shit out of me.
I shot out of my seat in a cold sweat at the sound of his tone. "What's wrong?"
"Carter… I need you to listen to me. Don't panic… nothing is wrong, but I need you to get Eleanor and Autumn, and come out to Jane's house right now," he slowly explained. I had heard Frank this serious only a few times before. Something was wrong.
"Frank, what's happening?" I urged him to tell me. "You're freaking me out? Is it Sam?"
"No, Carter. Just listen to me. Come out here, now. It's nothing bad… or dangerous… You just have to see this for yourself."
I wanted him to just tell me over the phone. Part of me was angry with him, but I knew that whatever he was doing was what he thought was right. I just didn't like the stress of his voice… something was wrong.
I wrangled El and Autumn together in about five minutes, and we were out the door.
"Carter, what did he say?" Eleanor asked.
"Is it something about Sam?" Autumn spoke from the back seat.
"No… I don't know. Frank didn't say what it was… he just said we had to see this for ourselves," I explained to them.
What could be so bad that he couldn't explain over the phone?
It was a short drive to the werewolf encampment, but it seemed like an eternity. There were not that many cars around the single-level house like there usually were. The only vehicles I saw were Frank's, Jane's, and one other I didn't recognize. It was probably Bran. He was Jane's second in line to lead. She trusted him and usually had him around for things.
We all bailed out of the Suburban and began walking to the door, anxious for whatever Frank thought he needed to show us. His urgency worried me. He was never this high-strung. His jokes and lightheartedness were his shield, but he wasn't holding it when he called. He was like an open book… a vulnerability he never showed was in his words. Something had rocked him.
We stopped as we saw Frank step out of the front door and put his hands up to us to ease our approach.
"Carter… I need you to listen to me," Frank grabbed my attention. "This is going to be a shock for everyone. It's going to be hard to believe… but it's true." Frank teared up as he spoke, clenching his teeth as the knot in his throat tried to break him.
"What's going on, Frank? What happened?" I begged my brother for an answer. He was visibly moved by something, but I couldn't tell what it was.
"Frank… you're starting to scare me," Eleanor's voice cracked at the sight of Frank's emotion.
"Just trust me, El…" Frank asserted. "I need you all to meet someone." He reached back, motioning with his left hand to the door.
We all three looked back at the door behind him to see Jane's large, muscular frame stepping out with someone in tow. Once her dark hair swung out and away from the door, we could see him. At first, I thought it was another one of her family, but this guy looked different. His hair was long, blonde, and tied behind his head. The man stepped out from around Jane and revealed his face to us.
When I saw his face, I had a moment where I didn't recognize the eyes looking back, but then I saw him. Behind the scruff, behind the more weathered and hardened look, was a familiar face. It didn't make sense… but I knew who was looking back at me. It was… Allen. It was my son… my boy.
The knot in my throat choked me as I stumbled forward. My feet felt like weights as I tried to move to him, "Allen," I barely got out before my knees gave a little, almost dropping me to the ground.
"Dad…" he spoke to me, through strained emotion, for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime.
He ran forward, past Jane, and crashed into me. We collided into an embrace. Eleanor was already streaming tears down her face and had run as fast as she could to us. She clawed past me to her firstborn, scrambling to touch him again. She was crying all over Allen, smashing her face into the side of his, trying to feel him and make sure he was real. I didn't think she had any tears left after everything that had been going on, but she did. We all did.
Autumn took a second or two longer to register what was happening and who was standing in front of her. Then she realized it. This was her brother; this was Allen.
In Jane's yard, our family was reunited again. We all fell to our knees and just sat down in the blooming spring yard. We were all crying. I fought it, but I couldn't hold it back any longer. My boy was alive. I had a million questions, but none of them mattered. He was alive, and he was safe.
Clara and Wayland eventually arrived to find us all still in the yard. They both had their own tearful reunion with Allen. The entire family was there, and we were whole again.
"Allen… how is this possible. We thought you were gone, sweetie," Clara said.
"It's a long story, Aunt Clara. But," he said, "it's one that I need to tell." Allen's voice changed to a more stable and severe tone. He looked behind him to the front porch of the Talbot residence. He motioned to an unfamiliar-looking girl. She had very dark skin and hair to match. Some hair had been pulled back into a few small braids that hung beside the rest of her loose hair. Her eyes looked cautious but happy. She walked over to us at Allen's request, nervously holding her hands together in front of her.
"Hello," the girl said to us all, slowly. A thick accent choked her words.
"Mom, Dad, this is Eloise. She's a werewolf… like Jane," Allen informed. "Her family was killed by the same pack that got me. Then, she was cursed to become a werewolf and join the same pack."
"You were cursed?" I asked. "How did they do that?"
"Oui…" she answered in French. "I mean… yes," she repeated in English.
"We don't know how exactly, but it wasn't any of the actual pack that did it to us," Allen's response was subtle but earthshattering.
"Us?" Eleanor asked, eyes wide and blank.
Allen was silent for a moment as he gazed at all of us with fear, "Yeah. I didn't die out on that hunt… I was cursed." He waited for our minds to finish racing before he continued. "I'm a werewolf now… Mom."
Eleanor was frozen like a rock. Her tears began to flow again before she grabbed Allen's arms in a panic, scared for him, "Allen, are you okay?" She worried.
"It's okay, Mom, really. I've been like this ever since I went missing from that hunt. Whoever it was that cursed me did it right after our hunt went bad. I've had enough time to adjust and learn how to live with it."
Eleanor cried for Allen. She didn't care that he was a werewolf; she just hated that he now had to live like that for the rest of his life. He wouldn't have a normal life or the close substitute that we lived with.
Eloise spoke up, "Allen saved me from the alpha many times. He's a good man." Her English was strained, but you could tell she was learning.
"Allen, how did this happen? Where have you been this whole time?" I asked.
"France, but we never stayed in one place too long; our pack was nomadic. Eloise and I, and a couple of others, tried to escape a few times. It was useless. When we could get away from the pack, they'd always find us. We'd never get far before they'd track and drag us back. The punishments for running were… severe," he almost winced as he remembered. "We just kind of gave up. We've been with the pack ever since."
"How did you get away?" Autumn asked. "Do you think they'll find you all the way here in America?"
"No. They're not coming…" Eloise softly spoke.
"They're all dead," Allen added.
Jane cut in, "What about the one that cursed you? Did they die too?"
"No, we don't know who they were, but we always knew that it wasn't anyone from our pack. It was someone else. Darry, our alpha, would make contact with them when he had taken someone as a prisoner to be turned. He'd do that from time to time when we lost someone, or he felt like the pack needed to be stronger."
"How did they do it?" Jane asked. She seemed very interested in the cursing process.
"We don't really know," Allen answered. "I was cursed after I had been attacked by the pack. I was barely alive when it happened. Once I was a werewolf, I healed from my injuries and never saw another ritual."
"Yes, I, too, do not remember. I was very young when it happened," Eloise answered apologetically.
I walked past everyone to Allen and pulled him in again, "It's okay, son. I don't care. You're still my son, and I love you. We're not going to lose you again… we've lost too many people." I started to get choked up as I remembered the day I got the call about Allen's hunt going bad. I remembered the way Eleanor looked on that couch when the lights faded from her eyes. We had been through hell, but now we had been given a gift. Nobody else needed to say it, but we were all on the same page. Allen was still Allen, and we'd protect him just like any other member of our family.
"So how'd you escape, Allen? What did you two do to get out of there?" Wayland asked, still trying to figure out the details.
Eloise and Allen looked at each other cautiously. Eloise tilted her head slightly, unsure of what to say. They looked like they were scared of something.
"We didn't do anything," Allen answered slowly. "It was something else. It killed everyone. When it was all over, there wasn't a single member of the pack left standing… except for us."
Jane jumped in, "What? How could something do that? What was it?" A small hint of fear for her own family piqued her curiosity.
"How did you get away, sweetie?" Eleanor asked next.
"We don't know what or who it was… but…" Allen looked like he was struggling to speak the words. He looked back at Eloise.
Eloise was afraid. Her jaw clenched in fear. She was shaking her head at Allen, begging him to stop.
"What is it?" I asked them both, seeing the fear in Allen now as well.
"Nothing… we don't know what it was," Allen cut me off bluntly. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it.
"But how did you get away when no one else did? Wayland asked. "How did you get back here?
"We had…" Allen struggled to find words. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk about specifics for some reason.
Eloise was gripping his arm tightly, trying to gain his attention.
"I can't talk about it… I'm sorry. I know you're all just trying to understand, but… I can't…" Allen admitted defeatedly.
"It's okay, sweety," Eleanor assured. "We don't have to talk about this right now."
Allen nodded nervously, visibly shaken by what was going on in his mind. I watched him reach back and grab Eloise's hand like he was trying to calm her down. They were both terrified. Something bad had happened to them over there.
"All that matters is you're hear now. Everything that happened, whatever you had to do, you got away. You're safe now," I assured them. "We can deal with anything else later."
After a while of reunions in the front yard of the Talbot property, we all went inside. I followed everyone in, but I lingered on the porch for a moment. I looked out into the blue sky above the trees, thankful for all that I had been gifted with. I took a moment to thank God for this miracle. Then, I prayed for the one person I knew needed it. We were here all together while Sam was out there somewhere… alone. I prayed for Sam to be okay.