AN: Nope, the characters are still not mine. And yup, I changed the title of the chapter yet again.

Warning: I wrote most of this chapter (maybe the last few pages)while listening to KC and Jo-Jo’s song “All My Life,” Usher’s “You Got It Bad,” Black street’s “Don’t Leave Me,” Voices of Theory’s “Heaven” (that song takes me waaaaaaaaaay back to when me and my boyfriend first had crushes on each other when we were 14 and in jr high!) and finally, Frankie J’s “Don’t Wanna Try.” May be sappy…

The Gift of Cursed Blood

Chapter 6: The Dream

 

Hilde pushed the heavy, oak door open and her eyes were immediately drawn to the woman in the middle of the room. There was a boy and a girl in the room with the woman and Hilde’s eyes widened when she saw it was Lucas and Claire. She ran towards them to try to get the woman away from them but realized she couldn’t move. She screamed at them to get away from this red haired woman who had kidnapped them. With great disappointment and sadness, she discovered that her children couldn’t hear her.

“Damn you! Let them go!” she screamed at the woman. “Give them back!” she yelled again and struggled to move. Her whole body was frozen to the spot. Her arms and legs wouldn’t budge no matter how much she struggled. She looked down to see if there was anything hindering her movements but found nothing. It was the only the woman’s power that was holding her in place.

How can someone be so powerful? I should be able to fight back. I’m not this weak.

Hilde tried yelling again but to no avail. She saw her children cower from the woman as she yelled something at them. With a sinking heart she realized that they couldn’t hear her either. With all her might, Hilde tried to move her limbs. She wouldn’t give up without a fight. If it was a fight this bitch wanted then a fight she was going to get. Hilde concentrated on getting her limbs loose of whatever was holding her in place. She saw the energy of the magic that was holding her in place but other than that she saw nothing.

Wait a minute…magic? Magic! This power isn’t natural! It has a source.

With renewed strength and determination, Hilde concentrated on the source of the energy that held her. She stopped suddenly when she heard the red haired woman‘s muffled speech. Her lips were moving but Hilde couldn’t hear what she was saying. Hilde tried her voice again but it’s still didn’t’ work. She was left there to try and read the lips of the redhead.

If she concentrated hard enough she knew she could catch some of what the woman was saying. It sounded muffled but she tried harder. She closed her eyes and tried to picture the exact same scene that was laid out before her.

The words the woman was speaking became clearer. Slowly, she began to understand what the woman was saying to her children. The voice seemed far away, surreal almost. It was very faint but very clear. It sounded as if the woman was speaking directly in her mind, as she had done back a the castle, rather than being in the same room with her.

I am Natasha, and you are to be my pupils. You will do everything I tell you.

But our mama teaches us everything! Why did you bring us here?

Hilde almost cried as she heard the voice of her son for the first time in days. She saw him take a hold of his twin sister’s hand and squeeze it lightly as if telling her everything was going to be okay and to let him handle speaking to the woman.

The woman laughed loudly and slapped the little boy.

You’re mother is probably dead by now. And if she isn’t, there is no way she can ever win. She doesn’t have the power that I do.

We don’t like you! You hit us!

Hilde’s heart broke at the desperation of her son’s voice. Oh God, the needed to get moving before this woman harmed her children!

Shut up! Only speak when I give my permission, you impudent child!

Hilde was going to kill this woman; she was going to pay for this! Suddenly, the woman’s voice became muffled again until Hilde could no longer hear her. She opened her eyes only to see that her body was moving backwards and away from the room in which the red haired woman called Natasha held her children.

“No!” she yelled, having regained her voice. “No!” she cried desperately. She struggled against the magic that was pulling at her but it was too much for her. She saw the woman’s mirror appear in front of her and realized she was no longer in the room with the woman. This was a different room. It was beautifully furnished. It was a fairly large room with a big, four-poster bed and a large window that led to a balcony. Across from the bed hung the intricate mirror she had seen the red haired woman look into.

Natasha.

The mirror pulsated with the same magic that radiated from the woman. The same magic which held her in that room. The dark energy surrounded the room but it seemed to concentrate in the mirror.

What the hell is this? Why am I here? Where…

*~*~*~*

Hilde bolted upright. She was breathing hard and her heart was beating like crazy. She put one hand to her chest and with the other she wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.

A dream.

She swung her legs off the bed and pushed herself off. The cold stone floor was freezing under her feet but she ignored it. She walked out of her room and down the hall. Without knocking, she entered Duo’s chambers. She hesitated when she approached the bed. From what she remembered about him he liked to sleep in his birthday suit and tonight was no different. All she could see was his chest but she was sure that under that sheet that was loosely draped across his hips, he wasn’t wearing anything underneath. Hilde licked her lips and gingerly climbed on the bed.

“Duo,” she said and shook his bare shoulders but he only stirred and turned on his side. She shook his shoulders again. “Duo wake up!”

“Hmmm?” He mumbled and turned over again.

Exasperated, Hilde pinched his left nipple and twisted.

He yelped and sat up instantly. “What the hell?” he screeched and turned on to Hilde. “Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my bedroom?”

“Shh! Shhh! It’s me, Hilde. Calm down!”

She saw him rub his nipple and he flopped back onto the bed on his back. “What are you doing here? You don’t--”

“No, I don’t, Duo. Get your mind out of the gutter,” she said dryly. “I had a dream about Lucas and Claire.” Hilde scooted closer to him on the bed so she could see him better in the dim light that came in through the window because of the full moon. She put her hands on his shoulders and forced him to sit up again.

He sighed but complied. “What was the dream about?”

“I was in Lord Dushuku’s castle, or I’m assuming I was there I don’t know, but there was this red haired woman with brown eyes and she was yelling at Claire and Lucas and she slapped him. Duo, I’m so worried about them,” she confessed.

He could hear the desperation in her voice and, not for the first time, wondered what feelings a mother harbored for her children. He wondered just how a woman could love her children so and he wondered if his mother had ever loved him with the intensity Hilde loved their children.

Hilde sniffled lightly and said, “We need to do something, Duo. She’s not a… she’s not like me, Duo. She’s a witch. She uses dark energy and her powers have a source. It’s all magic, Duo. Her control over the weather, her mind control, everything is magic Duo. It’s not natural.”

Duo didn’t say anything for a while. He just listened to Hilde’s sobs. A rainbow of emotions assailed him. He was angry, sad and depressed all at the same time. He couldn’t tell where one emotion began and the other ended. He, most of all, felt like crying. His children were lost, kidnapped, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Suddenly he turned to Hilde. “A red haired woman?”

Hilde wiped the tears from her eyes and nodded. “Her name is Natasha, I heard--”

Duo’s head snapped up and he looked at Hilde. “Natasha?” he asked.

“Yes, Natasha. Why?”

“Natasha… that’s the name of Dushuku’s daughter… it’s because of her that he’s been attacking us.”

Hilde was confused. “Did you--”

“No. I didn’t sleep with her. I refused to marry her.”

“She’s going to hurt them, Duo! She’s going to hurt them because you couldn’t marry her because we‘re still married!” she sobbed. She covered her face with her hands and cried harder. Her sobs made her body shake.

Duo didn’t hesitate one second. He forced her hands away from her face and he hugged her to him tightly. Hilde wrapped her arms around his shoulders and cried. He could feel her tears making his shoulder wet but he didn’t care. He caressed her short hair.

Damn, I’ve missed this Hilde. I’ve missed you so damn much.

Hilde dislodged herself from his arms and looked at him and studied him for a few seconds. You haven’t changed from the last time I saw you, Duo. You’re still as handsome as you were when you were seventeen. I’ve missed you, Duo.

“I… I want my babies back, Duo. We have to do something soon,” she whispered.