Chapter 30

Trisha’s P.O.V

My heart leapt up to my throat. “What happened to Neema?”

“He was playing with his toys and then suddenly, he just fell to the floor quivering, like he was having seizures!” Aiden cried. “I swear we didn’t hurt him…he just…”

I felt a wave of relief wash over me even though the panic didn’t subside. “I know, Aiden. I know you and Mark would never hurt him. Tell me, where is he now?”

“Mark took him to Dylan,” Aiden pointed down the hallway with his hand and I took off running towards the infirmary with Lucas hot on my heels.

When we reached the infirmary, Dylan was trying to stabilize Neema. But as expected, he seemed to be utterly lost at what was happening to him. He looked up as soon as he saw us enter and immediately, he went over to Lucas.

“Alpha, I don’t know what’s wrong with the boy. His vitals are all fine but he’s gone into seizure.” Dylan told Lucas, grabbing onto him with trembling hands. “I don’t know what to do, Lucas! He’s too young!”

“Dylan!” I grabbed onto his shoulders and gave them a firm shake. “Calm down. He’ll be fine, but I need to be alone with Neema.”

“But…” he gave me a helpless look. “How can I leave him like this?”

“You’ll have. Just trust me on this.” I urged him on and he finally nodded his head and left the room with one last look at Neema.

“Lucas?” I asked him when he didn’t move.

“I can’t.” He shook his head, his eyes tainted on Neema’s jerking body. “I just can’t leave when he’s hurting.”

“Fine!” I snapped, rushing over to Neema since I’d already wasted a lot of time. “But stay out of my way.”

I held Neema down with all my strength, making sure he didn’t hurt himself while the visions subsided. It was necessary to bring him back sometimes, when the vision was too strong in intensity. He’d gotten out of several ones himself, but this one seemed to be one of the difficult ones.

“Neema!” I called out with my lips right next to his ear. “Can you hear my voice?”

I repeated the question a few more times while he thrashed around, but then, suddenly, his thrashing ended and he opened his eyes. They were obsidian. No pupil, no iris. His entire eye was pitch black. I immediately loosened my hold on him to prevent crushing his bones. While going through a vision, he could sometimes get strong enough to overpower me, but when the visions subsided, he was just a regular six year old boy with fragile bones and a soft heart.

“Neema?” I asked again, this time louder.

Neema nodded his head. It was a very slight movement, but it wasn’t hard to notice with him lying so still. “Okay, now focus on my voice.” I urged him. “Listen to what I’m saying, Neema. Focus. Are you listening? Good. Now come back to me.”

Neema blinked. Once. Twice. And then the obsidian vanished between one blink and the next and I was able to see the beautiful blue of his eyes once again. “Trisha?” He whispered softly before closing his eyes and dozing off.

He won’t be asleep for long but it’ll take a few minutes for him to get his normal senses back. The visions he sees are getting stronger by the day and they always lead to something dangerous. Just like he’d seen me trip and fall down a flight of stairs, a week before the actual incident had happened. At the time I hadn’t believed how I would be clumsy enough for that to happen, but exactly a week later, I was walking down the stairs and two vampire cops had taken a warlock under custody for trying to kill another vampire; in the midst of trying to get free from the cops, he shot out a spell that had accidentally hit me in the back, causing me to lose my balance and fall down. Since then, I’d never doubted Neema’s predictions.

“What just happened?” Lucas asked in a shaky voice as I used my handkerchief to wipe away the sweat from Neema’s forehead.

Since I couldn’t delay the inevitable any further, I took out the letter that Vandal had written about Neema and showed it to him. As expected, Lucas gave me a puzzled look, his face still drained of color after seeing Neema in pain, so I told him the truth. The truth that I had been hiding for so long. The truth that Neema himself had entrusted to me.

“The letter is written in a code. Vandal is referring to tracking down Neema’s predecessors, his forefathers.” I told him. “You see Lucas, I didn’t find Neema by coincidence, Neema found his way to me. Although I’m still surprised at the honor I’d been bestowed upon, I will never let any harm come to him, ever. Because Neema isn’t an ordinary mortal, he’s an Oracle of the Lord. He’s a prophet born on Earth to convey Gods message, to build a supreme empire where every being can live in peace.”

Lucas listened to my explanation intently, without questions, so I continued on. “Unfortunately, Oracles are born every thousand years and live up to two hundred years before they perish. But Vandal had been able to trace down Neema’s predecessors somehow and he’s killed his parents so that he could manipulate him into doing his bidding. Oracles are very powerful, and it’s said that if you’re ever blessed by an Oracle’s presence, they can help you attain greater heights. I’m pretty sure Vandal’s intentions were less than pure and even as an infant, Neema felt it. So he found me, because he knew I’d do anything to keep him safe.”

I looked at Lucas expectantly, waiting for his reaction. He took a while to absorb everything before he ran his hands down his face and turned his topaz eyes on me. “I always got this feeling that Neema was extraordinary. After all, what child survives Vandal’s torture and still has a smile that innocent.” He shook his head. “But never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that Neema could be a Prophet…an Oracle. My God! How can a child be an Oracle, Trisha? He’s so little…”

We both looked at Neema’s frail body sleeping peacefully on top of the infirmary bed. Indeed, he looked like any ordinary child would at his age. But the frailness of his body had a power so strong that it could make or break any empire. And Vandal wanted him, at any cost. He didn’t care what happened to the child’s body or mind; he simply cared for his powers.

“Neema just had a vision.” I told Lucas. “He saw something in the future. Usually, he’s able to wake himself up from them, unless the vision is very strong. This one seemed to be longer than anyone I’d seen him have. It makes me worried about what he saw, Lucas. Longer visions of this intensity aren’t really a good sign.”

“And how di-“

“Trisha!” Neema’s strangled scream had both me and Lucas rushing to his side.

“Neema? Honey, tell me what’s wrong?” I weaved my fingers through his hair as he blinked his eyes several time, trying to wake himself up. “Easy…easy.”

“Fire!” He moaned. “Damien…fire…kill!”

His words came out in fragments, but there was no way I’d mistake them for anything else. Damien was in danger!

“When?” I asked urgently. “Can you tell me when it’s going to happen?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Sorry.”

“Oh, honey! It’s alright.” I placed a tender kiss to his forehead. “Rest now.”

Lucas handed me a glass of water and I fed it to Neema. After he’d drunk his fill, he immediately passed out once again and I knew this one was going to be a longer nap. So, I picked him up in my arms and began heading to my room. Lucas opened the door for me and we found Dylan, Mark, Aiden and several other wolves waiting outside to get an update on Neema.

“He’s fine now. I’m taking him to my room.” I informed everyone as I made my way through the crowd.

Once inside my room, I told Lucas to wait outside as I took Neema to the bathroom and wiped his face off with a damp towel. His clothes had soaked through with perspiration so I changed his clothes and brushed out his hair and then brought him out into the bedroom and laid him down on the bed.

“He’ll be asleep for a few hours, so don’t worry if he sleeps through the night.” I told Lucas. “I’m trusting you with Neema, Lucas. Please don’t let me down.”

“Why?” Lucas frowned. “Why do you sound like you’re leaving? Wait…” his eyes widened when he realized what I was about to do.

“I’ll check in on him soon enough.” I promised. “But right now, I need to get to Damien.”