Forgotten Hope: Four

Six months have passed since Zoe and Charles have gotten married.  All has been quiet in the hunting world, and so they've been able to be around Rachael a lot.  They've even got to celebrate Rachael turning a year old.

Babies grow up fast, and Rachael is developing at a normal pace according to all the books on babies Zoe has picked up in bookstores and online.  Zoe and Charles had watched Rachael make her first baby step; they've even watched her saying her first word.  Zoe caught it all on camera.  She figures one day, Rachael would want to know about her life as a baby.

Who doesn't want to know about their life from when they were babies?  It is an innocent time, and often when looking back at pictures, often most grow of awe when they see their baby selves.  Zoe and Charles can only hope that Rachael keeps the same looks, but it is also known for babies to not look anything like their adult selves.

Sometimes a baby can already have a grown up face.  And that's the face they live with for the rest of their lives.  But Zoe kept an eye on Anthony's family, and would often notice some of the daughters' faces would often change every five years or so.  This too does happen often, unless you're a Hollywood actress or something.  But for some reason, Zoe feels Rachael's looks won't change much.

For the time being, Rachael has fair skin and pink, rouge-like cheeks.  Her little full lips match the color of her cheeks as well.  She has dark blue eyes--though that can change in about another year or so--and dark, straight hair.  If Zoe didn't know any better, Rachael could actually pass for her biological daughter.

She shakes her head of these thoughts.  She tries not to be an over-thinker, but sometimes she can't control herself.  Charles tells her the same thing she remembers Anthony would tell her often.

"In time, your memories will come and when they do, you'll find you've been worried for nothing."

Zoe finds it amazing that after all these centuries--or in her case millenia--the speeches are still the same.  Perhaps they are right, she sighs.  She can't do anything more but to move on.

Moving on is a great idea.  It's so great that when Zoe got an alert about five minutes ago of suspicious behavior arising, she called up Harper to see if she would babysit Rachael for a bit.  Harper was delighted to help.

"I can't believe how big Rachael has gotten," Harper says.  "It feels like it was only yesterday you brought this little girl home."

"Yes, it does seem that way," Zoe replies.

Charles shows up into the living room where everyone is at, and looks over at Zoe.

"Ready?"

She nods and looks over at Rachael.  "I won't be long," she says as she kisses her head.

Zoe and Charles head out of the house.  They had both decided to hold off on hunting until Rachael becomes of age, but they just had one more mission to take care of.  They needed to find Rachael's biological parents, or better yet, they had to know more about her biological background.

When a human is born with a mutation, their blood type is different.  Not that anything should happen, but something could.  Those born of supernatural powers tend to be a bit stronger than the average human.  They also tend to heal a bit faster than the average human.  These are just excuses Zoe has come up with in her head to justify why she wants to find Rachael's biological parents.

The truth is--if Zoe allows herself to actually think about it--she wants to see if her birth parents are going to want to claim her, in which case they could.  Her parents would be supernatural as well, and they would be able to take her with no problem what's or ever.  Zoe is strong, but she often lacks confidence in herself.

There have been numerous times when she's been on a hunt, where she has been captured, and even left for dead.  She knows she can't die, but her captors don't know this.  The vampires smell her blood and have a taste, only to die hours later, writhing in pain.  She doesn't know how to cure them, or at least, she doesn't know of any antidote to heal them from her poisonous blood.

Usually within an hour a vampire has been poisoned, they set her free and beg for her to kill them.  She does what she only knows:  Cut off their heads and burn the bodies.  Because vampires heal within seconds, the head needs to keep separated from the body.  Burning the body to ash is necessary to ensure the creature doesn't come back to life.

Every thing is a weird process.  Zoe can kill just about any kind of creature but herself.  She's tried a number of times to kill herself, but nothing has happened.  She is definitely delusional to think she will ever die.  Earth is her hell, for what ever reason; it's up to her to make the most of it.

******

When Zoe first met Charles on that very day they found Rachael at the beach, Zoe noticed Charles also had police scanners located in his Florida room.

"You're a police officer," it came out sounding more of a question than a statement.

"It is the best way to find out any kind of strange activity going around," he replied.

Zoe looked down at the pup and found her transformed into a human baby girl.  "This must be her original form," said to herself mostly.

Charles turned around to look at her.  "It looks like my blood did the trick.  She's starting to heal."

Zoe looked down at the baby, and tried to concentrate on her.  She often finds if she meditates enough, she can catch a glimpse of the past.  She closed her eyes for a few moments, and then opened them to speak.

"Are you hungry, Rachael?"  She asked the baby as if a baby under a year were going to answer.

"How do you know her name is Rachael?"  Charles asked Zoe.

"Visions," she replied.

"Oh," was his only reply.  "Do you get visions all the time?"

"No," she answered.  "I have to meditate to get the visions.  Sometimes I have to meditate a long time to get them.  Other times, it just comes to me right away."



































Forgotten Hope, Chapter Four