A Ripple In Time | Captain James Nicholls

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Come, Izabella. There is someone you must see." Izabella followed wordlessly and without hesitation but her mind was reeling with questions. Questions that needed answers but she knew that Adam would not tell should she ask. They both came to a halt before the doors that belonged to an empty guest room that had not been inhabited for years. "Izabella. I want you to know that I love you, very much, and should you ever need me all you must do is think of me and I will come." His eyes had gone soft but he did not smile, nor attempt to.

"Adam?" The vampiress knew by the words he spoke that he was leaving. He was leaving her and no longer would she have is constant presence as over the year she had from grown accustomed to having him around. His music, his terrible sense of humor, and decidedly pessimistic views that she loved to counter with her own. "You're leaving aren't you?" She questioned with a low tone, unable to keep the hint of sadness from creeping into her voice.

"Yes. I may stay with Eve for some time but I wish to see America again, their views may be gilded and false but for my theories and inventions I think it will be best." Izabella tugged on her bottom lip with her teeth, though not breaking the skin. Her arms were crossed over her chest, Adam knew she acted in such a manner because she was frustrated. With herself, with the world, with him. The vampire's smile was pained but he craned his head downward and kissed her forehead, for Belle though it would not suffice and she pulled him down so that they could share a tender goodbye kiss. Something that he could remember her by for the decades to come.

Adam motioned to the door when she returned to stand flat on her feet and he at his full stature and backed away only a step, allowing Izabella to push the decorated door open. The room was dark, the drapes pulled to and though the air seemed too stale to breathe comfortably. She stepped across the threshold upon seeing a lone figure lying on the bed. The vampiress swallowed the lump in her throat and moved closer to him, tears prematurely gathering in her eyes.

His hair was still dirtied to some degree and only a small amount of stubble had begun to grow on his jaw but it was him, it was him, without a doubt. "James?" She hated how weak her voice was, how it cracked and wobbled and how her hands had begun to tremble. He had died. His heart had stopped. The Captain's eyes flitted open at the soft exclamation of his name, though it was more of a question. His body was still changing, very slowly, but when he turned his head he was met with the sight of Izabella Brighton looking at him and he thought it to be the most heartbreaking thing he could ever see.

He died, he was dead. Her mind reminded her of the impossibility of the circumstances and now she truly did believe herself to be mad when he spoke her name. Only then did she want believe that he was real, he was alive but her mind was not convinced. Izabella's knees gave way, hitting the wooden floor below and her hands covered her face as she sobbed into them. Unsure on whether to be happy or angry.

James swung his legs off the bed and lowered himself to the floor, gathering the woman in his arms. Gently he pried her hands away so that he could see her face and the tears the streaked down her cheeks, complacently wiping them away with the pads of his thumbs. Her golden eyes met his and unable to look into the eyes that held the sea she turned away, pressing her face into his neck. "You died. You are dead. This cannot be real. It is only a dream." But his chest was solid and not an illusion and the feeling of his hand running through her hair was far too comforting for it to be only a dream and yet she still cried.

"But it is real, my darling Belle. It is." He cooed and pulled her closer into his chest on the wooden floor. The Captain wanted to thank Adam once more for giving him this second chance, the chance to live with Izabella, to love and cherish her until the end of all days and while he saw the dark figure from behind Belle when she first spoke his name when he looked back to the doorway this time, Adam was gone.