Fallen Ribbon Part 2 Sneak Peak
Sam
His thoughts traced back to his first meeting with Matt at the bequest of Naómi. It was the same day he received his guardian bracelet during the ceremony graduating new guardians. Michael approached Sam after the ceremony, congratulating him. “Sam, I have no doubt in my mind, you will do great things with the resources at your disposal. Now that you are a guardian, it is time for you to receive your assignment.”
“Already? Hasn’t it been only five minutes?” Sam laughed but gave Michael an odd look regardless.
“This is important. You know Naómi Hallow, correct?”
Sam had not only remembered Naómi, but he had befriended her two years previous, “Yes, I met her during my studies throughout my training. She was one of my professors.”
“Good. Come with me.” Michael smiled at Sam, wrapping an arm around his shoulder as they left the campus of Daron Academy.
A short drive later, to the far eastern side of Daron Forest in the Kensington Hills Estate, Michael brought Sam to the home of Naómi Hallow. He had never been to the Kensington Hills Estate before; it was where the majority of professors and noble families resided between the school years.
It was a beautiful cluster of homes surrounded by large redwood trees. Naómi’s home was one of the smallest by comparison to some of the mansion-like houses that Sam had been sure were home to some of the royal families such as the Victoires’ and Levingtons’.
When they had arrived at her front door, a faery greeted them, bringing Michael and Sam through to a cluttered dining room that had clearly been converted into a small library with wall-to-wall shelves. Sam and Michael sat waiting for maybe five minutes on a teal velvet loveseat before Naómi had entered the library from a set of white French doors. In her arms she carried a tiny bundle in a grey blanket that was a newborn baby. “Good evening, gentlemen.”
“Wow.” Sam stared in awe at the sight. “I never realized you were pregnant. Congratulations… How long has it been since I last saw you?”
“It’s been over a year since you were in my class. A lot has happened, but this isn’t my first child, to be perfectly honest.” Naómi smiled, tilting her newborn baby slightly for Sam to see. “His name is Nick Hallow.”
“I see.” Sam stared blankly at the soft sleeping face of the baby. “He’s not your first?”
“No, I have an older son, named Matt.” Naómi took a seat with her baby on a matching loveseat across from Sam and Michael. “Tell me, do you know anything about my family, the Hallows?”
“I don’t think so.” From that point, Naómi explained the family history of the Hallows and how they were descended from the first faeries and Kearan Hallow, the man who created the First King Essence. It was the first and only time Sam had ever heard the history of the Hallow family and he never forgot it. “So is my first assignment protecting you and your family?”
“No that is unnecessary, I don’t need the protection of vampires, thankfully. And my little baby will be mine to protect alone.” She gave a soft smile to her newborn as she ran a finger down his cheek. “It’s my son, Matt, who needs to be protected. I recently performed a spell to test his magical abilities, and as it turns out, he’s host to the First King Essence.”
“He holds the First King? How are you able to tell?”
“There’s a spell that Kearan Hallow wrote to test our family members for signs of the essence. It gets performed on each of us while we are young by the current matriarch of our family. As the only living female member of the Hallow family I am the only one capable of performing this spell. It is without a doubt, Matt who carries the First King Essence.” Still holding her baby, Naómi had gotten down on the floor on her knees in front of Sam, looking up at him with vulnerable eyes. To date, it was the only time Sam had ever seen her be vulnerable with him and ask for help.
“Sam, you are one of my only friends and the only vampire I trust. Please, protect my son with your life. Provide him with the love and guidance that I, myself, cannot provide him. Be his teacher, be his friend, but most importantly, please be his guardian and equip him with the tools he needs to harness this power when he’s ready.”
No one had ever pleaded before him in the nearly two centuries he had been alive until then. Naómi had been the first and Sam had no idea how to process it. When his graduation ceremony day had finally arrived, all Sam could think about was getting back to Lizzie. He had waited for the day he could be reunited with her for years and was told he had to travel to the Massachusetts State Coven to do so. The thought of protecting a child hadn’t crossed Sam’s mind of possible assignments he could’ve received. He’d thought his assignment would’ve been Lizzie. It seemed like the obvious choice.
Without a word, Naómi carefully stood up and passed her baby over to the faery standing by the white French doors of the library. “Please go and retrieve him.”
The faery nodded and disappeared through the white doors with the baby. A moment later the faery returned, holding hands with a toddler with dark hair and chocolate brown eyes just like his mother’s. Naómi stood at a distance, looking visibly uncomfortable but never taking her eyes off the child. Sam stood up quickly as the child and faery approached him cautiously. “Sam, this is my son, Matthew Hallow.”
