Chapter 3

He was arguing with a beautiful blond girl. He had tears in his eyes and was shouting at her. His mushroom cut blond hair fell over his eyes which were the brightest blue she had ever seen. He was very tall, with a muscular build and good balance.

"Mandy, why do you do this to me every single time?" he shouted at the blond girl. She had a very beautiful face, with big brownish-hazel eyes and was well proportioned all around. Yet, it looked like she was causing the man an incredible amount of pain.

"I don't know, Nick! There's more than one reason, let's see......one, you're fat as a whale, two, you have no talent whatsoever. Three, you're ugly as hell, four, you haven't bought me anything within the past four days , five, you haven't received your paycheck in at least a week and a half and six, you haven't gotten me that record deal at MGM like you promised me you would." Mandy sneered.

Nick's handsome face fell and an expression of intense hurt came over his features. "Mandy, please! I try to maintain my weight even though sometimes I just need to eat, I have considered getting plastic surgery, I'm taking more vocal improvement lessons, I intended to give you that 15 karat diamond necklace today, I received my paycheck yesterday and the record manager at MGM wants to hear your demo!!" he pleaded, love apparent in his eyes.

Mandy huffed. "Sorry Nick, but all that's just not good enough. but I suppose I can stay at your folks' house until you get me that record deal." she said with an evil looking grin on her face. Nick looked relieved. But behind him, Johanna was just about to lose control. Could not this man see that his woman was using him? How could any man be so blind? Was this love then? A one-sided emotion that made one so insensible that he would do anything for a woman who didn't love him back? She snorted. This was just insane in her books, and she would not allow this farce of a discussion to continue for one second longer.

Johanna cleared her throat loudly. Both parties turned around and stared at her in surprise. Johanna only smiled and walked up to the handsome man, her beloved. She felt jolted suddenly. Aye, she loved him, this Nick. And she would do anything and everything in her power to keep him safe from harm. She looked up at Nick with all the love that she felt for him clearly visible in her eyes. Nick's eyes widened with shock and then looked from Johanna to Mandy and back again. He suddenly realized that Mandy didn't love him and that she was taking advantage of him.

"Get out you greedy grasping bitch!" he bellowed at Mandy and pointed a finger out the door. Mandy's face was a total expression of shock as she realized that her plan to live off of Nick for the rest of his life had been foiled. She marched right out the door, nose in the air and without a backward glance left Nick's estate.

When he was sure she was gone, his gaze swung back to Johanna. She smiled brightly at him. "I couldn't stand seeing her try and use you for one more instant. I fear that I love you far too much to simply stand back and let her do that." Johanna said, looking steadily up into his burning gaze. He came to her, and his eyes narrowed in thought as he inspected her. "I know you," he said softly. "You're the girl from my dreams...the girl who....my God." he said as he looked at her clothing.

"But I saw him kill you!" he exclaimed as tears came to his eyes again. Johanna nodded sadly. "Aye, he did. I was only leaving because I couldn't stand his cruelty anymore. He was cruel to all of us, to me, my cousin Claire, my little half brothers Richard who also died, Hugh and Warren and even to my late mother. He cared for no one but himself." she said as tears came to her eyes as well.

"My little brother was only twelve years old and my cousin fifteen. They should have lived, and because of my insolence, they did not. I fear I am to blame for their deaths." she said sadly as she bowed her head and let the tears run freely. She felt his arms come around her and she leaned her head back and closed her eyes as she leaned her body carefully back into his embrace. "It's not your fault, babe. There was nothing you could've done." he told her gently as he held her. She turned around keeping herself in his embrace and touched his face with her hand.

"Yes, there was something I could have done. I could have stood up to that bastard and killed him. I know it may be called murder in this era, but in my time it would have been look upon as a good riddance for a very bad man. The world would have thought itself well rid of him if they'd even known a fraction of the things he did to us." she said, cringing at the memories of the torture geoffrey had inflicted upon her.

Nick looked her over. "What did he do to you?" he asked her cautiously. She smiled bitterly. "He used to use the horsewhip on us...not hard enough to break the skin or leave bruises but hard enough to leave a searing pain. He used the branding iron on Hugh and Warren and had once threatened me with it. He'd tried to cut my cousin's wrists as she slept and he killed my mother." she said in a bitter tone.

Nick was about to put his arms around her when suddenly Mandy came back in, carrying a loaded gun. "So long, sucker!" she yelled at him before aiming the gun at Nick's heart and shooting. Johanna screamed and Nick felt lifelessly to the floor. She held him to her chest, tears streaming down her face. His own face was contorted in extreme pain. "It wasn't supposed to be this way! I love you too much to leave you!" he exclaimed hoarsely. Johanna bent her flaming head and kissed his lips gently. "My love for you knows not the bounds of time. I shall love you forever, my own love." she murmured softly so that only he could hear.

Nick's face turned into an expression of sheer joy and contentment. "Then we shall be together someday, you and I." he told her in a barely audible whisper. Johanna nodded vigorously. "But if only we could free eachother from our gilded cages of misery....then we could really be together." she said sadly. His hand convulsed as it gripped hers tightly. "We'll find a way, sweetheart. But until then, i love you more than my own life." he said almost inaudbly. Johanna let the tears run freely now. "And I shall love you always." she said just before he smiled at her one last time and closed his eyes forever to the world.

Johanna began to sob uncontrollably, the force of them wracked her entire body. She threw back her pretty head and let out all the grief she was feeling. "Nooooooooooo!" she bellowed before bowing her head, taking her beloved's corpse into her arms and beginning to sob anew. Most people who had known her in her lifetime had thought that she had been the strongest girl they'd ever seen or known. But this was completely untrue. That was only a mask she wore on the outside to deter attention from herself. But inside, she was dying with her grief.

Johanna woke with a start. Her body was soaked with perspiration and a multitude of unshed tears yet clouded her vision. They ran down her face at once as she remembered the terrible dream. But this one had been a breakthrough...in this one she had been able to talk and interact with him, and it had been the most sheerly gatifying experience of her life. If only the living man could free her from Limbo...freed her so that she could stay by his side and love him for the rest of their days together.

Being an inhabitant of Limbo, she had the ability to change into human and inhuman forms. She could change herself into a mortal, but her powers in that field were new and virtually untested as of yet, so she had to be careful. But just knowing that Nick was there somewhere close to Falkirk Castle made her decision worth making. She waved her hands around in three giant circles around her body and said "As the sun shines in the sky and as God lives in Heaven, Let me become a mortal for as long as possible so that I may gain my love and be a free woman once again!".

Her transparent form immediately became solid, and she flexed an unflexed her fingers and toes in wonder. She jumped up and down and turned her arms around in great arcs. She was human. More importantly, she was in a form that Nick would recognize her in and not think she was a ghost.....which she sort of was, but for her it cut both ways. She was half ghost and half human. But if Nick freed her, they would be free to love eachother in every sense of the word and she would become fully human, alive.



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