Mentor

It’s more than two decades before Ngozi returns home to stay and she does so with a heavy heart. Richard has become a fine man and is now married, but she knows he is also troubled by dark urges and visions. In her time away she discovered the depths of the thirst that afflicted me and the strength of her own lingering humanity. She is now far from human and yet she accomplishes something that none of my kind seems capable of…she defies the thirst.

We care deeply for each other but when I am with her I am consumed by guilt and I am saddened by seeing something so strong choosing to wither when it could so easily flourish. Her stubborn resolve and love for her son is inspiring and enviable. In her eyes I still see the young woman who held so much promise as a child and I only hope she can as well.

She reaches out to me and surprises me by opening up about Richard and what she wants for him and her concerns about what he may be or might become. She has always held on to the good she saw in me and now, reluctantly, she seems to be preparing me for a role in Richard’s life. Those innocent eyes implore me.

“He’s not quite like you or me.” She says. “Whatever it is, perhaps he can use it for some good.” She needs to believe that he is not damned and so do I. “He is coming to visit with his wife.” She says, and I understand what she intends. She was tired of carrying the secrets and the guilt. He was already part of a world he didn’t know existed and now it was time to tell Richard about his blood and mine.