Chapter Seventeen

Chapter 18

(note, part 17 is from Seth’s point of view)

Just for today—just for these few moments, I am human.

Yes, yes, I know. I shouldn't be bobbing my head to this music. I shouldn't be feeling the heat radiating from the bodies dancing all around me. I shouldn't be so close to darling little Aralynne, watching her movements from the corner of my eye as I moved as the beat commanded.

Yet here I am, and here we are, my dear.

She had swept into the room like a dazzling woman, much like how she whirled into my life—like a storm that upended your mind and left you without a clue as to what was right or left. It did not look as if she applied makeup. It looked as if it was always there, naturally alluring on her skin. Lights refracted from her sequined top and shattered colors on the wall. Freshly sheared hair tossed and turned, emotions rolling off her essence in waves so strongly, I could taste them cleanly in my mouth. She was refreshing, like sugared lemonade.

My eyes burned. The ceiling was suddenly too low. I was losing my mind.

In the middle of this obnoxiously loud song,  she noticed that I had stopped dancing.

"Something wrong, Seth?" she yelled, though her voice was far from concerned. In fact, she was grinning with adrenaline. Was that a flash of triumph I saw in her smile?

Smoothly pulling her hand to my lips, I laid a soft kiss above her knuckles. I looked up, dark eyes unfathomed by the glaring dance floor lights. She blinked in surprise, withdrawing her hand.

"I do apologize, love," I lulled in a suave voice; somehow clear to her in this teenage-chaos. "Excuse me for a moment."

Without waiting for a reply, I ducked around the football brute behind me and slipped my way out of the crowd. My head was spinning dizzy by the time I reached the front door, and it worsened when I stumbled outside. Drunken, not knowing what was intoxicating me so; I managed to drag myself into the shadows of Aiden's giant house and fall to the sweet grass, leaning hard against the wall. The pulse of the music was sickeningly muffled, making my head pound with every beat.

What was going on? I stared numbly at fifteen fingers. Everything was swirling with color.

At last, my vision finally failed me and my conscious plunged into merciful darkness.

~~~~~~~~~

I was in a dream. Wait, no. A memory.

A few hundred years ago, when people earned a dime a day, girls wore sturdy dresses for milking cows, and families lived under thatched roofs.

There was no one but her, the little boy, and me.

Oh heart, how I would sneak glances at her silken, night-cotton hair and wish her starry eyes upon me. I would always wonder if young men always found themselves thinking of her favorite flowers or what her and her child-patron would think of going next…

…or how would it feel to receive orders to kill her.

Before, when I was ignorant to these heated feelings, my mind could not understand why my heart pained me every minute I see the boy she was protecting. No mortal was more important than the mission. It was hell, living these two lives, but Master assured me that I would be safer with him- that, though my betrayal would hurt her, that she would get over it. He promised me immortality...how can I give that up?

Besides, by turning against her, I can keep Death away from her, I could distract him or drag out the missions, making sure she gets enough warning to fight back so I wouldn’t have to end her life. If anyone else took the place of Death’s right hand man, there would be no guarantee that she will get to live her life to the fullest. I could try to prevent more pain and tears. I could hurt her, to save her.

"Why are you staring at me, Seth?" she asked suspiciously. "Ed hasn't marked my face, has he?"

I quickly (almost too quickly) gave her a reassuring grin. "You were a tad bit pale for a vampire. Have you been listening to the things I've been teaching you at all? I shan't be a good tutor for you if you don't listen to what I say."

If blood still ran through her veins, she would have blushed.

"Of course I've been listening," she snapped. "You do nothing but talk from dawn to dusk."

Thoroughly offended, she stomped off to check on the patron she was solely responsible to keep safe—a small boy-child of 11 years she called Ed. Though she had barely a trace of respect for kind, she has vowed to use her powers for good. She and the boy were very close, thinking of the other as the sibling they had always dreamed for.

She had been turned into a vampire quite recently. I just happened to be passing by when I heard rumors of a bloodsucker that has changed their ways in the area. That's how I came to be her mentor in vampirism—her teacher, helping her keep her urges under control, hiding her true nature while seeking her help to form an organization that will protect humankind.

At least, that was the mask everyone had come to accept. And even beneath the skin, everything went wrong.

The sickest thing? I still remember her smile. I miss it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes opened, the ground still spinning but not as nauseating. Lights from the party still emanated rainbows from the inside. The nap did nothing to quiet my heart. Missing someone is your heart's way of reminding you that you love them, as some distant memory said to me.

I clenched my fist, accepting the painful truth for a second time.

It takes a just a moment to say hello, Aralynne darling, but forever to say goodbye. And though I'd rather you never know, I can never say goodbye to you.