Falling In Love With Slender Man

Chapter 33

--CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE--

The next few days that followed were full of planning. Sage was still too unstable to participate in most of it, and due to her new conflicting vampiric schedule, she was asleep most of the time while they were discussing what to do about Ellie and where to start looking for her.

Ash had told her they had searched the surrounding area thoroughly and nonstop the entire week that Sage had been “sleeping” for any trace of Ellie. They had come back with no leads at all. Ash believed that she wouldn’t have gone very far, that she would want to see the after effects of her revenge and watch as Sage’s death destroyed him.

Sage argued that she probably fled as far as possible. Ellie knew as well as Sage how heartless and murderous Ash could be. No way would she have stayed anywhere in his range of attack.

And still, three days later, they still hadn’t come up with a line of attack. Or even where to go, as a matter of fact.

Sage sighed and sat up in her bed—or rather Elijah’s bed. He’d been generous enough to give it over to Sage, even as he was trying to recover from the gunshot Ellie had given him the night the fight had happened. He didn’t even protest that Ash slept in there with her nearly every night.

A pang of guilt and regret shot through Sage. Even though she was a monster now, her humanity hadn’t been so far lost that she couldn’t feel normal human emotions. And Elijah was a large source of these awful feelings.

He was her biggest regret. She had slept with him, for a reason she wasn’t even quite sure. She knew that he loved her, because according to him that had some weird Hunter bond that meant they were destined to be together. Never in the Hunter’s history had someone rejected the bond, at least not until Sage.

She hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to Elijah since the night they’d spent together. As awful as it was, a few hours after they had done the most regrettable act, Ash had shown up outside and Sage couldn’t stop herself from throwing herself at him and Elijah happened to walk in on that, all thanks to that vindictive little bitch named Ellie.

And even after all that happened, even after she had used him, had taken his virginity all for the sake of her trying to forget the most evil man Elijah had ever known, after she had nearly gotten him killed—because yes, Ellie almost killing him was no one else’s fault but hers—he still didn’t question his love for her. He claimed he had waited his whole life for her, watching as everyone around him found the person of their dreams due to the Hunter bonds. He always figured he was just not worthy of love, not until he met Sage. And she did an awful job of being his soul mate.

If she could take it back, she would. She never would have slept with him. She never would have made him think that there was a chance they could be together. She knew the whole time, no matter what she had tried to tell herself, she knew that she would never be over Ash. She would always love him.

            Ash knew of what had happened between her and Elijah. She couldn’t hold it in, and even though he’s guessed what had happened between the two, she had to tell him. She spilled it out in gasping breaths and through large bursts of tears. And he didn’t even care.

            Sure, he was jealous and the fact she had betrayed him like that pissed him off more than anything else in the world ever had, he had controlled his anger and looked at things in a different light. He knew he had betrayed her too, not in the same sense that she had, but still an awful thing to do. And he understood why she did it, even if he only understood it a small bit. He realized he didn’t care about her past mistakes, he only cared that she was fully willing to be with him now, and he wanted to cherish the few weeks they had left together, even though Sage argued they would find Ellie and they would have eternity together.

            Honestly, Sage probably would have been a little better if at least one of them hated her. She couldn’t stand the fact that both of them forgave her for everything she put them. They should hate her, like she hated herself for it. But no, they both welcomed her with loving arms, though she only fell into one pair of those arms.

            These thoughts stirred in her head, a never-ending torture. It was better when Ash was with her, because he would make her forget how awful she was. But during the day, he was gone, off with the Hunter’s—they were actually working together and not trying to kill Ash, all thanks to Elijah begging and pleading that they could put aside their differences for the sake of saving Sage—and she was left alone in the evening after she awoke with nothing to do but think.

            As Sage came back from her thoughts, she looked at the little clock beside the bed. It was 7:30. The sun would be starting to go down and she would be free to leave and go where she wanted. Ash would also be back soon, along with the Hunters’.

            She stood up and stretched her arms, being careful to stay out of the small patch of sunlight filtering in through the closed curtains. She had learned the hard way how badly sunlight hurt a vampire. Out of curiosity one day, she had stuck her finger in the small space of light, and it had felt like hell had come to life on that small section of her skin. She never risked the sunlight touching her again.

            After showering and dressing and applying a little bit of makeup, the sun was nearly completely down. Ash and the others would be home soon, and she would be free of her spinning head.

             But before they arrived, a knock sounded at the door.

            With the sun gone and night beginning to fall, she could walk freely through the house and open the door with no worries.

            She was on high alert as she opened the door. No visitors came by, and the Hunter’s never got locked out.

            It was with surprise that a little human girl, no older than thirteen Sage would say if she had to guess, waited behind the door, illuminated by the light spilling out from inside the house. She was very plain looking, with dishwater brown hair and milky brown eyes. No features stood out on her.

            “Are you Sage?” the girl asked in a flat, toneless voice.

            “Who wants to know?” Sage replied with a bite in her voice.

            The girl held up her hands as though showing she had no weapons. “I’ve just been asked to give this to a blonde girl named sage,” she said, a small amount of fear coming through her emotionless voice. She held out a small envelope.

            Sage snatched it from her hands. “Go! Now,” she commanded of the little human. The girl promptly turned around and ran away. Ever since becoming a vampire, Sage had become a lot scarier, which was suddenly evident in the way the girl acted around her. Before, when she was just human Sage, she couldn’t even intimidate a kitten.

            She shut the door and locked it as she turned around and opened the little envelope. In elegant little script a note was written:

            Dearest Sage,

I hear you’ve been looking for me. I knew this was coming. Are you feeling weak yet? Is your skin starting to rot off the bone? If not it will be soon. I’m willing to strike a bargain with you. Meet me tomorrow night at midnight at Rushing Water Creek. I’ll be waiting on the little footbridge in the coverage of the trees. Come alone or you’ll die a lot sooner than you expected.

Much love,

Estrella