Bedburg Hills

102

"Will you fight with me?" he appeared out of no where, "will you?"

"Will I fight you?" I repeated, "no. No I will not fight you. Come on."

"I need you to," he stepped closer to me, "please." I stuck to my answer, shaking my head no. "Esme please!" he yelled. He hasn't ever raised his voice at me, towards me, nothing.

"I am not hurting you," I shook my head, "maybe you feel you deserve that pain because of what happened to Grace but you don't. Okay? You don't!" I stepped closer to him. His face was bright red, his veins were popping from his neck and arms as his eyes stayed full of tears. "You don't deserve that pain," I grabbed his hand and pulled him to me before wrapping my arms around him firmly, "baby you don't deserve anything."

"I'm sorry," he started to cry again. I felt horrible. I've never seen him cry, never known him to and since she passed... I feel like when I see him, I see nothing but sadness. "I didn't mean to yell at you," he shook his head, "I'm so sorry Esme. I'm sorry. I-"

"It's okay," I kissed the side of his head, "everything's okay. Just... please can we go home? Please? Nothing is going to get better out here."

"I want to go see her," he said, "I want to go sit by where I buried her." I nodded my head as I looked into his eyes.

"Okay," I continued, "okay we can go."

"You don't have to," he sighed while looking at the ground, "I don't want you to feel like you have to."

"No," I shook my head, "no it's okay. Really, it's okay. Come on, we'll go." He started that way. I felt so bad for him... what can I do? There's a happiness spell I could use. No, I probably shouldn't use that, the damage it could do once it wares off may be far worse.

"Stop," he stuck his hand out suddenly, "you hear that?" I listened closer with him and heard the breathing of a deer about a mile ahead. He looked at me and when I nodded he shifted, I did the same. It felt good to be a wolf again. The two of us took off running after it and within a few seconds we were stalking him on the hillside.

"Go that way," he linked with me, "we can go from either side."

"Lets be honest," I looked at him, "all it takes is one jump from you. That's all you need. I'll head over there." He nodded his head one time and I started to the other side of the buck. I watched him lunge forward and like I said, all he needed was one jump. I heard its neck break as he sank his teeth into its neck. I shifted and walked over to him, setting my hand on his head. "Alright you ready?" I smiled. He nodded his head again and I started running to where her grave was. He followed alongside me and before long we slowed down and came to a stop. He dropped the dear and shifted back into a human, walking over and sitting down in front of the cross he had woven out of sticks. He sat in silence with his eyes shut and his head bent on his hands. I listened to his heartbeat racing in his chest.

I set my hand on his shoulder, slowly moving my thumb back and forth. I knelt down and pressed my lips to the top of his head. He sat up straight, wiping his eyes and then standing. He turned around and started walking away without a word.

"Babe?" I asked him while grabbing the deer, "Justin, hold on." I ran to catch up with him and when I saw him all I saw was defeat. We made our way back in silence and when we got there and opened the back door, I was surprised to see shopping bags scattered around the living room.

"Why would you do that!" I suddenly heard Kira yelling from downstairs. I started running towards the basement door, listening as I made my way, "you let them kill them!" I ran down the stairs to see Jace pinned against the wall and Kira was choking Cassie. "I loved them and they're dead!" She screamed. Her face was bright red and her cheeks stained with tears, "you didn't help me! You didn't help anybody!"