SEDUCTIVE PREY

THE WAY MY ARACHNOPHOBIA IS SET UP

One where my mother and brother are dead, and my baby sister has turned herself into a walking corpse.

My eyes flutter open, but there's ringing in my ears that grows louder and shriller by the second. Forcing me to clasp my hands to my head. It's followed by an overwhelming feeling of nausea that goes from zero to one hundred in the span of a second, and I projectile vomit blood straight into the air.

It hovers in the air for a moment before gravity takes effect, and it comes back down.

Smacking me in the face. Which... ew.

The ringing subsides, and so does the nausea. Making it easier for me to sit up. Unlike the place I just came from, the room I'm in is pitch black and there's a mesh fabric covering me from head to toe.

That's when it hits me... I'm in a morgue.

Wtf?

Pulling the mesh covering off me, I use my hands to search for a light switch. Only, what I find are dusty old bricks, a cold draft that smells like rotting dead bodies, and... spiders?

Squealing, I close my eyes and wink myself to safety. Which, oddly enough, ends up being my bedroom at my parent's house.

At least there are no spiders here.

I think.

Because the way my arachnophobia is setup, I'm liable to just torch the place and call it a loss.

Movement downstairs captures my attention and I tiptoe to the bottom of the stairs to see who it is. If it's an intruder, he has broken into the wrong house. But as I round a corner, I'm saddened to find my dad clutching a picture of my mom with a bottle of alcohol spilled on the floor in front of him.

He's drinking himself to death.

All this time I've been so caught up on finding Kyle's killer that I never once thought to check on my dad. Now him making me responsible for Lexie makes sense. He doesn't want her there to see him like this.

Picking up the bottle of alcohol, I pour it down the kitchen sink. Then I clean up the spill on the floor. On the coffee table I place a bottle of water, a bottle of aspirin, and a note that says 'Take this when you wake up. Also, we need to talk. Love Alison'. Then I close my eyes, imagine my room at GA, and a moment later I'm standing at the foot of my bed.

Everything is as I remember it, but I get the feeling I'm missing something.

Something important.

I leave my room to go across the hall to find Eden and knock on her door, but there's no answer. Lucas' room is next, followed by Ethan's, but they're nowhere to be found. Confused, I make my way to Sybil's office. And when I open the door, her mouth drops open as if she's seen a ghost. Which... this is GA. So, you never know.

"Ali?" She asks.

"Who else would I be?" I frown.

"Is it really you? I can't take any more jokes."

"Yes. Its me. Do you know where my friends are? I can't find them."

"Alison," she approaches me like she's afraid to startle me. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Sinking deep in thought I realize I don't remember anything beyond waking up in what I'm pretty sure was some sort of coffin.

"Someone put me in a coffin."

"Dear God." She gasps. Reaching for her phone and tapping on the screen. She pulls up a picture of a house and holds her phone out for me to see. "Close your eyes and imagine this place. Go there... now."

"Okay."

Humoring her, I close my eyes, envision the lace on her phone, and when I open my eyes, I'm there. Thankfully, so are my friends. Though, they're all staring at me like they've seen a ghost too.

"Ali-Cat?" Lucas is the first to speak.

"Stop calling me that." I bark at him.

"Yep. It's her ass alright." Victor scoffs.

"Why are you all staring at me like you've lost your best friend?"

"Bitch, because you died," Victor is the only one to offer up an explanation. "Two weeks ago."

Um... what?

"Is that a joke?"

"It's not." Eden confirms. Tears in her eyes. "We thought... we thought we lost you."

She collides into me, wrapping me in her arms while she cries full on tears.

"You don't remember, do you?" Lucas asks.

"Remember what?" I frown.

Why are they all acting so weird?

"Allow me to show you." Ethan offers. Extending his hand to me.

Reluctantly, I give him my hand and he places the palm of it against his heart. Feeding me memory after memory of what happened.

How I came to rescue him.

How I fight witches to get to him.

And how I gave up my life so he might live.

Which... holy shit... I died.

Now all the stunned faces makes since. It felt like I'd only been in between life and death for a moment, but apparently I was there for two weeks.

Quickly now, everything comes back to me.

Sliding into place like a puzzle piece.

I slowly meet Ethan's gaze, and he looks away, finding the floor more interesting than me. That's when I remember that not only did I save him, but I saved Zara too. And considering they're married he must be worried sick about her.

"Zara," I ask no one in particular. "How is she?"

"We're working on that." Tristan tells me.

"Have you found the Lycan who bit her?"

"No." Ethan shakes his head.

"Well, how much time does she have?"

Shoving his hands in his pocket, he sighs and says, "None."