The Mate Deal

Chapter 24

It was crazy.  I’d never thought I’d be involved in something so… theatrical.  So serious.  If I messed up once, we were all screwed.  “What’s the plan,” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Renee said.  “What are things that can kill werewolves?”

“Someone tearing out our hearts, decapitation, and of course, your average fire,” Tyce informed her.

“Of course, we can’t be expected to produce a body,” Renee said thoughtfully.

“So that leaves the fire,” I frowned.  “But how…”

“I don’t know,” Matt said.  “Guys, do we really want to do this?  One thing goes wrong and we all pay.”  He looked at Renee, and I saw worry flash through his eyes, but then he looked to Tyce, and I knew Matt didn’t care what happened to him.

Matt and Renee.  I was the only thing keeping them apart.  And they deserved each other.  “I’m up for it, if we can figure out how to do it,” I spoke up.

Tyce looked at me, mouthing “You sure?”  I nodded.

“We do this, and you and I come back here-”

“No, Steph.  I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Tyce interrupted me.  “The pack wouldn’t let you back in, no matter what I say.”

I frowned.  “Then we’ll go away.  Maybe down south,” I joked.  No way was I going down south to the heat.

I looked at Matt.  “You guys will have to wait a while for the grieving.  And I don’t know how you’re going to convince everyone, but you have to convince them that you should be together.  And Matt, they have to believe you’re mourning.  Okay?  They have to believe you are dying because I’m gone.  Okay?”  They both nodded.

“So, what’s the plan?”

We pulled up to the Pizza Hut then, so Renee ran inside to get the family’s pizza and we stayed back and planned.  When Renee got back, Matt headed back to the King’s house.  We dropped off the pizzas and we said we were going to a movie, when really we were just going to sit in the car and talk about my imminent fake death.

“We could set her car on fire,” Matt suggested, but I winced.

“Not the baby!  You know how long it took me to get all the money I needed for that?  Not to mention I lost my job a few months ago.  If you want to give me five thousand dollars, by all means…”

“No,” Matt said, but after a moment’s thought he changed his mind.  “Well, let’s not close that for discussion later.”

I rolled my eyes and suggested “Barbeque gone wrong?”

“Maybe.  But that would be a little tricky.  Too many witnesses,” Tyce said.

“Burning building?”

“Too many victims,” Matt said.

“Not if it was an abandoned building,” I reminded him.

“Do you know of a good abandoned building?”  I knew Matt was expecting a no, but I looked at Tyce.

“What about Old Ms. Fanny’s old place?”

“It’s still there,” he told me.

“What,” Matt asked confused, so Renee filled him in.

“Old Ms. Fanny was a sweet old lady who lived a few blocks away from Steph’s old house.  She died when we were ten, and no one ever went into that house again.  There are rumors that it’s haunted.  No one even owns it.  Not since the small fire that started by itself five years ago.  The people who lived there made it out fine, though, but they had no idea how the fire started.”

Matt almost smiled.  “The ghost of Ms. Fanny, maybe?  So what if some tourists wanted to go see it for themselves, and got trapped inside during a fire started by the old witch herself?”

“Exactly,” I said smiling.

“When do we do it,” Stephanie asked.

Matt thought for a minute.  The whole situation was ludicrous.  Insane.  He nearly laughed at it all.  He was also a little saddened.  After this, he and Renee would probably never see Stephanie again.  However, he could live with saying goodbye to Tyce forever.

But he wanted to be with Renee.

“Not today.  We are going to need some time to say goodbye to you,” Matt said.  He looked over at Renee who was obviously realizing for the first time that it would probably be a more permanent goodbye than she’d thought.

Tears were flooding to her eyes.  “Oh,” she whimpered.  I put my hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down, which actually worked surprisingly well.  Renee stopped crying and looked at Stephanie.  “Tonight, we have to party.  Tomorrow you can die, but tonight we are saying our final goodbyes.”

Stephanie smiled sadly.  “I’m going to miss you guys, too.  But we can see each other again someday. I promise.  You know what, if all this works out, we’ll need a code so I can send you letters.  From tomorrow on, I’m going to be your aunt Ella.  If you get a letter from me, don’t let anyone see it.  Okay?”  It was a pretty insane idea in Matt’s opinion, but Renee laughed like there was an inside joke he was missing.

He made a mental note to ask about it later.

“And one day, your aunt Ella will get sick, and you’ll just have to come see her,” she added.

“Okay,” Renee said, now smiling hopefully.  Matt realized how much Renee must hate this.  In the past week, her whole life has changed in ways she’d never expected.  She discovered that werewolves and vampires are real, and now she was losing her best friend because of this big mess that they made.

Tyce was being quiet, something Matt would not complain about.  He hated him for hurting Stephanie and basically just being an all around idiot all the time.  He didn’t exactly understand why Stephanie was suddenly forgiving him, but he understood what the mate bond felt like.  It was a strong pull, and he knew no matter what, he would never not love Renee.

But that didn’t mean he had to like Tyce.  But still, it didn’t matter.

“So where will you go,” he asked the two.

Tyce shrugged.  “Wherever she wants, I guess.”

Stephanie smiled.  “Renee, where do you think dear Aunt Ella would most likely live?”

Renee smiled and giggled a little bit.  “Somewhere no one ever thinks about.  Ohio or Idaho.  Something like that.”

“Then that’s basically where we’ll go.”

[A/N: short, I know.  So, I have a question for you guys; would you rather I finish in a couple chapters and write a sequel, or make this a few chapters long and finish the story with an epilogue?  I will not upload again until I get at least one answer!  Please vote and comment!]