Immortal Bodies

Chapter 10-Aunt Tara's Secret

Annaliese looked at Riley and then at Dylan and back again. "So....I get that demons are real....But monsters? Vampires? Werewolves? All of it?"

Riley nodded. "And worlds."

"Worlds...." Annaliese trailed off, taking in a shaky breath. Ever since she was little, she'd never believed in anything like this. Nothing. No mermaids, no werewoves, no nothing...It was all just a myth.

But now she wasn't so sure.

"I turned last year," Dylan said into the silence. The three of them were in his room only a dim lamp lit, and the curtains pulled shut despite the night, having snuck past Uncle Ed, who was in his office, after the accident. "At least--someone turned me. It was awful..."

"And now you're dead?"

He nodded, chewing on his bottom lip. "Yup. And Riley sees demons."

"Which is why there's so many reasons that this doesn't make sense that you see demons. I mean, I started Seeing when I was really little, and you're Seeing at sixteen?" Riley said with a shiver.

"Why were those people trying to take me?" Annaliese asked, still shaking. Her throat was sore, as was her wrist and the back of her head.

"It wasn't those people," said Dylan. He and Riley exchanged a glance. "It's the Gatekeeper."

"The who? Why?"

"The Gatekeeper," Riley replied, "Keeper of the Immortal Bodies."

Annaliese pulled her knees up to her chest and sighed. "Please explain to me what that is before I scream."

"The Immortal Bodies are the harsh demons....They physically can't come into this world, thank God," explained Dylan, "and the Gatekeeper is the Gateway for the Immortal Bodies to come into this world."

"Why doesn't the Gatekeeper just open the Gate then? I mean, I figure he's evil and all since he wants to kill me and send demons into this world, but...."

Riley shifted. "He's forced to keep the Gate closed. He's Bound by the Laws. So my guess is that He needs you to Unbind him so he can send Immortal Bodies into this world."

Annaliese had a headache. She just wanted to crawl up under her covers and stay there forever, not deal with creepy Immortal Bodies and demons and vampires!

"How do you two know all this?"

Once again, Dylan and Riley exchanged that looked again, that look that suggested that something was wrong.

"Annaliese...." Dylan said timidly. That's how she knew it was going to be bad.

"What? What is it?" She asked eagerly. The weirder they acted the more she wanted to know. What was so awful that they had to act like this? What was making them so nervous?

"Aunt Tara." The way Dylan said it was shyly, almost as if he was afraid of her or something.

"Aunt Tara? What about her?" Annaliese's throat was starting to contract, making words difficult to come out.

Riley took a deep breath. "She told Dylan all of this. She...She turned Dylan--that's why Dylan bit her and got sent to rehab. He was angry--and after she explained everything...."

"She sent me to rehab," Dylan finished.

***

It was Monday that Annaliese finally had her strength back. Her final departure to Riley and Dylan both was that she'd talk to them about it on Monday morning and told them what they thought of all this.

Unfortunately, she didn't see either of them, so she went to her locker anyways.

"Okay, bitch, tell me where you were on Friday night beause Riley ditched me for you," an all-too familiar voice said.

Annaliese slammed her locker shut to see Christian's smirking face. He leaned on the lockers, crossing his arms. It seemed like his signatrure move or something!

"It's none of your buisness," she replied coolly. "I don't see why you care anyways."

"Riley ditched me, in case you haven't noticed," he said.

"Really? I'm not surprised," she shot back, clenching her fists. "I mean, considering how much of a friend you are."

"And how many boys did you sleep with that night?" Christian replied, eyes glittering with malice. "I mean, lets be honest, you and I both know that Isaac was looking for you and Dylan was too.

Tears suddenly stung the backs of her eyes. "Leave me alone, Christian."

Her phone buzzed, showing a text from Dylan:

At 7:42 A.M:

Meet us on the East Side hallway. It's deserted.

Annaliese knew the school well enough to know that the East Side hallway usually was deserted in the mornings, and knew that it was probably because that was the elective hallway, and no one had electives in the morning.

She turned away from Christian, long enough to hear his shout of, "Riley didn't start acting weird until you showed up!" and within five minutes made her way to the East Side hallway, where Riley and Christian were waiting.

The narrow hallway was nothing short of deserted, with doors aligning the narrow way until it led to an exit.

Annaliese sighed. "Okay, I want to be a part of this. I think there's no going back.'

"That's it?" said Dylan.

"That's it," Annaliese said. "As long as we keep it a secret."

"Well....That part is sort of already covered," said Riley, toying with her shirt.

"Well, since that's settled, I think I need to go apoligize to Isaac for Friday night, alright?"

Dylan and Riley nodded.

***

Christian pressed his back against the wall as Annaliese passed, just a flash of her clothes as she rounded the corner withought noticing him. He then focussed his attention to Dylan and Riley.

"You'd think that Seeing demons would rattle her," Riley said timidly.

"She's strong, like her dad," Dylan replied.

"Yeah, but demons? No one sees demons at sixteen. It usually starts when you're young."

Christian felt his blood go ice cold.

So Annaliese saw demons....

Well, he thought, Now I definitely know how to get rid of her....