"Are you sure she... I mean, are you sure I will be ok?" I said nervously.
"Yes, they are good people. They will look after you," Carter smiled as we watched five-year-old me play in the backyard of her new adoptive parents.
"Thank you," I said, wiping a tear from my eye as I watched a happy Ebony play with a golden retriever in the sunshine.
"No, thank you for stopping the monster inside me, I shouldn't have hurt you like that. I don't want to become the monster ever again," he looked away from me and cleared his throat as he ran his fingers through his dark hair.
"It's taken a long time for me to come to terms with all of this Carter, and we have had this discussion more times than I care to remember, but I will tell you the same thing I always tell. I will never forgive or forget what you put me through. I can't, and I won't, but I do understand that the creature that hurt me is not you. You are not a monster, and you spend the rest of your life proving that. This moment in both our lives changed us forever and for a good reason. We were meant to be at this moment right now together. It's a little crazy considering Vinnie and Callan opened up this portal, but I understand it now. We needed this time together to set things into motion for our next attack."
"I'm glad you do because I'm completely confused at all of this. I have no idea who or what you are, but I know I can trust you, and I have this constant urge to rip your clothes off with my teeth."
I blushed instantly. Carter was still the only man who could make me feel like this.
"I'm sorry, that was inappropriate, wasn't it?"
"It's ok"
"No, it's not. I realize this is a big moment in your life, and I should have more respect for you. I apologize, Ebony Summers," he took my hand in his tightly.
"Carter,"
"Yes," he whispered as his eyes started to twinkle like they used to before.
"I... I ...." I suddenly felt dizzy like I was rolling down a hill in a barrel.
"Ebony, are you ok?"
I felt his cold hand on my face as it flushed.
"I don't feel so good." I closed my eyes and felt my body go weak as I dropped to the ground.
"Ebony, what is wrong? What do I do to help you?" I heard Carter say as he pulled me close to him on the ground.
"I don't know," I cried out. "Something is not right. Something is happening to me."
"Ebony," Carter called as his hand touched my face again "What do I do? I don't know what to do. Ebony, please stay with me."
That was the last thing I heard as I closed my eyes.
——————
"Ebony, baby, can you hear me?"
I heard a distant muffled voice in my head.
"Ebony, baby, it's me, Carter. I need you to listen."
The voice sounded like it was coming through an old radio or dial-up internet connection. I could hardly make out the words in this darkness. I tried to call out to him but I couldn't. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move a muscle, and I couldn't even open my eyes as I was surrounded by heavy darkness.
"I promise you I will find you. I promise you I will bring you home sunshine."
The voice trailed off again like I had gone under a bridge.
"Damn it, it's breaking up, can she even hear me?"
I tried to call out to him again but I couldn't.
"Sunshine, I know you're scared right now, but I need you to do something for me, ok? I need you to go to the vampire portal in the woods. I need you to go there and..."
The voice trailed off into nothing but mumbling in the distance as the darkness suddenly felt heavy around me.
"Ebony," A different deep gravelly voice suddenly boomed in my head, making my ears ring. "Ebony Summers, there you are." The voice said louder and closer. "You silly little girl, you thought you could escape from me?" The voice laughed deeply. "I see you little girl and I'm coming for you whether you like it or not." The voice laughed again. "There is nowhere for you to hide from me now, nowhere!"
I tried to scream in the darkness, but nothing came out. I was frozen with absolute fear as I listened to the voice laugh at me. I knew that voice and my skin crawled as I whispered his name.
"LEON" I yelled out as I sat bolt upright and screamed so loudly my throat felt like I swallowed razor blades. "STAY AWAY FROM ME," I yelled as tears ran down my face.
"Damn Woman, I hardly even touched you, and by the way, my name is not Leon." I heard a voice behind me, making me jump and scream once again.
"Ok, you need to calm the fuck down because I don't do crazy girls. Well, that's not entirely true, I do them. I just don't communicate with them after; you know what I'm saying."
I turned towards the voice and screamed out once again, but this time it was with pure joy.
"Jake," I yelled as I bounced off the floor and flung myself around him tightly. "I missed you so much. I'm so glad you're here."
"Um... ok? I'll go along with it as long as you don't question my kink later on," He said, completely confused as to why I was holding onto him like a child holds onto a teddy bear.
I pulled myself back and stared into his confused blue eyes. "Oh, sorry. I forgot you have no idea who I am, do you?" I bit my bottom lip awkwardly as we stared at each other in silence.
"Boss told me to stay with you no matter what, so that's what I'm doing even though you seem like a complete loon, but the boss said no touching and no leaving you and I intend to keep one of those promises, maybe." he sharply raised his eyebrow at me and looked me up and down as he smiled smugly.
"Really? Do you even remember my name?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest as his eyes trailed over me.
"Sure, it's Sharon, right?" he said confidently pointing at me with his finger.
"Really?"
"Ok, so it's Bec. No, it's Lucy, no, you're shaking your head. Don't tell me, I'll get it. It's Emma," he smiled, pointing his finger at me proudly.
"It's Ebony."
"I do not hear a difference," he shrugged. "Besides, it doesn't make a difference Emily."
"Ebony"
"Again, not hearing a difference," he smiled. "Boss told me to stay with you until he got back. He also said if I touched you, he would break all my fingers and cut off my... Let's just say he would not be happy. So, you are from the future, huh?"
"Apparently," I smiled.
"That's cool, so what's it like?"
"Um, pretty much the same, but phones are smaller, and everything is more expensive."
"Sounds amazing," He said sarcastically. "So question, why did you scream out the name of Carter's brother before?" Jake smirked at me.
My body froze as I remembered his voice in my head. I remembered the fear that rushed through my body like ice was in my veins. I remembered being paralyzed as his voice boomed in my head. I remembered the calm I felt as I heard Carter's voice calling out to me. My Carter was reaching out for me in the darkness.
"Hello, is anybody there? Hello? Erin, are you having an episode again? Hello?" I heard the sound of a loud clapping in my face. "Earth to time travel girl. Hello?"
"I heard Leon's voice in my head. He said he was coming to get me. He said he was coming for me," I felt my skin crawl again as I remembered his voice.
"You heard Leon in your head?" Jake repeated looking at me like I was crazy.
"Yes, and I heard Carter, well my Carter's voice. He is trying to reach me in the darkness of whatever this place is. He couldn't hear my screams through the darkness though."
"Lucky him cos I had the pleasure of listening to all of them," he said, making a face. "You have a great set of lungs, by the way."
"I want to go home," I cried out. "I want my Carter back, and I want you back. I really need you right now as you always know what to say, to make me laugh, and I miss you so much."
"All the ladies want a bit of the Jake," he winked at me.
"No, they really don't, but I still miss you and Henry and Callan."
"You know Callan?"
"Yes, of course, and Henry. Sweet loyal, Henry."
"Who?"
"The prince of the vampires, Henry."
Jake scoffed loudly. "You know Prince Henry of the vampire world? Like personally? You know him?"
"Yes,"
"Ok, I'm calling bullshit on this one. You do not know the prince of all vampires. That's insane," Jake shook his head and laughed. "As if the vampire prince would talk to you."
"I need to get to him. Carter told me to go to the portal in the Forest. He must want me to go to Henry for help."
"Oh, boy. Ok, you need to listen to me. You cannot leave this cave to go to the portal that leads to the vampire world. That's even more insane than your bullshit about knowing the prince. You need to lie down and sleep this shit off cos I really don't have the patience for this right now."
"I'm going with or without you, Jake. I need to get to that Forest and nothing is going to stop me," I turned and walked towards the cave entrance.
"Enough of this," he yelled behind me. "You will not leave this cave."
"Have a nice life, Jake," I called as I flipped him off.
"Right, you leave me no choice," he yelled as I suddenly felt a cold gust of wind blow past me and a shadow-like figure was suddenly standing in front of me holding me tightly. "You will not leave this cave," Jake said sternly as he wrestled me to the ground. "No more of this."
"Get off me" I tried to pull myself free, but his strength was far superior to mine, and I knew there was no way I would be able to win this fight.
"If what you say is true, which it's not but if it is, then you are in grave danger, and there is no way I'm letting you out there if Leon is looking for you. You will wait for boss to return, and we will figure this bullshit out. There is no point to having a prince for a friend if you are dead, is there Evelyn?" He said calmly in my ear as I lay on the floor while he sat on top of me, holding my arms out. "Again, you need to calm the fuck down."
"See, you always know what to say to me," I smiled up at him.
"You so want me right now don't you," he grinned as he looked down at me pinned to the floor.
"I would rather have my throat slit by Leon, thank you," I sighed.
"It's early. We have time for both," he winked as I struggled under him.
"Jake, get off me. I need to go to the forest so I can end this bullshit once and for all. I have to go," I kicked my legs on the floor like a toddler having a tantrum.
"Honestly Evie, if it were up to me, I would happily wave you goodbye as you continue on this death wish of yours, but unfortunately for you, I happen to like having my dick between my legs and not shoved down my throat by an angry boss man."
"Well technically if you came with me, you would still be watching me."
"No," he shook his head.
"Jake, whether you like it or not, there is a war happening, and it's about to tear apart both our worlds, so you have a choice here. You can either stay here and keep me pinned to the floor, or you can be a man and help me stop it."
"Don't try that female mind-twisting shit on me. It doesn't work."
"Listen to me, Jake. Leon needs to be stopped, and I need to stop him. If he succeeds with this, then all of our lives are about to end."
"Nope, not going to work," he closed his eyes and turned his head to the side.
"If he succeeds with this war that means that all the females in the world die without having had the full Jake experience."
One of his eyes opened, and his head slowly turned back towards me.
"All those women will die unsatisfied because you were not there to show them the true manly power you have between the sheets."
"Keep talking," He said, raising his eyebrow.
"The world needs you, Jake. We need you to stop this war and give all womankind more pleasure than they have ever dreamed about. We need you to fight for us, Jake. To fight for sex," I felt absolutely ridiculous saying this, but there is one thing I knew about Jake that would work, and that was to stroke his precious ego.
He opened both eyes and cleared his throat. "You should run for president."
"Thank you for your vote. Now let's go."
"I do this for all womankind. I do this for the dick between my legs. I do this for pleasure," he held his hand over his chest as he spoke. "I shall end this war for the future pussy I will devour."
"Enough, you're making me feel nauseous," I pushed him back, making him fall backward.
"You just lost my vote," he said, fixing his blonde hair.
"Let's go before it's too late," I said, helping him up. "And thank you for doing this"
"You owe me and my throat when Carter finds out about this."
"I know," I said nervously, walking towards the beach. "I know."