"You don't have to take me home," Dara told me for the third time. I looked down at her and then back at the party. It wasn't like I wanted to be here anyway. Well, that wasn't totally true. Of course, I wanted to be there, it was Mir's sixtieth birthday. The theme was "Pretty in Pink." Ivelyn had truly outdone herself this time.
There were pink balloons that curved in an archway, leading into her house. There were fruity pink drinks with cotton candy flavored vodka. There was a bubble machine that blew pink bubbles. There had been a strict dress code that everyone wore pink or they weren't invited in. That had meant a couple of us: Addie and I had to go to the store to buy something pink. I adjusted my dress. It felt weird wearing pink.
My dress was strapless and poofed out at the bottom. I had paired it with black tights and black shoes, to try and make it more comfortable. It hadn't worked. Although, I couldn't place all the blame for my discomfort on the dress. It was seeing Erik here. I hadn't realized how it affected me to see him. Obviously, Daniel hadn't been invited and even if he had I couldn't see him showing up here.
It had been five days since I made my decision. It had been five days since I broke Erik's heart by the lake. It had been the hardest decision. I never wanted to hurt Erik, but I couldn't lead him on. At the time, it had seemed like a better option to cut him loose. I had meant everything I had said, but that didn't erase my feelings for Erik. I think he knew that too. I hope he knows I didn't say those things to just hurt him.
When Dara and I first showed up at the party, Erik was the first person I saw. He wore a black button up with a pink tie. I'm pretty sure Addie had bought it and brought it with her, in case Ivelyn tried to kick him out per the lack of pink. Addie stuck close by him, not letting him out of her sight. Addie had taken the news the worst. She told me she was disappointed and that she might be hanging out with him more for a little bit.
It hurt.
It hurt a lot.
I felt like I lost them both and that was what I had tried to avoid. Neither of them seemed to see why I was so afraid of picking Erik. Everything I had feared had happened.
It wasn't all bad. Daniel and I were back together. I told him I wanted to take it slow, but that was impossible with us. Even when we first started dating things felt like we had done it all before. Turns out, we did. We had known each other in the 1600s, but we were known as Abigail and Matthew. Even back then, we had a complicated relationship. Thanks to Sarah Good, we now both knew this wasn't the first life we had been together.
That being said, it made taking it slow hard.
"No, it's fine I want to go anyways." I finally told her. She sighed next to me. We were quite a pair -- a pair of sad sisters.
I hadn't said goodbye to anyone, but that was okay. Lately, I felt like background noise. I think everyone was a bit confused about my choice and I didn't blame them. It had surprised me too. Gran had been the most surprised, but the most supportive. Although she told me she didn't support the idea of me with a Cursed One, she wasn't going to try and stop us. My mom had tried though, by banning him from the house, which didn't really do much. I was welcomed in his house.
His mom still didn't trust me or my family, but she trusted her son. She tolerated me. Still, it was more than my mom had offered with Daniel. He didn't seem to mind. When we first started dating, I had never stepped foot inside his house. Now, he was always texting me to come over. I think in these past five days, I had spent more time at his place than my own house. It was the progress I wanted.
Dara followed me to the car. She wore a mauve dress that trailed on the ground. It drug against the rain covered ground, but she didn't seem to care. I slung my arm over her shoulder, pulling her towards me.
"What should we do tonight?" I asked her. It was a Thursday night and we both had school tomorrow. The two of us were finally acting like sisters. We were still getting used to what that all entailed, but I was happy.
"Hmm, binge watch The Office over Ben and Jerry's?" She touched her chin, sarcastically asking. I never knew she liked The Office too. It was kind of our thing to watch it while eating junk food.
"That sounds like an amazing idea!" I unlocked the car and we both hopped inside. The drive home was filled with chatter about the party. Dara thought it was overdone, but then I explained that was kind of Ivelyn's thing. She loved celebrating. Any time there was an excuse to blow through her parent's money she took full advantage. Once I explained that to Dara, she seemed to like Ivelyn a little bit more.
"Her sister is a little snooty," Dara commented. She was talking about Scarlett, Mir's older sister. She went to school at Salem High. She was a Senior and I had seen her around the halls a couple of times. She always had her platinum blonde hair in a high ponytail with a pastel scrunchy. She was very popular around the school. Everyone that knew her, said she was going to go to an Ivy League school.
"Yeah, I got that vibe too." She stuck her nose up at everything Mir did. She even tried to insinuate that Ivelyn's party skills were subpar. I was surprised Ivelyn didn't kick Scarlett out.
"She acts all high and mighty like she's so straight and narrow." Dara snorted. As far as I knew, Scarlett was like the Virgin Mary. Mir's parents kept going on and on about all of Scarlett's accomplishments. I politely told them it was Mir's birthday. I had seen Mir deflate whenever her sister was around. It wasn't fair, Mir tried so hard to impress them, but they didn't even notice.
"Isn't she? From everything I've heard about her, she is." I shrugged, pulling into the driveway.
"Pff, that's what she wants people to see, but she was one of Vayne's best clients." I gasp when she said this. Dara had told me Vayne had been a drug deal, ranging from pretty much every drug. He had access to it all, especially with Trevor's help.
"Wait, really?" As we walked inside she filled me in.
"She's a pill popper. She likes to buy Adderall for school and then she buys downers for her and her boyfriend." It never occurred to me that Scarlett would be into pills. Honestly, my brain didn't go that way. I had never been in that scene and still wasn't. Unfortunately, Dara had been heavily in that scene and had seen things I couldn't imagine.
As bad as it sounded, I was glad Vayne was dead.
Dara didn't think he was dead. She was convinced that Sarah Good brought him back. Despite, me telling her over and over how evil she was. She wouldn't bring Vayne back. She just needed a body to bring Levi back into. I knew Dara wanted to believe Vayne was still alive, that way she wouldn't be at fault for killing him.
It was still bizarre to me that Dara was a necromancer. Although, she told me she had never actually brought a Human back before. She could bring back animals, but it wasn't an exactly silence. She told me this story about our dog, Bailey, who had gotten run over by a car. Dara had been there when it happened. Our dad, Chad, had been talking on the phone not paying attention -- no surprise there. So, Dara had run to the dog.
The lady who hit the dog tried to tell Dara not to touch it. She apologized for hitting and killing our dog. Dara said she remembers how the lady kept telling her the dog was dead, which upset Dara. She touched Bailey's chest, trying to feel the heartbeat for herself. Before the lady could try and stop Dara, she focussed on Bailey's heart, remembering how many times she had felt the heartbeat.
Then, Bailey wagged her tail.
The lady was in shock and yelled at Dara. Chad, how chosen that time to finally pay attention and scooped up Dara and Bailey. The lady left, disheveled and confused. She had been so sure the dog was dead. I can't imagine how bizarre that must have been. Dara chalked the whole thing up to the lady being wrong.
Then, she did it again years later. This time, it was a dead bird she saw fall from the nest. She had been walking home, alone. There hadn't been anyone on the street, so she bent down and touched the bird. She pictured the bird flying back up to the nest to join its brothers and sisters. As she focussed on this, it happened. The bird stirred, then fly up to the nest.
Things like this continued to happen. Dara confessed she thought it was weird, but never imagined she was a Witch.
"When we moved to Salem, I thought I was going crazy. I had brought back this fly that I had killed in New York and it was following me everything. It was super fucking weird." We sat on my bed, talking about when we first moved to Salem. Honestly, I was glad that I wasn't the only that thought I was crazy.
"I thought I was going crazy too! I kept having these flashes of images, then they would happen. I thought they were hallucinations. Then, I kept seeing Levi and I thought I had lost my mind. Then, he told me he was a ghost and I was a Witch." As I say this, I realize how much I have changed since September, when we first moved to Salem.
I had been so naive.
I had been in such denial.
"You thought your visions were hallucinations?" She asked laughing hysterically. I laughed with her.
"Yes! It sounds ridiculous now, but I really thought I was nuts." It felt nice to joke about it. That Cornelia was so confused by everything. It was almost March now and I felt like a completely different person. Sure, there was a lot I was still afraid and confused by, but I had made progress.
"What's the worst visions you've had?" She asked me in a small voice. I didn't want to answer, but I had asked her about her powers, it was only fair I tell her about mine.
"Oh God, there's been a lot." I chewed on my cuticles.
"Really?" She scooted toward me.
"Yeah, I've seen inside Levi's mind when he was killing those girls and I've seen visions of dad cheating on mom. There's also the vision I had of Sarah Good possessing you," I trailed off. "But honestly, the worst vision was probably of me in the future," I confessed.
None of the visions I had before were of my future self, except for this one. It was freaky. I didn't like my future and yet I had still chosen to be with Daniel. That future me was going to change. I was fully convinced we had control of the future -- it wasn't set yet. I was given the ability to see the future and past. The past I couldn't change, but the future was malleable. We still had choices and based on those choices the future would alter.
"What did you see?" She stared at me, curiosity covering her face. I took a deep breath in, feeling my lungs expand inside me. It wasn't easy to say this.
"I saw Daniel bite me," she looked at her hands when I said this. "I didn't try and stop him. In fact, I had offered my neck to him." I pursed my lips. I was not going to cry. There was no point in being sad about this vision because it hadn't and wouldn't happen.
I was going to make sure of that.
"Have you told Daniel about that?" She asked after a minute of silence.
It was something I had been considering but eventually decided against. There wasn't a point to tell him. Plus, a part of me felt like if I told him, he might like the idea. I didn't want the idea of him biting me anywhere in his mind. Also, if I didn't acknowledge it with Daniel, then maybe it wasn't real.
"No," I meant to say more, but my words fell short. "What's the worst thing you've seen?" I asked her. Her brown eyes met mine, then she stared back at her hands.
"Um, I would say when I killed Vayne, but it probably should be other times. Like, the drugs, the cult, the sacrifices both metaphoric and literal." She tried to joke at the end. It was obvious the hurt she had endured. You could see it in the way she stared at her hands, knowing what they were capable of.
I knew the feeling.
Dara didn't like to talk about Vayne. She had always been honest with me, about the drugs and cult. I was proud of her for keeping her promise and kicking all of the drugs. It would be a lot easier of a process if she kept doing drugs, but she wasn't going to take the easy way out anymore. I believed in her.
Gran and Mom only knew the bare minimum. We eventually told them that Vayne had tricked Dara and actually been in this cult. We skipped the parts where Dara had been involved too. It didn't seem fair to Dara to keep bringing it up, so we didn't tell them. I think Gran knew, the way she always knew.
I opened my mouth to apologize, but my phone buzzed again.
"You should probably answer that," Dara joked half-heartedly. I already knew it was Daniel. He had been texting me since before the party, asking me to come over. I wanted to see Daniel, but I was here, bonding with Dara.
"No, it's fine. It's just Daniel." I told her, sounding so casual. She rolled her eyes.
"You two are disgusting," she laughed. "You should go see him, I have a lot of homework I have to finish." I looked from my TV, which was playing one of my favorite episodes of The Office. It was the episode where Dwight starts a fire because no one taking his Fire Safety seriously. I chuckle to myself. Oh, Dwight!
"I have a lot of homework too, I should just stay in tonight." At this point, I was trying to convince myself to stay, but mentally I was already on my way to Daniels. "He can live one night without me!" It would be the first time I hadn't seen him since we started dating again. My heart twinged, thinking about him.
I knew I was being dramatic, but it was the whole being reincarnated thing. Not to mention my fears that Sarah Good was right about me dying soon. Dara had been possessed at that point and explained what had been going on in Sarah Good's mind. According to her, the 1600s wasn't the only time I had been reincarnated. Apparently, I was reincarnated every 20 years and always died before my twenty-first birthday.
It set my teeth on edge. I was barely sixteen, I can't imagine missing everything. Twenty-one seemed so young and I never made it past twenty. When Dara told me this I had asked her every question, but that was all she knew. Sarah Good didn't know why this happened to me, or why Daniel's soul seemed so attached to mine.
That was the most infuriating part.
If I didn't know why this was happening, how could I stop it?
My phone buzzed again.
"You should go, live it up." She knows how worried I am that Sarah Good is right. I swallow the lump in my throat.
"Okay, but I'll be back later," I promised her. She nodded, saluted me and then went to her room. Quickly, I changed out of the pink dress. I slid on some black skinny jeans and a black t-shirt, grabbing my coat on the way out to my car. It was almost five o'clock, which wasn't super late. It gave me a couple of hours to hang out with Daniel, then come home and watch a couple more episodes with Dara.
The drive from my house to Daniel's house was ingrained in my head. It had become autopilot for me. Then again, the first time I was here, I hadn't need directions. I had followed the thread and it took me to Daniel. Even now, I felt the pulsing thread that connected us. I pulled up to the curb, smiling when I saw Daniel coming outside to meet me. Seeing him was like a jolt of electricity.
"Hey," he blurred towards me. It was what I called Daniel's running. He ran so fast my eyes couldn't detect it, except a blur. "I missed you." I was barely out of the car. Daniel's hands reached for me. My back was pressed up against my car on the street side as he started kissing me.
Every time we kissed, seconds slowed to minutes. Time was irrelevant. His hands danced up and down my body, causing sparks every part of me that he touched. In this moment, I didn't doubt my decision in choosing him. He sent a rush of excitement with every kiss, urging my body to react. My lips were already swollen from the past couple of days. It was worth it, especially as his tongue slid into my mouth.
A soft moan escaped from my lips. Daniel groaned, pulling back. As he did this, I realized we were still outside. I wasn't one for PDA, but with Daniel, it didn't even cross my mind. I was out of breath. I tried to read Daniel's face, but all I could see were those glowing red eyes. They haunted my nightmares.
He took a step back. I tried to level my breathing.
"I'm sorry." The words spilled out of me. Every time Daniel had a reaction to my blood, I felt guilty. My blood drove him crazy. He squeezed his eyes shut. Then, when he opened them they were back to melting chocolate.
"It's all good." He flashes a hundred-watt smile. No fangs. I sighed in relief. I had seen Daniel's fangs before and they were lethal. They weren't like the fangs portrayed in Vampire movies, these were jagged and they were four of them. I shiver just thinking about them. "Let's get you inside," He takes my hand, walking next to me towards his house. He thinks I shivered because I'm cold, but that's not the real reason.
I'm afraid of him.
I can't tell him, but I am. The thought of him biting me still drives me up the wall in terror. He hasn't tried to bite me -- the opposite really, but that doesn't make me feel better. As much as I enjoy our time together and I obviously have feelings for him, it doesn't erase the pure fear I feel. I know what those fangs are capable of. I had seen Giu rip into Trevor's neck like it was no big deal. I cringed, remembering all of the blood.
Trevor was a lot of things, but no one deserved that.
"You okay? You're awful quiet." Daniel comments, pausing the movie we had been watching. Honestly, I couldn't tell you what it was called. I hadn't been paying attention, too engrossed in my own thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm just thinking about--
"Oh no, you saw the news too?" He cut me off, his brows furrowed in worry. I raised an eyebrow.
"Huh?" I hated when I said this. It made me sound unintelligent. Daniel thought it was cute.
"Here, let me show you." He grabbed his phone from the nightstand. His fingers moved so fast on the keyboard, I barely saw the movement. Then, he showed me the screen. Squinting, I read the headline.
"LOCAL BOY FROM CULT HUNG HIMSELF IN JAIL," I stopped reading and met Daniel's gaze.
"What is this?" The pit in my stomach grew double in size. I didn't like where the title was heading.
He sighed, putting his phone in his pocket.
"It's Trevor, he killed himself in jail. I guess," he rubbed the back of his neck. "He was having issues being in jail. Apparently, the other inmates don't like guys that try to kill underaged girls." He shrugged.
I held my breath, waiting for him to tell me it wasn't real. I didn't like Trevor and there was a lot of me that hated him. That didn't mean I wanted him dead. I felt guilty. I had been the one to decide we were going to call the cops. We told them the Cult was trying to kill Dara and the rest of us found her there, about to be slaughtered. Vayne and Thana, who were being possessed by Sarah Good and Levi, were wanted for the Attempted Murder of Dara as well.
It worked out nicely. The cops were constantly looking for the two of them and if they found them, we would be notified. Honestly, I kinda hope they do find them and keep them in jail. Although, I know Sarah wouldn't ever let that happen. She was too ruthless. I think we all knew she wouldn't go down without a fight. It would be a bloody mess and who knows how many people she would take down with her.
"What about the others?" I was afraid to ask, but I needed to know.
"I know Zane was found not guilty and got a decent amount of Community Service. I think Storm and Forrest had a little bit of jail time and then rehab, but they both got out of the murder charge, thanks to your sister." He meant it as a compliment. Dara had testified that Thana, Vayne, Trevor and Jarius were the masterminds behind everything. Raven and Cessair were both found Guilty in addition. The rest: Luce, Forrest, Storm, and Zane were either found Not-guilty or found only as accessories.
I felt bad for all of them.
"How's Raven doing?" It was no secret that Raven hated all of us. Even after Giu did her Magic-Eraser trick on their minds, Raven knew she hated us. I worried about her a lot. She had the worst drug problem. Dara told me she was always shooting up Heroin.
"I haven't heard anything, but it's not your fault. You know that right? We all decided to call the cops. It was the right choice." He urged me to see this. I couldn't help that I felt guilty.
"I know," I told him half-heartedly.
Trevor had killed himself -- someone had to be at blame. You couldn't blame him -- he was dead. That only left me. I tried to lay back down, resting my head on Daniel's chest. We stayed like that for a while. Eventually, Daniel turned the movie back on, but neither of us was watching it.
I couldn't stop thinking about them. They weren't innocent, but they hadn't deserved what happened. Then again, they had planned on killing me -- someone they didn't even know. They would have killed us all because Sarah/Thana told them to. Maybe it was better the Criminal Justice System had them. I didn't really believe in locking people up, but these individuals needed it.
At least, that was what I was going to tell myself.