Author's note: This chapter is shorter, but juicy. Enjoy!
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Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Three
Leo was silent.
I was sitting in the back of the car with my head against the window, staring out at the passing streetlights zipping by. Golden illumination highlighted my lap and everything in the car before going dark, again and again and again, punctured here and there by the lights of another car.
In my head, I was replaying everything that had happened in Italy. All the signs, all the warnings, everything... I'd just wanted to go home, and now it was too late.
Bash's memory had been altered and, if I was understanding things correctly, he now believed from the core of his mind that every moment we'd spent together had actually been spent with Jasper, whom he'd found in my apartment, terrified of him.
I didn't get it.
Minutes before that incident on the bridge, we'd been dancing together. Enjoying each other. Now? I felt alone, and afraid, and I yearned for him so deeply that it made me want to cry. It wasn't fair and I didn't know what to do. Tears rolled down my cheeks, unchecked and unheeded, dripping off my eyelashes as I stared out the window of the car, swaying back and forth as Leo changed lanes on the highway.
He'd come into the sitting room earlier looking like he was about to rip my head off.
Jun had, as promised, stopped him before he could... and an argument had ensued between them, mostly on the blonde's side. He'd been frustrated and disturbed by Jun's actions towards me, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, but in the end he'd somehow caved and practically dragged me outside after grabbing the keys to Sebastian's car.
I will, however, admit that I was blown away when, instead of being pulled to one of the vehicles parked along the gravel culdesac surrounding the decorative bird bath in front of the manor, I found myself being dragged off to the left and around the back towards what looked like a garage door. When the doors had come open, though, my heart flew up my throat because the floor of the interior building dropped into a huge metal ramp that led deep underground.
"What's this?" I'd asked, startled. "I've never seen this part of the house before."
Leo had simply given me a disgusted look and dragged me none-too-gently into what I was certain was the mother of all fucking underground car garages. My eyes had bugged out of my fucking skull, my jaw had dropped, and I'd only been able to stare stupidly because the dark cavernous space was bigger than the entire mansion and the surrounding property line.
Moreover, it had to have been holding over three hundred vehicles, all pristine and shiny and clearly categorized by era, color, and company.
"He has his very own Batcave for cars," I'd muttered, momentarily aching over the fact that Sebastian had never gotten the opportunity to show me this place himself. I'd wondered, long after I'd been shoved into the back of a 2063-make Silver Honda, if he had a thing for collecting vehicles as a personal hobby. It would have explained a lot about all the cars I'd seen so far.
But it was also ridiculous just how wealthy he was since that many cars was unnecessary. Unless you were immortal... and preferred machines over people, like... like my hypnotized, mentally possessed boyfriend.
By the time we'd pulled out of the garage and gotten onto actual roads, I'd been too far gone to do anything but cry my eyes out in silence.
Even now, I was gone, far away from myself as tears rolled freely down my cheeks and stained my skin raw with saline. They hadn't stopped for a while now, and although my eyes kept on crying I didn't speak or make a single sound because there was really nothing to say. My heart was stuck in limbo. I hadn't even been given the luxury of having it ripped out.
What would Sebastian do with Jasper now that he thought they were together? Would he kiss the creep? Or... or more?
No... no. The mere thought of it made my stomach churn, but I knew he wouldn't do that, he'd avoided going in for a kiss so some part of him must have known. Some part of him that still loved me, buried beneath that fog in his head.
"Why are you crying?"
I flinched and shrank inwards, closing my eyes on reflex; with my thoughts being in shambles, I'd practically forgotten that to be in a moving car there had to be a driver. I'd forgotten I wasn't alone for a few seconds, despite what I'd been mulling over seconds before.
I didn't look at him, didn't open my eyes, but my face screwed up even more.
I had to fight back a wash of sobs since it hurt to realize that not even he remembered me. We'd just connected, too... we'd just managed to break that final wall down and move forward.
"A lot of reasons," I said in a watery tone, drawing in a shaky breath and rubbing my face with the arm that didn't feel like it was on fire. "I'm sorry if its stressing you out. I can try and stop if its bothering you."
I sniffed the gunk clogging my nose to keep it from running and looked ahead to see him staring at me in the rear-view mirror. His glowing eyes flitted to and fro, shining like cherries on a couple of lit cigarettes.
"So... how old are you?" he quietly asked. "You're a vampire, turned by Jasper, right?"
"Yeah," I said bitterly, eyes filling with more tears. "I'm seventy six."
"How did you end up getting involved with him?" Leo grunted, looking back at the road. "I was told his marriage vows involved never turning anyone, yet here you are."
"I don't remember," I said, and his eyes snapped back to the mirror; I smiled weakly and shrugged, feeling helpless and heartbroken. "I'm missing about a month's worth of memories. I remember bits and pieces of it these days, but for the most part... its all just a blank."
His eyes narrowed and his face changed for a second. Like Sebastian's, his irises went wild, flitting to and fro as if trying to see something. He clutched the steering wheel so tight that I heard the metal groan and saw it start to bend a bit.
"I see," he said, then his gaze flitted to something just shy of my watery stare and he froze; his whole face went slack and he immediately jerked on the wheel, sending my head snapping to the right with a cry.
A burst of sheer fire shot down my arm, setting me ablaze, and I howled.
"OW!" I wailed, kicking my feet and cursing. "OW! FUCK!"
To make things worse, he stomped on the brakes and I jerked forward, sending a zap of ripping, explosive agony through my back. I nearly blacked out and actually went fully paralytic, muscles going numb as the sound of rushing filled my ears.
I was brought back a few moments later when I heard a click and my seat belt was forcibly pulled off of me. My mouth hung open, tears running across my nose as my head was jerked towards him.
"Stop," I pleaded, begging.
"Shut up," he whispered, pushing the hair on the side of my head up and out of the way; I squeezed my eyes shut, wondering what sort of awful thing he had planned, and I curled away from him as much as I could on instinct. He went still as I trembled in his grip, the sensation of the fingers on my chin doing absolutely nothing to make me feel better.
Instead of saying anything, he touched my temple.
I hesitantly opened my blurry eyes when gentle fingers caressed the side of my head, touching and prodding and lightly scratching with just the barest hint of nail. His fingers then moved lower, stretching down across my ear, and then my jaw, down, down, down to my neck.
I flinched when he touched the spot where Sebastian had bit me, leaving his scent mark.
"What are you doing?" I asked, not daring to hope. "Leo?"
He jerked, hands twitching, and then he leaned close to my neck and inhaled. He went still, then inhaled again before jerking backwards and looking at me with a wild-eyed expression of alarm, disbelief, and something that clearly said he was disturbed.
"You have absolutely no scent," he said blankly, and I blinked, confused; he scratched the side of his head and squinted at me. "You have no scent, and that scar... its a mark. A very recent one from a werewolf, but it has no scent, and your story... about not remembering... I've heard it before. Only, it's just... not adding up because it doesn't make any sense at all."
My heart skipped a beat and I looked at him more intently, wondering if he would remember who I was, what I was, and why I was.
He narrowed his eyes and I saw something flash behind them, something I didn't understand. He looked at me for a long time, staring at my face, and then ran a hand through his hair and shook himself off before getting back in the car. He slammed the door shut and keyed the ignition, stepping on the gas. I struggled to pull my own seat belt on but gave up after five minutes: with my arm being wrecked and my back aching and burning as bad as it was, no dice.
Leo said absolutely nothing else the entire ride to the doctor's but he did follow me into the clinic where a familiar jolly-looking overweight man was waiting with folded arms and a concerned expression. His eyes lit up the moment he saw me.
"Ah, Aerin, my boy!" he called, waddling over and gently inspecting my broken arm. "Shame we're meeting again under such unpleasant circumstances. Care to tell me what happened?"
I opened my mouth to tell him, but then I remembered we had an audience. I froze, hair standing on end, and I looked over my shoulder to see that the blonde man was looking at us as if we'd just started making out in front of him with lots of tongue.
At first I was horrified, but that feeling quickly turned into one of extreme hope because this was it, this was the sort of thing I needed. Sure, memories could be erased, but there were physical remnants of my time with Bash everywhere. The best part of it was that I got an idea because of it. I remembered, in a flash, that Diana had supposedly been taking photos and videos of us without our knowledge.
If I can find those, I can prove we were together, I realized, hope shining in my heart. Even if I can't make him remember he'll know that he loved me enough to do the things we did, and maybe he'll believe me if I tell him what the hell is happening. Maybe... maybe, just maybe!
Doctor Einstein suddenly gripped my chin and turned me back around, shining a penlight in my face. I squinted, but he clucked his tongue at me and I patiently allowed him to do it.
"You've been crying," he noted, opening my mouth and peering into it. "Quite heavily, too. I can smell how distressed you are. Tell me, where is Sebastian? Why is this one here instead of him?"
"Long story," I weakly explained; my voice cracked as I added, "I'd... rather not talk about it."
"Fair enough. Come in and sit down so I can get some x-rays and assess the extent of the damage done to your arm," he sighed, gently pulling me back behind the desk and into one of the rooms I'd seen during my last time being there, which was full of medical equipment.
Leo followed but kept his distance, watching us with focus and a very displeased and somewhat suspicious expression. I allowed Rogar to lay me down on a medical table, waiting patiently as he covered my entire body with some sort of protective blue sheet.
I closed my eyes, breathing deeply as the sound of whirring machinery began to fill the air.
"I assume you know better than to move," he said kindly. "While the x-rays are being taken, tell me... is Sebastian treating you well? You look much healthier than the last time you were here with him, but I'm sure this break wasn't an accident since you're bleeding profusely."
I heard an audible intake of breath and then Leo asked, "Sebastian's been here before? With... with this... kid?"
"Why, yes, dear boy," Rogar said, audibly confused. "I was under the impression that your pack knew of it considering he had a panic attack resulting directly from an untreated concussion that was left alone for too long. There were also multiple mentions from Sebastian himself about the poor boy having memory relapses due to the head injury he received."
"How long ago was this?" Leo demanded, suddenly sounding malicious. "Talk."
"Hm... roughly a month?" Einstein proffered, unconcerned with the aggression. "I must say, he's being a terribly irresponsible mate. Letting his partner get hurt like this is... well, let's just say I'd give him a good scolding were he here."
There was a long silence after that and my stomach sank.
"Mate?" Leo asked in a slow, disbelieving tone. "What mate?"
"Aerin, of course," Rogar expressed, then paused and said with an air of concern, "dear boy, you've gone white as a sheet. Are you all right?"
"You're telling me," the German said very, very carefully, "that this vampire, right here, came here once before around a month ago over some head injury with Sebastian D'Agostino, alpha of our pack... and that we all supposedly knew of it?"
"That is... indeed... the impression I got," Einstein confusedly said.
"That can't be," Leo said blankly, and I cringed. "That... it can't be. This... is Sebastian's mate? No... there's no fucking way."
"I beg your pardon?" Einstein asked, and then to my horror he actually laughed loudly. "Are you joking? Perhaps I should give you an examination as well since your nose is obviously not working correctly! Sebastian's scent is all over this creature! He's been very well loved in quite literally every way, from embraces to scenting to sexual! In human and wolf form! I smell the musk that you can only get while having intercourse during a partial transformation!"
Leo, again, went dead quiet and the doctor's laughter suddenly cut off. All I heard was the whirring of the machine taking negatives of my bone.
"Has something happened that I'm not aware of?" Einstein seriously inquired. "I've only ever seen someone make that face when I give them the news that a loved one has died."
"Do you have signed records of the visit?" the blonde asked. "Please, Rogar."
"Ehm, of course I do."
"May I have copies of them?"
"Er, yes, if you truly have need," Rogar said, startled, "but what's happened for you to need them?"
"I'm not sure," Leo said grimly, and I felt a chill run through me, signalling he was looking right at me, "but I intend to find out, make no mistake. Please go get the records."
"Erm... okay," the man said, and I heard a shuffle. "Be back in a moment."
Silence, once again, descended. I waited with my heart pounding, partially afraid, partially hopeful, still holding back tears.
"Who are you?" Leo lowly asked. "I'm giving you one chance to talk, without judgement."
My heart skipped a beat and I closed my eyes as another wash of tears filled them.
I wanted to stop crying. I wanted to stop telling myself, over and over, that this was a nightmare.
"I'm Sebastian's fiance," I said simply. "His mate. His friend. I became part of your pack a few months ago and we... we fell head over heels by chance, and it became... wild. It was... fast, it all happened so fast, but I finally felt like I was home after being alone for so long, and now it's gone, everyone's forgotten, Jasper erased me and stepped into my shoes. At the party, in Italy, I was stabbed... and after Sebastian killed the vampire who did it, he was darted by someone--"
"Darted?" Leo asked sharply.
"Like, with a tranquilizer," I explained. "Whatever was in it put him out cold. They nailed him three times, and Jasper... he... well, he told me he was gonna do it. That he was gonna erase Sebastian's memories and use him. He used him for so many years before me, and then abandoned him on purpose, he's sick... he's genuinely messed up, and I can't stop him directly because I'm too damn weak!"
And just like that, it suddenly hit me why Jak had been so angry.
So upset, so frightened, so... distant. He'd been feeling exactly like this, completely incapable of doing anything to protect the person he loved the most in life, his own son. I got chills as I came to that realization, recognizing that I had stepped into that awful role myself.
"I'll hold my tongue," he said after a long time. "You would do well to hold yours. Something rings nasty about this business and I do not trust you in the slightest."
Oh... well, I guess that was to be expected but either way I decided to go full or go broke.
"There's photos of me and Sebastian, and videos," I told him. "There's even pictures of us, Leo. You, me, Kyle, Sebastian, and Tiff... we were at Moonies. It was after Richard threw my pictures into the fire--"
"That was not you, that was Jasper! Jasper's photos were tossed into the flames!" he barked, and I finally got pissed; I immediately dug around in my phone and pulled it out, sitting up and completely disregarding the machine taking x-rays.
I opened up the texting app to show him all our previous messages including the photo he'd sent me but I balked when I realized that every single last message to other people had been erased, including the ones between Sebastian and myself.
Okay... shit
I thought for a second, sucking on my own cheek. I eventually narrowed my eyes and went into the data app, signing into my phone account using the password I'd chosen.
To my delight, I found copies of all the texts that had been erased.
For someone so old, he's really fucking dumb, I mentally cheered, re-downloading them all to the phone and backing up multiple copies to other places I was connected to online. Once I had his texts, I scrolled up until I found the photos of us at Moonies and held it out.
He blinked, then leaned forward and stared at it. His face was already white as a sheet, but he seemed ready to faint after he saw it.
"What trickery is this?" he rasped, shaking his head. "What is this? It can't be from me."
"Did you even bother checking your own phone?" I asked, and he stared before floundering around in his pockets and pulling it out; his eyes narrowed as he swiped along the touch screen, tapping here and there, but then he jerked and his eyes flew open wide.
He dropped the phone and it cracked, but all he did was look at it as if it would bite him.
"What the hell is this?" he breathed, clutching his head. "What the fuck is going on?! My... my mind, what is... I have no recollection of meeting you, in my head it... it was him. These images, in my head I see him, but... but no, it can't be. It can't be, so much doesn't add up."
Bingo.
"We were just beginning to get along when you had your memory wiped," I sadly told him, heart swelling when he looked at my broken arm, and then at my puffy, bloodshot eyes, "but it wasn't just you, Leo... it was almost everybody. Dick, Kyle, Diana, Cassidy, and Sebastian. Jun managed to get out of it somehow, he saw you being hypnotized... and Tiffany and Woody got out, but the fact is that Jasper can fuck with everybody's head if he wants."
"Then I'll kill him," he said coldly. "I'll fuckin' kill him for messing with my brain. Your eyes aren't lying, I can tell that this is the truth no matter how unbelievable it seems. I'll kill him and then--"
"No!" I squeaked, flailing. "No! He's the only one who can give back their memories! He said he would if I can make Sebastian remember me somehow! I just... I have to stay strong, I have to... deal with what's gonna be coming my way and get close to him somehow. I just... I..."
I trailed off, eyes watering, and Leo looked like he didn't know what to do.
"I'd hug you, but I still don't fully trust you," he said flatly, and I laughed through my tears. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because you're still you," I cackle-sobbed, groaning as I rubbed my eyes. "Fuck... I'm a mess."
"An ugly one," he muttered, looking me up and down. "Blow your nose for fuck's sake."
I laughed again, looking around for a tissue, but he threw me a whole box of them. I caught it with my free hand and smacked it against my thigh to prevent it from falling on the floor. Right around that moment, the doctor came back in holding some papers. He paused after looking at us, then shrugged and handed them to Leo before heading over to his computer.
He clicked the mouse a few times and examined something I couldn't see.
"Oh," he said in a surprised tone, and my heart jumped. "That's not good."
"Yeah, that's like the last thing anyone ever wants to hear a doctor say," I deadpanned, immediately annoyed. "What is it? Am I fucked up for good?"
"No, but you have a mid-shaft humerus break," he said. "Those take a very long time to heal, and its broken so badly that I'm gonna have to actually cut you open and set your bone properly before it can be put in a cast... and since you can't take any form of anesthetics or pain killers due to your metabolism and how your body works, you're gonna have to feel it."
My stomach sank and I immediately turned to look at Leo.
"Um, this is going to sound weird," I said a little shrilly, "but Leo? Can you please choke me out?"
"Choke you out?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"Fine, weirdo."
Despite his tone, he seemed a little too happy do so. I felt his hand on my neck and then I was seeing stars with unbearable pressure in my temples.
Vision clouded over.
The last thought I had before I completely and one hundred percent lost consciousness was that I had to keep my head up. If it was this easy to get Leo questioning things, maybe it wouldn't be too hard to expose Jasper and return things to the way they should have been all along.
I smiled at him past the pain.
Then, all was darkness.