It was definitely going to take some getting used to. Looking at her, I felt like I was staring into a mirror that had a mind of its own. I smiled softly at her. I didn’t even know her name. Sure, I had known I was supposed to have a twin my whole life, but my parents never really explained and never let me near her grave. They never even told me her name. I wanted to ask her so many questions, just like I knew she wanted to ask me so many too. Without thinking, I stood up and walked to her then hugged her tightly. How could Sebastian and Clamora keep her from me? How could they keep the fact that she had been alive all this time away from me? I wanted to cry and hold her and talk, then cry some more. Who knows, maybe part of me had always known she was okay.
After a long hug, I let her go and sat down on the bed. Neither of us knew how or where to start, so we sat in silence for a moment. “I, uh, wow. Sorry, I honestly never thought I would be meeting you,” I stammered. “Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?” Her voice was like a soft bell. It was so sweet sounding.
“Saving me . . . ” I trailed off.
“You would have done the same thing for me if the whole thing had been reversed,” she said, smiling sweetly at me.
“Do you still remember your time in the afterlife?” I asked, curious.
“Yeah, I do. I don’t really talk about it much. It makes me feel like I am giving away the big secret to those who don’t quite know about it, ya know?” She smiled again.
“I definitely get it. I am going to ask you a question that is going to seem a little strange, and I will totally explain it after you answer it,” I told her.
“Okay, ask away,” she answered in the bell-like voice of hers.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“RemyAnne Venice. But everyone calls me Remy for short.” She smiled again.
“That’s really pretty. Is that the name Mom and Dad gave you?” I asked, curious again.
“Yeah. Clamora thought it would be a good idea to have me keep the name. She didn’t want to confuse me too much when I was younger.” Remy waved it off.
“Oh, that’s pretty smart. I guess I should explain why I asked now, huh?” I asked her. Once she nodded, I answered. “Mom and Dad told me about you, sort of anyway. They never told me what your name was or let me visit your grave. I think they didn’t want me to wonder why it was you and not me, ya know? I tried to sneak away to find it a few times, but they always found out before I could find it. I didn’t even know the cemetery.”
“I could see that. What are they like?” she questioned enthusiastically.
“They are pretty great. They worry a lot. I scared them a lot when I was a kid too. I think they always thought I was going to get sick again. I don’t know. But we look nothing like them or Alexandier, Micheal, or Amelia. They all have blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and this super-gorgeous tan skin.” I watched her eyes go a little sad when I explained them to her.
“Are you sure they are our parents?” she asked me nervously.
“Yes. How could you ask me something like that?” I was a little upset that she could even ask me or think something like that.
“Sorry. I, just, the way you explain them—it doesn’t sound like we are related to them,” Remy replied awkwardly.
“It’s okay. Everyone in school always asked me that when they first saw the differences between us.” I looked down at my hands.
“Oh. I really am sorry. I didn’t know . . . ” she trailed off.
“How could you? Hey, how did you do that appear out of nowhere thing?” I asked her to change the subject.
“Oh, that? It’s something I’ve been working on for a while now. It took a lot of practice to be able to do it. I’m sure I could teach you how, if you wanted.” Her voice was so soft and sweet when she phrased the question.
I smiled at her. “Sure.”
We talked for a few more hours, asking questions that weren’t exactly personal—some got close, but not deep enough. There was something weird about knowing I had been lied to my whole life. Granted, my parents had absolutely no idea, but Sebastian could have told me before. It was like an atomic bomb had been placed in my lap. Everything was going to be that much more confusing and complicated now. Was she even stable since she was missing a piece of her soul? Sebastian let me lean on him as we walked to the car. Remy wanted to meet our parents and family, but I didn’t think it was a good idea, at least not yet. I needed to feel that they would be safe before they were introduced. Safely in the car, I closed my eyes until Sebastian touched my arm.
“I need to tell you something.” Sebastian’s face was serious. I sat straight up and waited for him to continue. “Remy isn’t exactly the most stable. She wasn’t before, either. I mean in the past life before this one, when you were Amaryia. But it’s worse now that she is missing part of her soul. AubrieAnna, I am not telling you this to upset you, I just need you to understand that if you feel there is something off about her, there is. I don’t believe she would ever harm you or anyone you cared about. But I cannot be sure about it.” He watched me diligently, waiting for me to yell at him and tell him he was wrong, that there was nothing wrong with her.
“How come you can’t be sure? Haven’t you been around her a lot?” I asked.
“I have not. Clamora wanted me to watch you. She knew Remy wasn’t going to be a major issue unless you found out. I was around you more than your sister,” he answered shyly.
“Well then. I guess I just don’t need to know about anything,” I replied bitterly. “Just take me home. I want to sleep in my bed. Alone.” I spit out the last words.
“I understand.” His words sounded hurt. I wanted to apologize, but I felt like I couldn’t. He had lied about two major things. What else had he lied about?
“You know, I want to apologize for my words, but I can’t. You lied to me about Remy—well you kept it from me—and you never told me about Clamora wanting you to watch me. It bugs me. And I don’t like it. Langdon lied to me, and he kept things from me.” I turned from him, letting him absorb what I was saying.
“Do you know how badly I wanted to tell you? How many times I wanted to just walk up to you before you even knew who I was and tell you everything? God, AubrieAnna, I really did want to tell you. I hated leaving you in the dark, but Clamora said that it was necessary until we figured some other things out first.” Sebastian looked down at his lap in shame then shook his head before continuing. “If you really want to know if I am telling you the truth, do that thing where you reach into my mind or whatever it is. See what lies there.”
“Sebastian, I don’t want to have to dig through your brain. It doesn’t sound very pleasant, and I don’t really know how that thing works anyway. It’s something that we should work on together, making it stronger so it comes naturally. But I don’t want anyone to know about it. Not even Clamora.” I reached out and grabbed his hand. Smiling at him, I said, “I love you, more than anything.”
Chapter 13
Freshly showered and exhausted from the evening’s events, I crawled into my bed and cuddled close with Helios. The large cat sniffed me before deciding I was okay. When I got home I had reached down to greet him and he hissed and growled at me. Curious as to why, I asked Sebastian what was wrong and he explained that my scent was off. Apparently my twin’s scent had rubbed off on me and was strong enough to make my cat angry with me. So I figured if I wanted to cuddle with my cat, I had to shower to make him believe I was all right again.
My thoughts raced through my head angrily, and I couldn’t calm them down long enough to fall asleep. Careful not to disturb my slumbering cat, I rose from the bed and sat down in my chair. I looked out at the moon. The clouds had started pulling together to hide the night sky completely. No matter how hard I tried to ignore the vision I had had, my thoughts kept going back to it and to what Sebastian had said. Sighing, I concentrated on the vision, from the feelings it stirred in me to its sights and sounds.
I was transport
ed back to the vision, except this time I was floating around, watching everything that was happening. A crack in the distance caused my ears to prick up. I turned to look, and I saw him sitting there, smiling. His eyes were completely void of any emotion. Malice rippled off him in such strong waves, I felt like I was going to be sick. Bushes rustled, and Sebastian walked through first; I was trailing behind him. Our hands were still linked together and the smell of blood floated to me on the soft breeze. I couldn’t tell exactly where we were, just that we were somewhere in the woods, which could have been anywhere. My stomach rolled and twisted as I watched the scene unfold before me.
Something caught my attention, and my head snapped up. My eyes filled with horror, confusion, fear, and absolute anger. I pulled Sebastian away from the u da yv la dv, and we ran through the woods. Still floating above the scene, I watched as we zigzagged through trees and shrubs. We crossed over a small stream, went past some cabins, and kept going. Angry bees swarmed in my stomach, making me nervous for what was going to happen next. I screamed at myself not to turn yet, to keep going straight. We could lose them elsewhere, trick them into thinking we were going the way we were supposed to, or something else, anything else. I didn’t listen to myself, though. I turned and continued running. My heart raced in anticipation of what I was going to see next.
We stopped just for a brief moment so we could jump into the trees. Then it happened. One of the u da yv la dv that had been chasing us wrapped his arms around Sebastian, keeping him on the ground. He tried so hard to keep holding onto my hand, but he was forced to let go. I landed softly on one of the thick branches and looked down at my bleeding hand. Shock filled my face and terror shortly followed. I looked down and saw Sebastian slowly dying. Pain gripped me, and I jumped down in an attempt to save him. The u da yv la dv attacked me, jumping from every angle. When the chaos cleared, I lay in a heap of blood, my arm outstretched toward Sebastian. Poor Sebastian lay a few feet from me, lifeless. Even though it wasn’t actually happening, I wanted to tear every u da yv la dv that was in the woods from limb to limb. I wanted to destroy them all. That’s when I heard something even more terrifying than what had already happened.
He stepped out of the trees. I couldn’t tell who it was; he was wearing a black cloak with the hood pulled up over his face. “It is done,” his voice boomed through the silent night air, causing the trees to shiver.
“Yes, we did it like you said to, sir.” One of the u da yv la dv bowed to him.
“Good job. My brother did well with you. You will get this world to have as your own. But remember the deal we made. Do not break it, or I will bring them back.” He gestured to Sebastian and me lying on the ground.
The u da yv la dv shivered at the sound of the threat from the man. “Yes, sir.”
Edges of the vision started to waver away. After a few moments, my eyesight cleared and I saw my room once again. Even though I had a bigger picture of what had happened, I was even more confused than I’d been before. Why would one of the gods want to make a deal with the u da yv la dv? And why would he want them to have the world? Grunting, I stood up from my chair and began to pace the floor.
Soft taps on my door broke my concentration. I walked to the door and opened it to see Sebastian. Careful not to make the door creak, I opened it a bit more so he could come in. Although I was still upset with him, I needed someone to help me figure out the puzzle. He sat down next to Helios, who had been awake for a while. My cat growled at him and jumped off the bed. I sat on the floor in front of Sebastian, told him what I had seen, and asked him what he thought about it. Of course he was just as confused as I was. There was no one we could really go to anymore, at least not any of the gods. I was completely stumped and tired.
It was almost dawn, and we still hadn’t figured anything new out. Sebastian tried running through scenarios, and I kept turning them down as possibilities. Nothing made sense, at least nothing short of revenge or anger toward Zeus and the other gods. I paced the floor more and more as we continued running through ideas. At one point I had to stop and sit down before I burned a hole in the floor. That didn’t last very long; I was agitated and confused beyond belief. Luckily for me, the sun began to rise and my eyes started to grow heavy while my skin began to itch, signaling that I needed to sleep. Sighing in frustration, I sat back on my bed. Sebastian caught what I was doing and pulled me into his side. He played with my hair until my eyes shut completely.
When I awoke, it was well into the afternoon. Rain was pouring out of the sky and it looked like it could have been nighttime. The good thing about being part vampire and living in the Pacific Northwest was that I could be itchy skin–free when it rained heavily, which was most of the time, thankfully. I was starting to realize that I was going to hate being part vampire in the summertime, especially since even the small amounts of sun that were peeking through the clouds now irritated the hell out of my skin and eyes. Rolling over to see what time it was, I saw it was a little after two. Since I felt a little grimy from sleeping during the day, I decided to take a quick shower and get some coffee.
Dressed and semi-ready for the rest of my day, I hurried downstairs and started grabbing stuff to make coffee when Sebastian, who had followed me down, shook his head at me. Before I could ask him why not, he said, “Caffeine does not work well with vampire DNA, just a heads up.”
“Wait, why doesn’t it work well? What will happen to me?” I still wanted something to wake me up a little more.
“You will be throwing up all day, and it will do the opposite of wake you up,” he answered truthfully.
“How do you know?” I challenged.
“I’ve tried it before,” he replied.
“Well, how do you know it will affect me that way, since I’m not completely vampire?” I smirked at him.
“I don’t know. But if you want to test the theory, then be my guest. Just don’t come crying to me when you start throwing up and falling asleep,” Sebastian said with a shrug.
I groaned, “How am I supposed to get energy then?” He shrugged again, and I groaned one more time. Officially in a foul mood, I started putting everything I needed for coffee away. Grumbling, I stomped up the stairs and threw myself back on my bed, not even caring that I looked like a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. It was crappy not knowing if I would get sick like that. I wanted to test the theory, but I was too scared to. I hated throwing up.
“I’m sorry that you can’t have your coffee. Do you want a smoothie or a milkshake?” Sebastian asked me in hopes of cheering me up a bit.
“I guess. But we don’t have stuff to make smoothies.” I frowned at him.
“I’ll take you somewhere to get one,” he offered with a small smile.
“Okay. But I want to pick where we go,” I replied excitedly.
“Where to, my little AubrieAnna?” Sebastian smirked at me.
“I am not little, Sebastian,” I growled.
He chuckled as we walked out to his car. For some reason, he thought it was funny to call me little AubrieAnna, and I kind of liked it, but it still irritated me at times. We drove to Hubbard and to the small local coffee shop in the parking lot of the Hubbard Market. I ordered a large strawberry and mango smoothie. Once I got my smoothie, we left and headed to the warehouse so I could do some more training. By the time we arrived, I had sucked my smoothie down and felt all slushy on the inside. All the lights were off, and the building had an eerie look. Sebastian sorted through his keys until he found the one that opened the door. When he finally got it, we stepped inside.
Someone had always been at the warehouse every time I’d been here before. It was strange seeing all the lights off. Every now and then I would glance at a piece of equipment and startle myself by thinking someone was standing there, waiting for us to show up. Sebastian had to go upstairs to turn most of the lights on, so I waited impatiently by the door. After a few minutes, he came downstairs and led me to a room on the left side of the building. The room was another one
I had never seen before, and I assumed it was where he would teach me to hone in on my vampire abilities. I got a small thrill thinking about learning how to run faster than any human could, how to focus on something far away, and the other abilities that came with being a vampire. But the best part of my thrill came from the fact that Sebastian would be teaching me.
In the corner of the room there was an iHome, and speakers decorated the room. Sebastian plugged in an iPod and turned on an upbeat playlist that I figured he used whenever he worked out. I looked around the room and noticed the walls were padded, but before I could think about that I continued scanning the room. There was a rock wall, large, flat wooden boards that stood at least six feet tall, a punching bag along with a few punching dummies that had been bolted to the floor, and a suspended running track at least thirteen feet above our heads. Before I got to use any of the cool equipment, Sebastian decided that it would be a good idea for me to learn how to control my speed.
Learning how to control my speed became a game. Sebastian would run around the room and stop in random places, and I had to catch him. He sped to the opposite side of the room, and I focused so hard on catching him that I bounced off the wall he was leaning against. I hadn’t even noticed I had moved until I hit the wall. Shaking my head, I looked around to find him. He was on the east wall, at the farthest end from me. I took off. This time I slowed down five feet before the wall, but it wasn’t soon enough or fast enough, because I hit the wall again. We kept going for a few hours until I had learned to stop immediately without hitting a wall.
Next I was going to learn how to jump over high obstacles. This was going to prove to be difficult. Before I had changed into a supernatural, I could barely jump on a trampoline without hurting myself, even if they were baby bounces and I was directly in the center. We started small. Each time I succeeded, Sebastian added another foot. At first I jumped over a bar stool, then a high-backed dining chair, and then I jumped over a five-and-a-half-foot ladder. Of course, I had to jump over each obstacle ten times, and then we would go higher. The higher we went, the harder it became. I struggled more once we reached six feet. On the first three or four tries, I would get close, but I would hit the object hard enough to knock me on my butt. As soon as I was able to jump higher than six feet, Sebastian made me jump onto the wooden plank. It was a lot higher than I originally thought—a very high eight feet. I took a few steps back. Sighing, I gave it a running start then leapt into the air. A hard thud reverberated off the padded walls, and I braced myself for impact on the ground. When there wasn’t one, I opened my eyes and shrieked. I had made it on the first try. Sebastian jumped up to congratulate me, and we did a small celebratory dance.
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