Tainted Heart (The Tainted Series Book 2)

by Marie, Tarisa

  I watch the two of them hopeful but also knowing that she’s probably seeing things. After all, the doctors did say that he wouldn’t wake up.

  Both of us stare at him in silence for a few moments. Eventually I look away and back at the poster I was reading about heart disease that I grabbed off of a pamphlet display in the hallway.

  “Ariella, look!” Baylon cries excitedly.

  I look up to see Tyler rolling completely over as if he’s in the middle of a nap and needs to reposition himself.

  “Tyler?” I jump up and squat beside Baylon beside the bed.

  Tyler’s eyes flutter open as if he’s waking from hibernation and he jumps a little when he sees his two sisters basically in his face.

  “Ariella?” he mutters through a very hoarse voice.

  “I’m going to get a doctor,” Baylon says urgently and rushes from the room, her heels clacking on the floor as she descends the hallway.

  “What’s going on?” Tyler asks and tries to sit up. I force him down by pushing on his shoulder and he looks up at me as if I’m being ridiculous.

  “Tyler you just woke up from being in a coma. Stay still,” I say roughly and grip his hand in mine. My words seem to shock him and he looks around the room as if he’s only now realizing that he’s in a hospital.

  “How?” he asks finally, looking a little scared.

  “Daymon threw you into the air and you basically landed on your head,” I tell him. “Do you not remember that?”

  He shakes his head. “Last thing I remember is killing a vampire and Baylon grabbing me and dragging me somewhere. Ariella, we don’t have time for this. I can’t be in a hospital, I’m not human. If they find out, I’ll be a scientific spectacle.”

  He doesn’t remember that we destroyed the ball. He doesn’t remember that he’s human. He doesn’t remember that our dad is dead.

  “You’re human, we’re all human, we destroyed the ball,” I inform him with a half-smile.

  It takes him a moment to process this and then he slowly sits up with a small smile as he lets this sink in. “I need to you to call someone for me.”

  A few minutes later a girl in a pink sundress with beautiful wavy blonde hair struts into Tyler’s room and rushes to his side.

  “Are you alright? Oh my god,” she screeches and hugs him gently while trying to avoid tearing out any wires. “What happened?”

  “Car accident,” Tyler shrugs. “Ariella, this is Kendra, I work with her,” he informs me although I know that he more than works with her. He’s in love with this girl. She’s the girl he told me about before, the one he loves. “Kendra, this is my long lost twin sister, Ariella.”

  The girl extends a hand towards me as if to shake it and that’s exactly what I do. “Nice to meet you,” she says in a high girly voice. “You’re the one who called me right?”

  I nod.

  “Thank you,” she says and then turns her attention back to Tyler. “Tyler’s told me lots about you. I’m Tyler’s girlfriend,” she corrects his mistake.

  I decide to give them some alone time and go join Baylon at home with Jacob. She’s gone to check on him as he hasn’t been answering our calls.

  Just as I’m leaving the building my new phone rings in my pocket and I see that it’s Baylon. I flip the phone open and put it to my ear. Before I have the chance to say anything I hear her shout, “Ariella, get over here. Jacob isn’t looking good. I think we might need to take him to the hospital. His breathing is fine, but he’s not making any sense and his fever is insane.”

  I flip the phone shut having heard enough and flag down a taxi.

  When I reach the house, I rush through the door in a panic. No way am I losing anyone else I love.

  Jacob is lying on the couch, Baylon leaning over him with a wet cloth.

  She watches me approach with a sad expression.

  “Should we call an ambulance?” she wonders, looking torn.

  I nod when I see his sweaty face. I should’ve just told her to call one when she called me.

  She calls the ambulance while I kneel beside Jacob. I am not willing to lose anyone else. This can’t be happening.

  “Jacob? How are you?” I ask softly and wipe sweat from his forehead.

  He doesn’t say anything.

  “Jacob?” I ask a little louder and shake his shoulder harshly.

  His eyes open slightly and he seems to look right through me. Why didn’t Baylon call an ambulance right away? He looks terrible.

  All of a sudden he begins convulsing as if he’s having some sort of seizure. I’m not sure what to do. I scream for Baylon who comes running into the room, dropping the phone and pulling me away from him.

  “Don’t touch him, it’ll make it worse if you try to hold him down. The ambulance is on its way,” she instructs and we watch as my brother shakes and vibrates on the couch. It’s disturbing and I wish I could do something.

  As quick as he begins shaking, he quits and I squirm away from Baylon over to his side where I try to wake him to no avail. I take his pulse. Nothing. I feel like screaming as loud as I possibly can. Jacob too is dead.

  Chapter 19

  Later that afternoon, I’m at home on the couch crying like a baby. The two men who I grew up close to are dead. My mom is also dead. My best friend Mindy…dead. And to top it all off, the man who weeks ago I would’ve said was the love of my life, is a psychopathic serial killer.

  Tyler’s doctors had no choice other than to send him home after his miraculous recovery. They didn’t seem to have an answer for his speedy recovery but couldn’t hold him if he was showing no signs of any problems. I too am confused by his very fast and miraculous recovery but decide not to question it too much as I’m just happy he’s alive.

  Kendra drove him home and from there the two of them decided to play a game of cards. Only hours ago he was in a coma and I thought he was going to die and now he’s playing cards in front of me. My life doesn’t seem to get any less strange.

  Everyone around me seems to be dealing with all the death far better than me. I feel like they don’t care though I know they do. I’m heartbroken and Tyler’s playing games with his girlfriend as if nothing is wrong. Baylon is job searching on the internet.

  I’m about to close my eyes and try to get some rest, when the front door swings open and in walks Jacob. My jaw drops and I hastily wipe my tears away hoping it’ll help my vision become not so blurry.

  “What the hell, I thought he was dead,” Tyler shouts, sounding a little disturbed. What is going on? First Tyler comes back from the dead and then Jacob?

  “Jacob?” Baylon demands while jumping from her chair and approaching him questioningly.

  “Someone please explain why I woke up in the morgue,” Jacob demands, sounding a bit unnerved.

  “You were dead.” The words come out of my mouth like word vomit.

  Kendra suddenly gasps and looks at Jacob as if he’s a zombie. That’s when I remember that although this is weird for all of us, this is really fricken weird for her. Then again, I tend to forget that her occupation is cleaning up bodies after vampires rip them apart.

  We all look at Kendra, even Jacob.

  Kendra whispers something to Tyler whose face drops as if in shock. Then he nods and looks to Jacob. He seems to take a moment as if thinking really hard and then to all of our surprise he laughs lightly.

  “That doesn’t freak you out?” Kendra says finally after staring at him like he’s crazy for laughing at whatever she’s said to him.

  The rest of us are left staring at the two of them in confusion wondering what they’re talking about.

  “No, I’ve heard a lot stranger things, Kendra. In fact, there is a lot of things that I need to tell you about me and my family,” Tyler replies to Kendra. “You can tell them, they’ll understand.”

  Kendra seems to hesitate before blurting, “I’m a werewolf and so is he.” She points to Jacob. “I can sense it. He must’ve been bitten. To turn into a werewolf you
are bitten and then you get ill and die. You wake up as a werewolf.”

  I’m only confused for a moment because I quickly recall Mindy nipping Jacob. If I’d never heard of werewolves before this might be a little different but my best friend was one. Remembering Mindy brings a tear to my eye and I wonder if the pain of losing her or anyone else will ever fade. I know it won’t, I felt the pain of my mother’s loss until I found out she wasn’t actually dead, and then when she died for real, the pain only returned. The pain doesn’t fade, you just learn how to deal with it. Something jogs my memory and I remember something. Months ago when we were leaving Denver, I recall my phone ringing in the truck and Daymon turning it to dust. Mindy had been calling me. It occurs to me that this was around the time she would’ve went missing. Could answering that call that day instead of pushing ignore have prevented her death somehow? I push away the guilt, unable to deal with anything else at the moment.

  Jacob also seems to be recalling the other night. He looks shocked by this news. I’m just grateful that he’s alive.

  “You’re sure, Kendra?” Tyler asks.

  She nods and then looks around the room as if she’s confused that we’re not all freaking out.

  Tyler laughs again, this seems to make her angry.

  “Like I said, Kendra, I have a lot of explaining to do. You kept this secret of yours from me, and I’ve kept many more from you,” he promises her. I remember that she’s always thought he was human because he never told her anything other than that probably for the same reason she never told him she wasn’t human. Both work for a secret corporation of supernatural haters and would expect the other to hate them if they found out their secret.

  She looks to him as if he is supposed to explain everything right now in this instant.

  “Don’t werewolves eat people?” I demand. This question has been on my mind for too long.

  Kendra shakes her head. “Not anymore. When the werewolves first came to this realm, yes, but only because their natural food source didn’t exist here.”

  “And what might that be?” I ask, glad she wasn’t offended by my question and also glad that humans are not their natural food source.

  “Vampires,” she answers and just like that a few unanswered questions in my mind are answered.

  Vampires must not be the creation of the Marco. That would explain why they’re still vampires like how the werewolves are still werewolves. Neither must be descended from the Tario.

  Baylon seems to be thinking really hard and we all turn to her because she looks as if she’s about to say something.

  “I could’ve sworn that the Tario and the human hunters killed all the werewolves after they came here,” she states blankly. “I was so shocked to find out that Ariella’s friend was a werewolf because I thought they were extinct.”

  “They nearly were. Thing is, those from our realm have a different sort of magic or power than those who came from the Tario. Think of it like the Tario operated on FM radio whereas we operated on AM. They were unable to sense us and so as long as we stayed out of trouble, no one could find us,” Kendra answers.

  I glance at Jacob who seems a little stunned by all this but let’s be real, we’re all used to weird.

  “How many of you are their?” Baylon asks.

  “Hundreds probably. We live amongst the humans unlike Tario and their descendants. We are very subtle. We love it here and wish to stay here also we wish to stay alive and so we stay out of trouble so no one will discover us,” Kendra explains while puling her hair back in a ponytail. “Two species came from our old realm to this one when the Tario accidentally opened the portal. A few wolves obviously and a single wizard. The wizard disappeared into the world and hasn’t hardly been heard from since. Our race thought he’d died until the vampires were created a few decades ago. After that, the werewolf population surged because we didn’t have to worry about killing humans and becoming discovered any longer. We had children and created others. We didn’t want the vampires to out us or cause a scene and have the humans go nuts after discovering us so we’ve been trying to keep their population down but it gets harder and harder as the years go by. More and more are being made and more and more are travelling in groups.”

  I remember what Grey told me in Taverd and the two stories seem to match up. The werewolves were probably thought dead because the vampires showed up and so they have to kill humans anymore which took them off of the radar.

  “We interact with humans like we are humans. We respect them, it’s their world after all, and we’re just refugees. We love their technology and we get along with them well. The only difference between us is that we can turn into wolves. We mean the humans absolutely no harm. At least now that the vampires are here to meet our needs,” Kendra tells us and glances at each one of us individually as if to see how we are taking this.

  “I thought Marco made the vampires,” Jacob says finally breaking his silence.

  “No, it’s believed that the wizard made some sort of deal with Marco. Rumor has it that the wizard recreated the vampire virus for him in exchange for something. No one seems to know what because no one’s seemed to have seen the guy since then. Anything we hear about the guy seems to have travelled down the grapevine, and no one seems to know if it’s true or if someone made it up. The only people who know the true answer about what went down during the re-creation of the vampires are probably Marco and the wizard himself,” Kendra continues.

  Tyler sighs. “Well then, I think this would be better discussed over some coffee.”

  “Or whiskey,” Jacob suggests.

  Baylon and Kendra laugh. I don’t know what to say or think.

  “Is there any way to turn a werewolf or vampire back into a human after they’ve been turned?” I ask Kendra curiously.

  “Yes, both are basically diseases to the body. It’s rare but there’s an antidote. The wizard is the only one who can create it. At least in this realm. But like I said, good luck finding the guy,” Kendra answers.

  “So there is basically no way of finding him?” I ask sadly.

  She shakes her head. “Many people search for him as wizards like to make deals. They will take a favor from someone in exchange for some sort of spell or potion in return. There was a rumor a few hundred years ago that the wizard had a child but this child was never discovered obviously. It could very well have just been a rumor that was made or it could be true ad there could be a half wizard in existence as well. Basically this rumor and the vampire’s creation are the only sort of proof that we have that this wizard may still be alive. It’s very possible that a single vampire came here through the portal those years ago and just never caused enough commotion to be caught until Marco discovered them and began mass producing them to the point where we discovered them, but I find it hard to believe this because out of the hundreds of years we’ve been here no one seems to have seen a vampire before the time that they all randomly showed up under Marco’s rule. Now it’s your turn to explain yourselves,” Kendra demands from us and put her hands on her hips. “How do you all know so much about things humans should not?”

  Tyler laughs and then says, “I really do think that we all need a good drink for this one. I still have more questions for you and we all have long stories that I’m sure you’d love to hear.”

  Kendra nods in agreement and Jacob seems to become unfrozen from his spot on the floor by the door.

  “First off, all of us were each Tario or descendants from the Tario before they all became mortal,” Tyler begins while grasping Kendra’s hand and leading her towards the kitchen to mix some drinks.

  Just when I thought there might be a touch of normalcy re-enter my life, my half-brother is turned into a werewolf and my twin’s girlfriend turns out to be one as well…great.

  “Happy birthday, Ariella,” Jacob coos as we walk into the kitchen. He wraps me in a tight hug and I can tell that it’s more than a ‘happy birthday’ hug.

  “It’s Ariella’s birthd
ay?” Baylon asks excitedly while clapping her hands happily. “Wait, doesn’t that mean it’s Tyler’s too?”

  Tyler grins and nods. “I almost forgot my own birthday!” he shouts loudly and suddenly, though none of us are truly happy inside, we are all smiling and that’s how I know that everything will be okay one way or another.

  Chapter 19

  Later that night, I go up to the room which I’ve claimed as mine and crawl into bed. I close my eyes and extend one of my arms underneath my pillow for comfort. I’m caught a little by surprise when I hear a small crinkling noise. I flip the bed side lamp on and lift up my pillow. Underneath it is a brown envelope with my written across the front. Confused and curious, I pry open the seal and pull out its contents. A small photo book falls from it with a piece of paper attached to it.

  I unfold the piece of paper and read what’s scrolled across it:

  My Dearest, Ariella,

  If you’re reading this right now then something terrible has happened to me which resulted in me being unable to snatch this from under your pillow and give it to you in person on your birthday. Happy Birthday, princess.

  I’m sure in this war, you’ve lost plenty but I know you will pull through and remain to be the same girl you will always be. This is a photo album I’ve put together of old photos from my past. I’ve written what each one is on the back of each photo. You’re always asking me about my past and I’m always reluctant to tell you about it because…well…you know why. I hope you enjoy these. I hope they serve as a reminder of me.

  I also hope you live a long, happy life, Ariella. Don’t take advantage of your immortality like I did (even though I was hardly immortal). Go to school, make friends, find love again. Hopefully one day we will meet again.