When would it all end? Who would be next?
Eighteen
“JARED?”
He heard her soft voice calling to him through the fog. Jared reached out, only to grab a handful of nothing. He couldn’t see the world around him. Where was he? Why couldn’t he reach her?
“Jared? It’s time to wake up. They need to do their job; we have to go.”
Her fingers gently ran through his hair and Jared moaned at the feel of them. He eased one eye open. A wave of sadness hit him as he saw his mother’s hand under his cheek. He sat back slowly in his seat and rubbed the heel of his hand on his eyes, trying to chase away the sleep clinging to him.
“Jared, we have to go back to the waiting room. Are you going to be alright?” She withdrew her hand from his hair.
He lifted his gaze up toward the voice to his right. Alex stood watching him. The hospital lighting created a halo around her head. She appeared so angelic, he could have believed her to be a heavenly creature, come to take the woman lying in the bed. He longed to pull Alex closer and hold on for dear life. He needed to know she was there and wouldn’t leave him like everyone else had.
He shook off the feeling and caressed the back of his mother’s hand with his thumb. “Yeah, I’m ok, as ok as I can be after watching my mother die.” He sniffed back a tear and searched for a clock. “How long was I out?”
Alex moved closer to him by the bed. She peered down at Anna’s peaceful face and wiped away the tears trailing down her cheek. “Not sure. The nurse said she heard the buzzer go off and headed to check the room out. When she got here, the machines were off, and you were out like a light. She didn’t have the heart to move you, but she did make some phone calls a little while ago. Your family is on their way.”
Jared sat back and sighed. “My cue.” He pushed out of his chair and placed a gentle kiss on Anna’s forehead, whispering he’d make good on the promise he made. Turning toward the door, he held a hand out to Alex.
Her brow knit in confusion. “What do you mean your cue? Aren’t you going to wait? Your family is going to need you here, Jared.”
Jared shook his head. “No. They aren’t my family. Anna was the only one to make me feel like I belonged. Now I know why. I was never a part of this family to begin with. They took me in as an obligation, a favor to my real mother.” He pointed to Anna’s body. “When she took her last breath, my tie to them died too.”
“But, Jared…”
He cut her a harsh glare. “No, Alex. I was a stranger, just like you in the foster homes. Only now I know why. I have nothing more to say to any of them.”
She placed a hand lightly on his arm. “Jared, please, think of what she would want you to do.”
He shook off her touch. “I mean it, Alex. I’m done here. It’s time for us to go.” Jared grabbed her arm and pulled her from the room. He had made it all the way to the waiting area when she yanked her arm away and glared, her eyes cast a golden light. “What?”
She folded her arms across her chest and stood her ground. “You have no right to treat me like this, Jared. I’m not Giovanna, I won’t put up with it. I don’t care how grief-stricken you are. You ever pull the caveman act with me again, I’m gone.”
When she said Giovanna’s name, he recoiled like she had slapped him. Jared spun away from her, running an aggravated hand through his hair. He rounded on her with a growl. “You want to stay here and make nice to them, so be it. I’m out of here! Sam, let’s go.”
Sam raised a silent brow. “Excuse me, Jared, but I agree with Alex. You should stay. But don’t listen to me, I’m nobody.” Her mouth quirked up in the corner, and she focused her attention back on the TV.
His gaze flickered between Alex’s defiance and Sam’s indifference. “Am I the only sane one here? Did I miss something when I went back to the room?” When neither of them budged, Jared threw his hands up. “The two of you want to stay, be my guest. I know when to walk away. I’ll see you at home. There’s something I need to do.”
He stormed out of the waiting area, bumping into Tony in front of the elevator. A mutual glare of hatred passed between them. The elevator doors closed, cutting off Tony’s newest tirade.
The fleeting thought of going back crossed Jared’s mind, but he pushed it aside. Going back would only piss Tony off and this wasn’t the time or place for a repeat performance of the meeting at Conservator headquarters. It was better this way. Tony and Julian wouldn’t have any effect on the jumbled mess of feelings he had bottled up inside him. Jared didn’t know what to believe anymore. All he did know was Anna had never lied to him in the past, other than keeping the secret of his biological mother. Why would she lie now on her deathbed?
Alex stared blankly at the doorway after Jared left them in the waiting area. She faced Sam. “What in the hell?” She rubbed the sore spot on her arm left from his grip.
Sam’s eyes glazed over. “This is how it has to be, Alex dear. He needs time to think, to sort things out. His whole life has just, as you said earlier, flipped on its head. Give him time. He’ll be back soon enough.”
Alex walked over and plopped down next to her on the couch. She leaned her head on the back and closed her eyes. “I don’t know if I can do this. It’s too much too fast. Why can’t I hit rewind and do it all over again? Why can’t I go back to being oblivious of this world? I want to go back to working at my dead end job and never know a thing about Jared.”
Sam sat up straighter and took Alex’s chin in her hand. Alex’s eyes flew open and found Sam’s swirling grey eyes boring deep into her soul.
“There is no rewind in life, Alexandra. This is where you are meant to be, right here with him. To go through this is part of your destiny. You can’t stop the Fates and what they have planned for you, but you can do your best to make the most of it. Jared needs you. My son needs your strength to get him through what’s coming. It was why I chose you at birth for him.”
Alex pulled away with a gasp. “What is it with you people? Your son? You chose me? I don’t want anything to do with any of this. I want my life back to live as I choose.” Alex jumped to her feet and grabbed her coat, pointing a finger at Sam. “You and Jared - both of you - stay the hell away from me. I’ll get a court order if I have to. You’re all insane.” She ran down the hall to catch the elevator and get as far away from Sam as possible.
Tony stepped out of an empty room and into the hall. Alex came rushing toward him. She hit him head on and stumbled backward.
He caught her by the arms to steady her. “Whoa there, where are you off to in such a hurry? What did my brother do now?” His stomach churned. Bile rose in his throat as he called Jared his brother, but he swallowed it. He had to play the role of the concerned older sibling if he was going to get Alex to trust him.
Alex regained her composure and pulled her coat close around her. “Yes, I mean no. Ah hell, I don’t know. He stormed out of here and then Sam started saying things…I just want to go home. I need to be back in my apartment. Anywhere but here.” She reached for her shoulder to adjust her laptop case, and it hit her; her bag was still at Jared’s house, along with her wallet and money. How the hell was she going to get home? Even if she had her keys, and she did, she had no way to pay for a ride there. She was stranded in New Jersey. Damn it!
“Is there something wrong?”
Alex slumped against the wall. “I’ll say there is. It just dawned on me; I have no way to get home. I’m stuck here.”
Tony laughed. “Now there I can help you out. My shift starts in a half hour, and I have to head into the city. I can give you a ride.”
Alex frowned. “But what about your mother? Shouldn’t you be here to take care of things?”
Tony waved it off with a sad sigh. “I already have. I took care of the arrangements earlier. One of the perks of my job. Sad isn’t it? Since Dad and Regina are so broken up, I stepped in and took control. When you’re the oldest, you’re kind of expected to do these things.”
&nbs
p; “I wouldn’t know.” She murmured, letting her voice trail off. The elevator passed their floor by again. Alex pressed the button over and over, like it would suddenly stop. She wanted out of this place and away from all of them. Jared’s creepy brother included.
Tony placed a hand on hers, stilling it. “Please, let me give you a ride. It’s the least I can do for one of Jared’s friends.” His voice dripped with sincerity.
Alex pulled her hand back, shoving it in her coat pocket. “Okay. I accept your offer. Thank you.”
The elevator finally opened on their floor. Tony held out his arm and bowed slightly, allowing her to enter first. “Your chariot awaits.” Following her inside, an evil reptilian curl formed on his lips. Visions of his reward for a job well done danced in his head.
Just like shooting fish in a barrel. Could my job get any easier?
Nineteen
THE FEELING OF DÉJÀ VU WAS SUFFOCATING. Jared stepped through the sliders onto the patio, carrying a bottle of Jack Daniels. Of course it was JD, blue label at that, nothing but the best for the Bonatelli household. The mantra had been drilled into him since day one. It wasn’t what was giving him the chills, though. It was the knowledge he had done this before. Why did everything come back to this house in the end?
Jared left the hospital with the intentions of packing up anything in his parents’ home belonging to him. Wait, not his parents; they were the people who graciously took him in when his mother threw him away. Yeah, kudos to them for their generosity. But once he arrived at the dark empty house, he couldn’t go upstairs. He felt like a stranger in his childhood home, similar to visiting one’s home after another family had moved in.
He headed for the liquor cabinet, grabbed a bottle and opened the back door. Now he stood staring off into the woods behind the house with the insane urge to find the one place he could truly disappear, not even Lance would be able to stop him this time. It wasn’t like he wanted to end it all. Not a chance. He made a promise to Anna, and he was bound to keep it. He wouldn’t off himself because he couldn’t deal. No, he just wanted to get good and drunk so he could forget for a little while. There was no better place than where he was headed.
Jared crossed the cobble stone patio and began the long trek through the overgrown brush behind the house. It had been so long since he ventured through there. The trees and vines had grown together, covering up the trail he knew like the back of his hand. The trees seemed to part and move to the side to let him through. It finally registered what was happening, and he let out a short clipped laugh. It shouldn’t surprise him. Anna did say he was the son of a King and Goddess, didn’t she? Why wouldn’t nature bend to his will?
My God, was he actually beginning to think this was all real? He needed another drink. His mouth watered thinking about it.
He came up over the hill and the full moon slipped out from behind a cloud. The tree house stood just as he had remembered it. Time hadn’t taken its toll on the structure. He stepped closer. A dim light flared to life like a candle being lit in the window. Jared put his hand on the ladder nailed into the tree trunk and yanked hard. It was still as strong as ever; odd, he figured the nails would have worked themselves out over time.
Jared slipped the bottle of JD in the deep pocket of his coat and climbed up the makeshift ladder. When he got to the top and crawled through the door-way, he spied the reason for the light. A small camping lamp sat in the far corner on a milk crate. The battery was fading, causing it to flicker and dim before flaring to life again. He bowed his head and chuckled. Some kid must have been using the tree house and forgotten to shut the lamp off. Too bad when he came back, he wouldn’t have a light to see by.
A tiny gasp came from behind him. Jared swung toward the noise. The lamp flared bright. He swallowed hard, blinking in disbelief. It couldn’t be…
“Giovanna? Is it you?” He held out his hand and cupped her cheek. It was warm to the touch. He pulled back quickly as if he had been burned. “Oh my God, it is you. But how?”
Giovanna stepped closer. The lamp lit up her features. She was just as he remembered her, a little older, but the same nonetheless. She wore black jeans and sweater, with her curly blonde hair pulled into a ponytail at the base of her head. Her hands twisted nervously and tears welled in her eyes. “Yes, Jared, it’s me. I knew you’d find me.”
Jared pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, unwilling to let go lest she vanished into thin air. He lost her once. He wouldn’t let it happen again.
Pulling back slightly, he framed her face with his hands. “You have no idea how many times I wished for this. I missed you so much. I was nothing without you.” His thumbs wiped the tears from her cheeks. He searched her eyes for the catch. There had to be a catch.
Giovanna sobbed and bit her bottom lip. “Did you? Did you really wish for me to come back?” She placed her hands on his, closing her eyes. “I have been here waiting for you to come and take me away from all this. Jared, I…I believed you forgot all about me, moved on with your life.”
Jared shook his head and kissed her, his tears mixing with hers. “I could never forget you. I loved you with all my being, G. You are a part of me. If not for…”
She placed a finger on his lips cutting off what he had been about to say. “Loved. Past tense, Jared. You said you loved me. So it has happened. She was right.” Giovanna pulled his hands away from her face and walked over to one of the windows. She wrapped her arms around her middle and stared up at the moon.
A wave of cold blanketed him. He hadn’t realized how he said it. “It’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
She rounded on him, anger in her eyes. “Do I, Jared? I haven’t seen you in fifteen years. Fifteen years. How the hell would I know what you meant?”
“Because, G, you know me better than I know myself.”
Giovanna rolled her eyes, throwing her arms wide before him. “Ha! I know nothing about you. Never did, it seems.”
“Alex is only a reporter out for a story. I am nothing more than a paycheck to her.”
“Lie to me all you want, but don’t lie to yourself, Jared. You’re in love with her. Have you told her all about your big secret life? The life you kept from me, Jared. Had I known about the world you lived in, I might have been more prepared. I would’ve been able to protect myself where you failed. I’d never become the pawn of a monster.”
He grabbed her shoulders and shook her, yanking her closer. “I did what I had to do, what I was sworn to do.” He snarled. “Do you think I had a choice?”
“We all have choices, Jared.” She scoffed at him. “You chose your duty over me. It’s simple. And now, Jared, I have to do the same.”
“What do you mean you have to do the same? What’s going on, G? Who is controlling you?”
She cupped his cheek. A single tear began a slow journey down her cheek. “Please forgive me, Jared. I love you.”
She closed her eyes and kissed him. At the same time, she buried the dagger concealed in her other hand in his chest. Jared fell back, gasping. His hands grabbed to hold on to something to keep upright. His mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. Blood seeped from the corner of his lips. Pain and shock etched on his face as his back hit the wall behind him. Jared wrapped his fingers around the hilt of the dagger. “Why? Why are you doing this?”
Giovanna backed away from him, rubbing her hands together, clearly frightened by what she had done. “I had to, Jared. She’ll kill me otherwise. I had to. Please forgive me, please.”
A scream of rage tore through the stale air of the tree house. Jared pulled the dagger free. Blood poured from the gaping wound it left behind, and he fell to one knee. He lifted his glowing eyes to her, a snarl curling his lip. “I’ll never forgive you for this. You should have stayed dead.”
“I had no choice,” Giovanna whispered. She shrank away from him, inching her way to the door.
Jared sucked in a sharp breath. His gums throbbed as his teeth shifted. He panted, blood
dripping from his lips and pooling on the floor beneath him, mixing with the blood from the wound in his chest. He braced on all fours, tossing his head back with a roar. Hissing, he bared newly dropped fangs at her. His eyes cast a red light through the room. He lunged for her.
Giovanna ran for the door, but he was there first, pinning her to the wall. She beat her fists against his chest, but it didn’t faze him.
“Jared, stop, please!” She kicked at him, but he avoided her blows, immobilizing her legs with his. “No!” She screamed, her head thrashing back and forth. She had to get him off her. Had to get away before…
His mouth caressed her neck, his tongue running up the vein just below her skin. Giovanna closed her eyes, sobbing. He was going to kill her. It wasn’t like she didn’t deserve it. She knew what he was the moment he laid eyes on her, eyes glowing in the moonlight. Why did it matter? Die by his hand, die by Absinthe’s…it was a means to an end. It didn’t mean she was ready to go right now.
“Please don’t do this, Jared,” she whimpered against his hair.
Jared couldn’t understand her over the sound of the blood rushing through her veins. He drew his lips back and sank his fangs deep in her neck. Her blood filled his mouth. His first instinct was to gag and pull away. The more basic instinct to live kicked in. He swallowed the coppery fluid, its warmth slid down his throat and spread throughout his body. He groaned against her skin, his eyes closed. His hold on her relaxed. He pulled greedily at her neck, needing every last drop she had. This was what he was born for. He wasn’t human, just trapped in a human shell of his mother’s making.
Sobbing, Giovanna let go of him. Her hands fell to her sides. She was no match for him, especially like this. Her hand felt something hard in the pocket of his coat. Her fingers slipped inside and wrapped around the neck of the bottle nestled in his pocket. Her strength was beginning to fade. This was her only shot at getting away. Giovanna withdrew the bottle of whisky from his pocket and swung it at his head with whatever strength she could muster. The bottle shattered. Jared broke his hold on her, his teeth ripping her skin away. Giovanna threw the broken bottle at him and covered the hole in her neck with her hand. She spun away from him and ran.
Beyond The Sun Page 13