Counterpart (Succubi & Incubi Assn.)

  “Having Tristan isn't going to do that, let him go.” I didn't know what I was going to do, all I knew was that I needed to get her, kill her—much to Rosa's dismay—and get Tristan out of here. “If there was anyone having a slow death, I'll make sure it's you.”

  “Big words, Maya. Big words.” She shook her head. “You obviously don't know. Rosa was always good at secrecy.”

  What didn't I know?

  “Tristan has more to do with this than you think.” One look at my unconvinced face only led her to continue. “You're more clueless than I thought. Bethany was always a stupid one when it came to love.”

  Something in this warned me to not listen, but once again, I didn't have a choice. It’s not like I could go anywhere.

  “She didn't think of the consequences when it came to her beloved. She made him immune, yes. But you know there's always going to be those faults that you bypass. Hers just happened to be a major fuck up for her, not Conrad—well, yes Conrad too, but he didn't have to do much.”

  “Get to the point.”

  “Patience,” she hissed. “You shouldn't ruin a fairytale, and trust me this has a really good ending. Tell me, do you know how Bethany died?”

  I remembered distinctively but I wasn't going to answer.

  “I'm going to take that as a yes. Anyway, what people didn't know was that Cassandra was only quickening up the pace. Bethany would've died a few days later, but we were feeling generous.”

  My curiosity only wanted me to ask what she meant, but my stubbornness was still not replying.

  “Conrad died a few hours before, did you know that? Of course you didn't because it was quickly shadowed by Bethany's turning up. So, because Conrad was soulfully connected with Bethany... well, it was just like getting rid of two birds with one stone. Word to the wise, don't give half your life to somebody, it will eventually lead to death.”

  I hated how my mind was starting to piece what she was saying. My hands were starting to shake at the reality, but I didn't want to know. I didn't want her to tell me what she was about to.

  “So, yeah, Tristan is a part of this because surprise, he's your other half, and when I kill his sweet pretty face your soul will start dying away, just like every other lifetime in the past 200 years.”

  My heart stopped. I didn't know what hurt the most, the fact that she was going to make me watch while she killed Tristan, or the fact that I couldn't do anything to stop this.

  You know that saying about some cloud with a silver lining?

  I really hoped that theory was true because I needed a fucking miracle.

  Twenty-Three – When The Truth Comes Out

  “You're lying,” I stated. I'd brought myself to not believing what she was saying. How could I trust her? She wanted to kill me. Besides, Rosa or Bethany would've told me this important piece of information. And Rosa said that this was the first time Bethany had showed up since she died, so in conclusion, Penelope had to be lying.

  The red-head narrowed her eyes and said, “Why would I lie, Maya?”

  I could think up a million reasons. “You've been lying ever since you got here. You hate that Tristan and I are close and that kills you. You've always been jealous.” I was trying to push the fear away, attempting for the more taunting route. In reality, I was shit-scared and I was trying to form a plan inside my head all while trying to find a way out of this not moving thing I'm in.

  “Oh.” She was amused by my comment. “I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to get to me. That's cute.”

  I was suddenly set free from the force field, but as happy I was that it was gone, I was wishing I was back inside. My feet left the ground and I moved two feet into the air, where I hovered over the ground. I couldn't stop my eyes from bugging out as I looked at my feet. My toes were so far from the ground that even when I stretched them, I wouldn't even touch the floor. If the fear was big before, it was worse now.

  This can't be good...

  Penelope smirked when I looked back to her. The eyes that were once normal were now a cloud of black, just like Ethan's when he used his compulsion on Ryan's friends. I wished someone had told me that she could... lift things. I don't know what it would've done if I knew, but at least I would be prepared. It was bad enough that I couldn't move before, but now that I could move, I wasn't even touching the ground.

  She walked her way towards me, a glare now on her face. “The stupidity that lingers around you disgusts me. You actually think I would waste my time lying to you out of something I find satisfying. You should be lucky that I'm not killing you right now.”

  “Fuck you, Penelope.” The words escaped my mouth instantly. I hated how she had an advantage over everything right now. I hated how I couldn't do anything but listen and watch. I was so helpless that all I could rely on was my words. “Go to Hell.”

  I was suddenly sent back across the room. My back hitting against a cold wall before it caved in, sending glass around me from the impact. Mirrors. A sharp pain surged up my side and all the air came out of my lungs when I fell to the ground.

  Clenching my eyes, I felt the pain in my right side build and throb instantly. Every time I inhaled a breath, the pain expanded. I moved my eyes down to where I sensed the pain and what I got was something I should've expected, but didn't want to. A shard of glass the size of my half my palm had pierced through my dress, digging deep into my skin. I couldn’t tell how big it really was, but judging by the blood that was quickly starting to drip onto the ground, I knew that it was in pretty good.

  My fingers slowly crawled to where the glass met my skin and I clenched my teeth tightly as I started to pull it out. I buried my forehead onto the hard floor and tried to contain the wince that threatened to escape. Wrapping my hand around the glass, I pulled. All too slowly, the glass moved out of my skin, but no matter how hard I tried to make it quick and easy, the pain throbbed around my abdomen, moving up to my head. It wasn't pain that I'd ever had before, but if I had to explain it with one word, it was excruciating. I had to dig my nails into my palm just to make it a little better.

  “Tsk, tsk,” Penelope's voice started. “I don't know why you try to make this worse for you, Maya.” I was jolted back and my body slid against the ground again, the windows stopping it from going any further. The impact on my side only made the pain worse and I was really finding it hard not to pull at my hair. I needed something—anything—to grip.

  My body felt drained. I felt like I was reaching the point of exhaustion. I was losing too much blood and my eyes were starting to blur and cloud. A tear fell down the side of my cheek and I wasn't sure if it was because of me hurting, or the fact that I didn't know what to do. I wanted to get up but my body wasn't allowing it. My head turned to look at Tristan and I felt like I had failed him. I had failed everyone. I even failed myself.

  “Just for that.” Penelope's heels entered my vision, blocking me from seeing Tristan. “I think I'm going to make his death a more... slow one.”

  “Don't touch him,” I hissed, “don't lay a single finger on him.” As weak as I felt, I couldn't allow her to do this.

  “Oh.” She started walking back. “But I plan on touching him, and I have touched him in ways you wished you could.” Her hand moved and the glass that had pierced my skin was quickly in her hand. “Too bad you'll never get to feel what it's like to have him inside you, kissing along your neck, spreading your legs so he can go in deeper.” It made me sick when she brought the glass up to her face, the side with my blood on it hovering a few inches from her lips. “And the way he whispers into your ear.” She trailed the blood covered point over her lips and down her chin. “It's like he's writing poetry, so romantic, yet a twist of seduction.”

  “Shut up.” I had had enough of listening to this. I wanted it to stop. “Just shut up.”

  “Oh, don't be so mad, Maya.” She made it to Tristan's side and knelt down next to his body. “Maybe you guys will meet again. In another life-time... it's a low chance but may
be you'll walk past each other down the street.”

  I stiffened when she trailed the tip down the center of Tristan's chest. I didn't notice it until now but at some point she had unbuttoned his shirt. “He's always had such a nice body. In every life, it was always irresistible. Too bad it always goes to waste.”

  “Leave him alone.” My palms flattened on the ground and I attempted to push myself up. I saw her press the tip slightly against his skin, and it was like I was the one receiving the pain. “Oh God,” I groaned quietly. A new pain started between my ribs. Mixing it with the unending throb in my side and I was trying to find an escape.

  Penelope laughed. “Yeah, Bethany was a stupid bitch for putting her life in someone else's hand. My job is to always give her a reality check.” I was so focused on the pain in my body that I didn't realize that she was raising the glass with both hands, planning to slice it straight through Tristan's chest.

  It felt like everything switched to slow motion. The only sound was the crackling of the fire around us. Penelope raised the glass over her head. My heart pounded against my chest as adrenaline surged through. The glass came down and I reached my hand out instinctively, screaming, “NO!”

  Heat surrounded my body and I couldn't contain the agonizing scream that came from my mouth. All the pain from tonight was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. My skin was burning so bad that I was sure that I could feel my nerves dying away, one by one.

  My nails dug into my palms, hard. My knees slid across the hard floor until I was hunched forward. Another scream passed my lips, but this time I wasn't sure if it was because of the pain or the fact that I let Tristan down.

  I could still hear the sound of the flames around me, but somehow they sounded closer. At some point in the past five seconds, my eyes had clenched shut. I couldn't see it when she lodged the glass into his chest—I was a coward for that—but I could feel every single inch of pain that he went through.

  I'm so sorry, Tristan.

  I was numb. My body started to lose its senses. I couldn't smell anything anymore. The pain that was in my abdomen felt non-existent and I couldn't help but wonder if this was my death coming for me. The thought was only distant when I decided to finally open my eyes. The first thing I saw was shattered glass in front of me. I counted five different shaped pieces. Actually, now that I looked around me, there was shattered glass everywhere.

  A breeze blew my hair and I was surprised by the movement that I didn't care that I couldn't feel it. My head moved to look to my side and I felt my eyes widen at what I was seeing. I was so distracted by the breeze that I didn't wonder why there was a breeze. Now I knew. All the windows that gave you a view of L.A. were smashed. Every single one of them was shattered and half of the pieces were surrounding me.

  What the hell.

  My head snapped to my other side and my jaw dropped. Tristan still laid motionless on the ground, but no blood was on his body. She didn't stab him? I was confused for a long time until I noticed a slumped pile not more than a couple of meters away from him. Penelope.

  Surprisingly, my legs moved until I was standing. My eyes scanned the area around me, trying to find out what happened, but nothing but what I was seeing before was there. Except for the new additions of glass to the floor, everything was normal.

  Except for one thing.

  There was no fire. The smoke was gone, yet I was so sure that I could hear the sound of the crackling before. How did I feel so hot yet there was no fire?

  Slowly, I took a cautious step forward, hearing the glass crack under my shoes. My eyes stayed on Penelope's body still lying on the ground. I was planning to run to Tristan's side, but a flicker in my peripheral vision stopped me. Turning, I found myself staring at my reflection, except... it wasn't how I remembered me.

  At least I finally found out where the sound of fire was coming from.

  I couldn't even recognize the person staring right back at me. If I was shocked before, I was even more shocked now. Fire. Everywhere. All over me. The flames ran from the tips of my fingers, creating a surrounding around me. It covered every inch of skin that I had to offer. And my eyes, they were so black that I couldn't even tell if I still had eyes or not.

  This was me?

  I had somehow turned into some flame monster.

  I stared down at my hands and back around the room. Did I do all of this? When I looked back at the mirror, making sure that what I was seeing was not me day-dreaming, I expected to see my own face, but I didn't.

  Instead I was staring right at Bethany's face.

  A sound of a grunt came from my side and my head snapped instantly. A new feeling came through me. Penelope's body was starting to move. Anger soon replaced anything that was inside and I felt my feet move by themselves.

  I knew what I was going to do. I didn't know how I knew, but for some reason, I had a feeling that Bethany was helping me, moving my body. My hand moved up and Penelope's body moved in sync. I wanted to be shocked by what I was doing, yet inside, I wasn't finding anything weird about this at all. Moving it higher, her body was lingering in the air the same way she did with me.

  All I could feel was vengeance. Not for me, but for Bethany, Conrad and Tristan too. I wanted to end this now. I wanted to kill her so much that my eyes only saw red.

  A small amount of blood slipped down her face when I turned her to face me. Her wide-eyed gaze satisfied me and I only felt like giving her the same treatment that she gave me. “You're lucky I hate seeing your face.” My voice was lower than normal, but I couldn't care. “Instead of giving you a slow and painful death, I think I'm just going to make it quick.”

  I didn't give her a chance to react before my wrist flicked and her body moved in the direction of the broken mirror, aiming for her to land right on the sharpest point.

  “Maya, stop.” Penelope's body stopped moving when I heard the familiarity of the male behind me. It angered me even more that Ethan chose now to turn up. He seemed to notice this and I felt him step forward. “As much as you want to kill her, you can't.”

  She was less than an inch from being dead, I was sure I could kill her. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn't.”

  Ethan stepped up to my side. “If we can't find Cassandra, then you and Tristan will forever be in danger. Do you really want to put him through that?”

  Tristan.

  “You need to calm down. Now,” Ethan continued saying, his voice now hard.

  I watched Penelope for a few long seconds before I took a deep breath, and I felt everything leave my body. Penelope dropped to the ground and before she could come up with a cunning plan to leave, Ethan was by her side and his hand clamped over her shoulder before a cloud of black smoke covered them.

  As soon as I felt all the heat leave my body it was like the exhaustion and the pain in my abdomen were welcomed back. My knees met the floor and I felt the weight on my shoulders pressurize. My legs felt weak. I felt my body fall to the side and I landed on the ground with hardly any air in my lungs.

  What the hell just happened? I couldn't even process what I just did. I couldn't even see how I did all of that. Then there was Tristan... I could've fucked it up for both of us.

  Using the remaining strength that I had, I pulled my body closer to his. He still hadn't moved and it worried me. Why hadn't he woken up?

  With every movement and breath, I lost more energy. Clouds covered my vision and I was so close to him that I could almost feel his arms around me. But as if the world hated me, I felt my body lose the battle. I was mentally and physically gone. I could see his hand and I reached out with my own. I could feel his hand so close to mine, but not even I was sure that I managed to reach it until I lost conscious.

  One last breath passed my lips and then, everything was blank.

  Twenty-Four – Trust

  I stepped through the wide doors that led into the empty hall. Receiving a text half an hour before midnight only made me curious. The echo of my shoes walking along t
he hard floor grabbed the attention of the male inside the ring, and he turned. I felt proud that I brought a grin onto his face. “Glad you could make it.”

  My own grin matched his and I continued walking until I was standing just outside the circular cage. “You want to tell me why you wanted to meet me, Tristan?”

  Tristan was throwing punches into the air when I walked in, and now he stood casually in the middle of the ring, his arms crossed over his chest. He shrugged. “Guess I wanted to catch up. I haven't really seen much of you lately.”

  There was a reason for that. “You've been busy with your girlfriend.” I did my own version of the shrug. “Don't want to disturb that.”

  I heard him sigh. “You won't disturb it, Maya.” He inched towards me slowly. “And don't think you'll get in the way.” He opened the gate to the ring and held it with his hand, nodding his head inside. “You've still yet to step inside this.”

  “I plan to keep it that way.” The last situation I wanted to be put in was trapped. If I were to go inside a small room, I needed to know that I could easily escape.

  I'm probably claustrophobic.

  “Come on.” He held his glove-covered hand out. “I won't let anything happen to you.”

  I trusted Tristan. I always have. Ever since the first day we met, I knew I could. It was the fact that he was inviting me out, almost at midnight, while his girlfriend was probably waiting for him that confused me. “Won't Tori be wondering where you are?”

  They'd been dating for at least a month now, and by this point I was just over the fact that she actually made him happy.

  Yet, it still didn't answer why I was here.

  “She's—” he paused and pursed his lips out momentarily. And just because I’m an idiot, I was distracted by that single movement. “She's busy doing other things.”

  “Ah.” I moved my eyes when his words came out. I laughed amusingly. This was typical. “Let me guess, she's either found a foreign nail salon that needs her attention, or she simply didn't want to see you tonight.” The look he gave me was one saying I should drop it, but I couldn't and I wasn’t going to. “So, you text me because you want a girl's point of view, even though you won't even take my advice—”