Ashes, Ashes

by M. A. Bronson

We landed back in Drekenhall, on the roof of Will's home. Will maneuvered me off of his back and then focused on retracting his wings. His strange, dark wings folded back into his body as if they had never been. It was beautiful. Will was even more beautiful as he opened his eyes and smiled at me. “Should we check on your mother?” His question threw me off for a moment. With all the drama of the past few days, I had forgotten about Brittany.

  “Yeah, I guess we should. I mean, we don't have too...I'd be fine staying here for awhile. No, I mean. I should, right? Yeah.”

  Will grabbed my hand and we rushed through his home to the sidewalk below. The hospital was close, but when we arrived, we were told that my mother had already been released. Thankfully the nurse was the same one as the other day so she remembered me. But not Will. His glamour at work.

  It was hell trying to keep the symptoms of the blood bond from the nurse. Will and I both knew that if she saw me in pain like that, I'd become a patient faster than you could say 'bite me'. The nurse was able to tell me who had signed out with Brittany. It was her boyfriend. The nurse didn't know where they'd gone so I really had nowhere else to go, other than to Drew. The pain seemed to radiate through my whole being and I wondered if this was anything like a vampyre's thirst.

  We left the hospital and went to the park.

  I began to worry as Will backed away from me. His expression was sad but resigned, no determined. Was he planning something? “He's waiting for you.” The way he said it made me wonder. Did Will think I wanted to be with Drew? Or maybe he did have something up his sleeve?

  “Will,” I said cautiously. I moved closer even as he moved back.

  “I can't come with you. You have to do this on your own.” Somehow, I was sure that inside I had already known. I took a deep breath and stepped into the park.

  It didn't take me long to find Drew. He was leaning against the same willow tree from the other day. His brown hair was chaotic, far different from the meticulously put together Drew I knew.

  “You're here, finally!” he proclaimed, clapping his hands together. Yeah, you jerk, I'm here cause I don't want to die, thanks to you! But I had seen what he could do. It would be stupid to anger him.

  “Yeah, I'm glad to be here,” I said, smiling with false cheer.

  “I don't want lies, Jacinda.”

  “Why do you call me that? You know I hate it. My mom was probably higher than a kite when she named me.”

  “Jacinda Jadwige Grayson.” He placed his arm around my shoulders and I barely stopped myself from cringing. “I always liked your first name. Do you know what it means?”

  I decided to play along. “No, Drew, what does it mean?”

  “Jacinda is another word for Hyacinth, the flower. Do you know it? The god, Apollo, was dating some girl with your name and the flower sprang from her blood when she died.”

  Morbid much? “Your point?”

  “Don't have one.” He smirked. He was acting more and more like Will. The two of them would be the death of me.

  “You know, you're a lot different than you usually are. You're not acting like yourself.” He shrugged. At that moment, a vicious pain ripped through me. I bent over, clutching my stomach.

  “What's wrong?” He sounded annoyed but then seemed to realize the answer.

  “Nothing, I'm fine,” I said, though my words lost meaning when I winced again.

  “No, you're not, you need me. My blood.”

  “I said I was fine.” I protested as he led me to a bench. My stomach rolled again as I sat down on the cold wood.

  “So strong, but you are mine and I need to feed you,” he said as he pulled a knife from his pocket. He sliced the blade in a thin line across his neck.

  “Doesn't that hurt?” I asked. Feeling small inklings of sympathy.

  “Nothing hurts anymore.” he said, his voice hollow. “The fun of being a vampyre. I suppose I should thank Will for this gift,” he said, returning to good spirits, but I didn't understand what he meant.

  “Why should you thank him?”

  “You mean he hasn't told you?” He was clearly on the verge of laughter. “Your dear Will is my maker. William is the one who turned me into a vampyre.”

  I refused to believe it.

  “You're lying. Will hates you, he wouldn't do that.” It seemed I was trying to convince myself as well as Drew.

  “Oh he hates me, which is exactly why he did it. He knew you would never be with a vampire. Though it seems he was wrong about that, seeing as how you two are a couple now. Will I get an invitation to the wedding?” he said.

  “Its not like that with Will and I.”

  “Oh, really? You're still saying that? Do you know how irritating that is?”

  “What is your problem?”

  “You are my problem. You and my precious maker!”

  “Why do you hate him?”

  “He made me this thing. You know me, Jacinda, Do you think I actually wanted something like this?” I wilted. Nothing was how I though it was. “I mean really your the one who always liked vampyres. At least now I know why.”

  “I-.”

  “Enough.” He pulled me to his throat. My mouth opened, I swallowed the sweet blood dripping from his neck. A vampyre's blood was black, which might have bothered some people, but not me. His blood hit the back of my throat and filled me up. It tasted sweet, like the most addictive, thick candy.

  I lost track of time and was aware only of his blood and his hands at my back clutching me tightly. Just when I began to think of stopping someone pulled me away. Strong arms encircled my waist and pulled a struggling me farther away from the blood that I desperately wanted. Drew's blood it seemed though was making me unstable.

  “Stop, Jay!” The familiar voice caught my attention from my struggles.

  “Will!” I screamed, as most of the fight left me.

  Drew was still on the bench laughing like a mad man. Blood dripped from his wound and from my lips.

  “I have to save you, Jay. This is the only way,” Will whispered before setting me gently on the ground. I felt weird, like my skin was too tight. I wondered if this was how drug addicts felt.

  “You shouldn't have bonded her, Drew,” Will said, his voice like ice. “Can't you see how you're hurting her?” He approached the bench where Drew sat cautiously and stopped a few feet away.

  “How I am hurting her? Now that's the pot calling the kettle black don't you think? I take it she still doesn't know your secret? Or hers for that matter.”

  “Shut up!” Will yelled.

  “What secret?” I ask quietly lifting my head to face them both. I stood shakily to my feet.

  “It happened ten years ago.” My breath caught at the words 'ten years.' “A hungry vampire paced an alley, waiting for a midnight snack, and what do you know! A teenage human and her little sister just happened to walk by.”

  “Stop it!” Will interrupted. “That's not what happened and you know it!”

  Drew smiled and continued, “I know that you murdered Leora Grayson. What more is there to tell? Except perhaps why Jacinda is still alive. Or how she managed to tame the beast who murdered her sister. You didn't really think they would let the future of the world go unseen. I was sent to watch her and before then, there was always someone. But they would really only have to follow you to find her wouldn't they. You've doomed her Will. They'll be coming and you won't be enough to save her. ”

  His words clawed inside my mind and unleashed my memories. The day that I had struggled for so long to recall now ran clear through my mind. I collapsed to my knees as the scene unfolded. I saw everything, the journey down the alley, the news of Bill Grayson's murder. I watched as Will devoured my sister. Until the last memory played through and my world fell to pieces.

  It was Leora she was speaking to a creature about hiding me in her home with her family. She wasn't my sister. None of them had ever truly been my family. I felt like I wanted to throw up but I needed to
know more.

  “I don't understand...Will, why did you kill her?”

  “You don't understand. She asked me to. You both were being hunted. She knew she wouldn't survive. I did what I had to do. I don't regret it.”

  “That's supposed to make me feel better?”

  “No, but its the truth.”

  “What would you know about the truth?”

  “I know she wasn't your sister,” he said sadly.

  “You knew and you never told me?” I asked in utter disbelief.

  “How could I tell you that the sister and father you mourned weren't what you thought. How could I tell you that the drug-addicted train wreck Brittany wasn't your mother. What was I supposed to do?”

  I didn't know what to say. It could all be a lie but I knew in my heart that it wasn't.

  “Why did you stay with me for so long?” I asked, doubtful.

  “For ten years I've watched over you. I learned everything there was to know about you. Jay, I love you!”

  “Liar,” I whispered. My heart was breaking, my veins were thumbing with Drew's blood. But I wasn't so far gone that I failed to notice Drew approaching Will, with a stick. An improve stake.

  Will must have seen some emotion showing on my face because he turned and caught Drew's wrist just as he was preparing to strike. Both of them tumbled onto the ground landing punches and biting. Drew was still laughing and I had serious doubts about the stability of his mind. I watched as Will backed Drew closer and closer to the very tree I had sat against just a few days earlier. It seemed like forever ago. I could already tell what Will was going to do and maybe a different Jay would have warned Drew or tried to stop Will---but I didn't.

  Will backed Drew onto a branch. It pierced his heart like a stake and within minutes, he was nothing but ashes. Ashes that floated away in the mist, erasing any hint of his existence.

  Will and I waited in silence. I understood now what he had meant when he said everything.

  Looking down at the last bits of ash floating away, I whispered, “I know.” When I looked back up, Will was gone.

  Chapter 8

  Alive!

  April 28th