The Return (The Edge of Forever Book 3)

by D. C. Gambel

  “I wish this was any other wedding,” he whispered causing shivers down my arm.

  “Why?” I asked trying to keep my voice steady, but Grayson wasn’t fooled.

  He grinned wickedly. “Because, even after having you this morning, I want you again. If this wasn’t the wedding of your parents, I’d have already pulled you into a room where we could be alone and I could worship every inch of your gorgeous body. Or maybe take you in the backseat of the limo as we made our way home.” His words alone caused between my thighs to dampen. I opened my eyes and saw a sexy smirk spread across his face. Just then my gaze shifted over to Sebastian, who was now staring at me and I was pulled from my lust filled haze suddenly filled with nausea.

  “I, uh, have to get back to work.” His grin broadened listening to my blunder, but nodded. I almost stumbled as I walked away, but as I did Grayson was quick to grab me. “I’m okay,” I said, trying to ease his concern. I headed towards the kitchen, but nixed that idea, remembering what happened at the bakery and instead headed to the back door for fresh air. I leaned against the brick wall gasping, trying to calm the sickness I felt growing, when a gust blew in the scent of garbage and I lost the battle. I walked a few paces and lost my stomach. I grabbed a piece of paper from my notebook that I was still clutching, and wiped my mouth clean. I was just finishing cleaning myself when I felt a familiar pull.

  “Gaby?” Sebastian.

  I quickly crumbled the piece of paper and tossed it. I was pretty sure he had missed the show, but wasn’t certain. Slowly I turned to face him. His face was littered with concern. “I saw you inside and wanted to make sure you were alright.” I licked my lips and nodded. Being near him, especially alone was hard, particularly when I didn’t have good control on the bond between us. “I hope I wasn’t the cause of your…instability.” He took a step closer and my blood began to hum. My body screamed to step forward, to close the distant, but my mind repeated one word over and over. Grayson.

  Obeying me, my body took a step back. Seeing that, Sebastian too stepped back. “I’m sorry. As I said, I just wanted to make sure you were all right.” He turned on his heels and headed back inside.

  I let my head fall back between my shoulders looking up at the sky. I took a deep breath and wondered how my life became such a mess.

  The ceremony went off without a hitch; at least it appeared that way. I had nipped a few issues before anyone noticed. The reception was definitely the highlight for me, because after the cake cut, I was done. I asked Jade to step in to let my parents know when it was time to leave. I enjoyed sitting next to Grayson feeling like a regular guest. My mother had asked me to be her maid of honor, but with how much I had to do as her planner, it wouldn’t allow me to fulfill those duties properly. That fact that Sebastian was my father’s best man helped my decision as well. Grayson and I got up and danced a few times, but every time we did, I felt Sebastian’s gaze on me, which made me nervous. I didn’t want Grayson to notice and lose his temper which had become much shorter since his return. It wasn’t until I realized how tired I was that I noticed I hadn’t seen Shawn anywhere. I tried calling him, but it went straight to voicemail. I asked Grayson, if he had seen him, but he hadn’t.

  “That’s weird.”

  “Are you worried?”

  “A little. I mean he said he would be here. He promised.”

  “Gaby, it’s probably not that big of a deal. Maybe he met up with Clive and they’re working things out.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “Explain it to me then.”

  I didn’t want to tell Grayson why Shawn not showing up was upsetting me. What if I wanted Shawn to hear the message for me? I knew it sounded selfish, but I felt I had the right to be a little selfish. I felt tears begin to pool in my eyes.

  “Hey, baby,” he pulled me against him. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “If you’re really this worried, why don’t you go ahead and take the car back to the apartment and see if he’s there. I’ll say our goodbyes here and you can send the car back to pick me up.”

  “But what about our date in the backseat,” I mumbled through my tears.

  Grayson chuckled softly, “We can always have it later.”

  It took a while to get across town. Once I got to the apartment, I sent the car back for Grayson. I knew it’d be at least an hour before I saw him again, if not a little longer with the way the traffic was. I rode the elevator up and unlocked the door to the apartment. All the lights were off. I figured Grayson was right and Shawn had ditched me for Clive. I started reaching for the lights by the door when I heard a muffled sound that even my vampire hearing had a hard time picking up.

  “Shawn?” I called out. I set all my stuff down and headed towards the guest room. The door was cracked. I was a bit worried that he and Clive were “making up” in my apartment, so I pressed the door open exceptionally slow. What I saw didn’t register in my mind for a moment. Shawn was sitting on the bed tied to the post. I began reaching for the door to pull it closed thinking I was interrupting some kinky sex act until I saw the gag in Shawn’s mouth with blood dripping down his face. I was trying to send a signal to my feet to move forward, to help him when the floor creaked behind me. I spun and was shocked by who I saw.

  “Hi Gaby.”

  Before I could move, something was pressed against my arm. It seared with into my skin before darkness fell.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Pain seared into my wrists. I tried to adjust them to ease the ache, but it only made the discomfort worse. Every move I made seemed to make my body scream in agony. I tried to talk, but something was preventing the words from escaping. Finally, I gathered enough strength to open my eyes. Everything was hazy. All I could see were blotches of color. Blinking repeatedly cleared my sight just enough to allow me to see shapes. I could see the outline of a person. I focused on them thinking it might be my captor because surely I had seen them wrong the first time. As my vision cleared, I saw the person who I’d been focusing on.

  “Gaby? Are you alright?” Shawn asked.

  “Uh…” I groaned trying to adjust myself and was quickly gripped by pain.

  “Yeah, you can’t move. He’s got some kind of spelled object on you. It’s like quick sand. The more you fight it, the more it traps you. Just try and relax.”

  I looked around at a familiar scene. We were in my living room. Shawn was no longer tied to the bed, but now to a chair. His nose appeared to be broken and his left eye was swollen shut. I twisted my head to see I was tied to a barstool which allowed me to be seated on the floor.

  “Yes, Gaby. You must relax.” My eyes locked on to my captor. “Whoa! If looks could kill... Then again, if they could you might have been dead a long time ago.” I continued to glare. “If you promise not to scream, I’ll remove your gag. Do you promise?” I nodded. As soon as my gag was removed, I attempted to scream, but the sound never escaped. It felt as though it was stopped by a knife shoved into my throat, instead I choked on imaginary blood. “You thought I was making you promise for my benefit? I was just trying to save you from unnecessary turmoil. That is all I have ever tried to do.”

  Once the torment eased and I was able to speak, I looked up into the familiar face of the person before me. “Why are you doing this, Clive? Why did you hurt Shawn? I thought you loved him.”

  “I do,” he sounded dumbfounded, like he couldn’t believe I doubted his feelings.

  “Then why hurt him?”

  Clive squatted down until he was eye level with me. “He’s hurt because of you, because of your choices. If you had only done what I asked of you and left Grayson.”

  “What do you mean, as you asked? You never…” Clarity hit. “It was you,” I spat. “You were the one sending me those horrible letters?”

  “I did it for your well being. I was trying to keep you safe. Then when Grayson went missing, I thought, well, at least it’s over. You began moving on with Sebast
ian. Things were moving along and I figured you’d find happiness again and at least this time your life wouldn’t be at risk.” His face turned cold. “Then magically Grayson was reappeared and without even a moment’s thought, you jumped right back into his arms. Friend to friend, Gaby? That was some icy cold shit you pulled on Sebastian. Even if I hadn’t been team Sebastian, I would have thought that was shady. He had been there for you and you broke his heart without a second thought. So then again maybe you do deserve what’s coming.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “No spoilers.” He stood and moved throughout the room. “I started sending the letters again, thinking maybe now that you had an out with Sebastian, you might need a little nudge. Still no. Now all hell’s broken loose and something has to be done.” Clive stepped up to his bag and pulled out a large silver knife. My eyes widened and I looked at Shawn. “Don’t worry, I know to keep this away from him. Silver is a werewolves worst enemy.”

  “You knew what I was?” Shawn asked.

  “Did you really think all those full moon disappearances went unnoticed? I’m not that dense.” His eyes shifted to me. “Now you, it took me awhile to figure out. Day walking vampires are not easy to come by.”

  “How?”

  “I noticed some bites on Mr. Alexander when he was still human, but he was so entwined with you that having both a human lover and a vampire one didn’t make sense. Then I thought, what if the vampire is influencing him, but surely vampire bites wouldn’t go unnoticed by you. You see, I struggled with this for a while and then you changed him. He was only a little different, but when you’re trained to notice the details… So one day I accidently cut him. When I went to help him he was already healed.” He gestured into the air with his knife. “Day walkers! I couldn’t believe it. I hit the hunter jackpot and now there were two of you.”

  “So what happens now?” I asked as I watched Clive make his way towards me with his knife in his hand.

  “I’m sorry, Gaby. I really am, but I gave you plenty of opportunity to leave him.”

  “This is all because I wouldn’t leave Grayson?”

  “It’s for much more than that.” Clive placed the knife against my neck, almost like he was lining up his shot.

  “What if she leaves him now?”

  “Shawn!” I shouted. There was no way I was leaving Grayson because of Clive, or anyone else.

  “It’s too late now.”

  “Clive, come on baby. She’s my best friend. You know that if you do this, there’s nothing left for us.”

  Clive turned to face Shawn. “I don’t think there’s anything left for us either way.”

  “Don’t say that. Of course there is.”

  While Shawn talked, I looked down at my arm and saw what appeared to be a giant push pin. I knew no matter what I did that pin was going to torture me until it was removed. I just had to muster enough strength to do what needed to be done.

  “You really think I’m stupid Shawn. I know after what I did to you there’s no going back. I know you’re only saying it in hopes of saving your friends life.”

  I counted to three in my head as Shawn and Clive’s talk grew louder. On three, with everything I had I threw myself backwards. The chair cracked against the ground breaking as searing agony engulfed me. I thought for sure Clive would kill me before I could surpass it. I tilted my head up and saw Shawn kick Clive to the groin causing him to drop the knife and Shawn to suffer a similar episode to myself.

  I took a deep breath and fought against the pain as I reached for the pin. My wrist screamed. I was pretty sure that I broke it when I fell. My body shook with the struggle. I could feel it begin to give into the affliction. If I didn’t get the pin out then I was as good as dead. I watched as my hand began to recede from the strain. I was losing the battle.

  Suddenly, I felt hands grab me. I began to struggle against them causing myself more turmoil, but I refused to go down without a fight. The hands pulled me against a hard chest and a familiar scent filled my lungs while warm arms gently wrapped around me. I stopped struggling. I opened my eyes and looked into Sebastian’s green eyes never feeling so glad to see him. I wanted to cry tears of joy that he made it in time, but I was still in so much pain. He watched with concern as my body convulsed.

  His hands and eyes roamed over me quickly until they found the pin in my arm. When he removed it, my body went slack against him. I watched him crush the pin in his grasp before my eyes fluttered closed just needing a moment to regain some strength. I felt him lift me into his arms and stand. I knew he was about to dissipate.

  “No,” I mumbled. “Please, not again.” I watched as his eyes softened from the anger that had taken hold. I didn’t want to leave, to have him take me away like he did when Grayson was taken. I couldn’t lose Shawn. He nodded then settled me down on the floor.

  “Who did this to you?” My eyes drifted over to Clive who was beginning to reach for his blade. Sebastian went to stand, but I gripped his shirt with all the force I could muster. He turned seeing the panic on my face. It wasn’t until that moment, fearing for his safety, that I finally understood what Damien had said to me. I did care for Sebastian, but caring for him didn’t take away from the love I had for Grayson. He didn’t take away space in my heart from Grayson; he had his own, almost like my heart added on room for him. I didn’t want him in danger just the same as anyone else I cared for.

  Sebastian bent down placing a gentle kiss against my forehead. “I’ll be right back.” This time when he stood, I let him. He moved across the room with such grace. Sometimes I forgot how angelic he truly was. With what appeared to be no effort he lifted Clive and slammed him against the wall creating a Clive shaped dent.

  “No!” I heard Shawn barely scream before his words were cut off. I forgot that he was still being cursed by the pin in his arm. I began trying to work my way over to help Shawn on my hands and knees.

  “You have no idea the grave mistake you’ve made,” Sebastian spoke through clenched teeth.

  “I have made no mistake.”

  “That’s what I hate about you hunters. You get on your high horse and look down on all non humans.”

  Clive shook his head. “Even if I meet my maker, others will come for her now,” he laughed, but it sounded broken. “It’s too late.”

  “What do you mean?” Sebastian asked. When Clive refused to answer, Sebastian made another dent with Clive’s head causing me to jolt. “What do you MEAN?” he yelled.

  “The forces of both heaven and hell will soon rain down upon her. Nothing, not you nor her day walking lover will be able to keep her safe.” Clive turned his gaze to me. “It’s too late. I’m sorry Gaby, but You. Are. Doomed.”

  “Why?” Sebastian asked tightening his grip.

  “She’s triggered The Prophecy,” Clive choked.

  The anger on Sebastian’s face melted away and was replaced with grief. His grip on Clive went lax as he turned to look at me. His eyes practically begging me to tell him it wasn’t true, but I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what Clive’s words meant. Without hesitation, Clive swung connecting with Sebastian’s head sending him tumbling to the ground. I transfixed in shock. I didn’t know how a human could actually do any damage. I had hit Sebastian and he barely budged.

  “Did you really think I wouldn’t be prepared for you?” he held up a talisman. “I have The Hand of God. I knew coming after her meant you too. It’s pathetic really. She rips your heart out and stomps on it and yet you still follow her around like a lost dog that likes to be kicked.” Clive reared back to kick Sebastian to the ribs, but Sebastian saw it coming. He grabbed Clive’s foot and twisted, forcing him down. I hurried towards Shawn trying to untie him. I reached for the pin, but stopped when I saw Shawn’s eyes widen. I second later pain ripped through my scalp as I was pulled away from Shawn by my hair. I watched Sebastian move towards me, but Clive placed a knife over my heart.

  “Not another step, angel.” I watched as Sebastian
contemplated if he was fast enough. “Don’t even think about it. I’m faster than you know.”

  “But you’re going to kill her anyways. It’s the only way to stop the prophecy.”

  “True.”

  “Then what do I have to lose.”

  “The woman you love, for one,” Clive pressed the blade against me stating his point.

  “Yeah, but you forget.”

  “What?”

  “He’s not the only one that loves her,” Grayson’s voice sent an icy chill through me. I barely knew what was happening. All I saw was Sebastian race towards me as I began to fall. He grabbed me pulling me against his chest. I wrapped my arms around him as he blurred us across the room away from the commotion in supernatural speed. In those few seconds that it took Sebastian to move me, I heard the shatter of broken glass, the sound of flesh hitting flesh and the clatter of something heavy dropping to the floor. Then it was silent. I was almost afraid to lift my head up from where I had it buried into Sebastian’s chest. I was too worried of what I’d see. I couldn’t see Grayson hurt, not again. Finally, I turned my head. I saw Grayson in a similar situation with Clive that Sebastian had just had with him. Grayson’s hand rested on Clive’s shoulder. He looked like a friend who was trying to stop Clive from making a rash decision.

  “I welcomed you into my business, into my life. I invited you into my home and this is how you repay me? You try to kill the only person that truly matters to me”

  Clive’s eyes were pleading. “Grayson, you don’t understand. I…?” His words were cut off with a snap as Grayson broke his neck. My mouth fell open, but no noise exited. I felt my knees go weak, and collapsed against Sebastian, who held me up. I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. I watched Grayson step away from the wall and saw Clive’s body crumble to the floor. My hand flew to my mouth trying to hide my shock. It was eerily quiet for a long moment. We all stood there. It was Grayson that broke the tension. He moved to Shawn and untied him.