Chapter 29

Liz’s POV (Sunday Night)

 

I had found out that all those guys were Reed’s royal guard, with different awesome powers. We had gone around the school everywhere, exploring, and I had hidden behind Felipe. Vampire guys had constantly stared, and thrown rude remarks at me, staring at me, groping, I had been shivering, and Mike, Jace, Kurt, and Felipe had all been growling.

 

We had finally gotten back to our dorm, and I was scared shitless about school tomorrow, Jace had left to get my uniform and class schedule, and I was tired. We had walked around this whole damn campus, and I was ready to sleep, but probably in Felipe’s room tonight, I thought of the kiss earlier, and I was about to walk upstairs.

 

“Yeah we still need to talk about that,” I heard Mike say from behind me.

 

I turned, “Mike can we talk about this tomorrow, I’m tired from being dragged around everywhere today,”

 

“I don’t care Liz, I’m sorry but I don’t, come with me right now!” and he grabbed my arm, and pulled me into the kitchen I had yet to go in, since I had been served food.

 

“Mike let me go; I am capable of walking,”

 

He let go of me seemingly shocked, “Liz, you are in danger, and I need you to tell me what the f**k that letter said, I can’t read it in your mind because of Duane, but since it probably has something to do with your friends, I will tell you this: once someone enters Hell be it me, or you, or anybody, they can’t go back, only vampires can, because if they go back longer than one hour they will disintegrate, which is why we went after the werewolf, why we were in such a rush, but he died anyways.”

 

“But NO, that can’t be!” I said feeling as warm tears rolled down my face.

 

“I’m sorry Liz, but it’s true.”

 

“But that means Andy and Clair can never go back,” It slipped out before I could stop myself, and I covered my traitor mouth with my hand.

 

“I knew it!” Mike said, “When were you going to meet them, Liz? You can’t do this, your fath-”

 

What??? It was Mike who covered his mouth this time, clearly telling me something I was not supposed to know. “My father? You know my f*****g father? And you didn’t tell me, why the hell not? What is your problem?” The tears streamed down my face now, and I was sobbing.

 

“I’m so sorry Liz,” and I felt as Mike pulled me towards him into a hug, and for some unknown reason I let him cradle me in his arms, feeling as my tears slowly dried up. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered again in my ear, and I felt myself try to pull together, to not freak out.

 

“I’m okay, just a little bit of am overload, all in five minutes, let me calm down a bit,” It was then, that I realized Mike was still holding me, and as soon as I thought that he let me go, leaving me with a sense want.

 

 

Mike’s POV

 

I could hear Liz’s thoughts. Her thoughts were running wild, and I could hear that she was to meet someone somewhere, but not if she would, or who and where.

 

Why is Mike still holding me? I heard her think, and I let go, mirroring her feeling of want, and realizing that I might actually have feelings for Liz, feelings I shouldn’t have. I think I might love her, s**t! And now I have to talk to her about Felipe, because I’m the only f*****g mature one, god damn, I’m such a hypocrite.

 

“Okay, Liz, I know I’ve already thrown a lot on you, but I want you to realize what you will get yourself into with Felipe, and I want you to realize that he is 22,”

 

“I know,” she murmured softly, “but I’ll be 17 in about a month,”

 

Yeah I know, and then you’ll become some type of mythical creature, best not tell you that though, so I only nodded for her to go on.

 

“Look Mike, I’m sorry but I really don’t want to talk to this with you, no offense!”

 

And I realized the reason was because she was embarrassed. “Fine,” I said solemnly “but separate beds,”

 

“WHAT?!?!”

 

Oh so Felipe hadn’t told her his plans yet, haha, “Uh just a passing thought of Felipe’s.”

 

I saw fire in her eyes, “I’m going to get some dinner, then go to sleep alone happy?”

 

“No! Because you still haven’t told me where or when you are to meet who, and I need to know, and you CAN”T GO!!!” Hopefully I got the point across.

 

She raised her eyebrows, then turned around and headed to the refrigerator to grab some food, so I headed upstairs to our room…

 

 

Kadin’s POV

My “gift” made sleeping difficult.

As I slumbered, I had visions. The visions showed me what was going on anywhere in the world at that exact moment�"not in the future,, or even the past. They wove in and out of dreams, and more often than not woke me in the middle of the night. Tonight was no exception. I fell asleep almost before my head hit the pillow. My night began with a dream�"a real dream, not a vision. It began in the past, on the day I’d met Stephen. Although I hadn’t known it then, that would be the worst day of my life.

Stephen was the first human I’d ever known. Naturally, he fascinated me. He made a hobby out of of witnessing�"and causing�"other people’s pain. This should have repelled me, but for some reason it only made him more interesting.

Stephen came from a world called Earth. He’d accidentally found a portal into Hell while he was camping. He’d hated Hell from the start�"maybe he was disappointed by the lack of torture, or maybe he just preferred his old home. Stephen attempted to escape several times, but it was impossible for him to leave. He could escape Hell for only an hour; any longer and he grew impossibly hot, as if flame was licking his bare flesh. He learned that if a human tried to leave Hell, they would turn to ash. This knowledge drove him mad, and he ran away into the Deep Dark Forest. There, he found others like himself; humans trapped in hell for all eternity. They no longer lived like humans�"they survived solely on instinct, like an animal, like a wolf. That was what they were to the rest of us: wolves. Mindless, slobbering wolves�"or werewolves, I suppose, since they were still half human.

Somehow, Stephen remained saner than the rest of the werewolves. He became obsessed with finding a way out. I was searching for something, too: a way to prevent old age. Together, Stephen and I created an item that could do both. The Hell Stone, we called it, even though it really wasn’t a stone at all. It consisted of a piece of bark from the oldest tree in all of Hell, coated in melted gold and mixed with an ancient magic. The bearer of the Hell Stone was invincible. They could live forever, even on Earth, protected from old age, protected from disintegration.

Stephen and I made thirteen Hell Stones. Through years of experiment, we discovered that the Hell Stone was only effective as long as it touched the bearer’s bare flesh. Like fools, we strutted about, parading our stones of immortality to everyone we could find. But the greedy werewolves tried to steal the stones for themselves, and eventually Stephen and I were forced to hide them away and never speak of them again.

Being in possession of so much power and being forbidden to use it was tantalizing, and one day Stephen cracked. He broke into the storage room, stole one of the stones, and left. His bloodthirsty personality combined with that much power would have been disastrous. I chased after Stephen, tracking him all over Earth, but I never found him. After an entire year had passed, I gave up, ready to go back to Hell.

But something stopped me. Something forced me to stay.

Liz. My daughter. My beautiful little daughter. I couldn’t leave her. So I stayed, watching my baby grow up. When her mother died just before Liz’s fifth birthday, I could have left Liz in Foster Care and gone back to Hell. I should have done all that. But I wouldn’t abandon my little girl. I remarried and stayed nine more years.

But then my visions started up again, reminding me that I still had a wife back in Hell, reminding me that it was my duty to protect the Hell Stones. So I went home.

My dream took me on this journey in a matter of seconds. Then the vision interrupted everything. I saw a werewolf, sitting in a dark chamber, turning something over and over in his hands, cradling a cell phone between his shoulder and his ear. . . .

“Trevor!” I gasped, startling myself awake.

“Tea is fine, thanks,” May mumbled in her sleep, rolling over.

Trevor. Stephen’s right-hand man. Trevor enjoyed torture just as much as Stephen did. A sinking feeling entered my gut. I pushed back the covers and ran to the storage room, where I kept the remaining twelve Hell Stones. The door had been ripped off its hinges. The safe that contained the Hell Stones had an enormous dent in one side.

I twisted the padlock sharply and wrenched the door open. I counted the Stones, and then counted again, and then a third time, just to make sure. There was no doubt about it: one of the Hell Stones was missing.

And judging from my vision, I had a pretty good idea who the thief was.