Chapter 40

Look who's back.

I walked into the room to see everyone staring at me. It was almost amazing the things I accomplished this night. I stepped in and immediately walked to the bar. I got a glass of wine and started walking around the large lobby. There were pictures from the incident all around. The hole I created in the ceiling was still there. I laughed as I remembered crashing through the hard marble. My lips sipped at the wine as I continued to walk around. My ears caught the symphony playing loudly next to the Grecian statue. My eyes followed up the marble statue all the way to where the discus should’ve been. A deep pain ruptured in my stomach and I adjusted my hips to make the discomfort go away.

I came up to a large black and white picture of the elements. Their evil glow was showing brightly in the photograph. On their shoulder there I was with Larsen. Memories filled my combined mind. I turned around to see Phoenix standing right behind me. His bright smile was plastered on his face. “It’s good to see you Collin. I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Don’t think you’re going to force me to come back Phoenix. It won’t work.”

He put both of his hands behind his back, “On the contrary I think what you’re doing is a wonderful thing for you.” He smiled and looked at the picture. “It was a horrid yet magnificent night wasn’t it?” I turned around and looked at the picture with him. “You look rather heroic.”

“I do, don’t I?”

Phoenix walked up behind me. He tentatively placed his hand on the small of my back. His mouth lowered to the side of my face. “I’ve missed you Collin. It gave me hope when you left Rylan. Hope that perhaps you and I could try one more time.” His warm breath grazed at my ear. “You know you’re the only one for me and it’s always been that way. Every night I go to sleep with the image of your face in my mind. When I wake up I wish it was you next to me.” My eyes rolled back in the head and I rested my neck on his shoulder. A violin started to play a familiar melody. At Last, the song he and I danced to many years ago at our senior prom.

I took in a warm breath, “Our song.”

“My girl is singing it. You couldn’t turn me down could you?” I spun around and faced him. Both of my hands went to his cheeks.

“I could never give up a chance to be close to you.”

He smiled the brightest I’d seen in years. His hand held out to mine. Without question I put mine in his. With a tug from his shoulder he pulled me out to the dance floor. Older couples were already starting to appear on the dance floor. Abigail’s sweet voice filled the whole room. I looked up to the symphony to see Zander directing it. He was in a blue suit that suited him quite well. But my attention was on someone else. Phoenix pulled me in close. His hands sat low on the bottom of my hips. The heat and passion had never left between us. His feet carried me away to my magical dream land.

We swung around and around. Just like at our prom. Our faces were close and I could feel his short beard rubbing against my skin. His breathing was deep inside his chest. His heart raced at my touch just like before. Our fingers intertwined together on his chest. My hand ran through the back of his hair. The whole world disappeared behind us. Again it was just Phoenix and I spinning around and around and a very quick pace. I pulled my body and looked up at his face. The song was ending soon and I wanted to hold onto every moment I could. His silver eyes flicked over my face with great love. He was breathing every inch of me in. I could feel it.

 He lifted his hand from my waist and put it on the side of my face. He spun me around a few more times until completely stopping. We stood there close together. His nose ran up and down the bridge of mine. He closed his eyes and felt me with his lips. Each little kiss he gave me down the spine of my nose filled my body with chills. My hands tangled in his hair behind him. The tip of his nose ran over the full landscape of my face. Inside my chest my heart raced like it once did. Memories of us together filled my mind, memories of our skin touching each others, our sweat combining together; the love, the heat, the passion. It was everything I ever wanted and more. His breath became quick and shallow. “I’ve missed you Collin.” He whispered over my lips. Each word caressed my lips against his.

The song ended and he grabbed the back of my head. With a dip he lowered me close to the ground. I held on to the back of his neck tightly. “Good bye Collin.”

What? His lips quickly pressed into mine. The kiss was deep and full of passion. His lips twisted with mine as if they’d never left. He pulled my head harder into his. My breathing hardened and my heart beat loudly. The whole room could hear it over the music. At least I could.

Then the pain came. It came from the back of my mind and ripped through me. It felt as if someone was eating me from the inside out. Fire flew through my veins setting me completely on fire. The earth shook beneath me, but I soon realized it was just me Phoenix pulled me to my feet and held me close to his chest.

A soft piano played loudly in my ears. Clair de Lune, This was Zander’s version. He took it a little slower than most letting each not ring throughout the chord.

A warm and soft touch came to my back. I collapsed into the warmth. Rylan quickly wrapped his arms around me. “Come on Shiloh, you can do this.” The piano played softly at the back of my mind.

Now there was a confrontation between my mind and body. My hands grabbed onto Rylan with great force, I couldn’t peel them off. My mind was forcing me away, pulling me back towards Phoenix. I fought with every ounce of my willpower to get away from Rylan. My vision became cloudy as I fought against the desires of my body. Phoenix was still behind me I felt him. He was watching, letting this happen. I called out to him but nothing came from my mouth. Rylan’s hands stayed firmly planted on my back.

Then, suffocation. Something was cutting me off from my bodies supply. There was a separation from body and mind. Something was pulling us apart. My body wanted to be with Rylan and my mind was being forced that way. I was drowning, choking. I clawed the best I could at Rylan’s hands around me, but with failure. I kept holding onto him and he kept holding onto me. The fire burned fiercer and the air began to escape from my lungs. This separation couldn’t last long, someone had to win. Either my body or my mind would give up. I felt a pull towards my body and I wouldn’t allow that. I was in control. I was the one running this.

Next a shout, “Help me.” These words were not from me. Rylan’s hands dropped me flat on my back. The marble slapped against the suit around me. I coughed as I lost my breath. The fog began to lift from my mind. “Help Me!” the scream came again. My head snapped toward the sound, it was coming from around the statue. My body was now winning. It was fighting for this scream. I was beginning to see more clearly and my mind was giving up.

The piano had stopped and the symphony started again. Rylan was frozen above me. His eyes were illuminated and were searching through the walls. He looked up to Phoenix, “its David.”

Phoenix shook his head, “Justin.”

“David,” I whispered and suddenly my body leapt up. Rylan and Phoenix had begun running. “Wait,” I called out… Shiloh was back and he was stronger than ever. They both stopped but Rylan turned. When he saw me, he knew.

“Shiloh,” He whispered and started walking back towards me. I picked up my feet and started running towards him. When we met he wrapped his arms around my neck. “Shiloh my love, I knew you could do it.”

 Rylan turned and looked at him. Phoenix smiled slightly down at me. “Now if you don’t mind there’s something wrong.”

Rylan nodded and grabbed my hand. We both ran up the stairs. The screaming had stopped and now we were searching rooms. We looked everywhere for David. We each took a side of the hall. We opened doors and shut them one after the other. Finally Phoenix froze in front of a door. His hand was on the knob and he was listening.

His eyes lit and he looked down at us. Rylan and I both ran over to him. There was sobbing coming from inside of the room. Phoenix kicked open the door and the situation before us was something we couldn’t even imagine. Just was zipping up the pants of his tux. His shirt was off and he was facing David. David was sobbing on the bed. His suit had been ripped down the center of his back. Blood was dripping from scratches down his back.

Every eye went up to Justin. He smirked and spoke cynically, “Now he’s part of the family, pops.”

Rylan shoved my shoulder back and leapt for Justin. They collided with a loud smack. Quickly I walked over to David. Tears were streaming down his face and he gripped his stomach. “David it’s okay,” I stroked his hair lovingly. His hand grabbed at my wrist. His eyes opened and I saw silver eyes, illuminated silver eyes. I stepped back as the eyes suddenly began to change. They took on a grey and then dark black. “Rylan,” I gasped. He was punching Justin repeatedly in the face. His eyes looked at me and then moved back to Justin. “Rylan,” I shouted. David was gasping for air. Pain was soaring through him and I could see the images appearing in front of his face. He started screaming out in pain.

Rylan leapt off of Justin. Phoenix bent down and started inspecting the damage. Rylan kneeled next to David and looked at his eyes. “This isn’t the virus, it doesn’t do this.”

“Rylan something’s happening to Justin.” Rylan got up from my side. Justin was trying to curl up into a ball. The silver in his eyes began to slowly fade to black. He also started to scream. David finally passed out and laid still on the bed. We both ran over to Justin. He screeched out one last time and passed out. They both stood up and looked at the two bodies.

The light bulb suddenly went off in his head. “Someone’s using the virus against us. They’ve learned how to manipulate it.” Phoenix and Rylan both turned just as the pain started.

I screamed out in terror and fell to my knees. The heat started in the center of my chest. My heart completely stopped giving no air to my lungs. My hands went to the sides of my head and I screeched loudly. Rylan was at my side in a second. He cradled my head. “Don’t worry Shiloh, I’ll fix this. I’ll fix this…”

Those were the last words I heard.