Traded and Beguiled Love, Lost, Repossessed Soul

What happens when you die? Are you simply entombed into the earth and then forgotten about? For most people, they are confined in a box and left to rot. Unfortunately, Amelia Clearwater wasn't so lucky. She had been killed by Pierre who was being controlled by necromancers. Afterward, she was buried and life went on, or so she thought.

Little did she know, the universe had other plans.

The time was growing nigh. Illshya knew that her current host was dying of mortal wounds and it wouldn't be long before she was expelled from the current host. She needed to find another host and she needed to do it fast. She was in the city of Chicago and had taken the form of a young man who had gotten himself mixed up in the wrong crowd. Allowing herself to fully possess her host's body, she was able to make it to one of the local cemeteries. She sought a fresh body, one that hadn't been recently entombed. Eventually she found one, the body of a young woman. Knowing that her options were limited and time was running out, she allowed herself to slip out of the young man's body and possess the body of the corpse under the ground. Almost at once, she was flooded with memories. This death was very recent. Had she had a corporeal form, Illshya would have smiled to herself. This was going to be fun.

The young girl had been a nurse at a local hospital and she was friends with a lot of powerful people.

The moment that her soul entered the dead girl's body, the girl's subconscious came back and immediately tried to fight her off. It was easy enough for Illshya to bypass this and soon, she began to possess the body of this girl. She saw that her name was Amelia and she had been a Waterbender in her life, cut down when she was attacked by a vampire, one of her friends. As she sifted and sorted through the memories, Illshya gradually began to replace them with her own memories. Soon, this girl was completely under her control. Most of the traces of the person she had once been were no longer there.

She forced the girl's eyes open and forced her lungs to take in their first breath. After, she lent the girl her power and forced her to dig her way out of the grave. After putting the body of her former host back in the grave and filling in the hole, Illshya fled, returning to the underworld, the place where she reigned. She stayed there for almost four years, helping the girl's body become accustomed to the change. Once satisfied with how things had progressed, she again returned to the surface world, intent on screwing with all of this girl's former companions. Even a demon that was as old as time deserved to have a little fun now and then.

After sifting through the girl's memories, she saw that she was particularly close with a group of men from Canada, who happened to be in a popular band that she had liked. This is how she chose to go to Montreal, Canada. It was a mild day, nice enough to be going without a jacket. She picked one of the many open air markets and decided to browse. As her luck would have it, she managed to spot one of the men that this girl had been friends with. Her memories told her that his name was Sebastien and that he was a Lycan. She followed him from a distance as he walked through the market. Every so often, he would turn around, as if he knew he was being followed. He was with another man, who had also been a friend of this girl. This man was a Waterbender, and quite a powerful. Illshya smiled to herself. This was going to be fun.

Seeing as they had nothing to do, Sebastien and Chuck had decided to go to one of the many open air markets in Montreal. It was a nice enough day and they didn't have anything better to do until they met up with Pierre, David, and Jeff later that night. They found a lot of cool things at the outdoor market. As they walked though, Seb got the feeling that he was being followed. He turned around several times, but there was nothing there.

"You okay, man?" Chuck asked as he looked at a collection of Waterbending scrolls

"Yeah, fine. Something doesn't feel right, though. It feels like someone is following us, but every time I turn around, there's nothing there."

"Hm, that's weird," Chuck shrugged.

As they continued through the market, Sebastien kept his senses on high alert. Finally, they reached the end of the market and as they turned around so that they could walk back to Chuck's car, that's when he saw her. Standing about 20 feet off was a girl with dark brown hair and green eyes. There was no mistaking that face or that scent. Sebastien grabbed Chuck's arm and pointed. Chuck's eyes widened. When the two stepped forward, the girl spun on her heels and took off running. The two followed after her as she weaved in and out of the crowd.

"Wait!" Sebastien had yelled as he ran after the girl

She was fast, he had to admit that. He was just barely able to keep up with her, and he was a Lycan! Eventually, they made it back to the parking lot. Sebastien glanced backwards and Chuck was nowhere to be seen. The girl only had a couple more feet to go before she would reach the street and Sebastien wasn't about to chase her down a busy Montreal street. Just as she was about to cross the street, her foot was encased in ice and she was sent tumbling to the ground. Chuck walked out from behind a parked car. The scent of blood hit Sebastien's nose and it was strangely not human. Nonetheless, they approached the girl, who immediately threw her arms up in self defense.

"Please, what do you want from me?! Take my money, anything. Just please, don't hurt me!" she begged

"Amelia?" Seb asked as he knelt down

A look of confusion registered in her eyes.

"Who? What are you talking about?"

"Amelia, it's me, Sebastien. And Chuck too. Oh my god, I thought you were dead!" he said as he embraced the girl.

The girl immediately tried to shove him away.

"What are you talking about? Who are you? My name isn't Amelia. My name is Jessica," the girl said, confused.

"What? No, you're Amelia! Remember? You're a nurse from Chicago? You helped us save the world with your friend AJ? Remember?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. My name is Jessica. I've lived in Montreal my entire life. I'm a graphic artist and I don't have any friends named AJ. Please, just let me go! I think you've mistaken me for someone else," the girl said.

Sebastien noticed that the girl's heart rate did not increase when she spoke, so she wasn't lying. Begrudgingly, Chuck melted the ice and helped the girl up.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble, miss. You just looked like someone we knew," Chuck said, extending his hand.

The girl didn't say anything. Instead she turned around and walked away. Chuck and Sebastien easily found Chuck's car. The ride back to Chuck's house was completely silent. After that, they both went over to Pierre's for a small get together. The first words out of Seb's mouth when he walked in was, "Pierre, where do you keep your alcohol? I need a drink, or twenty."

"Jeeze, what happened?" Pierre asked

"Oh, nothing much. We went to the Old Montreal Open Air Market and Sebastien chased down some poor random girl, probably scared her half to death," Chuck remarked as he took a seat next to David on the couch.

"Jeeze Seb, I know it's been a while since you got some, but man, chasing girls down at the market. For shame!" David said with a wink

Seb glared at him and Chuck punched David in the arm. Seb poured himself a drink and sat down in one of the chairs.

"No no, you don't understand. She looked so damn familiar."

"Who did she look like?" Jeff asked

"She looked like Amelia," Seb said quietly.

At once, a look of horror and guilt washed over Pierre's face.

"What? No, that's impossible. That can't happen. She's dead. I…" he trailed off.

"I know, but she looked just like her, man! Same hair, same eyes. Hell, she even smelled the same! The weird thing, though, was that she didn't recognize me at all! She claimed that her name was Jessica and that she lived here in Montreal her life! I just don't get it," Seb said, feeling too many emotions.

"Have you ever considered that maybe that wasn't Amelia? Maybe we just happened to find a girl who looked exactly like her and maybe you thought for just a minute that it was her when it wasn't. Come on, Seb, I know you miss her. We all do. But you need to just let it go. She's dead. She died right in front of us. You can't come back from that," Chuck said solemnly.

Seb knew that Chuck was right, but he couldn't help but wonder. He refused to let this go, so once he left Pierre's, he decided to give Bob a call. He picked up after a few rings.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bob, it's Sebastien."

"Hey Seb, how's it going?"

"Well, it could be going a little better. I saw something today that I can't explain."

"Please, you're a werewolf. What could you possibly see that you couldn't explain?"

Seb took a deep breath. "I think I saw Amelia today."

Bob scoffed from the other end. "Seb, she died almost four years ago. There's no way you could have seen her!"

"That's what I thought too, but this girl had the same hair, the same eyes, hell, she even had the same scent! How could it not be her?"

"I don't know! But we saw her die. We buried her, Seb! I don't know what you saw, but I don't think it was her. What did she say when you tried to approach her?"

"She claimed her name was Jessica and that she had no idea who I was."

"See? It probably wasn't her. You're probably still grieving over Amelia that when someone who was very very similar to her appeared, your mind got confused. Don't take it too personally. It happens to the best of us. Same thing happened to me after my wife died."

Seb still wasn't convinced, but he thanked Bob and hung up. As he laid down to try and sleep, he couldn't help but wonder. If that wasn't Amelia that he saw, who was it?