Abbey's POV
I wake up gasping for air, and coughing my head off. My body was sore and I felt really weak.
I look up and everyone is staring at me. I was laying on the couch, with my feet in Jesse's lap.
"Oh," I groan. "My head."
I fall back onto the couch cushion and put my hands on my forehead, massaging my temples, hoping the pain would go away.
"You're okay, Sweetheart," my mom says, placing her hand on my shoulder. "You just fainted from lack of oxygen."
"Yeah, I got that," I say. "I just feel sore and weak."
"You need blood," Jesse says.
Everyone except me gave him a death glare.
"What?" Jesse asks. "I'm just saying. She won't feel any better if she doesn't feed."
"Guys, he's right," I say, my voice hoarse. "Whatever Stern did to me, it drained me of my energy."
"I can't get any more blood," Sarah says. "The people at the blood bank will get suspicious if I show up again to 'volunteer' twice in one day."
"You could tell them you got bored and had nothing better to do," Ethan says, smiling.
Sarah gives him a look.
"Sorry," he apologizes. "Not funny."
"Two of us are human," Jesse points out, looking at Ethan and Benny.
I look at Benny, and he catches my eye. He knows what I'm thinking, and swallows hard.
"Benny…" I trail off, looking at him sheepishly. "You don't have to. I can wait until Sarah can get some more blood."
"No," he says, walking over towards me, rolling up his sleeve. "I want to."
We lock eyes for a moment. In that moment I could tell that he cared for me deeply, and he truly wanted to do this for me.
He leans down in front of me and offers me his wrist.
"No…" I whisper. "I don't want to kill you."
"I trust you not to," he says, and puts his wrist up to my mouth.
My mouth was watering. I could hear his heart pumping and the blood flowing in his veins.
I grab his wrist and lean into it, sinking my fangs into the skin.
"Ah," Benny cries out in pain.
I start drinking deeply, enjoying the sweetness of his blood. It felt like fireworks going off in my mouth, an explosion of flavor.
It seemed like forever until I finally let go of his wrist.
I look over at Benny and he's passed out on the floor.
"Oh my God!" I start panicking. "Is he dead?!"
"No," Jesse assures me. "He's just sleeping it off like those restaurant workers."
"Ok," I say relieved.
"How do you feel?" Ethan asks.
"Better," I say.
I look at my mom, with a sense of gratefulness.
"Mom," I say. "Thank you. You saved my life."
She smiles at me.
"I'm you mom," she says. "It's my duty."
I get off of the couch and walk over to her, hugging her with all my might. She starts stroking my hair and I couldn't hold in my emotion any longer. I burst out into hysterical tears, grateful that I could finally release of all the pent up emotions from the past couple of days that had built up inside of me.
"Shh…" my mom whispers in my ear, trying to calm me. "Everything's okay. You're okay. Shh…"
I finally calm myself down enough to pull away. My mom wipes away my tears and kisses my forehead. "I think we all need to have a little talk," my mom says. "All of you sit down."
I walk back over to the couch and sit beside Jesse. He puts his arm around my shoulders and I lean into him, laying my head on his shoulder.
My mom stares at how fast I cuddled up to Jesse.
"I'll explain later," I tell her.
She nods.
"I've been practicing magic for years," she explains, knowing what we were all thinking. "I kept it a secret from your uncle because I had a feeling I'd need it someday."
"Apparently that day was today," I remark. "What happened to Stern?"
"I used an obliviation spell," my mom says. "I sent into him into oblivion. You won't see him again."
We all nod, thankful that he was gone.
"I don't understand how you could do that to your own brother," Sarah says.
"When you've lived with someone who abused you for eighteen years," my mom says. "You don't care what relation you have to them, you just want them to feel your pain and suffering."
"That sounds a lot like the Siren we took down a few months ago," Benny says, finally waking up.
My mom chuckles.
"That was only thirty six years of pent up anger," she points out. "I'm sure if I'd been holding it back for thousands of years, like that Siren, I'd be wanting people to feel my pain as much as she did." "So, what's going to happen now that Whitechapel is safe?" I ask. "Well, for now anyway."
"I guess the school's gonna have to look for a new vice principal," Sarah says, smiling. "Since Stern went 'missing.'"
We all smile at Sarah, glad that our problems were somewhat over.
"If you guys wouldn't mind," my mom says. "Would you please leave so I can talk to Abbey alone? You're all welcome to come back later, but right now, I need to talk to my daughter."
Everyone gets up and shuffles to the door. Jesse is the last to leave.
"I'll be back later," he promises, and kisses my cheek before closing the door behind him.
I turn around to face my mother, who had her hands on her hips, with her eyebrow raised.
"Start explaining," she says, getting to the point. "What was that?"
"What was what?" I lie. I knew she was referring to me and Jesse.
"You and Jesse," my mom says.
I preceded to tell my mother about Jesse returning to Whitechapel so he could help us defeat Stern and how between then and now I forgave Jesse and how we were sort of 'together' now.
"What about Rory?" my mom asks.
"What about Rory?" I ask, no emotion in my voice.
"What's gonna happen when he comes back and finds you in the arms of another guy?" she asks.
"When I was kissing Jesse, I felt sparks," I explain. "And when I kiss Rory, it's nothing compared to that. It was like kissing a relative."
"So you're gonna let him go?" my mother asks. "Just like that?"
"I think it's time," I admit.
"I'm not going to advise against it," she says. "Only because I see how you two act around each other. You really love him and he really loves you. I remember when we first moved here and he came to pick you up that one morning, I could tell that his intentions weren't good. But now, now I can see that after he's spent time with you, you've changed him."
"How?" I ask. "He doesn't seem different."
"His demeanor has changed. After more than two hundred years, he's changed for the better, all thanks to you. Not many girls can change boys, they try, but fail in the end. You've accomplished something most girls can't do."
"Does your witch's sense tell you that to?" I tease.
"No," she answers, smiling. "It's more like a mom's intuition."
