My scream echoed through my ears.
For a moment Esme's dead body was all I could see through my grief filled mind. But it was only for a moment.
Then rage took over and raw power flooded through my veins.
Shrieking murderously, I threw Tasha the length of the opening. Easily twice my best distance.
"You good for nothing B****!" I screeched furiously. "My life! My family!"
She laughed in the face of my anger. It only fueled my rage.
Shrieking wordlessly, I streaked towards her.
She dodged my attack and slapped me across the face.
I staggered a few steps backwards before I landed a kick square into her chest, sending her flying.
I didn't let her completely rise off the ground before I ran off again and, grabbing her by her hair, flung her in a circle and then let go. She crashed into Abigail and it was like thunder.
I saw red. I flew towards them again but Tasha was smart enough to get out of the way.
I strengthened my punch with the air and then smashed my hand through her face.
It shattered instantly.
I turned and snarled at Tasha.
She laughed. "I bet that's sorta what Esme looked like."
"You know," she continued haughtily. "Deer caught in the headlights, frightened."
I hissed in fury.
Her haughty smile twisted. "You know, it was almost too easy. I just stopped by for a visit to her mother. That's what I told her. Poor creature. I obliterated her mother quite easily. I didn't tell the little one that though. Told her that mommy dearest was on a vacation. But if she wanted to see her again she would have to do exactly as I told her to do. And she did. Infiltrated your home, gained your trust. Well the trust of your family. I didn't anticipate you coming home, which is why I waited so long. But then I thought it over. She was a four year old who had the trust of your family. Of course you would trust her. And you did. And now look where we are."
For a moment I could only stare in shock. Then with a frightening snarl, I charged at her.
She laughed and then dropped into a crouch, answering my snarl with one of her own.
Moving faster than she had ever moved in the ten years I had fought against her, she was behind me and slammed a hard hit into the back of my head. Combined with my forward momentum, I flew quite the distance.
I quickly picked myself off the ground; I spun to confront her again.
Except that she was no longer anywhere in sight.
I hit came from my right and I quickly turned. But she was no gone again by the time I had turned.
I snarled in fury.
Another hit from my right and I twisted but there was no longer anyone there.
I started twisting in circles, trying to find the source of the attack. Trying to find Tasha.
My vision started to blur and then, with another final hard punch from Tasha and her newfound ability to mix with the air, I was flat on my back.
My eyes closed in pain as I hit the ground.
And then suddenly, an overwhelming calmness settled over me, pushing out the instinct to fight and defend.
I opened my eyes, and then I blinked in shock and my breath caught.
For when my eyes reopened, I was not in the same place.
I was not in the grass field in the middle of the forests of Ireland. Esme's dead body did not lay twenty feet from me. Abigail's body did not lay ten feet from me and most importantly, the burning pyre of a house with my family inside did not lay in the middle of the field.
Instead, I lay in my bed under the covers in a fully intact house.
And leaning above me anxiously-thank the lord- with his hands on my shoulders, was my dear Jasper. To the left of him, Aaron wore the same expression.
A burning began in my chest but I ignored it.
This had to be a dream. A wonderfully glorious but horrible dream. An illusion that Tasha had created that she would rip out from under me the moment I let myself believe in it.
Fake Jasper was saying something but I couldn't be bothered enough to pay attention to what he was saying.
The pressure on my shoulders increased as he gripped my shoulders harder and shook them. He was yelling something now but I couldn't pay attention.
The burning in my chest was increasing and blocked everything else out. Except for the illusion. It didn't block that out.
I slammed my eyes shut and focused on the growing pain in my chest. I didn't want to see the fake images of my family. I refused to.
'MOM BREATHE!'
My eyes flipped wide in shock at the crystal clear voice in my head.
I gasped in a rugged breath and the pain in my chest eased.
Oh. The pain was from my lungs protesting the lack of air.
I swallowed breaths of glorious air as I stared at the boy that couldn't possibly be my son.
His eyebrows came down. "Mom, what's wrong? What happened?"
"You're not real," I whispered.
"What?"
"You're not real. You're not real. You're not."
"Mom, I'm right here. You can see me. You can feel me."
I shook my head. That didn't work for me. I had been just as sure the other Jasper had been real.
How was to say this wasn't the fake reality?
Jasper looked over to Aaron for help but I didn't watch the exchange. I drank in the sight of them both. Of this was an illusion, which it very well could be; I would enjoy it while it lasted.
I rewound and replayed the memories I had up until that moment, trying to figure out which set of memories was real and which set was fake. I couldn't tell one way or the other.
There were two possibilities in this situation.
Option one. This was an illusion created by Tasha to get me to lower my guard. When in reality, my entire family and little Esme were dead in an exploded house.
Option two. The entire morning, explosion, and the subsequent battle with Tasha was a strangely vivid and realistic nightmare. A nightmare I could not escape without help and had my family worried.
I prayed for the second option to be reality but I could not escape the truth in the fact that the first option had a higher probability of happening than the second.
Jasper let go of my shoulders and moved out of the way for Aaron to move next to me.
"You think we are an illusion?" he asked me, staring intently in my eyes.
"Yes."
"You do not believe that we are with you now? That we are real?"
"No."
'Even now?'
I hesitated, you couldn't argue with the fact that Tasha couldn't replicate the McCarthy bond.
And yet...hadn't the other Aaron spoken to me through the bond?
He read the doubt in my eyes.
He sighed.
But he had thought of something. I could see that in his eyes.
He put his hands on my arms-pinning me to the bed- and with a swiftness that surprised me; he bit down into my neck.
Now, Aaron had bitten me quite a few times before. He had been giving me claiming marks for years and he had bitten into me to draw out venom or Penni.
But he had never truly bitten me.
Until now.
Which only backed up my theory that this was an illusion. It was just an illusion and it was really Tasha biting me. The pain of the venom would end up dispelling the illusion.
With the bite finished and the poison in my veins, fake Aaron pulled back.
I couldn't fight an illusion, so my only option was to wait for the pain of the venom and then try to fight around that.
I braced myself against the restraints and gritted my teeth, but I couldn't keep in the cry of pain as the venom pushed through into my blood.
My back arched as I tried to concentrate on my breathing to keep my control.
I could build immunity to everything that Tasha, Maria, or anyone else could throw at me or do to me.
Except venom.
I couldn't build immunity to venom no matter how hard I tried. And believed me, I had tried.
It didn't take long for me to break under the pain.
I let out a sound that was something between a scream and a moan and thrashed under the restraining hands that pinned me in place.
The pain only got worse as the supernatural in me identified the venom as a foreign substance.
Usually, when I used my fire bending to boil my blood, I couldn't feel the searing heat of the fire. But I could feel it now. In a way, the three days of burning was worse for me than it would be for any vampire. As the venom coursed through my veins, the fire ability that was sealed in my blood and skin began burning me from the inside to try to disintegrate the venom.
I cried out and screamed, whipping my head back and forth, wishing more than anything that the illusion would just break.
The actual fire suddenly rushed into my veins with a new, sudden swiftness and I screamed, automatically reaching out to the bond Aaron and I shared.
The bond that was shattered. The bond that would create a splitting pain in my head when I would reach for it since there was no longer a connection.
At least, that was what should have happened.
Instead, Aaron's warm and gentle-if somewhat guilty-presence surrounded my mind in a way that assured me he was alive and real.
The bond didn't backlash because there was still a connection.
And now that I thought about it, I wouldn't have been able to stand and watch my house explode if it had been real. The pain of five shattered bonds being ripped from my head would have blocked out everything else.
My mind had created the illusion of talking through the bond because I knew how it would feel and sound.
This wasn't a dream.
This was a wonderfully glorious-if momentarily painful-reality.
So now that I understood that, could he please hurry the hell up and stop the horrid burning?
The moment I finished the thought, his teeth were in my neck again. But this time he was taking the venom out.
I gritted my teeth firmly together, willing myself into silence, as the pain momentarily increased. I brought my hand up and pushed his head further into my neck.
Except I was more of griping his head because I wasn't using all my strength. Just my human borne strength.
I relaxed as the burn faded and then disappeared. Since his teeth were already in my neck, he changed the end into a claiming mark...again.
A couple minutes later, I reopened the eyes I didn't consciously notice I had closed.
I sat up slowly, glancing around the room.
It was a mess. I could only imagine what my too vivid nightmare had caused me to do.
But that occupied only a small part of my mind.
The dominant part was occupied in making sure my family-my life- were really, truly okay.
Aaron was sitting on the side of the bed, watching me closely, both worried and concerned.
Jasper was closely behind him, worriedly but considerably more relaxed as he took in my emotions.
Ryan and Liz were by the door, watching me. As I took in their wary but concerned expressions, I didn't miss that Ryan was in a slightly defensive stance in front of Liz.
Emmett and Rosalie were at the foot of the bed. Emmett was watching me but Rose was looking at Emmett, her hand on his cheek.
I winced as I saw why.
She was nursing a nasty looking bruise on his right cheek. A bruise, no doubt, that I had made while trapped in my nightmare.
He saw my wince and reached out and patted my leg.
"It's okay. Doesn't really hurt anymore."
"Really?" I asked disdainfully, not believing him in the slightest.
But his touch had sparked a need in me.
Reaching out with my wind, I pulled Jasper to me.
He stumbled a little at the suddenness but I was okay with that. For when he landed he head was just below mine. I wrapped my arms around him, crushing his body against mine as I took in the feel of him and his rich scent.
He gave a small chuckle but then wrapped his arms tightly around me, linking his hands against the small of my back.
I stroked his wigged hair as I felt his heart beat steady against my chest.
Too soon I released him, but I immediately pulled Ryan towards me.
I repeated the same thing with Emmett and then with Rose.
I released Rose, and then held my arms out to Liz.
An invitation instead of a demand. She was free to refuse if she chose to do so.
But her eyes lit up and a small happy smile crossed her lips as she ran into my arms.
I gave a small laugh as I stroked her hair. Emmett was beaming from where he had joined her by the door.
"I couldn't forget about you, sweetie. You're as much of family as the rest of them. We're just not bonded yet. Though I have a feeling it won't be that way for long."
Aaron and I exchanged smirks as they both blushed and Emmett suddenly found the carpet very interesting.
I releases Liz with a final kiss on her head and she went back over to Emmett, their hands intertwining automatically.
"So what happened?" Aaron asked after a beat of silence. "It must have been quite the dream to convince you so absolutely that we weren't real."
I shuttered. "Not a dream. A horribly vivid nightmare. I had no idea that I was dreaming. I was wholly and completely sure I was awake."
Aaron frowned. "That's never good. What was it about?"
I shuddered again. "Well...first off, do you know a little girl named Esme?"
"Esme?"
I nodded.
Rose spoke up. "The only Esme we know of is the one with the Cullens. We don't even know any little girls really. I mean, we'll meet a few on the streets every once in a while but..." she shrugged.
"Have any of them ever come over?"
She shook her head. "They don't even really know us."
I relaxed, sighing and leaning back against the headboard.
"So...?" Ryan asked.
I gave a humorless laugh. "Basically what happened-because I don't think I can handle going into detail- is that I 'woke up' and went downstairs to find a little four year old girl at the kitchen table with everyone. Turns out she had been coming here for a while and considered me her mother. But she had actually been forced by Tasha to infiltrate our home. We played tag and she ran outside. I caught her at the edge of the trees when she looked back to the house. In that instant the house blew up-" I stopped and took a shaky breath before continuing. "-Killing all of you instantly. Tasha came out and we fought, after Abigail shot and killed Esme. I was hit in the back of the head, and when I reopened my eyes I was staring into jasper's eyes."
Aaron reached over and enveloped me in his arms. I leaned against his chest willingly, letting out a shaky breath and let a few tears fall from my eyes.
"No wonder you kept throwing everyone back. In your perspective, we were the enemy."
I snorted. "Yeah, some mother I am. So completely out of it that I hurt my own son."
Someone bonked my head.
"Quit that," Emmett scolded. Oh. So it was his fist.
I shook my head, pulling out of Aaron's arms and wiping my tears.
"Could it mean something?" I asked, moving the covers and swinging my legs on the side of the bed. "We've had a lot of thing happen including visions, but I've never experienced something so powerful that it distorted my sense of reality so completely that even the bond couldn't assure me of your realness."
He smirked slightly at my made up word, but then frowned. "It's definitely worth looking into."
"Alright then!" Emmett said enthusiastically, effectively breaking the somber mood. "Let's hit the books!"
We laughed and followed him out, Aaron and I lagging back slightly.
"I'm sorry," he said suddenly.
I stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to look at him confused.
"What on earth for?"
"Biting you. Hurting you."
I rolled my eyes, pushing my self up and swinging on the railings, facing downwards. "It wasn't your fault. And besides, the benefits far outweighed the pain."
"Still..."
I shook my head, still swinging. "And they say I'm stubborn," I muttered to myself.
I figured out exactly why I usually kept that to myself and why Aaron had bought me new pajamas (silk shorts and short sleeve with stomach exposed) when he quickly wrapped his arms around me and inserted a finger into my belly button.
I, of course, squeaked and instantly let go of the railing. Aaron caught me and I turned in his arms as he set me down to glare at him.
"You're diabolical," I accused him.
He laughed and tapped my nose. "And you love me for it."
He continued down the stairs while I stayed frozen at the top. I stayed like that for about half a minute.
And then I smiled.
"Yeah," I whispered to myself, knowing he could hear me. "Yeah, I guess I do."
A/N: Did you all understand the meaning of that last line?
And apparently…I just need to come up with some crazy insane plot to get you all to review lol.
But this should clear everything up and make you all happy again :)
And yes…all will be explained in due time….
Thanks to all those who reviewed!
