Chapter 2

Jamal and Marissa were back home. Well, not exactly. Jamal had picked Marissa up and carried her through the door when the phone rang. "I got it," Jamal said, putting a giggling Marissa down. Marissa saw him pick up the phone, and his smile quickly became a look of utmost concern. "Oh my God," he said. "How did this happen?" A minute later he hung up the phone and looked at Marissa.

"What? What?" she said, excitedly but nervously. "That was Jack," said Jamal. "Marissa, Rafe's dead."

Meanwhile, Livvie had finally calmed Alison down. Well, from a raging lion to a raging cat. "And. . ." Alison said, her breath heavy. "Why is Rafe's death a GOOD thing, exactly?" "Alison, it's time you know," Livvie said quietly, refusing to make eye contact with her one-time best friend. "Rafe brainwashed you into falling for him. The whole charade when I married him wasn't to get revenge on you. It was to protect you." Expecting Alison to be emotional as she usually was, Livvie was surprised when Alison began to laugh. "Right, Livvie," Alison said through muffled snickers. "Ok, we have vampires and angels. Now you're saying we have hypnotizers?" Livvie's eyebrows lowered. She realized that while Alison was usually emotional, Rafe's spell was doing this to her.

Jamal sank onto his bed, covering his head with his hands. "Man, Alison. . ." He decided to finish his sentence with ". . .she must be devastated." Marissa sat next to him. "Put it this way," Marissa said, attempting to cheer Jamal up. "You might have a chance with her now! Heh, heh." Jamal shook his head. "I don't want to be a rebound guy." Then he said, "Marissa, I'm going to visit Ali." "Ok," Marissa said. She went over to get her jacket. "No," Jamal said, "I want to do this alone." Marissa immediately understood and nodded. Jamal knocked on Lucy's door, hoping Alison would answer. But Lucy had just come home and instead of Alison, he heard Lucy sing, "Comiiing!" She answered the door. "Hey, Jamal!" she said. They hugged each other. Lucy obviously doesn't know, Jamal thought. "Is Ali here?" Jamal asked. Lucy shook her head. "Actually," she replied, "I don't know where she is." "Oh," Jamal said sadly. "What's wrong?" Lucy asked him. "Lucy. . ." he said slowly, "Lucy, Rafe was killed." "W-what?" she said through tears. Rafe was her cousin. "He was shot in the back. He died before he was taken to the hospital. No one knows who did it. At least this is what Jack told me." Lucy covered her mouth. "Oh, my. . .Jamal, I'll call around and find Alison." "Thanks," Jamal said, faking a smile. Lucy kissed Jamal on the cheek and Jamal left.