TITLE: Green


DISCLAIMER: Nightworld concepts belong to LJ Smith. Characters belong to me…ask if in the unlikely event that any take your fancy and you want to use them.


SUMMARY:  "…Joseph would never use her like he had used other girls. He had never fed from her and never would unless she let him. Harri's name entered her mind unbidden; Harri was with her soulmate right now. Harri who's innocent smile made Gracie want to slash the girl's throat with a nice sharp and pointy kitchen knife…."

Gracie Bismarck always knew that her relationship with her soulmate Joseph Hannah wouldn't be easy, but she never expected so many humans to get in her way.

WARNING: As you may have noticed from Chapter VI I like to use all of my English vocabulary…unfortunately this means that some words classified as 'swear,' words are used, simply because I'm not a saint and don't have the literary skill to imply that a character has used these words without actually stating what they are…sorry if this offends anyone.

This chapter contains an insinuation of rape. If this you are disturbed by this then I apologise. I wish such a terrible thing didn't exist.

*Lyrics from Disenchanted Lullaby by The Foo Fighters

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annemarie delacour: Aw, thanks…I was a bit iffy about the last chapter but you made my day. Thank you, you have no idea what your review means to me. Oh…I'm so happy! Thanks again for reviewing and I'm so glad you like my story.

Old Penguin: I don't know whether I should be sorry that it made you incoherent or glad that it affected you so much…Thank you so much for reviewing I don't know if this is going to such a profound chapter but I hope you enjoy it.

Angel Dreams: Thanks so much…hope you enjoy the next bit.

Sharmeen: Oh I'm glad I proven myself…I've been writing ramblings for a very long time…but never been able to carry a plot this long, this is officially the longest thing I've ever written. I'm curious to know though. What small things? Thank you so much for your reviews, I hope I don't let you down.

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CHAPTER VIII

Sing along for yesterday,
Sing along my soul to take,
Sing along another song for you,

What's a boy to do?

~*~

They had let her out. Let her out of that dreaded padded cell, still she wasn't allowed to go home. She was a 'potentially dangerous threat,' according to Boss Cedars.

Gracie was developing quite a strong dislike towards the middle-aged lamia woman. Ari's superior was worried that she was the cause of her agent's departure. Gracie wanted to throttle the woman as those kindly brown eyes told her that it was in the best interests and safety of both her and the general public if she stayed the night at the Circle Daybreak Centre.

Gracie had glared at the woman; she wanted to be at home. At home where she could slip out and go murder Harriet Miller in the night. Not in the CD centre where she would be watched by the likes of Lincoln Chalcedony, Shade Garland and Ursula Helarctos. The trio of agents had made her feel like a criminal.

Gracie sat in a rec room. It was empty; a warning had been issued on her. She was a 'potentially dangerous threat,' she was only potentially dangerous to two people. One being her soulmate, the second Harriet Miller.

Peter had stayed at the centre, which was some comfort she guessed. Having Peter stay at the centre made her feel less like a criminal. Her father had left earlier with her younger sister. The young half-witch had looked at her with abnormal adult understanding. The only person in the whole building who understood her was a five year old and she had left.

A counsellor had been and gone. Boss had sent the poor man with black-rimmed glasses. Gracie had stared at him. Her grey eyes blank as he tried to do his job.

Then there was the curséd link. The block had gone when she had been talking to Ari. The hum in the back of her mind wasn't thrashing with emotions they way it normally did after it had been blocked. It was the normal buzzing that occurred, the feeling she had lived with for three months hoping and praying that it could only get better. Hoping that Joseph could change. Would change.

It wasn't right that she wanted him to change. She knew that she didn't really love him if she wanted him to change. The truth wasn't so hard to embrace when you had been thrown against a rocky cliff and discovered that you'd been all but broken against the sharp shards of rock.

She didn't really love him.

Gracie knew that she should. She knew that the soulmate link had entwined them together forever, and the he would always be hers no matter how hard she tried to put him away from her. He was hers.

Hers forever.

Hers forever and no one else could have him. No one could look at him with desire in their eyes, no one else could hold him and try and make him decent. No one could ever kiss him the way that she did. No one could ever listen to his tears as they fell the long distance to her shoulder.

No one could ever make her feel the way he did.

No one could fill her with so much anger, so much frustration, so much passion…

…So much love.

The thought flicked like a candle desperate not to be extinguished. Gracie sighed. Maybe it was true after all. She did indeed love him, but she knew that he could be something else. Something greater than he was…something that she wanted him to be.

Footsteps came closer to the rec room and Gracie assumed it was one of her 'babysitters.'

It was Peter, his chocolate brown hair looked like he had been trying to rip it out. "Hi," he greeted, his voice sounded distressed and Gracie looked at her stepbrother.

"Hi," she sighed again.

"Tough day?" the question was pointless. They both knew it, but something had to be done to break the silence, to destroy the hazardous thoughts cruising through her mind.

"Yeah, well it's not every day your soulmate breaks a promise," she answered bitingly, "oh wait, it is when he's Joseph Hannah."

"I did-"Peter began.

"Say 'I told you so' and I'll set you alight," Gracie warned, her grey eyes watching her stepbrother close his mouth, "I know, you warned me. I didn't listen…now I'm hurt and angry."

"I'm sorry." Peter offered his condolences.

"Not your fault," Gracie admitted, but she felt like everything was everybody's fault. "I shouldn't have trusted him as much as I did. I mean I thought that Harri wouldn't be able to touch him, that he wouldn't want her." Gracie sighed, "I was wrong."

Peter watched his stepsister, wondering if this was the time to tell her what he had seen. "I saw them, Grace." He waited for her reaction.

"When?" the question was urgent and demanding.

"This afternoon," he replied, "in the car park. They were saying goodbye. Gracie, he told me that he was just using her for a feed."

Gracie's grey eyes stared at her stepbrother, "Does she know…? I mean did he tell her about us?"

Peter knew what Gracie meant by us…the nightworld, where your nightmares really did exist.

"She's oblivious…I don't think he told her. He just fed from her," Peter felt like he was justifying Joseph Hannah's actions.

A flurry of emotions stirred in her. He had only used Harri to feed, but that was two promises broken in one day. Two promises that she had made him make to her. Two promises that should have been unnecessary. Two promises he should have kept without making them.

"And that makes it alright does it?" She didn't understand what made him think he could do such a thing. "Does having fangs mean you can just ignore promises and morals?"

"I dunno Gracie, I'm not a vampire. Don't take this out on me," Peter told her.

Gracie's hand went to her cheek; she felt a wetness there. She was crying again…. how many tears had she spilled for him? How many times had she cried because of him? She had lost count.

"Goddess Pete, I'm so sorry," Gracie apologised for her anger, and she got up and ran out of the rec room.

~*~

Something tingled between them; Harri thought it was fear making her skin spark. He looked so fearsome. Danger shrouded him in a glowing cloak.

Everything changed around her, her posters became a swirling golden sky, and Harri had the odd sensation that she wasn't in her bedroom any more. She felt like she wasn't even in reality anymore.

Harriet Miller was still paralysed by those eyes. In this smouldering world of golden fire she was still frozen, the heat rose from all around her and he was looking at her. Looking at her with despise etched upon his face.

"Just fucking brilliant," were the first words she heard out of his mouth. They sounded slightly hysterical, Harri felt she that she shouldn't be here. That she shouldn't be here in this place.

The angel of vengeance laughed and Harri was more scared than she was before, if that was even possible.

"Wha-what is this?" she ventured. She looked up at the swirling sky. Everything was gold, the exact same colour as Ari's angry sorrowful eyes.

"Irony," the golden boy answered, apparently happy to sit on the smoky ground. He lent back on his arms, his head cocked to the side, studying her intently.

Confusion swelled all around her, it pressed against her, a fog smothering her.

Ari laughed again, the bitterness made the atmosphere warmer. "We're soulmates."

Harri looked at him. What the hell was going on here? First he was in her bedroom and now they were in this golden fiery world that got warmer with his tainted laughter and he was telling her that they were soulmates?

Ari read the look on her face. He didn't want to be true either. "I'm your soulmate," the words sounded foreign, and wrong. Very very wrong.

"My what?"

"Soulmate." Ari looked up at her with his burning eyes.

"You said that, but what does it mean? And why are we here? And where is here?" Harri glanced around; the sky was changing. The burning gold was merging with a woody green colour.

"It's a belief that my people have," Ari stood up. Unconsciously Harri stepped away. The way he had moved so fast in her room still in her memory.

"Your people?" the reference didn't make sense. Ari looked exactly like any other person of Anglo-Saxon background, he didn't look like he belonged to any tribe of indigenous people.

Ari sighed again. He didn't want any of this, but this was what the fates had dealt out. The old powers were rising, and some consequences were definitely dire.

"My people…nightpeople. I'm a shapeshifter," he watched for disbelief, fear or hysteria. Her hazel eyes widened then she glanced around her.

"I'm dreaming," her denial injured him for some reason. Her denial injured him because he didn't want it to be true either. He didn't want to be connected to her; he didn't want to be connected to the enemy of his love.

"Nope, 'fraid not," he told her. Bitterness remained in his voice, "It's all real…down to the very last yellow cloud."

Harri stared at him. He couldn't be serious…could he? "You're joking right? I have to be dreaming. How else can you explain this?"

Ari resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her; of course she didn't believe him. She had been raised among a society that was ignorant of the monsters that remained hidden under the bed, and behind closet doors.

"Well, I could start by telling you that I'm an eagle shapeshifter and I belong to a race of people called night people," Ari stated, sarcasm and disapproval made their way into his voice and he knew that he had a patronising look on his face. He couldn't help it; he loathed the girl that the fates had decided to bind him to.

Harri stared. The sarcasm flowed into her; she knew that somehow it was coming from Ari. "You're crazy."

 "We have a society called the Nightworld," Ari ignored her. "There really are shapeshifters, witches and vampires. They're not just myths and nightmares…where do you think the myths came from? Human beings' over active imaginations?" Ari explained. He felt dirty telling her. She didn't deserve to know…she didn't deserve to still be breathing, but Ari knew that he couldn't do what he'd originally planned.

She was his soulmate.

Harri fell in heap, as if the coldly delivered information was too much for her to comprehend.  She glared up at Ari's golden eyes as he stood over her. There was nothing comforting in those eyes, eyes that still hated her, eyes that told her that this changed nothing.

"I don't know…it's not true…it can't be true!" the words tumbled out. She had no control. It was too much. It couldn't be true. Ari was insane…he thought he was a shapeshifter…a shapeshifter.

"Trust me," Ari told her scathingly, "It's not like I wanted to tell you."

Harri bit the inside of her lip. He didn't want this either. He didn't want to tell her his secret or be thrown into this golden brown world.

"What does all this mean?" the question sounded vaguely rational. Harri was breathing deeply, she didn't want to know this. It had to be a dream. There was no way it could be true. Shapeshifters existing?

"It means," he answered, "you live."

Confusion smothered her again. She didn't like the way he had said that.

"Believe me Harri, I don't care if you are the other part of my soul. I do not want anything to do with you," the cold words cut her. Cut her as she felt herself drawn to him, felt the need to prove to him that she wasn't what he thought she was. There was only one problem. She knew what he thought she was. All of a sudden the thoughts ambushed her, as if they had been planning it all along. Planning to bring her to this strange place and whip her with their harshness. The saddest thing was, she was all of those things. She was manipulative, selfish, cold, evil, immoral, dishonest, callous, unloving, sociopathic, and most of all jealous. All of those things described her. Every last adjective fit and there was nothing…not one tiny thing she could do to deny it.

"Don't you dare come near me," Ari had seen that she meant to go to him. Something was forcing her to go to him and try and make him understand, but he already understood.

"I…" whatever she had been about to say died on her lips as translucent figures appeared in their midst.

"Don't you dare come near me!" the words were wailed and fear drenched every syllable.

A woman…no it was girl appeared. It was a girl not much older than herself; pale silvery hair was restrained in a loose plait. Strands falling as she backed away in terror.

"Please, just leave us alone…" the girl begged her tawny eyes beseeching. Two men stood above her while a third was holding a golden-eyed boy by the shoulders.

The men had mesmerising eyes…they reminded her of mercury. Quicksilver points in the darkness.

"You told them…you knew the rules and still you told them," the taller of the men shook a finger at the girl. The man had a taunting tone to his voice.

Suddenly a wall appeared. The girl was flat against it, "you should have known better."

The man approached her and pressed himself flat against her slight body. The sound of clothes ripping filled the air and a scream erupted from the boy's throat as he struggled more violently with his captor.

"Don't watch," the words shook her out of the vision. Ari was pulling her arm, pulling her out of the scene and the distressed screams of the girl as she made sounds in agony. "Please," Ari's voice begged her turning her towards him, so she didn't see what was happening to the girl against the wall. "Once was enough…I don't want to witness it again."

Harri looked into his tearful golden eyes, they were the same eyes that had belonged to the boy in the vision. "He was you…god."

Ari shook his head as if he was saying 'no' to everything. Saying no to everything in the whole damned world.

"Who was the girl?"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Ari replied. It was true. It didn't matter anymore. His sister was dead. Her blood spilled on that night and all that had participated in her murder were dead. Harri didn't need to know anything about her or his past; he didn't need her pity or her concern. Not that he'd been aware she had any. She shouldn't be his soumate, she shouldn't be the one connected to him forever. She couldn't possibly be the other half of him.

Harri didn't believe a word he had uttered, "You're lying…she was someone to you."

"Why thank you Captain Obvious," Ari sneered. He never wanted to relive that moment again in his life. Why had she drawn that out of him? Why were the Old Powers demanding things of him to be mixed with the hazel-eyed brunette before him?

"Look, I don't know if I should believe you about the whole nightworld-soulmate thing…I still think this a half dream, but I definitely don't believe that the girl doesn't matter anymore."

Ari wiped away whatever tears had flowed, and eyes hardened again. She wished he would stop looking at her like that. Like she was some sort of monster to be despised and disposed of.

"You don't have to."

Harri watched him; he was so very close to her, yet so far away. She could see that he believed that what ever was happening was a mistake.

"You're wrong."

Ari didn't say anything. There was nothing to say.

~*~

Gracie stared at her red puffy eyes in the mirror. The warm salty tears left paths down her cheeks. She blew her nose with some toilet paper. She wanted out, out of the Circle Daybreak Centre where she had been imprisoned, out of her relationship with Joseph. It wasn't working and she doubted it ever would. Gracie dried her eyes, wiping away the liquid signs of pain.

Her reflection showed a teenage girl, whose grey eyes had shed too many tears for one boy. She turned on the faucet. The running water rushed over hands as she cupped them to capture the clear liquid. She threw it over her face, letting it refresh her and clear her thoughts. She lent back into a warm mass of living flesh, and fingers glided over her midriff, the soulmate link flared.

"You blew it," she would not be tempted to overlook his broken promises. She looked into the mirror and stared at those deep blue eyes. So much beauty in them but they hid a heart that didn't know how to feel.

"I know," no remorse, no guilt. It was a simple statement, a fact not to be argued with. Joseph didn't smile. He just looked at the girl he held in his arms, their reflection a picture of two people who seemed to fit.

"That's it?" Gracie turned in his arms, her forearms resting on his chest, as if she would push him away. "Why do you bother to make promises when you break them so easily? You blocked the link. I don't like the girl obviously, but damn it Joseph you don't feed off of humans unwillingly…you don't treat people the way you do."

Blue eyes bored into grey. Joseph let go of his soulmate turning of the running water. "Save water."

Gracie raised an eyebrow. "Save water? Is that all you've got to say?"

~Look, I'm not going to argue with you again. You've made your decision~

Disgust came over Gracie's features.

~For what it matters I didn't block it. ~

"What do you mean you didn't block the link?" Gracie's brows were furrowed. Sadness and rejection was present in the way Joseph stood, the lamia vampire lent against the bench. He was so close to the door, Gracie felt like she was going to lose him. She knew that she wouldn't be able to live if she lost him, but she couldn't live like this.

"I mean I didn't block the link. I kept the promise about not blocking the link."

Gracie stared at him. His perfectly sculptured face pouting in unhappiness, the way he casually leant against the vanity bench. He was a picture perfect vampire. Her picture perfect vampire and he was telling her the truth. There was no way he could lie to Gracie without her knowing.

"My God, it's true," Gracie breathed in, "Then why…"

Joseph stood up and went to her. He was so much taller than her. A hand reached out and brushed her cheek; the soulmate connection bristled between them.

~I don't know, ~ His lips brushed hers delicately. She pushed his hand down.

~This isn't going to work, ~

Joseph pulled away, "God Gracie. Don't do this to me."

Gracie's eyes widened, "Don't do this to you? For fuck's sake Joseph I still love you. I will always love you, but I can't do this anymore. The way you treat me…you don't treat me any differently than you treat Harriet Miller or any other girl. You mess with me and then expect me to be all right?" pause, "I'm not the one playing with people."

Joseph tried to hold her furious gaze, but he had to look away. "I don't know why the Old Powers put us together, I don't know what happened today. Yes I fed from Harriet Miller, she's just another vermin, but I don't ever treat you like any other girl. I've never fed from you, even when you offered. I've never done any of the things I did to any of the girls in my past to you. You're my soulmate and I don't know exactly how to cope with that."

A dark chocolate haired head popped into the toilets, "Gracie are you alright?"

"Just peachy Ursula," Gracie told the bear-shifter who had rudely interrupted them.

"It's just that we heard voices, and we didn't know that there was anyone else in here with you," the brunette was fully in the toilets now, and Gracie could tell she was surveying the situation.

"Well, aren't you guys just great watchdogs…hate to break to you but Joseph here isn't invisible or microscopic. Now go. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Ursula Helarctos asked. She looked like she was about to take on Joseph.

"Leave."

Gracie watched as the young shapeshifter woman backed out of the toilets. She heard the door click shut and went over to lock it. "Well I've never had one before either."

Joseph's sapphire eyes said nothing as he just stared at her.

"Why did you have to feed off of Harriet Miller?" Gracie wanted answers, she wanted peace, but he was sending emotions to her, hurt, regret, love…oh he was doing it again. Manipulating her with the soulmate link. "Stop using it as a weapon."

"I couldn't feel you anymore, I felt free," the emotions still poured through the connection as Joseph ignored her command, "I felt like I used to, before this. I don't know…I just wanted to relive that I guess. Harri was just so accommodating."

Gracie shook her head. She didn't know what to do. She longed to be able to ignore everything. It was true what they said. "Ignorance is bliss."

Joseph's eyes narrowed in confusion, "Ignorance is bliss?" she didn't really just say that did she?

"Yes. Ignorance is bliss," Gracie repeated, "There is nothing more I want to do than ignore everything."

She reached out to take his hand; he flinched but let her hold it. ~You're the only one who can do this to me, ~ her fingers twined with his. ~I need us to be put on hold. ~

"So it was true, you don't want me anymore," the words cut deeper than any knife could have. They sliced through the beginnings of Joseph's heart.

"It's not that I don't want you," Gracie smiled up at him, "I do want you. I just don't want to cry anymore."

Joseph blinked, "We're breaking up?" Joseph felt something die within him, he couldn't change, that was the hidden meaning in her actions. "I didn't think that soulmates could break up."

"They can't but couples can. I think we should stop seeing each other," Gracie felt dizzy, his emotions were still pouring into her, but she wasn't going to relent. He was everything to her, but it was better off this way. Better off to be separated then feel this pain, anger, and betrayal. Oh, she knew he would have another girl within the week, but she wouldn't mean anything to him. She would turn into a green monster when that happened and jealous would fill her again, but he wouldn't break any more promises to her.

Joseph couldn't argue with her, he wanted to. He wanted to shake her and tell her that he needed her.

"You can go back to your old world," Gracie told him, and it sounded like a forbidden whisper. Joseph wasn't sure that was what he wanted. He wanted to live in a world where he could live up to her expectations. He wanted to be with her, but he knew that he couldn't. They had been dancing on thin ice, since the first moment they had touched. Since the first moment their world had sparkled and he had accosted her with 'what the hell did you do to me you stupid witch?'

"What if I don't want to?" he had changed, if only a little bit. He didn't want to be what he was, he wanted many things, but he didn't want that. He didn't want to walk down the street and have people flinch at the sight of him. That no longer gave him joy.

"I don't know. Dad suggested counselling, maybe you could talk to Boss," Gracie sighed. It was finally over.

"Is this because of Harri?" Joseph ventured, he needed a reason, someone or something solid to blame. He wasn't happy, there had to be something…something he could do to.

"Look Joseph, it doesn't matter anymore," Gracie went to the door. There was a click as she unlocked it and slipped out.

Joseph looked into the mirror, his blue eyes piercing themselves.

~*~

 
I may be scattered,
A little shattered,
What does it matter?
No one has a fit like I do,
I may be scattered,
A little shattered,
What does it matter?
No one has a fit like I do,
I'm the only one that fits you