Still not up with the review reply button. Sigh:
bbblfl---:D That review still makes me giggle. And do you have any idea how tempting that offer on MCBC was? O.O
Angel in the Shadows36—I hate cliffies too. And yet I write them occasionally. Sigh. I should be shot, I know.
Leash—Holy cow, you read if from the beginning? And you like it! Thanks:D
jeez claudine—When I read the first "shame" I was all "sniff" but then I read the rest. It perked up my 9:00 am mood.
Thanks for the reviews! I love them. They made me happy :D (I danced with my cats because I'm at 70 reviews...I'm weird)
Yay. Lengthy, boring, explanation chapter. Pfft. "A little less talk, and a lot more action." (starts to sing)
Dedicated to my grade report. The last good thing yesterday before my day tanked. Sigh.
Disclaimer: I take claim to only the crazy shit. The rest is the brilliance of Meg Cabot.
Ch 13: Hollow
"What the hell?" I couldn't believe it.
Actually, a part of me could. It just didn't want to.
"Mmm. Can't we just kill her?" Qain mumbled against the skin of Saben's neck, having moved away from her lips.
"We can't. We need her body."
Hold the phone–they need my body? For what!
I don't want to know. This can't be good.
Shudder.
I reached over and grabbed the phone attached to my bed. Jesse. Jesse could help me. Or Father Dominic. Paul even.
Saben laughed beside me. "That won't work, Susie Q."
Qain detached himself from her throat and grinned at me. His eyes were as cold as they had been in my dreams.
Or should I say–nightmares.
"Who are you going to call? Your precious Jesse?" His laugh sent a chill down my spine. Suddenly angry, I slammed the phone back in its holder.
"What do you two want?" My voice was suppose to be hard and demanding, but instead came out cracked.
"Not much," Saben answered, as she ran her free hand through Qain's hair. "Just your body."
"My body?" I looked at her dumbfounded.
"And Jesse's, of course."
"No," I replied intelligibly. "You can't."
Like I was in any position to be making threats or demands of any kind. Hell, I still couldn't figure out why she needed my body.
"I'm afraid that isn't up to you, Susie."
I gritted my teeth. "Don't call me Susie."
Summoning up a bit more courage, I continued, louder this time. "Jesse will never let yo get away with this."
Saben's eyes glittered as she let out a small, malicious chuckle. "Jesse," she smiled. "Is unconscious at my house. I highly doubt he's going to be playing knight-in-shining-armor to your damsel-in-distress anytime soon."
I glared at her. My chest was starting to heave, and I held back a sob. With the morphine gone, pain was returning to my wounds. Wounds that seemed to reach every crevice of my body. Even still, my soul hurt the most. Knowing Jesse was hurt was killing me. I tried to look away as Qain's hand began to work it's way underneath Saben's shirt, but I couldn't. If I so much as blink, they might disappear. And Jesse could die.
I could feel bile rising in my throat. This was disgusting. How could anyone, especially someone claiming to be me, fall in leauge with a killer. How?
"I don't understand," I mumbled quietly, more to myself than to anyone else. "Why are you doing this?"
With a sigh, Saben grabbed Qain's hands, making him stop.
"Do something with your body, please," she ordered. "And keep an eye on the others."
After one last kiss, Qain took his corpse and dematerialized. Saben ran her free hand through her hair; her other hand was still entertaining the knife.
"I guess I should start at the beginning." She took a seat by my bed, and propped her crossed legs up on my mattress.
"I am Susannah Simon, a shifter. I was born in New York, but moved to Carmel after my mother remarried. My father died when I was six years old. In my new home, I met a ghost–a ghost I fell in love with–"
"I know all of this. Do skip forward."
Saben smirked at my interruption, but continued on as though she hadn't heard me.
"A few months after moving to Carmel, I met another mediator. My school principal–a priest–was one as well, and he often criticized me mediating ways. But to meet another one of us...well. That's rare. Paul Slater, needless to say thought he could play me as a pawn by luring me into his trap of "shifter intel". And when I chose to love Jesse over him, Paul did everything he could to get rid of him–including trying to stop him from dying. He almost succeeded. Had I nod accidentally shifted Jesse back with me when I jumped out of the barn, he would have lived. Instead, he died in a time he didn't belong."
"So the memory–," I said, licking my lips. " In my dreams–the memory Qain showed me. That was real?"
"Yes," she answered quietly, refusing to look me in the eye. "I killed the man I loved, and he still came back to me. He still loved me after everything."
She let out a bitter laugh, and wiped away a tear that had escaped her control. She shifted in her seat, placing her feet on the tiled floor and resting her elbows on her thighs.
"Like I told you before, Jesse wanted me to find someone alive to be with. Paul was there, and the relationship wasn't bad. I think a small part of me even loved him. But then...things began to fall apart."
Saben began forcefully twisting the tip of the blade into her index finger, but didn't seem to mind the pain it inflicted.
"Paul was killed in a plane crash, along with mom, Andy and the boys. We were all going to Hawaii for vacation...The plane crashed into the ocean halfway there. I'm not sure how I survived–I must have shifted, but I don't know. I went into shock. Things became a blur after that.
"I wanted to shift back and save them, but Paul wouldn't let me. His spirit moved on after he was convinced that I wouldn't go back. I lied when I made that promise to him, of course. But I never got the chance to go back. Shortly after the funeral, Father Dominic had a heart attack, and passed away. And that was where I met him."
She sat back in the chair, and relaxed. I stared at her, confused slightly, but didn't interrupt...again.
"Qain had only been attending Junipero Mission for a couple of months before Father Dom died. He had no idea Father Dom was a mediator. But he found out I was, at the funeral. He saw me talking to Jesse, who was trying to comfort me, but it wasn't helping. I tried to move on-stay strong, but the losses made...palpable. And then–"
She closed her eyes and sighed.
"An epidemic hit California. People were contracting a bone eating disease, and were dying within two months. CeeCee and Adam were infected when they go their tetanus shots updated. Qain kept trying to tell me we should be together–that together, we could conquer anything. And after I watched my best friends die, I began to see things his way.
Everyone that mattered to me was gone. Gina and grandma were in New York–we'd grown distant. So, I joined Qain. And then I found out he was the one who created and controlled the disease. He was killing everyone to avenge his father's death. His father, Charles Paquin, died from a similar, genetic disease. He suffered for twelve years before it took his life, and no one could find a cure. Qain, with help, was able to isolate and manipulate the disease so it could be spread. His father thought he was helping his son find a cure, not a threat.
At first the disease took two months to kill. But with my contributions, he was able to increase the kill time. It went from months, to weeks, to days. Now, it takes mere seconds. Think hydrochloric acid, it's like a carnivore to a steak. It dissolves the bone marrow in the blink of an eye. Poof. Gone."
"I was pissed when I found out he was the reason my friends were dead. But then he showed me some of his memories–I could feel the pain he felt as he watched his father die. It didn't excuse the murders, but it did make me understand. He was fighting for someone to find a cure, so he could go back and save his father. He figured if he infected enough people, someone would have to find a fix. But no one could. So, we shifted to a different parallel and began again.
By then, the disease we manipulated mutated, and we were able to find a cure. But only for the new disease. The original was unaffected.
Qain lost all hope. This became more of a game. If we had to suffer, everyone had to suffer. Until someone could stop this, at least. This is the ninth parallel we've been too. The ninth to be destroyed. However, higher powers are starting to take notice in our activities. They want to stop us."
Saben propped her feet back up on the bed. "That's where you come in."
I blinked at her. I was still digesting what she'd said. Most of it was like in my dreams–except the end.
"Qain and I need a place to hang out–somewhere we won't be found. Jesse's body, your body, their perfect capsules for our souls. Unfortunately, the current owners have to be evicted before we can play host."
I blinked again.
This didn't make sense. Why me? Why this parallel?
"Your parallel is the only one where Jesse is alive. The only one where this facade is believable," she answered the unasked question.
"The one's after us won't be able to tell the difference when we're in your bodies–only if we remain ghosts. They aren't very smart, you see," she grinned.
I licked my lips. The pain racking through me was becoming unbearable. I felt like I'd been run over by a truck.
"Hurting?" she asked, noticing my slight tremors. I nodded and closed my eyes. Saben sighed and stood up. Eyeing me as I shook, she walked over to my IV and released the morphine drip switch.
The pain slowly started to dull, as the drug swam through my veins once again.
"Thanks," I whispered. I didn't mean it–not entirely. At least the physical pain was diminishing.
"You were in a car accident on your way home from having a fight with Jesse," she informed me as she returned to her seat. "Compliments of me."
"What?" my head snapped in her direction.
"I need you incapacitated—granted, I think I hit you a little too hard. Plus," she sighed resolutely. "I needed to die in order for the plan to work. Why not kill two birds with one stone."
"...So, you ran me over with your car?"
"I hit you, I didn't run you over."
Oooh. Big difference.
Not.
"And when they found your body?"
"My body was burned beyond recognition when my car exploded."
Hello–what!
I gasped unintentionally.
"If it makes you feel any better, I did suffer. I was still alive when the tank blew. That's why I choose to 'die' by gas in your mind. Even if it was nerve gas, and not gasoline. Qain pulled you out of your car before the explosion. You're of no use to me dead."
How thoughtful.
I cringed. That didn't make me feel any better. A little numb. But I think that was the morphine.
"And your remains?" I asked. I'd watched CSI recently, hints the fifty questions. Granted, the show was subconscious.
"They were taken care of. No one knows who I am, who I was, or who I ever will be. Except you of course. But not for long."
"And Qain?"
"We had to test the newest version of the disease. And we needed to...get rid of his body."
Oh. Lovely.
I need a break. This is too much. Even for me. My eyelids were starting to get heavy, as the morphine took full effect.
What the hell was I going to do? I refuse to willingly hand my body over to two killers. And after what I went through to save Jesse, they're not getting his body either.
Over my cold, dead body. Even if that's what it comes down to.
"Close your eyes, Suze," Saben smiled. Reluctantly, I did. Once more, darkness consumed my vision.
All of my life, all of my time
I don't want to come back around tonight
and all that I need is serenity
I don't want to feel your new disease
the natural life
your born, you die
the natural life
your wrong, your right
the natural life
your born, you die
the natural life is a lie
Please excuse my sucky typos. And if you have questions (other than about where Hector is...you'll see) then ask..and I'll answer in the next chapter. Review, please. Or frolic in a bed of flowers. Whatever makes ya happy.
Song--"Natural life"--Breaking Benjamin
again...cackle.