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Chapter 30
I tossed and turned restlessly for a good three maybe four minutes until I was finally dragged into the world of sleep and of dreams. When I wake up I'll remember to add it to the list of thing I hate to be right about.
Sleep may have found me quickly and easily, but that's all that was easy about it. When the dreams started coming, they came hard and they came fast. Grotesque images of things that weren't quite human, their flesh being melted off by some unseen fire.
Then darkness set in. The darkness gave me a precious respite from the terror around me.
The darkness faded, leaving me alone in the center of a blood soaked field, the smell of rotting flesh blanketing the air around me. Scattered around the field were severed arms and legs lying limply on the once green grass. The images would have been much easier to bear if they weren't true and if they had context.
The darkness came back, leaving me to gently rock myself in the relative safety of the black. Dry, heavy sobs came from deep in my gut, violently shaking me to my core.
And the darkness was gone; this time in a brilliant flash of white light.
I was lying on a small lumpy bed naked, a fresh set of cuts across my chest, and my hands where bound above my head. A woman, straddling my hips, held a wickedly curved knife that gleamed with blood…my blood. She brought the red blade to her lips and gave it a sensuous lick, never for a moment taking her glassy obsidian eyes off of me. Flashing a depraved white smile she gently set the knife down on the end table, before turning her full attention to me. She, Lindsay I think her name was, ran her warm hands in the sticky blood, like a child finger painting. Her face rolled back in absolute ecstasy and abandon as she played with my blood; she lowered her face to my chest licking the sticky red liquid from it.
I'm not sure what if most frightening of this last dream was what she did to me, or that I actually enjoyed what she did.
The last dream memory was too much. I was fighting back tears as I curled into a tiny ball in the black recesses of my mine, hiding from all the memories of pain. Have I not had a pleasant memory in the last three years?
Then, like the Calvary riding in at the last moment, Alice appeared in my shelter of darkness; her face the image of serenity. "Aaron, it's me. Everything will be alright." Her voice was calm and even as she knelt beside me cupping my face in her tiny hands.
A shiver ran up my spine and my eyes opened. I was in the real world again, not that world where my own demons decide to poke me with hot pokers. My head was held tightly against Alice's chest as she rocked me back and forth. I've never felt so helpless in my life, here I was supposed to be a big scary wizard, and I was paralyzed by nightmares. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to make all of this go away.
"It's okay," Allie whispered gently rubbing my back.
"Allie, I saw…I saw so many terrible things. Things I want to forget, but I never will." I rambled on wrapping my arms around her slender waist
"I know, I know; just relax. I'm here; everything is going to be all right." She continued to whisper into my ear, calming me down.
After a long pause I said, "Thanks…for being here, for helping me, for staying with me. I really, really love you." Apparently no matter how hard I try I continue to sound like an idiot.
"I love you more." She said sticking her tongue out at me. A smile instantly jumped to my lips.
A comfortable silence settled across the room; I took the moment to shift myself to a more masculine position. I pulled Alice against me and rested my head on top of hers. "I know this is stupid to ask a seer, but do you believe in fate?" I said into her hair.
"I've been seeing the future since I was human; I've never really thought of things in terms of some greater cosmic plan only people's choices. So I guess the answer is: I'm not sure. Why?"
"I don't know. I was just thinking that fate brought me here. Maybe the reason I had to kill Katherine was just to get me to Phoenix; and maybe the whole reason to be in Phoenix was to meet Her. Which sent me to Sacramento, to do whatever it is I did there for three months. And all of that led me here to be with you." I said tilting her head up to meet my gaze.
"I don't have all the answers," Alice sighed breaking out in a radiant smile, "I only pretend like I do."
Silence returned to the room, this one slightly more uncomfortable than the one before; we both knew what was next.
"Why are you talking about all of these things?" A flash of concern crossed her eyes.
"I dunno," I confessed, "I just thought that all the crap in my life led me to you at the right time, and the right place. And then I wondered: if Katherine were to come back right now, would I go back to her. I know that you've must have thought the same thing, but I just thought...sorry I'm rambling again." I caught myself, too late as I felt the familiar sting of tears grace my eyes. The only thing holding me together at that moment was Alice, and her amazingly cold arms.
"I wouldn't blame you if you went back to her. It would kill me inside…but I wouldn't blame you." She said nuzzling into my neck, tears that would never fall began to well up in her eyes.
"Then I figured out my answer." I said ignoring what she just said, "and I don't think I would; I know I wouldn't, and I know it would kill me inside. At the same time the thought of hurting you makes me sick and the thought of being with you forever makes me happier than I ever thought possible." Even Alice couldn't keep the tears from coming at this point. I've lost so many guy points so far, why start worrying about them now?
Her grip around my ribs tightened, straining my freshly healed ribs; she buried her face further into my neck, letting out dry sobs.
Now it was my turn to hold her closer, fighting back the urge to say something. Anything I say wouldn't help, so I have to content myself with just holding her as close as I could.
Alice sobbed into my shoulder for a few minutes more; her sobs gradually softening until it felt less like a sob and more like a gentle shiver. "I don't know if I could say the same." Allie chocked out after a long, long time.
"I don't expect you too, Jasper's been gone for what, a month? Katherine's been dead for three very long years; I've had a lot of time to get past her." I said, absently rubbing her back.
"Thanks," my pixie offered timidly, gripping onto the shirt I didn't realize I wore.
"Let's go do something," I said picking her up, noting that I was fully dressed. Did I do that, or did Allie do it for me?
"Like what?" She asked, lifting her head up.
"I don't know, is there a decent movie playing?" I said setting her down on the edge of the bed.
A mischievous smile crossed her pale face "There's a new vampire movie that just came out. Want to see it and pick on all the inaccuracies." I knew the question wasn't much of a question, she probably saw the future and saw that I was going to say yes. "Good, that's a yes." She answered before I even managed to open my mouth.
Ten minutes later I was strapped in to the front seat of The Porsche (yes it's a proper noun!) We headed south, I think, towards an awaiting movie theater; I think we were headed to Aberdeen, but don't quote me on that, my geography is still a bit hazy. The rain was coming down in a thin drizzle that barely had a chance to make contact with the windshield. Everything around us was a green blur, so I decided to take another nap; hopefully this time wouldn't involve nightmares. On second thought I'll look at the pretty green blurs.
Nerves ate at me the entire ride, nothing I could put my finger on exactly, but something very real. I half expected to see a troll jump out of the forest and crush the car with us inside. Not that I expected to see that exact thing, but you get the idea. I hope. I guess the whole message is it felt like something bad was going to happen, and I didn't have anything to protect us. No blasting rod, no staff, no shield bracelet, no nothing.
I really should have my head looked at again, I feel like my mind is just rambling. Maybe it is.
We rode in silence for most of the ride, other than the obligatory small talk. I was living in my mind, trying to unlock some context for the memories I was surely recovering. That was the frustrating part, being able to see certain things, but not knowing what or why. That's amnesia for you.
The movie theater in Aberdeen is right on the edge of town, not enough room in the town I guess. It was a modern movie theater with all sorts of neon light (the bright kind you can see from outer space) and movie posters lining the walls in glass display cases.
Alice swerved her Porsche into the parking lot eliciting a lot of shocked expressions from a group of high school jocks complete with letterman's jackets. Their jaws hit the ground the moment Alice stepped out of the driver's door. I didn't have to have any special powers to know that all six of them had the exact same thought – Alice naked on the hood of the Porsche. I know what they were thinking because I had the exact same thought. A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as I stepped out.
A stiff breeze picked up as I shut my own door raising the hair on my neck. "Not now, please not now." I muttered under my breath as I pulled my coat. I was actively ignoring every instinct in my body that something wasn't right.
"What's wrong?" Alice whispered cheerfully, linking her arm through mine.
"I dunno; something just doesn't feel right." I said starting towards the box office, "Maybe it's the weather; I don't really like storms." I added sensing Alice's hesitation. I didn't like storms, true enough, but the anxiety I was feeling came from something else.
"Let's just skip the movie and go home and watch a movie. I think we have an old projector and real reels." Alice said, laughing at her own little pun. She pulled on my arm lightly, but enough to throw me off balance.
"Okay," I agreed trying to mask the relief I was feeling, "If you insist."
We turned and walked back to the car, Alice molding to my side. Even through the light overcoat she was wearing I could feel her comfortable iciness contrasting with the bleak cold wind that worked its way through my heavy black coat.
The idiot jocks were gone when we got back to the car. "You know this is the second time we started to go somewhere today before we turned around and went home." I said when she pulled away from me to go to the driver's side.
"True, but the first time was important business, and I don't feel like being out tonight." She said with a short giggle.