14. Agony

Summer was standing in the middle of all of us with and awkward smile. Her red hair seemed to be a light mahogany color when she smiled like that. Everyone seemed to relax, everyone but me. They all were talking, laughing and inviting Summer to the group. My group. I was still watching where they had disappeared. I never had trusted Cody and there was no way that I was going to trust him now. I knew what he was capable of, but it seemed like I was the only one who took it seriously.

Syd put her hand on my shoulder, turning me to face her. "He's gone, Claire. All of them are gone and he's not coming back." She smiled and then winked at me. Summer made her way towards me, her arms open.

"Thank-you." I looked at her with a strange pang of jealousy, I knew what Jason would see when they met and I knew bye her eyes that she was just like me. The only difference was that she is thirsty. "I understand about the…human. I promise not to hunt him. He will be part of me as I take part in your family. I want you to be able o trust me with him someday. If he stays human that long…" she trailed off in another thought.

"I don't know how long I can risk being with him while he is human. The time may come sooner than I want." I frowned. Skylar made is way to me and he curved-as if to protect me-in front of me and he gave me a hug. He almost lost me and I understood that he didn't want to lose me and Taylor both. Taylor was by his side, but there was not even a smile that she gave me now. It was more of guilt and some kind of pain. Agony, maybe? I wonder what she was thinking, but I had no intention of asking Syd.

Cody came running up to me, then taking Summer's hand. "I have a gift!" his voice was so high as his excitement made me laugh. So it made everyone else laugh too. He was acting like a boy who just got the best present in the world. "Can you believe I can move things with my mind? This is going to be so great. Now I can be part of the action and fighting. I don't have to sit on the side lines anymore!" Cody just went on and on, but nobody wanted to spoil his joy. It was the best he has had since he found that he and Jason could be friends still.

"Welcome to the club of gifts." Skylar's laugh was on thing I haven't heard in a little while. Well his real laugh since Taylor left. Then it reminded me of Summer.

"Speaking of gifts," I turned to Summer. "What is your gift that Cody wanted so bad?" everyone seemed to get quiet and we wanted to know the answer. I was so sure that if she could she would blush from all the eyes that were on her.

"Um, my gift is time. Like I can go back in time or to the future. But there are rules and limits to these things. One thing I change in the past will change everything in the future, and I mean everything. I don't use it so much, but it comes in handy when you're looking for some specific things. You know? I can also freeze time, but that's not as cool as the first one, but still." everyone's mouth was open. No one had ever heard of a gift like that. Not even me and I lived for over four millennial.

"Cool!" Ben shouted. Everyone laughed at the way he broke the tension of the area. It was amazing how fast my loved ones and how the ones I hated had disappeared surrounded me. All of that had happened in about 5 minutes. No wonder Jason was in shock of what was happening.

Jason. What had happened to him? Had Angel gotten him there safely? Did Cody circle around to get to him? Had he been harmed too much? Does he hate me because I had allowed this to happen to him? Not that I didn't warn him, but that was beyond the point.

Right now Jason would have to wait; I had my other family to welcome back and one new one to introduce to everyone. Jason can heal why I take care of things before Summer meets him.

I took her hand and I sat down. Everyone surrounded us and followed the action.

"How long?" she knew what I was getting at.

"2,000. You can give or take a little." She shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing. And she was right. It was nothing compared to my age. "Of course I know everything about you. Cody never shuts up about you. 'Claire is the most beautiful vampire out there. One of the oldest too. I was sorry to see her go.' We all know the story of your, uh, transformation." She smiled weakly.

Skylar hissed and Summer cringed at the sound. She was outnumbered here and I was sure she never had to fight. Not with Cody around to do all the work.

"It's not her fault. And we don't fight. She is one of us now. She knew what was right and wrong and she chose to act on it. We can't begrudge her for her past." I smiled at her and Skylar sighed. I was right and he knew it.

I turned to everyone in the group. Everyone was here. Or so I had thought. There was one person missing I knew why he wouldn't be here. He didn't want to rescue me. He didn't want to me to live.

"Taylor?" I called. Her eyes were bright now. She smiled at me. She had her arm around Skylar and she was home. But this was something I had to know. "Where's Keith?" her smiled vanished instantly. Her eyes were hard and cold. It was like she wasn't even there anymore. At least my Taylor wasn't there. It was Syd who answered me.

"He's gone." Her voice was harsh. Then Hannah came to sit beside me laughing. Syd's eyes went back to normal as well as Taylor's. Something was very wrong here, but no one noticed our little exchange. Not even Skylar. Was he blind?

"So Claire. I was thinking." Oh no. Syd's grin got wider as read deciphered my thoughts. "What do you think if I joined you?"

"No!" a chorus of voices screamed. The loudest was Keenan's. But even he was smiling so he knew it was a joke. Hannah laughed and then she went to go sit by Keenan, who was sitting by Abby. Everyone here was in love, well of course we had a few exceptions too, but that was their choice.

A howl pierced the air.

That's when I also noticed that Sam was gone. Syd, Ben, Taylor, and Skylar stood up. I pulled him back down. If I weren't so strong I would have never been able to do that. His eyes, too, were cold. There was nothing in there. That was until I pulled him down. I seemed to break his focus and then he was back.

Syd nodded and then sat back down. Everyone else followed her actions. All eyes were on them as they tried to put on a fake image. If I didn't know them so well I would have fallen for it. It was too bad I lived with them.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"It's our problem. Mind your own business." That was the second time Syd has ever said that to me. Taylor was looking at me with the same pain she had earlier. When she caught me looking at her the pain was gone. She was a new person. Someone who had no other emotion but hatred. Her clenched her hands into fists and a low growl came from her throat. Skylar growled back. I knew he hated to do it, but he was so used to protecting me it was like a habit.

It all happened so fast.

Taylor was on top of me in an instant, trying to claw my eyes out I guess would be the correct expression. Skylar ripped her off my before she could do some real damage. He threw her far. The others were also on their feet, about 20 feet away. Sylvia was at my side in an instant as well and her teeth were bared, growling. Shadow was close behind me, while Dylan was in front of me. Nick was behind Shadow. Hannah was beside Keenan, still in that protective curve. Abby couldn't sit still. She was ready for a real fight.

"I believe you should go." I spit through my teeth. "You don't belong here anymore." Those words were a lie, but I used the term them to many times and it just slipped out. Syd and Taylor were really pissing me off today. Even though they save my lives they had really bad mood swings. If they didn't want me around why would they risk their lives if they wanted me dead.

"Fine." I didn't check who said I was already running the other way. I heard the footsteps go off the other way and I heard many following me. About half of them turned and then went off another direction. Sylvia, I concluded. The rest followed me towards Angel and the hospital. I didn't stop. I burst right through the doors and asked for Jason. Demanded might have been a better term. I was sure I looked terrifying to her, but I was in a hurry.

"Jason." I repeated again. I was on the verge of a hiss. She nodded and started to type something into the computer.

"Room 101, floor 3…" her voice faded away as I took the steps 7 at a time. I was lucky there was no one in them at the moment. I ran down the hallways a little bit slower. I had no intentions of running over some old people with some random diseases. I went to his room and knocked. There was people talking on a T.V while light snores echoed the room. I opened to door quietly and walked in.

Sure enough Jason was fine. There was a cast by his collarbone and one on his wrist. That would explain the two snaps I heard. His heart speed was normal and his breathing even. I relaxed and waited for the steps of the others, but there were none. I was guessing they were giving me my alone time.

I sat down in the chair closest to his bed. I didn't want the T.V to wake up Jason so I turned it off. I looked around the room trying to distract my mind from his injuries.

The chair I sat in was soft, but I could feel every little detail in it. It was decorated with animals and it seemed like it was made for a kid rather than an adult or monster. The walls were painted a crimson color and I thought it was strangely ironic. The T.V was in the right corner, but it was extended to face Jason. Jason lay there with his head tilted to the side. His mouth was slacked open and he was snoring like always. His hair still had the same color of honey blonde. It was getting darker, but that only made it look sweeter. Like syrup. His was lying in an uncomfortable position so I guessed they had knocked him out with morphine. To get rid of the pain. Pain.

A nurse walked in interrupted my train of thought. For god's sake, were their any men on this world anymore? It seemed like everywhere I went gorgeous women surrounded Jason. The nurse was a red head with freckles on all of her limbs. She had white teeth and a nice body. Nice curves. She was wearing heals and a pink outfit. Her eyes bulged when she walked in and saw me. Now I knew why she dressed like that. She was maybe 20 years old and I knew she found Jason attractive. Who wouldn't? Jason was something else.

"Can I help you?" she said through her nose. Oh so she was going to be like that. I wanted to say 'Sure just come over here and let me punch that pretty face." But since I couldn't, I had to fake a smile.

"No," I said with too much politeness. "Just visiting." I smiled. She cocked her head to the side and smiled.

"Sister?"

"No. I'm his girlfriend." There was some acid in my tone and that wiped the grin off of her face. I almost laughed. "I'll call if he needs anything. You can go now." My face was smug and she stalked off with an attitude. This time I did laugh loud enough for her to hear. There was a grunt in the hallway.

"Hmm." Jason sighed. "Claire?" his eyes fluttered open. He smiled the best he could, but he was in pain and he couldn't out of that. I put my hand on his and his smile broadened. "Thanks." He wasn't in pain now, just like before.

"I wonder…" I smiled. I wonder if I could heal his bones instead of just making the pain stop. I closed my eyes and focused on everything as a whole. Putting things back in place. I heard a quick snap, a wince, and then laughter.

"That tickled." He was laughing. He was moving his arm without difficulty and snapping his wrist like normal. "Maybe you should become a doctor." I rolled my eyes and picked him up.

"Were leaving."

I opened the window and jumped out. I landed with a small thud and was thankful they had his room facing the back of the building. Skylar was sitting there, waiting for me. He got up and ran with me. We ran for a good half-hour and I was sure Jason was asleep again. I woke him up when we got to the Hotel.

Claire De Lune sat on the main street right next to the Eiffel Tower. It was big, white, and very fancy. A five star hotel, but it's prices were like for a ten star. It didn't matter for me though. We had too much money anyway.

"Claire De Lune?" Jason asked? He raised on eyebrow as we walked in the door.

"Oh shut up."

I spoke to the man in French and he gave us a room key. Skylar asked for a different room and he gave him one. We walked up to the top and Skylar went into the room he was assigned. Nick and Angel were already in their and she winked at me and I walked with Jason to ours.

"A room to ourselves?"

"If you want. If not you can sleep with Skylar and Nick while I stay with Angel."

"No. I'm good."

I laughed and opened our room. It was a grand suite with gold everywhere. There was a big gold bed in the middle of the room and a white refrigerator by the door. A plasma screen T.V sat in front of the bed, right next to the stereo. Jason didn't hesitate. He plopped on the bed and turned the T.V on. He flipped channels until he found and American baseball game on. It was spring. Which reminded me.

"Jason, if it's spring why was there still a basketball game still going on the first week I came here?"

"Tournament. I won it for us. That's why the coach didn't put me in, he didn't want me to screw it up." He laughed then he was a zombie watching TV.

Jason got up and went to use the bathroom. "Cool! They have little candies in here!" he popped it in his mouth before I could say anything. I heard a spitting sound and a gagging noise. "It's soap!" he yelled. I laughed hard and Jason came out with an angry grin. "It's not funny."

"You're right. It's down right hilarious." He threw on at me and I dodged it. "Remember who you are dealing with here." I stuck my tongue out at him. I sat on the bed and he charged me, I could have moved, but I didn't want to. He landed on top of me and pretended to hold me down. He leaned down and kissed me on my head then he made it down to my lips. He let go and his breath washed all over my face. I smiled and kissed him again.

We sat there in the same position for a long time. I noticed when the sun went down and when Jason yawned.

"Tired?"

"Yes. And you?"

"I don't sleep remember?" I laughed and pushed him off of me gently, but he plopped to the floor on purpose. I didn't even bother to help pick him up. I went into the bathroom and changed into some PJS anyway. After that I went out and waited for Jason to change too. I undid the bed and I lay there. He came out, got in the bed, and curled into me with his arms around my waist.

"Love you, Claire."

"Love you, Jason."

Then Jason drifted into unconsciousness.