Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.
My Version of Burned
Chapter 4
Heath's POV
"I trust you, Heath. I trust you and I love you and I can't wait for you to come back so we can be together again."
It took everything in me not to cry after Zo said that. She knew that after her leaving to go to the House of Night and telling me that we couldn't be together broke my heart and hearing her tell me now that she loved me. I felt complete for the first time in months.
"I'm yours." She murmured, leaning forward to kiss me. I leant in the rest of the way and kissed her breathlessly.
Just as I was getting into it, Zo made a deafening noise and I automatically protected my ears from the sound. Confused at why she would stop when we had just started, I looked at her in confusion.
"You're going to be alive again!" She laughed, sounding carefree. She looked drunk off the feeling, "Hey, maybe I could throw a welcome back party! Yeah, Damien and the twins and Stark could help me, I mean, it's not like they would find it weird after all the stuff that we've been through. To be honest, it will seem fairly normal to them..."
"Zo, wait up!" I interrupted her, panicking and not knowing how to stop her from telling anyone, "There are a few things you need to know about before you go getting ideas. Firstly, I'm not going to be exactly the same as I used to be while I was human, secondly, you won't be able to drink my blood anymore and lastly, if you tell anyone about this who you do not trust with your life, I will die for good. So if I was you, I wouldn't take any chances."
I tried to look serious to cover up my lies. I didn't want to lie to her...
"Why can't I tell anyone?" She asked suspiciously and I was afraid that my worry showed for a split second but she didn't seem too upset because her eyes still seemed happy.
"Because you just can't!" I choked, not knowing how to explain the truth to her. I really didn't want to hurt her but this was the only way...
"Please Zo? Just don't tell anyone." She frowned at me and I tried a different tactic to distract her.
"You're so cute when you frown babe." I complimented, forcing a smile to hurt my guilt. This was harder than I thought it would be.
"Whatever." She grumbled, getting up and taking me with her. She started walking towards there before I could stop her, making me instantly stop and unfortunately, this resulting in Zo falling to the floor dramatically.
"No!" I ordered like she was a misbehaving dog, "You can't go out there!"
"Ow." She complained, standing back up and soothing her backside. I could have done that for her...okay, so not the time.
I chuckled quietly and pulled my Zoey into an amorous hug.
"No, because I should get back to my fishing now and you have to get back to your friends..." I explained, hoping that she actually could get back otherwise I'd be screwed.
"Fine, but you have to take me here more often." She winked at me and I almost started crying again. I wished hope against hope that she wouldn't have to come back here but it was more than likely that she would. I forced another smile and prayed for the best.
In an instant, tears started pouring out of Zo's eyes and my own eyes widened. Why was she crying?
I pulled her into a hug and rested my chin on her head, that's how tall I was in comparison to her.
"We will see each other again." I promised her, not wanting to let go of her but knowing that I had to.
"I know." She whimpered, kissing me one last time. As her tears mingled with mine, I only just realised how big of a deal this was. But it was too late to change my mind.
"Don't forget me, Zo." I begged, pressing my lips harder against hers. The pain was unbearable and for once, kissing her didn't make it better.
"As if I could." She sobbed, trying to smile at me to show she was okay. That single, wet tear running down her cheek gave her away.
I didn't know how to say goodbye to her. Ever since I'd known her, it was always her to say goodbye to me, I never wanted to. She was the love of my life and even if she had all these other guys, I would never stop loving her. I'd love her forever.
"I'll love you forever babe, don't forget that either." I repeated my thoughts and gave her one last sad, pathetic smile.
"Heath, no! Don't go yet!" She cried as I looked down on her. She was slipping away from me and as she got further and further away, I knew that I would do all that it took to keep her safe. To protect her.
"Zo, it's not me whose leaving, it's you." I explained, trying hard not to cry for her sake, "You know that I will always love you, Zoey Redbird. You are the first, last and only girl I have ever loved and that's never going to change.
"I've loved you my entire life. You have been the first thing I thought of every time I woke up and before I went to sleep and every second inbetween them both ever since the first day I saw you. You were even beautiful as a little girl. I've watched you go from adorable to cute to stunning to sexy to beautiful to gorgeous to amazing and that was just in the first day."
It was likely that I was just making her more upset but I couldn't help it. I had to tell her how I felt before it was too late.
"I can't leave you!" She cried, falling to the floor suddenly. I wished with all of my broken heart that I could just hold her one more time, but I knew that if I did, I would never let go. I would hold her forever and ever.
"You have to baby, but it's okay. I'll always be with you. In here." As cheesy as it was, I held my hand over my splintered heart and watched her do the same.
"Every day," She spoke, "I will think of you every second of every minute of every hour of every day of ever..."
I will too.
"I get it, beautiful." I stopped her before she broke my heart even more than it was, "I love you."
Walk away.
So I did.
I walked away from the one thing which kept me breathing, the one thing which made me breathless. The girl who had stolen my heart and never given it back.
I love you too.
A faint promise from her heart to mine was carried across the wind.
And then I was gone.
And so was she.
"Stop feeling so sorry for yourself." Bird dude walked up to me and gave me the stink eye, "You know what will happen if you tell her the truth."
I looked upwards, only now realising that I had collapsed to the floor and was in a puddle of my tears.
Lying to Zoey really wasn't on my list of things to do today but the bird guy, or Kalona or whatever, told me that if I had told her the real truth then that Cherokee woman would be stuck in her soul for eternity. I wasn't even sure how she got there in the first place but what I did know was that I would do anything for her to make her happy. Even lying to her.
"Why can't you talk to Zoey instead of me?" I asked, trying to get out of doing Kalona's work for him.
"A-ya," He corrected me, avoiding the question, "Her name is A-ya, she just thinks that her name is Zoey."
"No," I spoke fiercely despite the fact that this guy could kill me, again, in a split second, "Her name is Zoey. I've known her since third grade and you've known her for what, a week, and you're already making adjustments to her name. I don't think so."
After my short speech, I cowered back a little bit, afraid of what he was going to do to me. Weirdly, he did nothing other than send a wicked smile in my direction.
"Fine," He agreed calmly, "We shall call her by the name Zoey. I honestly do not care that much about what you call her as long as you visit her in her dreams after this." I suddenly remembered the question he avoided before he corrected me on her name.
"Anyway, you didn't answer me beforehand; why can't you do the dream visiting rather than me?" I wondered accusingly.
"Because," He started motionlessly, "She doesn't trust me. She thinks I put her in danger. But you on the other hand..." He reached out his hand towards me and sighed, "I admire her love for you- it's indescribable. Apart from her warrior, you are the one person she probably trusts the most!" Kalona sighed once again in jealously.
"Wait, her warrior?" I responded, feeling especially stupid.
"Yes, that James Stark who is talented with the bow and arrow. She also used to trust the red vampyre priestess, but they've been having problems recently. I would have probably used one of those children to do this job for me but, well, none of them are dead and here now are they." He smirked at me, reminding me of my death.
I just mumbled a whatever and leant back to lie on the grass.
"I suppose you did well except for when you almost told her the truth at the end. I especially like the way you distracted her from telling her friends by complimenting her looks. This is going to go better than I thought..."
Screwed. That was the definition of my situation right now.
A/N: I know that I said I was going to update everyday and not twice a day but you have no idea how upset I am right now about something which I don't really want to mention on here and I keep checking my emails every 5 seconds waiting for a review and not getting one which is making me all the more upset so I updated once more today because I just desperately want to get at least 1 review. My old already written A/N:
Dum dum dummmm. That's right bro, Heath's in with Kalona. Who knows what will happen...oh yeah, you guys cos this is just a re-editing:') if you are reading this for the first time then, well, good for you and carry on, yeah?;) hope you are liking it!
Favourite line? /lydia xox
