Mixed Worlds

Chapter Twenty - Morning Sunshine

JACK POV

            After leaving Alex to sleep, Ally and I are awkwardly walking down the hall towards our rooms. I stop outside of mine. She stops too, and gives me a sad look. 

            “Come on.” She reaches out her hand. I take it, and follow her. She stops outside of her door, and drops my hand. She opens it slowly, and walks in. I walk in behind her, and stand in the corner as she goes to her closet to change. 

            A few minutes later, she walks back out in a tank top and shorts. She sits on the bed, and begins to pull the sheets up.

            “Did you want me to sleep on the floor?” I ask nervously. I stick my hands in my pockets.

            “You can sleep here. I’m not going to make you sleep on the floor.” She says blankly.

            “But I deserve it though.”

            “Yes you do.” She replies. It hurts to see her so mad at me, and so hurt because of me at the same time. I walk over and take my jeans off. I leave my shirt on, and sit on the bed next to her.

“I care about you, and your struggles are mine too. We’ll sleep tonight, and talk tomorrow. Right now, I’m freezing and I just want my best friend back.” She cries.

            I reach for her hands, and she hesitates before placing her hands in mine. “I am so, so sorry. I’m sorry for thinking it would help, and I’m sorry for lying to you. I was letting everything get to me and I just wanted you back so badly. I promise it won’t ever, ever happen again.” I feel tears begin to well up, and I don’t hold them back. She wipes the tears from my face, and kisses my cheek. 

            “Thank you. How’s your face?” She sees the red mark on the side of my cheek, and places her hand over it.

            “Tender, but I’ll be okay.” She closes her eyes, and I start to feel the warmth of her healing touch. I let more tears fall, and wonder what I did to deserve this woman. As her powers start to heal my face, she places her other hand on my arm. I look down, and see that the blood is being pulled out from the area I stuck the needle in. I gasp, and can’t believe what I see. She opens her eyes, and swirls her hands in a circle pulling it out. She forms it into a ball, and looks like she’s trying to squeeze it out of existence. With a quick flash, the blood disappears.

            “I guess I can heal stupidity too.” She looks up at me, and gives a sad smile. “Please, please whatever happens in our life do not do this to me again. I will take off and you will never hear from me again, and I don’t want to do that.” Her bottom lip quivers, and I nod.

            “I promise to never hurt you like that ever again.” I wipe her face, and push her hair behind her ear. “I love you, now and forever.”She leans forward, and pulls me into a tight hug. We fold into each other and fall asleep.

~the next morning~ 

            I wake up and look at the clock on the wall. It’s 10:37AM. I look beside me and see that Ally isn’t there. My head is groggy. It’s probably a side effect from what she did last night. I pull on my jeans, and walk out to the kitchen. Lucas, Ally, Alex, and a woman I haven’t met are all sitting at the table. I clear my throat, and they all stop talking and look at me.

            “Hey Jack. This is Anna.” She points to the other woman, and I wave and give a smile. She has fair skin, lots of freckles and a shoulder-length, curly red hair.

            “Morning sunshine. Sleep well?” Lucas says. I roll my eyes and walk over to the table. I sit in between him and Ally, and next to her is Alex, and then Anna. 

            “My head hurts, but I’m fine.” I fold my hands on the table. “So, what’s the plan for today, and why isn’t he chained up?” Anna pipes up, and takes control of the conversation.

            “Well, you want to put Alex here on trial, so that’s where we’re going to start. Then we’ll talk about Christian after that’s settled. He’s not chained up because it seems that you’re the only one who doesn’t believe him. Is it because you’re jealous that Al kissed him?” All of our mouths drop, and Alex hangs his head.

            “Anna! What the f**k?” Ally says. I look over at Lucas, and he shrugs.

            “Sorry man, I agree with the girls. He checks out.” He says in defence. 

I sit back, and scratch my head. “I… um. I don’t uh… next question please?” Anna laughs. Of course, I’m jealous, and angry too. But I’ll be damned if I admit to that in front of everyone.

            “Well, I’ll take that as a yes then.” We all stand up, and make our way to the living room. 

 *

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 *

ALLY POV

            We get into the living room, and I sit Alex down on the chair in the corner. He looks nervous, and I set myself down on a chair in front of him. Anna and Lucas are sitting on the couch, and Jack is on the love seat closest to me and Alex. 

            “Okay, here we go.” I lean back and take my pocket knife out from my jeans. I flick open the blade, and hold it tightly in my hands. Alex leans forward, and sets his hand over mine, steadying them in front of his chest. His warm smile calms me and makes my heart race at the same time.

            “I’ll be okay. Half vampire, remember?” He sighs.

            “Yes, but also half human.” I turn and face Jack. “If he’s in too much pain before I even start asking the hard questions, we’re stopping.” I look at everyone else. “And no one else jump in and ask questions unless I say so. You can each have one question when I finish asking him the opening questions to test his truth. Everybody clear?” I get a nod from each of them. I look down at my blade again, and feel its weight in my hands. I set a hand on Alex’s shoulder, and begin slicing the rune of truth over his heart. I see him wince, and he lets out a gasp. “Are you okay?” I ask. He nods. I continue, and when the symbol is complete, it glows blue. I take a step back and help Alex stand up. 

            “I’m ready.” He says. I take a glance at the people around me, and draw in a deep breath.

            “What is your full name?” 

            “Alexander Blackwell.” He cries in pain and grabs his chest. “f**k, sorry. Prince Alexander Blackwell. Heir to the vampire throne.” He returns to normal. Everyone looks shocked, and Alex shrugs. “Sorry, I haven’t acknowledged my title in a very long time.” No reaction.

            “Okay, next question. What is your fathers name?”

            “Christian Blackwell, King of the Vampires.” No reaction.

            “Where did we meet?” 

            “Bob’s Roundabout. A dive bar on Bright Street in Kansas.” Again, no reaction.

            “So far, so good. He’s telling the truth.  Alex, can you please lie about your name so we can see the difference again.” 

            “My name is Noah.” He breathes deeply and winces again. “My dad’s name is… Ryan?” He doubles over in pain, and drops to the floor. “I’m from-”

            “Okay, you’ve made your point.” Lucas says. “You can stop hurting yourself.”

            I help Alex stand up again, and wrap my arm around his wast to make sure he’s steady on his own. “Are you okay?”

            “Yeah, I’m good.” I let out a sigh of relief and step away from him to face everyone.

            “Alright. So now that that’s all figured out, we can start asking some real questions. Lucas, do you have one?” I step aside so Lucas can stand beside me.

            “Well, the obvious. What exactly are you in Kansas for?” Lucas stays in his spot of the couch, and leans forward on his knees.

            “I’m here to kill my father. Once I do that, every vampire he’s ever turned will turn to dust. Before I do that, I need to get him to tell me where my mother is, find a way to save her, and try to get rid of the vampire side of me. If it’s not possible, then I die along with him.” He looks at me, and no reaction. I feel a tear getting ready to fall and my heart aches for him. “I haven’t seen my mom in a long time, and I want to make sure she’s okay in case something happens to me.” 

            “Jack?”

            He rolls his shoulders, and walks up beside me. “What are you planning to do when you become human? If you do.”

            “I don’t know yet. I haven’t gotten that far.” No reaction.

            “What happens if you step into sunlight?” Jack presses.

            “It doesn’t burn me, but it is brighter to me and makes me feel weak if I stay out in the sun too long without having fed for a while.” He locks into a stare down with Jack.

            “Okay, take it easy, Jack. Anna, do you have a question?” Part of me hopes she doesn’t, because who knows what will fly out of her mouth.

            “Just one. Why do you look at Ally the way you do?” Silence. Jack and Lucas are both shocked, and again, Jack looks a little angry. I look back at Alex, who’s not looking confused, but in shock as well.

            “Alex, what does she mean?” I ask quietly.

            “Uh, I don’t really know what you mean.” He winces as the rune stars to turn red. “I mean I just think she’s nice.” The rune shines white, and he cries in pain. He falls to his knees.

            “Alex, please just answer the question.” I press.

            “Because I care about her.” He winces again. “f**k, this hurts.”

            “You need to say the whole truth or the pain is going to get worse.” I crouch in front of him, and place my hand on the middle of his back.

            “I look at you with hope in my eyes,” he takes a deep breath, “because I believe you’re my mate.”

            Anna and I both gasp, and I stand up and take a step back. I look at her, and she shrugs at me.

            “What do you mean I’m your mate?” I ask the question, because I know we’re all thinking it. 

            “I mean, I feel that you and I are mates. I may not be a full vampire, but I feel a strong pull to you, and have the urge to protect you with all I have. Almost every vampire has one, and rarely is it someone who’s anything close to a human. I’ve seen them mate with wolves, witches, and in some cases, demons. They are life partners, and aside from the bloodlust, they live a pretty normal life together. Sometimes they stay with the nest, some of them take on night jobs and become a part of society. With their mate, their tolerance to the sun becomes stronger, and it’s like they almost become human. 

    They don’t age, and if one of them dies, their mate most often dies of a broken heart. They share emotions, and can hear each others thoughts once they mark each other. You can reject a mate, and from what I’ve heard it’s worse than being burned alive. Everything is pretty close to how it works for werewolves, but you add in the immortality and bloodlust.” The rune shines a dark blue, and that tells me that he’s telling the whole truth. He locks eyes with me, and I finally understand why I’ve been taking care of him, and not wanting to hurt him. Why one look from him makes me want to drop to my knees. Even back at the bar, I was attracted to him, but because of my state of mind I guess it didn’t really click. I break our eye contact, and look back at Jack. He’s filled with rage, and charges right at Alex. He picks him up and punches him right in the jaw.

            “Bullshit. I don’t believe a single word he just said. Are we really going to believe a vampire?” Alex reaches for his face, and I hear his jaw click back into place. I wince at the sound, and pull Jack back. 

            “Jack, look at me.” I turn him around so I can look him in the eyes. “You need to calm down. He’s telling the truth.” He takes my hands away from his face. 

            “So you believe him? You think you’re his mate?” He growls.

            “I know he’s telling the truth because of the rune, but I don’t know how I feel about that last part.” I turn back to Alex, and sigh. “The trial is over. You’ve passed the test.” I place my hand over the Rune, and seal it up. I pull back my hand, and feel something hot on the lest side of my chest.  I look down, and sure as s**t, just below my collarbone I have another tattoo. The intricate swirls of the truth Rune is now permanently burned onto my skin. “Looks like I did that right.” I turn around and show everyone my new mark. 

            “So, what now?” Lucas asks. 

            “Right now, Jack and I need to talk. Can one of you please get Alex something to drink, and I’ll be back in a bit.” I walk out of the room and hear Jacks footsteps behind me. We walk down to the garage in silence. We both climb into the truck, and I take off to the forest up the road.  Once we get there I head straight for the trees. Jack follows me closely, but still doesn’t say a word. We get to the waterfall, and I’m thankful no one else is here. I sit on our rock, about 10 feet from the water, and wait for Jack to sit next to me. 

    I look back and see he’s standing a bit behind me. “Come sit, please.” I pat the rock. “There’s a lot we need to say.” He listens and sits right next to me, and drapes an arm over my shoulder. I lean into him, and we both sigh. 

    “And I thought being a hunter was complicated. This is a whole new level of mind-fuckery.” He chuckles.

    “Yeah, tell me about it.” I laugh. “What do we do?” I look up at Jack, and he looks about as lost as I am. He looks down at me, and his eyes fall sad. 

    “Do you love me?” He asks. I stay silent.

    “You know I care about you.” He keeps trying to get me to say it back, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. 

    “How do you feel about Alex?” he changes the subject and begins rolling right into it with the hard questions.

    “I don’t exactly know how to feel about him. I know I don’t want to hurt him, and I believe what he says when I talk to him. Last night he could’ve easily left, or let Christian out, or killed him off, but he didn’t because I asked him to stay put. A stranger wouldn’t do that, let alone a vampire. I think I need to talk to him more.”

    “So where does that leave us?” He asks. The truth is, I don’t really know. We haven’t talked about his relapse, and kind of brushed it off last night. I’m angry with him by how he’s acting, and I don’t like feeling like I’m someone’s property. 

    “I still think we need to stop this until we figure out what’s going on. There’s too much happening in our lives, and I think it’s clouding our judgement. You know I care about you and that won’t change. But right now, I can’t be thinking about how my choices will hurt you, whether it’s the right one to make or not.” I take his hand in mine. “You will always be in my heart, but I think I need to help Alex, and take care of Christian once and for all.”

    He squeezes my hand, and we both start to cry. I wrap myself around him, and he pulls me close. He strokes my hair as I cry, and I rub his back. “Can we just stay here for a bit longer?” He asks softly. “Just a little more time.” I nod into his chest, and we sit there holding each other.