3-1: California

-------------------------

"Rhea. Open this fucking door or I'm going to knock it down."

Apollo's voice was low, almost a growl. But he knew his bratty little sister could hear him. She was only 14, and easily the most obnoxious 14 year old on the planet.

"No! I'm going to tell daddy that you're being mean to me! Again."

Her high pitched trill pierced Apollo's ear drums and he growled again, slamming his fist into the door. It left behind a dent, and he hadn't even tried. He was leaving a trail of holes wherever he went lately, because the anger issues were just amplifying.

He took a step away from his sister's door, clenching his fists at his side.

This is not fucking worth it.

He walked back to his bedroom, slamming the door into place behind him.

Blake looked up from his spot on the couch, his guitar sprawled across his lap.

"What just happened?"

Apollo replied through clenched teeth, his jaw flexing.

"She took the fucking drum pedal. Again. I don't know what the hell she thinks is so funny about it, but I want to suffocate her."

Hale snorted, taking a drink out of a beer that had probably come from his own house. The rest of them weren't old enough to drink yet, but that didn't stop any of them. Blake and Apollo were 18, Vega was 20, but Hale was 22 now.

"You won't though. But I would advise that you buy a lock for the garage doors."

Apollo leaned against the wall opposite his bed, searching his pockets for his cell phone.

"That would help if she didn't have the ability to move the locks with her mind.

Fucking vampires."

Blake hit a random note on his guitar and spoke quietly as Apollo scrolled through the texts on his phone.

"You're just like them. You can punch holes in bricks. Don't know why you're complaining."

Apollo had the urge to throw the phone in his hand at his friend's head, but resisted.

"Shut the fuck up, Blake."

"You two aren't doing this today."

Hale said the words with finality, getting to his feet.

"Y'all can bitch at each other after we practice."

Apollo found Vega's number and shot him a message, telling him what had happened to his drum set.

"Can't fucking practice without drums, Hale."

Hale pointed the beer bottle at Apollo and nodded.

"You have a point. So why don't we just go to this party instead?"

Apollo rolled his eyes, tossing his phone back on the dresser. It skidded and slammed into the fan there, and he'd be lucky if the screen wasn't broken. Again.

He didn't want to go to this party. More than that, he didn't want to skip practice. This band seemed so much more important to him than the others ninety percent of the time.

And it drove him insane.

Apollo sighed, pushing himself off of the wall.

"Fine."

Blake let out a noise close to a groan, setting his guitar back in its case.

"I'm only going because Paige is fucking excited about it."

Anger prickled at Apollo's chest at the mention of her name, and he rolled his eyes.

"What's new. You don't do anything without her."

Hale opened the door to Apollo's bedroom, finishing his beer and tossing the empty bottle in Apollo's trashcan.

"What the fuck did I say. Not tonight."

Apollo and Blake exchanged a look, tension settling between them.

Blake pushed past Apollo and his shoulder brushed against him roughly.

"Whatever."

Apollo clenched both of his fists at his side, slamming the door once they were all out of it.

God, fucking help me.

-----------------------

The music bled out of the door before it even opened, and the walls almost vibrated with the volume of it. It wasn't anything new with this town and the kids in it. Way out in the country, no one did anything about it.

Lucian O'Conner was the only cop that lived close, and he didn't bust parties often. Apollo just wasn't sure if it was because he turned a blind eye, or couldn't find them. They always switched locations.

Paige's voice carried out of the door before she did, and she was already drunk. Her arm was around Harpia O'Conner's. And she was definitely drunk too.

Apollo halted at the sight of her, raising an eyebrow. He hadn't seen in her months. Last he knew, she was in the hospital because of her piece of shit ex. Not that she had told him, he found out from rumors.


"Blake! You're late!"

Paige made her way to Blake, somehow staying upright, wasted, in stilettos. The moment she was next to him, they were kissing. Apollo let out a groan, taking a step away. Hale just laughed and slapped him on the shoulder, disappearing into the depths of the house.

He looked back up at Harpia, and she seemed uneasy. She had been laughing moments before, but when her eyes caught Apollo's, it faded.

"You're alive."

Harpia took a long drink out of the cup in her hand, shouting when she spoke again.

"Speak up, Polly. I can't hear you over the music."

She walked over to him, kicking his shoe softly.

"Come on. Let's go get drunk."

Apollo was highly aware of the way she leaned against him to steady herself.

"It doesn't look like you need any help with that, but alright."

He spoke loud enough for her to hear, letting her take his hand.

She pushed through the sea of people, leading him into the kitchen. She was talking, but he didn't hear a word that she said. He was either trying really hard not to stare at the way her jeans fit, or avoiding drunk people dancing.

When she shoved a drink into his chest, it spilled down the front of his shirt a little and he looked up at her.

"You don't need anymore."

He took a drink out of the cup, and it was close to pure alcohol. But he didn't really care. He was more concerned she would kill herself by drinking too much.

"Still can't hear you, Polly!"

She laughed, and he knew she was lying. It was loud, but not nearly as loud in the room they were in.

She drained the rest of what was in her cup and poured more into it, bypassing him. Apollo sat the cup down and reached onto the counter, grabbing the bottle. He caught up to her in seconds.

"Did you miss me?"

She asked but Apollo just followed behind her until she dropped onto a couch. He glanced at the guy next to her, and he moved without hesitation. Apollo took his spot, pulling the cap off of the bottle.

"What do you think?"

He drank a fourth of the bottle without taking a breath, or looking at Harpia.

"I think you did!"

Apollo nodded, looking around the room. Paige was headed their way, and that was the last thing he needed. Why wasn't she with Blake anyway? Paige shot Apollo a dirty look, leaning down to whisper in Harpia's ear. 

"Jesus, do you have to be here right now?"

He mumbled the words, but Paige didn't straighten. She kept talking to Harpia like nothing had been said.

"Okay! Have fun!"

Harpia replied in a loud voice, completely defeating the purpose of Paige's whisper. She stood up straight, blowing a kiss at Harpia with a grin. On her way out of the room she flipped Apollo the bird and waved, a fake smile on her lips.

"She's going to go bang Blake."

Harpia said the words nonchalantly, but Apollo groaned.

"I don't care. Blake and his psycho can do whatever."

Harpia giggled again, leaning her head against Apollo's shoulder.

"I missed you too, you know."

Apollo stiffened, taking another drink out of the bottle in his hand.

"You're drunk."

Harpia nodded, and a weird feeling ascended into Apollo's chest.

"I am. But I mean it.

Dean was a dick, but you're not."

She said his name. And she was acting really okay for someone who had spent months in the hospital because her ex had beaten her almost to death. It was reminiscent of what he knew about what happened to his mom. And it made his blood boil.

If the dude wasn't in prison, he'd be lucky to still be breathing.

He inhaled, trying to calm the anger pulsating at the edges of his vision.

"He was something, yeah."

A waste of fucking oxygen.

The music seemed to get louder in the space of time that he sat with her. Apollo listened to her talk, not paying much attention to what she was actually saying. It was slurred and close to incoherent, and he was getting close to her level the more of the bottle that disappeared.

His vision was blurry, and he could feel her body heat pressing against his.

He waited for a pause in her rambling, trying to ask gently. But he was never very good at gentle.

"So are you okay, Sage?"

Her eyes seemed to brighten for a moment at the old nickname, and she smiled, her words dripping with the alcohol in her veins.

"I'm fine! He beat the shit out of me, but you know. It's whatever. I probably deserved it, right?"

Apollo squeezed the bottle in his hand, a crack shooting down the side of it.

"No."

He drained the rest of the bottle and put it on the floor so he couldn't shatter it in his grip. One more comment like that out of her mouth, and it was inevitable.

The lights overhead flickered, going out for a second before coming back on.

"You didn't deserve what he fucking did. He's just pathetic."

Harpia shrugged, tipping the cup she was holding back. It was empty too, and she was faded beyond reason.

"Seems like you're the only person who thinks that."

He'd heard those rumors too. And he'd punched one guy in the face. Suspended for ten days over a guy he didn't even know, talking shit on a girl who didn't speak to him anymore.

Until now, it seemed.

"Doesn't matter what they say, Harpia. No woman deserves that. Least of all you."

Harpia leaned her head against Apollo's chest, putting her hand on top of his on the couch cushion. She was going in and out, close to falling asleep. He knew it well from her after how many times they'd had sleepovers as kids.

Her voice was quiet, but he picked up on it even through his drunken haze and the blaring music.

"Thank you, Polly."

He hesitated for a second, tracing his fingers through the ends of her long brown hair.

"You're welcome, Sage."

-----------------------------

--------------------------

Apollo awoke with a start, sitting straight up on the old, beaten couch. His memory of the night before was spotty, but he knew he'd fallen asleep with Harpia on top of his chest. He knew that he probably should have went home, too. But he hadn't. He'd stayed with her.

And now she wasn't next to him.

The house was quiet, dark from the black out curtains pulled over all of the windows. The room he was in was empty, but he could hear distant voices somewhere. He followed the sound of them, running his hand through his hair.

Hale looked up from his seat on a random chair, a white substance on a mirror in front of him. Apollo shook his head, looking around the room. There were a couple of girls sitting on the arms of the chair he was in, but no Harpia.

"You want some?"

Apollo raised an eyebrow.

"No? I just woke up. What the fuck are you even doing?"

Hale cracked a smile, leaning down to inhale the white powder.

"I never went to sleep."

What a surprise.

He handed the mirror to one of the girls sitting next to him and Apollo turned for the door, more concerned with Harpia than his bassist's cocaine habit.

He looked in every room, but she was nowhere to be found. He sent her a text, heading for his bright red convertible.

But even after he'd made it home, showered, and checked his phone, there was nothing.

Guess she'd gotten over the night before pretty quickly. She'd been wasted. Now she would probably go back to not talking to him like before.

He'd been used to it, but now that he'd seen her again, it was harder.

He took the stairs down to the living room, surprised at who was sitting on his living room couch.

"Mr. and Mrs. O'Conner.

What's up?"

He looked at his parents. Rain was sitting nervously on the edge of her seat, and Ryan was leaning against the wall, his face concerned.

"Harpia is missing.

We were wondering if you knew where she was."

Apollo's chest flipped and he looked between the two of her parents, shoving his hands in his pockets. Was he supposed to say where she'd been the night before?

How quiet did he stay?

"She came to practice last night. But I haven't seen her today."

He lied smoothly, watching the eyes of Harpia's mother grow a little darker. Lucian nodded once, pushing the cup of coffee Rain must have provided away from him.

"She has been going through a lot lately. We have a feeling this has something to do with what happened to her. She's a little out of control right now."

Apollo didn't know how to respond to that. It was as if Lucian thought that he and Harpia were still as close as they were as kids. 

But it wasn't like they'd been public about how she'd found a man and didn't want to hear Apollo's protests about what kind of man he thought he was.

"Okay. Well, if you hear from her, can you let us know?"

Apollo felt guilty, for a moment, directing his eyes onto his father at the sound of the crack in Sparrow's voice. But it hadn't been a complete lie. He hadn't seen her today.

"I will."

Where the fuck did you go now, O'Conner?

----------------------------

2-31: Smother

(For those of you who check my blog, you're getting this a couple of days early. All my love.

And farewell to generation two ;-;)

-----------------------------------

One. Two. Three.

Again and again.

Count, breathe, count.

Rain looked at her reflection in the mirror. The way her now fully sapphire eyes sparkled because she wasn't a human anymore. Her skin had always been pale but now it glimmered. Pain rocketed through her chest and she closed her eyes again.

One. Two. Three.

Hadn't her mom told her it helped her? It eased the pain.

But it wasn't working. Nothing was working. 

Rain turned back to the toilet and hit her knees, trying to expel something from the depths of her body. To force the pain out of her veins.

But she heaved and the emptiness that remained had nothing to do with vomiting.

Her heart didn't beat anymore, but it still hurt. Her chest ached even if her pulse couldn't echo it. She sat up and she cried. Empty, useless tears that couldn't bring her back.

Ryan chose Rain. He chose to save Rain, and the result of his choice was laying in a coffin somewhere inside that church she was supposed to be in today.

She slammed the lid of the toilet shut and crawled across to the bathtub, turning the faucet on. She put her mouth under the running water, but it tasted terrible.

She only had a taste for one thing now. Because she had been given this gift.

To save her life. She watched with empty eyes as the tub started to fill, her chest filling again along with it.

She didn't even think twice about it. She crawled into the depths of the water and sat there until the water reached the rim, spilling over onto the floor. Her clothes were heavy against her skin, but it wasn't nearly as heavy as the inside of her body.

She ducked her head under the water, and the scream she let out was as useless as the tears that kept coming.

Eden was gone. Her mom was dead, and she was alive. Sort of.

Ryan had made his choice, and Rain had to live with it for eternity.

Hands gripped her arms, pulling her above the surface of the water. She blinked through the water in her eyes, her gaze meeting the sorrow in her husband's.

"What are you doing?"

Rain pulled his grip off of her and reached over, turning the handle off.

"Drowning."

Ryan let out a sigh, staring at her. He knew she didn't mean that literally. Because that was impossible. He knew exactly what she meant.

"Rain..."

She ran her hands over her face, pulling them away to see black mascara on her fingers.

"What?"

Ryan grabbed a towel from the rack next to the bathtub and handed it to her.

"You need to get out. Go get dressed. The funeral is in an hour."

His words were quiet, almost a whisper.

She grabbed the towel from his hands and stood up, water dripping from her clothes.

She took a step out, sitting down on the mat in front of the tub. She wrapped the towel around her shoulders and stared straight ahead.

She was fighting every urge she had to become catatonic again. To just block out the world and go back to feeling nothing.

She'd done it before.

But now was not like before. Now she had children. A husband. She couldn't be nothing because everything in her life needed her to be something.

She looked up at Ryan, her voice broken.

"I need her."

Ryan sat down next to Rain, using the corner of the towel to clean the mascara off of her face.

"I'm sorry, Rain. I'm so fucking sorry."

Rain dropped her eyes back to the wall in front of her, fighting the urge to try and vomit again. She shrugged out of the towel and tossed it aside, her words biting.

"Sorry won't bring her back."

Ryan's response came slowly, minutes after Rain had spoken.

"You're right.

But sorry is all I have."

He got to his feet and walked over to the door, the sound of their families gathered downstairs leaking through when he opened it.

"I love you, Rain."

She didn't respond. Just stared straight ahead still as it fell closed.

She had to get up, had to get herself together. Had to go to this funeral.

She had to go say goodbye.

Death was never fair. It took without apology, and without regret.

But she wished it had taken her too.

--------------------------

"Where is Rain?"

Storm lifted herself to look over the top of her pew, her eyes on the entrance to the church. Discord followed her gaze, shrugging a shoulder.

"How am I supposed to know? Ryan probably knows. Ask him."

Storm slumped down in her seat, letting out a shaky breath.

"She's probably still upset over this guy. She probably thinks he's gonna come back for her. And what if he does?"

Discord let out a harsh laugh, and several heads turned to glare at him after he did. He directed his gaze from them and onto Storm, his face serious.

"That motherfucker didn't even get to see the sunrise, Storm."

She snapped her gaze onto his, raising an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?"

Discord dragged his hand across his neck in a cutting motion, like he was slitting someone's throat. Storm didn't know how to react, so she just stared. For a long time.

And then she leaned over, pressing her lips to Discord's for a fraction of a second.

When she pulled away, he blinked at her, stunned.

"Thank you."

She whispered the words, her attention on the closed coffin at the head of the church. But she caught his mumbled reply.

"You're welcome."

--------------------

Ryan paced the back hallway of the church, waiting for his wife. She had insisted on taking her own car, instead of riding with him. And he was worried she wouldn't show up at all. He didn't know what to expect from her. This was eating him alive, so he couldn't imagine what she was going through.

The doors to the room Eden's coffin was resting in opened and the last face he wanted to see exited through them.

Xavier.

He hadn't spoken to him. Not one word. He wasn't speaking to anyone. It was extremely reminiscent of his daughter when Thorne died.

He just walked around like he was dead inside. And he probably was.

Ryan wanted to open the doors and go outside. Into the dreary air, away from the pain in Xavier's eyes. Because he blamed himself for the death of his wife. 

He didn't shoot her. But he couldn't save her either.

"I kind of wish it wasn't raining."

Ryan looked over at Xavier, surprised at his words. He was talking about the weather?

He spoke carefully, hesitant.

"Why is that?"

Xavier shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants, his eyes on the ground.

"Because it reminds me of the first time I kissed her."

Ryan didn't know what to do with that information. He didn't know what to do with the broken sound of Xavier's voice. 

"I just want you to know that I tried to save her. I'm sor-"

Xavier cut him off with a deep sigh. When he spoke again, his eyes cut through Ryan, right to the core.

"Don't apologize to me about this. I would have made the same choice if I was you."

Ryan stared at Xavier.

"You... what?"

Xavier looked passed Ryan, out the windows of the church at the falling rain. His eyes were somewhere else. Somewhere far away.

"If that had been Eden and her mother, I would have went to Eden first. I would have saved her. Because I fucking love her. With everything I have."

The front doors of the church opened, and Rain came through them, soaked to the bone from the rain. She was crying and it was obvious by the way she collapsed into Ryan's arms the minute she saw him.

Xavier let out a breath, turning back around and opening the door for the two of them.

"And that's exactly how you love my little girl.

I can't blame you for that."

Rain looked up at her dad, clearly confused. But he didn't offer an explanation. He just held the door open and watched the two of them find a seat with a weak smile on his face.

He let the door shut and stared at it for a moment. It took a long time for him to make any movement at all. But when he finally did, he opened the doors to the church, stepping out and into the rain.

He sat down on the concrete steps and pulled a small lighter out of his pocket, bringing the flame to light.

The rain put it out in seconds and he sighed, lighting it one more time.

"I miss you, Eden."

He squeezed his eyes shut, the rain dripping down his face. He felt crazy. He felt empty.

Talking to her out loud like she was still around.

"And here I am, talking to myself, instead of in there while everyone is talking about you. And I know if you were here, you'd be making fun of me for it.

Telling me to stop being so mopey.

But I miss you.

So much."

He lit the lighter one last time, touching the tip of the flame with his fingers.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do without you.

But I'll figure it out.

In time."

He sat the lighter on the stairs, staring at it for a few seconds.

And then he got to his feet, going through the church doors and into the room where her body lay. To see her one last time.

But that wasn't really her. Not anymore.

She was somewhere else. Somewhere better. And it hurt like hell, but he'd be better eventually. 

They all would.

After all, didn't people always say that they'd see the ones who died, again? 

Someday.

------------------------
I should go now quietly
For my bones have found a place
to lie down and sleep
Where all my layers can become reeds
All my limbs can become trees
All my children can become me
What a mess I leave
To follow 

2-30: Stay

(A/N: The screenshots in this chapter suck, and I apologize for that. It's hard to capture exactly what I needed in a chapter as important as this one is in the sims. ;-;
Also, TW: Gun Violence and Blood. Probably too much of it.)

--------------------
Eden rocked Rhea softly in her arms, some random Taylor Swift song coming out of her lungs. Rain wanted to say something, but she couldn't stop staring at her mom simply because of the artist she was choosing to sing.

"Since when do you know a single Taylor Swift song?"

Eden glanced at her daughter, her face turning red.

"Storm was obsessed with her. I had to learn things I didn't want to learn."

Rain leaned her head back against the pillows of the bed she shared with Ryan, trying hard not to laugh.

"Uh huh."

Rhea had been released from the hospital earlier that day. Rain had been home for a couple of weeks, but she was healing at a snail's pace.

She was still so weak, her mother had stayed behind to help take care of the kids while Ryan was at work. Or doing vampire things.

Rain could barely make it downstairs. Her energy was close to nonexistent.

Her youngest child had nearly killed her during childbirth.

And she was definitely done with having babies. That decision was even more pronounced now.

Eden placed Rhea inside the crib that was next to Rain's bed and walked over to her. She sat on the edge and pushed Rain's hair out of her face, touching a kiss to her forehead.

"I love you, you know."

Rain started, looking up at her mom with a raised eyebrow.

"You never really say that."

Eden shrugged a shoulder, taking Rain's hand in her own.

"I know. I never have been good at saying it. But I almost lost you. And I lost Thaddeous. It's become more and more apparent maybe I should start saying it more often."

Rain squeezed her mom's hand within hers as hard as she could.

"I love you too, momma.

And you didn't lose me. I'm right here."

Eden's smile was small, something behind her eyes.

"I know you are. And so am I. I'm not going anywhere."

A loud shout echoed from the other side of the second floor, and it was easily recognizable as Icarus'. He always seemed to be yelling about something. He and Apollo fought constantly.

They couldn't be forced to get along at any cost.

Eden let out a long, slow sigh, laughing under her breath.

"I'll go take care of it.

But I swear if Apollo punched him again, he's probably going to need to go to the hospital. That kid hits harder than me."

She got to her feet, looking at Rain one more time.

"And he's only five. God knows what that vampire voodoo in his blood will do to him as he gets older."

Rain rolled her eyes, tossing a pillow at her mom's head.

"He's fine. He's just angry sometimes."

Eden's face was amused.

"Sometimes?"

She tossed the pillow back on the bed and turned for the door, shutting it softly behind her.

Rain looked over at her youngest daughter, sleeping in her crib.

She had gotten lucky this time.

Rhea was okay, and she was okay.

Weak... But okay.

Her family was intact and happy.

And that's all she could have asked for.

-------------------

The sound of something shattering pulled Rain from her sleep. She turned over to look at the space in the bed next to her, but it was empty. The clock on her nightstand was black. In fact, the entire room was cloaked in darkness. 

Had they lost power? Was it storming or something?

She listened to the sound of the wind outside, but no rain hit the roof of her house.

So what was that noise?

She fumbled in the darkness for her phone, lighting up the screen so she could look at Rhea. She was sound asleep in her crib. The time on the phone screen read 1:23. 

Where exactly was Ryan?

She took the phone with her as she exited the bedroom, ducking her head inside the room her mom had been staying in. She shined the light inside, but Eden was nowhere to be found.

The kids had been at Nash's for the night. It was Chase's birthday and the sleepover was 'non-negotiable'. 

Everything was dark, the only light coming in from the moon through the windows.

And the house was so quiet, it pressed against her. Surrounded her.

"Mom?"

Her voice cut through the silence like a knife, but there was no response. The stairs creaked under her weight, and that didn't get a response either. When she hit the landing, the moonlight glittered off of the broken glass of the front window of her living room.

Panic ebbed at her insides, but she tried to ignore it. Tried to explain the window away in her mind.

"Mom? Are you down here?"

A rough hand closed over her mouth and muffled the scream she tried to sound. The phone dropped out of her hand, sliding across the hardwood floor.

"Make one sound, and I will kill you right where you stand."

Rain felt the tears leak down her face, fear making her chest ache viciously.

The man's hands were hard against her skin and she didn't recognize the voice. She was too weak to put up a fight, she always had been. With Thorne, in life. The guy pulled her away from his chest and turned her around, looking down into her eyes.

He was wearing a mask, but his eyes seemed vaguely familiar in the pale moonlight.  Something silver shined from the vicinity of his waist, and Rain realized what it was in seconds.

He pressed the barrel of the gun to Rain's stomach and his words were careful, slow.

"Tell me where your brother is."

Rain's thoughts instantly receded.

What? Thaddeous? Who was this guy and how could he not know about her brother? He'd been gone for years. This didn't make any sense.

"Thaddeous is dead."

She choked the words out, and the barrel of the gun pressed harder into her stomach.

"Don't fucking lie to me. He owes me a hell of a lot of money, and I have it on good authority that you know where he is."

The tears on Rain's face fell onto her chest as she leaned backwards against the stair railing, trying to get some of the pressure off of her stomach.

Good authority? From who? She had no idea what he was even talking about. She had no idea what was going on.

"I do know where he is! He's dead!

He's been dead for six years."

The hesitation in the guy's movements was obvious. He was weighing Rain's words. Seeing if she was telling the truth.

She took her chance, trying to speak through the terror in her veins.

"You have to believe me. Thaddeous died a long time ago. He overdosed on heroin.

Back in Bridgeport."

The guy let out a laugh, and it was cold, cruel.

"Probably the heroin he stole from me."

Rain shook her head, putting both of her hands around the barrel of the gun.

"I don't know anything about that."

He shrugged one shoulder, pressing the gun so hard into Rain's stomach she let out a cry.

"Do you remember that party your friend had? Nash... That's her name, right? The one where I beat the fuck out of your brother?

He made me a promise that night, in return for not killing him on the spot. That he'd pay me back.

But if I know anything about drug addicts, it's that they're exceptional manipulators. I didn't trust a word he said.

I went by your house, looking for him, and your mom told me he was in rehab. Which I knew had to be a lie.... Because this was Thaddeous Nile, and he didn't even know the meaning of the word 'clean'.

So I waited. I watched for him, but he never came home.

I gave up eventually when he never showed, and I waited five more years. I looked for him, but I found nothing. 

And then, one night, I remembered a story he told me. About his blue eyed sister that he loved so much."

His tone was mocking, and Rain cried harder at the words, choking for air, trying to find a way to deter the situation. But her mind was blank. All she could seem to do, was listen.

"He told me you were the only one who ever seemed to really give a fuck about how he was doing. The only one who even tried to check up on him when he disappeared."

The man let out a scoff, watching the way Rain's eyes took in the information.

"You look surprised.

Well, here's another surprise.

Your brother told me if I couldn't find him, to find you. That you would be able to cover for him.

Now, by the looks of it, that was a lie. 

Turns out, he was nothing but a liar.

I tracked you down through his friends in Bridgeport, and you have nothing worth shit to me.

You won't even tell me where the fuck he is.

I guess that just makes you collateral damage.

You can thank your brother for giving me your name."

He put his hand over Rain's mouth again, leaning into her. But the shot didn't ring out, no pain came. He was distracted. But for only a second, and Rain heard it too. Footsteps.

The sound of the front door opening seemed to echo in the room, and the guy took his gun away from Rain, pointing it straight at the door. He pulled the trigger twice, and the figure in the doorway dropped the bottle of liquid they were carrying.

It shattered on the floor, and Rain realized at the last second exactly who it was.

Eden.

The scream that came out of her mouth as her mom's knees hit the floor carried through the house.

She pushed against the guy's chest, trying to get past him. To get to her mom. He subdued her in seconds, her cries echoing through the dark room.

"This was completely pointless."

The man murmured the words under his breath, pressing Rain back against the railing. He pushed the gun back into her stomach and pulled the mask off, looking straight into Rain's eyes.

"Tell your brother when you get there that I'll see him in hell."

And then he pulled the trigger one more time.

-------------------------

The moment Ryan pulled his car to a stop outside of his house, he knew something was off. The entire house was pitch black, and he could smell blood. Familiar blood. The front door stood wide open, and he was to it in less than a second. 

Two bodies laid on the floor. Two fading heartbeats. And there was so much blood it was almost impossible to tell them apart.

Almost.

"Rain..."

He dropped to his knees next to her body, the sound of her heartbeat in his ears. But not only could he hear it, he could feel it. It seeped into his bones and filled his lungs. The sound of how weak it was. He'd heard that sound before. 

And right now he could hear it coming from the body of the woman he loved.

He pulled her into his arms, brushing her blood soaked hair off of her face.

She was pale, her breathing shallow. Dread edged into his veins. She had minutes left, if that. He knew the sound of a fading heartbeat. He knew exactly what it meant. He knew what he needed to do, and he knew it was the last thing that she would want.

But he couldn't let her go.

Not like this.

"I'm so sorry, Rain."

He pulled her hair away from her neck, exposing the vein there.

His decision held no hesitation.

And it was over in a few seconds, the bite that would save her life.

Change her life. 

Take it away.

And maybe it was selfish to keep her with him in this way.

But he needed her. Their children needed her. 

He held her close to his chest, listening to her pulse fade completely. It slowed and stuttered and stopped faster than it should, indicating that the venom had hit her heart. She would turn. She would wake up and she would be different. 

But she would still have a life.

He laid her carefully on the ground and turned to the other form on the floor, blood pooling in her raven black hair.

But something was distinctly different.

"No."

He pulled her against his chest like he had Rain, listening hard for that sound. Any sound at all. Her skin was cold, and her eyes remained closed. He pressed his fingers to her throat, to her chest, listened again.

But there was nothing.

Ryan sat in the middle of the glass and blood covering the floor, holding Eden in his arms.

Listening.

And there was nothing but silence.

----------------------

And before you
I had nowhere to run to
Nothing to hold on to
I came so close to giving it up.
And I wonder if you know
How it feels to let you go?