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.)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?