Banes (23 page)

Mitch was funny and he understood what it was like to be different. He was a harmless sort of fun she enjoyed having around, especially since every heartbeat hurt. The pain of being away from Lucas unbearable.

"It'll get easier."

She looked back as Mitch climbed onto the roof of the restaurant with a mug of hot cocoa, her favorite. She took the mug remembering Annabelle's and smiled missing them all more than she could let herself feel.

"Is that why you're here?"

He nodded, "Yeah I was in love with a girl. She was on the wrong side of the demon tracks. Anyway she tried to recruit me. I tried to recruit her. I tried to get Daniel and Ron to help me convince her. We captured her. She refused."

Ari flinched knowing what that had meant. Daniel had told her flat out all who didn’t join or control their urges were put down.

"I'm sorry."

He nodded sitting beside her, "It's cool. Well its not but what can I do. She didn’t think twice about murdering people. She was old, really old. Sometimes the older they are the more they forget you know?"

"My real dad is really old. He came here with Lorri."

Mitch turned his head sharply, "Dorian is your dad?"

She shrugged, "I guess so. He never answered me when I asked him about it."

"Yikes dude, he's not a nice guy."

She nodded, "I know. Aimee, my friend hates him so much. He changed her and made her murder a young girl in the woods on her first day. He said it was a lesson to show her what not to do. She told me he called people sheep."

Mitch put a hand on hers, "Stay away from him. He used to be around my girlfriend and her friends all the time. I saw him kill someone once."

Ari felt sickened at the thought of him randomly killing for fun with his evil friends. She sipped her hot cocoa and sighed.

"Do you still miss her?"

"Every minute. That’s why I'm here. Daniel thought maybe I should just hang here and enjoy being around normal people for a bit. I think he wants to make sure I never went rogue or to the dark side."

She smiled to lighten the mood, "Well they do have cookies."

He laughed, "I do like cookies."

She lay back on the roof of the restaurant and waited for it to get dark enough. There was nothing like a desert sky.

Mitch lay back with her, his hand still held hers. The tiniest part of her wanted it to mean something beyond the strength and gratitude it really was. She knew he liked not being alone as much as she did.

"Cookie sure seems to like you." He spoke softly.

She almost giggled, "He was a dear friend to me. It broke my heart to lose him before. I came back for him. For all of them. I was alone after I left Lydia's and in my heart I always saw this as home."

"Did you get an apartment?"

"Yeah, it’s a dump but I'll get it squared away."

"I'm glad you're here Ari, even if it's hard to be reminded of my life before."

She turned and snuggled into him, "Me too." They watched the sky darken and the stars start to appear one by one.

She drifted off to sleep enjoying every second of the dry heat and the fresh air.

She woke with a start in her bed. She couldn’t recall leaving the roof. She swore she had slept on the roof. She looked around the small apartment seeing nothing but herself and frowned.
"Mitch?" She spoke softly worrying about the fact he not only knew where her apartment was that he'd brought her home. She was still wearing her waitress clothes, which was a relief.

He never answered her. She layback wondering where he'd gone. She liked that he'd been a gentleman at the very least.

She reached over to the small wooden jewelry box on her dingy old nightstand. It was one of the few things she'd brought in her small backpack from Portland. She opened it and looked at them all. The shiny white stone, the earring, the necklace, the ring, a piece of paper that said 'LOVE' on it, all different little trinkets or pieces of jewelry. For every person she'd sent back one thing had remained. She couldn’t understand why but something always stayed behind. She kept everything. She reached down and touched the rosary remembering the hatred she felt for that one. She wanted to keep it separate from the other pieces but knew that it would only have power if she gave it to it.

Everything in the box made her feel like a serial killer keeping mementos.

She closed the box and slipped it under the bed. She didn’t want anyone to see it, she didn’t want anyone to see how many there were. It made her uncomfortable that Mitch had been in the apartment when she'd been sleeping.

Her fingers tingled remembering how amazing it felt to push on someone. She knew she would have to do it soon.

She looked at her bedside table expecting to see a cell phone. She wished for a second she hadn’t thrown it away. She knew she had to but it was annoying not being able to text Aimee and have her take her to an alley and push on a drug addict. Her lip trembled as she thought about Aimee. She missed her dearly.

She got ready for work leaving the apartment locking the door. She felt uncomfortable in the apartment suddenly. Mitch had encroached on her private space making her feel a slight bit territorial.
The restaurant was booming with every table full. Cookie had been amazed with how quickly she'd learned everything and fit in.

She watched him for a second seeing something she had never noticed before, stress. He wasn’t the jovial cook he'd always been. He seemed worried and constantly stressed about everything. If her uncle had owned the place and taken all of the responsibility on and just left Cookie to do the cooking he would have been happy with that. The fact he had to cook and run it seemed to be wearing on him.

She leaned through the window, "If you need any help with anything just ask okay. I used to do the ordering and inventory for my uncles restaurant back in Portland."

He nodded, "I would love it if you took that over. I'll go over it with you later when we slow down."

She smiled and rolled her eyes, "If we slow down."

She felt the door open blowing in some of the hot air. She turned to see Mitch coming in. He seemed down about something. She wondered if he felt guilty for taking her to her apartment without waking her, she still wondered how he'd done it.

"Hey Mitch." She spoke softly pouring a coffee for the mayor.

His eyes darted meeting hers for a second, "Hey Ari." He moved past her quickly.

She frowned pondering his change in temperature toward her.

When the shift was ending and the last of the patrons were paying and leaving Cookie got her to come to the back and go over the inventory and ordering. He was stunned at how fast she'd figured it out.

"You're a real lifesaver Ari."

She whacked him in the arm, "You should have asked someone sooner. You look tense and stressed all the time."

He frowned at her familiarity with him, "Yeah I guess I've been a bit stressed."

She walked out with the ordering sheets and went and sat down at a table to rest her tired feet.

Mitch avoided eye contact with her. She kept her gaze on his face until finally he looked up at her frustrated, "What?"

She smiled, "What?"

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Why are you avoiding me?"

He shifted uneasily, "I'm busy is all. I'm tired from someone passing out on the roof too. I tried to wake you up but you wouldn’t. I carried you all the way home. You could have been more grateful."

She frowned, "I wouldn’t wake up?"

He shrugged, "Nope. You were beat."

She smiled, "Well thanks for carrying me home."

He blushed, "Don’t mention it."

She squinted at the way he still avoided eye contact with her.

She stood up with the papers, "K well I'm outta here. See you tomorrow?"

He nodded and smirked, "Yeah."

She walked out feeling the bursting heat hitting her as she walked through the door to outside. She loved the feeling. The warm wind played with her long hair making the smell of the greasy diner fill the air around her. She smiled at it remembering the runs she used to take and how the smell of her uncles diner always filled the air when she released her hair.

"Do you have the time?" She looked up at a man in dressy clothes.

She looked at the watch on his right arm and turned to run but everything went black as she screamed, "LUCAS."

Her head pounded in the dark as she woke. Her sweaty body felt like it was overheating again. She looked around the room but the light was so faint she could barely make out where she was. It looked to be a warehouse of sorts perhaps. She didn’t know how long she'd been there. Her dry lips felt cracked and her mouth parched. Smacked her lips together feeling the pasty thickness in her mouth.

"Hello." She called out softly.

She looked around the room but no one was there. It was a cell with no windows. There was a small shower and a toilet. There was also a door.

She felt a hot tear slip down her cheek as her hands began to burn again like they had in the beginning of her change. She knew she'd been there a long time. They'd starved her. The burning meant she would attack anything she saw.

Noises off to the side of the room made her lift her body up. Her hands tingled like an acid ate them.

"Help me. Please someone help me." She called out. No one answered her.

The noise interrupted her silence again.

"PLEASE HELP ME. WHOEVER YOU ARE PLEASE HELP ME!"

Her voice cracked from the dry throat. She needed a drink. The hunger in her hands was burning her up.

The door was opened filling one corner of the room with light. The light made her shut her eyes suddenly.

"Please I just need some water. I wont tell anyone who you are. I don’t even know who you are. Please just some water."

The light was gone as quickly as it had come making her able to open her eyes again. In the dark she could see a figure. Her hands sensed the person before her eyes did. She was like a shark in water smelling out blood. Her hands wanted the person on the opposite side of the room.

"Stay on your own side, please trust me. Don’t come any closer or I'll hurt you. Not because I want to please just stay there." She begged feeling the hot tears burning their way down her cheeks.

The feet shuffled closer. The person made a muffled sniffle.

"Please, please don’t come any closer." Ari backed up the bed pressing herself against the wall.

She could make out the shape, it was a girl. She was maybe Ari's age. Her long hair was around her shaking shoulders. She cried.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Ari asked softly.

The girl took another step as if fighting herself. It seemed as if she didn’t want to walk toward Ari but she couldn’t stop herself. Ari pulled the blanket on the cot up over her own head.
"Please, please please please please." She chanted, "Please please please please."

The noise of the shuffling footsteps got louder.

Ari lifted back the blankets to the startled face of the girl directly in front of her. Tears stained her cheeks. Her glistening eyes caught the light. Her hands were behind her back and duct tape was across her mouth. She wore a t-shirt and shorts. As she shuffled closer Ari recognized her gasping, "Missy. Missy please stay away from me."

Missy sobbed harder as Ari spoke her name. In the dark her white t-shirt was nearly glowing in the dark. Ari's hands were burning she sat them underneath and rocked back and forth, "Lucas will find me." The girl was almost on top of her now. Her t-shirt was right in Ari's face. She climbed onto the cot sitting right in Ari's face.

Ari closed her eyes, which didn’t help, she could feel the heat emanating from the girls body.

"Lucas will find me, Lucas will find me, Lucas will find me."

Ari felt herself losing the control she fought to maintain.

"WHY? WHY? LEAVE ME ALONE. MISSY PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE." She shouted into the face of the sobbing girl.

Ari knew the girl was under some kind of spell, some kind of mind control. She remembered Aimee saying Dorian could do mind control.

"DORIAN YOURE MY DAD, PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME DO THIS." She shouted again praying he would listen to her.

She felt the dark taking her again. She slipped along the wall passing out into the darkness again as the heat overtook her.

She woke again feeling the pounding in her head. She opened her eyes jumping back as Missy leaned over her. The girl had passed out as well. She lay on top of Ari. Not thinking she put her hands to the girls arms to move her out of the way and instantly as her hands made contact with the sleeping girls arms her hands took control and pushed. Ari felt it pouring from her like it had with her uncle. The energy shot from her.

The air filled sparkling the way it always did. Suddenly the picture was there hanging in the air. Missy was prom queen and her boyfriend wanted her to go to the car with him to celebrate their victory. She made it out to the car but decided against celebrating. She got angry with her boyfriend David. Ari recognized him. Missy broke up with him for being so disrespectful and asking her to lose her virginity in a car. She stormed off. She decided to take the acceptance to Yale, which she was about to turn down because he was her soul mate and he was only going to community college.