Chapter Thirty-One-
'The Rain Will Fall, Our Hearts Will Break
But Still I Will Be Right Beside You'
2020
"Are you going to let me in?" Melissa suddenly asked.
"You're dead." Isaac replied, as if correcting her.
"Nothing gets past you." She smiled and walked straight past him into the house. Isaac closed the door behind her, as if still in a trance.
Melissa took off her cloak and placed it on a hook, as if she had been to his home a thousand times. As if she had been his friend for twenty years and the last time Isaac had seen her wasn't at the mercy of vampire hunters, but just yesterday. Isaac was staring at her as if he had never seen her before in his life. That she was just some stranger who claimed to be his girlfriend when he was a teenager. She couldn't the wonderful, funny woman who had made him happy and had saved his and his brother's lives during an experience that they had blocked out of their memories. She wasn't the same woman as the woman that was dead, long gone to the world and finally free of being a vampire.
"Isaac, are you all right?" She asked gently.
Isaac shook his head slightly. "How did you survive?"
"Oh Ike. Hunters come, hunters go, but they all use the same tricks and techniques. I've been attacked a thousand times and I wasn't about to be beaten by rookies." She smiled, knowing he didn't believe her for a second. She was hiding something. "Anyway, how about a strong drink and somewhere to sit and talk? I want to hear everything about your life."
It was as if she was a new person. She was happy and looked at peace with herself and the world. She didn't look paranoid or sometimes bitter like before. She didn't seem to act like she was meeting up with her old boyfriend and fianc�, but instead just some friend she met every weekend for a good talk about life and how it was treating them. Her attitude was completely different and Isaac noticed this immediately.
"Is this a trick?" Isaac asked suddenly as they walked into the den.
"What do you mean?" Melissa said.
"Are you some woman pretending to be Melissa?" Isaac asked.
"Ike, you know I'm not. If you want proof then I will bring Spite over to clarify it."
"Spite's alive?"
Melissa smiled. "Spite was never alive, but he helped me out, took me out of the ruins and back to the Mistress. I kinda built up from then, but I didn't even go out for humans after. I just got others to do it for me. There were hunters everywhere searching for me but they never found me. And they never will."
There was a pause. "So, how about that strong drink?" Isaac asked and got up.
"For somebody who was once a vampire, you're acting like this never happened." Melissa muttered, but so he could hear.
"Melissa, I haven't been a..." He paused, "I haven't been like you for over twenty years, nor have I ever spoken about it."
"Never? Not even to a therapist?" Melissa asked, amazed. "Shit, you've changed."
"I've changed?" Isaac asked, sitting back down with a brandy. "You died twenty years ago," Melissa tried to speak up, "to the world I mean and now you're back with a spring in your step. We had a funeral for you! I told everybody that you died trying to save me and Tay and Zac from kidnappers. I haven't spoken about vampires or the Other Realm since I was one and now its all being thrown at me again. Excuse me for being different Melissa."
Melissa looked upset. "There was a funeral for me?"
"Yes, a very nice one actually. I could even show you the grave one day if you like. Now can you please tell me why you didn't tell me you were alive?"
"Like you said, you had told everybody I was dead and I couldn't come back. What good would it had done anyway?"
Isaac sighed. "I suppose. Is this why you've changed your look?"
Melissa smiled. "Yes, in fact it is. When Storm gave me her powers I gained the ability to perform more spells. Very powerful spells actually."
"Who's Storm?" Isaac asked.
"She was..." Melissa suddenly realised he was mortal; if he knew about witches he would die. "She was a vampire who had powers. Very good ones and she sacrificed herself to give them to me. That's how I healed that night and how I got away."
"Oh" Isaac replied. "Was the kidnapping scheme your idea?"
"No, that was Spite's. The hunters would have just left you outside the gates so the Mistress got a few friends to do the same with you. It worked amazingly well. I always knew the police were up for bribes but for a case this big..."
"I knew it." Isaac smiled. "There was one small inquiry that didn't last half an hour. All of our stories were slightly different and the police never even mentioned shooting Spite or his friend. Zac and Tay had injuries that were more than three weeks old, people turned up in completely different places, I'm surprised they even bothered interviewing us when they closed the case the next day. It was just too cut and dry for it to be real."
2000
Soft lights.... Not hot, not blinding but lights that made him feel at ease. Like he was somewhere safe. Somewhere away from any danger and most of all somewhere he could remember just why he was there.
"Guys, I think he's waking up! Mom, see if he's awake!"
Like he had just been shocked, Zac snapped his eyes open fully to see the very white room he was in. His eyes moved to the yellow bed-sheet wrapped around him, then to the door with a pale blue frame, then to a poster about smoking effects on young teenagers, then finally on his mother and father sitting next to his bed.
"Oh honey, you're awake finally." Zac blinked hard and rubbed his head where it felt sore, finding an IV attached to the back of his hand. His eyes moved from one parent to the other, again and again yet still he didn't talk.
"You've been scaring us lately big guy, we thought you didn't want to see us." Zac's dad continued, smiling warmly which seemed strange to Zac.
"Honey, are you all right? Do you remember what happened?" His mother grabbed his hand gently, rubbing it slightly to comfort him.
Zac opened his mouth and tried to find the words to say something, anything that could sum up just how happy he felt at that moment and how much he had wanted to see those two faces for months.
"Mom, dad..." He started but he couldn't finish. He wrapped his arms around his mother and felt tears brim his eyes. He heard his mother crying and then felt his dad hugging him tightly as well. He couldn't remember anything since what had happened in the woods and wondered just how long they had waited for him to remember, or even wake up. The whole incident in the Other Realm seemed like such a blur. It was that that made him so happy, as for a long time whilst in that prison his real life had become a blur and now it had taken a few seconds for it all to disappear from his mind as he held tightly onto his mother.
"Mom, it's Okay, it's all right now..." Zac breathed. In the corner of his eyes he saw Taylor smiling, his arm in a sling and a bandage on his forehead. Taylor grinned as he caught Zac's eye and Zac smiled back, despite wiping his eyes at the same time. At that moment, there seemed to be some unspoken bond between them, as if they both had been waiting for that moment for what seemed like years.
"Honey, are you all right? Does you head hurt at all?" His mother asked, touching Zac's forehead with the back of her hand. "You had a slight fever a little while ago..."
"How long have I been asleep?" Zac asked, looking at Taylor again for answers.
"Nearly three days now." Taylor answered. "You got hit on the head pretty bad back there, we thought you were..." He trailed off as Zac felt his head where it was tender. "But you're Okay now, which is good."
Zac looked around the hospital room as his mind came into focus of something else, something he felt he should have remembered as soon as he had woken up. "Where's Ike?"
"He's out on the balcony, honey." Diana was now running her hands through Zac's hair soothingly, nodding towards the sliding doors.
"How..." Zac started but he didn't finish. He leaned forward slightly as he tried to focus his eyes to see clearly what he thought he could see.
His parents tried to follow his eyesight to see just what he was staring at. Something about Isaac was making Zac look extremely confused, as if it wasn't even his brother he was looking at. It was some stranger, no, an old friend who had replaced him and for Zac that seemed glad. He smiled slightly then looked at Taylor for confirmation.
"Mom, dad, maybe I ought to talk to him alone." Taylor said quietly.
"Okay, we'll be right outside."
"Give us about half an hour, all right?" Taylor asked.
They both nodded and left, still wondering what Zac was finding so amazing.
Zac didn't even notice his parents leaving as he continued to stare at Isaac was amazement.
"You wanna know what happened or do you wanna leave it for now?" Taylor asked, sighing slightly as he sat himself up more comfortably.
Zac looked away from the smoke Isaac seemed to be breathing out from the chilly morning, which he knew meant something amazing had happened. "Tell me."
"Okay, well, when we ran off with Spite..." Taylor shook his head slightly, as if trying to focus. "You were right, dude, Melissa did get hurt."
"Where is she? Is she still in the Other Realm? What happened to her?" Zac stopped asking as Taylor bent his head slightly, using his bed-sheet to wipe his eyes.
"Oh man, Zac, I don't know how to say this..."
"What the hell happened to her?" Zac yelled. He didn't really want to know, he wanted to be ignorant of her existence for as long as possible after he said that. Now he had asked he had to know and every second Taylor wasted seemed like a year.
"She saved Ike, she gave him a sort of antidote to being a vampire then she..." Taylor ignored his own quivering voice and continued. "She didn't make it, the hunters found them just after she'd, she'd saved him and the hunters, they..."
That was enough. Zac didn't need to hear another word. It was all over for his friend. The angel that had saved their lives had now made the ultimate sacrifice. They would never see that woman again, that cursed woman who had lived a life of inflicted pain and suffering. She had repaid her dept with the world by finally giving back what she had taken, but why? She had not wanted to live a life of causing pain to the people around her so why did she owe anything at all? It didn't seem at all fair to Zac or Taylor that she had given up the only known cure to the disease she had to Isaac after saving his life more than once on that same night. It didn't seem fair that she had to die in the hands of the people who she had just helped by destroying a vampire older than what seemed like time itself. They both cried together for a good soul who carried the weight of the world on her shoulders and who had loved so much she didn't know when to stop giving. In a flash it seemed she had just vanished from their lives, both waking up to the sad news that they could never thank their saviour from that hell. The brave hero had been taken from them without even a notification that they were more than grateful for her bravery.
Taylor embraced his brother, not knowing what to say to comfort him. It seemed Zac knew her so much better than he did. He was so much more confident in her humanity, despite her being a creature of the night. It was as if some friendship had developed between them that Taylor couldn't understand. Whatever he was feeling and had been feeling for three days was no way as bad as what Zac would be feeling at that second. He had woken to a sense of happiness and joy to be free from the nightmare, only for it to be taken away as quickly to know that Melissa was now gone.
"Why didn't I tell her?" Zac cried. He buried his face deeper into Taylor's shoulder and even thought it hurt him Taylor hugged him tighter. He wasn't sure what Zac was trying to say and so remained silent for Zac to explain, if he wanted to.
Zac wanted to scream so loudly his voice would echo around the world. Just to let the heavens know the injustice that had just been inflicted on his friend. He wanted answers to why she, of all the monsters in that castle, had to die and not any of the evil that had caused her death. It seemed little to no reassurance that she had died to save their lives. In fact, it may be that thought that made him want to scream out to the heavens. She had died after proving to this world and the next that she was in no way evil and finally deserved a life out of the darkness, not a death in the hands of those hunters.
"I wanted to tell her... I just wanted her to know..." Zac continued, letting go Taylor and trying to find his breath.
"What, Zac? What did you want Melissa to know?" Taylor asked gently.
"I don't mean to feel like this but I can't help it." Zac looked straight into Taylor's eyes as he spoke. "Tay, I really loved her. I loved her since she visited me in hospital and I didn't want her to know because... But Tay I wish she'd known now, I don't know why because she was going to marry Ike but..." He buried his face in his hands. "I just wanted her to know..."
"It's Okay, it's all right." Taylor said, hugging his brother tightly.
He looked up at Isaac still staring out at the scenery beyond the hospital and sighed quietly. It perhaps explained why Zac was so forgiving to Melissa's past and why he was so desperate to see her again whilst they were in the Other Realm. Taylor was almost glad that Isaac couldn't hear what was being said, not at that moment any way. He looked like a gust of wind could push him over at any moment. To hear his brother's love for his fianc� also didn't seem like the best thing to say to him. Taylor wasn't sure what could be said to Isaac to help him. He had witnessed the love of his life's death, only caused by what he would see as his fault. Taylor knew he had no choice but to look after both of his brothers for the time being. It seemed all he could do to help them. He knew his time of mourning for Melissa, though long, would end much sooner than both of theirs.
Taylor looked at Isaac once more and wondered if he could ever love again.
"Zac loved me?" Melissa asked sadly, gently putting down her cup and saucer though still looking at Isaac for confirmation.
Isaac paused for a second, wondering if he should had told her something he had kept in confidence for twenty years. He cleared his throat. "He said it couldn't have been the curse because you wouldn't be able to place it on him every second of the day, especially when he was trapped in the Other Realm."
"I wouldn't have dreamed of doing it to him..." Melissa smiled slightly and crossed her legs nervously. "How is he? And Tay? I mean, how are all of them?"
Melissa's eyes fell on a portrait on the mantelpiece. She walked over to the fireplace and picked it up, carefully looking at every person in the picture, spotting only a few familiar faces yet she knew it was now the extensive family of Isaac's brothers and sisters.
"Oh God, where do I start?" Isaac looked at the picture and laughed. "Even that's out of date, I mean Sofie wasn't even pregnant then and Ave stopped seeing Gary last year. They didn't even last as long as her and Devon..."
"Slow down." Melissa said, putting up her hand. She was staring at the now middle-aged Zac with his arm around a brown-haired woman, holding a baby boy in his arms. The woman was almost a head shorter than him and she was holding hands with two girls, looking about five and seven. The two girls had Zac's telltale blonde hair while the boy had light brown. "Who are all Zac's family?"
"That's Sofie, who is due any day now with another kid. They met backstage at an Aerosmith concert ten years ago and they spent the whole concert talking to eachother and forgetting about the concert. It was pretty funny seeing as it was one of Aerosmith's last and they don't remember a thing about it. Zac practically asked her to marry him in the same week, they had so much in common. They had Sam, well, Samantha Charlie who's nine now..."
"Wait, Sam Charlie?" Melissa asked with amusement.
"The doctor told them she would be a boy so they named her a boy's and girl's name as a sort of personal joke. Sam didn't even get it until she asked a little while ago. Anyway, the other girl is Joanna India and she'll be eight next month. You don't want to know why she's called India..."
"She was conceived there?" Melissa asked.
"Nope, in an Indian restaurant." Isaac smiled, seeing her shocked face.
"Sorry I asked. " Melissa mumbled.
"And that little monster is called Peter Walker. He's three now and he's still in his terrible twos, so we keep reminding Zac he was being destructive until he was thirteen to really piss him off."
"Why stop at thirteen? He probably still blew up shit when he was in his late twenties." Melissa laughed. He looked at the picture again. "Don't tell me they are all Taylor's kids!"
"'Afraid so. Let's see," Isaac pointed as he listed them off, "Jenny is seventeen, Danny is fourteen but nearly fifteen, Sarah is twelve, Clementine is seven and the twins Fiona and little Tay are both four."
"Little Tay?" Melissa asked, nearly choking on her tea.
"Well, his name was going to be William and it was for about two months after they were born but mom got out this old picture of Taylor as a baby, pointing out the resemblance so they changed it to Taylor William. We've all put in money to see if he'll use his middle or first name so I keep on calling him Taylor to see if it'll stick."
"Oh wow, he does look like Taylor! He even has the pout down perfect!" Melissa laughed, pointing at the toddler with big blue eyes and curtain blonde hair. "Fiona looks nothing like him though. Her hair is darker like her mom's..."
"Natalie. They married when Tay was nineteen. I think you met her once, I'm not sure."
"She wasn't the Barbie doll?" Melissa said.
"No."
"Then I probably didn't." She looked outside. "Can we go outside? It's a nice day and I really miss the sunlight."
They took their drinks outside to a patio surrounded by plants and ornaments. "Which reminds me to ask where the hell you've been that meant you couldn't come see us sooner?"
Melissa sat down on a decking chair and sighed. "Basically hiding from all existence in case they know who I am. The hunters are even worse than they were before, much worse. I'm lucky to have found you and will be even lucky to get back to New York without being found and having to fight off the hunters again. That's why I can only see you and only for a little while..."
"You're not going to see Zac and Tay?"
"I can't, I wish I could but it's too much of a risk."
"Then why come back?" Isaac asked.
Melissa smiled slightly. "I've been thinking about you for twenty years Ike and that's a long time, even for me. I've missed you, all of you, like crazy and I couldn't bear living my life without even knowing how you're all doing. Every so often somebody would find a newspaper clipping for me or tell me if you're going to be on TV, but it wasn't enough." She looked in Isaac's eyes nervously. "I've really missed you, more than you could ever comprehend."
"You don't know how much I've missed you Melissa..." Isaac replied, watching Melissa lean a little closer to him in her seat.
"Daddy!"
Melissa turned to see a little girl jump into Isaac's lap, hugging his chest hard. Her long brown hair was in loose ringlets and she seemed to have ruined her denim dress by playing outside all the time, judging by the stains and tears all over it.
"Daddy Cameron's trying to get Wendy! Tell him he can't have her!"
Isaac pulled her off of him and sat her on him more comfortably. "Why would Cameron want Wendy?"
"He says he wants to play rockets with her! Tell him to stop it!"
Isaac laughed. "I will Bunny, just let me talk to my friend for a little longer, Okay?"
"Okay!" She yelled, then smiled toothily at Melissa. "Who's her?"
"Who's she, you mean and she's an old friend of mine.
"She doesn't look old."
Isaac rolled his eyes at Melissa before replying. "She's not, she's my age."
"Oh." The little girl looked up at her father. "Then she is old."
"Yeah, ancient." Isaac smiled. "Well she's just come to see good old me so do you wanna tell mummy all about how Cameron is being nasty instead?"
"Not really." The girl smiled. "What's your name?"
"Her name's..." Isaac started.
"Susannah." Melissa replied hastily. "Nice to meet you young lady."
"I'm no lady! Daddy, why couldn't you call me a nice name like Susannah?"
"Because your name's Melissa, and that's a nice name." Isaac caught Melissa's eye for a second before he looked back down at his daughter.
"Not as nice." The little Melissa replied. "Are you going to tell me more about that story about vampires, daddy?"
"That's for bedtime, and don't tell mummy I'm telling you them."
"I wont, if you bribe me." Melissa grinned, holding out her hand.
"Stop talking like your brother and go inside so mummy doesn't think you've wandered off again."
"Okay." Melissa jumped down and ran inside, yelling out to her mom to tell her brother off.
Isaac watched her for a little while before he turned back to his old friend, clearing his throat a little. "Melissa never was your real name, was it?" It seemed so obvious now to him.
"And I wasn't your first time." Melissa replied automatically, folding her arms.
Isaac laughed quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I mean..."
"It's OK, Ike." Melissa smiled again, now relaxing. "I wished I'd have seen you sooner. Maybe all this could have changed..."
"Well, why can't it?" Isaac replied.
Melissa stared at him, stunned. "Because I'm dead, Ike. Not only that, you have a family. You have children who love you and a wife who must make you happy."
"Melissa, I would have waited for you. I would have waited a lot longer than twenty years."
"And waste your life?" Melissa sighed angrily. "I gave you your life back for a reason, Ike. It could never have worked and won't now."
Isaac grabbed her hand. "Then change me back."
"Ike, that's the curse talking, you don't mean it..."
"Melissa, I need you! A few months knowing of your existence wasn't enough. I needed you then and I need you now. Don't tell me you don't need me, because that's a lie and you know it."
Isaac was staring into her eyes. Melissa wanted to run into his arms and leave all her pain and sorrow behind. He was offering his life to her, much as she had done twenty years ago by giving him that cure. Melissa knew what she wanted; being that she had sacrificed her survival by travelling across America to find somebody the hunters watched very carefully, unbeknownst to him. She wanted him to be exactly the same as she had left him, much as she was. Both perfectly preserved for one another when they met again.
Melissa's eyes flickered down to his hand holding hers, a gold band on his wedding finger.
"I can't do that to you."
Melissa got up, turning away so he couldn't see her tears. She wiped them away, knowing he wouldn't be able to see her unperfected beauty through his mortal eyes. No wonder people believed vampires couldn't cry.
Isaac got up. "Melissa..."
"Isaac, look at your life. Do you really want to give up everything you love and possess with a vampire on the run? No home, no family, no connections to anybody or anything as it would mean being hunted down? I haven't grown tiresome of it because I don't remember any other life. You will remember your mother, your father, your beautiful children and everything else you care about at every step of the way. I couldn't do that to you."
Melissa started to walk through the house, silently wanting Isaac to be following her, if only to see him one last time.
"Then why did you come back? Did you hope I'd have stayed the same?" Isaac called after her.
Melissa smiled and turned to him as she picked up her cloak. "All I wanted was for you to be safe. Me hoping for you to be the same guy I knew was a fantasy." She opened the door then kissed Isaac on the cheek. "Don't you dare let Melissa turn out like me."
With that she walked out, placing the cloak over her shoulders and putting up her hood. She would wait until she was far away before she would cry. She would wait even longer before she would move on from her hiding place, not knowing what she was looking for but still searching every world for it.
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