Bloodhearts

Chapter thirteen: In the End.

JAY'S POV:

My mind is working on overdrive. Why would Sadie come here? She never drinks and she never comes to the bar to hang out. It makes no sense. Why is she not in her lab in the center where she spends most of her time? Why here?

My dad's hand lands on my shoulder. I know it's his way of comforting me.

"Do you know anything about this?" he asks me softly.

The sight in front of me is horrible and I have a hard time tearing my eyes away from it. Because Sadie cannot be dead. We need her. I don't want to understand what I'm seeing.

"She was worried about something," I reply honestly and my dad frowns. "She may have known something... but I don't know what it was..."

I explain to my dad what Sadie told me about Peter earlier today when things were happier. My dad agrees that Peter needs to be found and sends more men out. Now he understands the gravity of the situation.

"Does Cory know yet?" I ask and my dad shakes his head, telling me Cory has been called out here, so it's only a matter of time. I wait for him with Isaac and still try to put the pieces of why this has happened together. But the pieces don't fit. Sadie didn't deserve to die like this. Death in our world is meaningless more often than not, but the impact of it still strikes as hard as it did the first time you lost someone you cared about.

When Cory arrives with Marc and Jason, we all seem to take a deep breath. Cory's expression is one big question mark, until he realizes who's lying beneath the cover that now covering our beautiful female friend. It's pulled back for Cory to see and he stumbles back. Jason and Marc both stare in shock.

Cory begins to pace around, asking everyone what the hell is going on. Marc and Jason both try to make him calm down in turns, but they both have to give up. I can see how the sorrow and anger is building up inside Cory, close to boiling point.

Just before he breaks, I grab his arm to gain his attention.

What happens next, happens instinctively.

Cory meets my gaze and there is so much pain in his eyes that I just throw my arms around him, holding him to my chest. He doesn't fight me and just holds on.

I take Cory into the bar where we can be alone and where nobody else can see him cry. Sadie was his best friend. She was the one who helped him when he first came out in high school, and when he lost me on that mission three years ago, and she was the one who brought me back again.

I cry too, because Sadie was also my friend, and because she was the one who gave me and many others a second chance at life. I haven't shown her the gratitude she deserves for that. I know it'd something I'm always going to regret and my insides curl in response to this realization.

I turn my attention away from myself and my own pain to focus on the broken man in front of me. I sit us down and let Cory cry until he recovers from the initial shock. I try to wipe the tears from his eyes, and take his face in my hands, caressing it softly. His forehead comes to rest against mine as he continues to sob silently. He moves around slightly, so our noses touch, and his fingers twist themselves into my hair, pulling desperately as if it can change the cold hard facts of why we're here. Then he sighs and puts his lips to mine in a need for comfort. I'll do anything to give it to him. I kiss him back and his familiar lips feel rough and dry. He lets me take control in slow, deep kiss. Like Cory's eyes always tell me how he feels, so does his kisses. It's like we're glued together and none of us want to let go. I don't care about whatever's happened between us. I don't care that Marc is just outside, probably waiting for Cory to come out.