Forever

Chapter 73

I stare into Caine's black eyes and try not to fear his words but without me even realizing it my brain is suddenly filled with pictures. I gasp loudly as I no longer see Caine, my cell, or Sebastian around me but now I'm in a different place. I'm at home. I'm in Marcus's bedroom...and I feel no pain. I take a deep breath, no dryness in my throat, no hunger in my stomach, no pounding on my head or no stinging in my cheek, not even the burning of my leg. I see Marcus laying on the bed with his work clothes on, a sight I haven't seen in what feels like forever. His dark hair is a little messy and his stubble is a little longer that usual. He's looking down at a book, his crystal blue eyes scan the pages and I zero in on the cover to see its one of the books we got at the book store that I had almost finished and absolutely loved. I smile and begin to walk up to him but he doesn't seem to hear me. Off into the bathroom we both hear a sound and our heads turn to the noise "everything alright in there?" He calls out

Who is he talking to?

I turn to the bathroom and take small steps to the door. A whoosh of blonde hair wipes through me and I stare down at my body wondering how the hell she went through me. I turn to see the blonde haired girl is Evangeline. She plops down on the bed next to Marcus wearing a pair of short blue pajama shorts and a matching tank top.

It's as if the air in my lung is knocked out of me at what I was seeing "everything's fine" she says sweetly and pushes herself up off her arms and leans in

"Good" he smiles down at her

"No!" I jump for them but it's too late his lips land on hers

Last time this happened it was the worst pain I had ever felt but this time it didn't hurt as much.

That's because this isn't real

I repeat that over and over closing my eyes and wishing to see nothing but darkness. I try to shut down my mind like Marcus taught me to but it's hard, Caine is so powerful, everything I see and everything I feel feels so real but it's not. None of this is real.

"Don't fight it...we aren't done" a voice in my head says and I blank out of focus and open my eyes again now to be in a different place

I'm outside, at a lake, it takes me a minute but as I look around I realize where I am. I'm at the lake where Marcus told me he was a vampire and his entire life story, the sun is setting and the waters ripples are calm. It looks beautiful, a lot more beautiful than the palace I really am. I watch the blue water and the long green grass sway back and forth in the warm wind. I take a deep breath and back up only for my back to hit something hard. I turn around to find myself under a tree. As I inspect the bark I come across a heart and two letters "oh no" I whisper

E+M sits in a heart carved into the bark, I run my fingers across the M and wish I could cross out the E. I place my head on the tree and sigh with a single tear in my eye. Out of the corner of my line of sight I see something familiar, it's the grey head stone where Evangeline was buried, I focus in on it and gasp when I read the name

Rose Parker
Beloved daughter -
-

Before I can even process what is in front of me I jump in surprise when I hear someone talking behind me "we are gathered here today to celebrate the love of Marcus Williams and Evangeline Bennet" the man dressed in long robes says under the alter in front of the tree, I'm suddenly transported in the back behind the crowd staring at the scene in front of me