The Beast Within

Chapter Seven: Betrayal

Lucky finished making Nyssa some food and was about to bring it to her when she noticed the dead plants, she realized she hadn't seen Ivy for a couple days since Nyssa was shot, she grabbed Ivy's favorite plant that was dead and walked to the greenhouse, she knocked on the glass door but there was no answer, she fixed her eyebrows in confusion and opened the door, a smell invaded her nostrils causing her to gag and almost throw up, she held her nose and walked inside and saw blood smears across the floor "Ivy!?" she called out worried, she followed the bloody trail and tears fell from her eyes, Ivy was a greenish pale color with her eyes stuck open with a puddle of dried blood around her, she dropped to her knees and shook her body lightly "no, no, no, no! NO IVY!" she said shaking her more harshly.

She stood up and ran as fast as she could back inside and ran straight into Jerome's chest and he looked at her puzzled "i-i-it's I-Ivy sh-she's" he placed his hands on her shoulders to calm down "take a deep breath, what's wrong with Ivy?" "she's dead" she blurted out and his face dropped and gently pushed her to the side and ran to the greenhouse, he kicked the door down hearing it shatter and he ran to her already rotting corpse, he knelt on his knee and lifted her body into his arms and lifted her bridal style and carried her out of the greenhouse and laid her on the grass.

Lucky told everyone in the house except for Nyssa who was sleeping and they all ran outside, Jerome held his hand over her face to shut her eyes, Barbara felt tears pool in her eyes, Lucky broke down and sobbed into Jerome's chest and he let her, Oswald and Ed held their heads down paying their respects to her.

They all sat in the lounge room and agreed to let Jerome break the news to Nyssa, since Lucky could barely get out two words without bursting into tears and Barbara hadn't said a word since they found her, Jerome tapped on her bedroom door and she called out "come in" he took a deep breath and stepped in, she instantly covered her nose "god, Jerome you stink, go for a shower" she said and he looked down, he wasn't sad over Ivy's death, he didn't care at all, he was sad over the fact that this would destroy Nyssa, that's why he handled her body with care, because Nyssa would have "I'm sorry to tell you this" he said feeling his heart thump just from her worried look "what's wrong?" "it's Ivy, she's dead" her eyes instantly glossed over and she shook her head "Jerome, that isn't funny" he shook his head and walked over to her bed and sat on the edge of it "I wish I was joking doll, we didn't realize she had been shot too, she bled out in the greenhouse" "h-how long was she dead for?" "it looks like it's been a couple days" "and you left her body in there??" she asked about to push the covers off but Jerome stopped her quickly "relax, I already took her body out of the greenhouse, she's on the grass" she nodded and let her tears fall down her cheeks.

Jerome looked at her sadly, he didn't know why but he hated seeing her sad he cupped her cheek and wiped her tears "I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner, doll" she shook her head and leaned into his touch "it's not your fault, don't blame yourself for not noticing" he nodded and she leaned her face into his chest, he held her tightly and she sobbed, she calmed down and looked into his eyes, he stared at hers and there was a fire in them, she grabbed his face and kissed him hard, he kissed her back with the same force, carefully without hurting herself she pulled him onto her so he fit between her legs, he fell deep into the kiss and she went to pull his shirt off, he quickly pulled away "your stitches" she shook her head and pulled him back down "I'm fine" she pulled his shirt off and he carefully lifted hers off, her hands trailed to his jeans and he pulled back again "are you sure?" she rolled her eyes "just shut up and kiss me" he nodded then smirked and crashed his lips into hers.

Bab's sat in her room with a blank expression "you didn't even like her, why are you upset?" Tabitha said unsympathetically to her "what's your problem with everyone?" Barbara said annoyed by Tabitha's tone "you're all being stupid, you think Jerome will care if you all die? he won't he's a psychopath, he's pretending to be sad over Ivy's death so you'll all think he has a heart, but he doesn't and he doesn't care" Bab's clenched her fists "get out" "excuse me?" Tabitha said stepping closer to her "you would have allowed our friend to die before you accepted help from him, you're the one that will get everyone killed, you hate him so much that you refused your friend help, would you have refused him if it had been me?" "don't you get it, he wouldn't have even offered if it was you, he doesn't care about any of you! he wouldn't have even blinked an eye toward you! he would have let you die and not cared!" "I think we need a break, clearly we got back together too soon" Bab's said and Tabitha nodded angrily "clearly" she said and started packing a bag of her stuff "you're all just pawns in his and Jeremiah's game of revenge and he doesn't care how many players get taken out, just as long as he wins, you'll see" Tabitha said and stormed out of the room, Barbara stared out the window and let a tear slip down her cheek.

Jerome sat on his bed with a joint between his lips, he knew neither of them were gonna talk about what had happened hours earlier, after they were finished he left quickly and she didn't try and stop him, he was mad at himself for letting that happen, she was hurting and used him as a coping mechanism and he was mad at himself for not stopping her, he knew she was going to feel worse now because of it, he sighed and laid back on his bed and puffed on his joint and blew the smoke out, he wasn't mad that it happened, to say he didn't really enjoy it would be a lie, he was mad that it happened while she was grieving but he knew that if she wasn't grieving than it wouldn't have happened at all, frustrated with his thoughts and slight guilt, he grabbed a throwing knife and threw it into the wall.

Nyssa stared at herself in the mirror, guilt and self hate was eating away at her, she wrapped a towel around her and ringed out her wet hair from her hot shower, she didn't regret what they did but she also never wanted to think about it, she took a deep breath and walked into her bedroom, she stopped in front of her drawers and looked at her diamond ring and felt a tear threatening to fall "I'm so sorry, Sara" she said holding the ring, she couldn't help but feel like she cheated on her beloved deceased Sara, she sat the ring back down and felt like it would betray Sara to wear it again after having sex with someone else and forgetting to take it off, she betrayed the one thing she had left of her beloved and she felt the worst guilt over it, she put the ring in a jewelry box and closed the lid so she didn't have to see it and be reminded of her betrayal, she sighed and laid on her bed and felt even more guilty over the fact that a little part of her wished he was still there.