Eternal

As soon as the conversation was done, Al and I booked it out of the room. We didn’t stop until we got to the library. Had Alex really just conversed with a demon!? What was he going to do now? Who was Lily’s mother and why should we be afraid of her?

I really wanted to ask Lily these questions, but that would mean I had gotten the information from somewhere. She would want to know where, and then I would have to say that I had overheard Alex. This would be all sorts of trouble.

I saw Alex watching me from the balcony and gulped. Oh dear. I waved a little before quietly excusing myself to travel down one of the halls.

Where was Austin?

Al’Wy’En nudged me faster. I heard footsteps trailing me. My pace increased. I turned around to see Alex following in my wake. I don’t think it was a coincidence that we were going down the same hall…

I took more turns until I reached a hall with a couple rooms. I think this was the bedroom. I cursed lightly. The doors were locked. The night hound growled. I hugged his shoulder.

I shouldn’t listen into other people’s conversations.

“Jynx.” Alex whispered. I looked up. He had his hands hanging limply at his sides. I gulped nervously. His eyes were alight in fire and torment. Al’Wy’En positioned himself between me and the vampire. I crouched behind him.

“Yes, Alex?” I whispered softly, uncertainly.

“We need to talk.” He growled. Al matched his pitch, barring his teeth. The vampire scowled at the night hound. He snarled a few words to the dog, who whimpered and walked away, touching Alex’s hand as he passed by. I looked back at the night hound as he walked away. I had my back against the wall.

There were more footsteps down the hall. It sounded like Alan and Lily. Without warning, I was suddenly dragged into one of the locked rooms. Alex closed the door behind him. I stumbled to the middle of the lush room. It was well carpeted with a beautiful bed in the middle and a fireplace to one side.

“Look, I’m not going to hurt you.” He stated first. I nodded hesitantly. Alex came down, sitting next to me on the bed. He put his head in his hands and whimpered softly. His chest shook as he sobbed. I hadn’t seen him this sad for such a long period of time.

“You miss her a lot, don’t you?” I murmured, leaning into his shoulder. He nodded, hiccupping in sorrow. I rubbed his cold back soothingly.

“She’s gone…and it’s my fault. If only I had treated her right. If only I had treated her better, she wouldn’t have run off and she would be here.” Alex wailed. I closed my eyes, sighing silently.

“We miss her too, Alex. But trying to rescue her soul? That’s dangerous and we can’t lose you either. You’re important as well.” I explained, taking one of his hands in mine. He buried his head into my shoulder, still shaking and sobbing.

“She shouldn’t have been taken! It wasn’t her time! She still has time left here.” He mumbled. I sighed, patting his back again. There was a heavy moment of silence.

“I know, I know. She had a while left to go, but if her soul comes back, will she be the same? Will she be the same Annabelle you remember?” I asked. Alex looked to me with watery eyes.

“I don’t know how I’m going to do this. I just don’t know.” He whispered. I squeezed his hand, trying my best to comfort him.

“What would Annabelle want you to do?” I asked him. His pleading eyes met mine and he shuddered, sobs wracking his body again.

“I don’t know.” He muttered. I squeezed his hand.

“Annabelle is tough, she wouldn’t want you to cry over her. She would want you to go and make sure everything was alright with everyone else. She always put others before herself. She was one of the most caring but stubborn people I knew.” I chuckled softly. He smiled.

“That’s true.”

“And she would want you to check in with Lily. She would want you to investigate what’s going on with her, see if she’s alright.” I looked up at him. He nodded, thoughtfulness passing over his eyes. I stood up slowly. He thanked me slowly, giving me a quick hug before I went out to search for Austin.

I walked to the grand hall, slowly picking my way down the steps. Austin saw me and grinned. He met me down at the bottom of the steps. I basically fell into his arms from exhaustion. Today had been emotionally straining.

“Hey, darling.” He whispered to me, his golden eyes flashing. I leaned against his chest.

“Hello, Austin.” I murmured back to him. He rubbed my back lightly, fingers barely brushing over my spine. He kissed my cheek before tilting my chin up to face him. His eyes mirrored my confusion and worry.

“Are you alright?” He questioned. I nodded.

“Yeah, just fine.” I lied. He took my hand and led me back to the library, sitting me down on one of the couches. I watched silently as he walked over to a shelf, picked out a red leather bound book, and came back. He lay down and I moved to curl up next to him. Maybe a little bit of sleep would do me good. My mind wandered as I was thrown into dreams.

But when I opened my eyes again, I wasn’t in a dream.

I was in Hell.

Notes

Hello loves! I'm sorry I haven't updated this in fifteen days! I've been trying to catch some of my others stories up to this point! I'll be a bit better on updating more frequently! I hope you're all having a lovely holiday break.

Don't forget to leave a comment, dears. :) Thanks for reading!