Marie

Two years later

The streets of Paris bustled around me as I sat with my camera in hand. The City of Love was just that. When I finally persuaded my boss to send me here, I was ecstatic. The pictures I searched up online didn't do it enough justice.

I snapped shot after shot of a flock of birds drinking from the large water fountain in the town square.

"Birds? Really?" I put my camera down to scowl at Zeke.

"You're messing up my zen," I complained.

"There's a lot of stuff you can take pictures of around here and you choose birds. I mean, what about these old ass buildings? The hairy French people?"

"You are so rude," I laughed.

He was right though. There was so much more here but after what happened...my muse was gone. I ramdomly snapped more pictures of the town as we made our way back to the hotel. I couldn't leave here empty handed.

Later that night, I was flicking through my camera when I noticed something odd. It was the picture of the birds. But in the distance, next to a building, stood a familiar person. My heart jumped and my blood ran cold. I ran out of my room in search of Zeke.

I banged on his door until he finally opened it, looking utterly confused and on edge.

"What the hell is wrong with you, M?"

"Look at this. Tell me this isn't who I think it is," I said frantically. My eyes watered as I thrustedthe camera into his hands.

Zeke stared at the camera for a while, zooming in and out as I waited impatiently for his response. He sighed heavily and placed the camera on the bar, shaking his head. Anger boiled inside me.

"You can't tell me she's not there! Look at it," I said angrily. Tears flooded my eyes. I couldn't hold back the violent sobs that racked my body.

Zeke pulled me into a hug and I fought weakly to get away.

"It's alright. I know you miss her. We all do...but she's gone. That's not her."

I let myself cry. For months, I could swear I saw her in the corner of my eyes. I could swear that I smelled her scent. But no one ever believed me. I did not want to believe that she was gone.

I couldn't believe it. I never even got to see her body before they took her away from me. I just knew something was going on. I

refused to believe that I was crazy.

Zeke took me back to my room and tucked me in like I was some child. I stopped him before he left.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

He turned back and looked at me with those hazel eyes. So similar to my mate's back so starkly different. My chest ached.

"No...I think you're grieving. We're all grieving. I'll never claim to know what it feels like to lose a mate, but..I'm here for you," he said quietly.

"Where did Serana take her, Zeke? Where was she buried? Where is Alyson," I confronted him. He showed no signs of discomfort. He just shook his head.

I don't even know, Marie.."

He left, leaving me more confused than before. I wanted to burst out of my skin. I wanted to drain every person in this hotel. Instead, I listened as his door shut down the hall and snuck out of my bed.

I stared at the figure in the picture before I left. That figure was too familiar. I knew my mate. The faint point of a neat bun on the top of the figures head and the position of the hand on the figures thigh did it for me. My entire being told me it was her.

It had to be.

I opened my window quietly, making sure no one was around to see me. When I was sure everything was clear, I jumped down. The air whirled past me and I braced myself as I landed on the cobblestone street.

I lurked in the shadows as I creeped toward the spot where the figure was standing in the photo. There was barely anyone on the streets and I was grateful for that. I hoped that the person's scent was still there.

When I arrived at the spot, almost immediately, my nostrils flared. I took deep breaths to breathe in the beautiful scent of my mate. It was so strong that I couldn't control my primal reaction. I had been deprived for so long.

I frantically followed the trail of the scent down a number of alleys. It led me to a very shoddy looking building. It looked completely abandoned. The scent was still strong so I followed inside. It did not escape my notice that the door was unlocked.

The building was dark and damp. The smell of mold filled my nose, largely dampening Ivy's scent. I cursed quietly and searched the lower level finding nothing but dead rats and old debris.

I creeped up the stairs as quietly as possible. I was beginning to feel weird. Like I was being watched. A chill ran up my spine as I made it to the upper level. I could sense something but I didn't know what. There were no sounds except for scurrying rats and bugs crawling through the walls.

"Fuck," I cursed quietly, after stepping on a beer can. I kicked it across the ground in frustration.

The beer can did not go as far as it should have. My blood ran cold as the sound of a foot crunching down on the can echoed in the quiet building. At the end of the hall stood the love of my life. Alive.

"Ivy?"

I stepped toward her cautiously. She did not move. She did not speak.

"Ivy, please say something," I pleaded. My heart pounded in my chest. I was beginning to get scared. Something was off.

"Ivy.."

Suddenly, I noticed something even stranger. It was too quiet. The humming of her abnormally fast heart was missing entirely. She wasn't even breathing.

"What happened to you," I whispered quietly.

I jumped back as she suddenly appeared a few feet away. It was so fast that I didn't register her movement. My heart pounded faster when I saw her eyes. They were a deep magenta. Her skin was deathly pale.

She was very much not alive.

"Marie," she purred. I tensed up as she wrapped her strong arms around me.

Her voice was like silk. Her scent surrounded me. It was so much stronger than before. I knew now that it was do to this..change. I still couldn't understand how it was possible. She was a werewolf. From what Zeke told me, werewolves can't be turned.

"What happened to you," I asked quietly. She nuzzled my neck and breathed in my scent deeply. "Ivy-"

"The venom. I was changed. Neck snapped. Buried," she grunted.

A chill ran down my spine and I held her tighter. I bit my lip as her tongue traced along my throat. Her hands carressed me reverently, slipping under my skirt. I shivered under her cold touch. I was so used to her heat that this sudden coldness through me off.

"How is that possible? You're a werewolf," I asked in confusion.

"You can't just be happy that I'm alive, can you? No more questions," she said in annoyance. I tried to push her away but she didn't budge. Her teeth scraped across my neck. "You taste good."

"Ivy, stop. I need to know how this happened to you!"

Ivy growled in frustration before sighing heavily. Her shoulders hunched in defeat.

"All I remember is darkness after she snapped my neck. When I woke up, I was buried six feet deep. I was so fucking thirsty," she explained, clutching her neck. I could hear her swallowing back venom. "And I could smell you, Marie."

Ivy held my face in her hands like a glass doll. All of the feelings I held for her came rushing back. It was like nothing bad ever happened between us. All of the pain we caused each other was nonexistent. She was so close that I could feel her sweet breath on my lips.

"I needed to find you and I did. You nearly saw me a dozen times. I was too wild to control my thirst. Even with you being half vampire, your scent still called to me like nothing else. It still does."

Ivy smashed our lips together hard, making my body hum. Electricity ran down my spine. Her hands wandered all over my body like she couldn't believe it was actually me. I would be lying if I said I wasn't aroused. Here was my mate, assumed dead, kissing and touching for the first time in two years. I wanted to rip her clothes off.

I jumped as her teeth nipped at my neck particularly hard. I felt my blood trickle down my neck and Ivy's body stiffen into a stone statue. Her face turned cold.

"It's alright. It's just a little blood. It'll heal in a second," I tried to soothe her. She remained eerily still, eyes following the blood as it dropped down.

Ivani

"Ivy?"

I finally had her alone.

Her blood called to me like nothing else. A siren in the darkness. A beacon of hope. A morsel filled with ambrosia just for me. Only my tongue. Only mine.

I pulled her toward me hard and bit into her neck easily. Her screams were music to my ears. Her blood was even better. Like heaven flowing down my throat and soothing the ever present fire that raged there.

"Ivy! Please," she gurgled.

I ignored her completely. Ivy is gone. Ivy is dead forever. She will be too.

"What the fuck?"

Suddenly I was ripped away from my prey and crashing through a wall. I got up immediately and growled at Zeke. He wanted my prey for himself. He would not have her. Never.

"You promised to stay away from her! We gave you a chance," he said sadly. I didn't understand his emotion.

"You are gullible and stupid. Her blood is mine and I will have it even if I have to kill you."

Marie began to scream loudly, hurting my ears. I could smell my blood moving through her body and tainting her blood. I became even angrier.

"Try me," he growled.

His body contorted grotesquely. The sound of his bones breaking triggered a memory in my mind. Sharp fear racked my body. My instinct to run was triggered but I ignored it and charged him full force.

I kicked him through the wall before he change any further. I grabbed the girl and sank my teeth into her neck as fast I could, sucking hard. Her bones cracked under my strength and she cried in pain.

A loud growl was my only warning before teeth sank into my shoulder. I screamed in pain and dropped Marie to the ground. The searing pain continued as my arm was ripped from my body. I gripped the stump to try and stop the pain.

Those teeth closed around my midsection and lifted me into the air. He shook me like a rag doll. I could feel my body beginning to split in half. My screams went unheard as my upper half fell to the ground.

"Please stop," I begged, trying to pull myself away from the beast.

He growled, standing above me menacingly. Something in his eyes was sad. I took full advantage of his weakness.

"Z, please help me. I'm sorry," I cried. His growling quieting suddenly. "I didn't mean to hurt her, Z! Please, I don't wanna die!"

He whined and stepped back, looking like he was in pain. I smirked discreetly. My twin was always too easily manipulated. An idiot unlike myself.

"She's lying," Marie croaked, choking on her own blood. "Kill her, Zeke. She is not Ivy!"

He growled savagely and lunged towards me. Before I could take another breath, his gleaming teeth blocked my view. Suddenly, the agonizing thrust was gone.

As was everything else.

Marie

"I'm so cold," I whispered.

Venom no longer burned through my veins. Neither did anything else really. I felt so weak. My entire body was leaden and numb. I could barely see anything at all. All I could hear was Zeke's whining.

"It's okay..Just let me go."

I've heard a lot of people say that your life flashes before your eyes before you die. That you see a tunnel filled with light and you feel at peace.

They were only right about two things.

I was at peace, but that tunnel of light was nowhere to be found. All I could see was Zeke's large muzzle leaning over me and then the back of my eyelids.

And the second thing?

-o0o-

"Marie? Marie? Wake up! I have to get you to orientation sleepyhead!"

When I opened my eyes, my mom was smiling at me. Her perfect white teeth were gleaming, nearly blinding me. She pulled the covers off my legs.

"Get on up. Breakfast is on the table so hurry up before it gets cold. I don't need you complaining," she said.

I walked down the stares in confusion. I pinched myself at least ten times trying to wake myself up. It did nothing. Somehow, I had been transported back to my first day of college.

On the kitchen table sat a cup full of o negative, steaming hot. Exactly like the day I left home. I sat down and swallowed in one gulp before waiting for the next thing to happen. Three, two, one...

"Anna Marie! Get up here and make your bed. Just because you're eighteen doesn't mean you're a big girl now!"

I ran up the stairs to do as I was told, feeling an increasing amount of unease. When it was almost time for us to leave the house, I didn't want to go. I knew what was waiting for me if I went to this college. I knew who was waiting for me. Maybe if I decided not to go, I could change my entire future.

Even if that meant never meeting my mate.

"Mom...I, uh. What if I said that I don't want to do this again," I said quietly. My mother looked at me in confusion. No doubt noticing my sudden change of heart.

"But you always wanted to go to this college. You used to talk about it all the time," she said. "Your mate goes to this college."

A chill ran up my spine.

"Mom, I thought she was my mate but..s-she isn't the one," my voice trembled with emotion, thinking about everything that happened.

Saying it aloud made me come to the realization that I was completely wrong about Ivy. This..crush that I had on her polluted my mind and made me think she was the one when really...it was just her powerful aura calling to my beast.

"Oh sweety, I'm so sorry," my mom said, hugging me tightly. "You don't have to go. I understand how embarrassing that has to be. Before I met Jacques, I was desperate to find anyone to keep me company. This life can get lonely."

I hugged her tighter, remembering how I had to put them back together piece by piece. I held her close and she responded in kind. I forgot how little affection I gave my parents. Now I see that they're the only people I have in this world.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?"

"I'm okay now," I whispered, pulling away to look at her. I sniffed away my tears. "I love you, mom."

She frowned and cradled my face in her cold hands. "If it was a vision you can tell me what happened, Marie. I know you can't control them sometimes. I know they haunt you."

I closed my eyes and tried to erase the images of her head lying on the ground. Of my father's mouth hanging opened in a scream. It didn't happen. It wasn't real. It felt so real...

"Just know that it's not going to happen now."

My mom seemed to notice the haunted look in my eyes and nodded in understanding. She placed her hand on my shoulder and squeezed in a comforting manner.

"Do I need to know," she asked quietly.

Images of Ivy's lips stained with my blood came to mind. The feeling of my spine snapping under her strength sent chill through my body. It was so real that I could still feel it. The visions were always so real when it came to Ivy.

"You don't wanna know."

Fin