So, I'm sorry that I didn't keep my promise to finish the story before 2009 ended but hey, what can I say that I already haven't? I'm also sorry to say that this story has come to an end. This is the last chapter of my Night World fic When Reality Takes a Rain Check.
And I guess since this is the last chapter I might as well add one of my many forgotten disclaimers for this fic. In other words, I'm not L.J Smith. I don't own the idea of the Night World but I do own Garrett and Anne.
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There was no way to ignore the pain. It was there and it was inescapable. A sting and then the sensation of having her soul pulled from her body hit Anne like a bomb. Oh my god this is really happening to me, she thought hazily.
Impossibly long, sharp fangs were piercing her flesh and their owner was drinking the red life that poured from the wound. Worse than that was the fact that her thoughts were not her own anymore. She had shared her mind with Garrett but that was very different because he was her soulmate and Kael was not. She knew that, unlike Garrett who just wanted to protect her, Kael wanted to kill her.
His mind was the dark hole that Anne had glimpsed in his eyes and now it pulled away and swarmed all her other senses.
And suddenly it stopped.
Anne felt herself wrenched out of the clinging, grasping arms of Kael, and pulled away. She collapsed with a gasp as her knees hit the unforgiving concrete floor. Deaf to all the other noises in the sparse and confining room Anne knelt there frozen in disbelief. Without thinking, her hand flew to her throat not wanting to feel what she knew she was going to. Her skin was tender as her fingers prodded the sensitive spot where teeth had sliced through her flesh.
However, when she took her hand away there was no blood, no way to tell that she had just been bitten and fed off of by a vampire. Then as she marveled at that revelation, Anne heard someone come up behind her.
She whipped around.
She first saw Kael, laying on the ground evidently unconscious where Garrett had no doubt thrown him as he freed Anne from Kael's grip. Then her eyes focused on Garrett who stood over her with a look of terror and worry on his pale and handsome face. Though his eyes were silver orbs and had fangs indenting his soft, sculpted lips he was the best thing she had seen all night next to when he had appeared in the doorway to this nightmarish room.
"Annie, are you alright?" he whispered hesitantly kneeling down to her level.
"Garrett," she breathed out and reached up to touch his handsome face in reverence. A silver line sung when the connection of skin against skin was made and he pulled her up. She did not wait a second before she flung her arms around him. "Oh my god," she said breathlessly, "you have no idea how glad I am to see you."
"Actually I do," Garrett said roughly after a moment of sitting frozen. Then he wove his own arms around her and pulled Anne against his chest. "I was so scared when I heard that you went walking all alone in downtown." He took her by the shoulders and gently shook her trying to get his point across. "What in hell possessed you to do that? After everything I've told you, you would think that you'd be more careful. Why did you go-"
Anne cut him of by putting her hands on top of his to stop his shaking. "My father is dead."
Anne did not waste time by beating around the bush for behind Garrett she saw that Kael was moving, shifting as he pushed himself up.
"What?" Garrett asked, blind to the moving vampire behind him. He put his hands on her cheeks and looked into Anne's eyes trying to find the lie he thought she was telling "Mr. Faysher is dead?"
"Yes," she said fighting back the tears that insisted on sliding down her cheeks. "Kael found him cornered by Zeek and his partner in crime." she watched as Garrett briefly glanced at the corpse of Zeek laying haphazardly in his corner then went on. "There was something about AB- blood but I didn't pay much attention to that part. I was still in shock from the news that a hostile vampire had kidnapped me."
"I'm honored that you think of me that way."
The two of them jumped and turned around to see that Kael had gotten himself up all the way and now lounged against the wall as if he had not a care in the world. Garrett quickly shifted so he pulled Anne behind him as he put himself between them. A wooden, broken staircase was visible that seemed to lead upward; that confirmed her suspicion that the room was underground. But, too late did they realize that the door was behind Kael who stood looking smugly at them noticing the same thing.
Anne I need you to get back, Garrett whispered in her mind.
She jumped at the unexpectedness of it but momentarily relished the feeling of closeness and safety she felt when his mind melded with hers. It was such a difference from Kael's dark mind. Then she refocused on what Garrett was telling her.
Let me get Kael out of the way and then run.
Garrett, she said objecting though she did not know what she could do if indeed the two of them fought.
Anne, listen to me! Garrett's mental voice sounded harder and more dangerous than before but Anne could not find it in herself to be afraid of it. He turned slightly to look at her over his shoulder for he was still standing with his back facing her. Even in doing so, he was still able to keep an eye on Kael. His eyes were strong but pleading, silently telling her to not argue and not be stubborn for once in her lifetime.
And no matter what I need you to promise to do what I tell you to do. Anne still hesitated in answering when she heard him whisper, Please?
"Okay, enough with the silent conversation Gary," Kael said snidely.
A shiver went up Anne's spine at the sound of Kael's cold voice.
Anne, I mean it. Move, Garrett said again with more ice in it.
"She doesn't have to go," Kael said in a silky voice. Anne looked at the other vampire with repulsion. He appeared like an ice prince out of a nightmare. Kael's green eyes had changed to pools of mercury. When he met Anne's gaze from over Garrett's shoulder she shrank back. He smiled his sickly sweet, fanged grin and said, "If she enjoyed my mouth on her neck it's fine by me. I've always been a lady killer and won't object if she wants more."
Garrett growled deep in his chest, a frightful sound, it did not seem to faze his cousin.
Anne reached out a hand and touched Garrett's shoulder. Be careful.
"I'll try," he softly said aloud.
"You are such a spoil sport," Kael said rolling his eyes and standing up to walk toward Garrett who stiffened and literally snarled at him. He went on "give it up Gary we both know that you haven't fought another vampire physically in years." He looked smug when he said his next sentence, "but I have. You rely in telepathy to fight your brawls. But guess what? I'm just as strong as you are in that department." He smirked, "You will lose and then there won't be anyone to protect your little... friend. So why don't you at least save your own skin and leave?"
"You don't get it," Garrett spat, sounding harsher than Anne had ever heard, "but then again I never expected you to understand. I can't just walk away and let you have Anne. It would kill me either way. She's my best friend and my life." Garrett looked at Anne who stood still, trying to disappear into the wall. She stopped moving when she met his warm aqua gaze. "She always has been and will be as long as I have air in my lungs."
"How lovely," Kael spat out, "now can we please just get on with this? I'm still hungry."
And he leaped at Garrett.
"No!" Anne could not hold back the scream that tore its way through her throat. She looked away not wanting to see her soulmate risk his life for hers. She tried and failed to bloke the sounds from her ears as she heard two bodies slam together and feral snarls rip the air apart.
"Anna-Lorraine go!" she heard Garrett suddenly yell both in mind and mouth. Without thinking, she skittered the middle of the room keeping to the walls with her eyes locked on the cement floor. "Garrett...." she whispered torn in two as she reached the dark and unstable stairwell.
"Just go!" Garrett yelled right before she heard cloth ripping.
"I love you," she finally whispered as she grabbed the door in a shaking hand and used it to push herself up the stairs. She flung out her hands trying to see in the dimness and not trip and break her neck. The wood under her feet creaked and groaned but it did nothing to block out the sounds that came from behind her or the guilt that she felt for leaving Garrett alone.
She burst out on to the landing running with a speed that normally she would not have when she heard a sound that made her feet cease to move. A muffled cry of pain followed her up and the sound of a body hitting a wall. She knew that voice, muffled as it was. Garrett. Anne turned slightly to look down the dilapidated staircase over her shoulder and bit her bottom lip. At the sound of another pained cry, Anne gave one of her own.
"I can't to anything!" she cried out at the unfairness of this. "Keep going, don't turn around."
She tried to convince herself to let it go but she could not and Anne knew why. It was not just some guy down there giving up his life for hers; it was her best friend since the second grade and her soulmate.
She moved then before the more rational side of her mind could comprehend anything and started back down the stairs. She slipped and slid completely unsure just what she was going to do once she got back into the hellish underground room. Near the middle of the rickety stairs; though, she tripped, falling down a few of the splintering steps. Her hands went out to grasp anything that was near and a gasp escaped from between her lips when she felt her skin catch on the jagged wood that made up the stairwell. Pricks of pain went up her hands and wrists. Anne paused and cradled her appendages close to her chest getting used to the pain so she could ignore it later. Then as the snarls and growls continued to float up to her ears, she remembered something.
Human books and movies got one thing right. That was Garrett's voice strong and determined.
Oh yeah? And what would that be? Now her own words came back to haunt Anne, the disbelief and skepticism stinging her, since now she saw how sharp she had been with Garrett.
Wood is the only thing that can seriously hurt us. Or kill us of the need arises.
Wood, wood, wood, Anne now chanted in her mind. She had plenty of that particular material what with her sitting on a broken down staircase as she thought this. Her fingers scrabbled over the rough surface trying to pry a large piece that she found away from its original place.
"Say good night Garrett," she suddenly heard Kael whisper, his malicious voice carrying to her ears.
"Garrett!" she breathed out his name and with one final yank, she ripped the wood from its nailed in position. She was up and running half-stumbling down the steps again with the wooded board flailing in her grasp. She had no idea if it should be sharpened into a point as the stakes always were in the movies but then she burst through the door and she could not care.
She glanced at the body of Zeek laying in its lonely corner then her eyes riveted on the two struggling figures that occupied the middle of the room. Of course, what she saw did not surprise her since she had imagined far worse scenarios in her mind since she had stopped her feet from running away.
In a split second, she took in the scene before her.
Kael's shirt was ripped away from his body and surprisingly enough he sported many bruises on his skin. Garrett was not as worse for wear as Kael was but he happened to be being pinned to the ground under his cousin. Garrett's silver eyes widened when he caught sight of Anne inching forward win her hands clinging to a decrepit piece of floorboard behind her back.
Before he could yell at her for not listening to him, Kael spoke again "You should have just left well enough alone Gary," Kael hissed through his fangs taking no notice to he frightened female who just barged through the door, "for now you're dead and my meal is just down the road."
"No she's not," Anne said startling Kael out of his deadly mindset and causing him to turn around "she's right here."
"Oh ho, look who's back for a second round," the menacing vampire said with a smirk.
The smirk was short lived for the moment his gaze moved from that of Garrett's, Garrett surged up, knocking his cousin to the side. Anne's best friend leapt to his feet and made to move towards her. Anne flinched at all the sudden movements but managed to keep the piece of wood behind her back and out of sight. However, before Garrett could reach her Kael darted across the room and bowled Garrett, over lunging towards Anne.
"Anne!" Garrett yelled as he was shoved to the side, in a direction he did not want to go.
"This ends now," Kael snarled grabbing Anne's forearms and being surprised when she did not fight back.
"Your right, it does end now," she said looking up into Kael's face. Before Kael could kill her or even question what she was saying Anne shoved something at his chest.
It started as a tingle then spread into a burning. Kael choked on the air he was breathing in and felt his arms and legs start to go numb from the fire that was coursing through his veins.
"What-what did you-" he tried to choke out as he rattled Anne's body in his hands. She gasped as she felt his fingers dig into her flesh and start to bruise.
"Do?" Anne finished his struggling sentence, "I just gave you what you deserved, for killing my father… a stake to the heart."
Kael could not respond for the wood that was now drilled through his chest was sending the most hated type of poison through his body. Anne let go of her make shift weapon, now stuck in the vampire's torso, and brought her arms up and in trying to break out of Kael's grip, but found that certain death had caused his muscles to freeze up and relentlessly grasp her limbs.
"Let go!" she exclaimed and suddenly feared that her bones were about to break. She was scared, that is until Garrett pried his dying cousin's fingers from her limbs. He was merciless as he pushed Kael away from Anne. He gently pulled her away so she would not see how Kael's handsome features turned wrinkled and dried or how his body collapsed in on itself as he fell back against the floor.
"Come on," Garrett said tugging Anne towards the stairs again while she stayed silent. He looked down at her when they reached the bottom of the steps and saw that she was not in any state of mind that would have allowed her to scramble up them again. With a short moment of hesitation, he reached down and scooped Anne up in his arms. She gave a sharp gasp when she felt her feet leave the floor but other than that, she was still quiet.
I can't believe I did that, she thought repeatedly as Garrett nimbly and successfully traipsed up the stairs. Her hands throbbed where the splinters of wood were embedded into her skin and the night's activities were catching up to her. Even after they got to level ground, Garrett continued to carry Anne. The old floorboards squeaked under his light footsteps as he made his way to the door that he had come through. He continued to walk down a dirty alley way that was located behind the building that now held his cousins body and the body of the their Zeek.
Well, Garrett thought to himself, that means I don't have to go and find the pieces of filth and kill them myself.
"Garrett," Anne suddenly spoke quietly from her position in his arms.
"Yeah Annie?" he answered hoping the sound of her nickname would be a comfort to her. She did not answer and Garrett did not know if she was even going to finish what she was about to say. He stopped in his stride and he slowly set her down on her feet. He let go only after he made sure she was not going to fall over. In a concerned voice he asked, "Anne are you hurt anywhere?"
She mumbled an incoherent answer even his sensitive ears could not make out which prompted him to reply, "Fine, don't answer me. I'll just have to check you over myself."
Gently, all business like it seemed, he put his hand under her chin to tilt her face up so he could meet her eyes. Before she could even think, he brushed his other hand over the spot where Kael had bitten her. It stung like a bug bite but other than that, it was all right. Vaguely, Anne heard Garrett heave a small sigh of relief as his hand passed over that spot. Then his hands drifted down her arms to take hold of her own.
Somehow, against the odds, she was stubbornly ignoring the silver cord that had sprung up in her mind that silently told her to forget reality and fall into an oblivion that consisted of Garrett's mind.
"What did you do here?" Anne registered Garrett's question as he flipped her hands to be palm up. She winced when she saw that they were spotted with slivers of wood mixed with blood. Immediately, she yanked her hands away from Garrett's shoving them deep in her pockets ignoring the flairs of pain that brought.
"What was that for?" he asked sounding surprised and hurt.
"It's my blood," she answered hesitantly, "I didn't want to tempt you because if you…." she took a breath bracing herself for how stupid she was about to sound, "If you lost control and- and bit me or something it'd probably kill you what with wood being imbedded in my skin and I could never live with myself if I hurt you-"
"Anna-Lorraine," Garrett said forcefully and reached out to gently grab hold of her arms and pull them from her pockets. "First of all, if I lost control just because of the smell of wood tainted blood would be amazed and disappointed at my lack of control. What with your absolute clumsiness and gravitational challenges, I have had my fair share of experiences with your blood. Haven't I told you that I've been stopping myself for twelve years from biting you?" She shrugged unsure where he was going with this. He went on, a sincere look flooding his expression, "Anne, you are safe with me. I promise never to hurt you like Kael did and I will never let you hurt me. And I'm sorry that what happened tonight is with Kael is making you doubt that promise."
Anne but her lip and turned away from him, pulling her hands from his grip once again. He could not see her face, which worried him.
"Anne?" he said quietly walking forward to see her clearly again. He stopped cold when he saw that his friend was crying. He immediately moved and captured her face between his hands. He traced soothing circles on her cheeks with his thumbs, wiping away the water, while he said, "Anne what are you crying about?"
"Garrett," she sobbed out, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
"For what?" he asked worried to no end about why she was weeping.
"He-he was your cousin, but... But he was going to kill you... And-and..." her voice trailed off
"Anna-Lorraine, what happened was not your fault," Garrett said rather severely making Anne wrench away from him. He regretted his unkind sounding words when he felt anger flair up in his soulmate's mind.
"Really? Not my fault?" she asked incredulously and looked down at her sneaker clad feet, "Well, it sure does feel like it is my fault."
"You are not the one blame here," Garrett said ardently and once again making her look up at him.
Anne could not help but notice how handsome he looked right then. With a little dirt smudged across his left cheek and what looked like a freshly healed cut on his forehead, he appeared disheveled and dashing at the same time. His eyes had faded back to there deep blue color they were before the fight and his vampire fangs were non-existent. And as Anne looked at him, standing at the entrance of some godforsaken alleyway, his head was haloed by the stars that managed to make their way from behind the rain clouds that had been present all day. What Garrett said next though got her attention away from pondering his looks.
"If anyone is to blame here, it's me."
"Why on earth would it be you?" Anne asked harshly, "I don't recall you stabbing your best friend's cousin with a rotting piece of wood and killing him."
"Well was there any other way to help me?" Garrett asked matter-of-factly after a moment of silent thinking.
"Not that I knew of," she answered slowly.
"So are you regretting that you saved my life?" he asked seriously.
"No, I'd never regret that," she said adamantly, throwing her hands up in the air, "but I regret killing someone to do so! And-"
"Oh Anne," Garrett whispered and suddenly she found herself encompassed in his arms. "My cousin was no more than a monster in the truest form. He is the kind of vampire that gives the rest of us bad names. The world is a better place without him. But seriously Annie," he said stroking her hair away from her face to look clearly into her jungle colored eyes, "don't beat yourself up. The past is over and done with. Now we just have to worry about the future."
All Anne could do in response was stare at him with a mixture of emotions fighting for dominance on her face. She shut her eyes, her mind a whirlwind of doubt.
So many things had happened in the span of not even two days. How had her weekend, no more than a month before graduation at that, turned into one that consisted of falling in love, being kidnapped, and running for her life? How had it turned from having a relatively good life with amazing grades, a talent for the piano, and a loving family in to having nearly nothing? She had not had a mother's love for some years, and now she had no father to love and to be loved by. She and her brother were alone.
Garrett traced a finger over Anne's lips trying his hardest to think straight while she was so close. The sweet caress jolted her out of her pity fest but still she kept her eyes closed.
"Annie, listen to me," Garrett whispered.
She slowly opened her eyes, feeling the now freed tears roll down her cheeks.
"Annie, you're still, without a doubt, the best pianist in the state of Illinois, your intelligence has not gone down at all and your mother and father were not the only ones to love you." He cradled her in the shelter of his chest. "Your brother loves you though he shows it with ridiculous names and crude jokes. However, I hope you will never forget that I love you also. And I can only hope that my love will be enough." He bent his face closer to hers so that their breath mingled and their lips almost brushed when he spoke. "You have to remember sunshine when it storms, peace when there is war, and love when there is heartbreak."
"Garrett," she started to say but stopped when her throat closed up with all the emotions she was experiences. It did not matter what she was going to say anyway for he kissed her.
It surprised Anne and for a minute she wanted to do nothing more than smack him, but she didn't. She melted in to his embrace and somehow found the strength to wrap her own arms around his neck, returning his act of passion with one of her own. The world fell away. The chilly alley, the dark surrounding buildings, and any worries that plagued her went right down the drain along with anything that was not just them.
How did you find me? she whispered to him with her mind. That question had been nagging her for a good portion of the night.
Easy, Garrett said, I followed the silver brick road. Or in this case a strange silver cord.
That is so cheesy, Anne laughed, smiling in to the clouds that surrounded them. Time was lost on her and Garrett, as they gave and shared comfort and whispered sweet nothings into each other's mind.
Eventually, though, Garrett managed to pull the two of them out of their personal heaven.
Why do we have to leave? Anne asked holding close to Garrett, trying to share his very skin.
He chuckled, I'm so glad that you're happy enough to whine at and strangle me.
Oh shut up, she rested her forehead against his chest. Aloud she said, "And if you don't want me to start crying again, I suggest you answer the question."
"Do you want some police officer to find us, in downtown Rockford, making out in an alley way not twenty meters from a building that was broken into-"
"That contains two dead bodies," Anne interjected.
"Fine," Garrett agreed unwillingly, "That contains two dead bodies."
"And you know, the way you say "making out" makes it sound so unromantic," Anne tried to look unhappy but in truth she loved how Garrett sounded when he said us making out.
"You know you like it," Garrett whispered in to her ear causing her to laugh and shiver at the same time, "you can't hide from me."
Anne brought a hand up to stroke the side of his face. "Oh Garrett," she pressed a soft kiss against his neck loving the way she could feel his quickened pulse against her sensitive skin, "I could never hide from you."
Garrett caught her stroking hand, brought it to his mouth, and kissed the back of it while being careful not to brush her cuts. "I never thought you'd be able to anyway."
She shook her head and leaned up to kiss her soulmate to overwhelmed to say or do anything else.
"I'm sorry to ruin the mood but we have to leave you know," Garrett whispered against her lips and in her mind.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she said, "before a police officer finds us-"
"No Annie," he said moving back enough to look at her without going cross-eyed, "I mean we have to leave Rockford. Probably Illinois as well."
"What?" She could not believe her ears and tried to ask, "but-"
"I'm sorry," he said so reverently that there was no way for her to think he was lying, "but for the both of us to be together and to be safe we have to go somewhere nobody knows us."
She took a breath trying to reign in her emotions. Lately they had all been running amuck. "Fine."
"Anne, I said I was sorry but it's the only thing- wait." he stopped in his vehement apology, "Did you just say-"
"Fine?" Anne finished with him. "As a matter of fact, I did. If that's what it takes to keep you in my life and the both of us alive then I will do it." She paused biting her bottom lip, "But could we maybe wait till my father is buried? That's all I want. My Aunt Cindy, who lives in Rockton, can be in charge of selling the house and possessions." She paused seeing who and what she would have to leave behind. "But my brother-"
"Will most likely be coming with us," Garrett said surprising her into silence. She was speechless but Garrett knew what question was on the tip of her tongue. "Well it seems that he's fallen in love with a witch and the only choice they have is the same as ours."
"A witch?" she repeated lamely trying to think through what he said. "You don't mean.... Lerata? She's a witch?"
Garrett's answer was a just a grin that caused her to kiss him one last time.
So then they went, disappearing into the dark streets of Rockford, a city that held many memories for the both of them. Anne knew she was going to miss it dearly. It was her home, the place of her birth, the location of her mother's grave... everything.
But she couldn't find it in herself to be bitter about this coming Journey. Anne saw it as an opportunity to grow, in life, in knowledge, and in love.
******Author's Note*******
*Tears* I can't believe it's finished.
This story has taken up the good portion of a year of my life and now it's done. WOW. I feel kind of empty. What a way to start a new year and end Winter Break....
I want to thank each and everyone of you that read this, favorited this, or put the story on their alert lists. There is no way to show my gratitude to all of you whose patience you showed me and encouragement that I recieved.
YOU GUYS FREAKEN ROCK MY WORLD!!!!!!!!
Okay... now that that's out of my system I have some good and bad news.
Bad: There will not be a sequel to this particular story but I might write some little extra things pertaining to Garrett and Anne's life before WRTARC took place. (ok so that's not ALL bad news)
Good: I will be writing another Night World Series fic. But before I get started I need all of you readers, who haven't already, to go to my profile and vote for what type of Nighter you want to be part of the soulmate couple. (i.e. Werewolf, Vampire, Witch)
So once again, thank you.
Yours Truly,
Irayana