Forever Kiss (9 page)

Chapter 11

"Elizabeth, can you hear me?"

Beth's eyes fluttered open, allowing blurry shapes to appear. She tried to groan but only managed to hear her breath whistle through her lips.

"I'm right here," Penny said. She rubbed her hand up and down Beth's arm. "I hope you had fun tonight."

"Fun," Beth breathed. She blinked, bringing Penny and the master bedroom in focus. She'd crashed on John during their date. Crashed so hard he had to take care of her. "John?"

"He brought you back to that house. I took over from there."

"He's nice," Beth breathed. She smiled at the memory of hearing him tell her that he was falling for her.

"I'm glad," Penny said. "I need to tell you some things, can you stay awake?"

Beth tried to nod but the pillow resisted her movement. She curled and relaxed her fingers until Penny held her hand. She squeezed it with the strength she had and mumbled, "Anything for you."

Penny smiled. "Your mortal body's used up, sweetie. Soon you'll sleep and you won't wake up to take another breath."

Beth noticed Penny was staring into her eyes, searching her for a reaction. "You breathe," she pointed out.

She nodded. "Yes, when I need to. Just as my heart beats when it needs to. You will have so much to learn."

"This is it?" Beth asked.

"It is, Pet, it is," Penny said and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I'll be with you to guide you and teach you, but you must be strong. There will be a struggle only you can face."

"What?"

"The nature of vampires— my nature and now yours— is bloody and savage. The first of us was a warlock who was cruel and merciless. He made pacts with evil spirits and creatures that were worshipped as gods to secure his power. The people he ruled rose against him and for all his power he could not stop them. His armies abandoned him, so he turned to his fey partners a final time."

Beth's brow furrowed as she listened to the story. She was sure she'd never heard it before, but it sounded familiar.

"With his new powers he could not be killed, for he was already dead. In that first night he ravaged the armies that laid siege to his castle, stalling their advance. Over the next several nights he put so much fear into them that they turned and fled, leaving his lands abandoned and forgotten. He'd won, but the price was his humanity."

"Dracula?" Beth sighed.

Penny's lip twisted up. "He is where the story comes from. The myths and movies come from somewhere."

"Is he dead?"

Penny frowned. She glanced around the room before sighing and saying, "I don't know. He disappeared long ago. Hundreds of years. In the time when I and my elder sisters met and decided that we could no longer bear the fickle and irresponsible nature of the men amongst us. Whether he was killed or went into hiding, none of us know."

Beth took in several shallow breaths, gathering her strength so she could speak. "You're not like that. I'm not either."

"I am, and you will be," Penny promised. "When the thirst is on you— when you feed— you must kill."

Beth's lips parted in a gasp.

"Yes, kill. If you don't you risk everything. Only the strongest and most willful can survive to become like I am. Like you will be. Of those that fail, some few may die. Most will become mindless savages, bent on one thing and one thing only. Feeding."

Beth's eyes widened at the thought. She remembered when Penny came and saved her from being raped at the frat party. She'd been savage enough to scare the hell out of her. She didn't know what she'd do if she ended up acting like that all the time.

"The magic of those dark beings is in you know. You have to be stronger than it is. You have to fight it and prove you are stronger."

"I will," Beth vowed.

Penny smiled and squeezed her hand. "I believe you. That's why I chose you. But there's more. Those urges will always be with you. For the rest of your existence, you must fight them. The only time they leave you in peace is when you feed."

"Feed?"

"Drink the blood of a living person."

Beth winced. "I don't— I'm not a killer."

"You will be."

"But— why not animals? Rats? Strays?"

Penny nodded. "You're so clever! Animals can stay the thirst for a while, but they will not sate you. Over time the thirst will grow and the spirits will weaken your resolve. I know, I've tried."

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Beth whined.

"Not even those that hurt you?"

Beth frowned. The people that had hurt her were already dead at Penny's hands. But that wasn't the point Penny was making. Would Beth be willing to do that to people that hurt her? Could she do that to them? "I don't know," she admitted. "I don't think I could."

"You will," Penny said.

Beth frowned. "Do you?"

"I grew up in a different time," Penny offered as an explanation. "We can deal with that when the time is right. Put the worry from your mind. Now you need only to strengthen yourself."

"Um, okay," Beth agreed. She felt like she shouldn't let it go so easily, but if that's what Penny wanted, she would do it. Penny was her savior. She knew what was best.

"Use anything and everything you can in your battle. Use fear and anger to make you stronger. Use your discipline and if you have it, use your love."

"I love you," Beth blurted.

Penny smiled. "You're infatuated with me. Perhaps it's love, but it's like the draught of a witch's potion."

Beth frowned. "A love potion? Like a love spell?"

Penny nodded. "You remember?"

"Maybe? No. Should I?"

"Your friend Crystal. You told me she put a love spell on your other friend, Stephanie."

"Accident!" Beth breathed. "I— I remember it was an accident. Steph… she's a witch?"

Penny nodded.

"Oh my god!"

Penny rolled her eyes. "Focus, Pet. You will remember everything soon. Think when they try to wear you down. Remember how much being here means to you."

Beth sighed. "I get it. And how tons of people want me to fight?"

Penny shook her head. "No, just me. I want you to fight. You matter to me."

Beth's eyes widened and she smiled. "I—"

"You're caught up in the spell of my blood," Penny interrupted her. "I don't have an excuse to justify my feelings for you."

"You have feelings?"

Penny smiled. "I have hundreds of servants, Elizabeth, yet I am lonely. It is by choice. Now I choose you for something different."

Beth swallowed and winced at the pain in her throat. "I'll make you proud," she whispered.

Penny nodded. "Fight, my sweet. Fight hard so that I can share all of this with you. There will be tough times, but together we will banish them."

Beth smiled and tried to take a breath to profess her devotion. Her chest trembled and her heart fluttered in her chest, stealing her breath. She gasped and panted at the pain in her chest that slowly faded. Her body ached all of a sudden and she felt like her muscles were cramping.

Penny nodded. "I'll have a surprise waiting for you," she said. "Rest yourself now and make ready. The fight will come tonight. May I sleep with you today?"

Beth parted her lips and then shut them, afraid to speak. Her last try had nearly killed her. She gave a slight nod, as much as the pillow would allow, and watched as Penny slid off the bed and pulled her black knit tank top off. She slid her pants off and left them on the floor before lifting the covers and sliding in next to Beth.

Beth smiled as she felt her Goddess's skin against hers. Beth was cold inside. Cold and tired. Before she'd either been warm or empty, now she felt a chill deep in her bones. She was so damn tired but she wanted to cuddle into Penny's arms.

Penny must have read her mind. She snuggled up next to her and held her before pressing her lips against Beth's cheek in a kiss that was tender and loving. Ironic, considering behind her lips she had teeth sharp enough to tear the throat from the most vicious of men.

"Rest, my sweet, I'll do everything I can to keep you safe."

Beth smiled as her eyelids fluttered closed. She had a nightmare approaching but she was ready for it. She had the armor of her dark angel to protect her.

Chapter 12

Beth's opened her eyes and stared into the murky fog around her. She peered into the charcoal mists, squinting to try and make out the figures that surrounded her. She turned and looked for a landmark or a light or any way out of wherever she'd found herself.

"Where am I?" Beth asked when she'd circled enough times to risk making herself dizzy. "What's going on? Hello?"

No one answered. The figures, if they were people, remained silent and intimidating.

Beth looked up, hoping to find something that made sense, but she was surrounded by darkness. No sun, moon, or stars. Not even clouds, although if it were dark enough she supposed she wouldn't be able to see them. But then why could she see the people in the mists?

"Okay, this is freaking me out," Beth admitted. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but I'd like to wake up now."

"You can't wake up."

Beth gasped and spun. The figures looked the same, shadowy and obscure. The voice sounded familiar. Southern and female, but harder and crisper than she remembered. "Crys? Crystal? Is that you?"

"What do you want, Beth? I have better things to do. I have my own people now, my own friends. I don't need you anymore."

Beth gasped and turned again. A figure approached, moving through the clinging fog until she could distinguish her  long beautiful brown hair from the mists that cloaked her. She saw a pale face with lips the color of blood and eyes that were cold and hard. Crystal, her one and only childhood friend. Her best friend. Her first love.

"Want? I don't want anything! I mean, I want to get out of here. Where are we? What's wrong with you, Crys?"

"It's not like I want to be here either. I've got better things to do, remember? I've got a life now, more than you ever had."

Beth gasped. "What are you talking about? What life? You're not like this. Even after— after—"

"After you stuck your nose in my business and got yourself raped?" Crystal sneered.

Beth stiffened. Her head jerked like a machine out of control as images of a boy, Chad, ran through her mind. He smiled in one and snarled in another. She saw him grinning. The smile of a wicked hunter after catching and torturing his prey. Chad's image shifted, melting and reshaping as his teeth grew sharper and the angles of his face sharper. Hair sprouted from his cheeks and chin, fine but growing as he attacked her.

"No," Beth whimpered as the memories flooded back. She shook her head but she couldn't stop him from ripping her clothes with long and vicious looking fingers. His fingernails had grown into claws, strong enough and sharp enough to shred her denim jeans and leave scratches on her legs and thighs.

"You asked for it," Crystal told her, distracting her from the horror story unfolding in her head. "You had no life and wanted to be part of mine. You wanted to be like me. But this isn't for you! This is mine! Stop trying to make my life yours! Go away, Beth. Just go away."

"No!" Beth cried. "I didn't want— I never wanted— You were my best friend! My only friend."

"Pity," Crystal sneered. "I felt sorry for you. You weighed me down long enough. You kept me from being popular. From making better friends. From being somebody that mattered! I found Hank when you weren't there, remember?"

Beth sucked in a new breath as a second figure emerged from the fog and stepped up behind Crystal. He towered over her and looked like his shoulders were almost as wide as Crystal was tall. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, but that did little to hide his powerful frame. Short dark hair matched the scruff on his cheeks that Crystal turned and rubbed her cheek against.

Hank was a biker. Beth remembered that now. One of five that saved Crystal from a monster. The same kind of monster Chad was becoming when he attacked her. Except when Crystal was attacked she was hurt and somehow mixed the blood of the monster with the blood from Hank and his friends.

"I remember!" Beth whispered.

"Good, then you can go away and leave us alone," Crystal snapped.

Beth shook her head. "No, I mean I remember what happened to you. To me—"

"And you know how pathetic you were? Excuse me, I meant how pathetic you are!"

"I'm not pathetic!" Beth shouted. "I'm not! I wanted a friend. Someone to be with. Someone to share things with. Someone who I could trust."

"I had better things to do."

Beth shook her head. "No, you always cared. You were nice. We kissed, damn it! Our first kiss, don't you remember?"

"You stalked me and forced me into it. I did it so you would leave me alone!"

Beth's eye glimmered with tears. That wasn't how it had been! Or was it? "Crys, we use to have sleepovers and sleep next to each other. We'd even take our clothes off so we could be that much closer."

"Longest nights of my life," Crystal muttered. "You wanted me to be gay with you so much."

"You loved me!" Beth shouted. "We were best friends and you said nothing would ever stop that!"

"I grew up."

Another voice from Beth's left entered the argument, "You're a terrible friend."

Beth jerked her head around and saw her Latina roommate stepping out of the shadows. "Carla!"

"Only worried about yourself and what you want, never anyone else," Carla continued. "Taking my clothes and not giving a damn about it."

"What? You offered them to me! Practically made me take them!"

"Yeah, I twisted your arm all right. You would do anything to act like a slut and get attention."

Crystal snorted. "Because I wouldn't give it to you anymore. I have Hank now. Hank and my pack. And Stephanie. Stephanie loves me unconditionally."

Beth eyes widened. "Steph's a witch! Because of you, not me. You put that spell on her when you kissed her."

Crystal rolled her eyes. Another figure stepped up beside her, revealing herself to be a slender long haired blond that slipped her hand into Crystal's. Stephanie, wearing her designer clothing, turned to Crystal and pressed her lips against the brunettes. Beth saw their lips part and had a glimpse of tongue before they parted and the blond turned to smirk at her. "You're so stupid, Beth. That's what we told you so you'd leave us alone."

Beth's knees trembled and she took a step back. "No! No, I don't— I didn't—"

"You're pathetic," Crystal said.

"Selfish," Carla added.

"A sad little loser," Hank said.

"And a cock tease that deserved what she had coming to her."

Beth gasped and turned to see Colin move through the fog and join the ranks of her friends. Or what she'd once thought was her friends. She shook her head. "You tried to rape me!"

"You deserved it," Colin argued. "Shaking your ass and only giving me a blow job because your pussy was too good for me."

"No! I—"

Another new voice entered the argument. It was softer, yet filled with malice. As it spoke to her Beth trembled. "You're running out of time."

Beth spun. Another figure stepped forward, but it remained cloaked in darkness even as it drew nearer to her. "Who are you?" Beth demanded.

"Destroy them," the being cloaked in shadows said. "Before it's too late."

"Too late? Too late for what?" Beth asked. She squinted and demanded, "Who are you?"

The mists parted, pulling back from the figure and revealing dark hair and a pale face. Beth gasped and stared at a mirror image of herself, save that the one in front of her wore a flowing black dress with a corset trimmed in crimson that presented her breasts so prominently a blind man would be drawn to them. Movement behind the vision of herself forced her attention to large black wings that unfolded and stretched out before tucking back in. They were so large she could see the bottom of the wings resting on the ground.

"Oh my god!" Beth whispered, the wings reminding her of Penny.

"Your time is past, move aside." The vision of her demanded.

Penny glanced between them. "What? Why?"

"They must be destroyed before they damn us to oblivion."

"Destroyed? But they're my friends!" Beth's eyes fell on Colin. She frowned. "Well, okay, not all of them. But he's already dead— wait a minute!"

"You are weak. All of you are weak. The flesh fails around us, there is no time. Step aside and let me do what you cannot."

Beth stared into the faces of her friends. Colin and Carla glowered while Stephanie, Hank, and Crystal spared smug looks as their bodies rubbed each other and showed their affection.  Beth shook her head. "No. No, you can't. I don't know what's going on, but this isn't right. They aren't right. Oh my god, why do I let them even bother me anymore?"

Her gothic counterpart sneered at her. "You can be worshipped as a Goddess," the winged Beth said. "We were once Gods among men, in ages past when mankind knew and feared the truth of the world."

"Like Penny said," Beth whispered. She turned to look at the others, her former friends. Were they her friends, or just people holding her back. People that kept her down and insulted her to make themselves better?

What else had Penny told her? To remember how much she cared about her. And that she was being tested and had to fight back. She couldn't give in. But give in to who? To the people from her past, or to the vision of herself?

Beth looked back at the dark angel version of herself. She was beautiful. Statuesque and perfect. She looked like the perfect mix of models and magazines, with Beth's face on her. Not so different from what she looked like now, she supposed, but different enough to be perfect in every curve and angle.

"That can be me?" Beth whispered.

"Move aside and let me tear them apart. Then nothing will ever torment you again."

Beth narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "If I let you do it, you have control. I'm tired of letting other people control me. What can I do?"

Her mirror image lifted a lip in derision. "You can do anything if you cast off your foolish notions of guilt and compassion. Free yourself and embrace what you can be."

"And if I don't?"

The winged Beth nodded to the pack of memories behind her. The people in her past, near and distant. "Then you prove them right. Your courage fails and so does your flesh. Nothingness is your reward."

Beth looked over her shoulder and saw Crystal staring back at her with contempt in her eyes while Hank reached around to fondle her. Stephanie was nuzzling against her, nibbling on her ear and running her hands up and down Crystal's stomach.

Beth shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm meant to be somebody."

"Then destroy them!" the dark angel commanded.

"Destroy?" Beth asked. No sooner had she said it than she felt herself jerk up and forward. She arched her back, stunned by the impact. She spun and saw herself still standing there with nothing to explain the tangible force that had struck her like a warm ocean wave breaking over her, yet she felt different. She felt more solid. Bigger, but without being bigger. Heavier, maybe? Stronger for sure.

"Do it, or admit your weakness and let me do it for you."

Beth turned back to the others. Their groping was getting worse. In a few more minutes Beth expected clothes to disappear and a full blown orgy to begin. She scowled at them. Pathetic. She'd had enough of the group sex scene being handcuffed to a bed. But she'd never have to worry about that again. She was stronger already. Strong enough to never fear again.

"Kill them all," dark Beth urged one more time.

Beth nodded and curled her hands into fists.

Hank noticed first. He pulled away from Crystal and stepped in front of her, shifting before her eyes and sprouting fur while his skin seemed to ripple and turn into some kind of liquid. He hit the ground as a wolf and bared his teeth before leaping at her.

Beth threw her arms up to protect herself. Stronger or not, Hank was massive and she suddenly doubted herself. He slammed into her and knocked her to the ground, then snapped at her face and throat. She pushed back, keeping him at bay while she gasped. Her resolve was gone in an instant. She was stupid! She couldn't fight werewolves! They were too strong. Even if she'd just gotten her memories back she knew that!

Except Hank's snapping jaws weren't getting any closer. She was holding him off. Beth turned her head back to look at him and saw the rage and fear in Hank's eyes. Fear? Yes, fear. She could see it and feel it. He was afraid of her. He didn't understand how a little girl like her could stop him.

Beth smiled. It was time he learned. Time they all learned!

"You took her from me," Beth whispered. She pushed him back as though he were a child struggling to reach her. Beth's hand closed around his furry throat and flung him off of her. She rolled with him climbed to her feet, pulling him up in spite of the impossible leverage of someone her size lifting someone Hank's size. With one hand, no less.

Beth squeezed, turning Hank's growls into wheezes and then into frantic jerks as he tried to scratch and paw his way out of her grip. Crystal snarled and threw herself forward, shifting as she fell and tearing out of her clothes so she could come to her lover's defense.