30 | Reminding Me

Seaside, California October 24, 2012

Lillian

THIS was not how I imagined this night would go. When I started dancing with Scott I knew I didn't feel right. My brain had turned to total mush; that or I was just a complete lovesick fool.

The past few minutes have been nothing but a blur. I remembered when Zach came into the classroom and punched Scott. Then all three of us were sprawled on the floor, my genius self thinking I could prevent a fight between the two of them.

It wasn't until Cel was rushing me to one of the restrooms that my mind was finally starting to clear. It didn't make any sense.

"Lily are you even fucking fazed at what happened?!" Cel kept going on as she furiously was using paper towels to wipe the blood off my neck.

My blood.

I knew Scott did this to me. But I just remembered brief instances of it. I didn't even think I was in pain. I looked in the mirror of the bathroom as Cel continued to wipe the remains of the blood off. Some had dripped onto the thick strap of my dark blue dress.

There wasn't even any indication he bit me. My neck was completely healed. Though my hair was now a rat's nest from tonight's events.

Despite the amount of blood loss, however much it was; I felt okay. Scott's blood had healed everything and even got my head clear from whatever fog was over it.

"God I am going to fucking kill him," Cel hissed under her breath.

She stopped wiping my neck finally; it was about raw at this point.

"Get in line," I muttered. "I'm sure everyone we know will try to."

Cel pursed her lips and sighed. She put both of her hands on my shoulders and locked her eyes with mine.

"I'm so sorry about all of this," she began. "Honestly, I blame myself. Last night when I went over to talk with him he was adamant about staying away from you because of this exact thing. I shouldn't have fucking gone over there."

"You were just doing your thing," I chuckled sadly. "Always looking out for me."

"Yes, but I told him to just admit his feelings for you," Cel explained. "The two of you were going to explode at some point if nothing was said. But I just hate that it ended this way. I know he would never want to hurt you."

"I just want him to know that despite all of this I don't want him to hate himself. What happened has happened. Nothing will ever change it." I cried. "But I need to tell him that."

"Alright. But I am not letting you out of my sight, got it?" Cel queried.

Giving her a nod, I peered down at the floor to notice she did not have shoes on.

"Where the hell are your heels?" I gawked. These floors were gross.

"Those fuckers were hurting my feet. Besides I didn't have time to grab them, Zach and I were too busy looking for you and Scott," Cel grumbled.

"Why were you looking for—" I began then stopped when Cel just looked at me dumbfoundedly. "Before all of this?" I corrected.

"I just had a bad feeling," Cel sighed.

We left the room and started to make our way down the hall until I heard the sound of doors opening and slamming quickly.

Cel halted me by latching her hand onto my arm. I peered over at her confused as she intently stared ahead.

"Come out and stop playing around," Cel snarled out.

Before I even spoke Isabel appeared out of thin air right before us, her hair and clothing in disarray. Earlier she was dressed up for tonight, but now it looked like someone beat the shit out of her.

"But that ruins the fun!" Isabel chuckled. She glanced over to me, her face contorting into a sneer. "I see Brandon couldn't even do a simple task."

"What?" I gawked.

Isabel started to giggle dementedly. "He was supposed to kill you, I mean seriously did those drugs not work?"

Drugs? What the hell was she talking about? Then it hit me.

"The drinks," I breathed and turned to Cel who was looking at Isabel with contempt.

"All I did was tell that girl to give them to you and Brandon, how hard is it to do anything?!" Isabel ranted. She turned away from us and paced around the hall as she continued to mumble to herself.

"She has gone complete fucking psycho," Cel whispered to me and let go of my arm.

I just stood there, a million things racing in my mind. And how everything that happened was not Scott's fault. But then another thought popped up into my mind.

"What do you mean Brandon was supposed to kill me?" I shouted at Isabel. "What have you done to him?!"

She finally stopped pacing and glared at me.

"You didn't realize?" Isabel giggled. "Aren't you supposed to be this all-powerful witch? You can't even sense that he isn't human anymore?"

"You didn't," I cried.

"I did. So now I will just finish what he was supposed to do!" Isabel hissed.

"Yeah, no," Cel muttered and threw her hand up, blasting Isabel into the lockers on the other side of the hall.

Cel stalked towards her, her hand raised as Isabel started to cry out in pain as Cel was now making her brain fry.

"Where is he?" I yelled.

Cel momentarily stopped so Isabel could speak, but she just started to cackle.

"It doesn't matter, because you won't be seeing him again after I rip you apart!" Isabel shrilled.

"Are you done being dramatic?" Cel sighed out. "If not I will just keep making your brain cells pop."

"Fuck you!" Isabel retorted.

Cel just rolled her eyes and started to fry her brain again. Then out of nowhere, Isabel fell onto the floor, the sound of her neck snapping made my stomach turn.

I backed away as did Cel when Seana stepped over Isabel's body towards us.

"Or you could have done that," Seana mused. She also looked like she had been in a scuffle.

"I was getting to that actually," Cel remarked.

"Before you do anything stupid Ms. Moone, I suggest you listen to me," Seana murmured. Seeing my widening eyes, Seana added, "I mean the two of you no harm. Unless you want to give it a go."

That was targeted right at Cel.

"Sure," Cel said nonchalantly.

"Stop it," I snapped at Cel. "Where is Brandon?"

"With my uncle out on the football field," Seana explained. "You two may go, I will deal with this unruly one."

I felt my eyes threatening to release a wave of tears. I couldn't even believe all of this happened, Isabel becoming like this. Maggie, and now Brandon.

This was all of Seana's doing. If she hadn't come back to Seaside none of this would have happened.

"Let's go," Cel coaxed, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Wiping the tears that now flowed away with my hand, I followed Cel out of the building, leaving behind the monster that started all of this.

Arriving at the field, I had no idea what to expect. The field was entirely lit up but was eerily empty as Cel and I hurried our way over across the field. But on further inspection near the bleachers on the other side stood three individuals, with another sitting down with his head in his hands.

One instantly turned to us, it was Zach.

"Hey!" he shouted at us and started running over to meet us halfway. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, we just happened to run into Isabel but she's been taken care of," Cel replied.

For now anyway. How long would it be before something else happens?

Scott lifted his head as we walked over to the bleachers. I looked wearily over at Mr. Petrescu with distrust. Something about that man did not sit well with me.

Even more so since he was Seana's uncle. How he was connected with the Hathaway coven made no sense to me.

"I see you two finally arrived," Mr. Petrescu murmured. "Now we shall determine what is to be done about this unfortunate situation. First, we need to address the fact that Mr. Aldridge here attacked a witch."

"He did not attack me!" I interrupted, getting an irritated look from Mr. Petrescu.

"Given the rules of your family's coven, he would normally be put to death," he went on, ignoring my glare. "If this was consensual then that is a different story, but Mr. Aldridge already admitted to his guilt."

"It wasn't his fault," Cel chimed in. "Isabel put something in Lily and Scott's drink that was meant to be used on her and Brandon."

"What?" Brandon gawked.

I glanced over at him with sadness. "All of this has been because of Isabel, no one here is at fault for anything."

"It doesn't matter," Scott muttered somberly. He was looking straight at me, his blue eyes filled with emptiness. "Being drugged or not, I still fucking did it."

"Well, I will put the matter to rest then," Mr. Petrescu imparted. "As long as we keep things quiet about what transpired tonight involving my niece's wayward progeny and Mr. Kaiser here."

"What do you mean to keep quiet about it?" Cel remarked. "We shouldn't report to the coven that Brandon has to live as a vampire because of Isabel's schemes? She should've been dealt with already when she turned those two men!"

"About that—" Brandon began but got cut off by Mr. Petrescu.

"The coven does not get involved unless one of their own is in danger Ms. Moone," Mr. Petrescu thundered. "If they were to know about a vampire feeding off of a witch regardless of the circumstances surrounding it, they would kill him without a thought."

"No one is killing anyone!" I shrilled. "Why are you even here? To clean up after your niece's bullshit?"

"Well, Francis and I were put at this school by the coven to watch over all of you," Mr. Petrescu remarked. "Years ago."

"I find it hard to believe the coven would entrust a vampire to watch over their future initiates," Cel put in.

"Ask your father then child," Mr. Petrescu replied dismissively. "Now, as I said. Let this matter rest and I will clean up the rest of it. Such as that classroom that was destroyed. Before I do, Mr. Kaiser wanted to have a word with you, Ms. Rezza."

I turned to Brandon, confusion building up in me with the way he was looking at me now.

"I think it's time we had that talk," Brandon admitted, his voice quivering.

THIS night had gone from being somewhat bearable to being the worst night of my life if that was even plausible given what had happened over the last few weeks.

Brandon and I stepped away to be alone while Cel took the liberty to continue screaming about Mr. Petrescu's inability to do anything helpful this entire time.

He led me to where the woods started not far from the school. It was a spot we would go to when we were together after school, just to escape from everything. Taking a seat under one of the large trees, he told me what had happened that day.

Up until Cel and I met them outside.

"Brandon you can't be thinking like that, you are so young and have so much life ahead of you," I cried.

"Lil, I can't live like this," Brandon reasoned. "I don't want to become a monster."

"You won't!" I insisted. "We can help and I'm sure Scott could show you how—"

"After seeing what he did to you tonight, I doubt I would be asking for his help," Brandon butted in. "I know it was an accident because of Isabel but my reasoning still stands."

Tears welled up in my eyes once more and I couldn't help but start to sob. Brandon had been pulled into this nightmare, and now he was choosing to just die.

He put an arm around me to console me.

"I'm going to make her pay for this," I wept.

"What's done is done, I have made peace with my decision," Brandon murmured. "All I wanted tonight was to spend the rest of it with the girl I loved."

I turned to him, more tears pouring down my cheeks. "Brandon, I am so sorry."

"Don't be," he replied and wiped my tears with his coat's sleeve. "We had some amazing adventures you and I, remember that summer we went up north to go camping?"

"Oh my God," I breathed and started to giggle. "You know that entire trip turned into a nightmare!"

"Well, when you attempted to climb a damn tree and fell," Brandon mused. "Then broke your ankle."

"It was a very bad sprain!" I remarked and pushed his arm off me. "We were very young and stupid."

"I think we still are," Brandon suggested playfully.

"If you are trying to lighten up the mood by mentioning how stupid we were at 15 it is not going to make this better," I chuckled sadly.

"I know, but I got you to laugh," he beamed.

I just smiled as he continued grinning.

"So, really late for this but since when were you a witch?" Brandon inquired, still grinning.

"That is a long story..." I trailed off. "I mean I've known my whole life but it was just a recent development."

"Do you brew spells and fly on brooms?" Brandon pried.

"N-No! What the hell?" I stammered.

"How about turning people into frogs?" he further teased.

"I will if you don't stop!" I threatened and burst out laughing.

"I hope we aren't interrupting anything," a voice shot out from in front of us.

Brandon and I both turned our heads to see Eddie standing there, flanked by Elle and Amberly.

"You weren't thinking of not saying goodbye were you?" Amberly remarked.

"To be honest I'm not the hugest fan of you but—," Elle mumbled but stopped. "You know what? Forget it."

"She means to say she secretly does care about you," I whispered, earning a laugh from Brandon.

"Thanks, Elle, and all of you for just being here," Brandon sighed. "And all of the fun times before, it's been a hell of a ride."

"And you still won't change your mind bud?" Eddie muttered, patting Brandon on the back.

Brandon started to shake his head. "No. I don't think I was meant to be a part of this crazy world all of you are wrapped up in. I say we all just reminisce on the good times."

"We can go down to our old spot at the beach!" Elle suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Brandon smiled.

Brandon and I got up from the ground, and as everyone was talking about gathering food and drinks from the gas station, I felt myself slowly wanting to just shut down completely. The thought of Brandon dying was something I never wanted to feel.

I know I zoned out when I noticed a pair of hands clutch my own, the scenery around me slowly unblurring to see Cel staring at me with uncertainty in her blue eyes.

"Lily it's alright, I'm here okay?" Cel coaxed.

I didn't know how long she had been standing there or how long I was caught in the recesses of my thoughts.

But everyone was still here. Now Zach and Cel had come from somewhere. Everyone was staring at me with the same thing I was feeling.

Despair.

"We are going to go down to the beach and make a bonfire, we will see you guys there alright?" Eddie called out to us.

"Alright, the three of us will catch up in just a minute," Zach replied.

Brandon glanced at me, but I just gave him a smile of reassurance to go on ahead without me.

Once they were gone, Zach and Cel just decided to sandwich me into a hug, nearly squeezing the life out of me.

"Guys, I know you are trying to comfort me but I think," I spewed out breathlessly. "I think it's killing me!"

"Sorry," Zach muttered. He actually looked hurt.

"Don't be," I sniffled. "But before we leave I need to talk to Scott."

"Are you sure that is a good idea?" Zach questioned. "Given what has happened, I think we should just let him go off on his own for a while to clear his head. I have never seen him this wrecked."

"That is why I need to talk to him!" I explained.

Sighing in defeat, Cel mumbled, "Well, go ahead and go. We will be waiting at the truck for you."

With a quick nod to them, I ran off in pursuit of Scott.

Would he still even be here? It was an odd feeling I had inside of me as I could almost feel that he was near. Something was pulling me in the direction of the parking lot, the music from the dance was still blaring away as my classmates danced the night away, oblivious to the supernatural.

Running in heels was not the best idea, but I did notice two men walking out toward the parked cars. As I approached, one of the men turned to me briefly before he just vanished into thin air.

The other never took his gaze off of me as I ran up to him. I don't think I had ever seen Scott so devoid of emotion. His face was pale and sinister-looking like he truly was the monster he said he was.

My heart was pounding still from running over here.

"We need to talk," I began, my words shaky. "What happened back there was not your fault."

"There is no justifying it," Scott retorted, his tone icy. "Whether it was accidental or purely giving in to what I am. It still does not change that it happened."

I started to shake my head. "No, I will justify it. You weren't in the right state of mind, neither of us were."

"You aren't going to let this go are you?" he asked condescendingly. He turned away from me and started to laugh to himself quietly.

"No, because you know I am right," I asserted. "You wouldn't have done this to hurt me or on purpose."

I reached over and grabbed his arm, causing him to turn quickly. Though this time his eyes were just endless black pits. I stared at him, tensing up not knowing what he would do now. But I don't think he realized all of his bottled-up emotions were now flowing into me; drowning me.

"Get out of my head," Scott hissed, startling me.

"What?" I gaped.

Scott grabbed both of my arms tightly, he leaned over me with malice in his eyes.

"Do you not understand how difficult it is for me to be around you without wanting to drain you dry?" he snarled.

"Scott you need to stop," I warned, I felt my magic start to surge around me, threatening to come out.

"All of this shit tonight has just reminded me of what I am," he went on, ignoring me.

Noticing his grip was tightening, I gritted my teeth as I used every ounce of strength I had to buck him off of me and when I did, my magic exploded around us, sending him flying backward several feet away.

"Goddammit Scott! Stop acting like you are this horrible person!" I yelled. "You trying to scare me away is not going to work!"

I stalked towards him, my fists clenched. He got up from the ground slowly, his eyes reverting back to normal.

"You can't hide how you are feeling," I cried. "I know how much you hate yourself right now, but you need to know that I forgive you alright?"

"Lily, I don't think you understand half of what I am feeling right now," Scott remarked angrily. "And I am glad that you forgive me, but that doesn't mean I forgive myself for doing this to you."

"Scott—"

"Stop trying to make this alright, because it is not," Scott snapped. "I'll be doing both of us a favor by just staying away from now on like I should have done from the very beginning."

He walked past me to open the door to his car to leave, but I raised my hand, forcing it to close shut before he could even get in.

"I am not done talking to you!" I sobbed.

"Lillian, please," Scott pleaded, his blue eyes holding the same amount of sadness as my own. "If I ever hurt you again I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

So many emotions whirled within me. So much so that I felt myself go numb, no longer able to feel anything. I couldn't break down now, not with him still here.

I looked away at the ground, unwilling to look at him for another second.

"I never wanted this," I heard him sigh.

"I know," I murmured quietly. "Goodnight, Scott."

And without another word, I walked away silently.

I didn't know if he said anything back, a loud wind had come from somewhere. With it whistling in my ears, it just reminded me of the storm brewing within me as the numbness wore off and despair settled back in.

I saw his Camaro drive by and I stopped in my tracks. Watching it intently until the lights of the car faded into the night.