I come to a stop and look back. “Jason?”
Light floods the grounds, blinding my view of the manor. A gun fires, the shot echoing through the dark. “Shit,” he shouts.
Dropping to the soft grass, I lie still but call out. “Jason?”
“Stay down.”
Another shot rings out, and I hear him grunt but see nothing. “Shit,” he yells. I start to crawl back toward the gardens, hating how exposed I am in the open.
I reach the edge of the rose bushes and breathe in relief. Until I hear someone behind me. I flip over in terror, ready to defend my life. April’s hand shakes as she bends down and tells me to be quiet, her finger over her mouth. The small silver gun aimed at me reflects the light that sneaks through the leaves from the manor. Whispering, she says, “Shhh. I’ll free you, Sara Jane. I’ll free you like I freed Alexander.”
Begging for my life, fighting for it seems like something I should be doing, but when she mentions Alexander, I need to know what she means. “What did you do, April? Where is Alexander?”
“It will all be okay. Like your baby, my baby is in heaven. They’re safe now. Together.”
There was a time—before I met the boy who would change my life, before I knew what it was like to experience pain—when I used to jump into swimming pools without a care in the world. I would cannonball right in and hold my breath underwater. I could see the sun through the wavy water above. I could hear muffled voices just five or ten feet from me. I could feel the life leaving my lungs, but I would stay there—drowning—until my instincts would send me up to break the surface. Gasping for air, I struggled to breathe, but knew I would live despite the thrill.
My heart no longer beats. My words stutter as tears sting like acid from her confession. “My Ale . . . xander?” My baby?
“He would turn out just like the man who raised him, the man who tried to rape you. Are you so blind to what he really is that you can’t see what he will become?”
Her eyes plead with me for understanding much like my heart bleeds, thinking Alexander is no longer alive. I can almost see the woman I met that first night—scared, scarred, desperate. She’s frantic for me to agree what she’s done is for the best. Deranged. I think the drugs aren’t just affecting her. She’s out of her mind. The gun wavers when she looks up, and I swing to knock it away, but she moves out of reach.
“It’s not about them for me. It’s only about him.” My tears fall as I stare at her in horror, disgust, and disbelief. “Please tell me you didn’t hurt him.”
“Alexander is better now. His soul can be saved before it’s too late. He can live in heaven instead of this hell they’ve created.” Her lips purse in anger. Her tone is startling and hate-fueled, and she shows no remorse. “He’s a Kingwood, which means he’s evil.”
Was Jason wrong? Has something happened since Jason left? He may not be of this earth any longer, so I take in the pain and breathe in our fate. We were never supposed to last a lifetime. The words once spoken so passionately to the man I’m willing to die to be with again come back in a fading memory . . .
“Bring on your darkness, Alexander. Bring on your burdens, lighten your load, and let me love you.”
“One way or another you’re going to be the death of me and on that day I’ll welcome it wholeheartedly. Like you, I’ve lived a thousand lifetimes in the time I’ve spent with you—living. Loving. I’ll never be over you. I’ll never have enough of you. Stay with me. Stay with me always, Sara Jane.”
“I’m here. I’m never going anywhere. I’m here because of you. I’ll live for you.”
Leaning back to look into my eyes, pain courses through his brow. “No, live for you. Never me, because when I’m gone, I need you to live on, carrying me with you.”
“You’re so set on dying. Take it from me, living is so much better.”
A life without him is no life at all. Our love wasn’t made for this universe. It was made for eternity.
But then again, I feel the same sensation from hours before. My heart recovers, finding its beat again, and I know. Alexander is alive. I feel him in my world. I will fight because I am strong. Kicking April as hard as I can, her body is frailer than her stubborn mind. She flies back, flailing to her side as she struggles to breathe.
I jump to my feet and run to the manor, but I don’t make it far before I see the silhouette. Floodlights off the house illuminate the body I’d know anywhere.
My feet pick up speed. “Alexander.” I run. Faster and faster, closing the distance. Twenty yards away, I call to him, “Alexander?”
His voice rings out just before the gunfire. “Get down, Sara Jane.”
And another gunshot.
I fall to the cool grass.
A scream muted by my mind’s panic—his name the only one crossing it.
Alexander.
Alexander.
Alexander.
The pain I thought I’d feel doesn’t come, so I pat my body wildly, searching for the new wound.
Nothing.
No holes.
No wounds.
No blood.
The weight of eternity falls on top of me, arms wrapped tightly around, and I’m pinned to the ground. It’s just a whisper of a breeze that blows across my skin, but I hear it. “Firefly.”
One word.
One heartbeat.
Followed by another.
I lift my head, turn to the side, and find his eyes. Even in the darkest hour they’re the clearest blue. “Alexander?”
“Stay down, Firefly.”
He ducks, and my head is cradled in his protective arms as a commotion surrounds us, chaos broken out. Voices—male, female, familiar, and unfamiliar—swarm the grounds.
“Are you alive? Are we?”
I can hear the disbelief in his tone when he says, “I think so.”
“Police. Put down your weapon.” I keep my head down and my eyes closed. I absorb the heat of my dark knight and wait to return to that place where only Alexander and I exist.
“Breathe, Sara Jane,” he whispers. “We’ll be okay.”
When I open my eyes, our faces are just an inch or two apart, but I stare as if I’m seeing this handsome addiction for the first time. The quiet has returned, voices only in the distance. He lifts just enough for me to roll over and reach up. I touch his cheek and whisper, “You came back to me.”
“I could never stay away from my girl.”
My girl. It’s so good to hear his voice. See his face. I’ve missed him so much. “Are you hurt?”
“No. April said she killed you, but you’re here.”
“She tried to.” The crunch of the grass underfoot causes him to look over his shoulder. It’s hard to make the person out, but it appears to be a woman. “I need to tell you something.”
Once again, my heart sinks. “What?”
A flashlight shines on the ground next to us, and the woman standing close by says, “Alexander?”
“Is this where you break my heart?” I ask, ignoring her and not ready to hear the truth.
“God, Firefly, I don’t have the strength. You. Your love. You kept me alive.” Touching my cheek, he wipes a rogue tear away. I glance to the woman, and he adds, “My mother is alive.”
My head does a double take. “Your mother?”