Chapter 18

After what seemed like an hour, Sarah ducked into a novelty tee-shirt shop while Mark hid in the alley. He was, after all, a wanted fugitive now. He couldn't just walk into a store and buy clothes. What was more, his shirt was torn and covered with blood. Even if they didn't recognize him from TV, the blood would get too much unwanted attention. Sarah, on the other hand, was not a wanted fugitive and she had found an old jacket to throw over her shirt and conceal the still healing wound in her chest. The lull in the action gave Mark time to ponder everything that had happened to him over the last few days, and grief began to set in again. Now, not only was the love of his life dead, his daughter believed he had killed her. He would never see either of them again, he was all alone. Why was this happening to him? Just a few short days ago he had the perfect life. Now it was all gone.

Mark was snapped out of his wallowing when Sarah came around the corner practically skipping.

"Got us some shirts!" she squealed. How could Sarah be so upbeat? Maybe she was used to this. She was very old and surely had seen her share of blood and death.

Mark stared at Sarah's shirt in disbelief.

"I thought we were going for inconspicuous? Every guy between the ages of thirteen and seventy-five will be staring at you until we leave the city," Mark exclaimed, motioning to Sarah's choice of shirts. He knew he would be staring at her. In fact, he couldn't take his eyes off her chest right now.

"Well, they didn't have anything big enough for my chest, and I liked this one," Sarah exclaimed, giving a twirl to show off for Mark.

Her shirt was about a size too small and across the front of the black shirt was a neon yellow owl with his eyes directly over her breasts. The quote along the bottom said 'Hoot if you like boobs.'

"I figured you'd find it amusing," Sarah smirked.

"Amusing is not the word I'd use," Mark said as he tore off what was left of his shirt and threw it in the dumpster. "Oh geez, and this one's not much better."

Mark's was black with neon lettering as well that read 'I'm with stupid' and it had an arrow that pointed up.

"Sorry," Sarah half-heartedly apologized. "I'll take em back." Sarah pouted and Mark's annoyance waivered. What was it about Sarah? He just couldn't be upset with her. Not that seeing her perfect figure in a tight-fitting shirt was anything to be upset about.

"No, it's fine, let's just get out of here," Mark conceded.

"I was going for tourist couple. I think I hit it on the head," Sarah smiled, and Mark nodded in agreement.

Mark and Sarah walked down the street, arm in arm, trying to blend in. Mark tried desperately not to stare at Sarah, but it wasn't working. Her shirt was so tight that Mark could see the outline of her nipples under the shirt. Mark was again glad that he always wore his pants a little large, Sarah probably hadn't even noticed his interest in her body. Mark was also intoxicated by the smell of Sarah. He couldn't even describe the smell. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before, but it was remarkable.

Sarah figured they should look like tourists because nobody ever bothered tourists. They didn't want to be asked a million questions about where the best such and such was. This worked out very well, and Mark admired Sarah's intelligence silently.

As they walked along, Sarah's guilt overtook her, and she had to confess.

"Mark?" Sarah asked, looking up at him.

"Yes, Sarah?" Mark sounded annoyed, but truthfully, he wasn't annoyed with Sarah. He was annoyed with himself. How he felt about Sarah. He was also struggling with his inability to quit looking at Sarah.

How could he betray Jen like this? Why was he so attracted to Sarah and why now? He had always had a thing for Sarah, but his twinge of fascination with her had turned into full-on lust. When he was with her, all he could do was think about her body, how nice she smelled, how much he would love to kiss her. He thought that maybe it was because of his grief or maybe the blow to the head Jen's killer had given him. This sudden desire for Sarah must have a reason behind it. Either that, or he was some degenerate and had only now realized it.

"I have something else to tell you. I should have told you a while ago, but I thought you might get upset. So-here goes. Jennifer was my youngest sister." Sarah paused for a minute to wait for Mark's reaction.

"Jen? Was like you?" Mark was very confused. He stopped walking and stared at her face, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "We had Katie. I thought Asuune couldn't have kids?"

"No, she hadn't ascended yet. She wanted time to have a family. She wanted as much normal as she could get before she turned." Sarah looked down at her feet as she stood in front of Mark.

"She knew?!"And there it was, the other shoe. Mark was a little too loud, and some of the people in the crowd turned to look. Mark quickly lowered his voice. "She knew and didn't tell me?"

"Yes, she wanted to wait until after the new baby you guys were planning. She wanted one more child before she told you. We were gonna tell you, I promise. It seemed like you might not be able to handle it, so we just kept putting it off," Sarah explained apologetically.

"Oh," Mark didn't know what else to say. It was probably the right call. Jen always knew what was best for them. He wasn't upset with her for keeping this from him. In Mark's mind, everything Jen did was faultless. He still loved her the way he had for twenty years. Why did he have these feelings for Sarah now? Mark felt like he was going insane.

Sarah could see what she thought was grief creeping back into Mark's expression, so she tried to cheer him up.

"At least you survived. I'm not sure what I would have done if you had died when she did." Sarah was trying to give him something to be happy for, but it just turned out badly. Her attempt to cheer him up only ended up making Mark have more questions.

"What do you mean at least I survived?" Mark looked at her curiously. "You said they wouldn't risk killing me because I'm special."

"No, no, they wouldn't have killed you. It's just that, another one of God's roadblocks is that every Asuune has one person for them. Like their soul-mate or something. Each Asuune gets one and only one. Most times if one of them dies, the other also dies. Call it a broken heart, shared existence, whatever. For some reason, the mate will just instantly die if the other does." Sarah felt she was doing a better job explaining things now, but Mark's expression still hadn't changed.

"So I was supposed to die when Jen did? And the vampires knew this? Why did they risk it then?" Mark asked.

"Well, you're special, and Jen was to hurt me. I guess Sariel felt like gambling. If you had died too, no one would get you. If you didn't, he planned to turn you into a vampire. Either way, he would win. I just got to you before he could finish," Sarah said with enthusiasm.

"Geez, this just keeps getting worse and worse. So Katie is a Nephilim?" Mark asked, secretly knowing the answer.

"Yes, but let's just let her have a normal life as long as we can. After all this, she deserves it." Sarah's voice turned more somber as she spoke of Katie.

"Yes, I agree. I can live with her hating me, if she is safe. Someday, maybe she will find out the truth, but for now, she's safe." Mark looked depressed again.

Sarah put her hands on either side of Mark's face.

"You know I care about you a lot. If you need anything, a shoulder to cry on, anything, just let me know. I'm here for you. Anything." Sarah's expression was sincere and longing.

Mark's heart raced. He wanted to pick Sarah up and kiss her. Mark pushed the feelings down and tried to respond calmly. "I care about you too, Sarah, thanks," Mark said, trying to hide his feelings.

Sarah quickly realized she had shared too much.

"I mean you are very important to this war, any of us would be willing to help you." Sarah quickly recovered and started to walk on.

"Did you ever find your one?" Mark asked as he tried to keep up with Sarah's new hurried pace.

Sarah dreaded this question, but secretly, she hoped Mark would ask.

"A lot of times our kind go their whole existence without ever finding the one they were meant to be with. Maybe they died or haven't been born yet, who knows. The only thing worse than never finding your one is if you find your one and they love someone else. We only get one." Sarah paused as her pace slowed. This was clearly a sore subject. "Sometimes I think it's a punishment for all the bad things I've done. Or maybe God just made a mistake with me." Sarah was now the one looking depressed.

"So you found him-or her," Mark added quickly. He had forgotten who he was talking to for a minute, it might be a her.

"It was a him," Sarah replied.

"Ok, so you found him, and he was already married?" Mark asked, not realizing how serious this was.

"Yes, so it's just me for all eternity." Sarah looked down at her shoes again as she walked. This subject was very painful for her.

"Can't you just find someone else? Or maybe he'll change his mind. Maybe he is the one who made a mistake?" Mark asked honestly, but he just didn't understand how much this hurt Sarah.

"What part of one is confusing to you?!" Sarah asked angrily as she stopped to look at Mark. Sarah's anger quickly turned to guilt. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to snap. But seriously ,we get one and only one. There's no loopholes, no do-overs. We get one." Sarah started walking again.

Mark didn't completely understand Sarah's situation, but he understood enough to pity her. How horrible it would be to go through life knowing that your perfect match was with someone else. If they truly were stuck with only one, his perfect match was now dead. His feelings for Sarah, whatever they were, had to be a mistake because Jen had been his one.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence. Mark was dealing with his grief and confusion about his feelings for Sarah. Sarah was mentally punishing herself for disappointing God.