Chapter Eleven-Jed

Once the vision ended and Kenna stepped back, she looked so vulnerable as she realized what had just happened. She brought her fingers up to her lips in disbelief before turning away from me.

"Kenna I'm sorry," I said, beginning to reach out to her, "I should have never— " but she didn't let me finish.

She shook her head and held up her hand to silence me, "Don't. Let's just pretend it didn't happen, okay?" She snapped.

Her words sliced through me for reasons I didn't understand and I let my arm drop back to my side. Spinning around, I left her alone in the dimly lit room as I made my way to my own room.

My eyes moved to the bedside table. I hadn't been back in this apartment in so many years, it must have been quite a feat to have cleaned all the mess up from that night and I wondered if the box was still there.

Unable to resist, I bent down and opened the small, white door to find Tara's memory box wrapped in heart-covered wrapping paper.

I struggled internally as I thought about whether to open it or put it back where it belongs, afraid the memories would be too painful to relive as I looked at all the small things she used to collect from our life together. After a few moments I decided I was being ridiculous and forced myself to lift the lid.

The first thing I saw was the dried out piece of lavender from when we went on our first midnight picnic together; one of her favourite things to do. I gently picked it up and began twirling it between my fingers, a sad smile playing on my lips. I never really enjoyed sitting on the hard ground with insects crawling all over the place. She used to virtually have to force me out the door each time. Now I'd give anything to spend an evening like that with her again.

Underneath that was the ridiculous Rudolph jersey she bought for me for Christmas. Chuckling to myself as I remembered how hard she laughed when I first tried it on, pretending that it was the best gift I'd ever received.

There was an old Werewolf shifter that got by selling knitted clothing. Tara used to buy something from her every week. Even though she never wore any of it, she'd take it to Agatha and give it to whoever needed it at the time. When the woman had this brown coloured reindeer with a bright red nose on display, she decided it would be perfect so she wrapped it up and gave it to me for Christmas. Our last Christmas together.

It was the typical itchy, oversized jersey you'd receive from your old granny on Christmas Day and I looked like a complete idiot, but the way her eyes lit up when she looked at me made wearing it worth it.

Sighing heavily, I folded it neatly and began placing it back into the box when something caught my eye; a photograph of Tara and I when we were sixteen. Her red hair was pulled up into a high ponytail with a pink bandanna tied around her head, her eyes were shut tight as she held her tongue against my cheek; something I'd not been expecting her to do as the picture was taken. My face was scrunched up as I tried to playfully swat at her, making it hands down the worst photo of us ever. She said she loved it, said that it showed the real us. Looking back now, I fully agree with her.

"I miss you so much, Baby. I'm so sorry about all of this," I ran my finger over the picture of her face, "I have no idea what's happening to me." Speaking softly into the darkness I thought back to my kiss with Kenna. I felt like I'd betrayed Tara.

Kissing Kenna felt so right at the time until I stepped away and remembered my vow to Tara. 'Forever and always' we used to say. A pinky promise made at nine years old that we swore never to break and I never would. She'd always be my one true love. I just needed to get my head straight and focus on getting this bond broken.

I was about to put the picture back in the box when I felt small ridges on the back. Curious, I flipped it over to find a small symbol scribbled in black pen in the lower left part of the picture and just underneath that were four words written in another language I didn't recognize, Greek maybe?

The symbol, which at first seemed like a plain circle, was actually that of a dragon with the end of its tail in its mouth. Studying it closely, I was sure I'd seen something similar to this in one of my mother's textbooks. The words below said, "ascholitheíte me ton diávolo."

Mom was a teacher. She held lessons at the Children's Home for local witches and half-witches that were interested in learning the history of supernaturals and basic level magic; that's how I met Delilah. I'm sure one of them would know what this meant.

Closing the box, I managed to lay down and slow my breathing by the time Delilah opened the door to my room. I heard her sigh before closing it and moving back to the living room. After the way she reacted, I had no interest in speaking with her at that moment.

**********

The next morning I woke up to the smell of steak and eggs. Stepping out I was surprised to find Delilah in the kitchen.

She stood with a green apron pulled around her waist and a spatula in one hand. "Good morning!" She said brightly.

I looked at Kenna for any indication as to why Delilah was so happy after last night's explosion but she seemed just as confused as I was.

"Super rare steak and two eggs for you," she said, placing the plate of food on the breakfast nook table, "and one cup of O positive, bacon and eggs for you," She continued as she placed a plate and glass in front of Kenna who said nothing.

A part of me wanted to pour some more champagne down her throat just to see her smile again, it was odd seeing how different she was when she felt comfortable compared to how closed off she was when she did not.

"Look guys, I'm sorry about last night. I know that I overreacted and that there's nothing between you two that would make you act that way out of your own, this curse is just getting harder for all of us. I'll be extra careful and make sure I keep my distance from Jed until this whole thing is over." She smiled brightly.

"Thanks, Dee." I told her, giving her a smile as I stole a glance at Kenna. It was obvious that she was doing everything to avoid looking at me by the way she let her long hair fall over her shoulder, blocking her face from view. I assumed it had everything to do with our kiss.

I attempted to make conversation to let her know that everything was okay between us, "You aren't eating?" I asked with a mouthful of steak. She just shook her head and sipped on the blood without touching the other food.

If I remembered correctly, hexbloods weren't permitted to consume any blood on the Island even though it was needed for them to gain strength and have full access to their abilities. I wondered how many times she'd actually tasted it in her lifetime.

I bit down into the delicious steak and it took no time at all before my plate was completely empty. Tara smiled brightly and took it from me as soon as I finished, meeting my eyes she said, "We good?"

"Yeah," I told her with a smile. Leaning back in the wooden chair, I pointed at Kenna and then towards the door to the bedroom mouthing, "We need to talk."

Delilah and I left Kenna to eat in silence as we walked to the bedroom and shut the door. She sat on the bed and tapped the space beside her twice, "Come sit. What's the game plan."

I sat beside her and put my head in my hands with a loud groan, "I have no idea how we're going to do this," I admitted, "how do we explain that she has to act like a normal person that's been living in a normal community of supernaturals? Even if she's able to pull it off she'll never go along with it. If my mother finds out about that Island, she'll never look at me the same. Not only that, she'll go get herself killed! She's very passionate about defending her kind and if she knew the type of activity that went on there it would not end well for anyone, she'd start a war for sure."

"Don't worry," she told me as she gently rubbed my back, "I've got a plan. By tonight, she'll be ready to meet your mother. Just one question,"

I looked to her, my eyebrows raised as I waited for her to continue. "Do I have to go?" She whined, "Your mother hates me."

"She doesn't hate you," I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders as she hung her head dramatically and pouted, "You both have very strong personalities, you're bound to clash at times. Come on, I need you there."

"Fine!" She sighed dramatically, "but today's trip is sponsored by you!" She stood up and held her hand out.

I chuckled and fished out my wallet before placing my credit card in her palm as she continued, "and it won't come cheap Mr! If I'm in charge of fixing all of that up," she pointed towards the living room, "it's going to cost you!"

Shaking my head, I laughed a little louder as I pulled her in for a hug, "Thanks, Dee. You're the best, you know that?"

"I know." She said as she stepped back and looked at me. "Oh. One more thing," I told her, "I kissed Kenna."

Her smile went flat in an instant and fire danced behind her eyes as she stepped even further away, forcing me to drop my hands from her shoulders, "What?"

"I have no idea what happened, one minute we were drinking wine and I gave her some of Tara's favourite champagne, the next thing we were running around the apartment like children and before I knew what was happening we were kissing. As soon as we did, I was pulled into another vision, this time it was so much clearer than the rest."

"It's getting worse." She stated, looking away for a second before forcing a smile, "Don't worry, it'll all be over soon. Let's just take it one day at a time and hope to the heavens that your mother has something of value to tell us." With that she left the room and began speaking with Kenna.