I storm out of the living room, absolutely LIVID with Maizie!!
I lean against the wall trying to catch my breath and calm myself down while I wait for River to catch up with me. That woman makes me so angry!! She was supposed to set up a little tiff - an argument ... not one of our old performances for everyone to watch, especially not my boys!!
Fudge and I think she nearly got me too - I felt her starting to mess in my head again!! I dread to think what she might have done while she was in there!! I don't think she actually managed to do anything, I don't feel any different, but would I even know? I'm just glad that Jazz was there to stop her again - but one of these days I'm not going to be so lucky and I dread to think about what she might do if she gets the opportunity!
She is vindictive enough to try and ruin me completely and I'm scared she will get into my head and make me do something that I don't want to do. She would use her vampberry abilities to nobble me, I think she'd do anything to hurt me and get back at me for choosing Lilly instead of her, she has proved that by hiding River from me in spite!!
She has thrown Lilly at me so many times over the past nine months, it's not funny anymore!! For me this was all dead and buried over twenty years ago! She's acting like it was just yesterday and it is ridiculous!! She's dredging up a load of old feeling that I really don't want to be feeling any more. She has brought it all back, reminding me of just how awful my life was back then, how horrible I felt and how much I hated myself at the time.
As soon as this nightmare is over and the boys are back home, I will never have to step foot in this place again, I won't have to see Maizie ever again and that can not come quick enough for me!!! She is one of the reasons why I can't come here in the future - if Jazz wants to see me it will have to be away from this place which I know is really hacking Jazz off, but he understands why I have to do it this way.
The idea of the argument was so that I could storm out like I'm upset and River chase after me so we could get out of the room without Tapestry, while Jazz, Mulberry and Cosmic keep him there and amuse him so that he doesn't follow or come looking for us.
There is just one more thing remaining to do before we can get on with preparing the boys for their reappearance in town tomorrow. Something that Tapestry can not be a part of and something he can NEVER find out!! I really am not looking forward to this because River doesn't even know what is coming yet and I know he really is not going to like it one little bit!!
I HATE all of this deception.
River grabs my arm suddenly, making me open my eyes and I stand up to face him, I'd been so wrapped up in my own thoughts I had not even heard him coming.
"Dad?! What the hell was all that about in there ... please tell me you DON'T still have feelings for THAT woman!!" he looks pretty angry.
Great this is all I need! Did they not see that we were actually fighting in there?!
"Yeah ... just one - HATRED!!"
I try to laugh it off hoping he will not want to talk about it for too long. I'm a little embarrassed that Tapestry and River saw us like that, but she wound me up to the point where I just snapped straight back into it. Maizie always used to get me when she told me not to walk away from her. I'm not really sure why but it always used to make me see red because I always used to try to walk away from the arguments that she started but I rarely ever managed to.
"THAT woman as you call her, is still your Mother at the end of the day River. I know you are not very happy with her right now but you shouldn't really be talking about her like that!" I frown at him. It doesn't really matter what she's done, she is still his Mother, you only ever get one and I would never let the triplets talk about Lilly that way, not that they ever have cause too!
"No!! she has NEVER been my Mother and I don't need a lecture off you about what I should and shouldn't call her!!" he laughs sarcastically "and DON'T you get trying to change the subject either!!" he snaps at me "You two were FLIRTING with each other, even Tap saw it!!"
"NO!! She was the only one flirting and playing games ... Look, we used to fight like that all the time, even worse, we used to smash our room up regularly, she just loves to throw things especially at me!!" I laugh remembering the state our room used to get into sometimes, she used to smash everything up using me as target practice. "She was just winding me up in there, trying to remind me of something I'd really much rather forget!!"
"Trying to remind you of what?" I can see he's getting irritated. "I know she still loves you ... please tell me you don't feel the same way!!"
"No River, I'm sorry but I've NEVER remotely loved your Mother, most of the time I didn't even like her. I've loved Lilly probably from the very first day she walked into our boarding school ... your Mother, she was just a distraction like the string of other girlfriends that I had when I was your age because Lilly was with Cosmic - they all knew how I felt about Lilly, Maizie was just stupid enough to think she could change me!!"
"That still doesn't tell me what she was trying to remind you of!!"
I stare at him for a moment, I wish I hadn't said that now!! This really isn't something I should be telling my son especially about his own Mother. I get the feeling he isn't going to give up until he gets an answer out of me that he is satisfied with. I already feel like I know him pretty well, even though this is only the third time that I've actually seen him face to face I've spent the last nine months talking to him on the phone virtually every day and while we have spoken about a lot of things - one subject we haven't touched on is mine and his mothers relationship.
"Maizie was by far the worst of my girlfriends even though she lasted for over 3 years and there was only two reasons why she lasted so long, she was a very good distraction because she was constantly on my back giving me hell I hardly had the chance to think of anything else ... and when we used to fight, she used to go off like a tornado at the slightest thing and there was only one way I could ever stop her ... all our fights used to end the same way and it was the only good thing about our relationship."
River stands there scratching his head and frowning at me, he really isn't getting it is he.
"I made a STUPID mistake thinking about something the night she brought Honey to me drained. I didn't realize she could read my mind I knew nothing about vampberrys. We started fighting over why she had hidden you from me ... it made me think about how all of our fights used to end in the past ... she heard me think about it so every opportunity she's had since she keeps trying to remind me and wind me up with it. I'm really not sure why or what her game is exactly."
"Are you ever going to get to the point? Just say it!!"
"I hoped you'd get it and I wouldn't actually have to spell it out to you!!" I roll my eyes at him "She keeps trying to remind me about our wild bedroom activities that used to end all our fights - it was the only time we weren't yelling at each other!"
"WOW!! TOO MUCH information!!" he starts laughing "Next you'll be telling me that's where I came from!!"
"Well you did ask!! I laugh at the expression on his face for a moment. "Don't worry about me and your Mother I hate that woman even more than you probably do!!"
"Was I an accident?" I thought that was a really strange question for him to ask. I don't really know how he will take the answer to that question, but all I can do is tell him the truth.
"I think your Mother planned you, she stopped having her injection and didn't tell me!! I think a baby might just have been another pawn in her game, only I really don't know why she played it the way she did. She walked out knowing she was pregnant and I still don't know why she never told me. For me yeah I guess you were an accident, I didn't even think her getting pregnant was a possibility." I see his face drop maybe I shouldn't have said it quite like that, now I've upset him! "That doesn't mean I'm not happy that it happened now I actually know about you, because I am happy. I only wished I had known at the time because you would have been with me not your Grandmother!!"
"Maizie is actually starting to scare me." I tell him because I'm not actually sure that they realized what she was trying to do to me in there. "She tried to get into my head back there and it isn't the first time either. Jazz has had to stop her quite a few times over the past nine months - I'm scared of what she might do if she does get into my head and Jazz isn't around to stop her!!"
"I wouldn't put it past her she's a twisted cow!! I'll just have to make sure I don't leave you alone while we are in this place!!" he scratches his head and pulls a face. "I wish Jazz would send her off to another den so she is out of our hair - I for one would not miss her for a moment and I doubt anyone else would either!!"
"He can't, he's worried about what she might spill, you know how spiteful she is!! She knows everything which is way too much so he has to keep her close to make sure she doesn't cause any trouble!! She is one of the reasons why Jazz had to get this den closed down to keep everyone away from her and of course you know the other reason - he needs to keep Shadow hidden."
"Has she told you how and why she has become one of them?" I shake my head because she hasn't and truthfully I haven't even thought or bothered to ask her. "She won't tell me - just something else she hides." he laughs for a moment "Who named the baby Shadow?"
"Jazz did , it's actually quite fitting for him don't you think!! I can't wait to hear what daft name Tapestry comes up with for the little girl "
We both stand laughing for a moment I for one have visions of him calling her something silly, like after one of his game console characters, we're having bets at home on some of the stupid names he might come up with. Banana being everyone's favourite guess for a name because banana is Tapestry's favourite - if it's not banana flavoured he doesn't want to know!
"Come on we need to hurry up before Tapestry starts to get suspicious because we've been away for too long!"
I start walking down the cold dingy corridor, following River who knows the way a lot better than I do, if I am to lead the way I will probably get us lost. It doesn't matter how many times I come into this place I really can not stand or get used to the smell of the damp and blood that hangs thickly in the air. I smell a lot of blood at work, but this is different, it's stale blood, it's enough to turn my stomach!! I really don't know how River used to spend so much time in this place. Suddenly River grabs my arm.
"Dad wait!!" he says as he pulls me back a little to a door we have just walked past. "I just want to check on something."
He pulls a brick out of the wall and reaches into the hole and pulls out a key before he replaces the brick. He unlocks the door and pulls me through it quickly and closing it behind us quietly. I hear him laughing. The room is pitch black and I can hardly see a thing so I'm wandering where we are. There is a sudden flash of light close by me and I see River standing there holding a torch like the ones on the walls everywhere that provide the only lighting in this place.
He starts to light a load of small candles that begin filling the room with light and places the torch back onto the wall where he had taken it from while it was dark. It's obvious by his actions that he's been in this room before.
I jump at the sight of the body that I see lying on what appears to be a solid stone block. A very pale woman with dark hair. Her feet are chained and she has something sticking out of her chest. I walk closer just like River does. I find the sight alarming, he doesn't he finds it amusing so I frown at him.
"I guessed she would still be in here!" he laughs
This room is very strange and it starts to give me the creeps a little but I think that the body is helping with that!! Its only a very small room that has three stone blocks, a stone chair and nothing else in it.
River pulls a face when I ask him what this place is. He starts to explain that this room is usually where their drained victims are dumped until their bodies are disposed of - buried within the warehouse grounds. He thinks that probably everyone who has ever mysteriously disappeared without a trace from Sugar Valley is probably buried within the warehouse grounds somewhere. He said that this is where Tapestry and Honey were probably destined to end up if he hadn't stumbled across them and Jazz hadn't been my friend - this knocks me sick for a moment thinking about what could have happened.
"So who is she?" I ask staring down at the lifeless body wandering why if she's faded why is she chained and why does she not smell, she doesn't appear to be rotting.
"That is Celeste - Jazz's wife - I KNEW he wouldn't be able to dispose of her!!"
River runs his hand over her face and arm like he's feeling her skin then starts knocking her arm like a door and the sound that comes back really surprises me - it sounds like she is solid. I stare down at her face and can't help but notice how attractive she is, but she is wearing the strangest clothes that I've ever seen.
"How old would you say she is?" he smirks at me. I tell him I think she's probably in her early thirty's and he starts howling at me hysterically. "More like six hundred and thirty!!" he carries on laughing at me. I tell him to stop being stupid "Straight up - she is over six hundred years old - all of the originals are, I've met some who are even older ... Dad you do know vampires live FOREVER don't you - they don't die of old age or illness, they have to be killed. Shadow and Jazz could very well be still here in another six hundred years time!!" I just sit there wide eyed, I knew they lived a lot longer than we did, but not literally forever!!
"Do you have your flash light?" he asks me so I take it out of my pocket and hand it too him and watch as he shines the light into her open eyes to check her pupils. "Fixed and dilated" he mumbles "Look you would think she has faded wouldn't you!"
I lean over and look at what he's trying to show me. I can see they are fixed and dilated but I can't help but notice her strange eyes which distracts and confuses me. I sit down on the stone chair in the corner of the room as I continue to stare at her wandering why Shadow has those eyes but none of the other vampberrys do.
"She has the same eyes as Shadow ... they are the strangest eyes that I've ever seen!"
"Really!?" River glances up at me and I can see he is really surprised "Celeste in an original, a vampire not a vampberry - she is not a berry I'm not sure you can see - black hair, white skin - red eyes. Those eyes are unique to original vampires, all originals have them." he smiles at me "Fudge, Jazz guessed right ... Shadow is an original vampberry ... the FIRST original vampberry ... he is going to be a whole heap of trouble while he's growing up!!"
I don't really understand what he means by Shadow being trouble when he grows up. I have tried not to get too involved with the boy as much as it hurts, even though he is my first Grandson. He's a vampberry and can not be a part of our lives. It is killing me that I am having to pretend he doesn't exist - In fact he won't exist to me very soon when this nightmare is all over once Jazz has wiped him from my memories and rewritten him in as fading at birth. I will believe the lies that I have to tell Tapestry. I have had too many sleepless nights over this situation and wiping the boy from my memory is the only way that I can live with myself. I have had River hidden from me his entire life, I know exactly how it feels, there is NOW WAY that I could knowingly do that to Tapestry ... hide his son from him, but we have no other choice, for Tapestry's sake.
"Absolutely nothing ... its quite extraordinary!" River has continued to check the vampire over while I've been lost in my own thoughts.
"So she is not faded even though she looks it?" I ask him a little confused. I really don't understand all this vampire stuff, Jazz has not really explained too much to me, and this woman is confusing me even more as I feel her arm and she just feels like solid cold stone.
"Faded no ... she's dormant, as long as that silver dagger stays in her chest she'll stay like this forever ... pull the knife out and she'll be as alive as Jazz and Maizie." he laughs then "I want to do an autopsy on her but I doubt Jazz would let me - not that I'd get into her anyway she's solid!" he stands there scratching his head.
He explains that he wants to find a cure for vampires and vampberrys and he's done a lot of research and experiments on their blood and venom, one of the reasons why he has spend so much time training to do autopsy's at the hospital, his other reason his passion being forensics which disappoints me a little because I would love to drag him into neurology.
I stand back and watch him for a moment and can't help but smile at him, I can see that the state of this woman is absolutely fascinating him and he wants to get to the bottom of it, he wants to know exactly what is going on with her body - you can see the passion in what he's doing.
"When am I going to get to see Ocean?" he asks suddenly
"As soon as we bring you up from theatre, we'll get Gravel to give us some space so that we can tell Tap about Honey and the twins and pretend to tell you about Ocean, Winter can bring him in then, providing Tapestry doesn't go psycho of course!! I'm dreading it!! How do you think he's going to take it?" he rolls his eyes at me.
"He's going to hate you - us - for hiding this from him!! Those babies in particular really cut him up, even more than Honey I think, you know how he reacted to Winter being pregnant! When he finds out his babies actually are here - I think he's going to blow - he is seriously going to hate me - I had to sit and watch him grieving and said nothing!!"
"I'll tell him that I didn't tell you either, I'll take all the blame for it. There is no point him hating and falling out with the both of us!! He is going to need you ... he's closer to you than he's ever been to Coral and Mosaic, and he's lost his only two good friends, Honey and Storm." I laugh suddenly "Babies aside, he probably won't talk to me forever anyway once he sees what I've done to his bedroom and music room I've moved virtually everything and he's going to kick off big time because he has to have everything exactly where he wants it and he hates anyone messing with his things and space ... I seriously don't know how you got him to lose his hat!!" He just stands there laughing at me.
"He has you wrapped round his little finger ... these tantrums he throws with you he does it on purpose because he knows you give into him!! He gave up throwing tantrums with me because I don't give in!!" he is now really laughing at me "You are not getting back the same boy who left nine months ago - he's capable of a lot more than you give him credit for and you seriously need to stop suffocating him ....."
He stops talking and just stands there laughing for a moment while he watches the candles that suddenly start dancing around like a draft has just blown through them.
"We've got company - Cosmic or Storm." he says laughing quite loudly "Cosmic spies for Jazz!!"
We leave the room when I've had to remind him we are dawdling again and need to get a move on. River extinguishes the candles and torch returning the room into total darkness. He locks the door and replaces the key and we carry on again down the dimly lit corridor. I glance at my watch, we have already been away from Tapestry for well over an hour and we haven't even reached our intended destination yet.
We go down two flights of steps to the door at the bottom. Jazz has converted the whole of the bottom floor of the vampberry den into a separate living area for his new little family. River again knows exactly which brick the key is hidden under.
"Oh well here goes" he takes a deep breath and smiles at me. "Even though I hate that my little nephew is a vampberry - I'm quite fascinated by the whole thing - I never thought I'd see a vampire baby - I just hope he is not going to grow up into a monster!!"
I can't help but think that smile is soon going to be wiped off his face when he walks into that room! He is going to find something that he is really not going to like at all!!
"Well if he takes after Tapestry in anyway he probably will be a little monster!!" we both stand laughing for a moment.
River unlocks the door and I take a very deep breath ... I am really dreading this because he doesn't know.
We were hardly inside the room before she comes flying at me
"SO ... WHAT is that colourless THING that Tapestry has got upstairs?!" she shouts as she flies at me. "It didn't take him long to replace me did it!!" she hisses at me quite nastily "I guess you two are loving this - especially him over there with the brat - he never wanted us two together in the first place!! Well he's got what he wanted now hasn't he!!"
Honey is yelling quite angrily - raging vampberry's scare me to death!!
Honey completely ignores River and starts to move closer to me. She stops suddenly with a jerk as Omri flashes across the room and grabs her pulling her back and away from me. I am really glad that he is here right now.
"OMRI GET OFF ME!!" she tries to fight him but he is too strong for her and she is getting nowhere. "Shut up Storm you jerk I wasn't going to hurt him you moron - isn't it time you passed over you are already getting on my nerves!!" she shouts.
Fudge I don't think I'm ever going to get used to knowing Cosmic and Storm are lurking around.
"Honey calm down please!!" Omri says to her quietly, she turns to glare at him.
"You can shut up too Omri!! Where is Jazz? Go and fetch him - I'm sick of being shut up down here with that squealing brat!!"
Omri tries to reason with her but he is not getting anywhere, she is ripping shreds out of him and he just stands there and takes it, he's even laughing at her as she yells at him. I know she is hard to handle, Jazz has told me that they are having a right nightmare with her.
It really breaks my heart to see what Honey has turned into, and I know it is really upsetting Sunny. Firstly she is now one of them, a blood sucking creatures - that we can cope with like we do now with Jazz. It is mainly the fact that she is really not herself anymore, she is so far removed from the sweet little girl that she used to be.
Jazz says that Honey has lost ALL of her mortal emotions, she has now become an evil cold hearted monster in every sense of the word!! She has even turned on Sunny and she's emotionless to the point where she doesn't even want anything to do with her own child. There is only one person that she is remotely interested in or civil too - Jazz.
"HONEY PACK IT IN!!" Sunny shouts as he gets up off the chair carrying the baby. "You have already been told who Crystal is!! Stop being a bitch ... Fudge!! You have lost all your mortal emotions remember so what do you really care about who Tapestry has upstairs!!" he laughs sarcastically "And might I remind you ... Jazz ... pot calling the kettle black!!"
"Like it's any of your business what I do with Jazz!!" she snaps at Sunny "Why are you even here anyway? Go back to your mortal world, you are stinking the place up!!" she hisses at Sunny quite nastily. "You can take that brat with you that you seem so attached to - give him to Tapestry - I don't want him here or you!!"
I can see the hurt in Sunny's face. One thing that has really back fired on us through all of this - turning Honey into a vampberry because of what she has now become. I think if Sunny had seen before hand what she was going to become he would have just let her slip away instead of trying to hang onto her.
"Well someone has to look after your son because you obviously aren't going to!!" he snaps at her quite angrily "You would just leave Shadow to scream the place down and the last thing we need right now is Tapestry hearing him crying!!"
All Honey can do is stand there laughing.
River just stands there staring at Honey with his mouth and eyes wide open. Maybe I should have warned him that Shadow is not the only person he would find hidden away in this room. I should have prepared him, I should have told him the truth, I should have told him she is still with us instead of just letting him witness the horrible monster that she has become.
"Dad you said she had faded!!" River is obviously shocked and I can see he's getting upset.
"Well like you've told me - technically she has faded hasn't she, I just didn't tell you she is now one of them. Jazz thought it best we didn't tell you while you were away or over the phone, he didn't think you would handle it very well and you might have given the game away ... he knows how upset you get over the whole turning and vampire thing ..."
"TOO RIGHT I DO!!" he yells angrily "WHO chose to do THAT to her? Just look at her!! That isn't Honey - she's a monster!!" he is now livid like Jazz warned us that he would be.
"I'm sorry River!!! I should have prepared you before we came in here!"
"That is not the point!! You should not have brought me in here at all ... you should have carried on lying to me!! I didn't want to see this!! It is bad enough that I have to lie to Tapestry about his son - now THIS!!!"
Of course it was Sunny's choice to have Honey turned. When it came to it - it was either that or let her fade and Sunny couldn't stand there and watch her fade. Even though we had talked it over until we were blue in the face and we had decided NOT to turn her, but when the time came he just couldn't let her slip away when there was another option to keep her here.
As soon as the girl was born Jazz had to turn her, she never would have survived through the birth of the boy. Her pregnancy was a really bad one, the vampire baby had taken too much out of her. I was very shocked that both babies were born developed perfectly like babies should be. I didn't expect the girl to survive at all and luck had her coming first or we might have had two vampire babies on our hands, if she had come second by the time she was born the venom would have taken hold of her and she would have been a vampberry just like her twin brother.
"I'm sorry River but I just couldn't stand back and watch my daughter fade when there was another option!!" he looks down and the baby "I didn't think she would end up like this!! Jazz did warn us that she might not be herself any more but even he's shocked at how void of emotion she's become."
"So when are you going to tell Tapestry about Honey and Shadow?" River looks from me to Sunny. "How the hell is he ever going to cope with this ... especially her!!"
"Never ... we've decided it's best he never knows about either of them, we are going to tell him they have both faded." Sunny tells him
"WHAT?! You can't do that!!" he's not happy as he glares back at me "How can YOU of all people even think about doing that after what Maizie did to you?!" I can see he's getting angry and understandably.
"We have to River ...." he cuts my words off before I can say anything
"I'm sorry I can not do it - I am NOT hiding this from him!!"
River is getting exceptionally angry with me and I understand perfectly why. I reacted in pretty much the same way when it was first suggested, but once he calms down and hears our reasoning, I hope he'll understand why we have to do it this way!! I'm not sure that he can even look at me anymore as he continuously stares at the baby in Sunny's arms.
"There was me worrying that Tap was rushing into his relationship with Crystal too quickly and how he is not going to cope when her memories have been wiped away and she doesn't know him again ... " he yells at me "I thought that was your worry too - but it wasn't was it Dad!! Your worry was Honey still being alive!!"
I am a little amused by Sunny who hands Shadow to River probably trying to help calm him down a little. Sunny stands back a few paces and starts laughing as he looks from me to River and back again and mumbles 'oh fudge we now have two little orange nerds to contend with!!' I hadn't thought that this is the first time Sunny has actually seen River properly.
River glances at Sunny then just stares down at the baby in his arms and starts to cry. Jazz warned me that he wouldn't take Honey being turned well or hold it together very well when he sees Shadow. He suspects that Tapestry if he was to be told the truth would take it a whole lot better than River. Jazz also warned me he is over emotional and cries a lot which I'm just beginning to see.
"I DON'T like this anymore than you do River!! What sort of life is Tapestry going to have knowing that Honey and Shadow are vampberrys and we especially have to think about the other baby too - she is normal remember and she especially needs protecting from this immortal world!!" he stands there shaking his head while he is still really crying
"River when this is all over I don't want either you or Tapestry having anything to do with these creatures and their world. Tapestry has a chance to make something of himself and do something constructive with his life regardless of his disabilities with his music career, which he won't be able to do if he has his vampberry girlfriend and son hanging round his neck. That little girl, what sort of life is she going to have growing up knowing her Mother and Brother are vampberrys - she needs to be kept well out of this world, she doesn't even need to know it exists. I am scared that Tapestry is stupid enough to want to become one of them and take his daughter with him if he knows that Honey and his son are in this world!!"
River just stands there staring at me blankly saying nothing. I don't know how much of this he is taking in, or even if he is going to listen to anything that I'm saying.
"Then there is Crystal - what is that going to do to him, he's going to have to chose between them and I think you can see yourself that boy loves Crystal, it was never like that for him with Honey even though he might have thought it at the time. He would NEVER cope with Honey like she is now!! Would you really want him tied to this world and a vampberry?! Just think about what all this is going to do to him River? Besides it's what Honey wants!!"
"What?!" he looks up at me and frowns
"I think you can see that Honey is not the sweet little girl that she used to be ... she's lost all of her mortal emotions apparently - she is now a prize evil cold callous bitch who puts even Maizie and Lime to shame!! Suddenly she feels nothing for Tapestry she has lost all that, she doesn't even like her own Dad or child, she won't have anything to do with Shadow, Omri and Jazz are looking after the boy all of the time - One more thing - she is now bound with Jazz." he looks up a little shocked.
"You mean Honey and Jazz are ..." he starts laughing and he looks towards Omri.
"Yes River! Jazz is the only thing Honey does seem bothered about at the moment. Jazz didn't think it would happen when he turned her because he thought he was still bound with Celeste, but it seems their bind must have broken the moment that he plunged that dagger into her chest. Mate, I think you know how it works, they can't bind with two people and that bind can't be broken unless one of them is disposed of ... I'm not sure that a mortal / immortal partnership has ever been done or is even possible! Honey is not remotely interested in Tapestry anymore she's fixated on Jazz, so does Tapestry really need to go through the torment?"
River and Omri stand staring at each other for a moment
"Mate, your Dad is right - Tapestry knowing about Honey and Shadow will only ruin his life, he is going to be tied to our world forever when he doesn't need to be!! You also need to think, Tapestry needs to be kept well out of this world completely. If the Originals ever find out about him and what he is capable of in mortal form, you know they will take him don't you and probably his children!! If that happens there won't be a damn thing we can do about it!! We were seriously lucky that Celeste never got to tell anyone about him, next time we might not be so lucky."
"I thought Jazz has had this den closed down?" River asks Omri
"He has mate, but it doesn't mean that they won't come in the future - It only needs Tapestry to be here and one of them turn up and there is no hiding him once they have spotted him - he needs to leave here tomorrow and never come back for his own safety as well as everyone else's!!"
I think River really took in what Omri told him because his face seemed to soften a little, he has lost all the anger lines from off his face and he appears to be deep in thought.
"Omri is right River, Tapestry knowing that Honey and Shadow are still here is going to do him absolutely no good in the slightest!! So why cause him grief and keep him tied to this world when he doesn't need it - it's all for the best that he never knows about either of them River! We tell him they have both faded and he can get on with his life in peace with no grief or danger!"
"How can you even live with yourself Dad!?"
"I can't at the moment, but once this is all over Jazz is wiping the boy and Honey from my memory, he's going to rewrite my memories so that I believe Shadow was still born and Honey faded during childbirth ... I will not have to lie to Tapestry because it is what I will believe!!" he just stares at me blankly "Don't think I've made this decision lightly because I haven't!! I'm doing what I think is best for everyone especially Tapestry and that little girl!!!" he's now silent as he stares back down at the baby "Most of us are going to have them both wiped away - Winter, Mulberry, Me and I suggest you do the same!! Only Sunny is going to remember - he has chosen to keep it that way."
He stands there just not saying anything for ages
"What good is it going to do Tapestry to know his son is a vampberry - do you really want him to have to carry the burden of having to hide him away from EVERYONE especially his daughter, for the rest of his life? He can't have his memories erased like the rest of us remember ... It's best he never knows about them being here in the first place!!"
"OKAY!! ... Okay!!" he says as he bursts into tears again "I'll do it but I'm far from happy with this!! I want it all wiped away now - including THAT woman!!"
River gives me a look that I don't really like and I'm really not sure its a good idea that he has Maizie wiped away, she is his Mother. I get the feeling that is what that look is for, I think he knows I'm going to try and talk him out of removing his Mothers existence from his head.
"Don't you EVEN START over THAT woman!! It's my head and I want her gone!! You better tell Jazz he is going to have to do it today - because if I have to watch Tapestry cracking up over his faded kid I'm not going to be able to hold my tongue!! I want it gone before I leave here!! I want all three of them faded in my head."
River looks at Omri for a moment and pulls a face which sets him off crying again. "I'm sorry mate, but it looks like it might be the end of the road for you and me, I can't ever step foot in this place again!!"
"I can meet you outside, that's not a problem!" Omri says
The door unlocks and Jazz walks into the room.
"You lot need to hurry up, Tapestry is getting twitchy." he says after he's locked the door behind him. I'm not really sure why the door is being kept locked, it might be to keep Tapestry from wandering in here or to keep Honey in, I'm not sure that Jazz trusts her completely not to go wandering off and messing everything up by letting Tapestry see her.
He tells Storm that Crystal has woken up and he needs him to go and help Cosmic sort her out and to fetch Tapestry on the way because he is with Mulberry visiting their green pet. I am not really very happy that Tapestry is visiting Lime!! It amuses me the way that they call Lime their green pet, I suppose she is like a caged animal. I wander how Storm feels about them having her locked up here and calling her their pet as she is his Mother.
"He hates her Mango for what she's done to everyone!! He doesn't even blame Forrest for fading him, he blames Lime." Jazz laughs at me because he has just been listening to my thoughts. "He wouldn't be here if he didn't hate her - so you don't have to worry about him letting her out or anything!! Its stopping him from fading her that is my worry!"
Honey heard Jazz and she flew across the room.
"How long is this going to take - I'm sick of being shut up down here - that baby keeps squealing and he is driving me mad!!" she says to him in a completely different tone of voice than she uses with the rest of us. For a moment she sounds almost normal all but for what she is saying - the old Honey would have loved that kid to bits!!
Watching Jazz and Honey together has taken some getting used to. It feels very strange for both me and Sunny to watch. At first it felt a lot like Coral and Gravel, it doesn't look or feel right. My main worry for Coral is that when she is my age Gravel is going to be my parents age, he is going to be elderly and then their age difference is going to be very evident and he will fade and leave her behind and she is going to suffer. But I know it won't be like that with Jazz and Honey.
Even though in our minds Jazz is the same age as us, both me and Sunny have to keep reminding ourselves that realistically Jazz was not much older than Honey when Lime tried to fade him and he was turned into a vampberry. Jazz was in his early 20's and that is the age that he will always be, and now I know that they live forever, they are not going to face any of the problems that Coral will, Jazz and Honey are both going to be in their 20's forever. Sunny is quite comfortable with the situation and that is all that really matters because he is the only one of us who will know that Honey is in this world and not in the cemetery like the rest of us will believe.
Jazz is the only person that Honey will listen to or be pleasant to - he has her wrapped around his little finger, if he says jump she jumps. Realistically again its a very a good job that they have bound together or there really would have been no controlling the monster that she has turned into at all.
After a few quiet words from Jazz Honey goes off quietly smiling into one of the other room taking Sunny with her, without causing any more trouble.
Jazz takes the baby off River. He has really surprised me with how he has taken to the roll of playing Dad to Shadow - like a duck to water - he is obsessed with the little boy, which makes it a lot easier for me to leave my Grandson here with him. I know that he is the best person to bring the boy up being a vampberry himself. For Jazz Shadow will be the son that he will never be able to have himself but has always wanted.
They already seem to have formed some sort of bond, the only time Shadow comes to life is when Jazz has got him, the baby is always giggling when Jazz has him and I've not heard him do that with anyone else. Jazz thinks it could be because it was his venom that actually turned the baby into a vamberry in the first place and also the second dose he would have had when he turned Honey while she was still carrying him. He thinks that might have formed a bond between them but he won't know until Shadow is older.
"I hear you have been to visit Celeste." Jazz says between laughing at Shadow who is trying to bite his nose "You need to stop doing that little man because when you've got teeth its going to hurt!!" he laughs at the baby who giggles back at him. Jazz gives River a side ward glance "Well River? And you can pack that singing in your head I want to hear what you are thinking!!" River just laughs at him.
"Yeah I guessed either Cosmic or Storm were lurking!! I was curious, I wanted to see what that dagger did to her ... you need to dispose of her!!"
"I know I do!!" he looks at River thoughtfully "Cos is going to do it soon when I'm not around to stop him, he's waiting for a nice sunny day ... and no you are not cutting her up!!"
"We need to get a move on, we have a very big problem going on upstairs Mango!!" I frown at him as he face goes deadly serious.
He starts to tell us that Crystal apparently is totally silent just like Tapestry and he thinks that he is not going to be able to get into her head. He hadn't noticed when she was first brought into the room because of mine and Maizie's carry on. Tapestry has told him that she sees and communicates with spirits so he now thinks that might be what is making them different - vampires and vampberrys can't touch spirit minds so it makes sense that whatever is letting Tapestry and Crystal see spirits is what is stopping the vamps from getting into their minds. But he still can't work out why Tapestry can get into vampire and vampberry minds when Cosmic can't because they have tried.
If the vampberrys can not get into Crystals head to wipe her memories then we are in trouble. She knows way too much about the boys life over the past six months ... it's bad enough having to worry about Tapestry not slipping up and blowing this whole thing apart.
"FUDGE!!" River says suddenly "I never even gave it a thought - I should have done, because I know she's been seeing and talking to Storm!! That is what made Tapestry notice her in the first place, she started having a go at Storm for something he said about her." he pulls a really worried face at Jazz "There is no way Crystal is going to be able to keep the last six months of her life a secret - she's too naive and immature, she been homeless and isolated away from the world because she's colourless since she was a small child living like an animal in the woods. She's only just learning how the world works, we have got no hope of making her understand whats going on here or that she's got to keep it a secret!!!"
My head blows because I really don't think I can take anymore!!
Jazz stands staring at me, his eyes look almost like they have glazed over as he watches me carefully. I know he can read what is going through my head and I'm now struggling to control it. I wander if he can also feel my pain? All the time I've been down here, I've been trying to hold it together now the time has come ... I can't!!
My mind is running wild and I really can't concentrate on anything else, not even the problem we have to face upstairs, as I bite on my bottom lip trying very hard not to make a fool of myself by cracking up in front of everyone, which I know is coming and I won't be able to stop.
Jazz holds the baby out for me to take.
I shake my head because I can't - if I do I'll never want to let him go!!
I watch Jazz putting Shadow in his crib and all I want to do is cry.
My heart is breaking because I know I'm never going to see that little boy again!
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