Chapter 49 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

Honey is standing there scowling nastily at both me and Lime mainly, Sunny she seems to be ignoring for the most part.  Us three mortals are like scared rabbits frozen in car headlights, stood in front of Honey.  One of us, even all three of us, being hit by the vampberry could only be seconds away.  Seconds is all it will take for her to fly at us and we are too weak and defenseless to stop it.

I am very nervous, now knowing how evil she is, remembering the last time she was out of her cage, and our last encounter when she went for my throat.  Only this time there is nobody in the room to protect either me, Sunny or Lime from her if she goes off on one, other than Shadow, which does not fill me with a lot of confidence.  He might be a vampberry like she is, but he is just a toddler, we can't expect him to protect us.

Shadow is really not helping my nerves by standing there hissing and snarling at her nastily like a wild animal that is waiting to attack.  I really wish, at this moment in time, that I was stood right next to him so I can hold his hand and hear exactly what is going through Honey's mind.

     "Well this looks very cosy!!  Since when did this place turn into a doss house for mortals?"  Honey scoffs as she starts laughing and not in a nice way, it is more like an evil witches cackle.

The three of us just stand there and say nothing.  I think we are all too scared to move or speak, in case it triggers Honey into doing anything.  As long as she stays stood there, the three of us are safe!!  Honey has her head cocked to one side now and is intensely eying Lime, a frown washes over her face.  I am guessing she can hear the babies heart beat, and I can see she is confused by it.

     "How the hell did you get out of your cage Honey?"  Sunny snaps at her

Honey ignores Sunny too busy now glaring at Lime,

     "Who's is the brat bitch?"  she snaps at Lime now with an intense scowl on her face

Lime does not speak, but I don't think she needs to, Honey no doubt is listening to both Lime and Sunny's thoughts, and I bet they have both thought about Jazz, just like I have.  Honey roars very angrily suddenly as she instantly flies at Lime.

Honey moves so quickly it is just a blur to my eyes.  When the movement stops I can see that she now has a firm hold of Lime.  Lime screams as Honeys teeth sink into her neck.  I can almost feel her fear and pain, remembering I have been in exactly that situation myself before.

Me, Sunny and Shadow all fly at Honey at the same time, trying to stop her from draining the life out of Lime.  While me and Sunny are yelling at Honey to let her go, both of us trying to reason with her to stop.   At one time she would have listened to both me and Sunny, but not anymore.  She sinks her teeth even deeper into Limes neck. Sunny tries to pull Honey by the arm unsuccessfully and Shadow flies at her, biting into Honey's leg quite viciously, snarling as he does it.

Shadow continuously taking chunks out of her leg makes Honey suddenly let go of Lime, who falls to the floor.  I watch in horror as Honey forcefully kicks Shadow away, almost like he is a football, which sends him flying cross the room, landing on the couch.  It does not seem to bother him as he gets up and within seconds has flown back at Honey, attacking her again.

Honey goes for Lime again, but Sunny jumps in between them shouting at Honey while I drag Lime away, I think Sunny is the last one that Honey will hurt, and because of Jazz's baby, Lime is going to be the one that Honey wants most, followed by me. Where the hell are the vampberry's and spirits when we need them?!

Honey starts to yell back at Sunny who is stood right in front of her yelling in her face.  I watch in horror again, this time as Sunny fly across the room, Honey has literally picked him up and thrown him.  Sunny's whole body smashes into the wall with force, enough to send bricks and dust flying around him.  He drops to the floor like a lead weight.  He does not make a sound or move a muscle he looks like he has been knocked out cold.  Shadow lets out a really loud and nasty roar as he climbs onto the couch and flies straight at Honey's face. 

I watch Lime crawling, from behind the couch where I had dragged her too, over to Sunny,  She is screaming at Shadow to move away from Honey, like I am, but he is not listening as he continues to fly at and sink his teeth into Honey.  They start snarling and fighting like a pair of wild animals.

I start screaming at them in blind panic, as I watch Honey sink her teeth into Shadows arm.  Shadow is only a toddler, I am scared of what she might be able to do to him, terrified that she might dispose of him completely, even though he is trying his best to keep her away from us, really he does not stand a chance being so small.  She stands there shaking him almost like he is a rag doll while she holds him at arms length.  I run at her, all I want to do is get Shadow away from her.  As I hit honey, trying to distract her away from Shadow, she throws him, I watch him smash into the wall, but he just roars and comes flying straight back at her.

Within second she has me pinned on the floor.

Honey's hand tightens painfully around my throat and I am struggling to breath.  Why does she keep going for my throat?!  Honey hovers over me laughing which starts to irritate me along with all the other noises going on around me.  Shadow is snarling as he repeatedly sinks his teeth into Honey, and Lime is screaming, not only Shadow's name but also Sunny's, which I don't understand.

Without saying anything Honey's face just comes at me slowly, and I can't work out what she is doing, at first.  She tries to kiss me, but I stay tight lipped as I try to wriggle and move my mouth away from her cold lips.  She just glares nastily at me as she hovers above me, she is probably now hacked off that I have just refused to kiss her.

     "If I can't have you, then nobody will!!"  she mumbles

Honey suddenly releases the grip on my throat as her teeth sink painfully into my neck.

I close my eyes as I scream because of the pain running through my neck.  I remember this feeling and get a flash back of the last time I felt it, realizing that I had forgotten just how painful this was.  I am stupid, I have been stupid on two counts.  I could have dived through her eyes when she was hovering over me, and compelled her to stop, but I did not even think about my ability.  I also should have just responded to her kissing in a better way, by letting her kiss me and returning the kiss, then she would not be now sucking on my neck and draining the life out of me instead.   I always guessed my stupidity would finish me off in the end!!

I do not even try to fight her as I feel her sucking the blood and life out of me, I know there is nothing that I can do to stop her.  I think if it is going to happen then I just hope it comes quickly.  I am not scared of fading, because I know it is not the end, I just don't want to leave my mortal life right now!!

Suddenly, I hear a loud roar and Honey moves off me, and her teeth rip out of my skin painfully with her sudden retreat.  My eyes snap open and I see her being dragged away from me by Jazz.  I have never been so happy to see him in my life!!  I struggle to sit up, feeling very dizzy while I'm holding my neck.  Shadow dives onto my lap and lies on me.  I can see he is crying, so I put my arms around him and hold him tight.

I sit on the carpet and watch, something that seems to play out in very slow motion right in front of me.  Jazz is stood behind her, he has a tight grip on her and a very strange expression on his face, one that I have never seen him wearing before.  I think I am seeing the cold, callous evil vampberry in him for the very first time.

Honey lets out the most awful roar and scream that I have ever heard in my life.  The sound coming from her goes straight through me and actually hurts my ears.  Suddenly Honey just starts to fall to pieces, she disintegrates right in front of my eyes. until she is nothing but a dark pile of dust on the carpet.  I have seen this before, when me and Storm disposed of the three vampberry's in the alley way in Sandlewood Heights, so I know exactly what is happening and what it means.  Jazz is stood there with what looks like a small broken wooden stick in his hand.

The room seems to go deadly silent for a moment before Lime bursts into tears and starts screaming, which makes Jazz fly straight over to her.  I just sit on the carpet numb, holding Shadow tight while I stare at the pile of dust on the carpet, that once was Honey.  I think that is when the shock and realization sets in ... now I know she really has gone ... forever!!

Jazz has just disposed of Honey permanently.

While Jazz checks that Lime is not too badly hurt, she explains everything that happened.  Jazz bites into her wrist to taste her blood, to make sure Honey did not release any venom.  I guess I also have that coming, more bite marks.  I just stare numbly at the piece of wood that Jazz has dropped on the carpet, not far from Honey's remains.  I realize he has pulled apart and destroyed one of Shadow's rocking horses, for the wood off the rocker, which is now lay in pieces on the floor.

     "Leave him Lime, he has gone."  I hear Jazz mumbling miserably behind me.  "There really is nothing that can be done for him now."

Lime starts to really cry, which at first I find strange, because I am not sure that what Jazz has just said has sunk into to my brain properly.

     "Aren't you at least going to check him and try to do something."  Lime says frantically
     "There is no point Lime, Sunny's lights have gone out completely, he is totally silent.  It is too late, even for turning."  Jazz starts choking and cracking up, which I think is what makes it hit me.

Sunny has faded!!

I just continue to sit on the carpet, now frozen in shock as I turn away from Honey's remains to look over at Sunny's body.  At first I can not understand how he has faded, then I remember how hard he had hit the wall, a hell of a lot harder than River had hit the wall when I watch him being thrown by a vampberry. 

Hell!!  How is Crystal going to take this?!  Vanilla!!  I can feel the tears starting to sting the back of my eyes, and I let them roll down my cheeks, forcing them to come to stop my head from going, thinking more so about how that could have quite easily been River the day we encountered the vampberrys in the alley way and they smashed him up the wall.  I could quite easily have lost River that day like we are losing Sunny now.  Sunny fading is going to upset a lot of people in the extended family, it is going to be like Storm and Cinnamon fading all over again!

I watch as Jazz gently pulls Lime up to her feet, he kisses her face and neck, putting his hand on her stomach as he stands listening, I presume to the baby.  He hugs Lime and tells her the baby is fine, she just stands there and continues to cry, while I just continue to sit numbly watching.

I suddenly remember Honey biting Shadow and check his arm, there is not even a mark.  As I frown down at his arm, I wander if I had imagined her biting him.  Shadow mumbles quietly, telling me that vampberrys, unlike mortals, any wounds or damage to their bodies repairs itself in seconds.  Vampberry's can not be hurt, only disposed of.  I knew that!!  I just was not thinking straight, doubting what I thought I saw.

Jazz comes over to me then and takes Shadow off me and looks him over then helps me up to my feet.  He checks my neck and asks me if I am alright and I just nod as I stand there staring at him like a dumb idiot.  He takes my wrist and bites into it, but it is nowhere near as painful, he does it gently and does not go in very deep.  He smiles at me as he wipes his mouth and tells me I am all clear.  Thankfully Honey did not try to turn either of us, she was only trying to suck the life out of both me and Lime.

Jazz moves away with Shadow and I hear him talking to him behind me.

I hear Jazz explaining to Shadow what has just happened to Honey, I don't think that he has seen a vampberry disintegrate before.  He tells him he's a clever brave boy for trying to protect the three of us, then he starts saying something about Sunny, but I stop listening and get lost in my own thoughts as I stand, like Lime just staring at Sunny's body.

I can not help but think that without Shadow being here, both me and Lime would have probably been lying next to Sunny.  He hampered Honey's progress and slowed her down, with his constant attacking.  Shadow definitely stopped Honey from draining Lime, I think she only dropped Lime to get rid of Shadow's nuisance.  However, Sunny out of the three of us is the last one that I thought Honey would fade, I can not help but wander if she meant to fade him or if it was accidental.

I hear Jazz get out his phone and he starts making a few phone calls, River, Omri, Maizie, he is trying to round everyone up while I just continue to numbly stare at Sunny's body.

Storm floats into the room, Jazz tells him quickly what has happened and tells him to round up the other spirits, especially Saffy, and to let Omri out of Honey's cage.  Storm exchanges a painful glance with me before he leaves the room again.  I stand there still not really taking in what has happened, I can not help but watch Shadow who is now sat on the floor playing with a dolls house like nothing has happened.

      "Tap ... I'm sorry about Honey."  Jazz mumbles  "I had no choice for all our sakes!!   You can see what she has done to Sunny, and you would have gone with him if I hadn't stopped her when I did ... Shadow, Vanilla, Lime, Crystal, berry knows who else she would have gone for, we both have unborn babies at stake here!!"  he sighs  "I could have thrown her back in her cage, but she could have got lose again in the future, none of us were safe with her here, she was so uncontrollable and unpredictable."

I just stare at him, I know he is right, but still it does not make it any better.  I hated seeing what she had become since she was turned, it hurt that she was not my Honey anymore, but at least she was still here and I hoped in time she might calm down and become a little more like her old self.  I have only just got used to her still being here and now I will have to grieve all over again, because now she really has gone.  Even though I did not love her in the true sense of the word, I loved her in a different way, she was my rock and best friend for the best part of my life, she is the Mother of my children, and I would give anything to have the old Honey back right now.  Instead I have to accept that now, finally, she has gone forever.

     "How did she get out?"
     "Omri.  She told him the tap in her sink was broke so he went into her cage to look.  She took him by surprise when the door was open, she knocked him across the room, and by the time he was up and on his feet she had locked him in.  Thankfully she did not destroy him!!  He phoned me to tell me she was loose, luckily I came straight down here."

My eyes drift to Shadow, who is really puzzling me.  After what he has just witnessed, Honey being disposed of and knowing Sunny has faded, who he was close too, yet he is sat there playing like nothing, he is even singing away to himself.  Emotionally he is like a mortal, he feels and he crys, I would have expected him to be very upset right now, especially over Sunny.

     "It is okay Dad!"  Shadow looks up at me  "Nasty Honey can not hurt us any more, and Daddy says we will see Granddad Sunny later, he will come back as a ghosty soon."

Of course he will, and I was not thinking about it logically, and that is why Shadow is not upset. River comes rushing into the room.  Of course his first concern is me and especially if I am going to lose it.  He stares in horror at my neck and starts to fuss but I brush him off, telling him I am fine and have to assure him that I am not going to have an outburst.

He takes a quick look at Limes neck before he goes over to check Sunny's body.  It is Lime who tells River what happened, I am struggle to even speak and string a sentence together at the moment.  We all stand silently and watch him checking Sunny over..  It does not take him long to stand up with a glum look on his face, Shadow goes over to River.

     "From what I can see he has a slight head injury, however his neck is visibly badly broken and that is probably what is responsible for him fading. "  River says quietly.

Now he has said it, you can actually see it.  The horrible angle that Sunny's head is lying at, in comparison to his body and his neck looks bulged and strange.  I can not help but think this is just a little ironic.  Saffy has told me that a broken neck is why he faded, which he suffered when Sunny pushed him out of the tree, while they were arguing over Saffy being gay.  Now Sunny has faded in exactly the same way.

     "Was he struggling to breath at all, does anyone know?"  River asks no one in particular
     "No, there was no asphyxiation"  Shadow answers him  "I heard his heart stop immediately, he was faded before he even hit the floor. If his neck is broken then he probably faded due to spinal shock."
     "Well get you little man!!"  River stares at Shadow wide eyed as he picks him up  "And what do you know about spinal shock?"
      "Spinal Shock = occurs when the cord is severely injured or transected, cut or torn in half.  There is a sudden loss of nerve supply to the entire body, including the blood vessels and heart.  The patient may suffer a profound and sudden drop in blood pressure.  The patient fades almost instantaneously."  Shadow grins at River.  "I have read all your medical journals, which reminds me, I need you to bring me some new ones."
     "Well the little doctor here has got the diagnosis spot on."  River is still staring at Shadow wide eyed as he starts to chuckle.  "Tap, how the hell did you manage to create this little brain box?!"

I step away from River and Jazz and just watch and listen quietly as everyone starts to pile into the room.  My head is swimming and I almost feel like I am in some kind of lethargic daze.  Omri is mortified he thinks this is his fault because he was stupid enough to fall for her trick, but none of us blame him or think it is his fault.  It is Honey and nobody else to blame.

Cosmic and Saffy take Sunny's body into another room which I am glad off, otherwise I would have just stood there continuously staring at it.  I hear Jazz telling them to sit and wait for his spirit to leave his body.  I know already what they are probably planning to do, stop him from passing over and adding him to their growing army of spirits.

For the time being Dad is being kept out of this and in the dark about Sunny's passing, because we all know how much this is going to upset him, along with the rest of their school 'gang'.  Even though Sunny irritates the hell out of Jazz, I can see how cut up he is about this, like Cosmic, they know him losing his mortal life is not the end for him, but still they are upset.  Even Lime seems to be struggling with it, she has not stopped crying yet.  The ten of them have always had a mad close bond going on with them. 

River, who has stepped into Dad's normal shoes of sorting out the mess, is right in the middle of the conversation, as they start plotting and decide on how and where they are going to leave Sunny's body to be found.  Somewhere, where it is plausable for him to have fallen to have broken his neck and obtained the injury to the back of his head.  The best place they think is at the bottom of some steps.  River throws a spanner in the works when he says that it needs to be done immediately because the time that he faded can be worked out during an autopsy, which his body will have to have to determine the exact cause of death.

I switch my head off from their conversation, not sure that I can listen to much more of it, especially as my eyes have now wandered to Honey's remains that are still sat on the carpet, which everyone seems to be forgetting and ignoring, which is beginning to nark me.  As I stand there I suddenly feel myself swaying and I go light headed, I feel dizzy as well as sick, and my vision starts to blur and I know I am passing out.  I black out before I hit the floor.

I wake up lying on the bed with a blood drip in my arm.  Shadow is sitting by me on the bed, holding my arm while he is  talking to Lime, who also has a drip in her arm.  In all the commotion of Sunny fading nobody had thought about the blood that Honey had drained out of the both of us, or even how much she might have taken.  Obviously she must have taken a little more out of me than I thought, and that is probably been why I have not really been with it since.  I feel the stitches pull in my neck as I turn my head, and guess that either River or Maizie have been sewing while I was out.

While River forces me to eat toast and drink milkshake, we have a chat, and he tells me what is happening and what I have to do.  I try to pull myself together and take Shadow into the living room to watch some television, hoping to take mind off things.  My eyes automatically search out Honey's remains on the carpet but they are not there.  Seeing they have gone, I start to panic.

     "It's okay Dad!  Mommy has swept up Honey's ashes and put them in a jar for you.  She thinks you might want to bury them with her headstone in the cemetery."  Shadow smiles at me.

I just smile back at him as we sit down to watch a movie on the Disney channel, and for once Shadow sits quietly and does not natter his way thought it, not that I can really concentrate on it anyway. 

Sunny's body has already been taken from the den, and placed at the bottom of the steep steps that lead down into the meadow from the road that divides the meadow and the woods.  Luckily they are not used too often and are over on the other side of the meadow quite a distance away from the warehouse, which hides this den underneath.  It was the only thing that they could do in the daylight and quickly enough so that his time of fading did not appear suspicious.  Cosmic and Saffy have gone with his body, to catch his spirit when it wakes up.  Glimmer has gone to watch over Crystal while Storm is hanging around me, but at a distance and he is very quiet, knowing not to bug me too much in these kind of situations because he knows I might lose it.

Shadow is visibly tired, he is sitting on my lap and he is fighting sleep, occasionally his head nods and he jumps, waking himself back up again.  He does this a lot, and Dad has laughed watching him doing it, saying he gets that from me, I used to be exactly the same he said, he thinks I was always too scared that I was going to miss something by being asleep.  I, like Shadow, used to be a nightmare to get off to sleep.  I try to put Shadow in his cot but he won't have any of it, even climbing out of it, so I take him over to the rocking chair and try to rock him to sleep, which is something I remember I used to love when I was a child.

I feel a little trapped, I can not appear at home before I am scheduled to, and I am not due home until tomorrow night.  I feel like I should be at home, for Crystal and Vanilla, when the news of Sunny fading breaks out, but they have told me I have to stay put.  If I turn up before I am supposed to, it might look a little suspicious, I might even become a suspect if the police are in anyway suspicious over his death.  They think Crimson and Elderberry might dig into the cause of his death a little deeper than they need too, being family and police officers.  Finding an answer for why he was using those particular steps is going to be a question on everyone's lips. 

I suddenly feel like I am caught up in another web of lies and deceit, just like after the abduction, and it really worries me.  Now all I can do is sit here and wait for my phone to start ringing off the hook, like I know it will when Sunny's body has been found

I hate that I can not be there for Crystal, Vanilla and Snow when I know they will need me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~