Mom had said that when I was born, I was the last of my kind. The rules forbade love, lust, and marriage between Heaven and the Underworld. There had been no further unions between the two sides, which meant there were no other children like me. This also meant that Krista had been condemned to Purgatory because there was no one her power could be passed to. It was heartbreaking, really. Without good, there was no evil, and without evil, there was no good. The world was like my bloodlines. As long as I kept them balanced, I was good, but the moment it tipped one way or the other all Hell broke loose.
I realized how hard it must be to be in limbo, knowing that the only way you could truly pass on was for something remarkable to happen. It must be lonely for Krista. No wonder she gripped onto me when I traveled her timeline. I was the first being that had taken the time to care. I felt the tears rolling down my cheek whenever I thought about it.
I was thinking about Krista one evening when my phone began to ring, causing me to jump. I grabbed it and noted the absence of any numbers on the screen. It was a private call, one that I would not be able to trace. I clicked the talk button and put the phone to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Dawn, this is Edmund. I have someone here who wants to speak with you.”
I heard a rustle of movement.
“Dawn?” The voice was hoarse and groggy. As if the speaker had just woken up.
“Yes.” My heart leaped in my chest. My mother was right. Dear Edmund had found Aaron.
“Oh, thank God you’re okay,” Aaron said, his voice cracking. “They won’t let me tell you where I am. They’ve sworn Edmund to secrecy as well.”
I heard a grumble in the background. Who could persuade an ancient vampire to make a pact not to tell where someone of importance was located?
“Can you at least tell me who you’re with?” I asked him. My heart had been pounding nonstop since I heard his voice.
“Not really. I can tell you that I am safe; so are my parents. In fact, my parent’s kind of like it here; it seems.”
“What does that mean?” I asked him.
“It means… we’re staying.” His voice faltered for a second.
“Staying?”
“Dawn, you know I love you. You know that every breath I take is for you,” he said, a little too hastily perhaps.
“Yes.”
I had become numb to him saying it to me, even after I had confessed that in my own small way, I did love him, just not to the same extent that he loved me.
“But I don’t know when I’m going to see you again,” he said. I could hear pain in his voice.
“What?” I felt like my insides were going to fall out.
“Things are changing. I don’t want to hurt you.”
My head was swimming. “Aaron, are you breaking up with me?” I asked slowly.
You would have thought I would be happy if he were. I would have thought I would be satisfied if he were. However, in reality, it sucked.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he confessed.
“What do you mean by things are changing?” I demanded.
“That I can’t tell you. They just are.” He sounded like his heart was breaking. “Just remember that I do love you and that I will always love you. I just think that our souls need to part for a while. I need to get my head around the things that are happening here.”
“I don’t understand, Aaron!” I was feeling sick.
“I will still call you, and you can email me… you just can’t know where I am right now.”
I heard the phone rustle again, and Edmund came back on.
“Dawn are you alright?” he asked.
“Of course. I was just dumped over the phone,” I said, trying to keep the tears at bay.
“They’re making him,” he stated. “He doesn’t want to do this. His parents just feel it best if he does.”
“How is he?” I asked, about to give up on my eyes, which were going to shed tears one way or another.
“He’s good. He’s pretty much healed in fact.” He stopped talking.
“What did they do to him?” I demanded, anger surging through me.
“Dawn, he’s changing. He tells you he loves you now, but in two weeks he won’t even know how he felt about you. If the two of you came face to face, you might feel something, but he will feel nothing more than familiarity.” Edmund sighed. “Listen. I will be heading back to you at the first sign of night. You and I can stay up and discuss what’s going on. I can tell you some things, but I can’t tell you everything. I am sworn to keep the secret of their location. That is, until a time at which they feel they can make it known. Just know that it is a lovely place. They are well taken care of.”
“Edmund?” I choked on my words. “What about the claim I have on Aaron’s soul?”
“It will sever within the next few weeks,” he said. “Now I have to go to get things set for the journey home. He will email you until the day comes when he realizes he has no emotional connection with you anymore.”
“Okay. I understand. See you when you get here,” I said and hung up the phone.
Just seconds ago, I had been thinking about how Aaron balanced me out. Now he was gone, just like Wesley. One thing was for certain; I was not going to be making any more claims after this one was broken.
****
“You want to talk about it?” my father asked, knocking on the door before coming into my room.
“Not sure what there is to talk about,” I said slowly, wiping the tears from my cheeks.
“I’m not going to say I warned you,” he said, sitting down on the bed next to me.
“Good, because right now I don’t need
