20 | She's Like the Wind

Seaside, California October 14, 2012

Scott

EVER since school ended, I had been keeping an eye on Lily, making sure Seana was nowhere near her. Zach and Celesta were off doing something with one another, though they were most likely at his house.

When Lily sent a message saying she'd be on her way to write the paper, I left and ran to my house. I was shocked to see my car parked in the driveway, the keys on the driver's seat. It was nice Zach left them right there, just for anyone to walk by and drive off into the sunset with my Camaro.

I noticed, however, that there was a burnt rubber smell around my car. I walked closer to inspect the tires, the smell getting stronger.

Son of a bitch.

I felt my phone vibrate from a text message.

'Thanks for the car, Bud. Cel and I did some burnouts with it, I hope you don't mind. Anyways, good luck tonight ;)' - Zach

"This is what I get when I let someone use my car," I muttered.

I grabbed the keys and went inside my house. All the houses surrounding mine were beige beach houses, while mine stuck out like a sore thumb. Sure, the outside looked like shit and my neighbors always complained. Never to my face though, I could hear them like mice in the walls, always squeaking about the mysterious neighbor who never came out of his house.

I didn't have any grass; everything around here was fucking rocks or sand. My house was right on the beach, all you had to do was walk a bit through the shrubs, they were overgrown.

Tonight, I needed to find out what Seana did. I knew she had that girl Isabel enthralled, as well as Maggie. Now it turns out she has been messing with Brandon, who unfortunately for him I could care less about. If anyone wasn't around at that time earlier, I would've taken great pleasure in breaking every bone in his body. Maybe a little too much.

Breaking another vampire's compulsion was impossible. In this case, however, I just had to trigger Lily's memory of it. But first, we had to finish the paper for our class. It was easy, our topic was on the U.S. economy of the '70s. I lived through it. So, I went ahead and wrote most of it myself.

A week ago.

However, the ending and some parts still needed revision. I heard a car's engine pull up the driveway, the headlights briefly flashing through the living room's curtains.

"Here goes nothing," I sighed. Grabbing my bag off the counter, I dumped out the notes Lily and I had written over the last few days.

I hoped that perhaps the compulsion would wear off on its own. The better question was, why would Seana even compel her to forget in the first place? Everything to Seana was a game.

I walked over towards the door, Lily was already outside of her car, struggling to carry a stack of books. An unnecessary number of books. Now I felt bad that I had already written most of the paper.

"Hey! I found all these books in the library, do we—" Lily began, till the stack of books wobbled too much to the right.

I sped to her side in a flash and steadied the stack. I glanced at her as she started to laugh at herself.

"I don't think we need these," I murmured. "Granted, I'm sure they hold wonderful information. Too much information I think, for this project."

Lily sighed. "I guess. Mind helping me shove them back into the car?"

I took half the books from her, then she turned and opened the door and set them into the back, I put the rest in. Slamming her door shut, she followed me to the house.

"Did you already do the paper?" Lily asked, walking in behind me.

Closing the door, I looked apologetically at her. "Not all of it, what I wrote honestly is shit. It's been forty years since I've written a research paper."

Her eyes widened.

I just smiled and walked over to the table and pulled out the few sheets of paper from the mess that was the unfinished paper.

Lily set her bag on the table, then dug out the other half of the notes.

"It can't be that bad can it?" she asked.

I handed her the papers without replying.

A few moments later, she looked up at me. "Do you have a laptop? We can just type the paper up. I'll save it on my flash drive and print it when I get home. Also, you have nice handwriting!"

I never noticed it.

"Thank you and uh, I don't," I replied. I never really thought of having a computer.

"Well I can just go grab mine from the house then!" she exclaimed.

Before she even got up I said quickly, "We don't need a computer to type the paper up, I have something that is just made for writing papers."

My grandfather's ancient typewriter.

I sped into one of the spare bedrooms, the thing had been sitting on a desk for the past fifty years covered in dust. I lifted it and was back in the kitchen in seconds. Setting it on the table, she gawked up at me in shock.

"Jesus you are fast! And how the hell do you use that thing?" she wondered.

"Don't worry, just tell me what to change on the paper and I'll do the typing," I grinned as I started to wipe the dust off the typewriter.

Lily just shook her head and started to mark things on the paper I had written by hand.

"So uh, how bad is the paper?" I asked.

"It needs," she paused. "Work. A lot of work."

I sat down in the seat beside her and set the typewriter up. "I know," I replied. "I just hope we can finish this project fast."

"Yeah. It is due tomorrow sadly," Lily muttered, then she started to smile. "After we finish it, I have something to show you that I've been practicing. And I think it is more awesome than running super fast!"

"Awesome," I mocked playfully. "We'll have to see about that."

After three long antagonizing hours, we finished the paper. Yet, time was starting to run out on me asking her about what happened earlier today at school. She showed no signs of encountering Seana earlier, though I could tell her magic was trying to get rid of the compulsion. She told me all about bumping into Brandon and having this nagging feeling.

So I told her Celesta and I suspected Seana compelled her to forget something, that had upset her greatly.

"If she compelled me why hasn't it worn off?" Lily implored, "All I can remember is going to get my book, talking to Mr. Hathaway—and then running into Brandon."

"Why were you telling him to stay away from Seana?" I asked softly, Lily held her head in her hands. She slowly raised her head and glanced at me.

"I don't know, it's like whenever I try to remember it my mind immediately thinks of the memory Seana implanted," Lily spat. "It is upsetting."

Then an idea popped into my mind. Something Lily had done to break my compulsion.

"Use your magic," I blurted out.

"What?" Lily asked, puzzled.

"Use your magic," I said again and got up from the couch. "I remember you promising to show me something awesome, which I'm sure requires you to use it."

"Oh right, that," she muttered. "Can you float?"

"In the water? I never could," I replied.

Lily rolled her eyes and stood up beside me.

"No, I mean like, literally float," she quipped.

Lily walked to the middle of the living room and stopped near the fireplace, her back facing me. A few seconds passed before she slowly turned back around, her eyes showing that eerie glow. She gazed up towards the vaulted ceiling, her long hair slowly floating upwards around her. She grinned and lifted her entire body in the air.

"Isn't this amazing?" she beamed as she somersaulted in mid-air.

"Yes," I replied as she did another somersault.

Seeing a witch levitate herself was unbelievable. As she floated even higher, something in her made her stop, her body faltering.

"So that is what happened," she muttered as she started to fall.

"Lily!" I shouted, catching her in my arms. She stared blankly ahead; like she hadn't even realized she had fallen. "What happened?" I asked as I helped her get onto her feet.

"I remember what Seana wanted me to do for her," she sighed, reaching for my hand. I looked down as she took my hand into both of hers and rubbed her thumb across my daylight ring. Her green eyes locked with mine. "She made me make three daylight rings, it wasn't till I did the last one did I figured out what she was planning."

"Did she hurt you?" I asked through clenched teeth. Lily just kept glaring at the ring. "What did she say to you?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, the past is done," Lily lamented, releasing my hand. "Besides, I'm sure Seana already turned Isabel. I'm sure she will do the same thing to Maggie. She threatened to turn Brandon if I crossed her." Lily stopped, her eyes welling up with tears as her body began to tremble.

"Everything is going to be alright; I promise you that," I affirmed.

She looked down towards the ground, tears slowly running down her face as she shook her head. "We both know what Seana is capable of. You can't save everyone, Scott."

"Well, I'm sure as hell gonna try," I murmured as I gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. Lily tilted her head up, a million emotions swirling in those bright green eyes of hers. Emotions that I wish she didn't feel. Feelings I thought were lost to me forever. Nothing could come of this, it would only end in two ways. Neither of which I would allow. I just can't.

But in the end, what the hell did I know?

She slowly raised her hand to my face, her fingers slightly starting to caress my cheek, her eyes never leaving mine. But then she closed her eyes and moved her face even closer to mine as her heart raced faster.

The moment she pressed her lips against mine, a shock went through me. Everything from her pounding heart to her soft lips against mine made me lose any trace of rationality. I pulled her closer, returning the kiss instantly.

I was lost in her. I didn't realize that I had lifted her into my arms and that I was already laying her on the couch. She pulled me closer, raking her fingers through my hair.

The air started to heat up around us, so much so that it was overwhelming. Who the hell was I at this point? All I cared about right at that moment was one thing. Somewhere I had kept so locked away for years. It all came rushing back to the surface.

A feeling of being whole again, but it wasn't right. It wasn't right to be doing this now. Did I even feel anything or was it because she reminded me of Adelaide?

What a horrible thing to do to someone, if that was what I was feeling.

Lily pulled away suddenly, her eyes wide open as she started to catch her breath.

"I—" Lily paused, her breathing ragged.

I just gaped at her. I was speechless as was she.

But what if this was right? That this was something we both needed at this very moment. It was wrong for so many reasons.

But tonight I didn't have a fuck to give.

I lowered my face closer to Lily's, waiting to see if she was still comfortable being like this. With me looming over her. Despite her pounding heart and redbeat face, she just smiled at me.

Then we were lost in one another again. Our movements were becoming quicker; frantic even. I started to shift down till my lips were leaving kisses down her neck. But I felt something else starting to slip.

Control.

Lily's faint moaning started to get slightly louder as I kissed along the base of her neck. My gaze locked onto Lily's neck, right where her jugular was pounding. I felt my eyes slowly start to shift, my control slipping each second I was this close.

How could I be this reckless with her?

The next second I was off of her and at the edge of the couch, looking away from her as I tried to calm myself. The only way to do that was to focus on something else. Anything but the overwhelming scent of blood.

"Scott?" Lily spluttered. I felt her shift around the couch till she was sitting up. "I-I think I should go."

I could feel her staring at the back of my head, but I didn't turn to her. I knew my eyes were no longer blue. I did not want her to see me like this. Seeing me as this monster who couldn't control himself.

She got up off the couch quickly and started to grab her things that were strewn around the living room. Now certain my eyes weren't black pits, I kept my eyes glued to her, watching her intently as she moved.

I'm going to fucking hell.

When she gathered all of her things, she turned back to me, her face still flushed.

We both stared blankly at one another, unsure of what to even say at this point.

"I'll see you tomorrow yeah?" Lily chuckled nervously. "I'll turn in the paper and—"

"Lily," I interjected, "I just want to make things—"

"No!" Lily shouted, interrupting me. "I mean, yes! Wait, can we talk about this tomorrow? It is like midnight and if I'm not home my dad is going to go fucking nuts. And trust me, we don't want to deal with that."

I burst out laughing, causing Lily to chuckle as well.

"Alright then," I replied.

Tomorrow would be a better day to talk about what happened tonight. Hopefully, my fucking head will be clear then.

"Okay!" Lily shrilled before she bolted out the door.

And when I say bolted, she flew out of the door. I didn't even think she could move that quickly.

Right as Lily was out of the driveway, my phone dinged. Perfect timing Zach.

So how was your night bud? Did you do anything fun? Anyway, goodnight bro. ;) - Zach

Perhaps I should have him walk to school tomorrow.