Frailty: The Darkshine(64)

“Hi, Lina. Surprise.”

She said it in a joking manor, but it was anything but. “Lizzy? I’m not dreaming, am I?” Lizelle shook her head and made her way toward the bed. Her dead sister sat on the edge and rested her hands in her lap. Lizzy didn’t look at her for the longest time and Helina didn’t move toward her and to be honest, she was scared shitless of who sat mere feet in front of her. Helina was frightened by everything that had happened tonight, even with herself. Not only had she just killed someone, she was also a vampire and her dead sister had just walked into her room. It was clear Lizzy was like her now, a DarkShine. She slowly walked toward Lizzy, her hands shaking as she stopped in front of her.

“You’re actually here? I don’t understand.” She hesitantly sat down. They looked at each other for a heartbeat of time before Lizzy breathed out and started talking.

“I didn’t want to tell you how sick I actually was. You worried as it was about me. If I told you the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes and my time on earth was short…” Lizelle shook her head and breathed in deeply. “I didn’t want that for you.”

“Oh, Lizzy. You should have told me. You know I would have been there for you, supported any decision you would have made. How did you know about the DarkShine, anyway?” Tears pricked Helina’s eyes as she looked into Lizelle’s face. She looked so sad, so desperate to be understood.

“I didn’t know what they were until Ryce came to my house. I wasn’t even scared, didn’t even scream when he walked right in. It was all over the news, Lina. Didn’t you watch it?”

Helina shook her head.

“Well, it was. They said it was some kind of an invasion but that was as far as they went. They said dead bodies were turning up everywhere and that everyone needed to find a safe hiding place. By the time I heard this, Ryce had shown up. It was too late; you were already on your way over.”

Helina looked into her eyes, her skin so soft-looking it was as if it were porcelain. Lizzy looked the same, but different somehow. She seemed more ethereal, more powerful. She was no longer the sick and frail older sister that Helina remembered.

“So, he was just standing in the doorway, the sun behind him and obscuring his features. I thought he was an angel, my angel of mercy. I asked him to make the pain go away. He held his hand out to me and I took it without hesitation.” Lizzy laughed, short and soft, as if she couldn’t believe what she had just said. “He had asked me why and I told him I was tired of the pain. I didn’t want my sister to watch me die. The next thing I remember is waking up on the floor in my room with Ryce holding me.”

“Where have you been all this time?” Helina was happy her sister wasn’t dead, but to know how much she had suffered broke her heart and masked some of that happiness.

“I stayed with Ryce.”

Shock wracked Helina and she stared at Lizzy. All that women’s clothing she had found now made sense. “I don’t know what to say, Lizzy.” She closed her eyes and smiled before opening them again.

“Just say everything’s okay.”

Helina sighed. Her heart melted and she hugged her sister tight. “I love you, Lizzy. You don’t have to go through this alone, we’re in this together.” Both started to cry. Helina couldn’t hold back her own tears. She was so happy that she had her sister back, and that they could now be together forever.

As Helina held Lizzy she thought about Ryce. He had led her to believe her sister was dead, but before she could let her anger consume her, she thought about what he had done for her, how he had taken away her pain and had given her peace. Closing her eyes, Helina started crying harder. She didn’t know what else could happen today, but she had enough surprises to last her a lifetime.





Epilogue

Helina smoothed her hands down her gown and looked at herself in the mirror. Only a few days had passed since she had been turned and found out her sister wasn’t dead. She had thought she killed Iena, but Gaijryc reminded her how strong a DarkShine was, and how she had only incapacitated Iena. It didn’t sit well with her that the woman who wanted her dead was in a dungeon cell in the basement of where she was now staying.

Pacing the room, Helina wiped her sweaty hands on her gown as her mind reeled. She thought about all the things that could go wrong today. Sitting down, she put her hands in her head, everything coming back to her from the last couple of days. Her memory had slowly returned and now she remembered everything in great detail from when she was turned. Every time she thought about Lucie piercing her neck she got chills.