Chapter 469
Back at the hotel, I camped out in Brandon and Elliott’s room. The bag of Cheetos was much appreciated since as far as I know, they don’t really sell them in those parts. Once again, my tiredness overcame me, and even with the TV on and Elliott chomping away, I passed out on the bed.
By the time Brandon woke me up, the sun was going down. I’d slept virtually the whole day, which was depressing, but I felt so much better. “Do you wanna go get some Irish food?”
“Uh, no,” I said, having heard that Irish taste buds are way different than mine. “But I bet we can find something American.”
He laughed. “Okay.” He wasn’t moving yet, though. I realized he had something in his hand. “You should probably go ahead and read the message from Alex.”
Brandon must’ve fished the phone out of my jacket pocket. I had been avoiding it. “Can’t it wait until we get home?”
“I guess. But why are you putting it off?”
I couldn’t really answer that. Maybe it was that last text I’d gotten from him, or the way he’d been acting the last few days before he left. “I don’t know. I just... I’m afraid it’s going to say something I don’t want to hear.”
“Like what?”
“Like... I don’t know.”
Brandon could read me without entering my mind about as well as anyone could read another person without using telepathy. He set the phone down on the nightstand next to him. “Cass, the longer you put it off, the more it’s going to eat at you.”
“What if I read it, and it still eats at me?”
“All right. Let’s go get something we can really eat.”
I ran to the bathroom and freshened up, and then we went to find the local McDonald’s. Turns out, even American food tastes different in Ireland, but it wasn’t awful. We looked around town a little while and then headed back to the hotel.
Alex’s phone was still sitting there, staring at me, when we got back. I ignored it, took a shower, and then fell back to sleep.
When I woke up, the sun was up, and I had a note from Brandon that he’d gone to get breakfast with his dad. That could take a while. I took another shower, packed, and then sat on the bed, staring at the phone.
Why didn’t I just read it? What was I afraid of? What was the worst thing it could possibly say?
I knew the answer to that question, and that’s why I hesitated to pick it up.
But I did it anyway....
“My Dearest Cassidy,
“It is with grave regret that I inform you of my impending demise. I’m afraid I have been mortally wounded. Jamie has generously offered his services in healing my bloodied leg, but I have declined. As you know, it has been my intention all along to take the Re-Transformation serum and to hopefully go back to my human state. Since I am unsure as to whether or not that substance would even work on me, and Heather seems quite certain I am on death’s doorstep, I will not be making the journey back with the others. Rather, I shall breathe my last in this cold, dark tomb.
“My only regret is that I have not had the opportunity to say to you in person what I am about to say now. I hope that you can forgive my forwardness and that your dear Brandon will also forgive me. I’ve always been under the impression he did not care for me, or perhaps it’s only that he does not trust me with his most precious belonging—your heart. He was right not to.
“Ever since the day I first met you, you’re all I’ve thought about, Cassidy. I have tried to put you out of my mind, telling myself it’s all in folly. I’ve been planning my demise for decades. And you are already spoken for. Nevertheless, your beauty and grace, your determination and loyalty, have all overcome me, and oftentimes, when I fall asleep at night, I am thinking of you.
“So it is for the best that I meet my end here and now. I know as soon as I cross over, it shall all be forgotten. I do look forward to being with my darling Betsy again. I should love to see my son, Phillip, who died so young, as well as all of the other family members and friends I’ve lost over the centuries. You are far better off without me to interfere.
“I wish you well, dear Cassidy. Continue to grow your powers to help the weak, to protect the innocent, to ward off the creatures of the night. If Brandon is truly the one for you, I wish the pair of you a lifetime of happiness and joy. He is a good young man, though it is hard for me to say he is worthy of such a prize as you since you are the epitome of what all men should seek to find in a partner.
“Take care, beautiful girl, and don’t let my words worry your sweet mind. I will be gone soon and wish to be forgotten, at least in this version of my life. Perhaps, I shall see you again someday, far, far into the future, until then...
All my love,
Alex”
I was crying so hard by the second to last paragraph, I could hardly see the words on the screen. There was no sense in trying to read it again. I shut the phone off and curled up in a ball on the bed, sobbing and shaking, struggling to catch my breath. Did I think I wanted to be with Alex instead of Brandon? No, but the fact that his feelings for me had been so intense, and he’d never said anything about it to me until it was too late, felt wrong. I understood he’d handled the situation the way he had for a reason, that he had chosen not to try to come between us, but part of me wished I’d been given the opportunity to explore my own feelings while he was still alive. Now, it didn’t even matter....
Brandon and Elliott came back a few minutes after my sobs had turned into less violent tears. My boyfriend was at my side immediately, and Elliott stopped at the foot of the bed, his face full of concern. “What is it, Cass?” Brandon asked.
Speaking was hard. I just gestured at the phone, hoping he’d know enough not to read it. He only glanced that direction. “You read Alex’s message?”
I nodded. I tried to stop crying, to sit up, to change my disposition, but I couldn’t do it. Brandon wrapped his arms around me and rocked me back and forth, whispering that it would be okay. He was right—it would. But it didn’t seem like it at that moment. And Alex certainly wasn’t going to get his last wish. I would never forget him.
