(note, part 17 is from Seth’s point of view)

Just
for today—just for these few moments, I am human.

Yes,
yes, I know. I shouldn't be bobbing my head to this music. I shouldn't be
feeling the heat radiating from the bodies dancing all around me. I shouldn't
be so close to darling little Aralynne, watching her movements from the corner
of my eye as I moved as the beat commanded.

Yet
here I am, and here we are, my dear.

She
had swept into the room like a dazzling woman, much like how she whirled into
my life—like a storm that upended your mind and left you without a clue as to
what was right or left. It did not look as if she applied makeup. It looked as
if it was always there, naturally alluring on her skin. Lights refracted from
her sequined top and shattered colors on the wall. Freshly sheared hair tossed
and turned, emotions rolling off her essence in waves so strongly, I could
taste them cleanly in my mouth. She was refreshing, like sugared lemonade.

My
eyes burned. The ceiling was suddenly too low. I was losing my mind.

In
the middle of this obnoxiously loud song, 
she noticed that I had stopped dancing.

"Something
wrong, Seth?" she yelled, though her voice was far from concerned. In
fact, she was grinning with adrenaline. Was that a flash of triumph I saw in
her smile?

Smoothly
pulling her hand to my lips, I laid a soft kiss above her knuckles. I looked
up, dark eyes unfathomed by the glaring dance floor lights. She blinked in
surprise, withdrawing her hand.

"I
do apologize, love," I lulled in a suave voice; somehow clear to her in
this teenage-chaos. "Excuse me for a moment."

Without
waiting for a reply, I ducked around the football brute behind me and slipped
my way out of the crowd. My head was spinning dizzy by the time I reached the
front door, and it worsened when I stumbled outside. Drunken, not knowing what
was intoxicating me so; I managed to drag myself into the shadows of Aiden's
giant house and fall to the sweet grass, leaning hard against the wall. The
pulse of the music was sickeningly muffled, making my head pound with every
beat.

What
was going on? I stared numbly at fifteen fingers. Everything was swirling with
color.

At
last, my vision finally failed me and my conscious plunged into merciful
darkness.

~~~~~~~~~

I was in a dream. Wait, no. A memory.

A few hundred years ago, when people earned a
dime a day, girls wore sturdy dresses for milking cows, and families lived
under thatched roofs.

There was no one but her, the little boy, and
me.

Oh heart, how I would sneak glances at her
silken, night-cotton hair and wish her starry eyes upon me. I would always
wonder if young men always found themselves thinking of her favorite flowers or
what her and her child-patron would think of going next…

…or how would it feel to receive orders to kill
her.

Before, when I was ignorant to these heated
feelings, my mind could not understand why my heart pained me every minute I
see the boy she was protecting. No mortal was more important than the mission.
It was hell, living these two lives, but Master assured me that I would be
safer with him- that, though my betrayal would hurt her, that she would get
over it. He promised me immortality...how can I give that up?

Besides, by turning against her, I can keep
Death away from her, I could distract him or drag out the missions, making sure
she gets enough warning to fight back so I wouldn’t have to end her life. If
anyone else took the place of Death’s right hand man, there would be no
guarantee that she will get to live her life to the fullest. I could try to
prevent more pain and tears. I could hurt her, to save her.

"Why are you staring at me, Seth?"
she asked suspiciously. "Ed hasn't marked my face, has he?"

I quickly (almost too quickly) gave her a
reassuring grin. "You were a tad bit pale for a vampire. Have you been
listening to the things I've been teaching you at all? I shan't be a good tutor
for you if you don't listen to what I say."

If blood still ran through her veins, she would
have blushed.

"Of course I've been listening," she
snapped. "You do nothing but talk from dawn to dusk."

Thoroughly offended, she stomped off to check
on the patron she was solely responsible to keep safe—a small boy-child of 11
years she called Ed. Though she had barely a trace of respect for kind, she has
vowed to use her powers for good. She and the boy were very close, thinking of
the other as the sibling they had always dreamed for.

She had been turned into a vampire quite
recently. I just happened to be passing by when I heard rumors of a bloodsucker
that has changed their ways in the area. That's how I came to be her mentor in
vampirism—her teacher, helping her keep her urges under control, hiding her
true nature while seeking her help to form an organization that will protect
humankind.

At least, that was the mask everyone had come
to accept. And even beneath the skin, everything went wrong.

The sickest thing? I still remember her smile.
I miss it.

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

My
eyes opened, the ground still spinning but not as nauseating. Lights from the
party still emanated rainbows from the inside. The nap did nothing to quiet my
heart. Missing someone is your heart's way of reminding you that you love them,
as some distant memory said to me.

I
clenched my fist, accepting the painful truth for a second time.

It
takes a just a moment to say hello, Aralynne darling, but forever to say
goodbye. And though I'd rather you never know, I can never say goodbye to you.