Chapter 7

I was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, when a knock came at the door.

"What do you want!" I shouted sleepily.

Jeffrey's mousy assistant peeped her head around the door, shaking like a leaf. "I… I'm sorry to disturb you sir… b-but J-Jeffery said that I should l-let you k-know of a-any events involving that g-girl."

I quickly sat up, and she jumped, shaking more violently now.

"Well, what is it, spit it out, what happened!"

"She… she was sent to the hospital."

"What! What happened?!"

"Your informant said that she has a really high fever. And that she had gone to take a shower, and when she got out of the shower she passed out, and ended up hitting her head when she fell."

"What hospital is she at?" I said, quickly standing up and grabbing my coat.

"Uh sir…!" She said, her face bright red as she pointed at me.

I looked down, and realized that I had forgotten that I nothing but boxers on. "Shit, that's right, I need clothes."

"I knew it, you have a thing for her." Tom said as I walked up to her hospital room.

"Shut it" I said.

"You can't deny it. The second you found out you came running."

"You're acting like Derick, so cut it out."

"Sorry boss" He said, smirking at me.

"You know you're this close to me pounding your face in, again." I said, holding two fingers very close together. "So stop trying to test my patience."

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." He whispered under his breath.

I sat down in the chair next to him. "So what happened? I know why she's here, but where did this sudden fever come from?"

"The doctor said that it's something called a magical reaction. She said that it's basically an allergic reaction, but with magic, and no inflation of body parts. So since she uses pure white magic, her body doesn't react well to dark or black magic. So that means she came into contact with black magic for a long amount of time."

"I bet you anything that it was that stupid amulet. That thing probably uses black magic to do whatever it did to her."

"It was in her pile of clothes so she must have slept with it on. I took it with me when we left for the hospital." He handed me the necklace, it's deep pink jewel shining.

I clenched my fist around it, hearing a satisfying crunch as it shattered in my hand. I opened my hand again, and a small stream of black smoke floated from the broken pieces and dissipated into the air. I threw the rest of the pieces against the wall, they broke into sparkles and disappeared.

"Glad to be rid of that" I said, dusting my hands off." Now I think that I'll go in to see her."

I stood up and strolled into the room, sliding the door shut behind me. Her small body lay sleeping in the hospital bed, an oxygen mask strapped around her face, and an IV was attached to her left arm. She looked so frail and small in the large hospital bed. The small dark circles under her eyes combined with the hospital lighting made her look pale and sickly. Obviously Derick didn't care about her, because he's the reason she was in this state.

The door slid open behind me, and a woman in a white lab coat walked in. She stopped when she saw me.

"Oh hello there, I uh… didn't realize that someone else was in here. I thought that the gentleman out in the hallway was her only visitor. Are you her boyfriend?"

"No, I'm just a friend."

"You're so lucky little Lily, you've got two hot guys at your beck and call. Well I mean you're not so lucky, but still girl." She said as she checked her vitals, and gave her a fresh bandage on her forehead.

"Why is it that you're talking to her?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well she and I are friends, but I talk to all of my patients. It makes them feel more comfortable, even when they're unconscious. And I know that she can hear me. It's not her first time here, and she's always been aware of what others say around her, whether she's awake or not."

"Huh, interesting. So how do you know Lily?"

"And how do you know her?" She said, giving me a look that said why should I answer your questions.

"I asked first."

"Fine, fine. I met her while I was interning here, she was one of my first patients when I was helping as a nurse. She's the who inspired me to become a doctor who specializes in magic. She was so powerful at such a young age, that her body would get really sick. And after her mom died there was no one that knew what to do to help her. And a lot of the doctors said that we should just let her die since she's a mage. But I never thought that was right, so I became a magics specialist so that I could help her. But you'd also be surprised at how many people come in with magic related injuries too. Now tell me, how do you know my sweet little Lily, Mr. Shadowcross."

"What did you say?"

"Ya that's right, I know who you are, I know what you are, Shadowcross. What I want to know is what someone like you is doing with someone like her."

"Can we not talk about this in front of her."

"She can't hear us right now, her mind has gone into another fever dream. So tell me, what is it that you want from her? Are you trying to seduce her, because that won't work as soon as she learns who you are."

"Am I not allowed to have a relationship with a good girl like her just because I'm the son of the Mafia's boss?"

"You can have a relationship with anyone you want, just as long as it's not her."

"And what if she wants me? Are you going to stop her from making her own choices?"

"I… no, she's her own person, I won't make decisions for her. I'll just tell her that you're a bad person, and that she should stay far away from you."

"You may think that I'm bad, and I am, but I've never hurt any of my girlfriends, and I always protect them from my family. If anything her current lover is the one who's hurting her."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you said that she's like that because she came into contact with black magic, right?"

"Ya, I did. Where are you going with this?"

"He gave her an amulet that was infused with a black magic spell."

"What! I was wondering what it could have been. I knew that she would have never knowingly touched dark magic, especially with how pure she it. Damnit! That idiot may have just ruined the purity of her magic. Can I see the amulet?"

"I destroyed it."

"Really? Then why isn't she getting better? The second it was destroyed she should have started recovering, but she still has a high fever."

"Tom said that she might have slept with it on, so she's been wearing it for awhile."

"Well shit. This is a reaction to separation from it, as well as her body rejecting it. If you hadn't destroyed it then I would've been able to find a way to help her get better sooner. But I understand why you broke it." She sighed and flopped into the seat next to me.

"Aren't doctors supposed to be better than this at their jobs?"

"You want to give it a try?"

"No, not really."

"Then don't tell me how to do my job. I'm not a mage, so there's not much that I can do for her. Only she can heal herself right now, so I can only help her get to where she can do that."

"..." I stayed silent, watching her chest rise and fall.

"You know, I want to say that your work is annoying. But to be honest, more than half of my clients come from you and your family, so I can't really complain."

"Oh really now? I don't typically leave my victims alive, so you must be confusing me with someone else's work."

"Well either way…" She stopped and looked at Lily. "She's waking up" She said as she walked over to her.

All of a sudden she started squirming around, still unconscious, and the doctor tried to hold onto her left arm to keep her from hurting herself. She let out a small, pitiful, heart breaking scream, her eyes flying open.

"Lily, are you okay?!" The doctor said, concerned.

"I… I" She stammered between panting breaths, her eyes frantically moving around. Then they stopped, unseeing to the world around them. "I saw my own death".

And then her body relaxed, and she blinked a few times, tuning back into reality.

"What are you staring at?" She asked the doctor.

"Lily what did you mean by what you just said?"

"I was wondering why you were staring at me like that" She said, confused.

"No, what you said before that."

"Marie I… I don't know what you're talking about. That was the only thing that I said."

"No. After you woke up you said that you saw your own death."

"I did? I don't remember. I had a couple of strange dreams, but that wasn't in any of them."

"Do you think that it was another one of your prediction dreams?"

"Maybe. But I usually only have one a day, if I even have one at all. And I thought that I had one earlier today."

"Um… ladies, pardon my interruption. But what are these prediction dreams that you speak of?"

"Lily would sometimes have dreams that were similar to events that happen in the future. So we figured that they were dreams that held predictions for the future."

"I didn't realize that you were here Joseph, s-sorry that I didn't see you."

"It's fine"

"Is… is Derick here?"

"No, he's not" I said kinda sharply.

"Oh…" She said, her face clouding with sadness.

"Is Derick your boyfriend?" Marie said.

She nodded.

"Oh, so then you're sad that he didn't come to see you."

She nodded again.

"I don't care if you're disappointed in him or not, I preferably like the first one. But I don't want to see you sad. So I guess that I'll tell you, the reason that he didn't come is because none of us told him that you were here. So please… don't be sad."

She stared at me for a second, and then she smiled. "Cute"

"H-huh" I said, getting confused and flustered.

"You got all shy and blushy, and I thought that it was cute."

"Does that mean you've fallen for me?" I said, trying to cover up the embarrassment by being confident and flirting with her a little.

"Hmm… no. I can say that someone is cut without being attracted to them. Like how I think that Marie is cute and pretty."

"Aww, thanks girl. I think you're cute too."

"Ya, but you're cuter."

"No you are" Marie said playfully.

"No, you"

"No, you"

"No you" They both said, then started giggling. It had turned into gross girl stuff, ugh.

"Hey have you seen that new trend where you do your boyfriends makeup. You and this Derick guy should totally try it." Marie said once they stopped laughing.

"I can't. For one, I don't own any makeup. And two, he probably won't even let me come near him with that stuff."

"That's too bad. But you're seriously telling me that you look this good without makeup."

"I don't think that I look good at all, so I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well you do look good."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better. I mean I especially can't look remotely good right now."

"I think that you look good" I said. "You still look cute the way you are now."

"See, now it must be true" Marie said. "But now that you've spoken, I have an idea. Hehehe." She said, laughing suspiciously.

She suddenly bolted off of Lily's bed, rushing towards me, then she raced behind me and shoved me towards Lily. I stumbled from the force, barely catching myself before I landed on her. And now my face was inches away from hers.

"Lily you hold him down, and I'll be right back!" She called as she slid out the door, shutting it behind her quickly.

"So… it uh... looks like we're in this situation yet again. Except you're on the top, and I'm the one who's in pain on the bottom." She said with an awkward laugh.

"Ya" I said absentmindedly.

"Except of course you can't kiss me and make me feel better like I did for you."

"Are… are you in pain?" I whispered, gently brushing a few stray hairs out of her face.

She took a sharp breath, looking so nervous and awkward under my touch.

"No I'm fine now…" She trained off when I leaned in closer, wanting so badly to kiss her. And then, I did.

I kissed her, and she let out a small gasp of shock. She tried to turn her head away, but I cupped my hand around her face. "Please just a little bit longer" I whispered as I pulled away a bit. "Just let me get it out of my system." I kissed her again, holding it for a couple of seconds, and then pulling away and leaning my forehead on hers.

"W-why did you do that?" She said, shaking a little.

"Because I wanted to. And now we're even. And I'm sure that by now you know that I like you."

"But… why me? You know that I'm taken, but yet you're still pursuing. I don't understand."

"You can't control who you fall for, and I just so happened to fall for you. And when I want something, I take what I want and make it mine. So I really don't care if you belong to someone else."

"Aren't you scared that he'll hurt you? He's not going to let you try to take me from him."

"I'm not scared. If anything he's the one who should be scared, especially if he tries to stop me. But the question is will you let me take you away from him?"

"I… I… don't know."

"That's not a no, so I'll take it."

"W-wait… it's not a yes or no question, it's more complicated than that. I love Derick, but I also like you. I haven't known you for very long, but I feel some sort of connection with you. So I'd like to keep you as a friend, but then there's also a possibility for me to fall for you. But there's also something else… some things just don't really seem to add up."

"And those would be?"

'Like how did you know where I live?"

"I was visiting Tom, so he told me where he was staying and you just so happened to be there."

"But see here's the thing, he wasn't supposed to tell anyone where he was. So tell me how you really knew."

"So maybe that was a lie, but the truth might make me sound creepy."

"Then what is the truth?"

"Ever heard of the game two truths and a lie?"

"Ya, but what does that have to do with this?"

"We're going to play my version of it, two lies and a truth, since there really is only one truth. So I'm going to tell you three things and you can decide which one is the truth on your own, but I'm not going to tell you which one is the truth."

"Why can't you just tell me the truth, lying is bad."

"Because I have to keep some air of mystery about me. And besides your boyfriend lies straight to your face all the time, at least I'm still telling you the truth."

"Fine" She pouted a little, and I smirked at her silliness.

"Alright here we go. One, I just happened to be walking by and saw Tom through the window. Two, I was nearby and have an app that tells me when friends are close by. Three, I looked you up and found your address, and then stopped by to say hello. And four, I have a sensor that tells me where cute girls I like are."

"Hey! I thought you said it was only going to be three." She said, pushing me away as she got all flustered.

"Ya I know, but I just couldn't help teasing you. You just get so cute when you're flustered." I booped her nose, and it surprised her for a second, and then she started swatting at my hands.

I felt bad about lying to her, and pretending to be someone that I wasn't, but I'm not ready for her to learn the truth yet. At Least if I acted all cute like this then she might fall for me. But… would she still love me when she finds out about the monster that I am.

"Don't you two make such a lovely couple." Marie said from behind us. I looked to see her standing in the open doorway, a box tucked under her arm.

She walked over to us, a smug grin on her face.

"Now you just need to sit there like a good boy, and let us make you all pretty."

Now I knew what was in the box.

"Nope! I'm out of here." I said, quickly trying to stand up and leave.

She shoved me back onto the bed, and put her foot between my legs.

"Now we can do this the easy way, or the way that's fun for me and hell for you."

"You wouldn't dare" I said, glaring at her.

"Oh I would and I will if you don't cooperate." She said, a devilish look on her face.

"Listen, if you do that I'm going to get you back for it later. And saying as you think that you know me, then you should know that I'll follow through."

"Oh come on, it's just a little bit of makeup, it's not gonna hurt you."

"Maybe not physically, but it's gonna hurt my pride."

Lily grabbed my arm, looking up at me with big puppy dog eyes. "Pretty please."

Oh god those eyes struck a heart string, latching on and pulling firmly. I let out a sigh, "Fine, just nothing that won't come off easily."

"Yay" she said, smiling from ear to ear.

Half an hour later they had given me a full face of makeup, and the humiliation was overwhelming.

"Ahhh! He looks like a member of a boyband." Lily said happily, letting out a fangirl scream. "We need to take pictures."

"You can only take pictures of me on one condition." I said, stopping her from reaching for her phone. "I get to take a picture with you."

"That's easy, so you have a deal!" She said excitedly.

She took a few pictures of me, then handed me her phone when she was done. I leaned over and took a picture of me kissing the top of her head, then quickly sent it to myself before she started freaking out and wanted to delete it.

"Now if you'll excuse me ladies, I'm going to wash this crap off of my face and get something to eat." I said as I stood up and walked towards the door. As I shut the door behind me I said "I will return soon."

I quickly walked to the nearest bathroom, praying that no one would see me like this. As I walked in Tom was coming out of one of the stalls, and he saw me as I walked in.

"Excuse me miss but I think you're in the wrong restroom." He said, smirking at me, and trying not to laugh.

"Shut up. One day this will be you when your daughter discovers makeup, except your face will look like a clown."

"Nah I'm still gonna make fun of you, maybe it'll bring your ego down a peg."

"You still gonna make fun of it when I tell you that Lily did this to me."

"See I told you that you have feelings for her."

"I let her do that to me because she was sad, not because I like her. I'm not allowed to have feelings."

"Everyone has feelings and emotions, you can't just say that you don't have any."

"Sure I can. My father once told me that having feelings makes you weak. And that loving a woman makes you useless and vulnerable, because you become weaker in anything that's related to the woman you love. He told me this after my mother died and I was devastated. He never loved anyone, his relations were for power or if they could please him sexualy then they'd become his mistress."

"Sounds like a rough childhood."

"It was, but it had to be in order for me to survive in that life. It's a life that's constantly getting more and more into kill or be killed. It's not like my father gives a shit about me anyways, he's threatened to severely hurt me several times in the last month alone."

"Guess that explains why you're such an ass all the time."

"Haha, very funny, this coming from the walking dead man."

"I can't tell if that's a threat or not."

"Nope, not a threat, just merely a statement that you're technically dead."

"I wonder what Derick is going to do about that whole situation. I highly doubt that he'll find that guy with Lily here in the hospital."

"Well if I find this son of a bitch, I'll make the job of punishment very easy for Derick."

"I'd hate to be that bastard."

"You got a lighter" I said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes.

"Ya, but you know that you're not allowed to smoke in the hospital right?"

"Shit, I forgot about that, damn." I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration.

"You two know that this is the employee bathroom and that you're not allowed in here." Marie said as she walked in.

"Ya we really don't care about that, but do you know that this is the mens restroom."

"Yes I do, what's your point?"

"But you're a woman."

"Haha… no, that's what my birth certificate says, but I don't have any… let's just say lady parts."

"I prefer being a genderless pronoun, but yes technically speaking I'm a woman. But my body has no specific gender, I don't have any boobs nor do I have a dick, there's nothing there. Does that help your small brain understand, oh and I'm also bi by the way." She said, hopping onto the counter, crossing her legs with a smug smile on her face.

"So that's why you want me to stay away from Lily, it has nothing to do with me or my family. It's that you like her and that you don't like the idea of me swooping in and stealing her."

"You caught me, but technically both statements are true. I like her, and I don't like you and your family, so can you blame me for not wanting you near her."

"Aw look at this little triangle of hate we've got going on here. You hate me, I hate Derick and you, and he probably hates both of us and wants us far away from her. It's the love triangle of hell."

"How is it a love triangle if there's three of you who are in love with her?"

"I said that it's the love triangle from hell, that means us three are the triangle and she's in the center, and hate is what makes the triangle."

"My bad, I underestimated how fucked up you are, so I'm leaving, you two have fun trying to kill each other. Also I still expect to get paid for letting you know that she was here." Tom called as he left the restroom.

"And I'm gonna leave and go smoke, so have fun in here by yourself."

"If you're gonna go smoke let me come with you." Marie said, hopping off the counter to follow me.

"Why would I want to smoke with you?" I said, trying to walk faster so that she couldn't keep up with me. "Go find somewhere else to smoke by yourself."

"Fine then, I guess that you'll just have to find another way to light yours then."

"Ugh fine, just keep your mouth shut so that I can smoke in peace."