Page 29

Chapter twenty-nine

I t had been years since teleporting had made Bartholomew vomit, but everything came out. He was leaning against the side of Abby’s building. His head was spinning, he could barely hold himself up, but he needed to help. The crowds were thick, but nobody was looking behind. Instead, they were too focused on the street ahead and the parade route. Slowly, he pushed himself off the wall and made his way inside the building.

Every step hurt his soul, and he moved like he was a ninety-year-old man on his deathbed. Maybe coming alone was a bad idea, but it was too late to turn back. He reached the door to the apartment and, mercifully the door was unlocked. He stumbled in.

The normally cozy apartment was cold. Plants littered the place, and broken vases were all over the room. On the far wall, TJ was suspended from the ceiling, naked.

“God, please let him be alive.” Bartholomew prayed, laboring to reach his friend.

“Please don’t touch him,” a smooth voice said from behind.

Bartholomew spun around and gasped. “Abby?”

“Sorry, dear. Abby is not here right now. The name is Nikita.”

But it was Abby. Bartholomew was sure. Abby didn’t have a twin that he knew of. He was the one who inputted all the personal files in their system. Abby was raised an only child. Yet there were slight differences in the face. Nikita’s nose was a bit pointier. Abby's warm, brown eyes were gone and replaced with those icy-blue ones.

Bartholomew had read cases of multiple personalities. After Constantine had made him watch that crazy old flick Sybil , he was obsessed with making sure he never developed one. According to medical reports, it was possible for even their physical traits to vary when a personality took over.

But could it be this drastic? Bartholomew asked himself.

“Where is Abby?” Bartholomew asked, moving closer to TJ.

“Safe. Away from his lies and all the werewolves in this town.” Nikita played with a remote in her hand as she walked into the center of the room, blonde hair bouncing as she moved.

Even her movements were distinct. While Abby was the sweet girl next door, Nikita swayed as she walked. The moves of a predator.

“TJ is not a werewolf,” Bartholomew told her. “He is just a shifter.”

“Are you telling me that those claws are just for show, and he is not another big bad wolf?” Nikita spun around and pointed at the back wall. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll make sure Abby is safe no matter what. People like him are just going to break her heart again and leave her. Have you seen my toy?”

Bartholomew focused his sight on the other side of the room. Pointing directly at them was a large harpoon on a tripod.

“Abby wouldn’t want to hurt TJ. Please, whatever you are planning, stop,” Bartholomew begged, stalling for time as he searched his soul for any sign of power. Nothing. He was completely drained. “TJ is a great guy. He cares for Abby. He would never hurt her. None of us would.”

He barely had enough energy to hold himself up. What were you planning to do once you got here in this condition? Bartholomew chastised himself in silence.

“That’s what they all say.” Nikita skipped around the room to adjust her weapon. “I left my drinks at the other apartment. Now I’m having to improvise. Do you know our dear uncle gave this to Abby to help her get over her fear of wolves?”

“Please, you don’t have to do this.” Bartholomew moved away from TJ and towards the deranged Nikita.

“I recommend you stay exactly where you are,” she told him, pulling out the gun he had given Abby earlier. “You can stay awake to watch the show or you can go to sleep. The option is yours.”

Bartholomew moved in front of TJ covering the comatose man with his own body.

“Seriously?” Nikita laughed. “Can you even move, little Reaper?”

Bartholomew didn’t answer.

“Are you willing to die for that beast?” Nikita strolled slowly towards him but stopped a few feet away. “It would be a shame to kill...”

Nikita stopped in mid-sentence as her head snapped to the left, veins bulging on her neck. Her back went rigid, and her arms twitched in awkward angles. Bartholomew moved back to protect TJ from the woman as she jerked and spasmed as though trying to expel a demon. Nikita’s head dropped to her chest, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

Forcefully, she raised her head to face him. Bartholomew swallowed hard but didn’t move. Nikita blinked three times, and each time the blue of her irises shifted slightly until the soft brown of Abby’s eyes returned. “Abby, is that you?” Batholomew whispered.

“Bartholomew, run,” Abby’s soft voice came out as a distant mutter. “I can’t hold her for long.”

“Abby.” Bartholomew couldn’t move.

“Get TJ out!” she cried, but Bartholomew could see she was losing the fight. One of her eyes had shifted back to blue.

“Abby, how can I help?” Bartholomew pleaded.

“Abby,” TJ moaned from the wall as he regained consciousness.

“She . . .” Abby’s head snapped back to the left.

“They lied,” Nikita told her. “Don’t trust them. You know what they will do. Steal your powers, hurt you, and leave. They always do. I’m the one wiping your tears and cleaning up the mess.”

Abby fought Nikita for control of her own body. Her arms flailing as if she was trying to hug herself. Her head snapped from side to side, and her breath was ragged.

“Bartholomew, get me down,” TJ told him.

Bartholomew shuffled back towards his friend, with barely enough energy to stay upright.

“Bart, are you okay?” TJ asked.

Bartholomew only nodded, using all his strength to untie TJ.

“They are . . . my friends . . .” Abby struggled to say, as she clawed at her own face with her free hand.

“It always starts the same.” Nikita fought for control, blood oozing from the small cuts on her face. “You are not strong enough to handle the pain.”

Tears mixed with Abby’s blood as she shook uncontrollably. “I’m not.”

“Let me make it better,” Nikita purred as she regained back the body.

“We must . . . stop,” Abby muttered.

Bartholomew glanced one more time at the struggling girl, as two distinct souls fought for dominance over one body. His fingers trembled as he finally managed to get the first strap off TJ’s wrist.

“I’m . . . sorry,” Abby whispered.

Thump.

“Nooo!” TJ screamed.

Bartholomew spun around, his hands dropping to his side, as he saw the harpoon protruding from Abby’s chest and she collapsed to the ground.

TJ shifted his free hand, and using his claw, destroyed the other side. He rushed to Abby’s side as her body collapsed on the floor.

“Abby, please stay with me,” TJ begged.

“Thank you for being a true friend,” Abby whispered, as her soul left her body.

Tears ran down Bartholomew’s cheeks as he saw two souls walking towards him. Abby was holding the small hand of Nikita, a younger youth with pigtails.

“Please don’t cry.” Abby wiped Bartholomew’s face. “You are supposed to be the strong one here.”

“It’s not fair,” Bartholomew whispered as he watched his friend fall to pieces.

“Life is not fair, but it is still beautiful,” she told him. “Would you let me say goodbye to him?”

“You are leaving me?” Nikita asked her, in a soft, scared voice.

“No, sweetie.” Abby bent down and hugged the little girl. “You have taken care of me for years. It’s my turn to take care of you. Just give me a minute to say goodbye to my friend.”

“I’m sorry, Abby.” Bartholomew cried harder. “I don’t have any power left so he can see you.”

Bartholomew’s heart broke as he couldn’t even give TJ this closure.

“But I do,” Death said, walking into the room. “Let me take it from here, Bartholomew.”

“Thank you,” said Abby to Death and made her way towards TJ. “Hey, it’s okay.”

Abby wrapped her arms around TJ and he sobbed into her.

“Please, don’t go,” he begged.

“You are the sweetest person who I have ever met,” she told him. “This part of me will always be grateful for meeting you. But I can’t leave her.” Abby turned towards Nikita, shivering in the corner. “I can’t pretend that part of me didn’t do those things. I wouldn’t know how to live with that guilt.”

“Abby,” TJ said.

“Shh.” Abby bent down and kissed his lips. “Promise me you are going to live. That you will see the world and be happy.”

“Abby.”

“Promise me you will see the world like you told me you wanted to, fall in love and be happy.”

“Abby.” TJ shook as he cried.

“I’m not scared anymore.” Abby smiled. “Finally, I had a family and was part of something great.”

Tears ran down her face as she hugged TJ one last time.

Death moved next to Bartholomew, who was holding onto Nikita’s hand.

“Let me take her. You are barely holding on,” Death told him.

“I’m fine,” he lied.

“You will be.” Death kissed his forehead, and the pressure on Bartholomew’s chest released enough for him to take in air properly.

Abby removed herself from TJ and walked back.

“Please keep an eye on him,” she told Bartholomew.

Bartholomew nodded.

Death stood next to Nikita, waiting. Abby moved next to Nikita and took her hand. The little girl pulled her down and whispered in her ear. Abby gasped.

“Bart, Will is alive. He is at the Arista Apartments, number 205.”

Death winked at her ward and vanished with Abby and Nikita.

Bartholomew shuffled next to his friend and kneeled. There were no words he could say to take the pain away. For the second time this week, he just held space. This time letting his friend cry his pain away.