Love is a Pretty Tragedy

His warm breath lingered on my lips, him still wanting to continue the kiss, but I wanted to look into his eyes. The emerald eyes that I missed so much. He just seemed to glow, and I could not stop thinking how glad I am to have him again. How many times this moment had come to me in dreams, and I woke up in a sweat, upset that it was not reality. Many times it felt so real, but now it finally was. This morning I would have never imagined we would be back here at our spot. Even better, now everything has been told, I know that we will be able to work through all of our problems – together. It always did seem that like when we were together there was a sense of invincibility.

Henry was the one I truly cared about leaving this small town without. I didn't feel bad in the least bit about abandoning everyone here; I hated to feel that way but I did. My parents were only kind to me when they needed me, and Aly was plenty happy with Ethan. I would contact her eventually, maybe several years down the road. We could have a fairly normal life somewhere in sunny and warm and we could experience so much that we never had the chance to do before. On Saturday afternoons, we could go to a park downtown, or maybe an outdoor concert. We would enjoy ourselves where no one knew us, and we could just be ourselves without a past. We would fit in just fine.

My daydreaming had completely taken over, until it was interrupted by the three words I couldn't wait for Henry to say once again. "I love you," blurted out of Henry's lips. "I've been waiting so long to tell you that again."

"I love you too." The butterflies in my stomach were once again exploding. I put my arms around Henry to give him a hug. I took in his scent again. It wasn’t the ice cream shop like I remember as I knew that he hadn’t been there in a while, but it was still a smell I recognized instantly. I glanced beyond Henry’s shoulder to see someone watching us in the middle of the field. "Henry," I whispered. "I believe that your friend has been watching us." I backed up and held on to the sides of his face so he wouldn't move. "Don't turn around."

Henry's whole calmness and reassurance was gone. He was nervous, scared even. I could feel every muscle in his body tense as my arms still wrapped around him. I wondered if his friend had already heard everything. I know Henry said that he had abilities beyond a normal vampire. Just when I noticed him Shawn was in the back seat of Henry's truck. "How did-?" I was speechless, and I could now see why Henry was so intimidated. Shawn filled up the entire backseat with wide shoulders and a square face to match. Somehow the rain must have repelled off of him as he wasn't the least bit damp.

"Estelle." Shawn's voice was more calming than I expected to be. He grabbed a strain of my wavy hair, still wet from the rain, and rubbed it between two of his fingers. I flinched away, as Henry glared at him. Shawn dropped my hair. "I don't believe we have formally met. I'm Shawn. It's nice to meet you," he said as he stuck out his hand, as if he was expecting this to be a proper introduction.
His attention turned toward Henry. "You did almost everything right. Just at the right time you came to save her after I pushed her in."

It felt like I slipped, I thought to myself, but wouldn't dare to interrupt. Shawn saw the shock on my face. "I knew that you needed a little extra push to get her to love you again, to finally reveal your true self. There was no other way unless her life was in danger. You couldn't see for yourself all this time what she really was. Funny as it seems to me that you believe that you are more intelligent than me." Shawn said with a smirk.

“Then, on dear boy, you went and ruined everything by blabbing your big mouth.” His voice was no longer calm. Shawn focused in on Henry until he yelped in pain. I wasn't sure what he was doing.
"Stop! " I screamed. Henry screamed in pain once more as he gritted his teeth. "What are you doing to him?" I tried to place my hand on his shoulder, but he instantly shook it off. His eyes finally opened, and the horrible pain seemed to stop as Henry took a deep breath.

"Look at me." Shawn demanded from Henry. However, Henry was still gazing forward as he had been this whole time, a phase I had never seen him before. Henry slowly turned around and looked at Shawn. "Why did you tell her about our plan?" He didn't give Henry a chance to answer. "I guess you were always more loyal to her. Your love was always much more powerful than anyone expected." Shawn sat for a moment in silence as if he said the last bit for his own notes. Henry and I just stared at him as the rain was the only noise breaking the nervous silence.

Shawn chuckled, "You know what was the most hilarious thing to come out of your conversation?" Neither of us answered. "How you believed that you can have a life together? Henry would have lied to me, and you would have lied to your parents. Running away, changing a few names, buying a house with all that money that Henry saved from the ice cream shop, enjoying picnics in the park on a Saturday, oh young, naive love." Shawn smirked, and I realized he read my mind. I knew I would have to be more careful from now on.

I couldn't stand him more and more, and I couldn't see why Henry ever decided to get involved with this guy. "You would eventually be alone, Estelle. Henry has been taking pills that I required of him in training. If he doesn't continue to take them, as I notice he already hasn't, he will fade away. First, he will lose those new powers, then they will come back randomly and uncontrollable. Until one day…soon,” Shawn paused as he looked at our reactions, enjoying every minute of our devastation.
“…when they will overcome him entirely to the point where he can no longer return to his human form. He will more obsessive and bloodthirsty than ever. His human side will completely disappear during this period; he would kill you in a second without remorse. Eventually, his vampire body will not even be able to take it anymore. You will run back to your family in despair. That would have been enough time for me to train another unsuspecting young vampire to seduce you. Maybe I wouldn't even have to do that, your parents might no longer trust your mischievous ways with so much power, and they would let Ethan succeed the clan. He would be very easy to persuade." He believed he had it all planned out. I couldn't believe what he was saying. Now we must considering these serious side-effects; Shawn now had us wrapped around his finger. He knew I would do anything to keep Henry alive.

"That won't work. My parents would never abandon me like that. Henry is the only man I will ever love. You need him alive if you want me." I knew my threats didn't mean much, but someone had to stand up for themselves. I had to seem tough even though I had nothing to back my wild assertions – also I barely even understood what was going on with my father and Ethan. Henry grabbed my hand, proud of me or restraining me from saying more, I couldn't tell.

Shawn stared into at our clasped hands and sighed. "That's sweet. I'm much stronger and smarter than you both as you just witnessed. I truly don't think you know what this means to me, and how long this has been my ultimate goal. I have spent my life dedicated to getting back what is rightfully mine, and I have a whole group of very angry vampires ready to back me.”

“I’ve already done quite a lot to achieve it. Estelle, my dear, you are late to the game.”

I cocked my head, not completely understanding what Shawn was saying. However, I realized that he truly enjoyed hearing his own voice and quickly shared.” I mean that brother of yours…he was just collateral damage. Not at first, but you see it is important to have multiple back up plans. Audrey truly failed at keeping her little secret from him. She was close, but failed which gave Ethan's sister Kaylee the perfect entrance. Unfortunately for you, it was Henry that you were so quick to fall in love with, so your brother could no longer be the first born and rightful heir. He was a difficult one to kill, and it was tricky to figure out how to kill him for good." I wasn't sure if I was hearing Shawn right as he rambled on about his plans. He was the one that had caused Wesley's car crash. He wasn't afraid to do anything until he got what he wanted. My throat tighten, as I almost began to cry. All for selfish, power-hungry reasons Wesley is dead.

Shawn continued, "It is better to just keep with the original plan Henry. Now that you know everything Estelle, it will have to do.”

Shawn was ready to move on with the game plan. He was so close and only growing more impatient by the minute with these changing plans. “You two should get married secretly without your parent's knowledge. Shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for you two since the question has already been popped before.” Shawn said as he winked at me.

Henry winced, it must have been on his mind frequently and Shawn easily picked up on it. “Look, you two really did make it very easy for me so I will make it easy for you too. I’m fine with moving forward with the parent’s plan. I don’t want them to get suspicious anyway. In the winter, Estelle will become a vampire. You will take over from your father and the next day you will simply step down for me to take over.”

“At that point, you two can do whatever you want. Run away. I’ll even provide those pills so Henry will never die. Well, I guess neither of you will ever die. I know you don't want the power anyway, Estelle." He had read my mind more than once. His dark eyes poured into mine, as those alone could convince me.

Shawn was devious, cunning and thinking he had two teenagers completely controlled. He was convincing, but I didn't believe him at all. It was obvious that he was trying to trick us that we could both have it the way we wanted. I knew that he would still kill us both, especially if he killed Wesley, right after we turned over the throne. He couldn’t allow the rightful heir to remain alive…for eternity. Shawn was just as evil Henry had said but worst. He only has one thing in mind, and it doesn’t matter to him to dies.

"No one goes against me. Follow through with the plan or else. Your brother, Keane didn't follow those rules, Henry. Maybe you should go check on him." With that, Shawn teleported out of the truck, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling he was still listening…still watching.

"You should go back to your house, Estelle." Henry said quickly after. "Your parents, Aly and Ethan will wonder where you ran off to." Our reunion was now over. It seemed like there would always be something to keep us apart.

"Did you not listen to anything he just said? Did you know he had killed my brother?"

"No, I didn't know, and I'm afraid to go home to find out that he killed mine." Henry's eyes were watery.

"I can't watch you die." Tears were now streaming down my cheeks. My life was falling apart even more than I believed it had been. I was stupid and naive, and now we were completely trapped. Every which way we would proceed forward would result in someone dying or being deceived.
"We will figure something else out; I think I know who to go to. Keane had told me of someone to go to as a last resort. From now on, just go on with your life. I will find you.” Henry looked in my eyes and his were filled with fear even though he was trying to be brave.

“Don't come searching for me. You will probably be in Chicago by the time I figure everything out." I understood that this is something Henry couldn’t figure out overnight, but I didn’t want to believe all of this was true.

I grabbed his arm and buried my face into his chest. I could feel him kissing the top of my head. "I don't want to go." I mumbled.

"I know.” Henry hugged me a little tighter. He always had such a sense of doing what was right even if it was at the sacrifice of what he truly wanted. “You will be safer there." Henry reassured me. He lifted my head and placed a kiss on my lips. It was so sweet and light. "We won't lose each other again." He promised me.