Afterlife-Secrets Can Kill Two

Chapter Three

As we arrived back at our home, there was a man standing in our living room. Defensive, I felt an adrenaline rush ready to attack the intruder. Jay smirked and placed his hand around my waist.

"Kayce, this is Stefan. He works with my father, but is a friend of ours." He had a short beard connected to his dark mustache. This man was tall and wearing black pants tucked into knee-high boots. He had a black overcoat with a long back, that resembled a cape to me, with silver buttons going up to his puffy white undershirt and collar. I could tell by his attire that he was from the Underworld. He also carried the unavoidable scent of rain and firewood that accompanied the Underworld.

"My apologizes," Stefan began in a thick Italian accent, "The King has asked me to deliver a message to Mr. Harrison, personally." He said removing his black hat and bowing his head at Jay's presence.

"Of course. Excuse me." Jay said walking towards Stefan, and taking him down the hallway, past the elegant staircase and into the office, where the many novels Jay has collected over his years remained.

"I wonder what that was about." I said shrugging and taking a seat on the couch. Alix looked to Seth and shrugged as well, before climbing the stairs up a level.

"So how was it today? Being back home?" Seth asked sitting next to me and propping his feet up on the coffee table.

"Really great. I loved seeing Lilly and Kyle and Jen. It felt like old times. Improved old times because you guys were there." I smiled.  Seth smiled and hugged me into him.

"You may not know this, but it meant a lot to Alix today that you invited her to hang out with your humans." I raised an eyebrow. "She won't tell you herself, but she really feels connected to you, and the fact that you let all of us hang out with your mortal friends is a big sign of trust." He explained and I nodded.

"Good. Alix is like my sister. I love being around her." I said. I felt my phone vibrate from my back pocket and I pulled it out to find a text from Kyle.

-It was great seeing you today. Come visit again soon! I miss you.- I smiled and replied.

-You too. I had tons of fun! I can't wait to see you again.-

-You better be coming around here a lot considering summer is almost here-

-I will consider it(;- I replied. I realized that time still mattered for them. Summer vacation was a time to get away from school and responsibilities, but I had already escaped all of that.

About 30 minutes passed before Jay and Stefan came out of the office.

"I will be in touch. Thank you Stefan" Jay said formally while shaking his hand.

"My pleasure sir. It was nice seeing you again Kayce." Stefan said. Again? When had he seen me? "Oh, I'm sorry. You probably don't remember me. But I saw you in the Underworld. Never got the chance to formally introduce myself." He said shaking my hand.

"Nice to see you too Stefan." I said politely. This man was very formal.

Jay guided Stefan out the front door and then smiled at me. It seemed a bit forced to me. Jay exited the room and went back into the office.

"That was weird, right?" Seth said to me. I nodded, agreeing that Jay's attitude was strange.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go talk to him." I said getting up from the couch and walking down the hallway into the office. Jay was typing on a tablet, a new one I assumed because I had never seen it before.

"Jay?" I said quietly entering the room. He locked the tablet, turned to face me and smiled.

"Hey, Kayc'." He said gesturing me to come to him. I walked to him and as I did, he pulled me to sit on his lap.

"New device?" I asked. and He nodded. "Did Stefan give it to you?"

"Yes." He said. He wasn't being himself. He kept his eyes on the tablet, like he was waiting for it to grow legs and walk across the desk. I brought my hand up to stroke his face. "Is everything okay?" I asked carefully, because I knew how easily Jay could be set off when someone poked around his life. He nodded, without looking up. I ran my thumb across his cheek, causing him to finally look up at me. "Please don't lie to me." I said sadly. He sighed and held my hand against his face.

"Stefan just gave me a message about my father. That's all. It's not a big deal, nothing worth worrying over."

"So what's with the tablet?" I asked and he pointed his stony eyes at me.

"It's just a way for me to communicate to the authorities in the Underworld." He said. I could tell he didn't want to talk about it. I nodded and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.

"Alright. I will stop asking questions now, I can see it's stressing you out." I said and he just looked at me and smiled. "Want to go upstairs and take your mind off it?" I said smiling.

He smirked and hugged me close to him. I rested my chin on his head.

"Kayc' I would love to. But I can't right now. I just have some work to do." He said releasing me. I nodded and got off his lap. "Wait," he said putting a hand on my cheek and pulling me in to gently kiss him. I smiled, and exited the office.

As I laid on the bed reading a book, Jay finally entered the room, looking exhausted. I looked up at his tired face and noticed on the clock behind him that it was midnight. Without looking at me, he removed his shirt and jeans and climbed into bed next to me. He flopped onto the pillows and turned to look at me.

"Hey." I said sweetly and he laughed and sat up.

"Kayce you know I love you right?" He said randomly and concerned, I nodded. "Good."

"So, do you wanna talk about what happened today?" I asked. He sighed and nodded.

"I need to go away for a while."

"What?" I asked, assuming he meant without me tagging along.

"Something happened in the Underworld and I have to go fix it. I will spare you the details because the less you know the safer you are."

"Okay." I decided to not push him on why he wouldn't tell me more. "So where will I go?" I asked.

"You can stay here. This is your home. Or you can spend some time in Williston, if you'd like." I nodded at the suggestion.

"Okay. I will go stay with Kyle. How long will you be gone?"

"I don't know. A few days? Maybe weeks? I really don't know." He said putting his hands on his forehead.

I rubbed his back and spoke. "When will you leave?"

"Tomorrow. Stefan needs me now, but I told him I needed one more night with you." He said looking up at me. I smiled and nodded.

"Okay. You don't have to tell me whats going on but I can't promise I won't see." I said, referring to my future vision power. He smiled and nodded, kissing my cheek.

"I know."

"Just promise me you'll be safe. I don't know what I would do without you." I said and he grabbed my face and passionately kissed me. He hadn't kissed me all day, and it was so amazing.

"I will be safe. I promise." He said and pulled me into his body. "I will call you every night and now that you've forced me to carry a cell phone I will text you as much as I can." He said, "But only when I come back to earth. The Underworld doesn't get good service. " He joked and I smiled.

"Okay. Jay, just be safe down there."

"I will. Let's get to sleep. I'm exhausted." He said and I agreed.

"Okay. Goodnight." I said turning the lamp on the bedside table off and cuddling into Jay's chest.