Carry On: Unveiled Truths

Chapter 20

Baz

Snow no doubt was worried about me. Well- maybe not 'no doubt', but he had to be at least a little anxious, right? Even if he didn't really love me, even if... if he was with Wellbelove by now. He'd still care. He had to still care, he couldn't just stop, especially after everything we went through-

Enough. I was here to forget about Snow, not wallow in my own misery (although I had to admit, wallowing was one of my many skills). I needed a break from him and the constant dark cloud that followed us around.

I raised the coconut shell to my lips and sipped frozen margarita through the long bendy straw. This was supposed to be relaxing for people outside the World of Mages. The Normals. They came to Hawaii for honeymoons and family vacations or just to be able to say they came. The sun had never been a friend of mine, and I squirmed under all the sunblock I had to lather on my face. It practically ruined the whole beach.

Even when I was supposed to be taking my mind off of magic, I couldn't help but wonder. I thought about Snow and what he would be doing at the time. Then I wondered if his magic came back, and I would almost raise my wand to return to Watford, but I always second guessed it. I couldn't go back yet.

The looming thought of Snow, along with the perpetual fear of a volcanic eruption, was enough to drive me to raise my wand and cast a spell. Not back home, but at least off of that bloody island.

I found myself on the side of the road, trees on the right and road on the left. I would look extremely odd to anyone who drove by; a nearly grown boy, holding a coconut drink and wearing a lei around his neck. I cast myself new clothes, a pair of jeans and a black sweater, then started to make my way towards the Den.

I cast my lei on a tree branch a little ways before the bar because I knew I wouldn't even have a chance if I were wearing it. I needed to seem like one of them. After all, I was; I was a disgusting, foolish vampire who thought he could live a somewhat normal life with his boyfriend. I'd been wrong in so many ways.

Snow tried to tell me I had a soul. That I wasn't dead, and I was only a dark creature if I decided to be one. That wasn't true. I'd been a dark creature since the day I was bitten, even if I tried to deny it. The inner bloodsucker was always there, always asserting itself in my thoughts.

A normal person would see a heartbeat as a sign of life or death. To me, a heartbeat always meant death for that person because all I would have to think is 'food' and it would be over. I'd snap his neck and drain his corpse. I'd restrained myself before, but what was the point now? What was the point of one 'vegetarian' Vampire within a sea of normal vamps?

I'd held out hope before and Snow was my only source. I loved him for years and I fought every one of my instincts to keep from killing him because I thought that maybe one day he could love me too. But that could never happen and I see that now. I'll always be a vampire. So what's the point of half-assing it?

Go big or go home, right?

Simon

I jumped at every little noise, constantly anticipating another attack. I knew Penny could be there in a flash if there were ever a problem, but I still worried. I had no way to defend myself, except for this old rusty sword Penny found in the attic and decided would be great for me.

It didn't fit in my hand like my own sword, and I felt clumsy no matter how long and hard I practiced. The first day after receiving the sword I took it to a sofa, one I'd found while searching the old common rooms. Stuffing had flown across the room and fabric laid shredded at my feet. When I had finally gotten all my anger out, I turned around the see a defeated Penny standing in the doorway.

"I imagined you fighting dragons, not sofas," she remarked. I rolled my eyes and sat crisscrossed on the carpeted floor. Penny stride through the room and settled down facing me. If she weren't my friend, and if I were entirely straight, I'd probably be staring at the bit of pants she was flashing under her skirt. She'd never cared about stuff like that. I admired the fuck out of her.

"Simon, soon you can get your sword back. You've almost got enough magic to fully-"

"Penny, I don't care. I don't care about any of it. Being headmaster, fighting the dead-undead Humdrum, I just don't give a damn. I want my magic back and I want Baz back and I want to forget about everything else," I declared, a surprisingly clear statement compared to my usual state of stuttering.

Penny's eyebrows raised.

"You know it's your job, Simon," Penny droned. I'd heard the same thing all my life. Everything was always my job, but I had one question: why me?

Wherever Baz was I hoped he was okay. And I hoped, for all our sakes, that he remembered what being good was all about.

Baz

As I walked into the smoke-filled vampire bar, teeming with both slick gamblers and beefy biker guys covered from head to toe in leather, I had one thought: Simon Snow would utterly flip his shit.

All eyes settled on me as I let the front door slam. I was easily the best looking in the entire room, and most likely the smartest, but what I didn't have was commitment. I needed to prove I was here and here to stay.

I ran a hand through my slicked back hair and slammed my margarita down on a pool table that was in the middle of a game. I received angry stares, but nobody would dare make a move against someone who seemed as in charge as I did. The room was hushed as I relocated the stairwell Snow and I descended earlier and made my way into the darkness. My eyes adjusted quickly, but it was so pitch black that I could only make out figures.

"Mr. Pitch," stated a voice from somewhere in the room. I kept my face neutral, but nodded my acknowledgment.

I cleared my throat before speaking.

"I'm here. And I don't plan on leaving."