"She"s a person, Raimie! Not food!" Dina"s body began to tremble as the reality sank in.
"He"s undead," Sera stated from the rear of the room.
"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?" Dina asked, turning towards Sera in a frenzy, tears streaming down her face.
"Undead drink blood to survive or they can consume flesh as long as it"s living at the time of consumption. A newly undead has a large appet.i.te. For him to survive, he will have to feed on the living every couple of hours, if I had to guess," Sera explained.
"How do you know that?" Uri asked.
"I just do."
Dina twirled back around, staring at Raimie who stood motionless, looking at them. "You"re wrong! Look at him. He"s not hurting any of us; he can"t be."
"He"s already eaten. I suspect no matter what, he wouldn"t hurt you because you created him and most undead are loyal to their creators. Given the choice though, he would kill Uri and myself if he were hungry enough. He doesn"t have any emotions, he simply exists. You were right, that isn"t your Raimie, he was already gone when we brought him to Iron Gate. Jesus, what are we going to do? We needed him, without Raimie what hope do we have?"
"Wow, thanks, Mary Poppins," Dina snarled. "And you"re wrong. He can"t be gone."
"I"m right here," Raimie added innocently.
"I know you are, baby, we"re going to figure this out, don"t worry," Dina responded.
Sera attempted to calm the girl"s emotional state. "I"m not trying to upset you, this is a real tragedy. Raimie was very important to a much bigger cause. This hurts us all."
"You don"t even know us, so could you please spare me the melodrama!" Dina was shouting, wiping the tears away from her cheeks as quickly as they fell.
"I don"t understand. Why was Neru even in here?" Uri asked, unable to remove his eyes from the girl"s dead body.
Dina hung her head as she recalled the recent encounter. "I ran into her earlier when I left to get Raimie some food. She saw me leaving the tombs. I yelled at her and tried to scare her away so she wouldn"t come inside, but she must have gotten curious and came back."
"We need to talk about what we"re going to do," Uri said, glancing at Ramie before adding, "alone."
Dina looked over at Raimie and then back at Uri, "All right. If I go talk to my friends for a minute, can you stay here?"
"Whatever," Raimie answered in a voice that made her shudder; there was no mistaking that he was different now.
Dina, however, didn"t move. She continued standing there, staring at the blood-stained face of the sh.e.l.l that had once contained her beloved. Uri took hold of her hand, leading her out of the tombs and into the open night air. Sera, following close behind, had no desire to be left alone with the newly undead creature.
Once in the open, Uri asked in a panic, "What are we going to do?"
"What do you mean?" Dina asked.
"What do I mean? I mean you created a monster in there and I am wondering what the h.e.l.l we"re going to do about it." Uri growled.
"That"s Raimie in there, what can we do?" Dina moaned.
"I knew Raimie, and that, in there, is not Raimie. Jesus, Dina, he killed a girl!" Uri exclaimed.
"I know, d.a.m.n it! You don"t have to remind me."
"Apparently, I do," Uri added.
"No, you don"t. She"s dead because of me; you don"t think I know that?"
"We have to tell Michael.," Uri insisted.
"What? No! You promised! We can"t tell Michael. He"ll want to destroy him.," Dina argued.
"He"s a monster, he needs to be destroyed."
"Uri"s right. That"s not your boyfriend anymore. If you don"t take care of him, he will continue to hurt people," Sera confirmed.
"Seriously? Why are you still here? You have no business sticking your nose into guardian affairs, so please, b.u.t.t out!"
"Don"t yell at her. You made this mess and now you know what needs to be done. Are you going to do it or do I need to get Michael involved?"
"No! Don"t," Dina pleaded before sighing in despair. "He"s my responsibility; I"ll take care of it."
"Do you need my help?" Uri offered, knowing the immense difficulty Dina would have carrying out the deed.
"No," Dina answered coolly. "I need to do this myself."
"We"ll be right here if you need us," Uri added.
"You need to know, he wouldn"t hurt you unless he got hungry enough. He can only ignore his most basic instincts for so long," Sera explained.
Dina nodded before turning to go back into the tombs. Her head was spinning. She knew Uri was right, she should have trusted her instincts and never dabbled in dark magic. Now, she had sacrificed a piece of herself, a piece she would never get back. An innocent girl had died for her mistakes, how could she ever make things right? Beyond all the other things, she now had to dispose of this monster she created.
"Is everything all right?" Raimie asked, c.o.c.king his head as if he had no clue as to what could be troubling her.
"Do you understand who I am?" Dina asked, trying to probe deeper to see if a part of Raimie was still there to be saved.
"You"re Dina," Raimie answered plainly.
"But what do I mean to you?" Dina pushed.
"I don"t understand."
"I know who I am, but when you think of what I mean to you, what comes to mind?"
"You"re nice to me, you help me."
"That"s it? How come when you were hungry, you didn"t try to feed off of me?"
"I protect you, I don"t hurt you."
"So, if I asked you to do something for me, would you do it?"
Raimie thought about the question for a moment before responding, "Yes."
"What if I told you that I don"t want you to hurt anyone ever again? No more feeding on people. Can you do that?"
Raimie didn"t answer at first; he appeared to be computing an answer. "If that"s what you want."
"It is," Dina answered, not knowing in the moment if Raimie would be able to honor his promise. "Come, let"s lay together."
Even though deep inside Dina knew this being was not her beloved, she couldn"t help but think of her Raimie as she looked at him. If this was going to be the end of him, she wanted to hold him in her arms for the time being. Though his skin was pale and flesh cold, he still looked like him. In some way, a piece of Raimie was there with her, and she could not resist the temptation to allow the goodbye to linger.
Dina leaned against the stone wall, sliding down into a seated position. Raimie moved slowly as she motioned him over and instructed him to lie down. He did as he was told, placing his head onto her lap. She began running her fingers through his hair, watching as each strand fell back into place, memorizing what each movement was like so she could recall it one day.
"You"re so nice to me," Raimie said in a blissful and ignorant tone. Tears ran freely down Dina"s face and she managed not to convulse as she continued to stroke his hair. They sat there in silence for at least an hour, Dina growing numb inside with each pa.s.s of her fingertips. She noticed he began to twitch, slight murmurs and moans escaping his lips. Dina knew that he would soon be unable to keep his promise to her and he would need to feed.
Poor girl, Dina thought, looking at the motionless corpse across the room. All she ever wanted to do was be our friend and look where that got her. d.a.m.n it, sometimes I think we"re all cursed. How can I do this? I can"t kill him, I love him, he"s my whole life... What if? No- I can"t, but- it"s wrong! Unless, what if Sera is right? What if a world without Raimie is a world without hope? Maybe I could keep him here, train him to not attack. We could figure out a way to possibly have him feed without killing anyone. He could still help the Guardians and I could still have him in my life.
Dina"s eyes darted down to Raimie who was now trembling, then back to Neru"s body. The man who was lying in her lap, though, was not hers. The Raimie she loved was in fact gone and in the core of herself she knew that. She had created this monster, mutilated the body of the man she loved so intensely, morphing him into this thing.
"I"m hungry," he moaned.
"I know, baby, I know."
"I need to eat, can I eat?"
"Soon, sweetie, rest for now," Using her free hand, Dina slipped the dagger from behind her back, placing it on the ground next to her leg.
A few moments pa.s.sed and Raimie became even more restless. Lifting up his head, he looked into her eyes and pleaded, "It hurts, please, I need to eat." Dina considered offering her own blood to him, but then quickly realized that in her already weakened state, she would not be able to fight him off if he were unable to control his urges.
Raimie did not wait for her response; he rose to his feet and began looking around the room. She could see that he was building into a frenzy. Dina wrapped her fingers around the dagger next to her and rose to her feet.
"Raimie? Are you okay?"
"Where"s that girl that was in here?"
"What girl? Neru? You killed her."
"No!" Raimie violently waived his arms, frustrated he was not being understood. "Uri"s friend."
"Sera?"
"Yeah!" Raimie exclaimed. "Sera, where did Sera go?"
"Why do you want to know?" Dina asked, carefully concealing the dagger behind her back, the blade reacting to her heightened emotions and beginning to glow even brighter. Raimie however didn"t notice; he was too focused on finding Sera.
"I"m so hungry, Dina. It hurts," he cried.
"I"m sorry, baby. I know it hurts, but you promised me you wouldn"t do that," Dina reminded him.
"Is she outside?" he asked, ignoring her and turning towards the halls that led to the exit.
As he headed towards the sweet freedom of the outdoors, Dina could no longer hesitate. The time had come; her ideas and plans to try and keep Raimie under control were clearly not going to work. She sprang into action, rushing towards his body, his back still facing her. Leaping into the air, wrapping both hands around the dagger, she raised her arms up over her head and plunged the blade into his skull before landing on the b.a.l.l.s of her feet.
Raimie halted. He didn"t turn to face her, instead, he fell to his knees, hovering for a moment, and then collapsed. No words or sounds escaped his lips. In an instant, the previously animated body became empty and motionless.
"Oh, G.o.d. No! No, G.o.d! Please!" The cries that came from Dina were painful and loud. So loud they brought Uri rushing back inside.
He stopped for a moment, taking in the scene before scooping up Dina into his arms. "I know it hurts."
Dina ignored his comfort, trying to pull away from him, reaching out for Raimie"s dead body. Saliva flew out from the corners of her mouth as she wildly sobbed, "I love you. Oh, G.o.d I love you so much. Why did you have to die?"
Uri finally managed to shift the pet.i.te, flailing girl"s body over his shoulder, and sweep her from the tombs. Her haunting and painful moans carried all throughout Iron Gate.
"What do you mean she"s gone?" Haim asked, his eyebrows rising.
"Exactly what I said, she"s gone! I went to her room to make sure she was all right after everything that went down with Raimie, and all that was there was some insane note," Uri exclaimed.
"Wait, she left a letter?"
"Yes, but it makes absolutely no sense."
"Well, what did it say?"
"Here, read it for yourself. Maybe you can figure out what the h.e.l.l she"s talking about."
Uri, I want you to know that meeting you, in person, and getting to know you has meant the world to me. You showed me a glimpse into who you are, and I can see that you have grown into an amazing man. One that is sure and confident of who he is, and who cares about the people in his life. In the future, your friends will need someone like you, so please, be strong.
Everything has changed now that Raimie is gone. I can"t explain, all I can say is that there is no longer a need for me to be here. I have failed as a keeper and now I must report back to find out what is to be done with me.
Don"t come after me. I wish I could have saved you all, but I wasn"t as strong as you.
-Seraphine Haim pushed the paper back into Uri"s hands. He said nothing, unsure what to make of the words.
"What does she mean?" Uri asked, examining the paper closely for the tenth time since discovering it. "She said meeting me in person meant the world to her, like she already knew who I was. Why would she say that?"
"Man, I don"t know. I"m as lost as you are," Haim replied, scratching his head.
"She talks about my future like she knows it. And what about the part where she says she failed as a keeper? When did she fail? I never even knew what the h.e.l.l the weapon was."
"You"re the one that was sucking face with the girl, how am I supposed to know what she"s talking about? You really have no clue?"
"Show a little respect," Uri growled, slapping Haim in the chest with the back of his hand. "It wasn"t like that. Sera is different."
"Whatever you say."
"I"m serious, she"s special."
"Aren"t they all?" Haim asked with an elbow to the side.
"Shut up! All right? I can"t explain it, there"s something about her, it"s like she can see me when n.o.body else can."
"Oh, man, stop, I"m going to tear up over here. Or maybe I should bust out in a verse of Wind Beneath My Wings."