He's Not Real

"It should have been obvious. I have a much stronger mind than that idiot," Deric said, looking far too smug for my liking. I suppose I shouldn't even be surprised that he remembered what happened; after all, he was the only one who had regained his memory before. I still don't know how he did it, but I was thankful nonetheless that I had someone to talk to.

"I think he turned back time or something. We might be the only ones who remembered what happened."

"He's real?"

"Of course he's real. And he's a lot more powerful than I expected. Turns out he's been monitoring me for as long as I can remember. The whole human enslavement thing doesn't have anything to do with the Vampire Coven; it's all that bastard's fault. He did it to lure me to the Forbidden Tree."

"But what does he want with you?"

"I don't know," I tried to think back on the conversation I had with the Vampire before I woke up. He had mentioned wanting something, but he never said what it was. "He says I'm not as human as I think."

Deric rolled his eyes at that. "Wasn't that obvious, Kerry? I already told you before, you smell far sweeter to be human. I would say you're an incubus, seeing that you always manage to attract every guy that comes across you, but you don't smell like an incubus either."

"It doesn't make sense," I exclaimed, feeling very frustrated with everything. "My parents are both humans."

"Are you sure about that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your dad left when you were a child? Have you ever wondered if he might not be as human as you thought he was?"

"But Mom never mentioned anything about it. She didn't even know Supernaturals existed until five years ago! Plus, if my father was a Supernatural, don't you think I would have some weird powers?"

Deric shrugged, clearly not having an answer to that. At this point, the only way to get to the bottom of this was to find my dad. I was sure he would be able to explain. But I had no idea where the man even was—maybe he had started a new family or perhaps he wanted nothing to do with me. It was painful to think about. This was the reason why I had been too afraid to reach out to him all those years.

"I'm guessing you got together with Silas?" Deric's words brought me out of my thoughts. I looked up to find him watching me. His gaze was blank, but I saw an emotion flash in his eyes—an emotion I couldn't decipher. "I'm right?"

"I..."

"Oh, there's no need to feel bad about that, Darling. It's fine with me. I'm relieved knowing he actually gives a shit about you."

"But I... I know that..."

"Doesn't matter," Deric cut me off. "Anyways, I'll see you around, Darling."

"Deric..."

He didn't turn back to look at me. I watched as Deric got into his car and the vehicle zoomed off. I was left standing in the parking lot, feeling confused and a bit guilty. I knew he had feelings for me; he had shown me countless times. Yet, my heart already belonged to Silas, and I simply couldn't stop loving him. Which meant I had to break hearts if I wanted to be with him. It made me feel like a selfish person. Perhaps it would have been easier if Deric had forgotten as well; at least then, he wouldn't think I had looked past his affections and chosen Silas.

"This is so complicated," I said to myself. At that moment, I heard a familiar voice behind me. I turned to see Emily walking after Kevin. She was saying something to him in a desperate voice. I was only able to pick out some parts of her sentence, but I knew it had something to do with Carter. As expected, Emily hadn't acknowledged me even once since I got back to school. We had run into each other in the halls, but apart from a small glance, there was no encounter between us.

She clearly thought I wasn't worth her time of day, and I would rather kill myself than talk to her first. I might have made peace with what happened, but I couldn't forget what Emily had done. Emily had treated me like pure shit, disregarding our friendship in favor of chasing a guy. It showed that she didn't value our friendship at all. I would never do that to her, so it hurt very much that she had betrayed me.

Kevin leaned against him as he listened to what Emily had to say, with a frown etched on his face. He looked displeased with whatever she was saying. He said something to her and then gave a dismissive shrug, which caused Emily to storm off angrily. Kevin was about to get into his car when I called out to him. Don't get me wrong, I didn't care about what was going on with Emily, but I was worried because I hadn't seen Matt for what felt like forever. I just wanted to make sure he was alright.

"Hey, Kerry," Kevin greeted me as I stood in front of him.

"Hi, I don't mean to bother you, but I just wanted to ask about Matt. I haven't seen him for a while now. Is he alright?"

"Matt? You mean Carter?"

"Uh... No, I mean Matt."

Kevin's confusion was visible on his face. It unsettled me to know this because I knew that whenever someone had that look, it was because something bad had happened. Like memory loss. "I'm sorry, but I don't know who you're talking about."

"Is this a joke? If it is, it's not a very good one."

"I'm not joking."

"Can you just tell me how Matt is?"

"I don't know. I have no idea who Matt is."

"Matt, your fucking brother! Blond hair, blue eyes, ring a bell?"

"Are you sure you are alright?" Kevin looked concerned at this point. "Should I call Carter or something?"

I stared at Kevin in silence, trying to find any trace of amusement on his face that would give away that he was messing with me. But Kevin looked as serious as ever. He didn't look like he was messing with me at all. Dread sat heavily in my chest. "I... it's fine," I managed to say, turning on my heels. Thankfully, I could see the familiar black car pulling up in the driveway. I hurried over and got into the car, putting on my seatbelt with shaky hands.

"Kerry, what's wrong?" Silas asked me, concern evident in his voice. Even though my entire body was shaking, I forced out a smile that I knew looked as fake as my denial sounded.

"It's nothing. Let's go home."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Silas didn't look convinced, yet he didn't press me for answers, which I was very grateful for. The ride back home was filled with tense silence. The moment the car pulled up in front of the house, I ran inside and went straight to my room. Silas came to check on me; he didn't come inside, but he said he would make me some food.

I went to the bathroom to take a shower. Then, I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. The only question that rang in my head at that moment was whether any of this was real. Matt hadn't been real. I was so sure he had been, but all along, I had been deceived. It was the same with Terry. It seemed like everything I had believed in came crashing down. What if Silas wasn't real as well? What if I was only living in some kind of fantasy, one conjured up by that bastard to push me to the edge? I didn't think I would be able to keep myself together if I found out that the man I loved was also nothing more than something that was made up.

"You look sullen." When the reflection in the mirror twisted to resemble a familiar face, I wasn't even surprised. I only felt numb. The vampire smirked at me. "I wonder what put you in such a mood."

"Matt... he's not real."

"Oh, he's real alright." The reflection twisted once more, and I was looking into blue eyes instead of crimson ones. Matt's smile was just as soft and seductive as I remembered. It was almost like he was real. I could almost reach out to touch him. "Real enough for you, to others, not so much."

"You were playing with me all this time. All this time you pretended to be a ghost, now even Matt. And to think we..." Memories of the passionate night we had spent together, of how good Matt had made me feel, almost made me wish the ground would open up and swallow me. My face was grim. "Did we... was that... real?"

"Hm. It was fun, wasn't it?"

"Oh God!" I felt like throwing up. This was what I got for being so scandalous. Had I actually slept with the guy who made my life a living hell? With the oldest Vampire in existence?