Alexa's Adytum: The High Arc, #3

-JAZZ-

It was torture to have to sit back and watch Alexa go through yet another breakdown. This time seemed so much worse, because she couldn’t do anything to help. It wasn’t even an option. She tried not to think of what was happening now as a horrible replay of what had happened to her best friend at the end of high school. It was a hard comparison to try and overlook. One minute Alexa was the most popular athlete in their school, some of the top colleges from were scouting her from all over the country. She was the reason people really came to the track meets. No one cared about track unless Alexa was there. The next thing they knew, their star runner had been turned into a zombie.

This time, there was a major difference in the plot. Alexa hadn’t just physically broken down; it was mental as well as emotional, and on a level that Jazz couldn’t really comprehend. Alexa’s current state was the physical embodiment of a broken heart. Even though she didn’t really understand what her friend was going through, Jazz refused to leave Alexa's side. She had walked away from her before and she’d regretted it. Even though Alexa had begged to be left alone the first time, there was no way Jazz should have given her what she asked for. No one ever really wanted to be left alone, no matter how hard life got. People needed support, love and inspiration, especially during times that were truly difficult. She should have been the one there to encourage her friend stand and fight. Instead, she just sat back and watched as Alexa gave up on herself. Alexa would have never let Jazz give up; it simply wouldn’t have been an acceptable option. There was no excuse for why Jazz hadn’t taken the same stand for Alexa. She never had been the one to walk away from a challenge before; hell, it was something she lived for. Her friends often made fun of her and joked that she would end up on one of those reality shows with the contestants trekking across the world. However, when Alexa fell apart, it hurt her more than she was prepared for. Jazz fell apart a little herself, as if the pain Alexa felt was her own. It was the only way she could handle it, but she would never forgive herself for turning her back on a friend.

Alexa seemed so adamant about dealing with everything on her own because she foolishly felt guilty for becoming what she thought was a burden to her friends. Everyone else had already turned away. It had become harder and harder to convince their friends that it was worth the trip to sit by Alexa’s side while she stared out the window and ignored their attempts at conversation. At that moment, while facing her crippling illness, all the fight Jazz usually had was gone. She was only 18, and it felt like too much to deal with. She was losing her best friend and it was just easier to turn away. It was either run or stay to watch Alexa decompose. Jazz chose the easy way out. For far too long she had tortured herself for giving up. Now she had a chance to make up for it and this time she would do it right.

Jemal eventually brought in a small cot for Jazz after he realized that she was not going to be leaving the temple until Alexa woke up. He would often come in to visit, bring her food, and make sure she was okay. He would also take post and watch over their sleeping Queen whenever Jazz needed to step away. He was the only person she trusted to be alone with Alexa. To her surprise, Jazz liked having Jemal around. It was something she hadn’t experienced with a guy before. Everyone looked at her to be his or her leader, so it was assumed she never needed help or comfort. It was a major part of the reason she had gone so long without dating anyone too seriously. Jemal quickly became her rock and she questioned if she would have been able to handle the culture shock and waves of anxious vampires without him.

It was difficult at first to accept her attraction to him. She knew the history between him and Lacal. She also knew that Alexa wasn’t exactly fond of him, but the pull was simply undeniable. When they met, it was like walking through a real life replay of Alexa’s description of her first encounter with Lacal. No, Jemal wasn’t her Serve. Hell, they weren’t even the same species, but that didn’t change the way she felt when she first saw him after he arrived with the rest of the guards.

He was able to quickly subdue the few Trackers that were still able to put up a fight. They had come in a second wave after Alexa had stopped her fight. They were prepared to take advantage of the disadvantage, luckily Jemal and a few other vampires showed up. Jemal had come up the steps to check the status of the Queen who had passed out after Jazz interrupted her short reign of terror. Jazz had been busy trying to shake away the mental picture of Alexa and the look of evil enjoyment that had taken over her expression. She had never seen Alexa that way before, and didn’t want to again. Jemal stopped in front of her and their eyes met.

Jazz had to hold on to the railing, she actually felt as if she would fall over. The impact was unreal, like being hit by a tidal wave of heat. It pooled out from him and she felt lost in the hazel color of his eyes. She watched the golden flecks that danced in the iris of his eyes as he smiled at her. He bowed to her, lifted her hand to his lips and left a kiss on the back of her hand that felt like it would burn right through her palm.

As he was called away, she sat down on the top step. She couldn’t command her legs to take her one inch further. She smiled as she recalled the name he whispered to her before he ran away. She wished for Alexa’s speedy recovery so that they could gossip about this tall hazel eyed vamp. It would be another few hours before she connected all the dots and realized that Jemal was the guy that Alexa had told her about. He was the creep who was supposed to be with Alexa, and the same one that attacked her when he was rejected.

Of course, it was hard for Jazz to admit that she liked Jemal. With the history between him, Lacal, and Alexa, it was like stepping into the middle of a love triangle. The ‘Bermuda’ of love triangles. The one thing that allowed her to look past their sticky situation was finding out that Jemal had never actually loved Alexa. After they had finally gotten a chance to talk, he hurried to squash her concerns about his feelings for Alexa. He told Jazz that he had only felt loyal to her because he thought he was meant to be her Serve. It was like trying to override factory programming, nearly impossible.

His entire life he was raised to believe that it was his duty to be by her side, to be her protector. Ironically, it was that pre-programmed loyalty that made it possible for Jazz to trust him alone with Alexa. She had become her guardian of sorts and she refused to leave anyone alone with her friend. With Jemal it was different because loyalties like that, one that is bred into a person doesn’t just go away overnight, no matter if it came to pass that their services were not required.

It also helped that he told her that he felt no emotional connection at all to Alexa. When he’d finally met her in that hall, he had expected a spark or something to ignite inside of him. Instead, there was nothing, and that made him angry enough to lash out at her. He wanted it all to mean something, everything that he had been working towards, he felt like it was all for nothing. He felt betrayed by Alexa because she showed no concern for him, or for his loss. It was a huge loss to him. In an instant, his life lost all of its meaning, and now he had no direction. He had devoted his life to serving this Queen and because some tree didn’t corroborate that idea, he was tossed aside.

Lucky for her, everyone was wrong about Jemal’s destiny. It provided a strange sense of comfort to know of Alexa's initial dislike of him. It meant that there was no chemistry between the two of them and therefore, there was no reason for her to worry. No, she didn’t want her best friend to hate the guy who could possibly become her boyfriend, but that was something she could work on. Alexa was her friend and she wanted Jazz to be happy. Jemal made her happy and that should be enough to get Alexa to change her opinion of him, she hoped. Eventually they would move past whatever discomfort they felt. She chose to believe that a friendship was possible because Jemal and Lacal had basically been brothers before everything changed. If their friendship were anything like the one she shared with Alexa, nothing would be able to really destroy their bond. She would close her eyes from time to time and imagine normal things like double dates and comparing kissing techniques. When she opened them, Alexa was still unconscious and her fantasy seemed highly unlikely.

Alexa, she spoke to her friend’s motionless body. Please wake up. We need you out here. Things are getting pretty messy and it would be nice to not have to face all of these vampires, day in and day out without my all powerful High Arc BFF by my side. I mean, most of them are okay, but some of them are creepy as hell! Like lurking, stalker creepy. I think most people understand what you are going through, but some of them; well let’s just say that they are getting impatient. Hell, I don’t know why. It’s only been two days, no reason to freak out yet. Right? She stroked her friend’s hair and dabbed her forehead with a moist towel.

Are you waiting for a response? Jazz turned to see Jemal standing in the arched entrance of the temple. Jazz’s breath caught in her throat. The light behind him was positioned just so that it made him appear as if he was actually an angel, her angel. She hoped that it was a sign that she was making the right choice in trusting him. A huge reach, but she would take anything she could get. He walked over to her and pulled her up from the floor where she sat with her legs crossed and wrapped her in the strength of his arms.

She buried her face in his chest; took a deep breath, and for a moment enjoyed the scent of him, it was intoxicating. It was a deep warm campfire smell with a splash of something sweet and it made her insides swim. I don’t know. I just keep thinking of all those cheesy television shows I used to watch and how they all inevitably had an episode where someone was in a coma. Every single time they did that episode; the handsome doctor would always come in and say that it helped the coma patient to hear familiar sounds. The standard explanation was that it might be possible they could hear you and that the familiarity of your voice could help to bring them back to you. I guess it’s like throwing out an audio life line for them to mentally grab. I don’t know how true that is or if it would even work in this particular situation, but I thought I would give it a try.

I’m sure it is helping her. Besides, it can’t hurt to have such a beautiful voice in your head. Jemal frowned when she laughed at his awkward sounding compliment. He always meant to say romantic things but for whatever reason, his words never came out the way he meant them to sound. Lacal had always been the one with that special way with words. Jemal was a protector; sweet didn’t mix well with that.

Thanks. That is really sweet of you to say, it’s nice to know that someone likes the sound of my voice. She pushed herself up on her tiptoes to kiss him. They allowed the contact to linger between their lips. The feeling of their connection had a way of momentarily erasing all worry from Jazz’s mind. It was perfect because all she wanted to do at that point in time was forget everything she was going through. She wanted her simplistic yet fabulous lifestyle back. She wanted her parties, friends, and designer classes. She wanted to be planning her next fashion show, begging Alexa to show off her new bod in one of her hot designs, and enjoying riding around in her sexy new car. If having all that back meant giving up Jemal and leaving her best friend behind in her broken state, there was no way she would make the trade. It didn’t even deserve a second thought.

-LAYAL-

All of this is my fault. I know it. If I hadn’t been so full of myself and gone there trying to play superwoman and save the world, none of this would have happened! She paced the room and tossed aside another flawed defense strategy as she rambled on to no one. She was alone in the room because she had refused to let anyone in. People only provided distractions and she had too much to focus on. The Navare and Anak were major problems that she helped bring into her own home. She was determined to use all her focus to devise a way out of this mess that she felt responsible for creating.

She stopped and sat down on her bed, she looked at the picture of her and her twin brother staring back at her. Lacal was gone and she had no idea how to get him back. She wasn’t even really sure if it was a possibility. For all they knew he wasn’t even still alive. There was no way to know for sure, but she couldn’t give up trying. She’d always had a connection with her twin brother but that connection seemed to have been broken. She first noticed it after they got back; she could no longer tell what was going on with Lacal. She reached out to him repeatedly, the way she always had. She tried to tap into that invisible link that existed between them but all she felt was a void. Something was blocking her from him. It was like running full speed and then slamming into a brick wall that had been placed between them. She chose to believe that meant he was at least alive. If he weren’t, there wouldn’t be a need to block her out; there would be nothing left to keep her from seeing.

The connection was nothing special; it was a common occurrence in twins. It was the twins without it that were seen as odd. The link provided each sibling with a basic knowledge of the other’s safety. It also worked to strengthen them. They were