Twice, I have seen Shaylyn twice and honestly it made little to no sense to me.

It’s been two days since then and I checked out a book on the paranormal from the library, but it provided me with little to no answers.

“Draya, do you believe in ghosts?” I decided to ask her one night as we lay together; I was spending the night at her house.

“Ghosts? Well, I’ve never seen one, but yes, I believe they exist.”

“Do you know anyone who has seen one?”

“Well, Celeste believes that she saw the spirit of her mother once.”

I was about to respond when suddenly the doorbell rang.

“Who could that be at this hour?” she said getting out of bed and heading downstairs to answer the door. I fallow close behind.

When we answered the door there was nobody there, but my backpack; that had been left behind in the RV that Corbin and most recently Hanna had temporarily held me captive in; was sitting outside the door with a note that read:

**_Thought the girl might want this so I dropped it off. I plan on going to Europe and laying low. I don’t have any intention of causing trouble for any of you so please don’t come after me.

-Brutus_**

“I give him two weeks before he’s taken out by hunters.” said Samuel when he read the letter.

“I give him one week if that.” said Elijah.

I didn’t know how I felt about Brutus having been so close to me, but he hadn’t done anything to try to harm us; he just dropped off the backpack. To be honest he had never actually done anything to me; he hadn’t tried to help me, but he had also never hurt me. If anything, he seemed indifferent.

Either way I was grateful to have it back because it meant that I had recovered my flash drive and wouldn’t have to replace it and retype my entire rough draft of my English paper.

Thinking back on the events that had transpired brought up a question I for some reason never thought to ask before. “Draya why is it that nobody seems to wonder about where I was when I was kidnapped both times?”

“As it turns out we have vampires who David sent out to compel anyone who would ask questions not to worry about it.”

“Really?”

“Most bigger covens have something similar in place; vampire related disappearances happen more often than you would think.”

Honestly, I was starting to wonder when these types of things would stop surprising me.

I also thought about Kasimir’s three thralls; Draya told me that Ruby took them in.

Apparently, she had to strap them down to medical beds after they started threatening too unalive themselves. It would be another 4-5 days before they were back to normal.

Most of my thoughts as of late were occupied with Shaylyn. Occasionally I would open one of the photo albums to a page that had her picture, and I would study it. Yes, I was certain that I had seen her; it wasn’t an optical illusion or my mind playing tricks on me. She was vividly there in the room both times I saw her; despite the fact that she disappeared as soon as I blinked.

I had decided against telling Draya; worried that it would only upset her or that she would think I had finally cracked and gone completely mad. Maybe I was mad…do mad people wonder if they’re mad? I don’t know and honestly, I don’t think I want to know. The only thing I was sure of was I was no closer to an answer than I was when this all began. Maybe if I knew more about her.

Draya seems to sense my inner struggle. “What’s on your mind Darling?”

“Could you tell me more of your story about you and Shaylyn?”

Draya was no longer even fazed when I would ask and simply smiled before replying “As you wish”

THE END...next story is titled Unlikely Love and Allies Part 1

I think this is the shortest chapter I have written and the only reason it took so long is because life has been really hard lately and will be for a while my boyfriend Has passed after a battel with an infection in his heart, they took him off life support and he passed peacefully I am posting this tonight because I just wanted to do something that makes me feel good after how sad my life is right now.

Sorry for any spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes.

I would like to dedicate this to my boyfriend; Carlos who was taken off life support and died peacefully on Sunday April 13, 2025.

RIP Baby I will miss you and love you forever. 🖤💜🩵💙