"It doesn’t matter how you look, I will always love you, Alex. You will always be my whole world. But right now you need to stay focused. In situations like this, the most important thing is erasing the evidence. The police cannot know we were here. As you know, I already made mistakes in the past, and that’s why Eugene found us."
I nod slowly, tears running down my cheeks.
"I agree, but… I don’t understand, I just don’t understand!"
"I promise we’ll deal with this, but I have to do the cleaning…" And he’s already moving bodies, stacking crates over them…
All I do is stare at my hands. Gray, horribly gray, like ash.
"Bring me back to life, Bay," I whisper.
"Give me a moment," he says, still pulling that heavy crate.
Then he looks up and motions with his hand.
"The zombies, Alex. Bring them to the cage."
With the last of my fading strength, I follow his command and tell them to lie inside, tears sliding down my face.
I watch Bay pick up the gun lying on the ground, dropped by the beta, and search the pockets of the rest of the Hanson family members. But I feel numb.
"You are my guardian angel, Bay, don’t you know it?" I whisper weakly, still staring at my hands.
Bay slowly lifts his head from over the pile.
"I saw your wings, you know? When you grabbed Summer by the throat. After he destroyed the city."
Bay stares at me in silence.
"They were shining and white, shimmering, not fully materialized, but still there… You are an angel, so you have the power to bring people back!"
Bay lets out a huff. "Alex, even if I’m something like this, I’m surely not a white heavenly angel, a fallen one at best, I can’t…"
"Don’t you see? When our souls split, your powers split too. A part of them, that splinter, ended up in me. That’s why I can bring the dead back, even if it’s not to full life. It’s like a twisted reflection of something godly, only corrupted, blasphemous."
Bay only makes a small shake of his head, as if saying, ‘please, we’ll talk later,’ and goes back to piling crates.
"Bring me back to life, Bay," I whisper again, pleadingly.
Bay pours some chemical over the bodies and then tosses the lit lighter onto the floor.
"Bring…"
"We are getting out of here, Alex. Now!"
"Bring me back to life, Bay!" I shout, collapsing to my knees.
I feel his strong arms wrap around me, lifting me from the ground. I hear his footsteps in the corridor but it barely reachesme. Then there are voices, gunshots ring out, Bay fires back, and I sink into darkness.
???
When I open my eyes, I find myself lying in a bed. For a split second, a nervous shiver runs through me, because the last time I woke up, I was in a morgue. But that’s not the case now.
I look up at the ceiling and recognize the familiar lines of my own house.
Slowly, I turn my head to the side, but I am alone in the bed, surrounded by a few scattered pillows, remnants of my destroyed nest.
Feeling dirty and sweaty, I slip into the small bathroom next to my room, and take a quick shower, discovering with shocking clarity that my body is still gray…
