[ENG] One Last Time

The airport is crowded, it’s early in the morning and people are streaming in all directions. Noise and a babble of voices permeate the terminal, but I sit in the waiting area with Marius and try to make a plan.

A plan that doesn’t involve my clothes bursting into flames when I talk to my mate this time.

The bright light from the fluorescent tubes tires my eyes and the smell of bad coffee fills the air. Marius leans back, a grin on his lips, and asks the question I don’t want to hear: “How long has it been since you’ve seen her?”

I turn my head slightly and look at him out of the corner of my eye. I hate this question. We’ve gone over it so many times, it’s ridiculous that he even asks it anymore.

As if he didn’t know that I haven’t gone to the family parties for two years, since I was eighteen. Because of her.

Just like I was no longer at home. He knows everything. He just wants to annoy me.

Our families are so closely knit that you could be forgiven for thinking we are all one big, chaotic clan. But that also means that there are hardly any secrets. Everyone knows everyone else and our parents have been friends since childhood.

You could say it’s like being in a pack. Only smaller and much more intense.

In the last few lives I’ve lived, I’ve also had friends and best friends. But this group of shapeshifters, wolves, witches and humans who have come together here is really scary.

Maybe it’s the area, the settlement, which has something of a sect about it anyway.

Marius leans forward and looks directly at me when I don’t answer. “This is so crazy! Do you realize you’re trying to sleep with your cousin?” I feel a wave of anger building up inside me. Now I turn to him and look straight into his stupid grin. He knows full well that he’s pissing me off with this ‘you’re related’ bullshit.

“She’s not my cousin. She’s no more related to me than you are,” I remind him, but his grin doesn’t stop.

“But you’re my brother,” he replies. Marius is one of those people who always has a casual remark on his lips. I know he doesn’t mean any harm, but it’s annoying me at the moment. Just like everything else annoys me.

Maybe it’s late puberty that the body is going through, or maybe it’s just the fact that I’ll be seeing her again after two years.

“You know it’s different for me than it is for you,” I explain to Marius and he just makes a dramatic gesture. He’s just like his parents. Really fascinating.

But he also knows very well that the difference between us is not just the fact that I was adopted after my biological parents were murdered.

It’s the fact that I’ve lived many lives. He’s the only one in our family who knows that. Unfortunately, he’s also right in a way. We are best friends, almost like brothers. Just like our parents wanted us to be.

I didn’t really want to tell him anything about my past life or the truth about what I really am. But I got a little distressed when our room at the university was set on fire by a magical fire just as he was moving in.

Something or someone is looking for me, but doesn’t dare to approach me. At least not yet. He or she only wants to kill me and is prepared to hurt innocent people in the process.

The announcement for our flight sounds and informs everyone that we are still an hour late.

Fuck!

Marius looks at me, I can see he’s thinking about teasing me again with some kind of line. “You know they’re going to kill you, don’t you?”

“I just want to talk to her first and sort everything out. The rest will work itself out,” I explain, although I’m not entirely convinced myself. Marius laughs. “First they’ll want to kill you, and then me, because I knew,” he adds.

I can’t help but give him an annoyed look. Normally I would laugh at what he says and we would probably discuss it.

But shortly before we left, I tried to contact her. Just wanted to know if she was coming at all. I wanted to be nice and ‘break the ice’, even if I already knew. I can feel where she is, I always can, and she’s been home for four days.

But instead of an answer, I realized that she was blocking me everywhere. As if it hadn’t been dramatic enough to ban me from her mind after our last ‘conversation’ so that I couldn’t get in touch with her like that anymore.

She’s never done that before. Not that I really tried to communicate with her like that before this life, but I could sense her before. And since she banished me from her mind, I can only locate her whereabouts, but the rest is closed to me.

It’s a disgusting feeling. I never knew I needed it, but now that it’s gone, I miss it.

“She’ll have to listen to me whether she wants to or not,” I say firmly, more to myself than to him. “I messed up and I want to make it up to her, apologize.”

Marius shrugs his shoulders and looks at me. “Why don’t you bring her some flowers?” And just like the last time he suggested it, I sigh in annoyance.

“Believe me, that’s not enough of an excuse.”

I told Marius a lot, almost everything from my past life. But I kept what I did to her to myself, like a secret.

“Before we fly, I wanted to tell you something that you probably won’t like,” Marius begins, trying to focus his gaze on something other than me.

He remains silent for what feels like an eternity and I watch him get nervous. “Is there more to come or is that it?” I ask him impatiently.

“Mom said she’s not coming to the family party alone. She’s still with the boyfriend from last year,” he explains.

“It doesn’t mean anything, you know that. She can’t share these feelings she has for me with anyone else. She’s not human or some little witch. She’s just as attached to me as I am to her.”

“There’s something I haven’t told you about him,” Marius adds quietly.

Again, I wait for what feels like an eternity until he has collected his words.

“Marius,” I admonish him and he grimaces apologetically.

“He’s a vampire,” he murmurs quietly, so that the people around us can’t hear.

At that moment, I grab him by the jacket and pull him to his feet, straight towards the men’s room.

“Where are you going?” he asks in surprise as I pull him through the crowd.

“Home, right away," I reply.

The family celebration will be complicated enough without any additional surprises. I have to act now before everything gets out of hand.