Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Alexa's Point Of View

As we walked towards the beach I found myself falling asleep on Zach's shoulder. I barely felt it when he picked me up and began carrying me towards the beach. In fact, the only thing that woke me up was when everyone started groaning. Opening one eye I saw Alex and Tristan kissing. It was a disgustingly cute sight and I wished immediately that I had never opened my eyes. Of course, when I attempted to close my eyes and go back to sleep, I found that sleep evaded me. Sighing, I sat up and hopped out of Zach's arms.

"Welcome back to the world of the living." Alex commented, pulling away from Tristan.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Do I need to kiss you?" Zach asked me with a smirk.

"Why would you need to do that?"

"To wake you up fully. You're quite grouchy if you don't get your morning kiss you know."

"Then kiss me please."

"I'd be happy to do just that."

Leaning down Zach touched his lips to mine. We kissed gently at first but as time went on we deepened it. Zach tightened his arms around me and pulled me against him. As I wrapped my arms around Zach our family groaned. We ignored their comments until Michael, Elizabeth's son, yelled for the boys from the house.

"Damn. We'll continue this later." Zach said, kissing me one last time before running back to the house.

After our soulmates were gone Alexandria, Adalyn, and I stared at each other. Suddenly it occured to me how different our lives would have been if we had grown up together. If Adalyn had grown up with us we would have been able to make some pretty cool memories together before we set out on this journey. But, I reminded myself, after all of this was over we would have plenty of time to make those memories. We would have an eternity to make memories together.

"How did you and Dakota meet?" I asked Adalyn.

She grinned at me. "I was walking through the forest and I tripped over a log. Dakota was in front of me and he caught me before I could hit the ground. I looked up at him and...I don't know. It was just magic I guess."

"That's cool. You guys are a cute couple." Alex said with a smile.

Adalyn rolled her eyes. "You mean besides the fact that he's like two feet taller than me?"

"We're shorter than all of them. Zach's at least a foot taller than me."

"I've noticed. How did you guys meet your soulmates?"

I laughed. "Alex and I were wrestling on the beach when I met Zach. He was watching us wrestle and when I heard him laughing I stopped. I still don't know how I heard him laughing when everyone else that was on the beach was laughing right along with him but I did. Anyways Zach asked me if I wanted to take a walk on the beach with him later that night and I said yes. It wasn't until I kissed him goodnight that I realized that he was my soulmate. Needless to say I got home pretty late that night." I recalled with a laugh.

"I would have known Dakota's laugh anywhere even if I had never met him before." Adalyn said with a grin.

"I met Tristan the week after Lexa met Zach. I was walking through one of the Palace gardens where he was working. I remember watching him plant the roses and thinking about how gorgeous he was. He saw me staring at him and...I don't really know what happened. All I know is that he ended up kissing me and I suddenly felt like I was whole. It was like..."

"Like you were missing something and when he kissed you it just came back together." Adalyn filled in with a soft smile.

"Yeah. I thought mom was gonna disown me 'cause Tristan wasn't a Royal or anything but she didn't. Instead she told me that dad's clan was Darkvein before they got married. The Darkvein Clan is known for murdering members of the Lockwood Clan. Dad didn't go along with the infamous "kill the Royals" bullshit that the rest of his clan went along with. He thought that it was ridiculous and was disowned by his Clan when he voiced his opinion. Two weeks later he met mom and the rest is history."

"Dakota's mother was killed by a Darkvein. That's why he was living with his dad." Adalyn commented, looking around for the boys.

"Really?" I asked, curious now.

"Yeah. His mom used to be part of the Darkvein Clan but she renounced them when she married his dad. Marcus is a Wildwood and has quite a few enemies in the Darkvein Clan. He and Dakota moved around a lot after Mary died so that Spike and Dakota would be safe. It was luck that he met me two days before he was going to move again."

"Wow."

"Yeah. He didn't really know his mom, though, so it doesn't really bother him to talk about it. His dad won't even say Mary's name, though, because it's too hard for him."

"I don't even want to think about what would happen to me if I lost Zach. That's a scary thought." I said, shivering at the thought.

"I know. Without Tristan I would probably just...die."

"I wouldn't even be able to get out of bed without Dakota there to get me up. If I ever lost him I would have nothing else to live for." Adalyn said.

"Luckily for us we've got three very strong soulmates. There isn't a lot that can be done to kill those guys."

"I know. Dakota doesn't like to be mean but when he gets pissed off he doesn't care about being mean. It's really hard to piss him off, though. I've only seen him get mad once and to be honest it terrified me."

"Zach's the same way. He usually just blows people off but there are times when he just loses his cool. It's scary but he's never gotten mad at me so I'm not afraid of him exactly."

"Tristan too. It's amazingly difficult to piss him off but once you do there's no stopping him. Well, unless you're me that is. Sometimes I can't even stop him, though, but then I just think he's incredibly sexy so I don't really pay much attention to what he's saying." Alex said with a grin.

Finally, after who knows how long, we heard the boys coming back. In less than a second Zach was standing behind me with his arms around my waist. Dakota stood behind Adalyn with his chin rested on top of her head. Tristan stood next to Alex with one arm around her waist. I looked around at my sisters to see each of them grinning up at their soulmates.

"What did you guys talk about while we were gone?" Tristan asked.

"You guys." Alex commented.

"Were you talking about how sexy we are? 'Cause we know it's true already." Dakota commented with a grin at Adalyn.

She slapped his arm. "No. We were talking about how we met you guys."

He laughed. "And did you tell them what you said when I caught you?"

Adalyn turned a dark crimson color. "No."

"Oh this oughta be good. What did she say?" Zach asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes please tell us what our dear sister left out of her story."

Dakota laughed. "She asked me if I was one of those Greek Gods. It was both adorable and ridiculous at the same time."

"Yes well your answer was kind of cocky you know."

"Well you're the one that asked!"

"What was his answer Lynnie?"

Adalyn laughed. "He said, 'well I might as well be. I'm definately hot enough.' But then again, he was correct."

"And don't you forget it either."

"I couldn't forget that if I tried."

"Of course you couldn't." Dakota replied and we all laughed.

Zach leaned down towards my ear, wrapping his arms around my waist. I leaned against him as he whispered in my ear. When his words were spoken I couldn't stop the grin that spread across my face.

"Let's get away from these guys. I want to have you all to myself for a little while."

"You read my mind." I whispered back.

As we walked away Alex called out, "Where are you two running off to?"

Zach turned to her, mischief gleaming in his bright eyes. Alex seemed to know why we were separating from the group and simply gave him an eye roll to let us know that she understood. When he turned back to me a smile was lighting Zach's eyes, mixing with the mischief that never seemed to leave them to create the most amazing soulmate in the universe. He grabbed my hand and tugged me down the beach where we were secluded by trees. Then, pinning me against a tree, he stared down into my eyes.

It wasn't until our eyes were locked that I realized that something was wrong with Zach. His eyes were too dark now, almost black instead of their normal green. The smile that lit his face was only a shadow of my soulmate's familiar smile. He looked...dark and so unlike himself that it frightened me. His next words, spoken in a voice I had never heard before, sent a rush of terror through my heart.

"You think you can defeat me of all people? You are nothing but a teenaged girl with a heart of glass that I will shatter into bits!"

"Zach...Zach please...please. I don't know what's going on and I don't really care just please stop. This isn't funny." I pleaded, even though I knew that this...monster was not my soulmate.

"Your mate no longer occupies this body Alexa. He's mine now and he'll stay mine until your heart stops beating. I'll make sure of it!" he roared.

I broke free of his grasp, feeling sick now. That was Esmyth in that body, not my Zach. Wherever Zach's soul was it was someplace dark. I screamed for my sisters as I left the clearing where Esmyth had pinned me against the tree. Tears poured down my face as I saw them running towards me. Zach was gone. Esmyth had him now and there didn't seem to be anything I could do to save him now.

"Lexa! Lexa what's going on?" Alex yelled as I fell into her arms.

I struggled for breath, for speech but it took a second for me to catch it. When I could speak again my voice came out in a sob.

"That isn't Zach Alex!"

"What're you talking about Lex?" Tristan whispered as Zach's body emerged from the trees.

"Esmyth took his soul from his body! That's Esmyth occupying that body NOT ZACH!"

"Lexie? Lexie why'd you run away?" Zach's voice asked from the trees.

We all looked at each other. Tristan's face darkened as he realized what I had said was the truth. He was Zach's best friend, he knew him better than anyone else, and he knew that Zach never called me Lexie. That wasn't my soulmate in that body and we all knew it. Tristan's words were filled with venom when he spoke.

"You don't belong in that body! Get out of it! NOW!"

"You have no idea what power I possess little boy." Esmyth snarled, stepping forward.

"I'm not a little boy and I don't care about your damn powers! Let. My. Best. Friend. Go. NOW."

Esmyth turned his eyes to me.

"I think maybe I'll have a little fun with you. How would you like that?"

I widened my eyes in response, knowing that I couldn't save myself from him when he was using Zach's body. All I could do was let him hurt me and hope that Zach came back to me soon. As Esmyth shot out his hand I heard Zach's voice in my head.

'Lexa...Oh Goddess Lexa if you can hear me don't be afraid."

'Zach? Zach is that you?'

'Thank the Goddess for your voice! Are you okay? I can't see what he's doing but I can hear his words. Please tell me you're all right.' he pleaded.

'I'm all right but he's shooting spells at me. He doesn't have very good aim, though, and none of his spells have hit where he wants them to hit.'

Zach laughed bitterly. 'Baby...he's got perfect aim. Esmyth is only trying to hurt you, not kill you.'

'Well then he's succeeding. My legs feel like they're on fire.'

'I swear I'll kill him for hurting you baby. Just hang in there for a while. I swear I'm coming back.'

'Where are you?'

'I have no flippin' clue babe. All I know is that it's darker than hell in here and there are a whole lot of other souls around me. I've gotta go babe. I'll talk to you whenever I can. I swear. I love you Alexa.'

'I love you too Zach.'

When the connection broke I looked up into the eyes that had once been

Zach's and swore I saw them light up the way his did. I knew that it was Zach, fighting to come back. He had promised to come back to me and Zach didn't break his promises so I just had to believe in him. Tristan's voice rang out fom behind me.

"Dakota grab him from the back and shove him to the ground."

"On it."

Together, Dakota and Tristan grabbed Esmyth/Zach and pulled him to his feet. They drug him, screaming, into the house where Elizabeth was waiting. She already knew what was going on, that much was obvious by the look on her face. As soon as we were all inside, she shut the door and stared at Zach's shell. Esmyth's eyes glowed with hatred of the woman that had bore him but that didn't phaze Elizabeth.
"Return him Esmyth. You've done enough now."

"Mother dear do you really think that I'm going to return this imbecile to his body?"

"Do it or I'll make you."

"Oh mother you aren't nearly powerful enough to stop me."

"Watch me."

Without another word Elizabeth flicked her wrist at him. In the next instant Zach was on his knees, clutching his chest as if he was having a heart attack. I waited until I could see his eyes to go to him. As soon as I saw that his green eyes were brght again I knew that it was Zach again. Esmyth hadn't been able to take him away from me forever.

"Please tell me that...asshole didn't hurt you Lex." Zach whispered as I dropped down beside him.

"No. No I'm all right Zach."

"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I swear I'm fine. Are you okay?"
"Well, except for being extremely pissed at that asshole, I'm fine."

"Thank the Goddess."

"How did he do that to him?" I asked Elizabeth.

She sighed and looked out of the kitchen window before answering.

"It's one of the trickier ancient spells. I'll teach it to you along with the spell I just used to throw him back into his own body tomorrow. Right now I'm going to lay down for a little while."

"Okay."

As soon as she was gone we looked at each other. Zach stood up and pulled me against him, his arms secure. I felt safe knowing that he was back in his own body again. Esmyth could never take him away from me completely. No one could do that.

"Come on babe, let's go upstairs. I have the biggest headache I've ever experienced in my life and I'd like to go sleep for a while." Zach whispered, leaning his head on my shoulder."

"Sleep sounds like a good idea." I answered, kissing his cheek.

"We'll see you guys later, then." Alex told me with a smile.

"Yeah."

As we walked upstairs Zach kept his arm around my waist like he was afraid to let go of me. It didn't really bother me all that much because I didn't want him to let go of me. The feeling I got when he put his arms around me was the best feeling in the world. Even if I were blind and deaf I would know Zach by the simple feel of his arms. That's how powerful the feeling was.

"Don't bother with the light. In fact, don't bother with anything but the bed." Zach said, pulling me towards it.

"Okay."

As we lay down Zach wrapped his arms around me and hid his face in my shoulder, keeping me pressed tight to his chest. I yawned and leaned against him, suddenly feeling exhausted. In mere seconds I was asleep, listening to the steady beat of his heart beneath his shirt.