Those Eyes Ch 11

Here it is! I hope you enjoy! Sorry for the long wait. I have to work on this at work and it's a little awkward writing erotic romance at the office. Anyway, let me know what you all think!

SRB

Thanks again to Archangel for editing! You're the best!

-Alex-

I blinked rapidly, trying to clear the fog from my head. The sounds around me seemed muddled and my skin felt numb. Everything felt numb. It was as if, for a moment, the world went black but in the distance, it seemed as if there were eyes looking back at me. I knew those eyes, but couldn't seem to remember who they belonged to. For a moment it seemed as if nothing existed except for those eyes, but they weren't the eyes that I was longing to see.

I turned my head to where I knew Santana would be and as quickly as it had ascended, the numbing darkness was gone and so was she. Instantly on alert, I whipped my head around looking over the room. She wasn't there. I left Aaron's bedroom, yelling her name, and received no response. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. My mate was gone.

Running back into the room, I noticed Aaron looking around, an extremely confused look on his face. "Aaron!" I screamed, stepping closer to him. His response was dramatically slow as he turned towards my voice. "Aaron! Snap out of it!" I began frantically slapping his face with both hands. I watched as his eyes cleared. "Where is she?" was the first question out of his mouth. "Where's Aara?"

My anger piqued at hearing that name and I snapped, grabbing his shirt roughly and hauling him up the nearest wall.

"SHE TOOK HER! SHE FUCKING TOOK ANA!" I screamed in his face, breathing frantically. I wanted to hurt someone; I wanted to rip something apart at the thought that my Ana was gone. I looked into his eyes, hoping to see defiance there, hoping to see the fight that he was always ready for, but what I saw there made me pause.

The look he gave was enough to clear my head. It was so full of pain and anguish. I watched as the spark that usually lit up his eyes dim, as if in slow motion. "She left me," he said, looking up at me, and it was then that I recognized the eyes from the darkness. They were his.

I thought about when people talked about seeing car accidents in slow motion. It had to be something like what I was observing now. I watched my brother's heart break at an agonizingly slow pace that was surely only seconds in length.

"We'll get them back. We'll get them both back." I said, placing his feet back on the floor and straightening his shirt. He ran a shaky hand through his short-cropped hair and looked up at me with a look that said, do you promise?

I merely nodded. It was all I could do. There was no way that I could deal with both Aaron's turmoil and mine. I tried sensing Santana, but I felt nothing. It was as if she no longer existed, and I fought the urge to clench my chest at the realization. I couldn't fall apart right now, not with so much to be done.

Looking over at my brother, I put my hand on his shoulder, silently begging him to pull it together. He nodded once and I saw a steely determination enter his eyes. Suddenly remembering how it was when I was searching for Santana, and idea popped into my head. I couldn't sense my mate, but maybe he could sense his. "Aaron, do you feel her?" I asked him.

Aaron looked at me. His confusion was obvious. "Can you feel her? Can you sense Aara?" I then explained to him how I had sensed Ana and found her in the library that day. It felt like that day had been years ago, while in reality it had been only days. "Just concentrate on her. Think about her scent, her face, her eyes, everything. Think about your future together and how you're going to ensure that she never leaves you again." I threw that part in, acknowledging my brother's tastes for unconventional punishments. The corners of his lips lifted slightly and he chuckled.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. His brows knitted together in concentration and his smile grew, his dimples showing. "I can find her, and her cute little ass better be ready," he said with a wink. I laughed, and we made to leave to room before a thought hit me.

"We don't know how many there are. We don't know what they can do."

He shrugged his shoulders in typical fashion. "We can take them." He made to leave again and I placed my hand on his chest, halting his movements.

"No. We can't go in there guns-a-blazing." I nearly laughed at my own wording. "-fangs-a-blazing. We do this right. We get help. I'm not gonna risk losing her because we were unprepared." Aaron nodded. "You know who to call." He went back into his room and grabbed his phone, and I pulled out my own.

We were about to ask some pretty big favors, but I knew that it was worth it. Aaron and I both had connections with a few local were packs as well as another vampire family. I couldn't help but feel as if we were overreacting, but making these calls felt right. I had meant what I told Aaron: I wouldn't risk losing Santana. I had only just found her.

***

Carmendi watched in shock as her older sister carried in an unconscious Santana. It was the closest she had ever been to her, and she had to fight the urge to reach out and touch the sister she had never known. She watched as Aara laid the taller girl onto the bed with a gentleness she had never seen Aara possess.

"We leave within the next two hours." Aara said before she walked briskly into the en suite bathroom and closed the door behind her. Aara had felt so unsettled the moment she had devised her plan to leave the apartment. She was always in control; every movement and every word was always well-calculated. But for the first time in her 22 years, she had no idea of what to do. She thought about the man with the blonde hair and clear eyes and fought the way her knees wanted to buckle in defeat and protest.

Gripping the corner of the sink, Aara felt the marble crack beneath her hands as she battled the way every cell in her body pulled in the opposite direction, HIS direction. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream out, to force her body and her heart to catch up with her mind. She had done the right thing. There was no other choice.

She knew she should have told her siblings about the talk she had with the doctor the night before they set out on this mission. She knew they deserved to know, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words, she couldn't bring herself to admit how weak she felt that the doctor could use her loved ones against her. Turning the knobs of the faucet, she watched as the sink quickly filled with cold water. She scoffed in disgust at her reflection before plunging her face into the water-filled sink and screaming as loud as she could. Taking comfort in the fact that no one could bear witness to her weakness and slip of control.

Audrienne had been uncharacteristically quiet for over a day. She couldn't help it. It had started when Carmendi returned from the lab. There was something about the way that she smelled. Her usual smell had always reminded everyone of clean linen but there was something else there, a spicy scent that clung to her until she had showered. The scent had burned itself into Audrienne's brain, making itself unforgettable.

From the moment that her younger sister had returned the previous day, Audrienne had been on fire in the sweetest way. It was as if her body cried out for something, something without a name, something she didn't know. The worst were the eyes; they were green, so dark they were almost black. Those eyes floated in the blackness every time she closed her own, taunting her, teasing her like a phantom. Engrossed in her own thoughts, she had unknowingly tuned out the world around her.

Sitting near the window, a distraught Carmendi watched the world go on through the glass. They were leaving. They had what they had come for and they were leaving. She hadn't found him yet, she hadn't found the one that she was made for, and they were leaving in less than two hours. No one hated the compound more than she did. From a young age, she'd had an affinity for pranks and laughter. She was mischievous and cunning in the most amusing way, and could brighten up the darkest day.

When she had come into her abilities, she used them to her advantage to create as much trouble as possible. She moved through the compound like a ghost, stealing personal items from the other hybrids and hiding them in silly places. She'd turned furniture upside down, leaving the inhabitants of the room confused. On more than one occasion, she'd snuck into the showers and stolen towels, or poured cold water in over the person bathing.

No one once complained or told on her to the soldiers or the doctor. She was a little bit of sunshine in a dark place; the hybrids couldn't afford to lose her to lengthy confinement. Although, the doctor was never informed of her playful pranks, they all knew that he despised her above the rest. He hated that sparkle in her green eyes, the willfulness and mischief that was always there.

She wondered if her mate would like her playful nature. She wondered what his laugh would sound like, desperately wanting it to be deep and full of life. Sighing deeply, she looked over and watched her siblings. Audrienne appeared to be lost in her own thoughts. She had been like that for a couple of days now. Carmendi briefly wondered what had her sister's mind so occupied before looking over at her older brother. Zach was the one she was closest to. He was the epitome of the strong, silent type. She watched him watch Santana sleeping; his expression always so hard to read that she knew that there was no point in even trying.

Lastly, she looked at Santana. They were about to take her away from everything that the girl knew. She knew that her oldest sister was in her last year of undergrad, pursuing a pre-med degree. She briefly wondered what other dreams they were stealing from her. Did Santana want to be a doctor? Did she want to heal people, cure diseases? Did she want to help sick, dying children? Did she want children of her own? Carmendi thought of the beautiful children that Santana and Alex would create, children born from an undying love. They were taking that all away.

She couldn't decide which was worse: knowing that your mate was out there but never knowing him, or having your mate and being taken from him. Both seemed as if they would cause sorrow. She didn't want to feel that. She didn't want her siblings to feel that. She had to say something. She had to get them to understand that they couldn't go back there; they could never go back there, especially with Santana.

Both Zach and Audrienne turned towards her as she cleared her throat. How could she explain? How did she make them understand? She had never been eloquent, she had never explained things well, but this was important.

She stood, switching her gaze between her two siblings. She had to say something. "Um..." she started. They looked at her expectantly, waiting for whatever it was that she needed to say. She glanced at Santana once more, thinking of the pain that Alex was surely feeling with his mate missing. "This is wrong." It came out in a whisper. She sighed at the confused look on both of her siblings' faces. "This is wrong." she said once more, much louder.

"What's wrong, Carmen?" Zach asked in his deep, even voice.

"This!" she screamed, gesturing around the room. "That!" she yelled, pointing to their sleeping sister.

"We have a mission." He said, growing tired of her outbursts.

Growing exasperated, she glared at him. "Fuck. This. Mission. Do you know what we take from her if we go back?"

"The same thing that was taken from all of us, Carmendi. Why should she be any different?" Audrienne said, no emotion in her voice, her control barely contained with the electricity racing through her system.

"Because she has him!" She pointed to the window, frustrated that she couldn't get her point across. "When I went to the lab that day, to spy on Santana and Alex and to see what the doctor had to say... He kept using the words 'mates'. Obviously, I didn't understand what he meant, but he said that once she and he were fully mated, she'd be different somehow. I know I shouldn't have done it but I couldn't help it. I was sooo curious." She looked up at her siblings, begging them to understand. "After they left, I talked to him, the doctor."

She flinched when Zach stood up abruptly. "You did what?!? You jeopardized this mission because you were... curious?"

"Let me finish, please!" Carmendi begged.

Audrienne, who had been silently watching the exchange, suddenly appeared interested. "How close were you to this doctor?" she asked, moving closer to her youngest sister.

"What kind of question is that, Audri?!" Zach screamed, instantly frustrated with both of his sisters.

Tilting her head in confusion, Carmendi looked over at her blonde sister. "Probably a foot apart, maybe less. We sat together while we talked on a lab bench. He shook my hand when we finished and I had to leave. Why?" she asked, watching her sister.

"What did he tell you?" Audrienne asked , shooting Zach a look that quieted his impending protest.

"He said that all supernatural individuals had mates. Mates could be human, were, vampire, or, as is the case with us, hybrids of the three. Your mate is someone who isn't related to you by blood, someone who is a perfect complement to you in every way, someone made just for you. They will love you unconditionally because from the moment that they meet you, you're their everything and they are yours. The attraction will be instant and uncontrollable. He said it's supposed to feel like the world is shifting and all there is is you and that other person. He said that a mate is exactly what your soul has been waiting for; that mate will give you peace and stability, and meeting them will feel like coming home for the first time."

Everything was quiet for a moment. Everyone appeared to be in deep thought.

"How do you know?" Audrienne said, breaking the silence with her whispered words.

"He said that you sensed them somehow. He said that scent was a big factor to it, and eye contact."

"Bullshit." Zach said, shaking his head at his sister's naiveté.

Audrienne was literally dumbfounded. She wasn't sure what to believe. The scent that had covered her sister's body the day before had triggered a reaction within her that she couldn't explain. Was the doctor her... mate?

"It's not!" Carmendi whined towards her brother. "Alexander Carlisle is Santana's mate! You've seen them together; you've seen how they look at each other! I haven't seen someone look at someone like that since..." She trailed off, suddenly accosted by a memory that she thought she had been too young to retain.

"Do you all remember Sophie? Rain's older sister. She looked a lot like her, same dark brown eyes, same wavy blonde hair." She watched as recognition entered her sibling's eyes.

"How do you remember that?" Audrienne asked.

"You had to have only been ten years old and we tried our best to hide it from you." Zach interjected.

"I thought that I had forgotten it, but it suddenly came back to me. It suddenly makes sense. Remember how she looked at that guard? Remember how he looked at her? She was going to leave with him. I remember overhearing her telling her siblings that they were running away together. I remember when he was being introduced to us all, the look on her face... he was her mate. She knew it right away. I remember being ten years old and knowing that something profound had happened when they looked at each other." Carmendi sighed as she recounted the memory to her siblings.

"The doctor threatened to fire him if he didn't stay away from her. He didn't—he couldn't—and he was forced off of the compound. She seemed so distraught and lost when he left. The doctor told her that he had abandoned her, that he didn't love her. She cried on my shoulder one night, screaming that she was a freak and that there was no way that he could ever love a freak like her. When he left, she had no reason to live. She thought that he had rejected her and it broke her heart." Audrienne fought back tears as she remembered her friend.

Zach felt a lump in his throat. He had loved Sophie like she was another sister. "She hung herself. I remember seeing the dangling body. The guards rushed to cut her down, but most of us had already seen. A couple of days later he came back, that young guard. It was nighttime and he was screaming and yelling for her to come out, to come be with him. The fucking doctor just threw her body out to him, not even bothering to speak to the kid. We heard the shot a moment later."

"I remember that sound. That's how intense it was. For Sophie, he became everything." Carmen looked down at a still sleeping Santana. "She has that. She has the other half of her soul, and there's a possibility that we could find that also, but not there. Not at that compound."

"We're going back."

The voice startled each of them out of their thoughts and in unison they looked the open bathroom door. Aara stood there, the edges of her hair wet, her eyes slightly red.

"We are going back," she repeated.

She had heard everything that Carmendi said. Every single word. She had screamed under the surface of the water at least four times since Carmendi had started speaking. She sobbed and cried out under the protection of the water, sputtering for air with each ascent. She had left him, rejected him. She prayed that he wouldn't succumb to the same fate as that young guard. He was stronger than that. She knew that he was stronger than that.

As she listened to her sister's words, for a brief moment she tried to convince herself that she could just go back to that apartment building, that he would be enough. Damn the consequences. She was a realist, always had been. She knew that she would go back and she had to make them come back with her, all of them. She had to tell them, tell them what was at stake.

She extended her arm out, hand up, halting Carmen's words. "We're going back for Stephen. If we don't go back..." she tried to hold it back, tried to keep her expression indifferent, but they all saw it. They all saw the slight crack in hard façade. "Stephen will never be like us. He's sick." They all blanched at her wording. "I don't mean he's sick as in dying. Stephen is human. He's nearly completely human. He may live a longer time than a normal human, but he will never have abilities like us. He's useless to the doctor."

"How do you know this?" Zach's deep voice rumbled.

"Before we left, the doctor came to me and told me that if we didn't come back, all of us, including Santana, he would 'dispose' of Stephen. But if we followed directions, if we all came back, he'd let him go." Aara filled them in on what she had been told the night before they left for their mission.

"What's wrong with him?" Zach asked, a defeated look on his face.

"Remember that doctor that was fired around the time that Stephen was born? He apparently missed the fact that the female breeder was a carrier for muscular dystrophy. Stephen inherited the gene. The genetic disease has halted the natural abilities of his other half so, for all intents and purposes, he's human."

"So, if we go back, our little brother will be set free and if we don't..." Audrienne began. Aara merely nodded.

-Santana-

I kept my eyes closed, pretending to still be unconscious. I knew immediately that I wasn't with Alex. Everything was different from the scents in the room to the bed beneath me. The last thing that I remembered was going up to see Aaron and Aara.

Aara.

That bitch kidnapped me. I sensed three distinct scents in the room, and knew that there was no way that I could defend myself against all three. I needed to think this through. There had to be a way out.