Chapter 59

Angie moaned and cupped Kristen's head in her hands, kissing her as if her very life depended on it, as if it were her last hope of salvation, her only promise of heaven.

Watching intently, his eyes half-closed so he could see how the lifebond reacted, Mark saw it pulse once, brightly, and then the red was burned away in a flare of gold fire, leaving a twisted strand of gold and amethyst. Energy started to flow from each of them into the other, somehow giving them both slightly more than they had before. He closed his eyes briefly, releasing the breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and relaxed gratefully.

Angie pulled away first, gazing down at Kristen with eyes full of wonder. The girl was glowing subtly, her skin a luminescent white, her eyes a drowning, vivid emerald green, and her hair flickered as if it were full of little red-gold flames. Angie's expression grew amazed, awestruck. "Angel..." she whispered, reverently.

Mark stared, stunned, wondering what had happened. Kristen hadn't been anywhere near that level of energy before the kiss. She'd hadn't been 'starving', but she hadn't been that far from it, either. Certainly she hadn't even come close to glowing. But a tremendous amount of energy had come from that initial release when they'd kissed. He'd 'seen' it, but hadn't realized just how much. Or how much of her 'normal' energy had been bound up by the painful, damaged bond...

Because, now, Kristen seemed to have so much more available to her, more than could be accounted for from just the bond with Angie. And Angie's line looked 'healthier' too. He realized, suddenly, that he'd been wrong before. The energy hadn't been flowing from Kristen into Angie when the link was bad-- it had been flowing from Kristen and Angie, into the corrupted bond. "My god," he whispered. "It's been draining into the link all this time..."

Kristen just sighed softly and sunk back against the pillows, smiling shyly up at Angie. Mark looked back and forth between them, judging their interaction. They both seemed calm and content. Quiet. Still shy of each other, still a bit frightened, and very, very careful, but happy.

Finally, Mark smiled down at Kristen. "Should we bring Aaron and Kayla back in? I guess we all need to talk. And then I need to call your dad and wake him up."

She wrinkled her nose. "I want to get out of this place, Mark. I want to go home."

He nodded sympathetically. "I know, love. It'll probably take a while to get that taken care of, but ... we'll see what we can do." He squeezed her hand once more before standing and walking to the door. He stuck his head out and asked Kayla and Aaron to come back in.

Kayla stalked in suspiciously. "A nurse wanted to come in and check on her because her heart rate went up," she said, jerking her head towards Angie. "We convinced her you were just talking-- friends trying to help, a good cry would be the best thing for her, all that crap." She glared at the woman with undisguised hostility for a moment (though Aaron regarded her more sympathetically) and turned to Kristen, her expression softening. "You okay, angel?" she asked quietly, and Kristen smiled and reached out for her.

"Kayla ... check their bond," Mark said, as the girl took Kristen's hand and sat on the side of the bed. She reached up, stroking red-gold curls back from her lover's face. She finally seemed to notice Kristen's faint glow, because she relaxed slightly, the stiff set of her shoulders loosening just a bit, right before she closed her eyes.

A moment later, she opened them again and shrugged, still distrustful. "So?" she asked. "She rejected it once before." The words were cold, hard, and her expression didn't even waver when Angie flinched as if struck and hung her head guiltily.

"Ask her, then," Mark said.

"I don't trust her, Mark. That's why I'm asking you."

He sighed. "I don't think she'll do it again. I think she's ... come to her senses."

Kayla looked at him skeptically, then turned back to Kristen. "Kris?" she asked, tenderly.

Kristen turned her head, smiling, and kissed the inside of Kayla's wrist. "It's okay," she said softly. "It really is. Whatever was, um, sickening it ... the bond, I mean ... is gone. Don't worry."

The little brunette sighed, but none of the tension left her. "Okay, love. If you want it, I'll accept it. It just scared the fuck out of me to come so close to losing you."

"I'm fine," Kristen said, rubbing her cheek against Kayla's hand. "It'll be okay."

"Kayla, I didn't know!" Angie looked at her miserably. "I didn't know! I'll never ... not now! Please..."

The girl's hard, wary expression didn't waver. She obviously wasn't going to trust the woman anytime soon. Mark stared thoughtfully at Angie, wondering if he actually trusted her, himself. Kayla was right— it was a risk. Several risks, really, and any one of them would hurt, or maybe kill, Kristen. They needed to know if they could trust her, or if it would be a new battle with each 'sin' she discovered. Considering it, he came to a decision. He held his hand out to Kayla.

She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, then reached out and took his hand. She let him pull her to her feet, but her other hand kept hold of Kristen's, even as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her gently but passionately. She returned the kiss with equal intensity, then pulled back and smiled up at him approvingly. "Love you, too, you old pervert," she said fondly, then brushed her lips across his once more before stepping away and returning to her place at Kristen's side.

She curled her knees up on the bed, sliding an arm around Kristen's shoulders, and smiled at him, challengingly this time. She knew what he was doing, obviously, but she was daring him to go all the way. To reveal it all. And, just as obviously, she wasn't sure he would.

He returned her smile, then turned to Aaron, who was staring at them with worried confusion. Mark reached out, taking both of the boy's hands in his. Aaron was frozen, stiff with shock and nervousness, but he'd never resist anything Mark wanted from him. Once more, just to be sure, Mark looked inside himself, feeling for the newest bond, 'seeing' the silver twining around his line, then stretching out and weaving a filagree net around the others, strengthening and supporting them. He smiled and looked down into Aaron's confused, frightened hazel eyes. "Aaron ... I love you." He cupped the boy's pale cheek, gently caressing that bond, trying to let Aaron feel what he felt.

Tears gathered on dark lashes, and Aaron trembled in his arms. "I love you," he whispered. "I've always loved you. I always will love you. I'm yours, body and soul. Thank you, oh thank you!"

Mark buried a hand in his hair, tilting his face up, and kissed him gently. Aaron returned the kiss with desperate intensity, putting everything he offered in that one act, trembling with so much emotion that Mark could feel them pressing against his mind. Love, devotion, surrender ... and relief from the fear that had been with him constantly as he waited to be either accepted or sent away. Mark curled his fingers around the boy's neck, tightening his fingers, accepting the offer and returning it just as strongly.

When Mark finally raised his head, Angie was staring at him, wide-eyed. As he watched, she looked helplessly at Kristen. Her face filled with confusion, though, because Kristen was smiling at him lovingly, proudly. Mark relaxed, slightly. He'd known, he thought, how Kristen would react, but there had been the tiniest bit of fear that he might be wrong, that she might be hurt. He should have known better.

He returned her smile, his own adoring, then looked down at the boy in his arms. Aaron trembled, then dropped to his knees on the hard tile floor. He bowed his head and lay his forehead against Mark's thighs, wrapping his arms around his knees.

Mark stroked his silky dark curls for a few seconds, then took his shoulders and pulled him up. "Beside me, love. Stand at my side, supporting me, always," he said gently.

Aaron swallowed hard. "Yes, m--" He broke off, glancing at Angie, then bit his lip. "Yes, sir."

Mark squeezed his shoulder, then looked over at Angie, waiting for her response. One was not forthcoming, however. The woman seemed lost in her confusion, and just stood silently, her gaze flickering nervously over all of them, waiting for something that would help her make sense out of things.

Finally, Mark grinned, relenting. He turned to Kristen. "I guess you'd better explain, before she goes nuts trying to figure out what's going on."

Kristen lay cradled in Kayla's arms and watched Angie quietly. "I think she knows," she said. "She just doesn't understand. She still thinks it's only right to love one person at a time, even though she knows I don't." There was just the tiniest trace of hurt in her voice, and Mark nodded thoughtfully, watching Angie.

"But it's not that simple," Kristen went on. "Love happens. Or it's even simpler: love is good. More love is better. You love me more because of Kayla and Aaron, not less."

Mark nodded again, and she smiled a bit weakly. "But it is scarier," she said. "More people to worry about. More people who could hurt you."

He smiled back at her, and sat on the foot of the bed. "Yeah."

"It doesn't hurt me, though," Kristen said, looking up at Angie and reaching for her hand again. "It could, yeah, if Mark snuck around, and lied to me, or fell in love with someone who hated me ... but he won't, so it doesn't. Just like it doesn't hurt him that I love Kayla ... and ... and you. These things ... these bonds ... I don't know where they come from, but they're real. And I think we both know now that fighting them is just a really, really bad idea."

Angie licked her lips. "Honey ... angel, you're not ... not human," she said tremulously. "You're special. But Kayla and Aaron are just ordinary teenagers. They can't know what they're getting into--"

Kayla interrupted with a sharp laugh. "Oh fuck that's funny! Ordinary. Ohhhh, I'm gonna die!" She leaned against the headboard, giggling, and Mark fought back his own laughter. "I'm a mad scientist's daughter and he's the son of a voodoo queen, and we're 'ordinary'. Wooo! Coulda fooled me!" She shook her head, her grey eyes glittering dangerously. "Lady, ordinary people don't form bonds with supernatural beings. Sorry to intrude on your private reality, but that's just the way it is. Get used to it."