Forty-Six…

Forty-Six: Out of the Shadows

Contains lots of F-bombs.

hehe.

Not long after awakening and getting dressed, Aubrey headed for the main house.

She noticed tiny objects scattered over the floor.

What could they be?

She bent over to retrieve one.

It crackled between her fingers, crumbling back to the stone floor.

Puzzled she stared at the trail. A trail of dead rose petals.

They led up the basement steps and then several feet across the courtyard.

She stopped, around the same time that her heart did.

An apparition stood amidst the headstones.

How… fitting.

Now she knew where the dark petals came from.

“What? You thought I was actually dead?” Jakub hissed. Then he unfastened the collar around his neck.

“Look. It was a miracle I lived. Hallelujah.” His lips formed a smirk.

Aubrey took off.

“Come back,” he rasped. “I’m not going to hurt you. I only want to give you this dead rose as a peace offering.”

She threw her arms around Hunter, sobbing.

“What is it now?” he asked.

“Jakub… Jakub’s alive! He—he’s outside right now!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“Uh, Aubrey, there’s something I have to tell you…”

She parted from him. “What?”

“Jakub’s alive because of me.”

Slowly, she looked up. Disbelief etched the deepest depths of her soul.

Betrayal was a horrible, ugly thing.

“I’m waiting—for your explanation,” she said holding back more tears.

“That night when Vaclav cut Jakub’s throat, I ran off when no one was looking,” he began. “But later, after I was sure it was safe, I returned.”

I had to go back to get my clothes.

I made my way through the forest. Several yards from the cabin, I saw the bloody footprints.

As I got closer, I noticed blood was everywhere. There were hand prints on the windows. Something told me it was Jakub, although at the time I didn’t know Vaclav had slit his throat. I guess you could say it was an educated guess as well, since I knew Vaclav wanted Jakub dead.

Jakub was on the floor. Somehow he’d managed to walk back to the cabin. I was amazed at his will to live even though I hated him.

I dressed.

Then I heard a noise behind me. I got ready for a fight.

Jakub grabbed my arm, clawing at me with his fingers.

I spun around and tried pushing him away.

He mouthed the words “help me.” 

He mouthed the words again while grasping my shirt.

“No. I won’t help you. You deserve to die,” I told him.

When I walked out of the cabin, I was hit by guilt.

I remembered the words from Epidemics, something I’d memorized years earlier regarding my medical career: ‘ The physician must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future – must mediate these things, and have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm.’

So that was it. I had to do good, or do no harm. I had to help Jakub.

“I’ll help you,” I said. “I’ll be back with some medical supplies.”

He scraped at the window, like he was trying to get out. He was losing his mind… not that he had one to begin with.

Avoiding the Haas Clan as best I could, I traveled to my old house. I hadn’t been there in over a year. But I knew I had some medical stuff stashed away. Mostly they were old left overs from the years spent at med school. They would have to do.

I rummaged in the cabinet, pulling out anything I could use for the upcoming surgery to repair Jakub’s throat. I also dragged out my old medical books.

I didn’t have much time. It was getting beyond late.

I dropped all the supplies onto the floor, gathered boxes to put them in.

Then I headed back to the cabin.

Before starting, I gave him an ultimatum.

“If I do this, you have to swear to leave Aubrey alone. You have to also leave Shadowvale, and maybe even the entire country.”

He weakly nodded.

“Okay. I better be able to trust you. If I do see you in Shadowvale, I’ll fucking kill you myself. Don’t forget that.”

Jakub stuck up his middle finger.

I was pretty nervous. The only surgery I’d ever done was on cadavers.

But somehow I managed. I stitched and carefully repaired Jakub’s esophagus. The cut had almost reached his spine, he was lucky it didn’t. Just another centimeter or so and Jakub would never see another nighttime to prowl for victims.

After fixing his esophagus, I worked on his windpipe. I didn’t try to repair his vocal chords. Finally, I stitched the upper layers of muscle and skin.

He would never speak normally again. His voice would be always be either raspy, or a hiss.

“Seriously. You have to leave Shadowvale. You have to leave Aubrey the hell alone,” I reminded him.

“I promise I’ll be good.” 

“Jakub, don’t fuck with me.”

“I’m not fucking with anyone. I’m thinking about moving to somewhere in Europe. Maybe… France?”

I looked at him, trying to figure out if he was messing with me or not. It was hard to tell, considering he was a sociopath.

After that, I didn’t see him again… until now.

“You knew he was alive this whole time and didn’t tell me? You—you’ve been fucking me for over a week! You’ve lived in this house for over two months! How could you NOT tell me this? And how could you save his life knowing he tried to hurt me?”

“And you knew Jakub moved to France! Was he also living with his BFF Shawn? Not to mention the fact you let Vaclav rot in prison knowing he didn’t kill his son!”

“You, Shawn and Jakub… the three of you deserve each other.”

She shoved past Jakub, glaring at him, daring him to try anything on her. She was sick of worrying about it and sick of vampires in general.

Fuck Shadowvale, and all the vermin that lived there.

“Yeah,” Jakub hissed. “I was living with my BFF Shawn in France.”

“Go to hell Jakub!” she said.

He grinned.  

 “What the hell are you doing here? Why did you come back? Was it just to gloat?”

He rushed forward and shoved him back. Jakub slammed into an end table, rocking it back and forth.

“I swear to God I’m going to kill you! I told you not to come back, you stupid piece of shit!”  

“Wait—I know where Aubrey’s talisman is.”

“You better not be bullshitting me, Jakub…”

“It’s buried in those underground tunnels. I’ll show you exactly where it is. After that, I’ll return to France.”

Someone’s key slipped into the front door.

“Shit. Someone’s at the door.”

He hurried into the bathroom.

Hunter braced himself for whomever was coming in. It was Lucius.

“The Shadow witch’s powers are suddenly very strong, resembling a small nuclear bomb. I want you to convince your fuckwad clan to kill her.”

“Uh, yeah. You really think that’s gonna work, Lucius?”

“Do it, or I’ll kill you.”

“Ah! I’m so scared,” Hunter teased. “Don’t gimme that shit. Aubrey told me a few days ago that Vaclav doesn’t plan to have me killed… so you don’t have the big cheese’s permission to do shit.”

“Are you sure about that? Think hard. Aubrey doesn’t know everything that’s going on inside her husband’s head. And I”m sure if it came down to choosing your life, or the longevity of the Haas Clan, I think you know what Vaclav’s choice would be.”

Hunter gaped at him for a moment, debating.

Jakub listened closely…

“What if… what if I found the talisman that fights off the Shadows? Would that help destroy your witch?”

“Yes, but how are you going to get it? Being that you’re a Shadow?”

“Aubrey could get it, dumb ass.”

“Fine. If Aubrey can get the talisman, I’ll let you off the hook.”

“Wow. Thanks,” Hunter sarcastically replied.

Aubrey stood in the music room, having heard everything they’d said.

Now they’re just using me, the assholes.

Whatever love she felt for Hunter was flushed down the toilet… and her brain was no longer situated between her legs.

                                                           ****

LOL. Thanks for reading!

Credits: Hospital set by Hekate999 at MTS. Bloody foot/hand prints by Syren at The 13th Sim. Jakub’s collar found at Sims 3 Updates. Rose accessory by Lemonleaf at Sims 3 Updates.  🙂

One more thing: here’s a new page devoted to pics of Jakub: https://jenssims2.wordpress.com/jakub/

** NOTE: if I don’t get back on here and reply to comments (after tonight 3-19), it’s just because I’m staying away from the internet for a few days. Something’s going on in my personal life, with nothing to do with this blog or anything. Thanks. I’ll still try to get up chapter 47 next Friday.  And I’ll still try to comment on some of your story blogs. EDIT: everything’s okay now, mostly. Thank you guys for being so awesome. ♥ Oh, and chap 47 will DEFINITELY be up next Friday!  **