Chapter 22

"Lizzie!" called a faint voice that was barely heard.

Elizabeth felt light-headed although her eyes were still closed. The faint voice slowly reached her ears, slowly registering into her mind. She felt as if she was pulling herself together again. Her vision was unusually unclear and the scene of Stefan and Elena seemed, smeared but quickly restored to normal.

Stefan was unbelievably worried -more worried than he usually was- whenever she was out. Images of her dream when she was unconscious suddenly flashed through her memory. Very brief yet very apparent. Elana, too, was somehow concerned about Elizabeth's condition. She wondered whether Elizabeth was suffering from some kind of disease. Well, it was because Elizabeth faints a lot.

"Stefan?" Elizabeth croaked, uncertain whether she was conscious or it was all a part of her dream.

"Your breathing is not constant. Are you alright?"

Elizabeth realised she could hardly catch a breath. A normal one at that. She was already back at her bed, at the hotel they were in. She then glanced down at her neck and found a topaz pendant hanging freely just above her chest, lower below her neck. Warily, she reached for the pendant and memories of Will flooded her thoughts in an instant. She jumped in astonishment as she just figured. About how magical it could be.

Stefan was watching Elizabeth in amusement. And in curiosity. He didn't mean to pry into Elizabeth's thoughts, but he was eager to know whether it was him Elizabeth was thinking about.

"Lizzie? What are you thinking about?"

Millions of thoughts suddenly occurred to him that it might not be him. Of course, he wouldn't want to frustrate himself if the man -or possibly anyone- Elizabeth was thinking of wasn't him.

"I just remembered about my.. dreams when I fainted. It was more of a sleep, isn't it? I just felt so peaceful." She turned to face Stefan. "And then you woke me."

"Well, you don't want to fall into a peaceful sleep, do you?"

Elizabeth knew what he meant. He meant to die. Elizabeth smirked and said, "I see no one wants me to. Thanks for waking me. But really, I still need rest."

Elena was out of sight by the time Stefan did something very sudden and unpredicted. He leaned forward and kissed Elizabeth on the lips. Elizabeth could feel her adrenaline rose from her feet to the top of her head through her veins. It was a warm, subtle kiss. Until Will's images came back to her mind.

She broke away the kiss and shoved Stefan an inch away from her. Stefan realised he might have overdone it and rushed things through. He knew Elizabeth wasn't ready after Will's death. He simply nodded and wished her goodnight.

Elana wasn't back in the room yet and Stefan shut the door gently. Elizabeth stared at her topaz pendant and wondered about Will's words when she was dreaming. Do I really love Stefan? But Will's alive. she thought. She recalled again that even Will said to her that he's only alive within her. Elizabeth smiled and kissed the pendant a goodnight and soon drifted to sleep.

Little did she know, William Carstairs was watching her the whole time since she was conscious.



"Can you still track her?" Charlie's voice could be heard from the intercom machine.

A group of people, from the Council, jumped almost an inch from the ground as they heard their master's voice. The cards they had been playing, as if they were jobless the minute before, were now scattered on the table. Conrad, the naturally French guy who just recovered from the ice incident, was testing his luck on winning the "Big Two" game. Which, unfortunately, he failed. He was winning, of course, until Charlie's voice interrupted.

"Jesus! Does he not know the 'Perfect Timing'?" Conrad exclaimed, still stunned.

"I heard you, Conrad!" Charlie replied, annoyed.

One of the guys there, Alvin, mouthed "YOU'RE DEAD" to Conrad with his hand gesture of cutting through his neck. The others stifled a laugh by covering their mouth and Conrad flushed.

"Still there, Conrad? I asked you a question." said Charlie, who sounded as amused as Conrad's friends.

"Yes, sir. Should we prepare for another attack or should we give it a rest?" Conrad sounded as if he was pleading towards the end of his sentence.

"Why why, I see someone is still distressed about his injury,"

This time, Conrad's friends couldn't stop themselves from laughing out loud. And so did Charlie.



Charlie hadn't laughed so hard since the absence of Danae in his life. Even Poesy hadn't made him laugh like that. Not that Poesy hadn't tried. In fact, she's tried a lot of times, but Charlie refused to open his mind for children's jokes. Now that he came to think of it, he was aware that he hadn't spent any precious times with his only daughter.

"Daddy?" came in Poesy's voice.

Charlie didn't notice Poesy's presence and he straightened his position, forgetting what he just thought about. Forgetting about his realisation.

"Poesy." he replied sternly.

"Daddy, I miss the old you."

Charlie looked at his 12 years old daughter who was craving for her father's love and attention. She was about 149cm tall with a blonde hair hung loose just below her shoulder. She was dressed in a simple yet attractive sleeveless shirt with three quarter blue jeans. Her eyes reminded him of his late wife, Danae. Charlie pulled his daughter to an embrace and promised her that he'll try his best not to neglect her again.



Stefan couldn't keep his eyes close that night. He was contemplating why Elizabeth murmured 'Will' before she fainted. Is Will alive? a thought arose in Stefan's mind.

He was now sitting up straight on his bed unsure of what to do, or what to think of. He felt some kind of stabbing on his heart. A pang of jealousy. The thought of Elizabeth still loves William frustrated him. He knew, of course, that Will was her first love and he wasn't. He sighed and had no choice but to sleep. To abolish any kinds of thoughts in his mind. In other words, to run away for a while.