Chapter One Hundred And Twenty Six

Maxwell

I cannot believe my eyes right now. I’m standing face to face with my parents. The people who gave me life. The last time I saw them, death had consumed their very being, and I was convinced that I wasn’t going to see them again. But here I am seeing them. This has to be a dream, but yet again it doesn’t feel like a dream at all.

“Oh my God, it is you,” Dad says as he ambles toward me, and so does Mom. I feel other people staring at me, but I don’t pay attention to them. My focus is on the parents I lost.

“SON!” Dad hugs me, and I don’t wrap my hands around him just yet because I want to see if I can feel him, and I can feel him alright. I wrap my arms around him as soon as I feel him; he feels so warm. I never thought I’d be hugging him this soon, but here I am, hugging my father once again.

He releases me and then places a hand on my cheek. He’s crying, and so am I. Why won’t we cry? And it turns out mom is crying as well.

“Mom,” I say hugging her.

“Oh, son. I’ve missed you so much.” she rubs my back. And feeling my parents’ hug is like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold night. Funny enough, Mom and Dad used to cover me with a blanket at night when I was asleep. That’s because they cared about me enough to do that. They loved me.

“I’ve missed you too,” I say, wiping the tears from my eyes. “I have really missed you. I still can’t believe you’re here; I still can’t believe I’m looking at you right now.”

“We’re just as shocked,” Dad says and the smile that was once on his face has been replaced with that of trepidation. He looks more concerned than ever and he wants to ask the question. But mom beats him to it.

“Son, what happened to you?” She asks looking straight at me. The same worried look that’s planted on Dad’s face is watered on hers.

“You’re not dead, are you? Please tell me you’re not dead; this is not your time,” Dad says and I just stare at him. Well, I don’t know what else I’m supposed to tell them. I was kidnapped by Miguel or Daniel David’s twin, and because David didn’t want to bring his parents to New York to have him killed, he ordered some demonic goons to kill me.

And since I’m here in the Afterlife with my parents then I guess the deed has been done. I have been killed. I’m dead.

I tell them all that happened, and they’re just looking at me; they don’t look sad, but they do look pissed off.

“Son, you’re going to go back,” Dad says placing his hand on my shoulder. “Maybe not now, but you will go back, we can promise you that.”

“How-how do you know that? I’m here, aren’t I? It means I’m dead.”

“Yes, darling, you are dead, unfortunately,” Mom says in a distasteful tone. The thought of either of her children dying is one thing she doesn’t even want to consider. But here she is, her second child dead and standing before her, which is not what mothers want to see, seeing their kid dying so young.

“But thankfully, you’re not going to be dead for long,” she says, and I look at them, confused as to what the hell they’re talking about.

“Wait, what? I don’t understand, what’re you saying? You don’t understand. All my lives are gone. This is a powerful demon we’re dealing with. He kills werecats in an instant.”

“Yes, son we know this is supposed to be a permanent death,” Dad says. And my eyebrows are still creased. I’m still so fucking confused.

“Supposed?” what does that mean?

“Your mate, David,” Mom says with a smile. “He’s going to bring you back to life.” she blurts with excitement. “He’s a uniter and uniters can bring their mates back to life once they die. It’s something that isn’t talked about because somehow it was hidden and I bet that tool Michelangelo had something to do with it.” Mom shakes her head. The hatred she has for that piece of shit has followed her to the afterlife.

“Wait, so I’m going to be going back?”

“Yep.” another voice joins in and I look ahead to see a handsome blond guy with ocean blue eyes wearing a white sweater vest and khaki pants walking toward us. He has a beautiful familiar smile that I never thought I’d see again. But of course, he’s here. This place fits him.

“Hello, Max.”

“Elijah.” I reach out for him and I hug him. “I know this may sound weird but I missed you.”

“What’s weird about that? It’s normal for mates to miss each other,” he says giggling. I let out a HA! And I release him.

“You look so good.”

“So do you.”

“Liar.” we both laugh. Honestly, why would I want to leave this place? It’s filled with laughter and joy. Everything in here is so peaceful. I want to be here forever.

“No, you can’t be here not yet. David needs you.” Elijah says to me, and I look at him, confused.

“How did you-”

“We’re mates, remember? I can still read your mind,” he says, and fuck, I almost forgot about the mind link.

“Oh honey, we know you’re tired of the pain and torture but you have to go back. It’s not your time. You still have unfinished business back at home.”

“Yes, son, I can assure you you will be back here, but now is not the time for you to be crossing over to the afterlife. I promise you.”

I can’t believe it. I can’t believe they’re telling me to leave this heavenly plan to go back to Earth, a hellish space where I’m going to be suffering over there. Earth doesn’t have them in it so why should I go back there?

“Think about David Max,” Elijah says and I whip my head toward him. “Our mate needs you, Max.”

That is true, David is still in danger. After he kills his parents, he’s going to kill David next, and I’m not going to be having that. He’s not going to die, not on my watch.

“And your sister needs you too. She’ll be so heartbroken when she finds out that you died. You don’t know what she’ll do to herself.” Mom says in a pleading tone.

And oh I know what she’s going to do to herself if I leave her. Yes, she’ll have Destiny and his dad, but she won’t have me, the one person she grew up with. If I leave her, she’ll be a complete mess, and she’ll probably destroy herself with that drug that has already almost ruined her life.

Oh fuck, I got so consumed by this beautiful world that I forgot that people need me back on earth.

“Oh my God, you’re right,” I say, and Mom nods. “But how do I get back. Do I just jump out of here?”

“David’s going to try to get you back to life. David’s going to be doing his best but it is up to you to want to go back.” Mom says and it feels like she’s done this before. No, she has done this before.

“How come we didn’t know about this kind of this sooner? We would have saved you, Elijah.” I say to him and he shakes his head.

“I wouldn’t have come back either way. I felt like I owed it to David after what I did to him.”

“But he forgave you, he was a wreck when you died. He’s still so sad.”

Elijah shrugs. “At least it made him stronger,” he says and that is true. David has become stronger than before.

“And it was just like I said. The truth was probably hidden by Michael so it would be easy for him to bring chaos.” Mom says and then she walks over to me. “Maxwell, promise me that you’re going to go back when you hear David’s call. Promise me you’re going to go back to earth and live your life.”

I feel stings in my eyes and a lump in my throat. “But what about you guys.”

“We’re going to be fine, Maxwell, we’re in heaven. Nothing can harm us here.” Dad says, sounding so sure, and he’s right, everyone looks like they’re at peace, they are at peace.

“So Michael and Darius aren’t here? They’re not going to harm you?”

“Those traitorous bastards are burning in hell right now,” Dad says with so much disdain.

“Don’t worry about us, Max.” Says Elijah. “You have to worry about yourself and the family that’s alive right now. You have to go back to your mate and help him end whatever madness is going on there. He needs you, they all need you.”

As tempting as it is to stay here, they are right. I’m still young, now is not my time. Elijah was young as well; it wasn’t his time, but like he said, he wasn’t going to go back if David knew about bringing mates back to life.

But I know what I want. And what I want is to go help my family. Save them from death.

I nod my head. “Okay, I’m going to do it. I’ll go back.”

Mom and Dad let out a sigh of relief.

“Good,” Elijah mutters.

A loud sound gets our attention and I turn out to see a door that’s opened up and filled with so much light.

“That’s for you,” Dad says patting my back. And I turn around to look at them.

“I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to you. But I finally have that chance.” I say and tears have escaped our eyes. I hug both my parents and they hug me back. “I’m really going to miss you guys,” I say.

“We’re going to miss you too,” Mom says, and I move backwards.

“Please tell Destiny and Elijah that we love them both,” Dad says.

“Yes, and tell them we’ll be waiting for them here. But they should only arrive at the right time.” Mom has to be specific because she really doesn’t want the people she loves to die a premature death.

“And tell Sara that we love her no matter what,” Dad says.

“Tell her she will find love again.” Says Mom, and I smile because that is seriously promising, and that’s what I’ve been trying to tell her for a long time.

“I will guys. I’ll tell them everything.” I smile at them and they both nod. Then I walk over to Elijah. “Want me to send a message to people special in your life?”

“Tell Jeremy he should stop being sorry for himself and fix his life.” He says spot on and I laugh. “And tell David, that I love him and I am happy that he forgives me.”

“I will tell them that,” I say and then I hug him. It isn’t a goodbye but a see you later.

And now I’m walking away from them and I’m going heading toward the door. It’s a white door that has a lot of steam coming out of it. Dramatic much? Geez.

I’m now standing in front of the door and I turn around to wave at my family. They wave back, and then I face the door once more, and I let out a sigh,h, and I walk through.

I wake up on the bed with a loud gasp. David is holding me. And I look around to see that I’m not in that God-awful place anymore. I’m back home, and I’m surrounded by my family.

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” David says holding me tight.

“David, David.” I try to get his attention. “Thank you for not giving up on me, and I wish I could say we have the time in the world for a reunion, but we have to save your parents.”

“But how do we even start to look for them I have no idea-”

“David, baby I know where your parents are.”