Lydia was once again left to stare at an empty, plain wall by Maylee's bed side. Everything around her was so quiet, yet so loud. The sounds and noises reaching her through the closed door were ever so slowly fading away; leaving place to different kinds of voices, the kinds that she'd usually be constantly fighting to keep herself from hearing. The kinds she did her best to ignore in order for her to live a somewhat decent life. Well, as decent as she could afford, considering the lifestyle that was forced upon her and her friends.
Just like the noises, everything around her was begging to be let go, to vanish... And she allowed it. Although, she held on to one last thing linking her to her sad reality. That thing being the warmth of Maylee's touch as she held the hand of the unconscious banshee. She gave herself the time to listen; fumbling through the mingled voices that only she could hear, desperate for the one she sought. But alas, to no avail; nowhere did she come close to hearing Maylee's voice, nowhere was she able to catch a glimpse of her in that world she saw behind her eyelids, once she'd closed her eyes.
Failure after failure, the only conclusion she could come to, was the fact that hitting a wall was no pleasant outcome. Even the voices she was able to hear were so far away sounding, and no matter how far she walked or ran through the vast nothing-land she was stuck in, she couldn't seem to get any closer to them. She slowed her pace down, to finally appease the questions that were imploring to be answered from deep within. Maylee had not only managed to enter in contact with her but was also able to see Lydia's visions. So, how was she capable of doing so? Were all banshees capable of that? Maylee wasn't even born a banshee, she was made. Was there a way for her to accomplish the same thing?
Lydia sank deeper and downwards she went with those contemplations; her vision growing blurrier and fuzzier because of the tears welling up in her eyes. Body so tense, she could swear her fingernails had pierced the palms of her hands from clenching her fists so hard. Although, she wasn't sure since all of her physical pain was effectively drowned by her loud, invasive thoughts and ponderings.
"I honestly couldn't believe it was you when I heard your calling,"
Lydia's thoughts were in fact so loud, and so virulent that they'd barred her from sensing the new presence that came near her. She immediately swirled around to put a face to the unfamiliar voice that came from behind her, "Who are you?" Lydia asked when she couldn't recognize the young woman, despite her best efforts to.
"I really am impressed,"
The young woman spoke again as Lydia kept her eyes on her; they scoured every inch of her searching for something she'd probably only know when she'd see it. They both remained silent for seconds that felt like hours, both staring not at but into each other's souls. Until Lydia felt her insides twist in a trice before unwinding again, only to allow a continuous, dull ache to settle in after the fact. She hadn't exchanged many words with Parrish since her arrival into town, but from the little she did, he'd made sure to let her know about the young banshee with angelic features. The one that was cold as ice and peerless in power.
Lydia opened her mouth to utter the name that came to her mind when looking at the woman, but her words were caught in her throat, her heartrate quickened, leaving no other choice for her breathing but to follow its pace. She couldn't explain her reasons but... At that moment, she felt like the only way for her to survive was to scream... To scream her foe away.
She focused her efforts on drawing as much air as her lungs could sustain, but right as she was about to let it all out in one of her ravaging screams... Nothing came out. She once again stood with a dry throat, unable to voice anything.
"Simmer down, girl. You are good, but not that good. Not yet at least," said the stranger.
"How did you do that?" Lydia had finally recovered her ability to speak. She hurled that question at the stranger in a rush, as though she feared another loss of voice that would prevent her from doing so.
"You'll learn... If you survive what's to come, that is," she stated. But seeing as Lydia's figure wasn't relaxing under her gaze, she added, "If I of all people wanted you dead, then trust me when I say you'd already be dead,"
"You are Euriella, aren't you?" said Lydia in a tone that was closer to a murmur than a statement.
Euriella did not respond. Instead, she gently nodded her head and curled her lips in a manner that would indicate to Lydia that her assumption about the woman's identity was correct. Euriella didn't say anything after that, she just stared Lydia down, from the highest hair on her head to the lowest point of her body. She then proceeded to very slowly turn around before beginning to walk away from Lydia, "Walk with me a bit, will you?" she spoke.
Lydia stood in place for a moment, debating whether she should follow Euriella or remain rooted in her spot. Seeing as Euriella wasn't stopping, she allowed her legs to finally step forward, "What do you want from me?"
"Do you often call for people only to then ask them why they came to you?" asked Euriella without as much as a glance back at Lydia.
"I didn't call for you, I called for...," she began but she was interrupted.
"You called for my sister, I know,"
For all Euriella had said, she hadn't really given anything of substance just yet. Lydia felt like she wasn't any more advanced in her quest for answers than she was before talking to her. In those terms, Lydia thought that Euriella was much like Maylee, both always vague in their utterings. Speaking of Maylee, Lydia had a question pop in her mind, one that jostled every other in its path until it was successfully let out, "Why didn't you kill her? You had the opportunity to,"
"I know I had the opportunity to. You are not really breaking any news to me," Euriella went silent for a moment after that but then she continued, "It's different. She was left under my wing, and she stuck by my side for so long before she left so... It's different, it's just different,"
"He sent you to kill her, didn't he? Your father," said Lydia, "But you couldn't do it, and here you are, responding to a call that wasn't for you in the first place," she added.
"Don't go and get confused, I am still debating whether to kill you or not. As I said before, Maylee's case is different, but I am still no do gooder," said Euriella , slowing her pace further.
"Then why come here?"
"Curiosity, I suppose," Euriella had half whispered those words, "She has so much faith in you, after that werewolf Isaac had filled her head with stories about you and McCall's pack. I wanted to know who she'd left us for,"
Euriella wasn't volunteering information out her own good will and so, Lydia thought it was up to her to pull the words out of her, "When you first came, you said that I impressed you. What was so impressive in what I've done?"
"Take a look around us. What do you see?"
Lydia did as she was told and took a thorough look around herself, "I see... Nothing. Nothing up close and nothing but white fog clouding what's distant,"
"This place is called the in between, because it stands one step under the spirit realm, the place where spiritual creatures such as kitsunes, ghost riders and hellhounds dwell. And another step above the real realm where we all live," Euriella made a very short pause before continuing, "Banshees have the ability to enter in contact with other banshees and when they really want to, they can do so with other creatures as well,"
"Who else can access this realm?"
"No one else. Banshees are neither natural nor supernatural; we are harbingers of death in our own category, even hellhounds can only cross this place, they can't stay here for very long," she explained.
"Is it that hard to access? I know another banshee that was able to contact me whenever she needed to," Lydia was referring to Meredith in her speech.
"As a banshee, you either control the voices or you let them control you. Correct me if I am wrong but... This banshee that had managed to contact you, didn't seem to have all of her head, did she?" At those words, Lydia's eyes simply dropped to the semblance of floor that they were walking upon. When she didn't say a thing Euriella carried on, "When you let the voices control you, you'll have full access to your potential as a banshee but losing your mind isn't really something that you want, I am sure. The other way is to control the voices and allow them a place in your mind, a space that you have full control over. It took me decades to master my powers and then decades to teach Maylee to do the same, but I still failed her...,"
"She is very powerful and competent as a banshee," Lydia felt the urge to interject with those words at that moment, she'd spoken them before she could even fathom the reasons why.
"She still has much to learn and as a made banshee, she will never do what you and I are capable of doing. Reaching this realm is an accomplishment of its own and seeing as you still have your senses, I am assuming you have a great aptitude for control so... Perhaps I...," Euriella trailed off.
"Perhaps you what?"
Euriella took a deep breath and stopped in her tracks, "Nevermind that for now," she turned around to peer at Lydia, "I suppose, I might as well tell you that you won't find her here; the injection I gave her sent her to the spiritual realm, but I am guessing you don't have enough control to ascend one more step above us yet,"
"Why did you send her there?"
"Because I knew she didn't have enough control to step down from there. I didn't expect you to be able to come here. You're what now? In your early twenties? And you only found out you were a banshee at the age of sixteen?"
"Pretty much," said Lydia.
"You might not know how amazing of a demonstration of control you've made here, but here I am, telling you about it,"
There was a moment of tranquility where neither of them said anything. Euriella simply kept on staring at Lydia and Lydia didn't particularly mind. She was on a train of thoughts of her own. But that peace could not last very long, "Oh god! What is happening?" Lydia bent over forward and clenched her chest as hard as she could, almost like she was afraid that her heart would outgrow its normal proportions and leap out of its place. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut just to be able to withstand the sharp shards of pain that her entire being was sending up to her brain.
"I see it has started," said Euriella in a dry tone, her eyes still on Lydia.
"Wha... What has?" she barely did, but she managed to get those words through her gritted teeth.
"Remember what I said about hellhounds in this place?"
Lydia simply grunted louder in response, trying her best to lift her gaze up at Euriella. When she finally did, she realized that Euriella was no longer looking back at her but staring straight ahead. There was a third figure in the distance, one that was close enough for it to be distinguishable. Even through all the pain hammering her insides, she'd immediately recognized Parrish's features. He stood there, unmoved until he opened his mouth to say, "I am really sorry," before vanishing without leaving a trace.
Oddly enough, the pain that had been constant in intensity that whole time, had begun to decrease substantially," What does this mean? What just happened?" Lydia asked when she was able to catch her breath. Even without a response from Euriella, Lydia would have eventually come to the conclusion she was so afraid to reach. Parrish's appearance in the in between realm could only have meant one thing.
"I don't think you need me to answer those questions. But for what it's worth, I am sorry too," said Euriella before turning around again and resuming the walk she'd stopped a few minutes earlier, "It seems the time for me to do my part has come. I must go for now,"
"Wait! No! Please! I can't...," Lydia forced her body back into a straight position in order to run after Euriella. Well, the word run was an overstatement, considering her struggle to do so.
"I assure you; you won't need me for now. But you know where to find me when the time comes,"
Lydia kept on trudging forward, throwing her legs in hopes they wouldn't faulter and let her weight down. She tried to the best of her ability to catch up to Euriella. She looked down at her feet for a split second but when she lifted her head back up, Euriella was no more. Instead, she was greeted by the face of Melissa McCall, filled with worry and an apparent hint of urgency in her eyes, "Lydia!? What are you doing?" the nurse asked as she held the strained body of Lydia up from her arms.
"I have to... I have to stop them... They will... They wi...," her mouth was uttering explanations, but her mind was busy registering the new environment around her. She was out of the in between realm, she found herself out of Maylee's room, and she was walking through the hospital hallways instead, "I have to go to the others, they'll need my help. I don't think they'll make it otherwise," eventually, she'd successfully pushed a coherent sentence out of her lips.
Melissa's expression seemed to twist even more than it already had before, but she didn't say a thing about that. She took another breath and then she spoke again, "Okay... Yes but, there's someone here asking to see Maylee or any of you guys,"
"What? Who?"
Melissa released her grasp on Lydia's arms and moved to the side, allowing the banshee to see what stood behind the nurse.
Lydia's eyes widened at the sight of him, "Danny?"
"Yeah, I was pretty surprised to see him back here, but that's not what surprised me the most. He says he's part of the guardian angel's team," said Melissa.