Late Night Visit

The silence of the early morning hour was shattered by what sounded like a frantic knock on a door.

Stiles eyes opened with a start. She looked around her. The television was on, casting shadows in the glow given off by its screen in the darkness of the lounge.

Again, there was the pounding.

Stiles sat up quickly on the sofa she'd fallen asleep on. The sound was not coming from the television, which was barely audible. She turned her head quickly toward the door in the corner leading to the small foyer just outside. Standing, she took a step toward the door as the knock sounded again.

Turning off the television, Stiles hurried to the door. She blinked as she squinted through the peephole into the small, brightly lit corridor on the other side, and then unlocked the deadbolt, opening the door.

"Abbi?"

Isabella stood on the other side of the door, her hand still raised.

"Stiles." She blinked as a look of surprise crossed her face. "Did I wake you? Is Eddus sleeping?"

"Abbi-"

"I know it's late, and I do regret waking you, but I must see him!" Isabella stepped in. Her eyes danced as she looked past Stiles in the direction of the door to Eddus's flat. "I have only the best news! It couldn't wait!"

"You can't..."

Stiles shook her head, reaching for Isabella's elbow, but missed as she skirted her grasp. She pushed the door closed, turning quickly and was able to just touch Isabella's shoulder.

"I'll just duck in and surprise him."

Isabella glanced at her shoulder and continued walking past the studio towards Eddus's flat.

"Abbi!"

Stiles followed closely on Issabella's heels. As the two of them reached the door, she grabbed Issabella's arm, spinning her. They stood face-to-face. Her brows knitted, and her blue eyes locked gazes with Issabella. She shook her head.

"Abbi, he's not there-"

"I'll just wait for him inside. I'll surprise him. I have such good news," Isabella said, excitedly. "Where is he? When will he be back?"

Stiles shook her head, releasing Isabella's arm. Her shoulders slumped, and she took a step away from her.

Isabella watched her with confusion and concern. Neither of them said anything for a few moments.

"Abbi, he's not there."

"Stiles?"

"We didn't know how to reach you."

"Reach me for what, Stiles? What's the matter?" Isabella felt a cold dread start to form in her stomach. "Where is Eddus?"

Stiles shook her head, chewing her bottom lip to keep it from quivering. As she dropped her gaze, a tear rolled down her face to the corner of her mouth.

"I'm sorry, Abbi..."

"Stiles!" Isabella began to feel panic and fear in her chest.

Stiles stepped forward, reaching out to touch her arm, but Isabella jerked away.

"Stiles, where-?"

"Abbi, he's dead."

"What?" Issabella's left hand slowly moved to her right wrist, then slid slowly to the middle of her forearm. Her eyes dropped as she lowered her head to look at the spot on her arm where her hand rested. From under her thumb, she could see the mark of their mate-bond. It was a dull grey-blue.

She had been so used to the feeling of their bond being faint due to their distance and being in different realms. She'd been so caught up in the excitement of obtaining the news she'd come to share with him that she had not felt when Eddus's bond had gone cold.

She slowly shook her head as her whole body went numb, and she began to shake. Her chest constricted, and then her throat.

Rushing forward, Stiles caught Issabella, helping her slowly to the floor as her legs gave out from under her.

"We didn't know how to reach you," she said miserably. She held Isabella's limp body close, in an embrace, although she knew there was no comfort in it.

Issabella sat trembling with her forehead against Stiles's shoulder. Arms in front of her, her left hand was still on her right forearm. Her breathing came in short gasps, and she couldn't catch her breath.

"How?" Her voice scarcely a whisper, Isabella struggled to speak.

Stiles shook her head. Her embrace tightened, holding Isabella closer to her.

Issabella pulled away. Her face was ashen. Her expression bleak and her eyes glassy, she met Stiles's gaze. She seemed to look right through her. Her bottom lip quivered each time she inhaled.

"How?" she managed a second time. "I was here a few days ago..."

Her voice fell away as it occurred to her that while she'd been away for just over a week in her own realm, much more time than that had passed in the human world.

"When?"

"It's been months since you were last here." Stiles' voice cracked. She shook her head, looking bleak. Her eyes were red, and tears flowed down her cheeks. She looked away, shaking her head again, trying her best to choke back a sob.

Issabella's eyes did not follow Stiles' movement. Not moving at all, her gaze remained straight in front of her, fixed on nothing, as the two women sat in the dark shadows outside of Eddus's flat. The only source of light was from the fixture left on over the sink in the kitchen.

"How did it happen?" Isabella's voice, flat and lifeless, was barely audible.

Receiving no reply, after a moment of silence, she spoke again.

"Please..."

Raising her head, Stiles' face wore a pleading look. Her jaw clenched, and she pursed her lips again.

"Abbi, I can't."

"Stiles, how did my..." Her voice cracked, and she drew in a deep, wavering breath. Their eyes met. "How did Eddus die? Please, tell me."

"I don't know."

"Stiles, please..."

"I don't know, Abbi," Stiles stammered, closing her eyes. "We don't know. They... don't know. When he was found, and they couldn't say for sure, but-"

She stopped talking; the words caught in her throat.

Isabella's eyes brimmed, and a tear fell.

"Abbi, you don't want to hear this."

"Tell me," Isabella whispered. "Please..."

"They found him in City Park early one morning. He had been gone for weeks. We thought perhaps he had gone away with you again." Stiles took a deep breath. Her face still held a pleading expression. For a moment, she looked at Issabella, who slowly shook her head.

"What happened?"

"Honest, Abbi, they don't know what happened to Ed."

Stiles touched Isabella's hand.

"What does that mean? How can nobody know?"

Stiles inhaled sharply.

"Initially, they thought that he'd been the victim of a mugging that had gone bad. He'd been hurt badly."

"Initially?" Isabella's brows knitted.

Dropping her gaze to her lap, Stiles then looked into the expectant face of the woman in front of her.

"When the police found him, they thought he'd been attacked," she said, "but he still had his wallet and phone. His clothing was torn, and his phone had been smashed in his pocket like he had fallen on it. He had several broken bones. Before the autopsy, they thought that it could have been a robbery that somehow got out of hand, but the coroner said that it was unlikely."

"I don't understand... What are you saying?"

Stiles shook her head, clenching her jaw.

"His hands had been tied together."

Isabella sat motionless.

"Abbi, you don't need to hear this." Stiles said uncomfortably.

She had tried so hard to put the whole thing out of her mind. She felt ill thinking about it and wasn't sure she could continue speaking about it.

"No," Isabella said weakly, lowering her eyes, "no, I don't. But I need to know what happened to Eddus."

Stiles clenched her jaw several times before continuing, speaking between gritted teeth.

"The coroner called it a murder. Detectives questioned us, Mo, Jay, and I. They questioned anyone who knew Ed."

Pressing the back of her hand to her mouth, she sobbed quietly.

Issabella's temples throbbed. Her eyes ached, and the front of her head hurt like she'd been hit in the face, while in the back of her head, she felt an empty, almost dizzy sensation.

"But they couldn't think any of you had something to do with it." Her voice was weak.

"No," Stiles wiped at her face with her fingers, "we were told that it was routine for anyone who knew a victim to be questioned, but that we are also not to leave the city."

Isabella said nothing, slowly shaking her head.

Stiles' face crumpled, and she wept quietly, trying to contain her emotion. Isabella reached forward and pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, her hand coming to rest by her cheek.

Pressing her cheek gently against the hand touching it, Stiles then shook her head, pulling away with a shudder.

"What is it?"

"I'm so sorry, Abbi!" she cried out. "They didn't know whether to call it murder or suicide!"

"Suicide? But Eddie would never-" Issabella shook her head. She couldn't speak the words. The back of her head began to ache, and she felt cold pins and needles throughout her body. "How could anyone think that?"

Stiles could not look up. She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply.

"He left a note."

•••

The grain of the wooden boards that made the table top was neither rough nor smooth, and it blurred in and out of Issabella's vision as she stared blankly in front of her.

She sat motionless on the chair Stiles had led her to, having helped her to the table, before disappearing to her flat to fetch Eddus's letter. Her gaze had first rested on the lifeless, grey mark on her forearm, the symbol of her mate-bond. There was no soft glow from under her skin. That faint sensation, like a buzz, that was Eddus's heartbeat, was not present. Her chest wrenched at the emptiness she felt, and she struggled to breathe.

Forcing her eyes to the table's surface, she tried not to think of how she'd been so preoccupied that she'd neglected to notice not only when the bond had all but disappeared at Eddus's death but at what must have been the distress he felt leading to it. However faint it might have been, she would never forgive herself for not sensing that something was terribly wrong.

Head throbbing and cheeks burning, Issabella was unable to quell the feelings of guilt and shame that surged through her. As little as she'd known about what being mate-bonded really meant, she'd failed miserably. Her vision blurred as she stared at the table top, trying her hardest to steady her breathing and not cry again. Her eyes hurt. Her headache pounded on and her heartbeat pulsated in her temples, yet she felt nothing but emptiness.

"Abbi?"

Turning her head, Issabella looked at Stiles blankly, who stood at the table's edge, a folded piece of paper and an envelope in front of her. She slowly shifted her gaze to them for a moment before returning it to the grain of the wooden table.

"Will you read it to me?" Isabella asked, not looking up.

There was no reply. After a few moments of silence, the sound of water running came from the open kitchen. Isabella looked up to see Stiles filling a glass of water at the sink.

Turning the faucet off, Stiles picked up a second glass and carried them both back to the table, setting one in front of her.

"Please, drink some water," Stiles looked at her sympathetically.

Isabella slowly moved her gaze from the girl across the table from her to the glass and shook her head.

Stiles tilted her head, looking at Isabella for another moment. She then lifted her own glass to her face. Pressing the cool glass to her cheek, she closed her eyes, exhaling a long breath. She took a sip of the water and then took a seat, picking up the folded piece of paper.

The two of them sat in silence as Stiles unfolded it, placing it on the table in front of her and smoothing it out with her hand. In the dim light, her eyes scanned the paper before she looked up at Issabella, her lips pursed, and sadness in her gaze.

"Please..." Isabella's eyes fixed on the letter.

Nodding slowly, Stiles pursed her lips with a sigh, then began:

"To my three closest friends, Mauro, Johan, and Amanda."

Stiles paused for a moment, meeting Isabella's questioning gaze.

"He'd never called us by our actual names."

At this, Issabella felt another pang of guilt. Having only ever known Eddus's friends as Mo, Jay, and Stiles, she couldn't help but feel that she was now somehow wrongfully in possession of this information, as the letter was not addressed to her.

"For years, you have been not only my friends," Stiles continued, her voice shaking, "but the closest thing to a family that I have known in quite some time. I regret that our time together must come to an end. I'm sure that you are all aware that in the past few years, my well-being has become increasingly worse. I am not well, and I have been on a long and darkening path. It is not anyone's fault but my own. Unfortunate and irreversible circumstances have brought me to this place, and it is time for me to put a stop to my own personal decline.

I am leaving to you everything that I have in this world. The flats, the building, and its proceeds in trust, I have had legally transferred into your names. My lawyer will see to the details. It is not much, but it is yours. I have no need of it where I am going.

I apologise for the person I have become, and I thank each of you from the bottom of my heart for putting up with me and not pushing me away. I could not possibly repay you for your kindness and friendship. Your constant companionship has been one of the most precious things in my life.

Please know that what I am doing is best for every one of us, and that when this is all said and done, I will be in a much better place.

-Eddus Brandt"

As soon as she had read the final words, Stiles pushed the piece of paper aside, withdrawing her hand quickly. Looking away, she closed her eyes and wept, shaking her head as if trying to unsee the words she had just read.

"But it makes no sense." Isabella's voice was flat, and she again stared blankly in front of her. "Why-"

"You don't know how bad it was." Stiles spoke after a few moments. She sighed, lowering her head. "You didn't see what we saw."

"But, he wouldn't..."

Issabella almost gagged on her words as their daughter's face came to mind.

"No, Abbi, never. He didn't. You can't think that! He wouldn't-" She didn't look up, but there was a slight relief in Stiles' tone. Whatever relief she may have felt quickly dissolved, and she began to sob again, tears pouring down her cheeks.

She pushed the second envelope across the table to Isabella. It had a single word written on it: Abbi.

"What is this?"

"He left two letters," Stiles said, after taking a moment to compose herself.

"What does it say?"

"I don't know. We didn't open it," she took a deep breath, "and the investigators didn't open it after reading the first letter. They said that- that it wasn't relevant."

"Not relevant?"

"They said that Ed was suicidal, but that he was most likely attacked before he could..."

She couldn't finish the sentence. Putting her elbow on the table top, Stiles put her forehead in her hand.

"God, I have tried so hard to forget all of this!"

Not wanting to know what was inside it, Isabella touched the corner of the envelope. She couldn't imagine it containing anything but more bad news, though after hearing the contents written in the first letter, she couldn't see how it could be worse. Nothing inside the envelope could make any part of the situation better.

"I can't," she said, glancing across the table at Stiles, who now watched her wearily.

"Abbi."

"I don't want to know what it says. Nothing inside this envelope can help."

"Abbi..."

"I- I don't know..."

"Abbi!" Reaching across the table, Stiles touched her hand. She took a deep breath. "I was only going to say that you don't have to read this. You don't need to. I don't even know why I gave it to you. You've already heard what was in the first one. If you don't want to know, no one would blame you."

"I know..." Nodding her head slowly, Issabella spoke sullenly. "And I don't want to read it. I really don't. But I have to. I was going to say that I don't know if I can do it alone. I don't want to read it by myself."

She looked first at Stiles and then to the envelope on the table, her breath wavering as she exhaled.

"No, Abbi, please don't make me read it. I don't know if I could take it."

Looking at the envelope as though she were afraid of it, Stiles shook her head.

"Please... It was so hard for me to read his first letter to you. I don't think I could read, or even hear, another one."

"Just stay with me. Please." Issabella again touched the envelope. "You don't need to read it, and I will not read it aloud. But I have to know what his last words were. I need to know his last words to me."

Gingerly, she slipped her fingers into the envelope, withdrawing the folded piece of paper inside. Taking a deep breath, she opened the letter. In silence, her eyes carefully scanned its handwritten words.

Stiles watched as the colour drained from Issabella's face, and her eyes dimmed as she stared at the paper she held. As her hand began to tremble, Issabella inhaled sharply – a half gasp, half sob – and the letter fell to the table.

"Abbi, what is it?"

"Eddie wasn't suicidal," she said softly, tears spilling from her eyes and landing on the wooden tabletop. Her face fell, and her hand flew to her mouth.

"Abbi?"

Issabella shook her head, unable to speak. Her hand pressed firmly against her mouth, she wept so hard she struggled to breathe.

"Abbi..." Stiles sprang from her seat, rushing to Issabella's side. She tried to put an arm around the sobbing girl's shoulder, but she didn't move. Issabella only shook her head before slightly pulling away.

"What's the matter, Abbi, what does it say?"

Isabella shook her head again, her hand falling to her lap.

Stiles reached in front of her for the letter.

"Stiles, don't-" Isabella managed, but Stiles had picked it up and was already reading. She could do nothing but wait.

"Abbi, what is this? What does this mean? What was Ed waiting for?"

The questions came rapidly. Unable to come up with the answers, Issabella could only shake her head. Her eyes ached, and her neck was so tight that it caused pain at the back of her skull. She turned to look at Stiles.

The note had been simple:

Dearest Isabella,

I cannot do this any longer. I can no longer wait. I am coming to you. I know the consequences, but I have to try. If you are reading this, please remember me to Ealasaid. I love you both more than I could ever put into words.

Eddus Brandt

"Abbi...?"

"I can't explain." Issabella turned to look at Stiles. There was nothing to tell her that she would understand.

"Who is Isabella?" Stiles asked.

Isabella's eyes went wide, and she felt a sick panic grip her.

"And who is Ealas- "

Issabella’s eyes went wide, and she felt panicked.

"Elizabeth!" she said quickly, speaking over Stiles.

Her heart raced as she did her best to calm her breathing. She couldn't have her daughter's name uttered aloud, even by a friend.

She reached up and gently took the letter from Stiles' grasp. Folding it, she slid it back into the envelope and placed it on the table, letting her fingertips rest on it. She glanced at Stiles timidly, who pulled the chair next to her out and sat down.

"I don't understand, Abbi. Who is Isabella?" Stiles looked down at the envelope for a moment.

"Me," Isabella whispered. She met Stiles' questioning gaze. "It's me."

"Abbi, I don't- "

"I'm Issabella." She took a deep breath. She felt weak and physically ill. She could think of no other answer to give. "Abbi is not my real name."

"It's not?" Stiles looked again at the envelope on the table.

"No..."

"Then should I call you- "

"No!" Isabella jumped, having startled herself as well as Stiles, with the volume and assertiveness with which she spoke. She shook her head. "Please don't, I don't go by that name."

"But why?" Stiles looked bewildered.

"Abbi is my- second name," Issabella said quickly, feeling a sharp pang of guilt, because she was being dishonest. But it wasn't completely untrue. Abbi was the name she'd chosen to go by in the human world.

"And who is Elizabeth?" Stiles spoke the name slowly, as if trying to get the pronunciation correct. Having read the name in the letter, she was unsure.

"I... I- I can't," Isabella gasped.

The guilt she felt changed from a light pang to a full-on wave that engulfed her. She'd been so careless as to let her daughter's name be not only read, but almost spoken. The secret that was only to be known between herself, Eddus, and, of course, their daughter, was now known to someone who had no business possessing the knowledge.

Issabella's vision blurred, and she tightly closed her eyes as the thought that she'd betrayed everyone she'd ever loved crept into her mind. Her entire world had just crashed down around her.

She used the back of her hand to wipe her eyes. Feebly pushing herself to her feet, she grabbed the envelope containing Eddus's letter to her.

Stiles quickly stood, placing a hand on Issabella's shoulder, but she stepped away, almost knocking over the chair she'd been sitting on. Unable to see clearly, Issabella began to walk towards the door leading out to the lift, stumbling as she moved.

"Abbi, please don't go! I'm sorry!"

Stiles followed her to the short hallway leading out.

Abbi fumbled with the door and stepped out into the small foyer. She pressed the button for the lift several times.

Stiles placed a hand on Isabella's shoulder, who stood facing the lift door. Her head down, and her back to Stiles, Isabella gave no notice.

As the elevator slid open, Isabella stepped into the lift and turned around. She slowly raised her head, meeting Stiles' gaze. The whites of her eyes were red, and she shuddered as she slowly took a deep breath. Neither woman spoke as the door slid closed.

Alone in the lift, as it began its descent, Issabella reached forward and pulled the emergency stop button before dropping to her knees, the envelope slipping from her fingers and falling to the ground. Leaning against the metal wall of the small lift, she wept frantically until she'd expelled the breath from her lungs and began coughing violently.

Falling to the floor, she gasped, trying to catch her breath between sobs. She felt as if she'd lost everything... and just when everything was supposed to be coming together.

After several minutes, she calmed herself and tried to steady her breathing. She pushed herself up using her hands. Getting to her knees, Issabella reached above her to the lift's panel, pushing the red emergency stop button in and causing the lift to lurch into motion once more.

Unable to stop the tears, she leaned again against the wall and closed her eyes for what seemed only a moment before the lift came to a halt and the door opened.

For a moment more, Issabella sat on the lift's floor, looking out into the small but well-lit foyer of the ground floor. Summoning all her willpower, she retrieved the letter from the floor and got to her feet. Stepping out onto the linoleum, she pushed the button to send the lift back up and watched the door slide closed again.

Once outside, Abbi looked up the side of the building to the third floor. With a feeling of being utterly lost, she turned and began walking along the shadowy pavement, dimly lit by the street lights of the shipping district.