heartbeat // zayn malik AU

chapter twenty-four

"She's dancing with strangers, falling apart,

Waiting for Superman to pick her up."

- Daughtry [Waiting For Superman]

"What?" Zayn, Cyphus, and Louis chorused in sync, all of them temporarily forgetting that our lives were in danger.

Then again, I had too.

"Valarie," she said, as if she wasn't astride a massive beast that looked ready to burn Renee's apartment to the ground, with all of us inside it. Sliding off the demon's back, she stepped towards me.

Involuntarily, I took a jerky step backwards. 

Something flickered in her eyes, but instead of gazing at me long enough for me to try to decipher it, she turned back to the demon. "Go back to Ha- I mean, Klaus."

With one last sneer, to my astonishment, the demon obeyed. It wheeled around--smacking Louis to the ground in the process--and went ripping right back out the window, out into the night sky, smoke trailing behind it. 

"Why is it obeying you? Why do you- how do you even know what it is?" My voice was increasing in volume in pitch. This was way too much to take in one night. God, what time was it? 2:30 A.M.? Yes, definitely way too much to handle. "And why- have you been with Klaus all this time?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?" I said angrily, and I felt Zayn put a hand on my shoulder.

"She's your mother, Val," he whispered softly in my ear.

Though I knew he was only trying to warn me not to say something I'd regret, I liberated myself from his grip with force, turning to glare at him and spit, "I know that, obviously. I didn't think she was my Great-aunt Sally, thanks very much."

He retreated.

"I've been with Klaus, but it's not exactly-" My mom began, clearly taken aback by my frenzy of questions. I guessed she'd thought I'd welcome her back with open arms, like some sort of little girl who missed her mommy.

Which I was, if I was being honest with myself.

There was just no way I was admitting it aloud. To anyone.

"So you let me think you were dead and gone, crushed and flattened in the ruins of our house. But really, you were with Klaus." I was shocked at how cold my voice was; it was like I had no soul whatsoever.

Good. Better that than dissolving with a sobbing wreck again, which was what I was on the verge of doing internally.

"Valarie..."

"So why are you here, then? Because I have to warn you, you're going to have to pay for breaking Renee's window," I said.

Nearby, Renee bit down on her lip, as if she hadn't even considered the mess of broken glass strewn across the carpet. Her eyes were glued to my mother and I--as were everyone else's. I felt acutely self-conscious, like the two of us were a pair of actresses on a stage.

"I'm here because Klaus wanted me to pass on a message to you."

I felt my heart give a painful stutter. She was here because Klaus wanted her to be.

Not because she wanted to see her own daughter again.

Oh.

As if realizing what she'd done, she hastened to add, "Of course, I wanted to come visit you myself, so..." Trailing off, she moved in to hug me.