Thanks to Rose Thorn for the banner.
AN: I hope this chapter doesn’t confuse you guys and gives you answer or clarifications. Thanks to my beta.
Mysterious Marilyn’s POV
I get out of the car as fast as I can with the blind hope that Brian was telling the truth. The man said he wasn’t going to kill me and I want to believe him but I’m never sure with him. One second I see him being the end of me and the next he’s not. Once I’m standing in the street I look at the driver that smirks showing me his fangs before he leaves. I look around the street and instead of going to my apartment I decide it’s time something is done. I go to Woody’s. All the way there I can’t help but think that they are going to tell me to go to hell or kill me. I knock on the door and wait. Vaughn opens it and arches a brow at me.
“What?” he asks when I walk up to him. “I’m trying to run a business here. Leave and come back at the regular hours.”
“You guys were wrong about me,” I tell him. “We need to talk now. This is serious.”
“You are not welcome here any longer,” Vaughn says.
“I mean it,” I tell him. “I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t.”
He thinks about it for a second and nods. We go to the back and then to the hidden door. He opens it and we go through. Then down the stairs and he opens the door. Once we are inside Jonathan and Zeke look at me.
“What is he doing here?” Zeke asks angry as he gets up from the couch. “I told you that he will betray us.”
“No,” I say coming closer to him. “You were right about the vision. Brian does talk to me.”
Zeke frowns as he backs away.
“But it’s not what you thought,” I explain.
“I know what I felt,” Zeke yells. “You betrayed us!”
“No!” I yell at him. “Shut up and listen.”
“Let him speak,” Jonathan says from the chair he’s sitting.
“I was coming here about a week ago or so,” I tell them. “Then Brian was there with his eldest. He was very angry.”
“What does this has to do with anything?” Jonathan asks.
“His mate had gone missing,” I tell them. “He would have found him anyways but I helped him. So he thinks he found him because of me.”
“See,” Zeke yells.
It hurts me to see him so set on sending me away. I’m only trying to help.
“Jacob,” Vaughn says calling me by my real name. “Maybe you should go and never come back.”
“He trusts me now,” I tell them. “He thinks I have all the answers.”
“You don’t,” Zeke spats out as he sits where he was.
“He’s never going to let his mate go,” I tell them sadly. “Justin will become what the prophecies say. He’s the one that will break the walls of this world and the others. He will destroy us.”
Jonathan stands up and starts pacing.
“I can keep going to them,” I explain. “I can tell them that I’ve been having visions that could help Justin.”
“He could get him to come to us,” Vaughn says.
“Mmm,” Zeke says getting up. “Maybe I was wrong,” he admits. His grey eyes shine and for a second his skin turns a higher shade of blue.
I remember the first time I saw him. I fainted. I didn’t know what he was. I didn’t even know there were other things other than vampires and werewolves. Zeke is part demon and part human and thankfully for us he took after his father even thought he looks like his mother. I was only fifteen years old but after the first shock he became my best friend. He became my lover, my world, my everything and it hurt so much when he pushed me away.
“We’ll have to plan this to perfection,” Jonathan says. “This might be the only opportunity that we get.”
“I know,” I say as I stare at Zeke.
“I’m going to continue setting everything up,” Vaughn says. “We’ll have a meeting tonight. I’ll gather everyone.”
Jonathan is looking at us, I know. He doesn’t say anything else and just leaves.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
“Yes,” Zeke answers me.
I come closer and he doesn’t pull away. When I’m finally in front of him he caresses my face.
“I don’t know,” Zeke whispers. “There is a whispers in my heart and it tells me that you will do something wrong.”
“I’m trying to do the right thing here,” I say. “I really am,” I tell him and I can’t help but start crying. Why can’t he believe me?
“Maybe you would do it unconsciously,” he says. “You don’t know what might happen.”
I hug him tightly. “Zeke please, believe me. I want to do this for us. I don’t want this world to crumble to pieces.”
Zeke hugs me tight to him. It feels so good.
“My Jacob,” Zeke tells me sweetly. “You’re so innocent still.”
I pull back and smile. He’s about three hundred years and doesn’t look a day older than twenty five. He’s always looked the same, me in the other hand don’t. I keep aging and someday I will die and I’m scared that he will be all alone.
“Okay,” Zeke says. “But be careful.”
“I will be,” I tell him.
Zeke nods and kisses me. It’s a small, short kiss but I know things will be okay now.
“Do you know why he’s going to turn into a horrible beast?” I ask as we sit down on the couch.
“It’s hard to explain it all,” Zeke said.
“Try please,” I tell him. “I only get pieces and it doesn’t make sense.”
“Okay,” Zeke says as he lays his head back and closes his eyes.
I pull my legs up into the old couch and pay attention. I know he will explain to me as best as he can.
“When Justin was born he didn’t come from a previous life like every other human,” Zeke starts.
I know about this. Humans die and they are reborn into another life. So they can make up for their mistakes or enjoy the life they were concealed from in their previous one. Even demons come from somewhere, everyone does.
“He was placed with the family he had because they were going to show him a road to goodness. The boy was going to grow to do great things for humanity,” Zeke explains. “He would die and come back to do the same. That was his purpose in life.”
I take a deep breath.
“Brian’s childe took that away,” I say. I’ve seen it before. I’ve always had nightmares about it, as long as I can remember.
“Yes,” Zeke tells me. “The best thing would have been if he had killed Justin then. The blond would have ascended and come back.”
That could mean so many things but then I see Justin holding a sword and big white wings with bits of gold. It’s one hell of a vision. “My god,” I whisper. “He’s some sort of angel.”
“Yeah,” Zeke mutters. “When Brian turned him things changed. His soul was lost and it crashed and exploded all around him. That energy that he was born with was still with him and the demon was eating it up.”
“Damn,” I mutter.
“The demon was taken away before it could take Justin’s light and turn it into darkness,” Zeke explains to me. “Because of the spells he did.”
I nod.
“So now Justin has a new soul and that’s what absorbed the energy up. It restored his power,” Zeke said. “And for a while it looked like it was the best thing for everyone.”
“Then Brian came back,” I mutter.
“Yes,” Zeke replies. “It would have still been okay. Death could have claim him and even thought he would be trap with them, he wouldn’t have been able to hurt us.”
I close my eyes briefly. Ben took that away when he sacrificed himself for Justin. But it still doesn’t make sense.
“Then why is he going to turn into such a monster?” I ask. “I mean…I know that what Brian is doing to him is killing his soul but…at least the demon is not devouring that energy.”
“No,” Zeke answer. “But Brian is. All that pain is soaking the light until one day there won’t be a hint of humanity in him, there won’t even be a demon. That power is going to stop shining and it’s going to become nothing but darkness. He’ll be empty forever and nothing will quench his thirst to fill that void.”
“Jesus,” I whisper.
“And he’ll become a powerful being and Brian…Brian is going to be there at his side,” Zeke explains. “He would do anything to make Justin happy even if it is to annihilate everything in their path.”
“What if someone returns his demon to him?” I ask.
“It’s the same thing,” Zeke explains. “The demon would eat that power up eventually.”
“Wow,” I whisper. “This is so screwed up.”
Zeke only nods. “And there you have it.”
“So, no one knows where Justin came from?” I ask wondering.
“No,” he says more sternly and I know he’s lying to me. I leave it alone because one way or another I’m going to find out. It doesn’t necessarily have to be from him.
“What about Brian?” I ask. “How come he fell in love with Justin?”
“It’s just lust,” Zeke says. “It’s an infatuation.”
“No way,” I tell him. “I felt that man’s love.”
“He’s not a man,” Zeke speaks as he opens his eyes. “He’s a demon just like me.”
“You’re not evil like him,” I remind him.
Zeke shrugs. “It could have gone either way.”
“But it didn’t,” I say and grab his hand. “And just like you can love he can do too. I’ve felt it.”
Zeke sighs and doesn’t say anything. I know he’s angry with me for the things I’m saying.
“One more thing,” I tell him. “Justin says he hates Brian. Why is that?”
“You know when you say a lie enough times that you start believing it yourself?” Zeke asks.
I shrug at that.
“When he was given his soul he almost went crazy,” Zeke whispers. “He started telling himself he would never do those things. He changed events to a peace his mind. And after a hundred years of feeding himself that bullshit he convinced himself. Now he thinks he hates him and thinks he’s been a saint and that he’s just a victim of Brian’s savagery. But he’s not. He killed and raped and tormented hundreds of people in that little time. He broke all the rules Brian had to get the man’s attention. He has gained all power over Brian and that demon doesn’t even know it. Justin always has had everything he wants.”
“Wow,” I mutter.
“Now he thinks because he’s been helping people he can erase what he did,” Zeke spats out. He turns to look at me. “He can’t. He might have forgotten but we haven’t. We know what he turned into.”
“It wasn’t really his fault,” I point out.
“Whatever,” Zeke says shrugging.
“What’s going on?” Rick asks as he comes into the room. “You’re back.”
I nod slowly.
“What did I miss?” he asks us as he sits in front of us.
“I found a way to get close to Brian,” I tell him. “That’s what Zeke saw. I wasn’t betraying you guys.”
“Good,” Rick says smiling. “But if you screw it up I’ll kill you.”
Zeke stares daggers at him and I smile. “Shut up,” Zeke says to him.
Rick sticks his tongue out like a little kid, which he practically is. He just turned eighteen a few weeks ago. I feel a tinge of jealousy coursing through me. Suddenly I start picturing them together and it takes a lot from me to push those thoughts away. I don’t know if I could take seeing the two of them together. Then again Rick is young and now I’m nothing but an old queen. I wonder for a second if the images are real or just my imagination.
“Are you still thinking about them?” Zeke asks me.
“Uh, yeah,” I lie.
“What about them?” Rick asks.
“We were talking about how horrible their story was,” I inform him. “It’s awful what’s happening to them…in a way.”
“What do you mean?” Rick asks.
“That Justin really doesn’t come from anywhere,” I tell him. “That soon he will become something he won’t even recognize.”
“Oh,” Rick says and stares at Zeke. “You okay?”
Zeke nods. “I’m tired.”
I know he is because he was looking at the past as he tried to explain to me what had happened to Justin. It gets worst when Zeke has a vision because it leaves him crawling on the floor trying to reach for something to hold on to. I can see the pain he’s in no matter what he says.
“We have to start this quick then,” Rick says. “We have to get rid of Justin as fast as we can. I watched him killing someone…a member of his family.”
“Do you know who?” I ask.
Rick shakes his head. “Some blond but I couldn’t see his face. He was saying something about him not being himself or someone not being him. I don’t know. I have never felt so much hate in a person’s heart. God, there were so many things in his heart but that was the one hitting me acutely.”
“They are so in love and can’t be with one another, how sad,” I comment.
“In love?” Rick asks and starts laughing. “Those things don’t care about anything.”
“I felt it,” I say to him.
“Whatever,” Rick tells me.
“What?” I ask. “I think everyone can love.”
Rick shrugs. “I don’t think they do and if they do…well, they don’t think they deserve it,” Rick tells me. “They’re monsters.”
Seeing all the things that have happened to Brian and Justin I don’t think he’s the only that thinks like that. There is someone that doesn’t want them together. Something really powerful that’s doing it’s best to keep Brian and Justin from loving each other.
“What if we manage to separate Justin from Brian?” I ask. “Then Brian won’t be able to destroy his soul.”
“We can’t risk it,” Zeke tells me. “What if someone else comes and takes Brian’s place? What if Brian himself finds him again?”
I sigh.
“Don’t,” Zeke says to me as he grabs my head and makes me look at him. “Detach yourself from it.”
I nod at him.
“You can’t have any sympathy for them,” Zeke instructs me. “You can’t!”
“I’m going to get something to eat,” Rick informs us. “Do you want anything?”
“I’m okay,” I tell him.
“Go,” Zeke tells him.
I used to think that Brian and Justin had done something very horrible to get the hand dealt to them in this one. Apparently Justin didn’t have a previous life; people don’t even know where he comes from. I could feel the love they had for each other burning strong. I’ve never felt something like that. Brian’s love is so free and wild and all around him while Justin’s is being lock at the very end of his heart.
I could also see all the pain that was to come and in Justin’s eyes was the end of the world. I don’t think things would change and it’s sad. The blond has to be taken out of the equation so this world has a chance. He’ll be destruction to our existence otherwise.
And it’s sad because once we take Justin out we’ll be destruction to Brian’s existence.
But the world will go on and they will become nothing but a sad beautiful story in time.