Beyond MxB

Chapter 13

---Thorn's POV---

My skin littered with goosebumps as I shivered in the cool night air, my eyes flashing from one point to another and all my senses were on high alert. Despite all that, I felt calm, calmer than I had ever felt before, as I was stunned into silence.

I was sitting in a forest. At night. Without having to fear for my life or having to look over my shoulder. That constant sense of paranoia didn't weigh down on my shoulders anymore as I took a relieved breath and dropped down, smiling at the canopy above me.

The grass tickled my ears in the soft breeze while moths flew around to feed on pollen, bats circling in between the trees in an attempt to catch them. I ignored the presence of the occasional Fae and elf that strolled through the woods, adding a few last finishing touches to their perfect image of what a forest should look like.

I sat up again, smiling as a mouse skittered over the mossy floor and ducked under a fern before it peeked out again. "No wonder everyone was so pissed at us...Imagining that humans destroyed all this, for money and wealth, for personal gain..." I shook my head slightly before I stood up and made my way back towards the house.

A faint trickling echoed far above me, an occasional raindrop making its way between the foliage and growing in number as I neared the edge of the forest. I hesitantly reached out with a cupped hand, catching a few raindrops and squinting my eyes, expecting them to burn into my skin.

It only stung a little bit but left no damaged skin in its wake as the drops rolled of my palm and dripped down to the floor. Seems like the world really was healing, slowly but surely.

"You look so much like your mother."

My body instinctively tensed and prepared to face the threat as I spun around, relaxing again when I realized it was just my dad standing there. Tilting an eyebrow, I silently mulled over his words before glancing back up at him, wanting a further explanation.

Jason chuckled silently, though his smile seemed bittersweet as he reached out to an overhanging branch, coming short of touching the leaves. "Your mother loved life and cherished it, protecting the innocence of things that couldn't protect themselves. I should've suspected something when she suddenly took precautions and created distance between us two."

He sighed deeply as I slowly walked closer to him and frowned. "It wasn't your fault Jason, you didn't know." His golden eyes flitted over my face before he snorted and shook his head in self-loathing. "No, but I could've investigated and done more instead of crawling back home and cry in a corner over lost love. If I had, I would've known what happened."

My eyes landed on his fists, the knuckles white and straining against the skin, almost threatening to tear through as Jason's rage grew even more. A few of his entities slowly flickered to life and let out a few screeches as I stepped back warily.

"Why are they a different color than my own entities? Are they different?" I asked slowly, trying to pry father's attention away from the sore subject as I summoned a few spirits of my own.

His golden eyes seemed to calm a bit, watching warmly as my entities hesitantly swirled just out of reach from his own dark entities, which were a mixture of black and red, but now with a hint of gold in the center. They seemed more approachable than the ones that dragged the vampire to his doom though, so it made me wonder.

"Not quite." Jason said before giving me a wry smile while I chuckled at the sight; one of his entities had moved, sending my own scattering through the woods with a startled cry before they crept closer again, as if they couldn't help themselves.

"Our shared ability, Phantasm manipulation, can conjure these entities but they're mixed with who and what we are. The creatures I used to condemn that vampire are different yes, because they are remnants from demons and have their own conscious...or lack thereof." He snorted before allowing the entities to disappear again.