The Tenth Dragon: Death Of A Youngling

Chapter 18: Everything Ends Eventually

Rachel stood up and walked to the door.  She pulled on it once and then moved as it fell to the floor next to her.  It made a loud bang as it slammed down.  She ignored the sound and stepped out of the room.  She walked around and found Nicholas sitting against the side of the house.  There was a caved in hole in the wall, splattered with blood.  His knuckles were bleeding as well, dripping on the ground and his leg.  He barely glanced at her as she kneeled down next to him.

“It’s not fair for you to blame us for what we don’t know.  Jesse was the one who didn’t let us in.  He kept these secrets from us,” she said quietly.

“Did you push?  Did you even try?”

“Always.  I thought there was no secrets between him and I.  If there was ever any hint of it, I would push him until he broke.  But these things you’re talking about, he never talked about them, never even brought them up.  Besides I never really had to push with him.”

Nicholas scoffed and turned his head away from her.

“Do you know about the first time Jesse cried in front of me?  It was the first time he had gotten into a fight with his father.  He drove his scooter to my house and we talked in my van.  He tried so hard to stay strong and keep his tears inside, but that didn’t last long.  Almost immediately after we started talking, he burst into tears.  I was honestly surprised to see it.  He acted so strong all the time, never once shedding a tear and barely showing pain over anything.  The things he talked about, even though I could tell they hurt him, he said it with such detachment that it was hard to tell sometimes,” Rachel leaned back against the wall and stared up at the sky.

“As his twin you should know how hard it is to get him to open up.  He kept secrets from everyone, even his fiance.  To be honest I don’t think there’s anyone that knows everything there is about him.  I was the one he opened up to about everything, and apparently I barely knew anything about him.”

“Could you really have handled it?  Knowing everything about him?” asked Nicholas.

After a long sigh, Rachel finally answered, “Even he couldn’t handle knowing everything about himself.”

******

Jesse and Lust landed in the center of a large town.  He let her go and stepped a few feet away.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“You see this town, it is full of sinners.”

“Okay?”

“It must be cleansed.”

Jesse lifted his hand and blasted the building closest to him.  It exploded in a brilliant display of light and power.  Fire engulfed the remains and the sound of people shouting filled the wind.

“What are you doing!?” shouted Lust.

She ran forward but stopped when Jesse fixed her with an evil gaze.  Yet even though his eyes reeked of hatred, he wore a grin on his face.  His fangs were showing just enough to make her skin crawl.

“This is what I do Lust, I judge those on this earth and I carry out their punishment,” he blasted another building but kept his eyes locked on her, “If you are to be my queen, this is what you have to look forward too.”

People running in fear and panic filled the street around them.  Jesse disappeared into the crowd and came out holding two people.  Both were alive and screaming but he didn’t let them go.  He threw one to the ground and held them down with his food.  He brought the other one close and sank his fangs into their throat.  She watched in horror as he swallowed their blood then dropped the lifeless body.  The person at his feet screamed and tried to get up but Jesse held firm.  Still keeping his eyes on Lust, Jesse knelt down and grabbed the person by their head.  He drug his claw across their throat slowly and held them up so Lust could see them.