YAY! Summer-holidays :D No more school!!! :D
Yeah, I'm happy...
So please vote/comment/fan etc. for the holidays (and the story)
Music: Zoom into me by Tokio Hotel
I just want to say sorry for taking so long, I was on holiday in France :) but without any internett access :( And I just couldn't manage to do the ending for this chapter, I'm still not completely satisfied, but this was the best it got, so I hope you like it anyway...
Please give a thought to all the people hurt (mentally and/or physically) or killed in the shooting in Utøya and the bomb in Oslo, and also to the family and friends of people hurt and killed.
Hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please comment etc. :)
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Recap:
Ch. 11 - Do you want me (dead)? Xander sneaks Eliza into his clan's hideout so that she can talk to Joel. Joel thinks he is dead and we learn more about Xander and Joel's first meeting. It ends with Xander trying to get Eliza and Joel to kiss.
Ch. 12 – Zoom into me
Joel's POV:
I ducked under Xander's hand to avoid kissing Eliza. It just felt wrong at this point. I needed some time to think. I needed to figure out my feelings for Eliza.
I sighed and turned away, how was I going to talk to Eliza? She had not killed me, even though everyone thought she had. She was part the enemy clan. She was a vampire. It was my task to kill her. And I think I was in love with her.
"Hey, you OK Joel?" She asked me softly, laying a cold hand on my shoulder. I turned my head to look at her hand. It had a ring on the ring finger, just like me she had her clan's crest in minute detail on the ring. The fact that it was on her ring finger was supposed to symbolize that she only loved her clan and people, that she was married to her job and her clan.
The ring itself was beautiful. It looked ancient, as though it had been passed down for generations, but I knew better, she was a vampire. Who knew how long she had worn that ring? That ring with the tiny, wilted rose. At the bottom of the oval that it was carved into, was a teardrop shaped, blood red ruby, making it look as though the rose was dripping blood.
"Joel?" I snapped out of my daze as I heard Eliza's voice.
"Huh?" I said a little groggily, blinking at her. I was pretty sue I looked like a sloth, but Eliza did not seem to mind. She just smiled at me and started to pull me up from the slate I was sitting on. Xander grabbed hold of my other hand, and started to pull. Together they got me on my feet and started to pull me towards the stairs.
The morgue was two stories under ground, the dungeon was under that. All the bedrooms were on the third story, except for Xander’s, which was at the very top. Everyone had a roommate, apart from Xander. Nobody could stand being in the same room as him for more than, well... As long as it took them to get sick of his incessant blabbering.
Speaking of which, Xander had been unusually quiet. I looked at him, and found him staring out into empty space. He was probably thinking about the cat in the hat or something random. And speak of the devil...
"Joey-boy! We've got to get up to your room to talk about Severus Snape and waffles. Oh! I want a pony for my birthday!" Xander exclaimed excitedly, pulling on my arm, and urging me to move closer to the stairs.
"Xander, calm down. I'll get you a pony for your birthday, but we have to figure out a way to get up the stairs and to Joel's room, without anybody noticing us." Eliza started calmly. "I mean, people will notice that the guy they though was dead is walking along, completely alive, with the girl who supposedly killed him, and that the resident crazy person is chatting happily with them, as though they were all friends." She had a point.
"But, that's us! Wait... Which one am I?" Xander pondered before bursting into song about how much he liked daffodils. Eliza responded by snapping her fingers in front of his face before looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I agree with Eliza, we have to find a way to get past everyone. Wait, Rebecca might be in our room, maybe we should go to your room instead, Xander." I said, dreading meeting everyone again. I had to figure out some sort of lie that was truthful. I knew that the collectors would find out if I lied to them, so I would lie to them by telling the truth. Sometimes I did it in such a way that I made it seem sarcastic, or try to confuse them enough to get away with it. And other times I would simply not tell them the whole truth.
I figured out that I would tell them that Xander had come down to the morgue, and that after a little while I woke up, and he figured out that it was a spell of some sort. Which was pretty much what happened, maybe…
We discussed our options for a while, Xander coming up with suggestions like we could dress up as dragons or chairs, although the thing he wanted us to be most was a cloud. He wouldn't leave it until I told him that we would look stupid and ugly as a cloud.
Finally Eliza came up with the idea that we would we, me and her, would dress up as Xander's prisoners and hope nobody remembered that he only had one when he came in. Then we would go to his room, since he was the only person without a roommate. We found a new bag to cover my face with, and she put her bag on. Xander tied our hands and started to lead us up the stairs.
Walking around he castle blindfolded was a challenge. It was strange, experiencing the castle without seeing it. I could only hear the distant voices and whispered conversations of the other inhabitants. The bag should have muffled everything, but I could hear everything as clear as if the noise was right next to me.
Come to think of it, I had been able to see well in the dark of the morgue. Before Xander had arrived and turned the light switch on, it had been pretty dark in there. But I had somehow failed to notice that.
I wondered if the spell could have had some sort of effect on me. Could it somehow have heightened my senses? I would have to remember to ask Eliza about that later.
"Hello, Xander." I heard the sharp voice of our leader, Payton, greet Xander. I could feel my heartbeat accelerate and my palms got sweaty. He always wanted to look at the prisoners, just to make sure that they were treated correctly, in other words; if he had seen them before, they were treated extra badly.
He would make sure Eliza was... I couldn't even bare to think about it. And if he saw me? How would he react to his best warrior being snuck though his own castle, blindfolded and concealed as a prisoner. Not to mention that the girl who had almost killed Payton and who had pretended to kill me, was walking along in the same costume.
"Hey, Paytonicus! Did you know that lemons contain more sugar than strawberries? That's pretty cool, 'cause iPods aren't new anymore. Have you seen my new headset? I mean, I thought I was wearing it, but then I went to get some cake and it was gone. You know what I think? Probably not, but I think that smarty-pants is the nice version of smart-ass. 'Cause, you know, pants are on your ass. Is that a swearword? Willy Wonka never used that word.... I think..." I let out a soft sigh of relief; I had temporarily forgotten that the only thing Payton was allergic to was Xander.
"So, anyway! I was thinking of making a party for Daniel. You know the fun little guy that... Hey! Where're you going? I was talking to you! You're on my list!!! I'm using exclamation marks, you know!!! A lot of them!!!!! I think I'm up to five now!!!!! Or thirty-five point oh three..." He paused and I could see his figure move through the bag. "That went well." He stated proudly, probably to us. But who knew when it came to Xander.
Luckily we managed to avoid any more encounters, and after not too long we reached Xander's room. To be honest, I had never actually been in there before, so when he pulled the bag off of my head, I was quite excited.
The room was big, bigger than three of my rooms put together. There was a heightened area that looked like a stage. He had collected all his musical things there. There were the various concert posters scattered around the black back wall, and the film posters on the two white side walls, the one that caught my attention was an orange Star Wars Darth Vader poster that read: "Who's your daddy?”
Then there was a big black and white drum set by the back wall, an open guitar case was filled to the brim with guitar picks and drumsticks in all different colors. He had a long rack for the five different electric guitars and three basses he had along one of the white walls.
On a heightened platform on the 'stage' was a bass and a classical guitar in front of the drum set. There was also a microphone and some heavy-duty speakers. A mini recording studio took up a third of the ‘stage’. There was a mix table and a variety of Mp3-, CD-, LP-, Vinyl- and cassette players. There was a recording device, that looked cool, but I had no idea how worked, and multiple screens and speakers. Next to the mini recording studio was a shiny, black piano and a smaller, but equally shiny, purple keyboard.
The wall down from the platform was a dull grey livened up by colorful graffiti. There was as small, purple stepladder up to the stage, and leaning on the ladder stood a skateboard and a pair of swords, real swords. In one corner stood a black bed mostly made up of drawers, two sides of the bed doubled as drawers and small cupboards, the rest of the bed was placed on a low but wide drawer. Various sized stripes covered the sheets and covers in different shades of black, brown, grey and white.
Over the bed was a series of shelves containing nothing but games for the PS3, Wii and Nintendo that surrounded the big, white TV at the foot of his bed on the row of cupboards and drawers. On the wall next to the bed there was more rows of shelves, these containing all his movies, and there weren't few.
I looked around for a computer, until I noticed the cordless keyboard lying next to the TV. He must have a Mac mini, the sort where you only had a little box as a hard drive and memory space, the actual screen was the TV.
In one corner by 'the stage' there was six arcade games and a pinball machine. In the opposite corner was all of Xander's sports equipment. A large, red boxing bag was hung from the ceiling over a pair of boxing gloves.
Next to the boxing bag there was scattered a variety of big and small weights. Scattered around the rest of the space was a variety of other exercise equipment like jump ropes, martial arts pads for hitting, targets, daggers and swords, fitness balls, yoga mats, stretchy ropes and different clothes and outfits for each sport. But by far the coolest thing was the climbing wall that had been built in to the wall. And as I looked further up, I noticed that it ran along part of the ceiling as well.
The last corner was undoubtedly the book corner. Both walls were filled with shelves that ran all the way up to the ceiling, they even had those fun ladders that they have in libraries that you can ride on and slide all the way up and down the row of shelves. The ladders were needed if you didn't have any magical powers, because the ceiling was pretty high, seeing as it was level all through the room, including the heightened part, where the ceiling was at a normal height.
By the shelves was a low, glass table with magazines and cartoons on a shelf beneath it. Around the table was an assortment of beanbags in different colors, love seats, a small couch and a couple of armchairs and footstools.
It was first after the whole experience had hit me that I started noticing the small details, like the purple giraffe laying on the bed, or the arrow on one of the shelves not reserved for books, games or videos. A lot of the room was covered by shelves that were covered by CDs, LPs, EPs, singles or various sci-fi and fantasy figures from movies like Star Wars, Doctor Who, Matrix and Terminator. But there were also many small details that really made the room more than just a room.
There was a big metal X on one of the shelves, and lots of dark blue boxes scattered around in different sizes. Also the baseball with the matching baseball hoop across the room. And the many posters hanging crookedly all around the graffiti covered walls. On the shelves by the bed was a red hand holding a light bulb, lighting up the book laid next to it.
"Eliza. Joel wants to ask you about something." Xander said. I jumped a little at the sound of his voice, I had been completely focused on gaping at the room, and almost forgotten that there were other people in it.
"Huh?" I said stupidly. I had no idea what he was talking about.
"You know, about the spell..." Xander urged me on.
"Oh! Thanks... Um, I- Uh..." I started, unsure of how to put the question.
"What? Just ask. I won't bite... You." She added on the last part after a few seconds.
"Um, I was wondering what exactly that spell did to me?" It sounded more as though I was questioning the question I was asking than questioning the spell.
"It cleanses and heals... and makes you seem dead." She answered with a small smile at the end.
"OK. That sounds... Uh." I started slowly, honestly I had no idea what it sounded like.
"As though you have no idea what that is supposed to mean?" Xander finished for me.
"Yeah." I said, making Eliza laugh softly.
"It means that any wounds you have will be healed and your soul and mind will be cleansed. Which means that if you had any curses or mental injuries, they will have been undone, removed. And for the second part, well, it makes you seem dead." Eliza told me, I was nodding all along with my mouth hanging open.
"Guys... We should probably focus on the matter at hand. You know about he whole what do we do about your Romeo and Juliet situation." Xander broke the awkward silence after a while.
“Yeah. So… What do we do?” I asked slowly, somehow I had gotten shy after Eliza had not killed me. And awkward.
“Well, it’s clear that we can’t stay here…” Xander trailed off.
“Then we have to move, go somewhere else.” Eliza stated.
“Yeah, I guess. But where?” I asked, stupidly. I guess I had gotten stupid after the spell as well, or maybe it was just Eliza that made me that way.
“I suggest somewhere else. Somewhere you can go without any chance of people stumbling upon you. That’s where I would go.” Shrugged Xander
I looked at him. He was sitting on a blue beanbag across from me, Eliza next to him. She was sitting in one of the big, brown, leather armchairs. They looked so normal. As though nothing was wrong, as though they weren’t discussing where to hide from the people who wanted them dead.
“We could go to Norway…” Eliza said, but quickly changed it when she looked at a shivering Xander. “Or somewhere warmer?”
“Yeah, or we could go up into the mountains.” Xander suggested. It was actually a pretty sensible suggestion. The mountains were rugged with thick forest blanketing it like green snow. I knew that there were many caves, caverns and passageways that we could hide in, not only from my guild and her clan, but also from stormy weather and wild animals.
“Sure. We should probably leave as soon as possible, though.” I said.
“Yeah, I’ll go… pack my stuff.” Eliza said, although she seemed a little sad, and distracted.
“Sure, you can use the window, I’ll show you how.” Xander told her, gently laying a hand on her shoulder.
They walked up to the window, Xander helping Eliza out onto the roof. I watched them disappear in the rain that had started. It was becoming foggy and everything had an eerie feeling to it, and sad. That was what it was, sad. Somehow everything had become sad, and it felt like it was all my fault.
Eliza’s POV:
I stepped out into the cold rain, Xander helping me up, even though I didn’t really need help. I let out a sigh, and breathed in the fresh air. I felt like something had changed, I did not know what it was, but I knew that nothing would be the same from here.
Maybe it was the thought of moving in with Joel, because that was basically what we were doing, we were getting our own place. I ran a hand through my hair, and found it wet and tangled; the rain combined with the fog was working its wetness into everything. Even my mood seemed dampened.
“What’s wrong?” I heard Xander ask from beside me, I had forgotten that he was still next to me. We were sitting on the roof outside his bedroom, the bedroom where we had decided to take Joel and my relationship one step further. The room where I realized that I might not me ready for that next step, after we had decided to take it.
“Nothing.” I said, shaking my head softly, tasting my own lie, knowing that Xander wouldn’t fall for it.
“But you just…?” He asked me, knowing the words that usually followed nothing.
“I just, I don’t know if I’m ready. What if we don’t work well together? We aren’t even a real couple yet. What if we end up hating each other? I don’t want that to happen…” the words came rushing out, I had no control over them. Xander just studied my face and smiled faintly at me, his eyes knowing and full of understanding.
“That won’t happen. You know it won’t. And anyway, you won’t be all alone. I’m not staying here, while you two go out and have fun.” He gave me a goofy smile at the end, and reached out to brush a lock of hair away from my eyes. “Don’t worry. I know Joel better than he does, and I know that he loves you. If you ever doubt that, then you’re pretty stupid.” He looked at me with his head bent down and a small smile on his lips. He looked really cute when he did that.
“I just don’t know whether I’m ready or not. There are so many what ifs, and so much I don’t know. I- I just don’t-“ I was starting to tear up and I was having a hard time breathing. My throat clenched and I instinctively reached up to force away the hand that seemed to be choking me.
“Hey, don’t worry. I’ll be there for you, you can tell me anything. Whatever it is, just tell me and we’ll figure it out together.” Xander said softly while laying his arms around me. I answered by laying my head on his shoulder. We stood like that for a long time, until I pulled away and muttered something about having to get home.
Xander and I walked in silence back to my castle. When we reached the front door, Xander spread out his arms and I leaned into the hug. He positioned his head next to my ear.
“You know, I won’t let you two leave before you’ve seen the band play. We’re putting on a show tomorrow, come then. There’s someone who wants to speak to you.” He finished by pointing at the door, where my little brother was standing, his arms crossed, looking much like an angry father waiting for his daughter to come home from her first date with a guy the father does not like.
“You’re home late.” Daniel said in a level voice that sounded as though it took a lot of concentration to keep it level.
“Yeah, what’s it to you? Oh, did I forget game night?” I had a sudden pang of guilt as I realized how little time I had spent with Daniel, or basically anyone else that myself, Xander or Joel.
“No, I just don’t think Benjamin will take to kindly to your make-out session with a hunter, right on our front step.” Daniel said with a snarl.
“We weren’t making out!” I shouted at him.
“Yet.” He replied with cold eyes.
“We are never going to do anything like that.” I shouted back at my stupid little brother.
“Oh yeah? Some couple you are. I’ve heard the way you talk about him, your precious little Joel. I’ve heard you cry over him at night. So don’t come here and tell me you don’t like him.” Daniel snarled at me. We had been slowly advancing on each other until I stopped. All I could do was stare at Daniel.
“I’m not Joel…” Xander said slowly, breaking the strange tension between my brother and me.
“Oh, and I guess you’re not a couple either? I saw you hug.”
“Well as far as I know, Eliza isn’t dating a penguin, so, no. We’re not a couple.” We both looked at Xander, he looked back at me and shrugged. I rolled my eyes at him and he smiled at me.
“You’re not…”Daniel started, but seemed unable to finish.
“No, I’m not from Star Wars, thanks for noticing.” Xander told him. That was when I realized that Xander had been acting weirdly for some time, but that he was back to normal now. Well, normal for him, weird for just about everyone else.
“You’re crazy again!” I blurted out while studying Xander. He simply looked at me and wrinkled his nose.
“Yeah, I guess. I think it’s your fault. The not being random-slash-crazy thing.” He laughed.
“How?” I asked him, confused.
“Well, you block out my mind-reading, so I can’t hear anyone else, which means that I can’t hear anyone other than myself. So therefore I can only hear my thoughts and I don’t get random flickers of input from everybody else.” He paused and looked out into the night. “That made sense in my head, how ‘bout for you?”
“That actually made no sense at all, but I kind of understood it. Maybe.” I replied.
“Uh, I have to go…I’ll meet you here before the show. See you leeches!” He waved at us and ran off towards his castle. Daniel looked at me with an eyebrow raised.
“His band are putting on a show, and he decided that I had to see it before I leave.” I explained to Daniel.
“You’re leaving? Where? Why? When? And why haven’t you told me about this?” He demanded.
“Yes. To the mountains so that Joel and I can be together without our backgrounds stopping us. We’re leaving tomorrow and we decided to go today, so I couldn’t have told you.” I answered him.
“I’m coming. And not only to the show.” I gave him a confused look. “I’m not leaving my little sis alone with two hunters.”
“Let me remind you that I am, in fact, older than you, in every way, and that I’ve been alone with them before.” I told him sternly.
“Yeah, well, I still don’t want you to go alone.” He said, but I could see right through him, figuratively.
“You just don’t want to miss out on an adventure!” I exclaimed.
“Busted. But I’m still coming.” And with that he turned around and disappeared into our castle.