Warning: Unedited ~
There were moments in life where you wish you could disappear, sometimes it's from nothing really. It's just a feeling that you get when you're left alone with your thoughts. That is exactly what I'm feeling right now. Helpless, as if there isn't anything that I can do to alter the reality set before me.
Except, I'm not really alone. I'm never alone anymore. Always watched by someone.
I couldn't tell you who that someone is, because that would require my own knowledge, which I most definitely seems to lack. All I know in this moment is that there is a sickly feeling in my chest, as if something was weighing down on me heavily making it so that I cannot breathe, speak, or move.
I stand with the door cracked open, a set of eyes in front of me waiting for me to speak, and a body beside me standing perfectly and completely still.
"You realize that I can't help you any more," Lucas whispered softly under his breath as he moved into the house, lines of worry evident on his beautiful face. "You've forced my hand."
"Luke," Damien says harshly as he motions to the other boy. I eye them both and shake my head.
"No more secrets," I say as I follow them into the kitchen. There is a tension in the room that eminated off them in waves of stress and worry. The sunlight shining in through the window is not enough to lighten the mood and we're stuck in a perpetual silence for what seems like eternity.
Damien runs a hand through his dark hair and fiddles with his finger nails, a habit that he's seemed to develop in recent days. "The thing is, we can't tell you."
Lucas is pacing the kitchen and tapping the counter in threes. Tap. Tap. Tap. "Fuck the rules Damien, how are we going to help if she doesn't know?"
"There are ways around it, we just need to show her."
Watching them only raises more questions, for once they aren't at each other's throats. The tension that they've created isn't directed at anyone, let alone each other. It's a mutual worry. I cock my head to the side and frown. "Then show me, I'm done being helpless. There's something different about me and I know that. Damien," I turn to my mysterious boy and sigh, "just show me. After the other night not much can shock me. If you're scared that I'm going to run away then don't be. I'm not scared and I'm not as fragile as you think."
Lucas stops and stares at the ceiling. "You don't understand. This isn't just your life. It's all of ours."
"I can't help if I don't know what's going on Lucas. So either you tell me, or..."
Is there really anything I can do if they refuse? It isn't like I can beat the crap out of them. They've definitely got the upper hand in the current situation.
Damien's jaw clenches and his hands ball into fists. Closing his eyes, he turns to the door and nods at the both of us. "I don't care if they kill me as long as she's safe." Lucas opens his mouth to protest but instead simply rubs his hard jawline and follows sluggishly.
"I don't want any of you to get hurt," I say as we reach the edge of the forest. There is something different about it this time, something brooding. As if there were some dark cloud above following the three of us even though there is not a cloud in the sky.
They exchange a glance, as if speaking to each other.
"Just shut up and follow us, Blondie," Lucas says shaking his head and stepping into the thick wood. The sounds of the birds flying above and tiny animals scurrying across the ground isn't enough to calm my growing nerves.
It seems like this is a sick dream that I'm going to wake up from any moment, as if in a instant this is all going to disappear and I'm going to wake up screaming. My father would burst into the room and ask me if I were okay, then I'd go to school and ignore the boy standing in front of me trying to smirk to show me comfort.
His eyes tell a different story, it's fear. Something that I'd never seen on Damien before, as if he somehow had something to lose. Lucas' face tells a different story, one of inconvenient annoyance. As if this were an unforeseeable complication that he would so love to deal without.
"This never would have happened if you'd stayed away from her Damien," he says as he kicks a rock. "You should have done what you'd promised and nothing would have happened. The others never would have found her."
"That's bullshit and you know it. Once it kicked in how were you going to stop it. You were the one that was supposed to help her, to protect her, and look at what you did. You think this is my fault, well look at yourself Lucas. How godly are you now?" Damien's voice was filled with venom and hatred, the boy I knew was suddenly back and the hostility magnified by a thousand suns.
Lucas bowed his head in shame and shoved his hands in his pockets. I pick up my pace so that I'm wedged between the two of them. Touching Luke's arm softly I try to smile at him, to give him some peace of mind because I'd betrayed his trust. He'd told me to stay away, and I hadn't- not that there had been much of a choice in the matter. I couldn't have simply left him there in the cold, it was a decision I had to make and there aren't any regrets, at least, not yet.
After what seemed like an eternity we came to the clearing. The sun travels through the trees in a beautiful beacon of light and I smile. "I love it here," I whisper to the two of them.
"I'm sure you won't be saying that in a few minutes," Damien says as he grips my shoulders and desperately looks into my eyes. His baby blues are swirling with emotions that I can't quite place and there is a sadness on his face that I wish I could wipe away, rewrite and change. "You can't hate me after this, just promise that you won't hate me."
A chill runs down my spine as I nod. He shakes his head. "I need you to say it, out loud."
"I won't hate you, never have and I never will," I say. My eyes wander to Lucas who is looking away with his hands on his head.
~
The two of them are standing in the sunlight looking at each other like one is predator and the other prey, only I can't figure out which is which. Sitting on the ground I watch tentatively as they circle each other, the wind begins to pick up as they get closer and closer to each other.
"Adaline, we're going to need you to sit still, do not move," Lucas says as he turns his head to the side without breaking eye contact. Watching the two of them is like watching the sun and the moon dance together dangerously, and I'm simply a star trying not to explode.
Damien's eyes cloud over and the wind begins to chill. "You don't know what it's like."
"To be a monster? You're right," Lucas says chuckling. His hands ball into fists and the muscles in his arms seem to spasm. "How do you life with those desires, how do you not kill?"
"Don't patronize me," Damien mutters. "This isn't about us, this is about her." Damien breaks the eye contact and looks at me. In that instant the air changes and power seems to swirl all around us. I'm mesmerized. There are blue lights coursing through the air around Lucas and his eyes sharpen.
Damien is standing perfectly still, his gaze focused heavily on the ground and he doesn't look up. Lucas advances, there's a shot of lightning in the air.
A crack,
a grunt,
and then Lucas is sent flying through the forest.
The sound of breaking wood,
breathing stops,
the earth moves,
the sunlight beams hot through the air,
and darkness seems to lurk in the shadows.
Damien still hasn't moved and there are too many thoughts rolling through my head to comprehend. He hadn't moved, and yet Lucas had been sent flying through the forest.
"I suggest you not try that again," Damien whispers as the other boy emerges from the wood with anger plastered plainly on his beautfiully sculpted face. His hair is as god as the sun.
Lucas shakes his head and turns to me. "You should be scared Adaline, look at him. He could crush you with one blow, the pretty little neck of yours would be pulverized into dust."
"I would never hurt her and you know that! She doesn't belong to you Lucas!"
There's another flash and Lucas' body blurs, he appears next to Damien. Suddenly there's a sword pressed up against Damien's throat and I can feel my body stiffen. "We aren't human Adaline, and neither are you. Only, your powers are hidden."
Lucas is next to me, the dagger pressed cold against my neck. He grips my arm and yanks me upright. Fear rolls through my tiny body and I close my eyes, his breath is hot against my face. "You don't know the trouble you've caused us all, little one."
"Hurt her and I'll kill you," Damien's voice is filled with rage and smoke begins to form around his feet.
Lucas smiles. The dagger begins to crack with swirls of lightning spiraling around the steel. I scream as it burns my skin. "Stop!"
"Hush now darling, you're about to see what the Son of Hades can do," the whisper sends chills down my spine as the dagger drops and Lucas is no longer next to me but pinned against the tall oak next to me, by nothing but pure air.
"You don't get to touch her," Damien says, his eyes swiftly changing from the sharpest blue to the darkest shade of red I'd ever seen. I gasp, but am unable to move. "You don't get to pretend like I'm the bad guy."
Lucas screams in pain and I know that there isn't anything I can do to stop it, the power around the three of us makes it hard to breathe. Yet, as I look at Lucas, there is a smile that travels clear across. "You're descended from the devil, I am a god and you are but the dirt I walk on. You lurk in the shadows Damien, I walk among the Sun."
Damien's jaw clenches. "You know nothing about the shadows!"
His hand reaches out and he turns it, Lucas screams out again and the laughs. "Is that all you got?"
Just as Damien's moves towards the two of us my body kicks into motion. "That's enough."
They can't hear me though. It's as if they're trapped in their own rage filled world, a world drowned by pain and resentment. But, I know what I needed to know now, I'd known before. How had I been so blind?
The light grows dark and just as Damien's face twitches with anger and darkness wraps itself around Lucas. I move towards him, taking a couple small steps. His attention moves towards me. Lucas cusses, "Do not go near him Adaline!"
I don't listen, instead I walk confidently towards the boy with crimson eyes and the darkest of souls. His gaze turns towards me and I can feel the darkness begin to follow me, as if he had no control anymore. I don't know what I'm doing, and maybe I'm going to get hurt, or worse, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that he needed me, and I'd always be there...
We are gods among men,
Plagued by powers known by none,
but seen by all,
our lives are hidden,
our souls greedy,
but it's our hearts that hold true power.
~
Okay people, been months I'm sure you hate me but here ya go.
- Maria