Jesse walked back to the cave alone, his body weary. Lust left him so she could check in and keep up her cover. He was greatful for her being there to help him, but he needed to make sure that she was going to be safe. The time they spent together had to be short and hidden. If Azrael were to find out about their union, their bond . . . the thought of the things that monster would do made Jesse shutter. He tried to force it from his mind as he approached Nicholas.
“Where’s Apollyon?” asked Jesse.
“He’s waiting for you by the tree,” answered his twin.
They starred at each other, a tension growing between them. The look in Nicholas’ eyes was one Jesse knew all to well.
“You have a question.”
“Are you sure you can trust her? She was made by Azrael for the soul purpose of killing you.”
“We’re bonded, she wouldn’t betray me.”
“I’m sure you thought the same thing about Rydar.”
The words cut like a knife. Digging into the wound that had no yet healed in Jesse’s heart.
“Rydar had to do what she had to do.”
“What about your mother? Or Jessica? Or May?”
“What’s your point?!” shouted Jesse angrily.
“You’re heart tells you to trust these women, and they’ve all proven your heart wrong. Each and every one of them hurt you and took parts of your heart away.”
“But it’s still beating.”
“Thanks to yet another woman. How much more do you think your heart can take? Are you willing to continue giving pieces away? What happens when it doesn’t start beating again? As a dragon your heart is your greatest source of strength and control. If you lose that then . . .”
“Then what?” snapped Jesse, anger filling every word.
“Then you become the same monster you’re fighting to destroy. You will become Azrael.”
“I will never be like that man. My heart is strong and will always find it’s beat. No one can take that away from me.”
“No one but yourself.”
“I am my own worst enemy, but I am also my own savior. I will give my heart, my life, my body, everything I am to save the people of this world. That includes Jessica, May, my mother, and even Rydar. They deserve a world where they can live on to find the happiness that I could not provide for them.”
Nicholas rolled his eyes and chuckled. He ran his hand through his hair, when he looked at Jesse again, his eyes were different.
“You are every bit as brash and stupid as Azrael.”
That was the last straw. Jesse snapped and swung a raging fist. Nicholas swiftly moved to the side and connected with a punch of his own. However Jesse barely felt it as he clubbed him on the back and kicked him to the side. Nicholas rolled back to his feet as Jesse came down and rammed him into the ground. Jesse grabbed him by his collar and slammed their heads together. His teeth gritted, he did it again, and again. Blood was pouring from their foreheads when Nicholas reached up and wrapped a hand around Jesse throat. He pushed his twin up then spun and tossed him to the ground. Flipping through the air, he came down and stomped his feet into Jesse’s stomach. As he tried to jump he realized that his feet were caught. He was slammed to the ground quickly and ferociously. Jesse turned him around and wrapped one hand around his throat and raised the other.
“Do you think I forget the pain that these women put me through? Do you think it goes away as the time passes. No! This pain keeps me up at night and reminds me that my darkest fears are real and possible. No, I will never forget what they have done to me, but I will not let it be what controls me either. I will use it to become stronger and rise above the hatred in my heart. The pain is my strength and will push me to become a better man then they think I could be. When I stand over Azrael’s dead body, and I set the world free, it won’t be for them, it will be for me. It will prove that I am every bit the source of light this world needs that I see myself. And if you don’t believe me, then get the hell out of my way. No one will hold me back, not even my own twin.”
Jesse let go of Nicholas and stood up, their eyes still fixed on each other. The sun was setting in the distance and gave him a heavenly glow. Nicholas was slightly in awe at the look of his twin in this light; he looked almost godly.
“That’s all I need to hear. I’m with you twin, till the last drop of my blood hits the floor. You have my loyalty,” said Nicholas getting to his feet.
He extended his hand and smiled playfully. Jesse couldn’t help but smile too as he took his twins hand. There was a spark of Aura between them, but neither of them paid any attention to it. They were united and that was all they cared about.
Jesse and Nicholas entered the room containing the Tree of Life. Apollyon was standing in front of the tree, his shield placed in the ground in front of him. He looked up at the twins and lifted it from the ground. Quietly he stepped to the side and took a seat on the far side of the room. Nicholas stopped just a few feet away as Jesse stepped up to the tree. He honestly hadn’t thought about what he was going to do. He had never done anything like this before and didn’t know where to start.
“By touching the Tree of Life, you will be connected to the world itself. Use it’s roots as a looking glass to see everything that it offers,” said Apollyon.
“So you do speak English? What a surprise,” said Jesse.
He took a seat next to the tree and set his back against the trunk. Instantly he could feel the Aura flowing through the tree into the earth through the roots beneath him. He gathered some strength into his hands and plunged them into the ground. His fingers wrapped around the roots and connected him to the flowing aura.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on the Aura and took it into his body. It flowed through one arm, around his body, then out through the other one. He had turned himself into one of the roots. Concentrating harder he followed the flow of Aura deep into the earth’s core, then up to the air. He could feel every living creature, everything feeding off this Aura. It was like being connected to everything at once. Opening his eyes, he saw a glowing image of the earth floating in the center of the room. It looked different than he remembered, there were only three continents instead of seven.
“Shifting plates did this shortly after Azrael locked in the humans. We think its the earth trying to revert back to her birth form, to restart,” said Nicholas.
“We?”
Jesse voice emanated from around the room, shocking himself. He wasn’t sure how it had happened but somehow he had become one with the room.
“Exodus and I as well as a few other key players in this game. Don’t worry, you’ll meet them soon enough. Now I need you to concentrate on finding the other Dragon Gems.”
“Right.”
Jesse followed the Aura around the world again, looking for any large clusters of Gaia’s. It was very difficult as the two Aura’s were almost exactly alike. The only difference Jesse could tell was a slight color difference. Gaia’s was light green, where as the earth’s was more blue green. However they flowed through the same paths, forming a double helix flow. Jesse wondered if he followed Gaia’s flow, could he trace it back to the source.
“Now is not the time Jesse. Please just focus on the task at hand,” snapped Nicholas.
With a twinge of anger, Jesse forced himself to focus on finding the others. He swam through the flow of power until he found the first cluster. It lit up on the globe and Nicholas quickly drew an X on a map that Jesse hadn’t seen him pull out. His brother was definitely full of secrets that he would never understand. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and continued his search. His Aura flew around the world until he had found the eight other clusters. After Nicholas drew the last one, he nodded at Jesse.
Jesse forced the Aura from his body and disconnected from the tree. He let go of the roots and tried to pull up his hands, but they were stuck. The roots had grown and wrapped around his hands and forearms.
“What the hell?” asked Jesse as he wiggled himself free.
“The Tree of Life recognized your Aura as it’s own and tried to make you part of it. If you had stayed in too much longer, you would not have been able to come back,” said Apollyon.
Jesse looked down at his hands and saw the faint blue-green glow of the tree’s Aura. It faded away quickly and left no trace of it’s existence on him. He clenched his hands a few times then looked up at Nicholas; who had a confused look on his face.
“You okay?”
“Ya, but I think you made a mistake. With me, you and Apollyon awakened already, there should only be seven spots on here. You found an eighth though.”
“There’s no way I made a mistake. I illuminated all the clusters that I found on there.”
He walked over and stood next to Nicholas. Looking of the map he saw that he had indeed lit up eight spots on the map.
“Is there another dragon we don’t know about?”
“No. There were only ten dragons created with Zenkro being the tenth and final dragon,” responded Apollyon who was now standing over them.
“So what the hell did I find?”
“Who knows? Did any of them feel different to you?” asked Nicholas.
“Well . . .” Jesse scratched his head as he tried to remember, “Oh wait ya.”
He traced his finger along the map until he reached a dot that sat alone in the center of the ocean.
“This one felt jut a little different than the others. It wasn’t just Gaia’s Aura surrounding it, there was another one.”
“Another one?”
“Ya, I didn’t pay it much mind while I was searching but there’s definitely another Aura with it.”
Everyone in the room grew silent and starred at the dot.
“We’ll leave it be for now and look for the others first. For all we know it could be hostile or a trap. We need to play it safe,” said Nicholas. He rolled the map up and tucked it away in his back pocket, “Go back to the town and rest Jesse. We’ll give it a week, then we’ll meet up and game plan our next move.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Jesse returned home, only to find Rachel had gone out for the night. He was happy to be alone though, he was too exhausted to talk. His body and mind needed rest. He trudged up to his room, tossed his shirt to the side, and collapsed on the bed. Almost instantly he found himself drifting off to sleep. As he reached the final hurdle to fully falling asleep, he felt someone sitting next to him. From the scent wafting through the air, he knew it was Lust. She smelled so sweet and wonderful, like a beautiful flower found in a garden of vanilla. The smell alone made Jesse’s body shake with excitement.
Lust leaned over him and ran her hands over his arms. As she leaned Jesse could feel her nipples running along his back. She was shirtless, he bare breasts pressing against his naked back. He was glad that he was laying on his stomach so he could hide his bodies natural reactions. Her hands finally found his and their fingers intertwined.
“Just because I can’t see it, doesn’t mean I don’t know it’s there âme soeur,” she whispered in his ear.
Jesse’s body ached to embrace her and have her. It wanted to be pressed against her and to taste her flesh.
“What are you doing here Lust? We need to be careful,” he said trying to hide his aching.
“I missed you Jesse. I wanted to see you, to spend the night with you.”
His heart exploded with joy at the request to share his bed with her. However, he knew that they can’t. He sat up and turned to face her. She was completely naked, the shadows from the window playfully hiding her body. Everything about her looked perfect in the moonlight. So inviting, so alluring, wanting to be touched and kissed by him.
“Love, if Azrael or anyone of his people see you here, who knows what he would do to you. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me. I want you here, to spend the night. Oh god, how I wish you could. But we both know that it’s not safe.”
Again a wave of rejection, pain, and fear rushed through him from her.
“I don’t care anymore. I want to be with you Jesse. Not being with you hurts more than anything that he or any of them can do to me. I need to be here, please. Just for tonight.”
Tears were running down her face and dripping on to Jesse’s lap. She fell into him and buried her face into his chest. Her arms up so he could easily wrap his arms around her. Jesse held her tight and laid back down on the bed with her in his arms. She wiped her eyes and looked up at him. Her eyes were still brimming with tears but she had a huge smile on her face.
“Just for tonight âme soeur,” he said.
He felt happiness explode from her as she came forward and kissed him. They held still, their lips together, tongues dancing in each other’s mouths. Lust finally pulled back and laid back down on his chest. Jesse wanted to keep going, his body cried out for me, but he wouldn’t. She had to choose if they did or not, it would be her choice.
“Thank you,” she whispered sleepily.
“I love you Lust, get some sleep,” he responded.
The next morning when he woke up, Lust was already gone. Her scent was still lingering on his body and around the room. He took a few seconds to enjoy it before sitting up.
“I’m up Rachel!” he yelled, hearing her walking to his door.
“Good. You’ve got to get up and get me some money. This place ain’t free,” she yelled back.
Jesse sighed and got out of bed. He looked to his left and saw his mission clothes laying on a chair with a note attached to it:
I washed and fixed these for you. I’ll see you tonight ;)
From the scent Jesse knew that it was written by Lust. He got dressed and looked everything over. She had fixed every hole, and gotten all the blood and dirt out of them. He assumed that she had done it all with her alchemy, but then he noticed the thread and needles sitting on his dresser.
“She did it by hand,” he said to himself.
He wasn’t really sure why, but it made it all the more special to him that she had taken the time to do so. With a smile on his face he finished getting ready and took off to the guild.
Ben was leaning on the desk waiting for him when he walked through the front door.
“Rachel came by earlier and made sure that I had some assignments for you. You know she’s kinda scary.”
“Ya I know. That’s just the way she acts, she actually extremely scary.”
They both laughed and looked around nervously.
“So what’s first on my list?” asked Jesse
“Oh right,” Ben leaned over the desk and handed Jesse a stack of papers, “First off is finding a lost pet.”
“Seriously?” said Jesse reading over the top paper.
“Yup, a lost bunny that answers to the name of Fluffers. You have to find it and lead it back to the owners house. He has a cage and your money waiting there.”
“Lead it, why can’t I just catch it?”
“You’ll see. Here,” Ben handed him a little pink chew toy, “Go to the woods next to the town and squeak this a few times, the owner says Fluffers will come running.”
Jesse looked at the chew toy, then at the papers. He sighed and said, “Okay.”
He took his motorcycle to the edge of the woods and walked the rest of the way. Once he was sure he was deep enough, he took out the chew toy and squeezed it. It made a wheezy squeak sound that told him that it was worn out. He squeaked it a few more times and waited. Steadily he heard the sound of heavy footsteps charging at him getting louder and louder. The ground had a light rumble coming from somewhere to his left. He turned and starred into the dense forest but could barely see anything but the trees. Suddenly the trees burst apart and a large creature that looked like a large, skinny bear with floppy ears flew over Jesse. It slammed onto the ground and skidded around to a stop. The beast starred at him with large brown eyes, its tongue out and drooping to the side.
“Oh shit,” said Jesse as he squeaked the toy again.
Immediately the large beast roared and charged.
“Shit!” yelled Jesse as he turned around and took off running.
The beast was barely a few feet away and getting closer. Jesse tucked and rolled to the side as it barreled past it and fell over when it tried to turn around. He got up and leapt over it, running as quickly as he could to his bike. He jumped on and squeaked the toy a few more times. The beast burst through the forest and Jesse rocketed forward at full throttle. He bee lined for where the instructions told him that the cage would be waiting. When he finally saw the large barn looking structure, he put the toy in his jacket pocket and set the bike on auto pilot. He set it’s course and stood up on the seat. A few feet away from the entrance of the cage, the back swerved left and Jesse leapt off and flew inside. The beast followed him and cornered him against a wall. He squeaked the toy and threw it high in the air. The creature leapt up and Jesse ran underneath it and out of the cage. He grabbed the large door and slammed it shut behind him before collapsing to the ground out of breath.
“My, my. What a dazzling show you put on,” said a very effeminate male voice from beside him.
Jesse looked up and saw a slender, well dressed man with short teal hair standing next to him. He had three different colored diamond studs in both of his ears, and a gold stud in his nose. His eyes and hair were the same shade of ruby red.
“I never figured anyone would actually be able to get my Fluffers back into his cage. I missed him so much,” he said in a gooey voice.
“Glad I could help. Now if you don’t mind . . .”
“Actually I need help with some other things if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t know. I have other . . .”
A wad of cash dropped onto Jesse’s lap. He looked up at the man, who gave him a playful wink.
“What’s next?” he asked with a sigh.
******
By the time Jesse was finished with the strange man’s chores and the rest of the missions, he was completely beat. He had to spend the night at the strange man’s house just so he could finish everything. Although it was all worth it so he could be taking back at least seven million sil. He carried it in a large sack that Ben had leant him from the guild. It was heavy and made a loud thud when he dropped it on the ground in front of Rachel. She was sitting on her work bench making a rather large looking axe.
“Where have you been? I got worried when you didn’t show up last night,” she said not even glancing at the bag.
“I was doing missions all night. Had to earn my rent you know.”
Rachel opened the bag and her jaw dropped. She looked up at him with surprise and confusion in her eyes.
“How much is this?”
“Seven million, four hundred and twenty five thousand, six hundred and eighty four sil. Give or take.”
“What the hell?! You didn’t have to do this all in one day!”
“Ya, I know. But I’d rather spend one day doing a lot, than a lot of days doing a little. It defeats the purpose of having time off,” said Jesse with a laugh.
“I guess. Either way, you have a visitor waiting for you in your room. I think you’ll be happy to see her.”
Jesse looked at her confused, but she turned back to her axe. He was gonna push, but decided against it. His body and mind was to tired to play cat and mouse with her. As he turned and headed back to the house, he got a weird feeling in his head.
Soul mate!
He reeled from hearing Lust’s voice shouting in his mind.
What? Lust? How am I hearing you?!
I finally learned what âme soeur means. It means soul mate.
That’s great Lust. How did you learn that?
Doctor Morgan taught me. It is a French word. She’s actually going to teach me more.
Morgan? Why had that name seemed so familiar to him?
Whose Doctor Morgan?
As Jesse opened the door to his room, he suddenly remembered why the name seemed familiar to him.
Is her full name Dr. Seaver Morgan?
Ya? How did you know?
I’m starring at her right now.
Seaver was sitting against his dresser, a wicked smile on her face. Her vampire fangs were fully extended and glinting in the sunlight.
“Hello puppy. It’s a been a long time,” she said playfully.
His body tensed up and he felt darkness in her.
“Yes it has my princess. How have you been?”
He timidly stepped into his room, his back against the wall. She watched him, her eyes following his every move. Jesse could smell the fresh blood on her breath.
“I’ve been good, keeping busy. How about yourself? I hear you’ve been getting into some interesting situations.”
“Oh you know, just staying alive. Trying to change the world.”
“Odd, I remember that you used to try to save the world. What happened? Did you finally realize that the humans aren’t worth saving?”
“They aren’t worth killing either.” snapped back Jesse.
“Are you implying something?” she asked, a grin that Jesse knew all to well on her face.
“What’s your connection to Lust?”
“Silly puppy. I created her.”
Suddenly chains wrapped around Jesse and jerked him to the side. He slammed through the wood and brick of the wall and was flung into the alley. As he struggled to his feet chains wrapped around his arms, legs, and abdomen and lifted him into the air. He screamed in pain as he felt hooks plunge deep into his skin down to his bone. Slowly he lifted his head and saw a strange looking man wearing an orange straight jacket and black pants standing in front of him. The man had long black hair with a few strands of his bangs died blond. His eyes were wild and matched his crazed smile. Jesse could see the same strand of magic that cam from Lust, coming off the legs of this psycho and dipping into the ground.
“Another alchemist huh,” said Jesse through strained breath. The chains wrapped around his stomach was making it hard for him to get a full breath.
“Greed here was the original alchemist. Lust was given the same powers after he proved to be to unstable. Although now it seems we have control over him,” said Seaver stepping next to the crazed man known as Greed.
Jesse couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Seaver, his little sister, the girl had taken in and tried to make his family, had betrayed him. She had created the seven beings that were trying to kill him.
“So Azrael got to you? How long?” he asked.
“Oh sweetheart, I was always Azrael’s. Meeting you, getting close to you, creating the rift between you and Rydar, that was all part of the plan. I needed you to be with me. The king of the dragons and the princess of the vampires, together in wedded bliss. We were supposed to be happy and in love, and with Azrael behind us, we were to change this world. To eradicate all the humans and make this a place for us, non-humans, to embrace as our home,” she caressed his cheek softly, the dug her nails into him, “But you wanted that damn human. No matter how hard I tried to get you to be with me, you had your damn resolve. You saw me as a little sister, not as the lover you were supposed to see me as. So I had to improvise.”
“I convinced your ex to reel you in and I boosted your animal urges so you’d have sex with her, but Rydar forgave you. So I had to do it again, but you held back and settled for foreplay. And then the third time, you only had kissed the girl. You were getting stronger, and I couldn’t have that. So we had Azrael move forward with his plan to invade. And once I got you out of the picture, I started working on Rydar. She didn’t take much convincing, I mean, you had cheated on her three times already. It took just a day to convince her to give her virginity away to that man, and then again to the others, including James. Her current lover.”
Pain and rage burned inside Jesse. He struggled against the chains, ignoring the hooks digging into his bones. Seaver smiled and leaned in close, her hands resting on his face.
“Do you want to see? Want to see her first time?”
Suddenly Jesse was there. Standing by the foot of the bed as Rydar screamed in pleasure, Jak thrust on top of her. She screamed love and craving more of him. Then Jak was gone, replaced by the man Jesse had seen Rydar with in the city. Again she was screaming of love and craving more of him inside of her. There was no regret in her eyes, no remorse. Only happiness and pleasure filling her body. She had wanted this, wanted him.
There was silence inside Jesse’s chest. His heart had stopped beating, and the rest of the world had fallen silent. He didn’t even feel pain anymore, he felt nothing at all. His head dropped and his eyes closed. Tears rained from his face, mixing with the pool of blood beneath him. The heartache growing inside of him was becoming unbearable. He thought he had moved on, but it was all a lie. It hurt every bit as bad as he knew it would. The woman that was going to be his wife had given everything to another person. And he had pushed her to do it. No matter what Seaver was saying, Jesse had made his choices, and had given in. He had given her so much pain that she had been able to choose the comfort of another man over his. He was worthless and brought nothing but pain to her.
“And to think, you almost put two other girls through the same pain. Ashley had smartly pushed you away, and Lust. Well you forced her into this and I’m . . .”
“Actually, she choose this,” said Nicholas, from the rooftop above them.
“The twin dragon has come to the rescue. Aren’t your hands still tied by Gaia?”
“They are, but that’s not the point. The point is that dragons can’t force their Aura’s into another person. They have to willingly accept it and take it inside of them., she wanted this.”
He stepped between Seaver and Jesse and barred his fangs. She stepped back and intimidation swept across her face, then disappeared. A large shadow flooded over Nicholas. He turned to see a mountain of a man standing behind him.
“Gluttony, how nice to see you again?” said Nicholas with a smile.
Gluttony didn’t smile or answer, he only starred daggers at the flash from his past. He walked over and stood next to Seaver.
“I brought friends too,” said Nicholas.
Ben came out of an adjoining alley and brought an axe down through the chains holding up Jesse’s left side. Two long katanas fell from the sky and pierced the chains on the on the other side. A werewolf fell behind them and landed on the handles.
“You think this is enough to defeat us,” boasted Seaver taking a step forward.
Immediately she stepped back as Rachel ran between them and slashed at her, cutting the hairs on her head as she fell back.
“Back off bitch!” she snapped, standing in front of her with her sword pointed at Seaver, “No one hurts my dog without going through me.”
“Dog? I thought he was a dragon,” said the werewolf.
“Shut up Danny,” snapped Rachel.
Seaver starred angrily at Rachel, the two sins standing at her back. Quickly the anger rushed away and was replaced with a smile.
“One werewolf, and two humans versus two sins and a vampire princess. The odds are still not in your favor. Human whore.”
Rachel looked back and saw that Jesse was laying on the ground. He hadn’t moved or showed any signs of life since they severed the chains. She wasn’t even sure if he was alive or not.
“God Seaver, I always knew you were a priss,” called a large lightly tanned man, a little smaller than Ben from the rooftops. He had short black hair that was spiked into a faux hawk, his ears gauged with red plugs, his attire resembling a skater’s.
“It’s about time Carlos. Where the hell were you?” asked Danny.
“It’s not my fault, Taylor couldn’t find his damn gloves.”
“We still got here on time,” answered a large, well muscled white man from the other roof. He wore a loose fitting jersey, a back words ball cap, and skinny jeans. It was reminiscent of the clothes that were worn to small rock concerts.
“So you got the whole band back together? How sweet of you Nicholas. I never liked these guys anyway,” said Seaver.
“We didn’t like you either bitch,” called Carlos from the roof.
“It’s true, we thought Jesse was an idiot for being friends with you,” added Danny.
“We almost throttled him when he told us that he moved you in,” continued Taylor.
Seaver took a step forward and Rachel took a warning slice at her. Their eyes were locked on each other with murderous intent. Greed took a step forward and Carlos flung knives at his feet, driving him back. Danny jumped to the floor, pulled his swords out of the ground and charged after him, followed by Carlos by the roofs. Gluttony moved towards them but Taylor flew down from the roof and barely missed him with a devastating punch that cratered the ground. He continued swinging, forcing Gluttony back, Ben following behind them.
‘Get him to his feet,” ordered Rachel. She swung her sword and Seaver, barely missing her. Seaver flipped backwards and continued as Rachel chased after her.
Nicholas lifted Jesse up and pressed him against the wall. He lifted his head up but saw that his eyes were blank. There was no heartbeat or Aura coming from him. He wasn’t dead, but there was no life in him either. It was like he was mentally dead.
“Jesse come on brother, we really need you hear,” he urged.
All Jesse saw was the images of Rydar having sex with Jak and James. Her screams echoed in his mind like a bad song. He wished they would stop, but no matter how hard he tried, they didn’t. There was no one to blame for this but himself, he had caused all of this. This pain, this sadness, this betrayal, was all because of him. He deserved to be dead, he wanted to be dead. Dark Aura swirled around himself and Nicholas.
“What the fuck are you doing Jesse? Come on big brother, come back to us, we need you,” begged Nicholas.
The Aura rose up from the ground and surrounded them, closing around them forming an egg like shape.
“No, no, no, no, no. You can’t do this. This is your body trying to shut down, but you can’t let it. Come on dammit!”
Jesse still wasn’t responding. There was no sign that Nicholas’ words were even getting to him.”
“SHOW ME THAT RUIZ FAMILY FIRE!” he shouted as he reared back and slammed his fist against Jesse’s cheek, “Don’t focus on the past and the things you can’t control. Look to the future and see the things you can create. Rydars gone, she ain’t coming back. You are still here and have another wonderful girl that’s willing to put her life in your hands. She loves you and has proven that time and again. Now get up you silly bastard and fight for her!”
There was still no response.
“I SAID FIGHT DAMMIT!”
Again Nicholas swung hitting Jesse hard, and knocking him to the ground. The dark Aura wavered then disappeared. Jesse sat up and shook his head a few times. He rubbed his cheek and got to his feet, looking at the ground. He rubbed it a few more times, then smiled at Nicholas.
“Right,” he popped his jaw and shook his head again, “Thank you. I needed that.”
“Anytime brother, but right now, we need to get a plan here. We may have a temporary advantage but it won’t last long.”
“Right, my injuries are too deep for me to be able to shift and your hands are . . . wait where are the shackles?”
They both looked down at Nicholas’ hands, but didn’t see the shackles made of Gaia’s Aura.
“Looks like that crazy woman finally gave us a break,” said Nicholas, unable to hide his happiness.
“So does that mean you can shift and fight?”
“Yes it does.”
“Good. You get Greed and I’ve got Gluttony. We keep them busy so the others can get us a vehicle so we can get out of here. Once we give those two the slip, we come back and get Rachel. She’s better off than the rest of us right now.”
“Yes sir,” Nicholas with a mock salute. He put his hand down and turned towards were Danny and Carlos were fighting Greed, “Finally, we introduce the second Draco-human to the show. Let’s give a round of applause to Cerulle.”
Nicholas body became engulfed in bluish purple Aura. His hair grew out to his back and a streak of blond ran through it. Small horns similar to Jesse’s emerged from his forehead. The clothes he wore disappeared and were replaced with white spandex pants with gladiator flaps around the waist. Blue scales formed on his hands and feet up to his elbows and knees. His hands and feet changed into those of reptiles with three large fingers and toes. Two long slender vine looking things burst from his back and hung down to his calves. A thin tail grew out of his lower back and swung from side to side. With eyes that were ice blue, he turned back to look at his twin. His mouth was littered with wild fangs but the smile on his face was one of ease.
He shot forward to join Danny and Carlos as Jesse turned to help Taylor and Ben. He met the two battling the behemoth in the center of the town. Gluttony was flinging them to the side as Jesse ran up. Ben flew over him as he ran up and drove Gluttony back with a powerful kick. He rolled back and joined the other two.
“You guys need to go get a vehicle and get the other two. Me and Nicholas are gonna hold off the Sins. Taylor, your in charge of finding something big and fast. Get the others out of here, don’t worry about Rachel and Me, I’ve got a ride. Just get the others out of here, got it?”
There was a moment of silence.
“Yes sir,” said Taylor.
He and Ben turned and took off, leaving Jesse to face Gluttony.
“So you’ve decided to face me alone? You are aware that the damage to your human body is too great for you to shift?” said Gluttony smugly.
“Yup,” responded Jesse.
Gluttony slammed his foot on the ground and sent a shock wave through the ground. Jesse didn’t even flinch as it veered off to the left of him.
“A warning?” he asked.
“Just making sure you’re the dragon we thought you were.”
The warriors locked eyes and nodded at each other. Jesse wished he had his sword, but knew it wouldn’t matter. His arms weren’t gonna be strong enough to wield it properly anyway. From what he could tell, he had five to ten minutes of a good fight in him until he body started giving in. All he could hope was that that would be enough time.
Gluttony came at him fast, faster then a man that size should be able to move. In a matter of seconds he was a few feet away, swinging his suitcase sized fists. Jesse blocked and dodged his way till he was close, he swung a few times but was kicked to the side. His body crumbled instantly and he hit the floor and skidded across the dirt. Before he could get up Gluttony lifted him up and flung him against the wall of a building. Jesse hit hard and was stuck in the wood and cement mix of the building. He tried to move but the behemoth was there and drove his boot into Jesse, forcing him through the wall. The people inside screamed and ran in panic. Gluttony grabbed Jesse by his collar and flung him back outside.
“So much for a good fight,” he sighed as he scrambled back to his feet.
His body must have taken more damage from the chains than he thought. He could barely lift his hands and his bodies reaction time was sluggish and low. It was like fighting after having not slept for days. Even his mind wasn’t processing at the speed it was supposed to.
He stood to fight again,but Gluttony was already behind him; wrapping his tree trunk sized arms around his sternum. Jesse was lifted off the ground, flipped over, and slammed back to the ground on his head. Gluttony rolled over with him and picked him up again. This time he held him there and squeezed as hard as he could. Jesse could feel his bones about to snap and the air leaving his body. He head butted Gluttony a few times but there was no effect.
“You big mothaf. . .”
Nicholas came out of no where and slammed his forearm into the side of Gluttony’s face and knocked him off balance. He let go of Jesse and stumbled to the side. Jesse and Nicholas both lunged forward and slammed their fists into his stomach and sent him flying back into a building. A hover car floated down and landed next to them, the rest of the crew was in it.
“Alright guys, get out of here, I’m gonna go get Rachel,” said Jesse.
“You’re bike’s over there, hurry up,” said Nicholas.
He climbed in the hover vehicle and took off with the others. Jesse ran to his bike and took off to try and find Rachel and Seaver.
******
Rachel sliced the air and narrowly missed Seaver. The arrogant vampire was dancing, twirling and flipping to avoid her attacks. It was like she thought she was in a ballet, she hadn’t even tried to strike back.
“Dammit, bitch. Quit screwing with me,” shouted Rachel, taking another swing.
Seaver flipped backwards and leaned against one of the buildings. She smiled and blew a kiss at Rachel, who was raged. Rachel took a breath and smiled back at Seaver, blowing a kiss of her own. Now it was Seaver who was angry.
“You humans are pathetic,” she remarked pushing off the wall.
Rachel faked a swing, and Seaver rolled to the side, but she was already there. She kicked her hard in the stomach and knocked her to the ground. Seaver quickly flipped back up to her feet and kicked Rachel in the side of the head. Rachel responded with a punch to her leg and then a right hook. She brought her sword down and barely missed Seaver’s stomach. Seaver was behind her before she could react. She pinned Rachel’s arms to her side and put her face next to her neck.
“You have a lot more fight than the other girl who treated Jesse like a pet,” said Seaver.
“I don’t treat him like a pet, bitch,” responded Rachel.
“Please, you use him more than Clarissa did at her worst.”
Rachel struggled against her but didn’t say anything else. She braced and waited to feel the fangs plunge into her neck. Instead she felt a breeze and heard the sound of a growl.
“Let her go,” hissed Jesse.
The pressure on Rachel eased and she was able to step away. She turned and saw Jesse with his hand gripping the top of Seaver’s mouth and his sword against her throat.
“Go get on my bike Rachel. I’ll be there in a second.”
“Fine, but I’ll be the one that kills her. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Rachel walked past them, starring daggers at Seaver. When she was safely away from them Jesse let go of Seaver and pushed her away, keeping his sword pointed at her.
“Hmm, you haven’t held me that close since that night we were sitting on the bathroom floor and you had me sing to you. Remember? You told me to sing quietly so I didn’t wake . . .”
“Shut it. The only reason you’re still alive is because Rachel already called dibs on your life.”
“Don’t act like you have forgotten those old feelings. Those things you . . .”
“I said shut up! The past is the past and that’s where it’s going to stay. What happened between me and you, the things I said and did, shouldn’t have been that way. I was with Rydar and was being an idiot. We . . .”
“No! Don’t say that! You belong with me Jesse! You are better than those damn humans. You are a dragon, king of the beasts. A god amongst mortal masses. Together me and you could have a beautiful kingdom filled with people like us. We could kill Azrael, and the gods, and no one could stop us. . . .”
“The gods?”
“The ones pulling the strings. Don’t you see, they are the ones keeping us apart. Them and those damn humans you love so much. Jesse I can take you away from that, from them. We can get revenge on Rydar for what she did to you.”
Jesse’s arm started shaking, his body was finally giving in to the damage caused by the chains. His arm dropped and the sword hit the ground. He was quick to fall as well, forced to be kneeling down.
“Jesse, you and I can be everything you’ve been wanting. Everything that you and Rydar, and Ashley, and Lust . . .”
Seaver stopped talking and walked over to him, kneeling down.
“. . . they could never offer anything to you. Only I can be everything you want. Love me and be with me."
You’re my âme soeur. And I’m yours, never forget that.
That was all the reassurance that Jesse needed. He felt Lust putting her arms around him and pressing her lips against his cheek. The pain in his bones faded away as he felt her presence. Seaver could see him returning to life, her eyes widened with rage.
“Fine, if I can’t be with you, no one will.”
She stood up and kicked him, knocking him to his back. Rachel got off the bike, but was pulled to the ground by chains.
“You’ve been scared of the monster inside you for so long, let me show it to you. The monster of your past, hidden deep in you memories.”
She pulled out two small spikes and stabbed them into his temples. Electricity built up on the ends then ran down into his head. He screamed in pain and tried to move, but his body was still shut down from the chains. Flashes of gory and painful images ran through his mind. He saw person after person killed, each one by his own hand. Body after body, scream after scream, death after death. His hands were stained with blood and his mouth was filled with the metallic taste. Suddenly he was nailed to a cross, hoisted high in the air, screaming for help. He saw his brothers and father, but there was no sign of his mother. His heartbeat was ringing in his ears, and the rest of the world had fallen silent. Looking around, he saw Seaver standing over him, a wild grin on her face, Rachel was being held by Greed and Gluttony, she was screaming for him. Greed and Gluttony had looks of fear on their faces. Jesse looked at himself and saw black smoke rising off of his body. He got to his knees but couldn’t bring himself to his feet. More images and flashes went through his mind and he shook violently. He was holding a body in his hands, it was ripped to shreds, blood was everywhere.
“Mrs. Seaver, what did you do?” shouted Gluttony.
“I’ve awakened the god of death,” responded Seaver.
“But we were told not to. . . .”
“You were told, I was not. I will do whatever I want.”
Jesse’s hands ignited with black flame, and a ring of it formed around his neck. He opened his mouth to scream, but black smoke came billowing out instead. It even started flowing from his eyes and nose. A ring of black Aura formed around him. Storm clouds came in over head and covered the area in shadow. Lighting struck the ground around them and thunder boomed loudly over head.
“We need to go!” shouted Gluttony.
He and Greed ran over to Seaver and grabbed her. She resisted a bit, then took off running with them. The chains around Rachel disintegrated and fell into dust. She ran towards Jesse, only to be stopped by Nicholas. He dropped down in front of her and picked her up.
“What are you doing? We have to help him!” she shouted.
“It’s too late now. He more dangerous now then Azrael is. We have to get out of here.”
Rachel kicked and struggled but Nicholas held her tight. He flew up with her and landed inside the large hover craft carrying the others.
“Go now! Quickly!” he shouted.
Carlos nodded and hit the gas petal. The hover craft lit up, then blasted off to the distance. Rachel and Nicholas both watched from the door as a beam of dark Aura, shot up into the clouds, causing them to vortex around it. A small stream of silver rose up through it and gave Rachel some home. Suddenly it disappeared, as did the dark Aura. Then a small explosion that quickly grew into a large one that came rushing at them.
“Go faster!” yelled Nicholas.
“We’re going as fast as possible,” responded Carlos.
The explosion was coming fast, and they wouldn’t survive if it caught up. Thinking quickly Nicholas jumped up and climbed on top of the hover car. He waited until the explosion was close and then created a barrier of his Aura. The explosion engulfed them and everything shook violently. Nicholas struggled to hold up the barrier as he felt the force pressing down on it. Blood dripped from his nose and his body soon felt weak. He pushed his body to it’s limit to hold it together. After what felt like an eternity they finally emerged from the explosion. Nicholas collapsed and almost fell off the roof. Rachel and Taylor grabbed him and pulled him back inside. The three of them looked on as the explosion seemed to freeze in place, then slowly dwindled.
“Should we go back?” asked Taylor.
“No. The explosion was the least of our worries. We need to get as far away from here as possible. The world just got a hell of a lot more scarier,” said Nicholas starring at the wanning explosion. The darkness coming from it was more than enough to tell him that the entire world was in more danger now.