[ 32 ] 2014
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"Well, I would think there's no harm in having some fun before I get rid of this girl, right grandson?"
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They went to Iggy's Diner for something to eat and ended up staying there well past four in the morning. By that time, everyone was beyond exhausted. Everyone said their goodbyes in the parking lot and went their separate ways, though they were all headed to the same neighborhood as they all lived about two houses down from each other.
Cindy didn't want to go back home either and ended up deciding to go home with Billy Quinn. Harley decided to stay over at Calum's, which she had been doing a lot recently. She usually just went home now to get changes of clothes or her school uniforms. Billy warned the two of them to behave, to which Harley shot back that it wasn't like he and Cindy were just going to innocently sleep either. At that, Cindy shot her friend a devious look, and then she threw her head back giggling in amusement.
By the time she got into her bed later that morning, it was nearly five in the morning and she would be getting up in six more hours to get ready for school. The big cheer competition would be that afternoon and a small part of her was starting to regret having gone out to eat after the amusement park. She might have gotten two additional hours of sleep otherwise. The boys would be getting to sleep in, while the girls would have to get up to go to school for the pep rally, and the competition right after. Harley had already decided that she would make Calum wake up too, if only to help her do her hair up into that monstrous up do Cindy had created and envisioned for competition.
She fell asleep almost immediately, Calum already snoring softly by her side after changing into something comfortable and brushing his teeth. With both of them fast asleep, and both of them at Calum's house, neither of them even fathomed the thought that something was happening in Harley's bedroom back home, particularly with the mirror that had Ashton's bound soul for over fifty years. The mirror flickered off grey bits of light in the darkness of the bedroom that slightly resembled lightning. It flickered soft at first, once, and twice. Then the flickering got bigger and stronger, and from the mirror emerged a tall figure with dark hair and dark eyes. Only one thought could be seen in them. Revenge.
It had taken him almost a year to learn and master the technique of time travel since he last encountered the two teenagers in the past. But it was all paying off now because he was in their territory, their time period, and he would show them that no one could get away with besting Conrad Hood. Sure, he had read warnings that there was a chance he wouldn't make it, that his body might not be strong enough to withstand a jump into the future because it didn't exist and was uncertain in his lifetime. But he was willing to take that chance. He was a powerful shifter and knew a lot about his abilities. He trusted that he would be strong enough to make the jump to the future, eliminate his enemies, and make the jump back. And if he were to not make it back, he only hoped he would accomplish what he had set out to do.
He looked around the room with curious eyes. This was the same bedroom that had belonged to Ashton in the past, except in this lifetime it seemed to be a girl's room. As he looked at a few photographs hung on the walls, he saw that it was hers. The girl who had claimed to be Bobby's sister.
Con walked over to the balcony and peeked outside into the night. The neighborhood had changed so much. The houses were not as spaced out as they once used to be, and there were more of them. The small side house that had been part of Ashton's family property had been expanded and divided into another home. But across the street he saw his own house still standing tall. And he could feel a surge of energy coming from that place. There weren't regular humans residing in there. There were shifters, and more than one. That meant there was a chance that the two people he was looking for were in there.
He looked down from the balcony and saw that the jump wasn't too high up. He had jumped down from Claire's balcony dozens of times. So he grabbed onto the railing and jumped off, landing square on his feet without a problem. He walked across the street and went straight up to the front door. It was locked, as he grabbed the door knob, but he used his powers to unlock the door from the inside and get it open. He then strolled in like the house belonged to him. As he thought about it for a moment, it had once belonged to his family, but it was probably someone else's now.
Con went for the stairs, but was stopped by someone calling him out from the hallway that led down to the kitchen. "Can't sleep, Cal?" The person called. Con turned his head and saw a boy with blonde hair standing there. He held a plate with a giant sandwich on it, and in his other hand a glass of orange juice. It was probably really early in the morning then because he was dressed in black sweat pants and a grey t-shirt. His blue eyes seemed tired and sleepy, like he had just gotten up.
Con froze up when he had heard someone calling out to him, but relaxed when he heard the name Cal. That was most likely his grandson's name because he found when they met in the past that they seemed to resemble each other quite a bit. Without turning towards him in the darkness, Con tried hard to disguise his voice and make it sound more easy going. His own voice was more rough and always sounded serious. "Yeah, mate. So I thought I'd get some fresh air outside. G'night though." He forced a smile onto his face.
Niall instantly noticed that Calum didn't normally talk like that, and there was something off about him. But he dismissed it as his friend being tired.
He went back towards the kitchen and Con headed up the stairs to find the two teens who had outsmarted him in the past.
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The house had many bedrooms, most of them empty, until he reached the one that used to belong to him back in the 60s before he married Anne and was still living with his parents. He opened the door slowly, so as not to wake whoever was in there, and that was when he saw them. The boy and the girl, in bed together, in each other's arms without a care in the world. Anger boiled in his heart at them because Conrad Hood hated losing more than anything else in the world. It bruised his pride and his ego. It was one of the main reasons why he disliked Ashton so much when he was alive. Claire had chosen him, at least initially, and it was something he didn't forgive either of them for. Later she ended up choosing Con and they made plans to take Ashton's fortune, but that was besides the point to him.
He walked over to the side of the bed and stood over them while he watched them for a few moments. The girl was immediately in front of him and they were both facing his direction, fast asleep.
His plan was simple.
He would get his grandson out of the way, then he would dispose of the girl before finally killing off his grandson and returning to his own time. That would teach them to meddle with his life and his plans. He held his hand out, over Harley, towards Calum's sleeping body. A black hue emerged from his hand as he concentrated hard on what he was about to do. Slowly, Calum's soul was being sucked up from his body to make space for him. He needed to hold it for just long enough so that his soul could jump into the body, making them both share the vessel.
When he felt he had enough space, he made the jump into his grandson's body, sending them both to the black dimension, where all the doors to choose from were located. Since it was not yet Calum's time to go to the afterlife, the timer stood frozen in time, not counting down from five like it usually did. It had only been an instant, both boys were there together, Calum shaken from his sleep and taken completely off guard. "What the fuck--?" He started sleepily and only had time to see the wicked grin on his grandfather's face before Con disappeared from sight. There was only enough room for one soul to be the conscious decision making one in the body, and it was usually the quicker one of the two. Since Con had taken Calum into the black dimension, he challenged him for the body and won, leaving Calum trapped in his own mind. He could see and hear what was happening on the outside, but he was a mere spectator.
Meanwhile Conrad concentrated on waking up in Calum's body, and it only took seconds for his mind powers to take effect once Calum was out of the way.
As soon as he came back to reality, he looked down at himself, blinking back against the blurriness in his eyes as they got adjusted to the new body he would be using indefinitely. He was in bed with Harley sleeping next to him, not even suspecting that the boy in bed with her now was not her boyfriend. He looked down at his hands, looking at the palms and then flipping them over to look at the back side of them in awe. One of them felt different, and he noticed one of them was made of metal. It was the one he had been using to hold the Diamond Rose almost a year prior, except in the present time it had only been a couple of weeks. The flesh hand seemed to work perfectly. But he had trouble controlling the movements of the metallic one, something that he wouldn't give much importance to. He knew he could either quickly learn to use it, or just not use it at all.
Conrad grinned to himself and once again looked to the girl sleeping next to him. "Well, I would think there's no harm in having some fun before I get rid of this girl, right grandson?" He said to the boy trapped in his mind. He could feel a headache at the tug in power that he felt coming from Calum. He was trying to shift back into his body, but he couldn't unless Conrad could meet him where he left Calum. Or if someone could take him there. But no one would believe that the boy they were seeing was not Calum. It was his body. It was merely his soul that was different. All he had to do was to steer clear of mirrors, as he had read in his books that mirrors would show the reflection of what his soul actually looked like.
He bit down on his lip as the dirty thoughts entered his mind of the things he could do whilst in his grandson's body. She thought he was Calum, and there was no harm in letting her think so either. His hands gripped the sheets and pulled them off her slowly, revealing her petite body underneath them. She slept in a soccer jersey with the family last name on the back, and a pair of tiny black shorts with red lettering on them St. Genevieve's Cheerleading. At least, he thought to himself, his grandson had good taste in girls. She was pretty, and she was a cheerleader. Too bad she was a bit of a loud mouth when she was conscious though. He liked her better right now that she was being absolutely quiet.
He leaned closer to her, a hand ghosting over her body and stopping at the hem of the soccer jersey. His hand went to slip slowly underneath when he simultaneously felt a bigger head ache, like a blow to the forehead that sent him clutching his head and falling back into the pillows behind him. The pain was unbearable, and he cursed himself for not having read further into the side effects of taking over another person's body. Maybe there was a way to counter this pain, but he didn't know it at the moment. No doubt Calum was watching what he was trying to do to her and was fighting back. At the same time, Harley had giggled sleepily and swatted his hand away. Pulling the sheets around herself again and this time tightly like a burrito, she teased him. "Stop it, you pervert. I'm trying to sleep. I have to be at school later."
The piercing pain in his head stopped once again and Conrad was now irritated that he wasn't going to be able to have his fun with the sleeping cheerleader in his bed. "Fine. I won't touch your girl. For now."
Instead he decided to get up and change, having a walk around the house and the neighborhood. He was curious to see how much the place and the town had changed over fifty years in the future. He could just come back later, kill off the girl, and then kill off his grandson before returning back home. Everything was just way too easy for him.
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with only about twenty more chapters before the end of the story, here comes the final plot point in the story. i hope you all like it. please give this a nice read, vote, and comment.
a tiny personal life update today. we've only been talking in the group chat these past few days. he had the day off yesterday and i missed him because working with him makes work go by faster because we talk to each other a lot and we flirt with each other. and he tells me this too when i dont work the same days he does. he says it was boring bc i wasn't there to keep him company.
we have the same schedule for tomorrow though, so im excited to see him.
but anyway, more drama coming up in the next chapters. i also kinda wanna post a bonus chapter about some side characters. but that's pending. so stay tuned.
-clary