What the fuck is wrong with me? I was ready to sleep with a fucking corpse, God, Loa or whatever that was. I was afraid, but I was going to let it do whatever to me, just to get Justin back. Then it had the nerve to tell me how to fix my life. I can’t even be mad because on some level he was right. He? I’m referring to this, this...thing as if it were a real being. I splash more water onto my face and stare at myself in the mirror.
I really have lost myself. I’ve killed vampires of three
variety, lycans, six Orcs, and countless other creatures. Now, I’m worried if
I’ll lose my job working TSA for missing so many days. What am I doing? I heard
a thud in the room over. I quickly dry my face and leave the bathroom.
“Tituba, I heard a sound, are you okay,” I call out checking
between rooms.
“Over here,” I hear a familiar voice.
“What are you doing here Jonah,” I spot him dropping Tituba
into an armchair.
She’s not dead, I can still see her breathing, but there’s
some bruising developing on her skin and she’s unconscious. I can already tell
he hit her. She probably saw some strange man step into her home and tried to
defend herself. Then he hit her, maybe a little too hard and that’s what
happened. Right?
“Ci-Ci, why do you keep ignoring me,” Jonah slowly spreads
his wings.
“What are you talking about,” I try to inch closer to Tituba.
“I keep telling you to leave what is done, in the past,” his
wings are fully expanded now.
“I have to try.”
“No, you don’t. You can move on, like everyone else.”
“I can’t find another love.”
“You haven’t even looked. You need to let done with this,”
Jonah places his hands in his pocket, he’s prepping for a fight.
“You’ve never been in love. You can’t understand,” I start
looking for cover.
“It’s not about love, it’s about changing the world. You
need to accept the things you can’t change. This one is done. It’s over. Justin
is dead, and he’s not coming back.”
“But he can, you just need to let me try.”
“This was strike three, there’s not another try.”
“I’m not getting what you want from me,” I try to get my
hand on my gun.
“I want you to go home, and get over this shit. How many
times do I have to tell you? Justin is dead. Leave it that way. He was my
brother long before he started screwing you. I know best on this. I specialize
in dark magic, and you tucked your tail between your legs and went in hiding
these last few years. You need to go home, before someone gets hurt.”
“You need to back the fuck up,” I am my gun as he tries to
move across the room.
“A gun? You think a gun is going to do anything to me? What
you got? Blessed bullets, cursed bullets? No, you’re a basic bitch Ci-Ci. You
wouldn’t even know where to get those anymore. I know you don’t have the heart
to shoot me anyway. What kind of person specializes in blood magic, and passes
out at the sight of blood? That’s where you’re at now.”
“Shut up.”
“Oh, you thought I didn’t know? You went down to the Shadow
Realm, snooping around looking for someone to help with a resurrection. You
watched one, and shit went wrong, just like I said it would. You panicked and
impulse kicked in. You shred that little baby demon. I’ll give it to you. But
you passed out. When I confronted you about it, you didn’t even remember.”
“Shut up,” I scream at him.
“You didn’t even remember when I confronted you about it.
They said you passed out at the sight of blood. You didn’t wake up for thirty
minutes. What a fucking joke you’ve become. You’re standing here with a gun in
your hand, shaking, afraid to pull the trigger. Look at you,” he looks away for
a moment. “Look at you,” he yells at me.
He’s right, I have become a shell of myself. I had a feeling
that’s what happened at The Shadow Realm, but I couldn’t remember it. I never
hesitated in the past, I used to just charge in, and get whatever I wanted. Now
look at me, backed into a corner, in an old lady’s house. I went to an old lady
for help because I couldn’t handle my shit. Tituba is very capable, but an old
lady still.
I take a deep breath and steady my hand while Jonah laughs
at me some more. I close my eyes, and prepare to pull the trigger, but I can’t
do it. I think he spots my hesitation and laughs even harder. Fuck him, I can
do this, but I need to see it. I open my eyes and quickly aim the gun at his
chest, a bigger target. Then I squeeze the trigger quickly several times in
succession, only pausing to realign after the recoil.
Almost as if in slow motion I watch as Jonah’s wings wrap
around him, protecting him from the bullets. The bend and fall to the ground
almost as if his wings were hiding some kind of metal now. He opens his wings
slightly, still expecting another shot.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” is all he says.
I don’t get a chance to respond before the air leaves my
body when Jonah slams a shoulder into my chest, using his wings for speed. A
few seconds ago, I was standing in Tituba’s living room. Now I’m pulling myself
out of the rubble in her dining room. Jonah was always fast, but not that fast.
He wasn’t that strong either. Okay, I’ve got six shots left. I just need to get
in close, or catch him off guard.
I settle with throwing a hunk of drywall at him so I can rush
past and get behind him. I don’t have any chance. The force of his hand slams
into my throat and I’m lifted into the air. He could snap my neck but I’m slowly
choking as he smiles. I truly get a good look at him and realize how much Jonah
has changed.
He no longer looks angelic as in the past. Instead he looks
more like a standing gargoyle, he doesn’t have a hunched back, but his wings
are much more leathery now, his limbs have become elongated, longer than they
were earlier. Did he undergo some transformation while I was gathering myself?
He had to, he’s skinnier now as well. Shit, I don’t know how much longer I’ll
stay alive.
I pry at his hands, trying to get them apart. The only thing
I can focus on is the cut on my hand. My head is getting heavy and my lungs are
burning for air, but all I can see is the blood. Just a little blood, but so
much blood. Blood.
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