This was an entry in The Canon Tour: Pre-Twilight Round. Uber-Thanks to my fantabulous beta, LJ Summers! And a huge thanks to all who read and reviewed in the contest!
The dusty brick of the building I was standing against matched the weave in my dirty breeches, hopefully disguising me more than the low-brimmed hat that hid my hair. Two locals strolled by, not noticing me as they anxiously discussing the recent news of the French defeat of Beachy Head and the consequences that entailed for our king, King William III. I barely acknowledged the seriousness of their conversation, though, too fixated on the battle I was about to encounter. I knew she was coming, and I knew our conversation would be unpleasant, as they normally were.
Each second past the last made me more hopeful. Had she not heard? Would she not punish me again as she had so many times before?
But the click-clop, click-clop of shoes approaching told me I was wrong. She would come, and she would bring friends to see. She liked an audience.
"He's here!" her friend shouted as she spotted me from a near corner, waving in my direction. "I found him!"
"I know," she stated in an eerily calm tone. She was irritated with the friend, rolling her eyes as she turned the same corner and met my fearful stare. Pausing a fraction of a moment, she flicked back a strand of pale blond hair that had fallen out of the twist she wore as she approached me with purpose. Her lovely hazel eyes were less than friendly as she stopped just a foot in front of me and crossed her arms over her chest, each of her four friends flanking her in obvious support, so perfectly it almost looked rehearsed.
"Alec James." My name was spat from her mouth with disgust. "I do not like you, nor have I ever liked you. Your boyish looks do not appeal to me, and I demand that you stop telling people I am your sweetheart. I'm not."
She paused for a moment, seemingly letting the news sink in, but I knew what she was really doing. The pain was coming, and I couldn't stop it.
I cringed in preparation, and then sunk to my knees when it hit - the burn in my chest I knew to be the heartache she caused nearly every time we spoke. She smirked, as if enjoying the pain she knew I felt, but her words always contradicted her expressions.
"I do not wish to hurt you like this, Alec, but I think it's necessary to make you understand. I will never be your sweetheart. It is in your best interest to remember that next time you speak to those friends of yours. They don't keep secrets well under duress."
She flicked her hair once again, turning on her heel and stomping off, friends in tow. And the pain was gone. Just as quickly as it came, the heartache vanished, as if it were physically attached to her in some way.
I had an odd longing for this girl – a bond that I didn't feel with any friends or relatives. I knew we had a deep connection that she either hadn't yet seen, or was denying for some reason. Either way, I wanted to spend my life following those hazel eyes, even if it meant feeling the heartache she carried everywhere with her.
I lay in bed that night thinking of her. She was an ever-present subject in my thoughts, but admiring and analyzing every aspect of her never seemed to dull. I internally excused the infatuation I had with her to be curiosity about her odd mannerisms and ongoing scrutiny.
She had an under-appreciated charm that was commonly mistaken for malice in the village, which seemed to put her and her parents in unfortunate situations with the locals. There had been talk of sending the family away, but that was a rumor that died just as quickly as it had been born. I let myself relax into that peace of mind, thankful to at least know I'd see her tomorrow as I drifted off into a restful sleep.
My mother's screaming voice jerked me from my slumber and alerted me to the chaos I heard outside. I pulled on the closest pair of boots I could find, probably my older brother's given the size, before running into the street to see what was causing the commotion. The sky was dark, but not only from the night. It was dark from smoke. The buildings surrounding our small house were all ablaze, each in different stages of what would surely be complete destruction. My best friend's house, just a few yards away, was already ashes on the ground, with neither him nor his parents anywhere to be seen.
I looked back to my own home when I heard another shriek from my mother, and saw that it too had caught fire. Doing a quick scan of the crowd, I tallied my mother and all six of my siblings scattered about. I knew my father had been working so didn't bother searching for him. Instead, I scanned the faces again, looking for the only person my mind could focus on. I needed her to be safe, no matter the pain it caused me. She had to be all right.
I shuffled through the frantic people, finally finding enough of an opening to sprint toward the corner. I knew her house was just beyond my line of sight, and from the billowing smoke I also knew it was already blazing, much like every other house around. I didn't have time to stop and consider, or even worry. I just ran. As soon as I reached her yard I turned and met the faces of her mother and father, both in tears and screaming wildly. Their words were incoherent, but I knew their intent. Someone needed to save their little girl. That someone would have to be me.
I nodded once toward them as I ran past and into the house. I heard her elderly father yelp in pain as he tried to follow, her mother holding him back and helping him find his balance again with his cane.
The front door hung open so entering the house was of no difficulty, but I was immediately met with clouds of smoke and flames in almost every direction. I inched forward, looking for any way to sneak past the wall of fire, but finding nothing.
I had been in their small home just enough to know how it was arranged, but didn't know where exactly she would be. There was a corridor directly ahead with rooms to either side, or she may have been able to make it out to the kitchen area which was just to the right. I shouted what was meant to be "Hello," but came out a jumbled cough, hoping for a response.
A moment of burning silence passed, and I heard a slight shriek from somewhere ahead of me. I clenched my teeth, taking a step back in preparation, when I saw her small frame come flying through the flames, landing on top of mine and knocking us both to the floor. She rolled off me, squirming and squealing as she fell to the ground beside me. She was ablaze, her clothes and skin smoldering.
"Jane!" I was sobbing her name as I ripped my breeches from my body, batting them at the flames that threatened to overtake her. She slowly stopped moving, becoming nearly lifeless as she twitched on the floor, her eyes open and unfocused. I shouted again with all of my effort, praying for someone to come to save her. Instead I felt my own body sink to the floor next to hers, unconsciousness overtaking me.
When I awoke again the flames had reached me. I screamed in agony as my body burned, seemingly from the inside out. I tried to open my eyes but was met with stinging pain as the muscles in my face contracted.
What could have been hours passed; all I could feel was burning. My body sizzling like a melting candle whose hot wax was oozing through my veins, unconsciousness never reclaiming me.
Beyond my own screams I heard a voice, low and unfamiliar, speak a short, direct statement. The words were followed by a high pitched shriek, the sound like music to my ears, though a sad song it was. She was alive, but still in so much pain.
I tried to say her name, to let her know I was still here, but I couldn't make out the words. Flames licked at my body with each attempt to move. I wanted to go to her, to hold her. I wanted her to know I was there. I wanted to cry. But I could do none of those things.
She screamed again sounding even more agonized. As her shouts gained in volume, so did my pain. A sudden burst of fire shot through me, doubling what I had felt only moments ago. The hushed voices I had heard before yelled suddenly, multiple males in obvious pain. What was happening here? Why were we still all conscious and aware?
I focused on the intensified burn that centered around my chest. It was almost familiar, like a pain I had felt before. It was Jane's Pain. The pain she carried with her and shared on a whim, but worse. I waited for it to stop - to simply cease as it had so many times before – but it didn't. It, along with the blazing fire, remained.
I shouted for Jane again, begging her with jumbled words to stop. I felt a tear roll down my cheek as I exerted all of my effort, all of my energy to convey my message. I wanted her to stop hurting everyone around. I wanted her to stop feeling the pain herself. I needed her to feel nothing.
Her screams stopped abruptly, as well as the men's groans I had heard before. The only sound was from me, but even that was muted and dull, much like the fire that lingered. Jane's Pain was gone, leaving only the initial burning in its wake. A burning that was a welcome guest compared to the horror I had just experienced.
"Did she die?" one of the male voices inquired. "She must have."
"No, listen. Her heart continues to beat. She is still in the change."
In the change. What did they mean by that?
"What was that, Master? What did they do?"
"It was the gift. I knew she had far too much potential to allow them to burn her at the stake. That one too, though I doubt his will be as significant."
My mind reeled with terror at this thought, but I couldn't allow my focus to drift from the conversation as the fire in my veins continued its slow path of destruction.
"Ah, the village is regretting that decision now, Master."
"Yes." There was a slight pause before the voice continued. "She will be quite useful. Why it stopped I'm still not sure. She seems lifeless, maybe it was too much for her human body to handle."
The voices sounded eerily optimistic about Jane's state. She was lifeless, but her heart was beating? Shouldn't they be taking her to a doctor? I couldn't fathom why they seemed so calm and hopeful.
"Feel this, Master. Their bond is strange, like one of them is unsure. But the connection between the two is one of the strongest I have encountered in humans. I believe they will be mated when the change is complete."
I knew I should have been concerned about the latter half of his statement, but I was drawn to one word. Mated. Even at my young age I knew what that meant, and had the situation been different I would have been delighted. To be mated with Jane Bristol would be an honor to a boy such as myself, though I knew not many others thought that way of her.
But the situation was not different. I was dying. Slowly burning from the inside, and the men around either did not know or did not care. They were completely focused on Jane and whatever change was taking place with her. That knowledge, though, gave me some solace. Even in what I knew would be my last moments, I had hope that she would make it through. They were there to protect her from the village and any other evil that might come for her. She had too much potential, as they said, and they were right. They would save Jane Bristol.
The slow, smoldering death dragged on for eternity. I wondered if I had crossed over from dying to death at some point, since the voices had stopped. I must have been dead, I convinced myself. I was in Hell.
I felt a sensation envelop my hand. It added heat to the fire that still blazed there, causing me to cringe away as much as I could. I yelped in pain, though the pain seemed increasingly less intense. The sensation disappeared almost immediately.
"Yes, I feel it, Marcus. You were right, as usual. Stronger than we've yet seen. We will need to do something about this, though. We can't have the interference of a protective mate while trying to rein and train these children." A moment of silence passed, and then, "Yes, the bond will need to be broken. Not entirely, as it is necessary for members of the guard to feel a connection, but it mustn't be of this nature. I'd like them to believe they are siblings. Twins, if you will do that for us."
Then, for the first time since Jane stopped screaming, I heard a female voice speak. "Yes, of course, Master." It wasn't Jane's voice at all, but much deeper and more devious.
I couldn't imagine that they would be speaking of my relationship with Jane in such a way. Twins? Sure, we looked similar, but in no way were we twins. We were exact opposites in nearly every fashion. And the terms they used - 'rein and train', as if we were freshly acquired horses that had not yet been broken. I felt as though I might get sick, but without the ability. Not that my stomach was empty, but that it would be unnatural for me to emit anything - contents of my stomach or otherwise - from my body.
Sometime during my internal dialogue, the fire had ceased to burn. I remained completely still, frozen in fear of who was waiting for me on the other side of my eyelids. I even held my breath, which seemed uncomfortable but nearly effortless. I could have remained that way for hours if necessary. And so I did, lying silent in sheer terror.
It was two days that I had stayed that way, either unwilling or unable to move - I wasn't sure. I saw and heard nothing, as though my senses had shut off. For a long time I thought of Jane, remembering and admiring every feature and angle of her. But as time went on, the details I thought I'd memorized began to blur, as though they were being scrubbed from my memory one-by-one. It began with the smallest detail, like the color of the pendant she wore around her neck the day of my younger sister's birthday. But before long I began to question most everything I knew. The memories changed into something new… Or did they? Maybe that was what I'd always known. Maybe the solitude was beginning to take its toll on my mind. My reality no longer felt real.
It was only when my mind could no longer handle the isolation that I allowed myself to awaken to my new world. Colors shone brightly – even in what I could tell was a normally dim room – shocking me with their brilliance. Small sounds, like the shuffle of a shoe, seemed to shout themselves into my acknowledgement, though their pitch was perfectly normal to my ears. My world had awakened.
I inhaled and immediately stiffened, sensing someone very close. Tensed for a fight, I jerked my head to the right and met a pair of brilliant red eyes watching me from only a foot or so away. At a second glance, I eased my stance considerably, feeling completely at ease in this being's presence. I knew her and, though her appearance seemed to have changed, I was relieved to see that she was there with me. I knew somehow, maybe it was the rumored bond twins had, that she felt safe and so I did, too.
"Sister," I said brightly, "I'm so pleased to see you."
"Welcome home," she said, her tight smile as warm as she was capable of as she introduced me to our new family. Even in her new state she resembled our father, which brought another smile to my face. It did feel like home.