GGAAAHHHH this is late...again...i'm an awful person...but at least its long! XD
ENJOY! ((p.s.:: don't hate me at the end please! hint: the rating was upped))
The Past is Back
Chapter 7
*DING DONG*
It had been about two hours since he left Aisha and her mother in her apartment and he wasn't expecting anyone to stop by. Chase put down the book he was reading and went to answer the door.
When he opened it, in front of him stood Isabella with a suspiciously warm smile on her face.
"Hello there, Chase," she greeted him.
"You look as though you just stepped out of a movie from the 1950's," was all Chase said as a reply.
"It's good to see you again too. May I come in?"
Chase remained silent but stepped aside any way to let her into the apartment.
"Do you have anything to drink? I'm a bit parched," she said innocently as she dropped herself onto Chase's black leather couch.
"Cut the bullshit, Malesifant. You can't just waltz in here after disappearing for 400 years thinking that everything is alright, especially since I know that you've had her all this time."
"My hands were a bit tied in that situation."
"Tied? Tied? How were hands tied? All you had to when you found her was return her to me. What was so hard about that? Have you forgotten who I am?" Chase's anger was mounting; he had literally waited centuries for this one conversation.
"I haven't forgotten who you are, but you have obviously forgotten who I am. I have what you want, you don't anger someone with that power especially when you're in the awful position that you're in."
"I'm in the position to rip your throat out of your neck if you do not tell me what I want to hear. And from that point of view it seems as though you are the one in the awful position."
Isabella's nose slightly flared as her rageful nature began to show itself on her face. "You had better watch yourself, boy. Though you may think that you're all powerful now, you must remember that I've been involved with my powers for 3 centuries before you were even a thought in your mother's mind. Now do you want her back or not?"
"Of course I want her back, and I will get her back with, but hopefully without, your help."
"Well if you're not going to allow me to help you then that means that I have to work against you on this." A bit of a wicked smile appeared on her lips at the realization.
"Were you not the one who came to me for help all those years ago? Why are you making this so difficult?" In an effort to control his anger, Chase allowed himself to become a bit more animated in his speech. In his last sentence he even threw his hands up in the air in frustration.
"Oh well that's simple: I just don't trust you," Isabella replied matter-of-factly.
A look of confusion quickly flashed across Chase's face as he tried to understand her reasoning. "So you trusted me all those years ago when you had no idea who I was, but now that you know me better, you do not trust me?"
"Exactly. I trusted you to protect my daughter before and you failed so right now I feel as though I can't trust her with you again."
"It's not my fault that your daughter hardly listened to what I told her and did whatever she wanted whenever she felt like it."
Isabella remained silent with her violet eyes trained on Chase and her wicked smile of amusement properly placed as he continued.
"She has done this to you, and you know it, to her father, and to me. But I didn't give up on her. You know that I have spent the last fifteen-hundred years searching this damned earth for her, destroying for her, killing for her. And now you come to me telling me that I cannot have her because you don't trust me? Well I am not going to bend to your will. I will bring her back to me and there is nothing that you can do to stop me."
A silence slowly passed between the two of them as Isabella rose from the couch with a sigh and patted down the pleats of her dress and then walked to the door.
Her smile was now gone and her face held a slightly serious look, "It seems that I was wrong then. A person doesn't scour the world for a millennia and a half in search of an ultimate power."
"So does this mean that you will step aside?"
"...I guess we will just have to wait and see. . . .Ciao, Mr. Young." And with that, Isabella let herself out of the apartment and left.
After waiting about a minute after she had left, Chase picked up the closest thing near him (which happened to be a painting from the wall) and chucked it clear across the room with an angry growl. A few seconds later, the leather recliner next to him spontaneously combusted in a black flame.
- - -A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER- - -
Aisha checked the time on her phone and sighed, '3 a.m. ... Great, maybe I'll call out sick on Monday. I need to recuperate.' She thought as she dragged herself to her apartment door. 'Ughh I feel so old, I haven't felt this badly in such a long time... Well I guess that's what I get for overindulging in my cravings. . .'
After much groaning and pain, she managed to get her key out of her pocket and into the door but then stopped to shift the strap of the duffel bag she was carrying on her right shoulder.
"Aisha?" A voice broke the otherwise silence of the hallway.
Aisha froze and her heart almost stopped when she heard her name called. She feared to turn around and see the person she was avoiding.
"Aisha? Are you alright? Where have you been?" Stepping into her line of vision, she saw that it was Chase who was addressing her as he approached her.
Aisha let out a small sigh of relief and relaxed a little. "Oh I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to talk to you. I caught some crazy illness and had Erica bring me to the hospital like a week ago," she lied and let out a little cough. "I thought she was supposed to let everyone know where I was."
"Well she conveniently forgot about me," Chase replied with a small smile. "How are you feeling? You still look very ill; no offense." He reached out his hand to stroke the top of her head.
She quickly leaned away from him and coughed, "I'm still feeling like shit. Y'know with the chills, the shakes, and dizziness."
"Then what are you doing out of the hospital? They let you out in this condition?" He was beginning to get worried as he gave her a once over. She was pale again, just as she had been that night of the engagement party, if not paler. She was wobbling a little as she spoke and she even had a slight gauntness about her.
"Shhh! Don't tell anyone," she began in a whisper with a bit of a mischievous smile, "but I just signed myself out of the hospital."
"What? Why?"
"I was locked in there for over a week and I was starting to get a little stir crazy and homesick."
"...They really let you go?"
"Well I kinda really snuck out."
"Now that makes more sense," Chase replied as he went to take her duffel bag from her, she looked as though she was going to collapse under its weight.
"No, no, no. It's okay, I got it," Aisha told him as she pushed open her apartment door.
"Really, I'm just gonna drop it right next to the door when I get in."
"Okay, tough girl," and he complied by releasing her bag.
"Thank you though."
"No problem."
"Well, good morning, Mr. Young," Aisha said after a short pause with a small smile.
Chase looked down at his watch before replying with his own smile, "Good morning, Ms. Katar." And with that he departed down the hallway. Aisha watched him until he rounded the corner to the elevators and then quickly checked the other side of the hall before going into her apartment and closing the door.
Once she let her obnoxious duffel bag drop on the floor, she gave out a great sigh of relief; it felt as though the world was lifted from her shoulders; and then the exhaustion and sweet temptation of slumber hit her again. Her mind was so fogged by her sleepiness that she tripped over her own feet and promptly landed on the floor. She let out a low whine at her momentary pain and then slowly forced herself up on all fours and began to drag herself towards her room. But then she noticed how soft and fluffy her carpet really was and let herself fall back onto the floor and fell asleep. . .
What felt like some five minutes later, Aisha partially opened her eyes to the sound of someone banging loudly on something.
'. . . Hell no. . . .' she managed to think when she thought that it was someone knocking on her door and closed her eyes again as she fell asleep.
Another five minutes passed when Aisha reawaked and found herself sliding across her apartment floor. "What the hell?" she questioned as she looked ahead of her to see her sweatpants-clad legs begin held in the air by someone.
That someone turned around with an all-too friendly smile, "Well good morning, gorgeous."
Aisha's heart skipped a beat when she saw the intruder and screamed.
"Aww c'mon Aisha, is that any way to greet your guest?" The man asked as he leaned towards her to cover her mouth but immediately removed it when she bit his finger.
"How did you find me?" She said with a voice coated in fear as she began to hyperventilate. This was who she was trying to stay away from that night. 'But how the hell did he find me? The address I gave him was on Long Island."
"I'm a club owner, I got connections."
"...So what are you doing here?"
"Well when I found out that you quit on me earlier, I realized that I never got a chance to collect what you owe me."
"I don't owe a damn thing! You didn't even pay me! I worked off the tips I made which you took 10% of every week anyway!"
The man let her legs go and stood over her with each of his legs on either side of Aisha's body as she lay flat on her back. "I'm not talkin' about money," he replied as he lowered his body and placed all of his weight on her lower abdomen. She was trapped and didn't know what to do about it. Her mind was still so fogged by her exhaustion that she wasn't very alarmed by the situation. 'I mean...I should have expected this...'
"You really broke into my apartment for that? Are you fucking serious,Tony?"
The man named Tony slid her hands along the floor up over her hand and held them in place. "Yes," was his simply stated answer. The next second, Aisha felt something tugging on the bottom of her sweatpants and looked over Tony's shoulder to see a second man succeed in pulling them off.
"What the fuck! Tony, I'm gonna scream; you know I'm gonna scream." Aisha threatened as the man who removed her sweat pants came over to hold her hands down where Tony had just put them.
"Fine, scream all you want. Its not gonna help anything."
And just as he finished his sentence, Aisha let out a blood-curdling scream that even caused her glass coffee table to shake.
"Oh my God! Shut up!" Tony growled and covered her mouth with his hands. "Shut up!"
*DING DONG!
"Who the hell is that?" Tony shouted. "Are you expecting anyone?" Aisha shook her head. Tony sighed and nodded to the other man as he stood up. The other man's hand replaced Tony's spot over Aisha's mouth and lifted her off the floor.
"Yes?" Tony asked of the person at the door.
The man at the door gave Tony a skeptical look, "May I speak to Aisha?" Her eyes widened, she recognized that voice.
"She's asleep. Now who the hell are you?" Aisha tried to scream behind Tony's goon's hand but it only sounded like a high-pitched squeal.
"That is none of your concern. I know she isn't asleep, I just heard her scream."
Aisha bit one of the fingers of the man who was holding her. "Chase!" she shouted as she elbowed her captor before easily flipping him over her shoulder.
In one swift move, Chase moved Tony (with the door) out of his way and stepped into the apartment. "Aisha, I heard you scream. Are you alright?"
"I've had better days," she replied and stepped on the man that was now on the floor.
"Ugghhhh...My nose! You asshole! You broke my fucking nose!" Tony announced as he stepped from behind the door and slammed it shut.
"Who is this loud man?" Chase asked.
"Umm, well thats Tony. And the guy on the floor is John. They stopped by for a quick visit, but now they were about to leave. Right Tony?"
Tony was occupying himself with trying to set his bleeding nose. "Hell nah! You bozzo of a protector just broke my nose, so now I'mma have to break his frickin' neck." Through his anger, he suddenly had a thick New Jersey accent.
"What? Dammit, no fighting! If you get anymore blood on my carpet, I will kill you so help me God!" Aisha threatened, but her words fell on deaf ears as Chase turned around and gently pushed Aisha behind him as he addressed Tony.
"I would love to see you try," Chase smirked as he reveled in the prospect of a fight. "Aisha, go to your room and stay there until I say its alright for you to come out."
She wanted to protest, she knew she should. If the fight got serious enough, her carpet would be ruined, then they probably would have to go to the hospital, and they'd ask what happened, then the police would get involved, and then she'd have to worry about all those people Tony was involved with...The consequences of a fight were messy and complicated...But she heeded Chase's request anyway and ran straight to her room and locked the door. After about five mintues of screaming, loud thuds, and what sounded like bones being broken, Aisha peeped through her door when everything was silent.
"Ahhhh! Are they-? Oh my-! What did you do?" Chase turned around to Aisha, who had come out of her room, standing there in shock.
"Aisha, its alright, I can explain," he started in an effort to console her.
"This is awful!" she screamed as she waved her arms around in her flustered state. Aisha's gaze remained towards the scene in front of her: the two would-be-rapists from ten minutes earlier now lay dead and covered in their own blood all over Aisha's white carpet. The sofa right behind them was also splattered in the dead men's blood.
As Aisha moved to the blood bath, Chase continued to calm her. "Don't worry, I can make them disappear."
"What? How?"
"It's magic, it will look like they were never here."
Aisha had dropped herself next to her sofa and hugged it. "You can really do that?"
Chase paused as his mind wrapped around what he was seeing. Two men were now dead in Aisha's living room, yet she was hugging her sofa...?
"Are we both concerned about the same things here?" he asked cautiously.
Aisha's purple eyes looked bigger now and an innocent look was painted on her face, "What?"
"I am talking about cleaning up the dead bodies here and covering up a murder," Chase explained, "And you are talking about?"
"Oh well...I don't know how to put this. Um...please don't be appalled but um...I was talking about cleaning the blood off my couch and carpet. Do you know how hard it is to find a 100% genuine white leather couch and keep it clean?"
When Aisha finished speaking, a smile spread across Chase's face as he walked towards her kneeling form and cupped her chin in his hand, titling her head up so that their eyes met, "I think I love you."
However, all Aisha heard when the room suddenly became brighter and had a golden hue as she stared up at Chase's eyes was: "Its alright, you did good for your first kill."
"What...?" was was the last thing she said before everything began spinning and then suddenly went black.
- - -LATER THAT DAY - - -
Aisha awoke to the heavenly aroma of cooking food. She inhaled the scent and turned her head to see that her digital alarm clock read 1:00 PM and then let out a low, groggy growl of frustration. But then she caught the whiff of lunch again and suddenly found herself very hungry.
She rolled out of bed and yawned as she made her way to the kitchen, 'Aww! Erica's so nice! She's making me eggs!'
But when she rounded the corner to her kitchen, she did not see her best friend Erica standing in front of her stove frying eggs, but a man with long black hair standing in her friend's place.
'Fuucckk!' Aisha thought when memories from earlier that morning suddenly flooded her mind and she realized that she had neither combed her hair nor brushed her teeth before coming to the kitchen. She quickly turned around and tried to stealthily make her way back towards the bathroom but she didn't get very far.
"Aisha, good, you're awake. Come sit," Chase's voice coolly commanded and Aisha complied as she wrapped her robe around her tighter.
"Hmm well trust me, I would've been asleep for days if the smell of your cooking didn't wake me up," she replied. "But seriously, you cook? Is there anything that you can't do?"
Chase turned around with a prideful smirk and carrying a plate piled with pancakes. "No, I can pretty much do everything."
He placed the plate on the kitchen table. "Yeah right, I bet you can't fly!"
"No, I can fly, too." And he returned to his cooking all the while smiling at the irony of her questions as Aisha clearly did not understand that he was telling her the truth.
"Oh, so now you're Superman?" Aisha asked with mock incredulousness in continuation of the joke as she began to eat the six pancakes in front of her.
"I guess that is the best analogy. Except, I have telekinetic powers, no laser vision, and I'm immortal."
"Aww c'mon man, immortality? That's really pushing it."
"No, I'm serious. Remember when I told you I was 1500 years old? I wasn't joking."
Aisha paused; why did she want to believe that was his real age? Was it because she knew that if she could live for 1500 years, then it was possible that other people could too?
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just make sure you don't get any hair in my eggs," she joked in an effort to change the subject.
"You don't have to worry about that, each strand of my hair perfectly stays in place," Chase responded and walked to the table with two plates in his hands covered with scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage patties. "Wait, did I not put a plate of pancakes on the table a few minutes ago?"
Aisha was silent for a moment when she looked at the now empty plate of pancakes. "Um...yeah you did...those weren't mine?"
"There were six pancakes on that plate. You mean to tell me that you normally eat six pancakes every morning?"
"What no. I'm so sorry, but I'm starving and I didn't even realize that I was eating them. Forgive me!"
"Calm down, they were just pancakes." Chase had a feeling that she would be hungry when she awoke, but not that hungry.
"But they were your pancakes that I ate, and eating other people's food isn't right. I'll go make you some new ones," Aisha stated and she got up and went over to her stove.
"Aisha, don't worry about it. Now come sit and eat your eggs."
"Are you sure?"
"I am postive."
"Okay," Aisha shrugged as she sat back in her seat and began to eat the second half of her 'breakfast' in a comfortable silence.
"Oh wow, I see you got the stains out of my couch and carpet," she suddenly realized as she looked towards her spotless white living room. "And the dead bodies are gone too."
"Hn? Oh yeah. I told you I could get rid of them."
"But how did you do it. Its like they were never there!"
"Do you believe in magic?"
"...In a young girl's heart! How the music can free her, whenever it starts!" she started singing from her seat. "And its magic, if the...music...is...You don't know the song, do you?"
"No, I have no idea what that song is."
"Well its not important. But really, how did you clean everything up?"
"I told, it was magic."
"So now you're a magic Superman?"
"...Yes."
"Well my supernatural Superman, I owe you one. Maybe two. Anything you ask...well, almost anything."
Chase paused his eating as he thought. "What are you doing tomorrow?"
"Um, well since you're technically my boss, I should tell you that I'm going to work tomorrow. But I'll most likely stay home. Why? What'd you want me to do?"
"Hm, I actually forgot that you worked for me...technically," he smiled at her and she returned it. "But Kiara willbeout of school tomorrow and I don't know what to do with her and because I have a packed schedule I cannot be home to watch her. Would you mind babysitting for a few hours?"
"Um, sure?" Aisha answered with clear hesitation. She had only met the girl once, and now Chase was entrusting her well being to her for a whole day? 'Well I did say anything...' her mind remembered.
"Kiara truly adores you. Ever since she met you she would not stop asking about you," Chase said in an effort to change Aisha's mind since he heard the hesitation in her voice.
"Okay, okay! I'll be there tomorrow," she laughed. "But what would you have done if I did go into work?"
"As your boss I would've had you watch my neice instead anyway. She does not do well with professional nannies...We've gone through four since we arrived in New York."
"Ohh," Aisha nodded with understanding and continued the rest of her meal.
When they were almost done eating, Chase broke the momentary silence. "So would you like to discuss what happened earlier this morning?"
Aisha paused. 'Should I tell him? I should tell him, he deserves to know why he killed two people yesterday...'
"You're definitely not gonna want to deal with me anymore if I tell you."
"And why is that?" Chase asked and slightly tilted his head to his left as he watched her movements.
Aisha looked up from her plate at him as she began to speak again, but paused for a second time when her eyes met his. Suddenly she felt scared and nervous. His eyes, his golden amber eyes, made her feel the same alarm she did when he mentioned her 'tattoos' a few weeks back. She felt trapped by a predator who definitely knew more than he was letting on, but she caved anyway. "It all started in my junior year of high school. A short time after my father died. I couldn't feel anything after his death; no happiness, no fear, no pain. . . .My mother tried everything, but nothing worked; I had never felt so empty in my entire life. Until I went to a party one night with a friend. That night I think I learned how to feel again."
"That was probably the most vague answer anyone has ever given me. And it did not even answer my question."
"I'm gettin' to it, I'm gettin' to it. By my freshman year of college, I was completely immersed in that life. And then Tony, stepped in and offered me a deal that seemed like a win-win situation to me: I could get what I wanted and needed, and I would get paid to do it."
"And what was that offer?" Chase asked. He was beginning to have an idea of what Aisha had gotten herself into. 'So she was an assassin. That explains her absolute non-chalance towards death. And in the deal she could also quell her cravings. . .'
"Chase, are you understanding me? For years I slaved away by doing something completely awful and immoral and harmful to myself to the point where I don't even think I can forgive myself. It wasn't until recently, well actually, right before I met you, that I decided that I needed to stop my habits and fix my life," she continued as she went to the sink to wash her plate.
"Aisha, believe me when I say that whatever it was you did, I have probably done other things that can be considered 1,000 times more morally decrepit." Chase stepped up to her and gently turned her head to face him, "Whatever it is, I forgive you for it."
Aisha's eyes were wet with threatening tears as they met Chase's. "...Chase, I have a...a problem...its really more of an addiction. . ." The shame of it all was starting to get to her; the pressure of facing her personal demons and past sins was becoming too much under Chase's concerned, golden gaze.
"Aisha, I want to you to trust me." His hands now held her in place by her upper arms as she nodded.
A long pause followed as she decided how to word her predicament. ". . . I've led a very. . . unchaste life."
Chase remained silent as his expression changed from concerned to confused. Chaste wasn't a word he heard very much throughout his long life and he just could not remember its meaning; all he did remember was that he hadn't practiced it since his Xiaolin days. . .
"Oh God, do I have to spell it out for you?" Aisha sighed in exasperation. And Chase remained silent, partially lost in his mind searching for a meaning to go with the word 'unchaste'. "Chase, I'm a nymphomaniac! A slut, a whore, a harlot, a tramp! And Tony...Tony owned the strip club I had just quit last night."
The expression on Chase's face slowly changed from blank to one of slight disgust and shock. Aisha saw the change in his face and shoved him away from her as she ran to her room. Once she slammed the door shut, she leaned her back against it and slid down to the floor as hot tears ran down her face.
Chase remained where he was for a few extra moments as his mind attempted to register this new information.
'She's...she's...'
'A nymphomaniac, a slut, a harlot, a tramp. In that order I think,' the dragon within him finished.
'...tainted...'
'Ooo, you're getting very angry. Does this mean that we're gonna go kill every man she's fucked?'
'...every man?...'
'Well yeah. She's a nymphomaniac; she's obessed with sex...And since she isn't married yet, and you haven't been in contact with her in 1500 years, its very safe to say that she's climbed into bed with more than one, if not many, men,.' the Heylin dragon 'helpfully' deducted.
Chase was prepared for everything, except for this harsh reality. His mind could not wrap around the idea that his Aisha gave herself to someone.
'Someones...plural,' the dragon reminded him. In that instant Chase mentally returned to reality and realized that Aisha was no longer standing in front of him. His anger and confusion subsided (for now) as he concentrated on keeping her with him.
"Aisha?" Chase called as he went to her bedroom door. He could hear her sniffling on the other side of the door.
"Go away! I get it if you don't want to talk to me ever again!" She sobbed. 'I screwed up! I screwed up so bad! I should've listened to Mamma and stayed away from him! Ughh! He's gonna leave me for sure now!'
Chase sat on the floor and leaned against the door, "I am not going anywhere." His voice was low and soft but carried successfully through the door to Aisha's ear. "Remember? I said that I would forgive you, no matter what you did in your past."
The sincereity of his voice made her sob even harder. "Would you stop being so nice! I don't deserve it!"
Nice; another word that he didn't hear very often. The last time she had complimented him was the night of her birthday, the night before she disappeared. 'She that I was so good to her that she would forget I was Heylin at times.' Those were better times, mostly because she was with him; and she wasn't crying. He hated it when she cried, usually because most of the time he was the direct or indirect cause of her tears. "Aisha, open the door," his request sounded more like a statement.
Aisha's sobs dwindled down to short sniffles; a few seconds later, the door knob clicked as the door opened up a little. Chase turned to gaze into the two lavender eyes that appeared in the doorway. He cupped her face with both of his hands and wiped away the tears that ran down her face with his thumbs. "Please stop crying. I hate seeing you cry."
More emotions built up inside of her at his electrifying touch. "I'm so sorry!" She wailed before letting herself fall towards him and weeped into his sweater.
Chase remained silent as he let her cry again. With his right hand, he repeatedly brushed her hair while he held her close to him with his left arm. His head reted atop of hers and he let his senses go numb as he took in her unforgettably intoxicating scent.
She wrapped her arms around his back and relaxed even further into his embrace. Every place on her body that he came in physical contact with was filled with a tingling sensation that felt so good to her. She felt so perfect in his protective arms and she soon begn to calm down.
"You have no reason to apologize," Chase said in a voice that was barely louder than a whisper. He wanted to stay with her like this forever; it had been too long since he last had her in his arms. But he knew that their eternity together would begin when she would finally remember their past together; he would just have to be patient. "So I will see you tomorrow mornig?"
Aisha lifted her head and looked at him with skeptical eyes, "You still want me to watch Kiara? Even after ...that?"
"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"
"Well-I just told- Okay, nevermind. What time do you want me there?"
"7:30 is good, I have to catch an 8:15 train."
"Anything for you, Chase." And she moved her arms from around his back to around his neck and hugged him again.
EFFF BOMB~! I'm soooo late! UGHHH! I"M SORRY! FORGIVE ME! But between school stuff, graduation, parties, work, writing, deleteing, and rewriting, I've FINALLY finished this chapter...and its the longest so far in this story.
oh and also...i'm sorry that I made Aisha a slutbag...PLEASE DONT HATE ME! She IS a former slutbag if that makes things better...ok, no it doesn't...I just needed a reason to have Chase have a borderline mental meltdown.
But I hope you enjoyed it anyway! (don't expect the next chapter til like august...but we all know how i am with deadlines so it'll probably be up just in time for school again XD)
UNTIL NEXT TIME! (if you guys are still reading this...i dont even know...no one reviews anymore... :'(
