Chapter 54
'Welcome to the end game,' Jay kept his voice as level as possible as they arrived in the old fashioned looking kitchen which had become the Veronsen's nest. 'Only it's not really a game, more like a feast for my little friends here.'
'You can't do this to me,' in his arms, his prisoner fought to get free. 'I won't let a punk ass kid like you do this to me.'
'Oh, but I will,' he breathed the words into his ear, 'check the rule book, the good always wins in the end.'
'Then what makes you so sure you'll win?' His prisoner managed to pull free. 'I know all about you and the things you've done, remember? All the things you've done. You're no saint Jay Richard Peters.'
'You're right, I'm not,' he could hear the Veronsen stirring, clearly attracted by the smell of strong dark magic in their nest, 'but right now I'm the lesser of two evils and the closest thing to good in this little game of ours.'
'So what? You think you're just going to feed me to the dogs and have done with me? Don't you think I came prepared for this?'
'I was counting on it,' he raised his right hand towards his prisoner, 'Veronsen might love Reama magic, but they hate Reama technology, so I think I'll solve that little problem right now.'
'How exactly?'
'Like this.'
A burst of red energy shot out of his palm towards his prisoner, destroying the golden scorpion visible on his bicep. There was a loud squeal of pain as the Game Master fell to his knees and revealed his true identity. And it was her eyes, which glared evilly back up at him.
'How dare you turn me back into this pathetic creature?'
'I dare to do it for the same reason you dared to do all this; destiny.'
'You really think you were destined to stop me?'
'Oh I don't think; I know I was.'
'Well you know what, I always find it's the arrogant ones who know the least.'
Jumping to her feet she charged towards him, but he easily caught her and, after a brief struggle, again held her captive with her arms bound behind her back. By now the Veronsen were fully awake and stalking their way towards them.
'You forget I know a little something about you Jay,' her voice was soft and seductively taunting, 'all those times you chose to follow the path of evil, it wasn't really you. You were either possessed or being controlled or else it was your so called protector's fault. You're not really evil Jay and I know for fact your conscience won't let you do this.'
'Wanna bet.'
Gripping her as tightly as he could, he watched as one of the two Veronsen began to feed. The way she was still struggling against him made his heart bleed. He didn't want to do this, not to her, but he didn't have a choice. Unable to watch, he turned his head away. Suddenly there was a loud yelp; turning his attention back towards them he saw a large golden spider attacking the Veronsen. He almost couldn't believe just how prepared for this situation she actually was.
With little else he could do he let go of her in order to destroy the spider in the same way he had the scorpion. Unfortunately this allowed his prisoner to bolt towards the door and out into the cold dark of the night. Undeterred, he rid the room of the spider and allowed the Veronsen to do what they did best. And as they gave chase, so did he. The last few days had allowed him to re-gather the strength he'd lost feeding Serenity. He could match their pace easily now and it wasn't long before the three of them had her trapped.
Instantly he flicked a yellow energy ball at her, paralysing her completely. It caused her to fall to her knees and almost as soon as she had the Veronsen greedily began to finish what they'd started. All he could do now was watch and wait. When she was too weak to pose a threat to anyone he'd stop them from feeding. He needed them to remain on the edge of hunger, if they didn't he couldn't do what needed to be done next; cure them.
Inside he felt his still heart almost swallow in on itself. The cure had been created with the idea of only one Veronsen in mind; not two. It took a full dose to turn someone back to the way they'd been before becoming Veronsen, he had no idea what a partial dose would do to either but what choice did he have. He couldn't leave them the way they were; he just had to hope what he gave them would be enough to return them fully to the side of the living if nothing else.
It felt like he was standing there waiting for an eternity before he sensed just how little life she had left in her. He flicked a red energy ball into his hand and tossed it towards the Veronsen. Automatically they broke away from her and turned their attention towards him.
'That's right,' he used his fingers to beckon them towards him, 'come and get some living meat.'
Without hesitation they charged him; the half dead Nayta held no more interest for them and even though his power was less tempting, there was more of it and they were hungry enough not to be fussy.
'To the Mistresses,' he breathed out the words as he felt the cold sting of Serenity's lips against his own and his power slowly drained out of him.
This was his final sacrifice; his true redemption. He never thought things would end like this, but in that moment there was no other way he would have wanted them to.
Something had woken her. Like a voice in the back of her head. Or a feeling. A feeling someone was calling out to her. Dazed, she stumbled out of bed. Glancing briefly back at a sleeping Duke, she drifting out into the maze of curtains towards the area they'd been holding Jay. She didn't even feel surprised when he wasn't there. Instead she closed her eyes and willed herself to him. Almost instantly she was hit by a blast of cold night air and her senses returned to her.
Opening her eyes, she found herself at the walled up end of an alleyway. Lying unconscious in front of the wall was Nayta. Slightly further forward and again unconscious were Mokuba and Serenity. She sucked a deep breath in and allowed the stillness of her own mind to find some kind of sense.
'Glad you could make it,' Jay's voice sounded to the right of her, 'now I can say goodbye.'
Instantly tears stung her eyes and it took all her will not to turn towards him. She didn't want to see this.
'What... what do you mean?'
'Come on Cat, I know you better than that; you know exactly what I mean. I have to go now.'
'But... why?'
'Because I did a bad thing Catilin and I need to be punished.'
'But you had a good reason and the Council are supposed to decide and they could decide you don't have to ascend for this and...'
'That's not going to happen; I'm not going to make it to sunrise. Curing the Veronsen took too much out of me. Right now the only thing keeping me here is you.'
Taking a sharp, tearful breath in, she flicked her head towards him. His body was already translucent and surrounded by a glow of strong white light. He was sat with his back to the alley wall, staring sadly up at her with his semi-visible green eyes.
'No,' she shook her head, 'not this, don't let it be this. You can hold on. You can hold on and the Mistresses can reverse it. It doesn't have to be this. Jay...'
'I've done a lot of thinking over the last few days Cat,' his eyes were filled with an incredibly sad look, 'going into this I knew there was a chance I wouldn't survive it so I had to decide what it was I really wanted. And I... I decided that I wanted this.'
'No you don't. You don't want this. How can you want this?'
'Because I... because I can't have you,' he met her gaze, 'because I can never have you. And I... I love you so much it hurts. And I... I kept trying to tell myself just being your friend was enough... just being a part of your life was enough... but it was never enough.'
'No,' she could feel the sting of hot tears running down her cheeks, 'no you don't want to leave because of that. You can't want to leave because of that. Because of me.'
'Cat my love for you has gotten me into so much trouble it's not even funny,' he stared at her. 'It's why I could never keep my hatred for Octan despite what he did to you... to us. Because if it wasn't for him... if it wasn't for him I would never have met you. And I love you. I love you so much I never want to leave you.'
'Then don't.'
'I have to.'
'Why?'
'Because if I don't... if I don't you'll never... I'll never...'
'You can't leave me,' her voice broke, 'I love you.'
'I know you do, but not in the way that I love you,' he lowered his gaze. 'You love me like a brother. That's how you see me. That's how you've always seen me. But I... I don't see you like that. I'm not sure I ever have and considering how old you were when we first met my feelings for you now and then are wrong on so many levels. And that's what it comes down to. The one sin I've committed that I've never been punished for. The one sin I need to be punished for.'
'How can love be a sin?' She stared at him in confusion. 'You've never hurt me, not ever. So how can love be a sin?'
'Because...' he lifted his gaze towards her as a strange smile pulled across his face. 'Because you're a child and I'm an old man.'
'You're not... you're not an old man, you're a teenager.'
'No, I died as a teenager, but we both know...'
'We don't know anything,' she pressed her hands against her ears, 'stop trying so hard to leave me.'
'Catilin, please,' suddenly he was in front of her, pulling her arms back down, 'you know I don't want to leave you and that's exactly the problem. The age gap between us, the fact that I'm dead... there are so many reasons why my feelings for you are wrong Cat. I'm not meant to have you, I know that, but I've seen you with Duke. I know you're in love with him and I can't... I can't stand watching you... I can't stop myself wanting to... to fight him for you. I've felt this way for a long time now, but it's only been the last few days that I realised just how much... If I stay I will eventually kill him; I know I will, because I can't watch you be with someone else. So this... this is for the best.'
'No,' her vision blurred with tears, 'no, don't leave me.'
'Cat, if you had to choose between me and him right now, who would you pick?'
'I...' she hesitated; the very thought of the question made her heart break, 'I... I can't...'
'Catilin, please, be honest with me. After all we've been through together you owe me that.'
'I don't want to lose you.'
'That means you would pick Duke, doesn't it?' Jay gently wipe tears away from her eyes. 'Because you're in love with him, not me. You'll never be in love with me. But it's okay, it's okay because I understand. I understand you can't... you can't make yourself feel something you're not meant to feel. But I can't just switch off how I'm feeling and I can't just walk away, so I have to... This is the only way.'
'No, please... don't leave me. I don't want you to leave me.'
'If you always remember me, then I'll never leave you.'
Without another word he leant towards her and tenderly kissed her lips. His touch was so soft it was almost none existent, but it was real and it was there. Her heart sank, no matter how much she didn't want it to happen, there was no point avoiding the invertible. Even before their lips parted she knew this was goodbye.
'Promise me you'll always remember me Cat,' his image was so faint now it was almost impossible to see.
'Always,' she could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks, 'I'll never forget you.'
'I love you,' the words tumbled out of him as he disappeared from sight. 'I love you Catilin Ashmar, I love you.'
