Sorry it took so long. Protector, part II Chapter fourteen: Imposter

Serena stood in the vast ocean letting the cool water lap around her. The sun was setting and all around her were colors that no artist could conjure. This was the only place where she can feel relaxed when times were rough, but even this tranquility could not sooth her. Her anger was pulsing through her before she entered the water, but now that she has, the anger was filled with sadness and disbelief.

'How could he do that?' She questioned herself as she watches the gulls fly over and about the beach. 'I never thought he could be so cruel to me--to anyone.' Then, although she did her best to stop it, the memories of what happened that afternoon caught up with her.

After driving around awhile in Stanton's car, Serena began to notice a change in him. There was no hint of light in his eyes that there was before. Stanton was also more aggressive in his driving; he was swerving in and out of traffic. When Serena suggested he should calm down, he yelled at her and then laughed when she was offended.

He parked by a local park that was crowed with some type of festival. They got out of the car and were walking together when Serena noticed that Stanton was eyeing the crowd with great attentiveness.

"Are you looking for someone?" Serena asked.

"Not anyone in particular, just people who have potential to be a good follower. Business has been so slow lately." Stanton responded with indifference.

"Business? You never referred to it like that before." She replied with disgust and suspicion.

"Yeah, well, things change little goddess and you need to get used to it." Stanton didn't look at her when he talked, he just continued to survey the crowd. Serena stared at Stanton in full disgust, but a clown interrupted her. "Hey there, kids! Want a new beautiful hat!" The clown held up a balloon hat made into the shape of a sailor's hat.

Stanton grabbed the clown by the ruffles on his color and held the clown two feet above the ground. "How dare you bother the Prince of Darkness! Be gone you vial bag of human organs. Nay, your death will bring me pride…" And to everyone's surprise and horror, Stanton carried the fearful clown to the pointed fence and brought him down upon it, impaling the clown. Stanton then stalked off in the direction of his car. Serena, recovering from the shock of what just happened, ran to the fence. Help arrived soon and after Serena confirmed what the clown muttered from his dying mouth, she went after Stanton.

She found him leaning against his car eating an ice cream cone. "What took you so long? I've been waiting. Did you honestly think I would leave without my goddess?" He asked in a cruel, half-mocking voice.

"How could you do that? How can you murder someone as innocent as that man?" Serena said in a hurt voice.

"That man was probably not innocent and he wasn't a man, he was a clown." Stanton was obviously amused by the reaction he had gotten from Serena.

"Who are you?" Serena asked as she wheeled around and started walking towards the boardwalk.

"What's the matter, Goddess?" Stanton shouted after her from his car. "Your perfect little world torn from you? Grow up goddess, the world isn't what it seems sometimes."

Serena stopped walking a half block from the car. What he had just said really hurt her. She closed her eyes and painfully took another step. In her mind, his voice echoed: "be seeing you."

Tears began to fill her eyes as Serena watched the sun sink behind the never-ending ocean. She turned around to walk back to the shore and notice that the beach was deserted. As she waded back to land, she noticed a rather large bon fire up on the hill.

After she put on some dry cloths, Colin was surfing and his car was right on the beach and she always kept some extra cloths in there, she made her way up the hill. When she got there, her heart leapt. Stanton and a crowd of other Followers were converting people to the Atrox.

Stanton, when he noticed Serena, started stalking over to her. She was struck dumb, two betrayals in one day was too much. Instinct over took her and she ran. But, like the last time she tried to run from Stanton on a darkening day, he caught up to her and grabbed her. He was not harsh or hurtful to her, but more like a gentle lover taking her hand. She spun around to face him. She had made a pretty good distance from the fire, she must have caught Stanton off guard.

"Look," he said in a low voice, "I know you don't like it, but it's my duty." Serena parted her lips for a rebuttal, but he kept going. "And your probably angry with me for leaving you in my closet this morning, I couldn't help it. They needed me to come with them because there was some trouble, if I would have said no, they might have suspected us." Stanton finished and then he noticed the confused look on Serena's face. "What?" He asked.

"But you did, Stanton." Serena began to cry and fret about. "You did."

Stanton held her tight on the shoulder and tried to understand, "I did what, Serena, I did what?"

"You came back and then you took me out—the park and the clown—" Serena was really trembling now and she would have fallen if Stanton was not holding her up.

"Wow! Calm down, shh." Stanton looked concerned and confused. He shifted Serena in his hands, then slowly sat her down on a rock. He kneeled down in front of her. He did his best to sooth her, but its not in his nature to be so kind. When realizing this, he quietly waited for her to regain herself.

Serena was breathing heavily as she tried to piece together the events of the day. Then she was ready. "You came back into the closet and you were acting a little strange, but I dismissed it when you kissed me. Then you asked me if I wanted to get out of there and I said yes. You took me to a festival at the park, you weren't acting like yourself, and I knew that. When I asked you about it, you yelled at me and then you—you killed a clown who came to ask us about a hat." Serena looked up from the ground and looked at Stanton.

He had a very disbelieving face and repeated, "A clown with a hat?" He shook his head. "Serena, let me into you memory."

Serena shook her head no and she cried "no" in a low murmur.

"I don't really need you permission, you know, I am more powerful than you are." She finally consented to his wish.

After a few moments, his gaze returned to the present and he shook his head in wonder. "It wasn't me." He said as he got up. He paced back and forth in front of Serena.

"I know that now." She replied. "The light I saw in my kiss, it was not a fantasy, but the colors of my moon amulet shining." She got up now too and paced with Stanton. "He also called me Goddess, and you got out of that habit awhile ago." She started to sound more like herself, with a little bit of anger in her voice. She wanted revenge to whoever played this awful scheme.