A/N: I know chapter 8 was kind of confusing. Sorry about all that. That's where it crosses over with my books. My books are all about Heaven/Hell, warrior angels and allllll…that…Jaaaaaazz…(Sorry, we're singing highlights from Chicago in an after school choir group I'm in and it's suck in my head…) But yeah.
Basically, Cali's parents were angel/gods. Isis (her mom) had some enemies in low places (catch my drift? (Hell)), and Lucifer himself wanted her dead. He wanted to take over Earth and then take over Heaven, and Isis was protecting Earth. Cali inherited her mother's mission. Paul is Neo's nephew. Neo rules Hell. Paul wants to take over Earth and rule it. He has to get rid of Cali before he can start taking over.
If that doesn't explain it, feel free to e-mail me and I'll do what I can. :) (My address is in my bio.)
Also, I think this is the last chapter. What I do next is up t'you. I'm thinking about my idea of mediator book 6. Pure Meg Cabot style, none of my characters, Suze's POV and all that. Or I could do a continuation of this. It's up to you, since I could go either way! Let me know what you think of it, please! Compliment me, flame me, tell me what you think of it! I'll respond as best I can!
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Chapter 9: Of Life and Death
**Suze**
Whoa. This was way too much new information for me to handle. What were those weapons? Paul had called them "try-daggers" or something. She was really good at spinning those things…and Paul used to be an angel? Well that was certainly…unexpected…
"You could never be as good as your mother, Cali," Paul said, shaking his head. "Why bother trying?" His eyes were glowing…it was so weird. I moved so I could look at Cali's face, and she seemed to be frozen. The only reason I knew she wasn't frozen was the fact that her eyes were reflecting the bloodred of his, and she was breathing hard.
"You know nothing, Slater," Cali snapped, her shaking hands clenched into fists. "I am as good as her if not better. I am the daughter of the angel and malaengel of life. I have powers you will never have," she said, and her hands started to glow.
"Nombre de dios," I heard Jesse breathe behind me. "Look at her veins." He pointed to her, and I did. I swallowed hard. Her veins were laced with bloodred light. What the hell…? "Calixte – ?"
"Shut up, Jesse," she snapped, turning towards him. What Jesse saw caused him to back up fast and hit the pole, swearing in Spanish. I did the same thing, only it was English. Her irises weren't reflecting Pauls. They were bloodred, and glowing. She bent and picked up her weapons, spinning them around her fingers. She lunged and slashed Paul's arm. She yelped and looked at her arm, seeing a long gash, identical to the one on Paul's arm. "What the - ?" she watched as the gash faded slightly.
Paul smirked. "A tad clumsy, are we?" he asked. Cali was shaking with pure rage. "How's the siren gonna get herself out of this one, hmm?"
**Cali**
How was I going to get myself out of this? I lunged and stabbed Paul's shoulder with my tridagger. I winced and dropped the weapon when an identical stab wound appeared in my shoulder. Fuck. I was screwed. I had to get rid of him. I had to get rid of him. But now I couldn't get rid of him without killing myself, too. And to top it all off, I didn't have my cy'enel. Cy'enels were jewel pendants with little flames in the middle, containing our extra lives. Angels have multiple lives because we're needed. We could only come back to life if we were wearing the necklace, though. I had two choices, as I saw it. I could either try to break the link and possibly kill myself, or I could kill him and kill myself for sure. Or I could just leave, and end up exactly like my parents…Okay. Whatever I did, I was probably going to die. But I had a feeling I could do one last thing before I died. Okay, I'd try breaking the link first. I closed my eyes and searched for any alien power running around in my veins. When I found it, I shuddered. It was blood red. I pulled it all towards my hands, making them very hot. It felt like I had just put my hands on a hot stove.
"Ow," I whimpered. I couldn't help it. It was hot! As soon as I watched the last of the bloodred power flow into my glowing hands, I pushed it out of them, creating a sphere of it. It was as big as my head when I threw it at Paul, who just absorbed it. I bent and picked up my tridaggers, spinning them before glaring at Paul.
"Go ahead," he dared me. "You still won't kill me," he said, smirking.
I lunged and slashed at his exposed chest, cutting fairly deep. I yelped when an identical cut sliced its way into my chest, cutting my shirt open. Ahem. "Shit," I muttered, having realized I didn't break the link. Okay, now I was really screwed. That would usually break any sort of a link there was…I hate that boy. I hate that boy. ~Jesse, ~ I mindspoke to him, knowing what I had to do. ~Look. Paul has me trapped. No matter what I do, I'll die. I need you to do me a favor, though.~ I sighed. ~Have a good life, and if you hurt Suze, I'll kill you.~
**Jesse**
"If you hurt Suze, I'll kill you"? What was she talking about? I'm dead. She can't "kill" me. When I pointed this out to her, she laughed.
~You'll see,~ she told me. ~You'll see.~ She walked closer to Paul, holding her weapons. "Goodbye, Paul," Calixte said quietly, and pressed a weapon against his chest.
"You won't do it," Paul said, shaking his head. He leaned forward slightly. "I know you." He winced when the long blade pierced his skin. "You won't do it because if you kill me, you'll kill yourself, too," he murmured, then leaned forward and –ugh – kissed her.
Calixte dug the blade deep into his chest, pushing him away from her. "Get off me, jerk," she said, coughing as she spoke. Only when I looked at her did I see a stab wound in the left side of her chest. She pressed a hand against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding as she fell to her knees in shock. I guess she hadn't realized how much this would hurt.
"Cali!" I heard Susannah gasp behind me.
~Jesse, come here,~ I heard Calixte's voice in my head. Obediently, I walked over and knelt next to her. ~I'm giving you the rest of my life force. This might hurt a bit. When you first come back, you're probably going to have some trouble breathing, but your throat and lungs should relax once they remember how to work.~ What was this…? She was giving me her life force…
"When I first come back? What do you mean?" I asked, more confused than I think I've ever been.
~Jesse. Shut up,~ she mindspoke, then reached up and pulled my head down. For a second I thought she was going to kiss me, or something. ~Don't flatter yourself, cowboy,~ she mindspoke weakly, smirking, having heard my thought. Oops. She rested a hand against her throat and one against my forehead. Almost immediately, I felt something hot flowing into my head. Oh, was I going to have a headache. But I didn't pull away, knowing she was doing this for me and Susannah.
"What's going on?" I heard Susannah ask, looking at Calixte and Paul. "What happened to them?"
~Jesse will explain,~ I heard a very weak voice mindspeak. Then it hit me. Then it really hit me. Calixte was killing herself to give Susannah and me a chance to be together. Nombre de dios…
"Calixte," I started to protest.
~Shut up,~ she said.
"No, I won't let you –"
~–You're about to.~
"Kill yourself so we –"
~-Jesse.~ That was it. Just my name. In this pain-filled, pleading voice that almost brought tears to my eyes. ~I am doing this for you and Suze. Let me. For Suze, Jesse. Let me do this. If I don't, my life will have meant nothing.~ As she told me this, she started really pouring her life force into me. I saw flashes of her memories before my eyes, and heard her voice, singing – dios, was she an amazing singer – speaking, laughing, crying…The memories stopped and her cold hand slipped from my forehead.
I immediately felt a thud start up in my chest, startling me. "What the - ?" I rasped. My lungs absorbed air, and I coughed. I couldn't breathe right! What was going on? I forced myself to calm down, remembering Calixte had said it would be hard to breathe for a minute. As she had predicted, my lungs relaxed and I stopped coughing. "Susannah?" She was watching me, her jaw on the floor. "Are you alright?" I asked, walking over to her.
"Jesse…you're…you're not glowing," she noticed. "Are you…alive?" she asked, stepping closer to me, seeming almost afraid of me. "Are you really alive?" she asked, obviously awed.
I touched a pair of fingers to my throat and found my pulse. "Apparently," I said with a grin, which soon dropped. "She sacrificed herself for us, Susannah," I said quietly, looking down at Calixte. "The least we can do is give her a proper burial." I couldn't help it…I kept thinking she was just going to get up and say something like "Please. You think that guy could actually get rid of me?" and she'd laugh. "Yeah, right. You don't have enough faith in me, Jesse." In fact, I almost heard her say it. I knelt and checked her pulse…nothing. Dios…Paul had killed her. She hadn't killed herself. Paul had set the trap. Calixte had just seen that she couldn't get out of it, so she turned the trap on him.
**Suze**
Cali was dead…Paul was dead…Jesse was alive…it just wouldn't register. "Jesse," I said quietly to him. He was kneeling next to Cali's body, in shock. He actually jumped when I spoke. "We need to talk to Father Dom." Then I remembered. Oh god… "What are we going to tell her parents?" What were we going to tell them? "Your daughter's dead. I mean your adopted kid. She's dead. Yeah, an evil dude who killed her parents set a trap she couldn't get out of, so she killed him, killing herself, and before she died, she brought my boyfriend back to life. Sorry about that." Yeah, not.
Jesse nodded. "Yes, we need to speak to Father Dominic…" He blinked and shook his head. "This is so weird, Querida." He had called me querida! Oh, how I loved the caressing tone he used when he said that word… "I'm suddenly alive again…and very out of fashion, if I do say so myself," he said with a grin up at me. He sighed. "Alright." He picked Cali up in his arms easily and walked over to me. "To Father Dominic we go."
I stopped him. "Jesse. Telephone," I said, and pointed to the one on the wall. I knew Father D's number by heart, so I picked up the phone and dialed.
"Hello?" a woman's voice said sharply. Sister Ernestine. Wow, did she annoy me.
"Hi, can I speak to Father Dominic?" I asked sweetly as I could.
"Susannah Simon, do you have any idea how late it is?" she asked. If I had seen her, I imagine she'd be glaring at the phone about now.
"Actually, no…I don't have a watch on me. I'm sorry, Sister. Can I talk to him? Please? It's an emergency," I added, crossing my fingers to excuse the half-lie. Well, two people I knew were dead, and one who was dead was alive. So it was kind of an emergency…no one was dying. They were already dead.
"Hello Susannah. I'm so glad you called about the -"
"Father Dom, I'm not anywhere near home. Don't worry about someone being on the other line, unless the phone in the warehouse is tapped." Before he could say anything, I said "Look, I'll get to the point: Paul and Cali are dead, and Jesse is alive."
I heard Father Dom start choking on the liquid I imagine he had been drinking. "What?" he hissed into the phone. "I'll be right there."
"You know where it is, right? It's the one about five miles from the Mission," I reminded him. When he told me he did know and would be right there, I nodded. "Okay, 'bye," I said, and hung up. I was soon enveloped in a hug so tight I thought my ribs were going to crack.
"I'm just so glad you're safe," Jesse whispered into my hair, then kissed the top of my head. We stayed in each other's embrace for about five minutes until we heard someone calling our names.
"Susannah? Jesse?" Father Dom called up the stairs.
"Up here, Father D!" I called to him, pulling myself very reluctantly out of Jesse's arms. When he walked up the stairs, he stared at Jesse for, like, five minutes, then blinked.
"So you're alive, then," he said, regaining his composure. I almost laughed. It was so funny...
"So I am," Jesse said, also fighting laughter. "It's more important that you look at them, though," he said, gesturing to Cali and Paul, who lay there on the hard wooden floor with identical wounds.
Father Dom knelt between Cali and Paul. He checked both their pulses, shaking his head each time he felt nothing. "What do we tell their parents?" he asked with a sigh, straightening.
"Well I thought something along the lines of 'sorry your adopted daughter is dead. This idiot, Paul Slater kind of put her in a death trap that she couldn't get out of, so she turned it back on him by killing him and herself at the same time. She would've died anyway, but she brought my boyfriend – I – I mean…back to life," I stammered. I felt myself start to blush, realizing I had just called Jesse my boyfriend without checking to see if he really was first. My blush deepened when Jesse grinned at me.
"Well that's a bit too straightforward for this, Susannah. Wait a second. She has wings! They both have wings…Where did those come from?" he asked, looking to see if the wings were connected to their backs. "Oh dear…this is going to take some explaining."
"'Oh dear' is right," Jesse muttered
I nodded. "Well, they're angels. Paul used to be one, and Cali was born on earth," I started, wishing she was here to correct me when I got information wrong (which I was sure I was going to do). About a minute later, I finished.
"Susannah, could you repeat that? At a human speed?" Father Dom said, resting his hands on his hips. Oops. I forgot not everyone can register speech as fast as mine. Hell, I can't even register it…I repeated it, slowly. "Well that was a little better," he said when I finished.
"Now what are we going to do about those two?" Jesse asked, gesturing towards the two dead…forms on the floor. Well, I don't know what to call them. They're not human, but they're not angels either. Well, Cali technically is, but Paul isn't. "We need to bury Calixte," Jesse said.
"We need to bury Calixte and Paul," Father Dominic corrected.
"Father Dominic, if it weren't for Paul, Calixte would be alive," Jesse pointed out, glaring.
"But if it weren't for him, you wouldn't be alive," I said, touching his arm gently, letting him know I was still here. He turned around to face me and his gaze immediately softened. Aww, he likes me!
"I realize that, Susannah," he said. "and of course I like you," he said, laughing slightly. "What made you ever think I didn't like you?"
I blinked. "What?" I hadn't said anything…Oh, my GOD. When Cali brought him back to life, she gave him her life force, and apparently, also her powers. Jesse could hear my thoughts…Oh, man. I'm screwed.
Jesse grinned. "You realize I've heard everything you just thought…right?" he said to me.
I glared at him and smacked him in the shoulder. "Yeah, yeah," I grumbled.
"Calixte's powers are a lot of fun," he said, still grinning. "No, Father Dominic, I have no idea why I have her powers," Jesse said to him, turning. When Father D opened his mouth again, Jesse cut him off. "But they're so much fun!" he said, laughing at the stunned look on Father D's face.
"Jesse, you - "
"I don't see why I shouldn't have fun with them," he said. Well this was a change in Jesse I hadn't expected… "But is it a change for the better or worse?" Jesse asked, turning back towards me.
"Oh shut up, Jesse."
FIN
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A/N: Okay, that's the end. I didn't expect that, lol…those characters are evil little things! Wow…Lol. What d'you think? You guys want me to continue with this, or write a pure Meg Cabot style fic? It's up to you! I'll go with whatever the majority of the first ten say! (If there aren't 10, I'll go with the majority of those. *Grin*)