A/N: Hello, friends! I've written another chapter for you all to enjoy!
Unfortunately, I hate it! But whatever.
I shall not hinder you any longer! Read on, and I shall await your judgement.............
Rebirth—Chapter 13
Paul was watching us with a smile on his face as we touched down softly on the floor. Not a happy one. A smile that seemed to say, "I can't believe this is happening to me." One of those.
"Suze," he said politely. "I see...you've made your choice then."
Jesse gave my hand a squeeze—he was warning me not to say anything stupid. Me? Stupid? Nah.
Paul laughed a little, and looked to the side, his brows raised. I think he was having some serious issues coming to terms with reality.
"You're my wife, Suze..." he said in a very strange sounding voice.
"I never meant to be, Paul."
"I...I know."
He looked back at us. The smile was gone. His face was slack with hopelessness.
"I understand now, Suze. I understand what I've done." He looked towards Jesse. They stared at each other for a space of seconds. "Prolonged the inevitable. All these years...I have been roadblock in your life. A pebble in your shoe. A burden." He shut his eyes, and ran a hand through his golden hair. "I...I'm so sorry—"
His voice broke on the last word. He covered his face in his hands and made some weird wheezing sounds. I realized...he was trying not to cry. Something seemed to squeeze my chest as I watched him. I just...I don't know. I made my choice. I chose Jesse. Nothing would change that. But Paul just looked so broken, standing there alone...
He suddenly let out a horrible scream, like something inside was trying to rip out of him, and collapsed to his knees. Before I knew what I was doing, I had taken a step towards him. Jesse's hand holding mine stopped me. I looked back at him. His face was grim.
"Susannah..." His voice was warm, the beginnings of anger. "He needs to accept the truth."
"Jesse...look at him."
"Susannah, if you let go of my hand right now, I'll never let you have it again." His eyes hardened. "And I mean that. No matter how much I love you. My heart is not a toy for you to play with, and neither is his."
My breath caught in my throat, and the pressure in my chest was almost unbearable. He was right. He was so right.
I looked back at Paul. He was breathing hard, staring at me from the floor. His icy blue eyes watched me through a veil of hair that had fallen over his face. The silence was touchable. Jesse's hand was suddenly not as tight around mine. Like he was already accepting that I was about to let go.
I shook my head against the pounding headache starting between my eyes. I covered my face with my free hand, and for a second, I just stood there. In the cool darkness of my mind, I was alone. I was free to think without Paul's blue eyes or Jesse's warm hand to sway me. I was alone in a long, dark hall. But instead of doors lining it, there were mirrors. The sky overhead was not inky black with a sprinkle of stars, but wide and blue, with clouds drifting by endlessly.
I walked down this hall, and every mirror showed me a different memory...here was Jesse and I first meeting, me grabbing his finger and his perpetually shocked face. There was Paul playing chess with Rose and I, and good- humouredly getting his ass kicked. Then there was Jesse, watching me coldly as I sobbed at his feet on the rooftop of Roger's Place. Paul, as he came towards me and gave me the awful kiss that would make me his eternally reluctant bride. A series of mirrors showcased more passionate moments, which don't really need to be described in any detail. Paul, creating a tiny star in front of my very eyes in honor of my twenty-first birthday, and telling me how much he loved me. Jesse, drifting through the stars, asking me if my words meant anything, then vanishing into the velvet blackness of his mind.
He never told me...he loved me.
I lowered my hand, and Paul was still there, staring at me with a quiet desperation, like his life depended upon his decision. And maybe it did.
"Paul..."
He jerked lightly, as if my voice had stung him.
"...goodbye."
I stepped backwards into Jesse. He drew me against him, his hands coming around my waist to hold me in place. I felt his chin on top of my forehead. The cadaverous chill was gone, and Jesse was radiating his otherworldly heat once again. It was a wonderful feeling.
Paul's gaze dropped to the ground. He sat there limply for a long time, looking like a rag doll. My heart was still tight with remorse, but it felt as though a great weight had been lifted. I was with Jesse. The decision was final. It was the right decision. There was no doubt. Jesse had my heart. When I looked at Paul, I felt a vague shadow of hate and affection, and a wave of pity. But somehow...there was so much more when I looked at Jesse.
"I'm going to kill him," I heard Jesse's rough whisper.
"No, you're not, Jesse. He's dead enough."
"He will want revenge. I swear to you, he will try to kill us."
"I won't let you kill him, Jesse." His arms tightened around me. "No. Just leave him. Be satisfied that the sight of him makes me sick."
"Susannah..."
"No."
"He is still king. He is still destroying this world, and causing death."
"You think you'd do better?"
I had a split second to think, maybe I shouldn't have said that. But Jesse only gave a low chuckle that was just this side of a growl. Creepy. I've just chosen to spend my life with a slightly psychotic demon, who happens to be possessed by Satan. I didn't even want to think about the possible problems that little detail might create later on. But in that respect, my other choice wasn't much better.
"Let's leave, Jesse," I whispered. "I can't take this anymore."
Without a word, Jesse turned me in his arms, towards the entrance. The crowd of silent demons blocking the entrance began parting so we could walk through, when suddenly there came a voice from behind us. A cold, deadly voice that made me shiver. And it was most definitely not the voice of Lucifer.
"Kill them."
The demons who had begun moving to let us through suddenly stopped. I spun around, staring. Paul was still hanging limply in his kneeling position, bare chest heaving, head lowered so I couldn't see his face.
"Kill them," he said again.
Nobody moved. Jesse threw me an "I told you so" look, letting go of my hand and crossing his arms over his chest. He looked more impatient than worried.
"Paul," I said, stepping towards him, "What do you think you're doing?"
His head shot up, eyes blazing with concentrated fury. "I'm killing you, the way you've killed me." He stood, quivering with suppressed power. I stepped away from him again, suddenly...afraid. I hadn't felt that way about Paul in a long time. Not for years. But now, angry energy was seeping out of him, prickling the hairs on the back of my neck and raising goosebumps.
"Hear me, demons," he called out loudly, his voice suddenly strong and booming. I began to see dark waves of energy emanating from him, like an aura of power. His wings were a black arch over his body as he slowly began rising, levitating over the sea of his waiting subjects. "Susannah Simon is no longer your queen."
My mouth fell open. Seriously. I mean...I didn't think he would do that. Of course, I wasn't expecting to rule at his side anymore, but...I just wasn't expecting him to denounce me right there. I was figuring there'd have to be a ceremony or something...
"Susannah," Jesse said suddenly. I glanced over at him. He was staring up at Paul, eyes wide, arms held up, almost in a fighting stance. "Susannah...this is not good."
"Why? What's going on?" If Jesse was worried, then we were in trouble.
There was a blinding flash, and second later, what seemed like a sonic boom inside my head. I screamed, but I couldn't hear it. There was nothing but a terrible, high-pitched ringing. Pain seared down the center of my skull, like my brain had been split in half. I opened tearing eyes, and saw Jesse having a similar reaction to whatever Paul had just done. Then I realized that all the demons were looking at us. Both of us. Watching us with hungry eyes.
I had a second to think, oh shit, this is bad, before Jesse, still shaking his head in what looked like pain, grabbed me around the waist and launched himself into the air.
"Jesse!" I tried to shout. I don't know if any sound came out, because I still couldn't hear anything but the fading scream in my mind. I looked down, and blinked in shock at what I saw. All the demons in the room were launching themselves upward at us, arms outstretched, fangs bared. Paul was rising higher and higher like some dark god, his power swirling around him in a black tornado, whipping almost painfully at my skin. Then, suddenly, sound returned in a painful rush. His power howled through the room, the demons screamed a nightmarish chorus as they reached for us, and Paul's voice slithered through the room in a hypnotic undertone, "...kill them...kill them...kill them..."
Horror filled me until I could barely breathe. Then Jesse called out to me, "Close your eyes!"
I did, shutting out the awful vision of those demons just inches away...and we suddenly shot upwards at some impossible speed. My stomach dropped to my feet, and nausea crept up my throat. Jesse was going to barrel through the ceiling. It was the only way out. We were going through the ceiling. Crap, crap, crap.
I balled up my fists, held onto his arms, and made myself as small as I possibly could...and Jesse suddenly flipped so that we were horizontal, with me on the bottom. He squeezed me against him, shielding me from whatever would happen.
The world exploded, and I screamed. Jesse grunted in pain, but we kept going, sailing through layers of plaster and wood and brick, unable to stop with our own momentum driving us. It must have only been a few seconds, but it seemed that we were there for hours, with tons and tons of heavy materials slamming into Jesse's back. I kept hoping he would still be alive by the time we were on the other side...
...and suddenly, it stopped, and we were flying out into clean, empty air, still being carried by the momentum. I opened by eyes and sucked in a breath. Jesse was staring up at the sky, blinking his eyes frantically, mouth wide open. Like he was trying to scream, but couldn't find his voice.
"Oh my God—Jesse, are you alright?!"
"Can you fly yourself?" he said in a hoarse voice.
"Yes, of course, just let go of me!"
He blinked some more, and his eyes seemed out of focus. "Let go of you...?"
"Jesse..."
"Let go of..." His eyes suddenly fluttered, and his back bowed. "...let go..." His hands slipped away from my back.
"Jesse?" Panic swept through me, and the nausea returned full-force. "Jesse!"
We were slowing down rapidly, high above the city, nearing the point where momentum would fail us.
"Jesse, wake up! Don't do this again, I can't save you!"
Too late. We came to a slow stop, and for just a second, we were suspended in the sky, and Jesse was a beautiful dream, glowing in the moonlight, his eyes half-shut in waning consciousness.
Then the descent began, slowly at first, then faster and faster. A stream of wind found us, and I spread my wings to catch it, but Jesse kept going, limp, tipping over so that he would hit the ground head-first. Beyond him, the flock of crazed demons were rushing up towards us, their eyes red and glowing, hands turned into jagged claws. Beasts.
"No," I whispered.
I hung above the nightmare, watching Jesse spiral down towards the screaming monsters...
And there it was again. That untapped power, sleeping just below the surface of my skin, offering the perfect solution to this predicament.
I let it take me.
Intense heat poured out of me, and I screamed, reaching up my arms toward the moon, and watching molten lava ooze out over them, covering my hands, my fingers. Felt it pour over my face. I saw my hair flying past me in the wind, and it was burning, burning, pure fire.
My scream became something else—no, someone else's scream, someone else's angry roar. The clouds above me were tinged red, melting away from me to form a huge circle in the sky.
"Fear me," I hissed, and they weren't my words, nor my voice.
I turned my flaming head down to where Jesse was still spiraling downwards...and with a thought, he began to glow. The light grew, beautiful, untainted, surrounding his body in a cocoon of protection. The demons screamed indignation and shied away from it, covering their eyes, unable to watch. I motioned upwards with a curl of my molten fingers, and Jesse rose upwards towards me, gleaming in holy perfection. The light tainted his wings, and they appeared white, the wings of an angel. As he stopped before me, hanging horizontal, I was mesmerized. He was so beautiful. Truly...
His eyes flew open then, just as I was reaching out a hand to touch him. He stared at me, and his face showed no fear. "Susannah?"
I smiled. "Jesse."
"You're..." he swallowed, and his brows went up. "Um...you're on fire."
I could have laughed. I just didn't think the situation was appropriate. Already the energy was draining from my body, and if I was going to do something with it, now was the time.
"Are you alright, Jesse?"
"Yes...I believe...this light..." he raised a hand, staring at it in wonderment. "...has healed me."
"Good," I said. I faced the hoard of demons. Just like my dream. They were watching us, waiting for the light to fade. Just like my dream. Just a dream.
I shut my eyes. Just like I did in the dream...I threw the power out of me, shot it out at them, out of my body. I gasped from the heat...burning me from the inside, melting me. My eyes shot open. The power was burning fiery trails down the sky, engulfing the dance club far below in unholy flames. I couldn't see them through the fire, but I could hear them...screaming, no longer in bloodlust, but in pain, in agony. I could smell their death, their melting flesh. I felt the heat flying away from me, draining away as I let the power seep out of me. It was leaving, and the pain was growing, weakness was weighing my body down.
"Jesse, help," I gasped. I felt him grab me from behind, keeping me from falling, and the energy vanished. But the damage was done. The fire had left me, leaving what looked to be a large section of the city engulfed in flames. The demons were gone. My mind was numb. I was blocking out the possibilities...
How many had I just killed??? What did I just do???
What if I just killed Paul...?
"Oh my God," I whispered.
I could hardly move. I hung limp in Jesse's arms, staring at the damage that I just created.
"Oh my God..."
"We're leaving," Jesse said, his voice passive.
"I didn't mean to do that," I said, shaking my head weakly in disbelief. "I didn't mean..."
"I know," he said, and he lifted me up gently, and turned me so I couldn't see the fire anymore. His eyes were soft, and his lips were curved in a pleasant smile. How could he be happy when this just happened?
"I know." He placed a chaste kiss on my forehead, and cradled me to his chest, almost like a child. "Now, let's go home."
"But Jesse..."
"Are you worried about him?" His smile was still there, but his voice was suddenly cool. "Would you like me to bring us down so you can check up on him?"
"I..." I thought about it. I did kind of want to know if Paul was down there, but...somehow, I just wasn't worth it.
"No," I said with a sigh. "No..."
"He's alive," Jesse said. "Okay? He is alive. I would have felt his death. Now, I'm taking you home, Susannah."
Home. I hadn't been able to honestly say that word for so long...home. I had a home. I never called the castle home. Because it never felt like home. For a long time, Rose and Bonnie were the only home I knew. Now, I had a real place to call home. A place where all the people I loved were waiting for me...
I closed my eyes for just a second, as Jesse began to fly us home...
...and when I opened them again, Hell Mountain was nowhere in sight, and we were flying over the barren wasteland that separated the demon and human cities. I stretched, pressing the length of my body against Jesse's. His lips curled in a smile, but he stared straight ahead. The moonlight here was unhindered by artificial light, and it cast an eerie glow over the dead land.
"How long have I been out?"
"About ten minutes, maybe less," Jesse said.
"Oh, wow," I said with a yawn. "I feel like I've been sleeping for years..."
"You needed the rest badly," he said, and he glanced down at me. "You were taking energy from me in your sleep. You did not tell me you had this ability."
"Oh. Um." I shifted a little in his arms. My strength had returned. It felt weird...I don't think I'd ever get used to it. "Well, did I...I mean, are you okay? I didn't take too much, did I?"
"No, not at all. I'm happy to share." He looked down at me. "Though it would be nice if you could fly yourself. You're not as light as I thought."
I scowled as the teasing grin made a comeback. "Jerk."
But I spread my wings a little to catch the wind, and he let me slip from his arms, holding onto my hand so we wouldn't get separated. We flew side by side in a peaceful silence, until I spotted the dome off in the distance, barely visible.
"Jesse?"
"Hm?"
"Why were you so weak back there? I mean, I thought...you should have been strong enough to go through the ceiling. You shouldn't have passed out like that."
I watched him shut his eyes, lifting his head to savor the breeze. His hair seemed longer as it was tossed behind him. "I was weakened...when I opened my eyes and saw my hand around your neck...I knew he had used my body again. I am always weakened after he..." He trailed off, staring ahead, his face giving away nothing.
"Like when...Alexiel was inside me?"
"I suppose. Only I do not boast your recovery abilities."
"Jesse...who is 'he'?"
"I do not know." Then he shook his head. "No, I won't lie...I do know. But I'm...afraid of him."
"The first Dark King," I whispered.
"I told you evil cannot be inherited, only taught. I lied, Susannah. Evil can be inherited. He has been alive through every dark king since his mortal death, and, because of my bond with Paul, through me as well."
"So...you're possessed by Satan."
"Sometimes," he said grimly.
"And...how often does this happen?"
"Not often."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Susannah...I don't...want to talk about it."
The dome was slowly getting bigger, but we still had time before we would reach it. "Fine then. Answer another question."
"What?"
"When did you hypnotize me?"
He laughed suddenly. "My God, you never give up."
I smiled, glad to get the unhappiness off his face. "No, I don't. Now that our date and my outfit are completely ruined, I need a consolation prize. So just tell me when you hypnotized me."
"You'll be mad at me..."
"Jesse..."
"Last night, when you came to my room," he said, and his smile widened. I so did not like the look on his face. Like he was remembering...things.
"And?" I said, gritting my teeth.
"And what?"
"What did you make me do?"
"You only asked when I hypnotized you," he said, his eyes twinkling. "That's an entirely different question, Susannah."
"You jerk!" I said, and, not really knowing what came over me, I let go of his hand and swung myself onto his back.
"Susannah--!" he laughed, falling a few feet before he regained his balance. I hung onto him, tugging playfully at his hair.
"I'm not getting off until you answer my question, Jesse," I whispered in his ear.
"As long as you ride me hard, I don't mind."
Immediately I felt my face turning crimson. "Jerk."
"I can't help it," he said, laughing. "It's so easy to embarrass you. I mean, I lift a brow, you blush. I smile, you shiver. I say hi, you stutter. Either there's something in the water, or—"
"Or I love you!" I said throwing up my arms in defeat. "There, I admit it!" I lifted my face to the sky, and screamed at the desert, "I LOVE YOU!!! I LOOOOOOOOVE YOOOOOOOU!!! LOOOOOO—ahhhhhhh!"
We were suddenly free-falling. I lifted my wings to stay in flight, but Jesse grabbed me by the arms and pulled me against him. He was smirking at me as I found myself suddenly inches from his face, suddenly unable to breathe.
"See what I mean?" he said, quirking an eyebrow. "How are we supposed to have a normal conversation..." He moved closer to me, and our lips touched as he spoke, "...when every time I do the littlest thing..." I felt his knee move between my legs, pressing against my center, and I gasped. "...you think about sex?"
"I—" I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. "I do not!"
"No lies, ma cherie," he said, waggling his eyebrows.
I laughed. "Jesse, that's...that's French."
"Thank you, ma ange de mort, I was not aware of that."
"Stick with the Spanish," I said, smiling at him.
"Okay..." We were almost to the ground when he finally said, "Yo te quiero."
Then, inches from the ground, he flipped us over, catching the wind, and we began to rise again, leaving a cloud of dust where we had almost crashed. As he let me go again, holding my hand so we could fly side by side, I was smiling so wide I thought my face would crack. Jesse had just said he loved me. I knew what it meant because he used to tell me that every day, back when life was happier, before Paul ripped us apart.
The dome loomed large when I finally said, "You still haven't answered my question."
"What question?"
"Jesse..."
"It's not your turn yet."
I blinked as we started going lower. "Turn?"
"I still have to dare you, Susannah," he said with a secret smile.
"Oh yeah..."
"If you can handle my dare," he said with mock arrogance, "I'll answer your question."
Our feet touched down on the dry ground, and we were standing in front of the dome. I turned to Jesse. His hair was messy, his eyes were bright, and he had a smile on his face. His previously soft, white shirt was now brown and kind of burned looking, and ripped down the middle so that I had a nice view of those classically washboard abs. Dry blood clung to his hands in a thin, peeling layer.
I've chosen him...this is the man I love...
"What are you thinking, querida?" he said, voice low.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. He was so damn hot, but beyond that...beyond that, he was just Jesse. I wasn't really sure what that meant, "just Jesse". I guess it didn't really mean anything. But it was just so hard to understand...just what he meant to me. If that's what they call "True Love", then I wonder if whoever thought of it really knew what they were talking about. I mean, it's so easy to pretend to know, to think you know, what is it, really?
Since I didn't want to say all this idiotic thinking out loud, I only said, "That I can handle any dare you throw at me."
"Really?" he said, his eyes lowered, coy.
He walked past me as I was still stuttering some asinine response. He placed his hand on the square panel between the huge metal doors. It beeped and said, "Hector DeSilva. One of the head officers of S.H.I.T. Welcome home."
The doors rumbled open. Jesse offered me his hand. I looked at that hand, and it was like he was offering me so much more, like he could hold that hand out to me forever...
I took his hand, everything it offered, and we walked together into the city.
A/N: Hmmm...I kind of liked it near the end...Jesse's a funny guy...REVIEW, please...next chapter's already written, waiting for ten more reviews...(evil laugh)...
TTFN
I shall not hinder you any longer! Read on, and I shall await your judgement.............
Rebirth—Chapter 13
Paul was watching us with a smile on his face as we touched down softly on the floor. Not a happy one. A smile that seemed to say, "I can't believe this is happening to me." One of those.
"Suze," he said politely. "I see...you've made your choice then."
Jesse gave my hand a squeeze—he was warning me not to say anything stupid. Me? Stupid? Nah.
Paul laughed a little, and looked to the side, his brows raised. I think he was having some serious issues coming to terms with reality.
"You're my wife, Suze..." he said in a very strange sounding voice.
"I never meant to be, Paul."
"I...I know."
He looked back at us. The smile was gone. His face was slack with hopelessness.
"I understand now, Suze. I understand what I've done." He looked towards Jesse. They stared at each other for a space of seconds. "Prolonged the inevitable. All these years...I have been roadblock in your life. A pebble in your shoe. A burden." He shut his eyes, and ran a hand through his golden hair. "I...I'm so sorry—"
His voice broke on the last word. He covered his face in his hands and made some weird wheezing sounds. I realized...he was trying not to cry. Something seemed to squeeze my chest as I watched him. I just...I don't know. I made my choice. I chose Jesse. Nothing would change that. But Paul just looked so broken, standing there alone...
He suddenly let out a horrible scream, like something inside was trying to rip out of him, and collapsed to his knees. Before I knew what I was doing, I had taken a step towards him. Jesse's hand holding mine stopped me. I looked back at him. His face was grim.
"Susannah..." His voice was warm, the beginnings of anger. "He needs to accept the truth."
"Jesse...look at him."
"Susannah, if you let go of my hand right now, I'll never let you have it again." His eyes hardened. "And I mean that. No matter how much I love you. My heart is not a toy for you to play with, and neither is his."
My breath caught in my throat, and the pressure in my chest was almost unbearable. He was right. He was so right.
I looked back at Paul. He was breathing hard, staring at me from the floor. His icy blue eyes watched me through a veil of hair that had fallen over his face. The silence was touchable. Jesse's hand was suddenly not as tight around mine. Like he was already accepting that I was about to let go.
I shook my head against the pounding headache starting between my eyes. I covered my face with my free hand, and for a second, I just stood there. In the cool darkness of my mind, I was alone. I was free to think without Paul's blue eyes or Jesse's warm hand to sway me. I was alone in a long, dark hall. But instead of doors lining it, there were mirrors. The sky overhead was not inky black with a sprinkle of stars, but wide and blue, with clouds drifting by endlessly.
I walked down this hall, and every mirror showed me a different memory...here was Jesse and I first meeting, me grabbing his finger and his perpetually shocked face. There was Paul playing chess with Rose and I, and good- humouredly getting his ass kicked. Then there was Jesse, watching me coldly as I sobbed at his feet on the rooftop of Roger's Place. Paul, as he came towards me and gave me the awful kiss that would make me his eternally reluctant bride. A series of mirrors showcased more passionate moments, which don't really need to be described in any detail. Paul, creating a tiny star in front of my very eyes in honor of my twenty-first birthday, and telling me how much he loved me. Jesse, drifting through the stars, asking me if my words meant anything, then vanishing into the velvet blackness of his mind.
He never told me...he loved me.
I lowered my hand, and Paul was still there, staring at me with a quiet desperation, like his life depended upon his decision. And maybe it did.
"Paul..."
He jerked lightly, as if my voice had stung him.
"...goodbye."
I stepped backwards into Jesse. He drew me against him, his hands coming around my waist to hold me in place. I felt his chin on top of my forehead. The cadaverous chill was gone, and Jesse was radiating his otherworldly heat once again. It was a wonderful feeling.
Paul's gaze dropped to the ground. He sat there limply for a long time, looking like a rag doll. My heart was still tight with remorse, but it felt as though a great weight had been lifted. I was with Jesse. The decision was final. It was the right decision. There was no doubt. Jesse had my heart. When I looked at Paul, I felt a vague shadow of hate and affection, and a wave of pity. But somehow...there was so much more when I looked at Jesse.
"I'm going to kill him," I heard Jesse's rough whisper.
"No, you're not, Jesse. He's dead enough."
"He will want revenge. I swear to you, he will try to kill us."
"I won't let you kill him, Jesse." His arms tightened around me. "No. Just leave him. Be satisfied that the sight of him makes me sick."
"Susannah..."
"No."
"He is still king. He is still destroying this world, and causing death."
"You think you'd do better?"
I had a split second to think, maybe I shouldn't have said that. But Jesse only gave a low chuckle that was just this side of a growl. Creepy. I've just chosen to spend my life with a slightly psychotic demon, who happens to be possessed by Satan. I didn't even want to think about the possible problems that little detail might create later on. But in that respect, my other choice wasn't much better.
"Let's leave, Jesse," I whispered. "I can't take this anymore."
Without a word, Jesse turned me in his arms, towards the entrance. The crowd of silent demons blocking the entrance began parting so we could walk through, when suddenly there came a voice from behind us. A cold, deadly voice that made me shiver. And it was most definitely not the voice of Lucifer.
"Kill them."
The demons who had begun moving to let us through suddenly stopped. I spun around, staring. Paul was still hanging limply in his kneeling position, bare chest heaving, head lowered so I couldn't see his face.
"Kill them," he said again.
Nobody moved. Jesse threw me an "I told you so" look, letting go of my hand and crossing his arms over his chest. He looked more impatient than worried.
"Paul," I said, stepping towards him, "What do you think you're doing?"
His head shot up, eyes blazing with concentrated fury. "I'm killing you, the way you've killed me." He stood, quivering with suppressed power. I stepped away from him again, suddenly...afraid. I hadn't felt that way about Paul in a long time. Not for years. But now, angry energy was seeping out of him, prickling the hairs on the back of my neck and raising goosebumps.
"Hear me, demons," he called out loudly, his voice suddenly strong and booming. I began to see dark waves of energy emanating from him, like an aura of power. His wings were a black arch over his body as he slowly began rising, levitating over the sea of his waiting subjects. "Susannah Simon is no longer your queen."
My mouth fell open. Seriously. I mean...I didn't think he would do that. Of course, I wasn't expecting to rule at his side anymore, but...I just wasn't expecting him to denounce me right there. I was figuring there'd have to be a ceremony or something...
"Susannah," Jesse said suddenly. I glanced over at him. He was staring up at Paul, eyes wide, arms held up, almost in a fighting stance. "Susannah...this is not good."
"Why? What's going on?" If Jesse was worried, then we were in trouble.
There was a blinding flash, and second later, what seemed like a sonic boom inside my head. I screamed, but I couldn't hear it. There was nothing but a terrible, high-pitched ringing. Pain seared down the center of my skull, like my brain had been split in half. I opened tearing eyes, and saw Jesse having a similar reaction to whatever Paul had just done. Then I realized that all the demons were looking at us. Both of us. Watching us with hungry eyes.
I had a second to think, oh shit, this is bad, before Jesse, still shaking his head in what looked like pain, grabbed me around the waist and launched himself into the air.
"Jesse!" I tried to shout. I don't know if any sound came out, because I still couldn't hear anything but the fading scream in my mind. I looked down, and blinked in shock at what I saw. All the demons in the room were launching themselves upward at us, arms outstretched, fangs bared. Paul was rising higher and higher like some dark god, his power swirling around him in a black tornado, whipping almost painfully at my skin. Then, suddenly, sound returned in a painful rush. His power howled through the room, the demons screamed a nightmarish chorus as they reached for us, and Paul's voice slithered through the room in a hypnotic undertone, "...kill them...kill them...kill them..."
Horror filled me until I could barely breathe. Then Jesse called out to me, "Close your eyes!"
I did, shutting out the awful vision of those demons just inches away...and we suddenly shot upwards at some impossible speed. My stomach dropped to my feet, and nausea crept up my throat. Jesse was going to barrel through the ceiling. It was the only way out. We were going through the ceiling. Crap, crap, crap.
I balled up my fists, held onto his arms, and made myself as small as I possibly could...and Jesse suddenly flipped so that we were horizontal, with me on the bottom. He squeezed me against him, shielding me from whatever would happen.
The world exploded, and I screamed. Jesse grunted in pain, but we kept going, sailing through layers of plaster and wood and brick, unable to stop with our own momentum driving us. It must have only been a few seconds, but it seemed that we were there for hours, with tons and tons of heavy materials slamming into Jesse's back. I kept hoping he would still be alive by the time we were on the other side...
...and suddenly, it stopped, and we were flying out into clean, empty air, still being carried by the momentum. I opened by eyes and sucked in a breath. Jesse was staring up at the sky, blinking his eyes frantically, mouth wide open. Like he was trying to scream, but couldn't find his voice.
"Oh my God—Jesse, are you alright?!"
"Can you fly yourself?" he said in a hoarse voice.
"Yes, of course, just let go of me!"
He blinked some more, and his eyes seemed out of focus. "Let go of you...?"
"Jesse..."
"Let go of..." His eyes suddenly fluttered, and his back bowed. "...let go..." His hands slipped away from my back.
"Jesse?" Panic swept through me, and the nausea returned full-force. "Jesse!"
We were slowing down rapidly, high above the city, nearing the point where momentum would fail us.
"Jesse, wake up! Don't do this again, I can't save you!"
Too late. We came to a slow stop, and for just a second, we were suspended in the sky, and Jesse was a beautiful dream, glowing in the moonlight, his eyes half-shut in waning consciousness.
Then the descent began, slowly at first, then faster and faster. A stream of wind found us, and I spread my wings to catch it, but Jesse kept going, limp, tipping over so that he would hit the ground head-first. Beyond him, the flock of crazed demons were rushing up towards us, their eyes red and glowing, hands turned into jagged claws. Beasts.
"No," I whispered.
I hung above the nightmare, watching Jesse spiral down towards the screaming monsters...
And there it was again. That untapped power, sleeping just below the surface of my skin, offering the perfect solution to this predicament.
I let it take me.
Intense heat poured out of me, and I screamed, reaching up my arms toward the moon, and watching molten lava ooze out over them, covering my hands, my fingers. Felt it pour over my face. I saw my hair flying past me in the wind, and it was burning, burning, pure fire.
My scream became something else—no, someone else's scream, someone else's angry roar. The clouds above me were tinged red, melting away from me to form a huge circle in the sky.
"Fear me," I hissed, and they weren't my words, nor my voice.
I turned my flaming head down to where Jesse was still spiraling downwards...and with a thought, he began to glow. The light grew, beautiful, untainted, surrounding his body in a cocoon of protection. The demons screamed indignation and shied away from it, covering their eyes, unable to watch. I motioned upwards with a curl of my molten fingers, and Jesse rose upwards towards me, gleaming in holy perfection. The light tainted his wings, and they appeared white, the wings of an angel. As he stopped before me, hanging horizontal, I was mesmerized. He was so beautiful. Truly...
His eyes flew open then, just as I was reaching out a hand to touch him. He stared at me, and his face showed no fear. "Susannah?"
I smiled. "Jesse."
"You're..." he swallowed, and his brows went up. "Um...you're on fire."
I could have laughed. I just didn't think the situation was appropriate. Already the energy was draining from my body, and if I was going to do something with it, now was the time.
"Are you alright, Jesse?"
"Yes...I believe...this light..." he raised a hand, staring at it in wonderment. "...has healed me."
"Good," I said. I faced the hoard of demons. Just like my dream. They were watching us, waiting for the light to fade. Just like my dream. Just a dream.
I shut my eyes. Just like I did in the dream...I threw the power out of me, shot it out at them, out of my body. I gasped from the heat...burning me from the inside, melting me. My eyes shot open. The power was burning fiery trails down the sky, engulfing the dance club far below in unholy flames. I couldn't see them through the fire, but I could hear them...screaming, no longer in bloodlust, but in pain, in agony. I could smell their death, their melting flesh. I felt the heat flying away from me, draining away as I let the power seep out of me. It was leaving, and the pain was growing, weakness was weighing my body down.
"Jesse, help," I gasped. I felt him grab me from behind, keeping me from falling, and the energy vanished. But the damage was done. The fire had left me, leaving what looked to be a large section of the city engulfed in flames. The demons were gone. My mind was numb. I was blocking out the possibilities...
How many had I just killed??? What did I just do???
What if I just killed Paul...?
"Oh my God," I whispered.
I could hardly move. I hung limp in Jesse's arms, staring at the damage that I just created.
"Oh my God..."
"We're leaving," Jesse said, his voice passive.
"I didn't mean to do that," I said, shaking my head weakly in disbelief. "I didn't mean..."
"I know," he said, and he lifted me up gently, and turned me so I couldn't see the fire anymore. His eyes were soft, and his lips were curved in a pleasant smile. How could he be happy when this just happened?
"I know." He placed a chaste kiss on my forehead, and cradled me to his chest, almost like a child. "Now, let's go home."
"But Jesse..."
"Are you worried about him?" His smile was still there, but his voice was suddenly cool. "Would you like me to bring us down so you can check up on him?"
"I..." I thought about it. I did kind of want to know if Paul was down there, but...somehow, I just wasn't worth it.
"No," I said with a sigh. "No..."
"He's alive," Jesse said. "Okay? He is alive. I would have felt his death. Now, I'm taking you home, Susannah."
Home. I hadn't been able to honestly say that word for so long...home. I had a home. I never called the castle home. Because it never felt like home. For a long time, Rose and Bonnie were the only home I knew. Now, I had a real place to call home. A place where all the people I loved were waiting for me...
I closed my eyes for just a second, as Jesse began to fly us home...
...and when I opened them again, Hell Mountain was nowhere in sight, and we were flying over the barren wasteland that separated the demon and human cities. I stretched, pressing the length of my body against Jesse's. His lips curled in a smile, but he stared straight ahead. The moonlight here was unhindered by artificial light, and it cast an eerie glow over the dead land.
"How long have I been out?"
"About ten minutes, maybe less," Jesse said.
"Oh, wow," I said with a yawn. "I feel like I've been sleeping for years..."
"You needed the rest badly," he said, and he glanced down at me. "You were taking energy from me in your sleep. You did not tell me you had this ability."
"Oh. Um." I shifted a little in his arms. My strength had returned. It felt weird...I don't think I'd ever get used to it. "Well, did I...I mean, are you okay? I didn't take too much, did I?"
"No, not at all. I'm happy to share." He looked down at me. "Though it would be nice if you could fly yourself. You're not as light as I thought."
I scowled as the teasing grin made a comeback. "Jerk."
But I spread my wings a little to catch the wind, and he let me slip from his arms, holding onto my hand so we wouldn't get separated. We flew side by side in a peaceful silence, until I spotted the dome off in the distance, barely visible.
"Jesse?"
"Hm?"
"Why were you so weak back there? I mean, I thought...you should have been strong enough to go through the ceiling. You shouldn't have passed out like that."
I watched him shut his eyes, lifting his head to savor the breeze. His hair seemed longer as it was tossed behind him. "I was weakened...when I opened my eyes and saw my hand around your neck...I knew he had used my body again. I am always weakened after he..." He trailed off, staring ahead, his face giving away nothing.
"Like when...Alexiel was inside me?"
"I suppose. Only I do not boast your recovery abilities."
"Jesse...who is 'he'?"
"I do not know." Then he shook his head. "No, I won't lie...I do know. But I'm...afraid of him."
"The first Dark King," I whispered.
"I told you evil cannot be inherited, only taught. I lied, Susannah. Evil can be inherited. He has been alive through every dark king since his mortal death, and, because of my bond with Paul, through me as well."
"So...you're possessed by Satan."
"Sometimes," he said grimly.
"And...how often does this happen?"
"Not often."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Susannah...I don't...want to talk about it."
The dome was slowly getting bigger, but we still had time before we would reach it. "Fine then. Answer another question."
"What?"
"When did you hypnotize me?"
He laughed suddenly. "My God, you never give up."
I smiled, glad to get the unhappiness off his face. "No, I don't. Now that our date and my outfit are completely ruined, I need a consolation prize. So just tell me when you hypnotized me."
"You'll be mad at me..."
"Jesse..."
"Last night, when you came to my room," he said, and his smile widened. I so did not like the look on his face. Like he was remembering...things.
"And?" I said, gritting my teeth.
"And what?"
"What did you make me do?"
"You only asked when I hypnotized you," he said, his eyes twinkling. "That's an entirely different question, Susannah."
"You jerk!" I said, and, not really knowing what came over me, I let go of his hand and swung myself onto his back.
"Susannah--!" he laughed, falling a few feet before he regained his balance. I hung onto him, tugging playfully at his hair.
"I'm not getting off until you answer my question, Jesse," I whispered in his ear.
"As long as you ride me hard, I don't mind."
Immediately I felt my face turning crimson. "Jerk."
"I can't help it," he said, laughing. "It's so easy to embarrass you. I mean, I lift a brow, you blush. I smile, you shiver. I say hi, you stutter. Either there's something in the water, or—"
"Or I love you!" I said throwing up my arms in defeat. "There, I admit it!" I lifted my face to the sky, and screamed at the desert, "I LOVE YOU!!! I LOOOOOOOOVE YOOOOOOOU!!! LOOOOOO—ahhhhhhh!"
We were suddenly free-falling. I lifted my wings to stay in flight, but Jesse grabbed me by the arms and pulled me against him. He was smirking at me as I found myself suddenly inches from his face, suddenly unable to breathe.
"See what I mean?" he said, quirking an eyebrow. "How are we supposed to have a normal conversation..." He moved closer to me, and our lips touched as he spoke, "...when every time I do the littlest thing..." I felt his knee move between my legs, pressing against my center, and I gasped. "...you think about sex?"
"I—" I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. "I do not!"
"No lies, ma cherie," he said, waggling his eyebrows.
I laughed. "Jesse, that's...that's French."
"Thank you, ma ange de mort, I was not aware of that."
"Stick with the Spanish," I said, smiling at him.
"Okay..." We were almost to the ground when he finally said, "Yo te quiero."
Then, inches from the ground, he flipped us over, catching the wind, and we began to rise again, leaving a cloud of dust where we had almost crashed. As he let me go again, holding my hand so we could fly side by side, I was smiling so wide I thought my face would crack. Jesse had just said he loved me. I knew what it meant because he used to tell me that every day, back when life was happier, before Paul ripped us apart.
The dome loomed large when I finally said, "You still haven't answered my question."
"What question?"
"Jesse..."
"It's not your turn yet."
I blinked as we started going lower. "Turn?"
"I still have to dare you, Susannah," he said with a secret smile.
"Oh yeah..."
"If you can handle my dare," he said with mock arrogance, "I'll answer your question."
Our feet touched down on the dry ground, and we were standing in front of the dome. I turned to Jesse. His hair was messy, his eyes were bright, and he had a smile on his face. His previously soft, white shirt was now brown and kind of burned looking, and ripped down the middle so that I had a nice view of those classically washboard abs. Dry blood clung to his hands in a thin, peeling layer.
I've chosen him...this is the man I love...
"What are you thinking, querida?" he said, voice low.
I looked at him. Really looked at him. He was so damn hot, but beyond that...beyond that, he was just Jesse. I wasn't really sure what that meant, "just Jesse". I guess it didn't really mean anything. But it was just so hard to understand...just what he meant to me. If that's what they call "True Love", then I wonder if whoever thought of it really knew what they were talking about. I mean, it's so easy to pretend to know, to think you know, what is it, really?
Since I didn't want to say all this idiotic thinking out loud, I only said, "That I can handle any dare you throw at me."
"Really?" he said, his eyes lowered, coy.
He walked past me as I was still stuttering some asinine response. He placed his hand on the square panel between the huge metal doors. It beeped and said, "Hector DeSilva. One of the head officers of S.H.I.T. Welcome home."
The doors rumbled open. Jesse offered me his hand. I looked at that hand, and it was like he was offering me so much more, like he could hold that hand out to me forever...
I took his hand, everything it offered, and we walked together into the city.
A/N: Hmmm...I kind of liked it near the end...Jesse's a funny guy...REVIEW, please...next chapter's already written, waiting for ten more reviews...(evil laugh)...
TTFN