AN: This chapter was really hard for me to write, since I'm fearing it will be one of my last, if not my last one. I don't want it to end; I love it too much!
But alas, my fingers are pounding the keyboard and the words are flowing through me, and it exhilarates me to know that I have readers like you, who will and have appreciated my story. You guys really have no idea how much it means to me that my work (and maybe talent) is being read and liked!
Thanks for reading, again, and hope you will keep on reading my stuff! I already have another Mediator ff in mind. Hmmm.
Disclaimer: All of the familiar characters are property of Meg Cabot, but I own all the new ones and the plot.
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Chapter 25
I can feel the hate, loathing, and anger radiating off of Paul's body and concentrating on Jesse. My Jesse, back in his body. For a moment, I can only stare at Jesse, who is dangling ten feet above the ground. His arms are twisted behind his back, and his legs are quickly being bent to meet them. I can feel Jesse's pain; the look in his eyes terrifies me and makes me loose almost all of my hope. I gasp and try to wriggle free of Seirios' death grip to get to Jesse. All of my thoughts are on him. My legs are quaking and I feel as if I'm going to collapse at any moment.
Suddenly something clicks inside me and I begin to feel the anger boil up from my core up to my skin, finally landing into my eyes. Paul is looking from me to Jesse with his arm still raised pointing at Jesse. I close my eyes in a slow blink.
Then I focus all of my anger to Paul, slowly wanting to kill him with my eyes. Only a second later, there's a sickly crack and Paul collapses to the floor, cradling his arm with tears streaming down his eyes and cuss words foaming out of his mouth. I transfer all of the energy I have left to Jesse. I catch him right before he hits the floor and sigh. I'm not using anything to concentrate on Jesse except my eyes, because Seirios still has my arms.
Once Jesse is safely back on the floor to the Mission, I glance over at Paul who is whimpering but trying to get up and fight me. Startled by my own power, I'm momentarily mentally immobile. But once Paul is on his feet I feel the anger and power return and in full throttle. I hate him so much.
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My next victim is Seirios, who has had his fun with me and will now find his punishment. I literally blow him away with my newly found mind powers, and he collides into the wall of the church with a deafening crash. With my hands free I can now feel the power flowing more freely.
I look over at Jesse to make sure he is okay, and he's getting up slowly as if he's hurt. But at least he's alive, I tell myself and then turn my attention to the still whimpering Paul.
"You!" I yell. "Paul you—"
Paul interrupts me, "Suze, don't say anything you might regret. Let me say my piece and I know that you'll change your mind about this once you've heard me."
I snort and look back over at Jesse just to make sure he's still okay. When I don't say no to Paul, he plows right through.
"Suze…you and I are both shifters, yes?" I don't nod my head even though he is looking at me questioningly. "Okay," he recovers, and I can tell he's a little flustered, but then he clears his throat and goes on. "We're shifters. You and me, and there's this connection between us. We are so similar, you and me…us. But there's also something else we have in common then just personality traits: we need, we want, and we get it. You just haven't figured out exactly what you need, because what you think you need is really only just what you want. Deep down, Suze, I know you want me. I knew it from the first moment we met. You have always been special to me.
"I don't think I can ever forget how you kissed me so sweetly on the lips…" In the background I can hear Jesse shuffling over to us; his footsteps are full of fury. "Suze. What I'm trying to get at is that, well you and I were meant for each other."
I snort out loud when Paul says this and shake my head. Paul ignores it, but I can see the fear in his eyes, something I've never seen before.
"Think about it Suze. Use the brains I know you have! Two shifters alone in the world. Two shifters in need. Meant for each other. Do you know how lucky we are that we've found each other? Balance! It's what the whole universe is about, right?" Paul is beginning to look desperate to win me over. He's even started using his hands.
"Oh Suze, you have to understand why I've done this. I knew that you wouldn't have given me a chance in my body. You constantly tell me that you will never be able to love me. And well this way I thought I could give you a push in the other direction. I knew, well thought, that if I was in Jesse's body that you would love me." Paul shudders to a stop and it looks like he's out of words to say.
I think about it despite myself. In a whole different life and cosmos I would have considered this a little bit sweet. But in this life, right now, I don't even have to blink once to know what my choice is, and has always been. Jesse.
He's the only one who completes me. Makes me happy, full of life, ecstatic, if you will. My heartbeat starts pounding faster every time his brown eyes shift to me. I'm completely and utterly in love, and nothing can change the fact that Jesse will always have my heart.
"Paul," I say and Paul's whole body shifts. "I will say this once, and only once. Jesse is the only man I will ever love." Paul's shoulders fall and suddenly his eyes are dark and saddening.
I watch him for a moment, while his world falls apart around him helpless. Then he straightens up and looks me in the eyes…
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My whole body shivers as Paul's eyes land on mine and turn from the steely blue to a sick black. "Suze, I'm going to ask you this one more time. And I want you to think about this. Jesse isn't a shifter. He's not even a mediator. Jesse is nothing out of the ordinary. He's just a guy. Me on the other hand am everything and I mold perfectly to you. Tell me you love me."
Mentally I'm screaming, but I decide that the best way to rationalize is to remain calm and composed. "Paul, it doesn't matter what Jesse isn't. It matters what he is and what he's going to become. Jesse is kind and self-sacrificing. Sure he may not be a shifter or a mediator, but those things don't matter to me. What matters to me is that he loves me and only me, and I the same." As I finish, Jesse comes to my side and grasps my hand. Only after he steadies it, do I realize that I had been shaking.
Paul frowns at us, and his brow furrows. Then I watch as his eyes darken again and suddenly he calls out. "Seirios!" I flinch at the name and wait for him to come up and try to molest me. I cling onto Jesse's hand tightly and look over at him. His eyes make a flood of emotions flow through me and make me feel warm again. I feel as if I've fallen in love all over again with just a look at his eyes. "Seirios!" Paul yells again and I snap my attention back to him and the anger rolling off of his body. Underneath it all, I can tell he's scared.
When nothing happens and Seirios is a no-show, Jesse steps forward limping a little and speaks to Paul. "Looks like you're all alone now, Paul," he says softly.
"NO!" he yells and launches himself onto Jesse. I scream while Jesse's hand is yanked from mine, and the pair of them go flying over the pew behind us. It breaks and I yell to Jesse, trying to run around to get them off of each other.
They're rolling around on the ground—Jesse throwing as many punches as he can manage, while Paul blocks it with his uninjured arm, whimpering all the while. I smile in spite of the situation. Paul will never change—he will always be the coward I know him for.
I snap back to the situation at hand and cringe as I see Jesse get a bloody nose from Paul's elbow. After receiving the blow, which Jesse doesn't even pay attention to; Jesse rolls Paul over and then gets off of him while brushing his hands off.
"Enough," he says in a final tone of voice and shoots a glare over at Paul who seems to understand that it's over with.
Jesse limps over to me and I place his arm over my shoulder and whisper "thanks" in his ear. He smiles back at me and then kisses my neck softly as his welcoming statement. We walk only three steps away, when I remember something my dad said right before he "departed" and run out from under Jesse's arm. I go back to Paul, who's still lying on the floor and give him my hand to help him up.
"Let's get you home," I say to him with a small smile.
Paul looks up at me, and then glances over to Jesse, and then to my hand. His blue eyes land on mine, and I can tell that he is finally starting to understand. "I guess we are different," he says while taking my hand with his uninjured arm.
"Yes, yes we are."
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AN: I know I know, you wanted Suze and Jesse to beat the shit out of Paul and then leave him to rot (hell I wouldn't mind it!)…but you know they're better than that!
I'm thinking one more chapter left! It's just so sad…