Here is my annoying voice again. But before I'll let you read the next chapter like a good girl, I just wanted to say THANKS to Ligia Elena and Nemesis' Arrow. I couldn't have done it without you!
I know my chapters are vague but I promise everything will make sense... eventually. And with this optimistic note- on to the story!
CHAPTER 3
You come closer to her, confused. A loud alarm in your head is warning you not to come any closer. At least not without knowing more, but that is of no use. You are too close now, too vulnerable.
"That's Lord CHRISTOPHER to you." You are attacking her, knowing all too well the familiar saying that the best defense is offence.
There is something quivering in her eyes, like hurt. However, it is gone before you realize what it truly was and you are not sure you have not imagined it.
Being so close, though it is dangerous, has advantages as well. You can smell the drops of sweat that are falling from her face, even though she ignores them, and the sense of fear that stinks the atmosphere. You can see the matching freckles on her shady skin, one on each cheek, directly in the center. Her forehead is paved with wrinkles that you know only many lifetimes of murder can slit. Her blue eyes that once looked like shining orbs when you still knew where you were are now hollow like the bottom of the Dead Sea. They have seen too much not to be effected and from a reason you are not sure yet you know about, you care.
"What's the matter, forgot?" she ignores you but you decide to let it go. She taunts you by teasing but anger is being built beneath that façade of kindness. Anger ready to come out any minute now, bubbling just beneath the surface. When it finally finds freedom and breaks free…there will be no escape.
You cannot help but to find the oh-so-bitter irony in this. You, the evil ruler, is afraid of Kyla the angel. Something must have gotten screwed up by that dream you had. Maybe a nice metal breakdown or two along the way ...
You try to gather your composure and your lost dignity to attack her again. "Look, I don't know what you're thinking but…." You fail miserably when she disturbs you none- too- kindly.
"You don't know! Dammit Chris, you were supposed to be here four months ago, four months! Do you have any idea what this does to your status? It ruins it! Everything that we have worked so hard to accomplish is now ruined!"
"What?" you growl in anger and disgust. As if you would ever plan anything with an Angel, as if they were trustworthy!
By only a split of a second, you cross the distance between the two of you, your hand clutching her throat. This time you do not even bother with a knife; that would be too quick. No, she has to die in pain. Insolence must be weeded out.
"Take That Back!"
She struggles to break free, her eyes mirroring hurt and betrayal. There is so much lost trust in those eyes that you wonder in whom she was foolish enough to place so much faith, and who had the power to shatter it.
You let a bit go, knowing the exact quantity of air that can suffice a coherent thought for talking, but not to make plans to resist you. You are not her; you do not place trust that easily.
"Let me go, Chris! This is not funny!" she whimpers, rage, pain and incredulity are mingling in her voice.
"This was never supposed to be funny. I would have killed you on the spot if it wasn't for my brother's lame sentiment towards you!"
With distaste she exclaims, "Your brother? For crying out loud, Chris, he's a baby!" Then her eyes are being lit as if she has something figured out, and you are not sure if that is a good thing or a great time for her to run.
"Chris," she started talking again, using that awful nickname with terrible intimacy, and her throaty voice is turning soft, almost unbearable. "What is the last thing you remember?"
You struggle for a minute with what to say, not sure about the answer yourself. Your eyes are loitering around the dark cave, examining the torch marks on the wall and the huge blackened table that is right in the middle of it. Then your eyes are lying on something blue on the table, a flower.
Ignoring her, you walk toward it, enchanted. Forget me not.
Suddenly a far away memory is swallowing you, a memory that you wish never to remember. Or to forget.
"Do you love me?" she asks you. Her brown eyes are twinkling, making her shine.
"Yes" you whisper back, knowing that even though you have never before known what love is, now you do. You look at her face, the angelic skin and those soft lips, and are being tempted to say more, much more. Nevertheless, there is a wall inside your heart that does not let you do so, yet you hope that when she looks at you - she knows.
Just like you know she loves you as well, even though she has never put that in words.
The waterfall is trickling behind you and the wind that passes in the forest is calling your name, but none of that matters. Only to be beside her, to look at her, to smell her essence, and to know she is real . This is what matters.
Seeing fear filling her eyes, you curse the Elders for destroying your life and hers. If it were not for them, she would have been happy. Free. And you both would have never needed to hide in this self-created heaven; the one you both know is not real. It is merely a fragment of the world that has not survived and was brought back by spells.
"I won't leave you, ever. I promise!" you whisper to her ear. You know she needs to hear that declare .You need to hear it, too.
You will not leave her to rot in heaven. She is far too precious and none who would think otherwise would live long enough to execute his or her plan.
"I don't think we have a choice, Chris. They are far too strong for any of us. And I…miss them. And I miss the old me sometimes. Do you remember the old me?"
"Yes" you say and add nothing. For there is nothing left to insert. She had once been innocent, an angel. Now she is the figment of you.
"So...I've decided I want to be that person again. I want to believe and to help.
Do you hate me?"
"No. I will never be able to hate you." You hate yourself because the words you are speaking are true. What kind of a world are you creating that the one you love the most will be against you? For a moment, nothing is clear and then everything is.
It is a world where Bianca is happy. You need nothing more than that.
"I will never be against you," she says as if reading your mind. "Ever. I love you. You know that. I just have to find another way for them to understand, my old way- by peace. I'll be back, my love. Soon." She kisses you, her lips warm, human, and wanting.
"I'll be waiting," you try saying but tears are choking your throat. You try to force them away, but they are too strong. You give up; she deserves to be cried upon.
She whispers back, "Don't forget me."
Out of nowhere, a blue flower appears, enchanted to stay alive forever. Like your love. She gives it to you with tears that are betraying her smile. Then she shatters the beautiful image that surrounds you both disappearing to heaven.
That was also the same flower you put on her grave. You could not forget her but wherever she had gone to, she would need the reminder more.
"How could you?" you shout and throw Kyla to the wall by telekinesis forcefully. "You stole it from her grave! You were her friend!"
"Chris! I think you need to relax. I don't understand what you are talking about!" she shouts but you hear nothing. Her voice is miles away, and so is her pain. Only the flower exists, a mocking signal of your failure as a husband.
You do not care which righteous reasons she must have had. All that you care about is taking that too quivering voice and shutting it up forever. And to take all the pain and make it gone and to remember nothing, but HER.
"STOP!" She calls out when your hand is forcing her windpipe close, endangering her life. That is exactly what you want to do, to press, and never to stop. "You gave it to me!"
You let a bit go, hesitating, but then resume with your mission- ending all that threatens Bianca's memory. She is bluffing. You never knew her that well and even if you had, there is not chance you would have given her the most precious thing of all.
"NO! You… you said that you needed to avenge her, the one who killed her, that you would be back."
Without even wanting to, your curiosity is peaked. Compelled to understand you bark, "When, where, who?"
"When, four months ago when you said you would be gone only for a day." Now that she is away from your threat it seems like she found her courage once again, "You said you would help me then."
"Help you?"
She turns crimson and replies with lowered eyes, "I may be only a demon, Chris, but I still have feelings. Don't mock me, not on this."
"So I said that I would avenge her?" you ask, trying to find out what she knows. You are sure for a second that she is bluffing again. The fear in her eyes and her hope is real, even she cannot be that good of an actor, and she does not lie. So how… how can it be possible? You know well that the one who is responsible for her death is no longer among the living and is out of reach from your purifying revenge. After all, you have searched for years trying to hunt him down, but now she says that he can be found…but how?
"Yes, with the help of your family."
Family? But….
You stare at her, the curving of her figure showing clearly despite the deceit of darkness. There is a flame giddying behind her, making her look even more intoxicating and inviting. You try to turn away, yet the temptation she is offering is too priceless. She is telling you that you can defeat the one you never thought you could.
The ultimate powers are about to be yours, and you are willing just for a little while to abandon your suspect and to listen.
Formulating plans and preparing venoms introduce you to a harsher reality than you thought this place was. You have not yet asked her how she knows of what she is offering, what she is gaining, or more importantly- what you are losing. However, there is time for all these questions. In fact; time is the one thing that is on your side this time. So you let yourself breathe, in and out, out and in, as if the world itself cannot undermine you.
And you believe.