Heya…

Here's the sixth chapter!!!!!!!! The scene where Suze and Jesse get drunk was just a scene I needed to fit in for something that happens later on in the story, & it's specially dedicated to my friend 'D'…she was the one to give me the idea! Anyway, I'll not bore you this time with a too-long A/N, so enjoy!!

--pGp

:-.,,.-::-.,,.-::-.,,.-::-.,,.-::-.,,.-::-.,,.-::-.,,.-:

SIX Telling Paul & Christie

The next day, I had woken up at around eight in the morning. I had already had a bath and slipped into a white sundress. I had washed my hair that morning. I still had a slight hangover from the previous night, but it wasn't too bad, fortunately.

"Mornin' Jesse," I said, walking into the living room. He was sitting on the couch, eating an apple, watching an old rerun of Friends. "Good morning querida," he said, after swallowing a mouthful. "Listen," I said, sitting on the couch beside him. "Yes?" "Do you think we should tell Paul and Christie this whole deal about Ariel?" "Definitely," said Jesse, after a short pause. "In fact, I don't know how I didn't think of it before." "Hmm…" I said. "So, should we call them up and tell them right now?" "I don't think it would be appropriate to do it over the phone," said Jesse. "I feel that we should call them and ask them to meet us, instead. That is when we will tell them about Ariel."

I paused for a moment to think about what Jesse had just said. "Yeah," I said, after thinking. "We'll do that. I'll call right now to ask them." But as I reached for the phone, Jesse caught my wrist. He laughed. "It is a half past eight in the morning, Susannah," he said. (A/N: I know, I know Jesse agreed to call Suze by her nickname, but just read on!!) "Oh," I said. "How silly of me." I withdrew my hand.

"Hey!" I said, suddenly. "What's the deal with 'Susannah'? I thought you agreed you'd call me Suze." "Yes," laughed Jesse. "I know. But I'm…just too used to it. Bear with me for another few days…I promise I will start calling you Suze by then!" "Okay," I said. "But a few days is all I'm giving you!"

ABOUT FOUR HOURS LATER … AT PAUL & CHRISTIE'S PLACE

We were all seated comfortably in the living room. I was on my previous spot on the red loveseat, with Jesse sitting beside me. Paul and Christie were seated on the identical beige loveseat opposite ours, the coffee table separating us. I know that their place is way luxurious as compared to Jesse and mine, but a reminder: Paul is exactly the opposite of hurting for money…! Anyway, I'll get to the main part.

"So," said Christie. "What did you guys want to tell us?" "Um," I said. This was getting to be way more difficult than I had bargained for. "It…it isnt exactly believable. So you've got to promise me that you both will listen to me with an open mind. Especially you, Christie." "Yeah," said Christie, smiling. "I promise, Suze. Now go on and tell us."

"Okay." I shuffled around uncomfortably, trying to think how to begin. "Ariel kind of became a negative character in my life." Christie got a weirded-out look on her face. "Negative character? Suze, you're sounding like you're narrating a soap opera!" Was I dreaming or did Christie have a hint of amusement in her voice? Anyway, too bad. I had to make her believe me anyhow.

"Uh," I said, trying to shake it off, "You do know that you're sister's queer, right?" "Um, yeah," said Christie, sounding uncomfortable. "I do." I heard her whisper under her breath – "Oh shit. No no no." "So the other night, I asked her to help me out with a stuck zipper," I continued. "That's when she…uh…started to uh…" I didn't have to say anything further. Christie's body went stiff. Her face turned pale. "Oh God." She buried her face in her hands. "Go on." "And when I rejected her, she got pissed, and she kind of kidnapped my little brother and tried to blackmail me. Then I had to trick her and get my brother free. And…um…I think you understood the rest." I said, feeling more uncomfortable now than I ever had in my whole life. "Yeah," said Christie. "Oh my God. I'm sorry. I'm so so SO SO sorry, Suze! Oh man. What's wrong with that girl. Didn't she stop her stupidity even after…dying? She…" Christie's voice started to quiver.

"Oh, God!" I said, alarmed. "Christie! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry!" "No, Suze," said Christie. I could make out that she was trying to choke back sobs. "No. It definitely isn't your fault. It's all my stupid sister's fault. She almost did this before. But then I was there to stop her. But she knew I wasn't there this time. She knew. So she did it." She stopped for a moment and let a tear slip down her cheek. Then she spoke. This time, her voice was not quivery at all. It was strong, clear, commanding and…angry.

"ARIEL!!!" she roared. Wow. She sounded like an active volcano about to erupt. When Ariel didn't appear for a few seconds, Christie screamed again. "God!" said Ariel, materializing. "Gimme a sec, will ya? I was coming." When she saw that Jesse and I were there, too, her face went cold. "What?" she said to Christie, in an equally cold and snide voice. Christie looked so pissed off that I wouldn't be surprised if smoke started pouring out of her ears the next moment.

"Don't you talk to me like that," she snarled at Ariel. "I'm your elder sister, and you gonna gimme some respect." "Yeah, yeah," said Ariel, nonchalantly. "You…seduced…her." "Yeah," said Ariel, as if Christie were accusing her of stealing candy. "So? Now don't begin acting as if you're totally oblivious to everything!" Ariel said, rudely. "Ariel," said Christie, as if she was trying not to slap Ariel. "WHAT? If you're gonna lecture me on makin' a move on this chick, lemme tell you one thing," she dropped herself on the scarlet bean bag perpendicular to the loveseats we were sitting on. "I'm gonna tune out, baby," She gave Christie a sarcastic smile.

"That's it," Christie said under her breath, getting up. "You've done it now." "Okay sis," said Ariel, holding up her arms. "Do-ww-own sissy," she said, looking a bit afraid. "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?" she finally cried. "I'm gonna exorcise you, you mannerless fool," she said, under her breath again. "Exo-what?" said Ariel, giving Christie a look as if she had gone crazy. "EXORCISE!" she screamed.

"What's that supposed to even mean?" asked Ariel. "Nothing you'd understand," said Christie, nastily. She went into the kitchen and came back with four candles in her hands, and a matchbox. She put down three of the candles on the floor and lit one of them. She dripped some its wax on the floor and placed it in the wax. Then she picked up another one, lit it with the alread-lit candle and did the same she had done for the previous one. In this way, she lit all four candles and placed them around her sister in a square formation. All this while, Ariel was staring at Christie as if she had well and truly lost it. But she had a lot to worry about. Christie was going to EXORCISE her. And in mediator language, that means MURDERING A GHOST.

After placing the candles around Ariel, Christie stood up. "Don't move," she instructed Ariel. "Yeah, whatever," mumbled Ariel. Christie went into the bedroom and came back with a small blue box in her hand. She opened it and took out a bit between her fingers. She bent down and scattered a little between each two candles. Then she stood up, shook her hands, and started chanting a string of strange words in Spanish. I guess that's why Jesse jumped up from the couch and ran to Christie. Because it was Spanish, I mean.

"What are you doing?" he cried, interrupting Christie's chant. "I'm exorcising my sister." Christie said, coldly. "And now if you don't mind, please step aside and let me complete it." "But you can't exorcise her for such a little thing!" Jesse protested. Paul and I looked on, completely and utterly flabbergasted. "I already warned her the previous time that I'd do something drastic! And now I am only doing what I promised her!" cried Christie, angrily.

"Jesse." I got up and walked up to them. "Remember what Father Dominic said. An exorcism, though not entirely righteous, is after all a religious ritual, and it would be morally wrong to stop one, however unjustified it may be." I whispered into his ear. Jesse's face fell. "You're…you're right, querida." Saying this, we both walked back and took our places on the loveseat.

"Thank you, Suze," mumbled Christie. She went back to her Spanish chant. Now Ariel began to look a bit intimidated. "Wh-what are you doing, Christie?" Her sentence began in a normal tone and ended in a scream. "Christie!" she shrieked. She tried to step out of the circle of candles and powder, but however hard she tried, she remained helplessly trapped inside like an animal trapped in a cage. She was shrieking on top of her lungs now. But it was useless – Jesse, Paul, Christie and I were the only ones who could hear her, and none of us were about to come to her assistance immediately. Personally, I was a bit shaken by Christie's temper, but I think the way she was using was the only one to put Ariel straight.

Red tendrils of dust began to materialize from the floor. They enveloped Ariel, and she began to scream louder and cough. But the dusty fumes seemed to be affecting only her. She started wriggling and shrieking, "CHRIS! CHRISTIE!! PLEASE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING (COUGH)?! WHAT IS ALL THIS!! STOP IT!" She had a big bout of coughing. Now it was getting difficult for her to talk, she was coughing so much. Christie's chanting was getting increasingly furious by the moment. She ignored her sister completely. Finally, she stopped, closed her eyes and joined her hands as if praying. The look on her face was astonishingly calm, nothing like it should have been while exorcising her own sister.

Soon, the tendrils turned into a flaming red tornado which began to suck in Ariel. "EEEEEEEE!!!!!" she screamed, her arms and legs flailing as she tried not to get sucked in by the rapidly speeding up smoke. "CHRISTIE!!! PLEASE!! AAAAAH!! SAVE ME! I'M SORRY!! I–" But she never got to complete her sentence. She had been exorcised.

After Ariel's spirit had been sucked in, the tornado of red smoke died down quickly. But an exorcism is a procedure invloving a lot of energy and strength, and that strength comes from the exorciser. In this case, Christie Windsor.

When Ariel had begun to flail, Christie's nose had started bleeding heavily from the impact. As the smoke died down, Christie moaned softly and fainted. As she collapsed, Paul rushed up and caught her. "Christie!" he cried, his eyes lit up with pure worry and concern. But she had already lost her consciousness.

"Take her to the bed," instructed Jesse. "Y-Yeah," said Paul, clearly shaken up. He needed no help in carrying her, as he had earlier demonstrated at the beach. Paul once again single-handedly swept her up and carried her to the bedroom. Jesse and I instinctively followed him.

Christie and Paul's bedroom was a nice one. It was quite chic, with beige walls and black and white wooden furniture and dark wooden flooring. The dresser was a simple but elegant white specimen with a huge elliptical mirror. The luxurious four-poster bed was a similar dark wood like the floor, with a black bedsheet and striped B/W pillows. The bed wasn't made. There was a little beige beanbag lying in one corner, and there was an adjoining balcony. There were clothes strewn everywhere except on the bed. Chinos, tank tops, tees, camisoles, a couple of formal shirts, and even a few specimens of underwear and a few boxers. I saw Jesse catch sight of one of Christie's bras, his cheeks burning. In fact, I was surprised hee hadn't yet had a coronary at the sight of this room.

Paul put Christie down on the bed gently. He reached out for a bottle of water lying on the dresser and opened it. He took some out in his hand and sprinkled it on Christie's face. "No," said Jesse when he realized what Paul was doing. "Let her sleep." Paul looked at Jesse for a moment or two and put away the bottle after screwing its cap on again.

Paul got up from the bed and started to walk out. "C'mon," he said to us. We followed Paul. He slumped down on the beanbag outside and Jesse and I sat on the loveseat again. He gave us a wry smile. "So," he said. "Would you guys like something to eat?" "No," I said. "I think we'll leave." "Yes," said Jesse. "We'll leave now." "All right then," said Paul. "See you around." "Do you need any help?" I asked. "No, I'm good," said Paul. "I'll take care of Christie. She's just passed out. Can't count how many times I've managed with an unconscious you, Suze!" He gave me a friendly wink. I smiled. "Well," I said. "Bye, then. Give us a ring once Christie's up." "Yup," said Paul. "Sure. See you then." "Buh-bye,"

It was about three hours since we had returned from Chrisite and Paul's place. I was trying to teach Jesse how to play the Playstation. We had taken Dopey a.k.a. Brad's Playstation, because he was still at college. He had missed a term in the middle because he had an accident in which he broke both his arms, and exactly five ribs and a hairline fracture in his ankle. Ooooh. So basically he was taking summer school so that he could finish off quickly. Actually, he wanted to take the summer break and then start his remaining term, but Andy said no way. So he just took a two-day break after coming back from the hospital, and now he's back at college after endless griping and cribbing at Andy.

Anyway, I was attempting to teach Jesse Tekken 5, the ultimate fighting game which I rock at (I've peeved Dopey plenty because I'm the sole person who defeats him in my sleep at it). Jesse was being a good student, and had already beat me at a couple of matches. But what is there that Jesse isn't good at? Seriously. Sometimes Jesse seriously peeves me out because he's so perfect. But that's another perfect attribute of him is that no one can stay mad at him for more than, like, three seconds. Sigh.

Jesse was just about to give me a final K.O. kick when the phone rang. I got it. "Hello?" I said. "Hello? Suze?" "Paul! Is Christie up?" "Yeah. That's what I called to tell." "Can I speak to her?" "Yeah, sure." While Paul went to get Christie, I told Jesse that she was awake. "Good," said Jesse, looking at the clock. "It's about time she woke up."

"Hi!" Christie's voice came over the line. "Suze, I…I am so sorry!" "Christie!" I said. "Please! Shut up. You don't need to say sorry, I've already told you a trillion times!" "Okay," Christie sighed. "But seriously, my sister is the biggest dumbass on earth." "Hmm…" I said, "That I agree." Christie laughed. "Anyway," she said. "See you 'round. Paul's taking me out for dinner." "Okay," I said. "See ya."

:-.,,.-::-.,,.-::-.,,.-::-.,,.-::-.,,.-::-.,,.-::-.,,.-:

So…HOW WAS THE CHAPTER?!?!?! I thought the exorcism paragraph was cool…but it's you people's reviews that count!!!!! SO REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

& I really loved the fanfic 'IT'S IN THE BLOOD' by angel.by.day-devil.by.night, so I'd like to tell everyone to read it!! It ROCKS!!

Warning: I WON'T UPDATE UNLESS I GET AT LEAST 7-8 REVIEWS ON THIS CHAPTER!!!!

--pGp