Coming to my senses my discomfort became apparent. My left arm and hip ached from lying in the same position for god knows how long. Slowly I opened my eyes. The room was dark, only illuminated by the moonlight that bled through the glass doors and window. I was lying on a sofa, the fabric soft beneath my cheek. I was completely disoriented, no idea where I was. I closed my eyes again and kept them closed for some seconds. When I opened them again nothing had change. But the room became much more familiar. A hell of a lot more familiar. I recognized the desk; I recognized the office even if it was dark. And the wild garden that the glass doors led to. But most importantly I recognized the man sitting behind the desk. Trent. As soon as I did last night came rushing back. Was it last night, or this same night? I am going to kill this bastard, no killing will be too easy of a punishment, I am going to have Jenks pix his ass, oh and not only his ass but a very embarrassing place to scratch.
Trent was sitting behind his desk like a statue. Or like a king. Or maybe like the murdering son of an elf he is. He sat unmoving except that barely visible rise and fall of his chest. His hair and his eyes looked silver in the moonlight. After a second of studying I remembered that I should be mad. But I wasn't mad yet. No really. I was annoyed that he would have the balls to kidnap me but I wasn't mad. Not yet anyways, I wonder how long I can keep my cool. I looked at Trent again, and I met his eyes. Oh hell, his eyes were burning with rage; if he had laser vision then I would not have been standing here. Okay maybe rage doesn't begin to cover it. His eyes burned with hate, with an intensity that made me want to cringe. Okay I admit it; he looked scary, but He totally doesn't need to know that.
I sat up slowly and soon stood up. I stretched my body, I Wasn't mad yet but hell I do love annoying the elf. "Lights on 93" Is the only thing he says. The room becomes brighter. He continues staring at me with that uncomforting glare of his. The silence grows until it feels like the only noise is coming from the wind outside. I changed my mind about annoying him; something tells me I should leave it for another day. Today it seems that Trent is a time bomb, and I definitely don't want to be here when he explodes. Don't get me wrong, I am curious of his decision to kidnap me personally, but for some reason I feel that that conversation can wait a day or two.
"Well Trent, it was nice of you to...escort me here, and let me sleep in your sofa...but I probably have to head home." I make my way towards the door and he says nothing. I can feel his eyes making giant holes on the back of my head. I open the door and come face to face with my favorite of his entourage; Jonathan. That tall ass freak of nature.
"Hi." I try to make my way around him but he positions himself so that his tall-ass body blocks the door.
"Are you done with her Sa'ham?" He looks over me to Trent. And then he looks back at me. He looks at me like I am an insect that he can't wait to squash. Oh the joy.
"No." I hear Trent say from behind me. His voice barely above a whisper manages to be heard. I turn to look at him. Okay I give up, I am definitely going to tackle the time bomb.
"What the hell is this all about?"
"We need to talk."
"Well you could've called like a normal person."
"You wouldn't have come." Surprisingly he still hadn't moved. Bad, very very bad.
"Hell no…You must be delusional if you think that I would come willingly to you after you tried to strangle me. You know I think that maybe, okay not maybe; you are a psychotic maniac, and you should be taken to the psychiatric ward." I smiled sweetly after I said that, eyelashes fluttering and everything.
"Do not toy with me, Rachel." I have to get my ass out of here before the guy kills me. "Sit down, make yourself comfortable. You are not going anywhere." I look back at Jonathan, maybe he can let me go. Yeah right. It really looks like I am not going anywhere anytime soon. I walk towards Trent and stand across from him. Jonathan closes the door. But I am not fooled, I am betting the last 37 bucks in my purse that the freak is still there.
"Why don't you tell me what the hell this is about so I can go home and What time Is it anyways?" I run my hand through my hair, which probably looks like crap.
"3:17."
"Thanks, but why am I here?" Now who's playing games? I was getting angry. He has absolutely no right to drag me here. And I hate the way he looks at me like I'm mentally incompetent. "Trent if you are not willing to talk, how are we going to solve this?"
"Familiar" His voice a whisper. His eyes narrow.
"What?"
"I am your familiar." He said this time louder.
"You are not my familiar. I only said that to get you out of the ever-after." This is ridiculous. "Can I go home now?" This is frustrating. I run my hair through my frizzy red hair. I really don't want to think about how it looks right now. Thinking about my hair I can't help but to glance down at myself. I don't have my coat on, I look around the room and spot it on the couch I was laying on. My red button up couldn't possibly have any more wrinkles. At least the jeans looked decent.
He walked around his desk and stood in front of me. This close he became even more overwhelming. His eyes were not the only things that expressed anger. His body is tense, ready to strike out any moment. His sleeves are pushed back and I can see in his forearms the effort it's costing him to keep his anger in check. My eyes wander back to
his face. Looking at him he makes me want to look down and say sorry, like a kid caught stealing candy. I refuse to show him how he's affecting me right now.
"I've been feeling it, Rachel. I feel you pull at me every time you do a spell." He's saying this through clench teeth.
"Trent I don't know what you're talking about, I told you I only said that to get you out of the ever-after. I never really made you my familiar; Get it through that thick head of yours."
Now that I think of it casting black spells have hurt a lot less lately. Damn it back to the turn, how the hell did this happen? Months ago I rescued his ass from the ever-after but that was it. I never bound him to me; I never made him my familiar. I wouldn't do that to a person, not after I accidentally did it to Nick and the guy couldn't take it. I had decided to bear the pain myself, or at least me and Mr. Fish but never another person.
"I want you to fix this. I will not be familiar to anyone or anything."
"Look Trent I am not lying, I never made you my familiar. I am not saying you are lying, I am not saying that you didn't feel what you felt but I never casted the spell to bind you to me. I don't know why it would happen." Sighing I took a step back from him. I could feel the chair behind me. I am not backing down; it's just that he's a little too close for comfort. "I'll look into it; I'll ask Al" at that his eyes narrowed "and if you really are my familiar I am going to change that." The look in his face said that he thought otherwise. Sometimes it's a wonder I don't smack him in the side of his head for being such a dumb ass. This guy really knows how to push my buttons. It seems that one day we are going to end up killing each other. Well lets make it tonight and what the hell might as well go down with a fight. "What the hell do you want from me?"
"I should've killed you a long time ago. If I would've known you were demon-kin, I would've done so a very long time ago." Buttons, Buttons, Buttons.
"Here we go again with the demon-kin crap. First of all I am not demon-kin, I am a witch damn it, and a good one too."
Suddenly he pushes me back and I fall into the chair that was in back of me. A second later he's leaning into me, each of his hand on the arms of the chair, his face close enough to kiss. Bad girl, no thinking of kissing the very bad elf. His breath is warm caressed my face.
"You can bear their children. You can make more of" He curled his lips at the last word, If he would've been a werewolf I would have been in grave danger. "them." He was very very close to doing something drastic. I could tap into the lay line to push him off, but that certainly wouldn't help the situation. So I am going to do this the ol' human way. I am going to see if I could talk some sense into that thick head of his.
"I know." I closed my eyes, this was going to be difficult. I knew that I could have demon children. I didn't need a reminder. This was something I cried over. I could give birth to demon children, which haven't been born in thousands of years. That had put a hell of a glitch in my future family plans. Meaning no children for me. I opened my eyes; his face had softened a bit. His eyes didn't look as angry.
"Why do you hate me so much? I know I've been a pain in the ass, I've put you in jail on your wedding day, we've never been the best of friends but I've never hated you. Despite everything you've done to me, trapping me as a mink, and putting me to fight with rats, despite trying to kill me too many times, I don't hate you. Sure you annoy the hell out of me, but that's a different story. I can't even think about killing you, or even leaving you in the ever-after. What have I done to you that makes you hate me so much."
"Your soul is tainted." He then released the chair and moved away from me. Pacing back a forth running his fingers through his wispy pale hair.
"My soul is tainted. But every stain, every demon mark I have worn was to save my friends. And I wouldn't change that Trent. I am a good person, I am a good witch, damn it. Everything I've done is for those I love. And I don't think you can ever understand that. Have you ever even had any real friends? People you would do anything to keep safe? And I don't mean killing other people, I mean people you would give your life to keep safe?" I've never seen Trent this agitated before. If the guy kept pacing as he was, he was going to wear a hole on the floor, not that I care but it would probably clash with the deco. I remained seated in the chair watching him wearily. "And…And you shouldn't be talking about tainted souls. You can see my stains, but even though you can't see the stains on your soul you carry a lot more than I do you murdering bastard. It's a wonder you can even sleep."
The next thing that happened was so sudden I did not have time to react. I was still seated and for a second I thought he was going to knock me out or tackle me or something. But what he did was the beginning of a breaking down. He walked past me in a motion so smooth and quickly I barely had time to register what was going on. But for all his crimes he didn't hit me. Nope, he took it out on the wall. Oh yeah the wall. He punched the wall many times repeatedly before I actually moved. I was staring with my eyes opened wide and my mouth hanging open, and then I got control over myself.
"Everything I have done, I've done for the" punch "for the survival of" punch "my people," punch "I have sacrificed" punch "everything" punch.
"Trent! Trent! What- Trent!" I got up then rushing towards him. "Jon!" I couldn't believe this. At this moment I couldn't see all the bad that he had done. I just saw a man falling apart. I realized for the first time what he had done for his people. I realized that he had given everything he could to make sure that elves did not become extinct; his happiness, his resources, but above everything he had given his soul. He had also had tainted it for someone else. We were much alike, he and I. More than I would ever care to admit aloud.
Jon was in there in a blink of an eye. I could tell he was also shocked by what he was seeing, the freak just stood there staring.
I didn't know what to do. I had never experienced such a breakdown from Trent before, hell not even close. Hesitantly, I put my hand on his shoulder; he flinched under my touch, but afterwards I could tell that the worst was over. He leaned his forehead and opened palms against the wall, like the wall was the only support. He looked like a man losing a war. I really didn't know what to do. I could see now that his knuckles were bloodied and already beginning to bruise. I just hope they weren't broken. I looked up to see Jonathan looking down at Trent with a concerned look of his face.
"Sa'ham?" Trent didn't answer. Jonathan didn't move. I know why. I looked at Trent and it seemed like anything could set him off again. I doubt Jonathan had ever seen this side of his Sa'ham before.
"Trent?" He didn't respond at my calling either. But I guess it was up to the only woman in the room to deal with this. "Okay, Jonathan why don't you get some bandages or…a first aid kit or…Quen." He shot me an evil glare. "Come on, you obviously dunno what to do."
Jonathan actually left.
"Trent?" He still hadn't changed, his shoulders were slumped with defeat and his forehead still against the wall. But then again he just broke down. "You're bleeding, Well then again you probably noticed that." I whispered the last part more to myself than him. I put my hand on his shoulder again. "Trent?"
"I have tried so hard." His voice whisper that if I was a few steps away I would have missed it. He put a hand over my hand which was still on his shoulder. He held on to it for some seconds, like I was the last piece of wood floating in the ocean. Then he let go. And with that he said "Leave."
"You-"
"Leave. Please." I didn't really want to leave. Despite everything he'd done, It felt too much like abandoning, something I am definitely not good at. But there was nothing I could do. We all have our crosses to bear.
Hesitantly I made my way to the door. There was no Jonathan to stop me now. "I am sorry." I said before I walked out the door. I didn't know what else to say.
Laying on my bed that night, I couldn't sleep. My body felt exhausted but my mind just refused to lose conscious. Trent's breakdown was too strongly imprinted in my head. In my mind I kept seeing him breakdown over and over again. I couldn't stop thinking about that, about him. I couldn't help but to analyze him more. To think of life from his point of view. To think of everything he's done from his point of view. And I hate to admit it but I can see some reasoning behind the murdering he's committed. I think about how frustrating it is for him to try to save his race, when there's little hope. He's sacrificed himself and others for his people. I would kill myself before admitting aloud that maybe Trent and I are more alike than I would like, that maybe I do understand him.
As usual one thought leads to another. And soon I am remembering everything I know about Trent; the business man, the murderer, the drug lord but above all the man. From the anguish in his face when Quen almost died a few months back, to him telling me that the man I thought was my father never was. Trapping me as a mink, to his warm arms carrying me when I we almost drowned. Now because I was seeing everything he was and everything he is, I am more confused than ever. I don't hate him, I never did. I always saw the actions and never the person or the man but my heart sees him now as a kin-spirit. Everything we've done, we've done to save those we love; he his race and me my friends. I see now that perhaps he's not so bad. Not so bad at all.
To be continued…