CHAPTER THREE

He pivoted on his heels and went towards where Violet has gone. The girl knew something. He was sure of it. She had something that he didn't and he wanted it.

Unfortunately, he didn't know which house was hers and he wasn't about to go through every door. He'd just have to wait for the next day. He'd find her at the school where she promised poor Jed that she was going to be there.

That night, he stayed at a nearby park and felt his eyes droop as exhaustion that he had long forgotten weigh down his borrowed body. It was such an unusual feeling. Why did this body have to be so weak? Surely it hadn't been long since it's last rest. Why couldn't he even keep his eyes open, now? He wasn't ready to sleep! There was still far too much to plan.

As the night wore on, he eventually gave into the body's needs and allowed his head to dip down.

He dreamt of her, but her face was becoming distorted. He couldn't quite distinguish what she looked like anymore. Just the feel of her and her scent remained with him. What he did see were little snippets of Jed's life.

He had a sister. She was almost a carbon copy of him with long, dark hair and a similar attitude. She was optimistic and bubbly. She was annoying. He found himself hating her more and more as the memories assaulted him. She was too happy. She was too optimistic. When he found her, he'd teach her what this world was truly like. He'd teach her all the cruelties this world would wrought upon her.

Jed had parents who loved him. They were supportive and kind. His mother was a nurse who cared for his sick father. His father was dying. Throat cancer. There was nothing they could do about it, so why did they still smile and laugh? How could they still think this world was a kind place?

It seemed that only Violet knew. She was the rebellious fire that cut through all the naivety. She knew about the pains of this world, but the foolish boy wanted to fix her. He thought her broken. Perhaps in death he'd finally understand.

And then, he saw her. It was a brief moment, just in the background. She was with a tiny babe in her arms, bouncing the thing around while it dribbled all over her, but she looked happy. Why did she look happy?

"I'll be going, now!" Her voice washed over him. It sounded different from how he remembered it, but he had no doubt that she was the one he was looking for.

"Stay safe, Madison," a dark haired man told her.

She nodded and waved at Violet and him - Jed. And then, she was gone. He didn't expect anything less of her. She always left. She never stayed anywhere for long.

There was a flash of anger, which was quickly trampled down by Jed's love for the blonde. He hit his head several times to knock them away and immediately the scene darkened black.

He opened his eyes to see that the sun was already up. He had no idea what time it was, but his feet carried him back to the large building. There was no one in sight. He was either too early or late. From the position of the sun, he gathered that it was probably the latter.

When he slipped into the first period classroom, every eye was on him. "Late again, Mr. Potter." The teacher scolded him.

He noticed the blonde, Violet, look curiously at him as he sat down beside her.

"What's the deal?" she hissed as soon as the teacher resumed the lesson. "You told me to be here yesterday and then you're late."

He shrugged.

With a roll of her eyes, she looked over to the seat beside him. "Where's that freaky friend of yours? He looked like the nerdy type, but he was just creepy as fuck. Did you see how he was sniffing me yesterday? What the Hell is wrong with him?"

He stared at her. Creepy? Was that what he had been? He didn't think he had done anything out of the ordinary yesterday. All he could recall was the searing hunger that burned so painfully inside him. "Sorry," he blurted out. Surely, that had to be the correct response. He recalled hearing from someone that apologies always made things better.

"Don't apologize when it's not your fault," she sneered. "Here, look at what I got." She grabbed something from her bag and showed him the tip of it.

It looked to be some kind of plant in a bag. "I know I told my sister I'd stop, but it's not like it's really bad for me. She needs to live a little."

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Don't look at me like that," she told him. "You know you like it, too. I've seen you puff that shit when you think no one's looking."

There was a vivid memory of a stench that made his stomach roll. It was an odd smell. Was that what Jed did back then? "I'll look at it after," was all he said before the bell rang and they were shuffled into another class.

School was as mundane as Jed's memories indicated. He hated it and didn't understand the apt fascination the boy had for the sciences. It was all boring.

"Alright. Come on. We're going to our usual place." Violet pulled at his hands and led him down the street, through the park, and into an old abandoned shack.

The smell was overwhelming. It got worse when she closed the door.

He obligingly went along with her, listening to her complain about all the injustices the world had dealt upon her. She had a father who was too consumed in his dying career. A little brother who was useless and couldn't even survive by himself. A sister who tried too hard and was a complete pushover. She never spit about her mother, but he somehow knew that she had died when they were young.

When she was done with her rant, she got up. "If you're not going to smoke any, do you want to make out? I'm bored."

He blinked and she rolled her eyes before leaning forward.

Her lips were soft and pleasant, but her breath made him squeeze his eyes shut. If he thought the smell was bad, the taste was even worse, but he went along with it because that was what Jed would've done. He needed this connection to her.

And so, he relaxed and imagined her with him instead. She was so beautiful and she always smelled heavenly. She was his and he was going to show her exactly what that meant.

"Ow! Stop!" Long nails dug into his arms. They pierced through his skin, leaving a bloody trail behind. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Once she managed to push him away, she wiped her mouth. Blood had dropped down where he had bitten her. "If this is how you really are, you can go fuck yourself!"

He blinked. The same red that flowed from her also came from him. He was surprised. He almost felt as if he should be bleeding black instead. It confused him.

"Jed?" She suddenly looked at him, a flash of fear in her eyes. She looked indecisively down at her hands where his blood clung to her nails. "I'm sorry, but if you're going to be like that, I'm not having it. It's degrading. I hate feeling like I have no control over anything!"

He blinked again. Did that mean that she no longer wished to be intimate with him? "Okay."

"T-that's it?" She stuttered, indignation quickly overtaking the confusion and regret. "You're not even going to try to fight for me?"

Was he supposed to? He didn't really care much for her. Did he still need this relationship to get to the one he wanted? He wasn't sure.

"Well, fuck you, too," she growled, storming away without a single glance back.

When she was gone, he followed her home and waited. He waited until the sun went down and came up again. He waited for her to walk home. Her hair blowing in the wind and her lips relaxed. Her gaze was fixated on the pavement, rarely looking up. He wanted her to look at him, again, but she didn't even notice that he was there.

He spent several more days just watching her. Sometimes, he'd even follow her to the crazy place and back to her home at night. Not once did she look at him. Didn't she care anymore?! He was starving in the alleys waiting for her to spare him a glance. It never happened.

Another few days passed by and he finally decided to confront her. He had given her enough time. He wasn't going to wait anymore!

Just as he stepped out of the shadows, a figure blocked his path. He bared his teeth at the buff stranger who remained unyielding. "Police. Don't move." The man had his gun in his hand, pointed in his direction, but off to the side. "We've had some complaints that a suspicious character has been seen loitering around here."

What could one weak man do? He narrowed his eyes, eying the weapon. It wouldn't be able to hurt him. Human weapons were useless. No one was going to stop him from having her.

He lunged forward with a shriek, his eyes fixated on the soft point in the neck when a sudden pain cut through him. It cut through him several times and he was shocked that he couldn't move past the agony.

"Suspect is down," he could vaguely hear the man shout, but his mind was no longer on the stranger. Instead, he ran has fingers across each of the round holes that was blooming red. He was bleeding. It hurt.

It hurt.

Why did everything have to always hurt?

…

When he woke up, he was in an unfamiliar room with bodies everywhere, moving in a frenzy. He looked wildly at everything, wondering why he couldn't move. Something was holding his limbs down and he didn't like that. He hated it.

His eyes settled on her face and he felt his lips quirk up. (What he said to Madi).

And then, a strange man in black spoke nonsense to him. He didn't know what was being spoken, but he felt himself become lighter and lighter. He rose high into the air, away from her, but he couldn't have that. He pushed himself forward and crashed into solid form beside her.

His head was reeling. The ordeal left him completely disoriented, but he was free, again. The body he had previously occupied - Jed Potter - was limp. Dead. Just like the other body before.

While he was in his new body, he realized that he had gained several assets and lost others. How strange. He was in a female body.

He turned to Madi who still looked shaken up. "Sister Madison?" He touched her arm, wishing that the sleeves were shorter. He wanted to feel the soft flesh beneath his fingers. "Are you alright? I'm sorry I dragged you into this."

No. No, he wasn't. He was very, very glad that she was right there.

He went about assimilating himself to his environment. It had become easier and easier to fool the oblivious humans. These people were even crazier than he was! With a grin on his face, he made sure everyone knew exactly who was in charge.

His only problem was that Sister Judith. She thought she was in control, but her life was spiralling into a life of sin. He could feel it oozing out of her pores. Sometimes, he'd cause mischief just to see her squirm because there was this rage inside him whenever he looked at her. He hated her, but he didn't want to kill her. It wasn't something that would give him pleasure. He just wanted her to suffer. Yes, that was enough.

Once he established his place, he finally went back to the tiny brunette who gave him a small smile as he approached her. "Hello, Madison," he purred, taking in a deep breath. Vanilla and raspberry.

"G-Good morning, Sister Mary Eunice," she stuttered, looking at him with confusion as if he had done something unusual. Well, of course he did. He wasn't that pathetic, weak soul that disintegrated upon touch. The poor Sister was too pure for her own good.

He reached over to touch her, again. His powers felt through the fabric and caressed the flesh beneath. Suppressing the urge to rip the cloth from her body, he instead, let her go when she began to protest. It was too early. He didn't want to scare her away. He needed her to believe that he was still her friend.

The only thing he hated about this place was the boy who kept trailing around her like a lost puppy. The anger burned in his veins. He wanted to rid the world of that kid, but he couldn't. He knew he couldn't, but perhaps one day, things could be different, and then, she'd be all his.

But he had another problem, the good doctor who was treating Kit Walker. Oh, he knew what that man had done and he was going to make him pay for his crimes.

He approached Dr. Oliver Thredson who smiled charmingly back at him. Of course, he'd think that it was going to work. It might've for Sister Mary Eunice, but not for him. He allowed himself to smile coyly back at him. "Hello, may I speak with you alone?"

The doctor stopped his packing and quickly apologised. "Perhaps another time? I just have another appointment to go to. I'll be back in a few days. If you require assistance, I can give you a phone number to call."

"No. No. I'll speak with you later, then," he replied.

What he hadn't anticipated was for Madi to disappear that day. He still had no concept of time and he allowed the doctor to take her.

In the private of his new office, he banged his head on the walls, ignoring the worried words from the orderlies. Too late. He was always too late. Wasn't that how he lost it all? He had to get to her. He had to find her. He needed her to remember him.

He went to Kit Walker the next day and the boy easily agreed to his deal. He was going to help him project his soul out of his body and in return, he was going to keep him after it was over. Surely, Madi would quickly follow. That was always the case.

There was no Madi without…

He gritted his teeth, forcing the thoughts away. No, he had to stop thinking about it.

When Kit Walker was gone with his new power, he went to Sister Judith. He needed to vent out some stress and she seemed like the perfect victim. He was going to make her fall from grace. It wasn't as if she wasn't already self-destructing, but he wanted a hand in it. He wanted to see her taken down her high horse.

It wasn't long before Kit came running back to him, after failing to accomplish anything with his free trial. He happily granted him an unlimited time offer with the cost of only his soul. The boy agreed, knowing that there was nothing else he could've done. And the next day, Madi was back amongst them.

"Sister Madison?" He caught her looking slightly unhinged and beckoned her over. When she walked into the office, he quickly locked the door.

"Sister Mary Eunice! What are you d-doing?" she gasped at the proximity of their bodies. He had longed to be with her for so, so long.

He touched the red lump on the crown of her head and quickly eased her pain with a small surge of his powers.

"How…?"

He smiled at her baffled look. "Don't worry. The bad doctor won't be able to hurt you, anymore."

She turned away from his hand. "What are you? You're not Sister Mary Eunice, anymore! I know you've done something to me. What have you done? Why?!"

He easily told her what happened to the Sister's soul. Why was she so sad? It wasn't as if the other woman had ever done anything to deserve her affection. He tried to reassure her that he had no ill intentions for her, but she was unwilling to listen. Her human mind was unable to process it.

A pity…

He went up to her face and took in a deep breath. How he longed to kiss her lips – to feel her writhe against his body. He wanted to swallow her moans and drive her to the edge. He wanted to leave her hanging and begging before finally pushing her over.

Unfortunately, she didn't appreciate his games. She blamed him for what happened to her sister, but really, that girl was just a mess all on her own. He had no reason to bring her into the equation. She was just another obstacle to what he wanted, but he could turn this over and use it to his advantage.

He ran his finger from her neck to the valley of her breaths. She had been so hard to resist. He felt his visage begin to change. The humanity was slowly bending, struggling to keep his contained. He had to be careful, but she was so beautiful. He needed her.

He pressed his body against her, feeling her heart flutter in her chest like a freshly caged bird. His tongue slid out and gave her bottom lip and testing taste. Mmm… Yes, she tasted just as he remembered. He pressed his lips fully against hers, losing himself in her.

He breathed her essence in and felt his mind begin to cloud. He needed this. He needed her. Oh, his sweet Madi. He was going to have her.

Something tugged at his mind, a searing pain that made him stop. No! She had betrayed him! She didn't deserve his kindness! She deserved to suffer!

The two sides warred in his head until he pulled himself away from it all and disappeared back into his confines. His office was where he was safe, now.

During his weakness, he was suddenly assaulted by the Father. He didn't put much of a fight. He needed to get out of here. His time in this Godforsaken place was over. When the body was pushed over the balcony, it died quickly and he immediately found a new host.

Little Michael Harmon.

The young boy didn't stand a chance.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Wow… It's been a while since I posted for this story, but I was feeling a little discouraged by the lack of attention. Not sure whether because readers of my main series are afraid of spoilers or whether because this isn't completely focused on Madi, but I can assure you that it will soon shift to something you're familiar with.

Anyway, enough about that. No matter what, I'm going to finish this story, eventually.

Thank you BucksDoe and guest (anonymouscsifan) for reviewing!

anonymouscsifan: Did this chapter clear things a little?

BucksDoe: I'm glad you like this, so far!

Thank you as well to everyone who has favourited and followed this story.

Please, leave a review if you enjoyed this!