“Bet you never thought you’d see me again after that night at Victor’s, did ya?” Jin asked, voice tight and high, playful yet cruel.
Rachel’s only reply was a groan of pain as she rolled over and tried to get back on her feet.
“Well, I’m sorry if I disappointed you,” Jin said, watching her curiously.
“Dorigan,” Rachel said, now on her knees. “What happened to Dorigan?”
“Dead,” Jin answered simply. “And I’m thinking you’re afraid that I’m gonna do the same to you.”
Rachel groaned again, and when she tried to lift herself up off her knees, Jin stood up and grabbed her hair again.
“Well guess what?” he said. “I’m still not sure about that.”
Without warning, he jerked Rachel to her feet and swung out with his left leg, sending her flying into the nearby kitchen with a powerful kick. She hit the refrigerator first and then toppled face-first to the floor, only barely catching herself.
“You know,” Jin continued. “I guess the main reason I’m here is to find out, straight from the horse’s mouth, just why someone gave Dorigan the idea of murdering our children. Now I know Victor said it was you, but that can’t be true, can it?”
Rachel again struggled to her feet and propped herself up against the counter, and Jin walked up behind her, leaning against the fridge.
“After all, I know that Rachel Hartman, my dear, sweet, loving wife, would never do anything so horrible.”
Jin saw Rachel’s hand reach for the block of knives on the counter, but he ignored it.
“Because she’s a nice, sensitive, compassionate human being who cherishes life.”
Suddenly, Rachel lashed out with a butcher’s knife, and Jin quickly sidestepped the attack, leaving the blade free to bury itself in the refrigerator door.
“Or is she?” Jin asked accusingly.
Rachel tried to attack Jin again, but he was too fast for her. As she tore the knife out of the refrigerator, Jin snatched her wrist and twisted it, causing her to cry out and drop the knife.
“Now, Rachel,” Jin said with a patronizing tone. “If you can’t play nice, I’m gonna have to break something, and it won’t be a piece of furniture.”
Jin squeezed Rachel’s wrist for emphasis, and she relented.
“Alright!” she said frantically. “Alright, just please let go.”
Jin obliged and walked back out to the living room, flopping down on the white leather couch that rested against the wall. Rachel followed moments later, a white cloth pressed against her nose to stem the tide of blood. When she entered the living room, she sat down on the chair farthest away from Jin.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“I already told you,” Jin said, “I’m here to find out if what Victor said is true.”
“It is,” Rachel replied without emotion. “So why haven’t you killed me yet?”
“I still don’t know if I want to,” Jin answered simply.
“That’s reassuring,” Rachel snorted sarcastically.
Jin shrugged. “I’m not here to reassure you.”
There was a slight pause, in which Jin rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling.
“Why’d you do it, Rachel?” he asked solemnly. “Why did you have Dorigan kill our kids?”
“Jin, I told you when we first got married that I didn’t want kids,” Rachel replied evasively. “You didn’t either!”
That shot stung, and Jin gritted his teeth.
“That may be true,” Jin said slowly. “But I chose to make the best of it, and as it turned out, those two were the best things that have ever happened to me.”
“Well, that’s you then.”
“Is that all you have to say for yourself, Rachel?” Jin said, turning to stare incredulously at her. “Is that really all you have to say?”
“It’s all there is.”
In utter disbelief, Jin rose to his feet and began to pace, as though the repeated movement would somehow allow him to process what he was hearing.
“So, let me get this straight,” he began. “You had Dorigan kill our kids, and you did it…just because, what? You didn’t want to take care of them? You didn’t want to deal with all the questions they’d have if they were still alive?”
At this, Rachel lowered the cloth and locked her cold steel eyes with Jin’s bright emerald ones.
“People don’t change, Jin,” she said. “I never wanted to be a mother, and no amount of cute, cuddly, warm-hearted fluffiness would ever change that. You will always be a killer, always be a murderer, and whether or not you have more children or get a girlfriend, it will never change. No matter what they say, or what they do, or what they think, people never change.”
At this, all of Jin’s disgust and disbelief evaporated. Here, now, he could only shake his head and laugh at the woman he’d called his wife for fifteen years. Now, he could see her for what she truly was, and it was pathetic. She was a base creature, driven only by selfish impulse and desire. How Jin had ever fallen for her was now completely beyond him.
As his laughter fell to a chuckle, Jin finally spoke again.
“No, Rachel, no,” he said. “You’re wrong. You are completely and unequivocally wrong. People change all the time. Just look at me, because five years ago I would’ve killed you.”
Jin gave a last, sad shake of his head and turned to leave.
“You go live your life, Rachel, it makes no difference to me now.”
Jin walked back to the entrance hall, and just as his hand clasped the doorknob, Rachel bolted up to him.
“So, wait,” she said, sounding confused. “You’re not going to kill me?”
“Why?” Jin said, half-smiling, “You want me to?”
Rachel opened her mouth as if to reply, but she closed it when the words didn’t come.
Shaking his head in pity, Jin looked at her again, letting his pity show through his eyes.
“No, Rachel, I’m not going to kill you,” he said. “I’m never going to kill or fight anyone ever again. I’ve wasted too much of my life on hatred and revenge. You’ll get yours on your own time. Meanwhile, I think I’m actually going to take the time to enjoy life for a change.”
With that, Jin Sakai turned away from Rachel Hartman and started to walk back to his rental car. Within himself, he could feel the cold heart of the assassin melt away and die. The Jin Sakai of old was dead, laid to rest along with the life that had created him. And from his ashes, a new Jin Sakai was born. A Jin Sakai that greeted the world with open arms and leapt at the chance to take on its challenges.
A new life awaited him, a life he couldn’t wait to live.
“Oh,” Jin said, snapping his fingers as a sudden thought came to him. “There is one thing I want from you.”
“What’s that?” Rachel asked, still confused.
“A divorce.”
Rachel’s eyes bulged in shock, for she had never imagined Jin requesting something so…normal.
As Jin took in Rachel’s expression, he couldn’t help but laugh. So much had changed for him so fast, and to have everything end on such a normal note was just funny to him. Still chuckling, Jin walked back to his rental car and drove off with a smile, toward the new life that now awaited him.
Chronicles of the Apocalypse
--<(0)>--
Part 1: Revenge, Everything is Nothing
Chapter 24: The End of the Beginning
The world outside was calm and peaceful. The sky was crystal clear and the stars shone vibrant against the black screen of night. A gentle breeze wafted through the nearby trees, and those who opened their ears could hear the soft song of the crickets.
But the peace and harmony of the night did not extend to Jin Sakai’s unconscious mind.
His dreams were full of darkness and death. Blades and fangs and claws slashed out from unseen shadows and continually cut through his body. Monstrous figures wreathed in an impenetrable black haze darted and circled around him.
He could not see them, did not know their intention, but he was nonetheless frightened of them. Flashes of fire, darkness, death, and unbearable suffering tore through Jin’s mind and ravaged all they found. A dark voice spoke above the madness, and pain beyond all comprehension exploded all across Jin’s spine and neck as though they had been cloven in two.
“I’m not dead.”
--<(0)>--
Jin suddenly snapped awake, gasping for breath and covered head to toe in an ice-cold sweat. He desperately whirled his head around, trying to discern his surroundings. Plain white walls, and an oak dresser on the left side of the room, and to his right a door that led to a deck overlooking the town of Pine Lake.
He was home.
Heaving a massive sigh of relief, Jin collapsed back onto the bed and left the blankets around his waist, exposing his bare chest to the cool air.
Two months, he thought. Two months later and I still can’t escape these nightmares.
Jin looked over to his right and saw Leah Lawson lying next to him, a single sheet covering her otherwise nude form. A look of satisfied peace still tugged at her features, and Jin couldn’t help but smile. He still couldn’t believe how much he loved her. The two months they’d spent together had completely removed the gray veil of dull misery from Jin’s life and opened his eyes to the true wonder of the world – a wonder that he’d never before been able to experience.
Jin gently traced a finger along Leah’s cheek, but a flash of his nightmare shot across his vision, and he recoiled as if struck by lightning. Wrestling with his anxiety, Jin eased himself out of bed and into a pair of black pajama bottoms. With one last look at Leah, he eased himself through the door that led to their deck.
As soon as he stepped outside, Jin felt a little bit better. He was alone again, and for whatever brief period it would be, he only had to worry about himself. With Dorigan and the others dead, Jin knew he had absolutely nothing to be afraid of, but fear clawed at his mind nonetheless. At its worst, that fear became paranoia so strong that it would completely flay Jin’s nerves. A thread of that paranoia slithered up his spine, and he violently shook it off.
With a deep sigh, Jin grabbed the deck’s railing and bowed his head. Why couldn’t things just go the way he wanted them to for a change? A series of gentle footfalls tapped against the deck behind him, and Leah’s hand soon slid up his back to rest on his shoulders. Jin’s muscles tensed at the initial contact but soon relaxed. Much as he wished it weren’t so, Leah’s mere presence had the power to relax him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Just…bad dreams,” he said somewhat evasively.
“About Dorigan?” Leah asked cautiously, not wanting to stir up painful memories.
“No,” Jin began. “They’re not really about anything. They’re just…bad.”
“Want to talk?” Leah offered gently.
Jin sighed again and turned to face her. When he saw her, his voice seemed to die. She just stood there, clad in light lavender robe, eyes full of care and concern.
Ever since Leah had met him, Jin had been infallibly strong. The only occasions on which that had wavered had been truly traumatic for him. The news of Dorigan’s impending success and finding Mark’s butchered body stuffed in a closet.
What dream could have possibly been this bad? Leah wondered.
For a while, neither of them spoke. Then, without words or warning, Jin stepped forward and wrapped Leah in his arms, holding her as close as he could without causing harm. Just the pressure of her body against his was enough to drive away his fears, and he could feel his demons retreating back into their shadowed homes.
“Jin, please, tell me what’s wrong,” Leah whispered imploringly into his ear.
“I’m just so scared, Leah,” Jin admitted, his voice trembling. “I’m so worried that I’m going to wake up one morning and find that this has all been a dream. That Dorigan is still alive, and that I’m locked back up in my old cabin.”
“Oh, Jin,” Leah said, laying a hand against his clammy cheek. “Jin…”
“I know it’s not…rational, or anything, but it’s still there. The fear that this has all been a dream. I don’t feel it during the day, but every night, right before I close my eyes, that fear always works its way into my mind!”
“Every night?” Leah asked, suddenly surprised. “You’ve been having these nightmares every night? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want to worry you,” Jin replied. “I didn’t want to dump my problems on you and expect you to fix them.”
“Jin, I love you! It’s my job to be there for you!” Leah proclaimed. “If something’s bothering you, I want you to tell me about it. I’m here for you, Jin, for everything.”
Jin opened his mouth as if to argue, but Leah’s eyes suddenly burned with a fierce finality. She was there for Jin, and that was fact, not opinion.
“I know you are,” Jin nodded, his voice still shaky.
“Then listen,” she said firmly. “Come back to bed and lie with me. Hold me close to you and I promise, with all of my heart, that when you wake up in the morning I’ll be there, right beside you.”
Jin seemed ready to protest again, and this time Leah leaned up and kissed him fully. There was no room for argument within her heart, and she would not let there be any without. As she kissed him, Jin finally let himself fall for her fully. He let himself fall back into the furthest reaches of his heart and unchained the final lock, letting the full force of his love for Leah flow through him. He let himself give in to it fully and surrendered his very soul to the woman who was kissing him so passionately.
They loved each other, and that was all either of them now needed.
--<(0)>--
The next morning, Jin awoke to the bright rays of early morning sunshine filling the bedroom. The white walls seemed to glow with warm yellow light of their own accord. A family of birds chirped a whistling chorus just outside the doors to the deck, and Jin slowly rolled over in bed and opened his eyes.
The blankets next to him were rumpled, but Leah was nowhere to be seen. Jin propped himself up on his elbow to look around the room. She wasn’t anywhere he could see, and the ring of her voice and promise replayed to Jin in his mind. Then his nightmare and the fear that it brought surged back to the fore. In a blur of frenzied motion, Jin whirled out of bed and snatched his sword from its place next to the nightstand. He paused then, straining all his senses to pick up on the slightest disturbance. When he found nothing, his paranoia only increased. Carefully, silently, Jin crept toward the door to the bedroom. He eased it open without a sound and gripped the hilt of his sword firmly in his right hand. As he made his way through the top floor of the house, in addition to the deathly silence, he was further disturbed by the fact that there was no sign of Will’s whereabouts either. Finally, Jin descended to the main floor and entered the living room, whereupon he found himself at the full mercy of the most gruesome sight of his life.
William Lawson had been murdered, and two stakes driven through his wrists kept him attached to the wall.
That, however, was not the worst of it.
Will’s throat had been savaged, as if ripped out by an animal. Blood had completely soaked the front of his shirt, and it was there that Jin’s agonized roaring wail, previously held back by utter shock and horror, burst forth.
Will had been completely disemboweled, and his organs had been left to hang in grotesque wreath around his feet.
Amid Jin’s anguished cries, a high, cold, almost mad laughter echoed through the house.
A shock of recognition passed through Jin’s mind and stopped his crying in its tracks.
He knew that voice!
As Jin turned around, Martin James Dorigan, dressed as he always had been in his blue leather coat, black slacks and matching shirt, emerged from the kitchen looking supremely pleased.
“Hiya, Jin,” he said casually. “How’ve ya been?”
Jin roared, enraged beyon
d all reason, and flew at him. He dropped his sword and, using his entire body and all of his incredible strength, slammed Dorigan back against the wall. His hands closed around Dorigan’s throat and Dorigan clamped his own down on Jin’s wrists.
“You!” Jin bellowed. “I’ll kill you!”
Dorigan chuckled. “If only you could.”
Slowly, with an evil grin, Dorigan pulled Jin’s hands off of his throat and spread Jin’s arms as wide as his own would allow.
“Despite all your strength, Jin,” Dorigan hissed, “you are still only human!”
An instant later, Dorigan’s icy blue eyes flashed to bloody red and then in a burst of red light and rush of power, Dorigan transformed into his demon form.
Jin tried desperately to break Dorigan’s grip on his arms, but the instant he tried, Dorigan released them and drove a devastatingly powerful punch into the center of Jin’s ribcage. Jin cried out in pain as he felt his ribcage cave in, sending splinters of bone into his lungs and heart. Next second, Jin felt himself crash back first against the opposite wall.
Dorigan’s mad cackle suddenly filled the air as Jin collapsed to the floor, holding his chest. Every breath thrust daggers of pain into Jin’s body, and he could taste blood. He attempted another ragged breath when the pain in his chest exploded into utter agony and his throat seemed to clamp shut. Then his gag reflex kicked in and a series of coughs shot a stream of blood out onto the carpet. Jin desperately sucked in a lungful of air despite the pain it caused, and another trickle of blood slid from his mouth.
Dorigan cackled again, and though Jin barely heard it, a series of footsteps indicated his departure.
The pain in Jin’s chest continued to increase, and his vision began to blur. His head swam, and while Jin tried to get to his feet, dizziness overcame him, and he fell to the floor.
Must have…internal bleeding, Jin thought vaguely.
Chronicles of the Apocalypse: Revenge, Everything is Nothing Page 27
