by Dawn Gray
"In the shower?" I questioned. He shrugged, smiling a little shyly. "I'm sorry about earlier."
"So am I." He replied and walked over to me, his shirt in his hand. He touched my shoulder then my cheek. "Are you all right?"
"I think so." I replied to him, closing my eyes. "This is all so much. Why can't it just be done with?"
"But, all things come to those who wait." He laughed. "Though, I'm not sure that this is one of those things that you want coming to you." He rubbed my arms and stepped away. "We're friends, right?"
"Of course, we are. What a silly question." I replied and sat on the bed, watching him pace. "Isaac, what is it?"
"I'm not sure." He replied and rubbed his arms, then sat beside me on the bed. "Can I tell you something?"
"Anything." I whispered.
"I love you." He said softly. I smiled at him and touched his cheek. "We're more than just friends, we're partners, and we’re family. I don't want to lose you because of this whole thing with my grandfather."
"I'm pretty confident that we're not going to lose, Isaac." I smiled at him and stood up. He looked at me and sighed. I touched his bare shoulders with my hands. "You look cold. Why don't you get dressed?"
He took my hands and held them against his skin, as he stood up and looked at my face. I looked at his eyes, as he stood only a few inches taller than me. He breathed in deeply, letting me feel the beat of his heart under my hand, and then he leaned down, slowly, and kissed me, softly, on the lips. I backed away from him, watched the confusion on his face, which probably matched the expression mine. He let go of my hand and watched me walk away.
I closed the door behind me and leaned against it. Why had Isaac just done that? Why hadn't I stopped him? These were questions that I kept thinking about. I shook it off and walked down to the kitchen when I spotted Quinn kissing Lauren. What was with the kissing all of a sudden? I couldn't get myself together; I had to leave.
I ran upstairs and changed my clothes, then looked at Cecilia, who blocked my way out. I took my helmet out of the closet and walked up to her.
"Please, don't ask." I begged her.
"You're leaving again, aren't you?" She questioned me. I stepped up and stood beside her, looking at the door. "Why?"
"Please, understand that this is the way that I am." I said quietly, as I turned to look into her eyes. "I can't be crowded like this, Cec. You know that. I need to get out once in a while and right now is that time."
"There's no one on the outside to protect you from Jacob's hunters. Isaac is with us, now, not with his grandfather." Cecilia whispered, keeping her conversation between us.
"If they catch me, they won't kill me. Jacob needs me alive."
"So, you think that makes it all right to risk everything, just because Jacob won't kill you on the spot?"
"Look, I'm not going far." I whispered towards her and looked down the hallway. "I promise I'll be back before dark."
"Where are you going anyway?" She questioned me. I looked at the stone that was clutched in my hand, and then closed my eyes for a moment before looking at her again.
"Up the mountain," I lied. "I have something to solve, it's been bothering me for a few days." I smiled and winked, then walked away.
Once outside, I started my bike, put the helmet on, and drove just outside the gates. I stopped the bike, and hid it in the bushes, then walked back to the house, stone in hand, and concentrated on being invisible. I looked down at my hands and could clearly see them, this wasn't working, I was sure of it, but as I walked by a mirror in the hallway, I glanced over and notice what wasn't there, me. I smiled and continued through the house, made my way towards the kitchen, where I knew I would find Julian, but stopped when I passed the sitting room and over heard my name.
I walked into the room, shielded my presence the best I could, and stood there looking at Quinn, Julian, Jason and Cecilia, who were standing there looking at each other.
"She's self-destructive." Cecilia said. This shocked me that she would be talking about me that way. "She's thinking of just herself, and not of what harm her actions cause others."
"Cec." Jason spoke up. "If you had someone after you for your whole life, and finally had the power to stop him, I'm sure you wouldn't hang around either."
"You're not supposed to agree with her taking off on her own, Jason. You're supposed to be one of us, trying to stop her from getting herself killed." Cecilia yelled at him. "I thought you loved her."
"Excuse me." Julian spoke up. Jason looked at him, then back at Cecilia, who was still looking at him as if he had been the one that pushed me out the door. "I don't believe that Jason can stop her, loving her or not, because we all love her and she's still not here."
"What we have to do is find her, and make sure she's safe." Quinn said and picked up his keys. He walked up to Cecilia. "You said she mentioned something about going up the mountain?"
"Yeah, something about solving something, or figuring something out." Cecilia replied and looked away from Jason, to him. "There was something mischievous in her voice though."
"There always is." Jason smiled as he said this.
"Let's go." Quinn said. "I think I might know where she might have gone."
I watched Quinn, Jason, and Cecilia walk by me without even a glance back, but as I watched Julian, with a drink in hand, looking out the window, a smile began to form across his face. He began to walk out of the room, but stopped right beside me, paused, then shook the ice in his glass before he took a drink.
"It would be wise," he said quietly, as if he were talking to himself, but he continued, "to show yourself to the others before they risk the chance of getting caught themselves, by Jacob's hunters."
"They think I'm self-destructive," I said, still invisible, but I knew he could hear my voice as I turned to look at him. He continued to look at his glass. "Why should I even think about helping them, I should just leave?"
"Now that would be self-destructive." He whispered to me. I lost my concentration, let the invisibility go, and Julian turned to look right at me.
"No!" It would be self-destructive to let this little fiasco continue to run my life." I replied, quite angry suddenly. Julian looked at me calmly.
"He'll hit you with everything he has, Angel."
"I'm prepared to hit him just as hard."
"He'll say things, and show you things that will make you angry, sad, and disgusted, anything to get a reaction he can use."
"I've got just the reaction that he's looking for."
"You could die, Angel.”
"I'm not afraid to die, Julian. Hell, I've expected it for way to long." I replied and smiled at him. Placing the stone in his hand, I kissed him, gently, on the cheek, and turned towards the door.
"Angel." He said softly, which made me turn back towards him. "He'll use Jason and Isaac against you. The things that you hold dearest will be the tools he uses to try to defeat you. Are you ready for that? Can you handle it?"
"Bring it on!" I replied and walked out the door, with Julian right behind me.
I stepped into the sunlight, and looked at the three people getting into the car. Cecilia noticed me first and got back out. Jason and Quinn soon followed. She stepped up to me as I stood there, almost expressionless, and put her hands on her hips.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She asked me. I smiled at her then shrugged.
"Taking back the only thing that I have left, besides you." I replied to her. She looked at me oddly, and then glanced at Julian, and back at me. "I'm going to face Jacob."
"What will you use to fight him?" Quinn asked. "He's more intelligent than you think."
"I'll use whatever I have." I replied.
"I'm going with you." A voice spoke up from behind me. I turned to look at Isaac as he stepped out the door. Jason's eyes narrowed as he looked at Isaac, then he looked at me.
"I'm not going to let him get you killed." Jason said and stepped closer to me.
"This isn
't a game." I told him. He grinned at me and shrugged.
"Yeah, but we can make it one." He replied. "When do we get this crazy show on the road?"
"How about next week?" Quinn said and grabbed my arm. I looked at him in disbelief. "You really didn't think that I was going to let you just walk off the property, did you?"
"I thought you might be more sensible and help me with this. He is your son, after all." I replied and snatched my arm away.
Just as I was about to move away, I heard them. The engines were unmistakable, and before any of us could blink, ten to fifteen motorcycles came speeding into the courtyard. Everyone scattered, hiding in bushes, trying to get in the house, but I couldn't move. It was as if I was grounded there, as if I had rooted into the dirt and they ran pretty deep. I heard Jason yelling for me, Isaac screaming at someone to let him go as he tried to reach me, but all I could see was the large man that stood in front of me, a dark figure, silhouetted by the sun, and the large object that he had in his hand, above his head.
Angel! Move! I heard Julian's voice yell to me.
I turned to look for him, but then my world went black. Darkness seemed to be taking over, the light slowly fading from my sight, but I could still hear the voices calling out to me, the sounds of bikes, loudly, in my ears and the feel of the road under me as the tires of whatever machine I was on drove swiftly over it.
This is what I had wanted, to be brought to Jacob, but it wasn't how I planned it. I was on the verge of total darkness, a realm of nothingness, but I fought it, heart and soul, because I knew once the light came back, and then I would be where I wanted to be. At Jacob's ‘Castle’.
Voices echoed around me, a couple of them arguing loudly, but I couldn't make out who or what they were talking about, let alone whom they might be coming from. My eyes seemed to open as the light began to pour in, but my focus was blurry and I saw only colors and things that seemed to be objects. The several people that were in the room with me, looked like large blurry snowmen, in color, but as my vision cleared, I saw those that I had expected to be there.
Jason, Isaac, Quinn and Julian were standing up, just a few feet from me, arguing about my health, and what to do when this was over, if we were still alive when it was over. I sat up, slowly, and shook my head, then tried to stand, which ended up with me sitting on the floor beside the bed. Isaac walked over and took my arm.
"I know where we are, so, I'm not going to ask that dumb question that everyone asks after being knocked unconscious." I said, sarcastically, and then looked at the others. "What I am going to ask, though, is why you four insist on arguing about me?"
"It's for your safety." Julian replied.
"Oh, bullshit!" I replied and rubbed the back of my head. "I'm just filling in for Ashley, because she's not here for you two to argue over."
"She's got a point." Quinn said and smiled.
"Shut up, Quinn." Julian said and crossed his arms. "Angel, this is insane. What the hell do we do now?"
"What did Larado say to do?" I asked him.
"How are you going to get Jacob to let the three of you to stand by him, with a twin that doesn't exist, so that you can kill him?" Julian questioned. Just then, the cell and I watched as the young man that I had been seeing for the last couple days walk through the door.
"That would be where I come in." He smiled and looked over at the five of us. I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him.
"I knew that you had something to do with this." I sighed. "So, what are you going to tell me this time? Don't talk to strangers?"
"Wait." Jason said, crossing his arms and looking at this new arrival. The young man grinned and folded his hands behind his back, then looked at me.
"You haven't told them about me?" He asked me.
"Well, you know, men who pop out of my dreams is a common thing these days, I can't keep track of all of you." I replied, sarcastically, and then looked at Julian and Quinn. "The day that I hurt Jason, I had a dream and he was in it, then after I hurt Jason, he was standing in the room, telling me to leave. Now, he shows up here, thinking that we're going to be a friendly, which, by the way, isn’t going to happen, and that's pretty much how it goes."
"You're a dream vampire?" Isaac asked. He shook his head and smiled. "So, who and what are you?"
"I am a vampire, but it's a little more complicated than that." He said and leaned back against the wall.
"Just tell us who you are, before we rip your heart out." Quinn said, with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
"Well, since you put it so mildly." He said and stood up straight. "My name is Louis Dupont. I am your son." I watched Quinn's face turn almost white as a sheet. Not much got a reaction from him, but this certainly did. Louis smiled at him and looked at Julian, then at Jason and Isaac. "It's one big family reunion."
"Yeah, well, some other time would have been better." I replied and looked at Louis. "Funny, you look too young to be a grandfather."
"My dear, I look to young to be anything." He replied. I looked at Quinn, who had regained the color to his face, and then I saw the question that formed in his eyes. "I took three exchanges of Victor's blood." He said and looked at Quinn. Quinn got angry and stepped up to him. "Just like Angel, I can read other minds."
"Yeah, well, it would be in your best interest to stay out of mine." Quinn told him, still not believing that he was Louis. "How much is he paying you?"
"Who?" Louis asked.
"Jacob, to play this part in his little game? How much?"
"When I was eight, I believe it was on Christmas Eve, my mother let you into our house and brought you to my room. She told me that you were my real father, and that I had a brother out there somewhere." Louis said softly. "You left me a watch that your father had given you before he died, and you told me that no matter what people said about you that you weren't a bad person. I found out what you were, from my mother, and I told her that if it so happens that I turn out to be like you, like this, that I would watch you and make sure that no harm came to our family. Even if it meant going up against my own brother."
I watched Quinn's face relax when Louis pulled a pocket watch out of his pants and held it out so that Quinn could see it. His face seemed shocked, but his eyes looked quite overjoyed. Quinn reached out, and from where I sat, I thought he was going to choke him, but he pulled Louis close to him and held him tightly in his arms. The young man smiled, but closed his eyes and held his father closely.
"Does this mean that we've found the other twin?" I asked softly. Jason walked over to me and sat down beside me. I looked at him and touched his hand. "Does this mean that it might finally be over?"
"Well, it's not over yet. We still have to face Jacob." Jason whispered.
"That shouldn't be a problem." Isaac replied and looked at the door. Several of Jacob's men were standing there, looking into our cozy little room. Isaac stood up, then Jason, who had my hand in his, and looked at these people.
"Come with us." The one in front ordered. "If you don't, we'll kill you."
"Well, since you asked so nicely." I replied and stood up. The six of us walked out, surrounded by men, into a large banquet hall. We were made to stand in the middle of the room. It was surrounded by tables, long rectangular ones with seats on both sides, filled with food. The spot where I was standing was illuminated by the light of the sun, which peaked in through a hole in the roof. I noticed that everything else seemed dark, beyond the tables, there was nothing, no signs of a wall or any kind of exits. "It's an arena."
"What?" Isaac asked me. I stepped back so that my back touched his and I whispered.
"This place, it's like an arena." I said again.
"Yes," Louis also whispered, "and, I think we're the main attraction."
We watched as people began to come into the room, fill up the seats. They're faces were familiar, but at the same time, strange. I heard Julian gasp, when a certain section of the tables was filled, then I could feel Quinn's anger.
"What is
it?" I questioned, unable to see what they were looking at.
"The Council." Julian replied, his voice low and almost inaudible.
"Here?" I asked. I know he replied, but I couldn't hear him. "What's going on?"
"I'm sure we're about to find out." Jason added and I turned just as two large doors opened, and Jacob walked into the room, wearing, what looked like, the robes of a king. "Oh, give me a break. What does he think he is, a Czar?"
"Well, if all goes his way, he could be eternal." Louis replied.
"Over my dead body." I answered.
"That's probably the plan."
"This cannot be good." Isaac whispered in my ear, and I glanced at him as he looked up at the chains that hung just above us. "Not good at all."
14
We watched in silence as Jacob stood before the large gathering, our hearts beating quickly, waiting to find out what his plan was. He smiled at me, as he stood there with all of his cockiness and stupidity written across his face, and he smiled. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the look on his face, the one of victory that he had thought was in his hands, the one that I was going to rip away from him. Some dark figure removed the robe around his shoulders and he stepped closer to the circle that the six of us had formed, closer to his twin, closer to the powers of the three, and with that thought, Larado's prophecy seemed to break out and fill my mind with thoughts of how this might turn out.
"I made a promise to you all." He started. I rolled my eyes and felt Jason's hand grabbed mine. "I promised you that I would destroy this family, destroy anything that stood in our way, and behold, I have kept my promises. I have delivered, to this very spot, all of Victor's children, all of his bloodline."
"We're not his blood!" Quinn yelled out, anger in his voice.
"Ah, but, dear Father, you are." Jacob smiled at him. I watched him inch closer to us, and felt that maybe this would be easier to accomplish than I thought, but what came next seemed to shock me into submission. "You see, your parents, my grandparents, made a pact with the devil, sort of. To keep their land and the animals that they owned, Victor made your father give his own wife to him for one night and low and behold, out pops the bastard, Quinn, and we are now all one big happy family."
