Conquer

by M. S. Willis

  Logan’s eyes widened. “Really?! She’s out of the hospital finally? Good for her. How is she holding up?” A sad excitement was evident in his voice.

  “She’s good, Logan. She’s not a hundred percent, but that’ll take time.” I paused for a second. “I talked to her about you, Logan. I mentioned that maybe you’d be willing to talk to her, you know, as friends. She’s not going to be dating for a long time, but I know you care about her. She said eventually, she wouldn’t mind speaking with you again, it’ll just need to be when she’s ready, and on her terms, you know?”

  A faint smile played over his lips. “Absolutely, Paige. Whatever she needs to feel comfortable. I don’t know why she’s still so stuck in my head after all this time. There was just something about her. She was easygoing, I guess, fun to be around.”

  It warmed my heart to know how he felt about her and I was pleased that he immediately agreed to keeping things on a friends-only level. “That’s great, Logan. Just give it some time and I’m sure she’ll call. I just wanted to let you know what was going on, I know it upset you that she wouldn’t see you after what happened.”

  His grin faltered for a second before reappearing. “I understand, Paige. She’s a tough girl, I knew she would pull through. I’m looking forward to hearing from her…when she’s ready, of course.” He smiled brightly at me as I promised to give her his number. I hugged him tightly before we all said our goodbyes.

  Chapter Thirteen

  My eyes peaked out from above the floor of the ring. My knees were knocking together from my shaking as my fingers gripped tightly around the rope above me.

  “No…fucking…way…Daemon. There is no fucking way I’m fighting that thing. Uh…uh. Get it the fuck away from me. Now!”

  It’d been two months since Daemon and I started training. Luckily, it had been quiet with no signs of Chris. I would rather have heard that the asshole had been caught, but I couldn’t complain. Although he was still free, he appeared to have given up his pursuit. I’d attributed his absence to the police presence orchestrated by Detective Troy. Not much had changed in the past two months. David and I were still staying with Daemon, Alex and Ava were still in St. Petersburg, Annie was still at The Center, and Daemon was still attempting to kill me with his training exercises on a daily basis. I had to hand it to him, he had one hell of an imagination. Today’s lesson was learning to control my fear. I hated today’s lesson and I was refusing to cooperate.

  “Come on, Paige. You can’t tell me you’re too scared to beat the shit out of this guy. Come out from behind the ring and show me what you’re made of.” Daemon’s voice was filled with humor. I didn’t find the situation as funny as he apparently did. He’d pulled out the big guns this time. I planned on murdering him in his sleep in retaliation.

  “Fuck you, Daemon! Get that fucking thing out of here now before I break one of these fucking windows to escape!”

  The peanut gallery burst out into laughter. I rolled my eyes but held strong to my position behind the ring.

  “Oh c’mon, Paige, it’s just a clown…” Daemon took a moment to contain his laughter. “…Just get out here and beat his ass!”

  I peeked over the edge of the floor of the ring. The clown stared back at me. I surveyed the terror starting from the top of his creepy clown head. A curly green afro topped a painted white face. On that face was a set of overly large red lips and a red ball nose. Green circles surrounded the eyes. From the corners of his mouth, red trails dripped down the smile lines. Yes. Red trails. This was a zombie clown.

  From my hiding spot, I couldn’t see below the neck, but I remembered a green vertical striped jumpsuit and red shoes. Well…I couldn’t be sure about the shoes as I was running scared as soon as he stepped through the front door of the gym.

  “Paige, seriously! You are better than this. You’ve been holding your own against me for weeks. Fighting the clown should be no problem!” Daemon’s voiced echoed through the high ceilings of the gym. “You have to control your fear, Damsel, or you will never be able to survive a fight with someone like Chris.”

  “If Chris is smart enough to come at me dressed like that, he deserves to win! I don’t see the point in this Daemon. Get rid of the fucking clown!” My voice was hoarse from screaming.

  I heard Daemon sigh loudly as the sound of approaching footsteps grew louder. He came around the side of the ring to grab me. I dodged his grasp and shot around the ring to escape him. As soon as I was on the same side as the clown, it smiled at me. I shrieked and turned around. I was trapped. Daemon’s arms came around me as he pulled me to his chest. After dragging me back behind the ring, his head lowered to mine so that he could talk to me quietly.

  “Babe, you need to calm the fuck down. You are letting your fear control you. How will you survive an attack if you can so easily be frozen by your own fear?”

  My eyes pleaded with Daemon. “The clown is a little over the top, don’t you think?! What the hell is the point of this exercise? I highly doubt I’m going to get attacked by a clown anytime soon. There is no reason for me to have to face my fears of those creepy fuckers. Just make it go away. Did you see it smile at me?!” I shuddered.

  “Fine, Paige. Looks like we are going to have to do this the hard way.” Daemon’s hands grabbed around my arms as he dragged me out from behind the ring. The soles of my shoes dug into the ground but I wasn’t able to keep from being pulled. Finally having to resort to desperate measures, I let my body go completely limp. Daemon’s hands slipped from my arms as I fell to the ground. His face quirked into an annoyed scowl as he bent over to pick me up. I continued my impersonation of a wet noodle, making it difficult for him to lift me. Every time he picked up one side of me, the dead weight from my other half caused me to slip from his hands. “Paige, stop this! You’re acting like a child.”

  “Damn straight I am! This trick worked with my parents and it’ll work with you. You’ll never move me from this spot.”

  Wet noodle, wet noodle, wet noodle…

  He moved around to my feet and shook his head. “Did you parents ever think of this?” He bent over suddenly, wrapping his hands around both of my ankles. I was suddenly spun around so he could drag me in the direction of the clown. I grasped out with my hands, desperately seeking anything to grab on to. I lucked out when we passed a set of weights. I curled my hand around the long bar which looked to have at least three hundred pounds attached to it. My body jerked after I anchored myself to the weight. Daemon looked back and rolled his eyes. He pulled on my legs again, making me feel like I was being stretched apart. The weights began to slowly slide across the room with me. I was impressed that Daemon appeared to have no problem dragging me and the weights. The asshole was strong!

  The palms of my hands burned, but I refused to let go of the weights. It took Daemon a good three minutes to get me near the clown. He turned around to face me and gave my legs one final jerk. My now sweaty hands slipped easily from the bar. Once I was freed, Daemon dragged me over and deposited me at the feet of the clown, kneeling beside me once he let me go.

  “Damsel, open your eyes and face your opponent. It’s just a man with makeup and a silly outfit. Look, his oversized shoes have stupid little balls on the toes and they squeak.” He squeezed the shoes twice and my body stiffened. I turned over and attempted to quickly army crawl away from them. Daemon grabbed my legs immediately and dragged me back. Having no other means of escape, I squeezed my eyelids shut. If I didn’t see it, it wasn’t there.

  “Open your eyes, Paige.”

  I squeezed my eyelids tighter.

  “Paige…open your eyes.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and shook my head.

  “Fine. David…attack her.”

  My eyes flew open. David’s painted face came into my view. He smiled brightly and waved. “Hey, Paige.”

  Another shriek escaped me as I kicked my legs free from Daemon’s hands, flipped to my stomach, pushed myself up and sprinted to the back of
the ring. Knowing Daemon would just drag me out again, I grabbed onto one of the ropes, holding on for dear life. The peanut gallery erupted in howling laughter once again. Apparently they found ‘death by clown’ amusing.

  Our struggle went on for another hour, but by the end, I found myself facing an evil zombie clown in the ring. My entire body trembled as I faced David. He took a fighting stance and I stepped back. Daemon stood behind me just in case I attempted to flee.

  “Okay, Damsel. Remember everything you have learned over the past couple of months. You have to take control of your emotions. Fear is your worst enemy in a true fight. Even if you can’t get rid of all of it, don’t let your opponent know he’s affected you. Control it, Paige.”

  I squeezed my eyes tight, then opened them again. David grinned back at me. The green striped jumpsuit he wore was tattered with black and red stains smeared all over. A hoop was sewn into the material around his waist giving him a bowling pin shaped body. His hands were covered with silly little green gloves. This. Was. Insane. There was no way Daemon was going to let me out of this. I knew my only means of ending this torture was to fight David. I took a few deep breaths attempting to calm my racing heart.

  “Just give me a second, Daemon. I’ll do it if you just give me some time to calm down.”

  Daemon’s hand came up to rest on my shoulder. His voice softened as he said, “In a real fight, you won’t have a second to calm down, Paige. It needs to be instantaneous. Although a small amount of fear is good because it helps pump adrenaline through your body, too much will paralyze you. You need to be able to think and think fast if you are attacked. Take whatever time you need now, but when we do this again, you need to be able to defend yourself immediately.”

  I nodded my head in understanding while maintaining eye contact with David. After a few more deep breaths, I visualized pushing my fear out of my body. My mind felt more clear as a result. It was time to take down the clown.

  I lunged forward without warning. My foot landed on one of David’s oversized shoes causing a little squeak to sound. Before David could react, I reached up and grabbed ahold of his hair, attempting to pull his head forward so I could knee him in the face. The wig popped off of David’s head and I dropped it on the floor. His foot was still trapped as I stood on his shoe, so David pulled his foot free before lunging back in my direction. I dodged left hoping to avoid his lean frame as it came at me. His gloved hand caught my arm, shoving me down to the mat. I reached over with my free hand and grabbed his wrist to hold it in place as I twisted my arm free. Once separated, we turned to face each other again.

  David let out an evil cackle as he dove for me with both arms extended. I bent down before kicking out at his knee with my foot. He tumbled on top of me from the impact, but I was able to push him aside. Back in my fighting stance, I watched as David got up and took his position opposite me. His face makeup had smeared from our struggles, causing him to appear more vicious and demented. My heart jumped to my throat at the sight, but I gained control of my fear in order to maintain a clear head. I stepped back a few feet to put distance between us. David lunged forward again, this time wrapping his arms around me. My foot came down on top of his other shoe. Squeak! My arms were trapped between my chest and his. I continued stomping on his feet, but he wouldn’t let go. I brought my head forward, making contact with his red ball nose. Squeak! I finally brought my knee up attempting the classic hit to his junk. As soon as I made contact, David released me before bringing his hands to his crotch and falling to his knees.

  “Fuck! Paige! This is supposed to be a pretend fight. That fucking hurt!”

  I stood up straight as my chest heaved from my breathing. Daemon moved to my side, chuckling as he looked down at David. “Well done, Paige. You pushed past your fear and it appears you have more than subdued your attacker.” His eyes looked over my face and he laughed. “You may want to go to the bathroom and get cleaned up. It appears some of David’s makeup rubbed off on your cheeks from that headbutt.”

  My eyes widened. Holy fuck. I was wearing clown makeup. I hurriedly turned and sprinted to the side of the ring. After weeks of practice, I was finally able to manipulate the ropes to climb out unassisted. My feet moved quickly as I ran to the nearest restroom. After flipping on the light, I looked in the mirror to find that small bits of zombie clown were all over me. I turned on the water and began frantically scrubbing the white smudges from my cheeks. Once the offensive paint was washed from my skin, I returned to the gym.

  David and Daemon had climbed out of the ring by the time I returned. I approached them and chuckled when I noticed that David’s face was slightly red where the makeup had rubbed off. His hands still clutched his crotch and his face was twisted up in pain. Joe’s laughter could be heard as he approached with an ice pack. Handing it to David, he laughed once again, before patting my back and saying, “That was the funniest shit I’ve seen in a long time, Paige. Good job up there.” Chuckles and snorts could be heard from his friends as Joe returned to stand with them.

  “Joe’s right, Paige. You were impressive. Although, it’ll be even more impressive to see you do that again without the preceding hour long panic attack.” Daemon smirked at me as an eyebrow set perfectly arched above his eye. My eyes narrowed in response.

  “Why a clown, Daemon?” I turned to David. “And where in the hell did you find the outfit, David?! It looks like the same one that singing telegram guy wore to the apartment.”

  David was bent over at the waist, his hand shoved between his legs. “Correction, Paige, it IS the same one,” he barked out through clenched teeth. I looked down at him sympathetically as he iced his jewels. I must have kneed him harder than I thought. I’d have to remind him to wear a cup the next time. He removed the ice from his crotch before straightening up to glare at me.

  “When Daemon asked that I go through with this ridiculous plan, I shopped online to find a cheap costume. This one happened to be on sale through a local consignment shop. I bought it online, but had to go to the store to pick it up. When I was paying for it, the store clerk asked if I was taking the last guy’s place at the novelty shop. She told me that the man who sold her the costume used to perform singing telegrams. He apparently hated the job, but needed the money. Unfortunately, he soon had a confrontation with a crazy, screaming blonde and a naked man on one of his assignments. After escaping the ‘lunatics’, he went back to the office and quit that night.”

  My eyes blinked in confusion. “Well? How do you know it was the same guy? Okay, so, yeah, the screaming, crazy blonde sounds like me, but there was no naked man in the room.”

  David sighed and dropped his head into his hand. Looking back up at me, he said, “Actually, Paige, there was a naked man….me.” When I just kept staring, he continued. “You see, I was in the shower when the guy came to the apartment. You’d just returned home from work, I guess, and answered the door. When I was in the middle of washing my hair, I heard a blood curdling scream, so I immediately jumped out of the shower to see what was going on. I ran out into the living room, but by the time I got there, the soap from my hair had dripped down into my eyes. I stopped moving as I was trying to rub my eyes clear. When I was able to open them again, I was giving the poor man a full frontal, while you were ducked down behind the coffee table, screaming your head off and chucking knick-knacks at him. I was surprised the guy didn’t immediately run.” David chuckled. “He was real dedicated to his job. He ducked and dodged all the shit you threw at him, sang his song as fast as he could, then hauled ass when he was finished.”

  Daemon burst out in laughter, followed by the peanut gallery. I tried to suppress my own grin at David’s story. I had no idea he’d been in the living room during that incident, much less, wearing nothing but his birthday suit. I couldn’t begin to imagine what that poor telegram guy thought as he was singing to a naked man while having to dodge ceramic figurines.

  A set of strong arms came around my waist as I felt Daemon’s chest pu
sh up against my back. His lips brushed against my ear when he said, “You ready to go, Damsel. It’s getting late.” He kissed my cheek softly.

  I withered in his embrace, finally feeling the ache in my muscles from training. A warm bed, next to an even warmer Daemon was the place I suddenly wanted to be. “Yeah. Let’s get going. I’ve had enough for today.”

  ~

  My head laid on Daemon’s chest, softy moving up and down with his breathing. My eyes felt heavy and I was dozing off while he watched the news and relaxed. I was very content in that moment, just being with Daemon. There was no drama, no fights, no chaos of any kind and I felt like I was able to breathe again. Our relationship had solidified over the past few months. We’d slipped back into the comforting awareness of each other that had always existed between us. Often, we spoke of our childhood, the things we loved and the things we wouldn’t miss. There was always plenty of laughter as we remembered our forts out in the woods or our attempts to catch minnows with our hands in the shallow waters of the marsh.

  Daemon and I always had a lot of time alone together as well. David bought a new car and when he wasn’t spending the night with Matt, he was working. He was putting in ten to twelve hour days, so even on the nights that he did return to the apartment, it was late and he wanted to go straight to bed. David didn’t mind putting in the extra hours. It gave him something to do, plus the timing of the overtime was exceptionally fortunate. The lease on our apartment was up and we needed to move our furniture and other possessions into storage. David was pleased with the added income to cover his expenses.

  We made it a point to visit the Center as often as we could. Momma told me that although Annie still had a lot to work through, she was making incredible strides towards eventually coming home. She also planned on leasing an apartment with David once she left The Center. I was still undecided if I would be moving back in with them as Daemon was insistent that I live with him permanently. Although I enjoyed keeping him guessing about my decision as to where I would eventually live, I knew that it would be impossible for me to fall asleep without him by my side.