by Dawn Gray
"There's been two other fires, not close, but they killed about fifty more of us in those fires." Julian said and stood by the mantel. "The other news is that one of the Councilmen is dead. He was killed early this morning when a bomb blew up in his car, there were no survivors."
Jason, with his hands balled into fists, took a swing at the air in front of him as he walked around a bit. Quinn folded his hands, rested them on his knees, and put his head down. Michael, stood by Cleo and took her hand, and Lauren, Cecilia and I just watched the emotions of the others.
"Why can't we just kill the bastards?" Jason yelled suddenly, turned and looked at the group of us. "They're only mortal!" He said and looked at Cecilia and Lauren. "Sorry, no offense."
"He's right though, they are only mortal, after all." He looked around as he said this and then looked at his brother. "It's only Isaac that we have to worry about."
"We need to know his weaknesses." Julian spoke up as he also looked around the room at the faces of the people there. I looked away and closed my eyes. "Angel, you've been dealing with him for a long time, do you know any of his weaknesses?"
I watched as all heads turned in my direction, all of them staring me in the face, waiting for me to answer. Cecilia elbowed me in the arm, gently. I looked at all of them then finally became frustrated and left the room. Jason followed me out on to the balcony.
"What is it?" He asked softly. I looked at him then back out at the view.
"His weakness." I said and smiled at him, an "I can't believe I'm opening my mouth" kind of smile.
"What about them, what do you know?”
"Isaac has only one weakness that I can think of. There is only one thing that keeps him going, but at the same time will be his downfall." I whispered.
"Angel, whatever you can tell us that might help us destroy him will be good."
"That's just it, Jason." I said and turned to look at the others who were standing by the doorways. "I can't help you destroy him."
"What?" I heard from several different people.
"Angel, this is insane." Quinn spoke up and stepped forward. "He's been hunting you all your life." He said. I looked at him, knowing that he knew nothing about what Isaac and I had been through. "Why are you talking such nonsense; do you like this game or something?"
"Or, something." I whispered and stepped closer to my grandfather. "I'll tell you but only if you promise that you will leave me totally out of this if your plan is to destroy him."
"What else would we do with information like that?" Michael asked.
"Maybe use it to get to Jacob instead of Isaac." I said and glanced at him.
"Jacob?" Quinn questioned.
"Yes, Jacob. He's alive, but we’re not sure how, anyway, if there was a way to convince Isaac to help us get rid of Jacob, would you spare him?" I asked, looking at Quinn and Julian.
"I just don't understand; why are you protecting him?" Quinn asked.
“Will you, or won't you?" I asked and looked into Quinn's eyes, knowing that he couldn't tell me a lie. I stood waiting for him to answer, watched him look at his brother, then at the others and back at me, when they all nodded.
"Okay, we'll try it your way, but I can't make any guarantees on his life, Angel, you know that." Quinn replied. I exhaled, letting out the breath that I had been holding and stepped back away from him. "Now, please, tell us what we need to know."
"Isaac's biggest weakness," I started, looking out over the valley, playing with my fingers, trying to think of how to come out with it, but straight forward seemed to be the only way, as I turned and looked quickly at Quinn, "is me."
Quinn's jaw almost dropped and I watched anger building in his eyes, knowing that he didn't believe me, wishing that I had just kept things to myself if I was going to joke around. He stepped forward, as if he were going to grab me, but stepped by and leaned on the wall.
"Angel, this is serious." Julian said and stepped forward.
"I'm being serious." I replied and stared him down. He shook his head.
"Look, she's telling the truth." Cecilia said, stepping up beside me. "Isaac and her have this thing going. He can't kill her, she can't kill him, and it’s been going on for years."
"Why?" Michael asked. "I mean, he's one of them."
"Yeah, so he is." I said and crossed my arms. "And now he's one of us."
"What's the real reason?" Quinn asked. I closed my eyes, opened then and looked at the sky.
"Love." I said softly. Quinn walked over to me quickly.
"Did you just say love?" He asked.
I nodded as I looked away from him. "Yes, I said love. He loves me, and I think I love him."
"How could you love him?" Jason asked. I was suddenly aware of the confusion that I was causing him.
"I'm not in love with him." I said and stepped over to him, put a hand on his arm and looked up at him. "Whether or not our lives allow it, he was my best friend and I love him as such. He won't hurt me."
"He beat you with a whip." Jason said and looked down at me. He turned and took me by the arms. "He made you bleed and you're saying he won't hurt you?"
"Just like you, he has orders to follow, and just like you, he breaks them." I told him and pulled out of his grip. "If he had followed his orders, I would be lying right beside my mother, headless and heartless and all of this would not be happening." I stepped back and walked over to the door.
"Next time the situation comes up; I'll tell him to not be so lenient and just rip my heart out with a pair of rusty forks."
"Angel, wait..." Quinn yelled. I shook my head and left the room. I felt someone follow me and I turned to look at Quinn, tears streamed down my cheeks and I looked at him. He stepped forward with his arms open and I stepped back and raised my hands to hold him off. "Angel, please, let me in to your life; tell me what I can do to help you."
"I can't, Quinn." I said and sighed. "I'm not...not worthy of anyone's love, especially yours."
"Why?" He questioned. I looked at him, folded my hands together and then walked in a circle. I just wanted to scream and fall into darkness, but I couldn't and I knew it. "Why won't you let someone love you?"
"I want to, but you don't seem to want me to have him." I told him and stepped up to my grandfather.
"Tell me what you want?"
"Jason." I said and looked Quinn right in the eyes. "Without knowing him well enough to know him, something inside of me wants him, badly, wants him to love me, hold me, protect me, but I can't give into it. What's holding me back?"
"Memories." Quinn said and touched my cheek. "He's right, you were together in your past lives, and each time you died, and I know it wasn't his fault, but I can't help but blame him for that. You knew each other every time after the first time and there was no way to stop you, but it doesn't mean that I approved."
"So, now we know the truth." I smiled at him, but then it faded. "But, what about Isaac? And, now that Jason knows about us, not that there really is an ‘us’; will he still want me, does he still want me just the same as before?"
"All you can do is ask him." Quinn said and hugged me tightly. I closed my eyes as the ache began inside me, and I pushed it away, wanting to be held. "Like I said before, I can't promise you that Isaac's life isn't in danger, but we'll see what we can do."
Quinn smiled down at me and I watched him turn and walk away. Slowly, I turned and walked up the stairs to the bedroom, as I reached the door, turned the knob and opened it just a crack, I felt a presence next to me. I turned and looked at Jason, who stood at the top of the stairway, his hand on the rail, looking at me, with a look of total loss on his face. I looked back down at the door and walked into the room, leaving it open as I sat on the bed. Jason walked over and stood in the doorway.
"You weren't supposed to find out that way." I told him, not looking at him, but around my half-empty room instead.
"I wasn't supposed to find out at all." Jason said, almost in an angry voice.
"It doesn't reall
y matter, what or how I feel for Isaac, Jason." I whispered and then looked at him. "Does it?"
"I just want to know what the story is, Angel." He said and leaned against the wall. "Is it some sort of cat and mouse game, does that turn you on, having him chase you down, come this close to dying by his hand?"
I laughed and shook my head. "Like I said before, Jason, he's just following orders. He comes close to killing me, never doing anything that I can't come back from, and he warns me to stay low, until something pops up again. He makes it look like I got away, but not without a fight, so that we both live and his orders get followed to an extent." I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "I know, it seems cruel and unusual to let him do this to me, but it was what we had discussed when Jacob had brought him into this vampire hunter thing. He wanted me to be safe, but he also had to do it this way to keep me alive."
"So, you think he's protecting you?"
"I think he's protecting both of us, him and me, because Jacob would kill us both if he knew that his best hunter was a friend to his worst enemy."
"He killed your mother, doesn't that count against him?"
"He didn't kill her, when she died; he was in the basement with me, trying to reason with me, trying to get me out, and to stop the bleeding from my wound. He hid me in a cabinet when they came looking for me, and then later he came back to let me out and told me how to find Quinn." I smiled at the ceiling and then shook my head. "He wants out of there. He asked me for help, but I don't know how to help him. I don't know stuff like that; all I know is how to live."
"What happens if you can get him out?"
"Does it matter?"
"Of course, it matters."
"How do you feel about me?" I asked him and stared at him from where I sat on the bed.
"What does that have to do with this?"
"It's just a question."
"One that I don't have an answer to, anymore." He said sternly. I nodded and then looked down at my feet, and back at him. "So, what happens when he gets out?"
"I'm not sure." I shrugged. "Maybe, he'll go into hiding, maybe, he'll start his own little clan, or maybe, he'll help us kill Jacob and end this thing for good. Either way, what does it matter?"
"It matters to me." He said and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Fire leaped up at me from every direction, the red-hot flames burned my skin and scorched my hair as it seemed to reach out and grab at me. I tossed and turned on the bed, trying to get away from the awful feelings beneath. I screamed out for help, but to no avail. I thought I was going to die, and when the flames and smoke reached so high that they engulfed me began to choke me, I opened my eyes and sat up.
My gown was soaked, and I could almost still feel the flames as I kicked at the bed. I got up; still half in a dream state and walked over to the corner of the room. I sat up against the wall, pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around me as I huddled there.
I cried to myself, and I cried out to Jason, wherever he might be. I couldn't move, fearing the fire would get me if I did, and I began to hum to myself to keep the fear down. I hadn't been in the corner long before the door opened and Jason walked in. He looked at me over in my little corner and walked over to me as I shook and looked quite frightened.
"Angel?" He asked.
"There was fire, everywhere. I couldn't get away, couldn't move." I said and looked at him. He sat there for a while looking at me, apparently trying to decide if he should even move me. He walked over to my dresser and grabbed another gown, and helped me change, and then he watched me as I stared at the ceiling for a while.
"You have to move, Angel." He said and looked at me.
"I don't have to do anything." I mumbled and shook my head. "Except lay down and die when my turn comes."
"That's a great attitude to have." He said sternly to me.
"Yeah, well, welcome to my life." I replied and crossed my arms again. Jason got up and walked over to the balcony windows. He looked out at the oncoming night and put his hands on his hips. "Are you still my guardian?"
"Until the agency gets me another job, yes." He replied. I stood up and walked over to the bed, where I sat down and looked at him.
"You don't have to be anymore." I told him and watched him turn to look at me. "I'm relieving you of your duty."
"You are?" He asked as if he didn't believe I was saying it.
"Yes, as of now, you're no longer my guardian." I told him again and crossed my arms. "You're free to leave or stay if you want and you don't have to follow me around anymore."
"Angel, I don't think you know what you’re saying."
"I know very well what I'm saying. I'm not going to be a burden on you or any of the others, anymore, so, you can just stop what you're doing and go about your own business."
"It's not that simple." He said and closed his eyes.
"It's the money, isn't it?" I asked him and stood up. "If it's about the money, I can pay you whatever the agency was paying you, like severance pay. I have enough it's not a problem."
"It's not about the money, Angel." He said, snapping, and he shook his head as he walked over to the bed and stood next to me, only about two feet away. "It never was."
"Then what the hell are you doing it for?" I asked him.
He suddenly placed both hands on my cheeks and kissed me hard on the lips, slowly, the kiss became more passionate, less forceful and he wrapped his arms around me as I held onto the back of his shirt. He backed away and put his forehead against mine and sighed.
"I stayed because of you." He said and stepped back. "The agency stopped paying me for this job a while ago, when the money stopped coming in."
"Quinn stopped paying you?" I asked. He shook his head.
"It doesn't matter who, Angel." He laughed and took my hand. "The point is that I've been doing this because I care about you and that's it. I don't need the money, Angel. I'm not some poor soul lost on the street that needed a job. I started out to find you and that's the reason I haven't stopped."
"What about Isaac?” I asked him. He shrugged and then stepped back, pacing the room. "Earlier you said you didn't know how you felt about me."
"Yes, I said that, but earlier I was confused about your feelings for Isaac. How would you feel if I said that I loved my worst enemy?" He asked.
"I'd say that you and Julian were perfect for each other." I smiled at him. He smiled and rubbed his forehead.
"Julian's not my worst enemy." He assured me and then he walked back over and wrapped me in his arms again. "Can I kiss you?"
"You never asked before and that didn't stop you." I smiled at him. He leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips, it was gentle at first and then he quickly became more demanding, more wanting and it suddenly became hot in the room again. I broke away from him and walked over to the window. He smiled at me, watching me walk away from him in my nightgown.
I opened the windows and looked out into the sky and heard a soft ticking sound. I turned and looked at Jason, who had begun to look through the room, under beds, chairs, and dressers, and when he came and stood by the large cushioned chair that was by the window; he stopped and looked behind it. I watched his face grow quite angry and then he looked at me and grabbed my arm.
"What is it?" I asked him as he pulled me towards the door.
"We have to leave now." He said and grabbed the doorknob, counting down from twenty as we tried to make our way out of the room. I let him go and grabbed my coat, then stepped outside the door, as he closed it tightly. He looked at me and grabbed me by the shoulders he flung us both down to the floor and the door to my bedroom exploded outwards, bringing most of the wall with it. Jason covered me and I felt the heat from the fire.
Voices were suddenly around me as I felt Jason move and begin to try to put the fire out. I was still on the floor and I sat up slowly, to look at the fire and the four men who were passing buckets of water from one to the others. Arms were about my neck and chest and I felt some
one pulling me backwards, glanced up and looked at Cecilia, then watched as the world began to revolve in slow motion and slowly go dark as I fainted.
I sat up screaming and looking around the room, Jason stood by the window, Quinn sat in a chair and Cecilia was lying beside me on the bed. There was a bandage on my arm and one on my face, but it didn't sink in until I realized that I wasn't in my own room anymore. I quickly got off the bed and started to panic as I tried to figure out where I was. I got dressed, while Quinn tried to calm me down, and Jason blocked the doorway, but they didn't stop me and I ran out the door, putting my shoes on as I went.
I listened to them as I sped off on Jason's bike, into the darkness, away from the safety of my family. I stopped at the overlook, where I had run into Isaac the day that Jason and I had met in person and I stood there, watching the water. I felt a presence behind me and I wanted to turn and look, but I seemed to already know who it was.
"You're not the smartest chick to ever hatch, are you Browne?" I heard his voice and closed my eyes. I heard the branch in front of me snap and opened my eyes to stare at Isaac.
"What are you doing here?" He whispered to me. I crossed my arms and looked deep into his eyes.
"Send them away." I told him and looked passed him at the others.
"That's not a good idea." He said to me, stepping closer. "Just tell me what you're doing out here, all alone."
"Send them away, Isaac." I told him and moved closer to him. He looked at me a moment and then walked over to the rest of them, there was about eight, and sent them all away. He came back and looked at me again.
"This could be dangerous, Angel. What are you doing, trying to get killed?" He asked.
"I came to see you. We have to talk." I told him and watched him switch his weight to the other leg.
"Did your little guardian follow you?" He asked.