The Supremacy

by White, Megan

  “You said you trusted me.” Declan’s hurt voice rang clear in my ear.

  Following the two cloaked Keepers in front of us, I sighed, “I want to.”

  “Then trust me!”

  “We’re here.” One spoke, pushing a steel door open, revealing a high-class office.

  I stepped through the door, my eye catching on the dark wooden desk that dominated the room, and a black leather couch that rested just parallel to it. Tapestries, like the ones Declan had hanging in his home covered dark painted walls, giving off a warm, even welcoming ambiance.

  Bright light illuminated the large space, but there were no windows in sight.

  I turned to Declan for answers. “We are still underground,” He answered my unspoken question

  “Under our Zone?”

  “No.” His voice was clipped as he shut the door behind us, locking it in finality.

  “Why am I here?”

  “Because it is time for you to see the truth,” A cloaked Keeper walked through the room, appearing out of thin air. He slowly lowered his hood, but I didn’t need to see his face to know who he was. It was the voice of a man that I had heard every day, a voice that I would have ran to if given the change. A voice that I thought was dead, gone forever by the hands of the Keeper that stood behind me.

  “John” I cried out, drinking him in, “You’re alive.”

  A grin took over his solemn expression as he opened his arms to me, “Perfectly healthy, Rin.” I was frozen, unable to move an inch as I felt Declan’s fingers intertwine with mine, squeezing softly in reassurance, “You knew.” The air rushed from my lungs as I turned to him, “You knew the entire time.” I cried out in loss, “You let me suffer thinking he was dead.” I peered into his clear blue eyes, “and you said nothing.”

  “It wasn’t the time yet.”

  Tears streamed down my face as I looked at the two standing before of me, the feeling of betrayal almost tangible in the air.

  “Don’t you get it?” Declan’s fingers brushed down the side of my wet cheek, “You were never alone.”

  “Never.” My heart dropped into my stomach the moment my father’s voice sounded from the corner of the room. “We never left you alone for a second.” I didn’t know whether to run into his arms or run from him. I wasn’t sure if I loved him or despised him. So many years had gone by with me thinking he was dead, just to find out he was living the life of a free man, “I know you have lots of questions, Rinny.” He spoke quietly as he took calculated steps toward me, “But I would like you to meet a few people before we begin.” He brought his hand to my cheek only to allow it to fall at his side when I stepped away. “Can you bring her in?” He asked to a glass door, “I would like you to meet someone.” He smiled down at me, “Someone that you loved the instant you saw her.”

  A tiny brown haired girl floated through the glass door, her twinkling green eyes lighting up once she saw me, “Rin!” She screamed, barreling into my chest.

  “F-faith.” My hand mechanically went into her hair, rubbing it down her back.

  “Erin,” My father breathed in slowly, “I would like you to meet your sister.”

  My sister. It was all too much. Much too much to take in.

  “You might want to stand behind her, Declan” John’s amused voice filled the air, “That’s her ‘I’m going to pass out’ look.”

  And I was gone.

  ***

  Declan’s voice crooned in my ear, begging me to come back to him when I wanted nothing more than to run. Nothing made sense.

  “Erin, please wake up. We will tell you everything, I promise.” But his promises meant nothing to me. From the moment we met, he never stopped lying. He trapped me in his web, and I remained there willingly. Who was to blame when you allowed your sorrows to come to you. Who was to blame when you fell in love with the one that brought you heartache at every turn. I didn’t fight the feelings I had for Declan because I wanted so much to be loved that I was blinded by the fact that I was nothing more than a pawn. I had a role, and that role was to be played by the hands of those that were supposed to love me. My own father being the ringleader.

  “You are safe here.” Declan’s voice sounded again, “I think she’s coming around.”

  “Go to hell.” I croaked as I pulled away from him.

  “Yep,” John laughed, “That’s the old Erin all right.”

  “Honey, please listen to us.”

  “Max,” I felt Declan’s breath rush over me, “maybe we need to take it slow. I’m not sure she can handle any more.”

  “She’s my daughter.” My father’s voice was commanding. “She can handle anything.”

  “I was your daughter.” My eyes shot open just to glare at the man that was once my father, a man that was supposed to love and protect me, only to have abandoned me to a life of a prisoner, “I don’t know who the hell you are now.”

  He staggered back into his chair, his hand flying to his mouth on an abrupt inhale. “Oh, did I hurt your feelings?” I laughed without emotion, “Did I catch you off guard?” I pulled to my feet, slowly making my way over to him, “The man who abandoned his daughter with his troll bitch expected his little girl to come running into his arms?”

  “Erin.” Declan tried to stop me with a hand at my elbow.

  “Oh, and you!” I spun to face him, coming nose to nose with the Keeper that somehow, even as he ripped it apart, still held my heart, “Manipulating me into falling in love with you, to trust you, just so you could completely rip my world apart again. You think I should be reacting differently?”

  “This has all happened for a reason, Erin.” Faith’s tiny melodic voice filtered through the tension thick air, “This is where it all starts.”

  “And her!” I turned to face the man that was still sitting in his chair, watching in shock, “You left me to suffer while you came down here and started a whole new perfect little family!”

  John came to stand in front of me, his hands at my shoulders, “You were never alone.”

  “Yeah,” I scoffed, pulling free from his hold, “I had a Keeper for a babysitter.”

  “Can you all give me a minute alone with Erin?” Declan turned to the five that still remained in the room.

  “Alright,” My dad nodded as he stood from his chair, motioning for the rest to follow him, “Take as long as needed.”

  “Erin,” Declan stepped closer to me the moment the others left the room.

  I stepped away from him until I felt the cold steel door at my back, “Don’t come near me!”

  “Please don’t do this.”

  “Do what?” I spat at him, venom pulling in my mouth, “For once react appropriately?”

  “I know you are hurt--”

  “You know nothing of how I feel!”

  “Your father left so he could create a safe place for you to live. None of this,” His waved his arms around, “existed when he ran. He created it.”

  “Nothing that comes out of your mouth is ever the truth!” I bit down on my lip, trying in vain to stop the torrent of venom that spilled from my mouth.

  “Everything I have told you has been the truth! I am the first one that has ever told you the truth. From the moment we met, you began to learn what you really were. You can’t deny that.”

  “Was that your role, Declan?” I pushed from the door, “To get me to fall in love with you, to trust you, to follow you blindly so you could lead me here?”

  “My feelings for you have never changed. I love you. I love you more than my own life, and I know whatever you say right now is not how you really feel. I know you love me.”

  “I am actually trying extremely hard not to kill you right now.”

  “Because you love me.” He professed, slowly stepping closer to me, “I trust your love enough to know that you won’t hurt me.”

  I slid to the ground, allowing the steel door to anchor my weight as I pulled my knees to my chest. What more did they want from me, because there was nothin
g else I could give, nothing else they could take. I was broken.

  I felt Declan’s arms wrapping around me, pulling me to his chest as I cried, “What do we do now?” I sobbed in his arms.

  “We overthrow The Supremacy.”