Chapter 11-The Diary Page
After a few minutes of stammering I managed, “You scared the crap out of me, I thought you were Zilla. How did you get in here, anyway?”
He smiled politely and replied, “I picked the locks and broke in.” He must have noticed my uneasiness because he followed with, “I’m just kidding. Zilla called me and told me everything that happened.” He enveloped me in his arms. “I am so sorry. I hope you don’t mind that I came over, but I wanted to be here for you,” he said sniffing the air and giving me a weird look.
I nuzzled my head on his chest as he ran his fingers through my hair. He cupped my chin up towards him and kissed me on the lips. It tasted a bit weird this time so I pulled back frowning. It was like a cross between something tinted with iron and metal. It was vaguely familiar, but I was having trouble placing it.
“What’s wrong?” He asked confused.
I blinked. “Uh, nothing it’s just your lips taste funny.”
He stared at me like a deer caught in the headlights and it was as if a light bulb switched on in my brain. I knew the taste because I had experienced it before and recently too. Blood. It’s blood. “I’m sure it’s probably just from brushing your teeth or something.”
The relief that washed over him was almost unnerving, but I had no idea why. “Yeah, I just brushed them a little while ago, it must be from that. Listen Callie, there is something I need to tell you.” Before he could finish his sentence Zilla came into the room carrying a tray of assorted breakfast items.
There were croissant rolls, eggs, bacon, toast, cereal, orange juice, chocolate milk, hash browns, French toast, pancakes and some mini donut holes. I grinned taking in the amazing assortment before me. Someone definitely went out of her way for me. “Wow,” I said excited. I was starving and hadn’t even realized it up until my stomach growled at me.
“What was that?” she asked. “Oh, that’s right you’re in awe at how amazing your best friend is. I know, I know, save the applause for later and come dig in,” she said waving us over.
I tried to eat as daintily as possible so as not to look like a cow in front of the boyfriend, but I hate to admit that I ate quite a bit anyway. I was famished after everything that happened last night. We all made polite conversation until Zilla finally decided to give us some privacy. I thought she was out of the room until she poked her head back in. “I need to go get some supplies from my house for tonight. Before you say anything; yes I’m staying over again and no I’m not taking no for an answer, so just get over it.”
I shook my head resignedly. “Once you put your mind to something you really follow it through. I’m not even going to bother arguing, just hurry back.” I smiled and dismissed her.
It was then that I realized I was alone in the house with Cole. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time. I remembered that he mentioned there was something he wanted to talk about and before I could even bring it up he was speaking. “About earlier, there is something I wanted to tell you.” He looked panicky so I nodded encouragingly.
“I know that we haven’t known each other long and that you’re still grieving, but I have just been feeling really connected to you somehow.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I know this all sounds weird right?”
“No, it’s not. Go ahead.” We hadn’t even known each other that long, but after just one real date I was sure that I was probably in love with him. I hoped he felt the same way. I blushed, suddenly aware of the goofy grin plastered on my face.
He returned my smile. “It’s really difficult for someone like me to find a girlfriend and considering it’s you that makes it an even more complicated situation.”
I frowned. This wasn’t going where I thought it would. “What do you mean considering it’s me? Is there something wrong with me?”
He shook his head. “That’s not exactly what I meant. I’m sorry this seems to be coming out all wrong. There are a lot of things I need to explain to you, things that I have been trying repeatedly to tell you, but haven’t been able to.” He buried his head in his hands.
I was still feeling a little wounded from his words and managed to hold myself back from comforting him. “I think you better explain yourself.” I hadn’t meant it to come out so harsh, but it didn’t seem to faze him. He met my gaze unwavering and reached over immediately lacing his hand through mine. He opened his mouth to speak and at the same time his phone rang.
He looked distraught when he read the caller id. “I’m sorry, but I need to take this.” “Okay,” I said as reassuringly as I could.
He stepped out into the hall and I waited for a few minutes before curiosity won out. I crept over and rested me head on the door pressing my ear snuggly against it. Most of what I heard was muffled, but I caught bits and pieces. He sounded angry and whoever was on the other end must have been trying to push him around. “No. I’ve already told you I can’t do this anymore….I think I love her…..I don’t care about that….I don’t want any part of it…..I’ve made my decision and I will stand by it…..I’ll deal with that when we get there.”
When it seemed like he was nearing the end of the conversation I tiptoed back to the bed. He does love me. Or at least I hope it was me he was talking about. I just wonder who he was arguing with. Hopefully not his parents. I haven’t met them yet so I don’t understand why they wouldn’t like me. Maybe they preferred one of his ex-girlfriend’s? I felt dizzy and nervous. He stepped back into the room and I noticed that his pupils were dilated and his face looked strained, pale and chalky.
“Are you okay?” I asked stroking his cheek when he came over to sit beside me. He felt shiveringly cold to the touch again.
“Yeah, why?” he asked flinching slightly. I sat with my legs dangling off the edge of the bed and my hands daintily folded in my lap. Careful not to meet his face I said, “Just wondering. I mean you seem really stressed out or something and sometimes your eyes change colors when that happens.”
I could feel his body tense up. “They do?” It must have taken him by surprise that I noticed.
“Yes.” His lips curled up into a half smile. “And that doesn’t frighten you?”
“No, why would it? Eyes change all sorts of colors.” He sighed long and deep like I had just said the most swoon worthy thing to him. “So, who was on the phone?”
“No one of importance,” he said wrapping his arms around my waist and laying his head in my lap. I was running my fingers through his hair when I heard the front door open and shut. He twitched.
“Zilla is probably back,” I said trying to calm his uneasiness.
He stood up and kissed me on the forehead, then the cheek and lightly on the lips. “I need to go.”
My eyes pleaded with him to stay though I tried to act nonchalant. I didn’t want it to seem like my world revolved around him, yet at this moment it did. “Okay. When will I see you again?”
“There are so many things that I have yet to tell you. For now I have some stuff I need to take care of, but I will be back as soon as I can.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small square box wrapped in pink paper with yellow curls and matching ribbon. “I got this for you,” he said handing it to me. “Go on, open it.”
I got a giddy feeling in my stomach as I tore open the paper and popped off the lid to the box. Inside was a small rabbit skin drawstring bag. I undid the knot clumsily, my nerves getting the better of me, opened it wide and dumped the contents into my hand.
A rock as big as the length of two of my fingers tumbled out into my palm. The stone was smooth to the touch with a few pockmarks here and there that contained little pebbles grayish in color. The rock itself was a milky off-white tint swirled with something clear. It shined in the light as I moved it back and forth through my fingertips.
“What is it?”
“It’s a protection stone,” he said as if I should have already known
. “I got it for you before I came over this morning. I just figured after everything that happened last night it might bring you some comfort.”
It’s not like I had expected a diamond ring or something, but a rock? That was definitely not on my list of romantic gifts I’d like to receive from the guy I’m dating.
“You don’t like it?”
“I love it, thank you,” I said reaching up and hugging him tightly. “Come back soon okay?” I kissed him longingly on the lips and broke away from him reluctantly. Tears were stinging at the back of my eyes.
“I promise I’ll be back,” he said turning to go.
I watched him leave and sunk back down on the bed. What just happened? When I first met him he was this spunky arrogant guy and today he seemed distraught and utterly defeated. Something was definitely going on and I just didn’t understand. There were so many questions I had wanted to ask him, but didn’t get the chance. I moped around for a better part of the rest of the day wallowing in my thoughts until Zilla came back. I explained to her everything that happened and we took turns analyzing the situation as best we could. She chalked it up to just a guy being a guy in general, but I couldn’t help feeling there was a lot more to it than that.
“Don’t worry about it. He’ll come around. I’m sure he’s just got a few things to take care of first. He seems to really like you,” she said trying to placate me.
“I know. I mean I feel the same way it’s just I know he’s keeping secrets and in the end so am I so I can sort of sympathize, but that’s not a really good way to start a relationship.”
“Sit up,” she said grabbing a hair brush off my nightstand. I did as she said and let her unravel the tangled mess my hair had become. Each smooth stroke of the brush caused my muscles to relax and instantly put me in a better mood. I decided I should tell her about the book Draven found, but embellish the part about who actually found it. She sat there riveted and waited patiently until I finished telling her about the ball of fire I conjured up. “Wow,” she said stunned.
“I know. It was amazing and scary at the same time, but definitely worth a try.”
“Can I see it?”
“Yeah.” I walked into the bathroom and pulled it out, admiring once again the beautiful cover as I brushed my fingers across it. I scrambled back to the bed and plopped the book open on my lap. I flipped open the first few pages and noticed something strange. “That’s weird.”
“What?” Zilla asked curiously.
“I didn’t notice this before when I was going through the book. Look,” I said pointing to an object on the page.
“What is it?” she asked scooting in closer.
“I held my wrist up to the image. I think it’s my family crest.”
She nodded her agreement. “Definitely. It matches perfectly, like it was made for you.” She held up her wrist next to mine and we silently compared the two. “I wonder if there is a book for everyone who has powers and if so, how many more people are like us.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably not very many I would assume. If there were I would think we would have met someone by now. Or maybe we have and just don’t know it. It’s hard to tell. You should check around your house though. Maybe you could find something useful like this to help you with your powers.”
“Yeah I’ll have to do a bit of investigating,” she said putting the hair brush down. “Now how about you show me one of those spells you have in there. Like this one,” she said pointing to one I recalled as anello di fuoco which meant fire ring. I felt uncomfortable trying a new one without Draven there to help me so I convinced her to let me do the ball of fire again. I stood a good distance away and repeated the same process as before only this time it seemed to be much easier. It immediately sprang to life in the palm of my hands. Her eyes widened and she smiled exuberantly. “That was way better than sitting at home watching Lifetime movies.”
“Yeah, all in a days work,” I said laughing. I concentrated on extinguishing the flames and when I opened my eyes it was gone.
“You’ll have to teach me some of this stuff. Of course, my powers will never be as impressive as yours, but if you helped me I could probably get better.”
“I would love to, but I don’t think it works like that. I have a feeling this book is meant to be used by only me.” She frowned and turned away.
I knew how upset she must be so I reached around and hugged her. She reveled in her powers while I dismissed mine every chance I could. In fact, I wished I’d never had them to begin with. That was probably bordering on something more than just taking them for granted. “Don’t worry. We will get your magick figured out and I’m sure you’ll be able to do all kinds of amazing things.”
She tried to cheer up, but I could tell she was disappointed. Then she got all animated again. “Don’t get mad okay?”
Oh no, I knew I was in for something. “Okay.”
“Promise?”
Darn she got me there. Never tell me not to get mad at something without also making me promise. “I promise to try not to get mad.”
She squirmed. “Okay, fair enough. Before I went to get breakfast this morning I sorta snuck down into the basement.”
My jaw hit the floor. “You did what? Were my parent’s home? Are you insane? If they had caught you who knows what they would have done.”
“Don’t go getting your granny panties in a twist, they had already left and I even double checked before I ventured down there. I must say that the spookiness level of that place is off the charts. You better hire yourself a ghost buster to check it out.”
I remembered what I felt and saw when I was down there and cringed. “I know. It may sound lame, but I’d rather be ignorant than try to find out what the deal is with it.”
She sighed. “Okay then I won’t tell you what I found. Or show you for that matter.” Found? She had me right where she wanted me and she knew it.
“Oh no you don’t, you better spill it, now.”
“You win,” she said handing me a torn piece of paper.
As soon as I saw it my chest began to tighten and I had to gulp air to get it to stop. “No way,” I said unfolding it delicately. “This is the other half of the diary page I couldn’t find last time I was in there.”
“Other half?” she asked her eyebrows knitted together.
That’s right! I had completely forgotten to mention it to her before and with everything else going on I thought it was probably the least important item on my agenda so I never bothered. “Yeah, I found a torn page the first time I went down there and I was so disappointed I couldn’t find the rest. I’d almost forgotten about it.”
“I wouldn’t go getting all thrilled about it if I were you. Once you read it you’re probably going to be even more confused. I know I was.”
“But you didn’t read the first half,” I said defensively. “Maybe putting them together will make more sense.” I slipped the other portion out from underneath my pillowcase and held the two halves up together. “Get me some tape.”
She got up, fumbled around in my desk drawer knocking a few things over and came back with a roll of clear scotch tape. I carefully held the pieces together while she applied strips to both the back and front so they were whole again. When we were finished she read the top half while I read the bottom.
-Second Half of the torn page-
One Spring I was given a new target and set off on my mission in search of this mysterious person. After I found him, I spent several weeks cautiously studying him. When I decided it was time to make my move I swiftly attacked. I had him in a backwards hug ready to sink my teeth into his flesh, but to my surprise he had been expecting me. He whirled around to bare his neck causing me to stumble back in confusion. After several seconds of silence he asked me what I was waiting for and then he rushed forward and kissed me. It was the most passionate and amazing thing I’d ever felt since Kane. W
hen he pulled away we stared into each others eyes. I knew he had stolen my heart though I didn’t fully understand it and because of this I rejected Thanatos formally. Infuriated by jealousy, he vowed to exact revenge on me.
I married that man and nine months later we had a child. We’ve been in hiding ever since. I will forever wear the mark of a murderer, but it will never be who I truly am.