‘She would've hurt you far worse than I have.'
The explanation was weak. No one understood me when I tried to explain why I did what I did.
‘Liar! You've killed my heart!' He launched at me.
I dodged away from him, skipping to the side.
I had wanted to escape before he caught me with her, but he had walked in too soon. She had enticed me. Lured me to her bed. I had gone willingly. Only to prove what I already knew. True love did not exist. Even after all these years, I saw the truth of what love was.
A trap. A way for a woman to get what she wanted. A way for a man to take pleasure, not caring about what could happen in the future. I had to save man from himself. The human race had become a slave to this one emotion.
‘She would've killed you. She took me to her bed, brother,' I shouted over the icy rain.
If I could physically see a heart breaking, it was through his eyes. I wondered for a moment at the lack of guilt that I was left with. He would thank me in the long run.
‘It doesn't pay to feel anything. You are free from what would've caused you pain!'
My words flew away on the wind. He shook his head. I didn't know if he had heard me.
‘You, my brother, are dead inside,' he called as I turned away from him.
He was right. My heart had stopped beating long ago. The myth of vampire had recently filtered through to the country. Was I one of them? A dead man, living off the living?
‘Until we meet again,' I murmured, entering the secret door to the castle dungeons.
A man resided in the prison deep under the sleeping royal family. I had met him three days before at my inn. He told me that I had promise. That I could achieve great things.
‘Who goes there?' the guard shouted.
The stone corridor was the perfect echo for my footsteps. The man followed me away from the iron bars that held my intriguing new friend.
‘What do you want?' he ordered when I turned to face him.
His eyes widened when I held my bow high and shot him with an arrow directly in the throat. He stumbled to his knees, grasping the arrow between his hands. I stepped past him as he started to cough blood.
‘Who is that?' called a frail voice.
The old man was crouched at the back of his stone cell. The storm thundered high in the skies above, making it feel like we were separated from the world outside.
‘It is I, the innkeeper from a few days ago,' I replied, kneeling in front of the bars.
The man crawled over to me. He had told me that he was on his way to the dungeons to live out his days. When I asked him why he was going voluntary, he said that he had done some terrible things in his life.
‘Please, tell me what it is you have done.' I was fascinated by the man. Something about him made me want to know him. To be him.
‘You came all this way to ask me what I've done?' His chest was raspy as he drew in a breath.
I couldn't explain the pull. It was like he was my teacher. A man that could show me who I was.
‘I can't believe it,' he whispered, grasping his chest. ‘It's you!'
Frowning, I handed him a flask of water to clear his throat. Had I followed a senile old man? Did he just recognise me from the inn? Or was there something more to his words.
‘I met you at my inn. You-'
‘No, no! You're the one taking over from me. I can't believe that it's finally time for my retirement.'
Yes, I had put my trust in a crazy old man. I accepted the flask back, leaving it on the ground between us.
‘For five hundred years I've been keeping them apart. It's been fairly easy for me. Humans are not that advanced yet. The worst is to come. You can handle it.' The man coughed again. Great gut wrenching coughs that made my stomach queasy.
‘I don't know what you mean,' I said, knocking my hood down to get a better look at him.
‘You've heard the stories of the bible. Good versus evil. God versus Satan. Blah, blah … '
///
I nodded, not really sure where he was going. Could I leave before he started lecturing me?
‘Man has twisted things along the way. It can't be helped, it's natural. However, you and I … we embody a power that keeps us going. We know the truth of love. It's evil. Women are evil. Men are evil. Everyone is evil.'
His cackle of laughter echoed around the cell. He was mad. He was completely crazy. He spoke a language I wanted to understand. If he spoke the truth, then what I did was excusable. The way I slaughtered the people that cheated and lied to their loved ones was acceptable.
‘You're like me. You see what love does to people. It cripples them. It hurts them. It turns them into blabbering fools. We've been sent to earth to keep the balance. Too much love means that we won't exist. You can never let too much love overtake the planet. If it does, evil will die out. Evil will cease to exist. We can't have that in a world of polarity, can we?'
His words spoke to a deep part of my soul. I would never allow love to overtake. When that happened, I would cease to exist. Before that happened, I would carry on going until I could go no more.
Chapter Sixteen
Love had turned Nick into the person he was today. That technically wasn't true. It was heartbreak that turned him into someone that wanted to destroy love and all that was good.
‘You've been disappearing off somewhere,' Gemini said.
He was lounging on his bed. His shirt was undone, showing a toned stomach and a smattering of hairs. Why he always insisted on wearing a shirt was beyond me. When I chillaxed, I wore my no-sleeved T-shirt.
‘My mind isn't really here at the moment.' I picked up the red tie that rested on the dresser.
Sophie's funeral loomed. Her family had asked me and Cancer to attend. Apparently, she had told them about us in the week that she had been with me.
‘I meant physically. I've seen you sneak off a couple of times. Where are you going?'
Gemini fiddled with his usually pristine hair.
‘To train,' I lied.
He nodded, not doubting me. What else would I be doing with my time? He would never guess that I was getting high with our enemy. Flicking the tie over my neck, I began to thread it through.
‘Let me do that for you,' Cancer said, coming into the room.
For once she didn't cringe. There would usually be a cloud of smoke to greet her.
‘I've noticed you're not smoking as much,' she said, pulling on my tie to make it neat.
Shaking my head, I rubbed a hand over my face. ‘No, I'm cutting down.'
It was true. Nick said that if I took other drugs with the one he gave me, it wouldn't work. So far, I had only drunk alcohol since starting my new drug journey.
‘That's really good.' Cancer patted my shoulder.
I was tempted to snap. Instead, I turned away when she glanced at my shaking hands. My dark jacket had been dry cleaned. It was almost stiff as I slipped it on.
‘Let's go,' I said, saluting Gemini as we left.
Cancer walked ahead of me. She wore a little black dress with a smart jacket. Her hair was down past her shoulders. The sound of a sniffle came back to me as she led us out of the kitchen, down the steps and onto the pavement.
Scorpio waited with the car. We had converted it from an old post office van. I was gutted when we had to change the colour from red to black to be less suspicious.
‘I've got to go to work, so I thought I'd drop you off on the way,' he said, running his hand over his soft blonde hair.
We climbed in, not speaking as Scorpio drove us to the church. He was a much better driver than Leo but not as good as me.
‘Thank you,' we called when we finally got to our destination.
I stood for a moment, watching the people file through the church doors. I didn't know any of them, yet I had been sleeping with their loved one. A week was so insignificant to most people. It was a splash in time. However, Sophie had made a huge impact on me in that week. She had taken notice and accepted me. It felt crappy knowing that I would never get to know her. It was gut wrenching to know that it was my fault that she died.
‘What are we doing here?' I asked Cancer.
She took my hand and squeezed as a couple went by us. ‘We're paying our respects,' she hissed.
Shaking her off, I went to turn away from the church. She grabbed my shoulder and spun me back.
‘You have to face this. For once in your life, face up to reality. She died for you, so you will pay your respects.'
Her words made me freeze. She died for me. But why? Did Nick really think she was my twin flame? It was a question I hadn't thought to ask him. Not that twin flames were real, but he seemed to think they were.
///
‘You're right.'
Her eyes widened. I rarely admitted when someone else was right. Because it was a rare occurrence. All my life, I had known most things, but the more I got into Nick's psyche, the more I doubted everything I had conditioned myself to believe.
‘I wish I had that recorded. Will you say it again so I can record it on my phone?'
She linked her arm through mine as we went inside the church.
‘Don't push it.'