© Copyright 2011
All work is property of Leah Crichton, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.

Capricious: (kuh-prish-uhs)

governed or characterized by a whim or impulse

Bliss can only linger so long, and as long as it lasts, it’s never long enough. No matter how hard you wish to stretch it, how hard you wish to freeze it, it still manages to somehow get away like water running down a stream. I had fallen asleep last night, quite possibly the happiest I had ever felt. I knew drifting off into an oblivious slumber that I would never regret what had happened between us.

When I awoke the next morning, the reality of my situation did more than sink in.

It slapped me in the face.

Orion hadn't moved during the night and still lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling, just like he had been doing when I fell asleep. His arm was wrapped securely around me while my head lay on his chest. “Morning.” I smiled at the recollection of last night.

“Morning,” he said softly. He was back to being serious again. At least it was better than his anger or his irritation.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about you,” he said. I noticed, then, that he looked exhausted. I was pretty sure he hadn’t slept at all.

“Did you dream about me?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do you even need to ask?”

“You’re lying,” I stated. “You didn’t sleep.”

“Sure I did.”

“No, you didn’t. I can tell.”

“Oh, you can, can you?” 

“I can. You usually look—better.”

He cringed. “Ouch. What, you think you can just tell it like it is now, use me and abuse me, is that it?”

I shoved him, but his body was solid. “You know what I mean.”

He smiled bleakly. “We need to get up, get going.”

“What? No! Where are we going?” I was sorry I’d said anything. I should’ve pretended to be sleeping just a little while longer.

“You. You are going to stay with Mona and the twins. Mona can protect you.”

“No! You’re not leaving me.”

“It will all be over soon, I promise.”

I sat up in bed, startled back to the terrible reality, away from the contentment that was there moments ago. “No! You can’t. You can’t leave.”

“Ireland,” Orion said. “I have to. I have to go and find him. This isn’t over. The moment he decided to put his filthy hands on you, he brought this fight to his doorstep.”

“No! No! Don’t do that. Don’t be such a...” I tried to find the words. “Don’t be such a guy.”

“Sorry. Surely after last night you are aware that I am very much a guy.”

He was making me angry. He didn’t need to do this. He could kiss me now like he was supposed to in the first place and everything could be over.  

How dare he risk everything when we were so close! This could be over in minutes. I jumped out of the bed after him and ran toward him, putting my hands on his arms. “Orion, please! Don’t do this. We can be together, it can be over!”

“I told you last night, I can’t let him live through this. When we are gone he is going to find someone else to screw with, someone I care about. I can’t let that happen.”

“It has nothing to do with you. Nothing!”

“You don’t understand.”

“No! You don’t understand. Just stop and think about this, please!”

“I’ve thought about it. I’ve been thinking about it since the moment I laid my eyes on you. I know what I’m doing.”

I wasn’t getting anywhere, just frustrated, if that counted. “If you love me, you won’t do it.”

He looked disgusted. “I have to make it right because I love you.”

“No, you don’t. You just stay with me. That’s all you need to do!” Anger bubbled to its boiling point and I drew my hands back to swing at him.

He grabbed them and pulled them to his chest. His eyes softened. “It’ll be okay.”

Tears formed in my eyes. “If I can’t see you, if you’re not near me, it won’t be okay!”

“I promise.”

“Screw you, Orion! Screw you and your promises. I don’t want to hear them anymore.”

He stepped forward. “Don’t be like this.”

“Like what?” I was still fuming. “Like what, Orion? Please, tell me, what should I be like?”

“Be reasonable.”

What? He was going chasing after a devil, and he was telling me to be reasonable. “I’m not the one being unreasonable. You are being ridiculous,” I said, jabbing my finger against his chest. “Stop being such a testosterone-driven freak. You’re better than that!”

“You’re better than leaving this life knowing he will do the same thing to someone else. Can you be happy in your next life with that knowledge? He’ll go after people, Ireland. People you might still love that are left behind.”

There was only one person I loved who’d be left behind.

My dad.

My mouth dropped. “He’s going to go after my dad?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what he’d do, faced with losing his only chance at erasing my existence. But I’m sure he’d try to take it out on someone. I can only stop it by getting to him first. There’s no other way.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t want him to kill you. What would happen to me then?”

“He won’t kill me.”

“He could.”

“He won’t.”

“You don’t know that!”

He came closer and wrapped his arms around me. It was usually comforting, but not now. “It will be fine. Please, the longer we keep having this conversation, the more time is wasted.”

“Talking about your life, or afterlife, or whatever it is, Orion, is not a waste of time.”

“It is. I’ll be fine. I promise. Please, just get ready. I need to get you to Mona.”

I was defeated.

I couldn’t change his mind, and after considering Damien may go after my father, I didn’t want to anymore.

I quietly headed to the bathroom and splashed icy water on my face, wishing so badly that it would wash away everything. It didn’t. I brushed my teeth with water, using my finger as a toothbrush. Gross. No wonder Orion didn’t want to kiss me. I came back out of the bathroom and saw him in his bedroom, holding out a clean tee shirt ready to lift it over his head. My eyes traveled up from his abdomen to his chest. I couldn’t believe I didn’t see it last night, but there on his left side, right above his heart, was a bright pink scar. I don’t know how I had missed it. Next to his olive skin it stuck out like a beacon. I walked toward him before he could get the tee shirt over his head and put my hand on it. “You have a scar,” I said.

“Uh huh. I do.”

“It’s from him.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you get rid of it?”

“Same reason I didn’t get rid of yours. It’s part of who I am.”

“Oh.” He pulled the t-shirt down, eliminating my view of the only physical imperfection I had found so far on Orion. It was fascinating.

He held out his hand. “Let’s go.”

Reluctantly, I took it. There was no winning this battle with him. I could only hope Damien would be resigned to the same fate. An awkward silence filled his car. Orion was probably hoping I wouldn’t mention his objective anymore, but I couldn’t help it. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

He stared blankly at the road. “I know what I’m doing, just stop worrying.”

He was speeding. “Slow down, Orion. When Damien took me, I was so worried I was going to die in a car with him. I don’t want to die in a car with you instead.”

“Have a little faith in me, ‘kay? I’m not going to crash the car. Besides, even if we were in a horrible wreck, I’d live through it and I’d take you, anyway.” I hadn’t thought about this. I had already died in a car, sort of. Orion’s kiss was supposed to end it.  “We have to move quickly. There isn’t much time.”

“Much time?"

“If I don’t find him, he’s going to find me. I am trying to do everything in my power to make sure you’re not here when it happens, so forgive me for speeding, but I need to get you there.”

“How can he find you?”

“Same way I can find him.”

“But how does it work? He can find you now, but you were sure that afternoon when he came to my window that he wouldn’t know you were there. What changed?”

“He’d have to be looking for me for any of it to work. Your anger for me from what you saw at the party was enough to convince him I was the very last person you’d be with. He let his defenses down. If he had convinced himself there was no way you’d go near me, he wouldn’t have been looking for me to be there. Last night I made this a challenge he can’t stay away from.”

“But how does it work? And how did you know he wouldn’t be looking?”

“He’s my brother. I know him better than he knows himself. I’m not sure how it works, it just does. If you were to consider me a creature, Damien is my natural predator or prey, whichever way you choose to look at it. I have a sixth sense about him. I can’t really explain it. All I know for sure is Damien is sloppy. He lets his guard down too quickly.”

“Is he just like you, then? Since he’s looking now, will he be able to find you?”

“Most likely. But not if I find him first.” 

I sat there trying to process this information, staring at Orion’s hand on the gearshift; my daydreaming halted when I noticed his fingers tighten their grip. His knuckles turned white. I looked up to his face, which had gotten hard. In the very pit of my stomach, I knew this could only mean one thing. “I’m not going to Mona’s, am I?” I whispered.

“No, you’re not.” He shifted his foot from one pedal to the other as he employed the clutch to shift gears. The Audi roared as it accelerated. I looked out the window into the side view mirror and couldn’t see the Porsche. I saw other cars filled with people who were oblivious to the epic war between good and evil that was about to commence. 

Orion sped up and turned sharply right down a nearly empty side road. I watched as the odometer picked up pace as fast as the beating of my heart. My fingernails dug into the side of the door. “Where are we going?” 

“You’re going to be safe.” 

“You’re going to hide me."

“That’s right.”

There were no other cars and Orion continued full speed ahead. His erratic route made me question if he knew which direction Damien was going to come from or if he only knew he was near. The terrifying answer to my question was about to appear in front of me.

The gravel road we were driving on sloped upwards slightly. At the speed we were going, I was sure Orion was going to force a head on collision; but when he saw the dented front of the Porsche, he jerked the emergency brake up and the car spun with astounding accuracy so we were now driving back from where we came.

“Oh my God!” I yelled. The panic of yesterday was back tenfold.

Orion didn’t respond to me. He drove the car like we were on a racetrack, and in seconds he had shaken Damien off of our tail. Abruptly he pulled over into a ditch next to a tree-lined field. He was beside my door in a flash, opening it and hauling me out.  He gripped my arm tightly and moved with unthinkable speed. He knew exactly where we were going, and secured a spot deep in a brush of leafy green shrubs. He shoved me down and knelt beside me. 

In the eerie silence that followed, I was sure Damien was going to hear my blood rushing. It didn’t take long before the devil arrived. Orion looked at me and covered his mouth with his pointer finger.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Damien coaxed. “Come now, Orion. We both know you can end this. Just give yourself up and I’ll leave the girl alone.”

Orion took my face in his hands. “Don’t worry, okay? I love you. Always remember that.”

It sounded entirely too final. My eyes were blurry with tears. “No, Orion. Don’t say goodbye.” If we hadn't been in imminent danger I would have been sobbing.  Before I could say anything else, he was stalking off across the field toward his brother.