Love Comes In Many Dangerous Forms

Father

[Shane’s P.O.V. (Two Weeks Later)]

I didn’t want to open my eyes, not yet at least. I took a deep breath, savoring her familiar scent. Lilac and freesia. I almost smiled through the receding pain.

And then someone grasped my hand.

My eyes snapped open as I jerked my hand away from the source that awoke me. I turned to the only person in the room.

“How are you feeling sweetie?” my mother asked, never ending tears streaming down her face.

“Where is she? Where’s Cassiel?” I asked her, but no answer came just her sobbing.

And then it all came back to me. The council coming, me trying to kill Derik so that he would kill me, Cassiel signing her soul away, her telling me that she loved me, our kiss, and finally her leaving me.

“Where. Is. She?” I demanded, looking straight in her eyes.

My father cleared his throat, announcing his appearance, even though he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

“I have some bad news Shane,” he looked towards the floor. “Cassiel’s dead.”

I stared back at him, not even comprehending what he just said. She’s not dead, she can’t be dead. She just left me a few hours ago.

“She died today, Shane,” my mother choked out, brushing my hair out of my face.

“No,” I shook my head at them. “You’re lying.”

“Shane-” my father started, but I didn’t wait for him to finish. I stormed out of her bedroom, and I was going to find someone to prove them wrong. They needed to come to their senses, she wasn’t dead; she couldn’t be dead.

I saw Audrey’s brown hair rush into the room where I last saw Gelsey and Zane.

“Audrey, wait,” I ran after her; I saw that she was tending to the fairy girl, and like my mother, was crying uncontrollably.

No.

“She’s not dead,” I repeated those words over and over again, trying not to believe what was actually in front of me.

I felt a hand come down on my shoulder, “I am truly very sorry for the loss of your friend. She was good person and did not deserve to fall unto the council’s wrath,” Durin consoled.

“How?” I managed to choke out as reality came crashing down on me. “How do you know she died?”

“Gelsey is almost fully healed, let me go check on Zane and then I will show you,” Audrey told me, wiping her tears off her face.

I didn’t respond; I just followed her into the large bathroom.

“Hey, Zane,” Audrey greeted with a forced smile.

“Don’t act like I can’t hear everyone talking, I know what’s been happening and what happened today,” he said emotionlessly, staring off into nothingness.

She continued on like she didn’t hear him, “Do you feel any pain?”

He sighed, adjusting himself in the bathtub turning to look at her, “No, now go break his heart so that he can start mourning like the rest of us.”

Audrey nodded and slowly got up, leading me to the room across the hall.

There on the bed were thousands of black tapes; some looked old while others looked new. Zach and Tristan were facing what I remembered was an old TV, and on the screen there were three figures, two of them were standing over the smaller one who was laying on the ground. One of the taller figures pulled his arm back and then came back down in one sharp, fluid motion. The sickening crack of a whip against human flesh echoed throughout the room and then not even a second later a female scream soon followed.

Cassiel.

Tristan looked over to us with dead eyes, and nodded his head. He took the remote from Zach, fast forwarding through until they were outside. I hadn’t even noticed that I had moved so that I could see the TV. I couldn’t even believe that the girl on the screen was Cassiel.

Her beautiful blonde hair that was once down to her hips was cut in uneven locks to the nape of her neck. She was drenched in both wet and dry blood; she had multiple noticeable infections covering her. Her body was twisted in ways that were not normal, bones had been broken and her muscles had been ripped open. Clara’s dress was barely even there anymore, but her necklace with Clara’s charm and Colton’s ring stayed. I could tell that they had blinded her; her beautiful eyes had been gouged out and dissolved by acid or venom. Her body was decorated in bruises, infections, open wounds, and burns. Not one patch of skin was left unharmed. She had to be carried out of the castle and into the forest as she was left on the brink of death. The camera followed them to a clearing where there was a cesspool of immortal blood covering about ten feet in diameter. Derik and Amelia along with two of their guards waited for them. Derik was the only one to step forward; he took Cassiel in his arms as he caressed her face like she was a newborn child. He pressed his lips against her forehead and whispered something that wasn’t caught on the tape.

And he placed her in the immortal lake, but the tape ended before she even touched the surface of the flesh consuming liquid.

But I knew the truth, she was dead.

The girl I loved was dead.

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and I sat in the chair next to Zach who looked similar to how I did. She had died for me, for all of us, even for the man who turned her in.

My own father.

He is the reason she is dead, not Derik Simmer, not the council, my own flesh and blood killed her. And I would never forgive him for that, but I would deal with him later.

“What do we do now?” I asked Tristan, my voice cracking a few times and I noticed my face was stricken with tears like everyone else I had seen today.

“We mourn the loss of my baby sister, and then when our minds are clear we will settle on how to retaliate,” Tristan spoke in a monotone voice, glaring at the blank screen.

“Retaliate?” Vera entered the room with my little sister and Jimmy. “Cassiel’s last deed, the reason she signed that contract, was so that there could be peace and we could live without fear.”

“She was my sister, Vera, and you’re telling me not do anything? Did you not see what they did to her?” Tristan shot back.

“And she was my daughter,” Vera stated calmly, though her whole body was shaking. “And yes, I’m telling you not to do anything, I want to crush Derik’s skull in just as much as you do. But the best way to get back at him is to keep living our lives. He’s planning on you all striking back; he wants it that’s why he sent you all of those tapes. His deal did not say he could not imprison you, remember that Tristan,” she said, picking up Carly who looked to be falling asleep.

“She’s right,” Audrey nodded her head, standing beside Vera.

“We just can’t do ‘nothing’,” Zach hissed at them. “I don’t care if I am thrown into the cells and rot for eternity, at least I did something to avenge her.”

“I agree with Zach,” I whispered, staring at the dull scratches on the table. “Tristan can stay here and rule his kingdoms, Zach and I will go after Derik. What else is keeping us here?”

Audrey bent down so her eyes met mine, “Your family, and I’m not just talking about your parents and sister. Tristan, Vera, me, Zane, Zach, and Jimmy, we are all your family. And I know that Cassiel asked you to take care of her son, he’s yours now, Shane. Show her that you love her by not just keeping him safe, but by being a father to him,”

“Blaine is here, that’s his father,” I stared back at her.

“Blaine is his biological father, but he can only talk to Jimmy and he needs him. But he also needs someone to care for him in ways Blaine can’t. Jimmy needs you, Shane.”

“I don’t even know how to raise a child, Audrey,” I gritted my teeth at her.

“And you think Cass did the first few months she had him, and that’s when he was a baby? You’re not alone in this; you have your family to help you. We will survive this,” she said, like she was trying to convince herself.

But she was right, Jimmy had once again lost a parent and his child like mind was protected by innocence. He needed a solid person to fill that role and Cassiel wanted me to be the one. Not Vera, not Tristan, not Audrey, she wanted me to take her place. But it was hurting too damn much for me to accept that fact.

I looked over to one of the last pieces of Cassiel we had left. He was sitting at Vera’s feet, pulling up specks of lint from the carpeted floor. He didn’t even notice that we discussing the death of his mother, his innocence protecting him from the evil that plagued everyone who cared for the girl who was tortured and then sentenced to an unjustified death. Jimmy needed me; Cassie wanted me to raise her son for her. I couldn’t even bring myself not to picture the life I could have had with her, and that was enough torture. I loved her; I would always love her and I would raise her son for her.

I got up from the wooden chair, and walked over to Vera who was holding my baby sister. I slowly bent down to Jimmy’s level, bringing him out of his childlike trace. He looked at me through Clara’s eyes and gave me a small smile, but I was unable to return it. I gently picked him up easily, and he reached over to wipe the tears from my face his small mouth forming into a frown. But when I was about to look away, he looked me in the eyes.

“Momma says it’s okay to cry,” he confessed, leaning his head against my shoulder.

I sucked in a sharp breath as another wave of pain washed over me and I struggled to stay on my feet. And my decision was made, I would not go after Derik Simmer, I couldn’t risk Jimmy getting hurt in the process. But he would pay for what he had done to Cassiel when Jimmy didn’t need me anymore. Derik Simmer would face death and I didn’t care if I would die as a result.
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