Ethan
While I was eating a late lunch of tomato soup and a grilled cheese, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I took it out and answered it quickly seeing that it was Lyla, not knowing if she would hang up if I didn’t answer right away.
“Hey.” I said in a soft voice.
“Ethan… I miss you.” Lyla said. I could tell she was in tears.
The only thing worse than knowing she was crying, was knowing that I freaking caused it. I caused her so much pain and suffering I could hardly stand myself. There was no way I could ever forgive myself for something like that.
“Did you want me to come over, baby? Or did you want me to pick you up and bring you over here?”
“Please come pick me up… please. I need to talk to you.”
I went to the door and started shoving my feet into my shoes, and gawkily putting my coat on with one hand while I juggled the phone between both of my hands. “I’ll be there. See you soon.”
She sighed heavily, and said okay in a sad voice that was made my heart hurt painfully. I wanted to kick myself for hurting her. I deserved to be kicked in the nuts over and over again.
A few minutes later, I picked Lyla up. She was already standing outside waiting for me with her coat pulled tightly together with her hands.
She opened my door and climbed in, not saying a word. Her hair was up in a slick ponytail, and I knew she had just taken a shower. Her face was red, and her eyes were swollen.
But, she looked as beautiful as always.
I backed out and drove to my house in silence. Maybe she was ready to forgive me. Forgive me for being so stupid and unknowing.
When we got there, I tried giving Lyla my hand while we were walking, but she ignored the gesture. Okay, maybe she wasn’t ready.
But hey, at least she wanted to come over and talk I guess.
That’s a start.
We went downstairs, and she sat on my couch. I sat next to her.
“So, what did you wanna talk about?” I asked, folding my hands together to stop the urge of reaching for her.
“I messed up, Ethan. I really messed up. I want you to know how sorry I am. I know we’re not together right now, but I feel really guilty, guiltier than I’ve ever felt in my entire life. Last night, I got really drunk, and ended up puking. I slept with Rylan in his bed, and he cooked me breakfast this morning, and we ate in his room while watching TV. Then, suddenly, we were kissing, and then he… he… he touched me, and I let him. He confessed that he loved me… I don’t know what to do.” she said, not looking at me.
I ran my hands across my face, and tried not to be angry. We weren’t together, so she didn’t cheat on me, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. “So you’re telling me that he touched you, and you let him. And not to mention the fact that he’s in love with you, which I’ve already known for a while.” I couldn’t believe this. I was waiting for her to drop the bomb on me that she was with him now. I didn’t know how I would handle that kind of pain. “You didn’t have sex though, right?” I asked, hoping she didn’t.
“No.”
“Alrighty then…” I said thoughtfully. “Lyla… I love you.”
She nodded. “I know you do, and I love you too. I just need some more time okay?”
“What, to find out which guy you want?” I asked a little too harshly.
She flinched. “No… I mean, I need some more time to process this whole thing. I know you didn’t mean to do it. I’m just mad about the whole not knowing it wasn’t me thing.”
“Okay, so then where does that leave us? Are we going to prom together or not?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, I’m going alone.”
My shoulders slumped forward in disappointment.
“So, we can still be friends though, right?” “I already told you we can be.”
“Okay, so what did you want to do?” I could think of some things, but I didn’t think she would be up to par with it right now. I desperately wanted her. I wanted to pull her over to my bed and just kiss her, and run my fingers through her soft hair. I wanted to press my lips to the warm skin on her neck.
She shrugged and smiled slightly. When her eyes rested on the empty bottle of rum on my coffee table, she shook her head and let out a small laugh. “You know, at least I wasn’t the only one drinking last night. Wait, did you puke too?”
“Yeah… and no, I can hold my liquor, Lyla.” I said, standing up. I picked up the bottle and walked into the bathroom, dropping it into the trash can. I went to the mirror and looked at myself, and I was almost unrecognizable.
My curly brown hair was getting too long, I needed to shave, and my usually bright blue eyes were a sickly gray color. I also had small black circles under my eyes letting me know that I haven’t been sleeping. I’ve been up crying over Lyla for the past two nights. The little bit of sleep I did get was interrupted by me startling awake looking for my sweet girl. Every noise my mom made upstairs I thought it was Lyla in my room.
I took a deep breath, and shut the light off.
Lyla was still sitting where I left her, and she had a small frown on her lips. I couldn’t help but go back over to her and pull her into my arms. I hugged her tightly, and I never wanted to let her go. She smelled sweet, and I nuzzled into her neck, breathing in her scent. My hand got tangled in her hair when I pulled her closer.
I shuttered.
She let me hold her for the longest time, and I relished in it. It’s only been two days, but I’d missed her fiercely. I never wanted to be apart from her. She was the other half of my heart, and I wasn’t anything without her. I don’t know how I survived before she came into the picture. I could still remember the day when she came down to the office to try and get me from being arrested. I almost laughed out loud at the thought, but at the same time, my eyes got wet thinking about it.
Then something occurred to me, something that I’d never put the pieces together to until this moment.
“Lyla?” I asked into her neck, pressing a tentative kiss to it.
“Hmm?”
“Remember the first day that I met you, and I almost got arrested for setting Miranda’s hair on fire?”
She nodded, but also stiffened.
“That was you, wasn’t it? You set her hair on fire.”
A second later, she started to bounce in laughter— her sweet laugh getting louder and louder by the second. She pulled away from me and had tears running down her cheeks, but at least they were happy tears. She was laughing so hard that she was doubled over, holding her stomach. “Oh, God, I’m going to be sick!” she cried, still laughing. She fell over onto the floor, and still clutched her stomach. “I’m going to pee my pants!”
“You did do it! No wonder why you came down to the office to help me! It was all you!” I accused frivolously, chuckling in glee at seeing her happy again.
“I did, I did! She was talking shit and I got pissed!” “When doesn’t she talk shit?”
“Never,”
“Just like she ruined our relationship, huh?” “Yeah…” she said softly.
“Hey, did you want to go get some lunch? I was eating when you called me, and I never finished.” I said, hoping she would say yes.
“Okay, sounds great.”
Later on that night, Lyla decided to stay the night over here… she told me as long as there was no hanky-panky going on, she would stay in my bed with me… she didn’t even want me to hold her which is weird all by itself… she loves when I hold her.
We both climbed into bed, and as soon as the light clicked off, something was majorly wrong.
***
Lyla
We both jumped up as loud noise shook the whole house.
“What the fuck was that?” Ethan asked slowly. I clicked on the lamp quickly, making us both wince. He climbed from the bed, and immediately started putting his shirt on. His face was troubled, and I knew he was thinking about Cherry and what that loud bang could have indicated.
It was always scary when we heard something like that, because his mom could have gotten dizzy and fell down the steps or something, or knocked her dresser over on top of herself.
Trust me, it’s possible, I’d done it before when I lived in the Summer Solstice. My step-dad beat me for it, but what was I gonna do? Lay there and wait for it to slowly kill me because I could barely breathe? Fuck him. He sat there and laughed at me while I struggled. My mom finally came and helped me, but after that, she disappeared and I got beaten up.
There was another crashing sound above us. Cherry sounded like she was moving the couch back and forth or something of that nature. I hoped she wasn’t trying to rearrange the living room all by herself. She wouldn’t be able to move that piano without at least Ethan there to help her.
“Mom, what are you doing?” Ethan asked himself while rolling his eyes slightly. He huffed, and buttoned his jeans.
I shivered, and climbed the stairs. Ethan and I didn’t speak the whole way up. Everything in the atmosphere was intense, despite our fight. Usually we poked each other in the butt or giggled and made jokes—but not now.
I grabbed the door knob, and my hand almost got stuck to it because it was so cold. I let out a sharp cry of alarm, earning me a look from Ethan.
“It’s cold.” I shivered.
“What do you mean?” He didn’t wait for me to answer; he grabbed the handle, and then turned it, pushing into the kitchen.
The whole upstairs of the house was freezing, and I had to fight chills. I grabbed Ethan’s hand out of habit, and we began walking, but not five steps later, we were stopped in our tracks as a huge demon appeared out of nowhere… I think it was a demon.
This demon was really tall, had long limbs, black, crusty skin that looked burnt and probably was, eyes that glowed red, and had smoke coming out of them, and it was naked… that much I could definitely see.
Demons and a regular mans anatomy weren’t very much different from each other’s. The only thing different was that his thing was really small. I almost laughed and started boasting about my boyfriend’s… er… ex-boyfriend’s...
I’m sure Ethan would just love that.
As if he read my mind, he raised one eyebrow in a “what the heck” way.
God, I hope I didn’t say that out loud.
He shook his head.
Oh, my God, did I? My face heated up, and I almost forgot about the demon for a moment or two while I reined myself back together so I could take care of this.
We backed up as the massive creature stepped forward.
Its smell was of burnt skin and wax, plus a tad of sulfur.
It made Ethan gag. I thought he was going to throw up any second.
I was used to it, considering my body could produce some of the same odors… sorry, that’s just what I get for being born a Fire Bringer.
“Ethan…” I said in a shaky voice, holding onto his hand for dear life. I never wanted to let it go… ever. If I let go, I felt as if I would melt into the floor, never to be seen again.
“Lyla, whatever you do, don’t get killed—please.
But, you need to fight. You need to show these bastards that you’re not one to be reckoned with anymore. I’m done playing these games. It’s so fucking ridiculous.” Ethan said exasperatedly.
I gathered as much courage as I could, and stepped forward. I was going to try to reason with this thing before
I fought. I didn’t want to use my powers unless I absolutely had to. I could end up catching this whole house on fire. I knew I shouldn’t be worried about something so puny at a time like this, but I was. I don’t think Cherry would be too happy with me if something like that happened. Who knows, Ethan might end up mad at me too, since this house held so many memories for him. He grew up here. He loved this house dearly… I know, because he told me one night.
“What do you want?” I asked, keeping my tone non-threatening and friendly. I didn’t exactly smile, but I didn’t frown, either. My face was a mask of faked unbiased opinion. Um, did that make any sense? Whatever, I didn’t have time for this.
The demon cocked his head, and blinked his eyes.
The red gleamed, but it wasn’t as scary as I first thought it was, considering the eyes now changed to plain brown. The eyes looked like anyone else’s. “We need you dead.” The voice was deep, nerve-racking, and scary.
“Why?” I placed my hands on my hips, trying to act like Miranda and be overly-confident. Maybe this could help us, and it would make the demon not want to attack or something… Okay, Rylan would totally beat my ass if he knew I was standing here, trying to reason with a demon. He would tell me that I was being impractical, foolish, and—
“We need your necklace. There is someone who could wear it. They will be unstoppable.” His eyes held mine, and my head started to think more and more crazy thoughts.
Okay, maybe these thoughts weren’t my own… well, they probably were, but maybe the demon was making them speed up and race around my mind so I couldn’t concentrate on anything else other than what I was thinking about… okay, I had to break the heck out of this thinking trance. I took a few deep breaths—in and out— then straightened my shoulders. I glanced at Ethan, and his brows were furrowed. The demon was messing with him, too.
I laughed after I composed myself enough to do so.
“That’s funny. Who’s going to wear it? You?
The demons shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong, bitch, there is a person in this world that can wield its power. What do you think we have been trying to do? We felt your entrance into this world. We were going to try to use your souls as a bargaining tool, but I guess one of our own kind betrayed us and told you how to get them back… Hopefully Lucifer never finds out whom went-a-telling, or that person will be killed.”
I almost told the demon to fuck off and leave Rylan alone, but I didn’t think that would help the situation, the only thing that would happen would be putting my friend in danger, which was something that I didn’t want. I’m sure Rylan could hold his own, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
“So, are you going to hand over the necklace, or am I going to have to kill you both…” Then the demon looked at Ethan and smiled mockingly. “And your mother?”
It took Ethan all of point-two seconds to understand what the demon said about his mom.
Ethan’s face transformed into something I’d never saw before. It was a mix between fury and fear and wildness. With a howl, Ethan flung his hands into the air, sending a large sheet of ice at the demon. The demon jumped out of the way at a high speed. The ice hit the floor, and shattered into a million tiny pieces. The sound hit my ears, making me want to cower. The demon ran at Ethan and crashed into him, knocking him onto his back.
He sat in the middle of Ethan’s chest, and reached his large hands through Ethan’s skin. Ethan yelled in pain, but when the demon pulled back, there was no sign that he was digging around in someone’s chest. Ethan’s chest was healed, and there was no blood. “Where is your soul at, Ice Bringer?”
Ethan smiled a pained smile, and spat into the demon’s ugly face. “In Hell,” Ethan kicked the demon in the chest, making him falter.
Ethan’s eyes glowed blue, he jumped up and opened his mouth, letting ice pour out, incasing the demon in it. Ethan stalked forward like a lion, and stared the demon down. Hate radiated off of him in waves. I’d never saw such a look on angelic-Ethan’s face before. He was usually so composed.
The demon howled until he was frozen solid, but within a second, he melted it, and took off running up the stairs.
He hooted and hollered like a madman, and skipped up the steps like a little freaking leprechaun. I could really picture him singing, “I’m a little leprechaun, hear me roar.” to the tune of “I’m a little teapot.”
It was rather disturbing watching him jump, considering he didn’t have pants on and I could see everything bouncing around.
I pushed the disturbing thoughts from my mind.
He was going to get Ethan’s mom! I wouldn’t let that happen.
Then I did something that I didn’t plan on doing in the house. I spit fire at the tall demons back, and when I realized it wasn’t working, Ethan and I both ran after him just as he went through his mother’s bedroom door.
“Cherry, run!” I shouted.
Her eyes darted between me and Ethan, finally settling on the black, hideous creature in front of her. Her face was a mask of fright.
Then, Cherry did something I’d never saw her do. She lifted both of her hands, and shards of ice flew out, cutting the demon everywhere, making him yell in frustration and pain.
I felt kind of smug! Look at Cherry being all cool and shit.
Ethan spit his own frost at the demon, and I knew we were winning this fight.
Or so I thought.
The demon rose up, swung his enormous fist, and hit Ethan square in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. I swore I heard something crack, but I think it was just from the result of how hard he got hit. Ethan was sprawled on the floor, panting and gasping for air. Oh, God, I hoped nothing was broken. It would be all my fault if something happened to Cherry and Ethan.
I gasped, and ran over to him, kneeling down. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, and got up. I noticed there was some blood coming through his shirt, but I didn’t say anything. It didn’t look too bad. He narrowed his eyes at the demon, then without thinking, I blew fire, and Ethan blew ice. The fire and ice swirled around each other, until it combined into one, turning the substance into something peculiar. It was a light purple color, and when it hit its mark, the demon began to melt.
“You won’t get away with this! There is more of my kind coming for you! Just you wait! I’m going back to tell!” the demon bellowed, turning into nothing but a pile of gray goo. Within a second, even that disappeared into nothingness. I’m sure he was going back to Hell to go tell his little demon friends that we made him melt like ice cream on a sunny day.
We were all panting.
“What the heck was that? Am I dreaming?” Cherry asked, rubbing her still-tired eyes. “I totally had to be dreaming… I think my meds are making me all weird again.”
I didn’t wait for Ethan to say anything. I wanted to protect Cherry from the harsh reality of the situation.
Considering she could protect herself, I didn’t think it would hurt. “Yes, I think you had a nightmare. We heard you yell and came running… Cherry, if you ever see something like that again, please do not hesitate to use your powers.”
Cherry blinked, and looked confused. What I said was sort of confusing, but I hoped she wouldn’t catch it. “Okay… so everything is fine then?” she asked, holding her blanket to herself little a small girl.
I could see she was trembling.
Ethan’s lip quivered slightly. I knew he hated seeing his mom like this all of the time. The love he felt for her was so pure and sweet nothing could compare to it. He loved his mom so much that he would never hurt her in anyway…
Ethan nodded, and went to his mom, wrapping his arms around her. “You will be okay… promise.” He kissed her cheek, and she did the same to him. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she hugged him tighter. She whispered something that I couldn’t make out, but whatever it was made Ethan chuckle softly.
I smiled.
She patted her son on the back, and blew out a breath. “Some dream.” She laughed loudly.
Ethan and I both joined in.