Conquer (Control) (32 page)

“…It’s obvious your
daddy
was right.  You’re a filthy son of a bitch that can’t get laid unless you take it.  So, no offense to Paige, but there is no way in fucking hell that I’m going to lower myself to you.”

Daemon’s eyes found mine.  I could tell he was trying to tell me something, he was begging for me to stay strong.  I knew Chris would kill Daemon first.  Daemon was the larger threat and Chris didn’t have plans for him other than death.  But me?  Yeah…Chris had plans for me.  

When Chris aimed the gun at Daemon, my Heart. Fucking. Stopped.   I braced myself for the inevitable, but Daemon kept fighting.  He lunged towards us and Chris surprised me by returning the gun to my head.  I found it odd that relief flooded me, but I knew Daemon wouldn’t die if the gun was on me.  I wanted the gun on me.

Daemon smiled.  It was so slight, that Chris wouldn’t notice.  I knew he was doing it for me, that he was trying to tell me something, and I could only blink in response.  He still had hope and I was saying goodbye.

When the gunshot rang through the trees, it echoed; bouncing back at me off of every solid surface that littered the path of the sound.   My body instantly became heavy and my knees began to give out.  Before falling to the ground, I looked up at Daemon, saw him scream as he was running towards me.  But gravity was faster and I impacted with the ground with such force my teeth rattled against each other.  My forehead slammed down and pain shot through my head.   I could feel the warmth of the thick liquid soaking my hair and streaming down my face.  My eyes opened to see the blood as it pooled in the dirt below me.  I tried to move, tried to push myself up, but my arms wouldn’t work and my body felt like it was weighted down.

The weight was abruptly lifted from me and I felt Daemon’s arms wrap around my body, pulling me from the spot where I’d landed.  His hand came to my head to wipe away the blood that soaked my skin.   He was talking to me, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying.  I was in shock, I think.  Not able to connect with the reality of what had just happened.   Daemon tilted my head up to look at him.  His jaw was tight as his lips moved with silent words.  He held me to him, his chest beating against me from his heavy breath.    I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes.   I could feel the tears as they finally forced their way out of me.   Like a dam giving out to the strength of a river’s current, those tears flowed freely from my eyes.  My body began to warm up as Daemon held me against him, and when I was ready to connect with reality once more, I opened my eyes and looked up.

Chris’ body lay motionless, face down in the dirt.  He must have fallen on me and it was his blood that saturated my hair.  I could see where the bullet had entered the side of his head.   Blood pooled and swirled on the ground as it continued pouring from him.   I looked up at Daemon as he stared down at Chris.   

How?…

Daemon’s body twisted around at the same time as I pushed up to look over his shoulder.

I gasped out at when I discovered her.  She looked like a distant phantom covered in shadow.  The branches of the trees swayed rendering partial and brief glimpses of illumination.  The moonlight bounced off her hair and her nightgown appeared ethereal as it rippled from the winds that blew across her body.   Her expression was blank, her body stood perfectly still.   Her arms hung down at her side, and in her right hand, she held the gun I’d thrown down in the marsh.  Small strings of smoke continued to leak from the weapon.

Annie.

I pushed myself up, attempting to run to her, but Daemon’s hand came down on my arm.  Her hand relaxed and the gun simply fell to the ground.  She locked eyes with me before silently turning and walking back towards the building.  My eyes followed her slow path, until she finally disappeared through the back door.   Lights could be seen as they were turned on throughout the building.  Daemon and I sat motionless with shock, but like a rubber band, reality snapped back and what had once seemed like a slow-motion filmstrip, now sped up to normal time.

I could hear the distant yelling.  The distinct voice of my father echoing out over the trees and water in the yard.   My head turned to look back at Chris and I had time to see the cold, lifelessness in his still open eyes before Daemon could force my head back against his shoulder.

“Don’t look, Paige.  Please, baby, don’t look.”

Those words.   They were memories reborn.  Two children, huddled together, holding on to each other in a moment where innocence was stolen and the ugliness of the world was introduced.  My mind went back to that day, that parking lot, that car….and those words.

“Don’t look, Paige.  Just don’t look over there. We just need to stay here and look at each other, okay?  Promise me you will look at nothing but me.” 

How two people could end up in this situation, not once, but twice, was beyond me.   It didn’t seem fair, but then again, nothing was.   Life hadn’t been fair when Daemon’s mother was killed and it hadn’t been fair when I watched his face in that rear window, growing smaller and less defined as distance was forced between us. It certainly hadn’t been fair when we’d been faced with the possibility of one watching the other one die. Maybe we were cursed after all.  Or maybe, we’d both just been born into lives marred by the ugly reality of abuse, anger and hatred. 

My arms grasped to his body tightly, my body molded to his, and I was certain reality would take a different path this time.  I wouldn’t let him go again and forces didn’t exist that could separate us from each other.  The same situation, but there would be a different outcome.  Two souls once forced apart by violence were now strengthened by the same circumstances, the same ugliness that existed within so many lives.

I clearly heard my father approach and stop just short of where Daemon and I were sitting.  I never looked up.   I knew the scene my father’s eyes were seeing, and I knew he looked over to check and make sure I was okay.  I should have looked over at him just to let him know I hadn’t been harmed.  But I couldn’t.  My body wouldn’t move apart from Daemon.  I wasn’t able to release him for even a second without feeling like my strength would weaken, that I would fall apart.  Daemon was my strength in that moment...the only person that could hold me together.

He must have known.   He never attempted to move me or push me from his body.  He just held me.   There, in the muck and mud, with the cold winds battering against our bodies, he sheltered me, he kept me strong.  It wasn’t until blue lights reflected off the trees on the other side of the building and officers rushed in that we were forced to move.   Even then, he never let me go.  His arms came around me and he carried me, tight against his chest, and moved me to sit at the base of the camphor tree within which we’d spent so many hours as children.  He continued to look on as police took photos of Chris’ body, eventually covering it with a tarp once they’d documented the scene.   Numerous people attempted to talk to us and Daemon would answer when it was necessary.  Other than that, we remained quiet.  There was no need for words, only the knowledge that when it was over, when the scene was cleared, we would still be holding on to each other, never separated again.

As Daemon watched out over the yard, I trained my eyes up into the branches of the tree above us.  I could hear the faint laughter of children, of a boy and a girl as they raced up to see who could climb the highest.   I was safe within those memories, not thinking about the horror that was currently laid out in the grasses in front of us.

We moved again eventually as Daemon carried me to the front of the building. The police had left and so had the ambulances as the sun rose beyond the horizon.   I stared up into the brilliant colors that slashed across the sky.   Light returned and with it, a new day. Daemon held me to him as my father pulled up into the front yard with Daemon’s truck.   He climbed out of the driver’s side as Daemon moved around the truck to place me in the passenger’s seat.   After he placed the seatbelt around me, he backed away so my mother could come up to hug me.  I felt her body shake with her tears, but I was numb, still in shock, and missing Daemon’s heat against my body.

As we drove back to the apartment, Daemon kept his hand wrapped tightly around mine.  He never let go of me, making sure to keep constant contact while he drove us home.   Once we’d arrived, he’d taken me upstairs, running a bath and placing me in the water.  He washed the blood and mud from my body.  My eyes followed the reds and browns as they swirled together, eventually escaping down the drain.

After I was clean and Daemon had dried me off, he carried me to his bed, laying me down on the soft mattress and blankets.   His arm remained around me when he climbed in to lay beside me.  I’m not sure if I fell asleep, or even if Daemon was ever claimed by slumber.  I simply laid in the darkness, surrounded and comforted within the warmth of his body.  I smiled to myself briefly as I realized that this time, when death had descended upon us, when the weight of madness and hatred had once again infected our lives; this time…I wasn’t forced to let him go.

Epilogue

Daemon’s fingers drummed out a beat on my thighs, keeping time with the music as he sat next to me.  Our legs swung out in front of the branch where we were seated and I looked down, excited not to be hyperventilating from panic.  I mean…sure…the branch was only ten feet off the ground, but it was an accomplishment that I’d climbed up here at all. 

We sat in our favorite tree in the backyard of The Center attending a large barbeque my parents were having in celebration of Annie going home.  David had moved into Matt’s new place, but they had an extra room for Annie.   It’d been six months since the night Chris died and Annie was finally ready to walk forward in life, to claim the happiness that she’d always deserved.  Momma and Daddy hardly ever threw these types of parties as most women favored walking silently back into their lives, not wanting to acknowledge the beasts they conquered before leaving this place.

But not Annie.   That little woman wanted to celebrate.  Her victory was a long time coming, one she’d fought for, almost died as she’d accomplished it.  I’d been nervous after that night with Chris.  Not only did Annie have to get past the pain that was inflicted against her, but now, she had to deal with the knowledge that she’d taken a life.  She’d remained quiet the first week after it happened.   Eventually, Momma convinced her to talk to Detective Troy.  The police needed to complete their paperwork and Annie’s testimony was key to their reports.   Daddy was able to tell them how Chris had entered the building.  A wire had been cut, one simple wire, and Chris had entered through a window without tripping the alarm.   However, it was Annie who needed to tell them what happened between the time Chris had found her and the time that I’d arrived to The Center.

Detective Troy would never tell me what Annie had told her about that night.  I wasn’t sure if Annie asked that I not know, or if Detective Troy was attempting to shelter me from the events that’d occurred prior to my arrival.   On the surface, it bothered me not knowing what had been said or done before I could get to her.  However, deep down, I was relieved with not having to carry the knowledge of any additional evil committed against her.    

I felt Daemon’s hand slide up and grasp mine, freeing me of my thoughts.  He turned my hand over so that the sun glinted up to my face from the diamond on my finger.  The ring was simple, but beautiful, and I groaned inwardly when I’d compared the size of the rock to my finger.  I never really wanted a ring, never thought my life would head in that direction, but then to see the size of the one that had been slipped on my finger, I’d grimaced briefly, before smiling up at the man who’d placed it there.   It wasn’t a romantic proposal, if the term ‘proposal’ could even be used.  Two days after Chris had died, I was standing in the kitchen waiting for the coffee to brew.  Daemon woke up to find me missing from the bed and came out in search of me.  He’d spotted me in the kitchen and looked me over for a long time before turning to go back to the bedroom.  When he came into the living room a second time, he proceeded into the kitchen and placed the blue jewelry box on the counter of the island beside me.  I looked up from the coffee pot I’d been watching and my eyes followed the lines of his abdomen, his chest and broad shoulders, continuing until they locked with the swirling blue of his eyes. 

“It’s time, Damsel.”

I could feel my brows furrow in confusion at his statement.  My gaze momentarily flicked down to the box on the counter before returning up to his.  I arched an eyebrow, but I remained silent awaiting his explanation.

His eyes burned into mine and I could feel my skin prickle in response.  His arm came down to run along the goosebumps on my arms as a grin threatened the corner of his mouth.  “Paige, when I saw you being led to the woods by Chris…when I saw the gun to your head…I thought our lives were ending in that moment.”  He huffed out a breath before continuing.  “I thought I was right in my fears that forever with you would never be long enough.  After having been faced with the possibility of losing you…again…I made a decision while holding you under that tree…”

His hands moved to open the box and remove the ring.  He grabbed my hand and slipped the ring on my finger before I could protest.

“…it’s time for you to stop being stubborn, Paige.  We’ve been through too fucking much to doubt that we were meant to be together.  It’s true that we can survive when we are apart, but we can only truly live when we are together.  You’re going to marry me, Paige, and it doesn’t mean we’ll stop fighting each other.
” 
He chuckled.  “…To be honest, I’m looking forward to each and every day that I have with you, pissing you off and then making it up to you all over again.”

I pulled my eyes from his and looked down at the ring.  Just as I went to look at him, the coffee machine beeped.  I smiled when I said, “Coffee’s ready.”  Shrugging, I pulled my hand from his and went to make myself a cup.  I knew he was smiling behind me and I couldn’t contain the smile that beamed on my lips as well.