Evanescence 16

Chapter 16

There’s a funny buzzy feel of majik in the room as Alecia and I get out of the bathroom after fixing our make up. It’s only a little strange now doing that. My old self seems so far away at times and yet coming in from the bathroom I’m smiling at Shaun, My Shaun sweet and handsome and before we became an item he was my best friend.

I used to party with him, drive around town, check out the girls and most of the time play video games and role-playing games with him and the guys. We play all sorts of different games now and hell I’m living it really. I’ll never see those games like I used to. I guess dice and rulebooks don’t really hold up to reality.

Gaming doesn’t remotely hold up to kissing him. I kiss him and before I can stop myself he’s going “Raine don’t…” There’s an arc from him to me of lightning and it makes my eyes go cross staring at it for an instant looking at the arc from his lips to mine then it moves to the tip of my nose and there’s this electrical pop sound and a flash that knows me on my butt.

I’m blinking the flash blindness out of my eyes and Alecia’s giggling and helping me up.

“Holy crap!, Ow, Shaun what the heck was that?”

Alecia’s still laughing. “You have to be more careful Raine, you’re dating a Faraday.”

I blink and stare at her then at Shaun who sheepishly smiles and waves his fingers at me and there’s an electrical cord in his hand wires bared and it’s plugged into the wall socket. I looks like he got the cord from the floor lamp in the corner.

“Ow…Shaun honey what are you doing?”

“I’m uhm supercharging…”

“Huh?”

Alecia helps me sit in the chair, the majik’s coming from him. She sits on the arms of the chair. “Shaun’s a Faraday, that’s an energy mage, a lightning/electrical type actually. He’s using his majik to boost his body into healing super fast by feeding electrical power to those cells using his majik to do so.”

“Whoa, that’s a neat trick.”

Shaun blushes and then smiles at me. “Thanks, though If I was as good as I thought I was I wouldn’t be needing to do this. That big horse guy messed me up good.” He lifts the hospital gown and stares at the black bruised flesh and it’s slowly starting to fade around the edges and lighten.

Alecia looks at him. “Shaun, you did as well as any of us…Shea, was dark fae, a kelpie a real supernatural creature. He kicked my ass too, he kicked all of our butts except for Raine here.” she rubs my shoulder friendly like.

I look at both of them. “Even I had help, I called out to a powerful majik user I’ve know from before and she helped me in a bad spot.”

Both of them are looking at me. I shrug at both of them. “Hey, I needed the help, she had the experience and I didn’t. You can only fly by the seat of your pants for so long.”

Alecia nods. “Good, you’ve got a lot of stuff going on Raine and nothing is going to get easier. I can help some, I’ve learned a few things over the years but you need to train.”

I sigh and lean all the way back in my chair letting my hair spill out over the back. “I was hoping for a break but that’s not likely to happen is it?”

“I don’t know. I’m more than a little disturbed by the whole thing with Shea.”

“Yeah what was that about?”

“Michel, my sire or former sire made me a vampire and I was his darling for a long time until I was caught by enemies and held for a long time by a group called The Templars. They starved me and they fed me drug addicts and lunatics and the truly insane. Over time it drove me insane. But insane was different than what they thought it would be. I didn’t become something worse than what I was but instead all that suffering I was absorbing from my kills weighed down on the part of me that was the beasts own and with that link muted down from it I could feel and hear what was left of my soul. Michel has always wanted me back.”

“So he found you somehow and sent Shea after you.” Shaun asks.

“Yes but Shea was using some kind of other power from that gemstone. I didn’t like the feel of that and then there’s the fact the fae, any fae are contemptuous of the vampires. Blood enemies actually really.”

“So there’s something that got a fae and a vampire working together then?”

“It looks like it Shaun but it’s got to be bad really bad if Shea wasn’t afraid of the Morrigans wrath.”

“The Morrigan?”

“She…usually she is the lead enforcer of the court of the dark fae on earth. She’s very mob like in a lot of her attitudes and Shea wouldn’t have been free to work for a vampire, he’d be begging for Raine to have taken him out like she did if the Morrigan got a hold of him and knew he was working with a demon.”

I look at the ceiling. “So what could compel the two to work together?” I think I know, I think I know because I’m back, I’m back and he sent Rapture out to take me out.

Alecia sort of stares out the window and sighs. “I don’t know but there’s something, I’m sure of it and there’s a connection playing around in my head and I just can’t put all the pieces together?”

“Asmodeus…”

Alecia looks at me staring actually. Shaun looks confused. She looks at me. “He still couldn’t he’s confined to hell, and he’s still a demon.”

I’m seeing things, visions and memories of this tall pale like a vampire white haired model hot guy with a huge build and sharp canines and these burning emerald eyes…he has…had this sneer on his face and there were legions of undead roman legionnaires behind him and he had this shimmer like a heat shape, like the way you’d see something invisible on SF TV shows or movies…the shape is that of wings…angelic wings…

I know things, and it’s not from some other life but just strangely there, part of me? “He’s not a demon, he’s one of the princes of hell.”

“He’s a demon lord then.” I hear Shaun say.

“No…He’s an Angel.” I say and sit up and rub at my eyes and feel my mistake as my make up smears, both of them look at me.

“The last one, the last Evanescence, I stopped him…but he killed me…I can remember seeing him back then…”

Oh shit, oh shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! I look past my hands at Shaun, he’s staring at me.

“Raine…? What the hell do you mean killed you? And you remember?” it was strange to see his power gather in his eyes and turn his pupils silvery, he seems to have gotten more defined some how?

Alecia stands and puts a hand on his chest and there’s a arcing spark of lightning that doesn’t seem to bother her. “Shaun, relax, power down some.” She turns to me. “You haven’t told him?”

“No, It’s…dangerous.” I lower my eyes as Shaun comes off the bed angry. “Dangerous!, dangerous…dammit Raine! What the hell was what we just went through…bloody juggling!”

I get up in his face and glare at him. “No, you don’t get it. I’m dangerous! I’ll always be dangerous! If it’s not Asmodeus it’ll be someone else, something else, there’ll be always something lurking trying to take me out and the people around me that I love!”

“That’s not your choice to make! Some of us can take care of ourselves!” Shaun’s hand points at one of the medical things and a bolt of electricity jumps from his hand to it blowing it to crap. My eyes widen and Alecia runs to open the window and put out the few burning bits of plastic.

He steps right up to me and takes my chin in his hand and makes me look up at his and it’s so unfair he’s so intense and hot…and that he…that he cares so much…his eyes are shimmering down from silvery back to blue but there’s this shimmery in between that’s so…his voice is tight, husky with emotion.

“No way, there’s no way you can say that, you don’t get to choose who loves you. I could get hit by a car crossing the street. Shot by some idiot with a gun. We never know, we don’t get to know. And to choose to be around you with this whatever going on it’s just bullshit Raine. It’d hurt more than getting injured or even killed Raine if something happened to you and you didn’t let us be there to do everything we can, we could do…everything that I could do.”

He kisses me after that and there’s staff running in as he’s doing that and that hand under my chin turns to both hands cradling my face and deeper and deeper kissing and there’s parts…other me’s swooning…or just flat out amazed at him, the man that he is.

I only sort of notice Alecia telling some story in a weird cadence to the nurses and staff that the unit just shorted out and blew that it was just the strangest thing that she had ever see. The staff seem to buy it even though I’m pretty sure that the story sounded a little weak.

I break the kiss with him as his parents come in looking relieved and I catch the look between his dad and him and then again with his mom. He looks at them and after the staff filters out of the room says “It’s okay she knows.” There’s a look of relief on their faces. His mom hugs him and starts to check him over by moving his Johnny shirt. His hurts are nearly gone the bruises and everything mostly faded away. She’s looking at him intensely for a few seconds and they hug.

Alecia smiles at us. “Hey if you’re going home with Shaun. I’m going to make sure that Donna gets home alright and I’ve got to try and catch some sleep before heading to work..”

I go over and hug her. “That’d be great, I might stay over at Shaun’s tonight.” She nods and says as she’s leaving. “Okay, I’ll call you or text you later and see what’s up. Say hello to Jill for me.” She slips out with a bit of a smile.

I stay with Shaun as he get’s released and the doc’s can’t figure out what happened where he’s so much better almost fine. They’re still that busy that they end up chalking it up to looking worse than it was and all the stress of the strangeness of the night. I guess it just goes to show that when confronted with the strange most people will ignore what’s right out in front of them rather than face the truth.

Nicholson was right…“You can’t handle the truth.”

We head out to the farm in his parents van. Did I mention they were kind of the hippy types. The van is one of those old camper ones Volkswagen made and you saw all over the place in the sixties. I’m sitting in the back with Shaun cuddling up and bouncing a little too hard because I’m not sure this thing came with shocks. His dad’s driving and singing along to his mom some really old tune called “Roller derby Queen.” I’ve never heard of the thing but it sounds really old and stuff. That gets me laughing and a Shaun’s giving me this look like I’m nuts. He’s still got this look in his eyes though like this deep intensity under the waters of his soul.

We stop by the impound yard and his dad hires a wrecker to get the car. I stare at the wreckage yeah wreckage it’s a total write-off. I snuggle into him and rub his sides. “I’m sorry.” I whisper.

“He came after Alecia, not you, this isn’t on you.”

“Yeah but I’m involved.”

“Yeah, so tell me.”

“Shaun…”

He looks at me. Then his face touches mine, a nuzzle, then a kiss. “I’m in it too, it won’t take a genius to put us together Raine even if it stopped right here. We’d be targets anyway.”

“In your room?” I need time to think about how to explain this, how to tell him.

“Okay…in my room after supper?” He’s hasn’t stopped nuzzling me and he still hasn’t stopped holding me. I have to tell him. Closing my eyes and feeling back into myself again. I never had this before…I mean I’ve never had this before in this life either but I mean before that, that other me…not just the my other lives but the other Evanescence I…I don’t think she had anyone…not like this, not like my Shaun.

It takes about an hour still to get back to the farm and Shaun’s with his dad doing stuff with the car into the garage. I’m tired but soon the rhythm of being in the kitchen is soothing me. Some of my lives weren’t domestic but Ko and Joanna were kitchen girls and soon I’m helping Shaun’s mom cooking and she’s just making stuff for hamburgers and just warming up chili from the freezer and I’m cutting fries and making biscuits for a kind of chili sloppy Joe. The burgers are just like I remember them, she fries mushrooms and onions until they’re brown and then tosses them into the burger which is their own beef and some venison hamburger mixed in with it and two egg yolks and lots of fresh ground black pepper and garlic salt. My mouth’s watering by the time we’re making everything plus a salad on the side. I’ve eaten tons of these as Shaun’s best friend but never thought I’d be making them here with his mom as his girlfriend.

We’re making refrigerator lemon pie when she asks me. “Raine, what happened today, I mean last night?”

I look at her and sigh a bit and start slicing the cucumber I had just peeled. “There was this rogue faerie creature called a Kelpie that was sent after a friend of ours we got involved but it turns out that the Kelpie was working or tied in with and old enemy of mine too.”

She actually sighs with relief? “Good I though it might have been more trouble from Atlanta.”

“Trouble? What trouble? Shaun never said anything about getting into trouble down there?”

She looks at me and almost at the same time says. “Old enemy? You’re too young to have and old enemy?”

Then we’re both looking at each other. It’s not scowling but more like a …not more shit… expressions on both our faces.

“Raine, what’s going on?” I look at her and it’s her house, I’m dating her son…I take a drink of the lemonade we’re drinking. I almost say something but…Jill’s staying here and even if Jill’s not watching her brother the agency might be, heck they might be even watching her. I walk over and touch her channeling.

~Can you hear me?~

~Yes?~

~Good, I don’t want us overheard.~

~What? Why?~

~Jill, she works for a government agency.~

~She is? How do you know?~

~She tried a recruiting pitch with me and with Shaun.~

~She What?!~ I get flashes of her and other hippy picketing with Shaun’s dad.

~Easy Mandy, Jill’s sort of one of the good guys. I trust her more than the ones she works for that’s why we’re talking this way.~

~Father and the Mother, I thought her joining the forces was trial enough and now she’s a fed?~

~SDA, Supernatural Defense Agency actually and I’m not really sure what they are Mandy, but I know that Jill’s on the up and up, you raised a hell of a girl…~

I step back a minute getting choked up with Heaven’s memories of the tough yet sweet military girl who saved her life…made her/me believe in love…I’m gone…dead…I’ll never have that…Mandy, Mrs. Quinn reaches out to touch my arm.

“Raine, what’s wrong?” She looks concerned. I try to pull it together and the others are helping inside as part of me is crumbing. I take a big breath. “It’s just stress Mrs. Quinn I’ll be okay.” I take another breath and reach out to her with my power.

~It’s okay, like I said I trust Jill just not any agency that mind scans their operatives.~

That doesn’t improve her feelings of Jill working for “The Man”. There’s a mental sigh and she nods to me. ~Okay, we’ll talk about that later, now about you? And you having old enemies.~

~Okay…You’re Wicca right?~

~Yes, I’ve been practicing Wicca since I was twelve.~

~And your Aunt Lydia brought you to her farm and brought you into her coven just before you got your period.~

I feel her stunned then she’s staring at me as I nod and to her I morph through my different lives, and there’s tears there. And SHE’s there now stirring the chili. Mandy’s eyes blink before going huge as she just suddenly knows who SHE is. She drops to a bow before HER breaking contact. I step back smiling. I kind of know what’s coming.

“Oh Good Greif…Amanda Lynn Huntington would you not do that, you’re making my back hurt just watching you. Besides I’m not into those kind of things.”

Mandy gets up and looks around and the wind blowing the curtains is frozen and so are the birds outside and everything. Time’s stopped here, I sip my lemonade. Then quip. “Well Sometimes YOU”RE into having a girl on her knees before you.”

Mandy turns and stares at me like I lost my mind talking to HER like that.

SHE sticks her tongue out at me.

Mandy stares at HER like did The GODDESS just give someone a raspberry?

She sways and both me and HER reach her and ease her into a chair at the kitchen table. I sit with her. She stares at me. “You’re…You’re…not real…That’s just an old legend of what was possible. The Evanescence lore’s just one of those keep reaching stories.”

I rub her hands. “I’m afraid not. I’m real, sometimes I wish it wasn’t me but…what can you do right?”

“But…how…why?”

“How it’s actually pretty simple, I was born to it. They didn’t ever think to wipe out the male side of my bloodlines or rather the bloodlines of the first Evanescence. I guess they thought we all just pop out of thin air.”

“Why? Though, why would you come back now?”

“Asmodeus…I fought him the first time a long time ago and locked him in hell and he’s been trying to get out ever since. I think he’s closer than he’s ever been so The Balance tipped and the scales dumped this on me.”

SHE says. “I’ve been wondering if this was what brought you back.”

Mandy looks at HER. “Uhm excuse me but you didn’t know? I thought that you’d know well everything.”

SHE smiles. “I know a lot of things, I know likely more than most beings like me but what beings like Asmodeus do are hidden from me and others. I usually reflect my followers, my children so there’s stuff I’ve got to reach back for. Raine’s the Evanescence and she’s technically only part wiccan, there was the bloodlines of all kinds of women with power gathered to created her, Wicca was just part of it.”

“I thought you’d have all the answers…”

“Sorry, what’d be the point of that really. If I knew everything then I’d be The One and not me someone else would be me.”

“Oh…….Asmodeus…that’s bad right?”

SHE nods. “Very he’s one of the Princes of Hell.”

“I thought he was one of the nine kings of hell?”

“Lucifer is the Only King of Hell.”

“So he want’s out to?”

“He want’s out to finish what he and his master started to obliterate life on earth and the other realms to show the “One God.” that he erred in the creation of all the other beings out there.”

“Other beings?” Her and I both ask.

“The Elde. Back before the faith in modern God came to this world even before the other gods there was a time when majik and the powers of creation ran like spring rivers through the leylines. These connected the prime world to other realms where these ley lines met and the energy made doorways or tunnels through reality. The existed alongside early man for a long time. But when Lucipher sought to destroy mankind he was going to destroy earth as well and if you destroy one earth you destroy them all. So they joined forces with others to put him down and bind him as deep into hell as we could.”

I Look at HER. “So he wants to destroy it all?”

SHE shakes her head. “No he want’s Hell on earth so he can wage war on Heaven, he want’s to be God.”

Mandy’s shaking her head looking stunned. “But what does that mean with the other faiths? We’re not part of that whole Heaven and Hell thing.”

“And we weren’t part of the other religions either but it’s never stopped any of them from becoming real. It’s not a matter of choices, now it’s becoming a matter of survival again.”

I look at HER. “So why would the fae be working with Asmodeus then?”

“There were fae that joined Lucifer to become free of the will of the fae rulership, these became some of the worst of the worst demons and devils.”

I nod. “Okay that makes sense but what about Alecia and Michel?”

“Alecia broke free of the Beast’s call, the thing that feeds from all of it’s vampire minions. If Michel’s changed sides giving over what’s left of his soul to Asmodeus he might be seeking a way in that to break Asmodeus out of his prison.”
“So he’s likely just as rogue as Shea was.”

“Most likely and he’s likely going to not stop trying for her if that’s the case.”

“Uh-huh…” I’m so going to need to talk to Alecia about this. I look over to Mandy and rub her shoulder. “You okay with all of this?”

“I’m going to have to be right? You certainly have an enemy and more Raine. I’ll help as best I can.”

“Thanks, I think I’m going to need it.”

“Well it seems that Shaun’s not alone at least.”

“You were going to tell me about that what happened with him and down in Atlanta.”

SHE set’s down a pot of tea and all the fixings and pours for us. Mandy sips as I do too and it’s really good. I feel soothed immediately and we three just let out a sigh. She takes another sip and looks at us.

“Shaun started sparking so we sent him to his grand-dads place where he could get a hold of his majik. When he was there he did good until he got hooked up with this girl. Nicole, she was a siren and she strung him along using him and his artifice to break into places to set her musical career up and to do stuff for her brother and his crowd that were some kind of high society gang of kids with majik who pretty much ruled Atlanta’s scene and when she was using stuff he made to start to mess with people he tried to stop them and it became this whole thing that nearly got him killed. It got several of those kids killed in the whole thing and we’ve been looking for trouble to come looking for him ever since. I’m from down there and people like the Stone family, The Hennessey’s, The Thrasher’s they all aren’t just going to let sleeping dogs lie.”

I nod and then rub her hand. “Mandy… Sug, this is the north. Any of them southern good ole boys come up here and we’ll give them a good whupping.” Joanna’s coming through and we smile at each other and laugh. She knows now where it’s coming from and we hug. SHE Hugs Mandy tightly. “I’ll not be a stranger daughter, you’ve raised good children and are a good child yourself.”

Then she was gone as the guys are tramping inside. Mrs. Quinn’s blinking and yes I know I keep jumping back and forth between her name and her married stuff but I find myself calling her by her first name when I’m in Evanescence mode and as just Raine though I can’t help but to keep calling her Mrs. Quinn until she tells me otherwise. I know schizophrenic isn’t it. Try living it.

The meal’s good and we listen to the guys talk about the car before his mom brings up Atlanta and she brings up Jill working for the SDA. Shaun nods and gets up saying he’ll be right back and leaves and comes back with three of those Bose wave stereo things and he plugs them in and holds his hand over the disc drive and pours mana into it. “There we’re safe from being overheard or them using scrying to watch us.” Part of me is interested, really interested but his dad and mom turn the topic back to Atlanta and then the whole thing with me being Who I am.

Part of this includes me showing them, by my mana touch those other selves. I’m not sure his dad gets it but there’s this look of…understanding in Shaun’s eyes of what he’s seen me go through already.

His parents shoo us off after supper saying they’ll clean up and I call mom and let her know I’m spending the night. Alecia had stayed at the trailer after dropping her off for supper and she was just going to lock up and bed down herself. I kiss her goodnight over the phone and head downstairs to Shaun’s bedroom and he walks me to the bed and he sort of falls in pulling me with him and holds me tightly.

It feels nice, better than nice as he kisses me. And I kiss him back and we slowly undress each other and even though we’ve been together already I’m still nervously biting my lips as I take off my bra and I’m flat out scared taking off my panties.

The kissing really helps, him telling me that I’m beautiful helps. The touch of his work rough hands on my soft skin is erotic to me. The way he feels and pays attention to my breast has me writhing and panting in a achy sort of desperate way. And the kissing…I think all of me loves the kissing…My Nordic amazon is scared but fascinated by his strong gentleness and when he goes down on me it’s so…I’m still trying to figure out how it makes me feel but it still shocks the others save for Heaven. The others love it, Viking me…it’s such a power-trip for her/me it takes it to a whole other place. For Joanna and Ko it’s less about the turn about being fair play and this time more about Shaun being intimate with me and showing me that “It” doesn’t matter to him.

I’m more than ready when he puts a condom on and lubes me up before entering me with his fingers of one hand and uses his talented mouth on my breasts. It hurts at first him sliding into me but that’s soon gone and we make love. It’s no marathon session, I have only one orgasm but it’s a good one a really good one and Shaun got there too and he even changed the sheets while I got cleaned up and slipped back into my panties.

I fall asleep with him straddling the small of my back sort of sitting on my butt and he was starting to give me a massage. You know how electricity makes muscles twitch? Now picture it controlled…his mana sinking into my muscles and using his power to perfectly massage me…and I mean perfectly…I fell asleep melting under his touch.