Synergy (See #3)(88)
Draven stepped forward aggressively but halted and balled his fist. “I’m fighting to not become that. Why can’t you see that?! Why do you have to push me?! Why do you tempt me?! If I touch you, if I even think about it, Silas will kill me -- is that what you want? You want to see us fight to the death?!”
Rage ripped through me. Was that what he really thought? “Seriously?!” I said coldly. “Since when does he tell you when to touch me? How to touch me? Since when would you let any man have that kind of control over me?!”
“It’s not control, Charlie -- it’s protection,” Draven said through gritted teeth. “You can’t even conceive the amount of self control I have to have around you in this Realm, in our world. I crave your light, and the temptation is too much!” He looked at Willow and the others, then back to me. “I led you to your Chara. Your Willow. I helped, just like I promised you I would.”
I saw the goodbye in his eyes again, but I refused to let tears surface. “What was your motive behind that?” I asked, calling out what I could see in his eyes.
“To make sure you were with your kind, that you were safe. That you have people with no alternative motives to guide you.”
“So you plan was to just drop us off in another dimension? Your brother – Madison. You’re just going to leave us? Walk away like nothing mattered?!”
“Everything matters!” he yelled back at me as he stepped forward. He was about turn the emotion of rage into passion like he always did, but before he could take another step, Silas appeared between us.
Draven tilted his head and slyly said, “Show yourself.”
Instantly, the dormant whispers turned into dark images all around us. As Draven dodged around Silas and grabbed me, the room we were in vanished and he and I were all alone in a different part of The Realm, a deep, thick forest.
Draven’s eyes were full of anger and pain. “What do you want from me?!” he raged as his eyes peered into mine.
“Everything!” I yelled. He turned away from me, but I pulled him to turn and face me. “I want the passion, the seductive touch. I want to hear the love in your voice when you sing to me, when you say my name. I want to feel the power of your soul every second of every day. I want the boy I fell in love with, the man I saved thousands of years ago, the man you are today. I want to stand with you in the moments of your deepest despair, and I want to stand with you when you embrace the taste of victory. I want to give you every single part of me -- and I expect the same in return. I’m not your part-time girlfriend. I refuse to hide a part of me from you. No more, Draven - this is me pushing every button you have!” My eyes raced over his face. “Tell me the man I love still exists.”
He pulled his arm away from me and reached his hands for my face. “I should have left you long ago.”
A sick feeling washed all the color from my face. I was beginning to think that pushing this was the wrong way to go; I’d rather turn the anger into passion.
“I couldn’t,” he said as his thumb rapidly traced the outline of my temple. “I’m not strong enough to tell you goodbye, even though I know that’s what I should do, even though I know being next to you is fatal. When you aren’t near me, I can’t breathe, I can’t think - and when you are with me, all I can think is that moment will be our last. My soul is tethered to yours; you are my life, and I am your death.”
I could see that I was breaking through to him, that the anger was gone. This was the thin line before passion came, and if I kept him on that line, he would see that he was strong enough to fearlessly love me.
Before I could say a word, I heard, “That’s all I needed to hear.”
I turned defensively to see Silas. Draven charged forward, and the two of them fell to the ground in the most aggressive fight I’d ever seen. Daggers and swords appeared in their hands; this was going to be a fight to the death, and I had no idea how to stop it. I screamed their names over and over again, focusing on the weapons, making them disappear as soon they manifested them. My defensive emotions made the glowing butterflies appear all around us. I wanted to stop them from appearing, knowing that with the rage Draven had, I was making him weak, hungry; my light was making this worse.
Shadows had begun to circle. At first I thought it was my light that they were attracted to, but then they began to merge into Draven, seeping into him just like they’d done on the night of his test. Before long, Draven would be in the middle of every dark moment of his existence, and I doubted he’d make the same choice again. I knew he would choose to become a part of this Realm just to avoid hurting me.
The shadows had pulled Draven up, and both he and Silas were on their feet now. As Silas manifested a dagger and aimed it at Draven’s heart, I threw myself between them. Draven’s eyes were glazed over; the illusions of his mind had taken over once again. Tears streamed down my face. “Remember – before - what happened, Draven?!” I yelled. “What moment did you love me first? Say you love me!” I pleaded, hoping against all hope that he still had the power to say that word -- that he wasn’t already gone.
The look in his eyes was cold, dark. It wasn’t him; I was looking at the evil that was haunting his soul. All at once, a dark smoke reached from his chest and beckoned the glowing butterflies out of mine. I felt weak instantly; I was vanishing. I saw a thousand moments flash before my life, echoes of my existence, of the moments we loved each other. This darkness had taken over his soul, and now it was taking my life.