B008GMVYA4 EBOK (48 page)

The silver handle of a hand gun stuck out from the waist of
Brendan’s trousers.

“What? No! Leon, No” Brendan said staring into Leon’s blood
shot eyes.

Brendan’s face was twisted in pain and terror; his beautiful
crystal blue eyes were fiery as they scanned the whole of Leon’s face.

“There’s not much time. Listen closely. Being in my body has
drastically weakened the boy. He can’t regenerate until he has taken over my
body. At the moment he is in his demon form. He cannot survive on this plain
without a host. I think I can kill him before he is able to regain control.”
Leon whispered.

“No, Leon. Please don’t do this!” Madison wept, tears
spilling down her cheeks uncontrollably.

Brendan’s eyes fell to the floor; the prospect of losing his
friend was too much for him to bear. The pain of loose was something that
Brendan had never found very easy to deal with. It was the most terrifying pain
for Brendan to conceive. It was an emotion he had felt many times after the
loose of his family and friends when they grew old and died, to which he would
stay forever young.

Losing one of his oldest and dearest friends was even more
painful than losing his Mother or Father. Brendan had shared the most memories
with Leon than anyone else and Leon was his closest friend and family.

Slowly two tears slipped down either side of Brendan’s
cheeks.

“Oh, man. Don’t. You’ll make me blush” Leon, chuckled,
suddenly noticing the tears. He forced a weak smile for Brendan, but it pained
him.

Brendan bit his lip and stared into Leon’s eyes helplessly.

Terror flashed through Leon’s eyes, causing the weak smile
to fade fast. He coughed violently, blood splattered onto Brendan’s clothes.
Leon spat the mouth full of blood onto the carpet. Madison gasped, covering her
mouth with a shaky hand. She almost vomited at the sight of what the boy was
doing to Leon, destroying him from the inside out. She swallowed down a
mouthful of bile, wiping the tears from her cheeks. Leon wiped the blood from
his bottom lip, his eyes rolled back in his head momentarily before his
refocused on Brendan.

Brendan’s eyes softened when met Leon’s gaze, tears
threatened to spill from the corners of his eyes once again.

“Brendan, promise me something?” Leon whispered.

“Anything, what is it?” Brendan replied without pausing.

“Take care of Fred. Watch out for her for me, won’t you?”

Tears streaked down Brendan’s face, he rubbed his forehead
as a large lump stung in his throat.

“You know I will” he finally croaked.

Leon took a deep breath and smiled weakly at Brendan. His
whole body began to shake violently. Leon’s weak, blood shot eyes finally met
Madison’s.

“Look after him, Madison. He’s a good guy” Leon smiled
weakly at her.

Madison nodded unable to speak through the emotion. The pain
of losing another friend was too much for her to bear. Every bit of energy was
going into her not falling apart at this moment in time. Brendan needed her
more now and then ever – she had to stay strong for him. 

“I know you will” Leon croaked.

Leon straightened up, removing his weight from Brendan,
supporting himself.

Brendan’s eyes were full of distress, he wanted to scream
out, but he couldn’t find the words. He watched Leon frantically, confused
about what was happening, tears continuing to flow.

“Love you, man.” Leon smiled, but struggling.

Leon’s eyes suddenly turned hard and wide with fear. He
grabbed the handle of the gun from the waist of Brendan’s trousers, before
Brendan had time to stop him. Quickly he pointed the barrel of the gun at his
left temple and pulled the trigger.

The gun shot echoed around the room. Brendan and Madison
stared in shock, as Leon’s body fell in slow motion to the floor. Blood
splashed into Brendan’s face and onto his white shirt that was visible
underneath his grey jacket. Blood and large lumps of Leon’s brain were blown
out onto the floor. Big droplets of blood splashed onto Madison’s face and
clothes. Madison screamed in horror as Leon’s blood soaked body fell sideways
onto the floor.

Brendan gasped as the spark of life was blown out of Leon
right before his eyes.

They both stared at each other for a second, shock clouding
their minds, the sound of the gun shot still ringing in their ears - they were
unable to move.

The pain in Brendan’s eyes was heart breaking. Madison felt
his pain, not only with Leon and Faye, but with the gaping hole that Stephanie
had left which was still fresh.

A golden sparkle caught the corner of Madison’s eye. She
shifted towards Leon’s lifeless, blood soaked body.

“Look” Madison gasped in shock, pointing at Leon’s body.

Golden streams of sparkling light flowed out of Leon’s body,
like steam rising from hot water. The light was glorious, it surround the room
in a beautiful golden glow. It was ghostly, like how you would imagine your
soul leaving your body as it descends up to heaven.

They both stared at the strange waves of light in surprise
and curiousness.

There was something calming about the light, like clarity –
comforting.

The light extracted it’s self from Leon body until it form a
large golden bubble of light floating above his body.  

“What is it?” Madison murmured, completely dazzled by its
beauty.

“I don’t know” Brendan whispered, he’s eyes glued to the
object as well.

“Is it Leon?” Madison asked, amazed.

The bubble rippled, and then suddenly flew at Brendan. It
hit his solid cold body and bounded off him, flying at Madison. It flew at her
so quickly she hardly had time to react. The bubble hit her chest, knocking her
off her feet onto the hard floor. The bubble entered her body like The Black
Orchid boy had entered Leon’s body, disappearing instantly the moment it
touched her skin.

Brendan was at her side in an instant, kneeing over her,
alarm flickering into his eyes.

“Madison, are you alright?” he panicked.

Her head felt dizzy and the room span around her.

“I think so” she said unsure.

“How do you feel?” Brendan asked, his eyes scanning her
frantically.

“Dizzy” Madison said, slightly panicked by what had
happened.

The bubble had entered Madison in the same way the boy had
entered Leon. Leon had said that the boy could not survive without a host. It
was possible that the boy had been unable to enter to Brendan for some unknown
reason and had entered Madison instead. Before long he would take over her body
if she didn’t put a stop to him first. Madison was weaker than Leon, so she
knew she would have long.

Brendan’s eyes grew wide as the same thought popped into
both of their heads.

“No” Brendan said shaking his head in denial.

“Brendan….I don’t want to die” Madison whimpered.

“Don’t
even
say that! I’m not going to lose you too.
You are going to be fine. It was nothing. How do you feel? Are you okay?” he
said grabbing both of my hands and holding them tightly in his.

Madison thought for a second, she wondered whether she would
be able to feel the boy moving inside her like Leon had.

She thought for longer, emotionally she was a wreck. But
psychically, she felt fine. Dizzy, but fine. She felt stronger.

She felt sick from losing another friend and the metal smell
of blood in the air, but there was no demon trying to rip out of her or
threatening to take over her body.

“I feel… fine. I don’t feel anything inside of me. There’s
no pain” Madison said thoughtful.

“Good. I couldn’t cope with loosing you too” Brendan said a
little more relaxed.

“I’m not going anywhere” Madison replied, cupping her hand
on Brendan’s cheek.

He smiled softly, shifting his head so he could kiss the
pale of her hand.

“I think it went straight through me” Madison said unsure.

“It doesn’t matter now. Let’s get out of here” Brendan half
smiled.

Brendan pulled Madison slowly to my feet.

Her head swarm from the motion of standing up to quickly,
but it settle just as quickly. Brendan supported her by the waist until he was
sure that she was capable of standing by herself.

Her legs held her weight with little effort, they felt
stronger then they had in days. In fact, her whole body felt stronger than it
had ever before. The gnawing hungry that had eaten away at her stomach had now
subsided. The bruises and cuts that covered her body had now stopped hurting.
And the emptiness inside her that had been present for many years now felt
filled, somehow?

It was strange but Madison felt different.

The door next to the filing cabinets flew open, someone
dressed internally in black combat gear and a black leotard entered the room, a
black machine gun clutched in both hands. Madison and Brendan watched
suspiciously as the guard stopped in the entrance of the room. He pointed the
barrel of the gun at them and he pulled the trigger, firing shots.

Brendan span around towards Madison, grabbing her arm and
throwing open the door behind them, focusing them through quickly. The three
bullets hit the wall above the doorframe. The last bullet hit the side of
Brendan’s left arm as they raced through the door. Brendan winced in pain as the
bullet burrowed through his skin, but he continued to sprint without slowing.
The next room was nearly identical to the office they had just come from.
Twenty mahogany desks stood in four rows of five in the room, each with the
same computer and telephone positioned exactly the same on each desk. The only
variation in this room was there were more grey filing cabinets dotted around
the room.

There were two doors in the room, one on the left wall,
leading out into the corridor, the other at the back of the room, leading into
another room.

Brendan grabbed Madison’s arm, guiding her towards the first
desk at the front of the second row.

“Get under there” Brendan told her, pulling the chair out so
she could fit under the opening of the desk. He pushed the chair in once she
was safely under the desk.

Brendan shot towards the door they had just come through, he
stood with his back against the wall - silently.

The guard crept quietly towards the door, his gun held high
- ready to shoot.

He entered the room, the gun pointed out in front of him.
Brendan grabbed the barrel of the gun so fast that the guard had little time to
react. The guard hadn’t even entered the room fully before Brendan pounced on
him. The guard has been completely unaware that Brendan was stood there.

Brendan flipped the gun backwards, so it was pointed
directing into the face of the guard. He squeezed the tiger with his free hand.

Gunshot echoed around the room. Madison gasped from the thud
of the guard’s bodies hitting the floor.

Brendan met her at the desk in seconds, the machine gun
still clucked in his hands. She pushed the chair out, and climbed out from
underneath the desk to meet him. Brendan slumped to the floor by the desk,
placing the gun down beside him. He winced and gasped in pain, screwing his
face up.

“Oh my god! Brendan, are you okay?” Madison whispered
throwing her arms around his neck.

“Yeah” he chuckled, pushing her away gently.

“Your arm” she said concerned, noticing the small circle of
blood forming around the bullet wound on his left arm.

“It’s silver, I need to get the bullet out” Brendan said,
gently pulling off his grey jacket.

“Are you going to be okay?” Madison said concerned.

“It burns. If I leave it in any longer it could kill me, but
it’s not a fatal shot. It will heal” he said, wincing.

A small hole surrounded by blood stood out from Brendan’s
bright, white t-shirt. He carefully rolled up his shelve so he could examine
the wound. The entrance wound was deep and the skin around it looked like it
had been pulled back. Blood poured from the wound, running down the side of
Brendan’s arm.

Madison winced at the sight, swallowing back the saliva that
ran into her mouth.

Brendan examined the wound for a moment, trying to get a
better look at where the bullet was positioned under the skin.

The sight of the open wound was enough to make her stomach
turn. She had never been very good at dealing with open wounds.

The smell of Brendan’s blood was overwhelming, but not in a
bad way. It smelt sweet, almost appetizing. Madison suddenly realised that her
mouth wasn’t watering because of the sick feeling at the sight of blood, but
because she wanted to taste the blood. Madison had never felt like that before,
her whole body craved Brendan’s sweet, cold blood. She swallowed hard, but she
couldn’t take her eyes off of Brendan’s red, sticky blood.

“It’s okay to want my blood, Madison” Brendan said softly,
watching her expression with amusement.

“Huh..?” she said, biting down on my bottom lip to stop
myself from drooling. She shifted on the spot, embarrassed.

“My blood, It has that effect on human’s. It’s meant to be
easier when we turn human’s, they can’t resist the blood. I guess it makes
something that’s unappetizing a little more pleasurable in your last few
moments of life” Brendan said.

“Oh…” she said, her cheeks turning pink with
embarrassment. 

Brendan smiled crookedly, his eyes burning brightly.

He placed his thumb and index finger into the small wound.
Brendan’s jaw tightened as he grinded his teeth together as he searched under
his skin for the small silver bullet.

Madison looked away in disgust as he dug his index finger
deeper to exact the bullet. Brendan took a deep breath trying to suppress the
pain. he exhaled loudly as he removed the bullet from his arm.

Brendan flicked the small piece of silver onto the floor, It
rolled underneath the desk in front of them.