Cursed Fables - Generation Three - Part Twenty Nine
This took far to long to get out…sorry guys. A lot of stuff came up which I won’t bore you with. But I’m 97% done with my course, so soon sims will be my only distraction no the weekends :)
You’ll probably need to go back and re-read the last few chaps to catch up with what’s going on…I know I did.
So anyway, enjoy guys!
“And this is where you will be staying Calen. Dana will be two floors up. Jace has given me strict instructions to ensure you’re in your own rooms by eleven and to stay there until morning. So no late night visits, got it?”
My face could not have gotten anymore red. And when I peered over at Dana, I could see she must have felt the same way. Why did people insist on linking us as a couple?
It wasn’t going to happen. No matter how much I may or may not want it to.
“I can promise you that won’t be happening!” Dana urged before I got the chance to, picking at the backpack strap furthest from me and angling her face so I couldn’t read her expression.
Honestly ever since arriving in Sunset Hills, I’d begun to regret accepting this task. The place seemed to quiet.
But we’d accepted as a team, so we’d accomplish this as a team. One of the local members of the Sunset branch drove up to greet us and give us a quick briefing on the town and its history. He also explained we’d be staying in the Council facility. Which didn’t fill me with all that much security to be honest. After all, I’d been breached only a month ago after all.
“She’s right. No chance of that happening. To much of a risk, you know?” I agreed rather reluctantly.
“Good. Ensure it doesn’t. Calen you can feel free to settle in while I show Dana to her room. Dinner is served between 7 and 8. Otherwise you’re free to use the kitchen at will. Jace has organized a conference at 9, so I’ll come to escort you then.”
With that and brief ‘follow me’ hand gesture to Dana, he turned and left with the grace only a vampire can possess. Dana shot me a guilty look and then all but ran after him. Laughing to myself I entered my new ‘room.’
I wasn’t blown away by the accommodation supplied but then I didn’t expect to be. It had all the necessities, and that was good enough for me. I set my bag down onto my bed and out of curiosity looked out the window. There was nothing really spectacular about the town. It was on the coast, but that was the only major difference that I had deduced since given the briefing of our mission.
My family had history here though. This is effectively where the new Council formed, Quinn lived here with his wife and children, and he took down the council while living here. For such a historic place…it was very plain. And as much as I might like to explore my ancestry, there was another more pressing matter at hand.
This case. Where did I even begin? How would you find two unknown faces in a town this widely populated? Not to mention there was no way of even identifying who they were? What if they were passing through? Or human?
“Damn it, my training doesn’t cover this!” I sigh, pressing my hand against the glass. Suddenly missing my family immensely. Perhaps my parents felt like this?
I wanted to contact them, I wanted to talk to my little brother but there was no way I’d risk his life in this.
So instead I slump onto my bed, lean over into my bag and retrieve the papers that documented my new identity, Kieran Turner. Seventeen. Left home due to a disagreement with parents.
How original.
I soon realised that no amount of training could prepare you for field work. The emotional state of my mind would do no good out of this room. If I was going to effectively go about my mission I needed to be stronger than this. I needed to put emotions aside and just get down to it.
But it was easier said than done. Time would tell I guessed.
~~~
The following day we were both given our orders, Dana was to monitor my physical state while doing research on the area, while I walked the street, seeing if I could spot the faces from the grainy CTV footage. Not an easy task at the best of times. Even worse when you didn’t know the area.
Dana had a theory. Firstly, that the two figures were undeniably human. How else would they have snuck into a building belonging to the supernatural council? Secondly…that there was probably someone else, a supernatural pulling the strings behind it all.
The only question now was…who?
The recon aspect of the mission itself wasn’t so bad. It was boring yes, and due to my current appearance, I turned quite a few heads (mainly elderly heads at that) and it was more attention than I cared for. Even now whenever possible I avoided eye contact with others.
Not to mention the fact that a month in we had discovered nothing. We’d found no leads, no possible sightings. We hadn’t moved forward. And the longing to be reunited with our families grew stronger by the day.
Even so I began to learn about the surroundings, and the history behind them. The town itself surprisingly had a lot of it, haunted grounds, beautiful scenery..alarmingly there was a lot of murder spots around here too.
Even more alarmingly..the ‘Tale’ name was linked to more than a few of them.
I’d had the idea once to watch the teenagers of this town leave school and see if anyone stuck out as being familiar. It was hard to estimate an age of the people we were looking for…I just had an inkling that the girl was around my age if not slightly older.
And yet no one stuck out. They just looked like normal kids, grateful to be out of another long day at school. Fair enough really.
I was quickly running out of ideas. All of the training and preparing Dana and I had undergone was starting to feel like a waste of time.
But then we had to consider that even the Council itself was stumped on this one. This was big. Bigger than either of us could comprehend.
~~~
“What are we doing here? Is this your idea of a date?” I teased, even though I was genuinely curious as to her intent. When Dana asked if I would accompany her during her day off I thought nothing of it. She’d probably just accompany me during recon because she knew I found it daunting. But not this.
“In your dreams!” She argued back instantly jabbing me in the side like she always did. “I just….I really needed to talk to you and…I figured we wouldn’t be disturbed out here.” She confesses, appearing beyond jittery and nervous. Which of course immediately makes me stress over her wellbeing.
Even I was unsure of my own feelings towards her, I’d be concerned no matter what. And mission be damned would do everything I could to help her.
Dana lets out a long sigh and then appears to faze out again. Her eyes look distant and I figure she must be figuring out how to proceed. I decide to wait for her to go forward, since she was the one to drag us out here.
Even if my uneasiness got worse with every passing second. Why did she need to say all of this all the way out here?
“This is just so hard!” She declares, frustration etched into her tone and mannerisms. My heart begins to pound faster.
What is so hard that Dana can’t talk to me about it?
“You know I’m here right? Whatever this is…you can tell me. I won’t be mad.” I remind her gently, hoping she can’t sense my worry.
She lets out another frustrated groan before blurting “I’m scared you’re going to hate me! You won’t trust me, and then you’ll request our team be disbanded. And I….I never meant for any of it. I never meant to hurt you Cale.” She looks up at me with those big eyes of hers, and looks as if she would cry.
Why? I didn’t know. But it was eating away at me.
“Dana….why would I ever possibly hate you? I don’t think we’ve fought. Ever.” I plead with her to explain, to stop this agonising torture. Thankfully she does, though I swear it makes my heart stop.
“I lied to you,” She states causing everything to stop. “When you asked me what Stefan and Jace when they called me in for a meeting. I lied…they didn’t ask about us they asked about you.” She informed, her voice sounding close to breaking point.
My heart stopped. Without thinking my finger traced her jawline, for once I didn’t bother to hide my feelings towards her. “About me? But why? Are you spying on me, is that it?!” I rounded on her, sounding extremely pissed, which to be honest I was. We’d never lied. Ever. I’d told her everything she ever asked while growing up. It was the agreement we made.
And then to find out she lied…about something like this.
Her eyes widen with what looks to be shock, maybe even a little bit of fear. “What? No! No they never asked me to do that! I’d never agree to do that!” She insisted, eyes directly meeting mine. Even though she knew I hated it.
I wince and immediately look away. But she gently forces my face back. “Go on. See for yourself. I’m not lying.”
Even if it may have been stupid I believed her instantly. But it was habit, just who I was. “You know I would never use my eyes to force the truth out of someone. Especially not you.” I added quietly, somewhat upset that I would even need to say that out loud.
Afterwards, she remains silent as she looks up at me, mouth slightly parted but her emotions and thoughts remain unreadable. “This is what I meant by it being hard,” She breathes, looking away for a minute. “You dominate my thoughts. Every single moment of every single day. You’re in my dreams. I know you’re a good guy…an amazing guy and yet…”
“And yet every time I’m with you…every time I think about being with you…showing you how I feel…I just feel disgusted.”
All of a sudden it was as if I had been shot while standing. She felt….disgusted. By being with me? How? How did that make sense with what she had just said!
I had dared to hope that maybe…just maybe my feelings could be replicated. Maybe she liked me.
But it was foolish for me to dare believe.
The tears now freely fall from her face. “I don’t want to feel like that…why do I feel like that? It’s eating me up inside!”
I wanted to make all of this stop. For the both of us.
Kiss her. If she can’t be the first to break that barrier, than I would. I lean down slightly so our lips could meet.
But she wouldn’t let me anywhere near her. She recoiled back faster than I thought possible for a witch. For the briefest of moments, pure hatred coated her eyes. “How dare you!” She roared.
And then all of a sudden, as soon as I looked away from her, I heard her breathing change, she whimpered, and when I dared look back her shoulders were slumped. “Why? Why is this happening? What’s wrong with me!” She spoke aloud.
Confusion tore through me. What was going on? She appeared so conflicted..so torn about all of this. I didn’t want her to hate herself..that was never my intention.
With her back still to me, I approach her, wrapping an arm gently around her, and pulling her close. “This…whatever this is, it isn’t natural. It’s my eyes…it has to be.” I say weakly, yet in a strange sense with determination. If…whatever this is, has a name. A purpose. I could overcome it. For her.
Dana sniffed. “Your curse dictates your powers originate behind human emotions…this….this unwillingness to be with you isn’t an emotion…..it…it’s my punishment. Mother always said our family dabbled with dark magic. This is the price.”
She had to be joking right? How could this…how could any of it be her fault?
“Dana, you don’t mean that. Those were just vicious rumours that are obvious bullshit. You are the kindest person I know.” I tried to reason with her.
But her despair was just to great. “Don’t say that! Kind people don’t hurt their friends…especially friends that they….they love.”
She whispered it, but I heard the words loudly, and as clear as day.
She loved me. She actually loved me! Now there was no way I was giving up on her.
“Dana..we’ll overcome this. I swear.” I said gently, trying to smile for her. To not show how scared and worried I too felt.
But before I could do anymore, she ran. It had always been Dana’s defensive mechanism. She always ran from her problems, and I knew it wasn’t good for her.
But that night had already been so traumatic for her. I didn’t want to cause her anymore distress. So I watched her go, no sooner was she out of earshot, did I call a member of the council and ask they ensure she got home safely.
I decided to walk home. I had a lot of thinking to do.
No matter what she said…I knew this…situation was because of me. My eyes. Not only did they force the truth out of people…but they twisted the emotions of those around me.
How unfair and cruel was that? I itched to phone my parents and talk to them about this. About all of it. But it was forbidden. I knew that upon signing up.
I had never been more determined to finish this mission.
~~~
After that Dana refused to talk to me about anything other than our duty, and even then our conversations were crisp and direct. Each and every single time she spoke to me like that it killed me. If Duncan ever found out it had become like that between us..he’d probably kill me too.
Another 2 weeks passed, and still we were no closer to figuring out who broke in and why. The two figures had seemingly disappeared into thin air, and I found myself wondering why we were still here at all.
Seeing as we had no other leads or even theories at this point, I decided to hit the local library and do research most afternoons. If nothing else, it made me appear like another student to the locals.
And to be honest, I learnt a lot. It went to show not everything is moved onto digital systems. However I still didn’t think there was anything of use.
Even worse, because a lot of the writing, though interesting, had it’s rather dull moments, my mind often wondered to my personal problems. I actually preferred not knowing how she felt about me.
Pining for her was a much better feeling than knowing she was hurting. Because of me.
Hours of research gave me a better understanding of the area..I made a mental note of where I thought the different wolf territories divided (one of which I had a extremely distant claim to), because of the housing records I knew where my ancestors once resided…but I was still no closer to finding our mysterious suspects.
Luckily during that time I realised how I could make the scouting for their faces more entertaining, by bringing along the guitar. For some reason, my father was adamant on teaching me the guitar, so I’d let him over the years. Looking back I was glad that he did, because it was very soothing and calming.
…The attention that I received was also a perk.
Not to mention that for a brief moment in time, I wasn’t a Council Agent, I was just a young lad, trying to make a little extra money. I even had regulars that if they saw me playing, would come over and listen.
One of which was a girl who looked no older than me, maybe even younger. And she was cute. I had to admit that. Even if I could only think of Dana. I had never spoken to her before, she’d always appeared happy with my music, but always left before the end of my set.
But out of the blue one day, she didn’t leave as my last song rolled around. Not even when I set my guitar in the case did she leave. She hung around looking slightly awkward and out of place.
At first I thought it was because a fair was in town. Yet if it was, surely she would have left without waiting.
In fact, she waited until I sealed the case shut and stood to leave before tapping me on the shoulder. “Excuse me?”
Up until that point, I hadn’t actually spoken to any of the locals in great depth before. I didn’t know if knew enough to pass as a local. But I couldn’t deny my upbringing, and I couldn’t leave a girl hanging like that. Although, I didn’t want to appear rude, I couldn’t bring myself to look her in the eye.
“Yeah? Can I help you?” I asked trying not to appear as awkward as I felt.
She fidgeted, and then with a flick of her hair answered, “Are you doing anything later? Cause…I’m new to town and don’t really know anyone..and I was wondering if maybe…you’d like to hang out here with me?”
I raise a brow at the offer. So she wasn’t a local like I’d assumed. She looked at unsurely and I saw a lot of myself in her. Especially when I wasn’t being Kieran. I used to be shy yet want companionship all the time. Not to mention it couldn’t hurt to know someone from around here. So I accepted.
As it turned out, Sami as she introduced herself, was nothing like I expected she’d be. I wasn’t used to girls being as relaxed and carefree as she was. Most girls seemed to be very conscience of how they looked and acted. Sami didn’t seem to think about any of that at all.
In fact it was her that insisted we play football.
“Don’t you think about holding back on me either because I’m a girl, got it?” She warned with a confident smirk on her face.
“Wouldn't dream of it…of course, you’re still not going to win.” I felt like pointing out. I’d never let someone beat me at a game, I blamed Duncan for the instant.
I didn’t expect to get much out of the afternoon…but in reality I had a lot of fun. And it was good to kick back and be…well a normal kid. I wasn’t looking out the corner of my eye for 2 strangers, I wasn’t dwelling on my eyes or even on Dana.
The most important thought in that moment was catching that ball and shielding myself from sarcastic comments and useless man pride.
Normal stuff. And I could feel it mentally helping me, I didn’t realise just how stressed I was until it started to fade.
It also turned out that Sami and I were an equal match when it came to sports. We blocked about the same amount, and we had fun doing it.
A lot of smack talk was given on both sides too, it got to the point where we had been playing for verging on an hour, and yet I didn’t really mind. I was free after my ‘scouting’ time anyway, so I didn't need to report back.
“Come on, I’ve never tried rollerblading, let’s give it a shot!” Sami suggested, pulling me along behind her.
I too, had no prior experience to the sport, and it showed. Big time. We tried skating separately at first, but we both grew tired of falling on our butts. So she suggested using each other to balance. Which did prove to be a good idea.
“There, see? All you needed was a little help from me.” She boasted proudly. Even if she wobbled a bit at the time.
I shrugged it off though. “Whatever you say. I’d hate to hurt your feelings after all.” We moved in a circle slowly, and it gave me the time to really study her.
She mostly looked down at our feet, seemingly focused on the task at hand. It was then I noticed I had made eye contact with her a lot during the afternoon.
And yet she didn’t recoil from me once.
“Hey Sami? I’d just like to say…thank you. I’ve had a lot on my mind recently and you really helped to clear my head. I had a lot of fun here today…you’re surprisingly easy to be around.” I admitted with a coy grin. Making her huff and then burst out into laughter.
“Well thanks I guess? That’s just what every girl wants to hear,”She defended, seemingly losing her footing for a moment before I steadied her. “Thanks.” She said rather unwillingly.
“Though I must say Kieran, you’re not at all like I thought you’d be. Most guys who bust out here are only looking for a girl to flirt with, use and then discard. Unfortunately the area has a reputation for it..but I can see you’re not like that.”
Did it? Funny how that had never come up during any of my recon before. Still her words made me smile..even if I felt a little uneasy about how close we were becoming.
“I’m flattered that you think I’m not scum. Clearly, my act is getting better with experience.” I teased, causing her to roll her eyes, she appeared as if she was going to continue, before completely slipping, and pulling me down with her in a rather clumsy pile.
We both groaned in unison and then surprisingly laughed about it. I never imagined that I would find a friend out here, but it was safe to say that I had. Sami was a breath of fresh air that I so clearly needed.
“You’re really not like other girls are you? Anyone else would be scrambling to compose themselves by now..”
She winked. “Not me, I don’t care if I look a state, as long as I had fun.”
As much as I didn’t want to…I really needed to go. But how to tell her?
Luckily, just as I was about to make up a random excuse on the spot, she pulls herself to her feet and announces. “This was a lot of fun, but I really should get going before someone comes to look for me…but I’ll be back for another of your sets, okay?”
I silently thanked whoever must have been looking out for me at that moment. “Sure thing. Where else would I be? I live to perform for your pleasure.”
She shoved me playfully again before offering to help me up, I gladly offered.
“See you round.” She waved and then bolted off in the direction of the exit. Leaving me momentarily disoriented. Everything had just vanished while I was with her…now she was gone, it all came crushing back down.
I looked over in the direction she’d left to see if I could catch sight of her again, and I could. In truth she hadn’t gone that far at all, it was almost like she was loitering, waiting for someone.
And then a figure appeared out of seemingly nowhere. They talked in hushed tones for a bit, before the man opened his arms out towards her.
And she walked into them.
Awkward.
But then something hit me, maybe it was all of that training finally coming into use. But I recalled her earlier words.
….Didn’t she say she was new to the area? And didn’t know anyone?