I was staring into his eyes, lost for a moment. And then, the revelation came and punched me in my stomach.
He wants my mom and Mike to forget about me.
I laughed, a hysterical sound coming from my dry throat. "You want them to not remember me? To... not know I ever existed? That we were family?"
Not even one muscle from his face moved as he was watching me losing my mind. "You wanted to leave them anyway. This way they won't be hurt or worried. They'll have normal lives. And you'll know they are safe and sound. Isn't it a good deal?"
"But... but... my family..." I blabbered, trying to find at least one good reason why we shouldn't have done that. But there was none.
"Protection means sacrifice, human. It's a small price you have to pay. Be happy. Others paid much more and for nothing."
His expression was sad. It sounded like... he spoke from its own experience. I lowered my head, overwhelmed by the emotion he had on his face. It made me unstable and I had many more things to thoroughly think about at that moment.
"Unfortunately, you can't take your time. Make up your mind in this instant. Your neighbors might've found out that there's something going here and might call the police. Choose, human."
"Yes." I said with a low voice and bit my lips, forcing myself not to cry. "Erase their memories with me."
He nodded and kneeled next to my mom. He just touched her forehead for a few seconds. The white of his eyes swirled around his irises, making them look like a real-life animation. It looked like something pulled off from Mike's video games. I covered my mouth, trying to be as silent as possible. I didn't want to interrupt him with my sobs.
Jessica patted my shoulder, comforting me. I rose my eyes and met hers, which were back to arctic blue again, as I first met her, almost one year ago. "It's gonna be fine, Ivy Moore. They will be safe. Try to think about these positive things, okay?"
I nodded, watching Caiden as he walked towards Mike and did the same thing to him, touching softly his forehead. I didn't know what felt weirder. The fact that my family will recognize me no more or that a demon was trying, in a clumsy way, to comfort me?
"It's done." Caiden said, getting to his feet. He pivoted, looking at us. His face was tired. Like he wasted all the energy he got from that bottle a few minutes ago. He began walking towards us, but his leg didn't want to cooperate and he almost fell on the floor. Jessica tensed and took a step. Caiden, knowing Jessica wanted to help him, rose a hand in front of his head, making her stop. "I'm fine. I need no help."
He got back to his feet and this time walked carefully. "Want me to carry you home like a princess?" Jessica asked, grinning, but her eyes looked more worried than anything else.
Caiden rolled his eyes and walked past us. He turned his head towards me, making me flinch surprised. "Go and take your stuff. Jessica will help you. I'm going to stay out and give a hint in case of police or anyone else coming. Do it quickly. At least now."
I nodded and passing by Mike and mom sleeping on the floor, I climbed the stairs and opened the second door on the right. I took a deep breath and studied my room for the last time. My small bed in the middle of the room. My comfy, black couch on the left. My huge, brown wardrobe next to it. I sighed and searched my bag from under the bed. I opened the wardrobe and took only the essentials. Jessica came into my room and sat on my couch, making herself comfortable and putting her dirty boots on it. I sighed. It didn't matter anyway. I zipped my bag and threw it on my back. "I'm done."
"That was fast. Nice room, by the way. Sure you gonna miss it." She grinned, knowing she was hitting me pretty hard. I sighed again, leaving my room for the last time.
***
"You're going to sleep in this room." Caiden said, opening me the empty room I went in last time when I woke up in his flat.
Jessica got in and laid on the bed. "We're roommates. Lovely." She winked at me and I saw Caiden rolling his eyes.
"No, you're not. If you want to sleep here – which is hardly happening, considering the fact that you always sleep at another human's house or party – you're going to sleep in my room. I don't want to wake up with a dead body in this room. Understood?"
Jessica got to her feet and wrinkled her nose. "Yes, sir. Would you like a massage tonight? Which kind?"
"Spare me with your sexual harassment attempt. I want to sleep. Good night." He said and walked in his room, closing the door and leaving me alone with Jessica.
"Oh, well. Guess we're alone now." She said, eyeing the bed. "What's your favorite position?"
"Where's the bathroom? I'd like to take a shower."
She turned her head towards Caiden's room. "It's there. The right door in his room."
I grimaced. I didn't want to bother him. He already went through a lot and really needed sleep. I sighed, fishing my underwear and pajamas out of my bag. Also, my bright-pink towel. I took a deep breath and closed my room's door. Jessica changed her boots with some nice, red shoes and looked in the mirror placed on the wall next to my room. "I look nice, right? I gotta go to a party. See you soon, Ivy Moore." She said and, with a last wink, she sashayed out of the flat. I sighed again and opened Caiden's room.
"Caiden?"
"Mhm?"
"Are you sleeping?"
"I think you can say that by yourself." He said, but his voice seemed so tired he could've been very well talk-sleeping.
"I'm just gonna take a shower."
"Suit yourself."
"Thank you. I won't bother you anymore. Goodnight."
"Ivy."
I stopped mid-stepping and turned my head towards him. He was laying in the big white bed I woke up after the night he was shot. He raised his head and looked straight into my eyes. "Tomorrow we're going to school. No buts. Today was a very hard day for you, indeed, but my plan has to go further. I need her memory and I need it within next week. If not, the whole world as you know might be destroyed. Understood?"
I gulped, holding my stuff at my chest and squeezed them. "Yes. I'm going tomorrow. I need something to keep my mind occupied, anyway. Don't worry."
He nodded and turned his head, staying with his back at me. "Don't stay too much in the water. If you are sick I'm going to drag you to school anyways. Good night."
Caiden rose a finger in the air and the light turned off, leaving us both in darkness. I blinked twice and drew a deep breath. I didn't know if I could manage to live with him without going crazy. But what other choice did I have?
I took a long shower, letting the hot water warm my body. I massaged my neck, trying to relax my muscles. I sighed. I knew I shouldn't have thought about what happened, but I couldn't help it. It was all my fault. From the start. I shouldn't have stayed with Caiden at the mall. Besides the fact that they, whoever they were, noticed me -a thing which can be bad for Caiden and his plan as well- it was almost fatal for my family. I did a stupid thing and I paid a huge price. It was even worse than my situation two years ago. Because that thing I couldn't control. It was a force that made everything go wrong around me. It was because of my bad luck.
But the thing that happened today? It was my choice. It was a stupid choice and I took it and I paid for it. I covered my mouth with my hand and sobbed quietly. I didn't want to wake Caiden up. I wanted to cry in silence, to feel that at least a burden was taken off my shoulders. My family won't remember me. They will leave a normal life and won't worry about me, the person which brought them bad luck. The person who made them feel trapped inside the house. The person who might've killed her own father...
A knock in the door made me flinch and jerk my head towards it. "What are you doing there?"
It was Caiden. I took a deep breath and chuckled. I whipped away my tears and got off the shower. "Sorry. I stayed too much here, right? I'm coming out now."
I dressed up quickly, I blew my nose and scraped my hair back, letting my pale face and red eyes exposed. I sighed, resting my hands on the basin. I didn't want to go out. I wanted to stay there and cry my heart out.
"Are you going to sleep there?"
His voice seemed cold, but at the same time worried. I frowned and opened the door. He was staying in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest and his black hair messed up. He had bags under his eyes and his face seemed even paler than before. "It's all yours." I said, lowering my voice and moving over, letting him get in. But he didn't move at all.
"I didn't want to use the bathroom."
I looked up at his face with a puzzled and confused expression. "Then?"
His mouth became a thin line as he was staring at me. What was he thinking about?
"Let's eat. I bet you're hungry."
I shook my head. "I'm good. And besides, can you even eat? I don't know how your supernatural body works."
"Yes, I can. It's a human body. My spirit is too strong for this dimension and my demon body would definitely destroy it. I'm limited to this human body. Which is not possessed, but created." He said the last sentence quickly as he saw me opening my mouth. I shut it. It looked like he read my mind.
"No, I'm not a mind-reader but the fact that I've lived decades with humans plus that you're so predictable makes you an open book."
I nodded. I knew I wasn't a good liar either, but he had a bonus because of his experience, I supposed. "Yea, anyways, I'm going to sleep..."
I pivoted and opened his room's door, ready to walk in the hallway, but he grabbed my arm, making me jerk my head towards him. "Let's eat." He said and I didn't know why he insisted.
His expression was strange. I couldn't read his feelings at all. I sighed. "Will you force me to eat?"
"Like I said, I need you focused tomorrow. If you don't eat and don't get a night of good sleep, you won't be in the mood to chit-chat tomorrow with your friend. So move in the kitchen now."
I sighed. He let go of my arm and pointed the kitchen's door with his hand. I opened the door and rolled my eyes. He seemed like my mom. Always forcing me to eat, even if my appetite was zero.
He opened the fridge, looking inside of it with a blank expression. "I have no idea what you like so I put Xsilia to fill it. Choose what you want."
"I'll eat what you eat."
He rolled his eyes, turning his head towards me. "You're so stubborn."
He took out some salami and cheese and placed them on the table in front of me. He also put some bread and a knife. "Be careful with the knife. It's sharp. I think it's Xsilia's special knife. She has hundreds in every corner of the house."
I took the knife, careful to not touch its sharp surface. "Why do you call her Xsilia?"
"That's her demon name. I've been knowing her like this ever since I've first met her, hundreds of years ago. She always changes her name whenever she moves to another place. I have no desire to memorize each name she uses."
I chuckled sadly, making myself a sandwich. "Yea. But this the only name I'm going to know her for. I only have less than one hundred years to live."
He weighed my words for a few seconds and sighed. "Indeed. Human life is short."
"So heaven and hell do exist?" I asked him, taking a bite from my sandwich as he sat on the chair, in front of me, making himself a sandwich as well.
"Yes. Usually, in hell people are tortured. Humans are prisoners there. It's a mockery against God's word, human's freedom, you know. Their spirits are trapped. Heaven... well, I don't know much so I can't tell you precisely. I heard only something about purity and happiness. But this was logical, I suppose."
"Can... dead people meet? Like if I die and go in heaven or hell, will I meet people I knew and are dead as well?"
"It depends. Probably not. Hell and heaven are way too big. It's rare. But it might happen." He explained, eating his sandwich and I sighed.
"And how do you know if a person goes to hell or heaven?"
"Books. We know your fate even before you die. Humans go to hell if they did bad things that darkened their souls. And this is usually written in the books about each human. There are tons of reapers which collect the souls. But sometimes there are humans that are not written in the books. It usually happens if they interact with demons or angels and their fate is rewritten because supernatural interaction is not allowed as it changes the human's life and judgement. Like you and, in the future, your friend. You are not written in the books."
I drew a deep breath and blinked twice. I didn't know what to do with the information Caiden gave me. Should I have tried something to save my soul? I didn't even know my fate. I wasn't even written in the book he was talking about. I sighed and shrugged. "I suppose I'll go with the flow then. I can't do much about it, can I?"
He shook his head and I sighed again. "Nothing which has been not written can be rewritten if the human is alive. Your fate will be rewritten after you die, more for their database, and not for deciding where you will go. It will be, probably, a last-minute decision. So you better pray hard, human, because their system is easily broken and if you piss someone off, a thing which you did already, you and your fate might go straight to hell."
"The... the shadows." I said, trying to not remember the events.
"They are hell hounds. The coalition of demons sent them."
"Coalition?"
He gave me a dismissive wave of his hand and finished his sandwich. "No need for you to know. As more as you know, the demons will want you more. If you know nothing, they will probably stop thinking about you or your soul."
He got to his feet and opened the kitchen room. "Tomorrow at 7:30 we're leaving for school. Good night."
I sighed and nodded. He left me alone in the kitchen and went back to his room.