Two Sides of The Moon - Chapter 37: Chapter 37

-Jack-
I stayed right next to Arch as we followed the group of vampires. I couldn't relax around them. For one, their scent was unnerving. Like... frozen death. Corpse in a freezer. And two, their stares were too intense, and whenever one of them even glanced at me, I had to look away. I would've asked to go back to Aurora's if I wasn't dying to see their magic.
Arch could probably tell I was uncomfortable because he kept himself always between me and them. I was so grateful for it. His presence gave me comfort and strength, and I knew I'd be just fine.
We arrived at the massive walls that were still not finished. I watched as the leader lady, Heidi, stepped right next to it and pressed her hand against it.
"Let's start with runes of indestructible," she said, turning to her companions. "Every single log has to have one."
"Yes, Mother," they spoke in unison and bowed before pulling out small brushes and tiny cans of glowing red paint out of thin air.
As the rest of us watched, they took a piece of fence and started painting the elaborate runes.
"How about shrinking spells on the outside?" the leader male, Wendell, said with a smirk.
Heidi rolled her big eyes at him. "Bloody children..." she mumbled, turning her attention back to the fence.
"What? It's a great spell."
"Fine. Shrinking runes on the outside."
"Yess..."
"Yes, Mother."
"Please make sure no one goes two feet closer to the fence on the outer side," Heidi turned to speak to Rayleigh. "The spell will wear off, eventually, but let's not waste the spells."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Are those the wards?" Heidi spoke when she potted a Spirit Walker totem on our left. We followed her when she approached it and stopped to watch when she placed her hands on it. "Old magic... Powerful magic, but that one shadow could still get through it."
"There are no wards strong enough to keep champion spirits at bay," Natalie spoke.
"Perhaps. But we can make it trigger an alarm if one passes through it," Heidi said, gesturing for one of her children to come to her. "Here – we need runes of alarm on each of these. They will detect any disruptions in the spell. That way we at least know when one has entered the shielded area."
"I'm on it, Mother," the younger vampire said and started painting.
I was so fascinated by their work that I completely forgot to be wary of them. I stepped closer to see the younger vampire paint a highly detailed, round symbol with a dozen lines and dots that seemed completely random.
"You seem... old."
I nearly jumped away when I heard Heidi's voice right next to me.
"Yes... I mean no... I'm... Eighteen... Almost nineteen..." I stammered, keeping my head down.
"You can look at me. I won't bite," she said surprisingly gently.
Arch was right next to me, so I slowly lifted my gaze and was met with her smile.
"There we go," she said encouragingly. "You seem to have been through a lot."
I nodded slowly, looking away again.
"You are the champion of Fenrir, correct?"
I nodded. "I mean..."
"I have heard of you. I know the horrors you have faced. But I want you to know you are no longer alone. You are no longer an easy victim," she spoke, nudging my arm. When I looked back at her, she gave me another friendly smile. "We are your allies, and I'd like to give our enemy a big fat middle finger, if you'll let me."
I frowned in confusion, but nodded. Her smile grew wider.
"I promise, you are going to love this one, but I need you to show me your home. I heard the enemy played a nasty trick on you."
Her request made me feel so bad I could feel my soul shrinking inside me. "I can't..."
She placed her hand gently on my shoulder.
"Trust me," she only said.
I stared at her in the eyes as she waited for my response. I did not want to see my home, but I could almost hear Fenrir telling me to let go of the fear.
'You're learning,' the god said with a small, happy chuckle at the back of my mind.
"Okay..." I said quietly.
"The enemy will keep using their dirty tricks," Heidi spoke as we started walking, our entire group following us in curiosity. "But they are nothing but tricks. No need to give a fuck about them."
"They destroyed my home," I whispered. "The first place I ever felt like home."
"I know," Heidi said sympathetically. "Home is where our souls can rest. It is a safe place where we'll go to find our center, our peace. It is a big part of who we are, and when something or someone takes it away from us, they're taking away so much more than just physical material. They're taking away part of our identity, our sense of security, and that one place we thought would always be there waiting for us no matter how hard it gets."
I nodded at her words. I'd thought I was safe in my home, but I never was safe there.
"I thought I could call it my own... That no matter what, I'd be untouched for as long as I was there. It was easier to go out and face my fears when I knew I could come back home if things got too much to handle," I spoke quietly. "And I really liked it... It was my little palace, no one else's."
"They took away the foundation upon which you were building yourself and your life," Heidi nodded, and I agreed. "They disgraced something you held dear, disgracing you in the process."
We reached the beginning of the little pathway that led to my little home. I had to stop to gather my composure before I was ready to go face the destruction. I felt nauseated when we continued, but Arch walked right next to me, his hand brushing against mine. Even Fenrir appeared next to me and gave me a sad smile without saying anything.
Aurora, Rayleigh, Oliver... They all were there for me. So, when we walked past the last curve and my broken home came into view, I held my head high. My soul was in pain, but I refused to give in to the fear.
"You have a lovely home," Heidi said as we stopped by the gate. "I'm sorry you had to see it like this."
I shook my head. I was unable to speak as the emotions tried to overwhelm me. Heidi gave her cane to Wendell, lifted her hand up to the sky to give whoever was watching the middle finger.
"Fuck you," she said with a smile.
She snapped her fingers. That small sound echoed for a short moment, but nothing happened. Or so I thought.
"Jack..." Arch spoke my name in surprise, but when I looked at him, he wasn't looking at me.
He was looking at my house. My home. It was not broken anymore. The windows, the hinges, even the smell... Everything had gone back to normal.
I turned to look at Heidi, who took back her cane and leaned hard against it.
"Fuck their little tricks," she hissed and let out an exhausted laugh. "I am the fucking queen of magic."
"Honey, your ego is showing," Wendell muttered.
"Let them see. They'll think twice before trying anything stupid again," she spoke, then gestured for me to go take a look at my house.
"You... fixed it?" I asked with wide eyes, still too scared to go have a look.
She shook her head. "I moved it back in time. Magical fixes tend to not last long."
I took a careful step to the gate. Arch was right there when I stepped through it and slowly made my way to the porch. I peered in through the dark windows, and everything looked... My heart was racing when I walked to the door and slowly opened it.
It was all back to normal. Everything was exactly how I'd left them before the place got destroyed. Even the bag of Arch's cookies was sitting on the counter. I hesitated before I picked it up. I was honestly surprised when my hand didn't just go through it, and I was able to take it.
I turned to glance at Arch, who had an amazed smile on his face as he looked around, then turned to see my living room. My little living room, completely unharmed... There was nothing broken, the smell was gone, so was the taint of the shadows they'd left behind.
"I... What?" I finally breathed out.
"It's all just... It's completely fine," Arch muttered, and turned to look at me. "Your home is just fine!"
Aurora And Fenrir stepped in as well, and they both stared around with wide eyes.
"That is one ridiculously powerful spell," Fenrir breathed out – even the fucking god was shocked!
"I'm so happy for you," Aurora told me with a big smile on her face, and hugged me shortly. "We'll ask the peacekeepers to move the whole house to my backyard for the time being so we can make sure no one touches it ever again."
I just nodded because my capability to do words was gone.
"See? These are nothing but stupid little tricks," Heidi spoke when she appeared by the doorway.
"Thank you so much," I said as I approached her. "I don't know if you know how much this means to me."
"I, too, have fought for my home," she said and grabbed a cookie from the bag I was still holding. "Now your spirit can grow strong. Now you just have to remember to ignore these tricks. We are better than them. We are stronger than them."
"I'll try to remember that," I said with a smile. "But really, thank you so much."
She bowed her head a little. "Got a smile out of you, that means my work here is done."
I felt a faint blush creeping up on my cheeks. She took a bite of the cookie and seemed pleased with the taste.
"You need to tell me where you can get these," she said, peering at my bag.
"Oh, I..." I blushed harder now, and turned glanced at Arch.
"You can get them from the bakery in the shopping street," Arch said.
"Thank you," Heidi said, threw the rest of the cookie in her mouth and left my house. "Wendell! Bring me those cookies!"
"Right away, honey!"
I watched them go, and noticed I was left alone with Aurora, Arch, and Fenrir. The god patted my shoulder with a smile, taking one look around.
"You did well, my boy," he said and disappeared.
"I did nothing," I muttered.
'You didn't give in to the fear,' he whispered in my head. 'Your strength is growing.'
"I'll go wait with the others," Aurora said and hugged me again. "Take as long as you need."
I nodded. I wasn't ready to leave my home. My home! I still couldn't believe it!
I turned around and made my way to the bedroom door. It was just like I'd left it: the bed unmade, and some clothes on top of a chair in the corner. There was no broken glass, ripped sheets, torn clothes, writings on the walls or dead animals in the corners.
Like it all had been just a horrible nightmare.
When I turned around, I saw Arch leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and a warm smile on his lips as he watched me in silence.
"I just can't believe it," I told him. "It's like nothing happened!"
"I know. It's amazing," he said looking around a bit. "To think she's powerful enough to turn back time. Do you know how strong you have to be to pull that off?"
"No. I don't know much about magic," I admitted.
His eyes met mine again, and he seemed to forget I was actually there. He just stared at me with a soft smile on his lips. It made me feel awkward. It made me want to look away, but at the same time... I didn't want to give in to the fear.
And... the way he looked at me was... nice.
I didn't even realize I was hugging the bag of cookies at that point. There were so many good things going inside me it terrified me. I tried my best to stay strong, but I couldn't stop expecting for something to happen. Something bad. I still waited for Henry to come in to take all my good feelings away and use them against me.
I still couldn't stop the bloody images from emerging...
Arch suddenly stepped right in front of me, and when I looked at him, his smile was gone. His expression was sad when he carefully lifted his hand, waited for my reaction, and then placed it on my side when I didn't stop him.
"I hate it when that happens," he murmured.
"What happens?" I asked, looking away from him.
"When you're feeling good or happy, it suddenly goes away and I can see the pain in your eyes," he said softly. "It happens every time."
I shrugged, not knowing what to say.
He stepped even closer and rested his other hand on my back. "You got your home back but all I see is pain."
"I'm tired of it," I whispered. "I can't... The memories alone..."
"I wish I could take them away," he said.
"I wish so too."
Slowly and carefully, he wrapped me into a hug. I rested my head on his shoulder but couldn't hug him back because of the damn cookies. I felt his hand brushing through my hair, but all I could think of was Henry. If he'd been there, he would tell me to–
I suddenly heard the loudest howl. It was so loud I couldn't hear my own thoughts. It took me a short moment to understand the sound wasn't coming from outside.
It was in my head.
Fenrir continued howling, his voice drowning everything else. I closed my eyes and listened to him. Arch's hold on me grew tighter, but if he was saying something, I couldn't hear him. It didn't matter. My god's continuous howling was soothing, and it was easy to relax in Arch's arms.
Fenrir didn't need to speak in order to deliver his message: there was no Henry in my head. It was now his territory.
His and mine, no one else's.
I moved the bag a little so I could put at least one arm around Arch. I could feel his lips against my neck, his breath tickling my skin. I found my peace. I was back in my little home, in my mate's arms and my god was watching the back of my mind.
Dirty tricks. That's all. All those memories were nothing but dirty tricks. The images Henry had planted in my head never happened. I never hurt Arch or anyone else. Henry only made me feel like I did. He'd made me fear it.
I looked up, and when Arch saw my face he smiled a little.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked gently.
I nodded, and tried to smile. "Yeah..."
"Good," he said, and slowly rested his head against mine. "I'll never let anyone hurt you ever again," he promised.
"I know," I whispered back, finally able to enjoy this closeness.
The fear was still there, but I wasn't as afraid of it anymore.
"We should get going – the others are waiting for us," I told him.
He nodded and pulled away, but still holding one hand on my back.
"I really want to see how they're going to move this entire building up to Aurora's place," I said.
"Oh, definitely something I want to see as well," he told me with a smile, his eyes sparkling again as he watched me closely.
I smiled as well, feeling the blush creeping back up on my face when he looked at me like that.