Chapter Twenty Two
Come again?
Consciousness comes to me slowly in the form of a splitting headache and crippling nausea.
My body feels like it's been to war and back. The ever apparent existence of Lucas in my stomach causes me to jolt from my bed and hurl myself to a nearby corner, before expelling the contents of my stomach. I haven’t eaten since the morning of my mission.
The lack of nourishment is taking its toll in the form of exhaustion and dizzy spells.
The ever present doom in my life only adds to my turmoil as I can’t hold back the tears that fight their way to the surface.
The tears come in waves as my body shakes.
I feel dirty. Like no matter the amount of scrubbing, I will never be able to rid myself of what I have done.
Images swirl in my brain of a small framed girl with red locks and honey suckle eyes.
Her rare laughs were the sliver of hope and the radiant light that scared away the darkness during the all consuming hell that was our captivity.
I failed her when she needed me the most and that has haunted me every moment since.
These thoughts drive me into a further fit of tears that turn to labored screams.
“Baby, for the love of fuck. Please stop crying.” Blake’s voice echoes in the distance.
I snap my head up and look around. I must be going crazy again. Shuffling in the distance draws me towards my bed again as I strain to hear the noises.
“Hello?” I beckon.
“Hello, Little Siren.” His voice carries again and I gasp in response.
“I can hear you.” Excitement evident in my words.
“And I can hear you. You’re the only thing I can hear as a matter of fact. Your crying drowns out any thoughts I dare to have.” He says in a less than amused tone. Is he mocking me?
“I am falling apart. I have been falling apart since the day you, I mean Ghost, walked out.” Tears threaten to resurface as my voice is choked but I push it down.
“I am still him, baby.” He states softly. I chuckle in a rather condescending way. He’s as hot as he is delusional apparently.
“But you’re not. The person I have come to know as Blake is nothing like him. You, fuck, I don’t know. I’m not even sure what to call you at this point.” Frustration is apparent in my tone.
“Can a man not be more than simple? Can he carry two parts of himself? To be complex and more than just what you see on the surface?” He says inquisitively. I ponder on his words as if to search for a bigger meaning.
“Then who are you?” I question, needing to know him.
“I am the evil that fills the darkness, the monster that lurks in the shadows, and your future husband.” He states matter-of-factly.
“Ha ha. You seem egotistical.” Offering a fake laugh with a hint of edge at the end.
“Baby, I exude confidence. Weak men only wish they could be me.” He chuckles.
“Arrogant too I see.” Digging into him playfully.
“Self assurance is a fleeting concept. If the only thing I am remembered for is my arrogance, then so be it.” I wave off his words as my previous question remains unanswered. His poetic words do little to calm my curious mind.
“You didn’t answer my question.” I point out.
“I am Blake Ghost Mikaelson.” He hesitated before answering.
“Ghost?” My heart quickens at the name, drawing me to ask in desperation.
“A middle name that was rather fitting for who I would inevitably become.” My interest peaks as I pull my legs up onto the bed and wrap my arms around them for stability. Turning my body to face the wall, curiosity gets the best of me.
“Tell me about that. I want to know everything.” He sighs in response, sounding as if it's a topic he would like to avoid altogether but I can’t help needing to know. Something deep within, drags me to the unknown that is him.
“Oh, do you now? Okay then.” The sound of creaking and fabric scuffled tells me he is changing positions on his bed.
“My upbringing was a rather strained one. My mother is and always has been a kind woman. Soft and meek if you will. She’s so good that she is easy to quiet and even easier to control.
My father is the polar opposite. He was always harsh with lessons and even harsher with punishments.
He wanted a robotic soldier of a son that he could bend to his whim and build to create the perfect heir.
If he wasn’t reinforcing my training or punishing me in unspeakable ways, I didn’t exist to him.
I was to be seen not heard until eventually, I wasn’t even seen.
I was a translucent figure of a child. A Ghost. I was entirely alone with no one who really knew me.
I started to like the absence of myself.
It was the only time that I wasn’t pressured to be someone else.
I started using my middle name as a cover on the streets.
My family built a fabrication of my existence to the world.
A rowdy young man with an inheritance to blow.
In the shadows and in privacy, was the only time I could be me.
I was told to wear contacts when I showed my real face and to wear a mask any other time.
Slowly, I became two people. It wasn’t until we met that first night, that I wanted to be more.
For you. I wanted to be your worst nightmare and the thing you craved the most. Like oxygen, you would need me.
” His speech causes words to die on my tongue as I stare in shock.
How horrible. To be born to a family that just barely wanted him, but rather only needed for a role to fill.
Though, to relish in his lack of true existence is something I can connect with.
“You know, I wish I could be a ghost sometimes. To just disappear and cease to exist.” I say softly. A bit too emotionless for his liking as he almost cuts me off.
“Please don't talk like that.” Fear and frustration are clear in his voice. I brush off his words again.
“So why did you pretend to be two different people? Why did you leave me? Not once, but twice. You saw, first hand, what it did to me the first time and did it again regardless.” The memories of our time together pours forward.
I feel hurt and betrayed, requiring some form of justification for his wicked actions.
“I wanted to be everything you ever needed. I just couldn’t be one or the other for you, but I think in some way you needed both.
A person you could walk in the daylight with, start a family with, and one you could indulge the darkest parts of your soul to.
” He says desperately. I’m the one that is desperate though, I crave this man as much as I despise him.
I go over the various things he has told me as my thoughts land on one that stands out.
“That story about your first mark, was that a lie?” Hurt and anger travel from my heart to voice in an instant.
‘No, baby. That was not a lie.” He states simply.
“Then who was she?” Am I jealous of a dead girl? I don't think so.
“You,” is the only word he says.
“W-what?” I stutter as I race to remember all the minuscule details of proclamation.
“I’m so sorry.” His hand tunnels into my hair and forces my head forward until I am centimeters from Lucas’s still flaccid penis.
Tears flow as I open my mouth and allow him entrance.
James’s hand continues to push my head up and down his length as I begin to sob.
I can hear James cry too as his hand moves as little as possible.
Seconds later, Lucas grows in my mouth and I open my eyes in response.
I look over to find his fingers laced in Ryon’s as shock takes over my senses.
I snap my eyes closed again and try my best to stay focused on the task but Xavier’s voice cuts through the room again.
“I am losing patience, Everly. Follow the rules or people are going to start dying around here.” I shake as my hand comes down and pushes its way into my panties. The feeling makes me nauseous as my mind won't turn off to the idea of what I am doing to Lucas.
“Focus on my voice, baby.” Blake says hoarsely. My body visibly relaxes an inch.
“That's it. Now imagine me in your mouth and my fingers in your hair. Show me how good I make you feel.” He says in a husky tone that nearly has me moaning out loud. I do as he says and quickly the image comes. My fingers find my clit as I begin rubbing it.
“You’re doing so good. Just like that. Now put your fingers inside.” He says. I involuntarily moan at his words. My fingers slide back and push inside. I begin pumping them in and out. Rocking against my hand. My orgasm builds quickly as I practically fuck my own fingers.
“Good girl. Cum for me, baby.” He says with a groan.
Is he enjoying this too? The thought tips me over the edge as I scream out in ecstasy.
Seconds later, Lucas jerks forward and finds his own release down my throat.
I rip my hand out of my pants and throw myself away from him.
Panting, I look to Blake who has an ever apparent erection followed by a wet spot.
“Your moans are my kryptonite, little siren.” He breathes rapidly. I bite my lip in response and he smiles back at me. Looking at him makes the entire world melt away. Only he exists at this moment. We stay trapped in each other's gaze only to be disrupted when Xavier claps his hands.
“That’ll be all for today. Back to your rooms.” Promptly we are collected and one by one lead back to our rooms.
As soon as my restraints are applied and the door shuts, I fall to pieces.
Convulsing in sobs, I cry. I cry for the girl these people broke once before.
I cry for Lucas and the trauma he has spent so long running from just for it to come screeching back.
I cry for the giant lie that has been my connection between Blake, or Ghost, or whatever the fuck his name is.
I cry until my lungs give out and fall into a gasping fit of exhaustion and sleep takes over me.
“I have loved you since the day I saw you, Everly. Sitting on that blanket with Lucas, Ryon, and James. I watched you nearly everyday. I was obsessed with you. When the time came to finish my mission, I-I couldn’t do it.” His voice cracks in a regretful manner.
“But why me?” Curiosity drawing me from my hate.
“You are the heir to one of the largest mafias in the world. A monument for decades worth of a rivalry. To kill you would leave your family weak and vulnerable. It would give us the perfect opportunity to strike and finish this silent war between the families.” He offers as if he has been programmed to say it a thousand times, hindsight is that he probably has.
“Okay.” My voice is low and I attempt to wrap my mind around all of this new information.
“Listen, I need to tell you something…” he drags off hesitantly.
“The blade was laced. You were never supposed to die. I made sure to stab in a nonlethal area and hit the panic button on your watch. I made sure to stay nearby until they got to you. My father knew I couldn’t follow through, he planned to do worse.
I had to stop him, so I sent my men to your office.
” He speaks frantically, as if he's afraid he’ll never get another chance to tell me.
Shock hits my core as I process all of the fabricated events that have wreaked havoc on my life.
“The office attack was you?” I ask in disbelief.
“Yes, my father was the only target. He needed to be stopped. The car chase was his doing. Retaliation for my coup. He doesn’t know that I know he was behind it either.” A realization shudders through me and I can’t fight the daunting question placating my mind.
“Do you-do you think..” I begin to question but he cuts me off as if he's read my mind.
“That this is his doing too? Yes.” My jaw hangs and my eyes go wide. Dominic is a monster. A real living and breathing monster. His disloyalty knows no bounds.
“What kind of father would do this to his own son?” I'm nearly nauseated in disbelief.
“The kind that wants to take away everything good in his son’s life and back him into a corner, in order to force his hand.” I nod my head at his words but realize he can’t see me.
“But none of this answers why you left.” I point out.
“To protect you.” He doesn’t hesitate to respond. The air is heavy from the lack of me speaking. In exchange, he fills it to clarify.
“You wanted something from me I couldn’t give yet and I needed you to hate me.
Then you went off sacrificing yourself and I just couldn’t bear it.
The idea that you felt my life was worth more than yours was unimaginable.
” His pained tones squeeze my heart that makes me feel like it might explode.
Guilt laced with acceptance of his position on the topic has me agreeable.
“What do I call you?” I beckon, feeling a bit awkward.
“Ghost, little siren. You can call me Ghost.” His new identity fills me with both excitement and content. For the future and for us.
“So what do we do moving forward?” I ponder with no clear path of escape in sight.
“We find a way out of here, kill my piece of shit father, and then we take it one day at a time.” Now that I can get on board with but as silence fills the air again, the weight of our present environment seems heavier.
“I don't know how much more I can take.” I say honestly.
“Just stay with me. No matter what.” Without a second thought, I would follow this man to the end of the earth and into the great beyond.
“Always.” He will always be a part of me as I will always be a part of him. We are inevitable.