The Realm of Truth (Book 1) [In the process of editing]

Chapter 29: The Beginning of The End

(Odette's POV)~

Living a life without Damien was not on my agenda.

Screw everything else. He is everything to me, even if I can't show it, or don't know how to show it. 'I-I love him, too.' I thought, gulping down hard. I wanted to cry. In fact, I did. I let my humanity take over and I just bawled my eyes out. I watched as Damien struggled to keep the blade from him.

"I...don't want to die!" Damien managed to say.

"I know you don't." I said, soothingly. "I'm not going to let you die. Damien, what did he say over the phone?" I crouched down next to him, and kept my hand on the hilt of the blade.

"If I tell you, he will kill you, too, and he needs you. I can't tell you. Please, Odette. Fight me, knock me out, or something to be free of his mind control crap!"

It was painful to listen to him plead for his life. Never in my life would I, Odette Hillshire, be watching someone take their own life by force until now. I shook my head, and thought about the time I've spent with Damien.

"Odette, please-!" Then, the blade stuck in his shirt to poke at his skin. He started to push deeper and then I acted quickly.

I grunted, pulling the hilt from him. I shoved his hand to the side and he glared at me. I was confused as he should've been happy I saved his life. "What are you pissed for, dummy?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's come over me!" Damien apologized and the next thing I knew, I was lifted off the ground and tossed like a rag doll. My back hit the back of the TV that sat on top of the dressing table, and everything crashed over.

I grinned at him. "You know you throw like a girl!" I insulted as a tease. If this is what Ambrosius wanted, then so be it. I'll have to play dirty with tricks up my sleeve, just to have Damien back.

I wondered how I could get him back to me. It won't be forever if I somehow brought him back to reality. I looked around to see what I could do, and noticed the shower head. I hurried over there to turn on the faucet.

"Odette, that won't work." Damien said. He walked over to me with the blade again and slashed at me. I crawled backwards and barely got hit. "You have to do your job and I have to do mine, okay, and mine is making sure I die. When I die, Ambrosius will help me transition to be like you!" He beamed at me which I found quite creepy. "Won't that be great?"

I gaped at him. He would never say something like that. Did he actually want to be turned?

"Do you hear yourself?" I asked as the water ran. "You want to him to do this to you?"

"It'll be great, Odette." He said, chuckling manically. Damien came over to me as if he was drunk, except he was under the influence of mind control. He grabbed my hand and pulled to embrace me with the knife. I faced the shower head out of fear, feeling the tilt of the silver blade at my neck. "We can be married, and have a pure vampire child together..."

I choked from his arm. "Not if you're like this!" I said. "I don't want a life with you like this."

That shocked him. Which brought to my attention that I should act now. I knocked the weapon away, and threw him towards the running water. It was cold, extremely cold. Damien started screaming. His clothes were starting to get soggy and I just was horrified.

It was like I was releasing the demon inside him that doesn't want to be free.

Ambrosius needed to pay for what he did to mess with me. As Damien continued to wrath around, I wondered if I was still attached to Ambrosius' mind control. Since I defied him, maybe he or Esme broke the spell.

A moment later, Damien settled down. I turned the water off and looked at him carefully. He didn't say anything yet, but he was shaking from the trauma. "Damien?" I wanted him to look at me and say something. "Are you okay?"

"I'm...I'm fine." He sighed. I went to find a towel and wrap it around him. Damien looked at me with his eyes full of sadness. "Did I hurt you?"

"You definitely scarred me." I smiled at him. "Glad to know you're back to normal, I hope."

"No, no." He assured. "I think I'm good. I don't know what the heck happened. My memory's kind of hazy."

"You don't remember throwing me against the TV earlier?" I asked. Damien shook his head and then I nodded in acknowledgement. "Are you hungry? Want to go out to eat for dinner?"

"Yeah, sure. So long as nothing else happens. I'm good."

"Want me to wait for you to get ready, or do you want to-"

"No. You can wait in the lobby for me, hopefully Ambrosius doesn't catch you or anything and has you doing weird things."

In all honesty, I didn't want to leave him. I couldn't. If I left, he'd be vulnerable. I didn't want to also be a hinderance to Damien since he just got out of Ambrosius' mind control... I left him be and went downstairs to wait for him to change.

"Odette?" Speak of the devil. "Everything alright, sis?"

"Listen to me, Ambrosius." My voice sounded deadly, but I kept my cool. "Do not ever mess with my boyfriend ever again. He did not deserve any of that, and who do you think you are trying to tell him you can turn him too? If anything, I should be the one to turn him, if he wishes. Not you, not Esme. Me."

Ambrosius looked at me with a smile. I could sense the electric shock between me and him as I scowled at him. "Well, that's only if you succeed in the one task I ask for. Blood. You have access to the bags in the kitchen to your heart's content. Those will help you be the murderous and most frenzied one out there while you do your task."

"You're insane." I scoffed, bumping into him as I past him.

"You might want to reevaluate your situation, Odette." He called out to me as Damien caught up to me. "You don't do what I say, and I decide whether Damien kills himself or you."

Damien laced his fingers through mine and held my hand, protectively. "You're wrong. He's out of commission for you, I freed him." We walked away from Ambrosius, and walked to Damien's truck.

"Look, Odette." Damien said after a moment, both hands on the wheel. "You might have helped me give my free will back, but that doesn't mean-"

I interrupted him by taking his face in my hands as I kissed him. It was a passionate kiss, I might add and I didn't want that feeling to go away. I tilted my head so we could make out a little better, and Damien pulled back in surprise.

"-I won't be brainwashed again." He finished his sentence. I put my finger to my lips sheepishly, and I could see him smiling in the dark. "Does this mean I am your boyfriend? The age difference won't matter to you, won't it?"

"Technically, with out the supernatural shenanigans, I'm 4 years younger than you." I brought up. Damien is older, but he still looked like he was fresh out of high school. "I love you."

"And I love you, too." He couldn't find the words at first to say it, but he was mostly very excited.

We drove off to head towards a diner. Damien handed me a slip of paper under the table after we sat down and ordered. He nonchalantly sipped at his soda and I noticed him looking around constantly out of worry. I did the same, to make sure we were alone.

I unfolded the paper underneath and tried to read it without saying anything. It was Damien's handwriting, scribbled neatly.

'Be careful wherever we go. If you don't follow Ambrosius' rules, they'll know where we are. They're going to be hiding in plain sight. I love you.'

I frowned at Damien who suppressed a smile and I nodded. I put the paper in my jean pocket. Then, the waitress came over with mine and Damien's food and she walked away.