The Paranormal Side

Chapter 27

                                                              **(Brian's POV)**

It took minutes, seconds maybe, I don't know. I suppose I could have counted the time in how many bodies had fallen by my actions. A dozen or so, maybe more. It blurs together, you see? A smear of blood.

When I did see her, I froze, my jaws still locked around the neck of another dark robe. 

When I saw her, I knew.

And I looked and behold a pale horse,

When I saw her, he saw me.

His smile was something out of nightmares. Foreign and wrong on his face, as if it was painted on a canvas that covered something dark and scary. A demon.

"Brian," he said, but no, he didn't quite say it, more of a murmur. A whisper. Something that found my ears even though I didn't want it to.

And he sat a hand on her shoulder, and she turned to face me, and though I knew something was wrong, I didn't realize how wrong until I saw her eyes. 

The black.

The dark.

The dark robe fell from my jaws, and I shifted back to human form almost unconsciously. My eyes wouldn't leave Katie's. She watched me with a passive disinterest, her expression blank, a smear of blood on her forehead a stark contrast to the dark depths of her eyes.

"Katie," I breathed, taking a shaky step forward. She tilted her head at me, expression never changing, and raised a hand in preparation for attack.

I could only watch with wide eyes as Jeremiah tilted her face to look at him, shaking his head and mouthing the words: not yet.

And his name that sat on him was Death,

The war was raging on around us, and in my peripheral I noticed an almost transparent dome separating us from the melee.

Jeremiah wanted an uninterrupted show. 

He was staring at me and shaking his head with a mock smile of disapproval. Katie was stoic and silent; unreadable. 

"Alara, would you fetch our friend Brian here something to cover up with? He doesn't seem...suitably dressed for our meeting," He said, making me realize I was naked from the change. It didn't matter. All I could see was Katie, and all she could see was her next opponent.

I barely noticed the purple-eyed woman draping a cloak over my shoulders and tying it around my waist, that is until she grabbed my chin and forced me to meet her unsettling eyes.

"Such a shame," she drawled, dragging a finger down my cheek. I tried to look past her to Katie, but she was forcing me to stay looking at her. "You are such a cute one...if I could only get past the dog half," she sighed and let go of me with a little push that sent me stumbling back a step.

Alara took her place behind Jeremiah, and Jeremiah trained his never-absent smirk on me once again. "Still speechless?" he asked, moving his hand to Katie's back.

I didn't want him touching her.

I didn't want him near her.

But it wasn't her.

"What did you do to her?" I asked, my voice barely more than a breathy whisper. But he heard. Of course he heard.

"I just showed her what she really is. Made her step up to her true potential. And boy, has she stepped up," he said, running a hand down her loose hair with an affectionate touch that someone would give to their pet.