Almost Human

Chapter 15: The Keeper

"You really need to see Zane," Jacob and Rider told me after I'd explained everything to them. I don't know why I felt the need to tell them. I just trust them I guess. It'd been only a day since they took Zane away. It was no big deal. Whenever an Elemental got injured they spent way too much time making sure we were okay. I'm sure he's fine. But, just waiting for my Keeper to come back was killing me inside.

I rolled my eyes, "You're telling me."

"So I guess he'll be nice to you now?" Rider smirked. I'd sure hope so. Jacob surrounded me in a mist of darkness and it wrapped around me, I smiled. He knew how much my demons got along with his. The mist changed into the shape of a black crown and I laughed.

"Ha, ha very funny. Now you can hit me up with royalty jokes."

Jacob winked, "You know it darling." His power fanned out as someone stepped into my room. We all jumped up, getting ready for a fight. Zane. We locked eyes and the crest passed between his eyes again. Him and I both stood stiff. We didn't move. Didn't know what to say. Just stared. "Well this is awkward," Jacob laughed. "I see this is going lovely." Zane glared daggers at him. Jacob put his hands up in defense. "All right, all right, We're leaving. Good luck with your royal stuff." Jacob leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. It was a different feeling than Rider's warmth. Jacob's darkness flowed through my body, leaving me craving more. I had no idea what either one of them was doing to me but it was a new a strange, different sensation.

Zane, turned to me, oblivious to my eruption of emotion. "I'm so sorry," he began. It's about time he's owned up. He's been such a jerk. "I disliked you," he laughed and ran his hand through his hair, "that's no surprise."

"Why didn't you like me?" I snapped. I've wanted to know this from the moment I'd met him. Thank goodness I was getting some answers.

"I'd been here for here for three years. Longer than anyone. I'd been behaving to get any of the doctor's attention. Then you show up, and everyone is all in awe with you. I see why now," he smirked at that. A bit of humor even reaching his peculiar orange eyes. "So I hated you of course. I even fought you. And I was meant to protect you this entire time..."

"Don't beat yourself up," I interrupted. "I didn't trust you and you're the very person I should've." My mind flashed back to the day he'd stormed into my room and placed his hands on my head, sending us back. And we saw me for the first time at fourteen. How his hair was ruffled and his eyes puffy. "That day, you came in and sent me back without permission, what was that about?"

He sighed, "The doctors had been testing on me. I was exhausted and somehow, they got into my brain...telling me to send you back. They forced me." Wait what?

"Got into your brain?" I asked. "What'd you mean?"

"It's a power a royal has. Memory tells me that anyway. You have the ability to command other Elementals to do something and they HAVE to. It's something called The Voice." Something is wrong here. Memory surfaced in the back of my mind saying it was a rare thing, a 1 in a 1,000,000 chance of that happening where two royals existed at the same time.

"But Zane I never told you to do that..."

Zane clenched his jaw, "Bree, you're not the only royal. There's an Elemental we don't know about. And they're on the government's side."