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Chapter Twenty ­­­­One

When we were young, Eliza told me something strange. At the time I thought she was just making something up to make me happy. Who would believe anything that weird girl said anyway? Looking back on it, I should have given it some consideration.­

I was sitting against the tree in my back yard. Am I a monster? Everyone seems to think so. Even Eric won't make eye contact. He was always like a big brother to me.

"Raine. Are you in there?" I was startled by the sudden voice. It was Eliza. When we grow up, we are supposed to get married.

"Eli...? Aren't you afraid of me? Like the others?" I hoped she'd say she wasn't, but I doubted she would.

"How silly. Why would I be afraid of a little kid like you." She smiled brightly.

"What....? You're a week older than me. Literally just a week. How am I a little kid? That makes you one too." She distracted me from all of my worries.

"Yep! But you're even younger. And Tyler is a baby." I couldn't help but laugh. "But why would I be afraid of you? I'm a witch, just like both of our families."

Back then Eliza and I were really close, but that changed after dad died. I pushed her away. A part of me wishes we were still friends. Anyway, maybe Eliza was telling the truth. Maybe she was a witch. I had to talk to her. I walked to her dorm room.

"Raine! You're visiting me! I'm so happy! Wait... you're upset.. What's wrong?" Well took a quick turn.

"I want to talk Eli. It's important. Can I come in?" I had to get straight to the point. She let me in with a gesture. "It's about something you said when we were seven."

"I wasn't lying. I am a witch. And for the longest time, I thought you were too. I only realized right now that you aren't." How did she know what I was going to ask? "I know you well enough to predict everything you'll say or do. Don't doubt my skills at reading you like a book."

"But my family are witches? That's what you told me all those years ago. Was that true too?" She simply nodded her head. "Yet, I'm not? Then what am I?"

"You know what you are. You just don't know why. Am I wrong?" She said what I didn't want to hear, but I needed to hear.

"So I am a demon....? Yet in a human body? Reincarnated? But why me....?" I am so confused about everything.

"Your soul chose to inhabit the body a twin boy of a witch's line. It had a plan." A plan? What kind of plan?

"Why not Tyler?" I realized how much spite I let slip into my voice when I said his name. "Why couldn't he have been the one to suffe...." Eliza slapped me. It didn't physically hurt very long, but I felt like she was trying to knock some sense into me.

"What the hell happened between you two!?!? The old you would have sacrificed anything for your brother. Even your humanity. Now you wish he had been the one to suffer instead! You've changed.. On another note, your soul's plan involved dragging another soul kicking and screaming into the younger twin."

"Saul. That was his previous name. Wait, I remember something. Saul, I brought him to the palace even though his mother was human. I treated him as a brother. Yet, he betrayed us. He helped the humans. He taught witches their magic. He tried banish me to Oblivion. Why was I ever so naïve to think this life would be different.....?"

"Raine....." She looked at me sympathetically.

"That's not my name. My name is... why can't I remember it? I remember so much. Too much. But I can't remember my name. What is it?" Something is wrong with me. I can't think about the current me. My mind won't allow it.

"You can't remember that yet. When you do, the other two demons will remember their past and grow violent. They will probably try to kill your angel friends."

One second I was with Eliza, the next Darrick had dragged me to the classroom. "Hello. Raine. You there?"

"Don't......" I mumbled to myself.

"Don't what, Raine?" Of course Adrian had to be here too.

"Don't call me that!" I yelled. I didn't want to. It was instinct, I guess.

"It's your name. So why shouldn't we call you that?" Darrick made me want to punch him, but it made me focus on the present so I'm also thankful.

"I can't sleep. I can't think straight. And I was just told that if I remember my name from my previous life, that people could die. So please leave me be." I wanted to be alone. For once, I didn't hope to be surrounded by friends.

"You can't think straight so leave you alone? Are you an idiot?" An idiot called me an idiot. Harsh. "Do you not remember what happened earlier today? You couldn't think straight then, could you?"

I flinched at his words. He was right. I hated it, but he was right. "I don't know what's happening to me....." I looked up and noticed Darrick had a knife. "Whoa what are you doing?" He sped and cut my throat. If I didn't heal, I'd be dead. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What did I....? I guess I have no right to talk about mental state, do I? I just felt like I had to kill you. You two are my best friends. Why would I want to kill either of you? I don't get it." I've never seen Darrick act like this. He was terrified, of himself. "I shouldn't want to hurt my friends. There is no way we are human, is there? At the least we're freaks and the most monsters. We really are messed up aren't we?"