Lover Dearest

Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The truck ride back to Dallas' house was...interesting to say the least. He was visibly upset, as if I had done something wrong. But when I tried asking him about it, he was kind and his voice was gentle. The atmosphere surrounding him and the way he held himself just seemed tense, like he was stressed out about something he wasn't sharing with me.

"Is something wrong?" I finally asked the probing question about a mile from his house. His face contorted with a confused look.

"No, I'm just unsure of where to go from here. Your heart almost giving out today shows that the storms are getting stronger, and so should you. Both mentally and physically. The only way I can make sure you get the proper training is if I train you myself. We're going to have to start today." The reality of his words didn't sink in until we pulled up at his house. What had I gotten myself into this time?

There were so many people on his lawn, it was incredible. Hundreds of curious faces in perfect polite detachment. They lines his driveway and his yard, most of them near his porch and there was undoubtedly more inside his house.

"Who are all these people?!" My breath came out in an exasperated breath, overwhelming thoughts taking control of my mind.

"This is the Brotherhood, Kristen. They've been waiting to meet you for a while now." The calm, serene way he spoke didn't clear my stirring mind. If anything, the swarm of people caused hoarded of nervous flitters in my stomach. I felt my heart skip a beat, and I clutched my chest and bent over the seat groaning in pain.

"Are you going to do anything about this?! I don't think I can deal with these much longer..." I asked referring to my heart feeling like it was literally being twisted inside my chest.

"In time, they should stop. When Elias shows up, though, we'll need to be ready."

The mention of the all too familiar name sparked my attention.

"Who's Elias?" I asked, my voice going up an octave higher than I wanted it to. He gave me a suspicious look but continued on.

"He's an estranged member of the Brotherhood who fell in love with one of the reincarnations of Chaos, one of your past lives. Her name was-"

"Chaossandria Allesia. Yeah, I know. He paid me a little visit the other night. I guess I just didn't have time to tell you with all the drama going on..."

Every cell in Dallas' body seemed to freeze over. His entire body went rigid and he slowly looked me over, scrutinizing every part of me as if looking for injuries.

"What did he do to you? Did he try to make you stay with him? You can't believe him, all he wants is your power. He is obsessed with the damage your power can and will do if it gets out of control."

Clearly we weren't talking about the same Elias here. Sure, he was a bit too persuasive for his own good, but he seemed harmless. Perhaps my radar for the bad guys was a little off...

"He did try to persuade me to stay with him. He took me to this dream state place and everything was perfect there, I could do and have whatever I wanted. He told me I could let my frustrations and powers out in the dream world and it wouldn't do anything to the regular world."

During my explanation, Dallas became angrier and angrier.

"Why didn't I see it before? I should've noticed the extra glow you had today. I should have seen how he defiled you with his presence." His fist punched the steering wheel, hard. I had never noticed this side of Dallas. I had always thought he was stoic and strong and honorable. His temper was...surprising.

"What do you mean by that?" The way he said Elias defiled me made me feel like he thought I was a slut or something. The thought unnerved me and I was glad that Dallas, unlike Elias, couldn't read my thoughts. They were too dark for me sometimes. Couldn't have anyone else digging around in there than there already was. Not enough crazy to go around for that.

"He changed you. Against your will. As soon as you enter the dreamscape you are forever changed. Whatever made you Kristen is now slowly evolving into pure Chaos. We need to start training exclusively on a daily basis. You're going to have to go to the Brotherhood. I'm sorry, but this is the only way..."

The words made sense, but I just couldn't comprehend them at the moment.

"Woah woah woah, slow down. First off, I'm not going anywhere. I have a family here, a whole freaking life! You can't just make me drop everything to go to some magical training place when I don't even know what I'm training for really. Answers first, and then we'll talk training. We do this my way or no way."

It was time I had some say in my own life for a change.

"What do you want to know?"

Such a loaded question with so little time. I decided to start at my most basic questions and work my way up.

"If I let my powers loose in the dream state, can it disrupt the real world?" This question had been rambling around in my head for a while now, and I was all too hopeful that it was true.

"No, the dream scape Elias had you in only disrupts your mortal body, causing you to look more goddess than human. What else do you want to know?"

While talking, we got out of the truck and made our way to the house. The massive waves of people quickly moved aside and let us pass through. We were soon seated, alone thankfully, in his bedroom. I sat next to him on the edge of his bed. His room smelled of his cologne, which reminded me of home, something safe and always there.

"How am I going to be training?"

At this, he had to think for a while.

"We are going to be adapting you to new environments to help you control the weathers atmosphere. We are also going to help you keep your emotions in check so that downpour that happened after you talked with Devin this afternoon won't happen again. The more you learn to control your emotions the easier it is going to be to control the weather. There are other aspects of your powers also that we don't fully understand. Hopefully with further training we'll understand them more."

That didn't tell me anything about how I was training though. So I asked him that question next. He replied with basic strength training, yoga and stress meditation for my emotions, and taking me to remote locations such as deserts and forests to try and change the atmosphere without relying on my mood. This didn't sound as bad as I initially thought. It actually sounded pretty cool. For once in my life, someone actually needed me for something other than chores or help with their homework or countless other pointless things that didn't matter one bit. This world was so much bigger than anyone thought. And that was much more important than any superficial life I was living up to this point.

I had never been truly happy. I always knew I belonged to the storms. It's time I gave in to my true nature.

"When do we leave?"

----------------------------------------------

Author's Note-

Hey everyone! I know I don't usually do an authors note at the end of the chapter but I figured I could give it a shot! I hope everyone likes the book so far, I'm trying so hard to update but my phone broke and so I have to use my little brothers phone and that really stinks but I already had this chapter partially written so I thought I'd finish it and put it up on here for you guys! So the next update should come fairly soon, but I'm not gonna put an exact date cause I don't know when I'll have a phone able to update again, getting a new phone soon though I promise! So like, share, rate, read, comment! Love you all!