February 29

Chapter 28

Mark watched with wide eyes as the almost invisible energy surrounded Ethan's wracking body, rising lazily like smoke over a vent. He could barely believe what he was seeing, even with his experience in the worlD's worst psychiatric wards. Emotion seemed to be just as confused as he was. He didn't know what to take in first: the fact that Dean was dead, or the fact that the Aura and Ethan's mental presence were almost indistinguishable from one another. One instant Ethan's presence would be as brilliant and unique as it always was, so different from the Aura's pure ebony. The next instant, there would only be one presence, and it was darker than the Aura's. He shook his head and focused on the atrocity in front of him. He could still see the life leaving Dean's eyes, over and over like a sickening replay. It reeled him back instantly to the other time. Her and his son.

But he couldn't think about that now. His eyebrows lowered in indignant fury. "You beast!" he exclaimed, not at Ethan, but at the thing inside him. "Stop! You're going to kill him!"

The Aura seemed to hear what he was saying, but decided to ignore him. Instead, Ethan's head whipped upwards towards the ceiling. Shadows crept across his narrowed eyes, which suddenly widened. Mark blinked at the exact wrong time. There was a grunt, a melodic twinkle, and the feeling of a frosty, sharp mist hitting his skin. He opened his eyes, and to his absolute terror the whole place, the room, the hallway, the whole house was pitch black.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

,Mark knew the danger posed before him, and had known that keeping Ethan at his house for the designated amount of time would probably be improbable or impossible. He knew that the whole plan was too late to take effect; he should have gotten Ethan before he got bitten, before the Aura had a chance to infect his mind. And now, standing here with that thing infesting Ethan's common sense, one wrong move could result in Mark's instant death, or the whole house bursting into flames. Mark was stuck between keeping it safe and staying away from the room, or running in there and getting Ethan out. If he stayed out of the room, the Aura would surely take him and everything would be lost. If he went, there as a risk that the Aura had already crumbled Ethan's emotions, made him the same cold and lifeless being as it was. If that was the case, Ethan would have no trouble killing him with a thought, same as he did with Dean.

Mark cursed and went against his better judgement, rushing into the place, trying his best to disregard the charred corpse.

It was hard to see outside the moonlight from the window, but Ethan's shaking shadow wasn't that difficult to spot. He could see his wide-rimmed eyes in the darkness, hear his soft breathing in the silence. Mark got the feeling of shock and guilt from his mind, but every other emotion was like his thoughts, barred from view. He crouched to Ethan's level and put a tentative hand on his shoulder, but if Ethan felt the contact, he didn't show it. "Ethan," Mark whispered, glancing nervously at the body. "Look, I know this must be hard for you. But we have to leave this place."

Ethan didn't respond immediately. His shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself. "I killed Dean," he muttered emotionlessly. "I killed him."

"That's not exactly true. You know that." He swallowed. "What happened just now isn't any of your fault. The Aura did this. It made you do this. That's exactly what the Aura wants you to think."

"But it's true," Ethan said in a deflated voice. "You don't have to sugar coat it. I killed him. My only friend."

"I know. I know that you feel that way and I want to help you and convince that it's not like that, but we can't do this here. I have to get you out of here. It's dark, see? No light. The Aura can easily get you now."

He closed his eyes. "Maybe," he swallowed, "maybe then we should let it happen," Ethan said quietly.

His eyes widened in shock. "What?" Mark asked in aghast.