Alter-The One

Anne’s POV:

I’m awake and alert in a second. The last thing I remember was the devil angel kissing me. The stench of vampires hits my nose. A growl rumbles in my throat and I’m on my feet.

I go to the door and find it locked. I groan but then another smell hits me as I hear the lock click and watch the door open. My brother looks at me with tired eyes. “Where am I?” I ask him.

“Your at Derek’s mansion.” he says. I look at him confused.

“How?” I ask.

“I carried you after you passed out.” he says looking at me with sad eyes.

“Why are you sad?’ I ask.

He smiles his eyes still sad. “ I’m not.”

I cross my arms. “Jim I can clearly tell your upset. What’s wrong?” The sadness vanishes from his eyes.

“Did you just call me Jim?” He asks i see hope in his eyes.

I give him a look of confusion. “What else would I call you?” My hand goes over my bracelet and then images and sounds go by and I realise why he looked sad.

I sit on the bed and put my head in my hands. “I forgot. I forget my own brother.”

He pulls my hands from my face. “What did you just say?”

I shake my head. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe…… Jim where’s Derek?”

I hear footsteps. “I’m right here. What’s up?” He asks.

“I still don’t like you. Next time place me in the woods. This house stinks of you.” I smile.

My brother wraps me in a hug. “You remember.”

Derek sticks his tongue out at me. “A thank you from getting out of that hell hole, literally hell hole, would be nice.”

I smile. “I’m ok with using that statement as my thank you.” I return my brother’s hug.

He sighs. “What happened while you were taken by Satan?” Derak asks.

I explain what happened to me and his face goes dark. “DO you feel anything towards? Like a sudden pull that you didn’t have before?” He asks.

“The only pull I feel towards him is pulling my fist back to punch him in the face.” I say angrily.

I imagine my bracelet turning into a small dagger. I look at my dress surprised it’s still white. My ear perk at the sound of wingbeats. I focus on the familiar face on the other side of the window. I recognise West. Unexplainable anger forms inside me. My vision becomes blurry as well as everything else.

When my vision clears Jim and Derek have me pinned to the ground. I look around confused. My eyes fall on West and I see him looking at me in concern and fear. My heart breaks. “Anne. Are you ok? Are you back with us?” Derek asks. Tears form in my eyes.

Concern etches everyone’s features. Derek wraps me in a hug. Pain licks at me like a flame but I ignore it. I wipe my eyes. “What happened? Why was I pinned on the ground? Why is West afraid of me?” My voice cracks at the last question.

“You saw him in the window and started growling at him. You guys started talking in another language and you attacked him. We had to tear you off of him. You don’t remember that?” Jim asks.

I shake my head. “All of a sudden I got angry at him. My vision blurred and that’s all I remember.” I look at West still seeing fear in his eyes. I back up from everyone. Derek reaches for me but I pull away. I almost hurt West. My mate I almost hurt my mate.

It keeps repeating in my head as I turn and run. I run until my legs give out. I fall to the ground and cry. I hug myself tightly. I hear footsteps but I ignore them. I wipe my eyes still crying. I feel a light touch on my shoulder and I look up to see an unfamiliar face.

“Are you ok?” The guy asks. He smells human so I just shake my head.

“Want to talk about it?” he asks sitting next to me. I shake my head.

“OK well my name’s Michael but all my friends call me Mike.” He says.

I wipe my eyes. “Anne.” my voice is cracky. He holds out his hand. I look at it confused.

He laughs. “I just want to shake your hand.” he cocks his head and smiles. I take his hand and shake it.

‘What’s someone like you doing out here in the forest alone?’ he asks.

I raise an eyebrow. “I should ask you the same. People usually don’t go this deep in the forest.”

He shrugs. “I hang in the forest when i’m bored. Plus your here.”

I laugh. “That’s because I wanted to be alone. Guess that’s not happening?” He gives me a look of concern. I look away not wanting to see it. I get up. He grabs my arm.

“Wait. Why do you want to be alone?” he asks softly.

I look at him. “Because when I’m not I put the people I care about in danger. I am a danger to them. I’m a curse. I should just give up and let myself get taken.”

“I bet it’s all in your head. Maybe it wasn’t your fault that you hurt them.” he says.

I glare at him. “I don’t need a therapist. I need to be alone. It’s better for everyone if I am alone.” He gives a knowing look. He pats the spot by him. I look at his hand then back to him. I sigh and sit down.

“You know you’re inhumanly beautiful.” he says. I look into his eyes seeing a hidden meaning. I take in his features and realise that he looks inhumanly perfect. I look back into his eyes.

“Do you know West?’ I ask. He nods. I look away instantly regretting the question.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

I explain everything leaving nothing out. He nods and listens to every word. His eyes light up at the mention of my being alter and turn sad when i tell him about the underworld and to now. When I finish I’m in tears again. “I saw the fear in his eyes. That hurt worse than anything else. I would have changed that to a bullet to the heart any day.”

He gets up and holds out his hand. I grab it and he helps me out. “Sounds to me like it’s not your fault.” His wings appear. “Just let them tell him the situation of what happened before and it will probably help him understand you odd behavior towards him. I know West very well and he is a very forgiving person. He’s also the most understanding person I know. He probably had no intention of hurting your feelings. Maybe he wasn’t really fearing you.”

I smile. “Thank you. That helped a lot.”

He nods then flies into the clouds. I take in a deep breath watching him leave and then look at my surroundings. I notice some familiar land markings and anger courses through me. I storm toward the cave. Before I even step inside Satan is at the entrance smiling. I take a deep breathe and wipe the anger completely from my face.

I decide to use the fact that he thinks I don’t have my memories to my advantage. I pretend that I’m nervous and shy. “H h hi.” I move my hair behind my ear and look towards the ground then back at him. His smile widens.

“Hello darling. What brings you here?” He asks.

I shrug looking back at the ground. I try to supress the anger I feel toward him. He places a finger under my chin and lifts it so I’m facing him. I give my best look of internal struggle which isn’t hard considering I’m struggling to not tear him to pieces.

“Have you figured out what I am yet?” he asks. I shake my head.

He moves his lips to my ear and I shiver involuntarily. “I am a god. And you my dear are my goddess.”

I pretend to be shocked. “R really?” He smiles his lips inches from mine. I can feel his breathe on my face.

“Can’t you feel the pull? That feeling where you are wanting so bad to just kiss me.” His lips are just touching mine. Electricity instead of pain throws me off. My eyes widen and I pull back in surprise.

“That’s impossible.” I say my voice just above a whisper. I touch my hand to my lips. He cocks his head.

“What’s impossible sweetheart?” he ask wrapping his arms around me. I see a smile playing on his lips.

I push on his chest. “Let me go. “ I say letting my anger show. His grip tightens and he shakes his head.

“You can’t deny it can you? You feel it too.” His nose brushes against mine. I struggle but he’s too strong. I keep myself from growling and ripping his head off here and now.

“I don’t feel anything towards you. I barely even know you. Let me go. ” I say.

He smiles. “Prove it. Don’t kiss me back and I’ll let you go.” Before I have a chance to argue his lips are on mine. At first I’m struggling trying to get away, but my mind and body eventually have different ideas. To my absolute horror my eyes close and I start kissing him back. My mind is screaming at me telling me that this is not right. I feel his lips turn up into a smile. He pulls away and I open my eyes.

“No.” my voice is barely a whisper but it’s filled with horror.

He smiles and I see triumph in his eyes. “Yes.”

I glare at him. “I can never have done that unless you had put some sort of spell on me. You did something to me.”

He raises an eyebrow. “And why would I do that? I’m not evil.”

I laugh letting my act drop. “That’s funny. The devil, Satan, not evil.” I wipe a fake tear from my eye. I watch him slowly frown.

“Now, who told you that?” His voice is filled with confusion and I see skepticism start to form in his eyes.

I roll my eyes. “You can’t be this stupid. My memory is back no thanks to you. I came here to punch you not make out.”

This causes the opposite reaction. He smiles. “So Anne. How does it feel that you actually like that kiss then?”

I growl at him. “It’s because I’m now cursed. I would never have kissed you back otherwise. I hate you. I feel nothing towards you that would warrant me kissing you back.”

He grabs me and picks me up. I struggle. “Put me down!” He tightens his grip on me.

I notice that my sword is a bracelet on my wrist. I still try to get out of his grip but as we get deeper something inside me was giving up the fight. Telling me to give in. It gets stronger as we get deeper inside the cave and my attempts at struggling slowly weaken.

Tears form in my eyes feeling hopeless. I let them fall down my face. He sees the tears and gently wipes them away. “No need to cry my darling. This is a good thing. We will be perfect together. We were meant to be together.” He place a soft kiss on my head and I close my eyes giving up. More tears fall from my face as he continues walking deeper and deeper into the cave tunnels.

He gets to his chair and sits down keeping me in his arms. He sits me up and pulls me closer to him. I feel a flutter in chest but I ignore it keeping my eyes closed. He rests his head on top of mine and I feel the chair turn. I feel empty. I know that this feeling of electricity instead of pain is an illusion created by him. All I can think is how afraid West was. My heart aches just thinking about him.

Satan doesn’t say anything else. We just sit there with me crying until I have no more tears left to shed. I hear the voices of the demons talking softly and scream of the souls being tortured. After awhile I become exhausted and drift off to sleep.