“He is not going to take this story, Darren.” Chantel huffed.
Darren and she headed over to Crystal Park.
Snow covered the ground as it was the first snowfall of the season. The two friends were walking down the sidewalk on the way to Crystal Park after the bus dropped them off. Winds blew lightly. Darren held his winter jacket tightly for warmth as Chantel did the same. He saw her fixing her black cat hat, which Darren teased her about when they met up earlier.
They chatted on their way to the park on topics from their daily lives to serious topics, such as the Rise of Light issues. Darren decided it was time to tell Chantel something important about ending the communication with the group.
“We need to stop communicating with the Rise of Light.” Darren warned her.
“Why? They are the ones who are helping us.” Chantel licked her chapped lips and stopped walking for a moment.
“Listen, I know it sounds strange, but I went back to Underwood to meet Amelia and Toby. I have been warned by some spirits we’re in danger.” He looked back at her, stopping in place.
“Spirits? Haha, they probably are playing a prank on you.” Chantel laughed.
Darren lowered his brows, which prompted her to stop laughing.
“Wait, so they are serious? Like who the hell these spirits are?”
“My brother’s old band mates, Jasper and Millie. They were the ones behind the haunting that the band has been dealing with. I don’t know everything they want completely, J-ia. But all of us need to stop communicating with the Rise of Light now as of tonight!” Darren told Chantel.
Rubbing her chin, she said, “So, let me get this straight: You contacted Mark’s deceased band mates and they are telling us that we’re in danger?”
Darren nodded to confirm everything that she said was right.
“This is just madness, D!” Chantel exclaimed.
Darren crossed his arms and huffed, “What’s even more madness is that Rose woman….”
He continued to talk more about Lily, now known as Rose and how she was running around impersonating the Apple Queens under the guise of “protection.” Chantel flinched when Darren told her this, and even she responded to this in the same rage as he did. The two continued back, walking again to Crystal Park again. Darren eventually gets Chantel to agree to stop communicating with the Rise of Light. They will deal with the other issue, with Rose relating to Leticia at a later date.
When they finally arrived at Crystal Park, they saw Jesse sitting on one of the green benches near the basketball court. The two went up to Jesse, who is wearing a big, light green jacket and a navy blue winter cap with their high school logo on it. Jesse scooted over to make room for them to sit on the bench. The three friends sat down in silence, not saying a word until Jesse opened his mouth.
“What have you two been up to?” Jesse asked.
Darren felt chills over his body, then stared at Chantel and she lied, “We’re working on a music collaboration project together. How about you?”
“Just working at my family’s restaurant business as usual. Business has been going well, except that we’re getting vandalized. I think my bike has been broken by some kids like, at least, three times.” Jesse talked to them in a melancholy voice.
Darren straightened up as he tried to lighten the mood, “Well, damn those crazy kids. They are jerks. Don’t worry.”
The group went silent once again. Darren can feel his energy rising, while he holds his fingers together to try to play things cool with Jesse. He wonders if his friend's complaints were leading into something. As Jesse talked more and more about odd things that have been happening for the past couple months, the events that happened to him ranged somewhere from harmless to almost getting him killed. Darren’s attention focused more when Jesse mentioned his sister, Olive.
“Yeah, your sister came over to my mom’s restaurant. She told me it was better for me to dump you two as friends. I don’t know, she went on saying some messed up things, saying that you two were doing ‘better things’ and how I probably should’ve died in that fire in Bay Side.” Jesse stretched his arms and continued, “Yeah, she warned me that the two of you aren’t who I thought you are and you are going back to your ‘rightful’ place. Then she left with three people. The whole place exploded with food everywhere.”
From what Darren knew from his friend's story, he put two and two together and realized Olive and maybe some Rise of Light members have been harassing Jesse! As Jesse finished his story, Chantel jumped up from the bench, grabbing Darren's arm to get up.
“Okay, Darren. This is enough! We’re telling Jesse now! I can’t hide this anymore! These people are hurting him!” Chantel cried.
Jesse’s eyes blinked at the two of them, “Hiding what? What people?!”
“Nothing….” Darren looks at the clock on his phone and it is almost close to the time he needed to go see Mark. “I have to go, Jess. I’ll tell you later…” Darren wanted to head out as fast as possible until his friend got up to grab his arm.
Jesse pulled Darren hard, so he won’t get away, “No! You’re going to stay here and tell me! Stop making excuses, Darren!”
“Jesse, Darren… Calm down.” Chantel said.
His voice rose more, then pointed at her, “You don’t tell me to calm down! You guys are hiding something from me! We’re supposed to be friends! Friends don’t do this to each other! So, you’re not leaving, unless you tell me what’s going on!”
Darren tried to pull out of Jesse’s grasp. He wanted to say he was not telling to his friend anything in order to protect him. Maybe he can talk to Mark or handle Olive personally himself to keep Jesse safe. Jesse did not need to know about this! Too many people already involved in this, and the last thing he needs is his Outsider best friend to get himself killed by knowing about this!
Darren continued arguing with Jesse with Chantel trying to diffuse the argument. He pulled and pulled until his friend and him ended up on the ground! In the first time in his life. Jesse and he threw fists at each other, though Jesse threw the first punch at his mouth, hard. Darren’s mouth bled out as he aimed at Jesse’s eyes. The two of them continued to throw punches, which Chantel watched on, pleading for them to stop.
It started with punches and kicks, then it went to wrestling each other. As Darren’s anger continued to rise, his aura changed once again. Same black cloud covered him once again as he got Jesse on the ground once again. This time, Darren had his hands around Jesse’s neck!
“Darren! Stop!” Chantel screamed frantically, bolting over to the two boys, attempting to pull them apart .
But Darren didn’t care. He pulled his fist up that had a black cloud around it, attempting to punch Jesse again. However, someone knocked him out before he could do it! He felt his body being pushed all the way to the ground. The weird aura energy stopped and his anger faded away.
Just before Darren could close his eyes, he saw the blond-haired vampire lady that met at the alley nights ago. He faded into unconsciousness, continuing to lie down on the ground.
-----
The mage woke up about an hour later with white bandages over his head. Darren's head hurt as he realized he was sitting up near a tree. He looked around to see he was in an area of the park where people don’t even come around.
"Who brought him here? Where were Chantel and Jesse?"
As his thoughts made his head spin, Darren blinked his eyes once again to see the same blond-haired vampire lady wearing a white, tattered uniform, resembling a nurse outfit tending to Jesse. Chantel is near her as the vampire lady treated his wounds, and it seemed Chantel is helping her by using her powers well. Darren got up and hobbled over to the vampire lady and his friend.
Observing the vampire lady cleaning up Jesse’s wounds, he heard the lady mumbling to herself, “Foolish humans. Pointlessly fighting…”
She was bandaging Jesse’s eye, while continuing to complain about humans. Darren looked at Jesse’s black and blue eye where he punched at, feeling guilt for fighting with his friend. Soon, the vampire lady stood up, then coldly glared at him, “So, you must be the reckless Mage, Darren Cross?”
Darren blinked when she knew of his name, “How do you know my name?”
The vampire lady licked her lips, showing her fangs for a second, and put her hands on her hips, “The name’s Mariuem. I know your name because of your father, Cain Kestrel. He is your father, right?”
Darren shook at the thought of his father hanging with a vampire. He ended up getting thoughts of his father’s grand plan to use vampires to destroy the Mage society. Backing away from Mariuem, Darren wished he had brought his wooden stake with him. Marieum did not seem to care about him as she turned her attention back to Jesse and Chantel. Darren tensed up again, watching her moving closer to his friends.
So, he brought his wand out, which made her stop in her tracks.
“Don’t you dare touch my friends, you blood sucking monster!” Darren yelled at her.
“I am saving your friends after that foolish fight the two of you had, you simple-minded, little boy!” Mariuem commented. “Besides, I have other sources on getting my fix, but keep on being hostile to me, I’ll reconsider that!”
Darren withdrew his wand, but still kept his guard up. He watched Jesse wake up from his slumber. Just before Jesse sat himself up, Chantel went over to the two boys, then brushed both of them upside their heads. Both Jesse and he saw the tears running down her face from her eyes.
“You two are so stupid! Both of you could’ve gotten killed!” Chantel scolded the both of them then pointed to Darren, “and you, I told you we needed to tell Jesse! What the hell is wrong with you?! Almost using your powers on him?!”
When Chantel gets angry, Darren knew it meant she was not playing. She is right. He could have killed Jesse, but the problem was, he did not know how to control this power to not hurt people. This is the third time he has done this, and he never meant to hurt Jesse like he did. Darren looked at his phone to see a text from Mark, telling him they will meet another time.
He missed his meeting with Mark. Brushing off the thought about ditching Mark, Darren cared about the well-bring of his friends more and also wanted to know what’s the deal with this rude, vampire lady. He decided the best thing that he can do right now is to confess. So, it was time to face the music.
Over the next hour, Darren and Chantel explained the entire story from The Hexes and Bay Side Square to the Rise of Light issue. He watched Jesse’s face change from disbelief to shock.
As Darren expected, this is too much for Jesse.
“So, let me get this straight: Both of you have powers and this weird group called the Rise of Light is contacting you and we’re being haunted by ghosts…?” Jesse tried to rephrase what Chantel, and he had told him.
Darren and Chantel nodded.
“So, this whole Bay Side thing was a coverup? The town really did lied about what really happened. Jeez, D, and you’re the only one that remembered what really happened?” Jesse continued on and rubbed his head.
“Yeah. I had to keep quiet, or they would’ve kicked my family out of town. I wanted to tell both of you sooner…” Darren did not know what to say other than he felt some weight lifted off of his shoulders.
For too long, he was told to keep this all a secret, but this same secret was killing his friendships.
“I’m sorry, D. I just felt left out. I just didn’t know it was something crazy going on. Let’s not fight like this again.” Jesse said.
“I’m sorry too. We wanted to tell you, but we didn’t know when it would be the right time.” Chantel held Jesse’s hand, sighing in relief.
“Sorry…” Darren went over and sat next to Jesse too. “We’re friends and we should’ve told you first. Also, sorry I almost got you killed.” Darren looked up at the night sky to see the stars and realized how late it is.
Mariuem walked away from the group until Chantel shouted, “Hey and where do you think you're going?!”
“I AM going home. Just try not to draw more blood next time or I may not be able to help feast but on you!” Marieum turned her head back to look at Darren. “You will be seeing me again, Darren Cross. You need to work on that magic control of yours.”
With that, she melded into the darkness of the woods to where the three of them could no longer see her. Chantel, Darren, and Jesse took the shortest route out of the park to avoid being caught by the police, since the group could not be in the park after dusk. The three friends went back home with Jesse promising to keep their secret. Darren kept his promise to keep them safe, at all costs. Thankfully, being a Supernatural did not kill his friendship with Jesse.
Their friendship is a lot stronger than that. Maybe Outsiders and Supernaturals can get along.
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