4. Ministration

As the complexity of Aaron's situation becomes clearer, help is needed and it arrives in an unexpected form.

                Cory had smelled Aaron in his apartment before even entering, and while instinct brought his hair to stand on end, he did his best to play no reaction of surprise. He instead made a point to keep his eyes coolly locked in the larger man’s direction, making clear both his vigilance and control of the room. The eye contact alone naturally repelled him, and it took all his focus to appear threatening, but it seemed to work. Aaron drew back, and each time he looked in Cory’s direction an air of uneasiness broke through his expression. This was all the redhead needed to see.

                “I don’t know anything about this,” he replied to June’s questioning. “There’s a difference between a missing persons case and a person of interest in a serial killing. This isn’t an Amber alert; if they find out too much, this is the FBI.”

                She shot him a plaintive look. “We need George.”

                “George?” Aaron interjected.

                “His ‘mentor’,” she spat. “He brought us into this.”

                “Us?” Cory snipped, letting his eyes move to her for a moment. “This burden came to me. You chose this.”

                “I didn’t have any real choice.”

                “No, June.” He was almost yelling. “I didn’t have any choice. I literally died, J, and there’s no more purpose I can serve. I can kill s**t. That’s what I can do.”

                “It doesn’t matter right now. He did that to you, so he has to help us.”

                “He’s not,” Cory admitted, finally cracking. “I haven’t heard from him in months, alright? Nothing.”

                The expression was wiped off June’s face. “What?”

                “I worked on my own to find you. Samantha showed up and exorcised him,” He gestured to Aaron, sitting confused on the couch. “George never answered my calls. He sent Sam, I assume, but I haven’t heard anything.”

                Her brows drew closer in worry. “You said he was going to teach you.”

                “Honestly?” He sighed. “I think he tried. He told me that no one ever taught him anything and that he resented it, and he wanted it to be different for me. Yet here I am with my thumb in my a*s, and here you are sitting in my apartment with your rapist.”

                Her tone dropped. “Shut the f**k up.” Aaron was visibly a bit staggered. Though Cory hadn’t said anything untrue, neither of them wanted to take that step back and look at the situation in that light, and that particular word hadn’t been spoken out loud until now.

                Cory’s gaze shot between the two of them. “You can’t numb this out. It happened. You can’t fix this weird-a*s fantasy kind of s**t.” His voice cracked slightly. “Believe me, I’ve tried.” There was silence, until out of nowhere his head snapped to the door in a fraction of a second, his odd silver eyes wide and alert. Before either of the others could question, there was a knock at the door. Cory slid to the door quickly and quietly. He caught June’s eye and gestured to a potted carnation by the window that had been drooping and beginning to wilt just moments ago. It was slowly straightening, the yellow color rejuvenating in its leaves. Glancing through the peephole to confirm his suspicion, Cory carefully opened the front door. There stood a brunette woman of average height with fair skin and freckles, with a green bandana folded into a band wrapped around the front of long, wavy brunette hair. Her appearance stirred a vague memory in Aaron’s subconscious, but he couldn’t place who she was. She threw her arms out to her sides as if to say “well, here I am”.

                “What, he sent you again?” Cory hissed.

                “I received an address,” she replied with a slightly coy smile. Her voice was light and airy, and her accent Irish.

                “I never gave him an address.”

                “Oh,” She tilted her head down and clicked her tongue, keeping her grin. “He wouldn’t have needed it.”

                “I’ve been calling him for months. Where the hell is he?”

                “I’m sorry.” She looked up at him and exchanged her sarcastic expression for a genuine one. “I don’t know.”

                He swallowed and his stern and demanding tone wavered. “Is he alive?”

                She sighed. “I’m afraid I don’t know that either.”

                “What the hell?” He threw the door, but she caught it before it could come close to closing. “You should know,” he seethed. “You, of all people, should know.”

                She nodded. “And you can believe it kills me. Now, Christ’s sake, can I come in?” She didn’t wait for an answer, and pushed the door aside. She saw Aaron on the couch and stopped. “Aye, right, you’ve got a bad dose of it now, haven’t you?”

                “Sorry?” Aaron replied, having been completely confused for several minutes.

                She chuckled. “Didn’t expect to see you here, but I’m sure you’re in a fix.”

                He ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, a bit, I think. Sorry, have we met?”

                She extended her hand. “I’m Sam. I’ve met you, but you were out of sorts, to say the least. He wouldn’t have left you awake for any of that.”

                He stood up, formally, and shook her hand, but remained confused. “I’m Aaron. What do you mean, exactly?”

                “I don’t know how often Gelert allowed you to be awake and aware while you were possessed, but he would have blacked you out as soon as things went south.” She grinned, leaned in, and gestured to herself. “I’m the south. You’re lucky that I showed up, though; Cory was ready to kill you. And you’re lucky that I could get you out of it alive. It doesn’t always go that way. For a while there, I didn’t think you were going to make it.”

                His eyes widened slightly. “You’re the one who got that thing out of me.”

                “I did.”

                Aaron shook her hand again, firmly. “Thank you. I can’t-“ His breath caught in his throat. “I’m not sure I wanted to make it, but thank you.”

                Sam’s gaze moved to June. “How are you?”

                “I can handle myself,” June griped. “Despite what your friend seems to think.”

                Sam sighed and took a seat. “You have to understand, this life is relentlessly dangerous. Having anyone you love around doesn’t end well. He’s trying to protect you, June.”

                “Protect me from what?” June exasperated. “From him?” She threw her arm out to gesture to Cory, looming in the corner.

                “Yeah, J, from me,” he retorted. “Because of what he did to me.”

                “To protect you from the life he leads,” Sam continued. “Listen, June, you don’t understand how alike we are, you and I. You and Cory are living what George and I lived a long time ago, to the tee. I followed him, June, just like you did, because he was my best friend. He came to say goodbye to me " this is why he wouldn’t let you do it, Cory " and I told him he wouldn’t last on his own. It was four in the morning, I was fourteen, and I packed my things and left with him. We were on milk cartons for decades.”

                “Decades?” June interjected. “When the hell was this?”

                Sam smiled, almost wincing at the same time. “When was JFK elected?”

                “F**k,” Aaron blurted unintentionally. Realizing he’d spoken aloud, he apologized.

                “The point is, I only lasted 20 years, and it was pretty much miserable. You have no idea how many times I’ve been kidnapped, tortured, the whole nine yards.”

                June rubbed her temples, agitated. “What the f**k do you mean you only lasted 20 years?”

                The freckled woman closed her eyes and sighed again. She lifted her hands to her head and pulled away her bandana to reveal what looked to be small goat horns atop her head. “For 20 years I traveled with him, and then I took a knife through the chest. I was in the ground for fifteen more. I missed…” She laughed, exasperated - “…The entire 80’s. I’m not human anymore. It’s by chance I came back, and I shouldn’t have.”

                “And what, exactly, are you?” Cory asked sternly.

                “It’s been called a dryad, or nymph,” Sam shrugged. “I sort of learned as I went along. There are very specific conditions, apparently; a seed has to fall naturally, within a week, onto the burial of a virgin who was both born in the spring and died in the spring, et cetera. I was dead in the ground, and I came out of an oak tree fifteen years later. Who knows?”

                The rest of the room remained in dumbfounded silence. After about a full minute, Aaron broke the silence with, “This is a literal children’s book. I’m in a children’s book.”

                “You get used to it,” Cory commented absently. “You’ll never laugh at a f*****g Dracula joke again.” He turned back to Sam and gestured to the carnation, which was now about four inches taller by the stem and blooming twice as openly, with two more sprouts beginning to appear in the soil beside it. “So that has something to do with this, then?”

                Sam nodded, and abruptly some realization washed over June, suddenly lifting her expression. She hopped up from the couch and ran down a set of basement stairs. Cory furrowed his brow, but then seemed to suddenly understand. He rolled his eyes and breathed a swear, rubbing his face in exasperation with one hand. After a few seconds, she came running back up with an incredibly satisfied look on her face and returned to the same spot on the couch.

                “I am absolutely in favor of you being here,” June said to Sam with an ear-to-ear grin.

                “…Alright,” Sam replied after a confused pause, then turned to the others in the room. “Now, what exactly do you need?”

                

Author's Note

Your comments are what keep me writing, please let me know any thoughts you have

Reviews

[DB Heinemann]

The plot thickens! I like how I was mostly just wondering about Cory but now I'm wondering about Sam and George. Just when I think I almost got it raveled, more questions pop up.

Nitpicking again, sorry. But "Her voice was light and airy, and her accent Irish." might flow just a smidge better as "Her voice was light and airy with a (heavy/light) Irish accent" or "She had a (light/heavy) Irish accent that made her voice light and airy". Something to that effect.

Also, near the end when Aaron thanks Sam for saving him, I found it odd she just ignored Aaron both thanking her graciously and implying he didn't deserve it and moved on to June. Perhaps a small smile of some sort acknowledging and showing how she feels about the situation, at least. Be it warm or awkward. Maybe some encouraging words if you really want to go there. Just feels a bit abrupt is all.

Also,
WHAT IS IN JUNE'S BASEMENT? It's weed, isn't it? It totally is.

Other than that, very enthralling. Can't wait for the next chapter! Let me know when it comes out!

[MedicalNightmare]

( it totally is )
I'm glad that one came across, I knew someone would know what was up haha

[DB Heinemann]

I live in California. I know what's up.
It helped lighten the mood of the story, too. Very enjoyable.
Just a thought, maybe later in the book, you could add another flashback before June got possessed with her getting frustrated in her basement that her plants are dying and maybe she goes to a bar to destress where Aaron get possessed and they meet and OMYGOODNESS FULL CIRCLE. Just for the people who wouldn't get it or to confirm suspicions fully.

[Rebecca Church]

OOh~~ I do love this. The stuff keeps going and getting deeper.. I can't wait to read the rest. (I'm sorry this isn't as much as i've said before but internet and everything else is shitt)