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The Second Time Around Ch. 01

By: cassandraharper



"Stop doing that!" he yelled, walking behind her to snatch up the clothing she was steadily throwing out of his bag that he had left packed on their bed.

"You're not leaving," she gritted out through clenched teeth as more tears streamed down her lovely chestnut brown colored cheeks.

"Brigitte, get out of my way."

"No!" she screamed, holding up his bag and emptying the rest of it's contents on their bedroom floor. "You're not leaving me!"

"Damn it, Brigitte, I don't have time for this!"

"Why are you doing this to us?" she asked as her eyes clouded over wth fresh tears.

"Because I don't love you anymore," he choked out, feeling his throat painfully constrict as he uttered the lie.

"Caid, look at me and tell me that you don't love me anymore."

He huffed instead, snatching his bag out of her hand to jam his haphazard clothes inside. He zipped it shut, turning to walk away from her until she grabbed his bicep, pulling him back towards her.

"You can't say it, can you? You know why? Because you're a damn liar!"

"I don't have time for this, now either you move or I make you do it!" he threatened, taking a menacing step towards her. She took two more expectantly waiting for him to force her out of the way.

"Caid."

"Don't you see that I don't love you? I haven't for some time now and we'll be fooling ourselves into thinking that this relationship was actually going somewhere. It's over," Caid said holding his liquid gold eyes with her own dark browns. Her lips trembled and he almost lost his resolve.

"You don't love me?" Brigitte weakly asked, inching closer until her breasts were making contact with the front of his chest.

"No." Their eyes remained connected for what seemed like an eternity before she lifted herself on tiptoes to kiss him. He responded, in spite of himself, gripping firmly onto her full hips while she wrapped one arm about his neck and used her free hand to push his sandy brown hair out of his face. She always loved his hair, especially when he had decided to fit into the stereotypical cliché of the lone, working artist who also happened to be a rebel to society.

Her long, slender fingers had been occupied many nights, stroking his long, silky strands as he surged deeply inside of her while telling her how much he couldn't live without her. How would he forget all of this? How would he be able to erase the taste of her now that she was forcing him to have one final sample of her before walking out on her for the rest of her life?

This wasn't what he had planned at all. 

According to how he had pictured it, today was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. He would have taken her to a five star restaurant to celebrate her twenty-sixth birthday, accompany her back home for the hand-made, chocolate and raspberry birthday cake he had spent weeks practicing how to bake just to surprise her; and just before they would turn in for the night, he had planned on surprising her with the five carat, white diamond ring with the matching locket, filled with their picture, that he had saved up for almost six months to purchase for her.

Instead, he was breaking her heart, more like ripping it out, in order to keep her safe and away from the vindictive, dirty hands of his malicious parents. Brigitte was his all and they were taking her away from him. She had been there for him a year ago when his older brother, and best friend, had died from brain cancer. She had answered her door or her phone when he needed her to because his nights felt too lonely and cold.

She had accepted him with open arms without asking questions, especially when he would shower her with gifts that she knew that he shouldn't be able to afford because he was a struggling sculptor. All the while, he kept parts of his personal life private: like how his parents were one of the wealthiest people in the state of New York, how they had manipulated him and his brother their entire lives and he'd ran away to Philadelphia to escape from it all. Neither did he tell her that they cut him off because of his rebellion nor that they were now threatening to ruin her life if he didn't lose all contact with her.

And that he couldn't do to her. His Brigitte had no family, no people she found worthy enough to call friends, and being a waitress in a grimey diner didn't earn her much money either. If only he was financially stable, then he would have been able to tell his parents to screw themselves and not worry about the fact that his mother had bought the entire neighborhood complex and was threatening to evict everyone to demolish it and build a shopping center or that his father was willing to pull strings to leave her legally broke and homeless. Or worse, missing if his son refused to comply.

No, he loved her too much to do that to her, but damn it all to hell if it wasn't hurting...more like killing him inside to see her this way. His Brigitte was a gentle woman. She didn't know how to be angry or how to hate. All she ever did was love even when others hurt her and he had promised himself that he wouldn't be one of those people, yet here he was shoving her away from him, making her stumble and fall to the ground and cling to his leg as he dragged her fighting body with him towards the door. 

"Caid, please, I know that--"

"When will you get it through that thick head of yours that its over?! Did you really expect for me to bring home some poor, black girl to my parents?" That broke his heart to say and apparently hers as well from the pained cry she released as she disentangled herself from his appendage. He wanted to tell her that she should know better. That he could give a rats ass what color she was or how much money she had. She had been his only light of sunshine since his move to Philly two and a half years before. If she hadn't looked behind his façade of nonchalance and found that all he really needed was a friend, they wouldn't have connected so much or become so attracted to each other that it felt like an eternity when they separated for the briefest of moments.

No, he didn't correct himself. Instead, he watched her ball her long legs up into her chest and heave sorrowful tears onto her knees as she wrapped her arms around them to console herself. Instead, he pressed on, fighting against the severe urge to vomit the black coffee he had drank, to gain courage, before storming into their home to tell her these lies. "I mean, look at this place! I can't do this anymore. It was a mistake for this to even happen and I don't know what I was thinking. It was fun while it lasted, Brigitte, but you need to get over it. You're a big girl now."

His legs felt like lead as he drug them to the door away from her. "Why?" she asked through the sea of tears. "Why!" she shouted when he refused to respond, only slamming the door behind him to rush down the steps of their first floor apartment, catching himself before he smashed his face on the black and white tile floors when his tears blocked his vision and he tripped.

He was crying. Even harder than the day of his brother's funeral. It hurt. His heart was aching and shattered, but that was nothing in comparison to the destruction he had caused Brigitte, on her day of birth, of all days. Now she would detest the day that she was born because it would forever be a reminder of what he had done.

He had to stop, dropping his bag once outside to grip his aching stomach. He literally felt violently ill and ready to pass out from it all. He stayed hunched over, not caring whether or not the other pedestrians regarded him strangely as he cried his heart out until he couldn't breathe. Then, before he could change his mind and run back up those stairs to throw his arms around her and tell her that he was full of shit, he snatched up his bag, found his way to his car, and began to drive as far away as possible. Away from the only woman he had ever and would ever love.

He drove until the shabby apartments turned into small businesses then modern houses, tears still impeding his vision. He wiped his eyes clear in time to find a frightened mother snatching up her toddler who was running into the street after his red ball. Swerving wildy to the left to avoid them, he ran the red light, unable to stop his car from careening into another.

Its funny how everything goes in slow motion the moment your life is about to end. Caid felt himself ascend then as if in some awkward, low budget Lifetime movie, he watched as the stunned mother clutched her toddler close to her chest while her eyes and her mouth gaped open at the scene transpiring before her.

If you've ever had an out of body experience, maybe it wouldn't be weird for you to witness your own death, but Caid watched helplessly as his car hydroplaned into the air after colliding with a black Cadillac Escalade before slamming down three times as it rolled over and over until coming to a complete stop. The impact was so great that even the Escalade had severe damage, that he didn't know a 2001 Chevy Equinox could cause, as it flipped over into a ditch and laid upside down while frantic bystanders rushed to call for help and emergency vehicles.

He felt his body descending closer to the scene of the accident then he was there, standing right before himself as a bloodly, mangled arm fought against weakness to pull the ring and locket out of his stained and glass torned, Spring jacket. He watched himself weeze for breathe, fighting to take one last glance of his love to ingrain her features into his mind for eternity, so that when he was burning in hell, he would find some semblance of peace.

His golden eyes rested on her smile, so adorable and full of light that even if you were having a horrible day before, she would brighten it for you. His hands tangled into her thick, straight black hair as she smiled up at him, would be the last memory he had of her. His Brigitte.

Squeezing the locket and the ring in his blood covered hand, Caid saw the light slowly fade out of his eyes as he gasped his final breath while choking on his own blood. "Brigitte," would be the last word that would ever slip from his thin, pale lips. And with his final ounce of energy gone, his arm fell limply out the window, still clutching onto his final treasure. He was gone. He watched himself die with the blaring of sirens to welcome his exit.

Caid turned as the cars literally drove through him to the scene of the accident. They had to turn both cars over in order to get to the victims and he saw as one of the firemen used the "Jaws of Life" to cut the top off of his car to reach him. However, by then they realized that it was far too late, hoisting his lifeless body onto the gurney to load him in the first ambulance while the second team of paramedics worked frantically to resuscitate the man in the other vehicle.

After getting a faint heartbeat, he too was loaded into an ambulance then rushed off to the nearest hospital. For some reason, when you die or have near death experiences, they say that you see a bright white light calling you to go home. Well, he saw no lights save for the flourescent bulbs of the hospital lights as he followed his own body to the hospital morgue. To him, time seemed to stand still though everyone about him moved in fast pace. He was merely an invisible onlooker who had no say so in what he was doing or where he was going.

He should have been wondering why he was still stuck on Earth. Maybe he would become a restless spirit for the rest of eternity, but his thoughts were easily forgotten as he watched the arrival of his parents, witnessed his father clutching his heart at the news that his only son (being that his older brother had already died) was now dead, and actually smiled when his mother fainted. Even though it involved his death, Caid knew that they deserved this punishment for all of the wrongs that they had committed.

His smile turned into a light chuckle which upgraded to outright laughter as he held his stomach to contain it all: the irony, the animosity, the anguish; he was so through with it all that he preferred to laugh about it than reason it out.

"Have you ended your fun yet?"

The laughter stopped. He straightened himself, turning cautiously to the voice. A voice that disappeared the same day that his brother died. Their eyes met, his filled with confusion, his brother's filled with amusement.

"Corey?"

"That's me, little bro. What are you doing here?" he asked, placing a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder.

"What does it look like? I'm dead. Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"No," Corey told him, shaking his head. It was uncanny how he looked exactly the same as he had the last day he had seen him in the hospital alive, only healthier and much happier. "Not dead, Caid, only in limbo."

"What? What are you talking about not dead? I just saw the doctor tell Mom and Dad that I'm dead. Look at my clothes, they're covered in holes and blood," he pointed out, even holding up his tattered t-shirt for his brother to inspect.

Corey laughed still shaking his head, "I'm glad to see that you're still the same."

"What are you doing here, Corey? Is this heaven? Am I in heaven?"

Corey laughed again, wrapping an arm about his brother's shoulder to turn him towards The Light. It was beautiful, peaceful, and beckoning to him. His body was ready to gravitate to it, but his brother placed a firm hand on his chest and shook his head once more. "Caid, today is not your time. I came because I was sent to tell you to go back. You don't belong here...at least not yet."

"But, I don't understand."

"Go back, Caid, I'll be waiting for you when you return." With that said, Corey gave him a hug then gently pushed him away, watching his body fall down until it disappeared.

Everything disappeared. The Light, his brother, the hospital, then it all turned black as if he was being swallowed in by darkness. And just when he was about to suffocate, his brother's hand reached out and gave him one more push and with a painful grunt, Caid felt himself land hard.

"Doctor! Someone call the doctor! He's finally awake."

The voices echoed, bouncing around painfully in his head as he squinted his eyes against the brightness of the light.

"Adriano!"

His eyes shifted as he took in the beautiful woman hovering above him. She was obviously the motherly type, looking down at him in shock and disbelief, but there was no hiding the love in her eyes as she continued to call out to him and gently laid her hand on his face as her blacker than night hair fell forward to shadow her bluish grey eyes.

"I'm so happy that you're awake, Adriano. We were all so worried. Don't you worry, Mamma's gonna take great care of you," she promisedwith the hint of an Italian accent, squeezing his hand tightly and caressing his cheek reassuringly as it all faded back to black.

The Second Time Around Ch. 02



"Mamma! Mamma, get up, he's awake again!"

A new voice. Not like the soft, husky one he had heard moments ago. This one was light and the owner was just as beautiful as it sounded. Grey eyes clouded his vision before it was replaced and he recognized the older woman from before. She was crying and kissing him, touching him and squeezing his hand. Then suddenly a legion of doctors entered the room and he was being poked and prodded like a lab rat.

"What is going on? Is he ok?"

"Why are you putting those flashlights in his face? Can't you see that they're hurting him? Mamma, tell them to leave."

"Gina, calm down!"

"No!" Gina stated unable to control her wavering emotions. "I won't calm down! Why the hell do we need all of these doctors? Some of you get the hell out!"

Everyone stopped moving, the swarm of doctors turned in Gina's direction and before one of them could speak, a new voice was heard in the distance. "We only need one, maybe two doctors tops. The rest may go."

His voice commanded respect and before he knew it, Caid watched as the fifty or so other doctors ambled out of his room, leaving only two behind. "Dante, what the hell took you so long?"

"Ginevra!" her mother warned, telling her daughter to cool her temper and to watch her language.

"Sorry, Mamma."

"I'm sorry that I'm late, I had to get Ilenia, that bitch Susan--"

"What did I just say to Gina?!"

"Sorry, Mamma."

"Excuse me," one of the doctors interrupted, getting the attention of the trio. "Could I possibly ask you all to step outside? We're going to do a quick check-up and don't want to cause any...discomfort to Mr. Comito."

"A quick check-up?" Gina asked, flashing her black hair behind her shoulders. "Our brother has been in a coma for a year and you're telling us that you're going to do a quick check-up? I expect an MRI, brain scans, blood tests--the whole damn works! Got that!" She demanded, throwing her hands on her hips as her brother snatched her towards the door. Gina was not one to hold her tongue for anybody, especially when it involved her baby brother or when she was emotionally upset. As of that moment, both were the case.

"I'm sorry about my daughter's behavior, however; I would still like for a full body assessment. Will that be possible?" Caid heard Mamma ask. He had tried to sit up, but for some reason his body wasn't listening to him. It felt heavy and lethargic. But hearing Gina say that he had been out cold for a year made him rethink it all. Somehow, to him, it had felt as if ten minutes had passed between his accident, arriving at the hospital, talking to his brother, then waking back up. How in the world could a year have been gone?

Furthermore, if it had truly been a year, what had happened to Brigitte? He needed to find her. He wanted to know that she was all right. He had to see her.

"What's happening?" Mamma asked when the heart monitor began to skyrocket. Adriano's body was convulsing and one of the doctors, the shorter of the two, was screaming for nurses to come in and help him hold him down.

"Mrs. Comito, I need for you and your family to wait in the lounge. We'll be right with you," the other doctor said instead of handing out an explanation. He ushered her out the door towards her two awaiting children then closed it as politely as possible before rushing back to work.

"Oh mio dio!"

"Mamma, it will be alright," Dante tried assuring her while he watched his sister cradle their niece, Adriano's daughter, Ilenia. She was crying and asking if God was punishing her for being a bad girl by taking away her daddy. On the day of the accident, Ilenia had said things that she hadn't meant to her father because he had been mean to her mother. She couldn't understand why they hated each other so much. And all she really wanted them to do was to be happy the way they had once been.

"Ti prego, non piangere," Gina cooed to her niece as she rocked the seven year old back and forth. "Papa will be alright. Didn't I tell you that he would wake up? Don't worry. God has sent him back to us. We should stay positive." 

She nodded her head, watching her grandmother do the same then make the sign of the cross as she offered up a prayer of thanks. All that was left to do was wait and wait and wait, until they felt as if their heads would explode if they didn't get any information. No news was not always good news.

"Papa's going to die again!" Ilenia cried, after waiting what felt like years to her, holding her head back as tears swam down her little face.

"Don't say that," Dante told her, scooping her up in his arms to hold her against his chest. He couldn't fault the little girl, she was only being honest with herself, but her words had sent a cold shiver down his spine. There was no way that he was losing his baby brother. How would he go on if that were to happen? He had been there when Adriano had spoken his first words and he had been there when he had taken his first steps. He was his brothers' keeper.

But after occupying the hospital for nearly fourteen hours with no results, it was quite hard to keep hope alive.

A sea of black hair turned towards the door when a firm voice cleared itself into the room. They froze in expectation, uncertain as to whether they should be expecting good news or the worst. "Doctor?" Gina asked, stepping forward with shaky feet. He was going to say what she had been having nightmares about for the entire year: that Adriano didn't make it. He had given up. He was gone.

"Mr. Comito is..."

"Is what?!" Gina demanded practically ready to pull her hair out.

"He is fine. All tests came back in the negative, however--"

"If you don't stop with all of these dramatic pauses and give us some damn answers," Dante threatened, covering his niece's ears so that she wouldn't hear him swearing.

"Our brain scans show that Mr. Comito's brain has healed from the accident; however, due to the amount of scar tissue, he seems to be suffering from retrograde amnesia."

"What?" the two siblings asked in disbelief as their mother slumped to the waiting room floor.

"He has no recollection of who he is, what he does, his prior life experiences...the only memory his mind still contains is of the accident."

"How is this possible?" Gina asked unable to cope with the fact that their brother would never be able to retrieve a piece of his past...their past ever again.

"Does this mean that he will never remember anything?" Dante asked, steadily consoling his crying mother.

"No, unlike anterograde amnesia, where there is complete loss of short term memory, Mr. Comito will be able to construct new memories. There is a slight possibility that his memories will one day return, however; from what we can see from our tests, that may never happen."

"Oh Dio!" Gina whispered, covering her mouth with her hand as she shook her head.

"What matters is that he is still alive and as long as he can make new memories, we should be thankful," Dante told them. "Do not cry, we do not want him to see us this way."

His mother and sister nodded their heads in agreement as they took several minutes to compose themselves before giving the doctor their attention.

"Tell us what we will need to do and we'll get it done."

"He will need physical therapy to retrain his body how to normally function...after all, it's been a year since his neurotransmitters have had to do any type of work. His speech and thought are a hundred percent. Aside from his memory, Mr. Comito will return to a hundred percent after his therapy."

"Can we see him?" Gina asked, needing reassurance that he was truly awake and wouldn't slip away from them again.

"Yes. His heart rate is stable and the nurses have been preparing him for company. I'll lead the way." They walked in silence until their doctor abruptly stopped footsteps away from the door. The doctor waited for a nod of approval before he slowly opened Adriano's room door.

He was propped up in bed staring at the white walls when they entered. He regarded them curiously as they entered, questioning their presence with his eyes although his lips had yet to move.

"Mr. Comito, you may not remember them, but this is your family," the doctor told him, watching him intently for any signs of distress. "Do you remember these people?"

Caid didn't reply, perhaps he should have since they were all looking at him expectantly, but he felt like a deer in headlights; as if at any moment, one of them would point a finger at him and call him an imposter. He wasn't this Comito guy and didn't know squat about him even though the name did sound vaguely familiar.

"Adriano?" the doctor called, breaking him out of his thoughts.

That name, he'd have to get used to being called by it until he got some answers. The first would be why he was in another person's body. The second would be where he could find Brigitte. "Yes?" he heard his voice croak. To his surprise there was an accent. A slight, seductive accent that he didn't recognize.

"Do you recognize anyone here in this room?" Caid scanned his eyes over the Comito family. That beautiful woman was there again this time holding on tightly to a dark haired man whom he could only assume was her son. They all had the "Comito genes" he assumed. Especially with the familiar wavy black hair, blue, grey or even bluish grey eyes peering back at him. They all had a prominent butt chin with an oval shaped face and high cheek bones. There was no way that they could deny ever being related. Not even the little girl hugging onto one of the men. She was definitely a Comito.

"Mamma," he said unconsciously and watched as the angel with the bluish-grey eyes clamped a hand over her mouth before hurrying to his bedside. He didn't know her name except he had heard them call her that enough to know that she was the family's matriarch.

"Mio figlio," she greeted, running her soft palm against his cheek.

Caid was not used to this: the love of a mother. His own mother had left him and Corey with nannies from the moment they were born. His father had been the family ghost--only present to remind you that he existed; otherwise, he also was never there.

"Do not be afraid," her husky, soft voice told him when his eyebrows furrowed together. "We are here to take care of you. I am your mamma, Zoe." She turned back to her other two children, waving them forward to greet him.

They approached him cautiously, as if he would transform into a demon before their eyes or sprout a set of horns, watching for any sign of discomfort.

"Who--?" he asked as Mamma gently placed a finger over his dry, pale lips.

"This is your older brother Dante," she told him as a daunting man approached with the little girl in his arms. "And your daughter, Ilenia."

His eyes must have bulged at that news because the little girl began to cry and stated how her papa would never remember her again.

It's funny how one day you die without any family to love you then awaken to find a full one who had nothing but love to offer you. His cheeks felt wet and before he knew it, his vision was blurred and warm hands were wiping at his eyes. "Ilenia," he croaked as his chest heaved. "She is beautiful." He might not know why or how long he would be in this body, but he vowed to treat that little girl as his own.

The little girl reached for him, but Dante made her refrain from touching. He wasn't sure if she would accidently cause him injury. "Not tonight, mio cuore," he whispered against her temple as he stepped to the side to allow Gina by.

Caid recognized her instantly and gave her a warm smile that had her hugging him in spite of her mother warning her to be careful.

"This is your older sister Ginevra," she said gently pushing her daughter away before she caused him harm. "We are your family and we love you very much."

The tears wouldn't stop for all of them and before long even the doctor realized that he needed to step out to give the family time alone together.

"The doctor says that you have long-term amnesia and that your memories may never come back," Zoe told him.

"What matters is not the past," Dante said, stroking his brother's hair out of his face, "but that you're alive. We can always make new memories, but we could never make a new Adriano."

Caid felt guilty. He was a deceiver, just like the devil to Adam and Eve. Only he hadn't meant to lie to them. He couldn't tell them that their son and brother wasn't suffering from amnesia because he was already dead and that he, Caid Harrison, had taken over his body. They would definitely call him a shrink or lock him in a mental hospital. All that he could do was vow to love them, treat them well, and not take them for granted until he was able to figure it all out. So until then, he would have to forget all notions of Caid Harrison's previous life, except for Brigitte, and focus on Adriano Comito's new existence.

"Adriano, don't you worry about a thing. We'll find you the best physical therapist that money can buy and you'll be back on your feet in no time," Gina promised, sitting down gingerly beside her little brother.

"Caid Harrison," he said quietly as if his lips hadn't moved at all.

"What about him?" Gina asked. "Because of that damn bastard, you were in the hospital and in a coma for a year. Don't think about him."

"Ginevra!" Zoe warned, glaring at her daughter until she backed down. "How many times must I remind you that he was only trying to avoid hitting a little boy? The mother told the police so in her statement."

"Then she should've been hit instead for letting her kid run in the road and take an innocent life. That man would have still been alive and Adriano would never have wound up in the hospital with amnesia!" she yelled then plopped down in a chair to cry. "She's so stupid."

"Is he..."

"He is dead," Dante confirmed even though Caid already knew about himself. He had only wanted to know where he'd been buried, if at all. "He died on scene and was buried about two weeks after the accident. It's a shame too because he had this beautiful woman as his lover. What was her name again?"

"Brigitte. Brigitte Hils," his mother supplied.

"Yes, Brigitte Hils," Dante continued, not noticing how Caid...well Adriano's, head had twitched at the sound of her name. "She used to come by a lot to pray for you. Then all of a sudden she stopped showing up. We looked all over for her, but she seemed to have vanished," Dante told him remorsefully.

"What's wrong, Adriano? Why are you crying?" He turned his eyes to his new family and took a deep breath. "Find her for me?" he asked them, urging them to accept his request.

"We won't leave any stone unturned," his mother promised.

"There is no corner of this Earth that a Comito cannot reach," Dante told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

His eyes were becoming heavy, but he was resisting sleep. He was afraid to let them close only to reawaken to find that his new family was only a dream and that he had awoken in Hell. He didn't want to take that chance.

"Andare a dormire," his mother said, stroking his hair as his eyes closed.

"Mamma, he doesn't understand anymore," he heard Gina tell her.

"He doesn't now, but he will."

"Don't worry, son, we will find her," Mamma promised, kissing her son on the forehead as he fell into a peaceful sleep before them.



The Second Time Around Ch. 03



Previously in "The Second Time Around": 

Completely shattered by his unexpected rupture with Brigitte, Caid Harrison speeds on to a new life without his true love only to find that a life without her is not one worth living. Now in the world of the dead, Caid is gifted with another chance to recapture the love that he was forced to let go of, but in the form of Adriano Comito. With a new lease on life, will Caid be capable of winning his Brigitte back or will he be doomed to spend the rest of his life, as Adriano, loveless and alone?

Now back to "The Second Time Around": 

Caid didn't realize how true Dante's words were until his brain snapped to with recognition—after seeing a commercial for luxury sailing yachts during one of his rehab sessions.

The Comitos equaled one of THE richest Italian-American families in the U.S. Their occupation: ship and boat manufacturing and not just flimsy sailboats, we're talking yachts, cruise ships, steam engines, racing boats, motorboats, lifeboats; if it was a boat or something that sailed/functioned in the water, the probability of it being made by the Comito family was a hundred and fifty percent. Not to mention, they dabbled in submarine production and aquatic sports equipment as well.

Caid almost shat himself when the "revelation" (thanks to the droning television) came to him. This meant that he was richer than his old parents! A devilish look of malice had taken root on his face from that idea, which made his physical therapist think that he was in pain thus invoking him to utter incessant, annoying words of encouragement to push through the "pain."

"You can do this, Adriano, gimme ten more! Come on, big guy! Ten more!"

He wanted to tell him to shut the hell up, but figured he could get rid of the guy much sooner if he finished off his exercises like he was telling him to.

He hated physical therapy, but after his release from the hospital, his new family had insisted that they get him the best of the best and that he went three times a week with the addition of aquatic therapy on the weekends. He had complained like a pussy at first, but after they had bribed him, "Adriano, how will you meet Brigitte if you are stuck in a wheelchair or hobbling around like the broke down version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame? She's going to take one look at you and say, 'get the hell away from me!'"

That had done the trick and he was now receiving his reward being that today was the last time he would have to deal with his physical therapist spewing globs of spit in his face while hunching over him, as if he was ready to pounce and take his manhood, with horribly funky armpits all in the name of encouragement.

"Great job, Mr. Comito, you passed the test, which means that I can officially sign your therapy release forms. Will you miss our little hangout sessions?" he asked with a too big and too bright grin.

"Yes, I will," Adriano lied through his teeth with a fake grin of his own.

"Go on and hit the showers while I process your paperwork." 

Caid nodded and walked off with the grace of a king though he had a slight limp and would have a permanent one for the rest of his, or Adriano's, life. He couldn't really be upset with that notion since his little gait defect got him a lot of attention from the ladies: concerned grandmas, horny grandmas, brazen married women, lonely office women, hot college girls, and jailbait high school girls who had yet to learn their place. They all flocked to him like bees to nectar. That and the fact that he now had a sinful Italian accent that he had tried to get rid of by secretly attending speech classes after some crazy woman had groped him back in the days when he was trapped in the wheelchair and defenseless, but the damn thing was stuck and refused to leave. It also helped to be 6'2" with hair so black it looked like fresh coal and eyes so dark blue that some swore it danced on the edge of being a subtle purple. If those didn't work for the ladies, his evenly tanned olive complexion and bright pink lips usually removed the rest of doubt, especially when he flashed a crooked, pearly white smile with an adorable side gap.

"I found her," he heard Dante announce as he walked into the locker room to find his brother getting dressed.

"You found Brigitte?"

"Isn't that what I just said?" he told him with a big grin.

Adriano stood there with his shirt covering his head although he had yet to pull it all the way down his torso. "What? How is she? Where is she?"

"She is doing fine, apparently," Dante told him then tugged on the bottom of his white and blue striped shirt to remind him to continue getting dressed. "She seems happy and in good health..."

"What aren't you telling me?" Adriano asked, picking up on the hesitancy in Dante's voice.

Dante handed him a packet of pictures, waiting for him to look at them. He did, feeling his heart stutter at the sight of his Brigitte. She was still beautiful....beautiful and supposedly... "Married?" he asked in disbelief as his eyes stared down at the rock on her left finger.

"Yeah to some schmuck named Paul Rivers." Dante regarded his little brother carefully before once more speaking, "You didn't only want to thank her for coming to see about you, did you? You were thinking about dating her?"

Caid couldn't hide the truth from his eyes, instead he thrusted the photos back into their envelope, telling himself to remain calm. What had he expected? A year had gone by since he was in his coma plus six months of physical therapy before actually finding her. Did he expect her to wait for him? A complete stranger? Of course, he wouldn't call himself that, but let's look at the facts: he, Caid Harrison, was already pronounced dead after ripping her heart to shreds, fact number one. Fact number two, he, Caid Harrison, was now encased in the body of Adriano Comito, someone she most likely had never met or even knew existed.

So yeah, he knew the facts, however, it still hurt like hell to see her with some other guy who had his hands all over her bikini clad ass. He punched the locker, feeling the pain before it registered to him what he had just done.

Dante remained unfazed by his outburst. His little brother had always had a temper underneath that gentleman's exterior. It usually had to be something serious for him to show it, however...as it appeared, this was serious.

"Who is this Paul Rivers?" Adriano asked, throwing the packet of pictures on the ground while heaving deep breaths.

"I already told you that he is a schmuck, but I have great news that will cheer you up."

"What's that?"

"Paul and Brigitte Rivers are hosting a dinner party tomorrow night and guess who are invited?"

Caid smiled that crooked smile of his as he slapped his new brother's back. "I have the strongest urge to tell you that I love you. Would that be wrong?"

"Man, get the hell out of here," Dante said even though his arms opened wide for a hug. Adriano did more than hug him; he lifted him and swung him about before setting him back on his feet and planting kisses on either sides of his cheek. "Cut that out. Let's get out of here, Ilenia is waiting for you."

They stopped by the reception area to retrieve his certificate of release then arrived home just in time to see his ex-wife (remember, he's Adriano now) dropping off their daughter.

"Susan," Dante hissed, snatching his niece away from her before walking into the house.

"Hello to you too, you dumb fuck," Susan greeted with just as much venom. "I don't like him being around my daughter. He is a bad influence on her."

"The last time I checked, it did take two to make that child. So she's half mine," Adriano told her quietly. His eyes took in her evening attire. She looked as if she was about to go on a date. Her thick blonde hair was pulled up into a princess type bun with ringlets of curls framing her square face. Her little pink dress, that revealed too much of her thin long legs clad in strapless heels, wasn't really leaving much to the imagination of what would be happening after the date, but hey, to each his own.

"Always so calm and collected, how infuriating," she snipped, turning to get back into her car. "Do us both a favor and get that heart you've been searching for. Maybe I can take you to meet the wizard to get it done. It's a shame for all of those good looks to be wasted on an unfeeling, selfish, screw up."

Adriano chuckled and shook his head as she drove away. At first glance the woman was a knockout, but then she opened that tight-lipped mouth of hers and ruined it. "Cutting off your nose to spite your face," he said in regret as he walked into the house to spend time with his daughter and looking forward to tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I didn't know that you knew Brigitte," Adriano whispered to his sister who was now standing beside him and Dante at the dinner party.

"After you said that you wanted us to find her, I got to work. Did you think Dante did it all by himself? He's always trying to take all of the credit. Besides, how do you expect to get her alone if I don't distract her husband?"

Paul's boring speech ended receiving unwarranted rounds of applause. He stepped down from the podium (yeah, he actually had one in his house for such occasions) and snaked an arm about Brigitte's waist. She didn't seem any too happy about it; nevertheless, she smiled for their guests, thinking of a way to get away from him just when an excuse came in their direction.

"That was a lovely speech, Mr. Rivers. Most dinner parties are filled with useless banter, but you knew exactly how to bring yours to life and make your guests feel engaged."

Paul turned his head in the direction of the voice then plastered on a bright smile of appreciation to the woman wearing the sleek chiffon blue dress that hugged her curvaceous body. She looked sinfully delicious, and he almost had to wipe his mouth to stop himself from drooling. "It is nice to make your acquaintance, Mrs..."

"Ms. Comito. Ginevra Comito and these two are my brothers, Dante and Adriano Comito."

"It's nice to meet all of you. I'm Paul Rivers and this is my...beautiful wife, Brigitte Rivers." He had said the beautiful wife part as if she were actually a succubus dressed in a human costume and he was forced to accompany her or she would steal his soul.

"Hello," Brigitte greeted, shaking Dante's hand then Adriano's while his intense eyes gave her a hungry once over. It wasn't the sexual type, more like the type that asked if she was doing all right and eating healthy meals. It confused her to see a stranger regarding her so carefully when her own husband rarely and barely took the time to worry about her needs.

Brigitte had married Paul on the pretext that he loved her and that she could actually restart her life after her rupture with Caid; whereas Paul had married Brigitte because he thought that every strong black man needed a strong black woman by his side, which he revealed to her was a mistake after their honeymoon. Five months of courtship, seven months of engagement and one wedding ceremony followed by a honeymoon was enough for him to finally realize that he was never in love with her and never would be. Twelve wasted months of her life filled with disillusioned fantasies of marriage and children came crashing down after that night. And now two months later, after the wedding, they were drowning with regret.

But would he divorce her? Hell no, Paul had had her sign a prenupt that stated the only way he could be rid of her is if he or she could prove infidelity. That way he kept all of his rotten money to himself, but it's not like Brigitte wanted nor needed his money. After Caid's death, she had had to deal with his lawyer and venomous parents because he had taken out a life insurance policy and listed her as the sole benefactor. That and the money stored away for him by his late grandparents, that he had entitled to her in his will, had left her well off...very well off.

Her heart ached at the thought of Caid. Some nights she still awoke in a cold sweat to that heart wrenching argument. Other nights, she dreamed that she had been in that car with him, that they had taken their last breath together, and that they had finally been able to be happy in heaven. Her eyes watered and when she lifted them to the sky to blink back the tears, she caught those dark blue eyes on her again.

"Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom," she lied, briskly walking away to the staircase then disappearing down the hallway beside it.

"When I heard that you had recently moved into our neighborhood, I knew that I had to meet you. It's not every day that we get an aspiring congressman living right around the block from us," Gina said to keep Paul's attention focused on her while her two brothers slowly walked away.

"Didn't I tell you that he was a schmuck?" muttered Dante.

Adriano snorted at Dante's comment, eyeing him curiously when he made to go in the opposite direction. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to make friends with Paul's bodyguards."

Caid hadn't thought about that, that the man would keep Brigitte under surveillance. He nodded in appreciation then walked off in the direction she had disappeared in to find her. It didn't take him long to do just that when she collided with him in the dimly lit hallway.

"Excuse me, I'm so sorry," she apologized, raising her head to look up at who she had assaulted. Her mouth opened yet her voice refused to come out to say another word.

Caid took his cue, grabbing her gently by the waist and pulling her towards him for a kiss he had been dreaming of ever since Dante had told him about the dinner party.

She resisted at first, pushing feebly against his broad chest, clawing at his arms through his suit jacket, biting down hard on his bottom lip, but Caid still remembered how to calm her when she was this upset. He settled one hand on the small of her back and softly massaged her taut skin while his other hand went to work at the back of her neck.

Brigitte instantly melted into this man. She didn't know him, but from the way he was touching her so familiarly like only one man had ever touched her and kissing her so tenderly, it made her feel as if they had been lovers in a past life. She kissed him back, gently moving her tongue over the spot she had bit on his bottom lip. She sighed, her body and soul hungry for attention that her husband withheld from her and refused to share since the night of their honeymoon. This man knew exactly what she needed and how to give it to her and she reveled in that fact.

His strong arms held her tighter than a second skin, but as soft as petals of the cherry blossom floating on the wind. He made her moan, a broken, wanton moan that shocked her to her core while his thick, long tongue stroked deeper into her mouth and explored her. It felt too right, but she knew that it was wrong. She was a married woman, perhaps not a married woman who loved her husband, but she was married, nonetheless. That meant that she needed to show her husband some sort of respect even though he did the exact opposite when he ogled other women in front of her.

Caid felt Brigitte's arms wrap around his neck as she lifted herself on tiptoes. She was giving him back just as much as she was taking, diving them deeper into their own little world, a world that crashed back into reality when he picked up on approaching footsteps.

Breaking the kiss, Caid grabbed Brigitte's hand and took her back in the direction she had only seconds ago came from then locked them both inside of the bathroom.

She didn't speak while her mind replayed what she had just done. How could she have kissed a stranger? How could she have cheated on her husband? She had never cheated before! What was she going to do?

"Stop," Caid told her as her brown eyes filled with panic.

"Stop what?" Her voice. He had missed that seductive voice of hers. A voice that made him melt on the inside and crave to bury himself so deeply inside of her that he didn't know where he began or where she ended. He kissed her again and to Brigitte's surprise she didn't even put up a meager effort to pull away. She held onto him for dear life when her legs gave way and he lifted her to wrap them around his waist.

Sitting her on top of the sink, Caid broke their kiss, replacing his lips with his thumb as he traced her pouty pink mouth. "Brigitte, I know that we just met, but I'm going to make love to you right here in this bathroom."

"Any objections?"

She stared at him in doe eyed shock although her head was slowly shaking no.

"Good," he said then kissed her again.

To hell with her husband.



The Second Time Around Ch. 04



Previously in "The Second Time Around:"

Finally awakened in the form of Adriano Comito, Caid Harrison, vows to find Brigitte Hils in order to once more have her back in his life. Now after completing physical therapy and officially claiming his newly rightful place in the Comito family, Caid (forever in the guise of Adriano) obtains the ability to see Brigitte. Face to face, after a year of separation, the only coherent thought on his mind is to have his Brigitte in his arms. Will Caid get a taste of his forbidden fruit? Or will Brigitte change her mind about screwing her husband over?

Now back to "The Second Time Around" Ch. 4: 

Her lips were sweeter than honey with a tinge of champagne, rendering Caid slightly drunk from the taste of her. It was still hard for him to believe that a year had passed by since the last time that he had tasted those plump lips. A year since Brigitte had wrapped her silky brown arms about his neck and pulled him closer, delving her sleek tongue into his hot mouth. A year since she had moaned and tilted her beautiful face slightly to the right to get him deeper and closer to her.

Brigitte's breath came in ragged huffs as she tried to breathe once his pink lips left her mouth to trace a path down her throat. She could feel his strong hands gripping her hips, pulling her onto his standing erection. This was really about to happen. She was going to really cheat on her husband. Her insides tingled with anticipation and nervousness. Her fingers shook as they ran a course through his soft, curly hair. "Oh, Mr. Comito," she moaned when Adriano's lips landed on her collarbone to suckle on it.

"C—Adriano," Caid corrected, nearly saying his old name to her. "Call me Adriano."

"Adriano," Brigitte repeated.

Caid didn't like the sound of her calling another man's name while he was touching her, even if said name was now his own. He curbed his jealousy, pushing down the straps of her dress to feast on more of her naked flesh. "Brigitte, I want you to tell me what you need me to do," he whispered as his mouth hung over her bare breasts.

Brigitte arched her back up, resting her head against the wide mirror hung on the bathroom wall while biting her bottom lip. She was trying to push her nipple into his mouth, however, every time she felt his lips even marginally close to it, Adriano would back away from her, making her cry out in frustration before repeating himself that he needed her to tell him what she wanted him to do to her. "Please suck on my nipples," she begged in a wanton tone.

Caid smiled deliciously down at her as he cupped her full, brown breast in his large, slightly olive tanned hand to massage it with his palm. Her whimpers were becoming loud enough to fill the entire bathroom and he was sure if she got any louder, a few passersby would be able to hear her. So he did what came to mind and kissed her soft lips again until he was swallowing all of her moans.

"Adriano, why are you teasing me?" Brigitte demanded after he had forced her to voice her desires then had refused to comply with them. He had yet to put her tit in his mouth and give her nipple the tongue lashing it was looking for.

"Sorry beautiful," he said then did as she asked, slowly taking her pert nipple, inch by tiny inch between his lips until the entire bud was being caressed by his warm tongue. Brigitte bucked her hips up as his mouth incited within her pleasures that had disappeared when the love of her life walked out on her. "Like that?"

"Oh yes, Adriano. More!"

Brigitte's enthusiasm made Caid briefly lose sense of control as he practically engulfed her sweet chocolate breast into his entire mouth, giving it a light bite before switching to the other and doing likewise. She hissed as his quick tongue whipped her nipple hard enough to cut glass while his unoccupied hand continued to massage and knead her breast against his palm. As of that moment, her husband...whatever his name was, was the farthest thing from her mind. The only name, beside her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that she could recall was Adriano Comito. And she called it out as if she were a broken record.

"I want to taste you, Brigitte. Will you let me taste this chocolate pussy?" she heard Adriano ask somewhere in her cloud of desire. She didn't care what he did to her, as long as he didn't put a stop to the sweet torture that had her so enraptured.

Caid watched as Brigitte unconsciously spread her legs for him. His mouth watered with hunger, his hands itched to touch her wet pussy. He could smell her excitement within the bathroom already and it was making his cock stand rock solid. Tearing his lips away from her heaving breasts— eliciting a soft cry of protest from Brigitte, which he quelled with a hard kiss—Caid bent over enough to be eye level with her brown pussy, using his tongue to slowly part it so that he could look at her pink fruit overflowing with her white nectar. His mouth devoured her, he had meant to take it slow so that he could once again familiarize himself with the taste of her, but once her pungent musk had struck his nostrils, it had awakened within him a ferocity he had never experienced before, even in the days when they were together as Brigitte and Caid instead of Brigitte and Adriano.

He groaned against her wet pussy, jerking her hips down forcefully onto his mouth when she squealed and tried to distance herself. Brigitte could tell that he was serious as he slid his thick tongue inside of her entrance then fucked her with it like it was his cock. "Adriano, please...no, I'm gonna come," she cooed, grabbing onto the faucet to steady herself while he used her own body against her and made her ride his face.

"Come for me, Brigitte. Come in my mouth," he told her then quickly returned his tongue on her clit to tantalize her into a forceful orgasm. Her spasms racked her body, forcing her to jerk uncontrollably and cry out in ecstasy. But Caid didn't stop there, he refused to give her enough time to come down from her high and change her mind. He intended to claim her pussy and make her realize that he was a hundred percent serious when he did so. Lining himself up at her opening, Caid traced her entrance, torturing the both of them before slowly thrusting his thick, meaty cock into her tight pussy hole.

"Oh my—" Brigitte choked on her spit, unable to swallow as every thick inch of Adriano filled her pussy that had been left untouched because of her evil husband. "Huh," she cried as he bottomed out inside of her, not allowing her enough time to catch her breath before giving her the sweetest pounding her pussy had ever tasted in a year. He thrust so hard that his fat balls slapped, unceremoniously, against her ass, holding her legs apart in order to get deeper than he already was.

"You like that, Brigitte?"

"Yuuuuhhh." That was supposed to be a solid yes, but instead, she had uttered babble. "Fuuuugggg!"

"You like the way I'm pounding your pussy, Brig?" Caid asked, using a nickname she hadn't heard in ages. "You like how deep I am? Huh? Does your husband fuck you like this?" he asked, taking his jealousy and frustrations, on the fact that she was now married, out on her body. He landed a heavy hand on the side of her ass, wishing that he could watch it jiggle and turn red as he pounded inside of her. He decided to make his fantasy a reality, quickly pulling Brigitte down from the counter to lean over it before entering her from the back.

Their eyes met in the mirror and Brigitte bit down hard on her bottom lip as she felt Adriano surge back inside of her. It turned her on that he was so attentive towards her responses. Whenever she raked her hands over the marble countertops, he instinctively knew that it was too much for her thus giving her slow deep strokes. Likewise, when she threw her head back and screamed Adriano would tentatively increase the pace while spanking her and making her pussy jump from the sting.

"Answer me, Brig, does your husband screw you like I do?"

"Nuuuuhhh..."

"Do you have sex with that bastard?" Caid asked, turning their sexcapade into a royal inquisition. "You let him touch you?" He smacked her jiggling ass hard when she had been too caught up in his pounding to answer.

"No! Oooo...ooo...oo"

"Then this is my pussy now?" he demanded, not giving her enough time to answer as he lifted her right leg and placed it up on the countertop before gripping either side of her hips. "This is my pussy now. Tell me that it's my pussy."

Brigitte could hardly catch a proper breath, much less tell him what he was demanding to hear, but the words came out on a scream of climax when his hard cock hit her deep enough to rub her cervix while his long fingers tweaked her clitoris mercilessly. "Your pussy! It—it's yoo—pussssssss—EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!" She cried, convulsing on him and milking him with her walls until he was emptying his semen inside of her.

Caid slumped against Brigitte with a sensation of immense fatigue. His knees were officially weak and he knew that if he tried to stand up to his full height that he would only fall back down again. So he made himself content with listening to her erratic breathing and wild heart beat until the both of them were able to pull themselves together and straighten their appearances. He glanced up in the mirror just in time to catch her wiping away a few tears from her face. "Brigitte, what's wrong?"

Brigitte shook her head in denial even though she could tell that he was the type to not drop a subject once he had started it. "Nothing. I'm fine."

"You're feeling guilty about cheating on your husband, aren't you?"

"Then if you knew, why the hell did you ask?" she replied, looking back into his eyes through the mirror. "What am I supposed to do? I've never done this before. When I got married I swore that....what's his name," she said with shame, still unable to remember her husband's name. "Would be my last. I thought that he truly loved me and wanted a happy life with me, but he's just like every other man that has ever been in my life. They never want to stay. They only want to leave after a few brief moments of fun." Brigitte wiped at her eyes again, hating the fact that this stranger had had the privilege to do things to her and see things with her that others had had to work so hard to find out.

"Brigitte—"

"Why am I even telling this to a stranger? It's not like you even care, anyway." She turned to exit the bathroom except she found that she was trapped by Adriano's long arm firmly planted against the closed door.

He turned her around to pierce her with his enticing dark blue eyes before speaking very slowly and very precisely, "Do not ever accuse me of not caring about you. I care more than you could ever know."

"How?" she asked him in disbelief, shaking her head up at him. "We just officially met. The last time I saw you, you were laid up in a hospital bed still in a coma. I didn't even recognize you earlier tonight when you introduced yourself. We're complete strangers."

"No, we're not," Caid told her truthfully as he pulled her into his arms and silenced her protests with a gentle kiss. They searched each other's mouths with their tongues until they were both left breathless and heady with renewed desire. "Let's get back out there before someone realizes that we're missing." He corrected any minute discrepancies he could find with her clothing then let her out of the bathroom first before following suit a couple of minutes later. Luckily, Dante and Gina were still keeping Paul occupied while he had banged the hell out of his wife. Thank God for family.



The Second Time Around Ch. 05



"Who are you?"

Adriano's head snapped away from his sandwich as he stared at Gina. She had entered the kitchen twenty minutes ago and had been scrutinizing him for the last fifteen out of those twenty minutes.

"Excuse me?"

"You're not Adriano, are you? I'm starting to think that you never were," she said, slowly pushing her black hair behind her shoulders, her eyes becoming even more focused. "Don't get me wrong, the doctors said that most amnesia patients would exhibit behavior that was completely different from the way they used to be, but you, Adriano..."

"You what?" he asked swallowing the bite of sandwich in his mouth that no longer had taste. His heart was pounding out of his chest and if he wasn't being crazy, he would have admitted that he was experience a bit of the fight or flight mechanism as his legs twitched to run.

"You're not him," Gina simply said. "It's not that you're doing anything strangely that would have caught the average person's attention, but I should warn you that I'm kind of a medium, I can contact the spiritual world and communicate with lost souls; not that I really want to," she added that last tidbit with a sense of shame that made her stare at her feet.

"What's your name?"

"Caid," Caid replied truthfully. Gina's neck almost broke from the whiplash as her bright blue eyes opened wider than saucers.

"No," she told him in disbelief. "If this is some kind of joke, then it's not funny."

"Yes, it's true and no, it's not a joke. My name is Caid Harrison," he told her with an air of seriousness.

"That—that can't be," she stuttered. "He's dead."

"Caid Harrison, born: November 12, 1987, Social Security Number: 075-98-6032 (because my mother lived in Manhattan at the time of my birth). Parents: Olivia and Charles Harrison both born in 1963, one on April first the other on June twenty third. One older brother, Corey Harrison, born January 5, 1984, who passed away from cancer—"

"Stop!" Gina interrupted with a hand up. She looked absolutely freaked out and unwilling to believe the words that were coming out of Caid's mouth.

"Why should I believe a word that you say? You could probably be making this all up to fuck with me. Adriano would do something like that."

Caid laughed, shaking his head then told her about everything from his parents' threats to harm Brigitte to how he ended up in the hospital and what he saw while his body was "in between worlds." "Your brother died a little after I did," he said with remorse before apologizing.

"Then why are you here instead?" she gritted as tears came to her eyes. For the past five months, they have been living with a complete stranger and what scared her the most was that she had had her suspicions from the very start, but had been too chicken shit to say anything.

"Don't you think that I would love to know the answer to that question as well?" Caid replied dropping his barely touched sandwich into the trash bin.

"Then if you were so concerned about stealing someone else's body, why didn't you say anything to us?"

"Really Gina?" he asked in disbelief. "If I had seriously came to any of you, after waking up out of a coma, and said that my name is Caid Harrison and somehow I was placed inside of the wrong body, how do you think the three of you would have reacted? You would have put me in a mental institution!"

His statement made logical sense to Gina, but she was still in too much shock to really think it through. "You lied to us!" she accused standing to her feet.

"I did," Caid readily agreed while leaning back against the counter. "So what now? Are you going to tell Mamma and Dante?"

Gina's head snapped back in his direction, allowing him to read the anger, pain, and uncertainty in her eyes.

"I know that you must be going through a lot right now, but I assure you that I don't know what's going on as much as you do. For the past three months, I've been trying to figure out how to make this right. But I don't understand the spiritual world neither do I understand how God thinks. All I can say is that I'm terribly sorry. If things were different, I wouldn't have walked out on her. We probably would have been married by now and Adriano would still be here with his family. Nevertheless, I feel as if our accident was meant to happen for a reason. I just don't know what."

"I've had this ability since I was fifteen," Gina slowly began while absentmindedly toyed with her silver necklace. "I just never wanted it so I learned to suppress it...at least most of the time. Then your accident occurred and all of a sudden I couldn't keep it quiet." Her head slowly lifted so that she could look at him then she began to cry as she took in the features of her baby brother. Her baby brother was dead, but his body was still there, staring her back in the face.

"I know that I'm experiencing shock, but my gut—at least my abilities—are telling me that you're not lying. I think that you were purposefully sent to our family so that I could help you and send you off where you need to be. I'll see to it that it gets done."

"And in the meantime?" Caid asked.

"Don't worry; I won't say a word to the others. Mamma would have a heart attack and I don't even know how Dante will react. He might just kill you and make sure that you die this time. I guess that your secret is safe with me." She turned to leave the kitchen, but Caid still had one last question.

"How did you know, Gina?"

"In the hospital, the first question you asked us, when we saw you, was about Caid Harrison—about yourself. At the time I thought that it was only possible that you knew of his existence because the doctor's had told you, but that one time when I took you to his gravesite during your rehab, I swore that I saw into your soul and your soul wasn't my brother's."

"What?" he asked slightly confused.

"Every soul has an aura, Caid—Adriano," she corrected herself just in case her brother or her mother were to walk in on their conversation. "Our aura comes from our experiences, what life has to bring us, our strength. The Comito aura is green. We're wealthy, we know how to make money and keep it coming or we wouldn't be the Comitos."

"What about mine?"

"Blue," she said eyeing him as if she was literally looking at his soul, hell, she probably was. "With a slight mixture of green. Right now it's looking cloudy. Your thoughts are affecting your aura and it's hard for me to read it."

"What does blue represent?" Caid asked interested in finding out more about this...stuff. He didn't really know what to call it except stuff. Yes, he believed in God, but he wasn't really a spiritual person; not after the way life had let him down. Maybe he should think about getting back in touch with that side of himself.

"Creativity and intelligence and it embodies strength, wisdom, trust, and loyalty. I could clearly see that your aura had been broken yet you were still able to hold yourself strong. You are not one who is easily defeated." She exited the kitchen, her heels echoing on the polished marble as she slowly retreated.

"Aren't you worried now that you know my secret?" Caid called out after her.

"No, remember I did say that one of the things blue symbolizes is loyalty. I expect you to know that you can trust me as well."

Caid was finally able to start breathing easily now that such a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. This also meant that he would soon get the answers he had been searching for in vain, which also included bringing Brigitte back into his life permanently.



The Second Time Around Ch. 06



Caid stood in front of Brigitte's door, quelling the nervousness rippling throughout his body. He had convinced himself to just pop up at her house to occupy her time. Granted, he should have asked himself, beforehand, whether his sudden appearance would hinder any of her plans, but the fact that the last time he had seen her was two weeks ago at her dinner party pushed his caution out the window. His two weeks had been spent torturing himself with imaginations of what Paul would or could be doing to his Brigitte. He would be damned if he let another man put his hands on his woman. So here he was before the door, waiting with what he hoped looked like a good game face.

"Mr. Comito? What are you doing here?" Brigitte stood there, wide eyed and uncertain. She looked gorgeous, ravishing even, with her long hair pulled back into a bun and a simple sundress hugging her curvaceous body.

Caid felt his nervousness completely disappear upon seeing her. Really, what the hell did he have to be nervous about when this was his woman he was standing before? He knew all of her quirks, all of her hopes and dreams, the things that made her fearful...in all, he knew her. Plus, he could tell, even though she was looking up at him doubtfully, she was thinking about their last time together. Taking one step forward with an arm outstretched, Caid leaned in and kissed his Brigitte as she gasped from surprise before releasing a silky moan from the contact of his lips.

"It's Adriano, remember?" he whispered to her, caressing the imprint of his thumb on her warm cheek. Brigitte's eyes fluttered closed. She loved that. Small petting always had a big affect on her. "May I come in?"

"Come in?" she repeated slightly discombobulated from his touch. "Oh, come in!"

"Brigitte, who is at the door? You're running up all the AC keeping it open," Paul interrupted as he strode in their direction just in time to miss Adriano releasing his wife. Well, more like Brigitte scampering away from him.

"Paul, you remember Adriano Comito, don't you?" Brigitte asked while picking invisible lint off of her dress. She was highly embarrassed and flustered that she had almost gotten caught up in Adriano's touch. She had convinced herself, after they had slept together two weeks ago, that it would only be a once in a lifetime thing. But now that she had chanced a glance up to Adriano's mesmerizing, blue eyes, Brigitte already knew that there would be a repeat. That knowledge made her legs quiver. Or perhaps it was that hungry look that Adriano was sending her way even with the presence of her husband. She never thought that having an affair could be so naughty!

"Do I remember, Adriano Comito? Of course I do," Paul replied somewhat too enthusiastically as he reached out to shake Adriano's hand. "What brings you here?"

"Well, I wanted to thank you both once more for the invite to that wonderful dinner party and also, Brigitte promised to give me a tour around your house. I hope that you don't mind?"

"Of course not," Paul continued with that damn enthusiasm. No husband should be that happy to have another man this close to his beautiful wife. "I was actually just thinking about inviting you and your lovely sister for dinner. We could possibly have a one on one," he said then chuckled as he glanced off into space.

Adriano schooled his facial features to not reveal his disgust. Now he understood why Paul was so happy to see him, obviously turning in that thick skull of his was a way to get to Gina. "I'll have to run that by her. You know how women get with social events and such? She's quite busy," Adriano replied curbing his over protective side as not to offend Paul with his response. What he really wanted to say was: 'there is no way in damn hell I'm letting my sister come to dinner with your slimy ass,' but instead, he offered up an apologetic smile as Paul attempted to hide a face of disappointment.

"So as I have asked before," Adriano said directing his attention back to Brigitte. "May I come in or will this tour be conducted outdoors. Because, I don't know about you, but it's hot as hell out here."

"Have you ever been to hell?" Brigitte asked then clapped her hand over her mouth in astonishment. Caid tried not to laugh. He had done that on purpose, to keep Brigitte's attention, knowing that was one of her quirks. She hated when people over exaggerated or used certain idiomatic expressions that she thought weren't necessary in certain situations.

"I'm sorry," she apologized then felt her cheeks heat up as Adriano rumbled with laughter. His eyes crinkled at the corners and Brigitte knew that it was genuine, making her slightly glad that she hadn't offended him. "Come on in. It is quite hot. Would you like a refreshment?

"Why don't you get us two beers," Paul said, more than suggested, which infuriated Adriano. Who the hell did this man think he was talking to his Brigitte that way? Okay, so the man had a ring on her finger, but everyone inside his house knew it was all for show (maybe Paul had no idea that Adriano knew, but that didn't change things. Adriano was still pissed).

"Actually, I would like a glass of water, please. Beer tends to make me dehydrated," Adriano requested, not missing the look of disgust in Brigitte's brown eyes before she turned away.

Paul nodded his head, clasping his hands behind his back as he began to walk. "How about us two men kick this little tour off before the wife gets back?"

Adriano resisted the urge to wrap his hands around the imbecile's neck and choke...the shit out of him. "Shall we?" he agreed instead, pretending to be too immersed in the artwork Paul was blabbering about to notice that he was continuously "accidentally" stepping on the man's shoes. Brigitte returned with their beverages to finish up the tour of the downstairs while Paul excused himself to answer a phone call.

"A tour?" she asked looking at Adriano from the corner of her eye. "When did I ever promise you a tour?"

Adriano smiled down at her, watching as she unconsciously licked her lips. "How else was I supposed to get you away from your idiotic husband?"

Brigitte neither agreed nor disagreed with his question, only walking in front of him in silence. She wanted to suggest taking their little "tour" upstairs so that she could get some alone time with him, but she wasn't sure if that would be considered too forward.

"So is this it? I don't get to see the second floor?" Adriano asked as if he had read her mind. 

Brigitte turned away before he could witness the slow smile of satisfaction creeping up on her brown face then turned back in his direction with a forced air of nonchalance, as not to appear too eager. "This way, Adriano."

Caid's eyes remained plastered on Brigitte's ass as she mounted the steps before him. He needed to get his thoughts under control or he would be ridding her of that flimsy sun dress and humping, her like a dog in heat, on the steps. They barely made it to the second floor before he lost all of his control, gently snatching her completely against him to claim her taunting, plump lips. "Room?"

His one worded question ignited a flame within Brigitte that set her body on fire. "To the left," she answered as she wrapped her legs about his waist and kissed this sex Adonis with abandon. She moaned, coursing her fingers through his warm hair, tingling his scalp as she gently tugged and massaged his head.

"Damn, that feels so good, Brigitte."

His husky voice caressed her ears and she sighed, leaning her head to the side to give him better access to her hungry neck. Fortunately, Adriano didn't leave her disappointed because his lips glued to her soft skin like a suction cup, sending shivers down her spine.

"Door?"

"There."

"Good."

"Mmmmmm."

Caid's legs felt clumsy as he carried Brigitte into her bedroom. From the quick view that he took, he realized that she and Paul slept in different rooms. He nearly jumped for joy until Brigitte's searching tongue lapped at his collarbone. Her urgency was almost his undoing as he watched her claw away at his clothing, after he had set her feet on the ground. Her hot mouth was all over him, kissing his shoulders, licking his pecs, biting his nipples; while her fingers continued to travel south to unbuckle and unzip his pants. They pooled about his ankles and Caid willingly stepped out of them, kicking off his shoes on the way. He nearly blew his load when Brigitte dropped his boxers then fell to her knees to eagerly take his hard, aching cock into her mouth.

"Shit!"

"Mmmmm."

"Good."

"Mmmmm." Brigitte suckled the head of his cock until it was an angry red color before shoving it down her throat. The fact that she could visibly see Adriano's legs quivering spurred her on as she took his dick out of her mouth to suck on his balls until he literally had to sit on the bed. "You like that?" she asked, unsure of where her boldness was coming from. She knew that it was best to ere on the side of caution with her husband downstairs, but Adriano just had a way of bringing out her animalistic side. She had long ago come to peace with her adultery, but she had also admitted that her marriage was loveless and useless, so why not get something better now that the opportunity had presented itself?

"Brigitte, I'm gonna come, baby. You gonna let me come in that sexy mouth of yours?"

"Yes. Down my throat, baby," she answered Adriano's call without hesitation. The need to have his cum on her insides drove Brigitte to quicken the pace of her mouth; moaning as her fingers traveled up her dress to rub at her humming pussy. She was leaking. Her pussy was so wet and hot that it shocked her. In the past, only Caid had been able to make her feel this alive, this desired, this delirious with lust.

"Come in my mouth," Brigitte told Adriano a bit too forcefully, which he took in good stride as he laughed at first before releasing a growl while his abdomen tensed up with his orgasm.

That had to be one of the best nuts of his life! Caid felt the euphoria engulfing his body. He had come so hard that he released a little shiver. You know the kind where it's freezing outside and you're trying to bundle your coat around your body while your teeth shatter then you squeal? Well, yeah, he shivered and he squealed, then he fell back on Brigitte's bed with his eyes shut. The sounds of her pleasuring herself had his limp cock already reawakening. He could hear the wet, squishy noises coming from her pussy as she whimpered, increasing the pace of her fingers. He wanted to be doing that to her. Caid couldn't believe that he was being jealous of Brigitte's own hand. He sat up, grabbing her by the shoulders to toss on the bed beside him as he literally ripped her dress from her body.

"Oh my gosh!" Brigitte exclaimed, looking down at the satin material that resembled a heap of rags now that Adriano was through with them. He did likewise to her panties, staring down at her naked body like a hungry wolf before diving straight into her pussy with his tongue. "Oh my God!"

"Mmmmmmhhhhhhmmmmm," he agreed, spread her legs wider apart while he continued to enjoy his meal. He had her chocolate body shaking better than an earth quake and just when she was about to climax, he withdrew his mouth, marveling at the guttural cry of frustration she sent his way before furiously burning a glare into his face. Not waiting for her to curse him out, Caid thrust two thick fingers inside of Brigitte's aching hole, fucking her with them as her legs slowly rose with her toes pointed up to the air. She was being loud, but that only fueled his need to hear her cries of pleasure. If Paul heard then he heard. Honestly, Caid was hoping and wishing that the man would walk in on them so that he could tell him that he and his fake marriage of convenience could go to hell because Caid was taking Brigitte away from him.

"Oh my gosh, Caid."

Caid's head flashed up. Did he just hear that correctly? Did Brigitte just say his name? His plunging fingers stopped, to her upset, as he looked down at her panting body.

"Why—" Was all that Brigitte could get out before Adriano's mouth was on top of hers, sharing the taste of her chocolate pussy with her. She felt the head of his thick cock lining up with her seeping sex then pushing into her wetness with one firm thrust. She cried out, arching her back and pressing her breasts painfully into his chest while he began to work her over. "Oh God!" she whimpered, sinking her teeth into his shoulder and trembling when Adriano eased up a bit to give her a slow wind.

"It feels good?" he asked her, earnestly wanting to please her. His blue eyes searched her brown souls and he gave her a beautiful smile when her quivering lips lifted into a grin as she nodded. "Tell me what you want, Brigitte."

"Oohhhh," she moaned dragging his body forcefully back into her when he slightly pulled out. "On top," she breathed then held on as he turned them about in bed. Brigitte straddled Adriano's hips, working her lithe body over him as she closed her eyes and lost herself in fantasies. In her mind, it was Caid. Yes, she knew that it was wrong to picture another man while screwing the hell out of someone else, but she couldn't help it. The way her body responded to Adriano was so similar—in fact, exactly the same as how she would with Caid. Furthermore, Adriano's roaming and wise hands knew exactly what spots to touch in order to drive her crazy...spots that she had only disclosed with her late lover and no other.

"Oh Caid," she moaned too lost in her misconstrued reality to feel shame for uttering another man's name. "Just like that."

Caid groaned, fighting the urge to tell her that he was there with her, inside of her, holding on to her. But he knew without a doubt that it would freak her out. Even though it greatly honored him that Brigitte still recognized his good loving, he didn't want to confess the truth and potential deal with scaring her away. So he held on tighter, after sucking on her peaked nipples until they were sore, pressing her sweaty body closely against his hot flesh then plunging, rapidly and precisely, up into her wet tightness.

Her cries started off softly then grew in volume until she was screaming her head off in ecstasy while Adriano fucked her brains out. But she still had to stop her screaming to breathe which she did in time to hear footsteps approaching her cracked bedroom door.

"Brigitte," Paul called out in the hallway. One of the good things about being in a loveless marriage was that you learned to respect each other's privacy because you just no longer gave a damn about the other person. So she knew for a fact that Paul would never venture into her room, much less the left wing of the house—being that he occupied the right wing—nevertheless, Brigitte stopped her moving hips, fearing that he would hear what she and Adriano were doing.

"Yes?" she called pushing a firm hand down on Adriano's chest to tell him to stop his thrusting, but the thought of being denied did not sit well with him, for he raised his pelvis off of the bed and began bouncing Brigitte, wildly on his cock. It would be hard to talk and even harder to concentrate now that her Adonis was manhandling her in the bedroom.

"Something came up. I have to go. "

"Alright," she answered. It was too breathy for her own ears and she cringed at the suspicion in Paul's words when he next spoke.

"Are you all right? Where's Adriano?"

Brigitte cleared her throat, giving herself time to bite back a delicious moan as her nails rake down Adriano's sweaty chest. He inhaled a breath, lowering himself back down on the mattress to give her a drugging kiss before once more pinning her against his body to slam his hard cock into her hungry pussy.

"He left," she bit out then took a bite out of Adriano to muffle her cries.

"Are you feeling all right?"

"Damn it, Paul I'm on my period and I'm having some killer cramps so will you leave me the hell alone!" Brigitte yelled, momentarily forgetting about the slow yet steady orgasm creeping up from the pit of her belly.

"Ok. I'll see you later, sheesh!"

Paul's feet were barely out of the door before Caid gripped Brigitte for dear life and thrust until his legs ached with fatigue. Her pussy clung to him as she wailed her orgasm in his ear, edging him on to find his own as he released a guttural cry to accompany her. They both collapsed, breathing heavily, skin soaked in sweat, yet bodies perfectly satiated.

Brigitte nearly fell asleep until Adriano's caressing fingers drew her back to him. "I should really kill you for what you just did." Her voice was husky and a bit raw from all of her screaming.

"What? I thought you wanted your husband to hear me fucking the shit out of you," Caid teased then kissed the top of her head. His thoughts had been scattered everywhere in the recesses of his mind, however; the one thing he knew now that a sudden sensation of peace had overtaken him was that Brigitte wouldn't be staying another week in this house.

"Leave him."

"What?" Brigitte asked, leaning up on her elbow to regard Adriano's face. He was serious.

"I said, leave Paul. He doesn't deserve you. Besides, he can't possibly love you the way that I love you, Brigitte. You believe that don't you? That I love you?"

Brigitte's mouth opened and closed as nothing came out before her eyes dropped. But he wouldn't have none of it, slowly lifting her head until she was forced to look into his blue eyes. "Adriano, isn't this a bit too soon?"

"No."

"But—"

"I'm more serious than a heart attack."

"Have you ever had a heart attack?" Was Brigitte's feisty reply.

Caid landed a large hand on her soft ass and smiled when she released a shocked 'ouch' then pouted. "No, just like I've never been to hell, but my life will turn to it if you don't be with me."

"Why should I?" Brigitte questioned, frowning down at him.

"Because you don't love him."

She knew that it was the truth; nevertheless, it still hurt to hear it. "I don't love you either," She told him defiantly. 

This was definitely his Brigitte: cautious with her heart, which confounded him as to why she had gone and given it to an asshole like Paul. "Yes, you do. You're just afraid to admit it because, according to you, we just met. But I've known you for my whole life. I know you get that feeling too."

"But—"

"You do, don't you?"

"Yes, but—" She tried again only to be cut off with a kiss.

"You're moving in with me," Caid told her with finality in his tone.

"Adriano!"

"I'm not taking no for answer. We can even start today if you wanted to, but you will be in my bed before the ending of this week. Is that understood?" He watched her mouth open and close like a fish gasping for air again before she slowly nodded her head.

"I love you, Brigitte."

Brigitte buried her face within his neck, confused by her feelings for this man. He was supposed to be a stranger, but she knew that Adriano was right. The feeling that she had known him all of her life always accosted her when she was with him and even when she wasn't. "I love you too," she told him honestly although her words were underlined with fear and uncertainty.

"When do you want to leave?"

"Today," Brigitte replied with more confidence behind her words. "Take me away from here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where have you been?" Gina asked the imposter known as her brother. She was lounging in by the pool when he arrived with a shit eating grin on his face. Boy was he ever handsome.

"With Brigitte," he confessed. They had come upon an agreement. Gina would continue to play along with him being her adorable little brother while helping to figure out the reasons he was encased within her brother's body while he allowed her to conduct all of her spiritual experiments on him in an effort to control and understand her gifts.




The Second Time Around Ch. 06



"I take it that you two had a great time together?" she asked, raising a black eyebrow.

"If you must know, we did," Caid confessed as the grin started to make his face hurt. After agreeing to move in with him, he and Brigitte had enjoyed another tussle in the sack before having a third round in the shower. The only reason he had left her was to get his truck to head back and pick her and her stuff up. She told him to return within the hour which gave him plenty of time to talk Gina into breeching the subject with Dante and Mamma. So instead of waiting for her to question his every move that day, Caid decided to tell her everything and beg her for her help until she finally agreed.

"Aren't you a lucky bastard?" Gina said with a genuine smile. "I guess your luck gets better with my news." She turned over onto her back to give it equal sun exposure before sliding her shades down her nose to block her eyes from harmful UV rays.

"What kind of news would that be?"

"I spoke to Corey."

"What? You spoke to my brother? When?" Caid asked practically snatching up a lounge chair to drop his borrowed body into as he looked down at Gina in deep interest. 

"Yes, I was meditating. I did some research online and studies show that meditation can help a medium communicate with the spiritual world. I'm learning how to focus my abilities."

"So? What did he say? Did he ask about me?" Caid questioned.

"I know why you're here."

"And?" he asked extremely frustrated that he had to drag answers out of her.

"I don't know if it will make sense if I explained it to you. Even I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it," Gina told him quietly.

"Just try," he gently encouraged.

Gina cleared her throat and relaxed her shoulders in preparation for her explanation. "Caid, you and Brigitte have been in existence since the dawn of time."

"What?" That was definitely not the explanation he was looking for.

"Will you shut it and let me explain?" she said cutting her grey eyes at him.

"I'm sorry, continue, oh wise one."

She smiled at his sarcasm, finding that he had a great sense of humor. Gina wasn't ashamed to admit that if the circumstances were different as in him not being fated to love another or trapped in the flesh of her brother, she would have tried her hand with him. "Your souls," she clarified. "Not the human body, but your souls have been together since damn near the beginning of existence." She held up her hand when it seemed that he was preparing to interrupt again then continued.

"If I understood everything that Corey has told me correctly, you and Brigitte were created for each other, much like soul mates in the secular world. You exist because the other breathes. You were made for each other and without the other, you die."

"What?" he asked again shaking his head in confusion.

"All right. Let me put this in terms that you will understand. Do you remember that super hero movie that Will Smith starred in?"

"I Am Legend?"

"What? No! Hancock, Caid, Hancock! Where did you live, under a rock? Don't you watch movies?" Caid shrugged impishly as he felt his cheeks blush. "I was too focused on my art to go out unless Brigitte dragged me out the house," he admitted.

"Fine, anyway, in the movie, Hancock has to live a life without his love because every time that they are together, the other is capable of dying; however, in your case, it's the complete opposite. Your soul, your being, ceases to function and exist when you are separated from Brigitte. Corey showed me the events of that awful day when you decided that it would be best to let her go because of your parents. The minute that you tried to leave, you broke the bond, or as others would call it, the red thread of fate which left you both susceptible to weakness."

"Are you saying that Brigitte and I are immortal beings that will exist forever if we never breakup?" Caid asked in an effort to understand her words.

"No, I never said that you were immortal...at least not your bodies, only your spirits. The both of you will age and you will die, but your souls will always reunite because they are destined to."

"Why? I don't understand."

Gina sat up to put back on her oversized t-shirt before she became sunburned. "From what Corey explained to me, you two are what are called Collaborators. The actual term that he used was too sophisticated for me to remember so I replaced it. Supposedly your...kind, for lack of a better word, was created with the angels when God made the earth, but opted to take on a more human life in order to keep a better eye on the earth's inhabitants. You stand as a gateway between heaven and hell and the natural and the supernatural. It's not only you two. There exist more of your kind scattered throughout the world," Gina said nodding her head.

"Let me get this straight, are you saying that I am a living, walking, talking, breathing, pissing passageway?"

"Cool it with the sarcasm and the skepticism, 'little bro,'" Gina said holding up her pointer finger. "Yes, you are. From what I understand, it's hard for a Collaborator to die or be killed because, as I've informed you before, your soul is immortal; but in the chances that the demise of said Collaborator is achieved, there would be a spiritual crack which would reflect upon the earth in the form of an earthquake or some other kind of natural disaster. This fissure would cause a full moon and during this period, every single demonic force or being or human being dabbling in the demonic arts would be able to breach our world and wreak havoc. Not to mention, whichever individual to cause said demise would become a demonic lord. If he is human, he will be able to rule in the underworld on earth, but if he is already demonic, he could demolish millions of souls within the blink of an eye. Your job as a Collaborator, is to intervene and try to save the soul before you have to snuff it out, if all else fails. So that is why you were sent to me, that and two reasons." 

"What would those be?"

"The first, as I assumed in the very beginning is to help me come to terms with my abilities. I will, somehow, be beneficial in all of this. The day that your body as Caid took its last breath, it took away your ability to be a Collaborate hence the reason I will be acting in your stead."

"Why would my death result in such a rupture?"

"Because each body that you are reborn in holds a tie to the bond keeping you and Brigitte connected. Now that a part of the bond has been severed, she is left with less than half of her abilities which leaves her vulnerable, unable to recognize danger. And since you died before it was your time, you were sent back in another form to keep her safe."

"And the second?" Caid replied even though his head was begging for reprieve. He needed time to digest all of this information.

"I'm not supposed to reveal that to you. You have to figure it out yourself, at least that's what your brother told me so don't glare at me like that."

"What about Brigitte?"

"What about her? Aren't you going to pick her up? Let me handle Mamma and Dante as we previously agreed and once Mamma has understood, she'll get one of her lawyer friends to draft up an error proof divorce. Brigitte does want one, doesn't she?"

"Hell yes," Caid said without hesitation. "It's just that no matter how much she tries, Paul won't give her one."

"We will take care of that. Don't worry your pretty little head about that. Now skedaddle before you're late."



The Second Time Around Ch. 07



Paul returned home to find Brigitte gone. He thought that maybe she had gone out for a couple of hours, but those couple of hours turned into a few hours and a few hours into several. Being that they never really questioned each other about the goings on of their lives, he wasn't one to care about what time she returned. However, he had a niggling feeling that something was off. He stared at his cell phone pondering whether he should call her or not, but as the grandfather clock chimed eight p.m., making it a solid six hours since her departure (well, his return home since he wasn't all too sure how long she had been gone), he picked up the phone and pressed her speed dial number.

"We're sorry. The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected. Please hang up and try again."

"What?" he asked the automated message system as if it could actually respond. "What do you mean it's out of service?" In disbelief, he dialed the number a second time then a third time before storming up the steps to her room. He hesitated at her wing of the house. Brigitte always thought that he wasn't interested in what she had to hide over in her little rotten corner, but the truth was that he could never get through. Through what? The damn barrier. It was so damn strong that if he even thought about it, his skin would start to burn. 

He couldn't explain it himself. The issue didn't surface until after his wedding night with Brigitte. They had consummated the marriage which even he had to admit had been a spectacular experience, but not due to the sex. He had been able to drink in her clean spiritual energy and his body had felt more revitalized than it had ever felt in the past hundred and twenty years of his existence. From the very moment that he had laid eyes on her at the cemetery, he had felt the pull. She was different and definitely special. Just holding her gaze alone had called to the darker nature within him. His spirit had itched to have a taste of her. She had been so innocent and trusting...so broken that it had taken him less than three months to get into her good graces. He courted her, or at least the energy he felt was richly harvested within her, and after much persistence Brigitte began to give.

Each time that they touched, every time that they kissed, his spiritual pressure received an exponential kick. He wanted her soul and he had every intention of taking it, but the set back was that he had to make her his own in order to claim her. Either that or make her profess her undying loyalty to him. However, from her reservations and morals, she never allowed anything more than a kiss. No petting and definitely no sex. So what did he do? He proposed to her with the intention of draining her on their wedding night. Yet somehow, he had underestimated her strength. She had far too much energy for him to devour in one go and even Paul had to admit that only an idiot would drown themselves with such immense spiritual pressure. The best way to consume such force was kind of like enjoying good wine: you pour it in your glass, swirl it about, give it a good sniff, and then you slowly take a sip to savor the flavor and let it wrap itself around your taste buds. Besides, he had seen too many of his fellow colleagues jump to their own demise by rushing things.

He had planned to pace the draining process as slowly as possible, but something that he had never counted on was the barrier. After their wedding night, they moved into this godforsaken house and he found that he could no longer touch her; just being in her physical presence made it hard for him to breathe. At first, he had thought that it was Brigitte locking him away from her, but he did his research and found out that the house's previous owners had dabbled in white magic which would explain why he had had to strengthen the incantation he had used to maintain his human appearance upon stepping foot inside of it. Damn human body. All he needed to do was devour two thousand more human souls, or in this case drain Brigitte for all she had, or he would have to find and slay a Collaborator to be strong enough to do without the incantations. Collaborators, however, weren't so easy to come by.

One didn't just go out on the street and say, "excuse me, my good fellow, you might not happen to be a Collaborator would you?"

"Why yes, young chap, I certainly am!"

"Then I hope that you wouldn't mind if I was to break the spiritual orb encased in this human flesh of yours and consume all of your spiritual pressure? Would that pose a problem?"

"By golly no! Do as you wish!"

No, things were definitely not that easy. And if he was ever to see said Collaborator, he would head for the hills. The last battle he had faced with one had left him half dead. Damn Raphael! That had been his name, Raphael Jones. He had tried to kill the man's partner, but had only succeeded in infuriating him and getting his ass kicked back to a level one trainee. It had taken a lot of begging and pleading with his superiors to reestablish his rank as a fifth rank soldier for a second chance. This time, if he failed, there would be no more chances and only death. 

He had also planned to sell the house, but Brigitte had insisted on keeping it every time the issue came up. What was he supposed to say as a good enough reason for getting rid of it? "Well, honey, the thing is...this house is impeding me from sucking out all of your spiritual energy. Can't we just be rid of it, dear?"

No, he couldn't say that he thought the house was protecting her from him. She would have thought that he was crazy. Hence he did the next best thing; he distanced himself from her, quarantining her to the opposite wing until he could figure out a way to get close enough to drain her without zapping his own energy.

Brigitte had been concerned at first, begging and pleading with him to go to counseling when she felt the giant rift in their marriage. She kept telling him that it was unusual for such a young marriage to already have problems and that she would do anything to set things right again. He had almost been tempted to ask if she was willing to spiritually sacrifice herself in order to do so, but he held his tongue and told her that it wasn't worth it. After trying, with no avail, to get him to open back up to her, Brigitte stopped caring and the mutual dislike of each other set in. She stopped attempting to revive emotions and ignored his efforts to have cordial conversations with her. But he drew the final line when she came to him for a divorce. He gave her a straight hell no each and every time then dealt with her yelling and accusations that he was keeping up their marriage for appearances. No, he was keeping up their marriage because he refused to release her from his claim until he was incinerating her lifeless body into billowing dust after having drained her dry.

Gritting his teeth, Paul steeled himself to go inside of her room, but as soon as he stepped foot into her hallway, he cried out in pain, his flesh broiling with fever. "Damn it!" he cursed angrily, shaking the house from the volume of his voice. "Come on!" he told himself, pounding a fist into his chest like a caveman before refortifying his resolve and stepping into the barrier. He forced himself against the immense spiritual resistance, his flesh peeling away from his bones like ribbons of thread. His lungs closed up on him as his lead like feet drug themselves towards the door of Brigitte's room and he pushed them open. Touching the knob alone melted the skin right off of his hand and left him staring down at bare bone. No amount of words could describe the pain he was enduring for this woman. If he ever was able to get his hands upon her again, he would make her pay.

Pushing the door open, Paul used all of his might to drag his body inside of what was once Brigitte's room. Her things were gone, the bed was finely made, nothing was out of order, but her personal effects were missing save for her wedding ring which casted an eerie yellow glow inside of the dark room.

"No!" Paul yelled feeling the bond and hold he once had over her begin to slip and dissolve. His earthly body was going to collapse if he didn't get out of there. He back traced his steps as quickly as possible, gulping in large quantities of air as his body burned while the dripping flesh reversed their downward fall to the ground to wrap back about his bones the further away he got from Brigitte's bedroom. He stood in the center of his room, glaring at himself inside of the mirror, watching his face reform upon the semi-naked skull staring back at him. He trembled with rage, unable to understand how he had allowed her to slip through his fingers. That ring wasn't just an ordinary jewel. He had used one of his strongest incantations which would make it impossible for her to take it off. Then how in the hell had she accomplished such a feat? Maybe his powers were weakening and he hadn't noticed. Whatever it was, he needed to find out why this was happening, but first he would need to rest and regain his force or stepping out into the sunlight alone would physically crush him.

"Damn it!" he spat at himself as he cracked the mirror with his anger. That didn't suffice. He wanted and needed to hurt someone, instead he settled on trashing his room with his telekinetic abilities. "Brigitte, you will be mine again!" he vowed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's wrong?" Caid asked when Brigitte jumped awake in bed. He felt a slight chill accost his body in spite of the humidity inside of the room and pressed her closer to his chest.

"Nothing," she replied running a shaky hand through her hair. She could have sworn that she had heard someone calling her name...and not just anyone. That eerie, angry, hateful voice sounded like Paul's. "Hold me."

"Like this," Caid replied tightening his arms about her.

"Tighter," she told him until her heart stopped pounding in her chest and her fear waned into anxiety that slowly dissolved into a warm tingling sensation that only he could give her. She returned to sleep though it was now fitful and arose early into the morning to watch Adriano sleep. He looked so peaceful that she couldn't help but to place little kisses all over his handsome face. She jumped back realizing that old habits die hard. She used to do the exact same thing to Caid when he slept. Caid. She missed him so much. If only she could turn back the hands of time and work out their issues. He would definitely still be there with her. They would have been married, hopefully, with a baby on the way. She had wanted to give him many children especially after the loss of his brother and her being an only child. He used to always tell her that two weren't enough. It was still lonely at times.

"You were awake?" she asked when his masculine hand caressed its way up and down her back. She smiled when he sighed in his sleep then pulled her closer for a morning kiss. It has been ages since she's had one of those.

"Why are you up so early?" Caid peeked at the alarm clock then yawned; it was barely seven o'clock in the morning. "You rise just as early as Mamma," he mumbled then buried his head full of black curls underneath a pillow.

He sounded so sexy in the morning and that accent of his made Brigitte want to strip naked and wait for him to pounce on her. Why was he so delicious? "I couldn't really sleep," she said tracing her fingers up and down his bare back.

"Why didn't you join Mamma for a cup of coffee instead of staring out the window like a depressed old woman?"

"Your mother scares me," Brigitte admitted bashfully as he pulled the pillow away from his head to look up at her. After officially being introduced on the very same day that the woman learned of Brigitte moving in, things were kinda heavy—it was safe to say that the tension could have been cut with a knife. Adriano's mother didn't approve of her. For one, Brigitte was still married and for two...she just didn't know what the second reason could be, but she had felt the elder's disapproval. Not to mention the way in which Dante had eyed her had made her ready to ball up and disappear. It wasn't a judgmental type of staring, but his look had told her that if she was only toying around with his little brother that she needed to get the hell out.

Well, it was too late to rethink her decision to leave Paul. The man was no doubt furious and would probably send her flying out on her ass if she had enough guts and lack of dignity to go crawling back to him. Not that she had considered doing such a thing. Why would she when Adriano treated her like a cherished queen? The only one in the family that she could say actually liked—or maybe tolerated—her was Gina. She had told her a simple 'welcome to the family' and left it at that.

"You needn't be afraid of her. She is a sweetheart."

"Yeah, to you because you're her son and not a slut who ran away from her husband," Brigitte told him as she stared down at her hands. Now she was really beginning to regret her decision.

"Brigitte, don't ever say that again," Caid told her. If he hadn't been a jackass in the beginning, they would have been married by now and living in their own little happy world instead of him underhandedly stealing her away from a slime bag. "Mamma has no ill feelings towards you."

"Of course it's easy for you to say that. You're her son!" Brigitte emphasized with her hands as she threw the covers away from her pajama clad body to storm into the bathroom. She would leave. There was no way that she would consider going back to Paul. Now that she had her freedom, which she felt the instant that she stepped foot outside of that house, she knew that she would never willingly go back there again. So she would go to a hotel or anywhere else she could think of to get away from the muck she had just made of her life. What was she supposed to do?

"What are you doing?" Caid asked as he leaned against the bathroom door watching Brigitte throw her toiletries back into the bag she had recently taken them from the previous night.

"I'm leaving. I don't feel comfortable here and I should have never gotten you involved with my marital problems in the first place.

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know," she said briefly stopping her packing to look at him. "I'm not going back to Paul if that's what you're thinking. I wouldn't even if my life depended upon it."

"Brigitte," Caid said softly stepping inside of the bathroom to steady her moving hands and look down into her eyes. "You're not going anywhere. I won't let you."

It's funny how something said by the right person could have such a wonderful result. Paul used to tell her that so many times, but he would yell at her and scare her enough with his anger that her hands would stop packing. The man had never actually put a hand on her except on their honeymoon when they slept together, but the force of his anger always left her feeling as if he had slapped her. Yet here was Adriano telling her the exact words that her husband used to say and her hands had stopped moving for an entirely different reason: love. He loved her. She could see it in his blue eyes, hear it in his voice, and feel it in the way he touched her. He loved her.

Her eyes closed as she shook away the confusion within her mind. She couldn't allow his feelings to make decisions for her, but she wouldn't only be hurting him if she walked away. She would also be scarring herself. Just a year and a half ago, the roles had been reversed. She had begged Caid to stay with her and he had left only to die in a car accident. That morning alone she had chastised herself for not trying harder to hold on to him instead of allowing him to slip away from her. Tears burned the back of her eyes as they slipped down her brown cheeks.

"Don't cry, Brigitte, I'm going to take care of you."

Her gentle brown hand covered her mouth to mask a sob as she leaned into Adriano's strength. "What am I supposed to do? I'm scared."

"Lean on me. I'm not going to let you fall."

"But your mother..." His lips were claiming hers before she could finish her statement and Brigitte allowed herself to become enraptured by their kiss. Her arms wrapped about his neck and pulled him closer until their bodies were tightly pressed against each other. By the time Adriano pulled away, her muddled mind couldn't recall what she had been complaining about.

"Let's get you some breakfast. You're cranky when you don't eat." His graceful limp led her out of his room and into the kitchen where she squirmed about in the presence of his mother.

"Good morning, Mrs. Comito," she greeted unable to make eye contact.

She didn't really respond, save for a brief head nod of acknowledgment; instead she fussed about her son, making sure that he wasn't only consuming coffee for breakfast then she left the kitchen.

Brigitte looked at Adriano with puppy dog eyes filling with tears. He knew that it was important for her to have the acceptance of his mother since her parents had died when she was very young. He sighed, standing to his feet to go to her when he watched his mother return to the kitchen with a brown manila envelope. She gently set it before Brigitte who was now looking up at her with confusion in her brimming eyes.

"Gina explained everything to me. You don't have to worry now. I've gotten you what you've needed. Now all you have to do is sign on the dotted line, piccola mia."

"What? I don't understand," Brigitte confessed watching her tears drip onto the counter beside the envelope. Mamma inclined her head towards it, telling her in a nonverbal manner to open it and see the contents. Brigitte gasped when she took in the divorce papers then shook her head in dismay. "He won't sign them. He never does."

"Then we'll keep sending them until he does. If that doesn't work, we'll take him to court," Mamma said with a nonchalant shrug of her right shoulder. "It will keep me entertained. Now, the sooner you sign them is the sooner I'll be able to mail them to him."

Brigitte nodded her head then slightly jumped when Dante—who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, mind you—offered her a pen. "Thank you." Signing the papers made a physical weight lift off of Brigitte's shoulders. She thought that she had only been imagining things when she had taken off the ring yesterday, but she knew that the sensation had been real this time. An overwhelming sense of peace took over her as tears of joy clouded her eyes. She wasn't alone anymore.

"It's all right, Brigitte, I told you that I would take care of you. We all will take care of you." Caid had only meant to sooth her nerves, but his gentle words seemed to have had the opposite effect as he watched her burst into body shaking sobs as she held him tightly. "Just get it all out," he encouraged rubbing her bed head until her tears turned to sniffles. 

"How embarrassing," Brigitte said when she noticed that now the entire family (being that somewhere during her bawling fest Gina had entered the kitchen) had been watching her emotional breakdown.

"You don't have to feel ashamed. Just two nights ago I finished a whole pint of Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey and I cried my eyes out because I ruined my diet," Gina confessed with a shrug.

Dante rolled his eyes at his sister. She was forever being overdramatic. "Don't listen to this ditz, Brigitte. She'll rot your brain."

"Who are you calling a ditz?" Gina asked dropping her buttered toast to glare at her older brother.

"You," Dante said not backing down as they argued like eight year olds until their mother broke it up then kissed them both on the cheek to appease their tempers. Even as adults she still spoiled them with affection.

Brigitte smiled truly enjoying the family atmosphere that she had missed out on as a kid. She yawned as the urge to sleep overtook her then rubbed her eyes in an effort to fight it.




The Second Time Around Ch. 07



"Come on, back to bed with you," Caid said kissing her temple and smiling when she leaned into his side.

"I'm not sleepy," she told him on a yawn.

"How did I know that you were going to say that? Back upstairs." She didn't argue with him, trudging behind him slowly as he tucked her back in and kissed her forehead before rejoining his family downstairs.

"You're sending the papers out today right, Mamma?" Gina asked upon his return.

"Why mail it when I can deliver it myself?" Dante asked as he took the envelope from his mother to stare at it.

"You will do no such thing," Mamma told him taking it back and placing it with her purse in the entry way so that she wouldn't forget it. She sighed as she sat in her chair and stared down at the white table.

"Mamma, what's wrong?" Adriano asked with concern. She was looking depressed which was unlike her normal jovial self.

"I just don't understand how you young children could take the vow of marriage so lightly these days. When your papa vowed to love me forever, he did until the day he died, God rest his soul. What kind of man would be so negligent to his own wife?" She turned her intense grey eyes upon her youngest child as if looking into his soul. "She is a broken woman, Adriano. Life has not been kind to her. Be gentle."

"I will, Mamma."

"Treat her kindly."

"Always."

"Love her."

"Forever," he said without hesitation. "I already do." His response appeased her rewarding him with one of her motherly smiles as she pinched his cheek and cooed to him in Italian...something about how he was the spitting image of his father. He had begun to pick up on the language, with the help of Gina's tutoring and the hundreds of Italian television networks on the television. Now he could have conversations with them—nothing philosophical yet since he was barely grazing above intermediate—whereas before he just stared like a deer in headlights.

"Mamma has to run," she told her children looking at each of them with love before she left them to get dressed.

"I'm going to get Ilenia from Susan," Dante said standing to his feet.

"Why can't I do it instead?" Adriano asked shaking his head. She was his daughter so he should be the one to pick her up on days when he had visitation rights.

"Need I remind you of what happened the last time you went? Susan let the dogs out on you. With me, she doesn't screw around because she knows that I will hit her with the right palm of justice."

"You've slapped her?" Gina asked incredulously, not that the woman wouldn't deserve it, but she didn't like any man who would violently harm a female.

"No, I spanked the shit out of her in front of her guards after kicking their asses and making them watch. She doesn't fool around with me ever since then." Dante turned to Adriano and gave him a look that said 'learn from the master.'

"Since you deem me so unworthy of going by myself, I'll be accompanying you."

"That would be a strong no, fratellino, your woman is upstairs and very emotional. I wouldn't ask you to leave her. Besides, I'll be back in twenty minutes tops."

"Just don't speed like a bat out of hell. Mamma would kill you if you got into an accident," Gina warned with concern.

"Fine," Dante said with annoyance, "I'll be back in thirty minutes. Just call Susan and tell her to have my niece ready. That way all I'll have to do is strap her inside the car and drive off."

"See you in a few," they called out after him as he disappeared.

"Don't you think it's a bit too early to be waking Susan up to get Ilenia? It's eight in the morning."

Caid snorted as he shrugged his shoulder and picked up his cell phone to tell Susan to pack his daughter's bag. Of course, being the type of person that she is: a bitch, Susan bickered and ranted about not doing it, but when he said that Dante would be there in fifteen minutes, her demeanor changed even though she attempted to still curse and be vulgar as if she could care less. Dante was right, Susan was afraid of him.

"Paul won't sign those papers," Gina said suddenly, breaking Caid out of his thoughts.

"You want to say that any louder to awaken Brigitte?"

"I'm only telling you the truth. He's going to fight this divorce tooth and nail."

"Then I'll fight him even harder. He's not getting her back. She wasn't supposed to be his woman in the first place."

"Caid, be careful. That's all I'm trying to get at. I actually...care about you. It would suck if something was to happen to you. You're like my brother now."

"I'm honored," he said as he wrapped Gina into a big hug. She feigned annoyance as she hugged him back, but she was smiling by the time he pulled away.

"What will you do now that you have her back?" she asked as she drank the last of her orange juice.

"I'm going to reestablish our bond."

"That won't be possible. Not with your previous body already rotten and buried in the ground at the cemetery," Gina said shaking her head. "Don't get me wrong, the bond is there, I felt it the minute I stepped into the kitchen earlier, but the strength and force of it isn't the same as if you were in your original, predestined body. The 'red thread of fate' is holding you two together and the fact that you've slept together also helps. You now have a physical and spiritual connection that increases your link. But Brigitte will have a difficult time taking her rightful place as a Collaborator because the original connection has been severed. I'll guide her as best I can, but only after everything has been resolved with the divorce. She'll be able to focus more clearly."

"I agree, but what about me?" Caid asked wanting to be useful.

"There is a weak possibility that you'll be able reclaim a small percentage of your abilities the stronger the bond between you and Brigitte becomes. I can't say for sure until I'm able to speak with Corey once more. The guy is hard to reach sometimes." 

"Ok," Caid said nodding his head in the process. No matter the outcome, he would protect Brigitte with all that he had regardless of what happened.



The Second Time Around Ch. 08



"What's happening with the papers?" Adriano asked his mother. A month had passed with no news and sometimes no news was not good news.

"Brigitte was right. He keeps sending them back. So I had a friend of mine subpoena him to court for the divorce. He can't not answer to one of those, right?"

"Mamma, you're an angel."

She smiled at her little pride and joy, pinching his cheek before heading out the door. The woman had more of a social life than all three of her children put together.

"Any word from Corey?" he asked upon Gina's arrival.

"No, but I've come to the realization that I don't need him. I'm just as capable of figuring this out on my own as much as I can with his help."

"Brigitte has been worrying her head off because of all of this divorce nonsense."

"I know. It looks like she's lost a lot of weight from the stress. The other day I took her to this great Italian restaurant and she barely touched her plate. She was too busy staring off into space to eat."

"I'm just as worried about her as you are."

"Speaking of Brigitte, she's taking an awfully long time in the shower..."Gina said as she retraced her steps towards the stairs. They were supposed to be going shopping just to spend some time as girls and getting to know each other. It was something that they had agreed upon after her arrival. 

Recently, however, she had begun to feel an increase of spiritual pressure within the neighborhood. It wasn't odd for a certain location to be filled with supernatural activity, but to have said activity manifest in as little over a week...that had to be a bad sign. She trudged up the stairs with Caid on her heels, reaching for the door knob to his room.

Grabbing her shoulder, Caid hindered Gina's entrance. "Hold on. Something doesn't feel right." He pushed the door open as a cold tingle sliced up his spine, noticing the dense amount of smoke leaking from underneath the doorway of the bathroom. "Stay here." Three long strides took him to the bathroom door, his hand touched the searing metal yet he didn't pull away from the burn, instead he mustered enough energy to push against whatever blockade was preventing him from entering.

"Brigitte?"

Caid turned to Gina with a frown on his face, "Didn't I tell you to stay put in the hall?"

"I'm stubborn?" she provided with a simple shrug, pressing on the door to open it further. A blast of coal smelling smoke emanated from the bathroom and flooded its way into the bedroom, clearing out the space to leave a statue still Brigitte regarding her reflection in the mirror. She seemed entranced by herself, unable to break her eyes away from her own image as she leaned closer to the glass with a curious hand caressing her cheek.

"Brigitte?" Gina called watching as her voice went unheard.

"Brigitte!" Caid said with firmness in his tone. Her eyes lifted to gaze at him, but they weren't her normal brown hue. Reddish gold irises and dilated, cat like pupils stared back at him innocently before her lovely face contorted in anger and a quick fist smashed into the mirror, shattering the reflection of her image to pieces. She turned angrily in their direction, hair lifting on end as a sudden dim yet yellow aura radiated about her body, and extended a brown arm that sent a blast of energy strong enough to drop Caid to his knees and send Gina slamming into the wall. What the hell was happening?

He made to stand to his feet yet felt his body being slammed against the hard tile of his bathroom floor then gritted his teeth strong enough to break his jaw as he forced his suppressed limps to move, pushing with all of his might until he was standing and proceeding against the horrendous pressure seeping out of Brigitte and crashing against him.

"Get out!" she said. Her voice sounded like a mixture of darkness, death, and evil. This wasn't his Brigitte. It was as if someone was controlling her body. A woman who rarely ever lost her cool was now staring at him with anger in her eyes ready to kill him. What could make her possibly react in such a manner? And then he saw it, the bracelet around her wrist eerily projecting forth negative power, feeding her with hatred.

Caid struggled until he was standing directly in her path, fought with his arms to lift against the pressure and grabbed a hold of her wrist to snatch the bracelet away, but the damn thing felt like a part of her skin making Brigitte cry out in pain as he ripped it away from her body. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it ended. The energy. The smoke. The evil. It all disappeared as she collapsed into a heap at his feet.

"Are you okay?" Gina asked gingerly rubbing her back. She had felt as if she was meant to go through the wall instead of being plastered against it.

"Yeah. You?"

"I'm not going to lie I think I might have pissed my pants. I've never experienced anything like this before," she admitted looking down at the still glowing bracelet that was steadily dimming. "Mind if I take a look at that thing?"

"Be my guest. I just don't want it anywhere near Brigitte again." Caid bent against the stiffness in his limbs to lift Brigitte's crumpled frame into his arms. She whimpered in agony, sweat covering her brow as he laid her against his cool bedding.

"Caid, how did you know that it was the bracelet?" Gina asked still in the bathroom staring down at it in consternation.

"I can't explain. I felt the evil it was emitting and when I looked at it, it started to glow," he said walking past her to wet a washcloth with cool water. He placed it on Brigitte's head hoping to calm her shivering except became befuddled when it increased instead.

"We need to get her out of this room. Bring her downstairs and rest her on the couch. I don't want either of you sleeping in here again until I can figure out just what in the hell happened."

Caid didn't have to be told twice. He scooped Brigitte up and did as Gina instructed him to, releasing a sigh of relief when she began to calm down now that she was downstairs. "What now?" he asked looking at Gina for further instruction.

"I'm going back inside of the room. Don't allow anyone to disturb me and definitely do not come looking for me. I'll come out when I'm ready. In the meantime keep an eye on Brigitte. She'll need some fluids and ibuprofen when she wakes up. Something tells me that she'll be in a world of pain."

"Why?"

"Wouldn't you be as well if you used powers that you yet to know that you possessed and haven't had the chance to hone?" she asked and saw him nod his head in understanding. "I'll be back...eventually."

He nodded his head again then sat down beside Brigitte after grabbing a bottle full of ibuprofen and a large glass of water. He waited for her to open her eyes becoming worried when an hour passed yet Brigitte remained asleep. He gently caressed her brow then clasped her hand to plant a soft kiss to the back of it.

His breathing stopped and just like in the movies when someone is high on drugs, his body felt jumpy, his blood ran hot, vague background noises faded and his pupils dilated. His eyes fixated upon the air as if he could make out every single molecule and with a start he was gulping in air as he became overly aware of his surroundings. He could suddenly see through walls, see rays of light zooming by, and there directly before his eyes was Gina sitting inside of his room Indian style with her eyes closed. She looked so serene, but he could feel the tension radiating from her body.

It's funny how when one experiences supernatural activity that it's similar to an out of body experience. Caid could feel his head turning back in Brigitte's direction yet at that same time it was as if he was already out of his body looking down at the both of them until his mind's eyes was seeing into her mind. She was dreaming, but it wasn't the peaceful kind. She was actually fighting, running through mirrors and open doorways that slammed shut quickly behind her rapidly advancing footsteps except she wasn't the only one running. Echoes of claws rasping against tile tingled his eardrums and a wave of hot air zoomed by his body as something or things scuttled past him on her trail.

His feet lifted to move and in the blink of an eye he was by her side, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly as he led her in the right direction. He couldn't necessarily explain how he knew in which direction to go, but Caid could have sworn that a small voice was guiding them through the labyrinth of doors and mirrors until they were smashing through glass and falling into an abyss. Shards sliced at his arms as he wrapped them tightly about Brigitte to protect her from the fall then he became surprised when they landed into cool waters. He hoisted her against him, swimming against the waves as his lungs burned for oxygen; nonetheless, he pressed on not allowing himself to stop until they were gasping for air on what appeared to be a river bank.

Although he now knew for sure that he had infiltrated her dream, Caid could still hear Brigitte's whimpers of distress as if he was only sitting by her side in the living room. His body jumped as he felt the unknown presence drawing near, he quickly assessed their surroundings then pulled her towards the sand somewhat dragging her behind because she protested, mouthing that there was nowhere else to go. He didn't listen, pulling until their feet were at the edge of a cliff leaving them staring into another deep abyss and this time, without thinking, Caid looked deeply into Brigitte's eyes to calm her riled emotions before taking her into his arms and free falling over the edge just as the invisible force reached to consume them.

It was dark just like the day that he died, but this time instead of floating in open air, his body slammed into what he could only surmise was a brick wall as he jumped "awake" to look down at a heavily breathing Brigitte whose eyes were staring back at him in alarm. Her lips trembled and he reached for her, holding her tightly as he rained kisses on her sweat covered forehead and reassured her that everything would be all right. They were back inside of his living room under the protection of his roof. 

"Was it a dream?" she finally asked after calming herself.

"I don't know, but if it makes you feel any better I had the same one," he said with a smile then grabbed his side to wince in pain.

"What is it?" Brigitte asked concerned.

"My ribs are on fire." She lifted his shirt and gasped as she stared back at one of the biggest bruises she had ever seen in her life. "What happened?"

Caid examined his torso then shrugged as if he was used to having an orange and red contusion the side of a head on his side. "I landed on my ribs."

"We need to get you some ice," Brigitte told him jumping to her feet only to fall back to the seat as she too winced. Her entire body was raging against her efforts to move.

"Yeah, about that," Caid said as he picked up the bottle of ibuprofen and the water. "You'll be needing these."

"What happened to me?" she asked confused.

"You wouldn't believe me if I tried to explain," he replied.

"Adriano..."

"You're fine and that's all that matters. You need to get some more rest."

Brigitte looked ready to protest, but she bit her tongue and nodded her head as she lay back down on the sofa. "My head is pounding and it feels as if I've been spinning inside of a kaleidoscope. Not to mention every single muscle of my body is tight. I don't understand what's going on."

Adriano lifted his dark blue eyes to look at her as he too tried to piece together what had transpired that morning. "When you woke up, how did you feel?"

"Great...considering the way I came to..." Brigitte mumbled bashfully as her cheeks burned. Despite her unease, her body was responding to how Adriano's deft fingers had stirred her kitty to excitement until she was having wet dreams. That was a great wake up call. She lifted her brown eyes to catch a red tinge on his handsome face and smiled.

"I meant...afterwards."

She couldn't help chuckling. This was the first time that she had seen him so timid. "It's so strange, Adriano. I remember you leaving the shower before me and I remember getting dressed, but then I went to brush my teeth and...I don't know anymore. I woke up on the couch with you right beside me. Speaking of that, what am I doing downstairs? And why does my head hurt so much."

"Here, take these and relax," Adriano replied as he extended a well toned arm. 

Brigitte reached for the ibuprofen and water then gasped when she saw blood trickling down his sleeve. "Oh my goodness. You're hurt! What happened to you?"

The sting from his wounds didn't become apparent until after she had pointed it out. He winced, reaching an aching arm up to touch the deep cut wounds along his arm. It was pulsating against his fingers as blood slowly oozed from the incision, making Adriano's stomach churn. "What in the hell? How did this happen?" Then he remembered Brigitte's dream when they plunged through the mirror and his body took the brunt of the impact to protect her. That would definitely explain the large bruise on his flank.

"What's going on?" Brigitte asked fearfully.

"I don't know, mio cuore." He heard the words echo from his lips yet somehow, Adrian...no, Caid, already knew the answer. Spiritual warfare. Someone was targeting them, but who?

"Why don't you take a nap," he suggested smiling when Brigitte's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"And have another one of those dreams? I think not. I need to drink some coffee."

"You hate coffee," he reminded her and watched her frown in consternation.

"Look, Adriano, I'm still a bit freaked out about that nightmare that I just had and the fact that you automatically knew about it."

"Knew about it? Brigitte, I was there."

She huffed her disbelief and shook her head. "That's not possible. Have you ever heard of someone infiltrating someone else's dream before? I haven't. Adriano, I know that you're trying to comfort me, but you don't have to treat me like a baby. Everyone has nightmares," she told him.

"Brigitte, you saw me in your dream didn't you?" he asked seriously waiting for a response. She nodded her head slowly even though it was clear that she wasn't ready to accept the idea. "And you know that we jumped off of that cliff, didn't you?"

"Yes, but, if that were the case...your wounds...would they also have been from my dream? How do you explain that you all of a sudden have bruises and lesions that you can't account for? We must be going through some kind of haunting or poltergeist because shit like this doesn't just happen every day....excuse my language," she added afterwards.

Shit. He hadn't thought about that. She was right. And he could tell from looking at her that she was in slight shock from it all. It was best to pretend as if he was only pulling her leg until he understood what was going on himself. Adriano gave Brigitte a big grin, "I thought that I had you, but you're one damn smart chick...shame."

"You asshole," Brigitte quipped back with a playful smile before it disappeared when she glanced at her lover's body once more. "Seriously, Adriano, how did you get those?"

"Oh, Dante and I were rough housing a bit this morning and things got messy."

"I hope it wasn't with blades or anything."

"Nah, just broken...glass....and...beer bottles..." he lied horribly, one thing that he was never and would never be good at. "Yeah, it was fun," he said nodding his head adamantly while Brigitte looked at him as if he had lost his marbles.

"Ok," she replied uncertainly. "Do you guys do this often?"

"Mamma always tells them that they're going to kill each other, but do they listen?" Gina interrupted descending the stairs slowly. She caught the immense look of appreciation Caid was sending her and almost bursted into laughter. "Adriano, why don't you let me take a look at those wounds?"

"I'll be right there," he said jumping to his tired feet and following behind his sister.

"Hey, how did I get downstairs," Brigitte called after them.

"I owe you a big one."

"Tell me about it," Gina replied. "Broken glass and beer bottles were all that you could come up with?"

"Look, I lived an honest life when I was Caid Harrison and just because I'm in all of this sexy, Italian flesh doesn't mean that I let it all go down the drain."

"Don't ever say that again," Gina said giving him the side eye while shaking her head.

"Don't worry, I never will," Caid agreed lifting his shirt off of his body to take a look at the damage.

"Damn!"

"I know," he agreed as he watched his wounds fester and boil. They weren't ordinary cuts. In fact, they were burning as if someone had injected his flesh with liquid fire. He wasn't sure if normal medicine would be able to do anything for him.

"How did you get these?"

"This might sound terribly strange or cliché, but I rescued Brigitte from her nightmare."

"What?" Gina asked skeptically.

"It's true," Caid insisted. "She was lying on the couch and I touched her. Suddenly every single nerve in my body was on end. I literally saw the speed of light and if someone was talking, I probably would have been able to see the speed of sound, Gina. I assure you that whatever happened was meant to take place."

"Then what happened?" Gina asked as they stared into each other's eyes in the mirror.

"I was inside of her subconscious. There she was running and I arrived in time, as if I was meant to...infiltrate her reverie, and I was guiding her to safety. I didn't believe it myself until when I came to and saw the proof of our little adventure all over my body," Caid said. "These," he told her pointing to his arms, "were from breaking through a mirror. And this," he said turning to show her his bruise, "was from when we were falling and I landed on my side to keep Brigitte from getting hurt."

"I've never heard of this happening before," Gina told him befuddled. "I don't know how to explain this."

"I do," Caid said leaning against the sink.

"How? What is it?"

"Spiritual warfare."

"Spiritual warfare?" Gina echoed like a parrot. "What's that?"

"What does it look like? It is when your enemy attacks from a supernatural standpoint. There is no physical face to face combat; however, he has the ability to penetrate one's subconscious whether through dreams, fantasies, thoughts...you name it and it is possible. Normally, some kind of physical or emotional connection must be made to have such strong contact. If not, this...person must be exponentially powerful in order to accomplish such a feat without said connection.

In spiritual warfare, any wounds acquired will always manifest in the natural with severe side effects. Such is the case with my lesions. Normally, I should not be able to intervene, but when a Collaborator is at his/her peak spiritual stress level, their fellow Collaborator is capable of harnessing their power and diverting it to another source. If not, the spiritual build up could cause a fissure in the time warp thus enabling negative energy to seep through the protective barriers, preparing the way for demonic invasion."

Gina looked at him in amazement, "how did you know all of this?"

Caid blinked several times in an effort to understand his quick responses, "I do not know...I think that my past self is starting to awaken. I know that you said that it is not possible for me to ever regain my lost abilities, but I think that this attack upon Brigitte has at least brought back my ancient knowledge."

"Wow," Gina replied at a loss for words. "But if this is as you say, it means that our situation is worse than I thought. Caid, someone is attacking us...w-well, you...guys," Gina said as she reached for gauze to clean his wounds. "I want to make sure to tell you before I forget that that bracelet isn't some kind of ordinary piece of jewelry."




The Second Time Around Ch. 08



"I agree. Go on."

"When I touched it I was able to see its story."

"Huh?"

"Some say that every object, artifact...actually everything has a story. When I looked upon the bracelet, I was overwhelmed with a sense of negativity and hatred and then when I touched it, I saw everything. It belonged to—"

"The Demon Queen, Jezebel," Caid finished for her. "She was persecuted and executed almost five thousand years ago for mutiny. Her husband was killed during the Great Collaboration."

"What's that?" Gina asked confused.

"One of the biggest wars known to the supernatural world; what you humans would call the Ice Age."

Gina felt a tingle trickle up her spine as she watched Caid in the mirror. He looked like some kind of oracle as he began to tell her about what took past almost 20,000 years ago. And the fact that he referred to her as 'you humans' really made her aware that he too should be considered a supernatural being even though he was like a phoenix who rose from the ashes and wrapped itself in human flesh.

"The Demon King, Baalzar, provoked a war between the humans which led to debauchery, causing them to sacrifice their young at his temple. He feasted upon their weakened souls, instilled spiritual curses upon them and their land, and finally when they had no more to offer, he massacred tribes and clans transforming them into legions of demonic beings that he used to conquer the earth. It was one of the bloodiest wars that we have ever fought, but finally when all else failed and we were incapable of slaying him, The Almighty encased Baalzar's realm in a thick layer of ice to quell the rebellion. Baalzar died and so did that earth."

"Are you serious? Ice killed the almighty Baalzar?" Gina asked skeptically.

"Have you ever been touched with ice from The Almighty?" Caid asked his blue eyes glowing in their sockets as they stared into her own. His question had Gina swallowing her tongue.

"W-what do you mean that earth died? There has only ever been one earth." 

Caid shook his head in denial, "That is what you were taught to believe. In order to bring to an end Baalzar's kingdom, the old earth was destroyed and The Almighty took another seven days of Creation. I remember it well because we Collaborators were placed in Paradise with the Angels, to destroy the remainder of Baalzar's lair, until its completion."

"What? Baalzar lived in Paradise?" she said incredulously.

"Where is Paradise's location?" Caid asked wincing when the alcohol on the gauze touched his skin.

"I don't know, but I don't imagine that demons and angels were partying it up together up there."

He laughed shaking his head. "Try down below. Paradise was located in one of the seven layers of Hell before it was moved up to Heaven with The Son's resurrection."

"Oh. And Jezebel?"

"She was slain because of her lust for vengeance. Since her death, the underworld has been thrown into chaos. They wish to have another ruler yet no one is willing to be ruled upon. They are fighting for power thus the reason the strength of a Collaborator is needed. It guarantees automatic standing."

Gina nodded with understanding as she changed gauzes now that the ones she held in her hand were soiled. "I learned that her bracelet can be used as a possessor. It devours positive spiritual energy and replaces it with demonic force until the porter of the bracelet is consumed with hatred and changing that person into a demonic entity. If we didn't get to Brigitte in time, she would have transformed into...something else."

"And my room?" Caid asked biting back the pain.

"There was a hidden doorway that, once I located, I was able to permanently block off. You won't have to worry about anymore attacks. This entire house is sealed away and I was able to send the bracelet back to wherever it came from."

"I did not know that a simple medium was able to accomplish a task so grand," Caid teased.

"Well, I didn't know that I was living with an oracle." They laughed together until Gina found her heart jumping out of her chest when Caid went unconscious. "Oh jeez." She was at a lost as to what to do. Neither Dante nor Mamma were home to be much of assistance, which now that she stopped to think about it was a good thing because she wouldn't need to explain why "Adriano" was in such bad shape. But then again, Brigitte was there yet none the wiser as to what was going on about her. She wouldn't be of much help, would she?

"What am I supposed to do?" Gina asked herself aloud as she looked down at Caid's rapidly fading coloring. He looked on the verge of being an Oompa-Loompa than a human being.

"Ask her."

"Wh-who's there?" Gina asked ready to piss her pants. Her throat went dry as the air before her began to materialize and she had to slam a hand over her mouth before screaming her head off as Corey materialized.

"She has to know," he told her watching her intently.

Gina stared at him wondering if this was what Caid looked like in his old form even though she should have been snapping out of her trance instead of staring at an attractive ghost. She really needed to get some action.

"Yes, Caid and I do resemble and thank you for thinking that I'm attractive, but it's about time that Brigitte became a part of this happy little family, don't you think?" Corey asked with a gleam in his golden brown eyes. Eyes that his brother used to have before changing bodies.

Gina snapped out of it, "How am I supposed to carry him? This guy weighs a ton and if you haven't noticed, which I don't think you have since you've been MIA lately, Brigitte is holed up on the sofa. She's not in moving condition."

Corey gave her a lopsided grin as he lifted one arm and floated his brother's body out of the bathroom into the living room. He laid him on the carpet then gave Gina a look that said 'all you had to do was ask.'

"Where are you going?" she asked when he began to dissipate.

"I have obligations to attend to," he told her lifting a transparent hand to pat her on the head like one would do to an animal. It's a strange sensation being touched by a ghost. It felt as if a sudden chill ran through her body and as if a slight weight pressed upon her head. "Do not be afraid. I would never hurt you," Corey said unable to stop reading her mind. "And don't worry you're doing a good job. I must leave before it's too late." He disappeared shortly after leaving her to stare in his wake before shaking herself too and nudging Brigitte awake.

Brigitte sat up on the couch with a start then relaxed when she saw that it was only Gina. She couldn't explain it, but somehow her body began to feel a hundred percent again. Whatever drugs Adriano had given her to take had worked like a charm. "What's wrong?"

"It's Adriano."

Brigitte didn't give her any time to finish with her explanation before she was at his side touching his orange flesh. A heavy frown masked her chestnut colored features as her eyes did a quick scan of his body.

"What's going on? Is he dead?"

Brigitte's brown eyes, once more glowing an eerie golden hue like earlier that morning, perused Gina's visage. Maybe it was a Collaborator thing still it was creepy. "Not dead only paralyzed. Someone is trying to snuff him out, but they cannot. He will not die so easily." Brigitte responded the same way that Caid did to Gina's questions as if there was no room for doubt. 

So far Gina realized that she had learned two things about Collaborators: One, their eyes changed to eerie colors when their powers were reawakened; and two, they were always right. Maybe she should add that their grammar reverted back to old/proper English when in deep explanation as number three...

"What will you do?"

"Ssshh," Brigitte replied as she knelt beside her lover and traced a line from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. Then she placed a hand in the center of his back barely two inches away from his body and began to mold the air about it. Gina watched in amazement as Brigitte formed the bubbling energy into a slowly growing ball until she needed both hands to calm and contain it. She began to rock her body in a slow circular motion, increasing her speed while rhythmically breathing until suddenly she stopped, moving her hands away and releasing the globe. The orb of energy rose, worrying Gina as she saw Caid's flesh slowly become a tainted black, high enough to reach Brigitte's chest level before, with a loud cry, she forcefully smashed the sphere back into Caid's body. The entire house shook as ripple after ripple of energy washed over them and rushed out of the barriers that Gina had built up around their property.

Her eyes nearly blurred with tears when Caid gasped for air while a mysterious blue aura engulfed his body, flushing it with renewed life. His wounds began to heal as their eyes watched the dermis and the epidermis of the skin reclosing over each other as if there were never visible incisions to begin with. Even the large contusion on his side reversed back from an orange yellow tone to his natural olive complexion. He coughed and turned his head like a child would in their sleep before releasing a soft groan.

"You did it!" Gina replied ecstatically grabbing Brigitte's hands and bouncing about for joy.

Brigitte shook her head, looking at her appendages as if they were foreign to her. Confusion and fear were written all over her face when her eyes once more connected with Gina's. "What is going on?" 



The Second Time Around Ch. 09



Confusion. It was clouding Brigitte's mind, impeding her ability to analyze and process everything that she had just witnessed over the past four hours. Saying that she was confused was an understatement. It was more like she was flabbergasted, muddled, disordered, dumbfounded, damn near mixed up on the inside. She didn't know what to think. How was she supposed to respond?

She was dragging on a cigarette, a horrible habit she had denounced at the age of nineteen, but so great was her shock that she needed something to take the edge off. Even as she inhaled the smoke, allowing the thick fog to seep out of her nostrils, Brigitte was regretting her decision for a quick smoke break. Her lungs felt heavy and she couldn't help but coughing them out on her lap.

"Brigitte."

She felt Adriano's hand on her wrist stopping her from putting the cigarette back to her lips while still choking. They hadn't spoken since his reawakening. In fact, both he and Gina had willingly given her space as if they knew that she needed the time alone before further blowing her mind with the truth.

"That's enough."

Her glassy brown eyes landed on his magnificent face and Brigitte shuddered. What she hadn't understood the most, or rather, what had left her the most boggled and speechless during that entire...strange situation was that somehow she had seen Caid. Or at least she had thought that she had seen him when Adriano's nearly lifeless body was hanging on the balance. It was as if she had been looking down at a merged form of the both of them. It had left her befuddled and feeling as if she was on the verge of going insane.

"Don't tell me what is enough for me," she managed to say with a steady voice after wiping the tears from her eyes caused by the intense burning of her pulmonary organs.

She watched Adriano grab the lit cigarette and out it in the palm of his hand.

"Are you crazy?! Why would you do that?" she demanded grabbing his hand and pulling him inside of the house to run it under cool water.

"Brigitte."

"What if you seriously hurt yourself?"

"Brigitte," Adriano repeated. He knew exactly what she was up to. She was trying to avoid the subject. She often had the tendency to do that in the past when she was completely overwhelmed.

"I need to wrap your hand in some gauze."

"BRIGITTE!"

She jumped startled by his outburst as she dropped his hand and walked away. She got as far as the kitchen before he cornered her, grabbing her arm to spin her about in his direction.

"Non andare via da me!" Adriano told her unaware that he had spoken in Italian.

"What?" Brigitte responded confused.

"Why don't the both of you calm down and have a seat. Getting angry with each other or pretending that everything that just happened was an illusion won't resolve this issue," Gina told them.

Adriano closed his eyes to compose himself then took a deep breathe. "Don't walk away from me," he repeated more calmly. "Let's do as Gina suggested. Have a seat so that we can all talk."

Brigitte ran shaky fingers through her hair, sitting down warily at the kitchen table while the two siblings carefully watched her every move.

"What's going on?" she asked finally mustering up the courage to speak.

"It's a long story."

"Then try me, Gina, because what happened is something more out of a science fiction flick than real life."

"Brigitte," Gina tried to calm her.

"You don't make an orb of energy magically appear out of thin air! You're not supposed to be hovering above your own body while manipulating the molecular atmosphere as if watching a movie! It's humanly impossible to see a body turn completely black!" Brigitte listed jumping to her feet in panic. "And you're not supposed to see your dead lover lying in front of you after you spent years learning to accept that he's gone," she told them more defeated as she burst into tears.

"What's wrong with me? What's happening? Am I some sort of freak?"

"No," Gina told her reaching for her hand to softly caress it. "You're not some sort of freak and everything you're talking about is real."

"It can't be real," Brigitte refuted.

"It is."

She glared in her lover's direction, crossing her arms above her waist then shook her head. "If that's the case then that means that you're really Caid instead of Adriano," she said on an ironic laugh. She expected the both of them to laugh with her instead of giving her a serious regard that informed her that she was one hundred percent correct.

"I'm not feeling too well. I think I'm going to lie down for a while."

"Brigitte, don't run away from the truth," Caid said standing to his feet.

"The truth? What truth? The only thing I believe right now is that the both of you need a visit to the loony bin, without me. Now, I'm going to try to take a three day nap and when I awaken, this shenanigan better be over with." She dropped her arms, wheeling about on her heels to walk away.

"You were the only woman I known to have cried when you found out that Wanyá Morris from Boyz II Men was a woman abuser even though he sung such beautiful love songs. You told me that you never attended a Halloween party when you were younger so we had our own on our fifth date. You wanted to dress as Scary Spice, but ended up looking like Ginger because your hair wouldn't puff out. You—"

"I could have told anyone what you just said. You're not Caid."

"The first time that we ever made love was on the highway when my car broke down outside of South Dakato. You told me that if a man truly loved you, he would drive to the ends of the earth for you. I told you we'd start in the states and make our way around, but my car had other plans," Caid said with a soft smile on his lips. "I wanted to take you to Mount Rushmore and it wanted to keep us on I-90. I was so angry that I kicked the tire and the hubcap fell off. I told you that I sprained my toe, you hugged me, we kissed, and then you spent the rest of the night in my arms. The next day when we finally got in touch with Triple A and I was able to go to a hospital, we found out that my toe was really broken."

"Stop it. Caid died. I was at his funeral," Brigitte said upset that he would purposefully open an old wound.

Caid followed her out of the kitchen with Gina awkwardly trailing behind them, she didn't want to eavesdrop, but her curiosity was getting the best of her.

"If I wasn't Caid, why would I have broken your heart on your birthday by telling you that I never loved you and that it was all a joke?"

"Stop it. STOP IT!" Brigitte shouted shoving at his chest. She was breathing rapidly on the verge of hyperventilation. "It was a mistake being with him after giving him my heart for him to crush it to pieces. I hate you just as much as I hate him. I don't know how you found out about all of this, but you're one sick...son of a bitch to bring this up right now. Go to hell!"

"I've been there, Brigitte, from the very day that I walked away from you. The truth is, I planned to propose to you, to ask you to marry me, but my parents wouldn't have it. They threatened to make your life miserable if I didn't stay away from you so I did, Brigitte. I said all of those horrible things so that you wouldn't try to follow me and then when I was driving away, I had an accident that day and yes, you're right, I did die. But so did Adriano and when I awoke, I was inside of his body. You have to believe me, Brigitte."

"No, let go of me. Get away from me! You're sick," she spat wrenching herself from his grasp.

"Our baby would have been named Raphaelle, after your mother, if we never had a miscarriage." Caid knew that it was a low blow, but it was the only way that she would know who he really was. They had never told anyone about their baby, not that they ever had anyone to tell. It had been a very painful experience for the both of them. "After that, we found out that Corey's cancer was incurable and he died several months afterwards."

Brigitte's eyes clouded with moisture, "Caid?"

"Yeah," he replied nodding his head while she shook her own in disbelief.

"No..." her voice trailed off making her absentmindedly touch her throat as her steps reversed away from him. She looked about the room as if noticing her surroundings for the first time. Her eyes landed upon Gina questioning her with her gaze as if to ask if she too had been informed.

Gina nodded her head unable to maintain eye contact with her friend. She hated the look of distrust upon Brigitte's face as she heaved for air then rushed out of the front door. "Brigitte wait!" she called as they chased after her.

The woman was a runner; her feet were taking her quickly off of their property and across the street, but Caid was faster even with his slight limp. He literally caught her in his arms, pressing her fleeting body against him and soothing her with familiar pet names that he hadn't uttered in a while. Brigitte was trembling from head to toe and from the glazed look in her eyes he knew that she was going into shock.

"Brigitte, don't do this," he begged gripping her face in the palm of his free hand to make their eyes meet. "Don't shut me out. You don't know how long I've waited to have you back in my life. Don't take your love away from me. I can't live in a world where we don't exist together."

Brigitte squeezed her eyes shut, she had a raging head ache, she was afraid, and she didn't know how to react to the truth that Caid was really Adriano. That he had lied to her in order to protect her which had cost him his life. That he was now back and they were picking up where they had left off. This couldn't be real.

"How?" she asked shakily. "How were you able to do this?"

"Caid, Brigitte, look out! There's a car!" Gina warned watching in horror as a speeding pickup truck came careening around the corner. "Oh my gosh," she breathed helplessly then observed with her mouth hanging open as both of her companions turned their heads in the direction of the quickly advancing vehicle. Brigitte lifted her arm, not in an act of protection, but holding her arm out to signal to the driver to stop. It seemed as if nothing would happen until the palm of her hand began to glow, manipulating time itself as it slowed the velocity of the automobile until it was traveling in slow motion then eventually completely stopped directly in front of them. She pulled her arm back as if to rest it at her side only to push the air sending the truck flying back in time reversing the reckless driving and making it disappear from sight.

That's when she noticed for the first time that they were levitating. "Why is this happening?"

"Let's return inside where Gina and I will explain everything to you," Caid promised checking to make sure that there weren't any witnesses. Their bare feet touched the hot pavement making constant contact on their way back inside.

Brigitte swallowed air, the tightness in her throat barely allowing her to get it down. Her palm was burning, yet it wasn't painful. It was more of an intense tingling sensation that was progressively making its way throughout her entire body. She looked down at her hands for the second time that day and wondered if she was merely fantasizing, that thought, however quickly disappeared from her mind as she watched them radiate with energy.

"What's happening to me?"

"You are reawakening. We both are," Caid told her.

"Reawakening? What do you mean?"

"We are the guardians of this earth, Brigitte, what one would call Collaborators."

"Collaborators?" Brigitte repeated better than a parrot. "What is all of this?"

"Sit down," Gina said then proceeded to make them all hot cups of coffee. They told her the truth about her existence and her purpose. So in a nutshell, she was some kind of supernatural being created to protect the earth from demonic and other supernatural activities. She learned that her abilities lay dormant until they were needed which would activity the regeneration of her spiritual cells, enabling her to reconnect with her former lives on earth. Each generation of rebirth increased her knowledge, strength, and capabilities which became invincible with the presence of her partner or lover or whatever Gina had called it.

In other words, no Caid, half the power. Half the power, decreased ability to save the planet. Can't save the planet, demonic infestation. Demonic infestation, perhaps the ending of existence or whatever the Almighty decided. Everything was connected in one big circular and when that circle was broken, mankind's stability was put in the balance.

"Let me get this right," Brigitte said. "Caid and I were created in pairs who lose the ability to combat evil if the other is taken away?"

"Yes," Caid and Gina answered in unison.

"And the day that Caid died unbalanced the scale of destiny which caused the death of an innocent human in order to rectify this rip in the thread of fate?"

"Yes."

"Instead of dying, his spirit attached itself to another host to keep this scale from tipping over to the side of darkness thus keeping the earth somewhat protected?"

"Yup."

"However, since his red thread of fate has been severed with the loss of his destined body, it is up to me to maintain the balance and save everyone from utter destruction?" Brigitte asked gnawing on her lip in consternation.

"Exactly."

"This is too much. I can't do this alone."

"You're not alone. This is the reason that Caid is still here. He may have lost his abilities, but he is still here to protect you."

"With what the power of love?" she said sarcastically then apologized. "How am I supposed to be a superhero if I can't even activate or control my own abilities?"

"You do not activate them, they will possess you when you need them the most," Caid explained his beautiful eyes glowing. Brigitte seemed to be entranced by them, lifting herself from her seat to go to him and gently touch his face.

"Caid, death has never been able to separate us though he has tried many times."

"I know. I promised you that I would never leave, did I not?"

Gina felt as if she was watching a supernatural soap opera. Any minute now the cheesy romantic music would begin to play and the two of them would, in high definition slow motion, start to kiss. But this little moment of discomfort taught her something else important. Only a Collaborator could willingly activate the other's ability. It seemed to come naturally that they responded to each other. Even now, sitting at the table with them, Gina was experiencing a taste of their powers. She felt it coursing throughout her, and it was a strange feeling. She had the sensation of floating, feeling light headed, and very weightless although the force of their strength was acting as gravity, keeping her gently anchored to her seat.

"You should never have left that day. If only we had known."

"It was idiotic. I apologize for everything."

Gina wanted to clear her throat to break them out of this trance, yet stopped in her tracks as she watched her brother's body disappear to be replaced with that of Caid's. She had never seen him before, nonetheless she recognized him from her brief encounter with his attractive older brother. He was a handsome man himself.

"I'm glad to see you back to normal, brother."

Caid turned his head a warm smile breaking out upon his lips. "Corey."

"Corey?" Brigitte repeated with wonder in her voice. Her brown eyes were glowing ever so brightly as she stared at the man whom she loved as if he were her own flesh and blood. "The Messenger?" she asked going to him.

Messenger?

Corey turned to Gina and nodded his head, "I am a messenger," he replied to her question. "I am he who keeps the Collaborator in touch with the Almighty. Each pair has his own. We are their guardian angels, of a sort, warning them of coming danger. We, like the Collaborator, are immortal. Our existence depends upon their strength. If there is unrest, we die...at least physically."

"You were warning us of what is to come," Brigitte said standing directly in front of him. "We should have listened yet we were blinded. Forgive us." She bowed her head before him and Corey touched it gently with the palm of his hand.

"All has already been forgiven. Lift your head, for we must speak." He turned once more to face Gina, unable to keep his eyes off of her. "You have questions which need answers."

"Would you stop reading my mind?"

"Sorry, it comes with the territory."

She frowned looking at Caid for assistance except he was too busy pretending to ignore the attraction between the two of them.

"You want to know about me."

She was downright glowering now. Couldn't she have privacy in her own head? "Fine, if you're the Messenger, then why did you die in the first place? Weren't you supposed to stay with them and guide them?"

"That was the plan, but things tend to change."

"Enlighten me," she said even though she was unnerved by his never ending eye contact. Corey was starting to frazzle her.

"The...miscarriage," Brigitte fought out. "That was the first warning. Your death was the second," she said turning to Caid with those bright eyes. "Yours was the last."

"Yes," Corey replied.

"I really need an explanation because this is making no sense to me. How were these horrible events warnings?"

"Warning comes before destruction," Corey simply replied. "You have heard of the Holy Trinity, haven't you?"

"Of course," she said without hesitation.

"Our world is based upon this concept, whether it is in the realms of the Almighty or the demonic kingdom. Everything will arise according to the Order of Three, hence the reason there are two Collaborators and one Messenger and why their warning was carried out in three steps. In a sense, it allows room for modification and rectification. If you are able to rectify whatever provoked the first or the second signs, time itself will reverse and it will be erased from the Book of Errors; however, if after these three admonitions have gone unheeded or unsolved, whatever danger hidden behind them will come to pass. Each forewarning contains a message of what is to come."

"Then what did everything mean?" Gina asked still trying to understand.

"The miscarriage represented intense and sudden suffering, my death symbolized long-term bereavement, and the meaning of Caid and Adriano's combined deaths were to portray the loss of innocence. These factors will come into play if the demonic kingdom is allowed to rise on earth. No one shall be exempted from their wrath, not the young, the old, not the innocent. Every single living soul upon this earth shall be devoured. Do you understand now, Ms. Comito?"

"Perfectly," Gina told him as her heart stammered in her chest. She was afraid. She had literally been given a vision of what was to come if they didn't rectify their little problem. "I understand, however with us unable to pinpoint who or what is attacking us, we are in a hard spot."

"Which is the reason why I am here." The lights turned off, the blinds closed, and all of a sudden, as if a projector had been illuminated, a video began to play upon the white walls surrounding them.

"Oh my God! What is that?" Gina blurted out as she looked at what she could only surmise was a beast. It had five horns on the top its head, two on either side, with holes in the tips, acting as ears. His face was a mixture of a pig's snout, a heavy under bite with highly extended canines that could poke the normal eye out, and three lowly hanging jaws. Where his eyes were supposed to be was nothing except smooth skin which made Gina all the more fearful. There were pulsing boils covering his body that popped and oozed thick yellow liquid which ran down his body, staining the floor at his clawed feet. His upper body resembled that of a spotted bull that had its torso regularly sliced with a dull blade where as his lower torso was that of a goat suffering from skin disease. When he turned his back, it was completely covered with eyeballs of different colors and sizes, all constantly moving and surveying behind him. 




The Second Time Around Ch. 09



"Abdigar," Caid replied.

"Who is he?"

"The right hand of the prince of demons. Apparently, he is already on the earth plotting to bring him to the surface."

"What?"

"My death is responsible for his presence," Caid said feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt upon his shoulder.

"Don't think that this is your fault, Caid. Everything that has transpired has taken place for a reason," Corey assured him. "He is the reason for the sudden surge of spiritual pressure within the atmosphere. Earlier this morning, we received word of a band of juggernauts attempting to breech the barrier encasing their world in darkness."

"What's so wrong with juggernauts?" Gina asked not understanding the significance of his words. "All we need to do is use giant magnets to haul them all together then get rid of them."

"These creatures are not like the Juggernaut covered in metal, created by Marvel comics," Brigitte said flicking her wrist to change the "projection" screen. Another beastlike creature appeared, this one the size of a sycamore tree with shattered glasslike skin and completely red eyes. "These demons are the enforcers of the royal family of the underworld. They are merciless creatures who would kill their own offspring. For a human, one touch alone can make your insides liquefy and your flesh disintegrate from your bones. Their crystal like exterior literally reaches into the depths of your being to rip your soul apart from your body and leave you lifeless."

"Don't you guys have any normal demons that don't instill fear whenever you talk about them or show them?" Gina said watching as the creatures disputed between each other while roaring wildly in communication. It reminded her of raptors, how they would make deep reverberations in their voice box that sounded like an annoying cry for attention.

"This was the reason I couldn't stay when I spoke with you earlier," Corey told her. "I sense that you're on the verge of a panic attack."

"Damn right I am," Gina confirmed for once not able to control her accent. Usually one would never be able to tell that she even had one in the first place, but her unsettled emotions were making it slightly difficult to understand her...at least to the human ear.

"You don't have anything to worry about. I'm here to protect you."

"Protect me? That's chivalrous coming from a ghost," she told him with a cocked eyebrow. Her body clearly stated that she did not believe a word that he said.

"How were you able to push them off?"

"I used a sandstorm. It wiped out at least half of their legion. The others fled before we could get our hands on them."

"A sandstorm? Are you kidding me?" Gina said incredulously. "What did you do scratch them to death?"

Corey smiled liking Gina's feistiness. He watched her cross her arms over her supple breasts and resisted the urge to lick his lips. "You're a Doubting Thomas," he told her holding his hands out before her. "Keep this as a souvenir," he said making a grain of sand materialize. It was the size of a boulder, shining ever so brightly in the darkness. 

Gina stepped closer reaching out a wandering hand to touch the sleek facet of the grain. It was cool to the touch yet when her palm pressed against it she gasped to find that it was penetrable with a slick substance surrounding her appendage. "What is this?" she asked pulling her limb back still awestruck.

"Liquid death for a juggernaut. The exterior breaks inside of their durable outer shell and the contents of the interior annihilates them from the inside out. Juggernauts are difficult creatures to exterminate if you don't know what you're doing. Their flesh quickly regenerates creating spikes of protection. This," he said levitating Gina's hand and watching the substance slowly dry, "could be considered holy acid. Because you are pure it has no effect on you." 

"Does that mean that it can work on any demonic being?"

"Yes, however it is more toxic and deadly for them." He inclined his head to the disappearing juggernauts before reopening the blinds and illuminating the lights. "I only came to inform you all of the recent events. We will continue to push back these forces, but you two need to locate Abdigar before he is able to free the prince."

"We locked him away in the cavern of darkness for a reason, we will not allow his liberation," Brigitte reassured him nodding her head as he disappeared.

"I don't understand," Gina said thoughtfully. "Earlier, Caid, you told me that the underworld is searching for a ruler that would imply that this prince you just referred to should not exist."

"Upon the death of Jezebel, the prince Abaddon, was snared and enchained within the cavern of darkness. If he is liberated, he will literally place hell on earth. In his absence, many have forgotten of the royal family thus trying their hand at taking his throne. A Collaborator's force will guarantee his return, especially if he has loyal subjects willing to risk their lives for his freedom. You must understand that while in our angelic realm there is only one King, within the demonic kingdom there exists dukes, counts, viscounts, every single member of the royal court all wanting to get their hands on the throne."

"Then why didn't you just wipe them out?"

"We do not persecute the innocent," Brigitte told her. "We only handled those who posed a threat. Besides, without mutiny there can be no balance. Good must coexist with evil, the light with the dark. Everything has its proper role and purpose and so do they. Do not worry, Ginevra, no harm shall come upon you, ever. You are more important than you think." Brigitte sagged against the table grateful that Adriano...well, Caid was there to hold on to her.

"Are you alright?" His glowing blue eyes searched within her soul for the response.

"No. I do not know if I will ever get used to your new form." She turned back to Gina grasping softly onto her hand. "I am truly sorry for your loss. Because of us you had to suffer."

Gina nodded her head and shrugged, "I just need to know," she said before they walked away. "Is my brother in a better place?"

"Yes, I can see him now," Brigitte informed her with her eyes closed. "Would you like to see him as well?"

"No," she told them shaking her head. "As long as he's happy. You should rest. You had a great shock today. I think that all of us did." She went to her room to relax even though there was still another two hours before nightfall, leaving the couple to their own devices.

Brigitte hesitated before the doorway of their bedroom. Just this morning her world had changed all because of what had taken place inside of a bathroom.

"Don't worry, I'm here."

She felt Caid's touch even though it was in the form of Adriano's hands and leaned back against him. Her man may have been inside of a different body; nevertheless, he was still her man. She turned the knob entering cautiously inside of the room with him right behind her then stopped before they reached the bed.

"What's wrong?"

"What do I call you? I don't know anymore."

"Who do you think I am?" he stepped before her tilting her head up to look at him. His eyes told her all that she needed to know and she sighed.

"Caid."

Caid nodded his head slowly with a grin on his lips, "just don't say it in front of Mamma. She'll have a heart attack."

"And Dante? Does he know too?"

"Only Gina."

"I'll be sure to keep it that way," she said before kissing him passionately, her brown arms wrapping about his neck as she lifted herself on tiptoes to reach him. She broke away in tears caressing her cheek against his heart. "I've missed you, you bastard. Why didn't you ever say something?"

"This is all just as new to me as it is to you...the whole Collaborator thing. I was afraid to scare you away. I let you down once, Brigitte, but I won't do it again."

"I really thought that you hated me."

"I could never do such a thing, I love you, Brigitte. I would do anything for you including lying to you to keep you away from me. But this is our second chance and I won't let you go so easily."

Brigitte smiled, "I never forgot about you."

"How could you, I mean look at me?"

She became bashful still rolling her eyes at his arrogance.

"You should get some rest."

"No, Caid, not right now. I need you to touch me." Brigitte blinked and found that she was already undressed. "You waste no time, do you?"

Caid bit his bottom lip nodding his head in agreement as he began to disrobe. It didn't take him long to wear his birthday suit since his shirt had remained off after his little dream infiltration stunt. He stepped out of his pants and boxers grabbing Brigitte to haul her up against his body. It felt different this time. Maybe it was because everything was out on the table between them that intensified their contact. When he touched her soft body, Brigitte's knees gave out filling him with pride. He backed her up against the bed, leaning her over until her body was decorating the cool sheets then kissed her senseless.

Their tongues mated, like their bodies would in the very near future, imitating their hunger for each other as they traced lazy patterns inside of the other's mouth, building up heat. He felt her tremble when he stroked up her back to hold onto her neck pulling her into a log roll to place her on top. She sat up looking down at him, her brown eyes which had returned back to normal once more glowing at him. Cupping a soft breast, Caid toyed with Brigitte's nipple, twisting and turning it between his fingers. She was shaking uncontrollably with her eyes closed while her fingers toyed with his mouth, penetrating between his lips and allowing his warm tongue to suckle on her finger pads.

"Open your eyes, Brigitte. Look at me."

She did as he asked, her beautiful face wrinkled in pleasurable worry as she began to gyrate her hips above him.

"You're so beautiful."

"Ah!" she moaned unable to contain herself. She loved when he cooed to her during sex. It always heightened her pleasure.

Sitting up, Caid brought his lips along the passage of her shoulder tops, following along until he was tasting her neck. She ran her fingers through his hair pressing his mouth closer.

"Caid, I really...umh...love our foreplay...ah! But can we...right there, suck right there! Can we get to business?" Brigitte asked taking his hand to rub his thick fingers up and down her slick slit as proof.

"Hell yes," he said lifting her hips to align her with his aching cock before steadily lowering her down upon him. He stared into her eyes in surprise as he watched her body quiver and shake before collapsing against him. "Are you okay? What just happened?"

"I came," Brigitte confessed in a broken voice. She couldn't explain how or why it happened so quickly—actually, maybe she could. Her reawakening as a Collaborator and learning the truth that her lover was still alive had made her body hypersensitive. They weren't just connecting physically; they were reconnecting spiritually and emotionally as well.

Caid grinned pushing her fallen hair out of her face as he kissed her cheek. "You're so eager. Shame on you for coming without me," he told her softly rocking his hips to push his stiff member deeper. His heart squeeze as a ripple of ecstasy rolled over his body. He groaned wrapping an arm about her waist to guide her shivering hips along. He could tell that it was difficult for her to cooperate being that her body was so unstable with sensations, so he did the work for her while her sharp nails embedded themselves in his back.

Her sweet sweat permeated the air filling his nostrils as he continuously plunged up inside of her. His body was on fire, but this was a good fire that promised a mind blowing release.

"Caid, no more," Brigitte begged pushing against his shoulder in an effort to make him stop. "Too much." It was. She knew that she didn't need to describe the feeling flowing throughout her because he was experiencing it too, but he was so merciless, thrusting his thick sex so steadily inside of her dripping pussy.

"Take it, Brigitte. Take all of it," he told her nipping at her throat after wrapping her arms about his neck. Her body was heating up furiously, dissipating an enormous amount of energy about them as her brown skin glowed. She threw her head back, her eyes emitting beams of light, allowing her second orgasm to possess her as she screamed at the top of her lungs, engulfing Caid within her growing aura and encompassing them in their own little lover's cocoon. 

"Aaaahhhh!!!!"

He held tighter increasing his thrusts to join her in bliss then caught his breath as their love nest quickly expanded rumbling the furniture inside of their bedroom before shrinking until it completely disappeared back inside of its life source. His breathing was ragged, but he was more concerned with soothing her than consuming oxygen.

"Brigitte, are you all right?"

She buried her face in the crook of his neck, her quaking body still racked with spasms. She felt weak and utterly drained, but nestled safely in her lover's arms, it didn't matter.

~~~~~~

Paul howled in pain, his earthly body contorting in an effort to escape it. "Pity, pity my master!" he begged spittle dripping from his lips. He was more vulnerable in his human form than his usual figure and his master was taking advantage of that to the highest extent.

"You have failed me after I have given you another opportunity to prove yourself," he growled, the eyes on his back rotating about in surveillance. "I have no use for failures."

"Please! Let me explain, oh great one."

"Explain what? How you have yet to accomplish the very task that has brought you to this earth?"

"If I had truly failed you would not be here," Paul boldly pointed out despite his position. "Abdigar, my lord, allow me to explain," he requested once more.

"Talk." He removed his clawed feet from Paul's back snorting as he stepped away from him.

I found a woman who has the energy capable to rival that of a Collaborator," Paul informed him.

"Then where is this worthless human?"

"Not here, but close."

"What does this mean?" he growled.

"I almost had her within my grasps, but someone or something has broken my curse upon her."

"Almost does not count," Abdigar sneered using his burly arm to snatch Paul up by the throat and squeeze mercilessly.

"I know—" he sputtered for air, his lungs ready to explode.

"You know what?" Adbigar demanded breathing his coal smelling breath onto Paul's face. It was hot enough to make his skin boil.

"Where she is," he finished after he was released. After all of those divorce papers she had sent to him, he had done extensive research and found out that all this time, Brigitte had been hiding right beneath his nose with the Comitos. He had plans for them. All of them if they didn't give him what he wanted. He planned to make all of them suffer if they didn't comply with his demands. What he still couldn't understand was why Jezebel's bracelet had not brought her back to him. It always worked like a charm.

"Then get this human and bring her to me! I will harvest her energy to free the prince."

"It is not that simple, master."

"Then make it that way!" 

"You do not understand, she seems to be protected by some invisible force. I cannot get my hands upon her so easily. I have tried. Even Jezebel's bracelet has failed."

Abdigar gasped in disbelief. That bracelet had ensnared many civilizations without fail. Why was this woman any different? "How did you know this woman?"

"She was my wife. I intended to steal her soul, yet somehow she was able to break my hold upon her and escape my efforts. Now I can barely walk by her room without great pain."

"Take me to her bedroom," he ordered his claws already clicking away on the floor. Paul led him to Brigitte's old quarters of the house and watched as he staggered under the weight of the invisible barrier. He righted himself like the general that he was then pressed on, his horrible boils bubbling more than usual as he breached the door and stood completely inside of Brigitte's room while Paul cowered in the hall.

Abdigar lifted his head sniffing the air about him, his snout wiggling up and down as all of the eyes upon his back widened with recognition. "You should never leave a child to play a man's game," he grumbled not needing to turn about to look at Paul. His hand extended so quickly that Paul didn't see it coming, plunging through his chest and gripping his heart as he seized about in shock before becoming still and lifeless. Abdigar touched his still warm brain taking his memories before they faded into nothingness like his human body and obtaining the knowledge contained within.

His roaming eyes memorized Brigitte's brown face, her angelic smile, and bright eyes.

"I will obtain this Collaborator."



The Second Time Around Ch. 10



*Tick*

*Tick*

*Tick*

Brigitte sat up alert in bed staring into the darkness of the bedroom. Her slumber was awkward at best. There were no nightmares, there were no good dreams—in fact, there were no reveries at all, yet somehow it had been unsettling. The house was at peace. She could feel it; however, she couldn't explain why everything else was speaking louder than thunder. She looked down at the peaceful body of her lover, gently caressing his shoulder, and smiling when he sighed, before exiting the bed. She found her robe wrapping it about her physique, taking hesitant steps out of the bedroom and into the corridor.

Her feet felt cold and clammy on the wooden floor, clinging to the boards as if they weren't too privy to moving. The wind howled outside and her neck snapped towards the window as she advanced towards it, pulling back the curtains to stare at the empty streets. Only streetlights illuminated the night. They flickered erratically as Brigitte's vigilant eyes surveyed the sidewalks. 

A shadow.

It manifested and vanished so quickly that she doubted whether she had even seen it in the first place. But upon a second glance she noticed its approach. The figure, adumbrated by the flashing lights seemed to stop in its tracks to regard her. There were no eyes where there should be. In place of a mouth was jagged stitching as if the lips had been sown together with ragged thread. The ears had been cleanly chopped off and the head completely bald. 

Brigitte knew this man—or entity. Her inner Collaborator recognized him as a nemesis she had fought against two hundred years ago. Someone she thought had been eradicated, but apparently he had only been in hiding. They stared at each other; he waiting on her to make her move, she stationary as if fixated to the floor daring him to infiltrate the barrier shimmering under the dim moon light. His head twitched taunting her, daring her to ensnare him. Brigitte did the next best thing. She had no intention of leaving and tickling his fancy. She opened her mouth releasing a soft mist from her lips that vaporized through the window to engulf him. She watched him with a smug smile as he quickly disappeared.

Wimp, she thought bringing her attention to the padded footsteps drawing nearer.

"What are you doing?" Caid's soft voice infiltrated the noise buzzing within her thoughts.

"Did you feel him too?" she asked referring to their little visitor.

"Yes. He's not the only one."

"I know." She stepped to the side so that Caid could do an inspection before pulling the curtains closed.

"Come back to bed," Caid said grasping her hand to pull her behind him. "Let the rising sun bring tomorrow's problems. Until then leave them to sleep."

Brigitte nodded her head prepared to follow him until she suddenly stopped. She looked in the direction of Gina's room, breaking contact with him to stop before her door. Holding her hand against the hard wood, she pushed seven times then repeated her actions in the hall right before the steps. "You can never be too sure," she told him when he regarded her with an inclined eyebrow. She was certain that Dante and Mamma were peacefully sleeping in their rooms which put her even more at ease. They were safe and well protected.

She tried returning to sleep finding that it was impossible. The noise just wouldn't stop. Someone was attempting to contact her. Who, she did not know, but she had an inkling that it had something to do with Paul. Thinking of him made her shiver in disgust. Since Caid had helped her escape, she had yet to set a foot back inside of that horrid house. Maybe that day was steadily advancing upon her.

"I can't sleep."

"I see," Caid replied releasing a yawn. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. The static disappeared. He leaned forward and planted another soft kiss to her right eye then did the same to her left. They became weighted almost impossible to remain open. "Sleep."

She did. Heavily.

Caid on the other hand had transferred her worries to himself, gritting his teeth against the blaring inside of his head. He willed peace into his mind then sighed when the disturbance became a soft buzz. It was easier to sleep, but he still had the sentiment of an annoying mosquito hovering about his head. He awoke just after dawn to find his mother already bustling about in the kitchen. She was preparing a big breakfast making him wonder if they were expecting a large gathering.

"Mamma, who will eat all of this?"

She stopped her cooking, startled out of her thoughts as she stared up at her youngest. "Why you, Dante, Gina, Brigitte," she listed then turned back to the pot.

"What about you?"

"I ate a fruit salad. It was delizioso!" He chuckled leaning over to kiss her cheeks several times which had her giggling. "Such a mamma's boy."

He scrunched his face into an adorable smile that had her pinching his cheek. "You should eat more, Mamma."

"I do eat, mio cuore.  Besides, I have early morning croquet with my friends."

"Always moving, Mamma. Take a break sometime."

"Okay, after this week."

Caid rolled his eyes with a smile. "Want me to help?"

"Yes," Mamma replied signaling that he should sit down at the counter. After he did, she grabbed a plate and loaded it with food, enough to feed two and a half people, before setting it down in front of him. "Eat and get strong."

"Thanks Mamma." He leaned into her kisses not at all irritated by her over affection as she tousled his hair and repeatedly kissed his temple. It made him feel cherished. If only most parents could be this way.

"Mamma," Dante whined upon entering the kitchen. "What's left for me if you give all your kisses to this guy?"

Mamma smiled spreading her arms wide for him and endowing him with just as much love and affection as she gave his little brother.

Dante was more than content by the time she pulled away to set his breakfast before him. "Thank you, Mamma."

"Wow, we are all early risers," Gina commented entering the kitchen with Brigitte right behind her. "Hi Mamma," she greeted kissing her mother's cheeks.

Caid watched Brigitte kiss her temples and did the same to an astonished Dante before taking a seat beside him. Although she had been living with them, she was still too timid to give either of them a pat on the back. But today was different and he knew that it had something to do with last night. She had covered them with a spiritual barrier of protection. With their situation getting more serious, she didn't want to be too lax.

"Do you need help?" Brigitte asked Mamma standing to look over her shoulder.

"Yes, I do. You can sit back down with the others," she said shooing Brigitte away then walking to her with two plates piled with food for her and Gina.

"Do you have any plans for today, Mamma?"

"Of course, I do. I'm going to exercise."

"Oh. Okay."

"Did you want to come?" Mamma asked when she saw the disappointed look on Brigitte's face.

"No, no thank you." She began to consume her breakfast, her stomach crying out thank you as the delicious food slid down her throat. Maybe this was a good thing that Mamma would be gone. Maybe she could think of a way of getting Dante out of the picture as well so that no harm would come to him. She had plans on going to Paul to talk. The thought to see him had struck her the night before and it was still weighing heavily on her mind. Caid would probably have a fit, but she was still going through with it.

"Don't forget that Ilenia is coming over. I'm going to pick her up for you today," Dante reminded his brother.

"I'll do it myself. I need to have a few words with her beloved mother." Caid was ready to set Susan straight.

"I can feel your enthusiasm," Dante replied. "What am I supposed to do while everyone is gone?"

"You can hang out with me," Gina suggested. "We've barely spent any time together in the past several weeks." She pouted and batted her eyes when it looked as if he would say no.

"All right, I guess I could make time for my little sister. We can finally repaint your room like you've been asking me to." Gina wiggled about her seat in joy, nodding her head vigorously in agreement.

"What about you, Brigitte? What are your plans?"

Brigitte swallowed the food in her mouth then chose her words carefully. If she said that she was going to see Paul all hell would break loose. Everyone thought that it was best to keep away from him especially with his refusal to sign the divorce papers. They were worried that if he saw her, he would try to imprison her or something. So Brigitte did the next best thing, she fibbed.

"I'm going for a walk. It's beautiful outside."

"That sounds nice."

"Yeah, it's been a while since I've had some exercise."

"Really now?" Caid mumbled for her ears only, almost sputtering with laughter when she choked on her orange juice.

Be quiet, Brigitte thought then frowned at him.

Caid dropped his fork, his attention no longer on his plate. "Did you say something?" he asked her in confusion. He swore that he just heard her voice.

"No, not really."

"Yes, you did," he said staring at her until she was staring back in exasperation.

"I promise you that not one word left my lips." Looks like someone is about ready for the looney bin.

Caid glared at her suspiciously, "You did it again!"

"Adriano, Brigitte hasn't said anything. Are you sure that you're feeling well?"

He frowned looking down at his plate. He could have sworn that he heard Brigitte communicating with him. "Sto bene, Mamma," he said pushing his food away. "I'm going to get ready to leave." He walked away shaking his head in consternation. I swear on my own grave that you were talking to me.

Brigitte's head snapped up to follow Caid's exit as her mind finally illuminated with comprehension. Their telepathy had returned. Strange. With the red string of fate severed, he shouldn't be able to hear her thoughts. In fact, their thoughts shouldn't be able to be transmitted to each other, any other Collaborator, or any supernatural being at all. No telepathic speaking, no telepathically sent images, no telekinetic tricks, nothing. Was Caid's powers returning? There was only one way to find out.

Caid?

She watched him stop in his tracks then turned back to look at her even more confused than before. "Did you just call me?"

Brigitte almost answered until Mamma, forever the mother hen, jumped out of her seat and marched towards her son with a no nonsense look on her face. "Okay, it is back to bed for you. I don't know what is going on in that head of yours, but it is obvious that you need more rest. Upstairs," she said shooing him forward.

"Mamma, I'm not a child anymore," Caid whined. "And I really am hearing things."

Wrong thing to say.

"Oh mio dio!" Mamma gasped throwing her hand over her heart and staggering back dramatically. "Dante call the doctors. Maybe this is some sort of dormant side effect of his reawakening. We need brain scans!"

"Mamma."

Dante was already scrambling from his seat to get to the nearest phone while Gina stared on intrigued yet wary. I hope that he's all right.

He's fine. Gina, Caid's telepathy has returned. Our telepathy has returned.

Gina's grey eyes bulged as she heard Brigitte inside of her head. "You mean...Caid is not going crazy?" Brigitte nodded her head, her eyes riveting between an arguing Caid and a shocked Ginevra. "Maybe I'm just hearing things," Gina said after realizing that Brigitte's lips had not uttered a word.

No, you weren't. I am sorry, I am not purposefully inside of your mind. You are leaving yourself open to me and I keep receiving your thoughts, Brigitte explained silently as they stared at each other.

"How is this possible?"

I have no idea, but I think that it has something to do with you being a medium. Your psychic abilities seem to be amplifying the more you are in our presence. A normal human would not be able to neither hear nor respond to me. I apologize if you are somewhat panicking.

Gina shook her head and smiled like a greedy wolf. Telepathy was something that she always doubted and now here she was communicating without anyone being the wiser—except for the fact that it looked as if she was conversing with herself. "This is freaking sweet!"

Should we help Caid? Brigitte asked now that Dante had thrown him over his shoulder and was carrying him upstairs with Mamma fervently praying in Italian and doing several signs of the cross.

Gina laughed shaking her dark head, nah let him squirm. We'll apologize later.

Brigitte giggled then slapped a hand over her mouth. Caid was going to kill them.

After fifteen minutes of reassuring his relatives that he was one hundred percent healthy and not going insane, Caid was now glowering glumly at his devious girlfriend and sister. "You are sorry?" he asked incredulously while they stood before him with their heads bowed, their toes digging into the carpet. "Mamma and Dante think that I'm nuts and it's all because of you two," he fiercely whispered then plastered a big smile on his face when they both popped their heads in to check on him.

"What is going on?" he demanded when they left. "Did you two plan this?"

Brigitte eyed him sheepishly, "No, we did not plan anything, my love," she told him stepping forward to cradle his jaw while her eyes glowed golden. It was becoming easier for her inner Collaborator to tap into her consciousness instead of only making an appearance when needed. "I too was just as befuddled as you upon discovering that you heard me. I realized that our abilities are reawakening faster than we thought possible because of our..."

"Our what?" Caid asked his eyes flashing a stormy greyish blue.

"Our consummation," Brigitte said looking back at Gina bashfully. Luckily, she was busy pretending not to eavesdrop on their conversation which, although Brigitte was aware of, still comforted her.

Caid smiled, nodding his head in understanding. "But we should not be capable of this. Our cord, I destroyed it."

"Perhaps the bond is reestablishing itself. I cannot explain, but watch this," Brigitte told him eagerly as she signaled for Gina to close the door. "Telepathy is not the only gift to return." She lifted an arm and slowly levitated Gina from the floor to hover at the ceiling. "Is this not amazing?" she asked breathlessly from wonder not fatigue.

"It is. Please be careful with my sister."

"This is freaking cool!" Gina exclaimed for the second time that morning. "Do the other one," she said eagerly, wiggling above their heads.

"What other one?"

This one actually took more concentration. Brigitte closed her eyes and willed the atomic particles in the atmosphere to abide by her authority as she made Gina disappear altogether then connected her spirit to the room.

"Where is she?"

"I'm still here," Gina said sounding as if she was some all-powerful ruler inside of the room.

Brigitte focused her energy to make her materialize then breathed a sigh of relief that nothing went wrong like the first time. "Did you see?" she asked Caid with a grin on her face. 

"I did."

"I have no idea what use that can be of, but I'm still happy that I can do it."

"You are adorable," Caid told her while she smiled with glee.

"This is great. And to think that this all started out with you thinking that you are going crazy. Oh by the way, the next time you hear me inside of your head, it is because you are actually hearing my voice. So can Gina. I think that our abilities are rubbing off on her."

"Now that is pretty cool," he said looking at his sister.

"I know."

Caid regarded his watch; he needed to leave to get Ilenia or Susan would act like a total bitch and say that he couldn't see her. "I have to get going. I will see you both later."

"Be careful of those voices," Brigitte teased blowing him an air kiss.

Bite me.

"I heard that!" she called after him, turning to Gina. "Speaking of heading out, I am going to get ready for my walk."

"Okay, Dante and I are going to buy some paint. You can always help us if you come back full of energy."

"That sounds like it will be fun. I will see you later." She quickly pulled a pair of sweatpants on and a plain white t-shirt before pulling her hair into a high pony tail and grabbing her sneakers. She brushed her teeth then walked through the door before she had the chance to talk herself out of going to see Paul. Her walk was short lived and Brigitte circled the neighborhood once before returning to her old house. The overwhelming feeling that something was wrong struck her as she stood staring at the house before unexpectedly teleporting inside.

Her breath barely squeezed out of her lungs as she coughed and wheezed for air. What was she doing inside? She wasn't responsible for transporting herself inside. And if it hadn't been her then who could it have been?

"Paul?" Brigitte choked out finally able to feel oxygen coursing through her lungs.

"Brigitte? Is that you?" The voice didn't sound like how she remembered. It was weak and tired. When she turned around to look at him, she couldn't hide the gasp that slipped from her lips.

"Paul? What happened to you? You look horrible." He stunk. The odor was so terrible that her nostrils burned. His clothes were stained with some kind of indescribable bodily fluid that turned the bright fabric faded and moldy. His beard looked as if he hadn't shaved in several days. And his breath! Wow! What stench!

"You did," he said attempting to keep his distance and approach her at the same time. "But everything will be fine now that you've come back to me."

"I didn't come back to you," Brigitte remarked eying him in disgust. The man had really let himself go. "We need to talk. And after I have said everything that I want to say, I'll be leaving."

"No," Paul said shaking his head as he began to twitch. "You're not going anywhere."

Brigitte's eyes began to glow as this...villain, monster, whatever you wanted to call him standing before her, dropped his guard. This wasn't Paul. "Who are you?"

"Don't recognize me, Alexandra?"

She was perplexed. What was he talking about? "The name is Brigitte."

The Paul imposter released a horrendous laugh, one that held his head back and ripped away at the flesh of his throat. "The last time we stood face to face, your name was Alexandra. Remember."

Brigitte shook her head as images flashed through her mind. Images of one of her past lives. Images of her with a scepter swinging it down like a gavel upon a groveling—"Abdigar." She turned her glowing eyes upon him her legs itching to move. "What are you doing here in this realm?"

"That concerns me," he remarked snidely the rest of his fake skin melting away. He stood before her in all of his atrocious glory, waiting to pounce. "I have a proposition for you."

"And what would that be?" Brigitte asked leaning against the wall as if she had no care in the world.

"Return with me to the underworld or die. Your response?" His mouth dripped ooze as he licked his chops in anticipation.

Brigitte stared at him, disappointed that she had forgotten a being so ugly. Yes, the last time that she had entertained his presence had to be almost six hundred years ago when she, in the form of Alexandra Stevens, had banished him from the face of the earth. How he had been able to return, she did not know, but she had every intention as Brigitte Grangier—well, if we're being technical, Rivers (since her divorce had not gone through)—to send him back where he had escaped from. She pushed off of the wall, fist held into a tight ball as she swung forward. "You can go back to Hell!"

~*~*~*~~*

"Ilenia, will you leave Papa and Mamma alone for a few minutes," Caid said kissing his daughter's temple. He gave her a reassuring smile when she looked back worriedly at them. "It won't take long."




The Second Time Around Ch. 10



"What do you want?" Susan asked her long tanned legs crossed at the ankles revealing too much thighs from the extremely short miniskirt she was sporting. "I have more important things to deal with."

"So do I. I only wanted to inform you that I will be filing for sole custody of my daughter. You are a horrible influence and I feel as if Ilenia will have a more stable environment with me."

"What?!"

"You've been warned. Look forward to hearing from my lawyers."

"Is this supposed to be some fucking joke?" Susan spat at him. "You enter into my abode, disrespect me, then threaten my parental rights and you expect me to just stand here and take it? You must be insane."

"Susan, I have no intentions of wasting my time with you." He turned to walk away when she shoved him, pounding her feeble fists into his muscular back and making him stumble.

"You fucking jerk! You are not getting my child!"

"Your child!" Caid snapped turning around to seize her hands. His eyes began to glow, unbeknownst to him as he lectured Susan. "The only time that you remember that she is your daughter is when you are using her to get to me! You think I do not know about the strange men, the nights where you leave her with some random person while you disappeared, or the fucking drugs, Susan? You bring drugs around my little girl and you expect me to pretend as if I am blind to it all?" He had had her investigated when she became increasingly volatile by his visits to see his daughter, even when she knew beforehand that he would show.

Susan stumbled back away from him. How did he know about—it didn't matter. Adriano Comito was her meal ticket and there was no way in hell she was allowing him to take away Ilenia and the lovely sum of child support that came along with her.

"You're not taking my child," she gritted through her teeth, her head twitching, while Adriano sneered at her, taking his long, slightly limping gait up the steps to his daughter. "You are not taking my child!" she repeated.

Her words had been the same, but it was the inflection in her tone that had caught Caid's attention. It reminded him of when Brigitte had been possessed by the bracelet. He turned around; however the woman now standing in front of him, glaring at him with completely black eyes and jagged teeth gaping from her cavernous like mouth, was not the vindictive mother of his child. He realized that his assumption was right when Susan lifted him effortlessly into the air and threw him across the room. The shit just hit the fan.

~**~*~*~*~**~

"Dante, I told you that this was not the right color. Look here, this is salmon and what I wanted was peach," Gina replied shaking her head at her sibling. "You must seriously be colorblind."

"Bite me, little sis. Why would they have so many different shades of the same color?"

"Peach is not and will never be salmon," she told him.

"What? Do you want to go back to the store?"

Gina stirred the paint in the can and shook her head. It was a pretty shade of salmon pink. "Nah, we'll make it work. You get changed into your painting clothes and I'll set up the newspaper on the floor."

"Okay."

Gina lifted the two tins and lollygagged her way to the steps, feeling a sense of contentment overwhelming her. If only everyday could be like this.

Faster.

She stopped to look back at her brother. "Did you say something?" Her question went unanswered as she watched Dante's head begin to tick while he stared into space. What was he staring at?

"Dante?" she asked hesitantly, slowly retracing her footsteps.

No, get upstairs to your room quickly.

"Corey?" she asked finally recognizing the voice. Now she sympathized with Caid. For a second she thought that she was going crazy.

Move now, questions later. Run.

Gina didn't wait to be told a fourth time. She was a firm believer that the third time was the charm. She ran up the steps with the two cans of paint firmly gripped in her hands. She slammed the door, hands dropping their possessions as she leaned against it.

Put a chair under the knob then move your desk

"What? Why would I need—"

"GINA!!!"

That's why.

Gina grabbed her chair and shoved it underneath the knob, falling backwards at the sheer force of Dante's body slamming into the door.

"GINA!!!"

"Wh-what's going on in?"

Push the desk.

She did as she was told pushing the desk to barricade herself inside of her chamber. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably and she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Corey, where are you?"

I'm sorry, my hands are tied at the moment. Stay inside of your room and all will go well. It is protected by a spiritual barricade. I will be there as soon as possible. And whatever you do, do not touch the door or you will be giving him an invitation to enter.

"Gina, open the door," Dante said sounding back to normal. She could hear him on the opposite side caressing the wood and tapping his fingers against it.

"I can't," she said. Corey had never led her astray before. Now was no different.

"Gina, what you don't trust me? I would never harm my baby sister," he said soothingly. 

She felt her body gravitating to the door. What if this was some sort of sick joke? What if he was pulling a prank on her or something?

"Gina?" Dante sang before she heard scratching against the door. It was slow at first then became more insistent as his impatience grew, reminding her of a frantic dog wanting to escape outside. "Open. The. Door."

"No," she told him shaking her head. She wasn't moving until she knew for a fact that it was safe.

"OPEN THE DOOR!" he bellowed and she jumped back. She didn't know who this person was, but he wasn't her brother.

~*~*~*~*~

"Ah!" Brigitte cried as she slammed through the walls as Abdigar sent her flying away from him. She was propelling backwards so quickly that it was almost as if she would start traveling back through time.

Brigitte, when you've finished getting your ass kicked, Gina needs you.

She trembled to her feet listening to Corey's sarcasm then turned to Abdigar. "What did you do?"

His horrendous body quivered with laughter as he ambled towards her, his claws clicking on the floor. "Why? Don't you want a little Hell on earth?"

"You..."

He smiled at her smugly, his eyeballs turning about rapidly with pleasure. "Am I not a man of my word?"

"No," Brigitte replied. "You are a monster." She rubbed her palms together. They felt as if they were on fire. Actually, her entire body felt as if it was on fire. She couldn't explain it, but before she was getting her ass kicked and tossed all over the place whereas now she knew what to do. It just came to her like a sudden revelation. "And I am through with you!" She stood to her feet with a strengthened resolve. There was no way she was letting him get away and if he did, it would be within an inch of his miserable life.

~*~*~*~*~*

Caid didn't know what to do. So far he had avoiding Susan's attempted attacks, he wasn't raised to strike a woman, but things were getting out of hand and he didn't want Ilenia to walk in on all of the destruction they had caused inside of the house. He had restrained her, but somehow she had broken free; he had entrapped her within the bathroom, but Susan had once more liberated herself; now here he was with her small hands wrapped about his neck while she thrashed about on top of him, choking him. She was strong. Whatever had possessed her was something to be reckoned with.

"You're going to die," Susan sneered down at him.

Caid grunted under the brunt of her weight, using his legs to push his body up and throw her off of him. He stumbled to the kitchen away from her, deciding that enough was enough. A woman he wouldn't hit, but Susan wasn't a woman. She was a bitch which made her different. His hand grasped the thinnest, plastic cutting board that he could find and swung back better than the backhand of a professional tennis player as it connected with Susan's head and sent her crumbling to the floor.

"Why did I not do that from the very beginning?" he asked with a smile. That felt great. He dropped the broken cutting board, grabbing a knife to cut the wires off of her appliances to bind her with. Unless she had lava breath, Susan would not be able to free herself.

"Daddy?"

Caid finished tying the knot his Collaborator completely awake as he turned in the direction of his child with his hand raised, freezing her in place. "I command you, in the name of the Almighty, to release her."

The demon withered and cried out in pain, convulsing the young body of his daughter as it submitted to his power and fled. Ilenia collapsed with him holding her up before her body struck the floor. He grasped her levitating body, clutching her closely against him before looking down at Susan. Even as a Collaborator, Caid was tempted to abandon Susan in her deplorable state, but he knew that it wasn't the right thing to do.

"Unfortunately, you get to tag along," he told her kneeling down to lift her head into his free hand. They vanished.

~*~*~*~**~*~

"You are going back to Hell even if I have to take you there myself," Brigitte told Abdigar, dodging a clawed foot in the process, lifting him above her head then slamming him through the ground. Her body rose off of the floor as it broke to pieces beneath them then she lunged forward to join him, pressing her burning palms into his chest while he cried out in pain.

Abdigar took advantage of Brigitte's closeness, despite his pain, to thrust his hand deep inside of her chest.

Brigitte screamed, her heart being squeezed by his beefy hand. "I will not die so easily," she told him, blood dripping from her lips as she grabbed his hand and focused her energy upon it until it melted to her touch.

"Rrraaaawwwwrrrrr!!!!!!!" Abdigar roared, burying his claws into Brigitte's belly and kicking her away. 

Brigitte's body was flung out of the crater in the house and slammed back to the floor, arching her up in pain from the impact of her landing. She wheezed for stability finally able to get her bearings and her strength to go after the demon. The last thing she wanted to do was allow him to escape and regenerate.

"You shall not elude me, Abdigar. Your life ends now." Once more Brigitte dove head first into the hole stretching her arms forward to propel her body faster. She drew back her hand, her scepter materializing from thin air as she slammed it forward into Abdigar's body. He howled in anguish, using the last of his force, before he went unconscious, to shove her away from him before she really did kill him. Half of his body had disintegrated because of her and that damn scepter. She had become stronger since their initial meeting; he was a fool to have underestimated her. But she was too late, his plan was already set in motion and there was nothing she could do to stop him. Within the next full moon, Hell would literally be on earth ready to devour its inhabitants.

Not only did he send her away from the hole, but out of the entire house. Brigitte crashed through her front door, colliding with Dante and knocking him unconscious from the force of her landing. She would never get used to that. She sputtered for air, gasping as the hole in her chest began to close painstakingly slow.

"Brigitte?" Caid appeared before her with Ilenia and Susan in his arms. He set them down to tend to her, calling for Gina for assistance.

"Oh my gosh," Gina replied watching her friend fighting to heal. "What do we do?"

"Take Ilenia and Susan into your room." He lifted Brigitte off of Dante then gently floated his body inside of Gina's bedroom as well before carrying her downstairs.

"What do we do?" Gina repeated pacing to and fro in anxiety. "And what the hell is going on?"

"Calm yourself. Brigitte will be all right. She is healing. If I had not destroyed our connection, the process would have been over by now." He took her hand and held it tightly as her body fought against an invisible resistance. Her golden eyes bore into his own and Caid kissed her forehead, uttering soothing words to calm her. He could feel her pain, he knew that she was experiencing torture, but he couldn't do anything about it. He barely had any gifts that could help in this situation. And it was all his fucking fault! The bond was reestablishing itself his ass!

He listened to her cries of anguish it seemed for hours, beside himself with worry. Why couldn't he do something more than wipe the sweat from her brow. He would have given anything if it was him in her place.

"Don't worry," Brigitte's weak, trembling voice assured him. "I will not die." She slipped into unconsciousness, the hole now the size of a golf ball instead of a bowling ball.

"What is going on?" Gina demanded standing before him with her hands upon her hips. "And why are Susan and Ilenia here? Why did Dante try to attack me? Why does Brigitte have a hole in her chest? Why!"

"I do not know," Caid responded calmly, watching her recommence her caged pacing. "I cannot much less explain how I was transported here without a vehicle."

"I have the sentiment of Hell on earth right now."

"That's because it is." Corey appeared before them a look of seriousness upon his face.

"What?" they asked in unison.

"Hell is making its way upon the earth. This is only the beginning of what is to come."

"How do we stop it?" Caid asked standing to his feet to regard his brother.

"It cannot be undone from this realm. The underworld is in utter chaos. The Prince's faction becomes more insurgent."

"What is happening?" Gina asked fearing the answer that she would receive.

"War."

"Armageddon?" Caid questioned.

"Possibly. A world call was sent forth to prepare all of the Collaborators. In order to reverse the effects of Abdigar's presence, we must first break his stronghold upon the earth then do the same in the underworld."

"How?"

"He must die."

"Brigitte, you are awake." Caid rushed to her side. Her regeneration was complete.

"All I needed was a cat nap," she teased, rolling her stiff neck about. She stood up only to be pushed back down by her lover. Rolling her eyes, she addressed Corey, "Abdigar and I engaged in combat and he is gravely injured. If you would allow me to go after him, I can finish what was started."

"Not on your own."

"How do you suppose to do that?" the brothers asked simultaneously.

"The house has been converted into a gateway to the underworld. The only issue is that Abdigar sealed it off the moment he threw me out. If we can bring down the barrier, we will be able to give chase," she explained answering Corey instead of Caid.

"What were you doing back there, anyway?"

"I went to speak with Paul only to be greeted by his doppelganger. I think that when we fought, it set his plan in motion. I was the catalyst. He needed my energy and I fell into his trap; nevertheless, I walked away with something of my own."

"What would that be?"

"A part of his black soul," Brigitte said holding out her hand to call forth her scepter. "We can use his biological constitution to see what is to come. A part of his plan will be revealed to us and we can take the necessary means to stop him."

Corey nodded his head in pride. "I must return. More portals have begun to sprout all over the earth. We need to close them as quickly as possible."

"Corey?"

"Yes Brigitte?"

"Call forth the cherubim. There is a certain individual that needs to be hunted. I saw him last night and I think that he plays a big role in all of this."

"Who?"

"Belial."

"The seducer? I'll get right on it."

"Huh?" Gina said curiously.

"He is a seducer who calls others to the dark side. He is a destroyer of worlds who was condemned to Sheol, but I am assuming that Abdigar is responsible for his liberation. It is imperative that he is found before he wins over earthly followers. We do not want to harm humans," Caid told her. "Call out the foot soldiers and have them scour the earth for any demonic entities without authorization."

"Let me get something straight," Gina said. "You guys give demons authorization to come to the surface?"

"Yes. Those who dabble in...certain activities invite them and once they are invited, they have the right to stay. As we have informed you before, Gina, everything is a balance. There must be darkness with the light to maintain equilibrium."

She nodded her head. "I guess I'm just freaking out from everything that's been happening so far. What do we do about Dante and the others? How do we explain this to Mamma?"

"Allow me to enlighten you," Brigitte told her. "Because they are connected to us, there will always be a possibility that someone will attempt to harm them. Therefore, they shall be placed in a deep slumber until we have resolved this chaos. I placed a silver shield around the house last night after Belial's intrusion, but I think that he came to break the barriers. That would explain why Dante was affected by the chaos."

"Putting them to sleep. That is a good idea. Should we do so to the entire earth?"

"No," Corey replied. "That would be too suspicious. If we want it to seem as if we are unaffected by all that has been occurring, everything needs to remain as it was before. I will call forth several Protectors. They will encase your relatives in peace until the appointed time to awaken them."

"And Mamma?"

He gave Gina a reassuring smile, "She is being taken care of as we speak. Do not worry, Ginevra. No harm shall come to you. We do not break our word."

"Gina, I know that you want to help, but if this is all becoming too much for you, you are welcomed to join the others in sleep," Brigitte offered.

"No, I'm not running. We started this thing together, and although right now I'm not of much help, I will be in the future. We're going to finish this together."

"Well then we'll need to get our rest," Brigitte told them after a yawn.

"Why?"

"Because tomorrow we assist in the hunt for Belail."



The Second Time Around Ch. 11



I'm sorry that it's been a very long time since the last update of "TSTA." I thank you however for your patience. As you can all probably tell the story is about to end. I never planned on it to be very long especially since it's my first attempt at sci-fi. Anyway, "Unleashed" chapter 12 is posted and "Making it Work" chapter two is in the works. I'm hoping to have it done by tomorrow or Sunday by the latest so keep an eye out for it.

Oh, big thanks for those of you who have just stuck through and hung in there even when the story became too unrealistic. I appreciate your feedback and the encouragement to keep up my writing. Thank you all. And before I forget, Happy New Year!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*

"This is your opportunity to turn back," Brigitte said to Gina. She looked pale, anxious, and apprehensive.

Gina snorted and shook her head. "I'm already too deep inside of this to back out. I'm coming. Besides, I'll be the only one still awake. Who will I have to talk to?" Brigitte tightened the straps of her boots and stood up with a smile. "Is that it?"

"Huh?" Brigitte asked confused.

"Where are your weapons? You're going to attack this demonic badass without a gun, a sword, or even a butter knife! Aren't you the least bit worried that you're leaving yourself open?"

Caid laughed, "That's cute."

"I'm being serious. In all of the sci-fi movies, whenever it gets closer to battle, weaponry from God knows where suddenly become available. We need heavy artillery. I've never used a machine gun before, but I'm willing to learn," Gina said with conviction.

Both Caid and Brigitte looked at her stunned then suddenly broke into laughter. "Too many movies," Brigitte told her between bouts of laughter.

"I'm serious," Gina told them stomping her right foot in aggravation.

"And so are we," Caid said. 

"Then how will we protect ourselves?!"

"You need not worry yourself for such minor issues. We are all that you will ever need. Trust us."

"Okay." Gina nodded her head as she paced about in the kitchen. "Okay."

Brigitte busied herself with packing their provisions. She double checked their water supply then chastised herself. It wasn't as if they were going into the desert where it would be scarce. Still, she kept the extra bottles just in case. Caid made sandwiches and Gina continued to pace. "We're almost ready to leave," Brigitte told her.

"So...seeing as how we're about to leave, how exactly will we locate this Belala guy?"

"Belial," Caid corrected.

"Belial," Gina repeated. "How do we find him?"

"The cherubim will guide us. Once they have locked onto his life force, we will receive visual images that will take us to him."

Gina nodded her head sitting at the counter. She tapped her foot against the lower bar of the stool to calm herself. She was on edge. If it's anything like what she saw in the movies, they would probably get their butts kicked before somehow miraculously obtaining the upper hand over the enemy. What Gina knew that she needed to prepare herself for was that part about getting her butt kicked before the victory. She was squeamish and a bit of a wuss when it came to physical confrontation, verbal however, she knew how to handle herself. She couldn't well tell a demon off. He'd probably blink an eye and send her flying across the room. Wait? Do demons have eyes? She recalled the visual of Abdigar and shivered from the remembrance of his back. Yeah, they do.

"You should eat something," Brigitte suggested. "You hardly touched your meal this morning and you will need your strength."

"Good idea," she agreed, ransacking the refrigerator for some peach cobbler and two day old pizza Mamma had made for dinner. Her mouth watered at the thought of devouring the thick crust and tasting the rich, homemade tomato sauce. She took out three slices, one for each of them, and occupied herself with fixing them an early lunch. She warmed the slices and they all ate in agreeable silence, consuming two slices of the pizza before considering dessert.

"Mamma's pizza is ten times more delicious than the first time," Brigitte praised. She finished up the slice reaching for her bowl of peach cobbler when she experienced sudden tunnel vision. The land was barren, the air gloomy, the atmosphere extremely depressing. She somehow found Caid and Gina's hands and grasped them, "I hope that you are ready," she informed them before they vanished.

Gina felt as if her insides had been torn out of her body then shoved back down her throat. When they arrived wherever they had been teleported, she emptied the contents of her stomach. At least she wasn't the only one. Brigitte and Caid flanked her sides joining her in painful regurgitation. They heaved even after there was nothing more to release.

"I was not prepared for that," Brigitte whispered. Her voice was hoarse and pain was still etched upon her face, but her golden eyes welcomed them when she looked up away from the ground. She reached for the bag with their supplies and dispersed bottles of water. "Drink." They gulped down the water using it to wash out their mouths beforehand. Once they felt remotely replenished they stood to their feet to move.

"Where should we go?" Gina could hardly see anything inside of the darkness. She felt a tingle of fear trickle throughout her body and recited a silent prayer for strength and confidence. 

"Follow me," Brigitte told them. The harsh wind blew dry sand in their eyes impeding their vision. Only moments ago she was chastising herself for preparing to be taken to a desert and now here they were in the midst of one.

"I wish we would have known that we would be in a desert. I would have grabbed something to cover our faces with," Gina replied after stumbling due to impaired vision. "Do you know where we are exactly?"

"The Sahara," Caid said. He stopped her advancing steps, stooping before Gina and gesturing with his head to his back. "Get on," he told her when she stared at his posterior in confusion.

"No, I—"

"Although the wind and flying sand makes it difficult to see, my vision is more clear than your own."

"But I'm heavy."

He started to laugh then reconsidered after grains of sand swept into his mouth. "Just get on." Gina felt awkward almost akin to an elephant attempting to mount a horse, although she was not at all overweight, heavenly curves yes, but not fat. Perhaps it was because though Caid was not her biological brother, his soul was still attached to Adriano's body, which made her uncomfortable with the idea.

"Stop behaving so oddly. We are still siblings."

She smiled in acceptance, "You're right. If I get too heavy just toss me to the ground."

"Never." He stood up and trudged on actually regaining lost ground with Brigitte when they had stopped to talk.

"So going back to this Sahara Desert thing, why are we in Africa?"

Brigitte paused in her tracks to survey their surroundings. Sand and wind were the elements that welcomed her seeking eyes. Something wasn't right. She felt Belial's presence though she knew without a doubt that he was nowhere proximate. His stench was burning the hairs of her nostrils. They were near his domain yet Brigitte's eyes remained blind to its location.

"Africa holds many pagan gods and idol worshippers. It has a mass concentration of demonic energy that is larger than the size of North America. These demons, in order to more easily disperse, will attach themselves to touristic paraphernalia: hats for mind control, shirts or trousers for full body possessions, magnets and bracelets that invoke lust. It is a lucrative empire for their kingdom."

"Wow. So what you're trying to tell me is that the underworld functions just like our world?"

"Exactly," Caid confirms.

"Do they have jobs?" she inquired earnestly curious to know more about this existence that she had completely no idea was even present in the first place. Yes, she was a medium, but in her head Gina always imagined that ghosts were wondering spirits bound on earth and that was all that existed. She never fathomed that there were demons much less a kingdom of darkness beneath their feet. She could be pretty naïve sometimes.

"Yes, many are concentrated in major cities. They are entertainers who entice men and women into their evil traps. Any profession that is deemed popular or well appreciated by the human race already has several representatives of the underworld deeply rooted within."

"Why? I don't understand why they're trying to hurt us."

"It is simple," Brigitte said turning back to retrace their steps. "It began with the need for energy. Beings of the underworld thrive upon the energy of humans because it is very powerful. However once they learned that they could control human civilization through their lusts, some entities became poisoned with the idea of power. As you are well aware of because of this lust, perversion has run rampant in the underworld pushing these beings to hunger after control. The royal family is there to maintain control and order, however when they too are consumed by this need order is difficult to uphold. They deem themselves capable of governing both realms and are willing to sacrifice their very existence for a dream that will and shall never come to pass."

"Why not?"

"Because of us," Caid replied. "The great Almighty created us for this very purpose. As long as the underworld abides by the laws He has implemented, we shall not interfere. But in cases such as this with Abdigar, we are forced to intercede for the benefit and survival of humanity."

"Are we lost?" Gina asked when they stopped for the fourth time.

"Yes."

"Oh." She hadn't expected Brigitte to be so straightforward, but then again this was Collaborator Brigitte not the normal Brigitte.

"There seems to be a spiritual barrier hampering my ability to discover his lair." She looked at Caid with worry on her face. "I can feel him, however I cannot reach him."

Caid glanced about utterly baffled as to why Brigitte was somewhat unable to pinpoint Belial. Even he was starting to feel the demon's presence. Why were they so blind? The wind whistled in his ear as the sand slapped against their faces and revelation fell upon him. "The sandstorm is the barrier."

What is it with you guys and your affinity with sandstorms?" Gina mumbled.

"In order to mock our authority, the dark kingdom will mimic our actions. I think this is a little revenge for when Corey took out the Juggernauts."

Brigitte rolled her eyes in understanding and Gina smiled having caught a peek at the normal Brigitte. All she had to do was slap a hand against her forehead to officially revert back to old self, she thought. "Is there a way to stop it?"

"Yes," Brigitte responded reaching into her sack for a bottle of water. She poured a large amount into her mouth and spewed it forward as Caid blew a gust of breath to push it outward into the atmosphere. It should have stopped the sand storm, but the dry humidity consumed the liquid effortlessly; in reality, the storm intensified completely blinding their vision, making it impossible for them to see their hands. It began cutting into their skin, stinging their battered and abused flesh. Gina's cry of agony broke Brigitte out of her stupor. They were supposed to be protecting her not allowing her to get harmed.

Reaching once more for her bag, she fumbled about for the bottles of water, uncapping them and levitating the liquid in the air. "As the ocean cannot breach the sand neither can the sand dominate the ocean. In the name of the Almighty, I command you—"

A loud, anguished roar engulfed them as the wind increased its howling. "I command you to break!" The water dissipated around them as a heavy smoke smothered the whipping sand. Brigitte found her way to Caid and Gina, wrapping her arms about them as the earth beneath their feet shook uncontrollably. In case they fell through whatever was keeping them out, she preferred that they landed together.

A bright light sliced through the fog before a huge explosion sent them flying off of their feet. They landed with thuds hardly able to regain their respiration before realizing that their worst fear had come to fruition. They were separated.

**************

"Gina! Caid! Where are you?" Brigitte sat up, the ground beneath her too slick and slimy for her to successfully stand. There was only complete darkness all around her, but one thing was certain she was inside of Belial's lair. Her first thought was for Gina's safety. She held up her hand in deep concentration, focusing all of her energy upon the manifestation of her scepter. When it finally materialized she pushed it forward with one command. "Protect Gina." With that the golden scepter disappeared leaving her once more in utter obscurity.

"Though my eyes fail me, grant me light to see in the mist of darkness." She rubbed her eyes forgetting the gunk on her hand and grasping for her shirt to wipe it off. "That was vile," she shuddered to herself. She reopened her eyes; her vision no longer impaired then set out on the hunt for Belial.

**************

Caid ran into another wall. "I have no idea where to go. Brigitte! Gina!" His voice echoed causing the walls to tremble. No one. It was eerily quiet as he made his way through the ever narrowing passage. He walked until he couldn't go any further, the opening proving to be a dead end. Retracing his steps, Caid reentered the cavernous room deciding to head towards another doorway. Another dead end. He took another then tried a fourth and a fifth passageway only to come up with the same conclusion. He was trapped.

"Where am I?!" he yelled before dodging the on slot of boulders tumbling from the ceiling. He looked upward and nearly fell over in disbelief. There was another entranceway and this one seemed legit. The only question was how was he supposed to get to it? "It's not like I can fly," he muttered to himself. He sat down hopelessly then jumped back up. "The fall must have damaged my intelligence."

If he needed to fly then fly he will, but how? The last time he tapped into his abilities was purely by chance. Therefore, how in the world was he supposed to now? He still didn't know how this all was supposed to work. Brigitte, on the other hand, seemed to have it all down pack. The only time he could get his ass in gear was when there was imminent danger or when Brigitte was close by. He looked around again then sat back down, "Well, I guess I'll be here for an eternity."

He laid on the sandy ground staring up at nothing in particular. Would this be the place he died? No. He survived a car crash for Brigitte, took over someone else's body for her, and vowed that he would do everything in his existence to spend the rest of eternity with her. He wouldn't give up. He stood to his feet with renewed conviction. He didn't know how he would do it, but he was getting out of here.

"How am I supposed to fly?"

He jumped and felt utterly ridiculous; nonetheless he tried at least seven more times before admitting defeat. "What am I doing wrong!" he yelled in frustration forgetting that wherever he was was not a stable structure. He pressed against the wall for cover, disgusted with himself and his incapability to be useful. Why did he even come along if all he could do was nothing? What is the sense of carrying dead weight? The more he thought about everything was the angrier he became. And the angrier he became was the more his body levitated. He felt energy within him awakening.

Caid laughed in disbelief, "If all I had to do was get pissed off to get the hell out of here, I would have done that in the first place." His ascent ceased as if he became frozen. He heard something within him clarify, "It is not the anger that motivates you but the determination. You cannot connect with me if you do not take me seriously."

"Who are you?" he asked unsettled.

"You know who I am. You know who we are."

Confidence overwhelmed him and Caid nodded his head. "Ezra." The utterance of his Collaborator's true name recommenced his ascension. "I am Ezra, commander of the first squadron, the strength of the nations. I have work to do." He felt like laughing. This is how Clark Kent must have felt finally learning to fly. He straightened his body propelling himself faster upwards only to be thrown back downwards. He slammed into the hard ground, his senses knocked right out of him. Sitting up to shake his head clear, Caid's glowing blue eyes found his assailants. They flooded through the opening as a mass of gloom, shrill cries escaping their mouths as they charged towards him. He got up and launched himself into their midst.

************

Gina's legs quivered with each step she gingerly took. Her nerves were beyond frazzled. Where she was, she couldn't even approximate, but she wondered if she was unconscious yet experiencing a lucid dream for she was in the midst of the clouds, surrounded completely by blue and white. How was it possible for her to walk on the sky? She looked about yet saw no one in sight. Was this all real? She pinched herself for verification then yelped. Yeah, she wasn't sleeping.

"Hello?" Her voice trembled as it echoed and continued to repeat in the empty air. "Anybody out there? Caid? Brigitte? Where am I?" Only her echoes welcomed her and Gina bit back the fear that was starting to paralyze her. "Hello?"

Nothing.

"Guys, I'm scared." A gust of wind ruffled her hair briefly breaking the silence then left her just as quickly as it came.

"Okay Ginevra, you're a big girl. If you want to be more precise, I'll even call you a woman. You've heard of being on cloud nine, but now you really get to embrace this opportunity. Man up, grow a pair, and let's see if we can find a way down...from wherever we are. First things first though." She looked down at beneath her feet and saw nothing except blue sky and rapidly moving clouds. She stomped her foot once just to see what might happen and stood surprised when she heard a muffled bang. Was she standing on glass?

Bending down, Gina reached her hand out nearly screaming when it went past her feet. No, she wasn't standing on anything but....air particles maybe? "How is this possible?" She stomped her foot once more and heard the same muffled thud which reassured her that she would just start to free fall. That was her worst nightmare. She shuddered from the thought, deciding that walking, even if aimlessly, would keep her from harboring such dreadful imaginations. She was advancing nowhere, or at least that is what she assumed. It was difficult for her to know whether or not she was making actual progress because of the never ending firmament, nevertheless, Gina pressed on all in the hopes of finding a secret door or even a window.

"There you are, Gina, I was looking all over for you."

Gina looked up and almost cried tears of joy, "Brigitte! Where have you been?! Where the hell are we?"

"I don't know. We were separated during the earthquake and when I came to I found myself here."

Gina nodded her head in agreement making her way towards her companion until she noticed that something was off. There was a strong sulfuric scent wafting away from Brigitte's body and Gina had enough commence sense to know that humans shouldn't smell like sulfur unless they were working in sulfur mines.

"Brigitte, why do you smell so strange?" she inquired guarding her face to only show curiosity. This individual was not Brigitte, something within her already contested to that fact, however to keep herself out of harm's way, Gina had decided to feign ignorance until the moment she could escape.

"Sulfur? What are you talking about, Gigi."

"Gigi?"

"Yeah."

Brigitte never called her Gigi. In fact, not one person in her family or her social circle called her Gigi. Gina was already a nickname within itself. This definitely was not Brigitte. "Perhaps it's just a part of my imagination. You know how you can get after being alone for an eternity."




The Second Time Around Ch. 11



"Oh, it hasn't been an eternity yet, only two hours."

"What?" she asked in surprise. She looked down at her watch, her throat going dry when she noticed that her timepiece was motionless. She held her wrist up to her ear to make sure that the batteries were still functioning and heard the telltale ticking. Still time was frozen therefore how did "Brigitte" know that two hours had already passed?

"Is your watch broken?" The fake Brigitte took a step closer to her and Gina fought every fiber within her that was attempting to step back in order to keep still. If this imposter knew that she was aware that she was a phony, whatever she actually was might try to harm her. Then again, Gina reasoned, what if this charlatan wanted to get closer to her in order to hurt her? Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

"Gina?"

"Yea!" she snapped out of her musings to discover that the pretender was another foot step closer.

"Your watch, is it broken?"

"Nah," Gina answered waving her off. "Let's see if we can find a way out of here." She used this excuse to recommence her marching feet, her pace was quick and choppy as her head reeled from the realization that this thing, this con, this most likely evil entity was plotting to...to...to probably kill her. Gina quickly wiped the tears from her eyes as true dread and terror lighted upon her. The true Brigitte and Caid had promised that nothing would happen to her. All she needed to do was believe and have faith.

"Gina...Gina...GIGI!"

"What?!" she yelled forgetting to be scared shitless.

The fake Brigitte was taken aback by her sudden outburst. "Nothing, I was just going to say that you're walking awfully fast. You probably might have started to run if I hadn't called out to you."

"I'm sorry."

"Were you crying?"

"No—yes," Gina replied choosing to be somewhat truthful. If "Brigitte" knew that she was lying—let the Lord have mercy on her soul. "I started thinking about me—us—never getting out of here and I got scared. I want to see my family again."

"You will." Two steps closer. "Don't worry. I told you that you'd be safe with me." Three steps closer. "I would never allow anything to harm you." Five steps closer. The fake ran her brown fingers through Gina's black hair and smiled a very slow smile that sent shivers up Gina's spine. It was now or never.

Using gumption that she never thought she possessed, Gina drew back and slammed her perfectly manicured fist in "Brigitte's" face then took off running instead of waiting out the yelp of surprise to see if it really was a demon. 

"Gina. GINA!"

"Holy shit," she said as she ran with tears streaming down her face. It reminded her of what took place the prior evening with Dante. Only this time there was no Corey to warn her, no Caid to defend her, and definitely no Brigitte to save her. She was on her own, running in an expanse of blue and white, on the verge of fighting for her life. Her grey eyes caught sight of the clouds as their course increased in rapidity beneath her moving feet. Even they understood her urgency to escape. Just when the yelling ceased and Gina felt as if she could take a breather, she did something that only an idiot would do.

She looked back.

***************

He was breathing heavily, his lungs under extreme exertion from the amount of energy he was expending to protect himself. For someone who had destroyed the red string of fate and obliterated his abilities, Caid was doing a damn good job of defending himself. Even so, this group of bastards was putting up a fight.

He slammed into the ground, rolling out of the way of descending rocks and spikes. They were smart...maybe too intelligent, taking turns on their offense and constantly forcing him to resort to his defense. He rolled himself over, pushing up with his arms and out of the way as one of the beastly ghouls descended upon him. He drew back and struck it in the midsection turning in time to barely miss a strike from another. He winced in pain at the claw embedded in his side, deciding within himself that he had had enough of getting his ass kicked. In that moment a small fraction of what Gina had said that morning replayed in his mind, "Whenever it gets closer to battle, weaponry from God knows where suddenly become available."

Well, in that case, where was his weapon? He was deep in battle with no true protection. He squeezed his fist tightly, blocking a blow to the face and thrusting the entity away from him. "I tire of this game."

"So do we," one of them replied likewise. Their attacks ceased as they began to regroup, combining one after another into a single being, towering over Caid's now small build.

He looked up at them almost tempted to shake his head in disbelief. "That weapon would come in handy right now," he said more so to himself than any of them. To his surprise his left hand began to tingle with heat, he gazed upon it in awe as a large, golden scythe manifested in his hand.

The new monstrous giant howled in anger, charging towards him however it's new body mass decreased its speed causing it to sludge forward like a glob of sludge, facilitating Caid's work for him. Levitating from the ground, Caid increased his velocity, swinging his scythe back and sweeping it forward with an upward stroke to slice its head off. The thickness of their combined skin hindered his strike, trapping the blade between its folds, yet Caid remained relentless, pushing and forging forward until black blood began to spray from the large wound he was creating. Caid uttered one final roar of victory, the ginormous head crashing to the ground inciting an earthquake.

Caid never looked back as he flew upward, dodging falling stones and boulders. He almost stopped when he realized that the gaping entrance was in reality a mouth. Jagged tines gnashed together furiously as he approached closer. Instead of waiting for the mouth to reopen, Caid filled his body with fire and smashed right through the barricade of teeth, ripping out several with his escape. His blue eyes continued to glow as he flew away from the wounded animal he had left behind and went in the direction of Gina and Brigitte's pull.

**********************

She was gone. Where had she run off to? Gina turned about to look in front of her, crying out in surprise and horror as the entity, once cloaked in Brigitte's outer appearance, slammed into her in its true form. Gina was too preoccupied screaming to notice its vile hands wrapped about her throat and squeezing. It was horrendous. It looked like something one would see in a "Resident Evil" video game. Its skin dripped from its skull like face, landing on Gina's reddening cheeks yet she continued to scream, then began to claw at its eyes to gauge them out as it stared into her own.

They were ghastly, soulless, black eyes that seemed to want to penetrate her body. The thought of possession encouraged Gina to cease her screaming and to increase her thrashing. She wasn't as weak as she looked. She could do this.

"You are as weak as you look, you lowly human," it muttered above her.

"Listen here, you fucker!" Gina wheezed ramming her knee into his thin, skeletal side. "You can't do anything to me."

"Can't I?" he asked, his dark voice penetrating her mind and echoing inside of her head. "Look at me," he commanded.

"No, no!" Gina cried unable to keep her head from turning back in his direction. Her eyes opened upon their own, informing her that she had slammed them shut, forcing her to stare into the abyss of blackness. "Who are you?" she asked as her strength began to fade.

If it had lips to smile she knew that she would be looking up at a smirk. "Wouldn't you be happy to know? Well, before you disappear from existence, allow me to enlighten you. You are looking at the master of trickery, the great Belial himself. Now die and fade away, you useless excuse of life."

"Belial," Gina repeated before going limp.

****************

Brigitte's feet took her faster as she rounded a corner and slipped, colliding with the slimy walls. "Gina!" she yelled. She had felt it. Her life force had disappeared. "Gina, I am sorry. Forgive me." Liquid escaped her tear ducts as she mourned the loss of her friend. She righted herself, anger replacing her pain. "I will bring you back," she vowed, unable to control her temper. She ran once more, completely ignoring the twisting and turning path, her anger and hurt providing her with the strength she needed to break through walls.

She flashed the crumbling particles out of her eyes, keeping up with her pace until she was running on air then downright flying, crashing through the framework of the building till it began to collapse from her brunt force. She was more than angry, she was furious and Belial would receive the full impact of her fury for what he had done.

She felt someone approaching her at full speed and halted face to face with Caid. They took one look at one another and wordlessly, glanced up at the ceiling, and took off crashing through the roof towards Belial. They hung weightlessly in what appeared to be nothing but sky. "Belial! Where are you? Show yourself, you coward!"

"You've arrived just in time, help me, please. That monster is after me!"

They turned about to see Gina standing before them. Her hair was haphazard on her head, and she looked terrified, however both Caid and Brigitte were no fools.

"Forgive me, Gina," Brigitte whispered before tackling her friend's body.

Belial laughed deliriously as he was scent flying through the firmament. He crashed into a wall, the sky and clouds malfunctioning as they disappeared then reappeared, the sky emitting the afterglow of a sunset, the crimson red color of blood.

"What? You didn't appreciate the welcome?" he asked lunging at Brigitte and casting her through the floor. She slammed out of the room, landing with a loud thud as she slid across the slick ground still covered with slime.

Caid used the sticklike handle of his scythe to sweep the ground from underneath Belial's feet. He didn't want to cause any harm to Gina's body. "Where is she?" he demanded.

Gina's beautiful smile emerged as Belial held her head back and laughed. "She is dead. I've already gotten rid of her useless soul." Awareness came upon her face as Gina's body rolled out of the way, a blast of light bursting through the roof. He may have missed the gust of energy, but the wanted effect was obtained as he fell through the ceiling to join Brigitte on what appeared to be the ground floor. He landed on his back and coughed in discomfort.

"Where is she?!" Brigitte asked once more lifting her foot to stomp on him. He lifted a hand and threw her again, but this time Caid caught her. Belial however used the distraction to pull down the rest of the ceiling upon their heads, laughing as he watched his two opponents become buried beneath the rubble.

"Collaborators are supposed to be powerful?" he taunted. "They are supposed to possess the power of the Almighty! Can't you use this power to save yourselves?" he asked tossing more debris upon them when they tried to climb their way out. After a while he became bored of the games. He would do away with them once and for all after taking their power source. "I will put this strength to much better use than either of you could ever imagine," he told them holding them up by the throat with invisible hands. "Don't worry, I will give you both the honor of being killed by the great Belial himself."

"And I will give you the great honor of going back to hell where you belong." He turned around in surprise to find his body looking back at him. "How did you—" His own bony hand plunged through Gina's chest squeezing tightly on her heart. He dropped his two captives who were watching in confused disbelief as Belial fought against himself.

Gina's hands tried to fend him off, but Belial's hold upon her remained unbreakable.

"What is—"

"I do not know," Caid replied before Brigitte could complete her question. "We should just watch and then take care of whoever is left standing."

"Fair enough," she agreed fascinated at what they were watching. She had never seen a demon attacking itself.

"You want to know how I did it? The same way you took over my body."

"Gina?" they asked in disbelief.

"Hi guys. Do you like my new look?" she asked her companions without taking her eyes off of her own body.

"How did you get inside of his body?" Brigitte asked baffled.

"I have never seen the possessor become possessed by the possess-e," Caid whispered in pure wonderment.

"All I had to do was find out where you kept your body when you leave it and once I did, I took over, now I want my body back and you're going to give it to me," Gina told him.

"Go to hell," Belial spat.

"You first and I'm here to facilitate the process." She stared into her own eyes compelling her fighting hands to cease their struggling. 

"What are you doing?" he asked in shock. How was it possible for her to control her own body whilst he was still inside of her?

"What does it look like?" Gina asked redoubling her concentration to make her arm move. Belial was putting up more resistance, but her willpower refused to make her concede to him. She watched as her hand staggeringly reach into her vest pocket and pull out a small vial of clear liquid. Her resisting appendages held it still and opened the container.

"What is this?" Belial demanded.

"Your death unless you can tell us what we're looking for." 

"And what's that?"

"Abdigar."

Both Brigitte and Caid nodded their heads. They were highly impressed.

Belial laughed without shame. "Abdigar? As if I would tell you a thing." With that said Gina once more compelled her hands to move, putting the vial to her lips. "Wait!" He has smelt the substance and it was pure. It really would be liquid death to him. 

"Then speak," Gina stated. Instead of speaking Belial did even better, he visually led her to Abdigar's hideout where she saw him hunkered down. He seemed to be in the process of regeneration, half of his body was missing, and he was grunting and wiggling about as his body continued reforming. 

"Happy now?" Belial asked grudgingly.

"Of course."

"Now let me go and I'll give you back your filthy body."

Gina shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to do that." She forced the contents into her mouth. Belial tried to pull away from her as the poison entered her body and his soul evoking great pain. A clear light emitted from Gina's open mouth as Belial's soul died inside of her. Before his body completely disintegrated, Gina took her rightful place back inside of her own figure in time to watch Belial's frame fall in a heap of dust at her feet. She kicked it for good measure then smiled, feeling highly proud and accomplished.

"Gina!" Brigitte attacked her with a hug and Caid downright lifted her off of her feet.

"Don't tell me you two missed me?" she teased. "Don't cry."

"I am so sorry," Brigitte told her. "We should have protected you."

"You did," she told them. "When I thought that I would die your scepter found me and somehow I was carried away from Belial. It led me to his body and if it wasn't for your help, I would have really been a goner."

"What did you give him to drink?" Caid asked curiously.

"Remember when Corey gave me that grain of sand from when he held off the Juggernauts? Well, I bottled up the substance and I've been keeping several vials of it with me for just in case purposes." 

Brigitte held her tightly. "I am so happy that I could kiss you."

Gina laughed as her tears blurred her vision. "I thought I'd never see you guys again. Let's get our shit together for the next time," she told them on a laugh. They nodded in agreement and hugged one last time before separating. "Oh, quick before I forget you both should see where Abdigar is hiding."

They laid their hands upon her bringing her memories to the forefront allowing themselves to be transported, as Gina was, to Abdigar. When they were finished, they opened their eyes and thanked her.

"I have no idea where that is so I can't be of much help."

"No worries. We know exactly where to find him," Brigitte assured her. She clasped Gina's hand tightly unwilling to let go just in case another unexpected danger emerged. They found their way out of the maze of Belial's lair then utterly demolished it, breaking the curse it held over the land in the process. Immediately they were back in the desert however this time there was no sand storm or high winds to blind them and the sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky. The stronghold was forever destroyed.

"So where do we go now?"

"To Hell," Caid told her. "But first I think that it is wise for us to get some rest and nourishment. If Belial was a fight, Abdigar will be a battle."

"Not in his condition," Gina said recalling his damaged form.

"Even so, he has many minions under his command. To reach him will be a struggle in itself," Brigitte told her. "You should eat and then rest. You have been through a great ordeal."

"That's the thing," Gina said excitedly. "I should be downright exhausted, but there's a rush of energy overflowing on the inside of me. All this time I was scared out of my mind about encountering the supernatural only to find that it's not as difficult as I thought it would be."

They smiled at her enthusiasm. "You would not want to become a Collaborator perchance?" Caid teased.

"Is that possible?" Gina had taken him seriously. From what she'd already experienced, being a Collaborator couldn't be all that bad. It had its perks, one of them being eternal love. She noticed the way their eyes glowed even more when they glanced at each other. They truly were in love.

"How can a Messenger become a Collaborator?" Caid asked earnestly. He could see from her expression that she had no clue. "Did Corey not tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"A medium is another form of a Messenger. The spirit world seeks you out because you are their only source of communication after death. You once wondered what your purpose was in our battle and now you know. You were right, we were meant to be connected in order for you to help us along our journey. Brigitte and I need you just as much as you need us."

Gina stared at them skeptically. "Yeah right."

"How else were you capable of entering a demon's body without being consumed by evil? Only a Messenger can remain unfazed. Even a Collaborator would have at least been tempted and we are not so easily led astray. Our two entities can never intermingle. It would wreak havoc for both species."

Gina's jaw dropped. "What?"

Brigitte shook her head in accordance. Even she thought that Corey would have already enlightened Gina on her status. In fact, the entire Comito family had strong, pure spiritual energy. Although she was not certain, Brigitte surmised that once, long ago in another life, the Comitos were retainers of the Almighty and his kingdom of peace.

"I'm a Messenger?" They nodded then went about taking the squashed food out of the sac to distribute. At least the provisions hadn't been lost. "I'm a Messenger," Gina mumbled as she stared out into space.

"Yes, a skeptical Messenger, but one nonetheless," Corey taunted.

"Brother."

"Corey."

"You bastard! How could you not have informed me all of this time?"

Corey shrugged his shoulders, "It was necessary for you to see it for yourself, you Doubting Thomas," he told her with a crooked grin. 

"You knew that I would accompany them, didn't you?"

He nodded his head slowly then gave her a wink before turning to the others addressing them as well instead of being entranced by Gina's beguiling eyes. "Great news, the Prince's forces are retreating. It's an age old trap because they expect us to give chase, but this gives us much opportunity to regroup and plan our method of attack. There are three thousand and forty-two hundred Collaborators on the front; another five hundred are ready for your disposal."




The Second Time Around Ch. 11



"That is good to hear."

"Yes. Belial is no more. Tomorrow we will search for Abdigar and snuff him out. If our calculations are correct, his death should reverse the progression of Hell upon earth."

"Yes," Corey replied. "I can't stay for long. I only brought an update. We are preparing for the next battle."

"Good luck."

"We shall meet again," Caid told him with conviction.

"We shall." Corey turned to leave, but Gina stopped his departure.

"Could we talk for a little bit?" she asked. She was nervous. It wouldn't be the first time she was alone with him, but it was becoming more difficult for her to deny her attraction to him. How could someone fall in love with a ghost? She looked up to see the surprise in his eyes. "Don't."

He led her a small distance from Brigitte and Caid giving them privacy for their brief discussion. "What did you want to know?" he asked instead of questioning her thoughts of being in love with him.

"I've been thinking a great deal about destiny and the red string of fate and I was wondering if all of this never happened: Caid and Adriano not dying, Brigitte not marrying that lunatic, everything; would our paths have still intersected? Would we have met?"

"Yes," Corey told her simply yet refused to expound upon it.

"That's it?"

"Yes," he replied once more.

Gina looked frustrated wondering if she could physically wrap her fingers around his neck and squeeze. She frowned and blushed when Corey laughed. "Well, thanks for the little chat," she snipped before marching away.

He grinned at her retreating back. Yes, they would have met. They would have married. And they would have had beautiful children if only the signs were not ignored, they would have had a wonderful future together. He took one last look at the group then vanished back to his own duties. There was always time for regret, right now he had serious business to tend to.

"Why are you upset?" Brigitte asked concerned.

"What? Oh, no, I'm not upset." Would it have hurt him to divulge a little with his explanation? She sat back down in the sand willing all thoughts of Corey out of her mind, but it was nearly impossible. She ate her sandwich and drank hot water without complaint. "Will we sleep on the sand?" she asked looking for a spot to get comfortable.

"No, we will sleep here." Caid held his hand out to the sky until a tent big enough to accommodate all three of them appeared above their heads. The ground was stable and there were sleeping bags along with other necessities. Anything else would have been too extravagant and they were not on vacation.

Gina fell asleep right after her meal with Brigitte and Caid following right behind her. She awoke in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, but decided against it when she opened the tent to find it dark and cold. "I'll hold it until morning."

"Let me accompany you, scaredy cat," Brigitte told her. They distanced themselves from the camp and relieved themselves before rinsing their hands with bottled water. "Are you sleeping well?"

"Oh yeah," Gina admitted. "I never thought that a sleeping bag could feel like a luxury mattress after sitting on sand all afternoon.

Brigitte laughed, "If you need anything just tell us."

"Can do." They returned to sleep awakening the next time with the rising sun.

"I wish that I could sleep in," Caid remarked when no one budged.

"I think we all do."

"Yeah, but Abdigar isn't going to kill himself."

Brigitte's head popped up as she smiled at Gina with pride. Before the journey she had been worried that they were ill prepared, but now she was the one encouraging them to move forward. "You have grown in such a short amount of time."

"Thanks Mom," Gina replied batting her eyelashes. They ate breakfast and readied to leave immediately afterwards. "How will we get there—to Hell, that is?"

Brigitte wrapped an arm about Gina's waist and held on tightly as they rose into the sky. "Leave that to us." They watched as Caid dove first into the sand creating a tunnel in his wake. Shielding Gina's eyes, Brigitte followed suit, the sand closing up the hole behind them. The heat became more and more unbearable as they made their descent, yet Gina didn't complain. Just when she thought that it couldn't become anymore unbearable, they entered a large cavern. 

"Welcome to the first level of Hell," Brigitte announced.

"Where is everyone?" Gina asked expecting to see more than empty space.

"No one occupies the first level except the guards, but they are in the front. We came through the middle—uninvited," Caid explained.

"I take it that means we should get a move on it," Gina said following behind them.

"Yes."

Her mind was officially blown. Who knew that Hell had stairs? Okay, perhaps that was an idiotic thought, but what she had seen in movies and had imagined it would look like were completely off. She expected to see ghoulish beings such as Abdigar rampaging about and she definitely did not think to see hand carved door frames and...is that mahogany wood? Hell was nicely furnished. What happened to the tar pits and the lake of fire and fumes where rebellious souls were tortured?

"The torturing takes place at the ground level. The first level is occupied by guards, the second by the soldiers and the militia. This makes it easier for them to reach the earth in case spiritual warfare. The third and fourth levels are occupied by the aristocracy. The fifth level is occupied by the royal family, the sixth by minions and enforcers, and the seventh, or the ground level, by the wayward souls."

"Oh, okay," Gina accepted. They really did have another society underneath the earth. Her mind was completely blown. She kept moving with them, rounding corners stealthily before advancing.

"He is close by," Brigitte told them. She could recognize that foul stench anywhere. What was it with these demons and taking baths? Soap was meant to help not harm. 

They descended another set of stairs then stood in front of a large oak door with the name Abdigar inscribed on it.

"Wait, this is too easy," Gina said stopping Brigitte when she held her hands up to the door. There was a golden orb ready to be released from the palm of her hands at any second.

"We know."

"Then why are we still going through with this?"

"Because he thinks that he has us trapped. We will prove him wrong," Brigitte said with certainty. "Starting now." The medium sized orb detached from her palm, increasing in size as it devoured the feeble wood and detonated inside of the room.

"We heard there was a party," Caid announced stepping over the rubble to look at the legion of soldiers encamped about Abdigar. Half of them were already dead from Brigitte's blast, but for those who were left standing, they remained at their post, blocking Abdigar from view.

"Then shall we begin?" he asked making a path for himself. He sneered at Brigitte and glowered at Gina, turning about for them to see what he would like to call his face. His body was not completely regenerated, but he looked to be in much better shape than the way Brigitte had left him before.

"Gina," Brigitte said her eyes still upon her opponent and his steadily fidgeting army. "As long as Abdigar's men are still standing and we are in the midst of battle, you do not let go of this." She handed Gina her scepter. "It will always protect you. And if neither Caid nor I make it out of here alive, at least you will."

Gina's heart pounded in her chest as she slowly reached for the scepter. She had held it very briefly once before when Belial had stolen her body, but as her fingers encircled around the cool, golden rod, a sense of empowerment overtook her. All doubt and insecurity fled from her thoughts and she was ready for whatever may come her way. "All right."

"Today," Abdigar said holding his hand back. "You both shall witness the freedom of our great prince." He thrust his arm forward commanding the soldiers to attack then crossed his arms against his chest. "Leave none of them alive, but recuperate the power orb."



The Second Time Around Ch. 12



Warning: There is violent, non-consent in this chapter so if you are squeamish, please don't read. Then again this is the final installment, so skipping over it is advised.

*******

It all happened so quickly that Gina was left in shock. One minute a demonic army was charging towards them and the next a quarter of them was left standing. Brigitte was winded and Caid was in the midst of defending himself against three other opponents. The demon they called Abdigar was inert save for his numerous eyes that were in constant motion.

He seemed to be buying himself time, allowing his obliterated arm to regrow. It pulsed violently, boils erupting and spraying acid around his clawed feet, melting some of his troops in its wake. He made sure to always avoid direct contact with either Caid or Brigitte any time they seemed to approach.

Gina decided that she should be more useful than a prop against the wall and rushed forward into the chaos. She dodged several attempted attacks, ducking and crawling when she was too afraid to put up a fight. Although she was terrified, Gina trudged forward deciding that since Abdigar refused to engage them in battle, she would bring it to him. She didn't know what she could do, but the scepter seemed to be guiding her as she swung it forward releasing a powerful blast that sent her flying back into the opposite wall.

"Damn," she replied. That was most unexpected. She had even obtained Abdigar's attention instead of accomplishing the sneak attack she had set out for in the beginning. She didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing to have him glaring at her, but the fear that he invoked was once more engulfing her as his claws rapidly clicked in her direction. "Oh God, help me," she cried as she scrambled to her feet and ran out of the damaged room.

"There is no God here, you worthless mongrel. Give me the scepter."

"I would tell you to go back to Hell, but we're already here," Gina shouted over her shoulder as she ran. She didn't know where she was going, but hopefully it was far away from him. She looked back hoping that Brigitte or Caid would be able to come to her rescue fore she had bitten off way more than she could chew. She never considered how she would handle a one on one fight with a demon who made her want to piss herself like a child. Besides, she was a damn good runner and as long as her legs worked, she wouldn't stop for anyone. And this time she wouldn't make the mistake of looking back like she did with Belial.

Abdigar snarled, acidic spittle and mucous dripping from his snout as he chased after Gina. He watched her clear a railing wondering if it was due to her own ability or the help of the scepter. He growled in frustration. If he couldn't possess the orb, the scepter would do just fine. He could free the prince with the scepter then return for the Collaborator's power source to strengthen his ruler. Either way, the prince would be released and able to reign upon the earth. Times would revert back to The Dark Ages, disease would run rampant, crime and death would become a mundane part of life. He nearly guffawed with laughter as he considered the near future.

"Abdigar!" Brigitte yelled. She disintegrated the minion before her then ran after him. Gina's fleeting feet were taking her exactly where she shouldn't be going: towards the enchained prince. If she tried to stop Gina, Abdigar would have her in his grasp; however if she reached the prince: the mere aura of the scepter could precipitate his release. She couldn't allow that.

"Caid, go after Gina, bring her back while I deal with Abdigar," she told him telepathically. She compelled Abdigar to remain with her as Caid finished up with what little of the army was left.

Caid looked at the remaining ghouls resting before him and lifted his scythe. In one fluid swing he destroyed the lingering foundation of the room, crushing them in the process. His blue eyes glowed as he rose off of the ground and shot after a panicked Gina. At first he thought that she was running away arbitrarily, but he soon realized that she was being pulled in the prince's direction. The demonic lord was calling her to him.

The power of the scepter made it more difficult to gain upon her retreating form, nevertheless Caid pushed forward until he reached the second floor with no sight of Gina. "Give me your strength," he whispered to no one in particular.

Brigitte didn't release the power orb in her hands until Caid was gone. She was ready to finish what she had started with Abdigar once and for all. She was shocked to find it returning in her direction, slamming into her and crushing her against a broken railing.

"Fool, don't you realize that your abilities are useless against me here? My plan to separate you from your companions has worked and once I have your power orb in my possession, the prince will finally be set free."

Brigitte stood to her feet, wiping blood from the corner of her mouth as she smirked at him. "Do not underestimate me, Abdigar."

They charged, colliding into one another as they grappled for control. His slime made it difficult for Brigitte to maintain a firm hold of him nonetheless she left bruises where they count.

"You bitch!" he spewed after she had gauged out several of his eyes. "I will make you pay for this!"

"I am ready when you are," she told him defiantly, doubling over in pain as his claws sunk into her side. She fell to her knees, gasping as the ache took her breath away. Yes, she was more vulnerable with Caid's absence and her scepter not being in close proximity; nevertheless she wouldn't allow Adigar to intimidate her.

"Today is the day you die," he spat as he towered over her. "But don't worry, Alexandra, your death will be the revival of our honorable society."

Brigitte spat at his feet laughing to ignore the pain, "There is no honor among dogs. I would rather die a noble death defending the earth than to die in vain by your hands."

"Either way you die. Isn't that the goal?"

Brigitte looked at the blood staining her left hand and grimaced. "Either way you will die with me."

Abdigar stood silently for a few seconds before speaking, "Then again, a woman as capable and as powerful as you would be useful to our kingdom. How about becoming the prince's personal whore? After being imprisoned for hundreds of years, my great lord will be seeking release."

Brigitte sneered at him in disgust, her stomach lurching at the idea of any other man besides Caid touching her. She had made the mistake of marrying Paul in order to get over his death and was still dealing with the repercussions of her actions. "Here's what I have to say to that," she said with an uppercut.

********

Gina was tired of running however her feet refused to stop. She had no inkling where she was going. This must have been the fourth staircase she was descending. "Where am I going?"

"Keep coming."

"Who is that?" she asked out loud having sworn that she heard a voice. "Brigitte? Is that you?" Her footsteps slowed yet never ceased as she slowly dismounted the last step then wandered the corridor.

"I should turn around. What did they tell me was on this floor again? I can't remember, but I shouldn't be here alone," she told herself.

"No, you're going the right way. Come to me."

Gina looked at the scepter as it continued to glow in her hand. The radiation seemed to become unbearable to her eyes the more she advanced. "Who are you?"

No response.

She huffed. "Well, I'll have you know that I don't obey nameless voices that refuse to cooperate. So whoever you are, you can kick rocks." She turned to leave yet found that her legs felt heavy. Something was impeding her retreat. "I don't know who you are, but you better let me go," Gina warned.

"Come to me."

"I don't think so," she refuted. She would prefer to stay rooted where she stood than go to only God knows what and get herself killed.

"If you will not come to me willingly, I'll make you move."

********

Caid felt spiritual pressure begin to weigh him down. He took it as proof that he was approaching Gina. Whatever it was that was attempting to keep him away from her wasn't strong enough to stop him all together.

"Go back."

He scoffed at the menacing voice in his head and continued on. "I only take orders from the great Almighty." His scythe burned his palm the closer he became to Brigitte's scepter. Like their owners, the weapons responded to one another. When connected they contained the power necessary to destroy one third of the galaxy.

"Go back now!"

"You are not the boss of me," Caid snorted.

"You will regret this."

"We will see," he said likewise.

*********

"Wait! I said wait!"

"No," Brigitte retorted digging her heel into Abdigar's shoulder.

He cried out in pain as he struggled to relinquish himself of her hold. "We can make a deal if you would only hear me out."

"Ever heard the expression if you lie down with dogs you will come up with fleas?" Brigitte asked pressing harder until she heard a snap. "I prefer to remain clean, thank you. Besides, you and I have unfinished business to tend. Your death will be the end of it. Say goodbye." She held her palms down toward him and blasted him directly in face, jumping away as he once more reflected them back at her. At least two had landed before being refracted.

"I was giving you an opportunity to save your worthless life, Collaborator, yet it seems as if you value nothing, not even your crumby existence." He reached his arm up snatching Brigitte's foot and slamming her back to the ground. She landed with an umph, unable to defend herself as he grabbed a hold of her neck. "Who wouldn't want the opportunity to witness the new world order?"

"And what exactly would this new order be?"

"Why, us ruling the earth, of course. There will be utter chaos. Starvation, complete debauchery and lust." He laughed in excitement.

"What do you plan to achieve with all of this?"

"Your death would be the first, then the death of every single Collaborator on the earth. And once this is accomplished, we will bring down the great Almighty himself. No one will be able to contest our rule. Mothers will sell their children for food, fathers will abandon their families to wage war with one another, and we will use their negativity to become stronger."

"You are insane," Brigitte managed to say with his hand still squeezing her throat.

"Think what you must, but once you are out of the picture no one will be able to stop me."

Brigitte simpered, "That is why I will destroy you right now." Her golden eyes smoldered until they flared with light, once more burning the newly regenerated side of his body until it melted away.

Abdigar cried out in anguish as he stumbled away from her. He couldn't allow her to gain the upper hand. "You will pay for that, you pathetic excuse of a life force."

*********

Gina was tired. After fighting for as long as she could, her body had given in to the beckoning of the creepy voice. Even the scepter wasn't able to stop her progression. "Where am I going?"

"The wrong way."

Gina swung around to see Caid and smiled in relief. "Boy, am I ever glad to see you. My legs can't seem to stop moving."

Caid smiled, lifting her off of her feet to carry her away from the seventh floor. "I was beginning to think that I would never find you."

"Where's Brigitte?" Gina looked about for their friend, returning her eyes upon him when she didn't see her.

Caid retraced his path holding Gina closely against him as he increased his speed. "She is right where we left her."

"With Abdigar? We're going back?"

He heard the apprehension in her voice yet still nodded his head. "Abdigar must be stopped."

"Then why did you come after me?"

"You were heading directly for the prince. In his current state, even if he was to be liberated, he would be too weak to cause major harm; however with the scepter being in close proximity, and in the hands of someone inexperienced, he could easily drain its powers and strengthen himself. You said that your legs kept moving, well that is because he was calling you to him for a reason."

Gina shivered. If this prince looked anything like Abdigar or Belial then she didn't want to be in arm's length of him. "Caid, what happens when all of this is over? Will things go back to normal as in us never meeting one another?"

He had never thought of that before. He knew their life before Abdigar's appearance would return, but would that include him being in Adriano's body? Would he officially die? Would Brigitte find happiness with someone else? In that very moment nothing mattered anymore. What was important was getting Hell back under control.

"I do not know, Gina. Right now we do not have the luxury to ponder such things."

"I know," she admitted. "Still, when I think about a life without you and Brigitte, I feel sorta morose." They flew in silence closing in on Brigitte when they were suddenly propelled upwards having been struck with a dynamic force.

"Where do you think that you're going?" Abdigar asked from below them. He looked even worse off than before. The small part of him that had successfully regenerated was once more missing. His snout was ripped clean off, he was missing one clawed foot and half of the eyes adorning his back were oozing out goo from having been damaged.

"Brigitte, are you all right?" Caid asked shielding her and Gina from their inevitable impact. Her broken groan made his stomach curl. She looked to be in bad shape herself. "Do not worry about Abdigar, stay with Gina and allow me to take care of him."

"No, he is stronger than he appears to be. We need both of our strength to be rid of him," she wheezed. "I have held him off as much as I could on my own, but this is as far as I can go alone."

"I am here now," Caid reassured her. "We will do it together."

They didn't slam into the wall as expected. Somehow Gina had willed the scepter to bear the brunt of their collision. However, she was dismayed to see that they had been sent in the very direction she and Caid had only left minutes ago.

"Since you won't willingly meet my prince, I have given you a one way ticket to see him in person," Abidgar announced.

They gently slide on the grimy floor, landing several feet away from jail cells. Wherever they were it was hard to respire. The air was filled with the scent of sulfur, coal, and death. There was a cloud of darkness that seemed to disperse all around them like a thick mist. Chains rattled in the background, teeth gnashed, screams and cries echoed in the silence. There was an eerie red glow mere inches away from them where the shrieks seemed to be louder.

"Welcome to the seventh level of Hell." He grunted after his brief introduction, proceeding towards them.

Brigitte hobbled to her feet utterly exhausted. Abdigar seemed to be getting stronger as time went on. She needed to vanquish him which would be a lot easier if she had her scepter, but that would leave Gina at risk. The hot, slick trail of blood dripping down her arm made her hand sticky. She was losing sensation in the right side of her body. Her abdomen was already numb from where Abdigar had dug his claws into it. "Thanks for the invitation, however we will not be staying long."

Caid stood to his feet resting his scythe at Gina's feet. It strengthened the shield provided by the scepter around her. "Do not move," he advised her.

Gina nodded her head vigorously, huddling between the two weapons with her knees pressed against her chest. She was still fearful from her last attempted attack on Abdigar. She watched with bated breath as her two friends charged head on. Even with half of his body in horrible shape, Abdigar was still putting up a good fight.

Brigitte stumbled into Caid's support, the copper taste of her lifeblood staining her palate. "I will take his rear and you the front."

"Brigitte, I cannot let you go any further. You do not look too well."

"This is not about us. We must sacrifice our lives to protect humanity," she told him wiping the corners of her mouth.

"I understand, but I will not lose you again."

She straightened her posture and shrugged. "If we get rid of him now you will have no more worries."

"This is adorable, the two of you plotting against me so deviously," Abdigar stated. "Let's end this now."

"My sentiments exactly," Brigitte added. She hoisted herself in the air in his direction as Caid lunged for his claw. Acid dripped from his wounds, burning their flesh and impeding their strikes. He snarled devilishly in delight, using the opportunity to counter attack.

Gina cringed at the numerous failed efforts of Brigitte and Caid. Each time they tried, Abdigar would find a way to toss them about as if they were ragdolls. Caid did his best to shield Brigitte nonetheless she experienced a great deal of pain yet she remained undeterred, willing to push herself over the limit for the sake of defeating this demon.

Gina decided that she couldn't look anymore. She had to do something, but what? She surveyed her surroundings hardly able to see two steps in front of her. What they say concerning overcompensation of your other five senses was correct. She was picking up on the minutest of sounds in spite of the tortuous screams and cries for release being echoed in what she thought to be a cavern. Small ticking made her ears prick. Soft scratching against the walls had her head swinging in every direction. She wished that there was more light. Aside from the glow being emitted from the two weapons and the sparks igniting from the ensuing battle, Gina was in utter darkness.

Clanking. She just heard the clatter of chains approaching behind her. Something or someone was moving. Gina jumped to her feet, grabbing the scepter and scythe in both hands and squeezing them against her chest for protection. Something touched her, perhaps a finger. She couldn't specify in her state of panicked alertness. She felt the urge to run and just as her left foot lifted from the ground, Gina was snatched back into the pit of darkness with an alarming scream in her wake.

"Gina!" Brigitte slammed Abdigar to the ground and quickly scurried after Gina's rapidly disappearing corpse. She held up her hand as a lantern to guide her steps, grasping onto Gina's flailing hand before she disappeared behind the bars. "Let her go, you beast!" She sent an orb behind the confinement, snatching Gina against her as the bright light exploded inside of the cell. Taking the two armaments, Brigitte combined them, using their power to teleport them back to "safety."

"Gina, are you all right?"

She looked shaken still she nodded her head positively, hugging the combined artillery against her body. Whatever it was was made of pure evil. Its grasp had touched her inside and Gina couldn't remember ever feeling so cold and lost in her entire life.

"Good," Brigitte replied then slumped into her.

For her lithe, athletic stature, Brigitte was still heavy. Her sagging body weight caused Gina to stumble awkwardly until they were both on their knees. "Please, Brigitte, you can't go on any further. I'm afraid for you."

Brigitte gave her a weak smile of reassurance. "We all came here together and we will leave here together."

"Okay," Gina said with tears in her eyes. "But take it." She tried to give her the spear, but Brigitte pushed it back towards her. "Please," she begged. Her shoulders were shaking from her soft sobs as she entreatingly regarded her friend. Brigitte looked to be a breath away from death. Her respiration came in jagged heaves, blood poured and dripped from her torn flesh, even her golden eyes were slowly tinting to grey. Gina was more terrified of losing her than worrying about her own safety.




The Second Time Around Ch. 12



"No, Gina, I gave you my word that you would be protected."

"But you need it!"

"My death is for His glory, but your own would break me. No matter what happens, Gina," Brigitte said pausing to catch her breath. "I love you. You were the closest thing to a sister that I have ever had. I will never forget you."

"But Brigitte...what is it?" she inquired slowly turning her head in the direction of Brigitte's unbending stare.

"Stay put, no matter what," she firmly replied as their eyes met. Brigitte stood to her feet, determination in place as she stared at the figure the Almighty had entrapped since the dawn of the century. Somehow in her endeavor to free Gina, her burst of energy had done exactly what they were staking their lives against: emancipating the prince.

Gina didn't have to be told that this presence, even on a bad day, was strong enough to take Brigitte out in her current state. The negative aura exuded from his hidden figure made her skin crawl as if thousands of insects were trampling all over her. She held onto Brigitte violently, wanting to keep her away from this beast, but Brigitte calmly removed her death grip and went forward fearlessly.

"Brigitte! No!" Gina stood to her feet, spear pointed into the abyss as she ran to the aid of her friend, but she slammed into an invisible barrier, crumbling to the ground unconscious.

She shouldn't have looked back; nonetheless she made the mistake of doing so. Gina's broken whimper had distracted her for only a fraction of a second; long enough for the prince to sink his jagged nails into the depths of her stomach, wrenching her insides about in one definite twist. She felt his hand ripping her apart as his arm elevated towards her heart in search of the orb. She refused to relinquish it so easily. Mustering what little energy remaining inside of her abused body, Brigitte casted him away with a loud shout of agony. She heard a thunderous crash before she collapsed in a pool of blood.

"Ca—caid. Caid..."

He didn't hear her call him, he more so felt her beckoning him to assist her. Something felt incredibly wrong. When he turned about to discover her body slowly draining of her life force, he released a bellow, from deep within, filled with agony and loss. He thrust Abdigar away from him, fighting with all that was in him to get to her in time. He needed to save her. This was not the way things were supposed to be. He didn't know how he did it, but he sent his opponent flying through the ceiling in order to get to his love.

"Brigitte, Brigitte, open your eyes, mio cuore," he supplicated. Tears burned and blocked his vision as he grasped her unresponding form close to him. "I promised you that we would be together," he told her completely shattered at the thought of losing her. "Please do not die on me, Alexandra."

Brigitte gasped, her golden eyes the color of molten silver as they wearily opened, "Ezra, I do not have long," she coughed, her feeble hand gripped his shirt, tainting the fabric of his chemise red with her blood. "I no longer serve much purpose, but you—"

"No, please—"

"You must continue what I—I have failed to do." Her eyes misted over as she looked up at him. "Oh, how I was happy to have found you once more. I wanted us to have children and raise a family like we always planned," she forced sputtering as blood seeped between her teeth. "This cannot be."

"My love..."

She took his hand clutching it to her heart and gazed upon him sadly as her orb left her body, ending her life in the process, and entered into his own.

"No!" His roar of misery shook the cavern, once invisible stalagmites and stalactites breaking apart and shattering all around him. Something inside of him died with her. He watched her lovely brown skin faint to ashen grey, her thick, long hair becoming white and crinkled about her head. She was gone and it was his entire fault.

"How touching," Abdigar stated, using his thick haunch to slap his hand against in the form of applause. "I nearly teared up from such a cheesy scene, but alas, no tears did fall in the end."

"Abdigar," Caid gritted out, clenching his teeth to the point where several cracked and chipped. "ABDIGAR! YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE! AND THEN YOUR BELOVED PRINCE WILL BE NEXT!" he threatened. His anger, pain, and fury was all that Caid needed to engage Abdigar. They clashed together thunderously, lightening reflecting and illuminating the blackness.

"Are you angry?" Abdigar taunted, slobber dipping onto Caid's arm and burning him. "Do you want to go cry to your mommy?"

Caid snarled in response, red blinding his eyes as bloodlust took over his consciousness. "You will die!" He didn't reflect upon his actions giving Abdigar the upper hand over him.

"Not today, my friend. Not today," Abdigar gloated. Little did Caid realize, but his anger was only fueling the negative energy about him. In effect, Caid was helping him win this battle. He guffawed with laughter as he splintered Caid's arms one by one, almost hunching over with mirth when he collapsed to the ground in anguish. "Do you think that losing your whore was the most painful experience? Your death will be filled with more suffering than you could ever imagine."

Caid screamed in torment, not from the pain but from the loss of Brigitte, he wanted to join her in death's peace and surrender it all. He didn't want to give a damn anymore. Let the damn earth be destroyed. Nothing mattered except seeing her smiling face again.

"We must not give up, Ezra, or Alexandra's death will be in vain."

"What would you know?!" he questioned himself bitterly.

"We were created together, Alexandra and I. If anyone understands your grief, it is I. To witness her reoccurring death every single decade. I know your pain. We will be reunited once more, my Alexandra and I, but you must completely accept me in your heart if you want to defeat this evil. Bring me forth, Caid, and as Ezra we shall vanquish this darkness for good."

Caid sobbed, his arms useless by his side. "I no longer possess the strength," he confessed.

"I will give it to you."

Heat filled his bones as they reset, fusing together as if they had never been fractured. His energy levels were slowly increasing, endowing him with the confidence he needed to stand. Caid looked at Abdigar with renewed resolve. He could feel his true Collaborator coming to the forefront.

"I cannot allow this," Abdigar growled striking Caid in his abdomen. Abdigar knew that if Ezra, Caid's true Collaborator awoke within him as he was supposed to from the very beginning, he wouldn't stand a chance. He was buying his prince time to heal and return and once he made his reappearance, the prince would drain Caid of his life force and snatch the orb from within his chest further empowering himself.

Caid sputtered from the impact, Ezra's grip eventually releasing him as his focus shifted to defending himself. He grasped blindly for Abdigar's arm yet was welcomed with a blow to the face. He took the ceaseless pounding, his body wanting to revolt except his vitality was diminishing. His eyes caught a glimpse of Brigitte's lifeless form, her blood encircling her like an ironic halo. Caid decided that he would finish what she couldn't. Grabbing Abdigar's claw he squeezed tightly until he felt the snap.

"You may not consider me a worthy opponent, but allow me to prove you wrong." His blue eyes that were dimmed due to Brigitte's passing were reawakening. His strive seemed to be revived if only for a moment to finally be rid of Abdigar, then it could return from whence it came. He stretched back his balled hand, fire encompassing his fist as he descended it upon Abdigar's face. Despite his trapped position and his broken leg, Abdigar thrashed about matching Caid blow for blow. They grappled on the ground, tearing at each other's skin in a feverish haze until finally they separated long enough to recuperate their breaths.

"Just like your little partner lying on the ground, you too will join her. Let me precipitate your voyage," Abdigar told him as he launched himself forward. Caid sidestepped him enough to dodge his attack then lifted his blazing fist to return the favor Abdigar had done him: hitting him in the belly. He felt his fist push forward as ABdigar grabbed his advancing arm and shouted in pain. His sticky, oozing flesh melted onto Caid's arm as Caid made a hole through his thick corpse then expanded the length of his flames to destroy Abdigar from the inside out.

He stumbled away from the demon's charred remains, his body heaving for oxygen as the scent of sulfur intensified in his nostrils. He barely recuperated, running to Gina to see if she was well. She was still cataleptic, but at least her breathing was even. She held a tight grip on the still combined form of the scepter and scythe in her hand even in her state of unconsciousness.

"I will get you both out of here," Caid told her.

"Or will you, Collaborator?"

"Abaddon," Caid gritted out.

"So nice of you to remember me, Ezra, after having imprisoned me in utter darkness."

"You deserved to be casted away. You dared to lift your hand against the Almighty!"

Abaddon scoffed, "The Almighty? If he is so mighty, why hasn't he descended to Hell to deal with me himself instead of sending his minions?"

Caid gently laid Gina back on the ground to rest, ready to take on Abaddon in case he was thinking of attacking. "You would be content with the destruction of another earth, you vile creature."

Abaddon gloated, nodding his head in agreement as he stood stock still to size up his adversary. "Since that can't be the case, I'll have to quickly do away with you and start a new world of my own," he said. He took one step disappearing from view to reappear directly before Caid. Mimicking his actions with Brigitte, Abaddon plunged his jagged nails into Caid's belly, smiling delightfully as he watched the Collaborate's mouth open in an attempted cry of pain, silence escaping his lips instead. Caid sagged to the floor, his body trembling from the open gash in his abdomen as his eyes stared listlessly up towards the prince of demons.

"You know, today is an honorary day," Abaddon recounted. "That little Alexandra, I should have known that she was a spit fire. To think that she so unknowingly released me instead of destroying as she planned. I was going to do away with the both of you, but I have had a change of heart. To repay you for the centuries of suffering I endured by your hands, I will torture you before slowly draining you of your life source and ripping that orb from your chest."

Abaddon kneeled down before Caid still smiling devilishly. "Do you know how I will make you suffer? Because you took away my mother, Jezebel, and my father, King Baalzar, I will take away the very thing that you love the most."

Caid's eyes went to Brigitte before once more glaring up into Abaddon's black eyes.

"I know what you're thinking, Collaborator. Yes, she may be gone, but I will allow you to live long enough to witness her revival before I end your life. Alexandra will be my queen and you will be nothing but dust," he said whilst dragging a bloody fingernail along Caid's chest to cut his breast open.

His loss of blood impeded him from moving much less responding; nevertheless Caid willed his body to respond to his bidding. Nothing occurred. He watched helplessly as Abaddon approached Brigitte's lifeless body and roughly ripped away at her clothing to reveal her naked flesh. He trailed his snakelike tongue along the length of her neck as his black eyes looked up mockingly in Caid's direction.

"So delicious," he hissed as he extended an arm towards her genitalia. He rubbed unhurriedly, increasing his fingers the more agitated Caid became until he was laughing uncontrollably. "What? You don't like the way I'm bringing her back to life?"  

Caid growled, wishing that he could jump up and belt Abaddon in the face. He was disgusted at himself for being stuck and unable to do anything. This necrophiliac had no business being near her. He nearly choked on his blood when her body twitched. No!

"She's responding to me already. Such a wanton little wench," Abaddon whispered as his lips travelled down Brigitte's body. He lapped at her breasts, biting into her breast hard enough to leave the impression of his teeth. He hesitated at her midsection, hovering above it briefly then extending his slivering tongue inside to taste the copper of her blood. He closed his eyes in ecstasy. He buried his face in her open crevice covering his face with it then went lower to her sex to lick away. He could hear Caid in the background wiggling about with all of his might. There's nothing that he could do to stop the events about to occur.

Brigitte's legs twitched, her body convulsing as her soul took its rightful place inside of it. She felt pain, searing pain that refused to give her reprieve. She ached, remembering the gaping hole in her belly and the suffering she had endured along with it. She felt something akin to sandpaper assaulting her sensitive nether region. "Caid, it hurts. Please stop." It never once crossed her mind to wonder why she was once more alive.

"Don't fret, my queen, the pain will soon be over."

Her brown golden eyes reflected confusion until Abaddon came into view. She fought him with what little strength she had in her being, clawing at his face and crying out when her nails ripped from the toughness of his skin. "No! No!" she screamed wanting him off her.

"Resistance is futile. Your lover boy can't save you," Abaddon told her snatching her face within his hand to force her head back in to look at Caid.

"No," she whimpered at the amount of blood seeping from his form.

"He said that he wanted to watch. Better yet, let me give him a new view," Abaddon said raising his hands. Caid lifted up off of the ground, his blood dripping down to where he once laid. Jagged stones embedded themselves in his wrists and sides, confining him in an upright position.

"Abad—don..." He wanted to kill him for what he was doing to Brigitte.

"CAID!!!"

Abaddon laughed as he positioned himself between her thighs then thrust his hard penis inside of her. Her cries of torment only excited him more as he enthusiastically watched her with his unyielding gaze as he plunged inside of her.

"You are hurting me! No! No!"

His labored heaves filled the cavern as she smiled down at her, restraining her hands above her head as he pressed their bodies together, his blood coating his belly. "Yes, yes!"

Gina slowly came to, her head pounding. Heart wrenching screams filled her ears as she gingerly lifted her head. She nearly gasped at the sight before her: Caid's battered body dripping blood as he remained suspended over their heads and Brigitte being violently ravaged by a wickedly laughing maniac. It was all surreal. For a moment she doubted the identity of this man inflicting pain upon her companion however the strong aura of evil radiating from his physique informed her that this was the demon prince. She was still choked nevertheless to see that he looked human.

Of all the vile creatures he could have resembled, why did he have to appear human? His heavy bulk easily kept Brigitte's revolting form under submission as he greedily raped her, ignoring her cries and pleas for him to stop. Gina felt her stomach lurch at the smell of blood in the air. It was disgusting. She never wanted to witness something this horrifying again and neither would she wish this upon her worst enemy. Why was this happening and exactly how long had she been unconscious? Caid wasn't in that deplorable state the last she had seen him and Abdigar, where was he? She carefully lifted her head to discover his charred remains still steaming with smoke.

What could she do? She had to find a way to free Caid and to help Brigitte. Poor Brigitte. Her agony was palpable. Gina felt as helpless as Caid although she was not confined as he was, forced to witness the woman he loved being possessed by another being. Gina felt both of her pain to the point where her stomach lurch once more. She had to keep it together or this demon would be privy of her presence before she could make herself useful and God only knows what he would do to her.

Caid tried to pull his body away to fall downwards towards that bastard. Every time Abaddon surged into Brigitte, her eyes would pleadingly call to him as he snatched away bits and pieces of her humanity. At first Caid thought that he was only imagining things however, he noted that Brigitte's strength was rapidly weakening and her eyes...her beautiful golden eyes were clouding over. She was dying again.

"How does this make you feel?" Abaddon enquired. It made him feel beyond satisfied to have her tight walls squeezing his large member so mercilessly. He knew that his size would have already killed a normal human. It was the width of a baby's head, the length that of a wooden ruler, and as hard as a steel pole. It was beyond painful, but in a while Brigitte would learn to enjoy this pain. He noted that her eyes were fading out and quickened his pace. She was almost there. Soon she would be his. He still remembered the very first and last time that he had seen her lovely face. She had ruthlessly subdued and chained him with the group of other Collaborator's wrestling to shove him into outer darkness. He had put up a decent fight, but when their eyes met, he wished for the first time in his life that he had been created a different being.

He had lusted after her in those brief minutes before he was casted away. And now here he was with his dick deeply buried inside of her walls turning her over to the dark side. Her transformation would soon be complete and then they would kill her old lover together and rule the new world as one. He looked up at Caid eyeing him pitifully as he clenched his teeth, until his jaws bled, in an effort to with stand the pain as he continued to thrash about in the hopes of freeing himself. Anger and vengeance could strengthen any man, but no matter how hard he tried, Caid was no match for his power.

"Abaddon! You will die a painful death!"

"I told you that you would regret this," Abaddon responded back thrusting one final time as Brigitte released her last screech and died. He stilled, watching the wound on her belly heal and her skin take on its natural brown hue. She remained motionless for several minutes, her long hair lengthening along her sides and her nails extending gracefully.

Her chest rose and fell peacefully and when she finally opened her eyes she looked up at him curiously. "My king."

Abaddon smirked taking her lips hungrily as they both consensually consummated their new union. He rolled over allowing her on top and kissing her breasts as she tweaked her nipples. She rode him as if his well-endowed cock was made to be inside of her pussy. "Yes, my queen, just like that."

She became lost in their coupling, grinding her hips down upon him and growling in pleasure as she threw her head back in sheer bliss. Her newly tinted black eyes regarded her old lover, no recollection of ever knowing him reflecting in her gaze. She smiled menacingly, enjoying the voyeurism as she royally fucked her king and felt his hard member begin to tense inside of her. Whimpers escaped her full lips the closer she was to reaching climax.

Abaddon held her tightly, lifting his hips to meet her gyrations as they collided in release. Their unified cries of satisfaction echoed around them as they collapsed against each other satiated. "Now, let's take care of the old baggage," he suggested. They both stood in all of their glory, her hair covering her breasts leaving her lower half exposes as the old blood continued to glide off of her body.




The Second Time Around Ch. 12



"My king, let me do the honors," she eagerly requested then reached her hand out to silently call for Caid when Abaddon gave his consent. Her small hand clutched his throat as she stared curiously into his face. He was handsome, but also a threat. Something inside of her told her that much. He needed to be exterminated without hesitation. "Stranger, may Abaddon have mercy on your soul."

Caid didn't want to see Brigitte this way. The lack of recognition alone was enough to steal his last breath away, but to have her willingly enjoying the thought of killing him made him feel as if his heart had been torn from his chest. This wasn't the way things were supposed to end. He had let everyone down.

Gina stood to her feet in alarm. She couldn't allow any further harm to come to Caid. What was she supposed to do? She considered the weapon in her hands and felt utterly hopeless. She didn't know how to use this thing. "I know that I don't often pray, but whoever you are, whether you're God or this Almighty fellow, I'm asking you to please help me save my brother, my friend. Just give me the strength that I need to do this," she begged with tears upon her cheeks.

"Say goodbye," Brigitte sweetly told him with a soft smile.

"No!" Gina shouted, suddenly her body dematerialized to reappear in front of her old friend. She briefly regarded her face before wrapping her arms about Caid's body and vanishing. When she came to, Gina had no clue where they were. It looked to be a forest from the vast amount of trees surrounding her. She scampered to Caid's side and sighed in relief that his respiration, although faint, was still steady. She looked down at the spear and gave up a silent prayer of thanks.

"You wouldn't know how to heal, would you?" she asked hopefully. She gasped in awe as it commenced to glow, engulfing both she and Caid in an aura of green and filling her with peace. She was silently reassured that no more harm would come to either of them.

She didn't know how long she sat watching Caid heal, but Gina realized that she needed to find food and water before it became too dark. She was apprehensive to leave him however, if he became thirsty, or worse developed a fever in the middle of the night, what would she do? So far the spear—or someone—had answered her prayers, but she couldn't keep asking a golden rod for favors and expect them to come true. She looked down at Caid still unwilling to go yet resigning that it needed to be done.

"I'll be back as soon as possible. I won't go far, all right?" she told his resting figure. She carefully left the barrier, looking back every so often to make sure that he was still in viewing distance. After wandering around the area with no luck, Gina returned empty handed.

"I couldn't find anything, but don't worry we'll be fine. I'll take care of you." She sat up with him fighting sleep when her head bobbed to make sure that she would be alert in case he needed anything or if someone tried to attack them. Eventually however sleep won out and Gina awoke to find herself curled up beside him. She looked down at his serene face and wondered how he could appear so peaceful after witnessing such hell. Her slumber was oddly refreshing. She thought that she would have at least one nightmare, but her dreams were clear. She also found it odd that she went to bed hungry yet awoke on a full stomach.

Gina shrugged in acceptance and sat with Caid holding his hand. His olive complexion was gradually returning and even the pinkness of his lips was becoming more vivid. Relief flooded her knowing that Caid would recover. She looked around outside of the barrier and speculated as to why it was so quiet and calm. Not one bird flew in the sky, no insects buzzed, no animals trampled about. It was a quiet haven of some sorts. Though Gina was happy to be nestled away, she really needed some kind of contact, human or animalistic. It didn't matter. A part of her was forgetting how to be normal and if she could only prove it to herself that this piece of her still existed, she would rest much easier.

"Caid, if you can hear me, just know that wherever we are is beautiful. If you could open your eyes, you would see a clearing of humungous, green cypresses, evergreens and oak trees, flowers the color of the rainbow all about us, soft moss beneath us. The sky is the bluest that I've ever seen and there's not one cloud in the sky except for the wisps of white here and there. The air is clean, unpolluted and it feels like I'm breathing in heaven," she describes as she holds her head back for a sniff. "When will you open your eyes?"

No reaction. Gina stayed by his side for a week and three days without a response. She counted the passing nights as a way to stay in touch with reality. One could lose their sanity in such serenity. She found that within the week's span of time which passed not once did she hunger or thrust. She didn't even reek after not taking a shower for God knows how long. The only answer was that they were being supernaturally protected while Caid slept away like Sleeping Beauty. Gina wasn't sure why he had yet to arise. His body seemed to be intact, but she had a feeling that the extensive healing was for his damaged heart. She understood perfectly having viewed a small portion with her very own eyes. To watch your soul mate horribly violated then turning against you could destroy the strongest individual. Collaborators were no exception to this rule either.

"Caid, I'm getting scared, please open your eyes. What's going on in there?" she asked looking down at him in concern. "I need you."

Caid heard Gina in his subconsciousness. He was grateful for her constant presence and the tender care she took with him. A part of him wanted to get up and fight yet he didn't possess the morale to do so. He was broken. Images of Brigitte with Abaddon plagued his mind as he rested. Rabid anger threatened to consume him. How could he defeat the enemy if he was distracted? That would be the guarantee of his death and dying was not something he envisioned in his near future while Abaddon roamed freely. This slumber was the only thing giving him enough solace to continue his existence.

"Did you hear her supplication, Ezra? It is time for you to awaken."

"My Lord, why are You here? I have failed You? Why am I still breathing? I am not worthy."

"Never question the plans I have for you. They were written eons before your creation. I make no mistakes."

"But, my Lord—"

"You are a mighty warrior. I have watched your careful supervision of this planet as if every single human being was your child. You may falter occasionally, however you have never failed me, my child."

"But I am weak," Caid said to him. "I need Your strength. I cannot do this on my own."

"Have I ever once deserted you, dear Ezra? Because you believe in Me, because you serve Me and do My will, you shall never be forsaken. Now arise and take your rightful place in the order. Your soldiers need you."

Gina felt gradual warmth spread throughout her body and feared that the temperature would be too hot for Caid. She reached to check his body heat and gasped as tears trailed from his closed eyes. "Don't worry, I'm here. You'll be all right, okay?"

"Thank you," he whispered back as he clasped her hand in appreciation. His vivid blue eyes opened entrancing Gina inside of them. They were so blue, the bluest that she had ever seen in her life and so beautiful, more beautiful than the universe itself.

"Who are you?" she questioned uncertainly. She was not fearful of this man before her, after all he was still neatly clad in the body of her deceased sibling; nevertheless, Gina knew that even without this familiar appearance there would still be no fear in his presence.

"The moniker given to me by the Almighty is Ezra, but you humans once knew me as Caid. I have finally returned to end this decadence. Do not fear, dear Ginevra, you shall be greatly rewarded for your assistance."

Gina somehow managed to break her eyes away from him however impossible it might have been. This new Caid was radiating so brightly that the sun was nothing to him in comparison. His words were so soft spoken that it came as a whispered caress. His strength was palpable, proven by the golden bands anchored to his biceps, wrists, and ankles. Upon his head was a golden crown with the number one encrusted in crystal and she surmised that he was the high commander. He had diamonds notched upon his neck; notches that she deduced were medals of honor. In fact, they seemed to cover a great percentage of her brother's body and when she reached to touch them, she was encased with the feeling of security and protection.

"Is this your true form?" she asked curiously, still mystified by his angelic countenance.

"As true as it ever shall be in this borrowed body." He smiled and Gina swallowed deeply.

"What should I call you?"

"If you are more comfortable with Caid then so be it." He could see that she had many more questions to pose and waited patiently for her thoughts to formulate a coherent one.

"Do you know where we are?" She looked about and was amazed by the incandescent greens and pink and blues. The forest seemed to be responding to Caid's presence in recognition of his authority.

He stood upon his muscular legs extending a hand out to Gina. She allowed him to pull her up then followed behind meekly as they trudged through the shrubbery. "This is the garden of the Almighty. Come with me, I shall show you visions never seen by mankind." He led her further into the deep, stepping into crystal clear streams that she had been in capable of find upon their arrival. They stopped at a summit and Gina nearly lost her breath. It was magnificent. Stretched before them was a land flowing with milk and honey, constructed from the most valuable of gems, filled with beasts she had never laid eyes upon before.

"This is our home. We once wanted to share this utopia with humankind however they were not ready. They opted to lust after darkness instead of the light of truth and knowledge. They would have corrupted everything." Gina noticed that his expression became pained as he closed his eyes in remorse. "You were not meant to suffer. The Almighty wanted everyone to be happy, to coexist peacefully, but the kingdom of darkness ruined this opportunity for all of us." He turned his face towards her and smiled sadly.

"It's magnificent," she honestly told him. "Who are they?" She pointed to the ample group of individuals off in the distance. Even from afar they still seemed to be giants.

"Those are my fellow Collaborators. When we have completed our purpose upon the earth and are awaiting our new life, we return here with the others in our true from. In the human world we must assimilate or suspicions will arise. However every now and again there is a Collaborator unable to control their abilities and unable to perfectly blend in, Abraham Lincoln, for example."

Gina's mouth dropped in astonishment. "Honest Abe was a Collaborator?"

Caid laughed and nodded his head, "physical altercation is not the only means to an end. Besides, he was the tallest of his time. Some called him a giant." He winked as if they shared a secret joke and Gina smiled.

"I just thought that everyone else was really short."

He shook his head and took her hand, "Come they are expecting us."

Gina's mind was utterly blown the closer they approached the other Collaborators. By the time they were face to face with them, she was hiding behind Caid as they all towered above their heads. Their height wasn't as spectacular as that of the Jaggernauts, however they still measured at least five to eight feet higher than the average human being.

"Do not be afraid."

"Commander," they unanimously greeted, quickly bowing before them then standing.

"My absence is inexcusable, forgive me. I did not mean to worry you." He looked at each of his soldiers before continuing. "As you have all been informed by now, Abaddon has been released and he has taken control of Alexandra. If she is as powerful under his influence as she was before, this could be the very destruction of not only mankind but also our people."

He stumbled over his next proceeding words then paused briefly. He took a deep breath recommencing his unspoken sentence. "We must immobilize her at all costs no matter what they might be. Today we fight for humanity!" The crowd cheered thrusting their fists in the air.

"Today we fight for our existence!"

"Yea!"

"Today we fight for the ALMIGHTY!"

"YEA!"

Gina watched amazed as they swiftly levitated into the air and disappeared into a bright light. She felt the spear being lifted from her hands and regarded Caid questioningly.

"No, you must stay here."

"Why? I can help you," she told him as he ascended towards the lustrous glow.

He shook his head gently relieving her of the weapon. "Today is not the day you will die. The Almighty has great plans for you."

"Wait!" she screamed unable to stop her tears. "Please, how will I know that you'll be safe? Caid?!"

His ascension reversed and his feet lightly touched the ground. He reached for a golden Jasmine, carefully plucking the flower and laying it in the palm of her hands. "Anything you wish to see is one request away." He hugged her tightly, releasing her as he rose to join his squadron. "I love you, Ginevra Comito. You shall not be forgotten." And just like that he vanished leaving her surrounded in paradise on her lonesome.

"No!" Gina ran after him while clutching the flower dearly to her breasts. She had seen what had happened to Brigitte, she feared for his safety. She fell to the golden ground and sobbed until she was exhausted. She wanted everything to return to normal. She wanted Brigitte and Caid back. She wanted her brother to be alive. She wanted Corey to be more than a wandering spirit. She wanted stability.

"What's going to happen to me?"

"Do not fear, for I know the plans that I have for you."

Great peace invaded her tormented thoughts, soothing away her fears and reassuring her. The great Almighty had comforted her. Suddenly she knew with certitude that all would end well. She looked down at the beautiful Jasmine and remembered what Caid had told her. "Please, I don't know how you're supposed to work, but let me see him."

The petals of the blossom gracefully unfolded until the flower was in bloom and ripples slowly appeared upon its surface that steadily eased into images. "Oh no," Gina whimpered throwing her hand over her mouth in shocked horror. The earth was in a deplorable state. There was no light save for the crimson red glow in the atmosphere. The sun was blocked by a dense mass of clouds giving off the impression of fear and dolefulness. Ten days, she and Caid had been gone for ten days yet the surface looked to have been ravaged for a thousand years.

"One day to you is a thousand to many," she heard the Almighty state and bursted into tears all over again.

That would mean that 27 years had passed since the last time she had been on earth. What had happened to her family? Were they even still alive? Her soul ached for them. Mamma, Dante, would she ever see them again? Her tears were endless as her eyes beheld the destruction and profligacy. Demonic beings were torturing humans, beating them, raping them, slaughtering them and rejoicing as if it was all fun and games. Blood stained the waters making them cherry red. Women and children scattered helplessly for safety as legions of demonic entities scurried in a panic. She wasn't left wondering for long who was responsible. She saw Caid and his army clearing out the masses with only one swing of their arm. He was definitely more powerful than before and also more take charge. He led his men fearlessly, engaging in battle willingly and risking himself instead of a human when they were held hostage.

His abilities extended far beyond what she had observed with his fight against Abdigar. He was able to use the enemys' powers against them, taking advantage of their weaknesses to defeat them mercilessly. Gina saw his determination and those around him recognized his strength. This time Caid was a force to be reckoned with.

Caid lifted the spear and slammed it upon the ground invoking an earthquake that tore the streets apart. "Abaddon, show yourself. We have unfinished business," he shouted, spinning about just in time to sweep the scythe end of the spear upwards and chop off several heads. He propelled the spear eliminating a radical demon trying to possess a poor old woman in order to hide inside of her. He held out his hand and the spear faithfully returned.

"Abaddon!" He cried, his body never ceasing to fight the numerous beasts and hellions pouring towards him in an effort to stop the massacre he was single handedly delivering on his own while his forces fought the devils in the sky.

With an 'umph' Caid landed upon his back then stared up into the beautiful face of his life partner. She smiled down upon him wickedly, raising her leg to slam into his chest. "I'm sorry, dear Collaborator, but my king is currently occupied with fulfilling greatness," she told him lunging for him with her fists ready to strike.

"Alexandra, I will not harm you."

"Who is this Alexandra you speak of? How about less chatting and more boxing?" she suggested disappearing and reappearing to knee him in the back.

"I will not harm you," he told her. "I know there is a fragment of you that still remembers me."

"The name is Brigitte and I don't know you from a can of paint," she retorted, back flipping and connecting the toe of her shoe with his sturdy chin. His skin felt like steel, however she was undeterred and ready to do anything necessary to see to his demise. She watched him fall with a definite thud and wondered why he wasn't fighting back. Was he seriously not going to retaliate?

"Fight me, you horrible excuse for life or I will annihilate you right here and now." She gripped his throat as her black eyes roamed his soul. He wasn't making it fun to kick his ass. At least moan and beg. That's what all the others did. Frustrated by his silence, Brigitte launched him into a brick building and flew after his sailing body. She kicked him in the abdomen returning him from whence he came then slammed him down through the ground.

"Why will you not fight me?" she demanded when he stood to his feet. She decked him in the jaw then sent an uppercut to his chin watching as he alighted on his back only to stand up and wait for her. "Why?"

"Because I love you, Alexandra."

"I tire of your rambling," she snapped. "I did give you a chance, but it seems that you don't value your mingy existence." Her left hand grabbed his shoulder snatching him forward as her right hand embedded itself in his gut. She expected him to regard her hatefully, to do something other than scrutinizing her so lovingly. Why was he doing this? Images flashed in her mind and she shook her head to clear them away. Who was this man and why did she fear him so?

"Alexandra, remember me," he told her grasping onto her and pulling her tightly against him. The memories flooded her thoughts overwhelming her senses as Brigitte recalled everything from the dawn of time. She felt the black mist clouding her soul vanish as pain shook her to her core. She looked down at the gaping wound which had healed when Abaddon possessed her, once more wide open and draining her of her life force.

"Ezra? Forgive me, I know not what I do."

"All is forgiven," he reassured her. "Go into the light. You are finally free." His eyes blurred with tears as he experienced her death once more barely able to control his torrid emotions as he kissed her goodbye. He used his energy to cremate her remains, watching her blow away into the wind. No one would ever be able to hurt her again. Stumbling to his knees, Caid willed his body to heal unable to do so completely due to Abaddon's arrival.