We Are the Day Ch. 06

"I'm sorry," I told Elias on the fifth night of his stay.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Taylor. It is I that should apologize."

"You apologize? For what?"

"For telling you all of this prematurely. I damaged your spirits."

"I don't know if you realized it, but my spirits were damaged when I got here."

"I made it worse. I'm sorry, Taylor. You had so much on your plate already and I just shoveled more on. I should've waited until you had at least dealt with being a half-vampire and that whole mess with your mate; but with your near death experience, the prisoner, and the demonic activity that we see from the other side, I had to intervene."

"It's not your fault, Elias. The timing sucks, but it is what it is."

Elias moved from his almost-permanent perch in front of the window to sit by me on the couch. He patted my leg before speaking. "Where do you want to go from here, Taylor? So much of your life has been forced on you, I want you to have a say in something."

I placed my hand over his and sighed. "Thanks for treating me as more than a lamb sent up for slaughter."

"No one thinks of you in that way, Taylor."

"Still...it's nice to actually hear that someone cares about me."

"Your friends and mate care about you."

"Yeah. Well, I tell you what. I'm gonna go shower, then I'll fix us some food. Tomorrow we can start training...whatever that means."

"It means, get ready for some tough love."

*

Elias lied. There was a lot more "tough" involved than there was "love".

"This isn't working," I complained as I sat on the dock, trying to start up a lightning storm. The most I was able to produce was a single bolt that fizzled out before it even touched the ground, and I had been trying for days. "Why isn't this working?"

"I've told you before, Taylor, you used your gift in the heat of intense anger the first couple of times. Now you're not angry, and you have to learn how to access that power through other means."

"Why did you have to gift me anyway? I already have to be the stupid Bridge thing. Wasn't that enough?"

"Apparently not."

That wasn't comforting at all. If the talents of a Bridge weren't enough to keep evil at bay, there was something more stirring than Elias was letting on.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Taylor, I've told you everything that I know. There is a chain of command that must be followed, and I, unfortunately, am not in the position to know, or tell you, more than I already have."

I threw a stray stone in the water with excessive force. "Well then whoever is in charge should just choose another Bridge."

"Maybe it's not time for you to be the Bridge yet. Maybe you're supposed to master this half-breed business first."

"If that was the case, I shouldn't have went blue and destroyed Damian's house."

"I think we've done enough for the day," Elias said, offering me his hand. "There's a block in you somewhere. We just have to figure out why and how to get rid of it."

"It's always something," I muttered, taking Elias's proffered hand. "It's getting colder. I'm gonna need some more wood for the fireplace."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

I shook my head and departed.

Instead of running, I decided to walk through the woods, kicking almost everything in my path, though it did little to help my frustration. "Bridge my ass," I huffed as I stepped on a fern. "Can't even torch a stupid patch of grass."

I stopped my feet from moving and tried Elias's methods again. Close eyes, breathe, feel the heat of lightning pulsing through your body... "Ugh! I never feel the heat!" I said, snatching a branch off of a tree; the crack reverberated through the woods. "And I forgot the stupid axe," I said, breaking the branch in half.

"Whoa, there! You're gonna take down the entire forest with that attitude."

I wheeled around to find Carter sitting on a tree stump. He looked relaxed as always. It annoyed me. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"That's not what you're asking," he grinned.

I threw the pieces of the tree branch in his direction. "How did you sneak up on me?"

He laughed as he rose from the stump. "You were too busy demolishing the forest to notice my presence. Having a bad day?"

"A bad couple of weeks is more like it."

"What's been going on?" Carter said, picking up the remnants of the branch and placing them into a pile.

"Too much. I'm a stupid Bridge. My powers won't work unless I'm angry...the demons are going to attack."

"What?"

"Oh, never mind."

"I've never seen you so frustrated. Pissed, yeah...but frustration is a new look for you, and I don't like it too much."

"What are you doing here, Carter?"

"I had to see if you were okay. You weren't returning my calls or texts."

"I broke my phone."

"How?"

I made a crushing motion with my fist. Carter laughed so loud that the forest's occupants stirred restlessly; birds squawked and flew away, squirrels ran rampant...it would've been comical if I wasn't annoyed.

"You said to shut it down and the first thing I thought of was to crush it," I shrugged.

"You could've just taken the battery out."

I scowled into the darkness. "I know that, Carter. Did he send you out here?"

"No. I'm the only one that knows where you are."

"You didn't tell Ken?"

"No. Her mind isn't safe from Ian. He keeps browsing around her brain thinking that if you were to contact someone, it would be her."

"Way to make me feel like shit," I said while kicking a tree stump out of the ground. It flew into the air and landed with a deep thud against the forest floor.

"Hey, come on, Taylor. It was me that went after you and that was because I was the only one that was smart enough to use modern technology. You not contacting Kenna wasn't a mark against you two's friendship."

"I know. It's just that I probably should've tried to at least reach her. She's been my best friend since forever."

"She understands that her thoughts are monitored. She just misses you."

"I miss her too," I said, picking up the uprooted tree stump. "Damian is gonna be pissed when he finds out you've been keeping secrets from him. Especially this one."

Carter shrugged. "You needed your time apart. He can't see that now, but he will eventually. It might help him to realize what a fuck up he's been."

I stopped in my tracks. "What?"

"Just because he's my best friend doesn't mean I agree with everything he does. He should've told you about his past. He should've told you about Jerusalem and what it really means. He's trying to keep you safe, but in reality he's putting you into more danger. Not to mention all this is driving a wedge in your relationship that was fragile from the beginning."

"That's exactly what I said!"

"Well, Ian has never really been the type to listen to reason when his fears are involved. His fears are crippling him and he doesn't even know it."

"Have you told him this?"

"Since day one. Maybe he'll get it with you being gone."

"Or maybe he'll go crazy enough to kill himself."

"Maybe," Carter's laugh was cut short as we reached the cabin's door. "Who's inside?"

"Elias."

"Why can't I smell this Elias?"

"Because he can mask his scent," I sighed, opening the door. "Elias," I called as I closed the door.

He appeared in front of the fireplace, causing me to drop the wood. "Geez! Come on!"

"Carter. How nice of you to drop by," Elias said, frowning at Carter.

"How do you know my name? And who the fuck are you?"

I nudged Carter in the stomach with my elbow. "He's a heavenly host. You don't talk like that in front of someone from heaven, Carter."

"Heavenly host? So, he's an angel?"

Elias shook his head as he waved his hand toward the wood. Some of it went to the fireplace and I heard the rest of it clunk against the metal of the reserve outside. Elias didn't use his powers often, which made me raise my eyebrow at him. It appeared I was standing in the midst of a supernatural pissing contest.

"Heavenly hosts and angels aren't the same," I explained.

"Oh, well...whatever. Why can't I smell you?"

"Like Taylor told you, I can mask my scent."

"Why would you want to do something like that?"

"Because if the other side got wind of my presence on Earth, my mission would be exposed and we'd all be in a load of trouble."

"What side?"

"The demonic side."

"The demonic side? What are you here for, then?"

"Oh, come on! I haven't eaten in days and you two are on my last nerve. We can interrogate each other later," I said as I stomped off in the direction of the kitchen.

Much to my pleasure, the guys listened to me and kept quiet as I prepared dinner. I was sure the meal would be a silent event too, but then I realized whom I was eating with.

"You don't eat?" Carter asked Elias through a mouthful of fish.

"No."

"So, what're you doing here?"

"I'm here to train Taylor."

"For what?"

"To manage her powers."

"And be the Bridge?"

"What do you know about the Bridge?" I asked Carter, my fork clattering onto the plate.

"I was alive when the last Bridge was. There was no need for him at the time, though."

"What the hell, Carter?"

"What?!"

"You didn't say anything!"

"None of us knew until you went all X-Men on us! Then you ran off like a bat outta hell!"

"So everyone knew about the Bridge except for me? I'm not surprised, really."

"You mustn't worry yourself with that, Taylor. Carter has been around for a long time, so it's expected for him to see and know things that you don't," Elias placed his hand over mine, which didn't go unnoticed by Carter.

"So how has training been going?" I was sure Elias missed the undercurrent to Carter's voice.

"You saw me in the forest," I huffed as I stabbed an untouched piece of fish.

"That great, huh?"

"We're prepared to give it another go tomorrow," Elias told Carter.

"Good," Carter said. I wasn't sure if what he said was in response to Elias letting my hand go or the fact that I'd be training again tomorrow. Either way, I groaned.

Carter stayed the night despite my qualms.

"You're gonna get me caught," I said the next morning. "Where's Elias?"

"He went to the store, and no I'm not. I know what they all thought when I left. They think because I've known you the least of anyone that I had no chance in finding you—especially because your phone signal was out," he laughed at this.

"Oh shut up. Now when I go back, I'm gonna have to buy a new dang phone. I hate dipping into my savings."

"Like Ian wouldn't buy you a phone. He'd buy you the moon and then some if you just go back to him."

"I don't want his money or a bunch of gifts. All I want is for him to start telling me the truth."

"That's not why you're out here, though."

"How would you know?"

"Because if you were out here to get away from Ian, you wouldn't have even entertained the thought of going back. You're out here because you're scared to go back." When I didn't respond, he continued to speak. "If you want to master this power, you're gonna have to let go of fear. The fear of hurting people, the fear of not being good enough...all that's gotta go."

"But how? How do you just wake up one morning and not be afraid?"

"I have an idea." He took me by the hand and led me to the dock.

"Starting without me?" Elias said, and Carter groaned.

"Yes. I have an idea to make her lightning work without her being pissed."

"Good luck. We've been trying for days out here." I mumbled.

"Yeah, but Carter's here to make everything better now." Carter smirked.

I scoffed and he swatted my butt. "Ouch!"

"Sit over there. Yeah, on the dock. You know, water is an excellent conductor for electricity," he grinned.

"Carter!"

"Well, it is. Now tell me, how did you feel when you first used your power?"

"Overwhelmed, angry, scared, excited."

"The thing about anger, Taylor, is that it makes us irrational, uncalculated, and haphazard. You destroyed Ian's house out of anger, but if you weren't mad when you used your power, I bet you could've concentrated all that energy into shooting just his dick off."

Elias blanched.

"I still would've been angry," I said after laughing.

"Yes, but it would have been controlled. That's what you need to learn—control. It doesn't help that you're a fresh vamp, either."

"So how do I control the anger?"

"Mask it," Elias said as if he found the cure for cancer. "Find a more powerful emotion and override the anger."

"Nothing overrode the anger from when I left Damian's house," I shook my head.

"Bullshit." Elias blanched again but Carter continued. "If that was true me, Ken, Ian, and everybody else would be a pile of ash being carried about by the wind. You stopped because you saw what your power could do to us...because you love us."

I thought back to the dreaded day and found he was right. I saw myself in the mirror and what I had become—I saw what I could do to the people I loved the most—and I didn't like it. I ran for their sakes....

"Love. Ingenious," Elias folded his arms as he paced back and forth.

"Love is what will keep you from hurting those you love but will help you burn others to a crisp," Carter stuck his hands in his pockets.

I closed my eyes and pictured all of the people I loved: Kenna, Damian, Carter...my parents. The warmth filled me...but nothing happened. I waited...still nothing.

"I thought love was the stupid key!"

"Maybe you'll never get it," Carter shrugged. "Maybe the world will be overrun with a herd of demons and we'll all die."

My neck snapped back. "What?"

"I mean, the last Bridge didn't even need his powers, but he had control of them."

"You think this is fucking easy?" Elias blanched again, but I ignored him in my pursuit to get to Carter. "I'd like to see you try and do this."

"I probably could. The last Bridge made it look so easy."

Lightning began to shoot out of the sky and I realized Carter's game. He smiled before speaking. "Now, concentrate, Taylor."

I pictured the love I had for my family and friends: hugs, kisses, unexpected gifts, bedtime stories; everything I pictured filled my heart with warmth. Tears filled my eyes and hit the dock, staining it blue.

Elias took my hand and led me to the edge of the dock and pointed to the surface of the water. I saw myself, but I didn't look the same as the last time I used my power. My eyes were no longer completely blue, the new color was concentrated in my pupils. "It's finished."

"What's finished?"

"You've opened up the closed door; now you can access the power."

"You can tell all that from an eye color change, huh?"

The two men at the dock laughed and my heart lifted.

"Well, show us something, almighty Bridge," Carter said as he folded himself onto the dock.

I frowned as I listened to the movement in the water and the sound of feet, hooves, and paws padding in the woods. Lightning struck the water and fish popped up to the surface one by one. With a wave of my hand, the fish flew up to the dock and landed with a wet thud.

"Got enough fish there, Taylor?" Carter grinned. "There's only two of us that eat, you know."

"There'll be three tonight."

"You can see the future now, too?"

"No, but I can hear a longer ways away. You two should go to the store and get some things."

"I just went to the store, Taylor," Elias said.

"The ingredient list for the fish fry is on the kitchen counter," I said, picking the fish up and tossing them into a bucket. "You'd better get a move on."

"Why? What's going on?" Carter asked.

"Damian is on his way here, and he's not happy."