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?"