Chapter 24

Jason Hendrickson was called to a meeting with the second in command of the Elitists.  He didn't have a good feeling about it at all, but his presence was requested and was not optional.  He had just finished open heart surgery on a patient and was seated in his office; going through age-old, yellowed page books on mythology.  Anything to help out the situation with Robyn.  He had something most vampires didn't; empathy for humans.  Any other vampire even half his age would turn their nose up at the task...but many vampires didn't become doctors either.  Jason Hendrickson truly loved helping people when it called for it.

Besides, he saw the way his child looked upon that young woman.  It reminded Jason of himself when he had a mate, Charlotte.  Charlotte was with him through most of his human life, but she grew old, as all humans do; and as Jason stood at her deathbed and pleaded to allow him to change her so she could live eternally with him, she refused.  She said that she was meant to join God in Heaven, and that he was meant to help many generations to come.

Then she passed.

A velvety smooth dark voice resonated through his ears as JongHo made his presence known; almost gliding into the room.  "Jason Hendrickson." He said, his aqua blue eyes dancing with amusement, he swept his dark bang out of his face.  "It's been far too long."

"Only about four hundred years." Jason stood up, taking his glasses off and folding them.  He set them upon his desk and gestured to the chair in front of him.  "Please, have a seat.  Make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you." JongHo nodded and sat down; his lengthy dark garb flowing with his movement.  "I see you have adapted well to modern human life." He looked around the office, almost condescendingly.  JongHo much preferred to keep his style very Renaissance-era. 

"Everyone needs to make a living." Jason replied, crossing his arms.  JongHo's intimidating presence did nothing to stir Jason's ocean of calm.  He was only maybe two hundred years his junior.

JongHo laughed heartily, "Jason, your father founded this hospital.  You have more than enough wealth." He leaned forward, resting his chin upon his pressed together hands.  "Tell me...why do you insist on playing human?"

"Why not? I don't wish to cause any trouble, I just want to live a quiet life."

JongHo thought about his statement for a few moments before waving his hand to dismiss the irrelevance of it.  "Different strokes for different folks." He said, sitting back in the chair.  "Jason, I've come to tell you that this revelation is going very well.  A lot better than expected...only a couple hundred deaths."

Jason chuckled, "You call that doing well?"

"I digress." JongHo continued, "We plan to move on to the next phase very soon."

"The next phase?" Jason asked, perking up.  He hadn't been informed of there being any step beyond just revealing themselves amongst humans.

"Why yes." JongHo's smile was devious.  "We've carefully picked out powerful people in the government that we plan to turn in order take control of America.  The media, businesses, everything will belong to our kind.  Then, once we are in positions of higher influence and power, we have plans to turn the entire military and infiltrate other countries, taking over each one until we've conquered the world."

Jason nodded as JongHo spoke, but the plan made his insides churn.  He knew there was ulterior motives to the Elitists; and he had a feeling this was only the beginning of what they had planned.

"Riddle me this, JongHo; why reveal ourselves? Aren't we just as capable of moving around in secret to accomplish such a feat?" Jason challenged.

JongHo chuckled darkly, "Call it a case of excessive eubris.  We just don't feel like hiding ourselves, putting our kind through unneeded inconvenience.  The fear America feels now, it's practically oozing through the air." He made a gesture of swiping his index finger through the air; before licking the tip.  "It tastes amazing."

"Fear, of course.  It sweetens the blood." Jason said.  "Do you plan to kill humans?"

JongHo rolled his eyes. "Of course. They're worthless beings.  Not all of them of course.  If there are any who are valuable, we shall turn them by force.  Some privileged ones can serve us.  The rest will be more than enough dinner for our growing army.  We'll farm them as needed."

Jason sat down behind his desk.  "Very well.  When do you plan to do this?"

"It's a slow process.  It may take years; but you know, as well as I, that we have nothing but time."

"Is it bad that I don't miss the lame ass pink and blue color scheme of this room?" I asked as I laid on my childhood bed, tossing a small leopard printed bean bag up in the air and catching it like clockwork.  Bruno was seated at my Yamaha keyboard, playing random chords and humming something I didn't recognize.

"It's not that bad." He replied, pausing his playing to hum a few more notes in a trial and error way.  He would repeat it quickly in a different key until it sounded satisfying to him and he would graze over the keys lightly, finding a melody.

"Are you writing a new song?" I asked.  At first I thought he was toying around; as he usually did whenever there was an instrument nearby, but he seemed really focused.  Actually, he seemed unusually focused and serious after he left the kitchen with my mother and when I asked what they discussed he glossed over saying she just asked him a few questions.

"I think I've got somethin'...but I feel like it needs something, someone...like a rapper or somethin." His brow furrowed as he played a few chords again.  They sounded melancholy and beautiful.

"Let me hear it." I sat up and crossed my legs indian style.

"Let me get a pen and some paper real quick." He reached out urgently, looking around him for the nearest thing to grasp.  I picked up a nearby notepad and a purple ink pen, tossing it in his direction.  Had it not been for his reflexes, it probably would've smacked him in the head.  "Remind me never to take you to a date at the batting cages." He snarked.

"Oh shut up and write." I stuck my tongue out at him.  He scribbled a few lines of text down, mouthing some words and thinking before finishing.

"Alright, I'm still workin on it but..."

He started to play the keyboard and sing,

"Mirror on the wall,
Here we are again.
Through my rise and fall,
You've been my only friend.
You told me that they can understand the man I am;
So why are we here, talking to each other again?"

"I like it!"

"Really?"

"A lot! Why don't you use it for yourself though?" I asked, standing up and walking over to him, opting to sit on his lap as I held his notepad, reading over the chicken scratch.

"I might write a version for myself but it just feels like something I need to collaborate with someone else on." He held me close.

"So why are we...talking to each other aga-a-a-ain." I sang, "You're an angsty vampire; where'd these lyrics come from?"

His gaze grew distant. "You know, just past experiences." His voice trailed off before he erased any semblance of continuing. "I think I should call Chris and give him a heads up.  You've been handling a lot lately." Bruno pushed a lock of my hair behind my ear.

"Right." I looked down at my hands in my lap; "Even after all the Supernatural stuff is behind us, we're still fighting to stay afloat."

"Well that's what we do babygirl.  You knew that when you put the pen to paper five years ago at Atlantic." He rubbed my lower back comfortingly before easing me up so he could go make the phone call.  I sat down and looked over his notes, dabbling lightly on the keyboard.

"Mirror on the wall...here we are again..." I repeated softly.  I reached over to grab my cell.  I needed to apologize to Robyn; I felt like shit about all the nasty things I said.  In the process of reaching, whilst I was humming the catchy tune, I accidentally knocked Bruno's fitted cap onto the floor and I just knew he would have a fit because it was his favorite one so I quickly reached down to pick it up, but once my fingertips touched the material I saw a flash in my vision, like a camera flashbulb went off in my face, and next thing I knew...I was picking up his cap in a dark bedroom.

"What the hell?" I stood up and looked around.  The bedroom was unfamiliar to me and had clothes strewn everywhere.  The sheets and comforter were askew.  Glass bottles were shattered on the floor.  There were high heels amongst sneakers and the drawers were pulled out and nearly empty.

"Not again.  Am I dealing with a spirit? The spirit of a fucking hat!?" I groaned aloud.  I heard shouting from the next room over.

"What do you expect me to do when you're always up my ass all the time!?!"

"Oh, I don't know Bruno how about...um, stay fucking faithful to me!?! After all the shit we been through, how could you do this to me!?"

"...What?" I whispered, tip-toeing over the glass.  I peeped into what appeared to be a living room that was a minor wreck; not nearly as bad as the bedroom though.  I saw Bruno, his skin had more valour and was a nice, lively color of caramel.  His hair was a little shorter on the sides than it is now from what I could, and he had on the same hat I had in my hands.  There was a petite brown-skinned woman with a pixie hair cut who was screaming at the top of her lungs.

Damn...did I look that crazy when I was angry?

"You never trusted me to begin with! Always blaming me for your other boyfriends' mistakes! If you would have just stepped back and let me do my own thing--"

"Oh fuck you Bruno! Fuck you!" She picked up the nearby bottle of beer and threw it at him; but he dodged it and it smashed against the wall I ducked behind.  "You could have just broken up with me! Instead you had to treat me like I have no worth! I hate you!"

"Calm down!" He ducked another flying object and got upset at her violence and ended up flipping the coffeetable over in a rage.  The girl backed off, tears streaming down her face as her fists curled at her sides.  "Throw somethin else! Go on!" He shouted.

She sniffled, "Did our relationship mean nothing to you? I stood by you in your darkest days; when you were spiraling down into depression because you couldn't get even one gig.  When your deal with Motown fell through and you got into drugs, I was here to bring you back out.  So now...now when you get the recognition you deserve, you go out and fuck some bitch? Just because I care and want to travel with you and be with the man that was supposed to be my husband?" Her voice cracked.

"So what 'chu gonna do? Huh? You gonna leave me now?" His harsh tone faltered, and even he sounded like he was on the verge of tears.  "We can fix this--"

"I can't trust you anymore." She grabbed her leather jacket and the nearby suitcase and left; slamming the door behind her.  Bruno turned around and stormed off in the opposite direction, coming towards me, he passed by me in a fury and turned around; looking directly at me with an expression of anger and confusion.

"Who's there?" He asked.  I was frozen to the spot, staring right into his lost eyes.  I guess he couldn't see me.  He turned back around and went into the bathroom and I followed him and stopped at the door.  He stood in front of the mirror, his hands resting on the sink as he glared as his own reflection.  I felt the familiar searing pain as I had felt with Isabella as I saw the mirror began to emit wisps of vapor.

Suddenly he slammed his fist into his reflection, and the mirror shattered into pieces that floated throughout the air slowly, all dissapating in smoke.  Droplets of blood from his fist travelled through the air in the same slow manner and I doubled over in my pain.  I turned and saw his cap nearby on the floor and I dove for it, grasping it.

Breathing heavily, I looked around and I was on my own bedroom floor of my childhood home, right near the keyboard, my fist clenched around the cap.  Bruno was standing over me, looking concerned.  "What happened?" He asked.

My mouth was dry, I couldn't speak.  I just looked at him.  His skin was still caramel but faded now; due to his vampirism.  His hair was fuller. He reached down to help me up and I saw a small, shiny raised scar over his knuckles.  I had noticed it years ago but he said it was nothing, just an accident from a few years ago.  I pushed myself away from his touch and threw his hat down, my eyes wide.

What....just....happened?

"She died in a car accident.  A few months after we broke up.  I guess that's why you saw it." Bruno explained, eyes trained onto the horizon; which was slowly beginning to show signs of Dawn.  I slowly stood up on my bed, raising myself on the balls of my feet so I could release my dark navy blue drapes to hide the oncoming sunrise.

My voice was soft, nearly fragile; "You could have told me.  I mean, why hide something like that? I told you about my ex boyfriend."

"It's just not something I like bringing up.  I tried to forget it." He looked down at the hat in his hands, "I guess the baggage haunted me anyway."

I sat back down across from him, thinking about everything I had seen.  "That's why you wrote the 'Mirror' lyrics?"

He ran his hand through his hair with a slight nod, "I never wanted you to see me like that.  I had problems dealing with the fame and I was irresponsible about it.  I'm sorry Rox."

"Don't apologize." I took his hand, looking down at the scar before continuing, "I understand; but I need you to be more open with me about these kinds of things.  I've been nothing but an open book to you, I need the same respect.  I love you."

He leaned across the bed and kissed me.  "I love you too."

While our lips were interlocked I took the cap from his hands and pulled away.  "This has to go."

He looked pained; but accepted it.  "I know."

"We'll find you another one.  I like fedoras better on you anyway." I said.  He moved out of the way of direct sunlight and I opened the drapes just enough so I could get the window open and I threw the memory of his past away.  Though I didn't like the idea of it...this newfound talent of mine could come in handy if I could get a handle on controlling it and using it the right way.