While talking, my words came out far easier than I had ever imagined. In my mind, I was always forced to speak about my true story in front of a police officer, who had just seen me throw a fireball into an innocent person instead of an Apollonid. Instead, there was no police officer in front of me, but the love of my life; and most of all, I was telling my story from my free own will.
First I talked about my childhood, my parents and the bullies that tormented me at school, from whom everything started. Then I talked about Darrell, the first day I met him, the time we spent together, how I considered him my only friend. It didn’t take me long before I arrived at the point when Darrell took me to that field and showed my powers for the first time, that sunny day of twelve years ago.
“What powers?” Douglas asked.
“I need to stand up for a moment,” I said. I got up, drank a sip of milk and then concentrated myself. I was now calm enough to use my hate safely. The fireballs appeared in my palms as always. It was the first time since that incident at my old school that I showed them willingly to someone else, apart from Darrell.
“W...what is that?” Douglas said, astonished and terrified.
“This,” I answered, “is my power. I am a member of the Darkfire order.”
“A member of...what?”
“I have the ability of evoking these fireballs by concentrating on...on feelings like rage, disdain and hate. Especially hate.”
“You...” his eyes opened wide for a moment. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, when I feel hate towards something, anything, these fireballs will appear on my hands,” I said, and turned them off. “I was trained for all my life to use this power on command. It was Darrell who revealed me I had this power. He taught me to hate everything and everyone, so that I could master these fireballs according to his wish.”
Douglas watched me in silence for a long time.
“But...why? Why would someone do such a horrible thing?”
“There are creatures...creatures made of fire, only those with my same abilities can see. They’re made of the hatred produced by men, and only something else made of hate like these fireballs can kill them.”
Douglas didn’t say anything. My body was trembling. I had just revealed the existence of the Order to a regular human. I didn’t care, though; in fact, I couldn’t give a damn about the security of that gesture. Rather, would he believe me? Would he refuse me despite his promises, escape from the demon I was?
“I understand if you don’t want to believe me. Sometimes I don’t believe all of this myself. I always hoped to wake up suddenly and be still a child with my parents.”
“I believe you, Darrell,” he replied, “you showed me those...things.”
He was hesitating. I could perceive it…
“If you want me to leave, it’s fine-” I replied.
“No!” He shouted, getting up from indignation. “I don’t want it.”
“A...are you sure?” It was unbelievable. Nobody could be so pure of spirit to decide to stay with someone, even after that someone had just revealed to be a cursed being like me.
“Yes, Hayden. After waiting for your return, you think I’m just going to tell you to leave? I kept phoning you, but all I’d get was always the voice of the operator. I couldn’t get in contact with you whatsoever, but I knew you hadn’t left me, because I knew there was something tragic in your life, and that it was hitting you really hard.”
“What would you have done if I had never come back then?”
Douglas looked away. “I don’t know...I’d have moved on, I think. But here you are, so it’s pointless to think about it.”
Somehow, my lips managed to produce a smile. He was right.
“Thank you, Douglas.”
He put a hand on my shoulder and his face returned my smile back. “You said something about your parents, right? Where are they now?” he asked.
Stolen story; please report.
“Dead,” I said, without any emotion. “Killed by two thieves. On commission by Darrell.” I had changed idea while driving in the car and decided I wanted to believe that revelation. It made my murderous action more righteous, it gave it a meaning. Whatever could help me in making the name of Darrell live in infamy, I would gladly take it.
“Oh Hayden...”
“It happened long time ago.”
“Doesn’t matter! You were forced to live with someone like...this Darrell...”
“I know,” I said plain.
Then I continued with all the details about my life in the manor, the dungeon, my separation from the rest of the world, my first battle against the Apollonids, how our relationship had weakened my powers, how Darrell had known everything and tortured me in the hope of raising my hate once more, and finally the events of that day.
“When he told me that, I didn’t want to believe it at first. I thought he was bluffing to make me hate again. But then I understood he wasn’t making up anything.”
“And then...?”
“I lost my mind. I killed him. With my fireballs.”
Finally, I saw fear in his eyes for the first time that day, probably ever.
“What?” for the first time, he got alarmed. “You need to hide from the police?”
He was still with me. After discovering I had killed someone, he was still with me. His first thought was still about protecting me: unbelievable. Maybe my subconscious, the part of me that has been brainwashed by Darrell, was trying to find a way to make him kick me out of his house, out of guilt, so I would get back to my duty. Whether it was true or not, it was failing.
“No, I don’t have to. Nobody of the Order would ever call the police: it would disclose our existence. Besides, it all happened in the dungeon, nobody outside it will ever know it. For all legal purposes, when something like this happens, Darkfires are declared to have committed suicide. Miss Ward will probably now declare he burned himself, or something like that.”
I let my face fall on my hand once more, exhausted. I gobbled up the glass of milk that still was on the table and finally proclaimed my abandon of the Order.
“I don’t want to be a Darkfire any more. I don’t want to come back to that manor. I want to love. I want to give you love. It feels so right to love and not hate. You made me feel like a human again.”
“Hayden,” he gave me his arms once more. “You won’t come back there, ever. You have me now.” He kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you for telling me your real story. I recognize it was difficult to tell me. Now that I know it, we’re more intimate than ever.” He looked at me. “You will live with me starting from today.”
I exploded into happiness, the purest form of happiness in twelve years.
“Oh Douglas...yes! Yes! I will!”
I lost any sense of dignity, unused to feel such a positive feeling, that I jumped on the floor and shouted out of joy. I almost couldn’t remember what had just happened: that happiness was so overwhelming.
“WOO-HOO! WOO-HOO! WOO-HOO!” I screamed, bouncing and bouncing.
“Okay, okay!” Douglas stopped me, laughing. “Sorry dude, there is a family living below...”
“Oh, sorry...”
“No problem, love.”
We hugged again, and without any need for thinking, we kissed on the lips.
What happened suddenly next, I remember it only from the amount of groans that came from the bedroom. Our hands, our legs, our whole bodies expressed the love for each other in the most complete form ever. My spirit was filled with adrenaline, with a lust for love and being loved. This wasn’t the dirty thing I was taught it was: it was a declaration of affection, the closest affection ever. When it all was over, we finally collapsed on our pillows, touching each other’s bare chest.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you,” he whispered as well.
And we fell into deep slumber together.
***
All of a sudden, I woke up, but my body felt like it hadn’t got enough sleep. I gave a look at the clock: it was 2 AM. Douglas woke up too.
“Morning...” Douglas said.
“It’s still night,” I said, showing him the clock.
“W...what?” he asked, still sleepy. “Then why did we wake up together?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, as confused as him. “Maybe something fell and the sound awakened us?”
“Maybe,” he said. “Well, guess we should just come back to sleep.”
“I’d say so” I replied. “Wait a moment...”
I looked at the window. There was something very wrong. The sky wasn’t dark: it was red. Not the reddish light of the city lamps, but actual, vivid red.
Then I heard them.
Cries. Several cries that sounded all like the same. Male, female, adults, children.
I knew what it was.
“No...” I blabbed “no...”
“What...what are these screams?” Douglas said.
“I...” I rushed in front of the window, still naked.
All my worst expectations were confirmed.
The whole street was on fire – the whole city was. Cars, lamps, houses had become a huge fireplace. The windows on the lower floors of the other houses showed the inhabitants screaming in agony, or already roasted. It didn’t take long to realize the palace where our flat resided was on fire, too. The street was full of carbonized corpses. All around, Apollonids. More Apollonids than I had ever seen in my life.
It was just like the last night I fought them, the night I let those houses burn down. But this time, there was no Darrell to cover my ineptitude. In fact, there were no more Darkfires in the city. And now, in front of me, there was what happened when there were no Darkfires.
“We have to go! If we stay here, we’ll be burned too!” I shouted while putting back my clothes.
“W...what?” He said, the terror appearing in his eyes that pointed in front of the window. “Hayden...what’s happen-”
“IT’S THE APOLLONIDS!” I shouted. “If we don’t get a move, they’ll take our house!”
“But-”
“NOW!” I became delirious. “ELSE YOU WILL DIE!”
Without waiting for any response, I violently took him by his arm and with my free hand evoked a fireball that destroyed the entrance door, to the concert of flames that was Plymouth.