Chapter 47: Chapter 42

Marcus collapsed to the floor with an agonizing groan. His gun fell from his grip and slid a few feet away towards Ashlyn. For her part, Ashlyn didn’t respond to Adaline’s appearance. Kylee’s gun was still held loosely in her right hand and her red eyes were firmly locked onto Jason. She wasn’t the only one. Adaline’s eyes had lost a lot of their fierce redness and a few pockets of her original blue color were shining through. Despite the subtle signs that Jason’s deal had freed the girl from his influence, Adaline lifted the already bloodied blade and charged straight for him. Jason scrambled backwards, off balance as he desperately threw his body out of the way of Adaline’s knife.

“You know, it’s quite extraordinary.” Ashlyn voiced casually as Jason began to sweat. “She’s been broken for so long. Just imagine it. Years of your life devoted to one singular purpose. When that drive disappeared…”

Ashlyn clicked her tongue. “It was quite a sight to see. I had to give her purpose. She needed someone to tell her what to do. That little voice forcing her onward was the only thing she had. I guess I was fortunate to have her in my possession when it happened, wasn't it?”

Jason didn’t respond, or rather, Jason couldn’t respond. It was taking every ounce of concentration that he had just to keep Adaline’s blade away from his chest and stomach. It didn’t take long before Jason ran out of space to back up. The second his back touched the hair covered wall, Adaline sprung forward. Jason dove to the side, closer to Ashlyn. His only chance was going to be Marcus’ gun on the floor. He rolled once he hit the floor and was up sprinting the few feet between himself and the weapon. To his utter shock, Ashlyn stepped forward and kicked the gun past him. The metal side arm slid loudly towards the door Jason had entered from a few moments ago. 

Changing tactics on a dime, Jason lunged for Ashlyn herself. The blonde flashed a blushing smile but deftly sidestepped the hastily made jump with ease. Jason stumbled a few feet further down the long room. Before he had a chance to turn around, the small form of Adaline slammed into his back and sent him sprawling. Jason rolled over quickly but was immediately pinned as Adaline straddled his chest and used her feet to hold both of his arms down. She raised the knife high over her head with a snarl on her face. Jason threw all of his strength into his right shoulder. His weight advantage proved life saving as he managed to move Adaline far enough to his left to cause her dagger to slam into the floor right next to his ribs. Though he was in the heat of combat, Jason managed to spot Ashlyn standing a few feet behind Adaline with her gun trained on the center of the knife wielding girl’s back.

“Adaline stop!” Jason’s hands shot forward and gripped the handle of the knife.

A fierce battle ensued as both parties attempted to wrestle the blade from the other’s grasp.

“You’re being used!” Jason groaned with effort. “She’s going to kill you!”

“I don’t care!” Adaline screamed back. “Just die!”

Jason tried to force Adaline away from Ashlyn by twisting his weight suddenly, but the frantic girl had too much leverage being above him. The movement cost Jason his grip on the knife. With an elbow to his gut, Jason’s hands slipped from the weapon and it fell down towards his neck.

“Free me.” Adaline whispered with tears in her eyes as the blade continued downwards.

Three quick shots deafened the room. Adaline shook, her hand stopping a few inches away from Jason’s exposed skin. Relief. That’s what Jason saw pass through Adaline’s eyes before they lost all life. A small smile reached the corners of her lips.

“I’ve missed you, Mary.” Adaline whispered to her unseen twin before falling to the floor.

The hand holding the blade loosen its grip, the flat of the warm blade landed gently against Jason’s neck. Jason remained there for a few seconds while his heart continued to hammer in his chest. His nerves were ablaze with a rapidly disappearing adrenaline. Now that he had stopped moving, his body felt like it had tripled in weight.

“Of course I was using her, Jason.” Ashlyn laughed as she stepped closer. “I needed someone else to surprise Marcus from behind. Though I am happy that you managed to guess my intentions.”

Ashlyn blushed and leaned her face against her free hand.

“We already know each other so well.”

“You ha-have to stop this, Ashlyn.” Jason huffed as his lungs struggled to catch up with his body’s demands.

“Oh I wanted to, but now it’s going to take longer.” She sighed dramatically and pointed over Jason’s head. “There were only a few left too.”

Jason tilted his head back and felt his heart skip a beat. A short figure sat propped up against the right hand wall. Though she was terribly pale and had her dark hair draped over her face, Jason recognized her as Kirsten. He had to watch her chest closely to confirm that she was still breathing. 

“Now I’m going to have to go back to that swindler’s bar and make another deal.” Ashlyn ground her teeth together. “There’s no telling how many more it’s going to take to scrub your memories clean, but that’s my only option at this point.”

Jason paled. “You’re just going to make me forget?”

“Of course.” Ashlyn gave him a pained smile. “You’re looking at me like I’m a monster. I can’t live the rest of my life with you if you don’t love me like you should.”

Jason sat up quickly with the intention of getting to his feet, but he immediately felt light headed as he tried to do so.

“Tut-tut-tut.” Ashlyn’s foot lifted up to Jason’s chest and forced him back down. “I do have to thank that girl for wearing you out as well. It’s going to be much easier to keep you subdued until I can get back to the deal maker.” 

Jason grabbed her foot weakly.

“I know you see me as the bad guy right now Jason, but soon you’ll be made to see.” Ashlyn leaned over the struggling boy with pleading eyes. “I love you. I love you so much more than anyone else in the world is even capable of loving you. You have no one left to lean on. No one left to turn to. No one but me!”

Her words carried a maniacal joy as she continued gloating.

“I did this all for you Jason! Look at what my love did for you!”

She pointed to the blood on the floor, the bodies that put it there, and the photos that littered the walls.

“Now we can be happy Jason. Don’t you see that? Don’t you understand? It was fate that your father gave you that gift. Fate that scared you in middle school. Fate that dropped you into my life.”

Ashlyn laughed wildly.

“We can be together forever Jason. We can be happy forever!”

She reached down and clasped both of Jason’s hands in her own. Ashlyn spasmed at the physical contact and her eyes fluttered behind her eyelids.

“No one can take this away from me.”

“Guess again.” A voice said calmly from the front of the room.

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Both Jason and Ashlyn turned in shock towards the voice. Standing just inside the dining room door, wearing a clearly stolen set of hospital scrubs, stood Jessica with Marcus’ gun in her hands. The muzzle flashed and Ashlyn’s shoulder rocked backwards as the bullet passed clean through. Ashlyn recovered quickly and tried to aim her own gun back at Jessica but Jason kicked her arm from below causing her shot to hit the ceiling. Jessica fired again and caught Ashlyn directly in the center of her chest. Her blood red eyes widened considerably as she looked down at the blood leaking into her soiled shirt. Ashlyn coughed. Small flecks of blood flew from her lips as she wobbled in place. The bleeding mastermind turned and stumbled away from Jason. It took him a few seconds to realize that she was locked onto the nearest sacrificial circle drawn into the floor. Jason wasn’t sure what her plan was but he didn’t want to wait and find out.

As luck would have it, Jessica wasn’t in a waiting mood either. Just as Jason scrambled to his feet, Jessica unloaded the rest of her magazine towards Ashlyn. Half a dozen more bullets struck her as she walked. Ashlyn fell forward and struck the floor hard. Jason and Jessica held their breath as they watched the unmoving figure. Like a horror movie villain, Ashlyn’s arm twitched before reaching forward and touching the edge of the sacrificial circle. Jessica ran forward but Jason knew his injured friend wouldn’t arrive fast enough to stop her. Jason swiped the knife off of the floor and leapt over to the proned Ashlyn. Jason could hear the faint chant of demonic words flowing from Ashlyn’s paling lips.

This ends now.

Jason dove the last few feet and plunged Adaline’s knife deeply into Ashlyn’s back. Ashlyn let out a harrowing scream, but she bitterly continued the demonic chant. Jason lifted the blade again but it was too late. With a final effort, Ashlyn finished her incantation and a spark of red light ignited from her fingertips. Jason grabbed Ashlyn and pulled her away from the circle. A sickly grayness began to seep into Ashlyn’s skin. It started from the hand that was on the circle and spread rapidly to the rest of her body.

“What did you do!” Jason shouted, the knife still firmly in his hand.

“Th-the deal I m-made.” 

Blood flowed freely from the edge of Ashlyn’s lips.

“What deal?” Jason demanded.

Jessica arrived and she crouched down defensively next to Jason.

“F-for y-you.” Ashlyn reached a weak hand towards Jason’s face. “I-if I couldn’t f-finish… my end of the d-deal, I-I had to g-give…”

Understanding clicked into Jason’s mind. Ashlyn’s last act, when she knew that there was no way she was going to survive…

“Was to save me?” Jason finished his thought aloud.

Ashlyn’s cold hand set itself against Jason’s cheek.

“It’s always b-been for you.” A single tear leaked from each of Ashlyn’s eyes.

“I love you, Jason.”

Ashlyn smiled one last time before the grayness sapped the remaining life from her body. The hand against Jason’s cheek fell limply to the floor and remained motionless. A resounding silence fell over the room. Jason felt a hesitant hand reach out and lightly touch his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Jessica whispered nervously.

Jason opened his mouth, but he had no words to speak. There was so much death around him. So many others had suffered because of what he had been forced to live through. No part of his mind was accepting the possibility it could all be behind him now.

“Remi sent me.” Jessica finally said when Jason didn’t respond to her earlier question.

That caused Jason to finally look at Jessica directly.

“What did you say?” He asked hoarsely.

“Your demon friend. She woke me up and told me that you would need help.” Jessica looked at her hand on Jason’s shoulder. “She wanted me to tell you something.”

“What did she say?” Jason asked.

Jessica’s violet eyes lifted and gazed softly into Jason’s.

“She said thank you. She said that you fighting for her made her really happy and that she wanted to return the favor.”

So I did make a difference. 

The thought flowed through Jason’s frigid veins like a medication. His fear and paralysis slowly drained away. In their place, hope for the future began to grow. There was a small cough from the wall behind them. Jason looked back and remembered that Kirsten was still there and was in need of immediate medical attention.

“I can still make a positive difference in someone’s life.” Jason set Ashlyn’s body gently down and stood up.

Jessica stood up along with him. Without warning, Jason turned and embraced Jessica tightly. The girl yelped in surprise but didn’t attempt to push Jason away.

“Thank you.” Jason said earnestly. “Honestly. For everything.”

Jessica slowly put her arms around Jason and hugged him back. She seemed hesitant at first but the awkwardness faded rapidly.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Jessica squeezed Jason tightly.

“Me too.” Jason pulled away. “Come on. There are others who need our help.”