let it burn

damien norell || 26 || returned Oh, but what more did the devil do when he fell? (what greater sin was his?) He lived.

[talonnorell-blog]

Talon’s eyes narrowed as the man’s empty laugh echoed around them, the action signifying disbelief rather than humor. His younger brother was completely different and he didn’t know quite how to react. He’d grown up understanding the fucked up family dysfunction that was the Norell’s, but Damien had always been the optimistic one; the constant. The person before him now, however, seemed to be lacking his sanity.

“You’re nothing more than a hypocrite, saying how I was never a victim in any sense, yet you were always the poor little boy who never stood a chance. It’s the same old song and dance with you, pouting with those puppy dog eyes ‘please don’t hurt me.’ Well, at least now you’ve finally grown a pair… it only took forty years or so.”

[invisusdamien-blog]

Damien had snapped a long time ago, his tired heart all but giving up hope on feeling compassion. Anya had been a brief respite from the anger that so desperately desired to tear everything apart, but she wasn’t by his side any longer. Now there was no anchor to hold him down, no reason for him to stop at simply threatening. If he acted now, there would be no collateral damage. Any suffering that Talon felt would be justified, no matter what he said. A thousand years of pain would never be enough to balance out what he did, but it was never too late to start.

“Wanna see what else I learned?”

Stepping closer, he straightened his back and tightened his jaw, the expression on his face turning from amusement to focus as he pushed his mind forward. It was a struggle--something he attributed to the fact that both of them were more than a little dead--but Damien managed to get a foothold inside his brother’s mind, settling into a balancing act between both bodies. He knew he couldn’t get full control, but the fight just made it all the more sweet when he forced his torturer to his knees, relishing in the way the bone crashed painfully against the cement. He hoped something broke inside.

Leaving Talon on his knees in front of him, he returned fully to his own body with a grin quickly spreading across his lips. “Doesn’t that feel more...fitting?” His brother might not have been sorry about what he did, but Damien wasn’t opposed to making him sorry.

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

“I think I could definitely pull off the flower princess look” though she hated the idea of being a princess. Princess’s always needed saving and she preferred to be the hero in that sense. She listened to Lucy talk but she thoroughly disagreed. “No one is completely lost. I don’t want to fix his broken parts. I want him to see that I love him - broken parts and all. I don’t think I can just back away from him. You don’t just stop loving someone just because they’re scared of being loved. I’m not giving up on him, even if he gave up on us.” She told her. She was way too sober for this conversation and was glad they had the stolen vodka to drown out this feeling later on. “Are you sure about that? I’ve heard that sometimes the dead are very good at pretending they’re alive” she said, adding a laugh on the end so it didn’t seem like she was so serious.

[invisusdamien-blog]

"Maybe that’s what you should be for next Halloween. You’d barely have to put effort into your costume,” he suggested, a small smile flickering onto his face. He hadn’t dressed up for Halloween, mostly because he was already a ghost. “Some people are, Anya. Not everyone can fit into a pretty little picture where they can be loved despite everything. If you spend your whole life chasing someone who can’t be caught, you’re gonna regret it.” Why couldn’t she just understand that? “Oooh. Ghosts living among us. Isn’t that spooky?”

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

Anya laughed, the image of her even trying to dress like that was hilarious. “I think I’ll leave that to the pros.” She certainly didn’t think she’d look good. “I don’t know if ‘killer’ is the look I wanna go for. I quite like my florals” she said jokingly, though she was telling the truth. She smiled a sad smile, accidentally slipping a little in her happy facade. “He’s.. He won’t even fight for himself. I should have known better than to fall in love with someone who’s never known what it felt like to be loved. I think I scared him away.” She didn’t agree that she deserved better. Damien was all there was for her, all there ever would be. Whether he loved her back wouldn’t change that. “I love him more than anything.” That was her truth. She shrugged “I think for some people it does just end though.” Her parents were those people. Even though she’d tried to get into contact with their spirits. They were gone. “But yeah, maybe some people do have some reason to come back. Unfinished business and whatnot.” She wasn’t really sure what brought people back. But that sounded good enough.

[invisusdamien-blog]

Damien echoed her laugh, shaking his head. “I guess that works. You do pull off the cute look pretty well. You’re like some kind of flower princess.” If she was a princess in their story, that definitely made him the villain. Time would tell if he would get a redemption arc or if he’d be lost to the darkness. “Some people are lost causes. They’re just too far gone and no matter how much you try, there’s nothing you can do to fix all the parts of them that are broken. You can’t save someone else, you know? They have to be willing to save themselves and if they aren’t, you just have to back away so they don’t drag you down with them.” He knew in his heart that he was already long gone and what they had was always going to be temporary, but he had to make sure that she understood that as well. “I’m not dead, so I guess I wouldn’t know,” he lied with a laugh. Truth be told, he didn’t know why it was that he was brought back. Most of the time, he wished he hadn’t.

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

She laughed, imagining herself even trying. “I don’t think I could pull off the leather” she said. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it at Lucy’s next statement. “Not any guy..” She only wanted one guy and she knew that he was the one guy who wouldn’t come back to her. “At least not the guy I want..” She said, though she tried to hide the sadness from her expression. “Life after death is…” She thought for a moment. “..it’s a hard concept to grasp”

[invisusdamien-blog]

Damien let out a sharp laugh. “You totally could. Something dark and skin tight would make you look killer.” He couldn’t picture Anya dressing dark and scary when she was anything but, if he was honest. The way she spoke about him broke his heart, but he was careful not to let any of those emotions creep onto his face. “If he doesn’t want you, then he’s stupid. You deserve better than some guy who won’t even fight for you.” That was the truth as far as he could see it. “I think it just makes sense. It’s less scary if you think it doesn’t just end one day.”

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

“Well I guess I can now. I’m a burglar!” She said laughing. She was already feeling bad about stealing and a part of her wanted to go back and apologise, but another part of her thought that even if she got into trouble, it might bring Damien back. Even though she knew it was completely foolish. “I’ve had enough death for one lifetime..” She said shrugging.

[invisusdamien-blog]

"That’s right. You’re a real bad girl now. Start dressing in black leather and you can pull a Sandy from Grease. I bet any guy you want would come falling at your feet.” Hopefully he could convince her to move on if the words came from someone besides himself. She’d find something better and he wouldn’t be caught between good and bad. “Well, death, yeah sure. But what about life after death? That’s not the same.”

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

“I think I doubted myself mostly..” She said with a shrug. It wasn’t everyday she decided to rob a liquor store. Lucy was kind of a hot and cold person around Anya so far. There’d been time when Anya was sure Lucy didn’t even like her, but her doubts were gone now. “Sounds pretty scary” She said excitedly. “Though I’d be happy to skip out on seeing anymore dead people.” It as one thing to connect with spirits, but to know that people who had died were walking around like they were okay was another. She didn’t know if she’d be able to handle an more ghosts.

[invisusdamien-blog]

"You can do anything you set your mind to.” It was a little supportive, though some of the intent was less than pure given what they had just done. They were law breakers, criminals, terrible, no-good thieves. He could almost feel Talon breaking the bottle over his head. “Come on. Ghosts are fun. I mean, what’s life if you never have a little bit of death to even it out?”

[candentilucy]

“You!” Lucy shouted, spying the familiar face on the street and marching up to the male with wide and stealthy strides for someone of her size. Her hands gripped at his shoulders, dragging him into the public bathroom (the one for disabled individuals) and shoved him up against the wall, locking the door behind them. “What the hell did you do to me, huh? Did you slip me something? A drug?” She hit her hands against his chest. “Tell me!”

[invisusdamien-blog]

Damien didn’t even have to look at the woman to know who it was and exactly what she was angry about. Normally, he was a little more careful when he tore into people’s minds and took them for a ride, but his wild emotions as of late had led him to be lazy with his treatment of Lucy. He let her drag him into the bathroom, a grin finding its way onto his face as his hands struck his chest. “I didn’t do anything,” he insisted before glancing around. “Nice choice of interrogation room. Are we gonna fight or are we gonna hook up?”

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

If Anya had known who it really was standing before her, convincing her to do crazy reckless things, she’d have been so mad. But since she didn’t she was having the time of her life. “I didn’t doubt it for a second.” she said with a smile. She thought for a moment. If she was drunk enough she wouldn’t really care where she was and alcohol made her magic almost feel numb, so she didn’t care. “You choose.” She said with a careless shrug. 

[invisusdamien-blog]

"Sure, you didn’t,” Damien teased, a laugh escaping him despite the absurdity of the situation. It was all so strange and honestly, he was just glad that her magic wasn’t able to detect the fact that it wasn’t Lucy in control of the body in front of her. “What about the Marsh house? If we’re lucky, we might even see a ghost.”

[hauntedbyevelyn-blog]

“Depends on what you have in mind?”

[invisusdamien-blog]

"Maybe getting a nice bottle of something and go down to the pier? Or breaking in somewhere, if you’re feeling more adventurous.”

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

Anya felt like she was actually free for once in a long time. She didn’t even care about the trouble she could get into for it, she just liked feeling like this. “I do love it. You weren’t kidding when you said you were fun.” She looked around the street they were in and spun around, feeling elated. “I have no idea.” She said, turning full circle back to Lucy. “Somewhere.. scary.”

[invisusdamien-blog]

It was nice to see Anya smile, even if what was happening was far more complicated than she could even imagine. She only wondered how things would go when the real Lucy ran back into her. “I told you I’m amazing,” he teased. He paused for a moment, thinking about where to go. “Funeral home? Or maybe the morgue? Or maybe the Marsh house or some other abandoned place?”

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

Anya swiftly left as she told the man she’d changed her mind again. Leaving the store she saw Lucy, her heart was racing. “God, that was terrifying!” she said, though the smile on her face clearly showed that she was enjoying herself. “You’re insane!” Without realising it, she’d gone an entire fifteen minutes without thinking about Damien. 

[invisusdamien-blog]

Damien let out a laugh at the excitement on Anya’s face, amused by how she seemed to be like a kid riding a bike for the first time. Sure, his heart was beating a little faster, but it didn’t have the same risk for him as it did for her. “I’m totally insane, but you love it. Now come on. Where you wanna break in?” He hummed as he began walking off.

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

The small rush of excitement she got from the idea of doing something against the rule was strange for Anya to feel course through her body. It seemed easy enough, Anya was usually good in situations where she had to talk a lot. “Okay, I can do that. Get something decent though, Don’t waste my robbery virginity” She said as she laughed. She walked into the store and pretended to look around before she made her way to the desk where the guy was working. She did her best to flirt with him as she asked him to help her in the back of the store. He was reluctant to leave the desk unmanned at first, but Anya made sure to bend over just enough to show a little cleavage that persuaded him to ‘help her’. She eyed Lucy outside as she followed him to the back of the store. She’d asked him to reach up high for a particular bottle, and whenever he got to the bottle she’d said, she changed her mind. Hoping to buy enough time for Lucy. 

[invisusdamien-blog]

To be perfectly honest--which Damien never was--he had never stolen a thing in his life. It was a great risk, especially given that being arrested would take him out of town which wasn’t an option for a ghost such as himself. But it wasn’t a risk when he was using someone else’s body as a puppet; if worse came to worst, he could just ditch her and there would be no evidence to tie him to the crime. So he strolled in once the man was distracted, acting casual as he grabbed a high quality bottle of vodka and strolled right back out again. He grinned at Anya when she came back out, holding the bottle up. “Tada!”

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

Anya wasn’t one to steal, let alone break in anywhere, but tonight she felt like doing anything that would take away the sad feeling inside of her. “Let’s do it..” she said, though a little nervous. “You’ll have to walk me through it. We’re not all professional criminals”

[invisusdamien-blog]

Damien tried not to think of the depressing absurdity of what was going on. Instead he chose to focus on having some fun and fucking shit up. He gestured for Anya to follow along as he began the walk towards the liqueur store. “The drink will be pretty simple. You distract whoever is working and I’ll tuck the bottle into my jacket then walk out. You walk out a couple minutes later. Quick and easy.”

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

“You really do. Uh, I don’t think I have much at home. So we’ll need to get some. Plus I’d kind of prefer to go home tonight. Isn’t there some other place we can go?”

[invisusdamien-blog]

"We could steal some liqueur and then go hang out at the cemetery like teenagers? Or if you’re feeling like some real fun, we could break in somewhere.”

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

“Totally fucking wasted sounds perfect!”

[invisusdamien-blog]

"I know. I have amazing ideas. Do you have anything at home or should we go to the store?”

[petrovaxanya-deactivated2016012]

“You always seem to get bored easily. I’m in though, distractions are good right now. I could use some fun. What did you have in mind, Lucy?”

[invisusdamien-blog]

"We could...get totally fucking wasted? That’s always a great distraction.”

[invisusdamien-blog]

“So this is boring. Wanna find something more fun to do?”