Bella has been tired after a long day manning the whip and her feet had begun to hurt. She found herself automatically making her way over to the perch where Paul sat for security. When she found him there she smiled. “Hey there buddy, almost done with work over here?” She asking, finding herself a seat and removing her shoes so that she could rub her feet. She was sure they didn’t smell like roses but she knew Paul wouldn’t mind.
Things had been good for Bella lately. She’d been gaining more control over her telekinesis and she was finally with the man she loved. She finally felt like things were going right in her life, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Nothing in the world could shatter her, not anymore.
The meeting with Marty had been an odd one; Paul was not up on the many different species and people at the Carnival so the discovery didn’t necessarily shock or surprise him. He didn’t inquire of odd scents mostly because that brought questions, judgement, and now that he had a steady partner, the idea of bringing that upon her was out of the question.
But something had to be said to Bella. While Paul knew she would probably not take the information well considering her newfound relationship with the man - demon - in question, as her friend he had to tell her. She was his best friend and it pained him deeply to know he was going to hurt her.
As always he was at his perch, stoic but obsessing over all of the ways and possible outcomes of the conversation, when the woman he’d been thinking of seemed to appear out of the air.
“Almost,” he confirmed, turning to glance over at Bella as she settled down next to him. “I need to talk to you about something personal.” Cut to the chase with him, never game or a run around.
Her feet hurt. He could tell by the way she kneaded the arch and the muscles with her tired fingers, but they couldn’t have this conversation here.
“Will you come with me for a minute?”
Bella’s eyebrows knit together as she began to put her shoe back on and stood from where she sat. Clearly something was on Paul’s mine, maybe he knocked up that girl of his, or maybe someone in his family died? She didn’t really know much about that part of his life but she’d be there for him if it were, no matter what. “Is it far? Cause my dogs are barking.” She offered him a little smile at that and began to walk with him.
Suddenly she noticed the look on his face, all sad like it wasn’t his bad news but bad news for Bella. Whatever it was, it couldn’t possibly be that bad so she grabbed a hold of his hand to give it a squeeze. “What is it Paul?”
The comment about her feet had Paul shaking his head. He doubted she would want to stick around long after the conversation began, anyway. So he’d find them a place for her to sit down and they’d talk. “I know a spot close by.”
Moving to stand up, he let her take his hand and then began to lead her to a small section of seating that was under some shade. It was there he sat down, and beckoned silently for her to do the same.
“I need to tell you something,” he began, looking at her. “It’s about the Reverend.” And it wasn’t good. “There’s something different about him, Bells. And it’s not a good thing.” He kept his words quiet knowing they were still in public.
Bella rolled her eyes at Paul. It was always pretty obvious that he’d had a distaste for Willis and she was getting pretty tired of his judgement. Sure, he’d been her shoulder when he’d rejected her but that wasn’t a problem anymore. Will was hers and she was his. “Paul, don’t start this again. You don’t even know the man, he’s a servant to the lord, there is nothing wrong with him.”
A thought occurred to her, did he have feelings for her? She knew sometimes the line between friendship and love could blur but she knew where she stood when it came to him. “Wait, you’re not trying to get me, are you? What happened to that pretty little thing you seemed to be head over heels for?” Clearly she was missing something cause she swore he told her he didn’t feel that way about Bella.
Shaking his head at Bella, Paul emitted a hard sigh. “No, I’m not trying to get you. I’m trying to look out for you,” he explained. A frown would crease his brow, and he tried his best to find a light at the end of this very dark tunnel though it was hard to see through the thick fog.
“He’s a demon, Bells. I met a demon yesterday by chance, they smell exactly the same. I don’t know Will the way you do - and I want you to be happy, don’t get me wrong, but Will is a… a bad thing. Maybe he’s dressed up like someone who does good things, and you know I’m no saint either. But I care about you. You’re my friend. I thought you should know.”
Paul let go of Bella’s hand knowing she’d get upset and probably rabbit. He didn’t want to hurt her. And who knew, she may not even believe him. But he was going down this road and there wasn’t any going back now.
As he let go of her hand she snapped it back, a frown forming on her face. “You can’t say stuff like that, it’s not right. Take it back Paul. Will isn’t a demon and it’s rude of you to make jokes like that.” The idea was frightening enough but she couldn’t believe how unbelievably rude Paul was being right now.
“Listen I know there’s something special about him, I see the way the guilty are punished around him but that’s what God wants. Honestly I think he’s an angel, just doesn’t really seem to know it.” It was incredible how blind she’d become, ignoring all of the signs and conversations that lead exactly to this moment.
“It’s not a joke,” he replied, shaking his head. “And I’m not taking it back. It’s the truth.” He had a feeling she was going to react, and how could he blame her? He would be doing the exact same thing if someone told him something about Beth.
“Bella,” Paul started, making a face as he bit back what he wanted to say that might cause this to escalate. Instead he thought for a moment and reassessed.
“I can tell when someone is lying. Humans, anyone, and the guy I talked to wasn’t lying to me when he told me. Believe it or not, the Reverend is not a good guy. Why don’t you ask him yourself and see if he will tell the truth in front of you and God.”
The idea that Will was an Angel was laughable, at best. Paul hated what he was but at least he owned it and tried to make amends with all of the death and destruction he caused along the way.
Tears began to well in her eyes and she thought back on a conversation she’d had with the lion tamer.
“Listen, I don’t know if you know this about him but there is something seriously wrong with Will. He takes joy away from people and it brings him joy. Now I don’t know about you but I don’t think a man of god should be so vengeful.”
The memory was clear as day and she recalled how scared she’d been of him and how easily she’d just fallen back in love with him. All he had to do was say those three words and she just walked right into that trap.
“I..” the tears finally fell from her eyes. What was she thinking? Paul would never lie to her, he was her best friend. “How could I be so stupid?” She asked quietly.
An exhale would escape. He was surprised by her reaction but found himself blessed that she was understanding and responsive. Her power could get a bit wacky when she was emotional but she couldn’t hurt him too badly, even if she wanted to.
“Hey,” he said, moving to wrap her up in a hug. “I didn’t want to tell you. I want you to be happy, but I can’t let something happen to you and not say something to warn you.” That was the thing. Paul wanted Bella to be in love, to be happy and have a family. But he also wanted the man she chose to be one who would deserve her and treat her right. Will was not that type.
“I’m here for you.”
She couldn’t stop the tears that fell from her eyes and she leaned forward to cry into his shirt. The worst part about all of this is that she felt like something was wrong with him, as long as she knew them but her love for him blinded her. He’d blinded her. And now she was getting mad, so very very mad. But not at Paul, Bella was angry at Willis. Whether or not he believed it Willis had manipulated her, had made her fall so hard that she’d probably never love again.
She pushed herself out of his arms and tried to control her telekinesis. The leaves rattled wildly in the trees around them. She’d worked so hard and was so happy and now everything she’d thought she had control over was bubbling up beneath the surface. “I don’t believe you.” She said now, denial settling in full force. She couldn’t just accept that her happiness was over.
Those words hit him hard, again. Nearly the way a freight train might and Paul’s mouth twisted with the words sitting on his tongue that he’d never utter. He knew she was stubborn, but she was smarter than this, better than this.
“Fine,” he managed. His muscles stiffened, and Paul eased back from her before he uttered something he knew would only cause more problems. She had pulled away regardless and he felt emptier for it.
He did his best to show that he didn’t care even if he knew that was foolish. She always managed to see through him even though he knew his poker face was top notch. “Whatever, Bella.” Throwing his hands up a bit, Paul would move and stand up. He didn’t want to fight with her about Willis, here.
Around them the leaves in the trees rustled wildly. “Don’t you dare walk away from me after dropping a bomb like that.” She replied angrily, standing up to get into his face. “You’re asking me to believe that the man I love is spawn from hell. I’m sure you can see why I’m having a hard time believing it.”
She sighed as she considered all the things he’d told her. “It just doesn’t make sense. Why would a demon be a reverend? Seems to me like that’s the last thing he’d want to do.” She was definitely trying to cover for him but she couldn’t help it, she was desperately in love. “I just need some more proof is all.”
“You said you believed me,” Paul stated, turning on Bella. Those blue eyes went dull as if the fire that sparked his lifeline had been blown out by a torrent of wind. “And now you don’t. What else is there to say? You want me to yell at you, Bella? Shout?”
He stood there calmly, eyebrow perked. “Believe whatever you want. Clearly you don’t believe me. But that’s how friendship works, right?”
And then she seemed to backtrack a bit. He emitted a breath and set his jaw, listening. “Why would a werewolf want to help people?” Paul murmured. “Why would anyone want to do anything? We do it because we want to. Being a man of the cloth grants certain privilege, esteem. Most people believe Reverend instantly because he is a proclaimed man of God, they trust him without question.
“Why don’t you ask him yourself? If he truly loves you he will tell you the truth.”
There was no point bringing up the fact that the same scent he’d gotten from Marty was exactly the same one he noticed from Willis. That was proof enough for him, words from a stranger aside.
The tears flowed freely now and she kneeled onto the ground, physically making herself smaller. “No one truly loves me.” And maybe no one ever would. It all seemed too perfect, the moment he finally gave in and said he loved her. In retrospect she’d spent the better part of her life trying to convince him that he loved her. It wasn’t as if she made it easy for him to resist. She’d already laid with him, laid with a demon and there was no going back from that.
“No one will want me now, I’ve been used by the devil.” Bella was aware of her wildly emotional behavior, her penchant for the dramatic and she never tried to play into that but she couldn’t help her very nature. The trees were shuffling violently now and she pressed her hands to the side of her head as a massive headache rolled into the back of her head.
Paul sighed.
He hated himself for bringing this to her doorstep in light of the new developments in her life. If only they had had a chance - he knew there was a man out there who was worthy of her time and attention and that man was not the Reverend. Paul cared deeply for Bella but he didn’t love her. Not like he loved Beth, anyway.
“That’s not true,” he breathed. Paul knelt down and reached out to her, “Bella.”
He ignored the signs of danger around them, the way the trees shook, the way the things around them began to dance and shake.
She sobbed silently in her fetal position, the chaos beginning to die down a bit. She didn’t want to move things uncontrollably, it just wasn’t under her control when she felt emotion like this. “I’m cursed.” She sobbed, really truly believing it for the first time in her life. She couldn’t handle any of this and her heart broke with every single moment.
And of course she believed Paul because Paul never lied to her and he had no reason to. As much as she was loathe to admit he was a good judge of character. The next part she whispered so that maybe Paul might not hear her. “I’m going to kill him.” And she meant it, she wanted nothing more than to rid herself of the man who’d been solely responsible for all her pain.
He would shake his head at Bella though she couldn’t see him. She wasn’t cursed. Being cursed, though, came in many forms but he didn’t want to believe there was any bad magic surrounding his friend. “I think you’re just human,” he explained. Everyone made bad choices, everyone had to take the bad with the good. “But you’re going to be okay.” He was certain of that.
Those words reached his ears and his hand settled gently upon her hair, patting over the strands in comfort. “Be careful.”
Even if she didn’t mean what she said, she needed to be cautious.