InsaneJournal

Who: Ileana, Cole, and Jason [NPC]
What: Their meeting
Where: The rooftop of the building next to Bellum
When: Backdated to Sunday at 3pm
Warnings: Swearing, violence, angst, insanity (EDIT: Des, you have been warned :D?)

All Ileana could think about since the end of that phone call was what she had just walked in to. She had to consider whether if to risk Cole's life to not go at all or to bring Stefan's gun with her. She had sat up all night, weighing out her options and none of them even sounded good. The best plan she had was to leave a note with Dana, commanding her to give it to Stefan if she didn't return by the next morning. She kissed Stefan on the cheek when he left for work and said her goodbyes, hoping it wasn't the last time she'd get a chance to say it.

It was nearly three o'clock when she left Bellum, heading to the building next door and through the lobby. She couldn't help but wonder why this man would want to meet on a rooftop in the middle of the day. Nothing about him had made any sense so far, so she wasn't sure why she thought the next steps would either. All she knew was if this was somehow going to help Cole, then she'd go through with it -- even if it cost her.

When she arrived on the rooftop, Ileana stood waiting to come face to face with this captor as three o'clock ticked over.

He knew it would be so easy for the girl to comply with what he demanded after he threw Jacob into the threats. It was almost sickening, what humans naively believed to be love. He once wrote a paper on it in college, how all emotion was explained by the firing of synapses and chemical reactions in the brain. Funny, the very thing people used as an example of why their species was superior and it was merely biological. Now he would not only prove how wrong they were, but he would gain a new brother to replace his, the casualties of his transformation.

Jason had been waiting on the rooftop about thirty minutes before Ileana was due to arrive, keeping himself and Jacob hidden. In the meantime Jason reminded him of the final test: he was to wait until Jason called for him, kill Ileana with the knife he was going to give him. Then Jason would help him with the body, and congratulate him on his full transformation.

A few seconds after three (Jason always did like to make an entrance), he walked over to where she was waiting, keeping some distance between them. He was clearly prepared for the momentous occasion, dressed to the nines in a grey suit, black loafers, a tie and a smile. "Pleasure to finally meet you, Ileana."

The dream he'd had a week ago was the last time he felt even the faintest glimmer of hope. Despite his best efforts, Cole knew he wasn't going to be able to escape, and Jason wasn't going to let him go unless he'd completed the 'transformation' to his satisfaction. After two weeks spent pretending to be Jacob, somewhere along the line - he didn't know when - it had stopped being an act and started becoming something all too real. When he started hearing Jacob's voice inside his head, he knew it was no longer pretend. When he started getting weaker while Jacob grew stronger, he couldn't tell himself it was just an act anymore. There was no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel; he wasn't even going to have the chance to die a good man. His only option was living as a monster, and after all the starvation and abuse and videos, he was tired of fighting and getting nowhere. If people were corrupt and evil, what was the point of trying to be good?

The man who obediently followed Jason to the rooftop wasn't quite Cole, not as he once was; there was no attempt to escape or overpower his captor. He responded to the name Jacob, called himself Jacob; by all extensive purposes he might as well have actually been Jacob - but there was one final obstacle before he could rid himself of the pain and agony of humanity. If it would make him stop suffering, then he'd take it. So he listened to what he was about to do and accepted it silently. It took a lot of effort to keep from actually thinking about the act, and somewhere inside him he still felt a pang of horror at what Jason wanted him to do - but it wasn't enough to make him protest. Not yet, at least.

Keeping himself hidden, he watched Jason and Ileana talk, a strange dull pounding in his ears.

The man in front of her was nothing like she had expected in her head. She had expected a shadowy figure -- the monster under her bed, not just a man. Somehow it made it all the worse to give a face to the anonymous gifts. Ileana crossed her arms in front of her, trying to hide her nerves. She didn't know he had a surprise for her, she didn't know much except that she somehow wanted to play heroine against the villain.

Ileana hesitated when he spoke, but chose not to be rude to the man who could mail her Cole's body parts. "Nice to finally meet you as well," she replied, keeping her voice tight and restrained. "You wanted to talk about Cole's future?" Might as well get to the point.

Jason's smile instantly morphed something between a smirk and a snarl. "I know you don't really mean that." He rubbed his jaw for a moment, speaking carefully as he did so. "Well, I wasn't being completely honest. I did want to meet, but it had nothing to do with us talking." He gave good pause, allowing it to sink in for Ileana that this meeting was in fact, a trap. A very good one, he believed.

"For too long I've had to suffer and walk among your kind, pretending to be equals when I know very well we are not. I dealt with this as best as I could, surviving like the small mammal waiting for the dinosaurs to be wiped out by the great comet. Not a great comparison, but it'll have to do." He walked somewhat toward Ileana, while still keeping some distance from her. "And now that I am no longer lonely, I will not let something so sub-par as a relationship ruin it." He held an arm out not as though he was planning on grabbing the girl, but keeping her away from something. Or someone.

"Jacob," he singsonged, "it's time." It was said loud enough so the both of them would hear.

Every muscle in his body was almost painfully tense as he waited, heart pounding and fingers tapping out a quiet but impatient beat on the ground beside him. A small part of him wanted to curl up in a ball and hide when Jason called his name - because Jacob was his name now, it couldn't be any other way or else he was disloyal - but instead he gripped the knife tighter and stood from where he'd been crouching and unseen. A shiver ran down his spine as he began to move forward, and he realized that in the midst of his horror there was also anticipation. It wasn't his fault; he'd warned Ileana to stay away, but she was here anyway. Could she really have thought that Jason would want to talk? Was she that stupid... or maybe she knew what was going to happen all along. Maybe she was willing to sacrifice herself so he could become enlightened and shed off the tiresome skin of humanity.

Or maybe she was just trying to be some kind of hero. But Cole knew that playing the hero never got anyone anywhere - life wasn't like the movies. Life was horrible and cruel, and he was tired of trying so hard to be good and constantly being chewed up and spit out. Things were going to change now, and he owed that much to Jason for opening his eyes.

He hid the knife behind his back like a child playing peek-a-boo, approaching Ileana and Jason with slow steps. For a fleeting second he realized he could stab the man before he could even realize what was happening, but he didn't. Instead he stopped so he was positioned almost next to Jason, fixing his gaze on the young woman with a slight smile. "Hello, Ileana."

All her muscles were tense as she stared down Jason. She mentally kicked herself for walking in to this, even when she knew the turn around would've been the same anyway. When he took a step forward, she took two steps back and didn't take her eyes off of him. God, was he really this out of his mind? She heard more sense coming from doomsday preachers after dark on the subway. When she was wondering how hard it'd be to get away from him -- the exit just beyond where he stood -- is when her attention snapped to look around when he called for "Jacob." She didn't plan on an accomplice...

Her blood went cold as she laid eyes on "Jacob", no, Cole. The look in his eyes matched the look in Jason's and an inexplicable feeling of terror went through her head to toe. Did she lose him already to this man? She thought about what he had said, wondering how broken Cole was to go along with this. "Cole...." she barely could breathe out his name before she snapped at Jason, "What'd you do to him?"

Fear. He viewed it as the quintessential example of the frailty of humans. One look at the girl and he knew she was filled to the brim with it. Jason suppressed the urge to just laugh in her face. It wasn't necessary at this point, and besides, didn't she ask him a question? Ah yes. "I could ask you the same question. After what you had done to him, with your...relationship." He shuddered. "I merely did what you couldn't: I made him better, made him understand and shed his former life in all its entirety. Well, almost everything." And there it was, coming finally to the point.

He tilted his head over the man he was hoping to be proud to call his brother. "Jacob, kill her."

He shook his head reflexively at the sound of his name - no, the sound of his old name. It had been beaten, starved, and virtually ripped out of him; Cole was weak, worthless, and meaningless. There was just no point in being him anymore. Cole had nothing to go back to except a building that was slowly driving him insane and a job that had become hollow. Ileana... Ileana was an obstacle in his way of becoming something better, someone who would be worth a damn - at least, that was what he tried to tell himself. "Jacob is my name now, Ileana. Not Cole." The words slipped out easily, almost mechanically - just like he'd been trained. Being an only child, he'd secretly always longed for a brother... and in a sick, twisted way he was finally going to get one. All he had to do was be Jacob, like he'd pretended to do for the first week and actually done during the second. Jacob had no attachments to the woman in front of him, after all. He was stronger whereas Cole was tired and defeated. He just had to do it and it would all become so easy.

Nodding slowly, he revealed the knife from behind his back. He moved closer, although his steps were slow and almost forced. His jaw was clenched painfully tight, the only sign of the terrible struggle waging within him. Kill her, don't kill her; kill Jason instead, prove yourself worthy... His head was so full of thoughts and voices that it was a miracle it didn't explode. It had seemed possible seconds ago - but now... now it was like fighting against the rising tide. "You shouldn't have come here," he hissed, gripping the knife handle so tightly his hand shook. "You should have just stayed away like I-- like he told you." He stopped after a few steps and turned to look at Jason, then back at Ileana. He was utterly torn between the two, between Cole and Jacob, and it seemed he was stuck in a perpetual middle ground.

Ileana didn't see the hollow, troubled look in Cole's face as better. She could only back up so far when he started approaching, the light glinting off the knife in his hand. The ledge of the building was right behind her, leaving her nowhere to go. She swallowed down the lump in her throat before she started talking, "No, you're not Jacob. You're Cole Evans." Could she even get through to him? When she saw his hands shake, she pressed on, "I came here because he told me he'd kill you. If I didn't come, he told me he'd deliver you to me in pieces. I risked this because I couldn't live with myself if I didn't."

She held her hand out to him and said, "Don't do this, Cole. You know who you are. Don't become a monster. Don't become worse than the man who killed Aaron. Please." Ileana couldn't keep the tears out of her voice. She knew he was still in there. "You're not Jacob. You're the man I love, Cole. The one who's going to leave Bellum and come see Montana with me. Don't do this, mea draga."

Cole tilted his head to the side, holding the knife at his side for the time being. "You don't understand. You're just like the rest of them, like I was before - stupid. Trying to be the hero and play the martyr, and for what? For what?" His voice rose angrily. "This is your fault. You didn't listen, you walked into the trap - you brought this upon yourself, Ileana. And I... I'm going to become his brother. I'll be like him, and then it won't hurt anymore. I'll have a purpose instead of moving through life as a shell... it's what he is. Cole. You have no idea what he's been through, what he's done; all because he tried to be a 'good person'." It was easier to talk about himself in the third person, almost as though he was speaking of someone who had no connection to him whatsoever. "But he doesn't want to fight anymore, because there's no point. You're here because... because you want to be a hero. You could live just fine if we let you go, and you know it." Even though a part of him didn't believe that, it was easier to give into the anger. For so long he'd done the right thing, taking the road of struggle and hardship - but now he just wanted to give in and stop trying. Giving in to Jacob was easy, and for once he was taking the road less traveled.

He flinched at the sound of Aaron's name, a scowl marring his features. "Shut up. I'm nothing like that coward!" Cole took a step back, swinging the knife blindly - he had no specific aim, but he just wanted her to stop talking because there were too many things being said inside his head, and then he was trying to talk and she had to jump in too. He couldn't take it. "Aaron died because I... because Cole couldn't save him. The man you love can't help ANYONE, Ileana!" He was rambling now, holding the knife out defensively. "Jude, Aaron, Ella, Sam, even Trenton... he failed them all. And you know what? He couldn't even save himself." His breathing became laboured and heavy, and he hated himself for allowing emotion to seep through. He was Jacob now - Cole was just a part of him that was fading away, and even though he tried to fight he just... wasn't... strong enough. He thought about the tapes Jason had shown him, of all those horrible things being done to people. Either you were the dead body or you weren't. Kill or be killed. Predator or prey.

"I am a monster." He began to laugh, growing more and more manic before he was practically gasping for breath. "I am, I am - die a good man or live a monster, and I'm living, well not really. Cole's dying, but I'm just taking his place. See?" He swiped at his eyes, feeling himself begin to unravel. "I don't... just stop. I want it all to stop and it can't until I kill you. He says I have to, and his word is final." He took an unsteady step forward, both hands on the knife now as the point faced downward instead of up; face twisted and marred into a mix of pain and anger. "He chose me, and... you shouldn't have come." He felt like his entire body was shaking, but whether it was or it was just his imagination he couldn't tell. He didn't even know what he was saying anymore - there were too many thoughts and they came out jumbled and disjointed.

"I am stupid, a silly girl, you know? But that's who I am," Ileana didn't move from her position safely out of reach of Cole, Jacob, whoever. "But you want to know why I played hero? Came to a trap? Because I love Cole Evans. Please, fight it Cole! There is a point to this. To being a good person. Of all the dark shit we've seen, Cole, you kept being a good man and that's why I fell for you so hard. You know it isn't true that I'd be fine without you, I had waited this whole time. Waiting for you to come home."

Ileana pressed when she saw him flinch at Aaron's name, "Aaron trusted you to be a good man. Micah relied on you as one of the good guys, same as Peter. You failed no one. The things you blame yourself for no one could've stopped it from happening. They all started before you were involved. But you've helped people through their darkest hours. Cole, god damn it, you helped me. Who was there to get me out of Chicago? Carried me to safety, even risking his own life for it? Who stayed the entire time? Who patched me up after this?" She exposed her neck to show the vampire bite and continued. "You are not the monster! You don't have to do this. It won't all stop when it's done with. Would you be able to live with yourself truly?"

She doesn't move when he stepped forward, pointing the knife at her. She drops her hands to the sides, not moving to defend herself. "I chose you first and gave you my heart. All he gave was pain till you couldn't take it anymore. All the terror, Cole. It's him. Those moments you thought I had died, that was him," Ileana looked up at Cole and pleaded for one last time. If she wasn't enough, there wasn't anything she could do. "Te iubesc, mea dragă. It means I love you, my dear. Mea Iubito, my beloved. Just...stop this. I promise we'll leave together. Won't ever look back at that building or anything. I just need you to not do this and come back with me."

There were names cutting through the haze, names that sounded so familiar - too familiar, because Jacob shouldn't have known Aaron or Micah, or even Peter. He hesitated, not yet lowering the knife but not making any move to use it either. "Aaron trusted him and he let him down. Micah... Micah's gone. They locked that man up and it was wrong, even you thought so. He thought he was doing the right thing but it wasn't, it wasn't good. There is no good and bad, no black and white... no such thing as a good man." His voice had gone quiet, and he was aware of the fact that he was taking too long and Jason wasn't going to be pleased that he was stalling. Why couldn't he help him? He couldn't do this; he couldn't go forward but he couldn't go backward. The only thing he did know was that he couldn't just go home and forget any of this happened. He'd gone too far. Even though he was losing his resolve, because Cole still cared about her - he did and he could never stop - it didn't change things. There were still two parts of him, struggling to see which one would come out the stronger: Jacob, wanting to be something better and full of anger and a desire to kill; and Cole, alone and afraid, drowning in the same waters he'd fought so hard to stay afloat in.

Then he smiled, although it was more of a pained grimace that bared his teeth. "Cole won't have to live with himself. He'll be gone for good, so it won't matter. Don't you see that?" No, of course she didn't. She didn't understand a damn thing and all this talking was making his head pound. He needed it to stop... but as he prepared to move forward and end it, something made him stop. Memories of fear, of absolute terror; all those notes and gifts left at his door, the threats and the beatings and being chained to a chair for what felt like an eternity. Jason had done all that, he'd tried to break him and mold him into something he wanted - into a brother. Was he really enlightened, or was he just a sick sociopath hell-bent on destroying whatever semblance of a life he had left? Now he had a choice to make - Jacob hated Ileana and Cole hated Jason. The urge to kill was there, repeated over and over in his mind; but who? Who deserved to die, what life did he have to end in order to salvage his own?

He backed away to the side, gaze shifting from Ileana to Jason and back again, watching them with the wariness of a cornered animal. The knife was the only real thing he had at the moment, the only thing that made sense; and he held it out like his life depended on it. "Illy? I don't... I don't understand." He turned towards Jason, his tone becoming accusing. "I can't do it. Why can't I do it? It isn't supposed to be this hard, you lied--" By the end he was practically yelling, wincing at the sound of his own voice and clutching at his head with one hand.

As the conversation took place in front of him, Jason's smile diminished until his lips were pursed, jaw slightly clenched in irritation. "Seems two weeks just isn't long enough," he hissed quietly. Jacob was just supposed to kill her and then he would finally have the family he always wanted, who would see things his way! Why was that so hard to understand? And Ileana...the foolish girl had more hold over his mind than Jason originally thought. Love? They loved each other? No, this is wrong. It's all wrong. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he stormed toward Jacob, reaching for the knife. "Give it to me, if you insist on not doing it yourself," he spat out, ignoring the stupid girl for the time being.

His face fell at Jason's harsh words, and he winced as though his disapproval caused him physical pain. He felt like a child being scolded by its father... or perhaps a young boy being scorned by an older brother. Even though he knew on some level that feeling like this was wrong, he couldn't help it. Jason had been wrong about him - he wasn't special; he was worthless, just like every other human being, who was no good at being anything. He was a pathetic excuse for a person and he wasn't even worthy enough to fully become Jacob either. Ileana was forgotten entirely as he backed away, hands shaking. "I'm sorry," Cole whimpered, shaking his head. "He's-- I'm not strong enough yet..." It was so hard to distinguish between the two, and he'd thought that after two weeks maybe it would be easier to finally push Cole out of the picture for good. Apparently not. If it had been anyone else but Ileana, he would have been able to do it - as terrible as the realization was, that this other part of him could commit murder, he knew it was true. A lack of emotional ties would have been much less difficult to fight.

God have mercy, part of him wanted to do it - but he couldn't. He couldn't physically make himself approach her and slide the knife in her abdomen, watching the life fade from those blue eyes he knew too well. Maybe if he'd been in that room for another two weeks, any ounce of his humanity would have been completely gone and he could have done it, but not now. Now... he was a coward. Head lowered, he began to hold out the knife to Jason almost hesitantly. Once she's dead I can finally rise, and Cole will be nothing but a forgotten memory-- No, no don't give him the knife, DON'T GIVE HIM THE KNIFE-- Shut up, he'll do what needs to be done and it'll be over-- NO! Suddenly he jerked the knife back, out of Jason's reach. "No. I'll kill someone else... anyone else. I don't care. I swear I will - just let her go. Let her go and we can leave, you and I, and I promise I won't disappoint you again."

To watch his very creation crack and start to crumble before his eyes was giving him a nasty headache pressing at his temples. Dammit, he was close, so close to getting what he wanted for years and he would be damned if he would lose it now to that infernal wretched excuse for a woman, much less a female! Lips curled into a snarl, he glared once at Ileana before fixing his eyes back on him. "Jacob, don't you see what she's doing to you? She's keeping you caged in and if you continue to let her you'll never be free!"

Storming forward, he moved to snatch the knife away from Jacob. If he wouldn't do it, then by got Jason would do it himself, with or without his consent.

Ileana flinched when Jason focused his glare at her. She was going to get killed up here if this guy wasn't removed from the picture. Ileana fixed a pleading look at Cole when Jason tried to talk to Jacob. Quickly, almost talking over him she said, "He's the one who kept you trapped for two weeks! He's nothing but a sociopath, he's not enlightened. Cole, fight this! Don't listen to him." She couldn't back up any farther from Jason and Cole, there was too much risk of being grabbed if she made a break for the door. "Remember the dream, Cole. You promised to get free. Fight him. I know you can!"

It was all too easy to let himself listen to Jason, just as he'd been doing for two weeks; to nod in agreement without really processing what he was saying. But then Ileana's words mixed in, and once again there were two different voices tugging him in two different directions - both inside his head and in reality. He'd never really been free, though; that much was true... and no matter what happened afterward, he probably never would be again. For a moment he was distracted, allowing his gaze to shift from the man before him to Ileana, but before he could take a step in either direction Jason was storming forward and reaching for the knife. It caught him off guard and he didn't have enough time to react properly, but whether what happened next was an accidental reflex or very much intentional was something he'd never be quite sure of.

There was no room to back up and avoid Jason's outstretched hands, so he brought his own up in an instinctive gesture of defence... and then time slowed as the knife somehow sliced through the empty air and met solid flesh. The sharp blade slid easily through Jason's skin and buried itself in his chest, and for a moment Cole just stared at him, uncomprehending. His previously frenzied grip on the knife slackened and he tried to form words, but his throat was too tight and he couldn't even breathe, never mind talk. Then the reality of what he'd done crashed down upon him, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry - or maybe both. Instead he kept staring as though watching to see what came next, too shocked to have the presence of mind to make himself move.

Time slowed down, it was almost as though he could hear a far away clock tick the loud seconds at frames of a minute a piece. Sound disappeared until all Jason could hear the harsh squelch of his flesh, blood and organs giving way to the schinck of the knife. In that moment, he stopped moving and tilted his head down to stare at the wound. It was strange, he thought, how he felt he could just stare past the knife and the soft drip of his own dark red blood falling to increase the rapidly pooling mess on the floor. Then all the sounds of the world came rushing back into a sonic boom right around his ears and he stumbled back in surprise. He smiled in spite of it all, coughing once to allow more blood to trickle down the corner of his mouth.

Moving back further, Jason managed to make his way to the edge of the room, resting himself on the small edge of the wall so he could face Ileana and Jacob--no--Cole. "Guess you got lucky this time," he gasped, trying his damndest to stay alive long enough to get his point across. "But only just."

"Know this," he warned as best he could, hands clenching the stone of the bricks until his fingers turned red, his knuckles white. "No matter where you go, how far you run, how much you--" he coughed more blood-- "try to chase away your nightmares or forget the sins you have committed, I will always be there." He tapped the side of his skull with his forefinger. "No one can take that away." Before either of them could retaliate, he leaned backwards right off the building, sailing to the pavement below. The coroner would later note he died with a smile on his face.

Cole didn't move, aware of Ileana's presence somewhere behind him but unable to tear his gaze away from Jason. He almost wanted to laugh when he said he'd gotten lucky, but all that came out was a short gasp of breath. He felt a terrible pressure building up inside him as Jason spoke, the warning slicing through him down to his very bones and making him shiver involuntarily. The worst part was that he knew what he said was true; that voice inside his head called Jacob, which hated him furiously at the moment, whispered with cruel glee confirmation that every single word was the truth and nothing could change that. He couldn't deny it or make some great speech about how Jason was wrong - all he could do was watch as the man finished speaking and disappeared over the edge of the building.

He wasn't even aware of the fact that his legs had started moving until he fell to his knees at the very spot where Jason had disappeared, looking down at his broken body on the pavement below, blood spreading out around him. Finally that building pressure broke, and a guttural wail that sounded less human and more like a noise a wounded animal might make tore itself from his throat. Fingers curled into claws as he clutched at his head, his nails digging into the skin and leaving angry red scratches behind. The temptation to join his fellow monster on the pavement below was overwhelming, but the only thing that stopped him was the faint realization that Ileana was still there. He had to make sure she got back to Bellum safely, and then he would take care of himself. There was a fire escape right outside his window - and if the eighth floor wasn't high enough then he'd climb the damn thing all the way up to the roof and jump from there.

It took a tremendous amount of effort to get to his feet, but somehow he managed. "We have to go." His voice was hoarse and raw, sounding foreign to his own ears. Cole couldn't bring himself to look at her, but hoped that she would just follow him off the roof without argument. He'd wanted to kill her - or Jacob did, but was there really a difference? - and came too close to actually doing it, which only solidified his belief that everyone would be better off if he was dead.

Ileana watched the scene before her with a stricken sense of horror. All she could do was watch helplessly and white with shock at the blood that poured from Jason. There was no sense that they had won a fight, rather all she could feel was her stomach turn and unable to drop her gaze away from Jason as he talked. They were lucky, but the costs at the end of the day -- was it all worth it?

She couldn't help the shocked, horrified gasp as Jason sent himself over the building ledge. Her hands going up to cover her mouth, looking away quickly as he disappeared over the edge. The first response she had was to turn away, but turned back at the heartbreaking sound Cole made. Before she could stop herself, she was at his side and holding on to his forearm. "Cole..." She hesitated when he got to his feet, not letting go of his arm almost afraid if she did something else would happen to him. "...All right," she relented, biting back the flurry of worried questions.

He flinched when she put her hand on his arm, trying with little success to shake her off. What was wrong with her? Didn't she know that she shouldn't even be near him? From this point onward all he was going to do was end up hurting her, even if she couldn't see that right now. Wordlessly Cole found the door leading from the roof down into the building itself, making his way down what felt like endless flights of stairs. Ileana would have no choice but to follow, as he didn't stop and didn't even cast a quick glance in her direction. As much as he hated the idea of returning to Bellum, there was really nowhere else for him to go. At least he'd be alone, if Ileana could see enough sense to realize that she should go back to her own apartment. He didn't want to talk, or eat, or do anything - he just wanted it to end.

Once they got outside, he hesitated outside of Bellum, almost unable to bring himself to actually step inside. No one would realize the monster that was re-entering their midst - the old Cole Evans was gone now, and who he was now both disgusted and terrified him. Closing his eyes and gathering together the faint wisps of strength he had felt, he pushed open the lobby doors and stepped inside.

Across the world at that same time Jason died, in the Presbyterian hospital located in Albuquerque New Mexico, a baby uttered his first cry. An hour later, his parents were admiring the new life they created.

"Look at him, he's perfect," the new mother whispered.