Palindrome

William

He watched Benjamin carry her inside, fury burning up his soul and tearing his heart to pieces. His father growled beside him, telling William to calm down, but he was already seeing red. The fingers on his right hand had changed to claws already and the tingling on his back told him the rest was soon to come after.

“WILLIAM!”

His father`s eyes flashed yellow, warning him again. William took a deep breath and closed his eyes, but he could still see Hannah helpless in Benjamin`s arms, her legs flapping like she was dead.

“If you can`t control yourself and help your family, you have to leave. Such childish behaviour is pathetic to observe.”

Jafet strolled up to them and delivered the line with a bored voice. How was it that William first now realised what barbaric ways they led? Killing people, innocent people, right and left, just because of their selfish wishes. William tightened his hands and breathed through his nose as he answered in a too calm voice.

“She knows nothing, I promise you. She has even done research to help us, because I ASKED HER, without torturing her.”

Jafet snorted. “Never believe a witch, they have lying in their blood. In their souls. They know.” He nodded wisely, making William almost gag in anger. “They know, but we just have to help them remember the knowledge.”

George patted William hard on his shoulder, “I know how you feel, but you have to think of the greater good. One day, when you meet your true mate, you`ll see why we work so hard to get the secret.”

George and Jafet followed Benjamin, who met William`s eyes briefly before he averted his stare and disappeared through an open door, George closing it with one final warning glare towards William.

William fell to his knees and yanked desperately in his hair, despair filling him. All he`d been taught to believe, the reasons, the legend, the supremacy of the Beasts, a gift from the Gods themselves. Was it even real? How could it be the right thing if it made him feel like this? Hannah couldn’t die. And she would die, because he knew she didn’t know the spell, or potion. She would have said so. They never stopped until they were absolutely positive there was nothing more to reveal, and most often that was minutes before they died. He`d been allowed to observe the “questioning” since he was five, making him immune to the tears and screams, but how could he tune out Hannah`s screams?

William had tried to convince himself it was just hormones at first, but he knew soon he was in deep shit. The feeling of her skin under his fingertips, the taste of her blood. She always gave the same small moan right before she came, alerting him so he could open his eyes to watch her unravel. It was magic in it`s purest form, making him feel like he was the God to her Goddess. He stayed up for hours that first night, watching her sleep, following her every movement. The way her hand rested under her chin, the furrowing of the brows when she dreamed. He knew already then. He`d told her he could hear her bones sing, and they did. They sang to him in such wonderful voices it had to be true love. Love meant to be — Sent from the Gods or Goddesses. He didn’t care, she was it for him.

How long did it take for the drugs to work it`s way out of her system? He could already feel her fear, all the small hairs on his body standing up, the adrenaline making the body think danger was imminent.

“William?”

Belinda`s voice was barely to be heard, and it wasn’t like her to be gentle. He looked up but didn’t open his eyes.

“William, come outside with me. I don’t want to hear her scream, not Hannah.”

Anger made his eyes pop open.

“Don`t. Don`t say that. You hate her, you probably helped Father plan this whole thing.”

The venom in his voice was clear, even strained as it was. To his surprise he saw her lip bevering like she was about to cry.

“I don`t hate her. I did, but what did you expect? We`re raised that way. But then I sat with you guys at lunch, and dinner, and coffee…” Belinda hesitated, her hands fiddling with her long hair. “I have never had a best friend. Like a BFF.” She said the last word with a mocking voice and rolled her eyes, filled with tears now. “But she is funny, and likes the same things as me, and she knows about us. She doesn’t care about us changing into Beasts every other day.”

William was too stunned to speak, almost forgetting why he was on his knees in the hallway.

“So, will you come outside with me?”

William`s face hardened when he grinded his jaw, the adrenaline finding a purpose other than fear.

“No. I want you to help me save her.”

Just as he said the words, the door opened again, letting the three men out. Father and Grand Father didn’t look at him, they just walked the other way, talking quietly to each other while Grand Father put the key to the room in his pocket. Benjamin came their way, stopping in front of William and Belinda, with his head down.

“This is fucked up. This isn’t a random stranger, it`s Hannah.” Benjamin glanced quickly over his shoulder, checking that they were alone. Belinda yanked his arm, “Did they say what they plan on doing?” William didn’t say anything, but he straightened, going into fight-mode. “That’s the funny thing.” Benjamin looked a bit perplexed. “They discussed how to hurt her without torturing her. Almost like they didn’t want to touch her.”

William had to think, but he had to get one thing straight first.

“Are you both telling me that you are willing to go against our Fathers to help Hannah?” There was a flicker of hope in his voice, and he hated it. He`d never seen a witch walk away alive.

The twins looked at each other, having a silent conversation between them.

“If we can help her escape without them finding out?” Belinda seemed sorry she wasn’t going full in, but William didn’t care. They didn’t hug in their family, but he looked them in the eyes and nodded awkwardly, hopefully letting the gratitude shine through.

“Right, any ideas how to save a witch?”

Benjamin was eager, but William shook his head and pointed towards the door. “Not the best place maybe. Outside?”

They walked away from the house, not trusting anyone right now, William sat down on a bench, reminded of the day he took Hannah to get her bike, when he revealed his true age – It felt so long ago.

“What did they say?”

Benjamin put his hands in his pockets, making the muscles in his arms bulge.

“They made me lay her down on the stone, and then they started quarrelling about how to proceed. Father wanted to give her more drugs, but Grand Father said no, that it would make her hallucinate so they would get just rubbish.” Ben bit his lip, confusion showing on his face. “Then Father said, “You know we can`t do it the usual way, damnation on Lil.” I don’t know what that means, but it has to be a good thing, right? If they can`t torture her like they usually do?”

William sighed, not knowing what to think. “Hard to say, it can be worse.” He rubbed his forehead, five hundred years with the conviction that witches deserved to die battled with his heart. An image of Hannah laughing popped up, making the battle irrelevant. “Anything else?”

“No, but we got until tomorrow night, they wanted to do it on the Summer Solstice.”

Belinda growled, “Just to spite her beliefs, probably. They will have a guard outside the room, and they will be in there most of the time, working on her, in whatever way they were planning. We don’t have many options.”

William bit his lip, shaking his head.

“We need more help. We need someone to distract them while we help her escape, preferable without them knowing we helped her.” William shuddered by the thought of his Father`s rage, it knew no boundaries.

“Are you saying we need humans to help us?” The bitch in Belinda slipped through.

William laughed bitterly, “Yes, and maybe another witch.”

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