Finally, for once and for all, I knew Alexandre was evil. He never loved me. He was manipulative, and only wanted my body for himself. And now he was in my arms, ready to die. There was no chance I'd let him live for what he's done. If I can defeat that demon, I can stop Alexandre in his human form.

Before I showed him any indication that I had discovered him, I grabbed his neck, squeezing as tightly as I could, and knocked him back. His skin began to turn blue and he appeared to be on the verge of death, but then he transformed back into his muscular form, sending out a bright shockwave that shot me off of him.

For some reason I felt weaker. Like I couldn't access all my strength. The only explanation I could think of was that I used too much energy against the demon, but I had to be at full strength to defeat Alexandre. I just couldn't let him win.

Jumping to my toes, I transformed as well, and ran towards him, shooting my tail straight for his heart. He grabbed my tail and used it to throw me across the room and into the wall. The impact seemed to hurt more than it should have, and I could feel the wetness of blood on my back. He rushed towards me as I got back up and quickly dodged his charge, allowing him to crash into the wall. Again, I was slower, and I just barely missed him. I slipped behind him and stabbed my tail into his back. Blood splattered from the wound, and I continued to push my tail deeper into his chest. He reached his hand around and pulled my tail out, then putting his hand over the wound. The blood stopped gushing out, and when he removed his hand the wound was healed. Then he turned around, not attacking, or anything, just staring at me intently. I waited for him to move, not wanting to attack when he was watching so closely.

"This could have gone much easier for you," he said.

"So that I could end up dead?"

"Your body would have been put to use and you would have lived through my eyes. Now that you're a threat, however, I have to kill you," he said, dead serious.

"Having to live through your eyes would be worse than death."

"Have it your way. You're weaker than normal, and you know it. You can't possibly think you can still beat me?"

"I'm not weaker, I'm conserving my strength for when I really attack," I lied through my teeth. I couldn't show him weakness, even if what he said was true.

"Whatever. I get your body anyway, and continue to live eternally."

"You're not going to live forever, because I'm going to kill you. You're a monster. You may be beautiful on the outside, but inside, you're a filthy freak, uglier than any demon there is. But most importantly, your heart is filled with evil. I can't imagine what happened to you to make you such a terrible being." It felt so good to finally say it out loud, as if once and for all deciding that he was evil.

He laughed a little, before replying, "Did you read that from a fairy tale? Well, unfortunately for you, this isn't a fairy tale, and you won't be getting your happy ending."

Seizing his relaxation, I tried to jump at him, but I found my body stuck in the same position, and I could only move my head. IT was as if my body had been frozen in a block of ice. I could push against whatever force held my body still, but I couldn't break it. He began to laugh madly, knowing I couldn't move.

"I told you that you won't be getting your happy ending. You can't move, so all I have to do is kill you." He continued to laugh, as he walked up and gripped onto my neck, his nails digging into my skin, and he began to tighten his grip, until I couldn't breathe.

It can't be over, I can't let him win. I have to stop him. I have to survive. But I'm so scared. I don't have much air left. I have to stop him. I needed my strength just one more time. I've done what they said. I saw the truth in the eyes, but what next? Can it really end like this?

I could feel my energy building as usual, but it wasn't enough. I still couldn't move. My vision was hazy, and I felt light headed. I fought to survive, but finally, everything went blank, and I was dead.

I was back in the field where I met Amelia, but this time no one else was there. Is this heaven? Where's Lance, or Amelia, or my parents? But for some reason, I felt at peace. I couldn't help but fall back and lay on the grass, looking up at the gleaming sky. There were several cherry blossoms around, blowing in the slight breeze. The temperature was perfect. Not too cold or hot.

I heard footsteps, as if someone was walking through the grass, so I jumped up to see Amelia, my mother and my father. I screamed with excitement as I ran to them. I ran and ran as fast as I could. All I could think of was giving them the first hug.

I continued to run until I realized that for some reason, they were only a few yards in front of me, and yet they weren't getting closer or further away from me. I stopped running, and looked at them confused.

"Hi Leeon," my mother said.

"Hello son," he father said.

Hearing their voices again meant everything to me. It made everything I'd gone through worth it, just for this moment. But why couldn't I get closer? All I wanted was to hug them.

"Why can't I get any closer?" I asked.

"This isn't the afterlife, but merely a place where the dead and living can communicate," Amelia said.

"But we hugged last time we met," I pleaded.

"You're too close to death. Touching us would end your fate and you would instantly be returned to the afterlife with us," my mother said. So, I wasn't dead? Then there was still a chance.

"Is Lance... dead?"

"Yes, son."

"Is there a way for me to save him?" I asked, not able to imagine him completely.

"No. It has never been done before. The most we can do to help you is give you guidance to survive and defeat Alexandre," Amelia said sympathetically.

I couldn't save him? I couldn't help but fall to my knee's as tears began rolling down my face. I actually kill Lance, and there was no way to fix it. I then realized that if I didn't ignore my instincts, I would have killed Alexandre, and none of this would have happened. Lance would be alive and we could live together until we died.

"But, what will I do afterwards? I wouldn't know how to live on."

"There are other obstacles for you to conquer, and world's to learn about."

I noticed a pattern. Hey toke very specific turns speaking. First my mother, then my father, and then Amelia, but I didn't understand why.

"If you don't, son, unforeseeable disaster will occur."

"But, how will I defeat Alexandre? He is in control of my body?"

"While I failed to escape him, you have the strength. Work past your weakness, and greater power shall be yours."

Then, they faded away into nothing, and yet I remained. I looked around, and there was nothing aside from me in the field. I walked aimlessly through the field, until parts of the ground started shattering and falling into darkness, along with the sky. I tried to stay off of the falling floor, but eventually I was on the only remaining floor, and it fell.

Everything around was black, except for the fragments of the field. I wondered if I was being transported back to the real world, but I just kept falling. Suddenly, the now black fragments stopped, suspended in the air, and I landed on a small piece. It looked like only the fragments and I existed. There was nothing else, until small demonesque creatures started appearing on other fragments. At first they didn't move, and I braced myself for the battle.

I felt to be at full strength, and charged up energy for a shockwave, until, all at once, they launched towards me. When they got close enough, I sent out the shockwave, and it sent some falling endlessly, while others landed back on the fragments. They all jumped at me again, and I sent out another shockwave, with the same outcome. The process continued until there was only one left. I shoot out a blast that knocked him off the fragment and fell. Then another group of them appeared on the fragments, and I prepared to do it all over again.

"Stop. Each one you send falling strengthens Alexandre. You're in a trap. Jump down and you'll fall into the real world." I couldn't see her, but I heard Amelia's voice, and everything she said made sense.

Before they launched another attack, I jumped down, falling into the darkness. As I fell I saw all the other demons that had fallen. I must have been heavier and fallen fast enough to catch up. Not wanting to strengthen Alexandre, I sent out blast and shockwaves to kill all of them, their bodies dissipating into nothing.

I continued to fall until I saw a small ball of light beneath, and as I fell it grew larger. I knew that once I hit the light, I'd go back to the real world, and I had to be ready to defeat Alexandre. And, as I expected, I hit the light and everything ended.

I no longer felt my body, I couldn't feel anything, abut it seemed as if I was watching myself from above. My body collapsed and Alexandre smiled. He kneeled down over my body and his hair covered both of our heads, so I couldn't see what he was doing. At first nothing changed, but then Alexandre's body started changing, developing features I recognized. And then I realized they were my features.

His hair got shorter and changed colors as his body changed until he look exactly like me, and my body looked like his. He seemed to look up straight at me, but then he didn't seem to interact with me, and appeared to be looking through me, so I knew he couldn't see me. Then, he dropped to his knees screaming, and everything went black.

I could see through my eyes again. But I couldn't seem to move, or control where I moved. Alexandre was in control. And all I could do was watch.

"Strange isn't it?" I heard Alexandre's voice echoing through my head.

"What's happening?" I asked, not speaking, but thinking.

"I'm in control of your body now," he replied, satisfied.

"I thought you said you'd kill me."

"Well I'm not that mean. It's not like you can do anything about it anyways. Just to prove it, I think we'll go chop up Lance's body." I couldn't believe him! Knowing I was helpless, he was going to torture me? I couldn't imagine what Amelia and Lance went through.

"You can't, his body fell into the pit of fire."

He laughed, and I saw my fingers snap. Instantly, Lance's dead body was on the floor in front of me, with no apparent damage. I thought for a second that maybe he was alive, but I knew he was dead.

"I think I'll introduce you to your roommate now," Alexandre said, as he bit his finger, and my body transformed into the demon form.

"And we meet again," said a dark, growling voice.

This is the demon you drain for power, but know that I'm in control I get all your power," Alexandre explained.

"You must have a thick psyche, normally I can talk to the people who control me and drive them mad, but you never seemed to hear me. Even why I tried to help you," the dark voice said again, and I knew it was the demon inside me.

I wondered why I never heard him (not that I wished I did), but I knew it had to do something about my "sixth-sense" so to speak.

"It's kind of fun being able to now watch you suffer. No one has every pulled so much power from me before. You could have killed me," the demon said, anger growing in his voice.

It made me wonder if Alexandre didn't pull as much energy from him because he didn't want to kill the demon, or if we wasn't able to. But he wouldn't care about killing the demon. He'd just use another one. And that meant I was stronger than him.

My train of thought ended when I saw a knife in my hands, held up to Lance's throat.

"Now I'll chop his head off," Alexandre said, laughing.

"No!" I shouted. There was no way I could bear to watch him do that. Even though they told me there was no way to save him, I had to try anyway. He was the only person that could make me happy anymore, and I had to try, no matter how impossible it was, to save him. I had to think quickly before Alexandre struck. In the split second before he sliced Lance's head off, I sent out the largest shockwave of energy I could muster, my fear giving my strength, and it knocked Alexandre back, and in the act of trying to limit his fall, he stabbed the knife into the lower left side.

I could feel the pain, but I also sensed the opportunity, and launched another shockwave, hitting my head back against the wall, which seemed to knock Alexandre out, and I could sense his energy shooting back into his old body, but as I regained control, I grabbed onto all of the life force from his energy and shot it into Lance. When the energy hit Alexandre, his body twitched, and he stopped breathing.

Once I had gained control again, the demon's presence seemed to disappear, and I knew I was in full control again. But as I got up, I realized my head was bleeding and I still had a knife in my side.

Without thinking, I ran into the bathroom where Lance stitched up my whipping wounds, pressing on my side. With one hand, I opened the medicine cabinet and knocked the bandage down onto the counter. On the count of three, I pulled the knife out and pushed a large wad of gauze against the wound. Then, I began to wrap the bandage around my torso over the wound, using the entire roll of bandage. Pulling the hair away from my head wound, after grabbing it from the cabinet, poured some liquid stitching over the wound, clench my teeth from the pain as it dried.

By the time it dried, blood had socked through the bandage, but I couldn't find any more in the bathroom, so I ran to the laundry room where I knew Grandmama's rough dresses were hanging. I ripped up the dresses into long strips and wrapped not only the bandage, but my entire torso. The fabric was thick, and I had wrapped it thick enough that I knew the blood would clot before socking through the fabric.

All stitched up, I then sped walk, because running was difficult all wrapped up, back to where Lance's body was hoping to see him alive again. The trip back seemed so much longer, and much scarier, from the anticipation. Even though they said it was impossible, I just had to believe I saved him. I don't know what I would do if he was dead.

When I finally turned the last corner, I saw Lance's body lying on the floor still.

I ran down to him, dropping to my knees in front of him. I checked his pulse, but there was nothing. His eyes were still open, just staring up, as if to torment me. I burst into tears as I closed his eyelids, collapsing onto his chest. It felt as if I cried for hours, but then, I felt a beat. And another. And another. I moved my head over his chest as I heard it beating at an increasing pace.

Wiping my eyes, I felt his pulse again, and, while slow, it was there. Lance was alive.

"Lance!" I shouted, filled with more happiness than I'd ever felt before.

Opening his eyes, he quickly turned him head and the largest smile grew on his face as he jumped up, his body seeming to be in pristine condition.

"Leeon, I thought you didn't make it!" he said as I stood up

Just to be safe, I made sure to look into his eyes, and sure enough, it was him. The sweetest eyes I'd seen in a long time finally were back in the right body, as it should be. We hugged the moment we could reach each other. Everything about it felt so right, and I knew that my troubles were over. After all of our pain and suffering, we came out on top and could begin our new life together.

"I almost didn't. I died, and Alexandre took control of me. But I seized the opportunity and kicked him out, shooting his personality to his body, but his life to you."

"I thought it was impossible to do that. You really are incredible." For a moment I was proud, but then I realized I had to apologize, sense I technically killed him.

"Lance, I'm sorry for everything I di-"

"I know you were under his control. I don't blame you at all. If it weren't for you, I be dead," he said, until he noticed my wounds, "Oh my god, are you okay?"

"Yes, I bandaged everything up."

"Oh, good." he said somberly. It was almost unrealistic to be talking to Lance again.

"So, could you see everything?" I asked, not wanting him to have witnessed everything Alexandre did, considering he killed Lance's parents.

"Yes, but when I was dead, I saw the afterlife, so I'm okay." I wanted to know what he saw in the afterlife. I knew there was more to see than what I'd seen.

Out the window, I noticed it was getting darker, so I ran out to see the moon was rising, and the sun, in turn, was falling. The only possible explanation was that we were in the mortal world, but how I got back, I still don't know. I didn't lose my powers, so I don't know what caused it. However, that meant we could try to live a normal life, so I sure as hell wasn't complaining.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, walking up behind me.

"We're back in the mortal world."

His eyes widened, and he again smiled. "So, we can live a normal life?" he asked, in disbelief.

"Yes!" I replied as I leaned closer and initiated our first kiss since before everything happened. His lips lingered against mine, as if making up for lost time, before the kiss deepened into pure passion, but most importantly, pure love. It wasn't lust, and it was real. It made all the kisses I had with Alexandre feel gross. It, like Lance, was perfection.

"So, what should we do now?" he asked.

"First things first - let's get the hell away from this mansion!" I said, making us both laugh.

"Let me go get dressed first," he said, beginning to walk toward the stairs.

"Your suitcase is right by the door," I said.

Laughing, he turned, opened the suitcase, and put on some clothes.

'Alright, let's go," he said.

Finally, we walked out of the mansion, into the open world, and as if it were a reminder I wasn't dreaming, a car drove by. I handed him the keys from the bush, and we got in the car and he starting driving.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked, not sure which was to drive out of the driveway.

"I don't care. Wherever you want as long as it's far away," I said, giggling.

"How about L.A.?"

"Sound's perfect to me."

And we drove away, far away from Grandmama's Mansion.

I couldn't help but wonder if I'd ever see the mansion again.

Yes.

La Fin