In Dreams: One Soul

Can't Change the Past

Zeev POV  (POV stands for Point of View)

I watched Harlee's shoulders and posture relax slightly before she turned to look at me, her eye color a strange toxic green, the pupils ever so slightly elongated.  It was a transition between my true form's yellow-orange and her own natural blue.  I ran a hand down her-our cheek in sympathy.

"Sorry about that.  I didn't have to take it too far, it was a foolish minor Demon.  Smelled your-our soul."  I told her.  How casually I talked about this now.  It was such torment in the beginning.  We tried so hard to reject each other, to be our own independent beings, but you simply can't not when two bodies share the same soul.  Harlee collapsed in my arms.  To an outsider, it would seem like a loving gesture, romantic and warm.  Lovers, embracing after a long absence.  And the hug did have a certain amount of longing to it-but it had nothing to do with love.  It was the desire of a soul ripped into two pieces to become one again.  I only ever felt 'right' if I was next to Harlee.  Touching her, holding her, the closer the better.  The pull I felt towards her was irrational and irritating, distracting even, and I had balked, trying to destroy her at first, then tried my damndest to rid myself of her soul fragment, but nothing had worked.  I had only harmed myself in the process and driven the fragment deeper.

"I can hear you, you know."  Harlee commented wryly.  The interminable bond.  The closer we were the more our two forms would blend, well, if I would open myself to it.  "I wish you would.  My chest aches.  It's been too long."  She answered my unspoken thoughts, rubbing her chest.  I sighed.

"You know that doesn't always end well."  I replied, thinking of the last time she had asked me to drop the barrier between us.

"Well how are we gonna perfect it, if we don't ever practice?"  She demanded.  "Besides... I'm serious Zeev, feel it for a moment-it's time, or else it's going to end up like the first time."  She placed my hand on her chest and I could feel her willing me to drop the barrier between us, which I did a little.  Her soul cried out for its other half and I stepped back in a panic.  She looked pointedly at me.  I had let it build almost too long again.  I blew out an unsteady breath.  The first time this happened...

Harlee POV

My chest ached, right behind the sternum between my breasts.  It was a constant throbbing pain, that only eased slightly when Zeev was near, but at the same time, it became more intense like I couldn't get close enough.  And then, that one night he showed up, exhausted, and let his guard drop slightly, and I felt it-the other half of my soul-right there below the surface, calling me.  He sat on the couch-shoulders slumped, head drooping.  He'd had a hard day.  I couldn't understand the inner workings of Demon and Heavenly beings, but I understood that he was finding it harder to hide his-our human soul.  As the barrier slipped a little more, I ran at him, screaming.  I raked at him, unknowingly tapping into his Demon strength, trying to peel his skin back to get to my soul.  If I could just reach it, maybe I could take it back!  It cried out for me eagerly, as if spurring me on.  At the same time, I felt Zeev's blood lust awaken and the desire for my-our soul to unite sparked within him as well and he attacked me back.  I may be a human, but the day he consumed half my soul, he gave me access to his abilities, memories and mind as well.  I couldn't process all of it, but running on instinct, it didn't matter.  We were nearly evenly matched.  I snarled at him and he threw a lamp at me.

"Don't do this Harlee, you can't win against me!"  He roared.

"I don't have to-mutually assured destruction is just as good to me!  Anything to end this pain!"  I screamed and pounced at him again, but the element of surprise was lost, and in order to anticipate my moves more freely, he let the barrier down completely.  My soul screamed in triumph as our bodies crashed together and I tore at him eagerly, trying to crawl inside him.  His body changed Form, and he did much the same to me.  By the end of it all the house was nearly destroyed and there was blood everywhere-and I do mean everywhere.  I still find it on occasion.

Zeev POV

I withdrew from her memory of the event with a shudder.  The very fact of it was we could very well have killed each other, and the subsequent times had not been that much less violent, though we had learned our lesson and hand tried to reign in the c*****e.  Unfortunately, it seemed my Demon instincts ruled where it came to the possession of this soul, only one of us could have it, but both of us were forced to share it.  We had to find a balance somehow.  A scattered burst of images from Harlee as she recalled the first night I ever approached her, the first night that put us in this trouble to begin with.  I winced and drew away from her.

"I'll go prepare the bathroom.  Do you think you can wait until the end of your shift?"  I asked Harlee.  She nodded slightly.

"It's just a few more hours.  But Zeev-don't be late."  She warned.  I nodded and stepped out of the discounts store in which she worked and into her home, remembering the first few times I'd transported Harlee like this.  It was as natural as breathing for me, but she'd gotten violently ill.  I grinned as I felt her discontent through our link.  I pulled the plastic sheeting from under the bathroom sink and began to line the bathroom walls, floor and ceiling.

Harlee POV

"Aww, did your boyfriend leave already?"  Kayla my co-worker and friend asked with a pout.  I grimaced.  Zeev wasn't actually my boyfriend, but we had to use some excuse why we were always together, always joined at the hip, touching, hugging, etc.  And you can't exactly say 'oh hey-this is the Demon that tried to eat me-only he did a piss-poor job of it and somehow he now has half of my soul that he can't get rid of, so we're basically bound together for all eternity..'  I felt Zeev growl through our connection.

Eternity-what did that even mean for me?  I felt Zeev's sigh in my own chest.  I flinched, I hated when that happened.

"Hello, earth to Harlee!"  Kayla thunked a finger on my head.

"Yeah, yeah, Zeev left."  I said, shoving her hand away.

"Zeev..."  She drooled  "Six feet of tall, dark and handsome.  What I wouldn't give to be dating, bedding and marrying that.  I'd have his babies."  I winced, but felt Zeev's approval instantly.  He examined her through my eyes, all five feet three inches of her, dark brown hair and eyes, honey skin, elfish little figure.

'No way in Hell.'  I shut him down.

'Hell is my specialty darling.'  He replied with a chuckle.  I growled low in my throat at him, but Kayla mistook the sound as being meant for her.

"Alright chill, I won't go after your man.  Until he's not yours."  She laughed and Zeev pouted through our link.  I shook my head.  The cute little girl had no idea what kind of trouble she was flirting with.

"I don't think the whole marriage/babies thing is in Zeev's repertoire Kayla-don't get your hopes up."  I leaned on the counter.  There was a flurry of dissenting opinion from Zeev, not about the marriage, but the children part.  I blocked his thoughts from my mind.  I just wanted my soul back in one piece, then I could care less what he did.  I could feel Zeev's agreement.  He'd do anything to be rid of what he considered the 'troublesome thing' he called my soul fragment.  Kayla pouted.

"You two would have such cute babies."  She said, and I could feel Zeev consider the idea.

'Keep it in your pants Hell hound.'  I shot at him.

"...Zeev-Harlee babies, Zeevlees!"  Kayla was still babbling.  "Zeev-where the heck did that name come from anyway?"

"Beats me."  I replied.  Actually, I had found it rooting around in his memories.  I couldn't, or wouldn't pronounce his 'True Name', which was now burned into both halves of my soul, but the nickname translated to something like wolf-and since he had tried to eat me, I thought it was a fitting nickname.  It amused him, so he let me use it.  Besides, a Demon's True Name was a dangerous gift.  It was a powerful thing, it held power, and though I could call for him using the brand it left on my soul if I needed him, it was best to never say it out loud.

'The room is ready."  Zeev told me and I nodded, checking my watch.  This was going to be an impossible wait.

Zeev POV

I could feel Harlee's impatience growing as the hours crawled by.  I answered the call of a superior who wanted to know my most recent Contract numbers.  I had not been doing much in the way  of Contractual obligations with humans and he wanted to know why.  Granted, this wasn't my True Purpose, but it was a side project I'd asked to be assigned to once I began to share Harlee's soul and realized I could neither consume, dispose of nor restore it.  I was hoping to discover some information that might help me end this curse, but I had found nothing.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I will do better, it's not my forte, as I'm sure you're well aware.  I just thought to try something new after all this time out of boredom."  I waved a hand dismissively.  My superior sighed and addressed me by my True Name.  I stiffened.

"Get your act together.  I know there's been something off about you lately.  Ever since that ambush when that Angel almost took you down.  I hesitate to think you've lost your nerve after all these centuries, but if you need some time to recuperate, just tell me, so you can get your head back in the game."  My superior stated wearily, pinching the bridge of their nose, their Form shifted between Demon and human.  I blinked.

"Actually, that might not be a bad idea."  I responded, surprising myself and the superior, who looked at me with wide eyes, and their form solidified in Demon Form.  "By your leave."  I kneeled.

"I'll make the arrangements."  My superior said, confusion in their voice.  Their Demon Form roiled uncomfortably for a moment and I stood and bowed, turning to step from this space to Harlee's house once again.  Ah good, almost time to get her.  My-her-our soul ached to be together again.