Obsession 2

Chapter 5- Resistant

I nervously peel the label off my soda bottle while I wait for Kai to arrive at the coffee shop we agreed to meet at. I was worried I wouldn't be able to reach him after an extensive search through social media platforms turned up nothing. I just happened to run across a photo of him at an art show in Los Angeles.

Turns out, he's somewhat of an artist. And not only that, the guy is seriously good looking. I can't be sure, but he seems to be Japanese. We share a lot of the same features, even though Sweeney is definitely not a Japanese name. Then again, neither is Franklin, but I'm bi-racial and that means Kai could be as well. Which means its possible he's visited Japan and has experience with this same curse that plagues my brother.

I check my phone again, sighing when I realize he's about twenty minutes late. He probably won't even show up.

Just when I'm about to give up, I see two men come through the entrance. Once definitely looks like Kai, but the other...I've never seen him before and he didn't mention bringing anyone. They look to be around the same age, but the other guy is taller by a couple of inches. He's got short black hair and brown eyes, but that's where the resemblance ends, so they couldn't be brothers.

"Michael?" Kai asks, stopping next to my table.

I nod and stand up, extending my hand to shake his. "Yes, you must be Kai."

"I am," he replies, shaking my hand. "This is my friend, Leo. I hope you don't mind that I brought him along."

"Well, I was thinking the less people who know about this, the better," I shrug, sitting back down.

Kai chuckles. "Trust me, Leo will be of more use to you than me. I was infected by the same curse as your brother, but Leo is the one who saved me from it."

"Saved you?" I repeat, furrowing my brows.

They both take a seat across the table from me. "Yes, saved me," Kai answers. "If it wasn't for him, who knows what I would've done."

"So...how did you know he was cursed?" I ask Leo.

"Well, I didn't, for a while. When I first met Kai, we weren't friends, not even close. We were actually fighting over a girl," he chuckles, looking to Kai.

Kai smiles. "Mara Thaxton. I was in love with her since the seventh grade, but because of the curse, I didn't speak to her. Not until we were in college."

"So you knew you were under the curse?" I ask.

"I knew something was wrong with me, but I couldn't explain it. It all started when I was fifteen. I went to Japan to visit family and my older brother gave me this cord, supposedly worn by a Japanese warrior many years ago. I thought it was cool, but I had no idea what it was doing to me. At first, I felt sick; like I had the flu, or a stomach virus. Then came the fevers. They became worse over time, eventually causing me to become violent and aggressive. I learned to control myself around Mara though, because of my feelings for her. I was afraid I'd hurt her if I let her get too close. But then one day..."

He sighs, shaking his head. "I had no idea she had feelings for me too. And when I realized she did, it became impossible to resist her. I started having these urges to...do things I had never done before. Mara and I...we got physical...only once... and it was both our first time. After that, the urge became uncontrollable. I became crazy and possessive of her. So much so that she became afraid of me. And then Leo came along. They started seeing each other and it infuriated me. The curse seemed to feed off my anger and aggression. I became stronger and more violent. I never meant any harm and I always seemed to go through periods of remorse and regret. But just as soon as those urges returned, all that vanished. I accidentally killed Mara's mother in a fit of rage. I almost killed Mara too, and Leo."

"So...how did you stop it?" I ask.

Kai looks to Leo. Leo gives me a serious look. "Your brother has to want to stop it before it can be stopped."

"He does. That's why I contacted Kai. My brother...he came to me the other night. He'd been trying to kill himself, but...he said he couldn't die."

"He can't. No matter what he does, the power the curse allows him to have regenerates him. Mara once stabbed me thirteen times. And the I was hit by a car. Leo shot me in the chest. I lived through all of it. I couldn't explain it at the time, and I had gotten so consumed by the curse, I stopped even questioning it."

"Everyone thought Mara was crazy, including me," Leo says. "But she insisted Kai wasn't normal. Turns out, she was right. He could materialize at will. He had superhuman strength. He could smell Mara from miles away."

"Smell her?" I ask in confusion.

"My instincts became somewhat like that of a wolf. When I was with Mara, it's like I left my imprint on her. After that, I knew her scent well and I could detect her easily. It made it impossible for her to run from me," Kai answers.

I nod, letting everything sink in. So far, everything Kai and Leo have explained to me seem to line up with what's going on with Sammy. It all sounds so ridiculous, yet I know it must be true. What other explanation could there possibly be?

"As you've probably seen on the news, my brother, Sammy, is on trial for two murders. One of them...I caught him in the act. I had to testify against him in court, but...I knew there was something wrong with him. I know my brother and the way he's been acting..." I sigh, shaking my head. "I knew there had to be some sort of explanation. I never imagined something like this until he tried to kill himself right in front of me and his wound...it just closed right up... before my very eyes."

I look up at them, my eyes surely full of the desperation I'm feeling. "What happened to Mara? Is she okay?"

They look at each other and smile. "She's more than okay," Leo says, taking out his phone. He pulls up and photo and turns his phone around so I can see it. I smile when I see her, pregnant, holding a toddler and grinning ear to ear. "Wow, she's gorgeous."

"Thank you," Leo smiles. "We've been married for two and half years and during that time, as you can see, we've done well populating the earth."

I chuckle at his choice of words. "So if you were once in love with her, how are you two such good friends now?" I ask Kai.

"Well, Leo saved my life. I owe him big time for that. Now, Mara's safe and happy and so is her mother," he replies.

"Wait, I thought you said you killed her mother," I say.

"I did," he shrugs. "But when Leo and I figured out how to defeat the curse, I was given a choice; a choice that only I could make. I could restore everything to the way it was before, and give up the cursed warrior's cord, or I could continue to use these special abilities- with nothing or no one powerful enough to stop me. And I have to say, it's a hard decision to make for anyone, but especially someone who has already tasted what that kind of power is like."

I swallow hard as the realization sets in. "So you're saying...Sammy has to make the choice to give it up? That's it?"

"That's it?" Kai repeats incredulously. "Trust me, this will be a lot harder than you think. I know you think your brother is good person and I'm not saying he's not. But like I said, once you've experienced that kind of power, it's hard to willingly let it go."

"But his future depends on it," Leo adds.

"Right," Kai nods. "What you'll have to do is catch him at a time he's the weakest, like when he came to you the other night. That's the only time he'll be willing to consider such a choice."

I pause for a moment, thinking about what he just said. Sammy was desperate for help when I last saw him. I don't think it will be hard to convince him to give up something that causes him to hurt or even kill others. He'll probably jump at the chance.

"Where is he?" Leo asks.

"Right now?" I ask, playing dumb to stall.

Because right now, Sammy is hiding out at our family's cabin. I'm harboring a fugitive. I can't exactly just tell them that or I could be going to jail myself.

"I...I don't know where he is. I haven't seen him since he showed up the other night," I lie.

Leo gives me a bored look. "Okay, now isn't the time to lie. Look, I've been in your shoes before, except at the time, I couldn't stand Kai. This is your brother. I know you want to save him and his victims too, or you wouldn't be here, talking to us."

"Exactly. The more time you waste, the more opportunity you give him to become more consumed by the curse, the harder it will be to talk him into giving up," Kai says.

"Sammy wants to give up this curse, trust me. It won't be hard to talk him into it," I scoff.

Kai and Leo share a look before Kai looks back and me and sighs heavily. "Okay, if you say so. But we have to get to him quickly. Tell us where we can find him."

I swallow, my nerves starting to get the better of me. I fight the urge to get up and run though. I need to be here. I need to be strong. But I need to confront Sammy on my own. I can't risk anyone finding out where I'm hiding him.

"You can trust us, Michael," Kai says. "We're only here to help you."

Now they're both looking at me, piercing me with their calculating eyes. They've probably heard about the reward that's being offered for my brother's capture. They're probably only making all this up, pretending to help me so I'll lead them straight to Sammy.

"I'm sorry, this is a lot to take in," I finally say with an exhausted sigh. "You're telling me if Sammy wants to, he can undo everything this curse has caused. Correct?"

Kai nods. "Everything."

"And what? Does life just go back to normal?" I ask.

He looks at Leo and shrugs. "Not exactly. I mean, I still remember what happened. I think about it every day. But Mara doesn't know. And her mother doesn't know. So their lives went back to normal and that's enough for me. If you let us help, we can bring back those two girls."

"And the only people in the world who will ever know what happened are the people sitting at this table and your brother," Leo adds.

This sounds too easy, too good to be true, too perfect. It probably is, but what other choice do I have but to trust them at this point? Sammy will live a life of pain and misery and he'll always be a threat. A threat that can't be stopped.

I take a deep breath, sitting up straight. "Okay. I'll take you to him. But you have to promise me you won't turn him in. If you're saying he can be helped and all of this can go away, I'm certain Sammy will want that. He's ashamed of what he's done."

"I'm sure he is, but trust me, this won't be as easy as you think," Kai says. "I know you want to believe your brother will want that right away, but don't be surprised if he's...resistant at first."