Meeting of Minds

While Nero had been set free, Jason slowly awoke in an all-white room. He had fallen off a black three-legged stool and was on the ground. The only things in the room were several small black clouds circling the centre of the room, hovering above the tripod, a small red pond in the corner and a golden flame burning opposite the pond. Jason sat up, his body fully restored now with all his limbs as he stood up looking around the room. Abruptly the clouds swirled around the chair, righting it, and then the clouds circled the chair once more before forming the image of Jason sitting on top of it, except he was dressed in black with pale white skin and pure black eyes.

"Hi, Jason! You look awful, confused, buddy. Let me explain somethings if you want."

Nero spoke to Jason in a cheerful tone as he sat on the tripod clouds swirling around him.

"What is going on? Who are you? Why do you look like me? Where am I?"

Jason spat out a flurry of questions in confusion. His last memory was of being kicked into a car and Nero's hysterical laugh.

"Now, now, slow down. My name is Nero, and I look like you because I am you, and we are currently inside your mind."

Nero flourished his arms, gesturing to the white walls and everything in it.

Jason took a panicked look around before he asked Nero.

"How could you be me, and how could we be inside my mind?"

While he had been pulled into a similar mind realm before by Siegfried, this was his mind. Why would he be here with this guy Nero? He had never seen the black clouds that represented Nero before, and he had certainly never heard the name, so why was this man inside his mind and speaking to him?

"I can see you doubt me, but why don't we take a look at what we are doing outside."

Nero waved his hands, and black clouds swallowed up Jason before he blacked out once again.

Jason awoke again, paralyzed by the sight before him.

Nero sat on a couch playing on a smartphone intently as the TV played in the background, surrounded by dried husks, soulless bodies. There were piles of men and women all around the room. Their faces twisted in agony, mouths open as their souls escaped them. A series of screaming souls circulated his hand as he sent them one by one into his mouth as Jason stood there stunned. Jason turned around and hurled as he attempted to vomit, yet nothing escaped from his stomach. He tried to hold onto the wall for support before falling through it as he found no help.

"What is going on!!!!"

Jason could only shout in anger and disgust at seeing Nero's actions praying that they only are an illusion.

"Can't you see? I am having lunch?"

Nero sat there in amusement as he continued to devour the souls before him, cackling a the sight of Jason's disgust.

"You know of the two of us. I think it's you drinking blood that's ickier. Come on, drinking blood? Ew!"

Nero made a face of mocking Jason's disgust as he laughed. Jason currently existed purely spiritually. His body was now under the control of Nero, devouring souls as he watched TV. Jason was now free of the urges of his vampire body, returning to his pre vampire mindset, disgusted at the thought of blood consumption. His mind was fully human for the first time since the night of the bite. Jason looked around at the corpses surround him and just gave up.

(Okay, I am officially crazy. This whole vampire thing is just this crazy, coma, nightmare dream. The guy in the alley killed me. What the actual fuck is going? I am either in a coma or dead, and I am in hell right now.)

"Well, you are not dead cause then I would be too, and hell is probably not so full of tasty souls like this."

Nero continued to play on the phone, fascinated as he scrolled the internet, the occasional soul still floating in his mouth as he answered Jason.

"Woah, did you just read my mind?"

Jason was shocked once again for the umpteenth time today as Nero replied to his thoughts.

"No, I didn't read your mind, but right now, you exist only in mind form, so everything you think is kind of broadcast to me, especially when you aren't trying to hide your thoughts, so it's easy to accidentally think "out loud" instead of simply having the thought."

Nero sat there patiently waiting for Jason to get a grip on himself as waves of news hit him entirely all at once. Nero's confirmation that he wasn't dreaming sent him reeling back into memories of attacking that girl in the alley, of the attack at the club, of him drinking Hailey's blood, him drinking that barrel of blood, him accepting Yukio, Ashley and Michael as part of his household and bloodline. The memories came to him, now untainted by urges of blood as if a pair of lense had fallen off, and Jason was seeing them in a new light. How could he have adjusted so fast to everything that had been happening? How could he have done those things? Jason clutched his head in pain as he was awash in the horror of his actions once again.

(What the fuck has been going?)

Jason was startled by how much he had changed without even noticing. He had simply adapted to his new reality without skipping a beat. But it was as if he had been drunk the whole time. He could remember snippets of his time after awakening during the days, but when night fell, and his urges took control, all he could remember was the colour red and how sweet the blood tasted in the night.

(STOP STOP STOP.)

Jason had to hold himself back from delving too deep into his memories. They would be of no benefit. Instead, he needed to calm down and focus on what was happening right now. The last memory he had was of battle and then the white room to now.

(I can't spiral right now! I need to focus on getting through whatever this is right now.)

Nero watched as Jason took several deeps breathes before locking eyes with him.

"You want to know what's going on ?"

whispered Nero softly enticing Jason into his web.