Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Five - Madness of The Unmasked

Of course, things could not always be so straight forward.

Now that Harmony's mask had been stripped off, the woman's true character was all that remained.  At first, she was satisfied by observing her target from a far, watching him from a shadowed corner in the Night Life club, not minding who served her drinks... then she could only have him serve her drinks, would not purchase anything unless Adam was her bartender.  Would only buy drinks from the bar that he was working at, upper or lower.  She managed, somehow, to obtain his work schedule so Adam could only request a change to his shifts in order to avoid her.

This was not enough, she soon figured out the situation.  She simply visited the club most nights despite the cost or hung around outside waiting for him to finish.  The woman also managed to find out where he worked during the day.  It had been coincidental, her car had gotten a flat tire and their garage just happened to be nearest available for the tow truck as it wasn't a simple fix.  Adam had treated her as just another customer, despite her acting all sweet and friendly towards him.  His colleagues had teased him, mentioning what they would do if such a beauty came on to them and why not give her a chance.

"Ah, but I have a lover," Adam had retorted.  "One who happens to be very jealous and possessive."

"That's not necessarily a good thing," his boss said worriedly.  His former wife had been possessive and almost cost him his livelihood and mental health before the divorce.

"But I'm the same with him," Adam admitted.  "It makes for a very passionate time.  Besides, there is great trust between us and understanding."

His boss saw the eyes of a lost man and shook his head for a moment before coming to a realisation.  "Him?"  Ah no wonder this boy was not looking or touching such a fine looking, good natured woman!

Good natured?  The boss soon came to realise his mistake.  The woman had booked her car into the garage several times, for its M.O.T, for a service, but then for several trivial nonsense reasons, even to change a working lightbulb in the headlight?  And even when she was not making up excuses to increase their workload, she had started to hang around the garage in the evenings, specifically the time when Adam was due to leave or when they were locking up for the night after the boy had worked overtime.

"Isn't this considered stalking?"  His boss had asked him after seeing her car registration in his books yet again.  "You know, you should probably consider talking to someone about it."

"Nothing I can do at the moment," Adam shrugged.  "It's not like she's hurting anyone, just wasting her own time."

And then Owen came to work at the bar for a few weekends to lighten the workload over the summer holidays.  He had passed his exams with flying colours and was easily accepted onto his course of first choice, Pharmacy, at his university of choice.  He filled out the paperwork for student loans, his father would have helped pay for his studies, but Owen wanted to stand on his own two feet a bit more and no longer wished to aggravate his stepmother.  He didn't need to fuel her hatred, she was causing herself to suffer by not letting go.  Only if she decided to go against him or his lover personally would he bother to retaliate.  He was also aware that his siblings had come to like him so his stepmother risked alienating her own children if she tried to play tricks.  She could only fume in silence.

But before he began his course, it did not hurt to earn a little pocket money that he could claim his own, plus he and Adam were looking for a small nest that they could officially call their own, especially since Harmony had followed Adam home and had begun pestering his aunt.

However Owen's presence at the bar caused a confrontation between lover and stalker.  The woman had taken one look at the two men working side by side and noticed a small, sweet exchange of loving smiles between the pair as they worked and she finally flipped.  She smashed the wine glass leaving only a few curved fragments of sharp glass on the fragile stem and had rushed through a sudden gap in the crowd as they had turned to figure out where the noise had come from (and cheer for the idiot who had dropped the glass).  Seeing her bloodlust, they instinctively moved away from her, a few screaming in panic and pushing others in order to get away.  Owen had turned to stare at the fast approaching wraith, only to be pushed out of the way by his lover.

Glass deeply pierced Adam's shoulder, shocking everyone, including the culprit herself.  Owen reacted instantly, preventing Tina from trying to remove the glass, ordering instead that an ambulance be called.  Having snapped out of her madness, Harmony tried to flee, but was grabbed by two burly body guards and lead to the office in the employee only area while Lacey called the police.  She also instructed for her shaky workers to serve a round of free sodas.  No one would be able to leave the club, the police would need witnesses and other bouncers were to send anyone queuing outside away, no further entry.

The ambulance and police arrived reasonably quickly and Harmony was arrested for assault, while Adam was taken to the hospital to get the glass removed and wound cleaned and stitched.  Owen contacted his older brother, he needed a reliable lawyer.  Even if Harmony was set free due to her family's influence, he wanted a restraining order to keep the woman away from Adam and himself.  Several people knew the woman was stalking Adam and as there were youth's with phones, naturally there were those that captured some of the attack on them.  Most did not record enough to be considered evidence, but put together, they provided conclusive evidence that it was Owen she wished to hurt.

*****

Harmony was not the only one to be driven to madness by desire. Though there was no proof of what Charity had done, Karl had called the wedding off without explanation! How did he escape from her grasp? Out of the many thousands that she could have chosen, that drug was the most insidious as once in the body it was difficult to remove and in this world, impossible! Everything was once again spiralling out of her control! She could no longer produce the child needed to mess up his perfect little world and she was losing grasp on her physical body once again! She no longer had that boy's family within her grasp and he was firmly enveloped in the protective embrace of the one that worked for him! If she knew that this was going to occur, she would have somehow figured out how to keep the pair separate during the convention! Obviously, instilling hate within them before they had even met was not sufficient in the scheme of things!

In order to try regain some control, she turned to the one she had brought into this world to serve her.

Harmony had just received bail, but that did not mean that she had reflected on her mistakes. She had just been turned away from entering Night Life! Barred, they said! How dare they! Did they not know who she was?! Bitterly walking away, she had not noticed her cousin drive up behind her nor get out of the car.

"Harmony!"

"Charity," she replied. What did the bitch want now? She laughed out loud. Oh so now that Charity had also been abandoned, she wanted to use her again! As if! When she had left her to suffer alone! When so many people had given her pitying glances! Already so drunk! They said! Delusional! What unremovable choker was she talking about? Look at the gorges on her neck made by her own hand! Several of her friends were keeping their distance and not to mention family members wanting her to seek 'professional help!'

As if she already knew that she would receive resistance, Charity had even pulled out a gun! "You will help me obtain what I want!"  Harmony just stared at the weapon, unfazed.

"Oh or what? You will shoot?" Harmony goaded with another laugh and even took a step forward.  "Go ahead! Kill me! So what if I die? I'll just find him again and gain another chance!"

"Did you forget that the choker will prevent you reincarnating?" Charity asked. "But I may be able to remove it..."

"I don't believe you anymore!" Harmony yelled. "How can I? All of your plans end up bringing me nothing! He is still not mine! I cannot have what I want, so why should I help you get what you want?" Charity's eyes narrowed as she began to walk forward.  She removed the safety from the gun with a click and took aim once more.

"Harmony...." she threatened. Suddenly they were surrounded by the police! Harmony laughed again, she had heard them in the distance. Did not know they were coming here, perhaps someone tipped them off seeing as a madwoman was waving about a gun in the middle of a street that was only quiet as it was gone midnight! Obviously Charity was beyond reason if she forgot that there was a club full of people just minutes away.

The enraged woman did not drop the gun that she held. Nor did she release the bullet to take down her cousin, in fact she turned the gun on herself and blew her own brains out! The police were dumbfounded. The other woman just continued laughing, falling to the ground as her knees refused to support her, tears ran down her face as she chuckled madly. She did not resist as the police carefully guided her into one of their cars. She would be receiving the professional help she had been avoiding much sooner than she realised.

*****

Adam continued to work two jobs for another few months as Owen settled down at university. They moved into a one bedroom place with a small, but well stocked kitchen and a bathroom that had no bath, but a shower definitely big enough for two. However, seeing as he was seeing way too little of his lover, he gave up the second job and swallowed his pride allowing Owen to pay towards more things with his allowance. That had not stopped, despite Owen's initial reservations, his old man insisted. It did help the two men's financial circumstances greatly, but they still refused to spend too much of it. Better leave it for a rainy day in case the allowance was finally stopped.

While studying, Owen opted not to enter the retail world as a pharmacist, but instead upon receipt of his degree, took a postgraduate course in pharmacology.  He was on route to become a scientist once more, but this time focusing on the reactions of drugs within the body and the development of medicine.  After completing this course, Adam finally whisked him to the register office to complete their application for a civil partnership.

They let everyone find out about this much later.

Author's note;  I wasn't too happy with my previous chapter.  I thought it was okay, but it's like a good performer following a great one, was going to be a shadow regardless!  Plus, I wrote it when I was sleepy, not the best time to do so!  Okay this arc is ending!  I will be putting together one last chapter and I think I will take a short break... probably a week.  I have prearranged chapters for Cultivator so there will be posts from me.  I won't take any longer than a week otherwise I will struggle to get back into the swing of things!  Thank you for all of your support so far!