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The Truth Comes Out (Cornelia, Clarissa and Jem)

Nothing was so simple for him. A normal life was something that never came easy to Jem. Always feeling like the outsider. Never fitting in. Wherever he went. Jem always tried so hard to fit in when he knew he could never. Growing up Jem always found it hard. Always been told he was the odd one in the playground. One who nobody wanted to play with. All the parents and other kids whispering behind his backs trying to avoid him. Jem had no idea of what he done so bad. It was mostly to do with his upbringing. One being very different yet Jem couldn’t help it. When he was younger he lived with his aunt and uncle as he had no parents. How bad that turned out for him. Leading onto being a teenage runway with a dark past who father was murdered. Ending up living with Cornelia Bradford chief detective. Jem did find it quite weird how quickly she said yes to taking him in, letting him stay under his roof. Paying for all his schooling, food and other things. It all happening so quick. They were total strangers all most. A troubled teenager. A lost boy someone who nobody wanted but did she? It was something he often wondered. Jem couldn’t help to.

Another thing that Jem had noticed was the constant feel of pity. Feeling people giving him the look of pity wherever he goes in the city. Used to it by now. Everybody who know of who he was and what happened to him, looked at him with pity. Jem hated it. Always trying to ignore it but there was times when he couldn’t. Running away from people so he wouldn’t he said something back. Losing count of how many times it had happened to him. Yet Jem had never felt like bringing it up to Cornelia. Finding it weird to. Feeling that she too looks at him with pity. He couldn’t help it. Noticing too how she was always coming home late. Later than usual for any detective work. With there being weeks of barely seeing Cornelia. Only early in the morning or late at night when she’s coming back. Almost like she’s never there.

Jem walked back into the house after spending hours in the skate park like usual. By now not bothering to call or announce that he was home as it was pointless. As he would be the only one in. Walking into the house instantly it was like voice was calling for him. All in his head, filling his thoughts with commands almost. Not remembering after that it was happening. Finding his way somehow into Cornelia room to her wardrobe not knowing why he needed to. Just that he had to. Rooting through her closet, opening a hidden back part to it. Pulling out a large box filled with different things. Laying it out on the bed Jem was able to get a better look. Shocked with what he had found. There was clear as day, a crime board dedicated his father’s murdered. Different pictures and news reports all pinned up. With red and blue string making different trails. Jem was confused of what it all meant till he saw where the last red trail led to meaning the mystery was solved. Seeing the name of his father's murderer right there. Abraxas Bradford…

He didn’t need to even think to know who it was. Cornelia’s father it must be. Explaining everything. Jem’s father was murdered by Cornelia’s. It was why she took him in, trying to cover up and make up for being responsible for his father getting murdered by her own. Anger filled his body finding out he’s been lied to for so long. With so many chances being told. Not able believe for one moment that this is the only thing Cornelia was lying to him about. Opening a big hole of questions that he’d be looking for wanting the answers for. One thing Jem did know he needed to get out of here. The room, the house everything. Feeling unsafe. The teenager left everything he had found on the bed in plain site, so that when Cornelia comes back she’d know that he knows. Jem ran out of the room to the front door, there glistened hanging up was a pair of keys. Ones that was for Cornelia’s motorcycle. One that she’d never let him go on. Always telling him he was too young to drive one and not insured.

It would be karma if he took something from her, in revenge for it all. A getaway vehicle. So he could distance him as far away from Cornelia and this city as he could. Jem hurried out of the house and to the garage where the motorbike was kept. Hoping on it, turning on the ignition and starting up the engine. Ready to start driving. Not having any practice or inexperience of driving a motorbike but he would soon find out. Driving through the streets of Evermore, filtering through the traffic. Far better than he first thought. Going anywhere to give him enough distance away, not knowing where he wanted to go. Suddenly out of nowhere Jem felt a great force hitting him. Throwing him off his motorcycle, a car crashing straight into him. A car going through a red light causing it to go straight into him. Feeling immense pain flood through his body, everything hurt. Not able to see anything around him, falling into darkness. With one thought on his mind. ‘Is this it?’

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NephilimPermalink Reply by ✓ Cornelia Hael Bradford on March 19, 2019 at 13:28

"Yes, I have all the case files on my desk and Detective Javier should have access to the evidence locker." Cornelia spoke over the phone as she efficiently balanced the phone between her ear and her shoulder while she juggled take-away in one hand and the house key in another. Hearing the key turn in the lock with a click, she pushed the main door to her house open before disconnecting the call, placing the matte black device on the foyer table.

"Jem, I'm home." The female called out before moving into the living room on her way to place the food on the kitchen counter. While Cornelia was nothing less than a workaholic she had begun to understand with a teen under her care, she needed to give him more time. So she had decided to come home early that day and take the rest of the weekend off which she could spend catching up with the young boy. She didn't know what being a parent was like, but thought the least she could do was prioritise him over her work.

However, when she didn't hear back a response on her way out of the kitchen, Cornelia raised a curious brow, walking up the stairs leading to Jem's room. On her way, she noticed the door to her own bedroom had been left ajar. Confusion marked across her features, the female pushed the door open to find a series of papers and documents laid out on her bed. Realisation hadn't dawned upon her until she took a closer look and a gasp left her lips. She cursed out loud, realising what James must have found out before patting her back pocket for her phone.

Almost on cue she heard the familiar ring of her phone coming from downstairs and she ran to pick it up, hoping it was Jem on the other hand. She can explain this, he would understand, the female repeated in her head as she ran down the stairs, however was visibly surprised when the caller ID was from the Evermore General. A feeling of dread settled at the bottom of her stomach as she picked up the phone, only to be met with a news that made the female inhale sharply, she wasn't sure what she was doing after that but the next thing she knew, she was on her way to the hospital, her mind filled with worry.

On arriving at the reception, Cornelia was quick to flash her identification badge before being escorted to the ICU where they had taken the teenager. Guilt, regret, shame everything was pouring out of her as she tried her best to keep the tears at bay. "They've taken him in for surgery but he should be good after that." The nurse informed her as they both stood in front of the tiny window overlooking the room inside which doctors were busy at work.

Unable to process the reality, Cornelia called the one person she knew would understand what she was going through. Dialling her sister's number, the female waited with bated breath, "I'm at the hospital." She said, her voice uncharacteristically soft, "It's..." Stuttering, she laid her eyes on the unconscious body of the male inside, "It's Jem. He was in an accident."

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NephilimPermalink Reply by ✓ Clarissa Bradford ~Admin~ on March 22, 2019 at 17:41

For the majority of evenings for the last month, Rissa had given into Siobhan and allowed herself to start training the younger Nephilim on how to control her emotions, to learn how to hide them even whilst also training her how to use her Nephilim powers along with combat; Siobhan had called it almost Assassin training, but Rissa never wanted to call it that - she could never accept the fact that she could train someone in becoming someone like her. Especially when that someone being Siobhan, the blonde Nephilim was too sweet and everything pure in this world, even in spite of everything that had happened to her, from her time of arrival in the City and as to what happened to her during her childhood. Clarissa had always seen so much strength in the girl, in fact she would even argue that Sio was stronger than herself in a lot of aspects; emotional strength, to her, was a lot stronger than anything physical - and emotions were certainly something that she could never do nor get a handle on.

Therefore, when she did eventually get home, she often found herself with a crate of beer, and some kind of junk food; she knew she worked out way too often to worry about calories being a thing to her. Tonight was no different, with a crate of beer under one arm, a pizza box under the other, she used her right foot to lift to kick her door open; gently enough so she didn’t break it off the hinges. Rissa was looking forward to this evening, to be on her own and not worry about anyone or anything; for once, despite the looming shadow of Abraxas, it seemed that her family were finally getting into the rhythm of things - even Cornelia had adopted a teenage boy, which Rissa could not help but call him a Pet. Just his reaction alone was enough of a reason for her to keep the nickname going; yet, much like many others in this city, Jem had managed to get himself under Rissa’s skin to the point where she cared deeply for him, even if she showed it in the most weirdest of ways.

Clarissa kicked off her trainers, and put her feet up onto the coffee table as she flicked on the tv and got settled for the evening; yet, not evening finishing the first slice of pizza, her phone rang and she couldn’t help but grumble and answer the phone with a full mouth of pizza. “Whats up, sis?” Her words were barely understandable, as she chewed; but it wasn’t until she heard Cornelia’s response, that she almost choked upon her beloved food. “He’s what?” Rissa quickly swallowed down her food and thumbled for her shoes once more. “I’ll be there straight away” With that, she used the back of her hand to wipe away the tomato sauce which tainted her lips and jumped straight back into her car; leaving behind her beloved leather jacket as she did so.

Upon arriving at the hospital, she glanced around urgently for her sister, and demanded that the receptionist gave her directions to the correct wing and room; she muttered the word of thanks and headed towards ICU where she saw the almost tired frame of her sister looking into the room. “Corn?” She spoke softly, as she approached her younger sister, and despite not being at all good at emotions, she embraced her worried sister. “What happened?” She asked, withdrawing slightly to glance in a the male on the other side of the glass.

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NephilimPermalink Reply by ✓ Cornelia Hael Bradford on May 5, 2019 at 12:58

Cornelia stood in front of the small window like a stone figure, her body unmoving, refusing to crumble to the thoughts that plagued her mind. She knew if she took a single step, even tucked the hair behind her ear, she would lose it. She would break down so she stood there, almost paralysed, waiting for a miracle to happen. Waiting for the doctors to come out and tell her it'll be okay, that Jem would be fine, that she had not lost yet another person she cared for.

Her mind on the other hand was a turmoil of emotions, every thought crashing into the guilt of being the reason why Jem was in this situation. She had tried so hard to shield him from the truth of what had really happened with his father and who Abraxas truly was but at the end of the day here they were and she felt like she had completely failed the young boy. Her call to Clarissa was short, her hands shaking as she disconnected the line and resumed her position in front of the door, a single tear breaking through her hard stance.

Clarissa was perhaps the only one who could understand the position Cornelia was in. They both had tried so hard to keep people at an arm's length and yet Jem and Siobhan had crawled under their skin respectively and created a place for themselves in their hearts in a way nobody ever had. The fear, the sheer knowledge of what could happen if Abraxas found out, bonded the two sisters the first time in years. She jumped a little as Clarissa's voice broke through her train of thoughts, and as the older female pulled her into an embrace, Cornelia broke.

"I'm sorry I-." She stuttered, pulling herself just enough to reveal the stream of tears that rolled down her cheek, her heart was in a tight knot, not knowing what to do, how to face this situation. "I didn't know who else to call." She whispered, raising her palm to wipe away the tears only for a fresh set to flood the corner of her eyes. She followed her gaze into the ICU, shaking her head, "I-I don't know. They said a car hit him." The younger Bradford took a gulp of breaths in between her silent tears, "I don't know why he hasn't healed yet." Cornelia had limited knowledge about Dhampirs and their healing rate which worried her even more, "I think it's bad." She whispered, trying hard to swallow another sob.

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NephilimPermalink Reply by ✓ Clarissa Bradford ~Admin~ on June 2, 2019 at 18:02

It was heartbreaking to see Cornelia in the state that she was in; in fact, it was an oddity to see any of the Bradford siblings showing any form of emotions, yet in the most recent of months, each sibling had unwillingly allowed someone to enter their inner circles - to break down a few of their protective walls. Because of this, Rissa knew exactly what Corn was feeling in this moment - it was a feeling she had just overcome with Siobhan after the baby neph threw herself in front of a bullet for the ex-assassin. It was also a feeling that she wouldn’t want another to feel, it was the feeling of helplessness, and blame yet she knew that Cornelia was different than herself thus, she had no doubt that she would be there when Jem woke up - unlike Rissa, she would run. From just looking at the younger Bradford, she could see that the guilt was already setting in, and she knew that no matter what words they exchanged, Rissa would never be able to make Cornelia see that this was not her fault - no one could have predicted there to be such an accident.

Her gaze drifted between the kid on the other side of the glass and it broke her heart to see just how young and vulnerable he looked; but right now, she knew he was in the safest of hands, therefore, he was in other words the least of her worries compared to the emotional state the Cornelia had currently found herself in. A weak and very faint smile found one side of her lips in an reassuring manner, her hands remained on her sister's shoulders in an offer of support as she feared that Corn would crumble if she removed them. A very light chuckle bypassed her lips as Cornelia apologised for calling her, the apology caused Rissa to shake her head. “You don’t need to apologise, Corn. He is family after all” She replied, and slowly led the other Bradford towards the seats just opposite the room.

Upon hearing the cause of why he had entered up in the hospital caused Rissa to flinch ever so slightly; it was in these moments that made her realise that not all supernatural creatures were immortal - it was easy to forget. “How old is he again?” She questioned, as she leaned into her back pocket to find a clean but scrunched up tissue and offered it to her. “If he hasn’t reached eighteen, maybe the gene hasn’t properly kicked in?” She offered as an answer as to why he hadn’t healed yet; as she recalled the claiming ceremony the Dhampirs go through.