“You think she’s funny?” Steel asks Ellis.
Ellis shrugs. “She’s kind of amusing and I think you’d agree with me if you weren’t all amped up.”
“I’m not amped up,” he insists, cracking his knuckles. “I’m not even halfway there.”
“Really?” I ask with skepticism as I glance at the beaten up guy. “Then what the hell do you do when you’re all the way there?”
Steel’s lips curl into a smirk. “I finish the job.”
I gulp, wondering if he means he kills people. Does that mean West kills people too?
“Steel, knock it off,” Ellis warns. “You don’t need to try to scare her.”
“Yes, I do,” Steel says with his dark eyes trained on me. “This entire time she hasn’t acted scared. Not even when she thought she was kidnapped. But she should be scared. She will be when she finds out what’s going on.” He leans in, crowding my personal space, and lowering his voice. “Don’t worry, though. Like you said, we’re here to protect you.” He presses his hand to the small of my back and drags his teeth along my earlobe, biting at the skin, before pulling away.
I do my best to not let my jaw drop to my knees, but my lips slightly part and a smirk spreads across his face. I fire back a smirk, even though I’m so damn confused. Then I open my mouth, preparing to put him in his place. But West interrupts me.
“So, what’s going on?” he asks Steel as he appears at my side and threads his fingers through mine. “Ellis said we needed to come back here.”
Steel stares at me for a beat or two longer before tearing his gaze off me. “You want to have this conversation in front of her?” he asks West with a questioning arch of his brow.
“Not really,” West says with a sigh. “But she’s a stubborn one.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” Steel rubs his jawline. “Which means she’s going to be a pain in the ass to keep an eye on.”
West rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I highly doubt you’re going to mind.”
Steel stares West down with his arms crossed. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I think you know,” West replies with a challenge in his eyes.
Steel shakes his head, his jaw ticking. “What did I tell you about making assumptions about me.”
West shrugs. “I’m not making assumptions. I’m stating facts.”
As they continue to bicker like two old ladies, Ellis lets out an exhausted sigh.
“Are they always like this?” I ask him.
He nods with zero hesitation. “Steel kind of brings it out in people, though.”
“So do I, I think,” I admit with a frown. “At least with West.”
Ellis’s eyes sparkle mischievously. “Maybe West is the problem then.”
I laugh, which seems odd considering the situation. “Yeah, maybe, but I highly doubt it.”
Ellis grins. “You have a nice laugh.”
“Thanks,” I say. “You have a nice smile.”
He grins at me.
I grin back, my cheeks a bit flushed. I don’t do well with compliments. Never have. Thankfully, I rarely get them.
The chained up guy suddenly lets out a hysterical laugh and just like that, my smile fades. So does Ellis’s. West and Steel grow quiet as they turn toward him.
“And the clock officially starts.” The chained up guy laughs again. And laughs. And laughs, like a mad man losing the last bit of his sanity.
Blood begins to pour from his nose while his body slumps to the floor. He continues to laugh, an eerie, wild, haunting laugh as he rolls back and forth.
“What the fuck.” West releases my hand and strides toward the guy with Steel right at his heels.
Ellis doesn’t follow, instead towing me toward him until my side is pressed up against him. Then he drapes his arm around my shoulder and hugs me against his side. The protective move seems odd since I don’t really know him. At least that’s what I think at first. But then the chained up guy unexpectedly springs to his feet and rushes forward with so much force the chains snap.
What the shit!
Shock waves over me, powerful and potent as the man shoves West and Steel aside as if they weigh nothing. They slam against opposing walls and crash to the concrete floor with a sickening thud.
The guy barrels toward me, growling, “Must destroy! Must destroy!”
Usually, I can handle crazy situations. But this isn’t just a crazy situation. It’s straight out of a sci-fi horror movie or something. I don’t know what to do. Don’t know how to react. So I stupidly stand there as the guy rushes at me. Thankfully, Ellis doesn’t share the same stupidity as me and in one swift movement, he whirls me around while positioning his body in front of mine.
“Stay back,” Ellis orders, then charges at the guy.
The sound of the impact of their bodies crashing together makes my stomach churn.
I slap my hand over my mouth and back away as the guy picks up Ellis by the throat, lifting him so high his feet no longer touch the floor.
“No one gets in the way of the mission.” The guy grips Ellis’s throat as he stares coldly into his eyes.
Ellis gasps for air, kicking at the guy. But the guy isn’t even fazed.
Seriously, can you say steroid freak. Who is this guy?
Or what?
The thought crosses my mind out of the blue but I hastily shove it aside.
This isn’t a fantasy book, Alexis. The dude’s human. He’s just jacked up on something.
As the guy continues to strangle Ellis, I look from West to Steel, who are passed out on the floor. I don’t know how this guy managed to knock them unconscious, but one thing is for sure: it doesn’t look like they’re getting up any time soon.
My gaze flies back to Ellis, whose face is turning blue. I may not know him very well, but I’m not about to run away and let him die. The realization that he could very well die—that the guy choking him could very well be a killer—doesn’t frighten me as much as I thought it would. It pisses me off.
A strange, powerful feeling overcomes me as I make my way around the edge of the room to the broken chains. I pick up a piece of one and then make my way back to the guy and Ellis, a foggy haze glazing through my mind. I feel possessed, controlled by an unseen, unknown force. But the force gives me strength. Gives me power. Guides me straight to the guy, lifts my arms, and wraps the chain around his neck. Then I tug with all my strength—a strength I never knew I had. They guy startles and drops Ellis to the ground as he stumbles back.
“Let me go, you bitch,” he chokes out as I hold the chain around his neck.
My heart is racing in my chest and that heat I felt earlier has altered to a deathly cold chill. I’m so cold I feel as though I’m dying. Maybe I am dead. Maybe I died a while ago and this is all just a dream. Maybe that’s why I feel like I’ve done this before. That I’ve hurt someone. Badly. That I’ve died. A lot.
“You think this will stop everything,” the guy chokes out as he tries to turn around. “But it won’t.”
I make no move to speak, instead kicking his legs out from underneath him. He crashes to the floor with a loud thud, his head cracking against the cement.
I keep the chain around his neck like a leash as I lean over him. “Stop what?”
“You don’t know yet?” He howls with laughter. “Well, it sucks to be you then.”
“Tell me,” I demand as I wind the chain around my hand, causing it to tighten around his neck..
He grabs onto the chain, trying to pry the metal away from his neck while gasping for air. I smile. I don’t even know why. I feel possessed.
His face starts to tint blue as he struggles to breathe. “You’re going to die,” he grits out. “And your death’s going to be slow and painful.”
“Says the man with a chain around his neck,” I growl out.
“Oh, I’m not going to kill you.” He laughs. “The poison is.”
I stop winding the chain around my hand. “What poison?”
He
laughs like a crazed hyena, throwing his head back. “The poison I put in you. It’s going to kill you soon.”
My heart misses a beat. “But I’m okay… I woke up… West said I’d be okay…” None of this is making sense.
“Oh, your guys don’t know about the other drug I put in you.” The crazed smile that possesses his face sends a chill down my spine. “It doesn’t really matter, though. Whether they know or not, no one can save you. No one can ever be saved when the kiss of evil taints their blood.”
I may not be the one with the chain wrapped around my neck, but it sure as hell feels like it. “Why?” I manage to get out.
“Because you escaped and no one is supposed to escape. If they do, they get punished.” He smiles up at me then jerks on the chain, catching me off guard.
I trip forward, about to fall on him, but a pair of arms loop around my waist. West’s scent floods my nostrils and I relax as he picks me up and carries me toward the door.
Right before we walk out, I glance over his shoulder.
Steel has the man pinned down while Ellis hurriedly injects a needle into his arm. The man cackles with laughter. But his laughter soon fades into a dull whimper as the guy’s body goes limp.
“Has anyone ever told you the story of how I got my scars?” Steel whispers to the guy with a dark look in his eyes.
I strain my ears to listen, wanting to hear the story, but West opens the door and carries me out of the room. I keep my eyes trained on Steel as West starts to close the door behind us. Right before he gets the door completely shut, Steel glances up at me. Our eyes meet and that strange feeling overcomes me again, the one that I’ve met him before. For a faltering moment, panic floods Steels silver eyes. Then the door clicks shut and the moment slips away.
And reality crashes over me.
A cloud of death hanging over my head
Alexis
I remain silent as West carries me down the hallway and into the living room. He stays silent too, but I can tell he’s nervous by his erratic breathing. I want to know why he’s nervous, if he heard anything that guy said to me. Or maybe he’s freaked out because I tried to choke the guy.
Oh my god, I tried to kill someone!
I want to make excuses for myself, but the truth is, ever since my parents died, a bit of a violent streak surfaced inside me. Sure, I’ve never tried to kill anyone before, but I’ve definitely done my fair share of punching. Was that all a build up to an explosion? Am I some sort of monster?
A faint memory tickles the back of my mind, one I didn’t even know existed.
“Alexis, I need to tell you something,” my mom whispers into my ear.
I can’t see her, only hear her, as I lie in my bed with my eyes shut. I’m angry at her because she got upset with me for yelling at my brother. He had stolen my toy and I got so mad at him I yelled, which was strange. I rarely yell. I’m actually a pretty quiet girl except for on a few occasions where I lose control. I don’t know why I feel this way sometimes—possessed by anger. Sometimes I worry I’m broken. And it doesn’t help that sometimes my mom looks at me like I am a monster, like she did today.
“What?” I mumble, refusing to open my eyes. Even though I don’t want to admit it, her looking at me like I was a monster made me worry that my fears are actually truths. And it hurt me deeply.
Her hand touches my back, but I refuse to open my eyes. “I know you’re mad at me, but I need you to understand that I’m just worried.”
“Yeah, I know,” I mutter. “You’re worried I’m a monster.”
“No, that’s not it at all.” Honesty rings in her tone. “I’m worried one day the monsters will come after you if they ever find you.”
My eyelids open, but I don’t roll over to look at her. “What do you mean?”
She sighs heavily. “I just want you to be careful. No matter what happens, be careful. And stay away from any monsters. They could easily taint you with their poison.” Her hand left my back.
A moment later I roll over, only to find her gone. And I’m left wondering if I’d dreamt the entire thing. After all, why would my mom warn me of monsters when monsters didn’t exist?
I blink back to reality as West gently sets me down onto the sofa.
But what if my mom wasn’t talking about actual monsters? What if she meant it metaphorically? And that talk about poison…
“West, did you hear anything that guy said to me?” I ask as he tucks a pillow underneath my head.
He swallows hard and then nods. “I heard the end of it as I was waking up.”
“Did he… Am I…” I can’t even get the words out so I focus on another question. “How was that guy so strong?”
West stares down at me, letting his fingertips trace along my hairline. “He was probably drugged up.”
My hands burn from holding onto the chain so tightly and I curl my fingers inward. “By what?”
He sinks down onto the edge of the sofa with a wary look on his face. “This world that me, Steel, and Ellis live in is tainted by drugs. And not just your average street drugs. Powerful, deadly drugs that most people haven’t heard of.”
“And that guy was on one of those drugs?”
He nods, resting a hand beside my head. “He must have somehow taken them without us knowing, because he wasn’t even close to being that strong when I brought him here.”
“I can’t believe there’s a drug that can make someone that strong.” And that I managed to take that guy on. I shiver, unsure if I’m more scared of the drug or myself.
“There’s worse out there.” He rests his other hand next to the side of my head and leans over me. “We’ve done a lot of jobs where we tried to shut down the facilities that create these drugs, but as quickly as we get them shut down, three more are already created. It’s a vicious cycle that sadly we have no control over.”
“Why would anyone want to take those drugs, though, unless they were like fighting professionally or something.”
“There’s a lot more reasons than just that.” He pauses, seeming undecided about something. “One being to carry through with assassinations.”
My eyes widen. “You think that guy’s an assassin. But who would he be assassinating…” I suddenly remember how the guy screamed, must destroy, as he ran at me. “Was he trying to kill me?”
Worry flashes across his expression. “I don’t know yet.”
“Why would he want to kill me?” I whisper, feeling as though the life I once knew is crumbling apart. Maybe it didn’t even exist in the first place.”
“I don’t know,” he says. “But I promise you we’ll figure it out.”
I press my lips together, fighting back the tears that want to spill out of my eyes. I’ve never been a crier and I’m not about to start now. “He said the drugs he put inside me are going to eventually kill me. He called it the kiss of evil or something like that.”
“I know. I heard.” West smooths my hair out of my eyes, a crease forming between his brows.
I fight back the urge to let my eyelashes flutter. “Did you already know that?”
“No. When Ellis ran the blood work, your system showed devil’s poison in you, which is a strong tranquilizer. So strong in fact that sometimes it can stop other drugs from showing up in a person’s system until it’s too late.”
“So he put devil’s poison in me to hide this kiss of evil stuff.” Maybe that’s why I’ve been overheating so much.
He wavers. “Possibly.”
My lungs begin to constrict but I still refuse to cry. “Am I going to die? Because I’ve felt strange since the moment I woke up.”
West hastily shakes his head. “No, you’re going to be fine. And it’s normal to feel strange after being tranquilized.”
“But the guy said that drug would kill me.”
“But there’s an antidote for it.”
I perk up slightly. “You have it?”
His gaze burns fiercely. “No, but I’m going to get it.”
/> I nod, but worry stirs inside me. “Do you think… Do you think that’s why I was able to take that guy down… Because I have these drugs in my system?”
“It could be.” But he seems doubtful, as if he’s hiding something from me.
“You’re lying to me about something,” I say, searching his eyes for the truth.
“I’m not lying about anything,” he tells me. “But I’m not telling you everything either.”
Anger flickers inside my chest. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to worry you unless I have to.”
“I’m already worried.”
“Well, you shouldn’t be.” He cups my cheek and carries my gaze firmly. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
I want to ask him if he’s doing this because of his job or if he really does care about me. I think back to those moments in the car where he touched me.
As if sensing my thoughts, he leans in, as if to kiss me. But at the very last second, he moves to the side and presses his lips against the side of my neck. Then he begins sucking while gently grazing his teeth along my skin.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he whispers and then bites at my skin again. “No matter what happens. I swear to God, I’ll let myself die first.”
Another bite against my neck sends my back bowing upward and a whimper falters from my lips. West groans, slipping his hand behind my back. Then he presses me closer while making a path of kisses up my neck to my jawline, pausing only when he nears my lips. He slants back slightly to meet my gaze, a heated look blazing in his eyes.
Confusion swarms my mind as I stare up at him. This is West, my frenemy, the guy who I’ve spent hours bickering with. He’s friends with the guy I thought I was in love with. Yet I want to kiss him. Badly. Perhaps the need is stemming from shock. Perhaps I’ve lost my damn mind. Whatever the reason, I remain still, waiting.
His tongue slips out of his mouth, wetting his lips, then he leans in. Closer, closer, closer. When our lips brush, my body trembles. I’d be embarrassed but West seems a bit shaky himself.
“I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” he whispers against my mouth. “Fuck, I’ve wanted this.”