by Lola StVil
“You have ten seconds,” I tell her firmly.
“What?”
“You have ten seconds to be the girl whose trust was betrayed, the girl who erupts in anger because she slept with a dick. But after those ten seconds are over, you need to go back to being the leader and showing some understanding for Key.”
“Argh! I know you’re right, I just…I hate the little shit!” she says, running her fingers through her hair as if to pull it out from its roots.
“I’m sorry things went down this way,” I reply.
She smiles and shakes her head in disbelief.
“Yeah, I’m sure you are,” she says flippantly.
“What does that mean?”
“Forget it. We need to get going already.”
“No. If you have something to say, say it,” I offer.
“Fine, I think you’re happy that things worked out like this.”
“What?!”
“I didn’t want Bex to find out this way. You made sure the news came out because you hate him and you don’t want to see us together,” she shouts.
“Are you together?”
“I—that’s not the point!” she counters.
“I tried to keep this from getting out and now you’re pissed at me? You are unbelievable.”
“You could have taken me aside and talked to me,” she reasons.
“And you could have not slept with Hunter. Life is filled with choices, Pry. You made yours and now you want someone to blame it on.”
“So you’re judging me?”
“No! Do whatever you want. You want to have revenge sex, go for it. You can do it on the Eiffel Tower, in the ocean, hell, do it on the fucking moon if you want.”
“Thanks. I’m so glad I have your permission.”
“Look, I have had more than my share of regretful encounters, but I don’t take them out on you. So maybe you want to pull back on the anger before you start to really piss me off. All I was trying to do was protect you so that the whole world wouldn’t find out,” I remind her.
“Do not protect me,” she orders.
“Why the hell not?”
“For one thing, you suck at it,” she says.
“Wow, really?”
“I left it to you to protect my damn heart and you crushed it. So now when it comes time for protection, I see to that myself,” she barks.
“How many times can I say I’m sorry I broke up with you? How many times will I need to say it for you to start hearing me?”
“I don’t need you to say shit to me, Silver! Everything that comes out of your damn mouth is a lie.”
“Hey, you want to be pissed at me about us splitting up, fine. That’s on me, but you’re not gonna take out your rage at Hunter on me.”
“Why not? All you guys are alike. You just use as many girls as you can and move on to the next one. It doesn’t surprise me that Hunter did what he did. I guess when Omnis gave you guys balls, he took away your hearts. Maybe that’s why all of you are such cold bastards!”
“If he was such a bastard, then why the hell did you sleep with him on the side of a damn mountain!”
“Because as it turns out, I have horrible taste in guys; case in point,” she mocks.
“I am not the one to blame here.”
“No, you aren’t; this is all on me. I’ll take that. But just do me a favor and stop trying to save me. The time for you to save me was the day you left my ass in the fucking cave, looking for the rest of my soul.”
“PRYOR, I AM SORRY I HURT YOU.”
“So what? Who gives a damn if you’re sorry?”
“I want to fix this; I want to fix ‘us,’ but that can’t happen if you don’t let this go,” I warn her.
“Oh, really? ‘Let it go’ just like that, huh? What exactly do you think happened between us? You act like you missed movie night or got caught looking at the waitress’s ass. Silver, I gave you everything I had! I did things with you that I never did with anyone else. You held my hand while we made love, you said to trust you, and then you left me!”
“I know,” I whisper as I try to step closer to her.
She pulls away and shakes her head in disgust. “Silver, you have no idea. I did everything I was supposed to do. I stood by you no matter what. You left the team without so much as a phone call, you had your ex-girlfriend move into my house. You had a kid with another girl. Yet despite all that, I stood by you. And the moment things got scary, you bailed on me.”
“So every single thing that has happened to you so far is because of me? Am I the reason you burned down the house?” I accuse.
“You saw Roslyn?”
“Yeah, I saw it and you know what? That was a really shitty thing to do. You knew how much that house meant to me, to us.”
“Well, it didn’t mean anything to me. That’s why I torched it. It was just glass and metal held together by all the lies and bullshit you spread.”
“You burned it to spite me, and I can’t believe you would stand here and act like what you did was okay.”
“Oh, so I can’t set fire to a house, but you can set fire to ‘us’?”
“Nothing I can do can change what I did to you. But if this is the way you are since our breakup, maybe I didn’t make a mistake leaving you after all.”
“Are you now saying you’re glad you broke up with me?” she shouts.
“That house was all I had in the world to remind me of us and you don’t give a damn about destroying it. So, yeah, I’m glad it ended before I got to see how cold and cruel you could be. Not to mention the fact that you had something going with Bex two seconds after we broke up.”
“Who told you that? I have never slept with Bex.”
“Really? So you and Bex have never been intimate?”
“I don’t have to answer that,” she spits.
“You just did.”
“I can’t believe you’re judging me. Silver, you fly around nailing everything that moves.”
“DAMN IT, STOP CALLING ME SILVER!”
“I WILL CALL YOU WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT!”
Without thinking, I march her into the closet across the hall and lock us in. I grab her by her arms, pin her against the wall, and kiss her ravenously. She slaps me with the rage of a thousand Paras, leaving a heat signature handprint on my face. I look back at her and see the flames of hatred burning brightly behind her eyes. She leans forward, grabs my face between her hands, and kisses me feverishly.
We can’t kiss, suck, stroke, lick, or bite enough to satisfy each other. Our hands run wild as they explore. And even with our clothes still on, the promise of what awaits us makes us insane with longing. She rips my shirt open as I yank her jacket off.
She turns away from me and faces the wall so that I can unzip her dress. The desire to see her naked makes my hands tremble as I grab hold of the small metal tab and slide it downward. Her dress falls to the floor, leaving her in her red lace bra and underwear.
She turns to face me; I pick her up and back her into the opposing wall. She wraps her legs around my waist and leans her head back as my tongue travels across the slope of her breast. I suck on her right nipple through the red lace and a deep groan escapes her lips. I can no longer take the separation of my lips from her bare breasts. I place the soft fabric of her bra between my teeth, ready to peel it off, when someone opens the closet door.
“Dad!”
My father quickly closes the door, and Pry hides behind me, shocked and completely mortified.
“Oh my Omnis!” she says repeatedly as she searches for her clothes on the closet floor.
“It’s okay,” I lie.
“No, it’s not! Uncle Rage saw me in my bra. Uncle Rage! Oh my Omnis!”
“Pry, Pry, stop freaking out. It’s gonna be fine.”
“Okay, okay. You’re right. It’s fine.”
“Just get dressed and come out when we’re done.”
“Come out? Oh no! That’s not happening,” she says.
“So, what, you’re gonna stay in this closet forever?”
“Yes.”
“Forever” turned out to be only a few seconds. Had it not been for Swoop’s life being in danger, Pryor would in all likelihood have stayed in the closet for days. We enter the hallway once we’re all dressed. Dad stands looking at us with his arms crossed. Pryor hangs her head and averts her eyes.
“Dad, we were just—”
“I know what you were ‘just’ doing, Aaden. How do you think you got here?”
“Dad, c’mon! And you didn’t have to wait right outside for us,” I remark.
“This is my house. I wait anywhere I damn well please,” he scolds.
“Fine, are we done?” I ask.
“No. I found out Hunter wants to have some bullshit procedure done on the Noru that would stop all of you from ever having children.”
“Uncle Rage, it doesn’t matter what happens to me, you can’t sign off on the proposal,” Pryor says.
“No, but what if that recording gets out?”
“Then it gets out. I’ll deal.”
“It’s not just that, Carrot. I don’t like the fact that Hunter even got his proposal this far. I will look into it and see how many Paras backed this proposal of his.”
“The board has always hated us; that’s why it’s good you’re on it now. You can keep us informed. At least when we get back. Right now, we have to go,” I reply as we head for the steps.
“Not so fast, you two. Your team is falling apart. This is a shitty time to play ‘find the cherry.’ You two need to be prepared for what’s coming.”
“You know something, Uncle Rage?”
“Yeah, the Kon is back. He and the others are in the alley, waiting for you two. He has some news he won’t share until everyone is gathered.”
“All right, thanks,” I reply. I catch a glimpse of the Akon’s face as we reach the first floor.
“Dad, we’ll be fine. We know how to battle,” I assure him.
“Uncle Rage, we got this,” Pryor says, putting her embarrassment aside.
He nods reluctantly and he shouts back at us as we head out the front door, “When this is over, we will be having a very serious talk, young lady! And you too, Aaden Grey!”
When we get to the alley, we find the team, along with Harris, Mateo, and Bex. The Kon avoids making eye contact with Pryor when he addresses the team.
“Raven’s been spotted not far from where the Congreto will be taking place,” Bex says.
“What’s a Congreto?” Randy asks.
Bex explains to Randy that the Congreto is an event to celebrate brave humans who will change the world. And that Omnis sends a “guest” to make contact with the humans and give them extra courage.
“So Raven wants to kill the humans being honored?” East asks.
“That doesn’t make sense. I mean, the humans have been around for years. Why is she choosing now to try to harm them?” Pry asks.
“She’s not. She’s been gathering powers because she wants to go after the guest of the ceremony,” Bex says.
“Who’s the guest?” East asks.
“Omnis.”
Chapter Nineteen:
Promise Me
We all look back at Bex as if he’s lost his mind. There’s no way Omnis would come down to Earth. It’s only happened one other time, and the results were disastrous. Judging by the look on the others’ faces, I’m not alone in thinking Bex has lost it.
“Wait a minute, you’re serious?” Pry asks.
“Yes,” the Kon replies.
“Why would he come down to meet these humans? He hasn’t come down for all the other gatherings,” East points out.
“Normally it’s a few humans who are predicted to change the world for the better. But this time it’s as many as two dozen. That’s monumental,” Bex says.
“So much so that Omnis feels he should come down here himself,” Harris says.
“Exactly.”
“Bex, you have to talk to his people and warn him not to come,” Key says.
“We already alerted them, but Omnis refuses to change his plans.”
“So Omnis doesn’t care that someone is after him?” I ask.
“His response to the Paras was ‘I have protection; I have all of you,’” Bex says, shaking his head in disbelief.
“So Omnis is placing his life in our hands?” Diana asks.
“Looks that way,” the Para says.
“This is crazy. He needs to stay where he is. He can’t come down here. What if Raven gathers enough power and is able to destroy him?” Pryor reasons.
“It makes sense that Omnis has confidence in your team. He would have to in order to allow all of you to be so powerful,” Mateo says.
“What if he’s wrong? What if we can’t get the flower?” East asks.
“No, you have to get the flower! You have to!” someone says in a small voice.
We follow the sound to the entrance of the alley. We all get ready to fire on whoever is spying on us.
“Wait,” the being says.
“Show yourself, or I’ll rip your damn heart out,” Pry orders.
The being stumbles closer to us. He’s wounded badly. His face has a gash that spans from his left eye down to his neck. His hair is caked with blood. His shirt, normally immaculate, is now torn to shreds and reveals a gruesome wound. He places his hand at his side to try to stop the bleeding. That does very little to help.
“Isn’t that the Gentleman?” Mateo whispers.
Before I can reply, the Gentleman, aka Santini, falls down to the ground. I don’t know why it is I want to help him, all I know is that I do. There was just something very familiar about the look on his face when I was questioning him days before.
Or maybe I’m making this shit up in my head and he’s just an evil bastard who got his ass kicked in a battle…
“Santini, what happened to you?” Diana asks.
“Please, help,” he begs.
We all surround him. Diana takes out her pouch of mixtures, but she doesn’t look inside it because she’s not sure she should help. The fact is, the Gentleman is a vicious killer. He has slaughtered countless humans. There is nothing that says we have to help him. Pryor echoes the same sentiment.
“Why the hell should we help you?” she demands.
“No, not me. Him. Please, help him,” the demon begs.
“Who are you talking about?” I push.
“She came to me, she suspected something. I fought her, but she’s strong, stronger than I ever thought she could be.”
“Gentleman, you want us to help, then you need to start making sense,” Key says.
“She hasn’t found the fifth vial. She feared she would never find it in time for the gathering. And she needs as much power as she can harness in order to kill Omnis. So now she’s digging around in Swoop’s memory, looking for anything that may help her. She’s on the verge of finding out about Moscow,” he says, moaning.
“What’s in Moscow? I heard your team talking about it. What is in Russia that you are trying so hard to protect?” I ask.
“Help me,” he replies weakly.
Pryor signals to Diana to administer whatever mixture she thinks will help the demon. She begins to mix and match vials and applies them to the open wound at his side. The Gentleman is shaking, but more out of fear than pain.
“Diana is going to help, but only if you keep talking to us,” Key says.
“How did you even know we were here?” I ask.
“I placed a Tracker in your pocket,” he says.
“I should have known,” I reply.
“So the Raven did this to you? Why?” Randy asks.
“In the beginning she was only a fraction as strong as she is now. Yet the boss wasn’t able to take her on,” the Gentleman tells us.
“Malakaro tried to battle Raven, but he couldn’t?” Harris asks.
“Yes. That’s what’s strange. It’s like he wasn’t trying all that hard. But wh
y would he lose a battle on purpose? It cost him four vials,” the demon says.
“So Raven came after you because she wants your power?” Pry asks.
“No, not mine.”
“Then whose?” Bex asks.
“Santini, you deceitful piece of crap! You want our help, you better be straight with us or we will leave you here in this alley for the rats,” I promise him.
“I tried to stop her from knowing. That was the plan. That’s why I needed so much Blank. I needed to erase it from her mind. But Raven is powerful now; she will find the memories she’s looking for deep inside Swoop’s head. It’s only a matter of time before Raven learns the truth.”
“C’mon, spit that shit out already!” Key snaps.
Randy places a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“When I fell for Swoop, we knew it wouldn’t last, but we tried to enjoy it for as long as we could. I thought I would do something stupid and drive her away, but in the end, it was the random acts of cruelty she committed that split us up.
“We learned that Raven was taking over her body. She wanted to end things and focus on suppressing Raven. But we couldn’t stay away from each other. We were in Cairo, having drinks on the balcony of the hotel, when Alexi landed at her feet.
“Finding out she was pregnant freaked her out. It took hours to calm her down. She made me promise to take her to get the mixture that could end the pregnancy. We knew that Raven would kill our child if it meant getting their power.”
“So you gave her the mixture to end the pregnancy and then wiped her mind?” Randy asks.
“No,” he says.
“Santini, what did you do to my sister?” Key says with her palm raised, ready to end him once and for all.
“Later that night she changed her mind and thought we could have the kid, but only if the Raven had no idea we had done so. Therefore, to keep the kid, Swoop would have to forget,” he says.
“That’s what you used the Blank for, wasn’t it?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“Are you saying that you and Swoop…”
“Yes, your sister and I have a son. His name is RJ. Rio-Jayden Santini.”