Deadly to Love

by Mia Hoddell

  The other end of the line was silent as Kai waited for an answer.

  “How do I know I can trust you?” was the reply my mother gave eventually. She seemed calmer now and was playing the stern parent card.

  I saw a small smile tug at Kai’s lips but it did not reach his voice, which remained serious. “Mrs Jackson, I can assure you I won’t let any harm come to Rea, I love her. It’s up to you whether or not you believe me and honestly this wasn’t the first conversation I would have liked to have with you but it’s out of my control.”

  I stared open mouthed at Kai’s words. He had just told my mum that he loved me when he hadn’t even told me yet.

  “I’ve worked in this specialist field since I was ten so I know what is best and how to stay alive. I work for a section of the government that deals with issues like this so I have the power to keep Rea safe. That is all I can tell you and if you can live with that much information you will stay safe, so please do not go digging for information on me, my job or the paranormal activity I mentioned as you could end up in serious trouble or worse.”

  After a few more minutes of arguing on my mum’s part, finally I could hear her agreeing on the other end of the phone before she hung up.

  Kai turned to look at me, his face looking older than ever for a second.

  “Thank you,” was all I said, deliberately forgetting what he had said about loving me. He squeezed my shoulders, pressing me harder into his chest as he placed a light kiss on the top of my head.

  Maybe I shouldn’t be so mad at him, and this might not be so bad, I thought as I leaned against him.

  “She’ll be fine Rea, she’s stronger than you know. You’re going to have to put her out of your mind though, you can’t have any distractions and thinking about her is only going to make things harder.”

  No matter how much I wanted to disagree with him, I couldn’t. He was right and I was going to need all my focus to get through this with him.

  My food had cooled quite a bit by now but I had lost my appetite. I picked at the almost cold burger but most of it lay untouched.

  “So are you going to tell me about this necklace or not?” I said, pulling myself off him and trying to force a smile onto my face.

  “Yeah, I guess I should,” he said in a reluctant tone while he scrunched up the bag his food had been in. I didn’t know when he had time to eat anything, let alone finish it all but he had.

  “OK, so that necklace is something that appears in the old legends. According to them it was created when the first lot of humans came to Mavera. It was a key used to keep the Elementals under control. It limited their power and stopped them becoming visible or taking on something like a human form. The necklace stayed within one family’s lineage, yours apparently, but their name was always a closely guarded secret.” He paused to check if he was making sense. When I nodded he continued. “Anyway someone in your family history was in possession and used the necklace to undo what your ancestors did by unleashing the Elementals. No one in my sector is sure what happened to cause this, and up until I saw the necklace myself it was pretty much a myth. However seeing it changes everything. The necklace always gets passed down through the family’s eldest child and is rumoured to be able to reign in the Elementals once more. Do you see why I need the necklace now?”

  All I did was stare opened mouth at him.

  “You mean to say this old thing is magical?”

  He chuckled at my puzzled expression as I looked down at the old necklace. “I wouldn’t use the word ’magic’ as it’s more like a key that’s using the Elementals’ energy against them.”

  I nodded, sort of understanding what he had explained.

  “So you need the necklace because you’re hoping it will put an end to these frequent Elemental attacks.”

  “Yeah, pretty much. It’s a long shot, but it’s better than anything we have got so far.”

  Before he could say any more a phone went off interrupting him. He checked the screen and before answering it, he got out of the car, walking about a hundred metres away.

  While he was out of the car, I used this time to call Chloe, who would probably freak out worse than my mum had.

  “Hey Chlo,” I said when she answered.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “OK, this is going to sound crazy, but Kai and myself are caught up in some weird paranormal stuff so I’ve got to leave town for a bit. My mum knows so you don’t have to cover anymore, I just wanted to tell you so you don’t freak out when I’m not around for the last week of college.” I held the phone away from my ear as I waited for what I predicted to be an exaggerated reaction.

  “Oh my god Rea! You can’t be serious. Is Kai forcing you to do this? I’ll kill him if he is.”

  I laughed at her reaction.

  “Chlo, Kai is protecting me. Some stuff which I can’t explain happened and he’s the only person with enough knowledge to help. I’ll try tokeep in touch but I can’t guarantee when you’ll hear from me.”

  I heard her sigh.

  “I’ve got to go now, tell the others for me yeah?” She muttered she would before we said goodbye and I hung up just as Kai was getting back into the car.

  “Sorry, that was my boss...”

  I could see from the look on his face that there was more and he felt slightly uneasy about what he was going to say next.

  “There’s been a huge Elemental sighting on the outskirts of Pasole...I kind of need to be there,” he said, his voice dripping with guilt as he started the engine.

  “I’ll stay in the car this time,” was all I said to acknowledge and accept what he had said and it earned me a weak smile.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The short drive to Pasole had been tense and awkward. Neither of us uttered a single word; me because I was incredibly scared of what we were driving towards and Kai was quiet as he had an intense look of concentration on his face. We arrived on the outskirts of the city, quicker than I thought possible, to find smoke billowing above the buildings. I could just about see the enormous flames dancing in between the houses, while the smoke spiralled up, forming tornadoes that twisted high into the sky.

  “Shit, he wasn’t exaggerating, they’re going to destroy the city if they carry on like this,” Kia muttered under his breath as he drove steadily down the street, trying to find somewhere safe to leave me. His body was on constant alert as his eyes searched the street for any danger.

  When I wasn’t staring at Kai my eyes were fixated on the hypnotic flames that kept on growing. I heard the engine switch off but the dull sound barley registered in my thoughts.

  “Rea.” He gripped my shoulder, forcing my attention to be directed at him.

  “You should be at a safe distance here but if not and something goes wrong, the keys are in the ignition. Get yourself out of here, and find your mum. Then go to my work and give them this.” He thrust a card and badge into the palm of my hand and I nodded, not breaking the eye contact between us.

  “Hopefully this will be a normal, routine job but there are a lot more than I have ever seen in one place before.” He was reaching into a bag that was resting behind the passenger seat. I looked down at what he had given me; a metal badge encased in a black leather wallet showed the Maveran government’s insignia and engraved clearly below it were the letters O.D.E. Then I turned my attention to the card he had given me as well. His name, Kai Seevers was printed next to his photo, which he looked too good to be true in and then there were just a load of numbers and a strip of brown which appeared to be for a scanner. Also I noticed his birthday was printed amongst the code as the 3rd October. I was about to flip the card over to study the back when Kai spoke again.

  “Just promise me you’ll stay out of sight because the last thing we need is for an Elemental to see you.”

  “I’ll try.” My voice was coarse and raspy and I tried to speak around my nerves. Kai’s head finally appeared again and in his hands were two hand guns. Checking they were both
loaded before replacing the safety, he slipped one into the holster he kept inside his jacket and the other one remained in his hand. He was just about to turn and exit the car when he swivelled back to face me.

  “Here. Take this as well, just in case,” he said as he passed me a wad of notes from his pocket. He then leaned over, gently pressing his lips to my forehead and left the car.

  I watched him as he ran towards the chaos, gun drawn and ready. When he was nearing the row of houses another man and woman ran out to join him. None of their features were visible though as they were silhouetted by the flames. The man, was shorter than Kai, but had the same strong, muscle defined build while the woman was tall, curvy with long hair that was tied back in a pony tail. It was also obvious she too worked out as although she didn’t look muscular, she was clearly toned and with an athletic build. Both of them had their guns drawn as they spoke to Kai.

  The meeting between the three of them was only brief and before long they had split up once again; Kai taking the middle, the woman to his right and the guy to his left. They all crept forward slowly, using cars, buildings, post boxes and anything else for cover.

  Kai made it to the heart of the chaos first. His gun was drawn as he peered around the edge of the car. I took my eyes off him for a second to look beyond him at the Elementals and gasped at what I saw. When I focused on the scene in front of Kai, I saw that there was a group of about seven fire Elementals causing the flames to grow and spread. In the sky there was at least three air Elementals, that I could see who were twisting and swooping in the sky, circling their tornadoes. Their movements were elegant and almost dance like as they guided their specific elements to wreak havoc on Pasole. They weren’t close enough for me to see any defining features but their elements flowed around them like silk, making them beautiful to watch in a strange way.

  A gunshot brought me back to reality, breaking my fixation over the fire Elemental. Kai had fired at one and where it used to stand was now a ball of intense yellow, orange and red light that disappeared in an explosion as the being vanished. Kai’s shot and the death of one of their kind had got the attention of the other Elementals that were surrounding the area. There was a flurry of activity as they all seemed to quicken their pace but it was no use.

  More shots rang out across the city and three more Elementals went up in flames, consumed by their own element. As more and more disappeared the fire started to relinquish but it seemed to have distracted the E.Ks attention from the air Elementals. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one hurtling through the sky towards the woman. I screamed in the confinement of the car, shocked as the creature drew closer to her but I was too scared to move.

  The creature was about to hit her, and she hadn’t even noticed it when I saw Kai spun to face her, gun in hand and arm outstretched as he fired a shot without pausing to aim. The bullet hit its target and the Elemental started to convulse as it was consumed into the purple energy of air. The girl had finally noticed the burning Elemental beside her and automatically dropped into a roll to get away from the explosion.

  I had to admit, seeing Kai in the situation scared me but I was more impressed by how good he was. The E.Ks were exceptional at what they did, especially Kai. They were clearing up the Elementals at an alarmingly quick rate, hardly taking any time to aim their guns. Elementals were exploding and vanishing all over the place, the purple and orange lights looking strangely beautiful as they glowed amongst the flames.

  By the looks of it, the E.Ks had cleared all of the air Elementals and there were only a few fire ones left. Due to all the chaos, and killing though they had become increasingly wary of the E.Ks and their attention was focused more on them, than the elements they were controlling. The houses were obstructing my view slightly as the E.Ks pushed them further back, forcing the Elementals into one group. From what I could make out there were three left, but they were using the fire to shield themselves by obstructing the E.Ks’ view and keep them at bay because of the heat.

  A sign that I must have missed signalled all the E.Ks to move at once and within seconds, each gun rang out. The energy that consumed all three fire Elementals as they died was blinding when it was combined. I saw Kai shield his face, as he stayed to make sure they were all gone. The other man and woman were already walking away from the scene to meet up, holstering their guns as they went, yet Kai stayed where he was for a little longer.

  The fire was still burning as Kai finally moved, but the tornadoes had vanished with the Elementals that were controlling them. It wasn’t the E.Ks job to deal with the damage after though, that was left up to the emergency services; the E.Ks were only around to make sure the Elementals were destroyed and therefore allowed the services to do their job.

  Kai was finally walking towards the other E.Ks, only unlike the others he kept his gun drawn and his stance alert. The chat was as brief as before, Kai hugged the woman, and shook hands with the guy before they all went their separate ways, Kai heading back towards me.

  As he drew nearer I could see his face was a mixture of anger, disgust and annoyance. He took long, powerful strides and only when he reached the car door did he release the frightening grip he had on his gun. When he got in the car and exhaled heavily, I was unsure as to what I was meant to do or say, so just stayed silent. Instead I just watched him. Kai was covered in black smudges from the fire and his shirt had a slight rip in it. Sweat was dripping from his face and body, but surprisingly he still looked like a super model. The whole ordeal had only taken a matter of minutes but it seemed to go on forever as I sat there watching the events like a movie.

  “Are you OK?” I asked tentatively, unable to stand the silence anymore. He didn’t move or respond for a second but then he turned his head to look at me finally. The rage that was present on his face before had diminished and a smile now replaced it as he watched me.

  “Of course. Alanah was lucky though, I was almost too late to get it. How you holding up with all this though? It must have been quite a shock seeing all of that. I’m surprised you haven’t fainted on me again.”

  I just nodded as I couldn’t find the words to describe how I was feeling.

  “What would have happened if the Elemental had reached her?”

  His face turned grim at something he was thinking.

  “I’ll explain that when we get somewhere safe, now is not the time.”

  I sighed, getting used to him delaying the answers to my questions.

  “So what now?” I asked as he put the guns back in his bag and leaned in to start the engine.

  “I have a place we can lay low at for a while in Rinsk. I haven’t been there in awhile so we’ll need to get some supplies but we should be safe there until we figure out what we want to do next. Does that sound okay?” He pulled the car away from the pavement and onto the road as he spoke.

  “Don’t know why you’re checking with me, I don’t have a better idea or anywhere else to stay. Plus you’re not a very good kidnapper if one; you tell me where you are taking me and two; then ask me if that is okay.”

  He laughed at me, and my half serious joke broke the slight tension that hung between us after what had just happened. “Yeah yeah, why can’t you just admit you like being with me? You could have gone home remember, you just refused to part with the necklace. Plus I never actually forced you to stay, you just never left.”

  He had a point there so I shut up, frustrated that he had won, yet again.

  “OK so are we going to buy supplies?” At the mention of money, I remembered I was still holding the wad of notes and the identity badge he had given to me. “Oh here, you probably want these back too.” I reached out to hand him the items but he only took his badges back.

  “Keep the money, you might need it at some point and I’d feel more comfortable if you had it in case of an emergency.”

  “Kai... there’s like three hundred pounds here, I can’t keep this.”

  He shook his head, cutting me off.

  “No,
keep it, you might need it.”

  Reluctantly I put the money into my bag, just as we pulled up to another shop. Kai was about to get out of the car when I grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him back into his seat.

  “You can’t go in there looking like that.”

  He looked slightly insulted by my comment. “Why not? I look good.” His eyes creased slightly as he smiled at me.

  “That’s not the point. People are going to stare at you if you walk in there covered in dirt, coal and with rips in your clothes.”

  He laughed.

  “So what? I’ll just tell them I got caught in the fire if they ask, which they won’t.”

  I grumbled in response, not keen on the idea of having to walk around with him looking like that.

  “I don’t have a spare shirt with me at the moment, I threw the last one away after the encounter at the beach.” He shrugged and I stepped out of the car, muttering under my breath about him being an embarrassment.

  We strolled into the shop hand in hand and I was thankful Kai hadn’t put up a fuss about me staying in the car like last time.

  “So what do we need, besides clothes for you?” I asked.

  “Food mostly. We still have the toiletries from the service station so unless you want anything that’s it.”

  In my head I was trying to figure out how we were going to fit everything in the Lamborghini and when I questioned Kai about this he just laughed at me.

  “We’re only getting some basic essentials today. Once we get settled in Rinsk I have a four by four there so I’ll go back out and pick up some more supplies so we can stay holed up for a bit longer.” He had dropped my hand and had wound his arm around my waist as we walked down the aisles, pulling out random items we wanted.

  We had only been in the shop for a few minutes and already we were attracting weird glances and murmurs from other people in the store.