The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural

by Stefany Valentine Ramirez

  Ithaca twirled a strand of her silky brown hair as she replied. “Yes, Uncle Gadianton. I have very good news.”

  ~The waiter with a spot of hair die stained to his thumb nail was back with another plate of Larissa’s favorite mushrooms. For as expensive of a restaurant as this was, Ammon was awfully disappointed in the grooming of their waiter. The back of his shirt sagged like a duck tail and his shaggy hair flopped out of place with the crisp clean atmosphere of the fondue restaurant. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” he asked taking up a plate painted in all sorts of expensive condiments.

  “No thanks.” Replied Ammon as he watched Larissa eagerly skewer the mushrooms and dunk them in the boiling broth before them. “I think we are good for now.”

  As the waiter walked away, Ammon listened to his untied shoe laces flop down the aisle. From the speakers overhead a string of piano notes floated over the conversations of the other diners and from where he was sitting, Ammon had the perfect view of the glass doors and the sun sinking beneath the waves. “You really like those mushrooms don’t you?” he asked focusing once more on Larissa.

  “I had no idea food could taste this good!” she gasped with her mouth full. The girl was so excited; she accidentally spit broth down her chin. “Are you sure you don’t want any?” she asked wiping it away with a cloth. “I can’t eat all this by myself you know.”

  Ammon smiled as he shook his head. “My mom tried grilling mushrooms once and they made me sick. I haven’t been able to eat them since.”

  Larissa snorted at his comment and almost sent more broth down her black evening dress. Normally, woman without table manners was a major turn off for Ammon. But as usual there was something different about Larissa. In the back of his mind, Ammon couldn’t stop laughing at how much Larissa was enjoying their dinner date. In this late afternoon, she seemed more lively than usual and when someone so pretty as Larissa expressed charisma, Ammon only fed off the hype.

  It was nice to get away from Josh and Cassie for once. This was the first time they had been alone since arriving in Hawaii and it probably never wouldn’t have happened if Josh hadn’t suggested for Ammon to observe her. And, for the past two hours, that was all he had been doing.

  Ammon had had no idea what Josh was alluding to in their previous conversation so starting out; Ammon had just noticed the simple things. A small zit on the corner of her lip was the only flaw in her golden skin and aside from rediscovering that strip of hair cut shorter than the rest… there was nothing peculiar about her at all. She was just Larissa; beautiful, blunt, lovely Larissa.

  “What is that?” she gasped suddenly as her head snapped over her shoulder.

  Ammon’s eyes followed hers to a distant booth and watched as a woman clawed franticly through her purse for her cell phone. The boy’s brows arched quizzically. It was remarkable that she could hear the ringtone from where they sat.

  Larissa rolled her eyes as she turned back around. “That was one crazy ringtone,” she muttered to herself, “Did you hear that, Ammon? It sounded like… a cat in a washing machine. I don’t even know.”

  Ammon stared as Larissa dropped the subject completely and returned to boiling her mushrooms. He hadn’t heard the ringtone but in all honesty, he wasn’t too surprised she had. Hearing was just one of her more keen senses, he noticed, and that was just one of her scrupulous talents. That’s why he turned her from orphan to investigator.

  “Are you two ready for the desert menu?” asked the waiter when he returned.

  Larissa gaped up at him. “You mean there’s more?!”

  “If you’re still hungry,” Replied the waiter.

  Larissa glanced across the table at Ammon. He hadn’t spoken much during their date and he had claimed to be full after their first course. Besides, he had promised a long walk on the beach after their dinner and night was beginning to roll in. “No, the mushrooms have filled me up.” She announced.

  “I’ll take the bill.” Ammon added.

  Once more the scummy waiter was disappearing down the aisle and Ammon’s attention was returned to Larissa. She hardly glanced up at him as the lingering slices of vegetable counted down from her plate. There was nothing peculiar about her at all other than the fact that this date seemed to brighten her spirit. What could Josh have noticed that Ammon couldn’t see?

  “Que paso?” Larissa questioned as she swallowed the last of her food.

  “Huh?” Ammon retorted.

  “You cocked your head to the side. That usually means you’re thinking about something.” She answered blatantly.

  It wasn’t until she spoke that Ammon registered the slight tilt in his head. “You could see that?” he asked sitting up but leaning his elbows against the table. “From the corner of your eye?”

  “Claro,” replied Larissa, “Come on Ammon, you didn’t make me an investigator for nothing, right? Tell me what’s on your mind.”

  Ammon locked eyes with her for a long moment and made sure not to hint any of his thoughts. Past girlfriends never made him question. They were more predictable than the weather on a sunny day. But since the inception of their relationship, Larissa had showered mysteries like a hailstorm.

  As he sat there, letting their eyes lock and daring the clock to tick slower; a thought finally dawned on him. His feelings for her were different than any other girl he had ever dated. For the first time since Isobel, he didn’t lust solely for her body, but craved to be in her presence. Taking time out of his day to be with her wasn’t a sacrifice, it was a treat. Understanding what made her tick wasn’t a burden, it was an adventure and being the shoulder she needed to cry on was a part he was willing to play a million times over. Only one other person had ever consumed this much of his heart and that was his first love.

  The realization was like taking a baseball bat to the face. He was in love with Larissa in every aspect to his knowledge. He loved her charm and her imperfections; he loved her brutality and her emotional swings. And to think it had taken him this long to realize it. When he woke up that morning the only thing in his schedule had been to end the evening with Larissa and find out what secret Josh had figured. But his day couldn’t have changed for anything better.

  Larissa sat on the other end of the table and watched as Ammon’s face snapped from a stone expression to astonishment. Before she could ask him what the reason for his sudden countenance was, the waiter had appeared beside their table with the bill. “Thank you so much.” he said, snapping Ammon from his train of thought, “Is there anything else I can do?”

  Ammon gazed at the man blankly. For the first time that evening, he didn’t see an unclean waiter, but a man that was keeping him from relaying his new knowledge to Larissa. “No, that will be all.” Ammon replied quickly before snatching the piece of paper from the waiter’s hand and scribbled his name on the line. “Larissa,” he spoke her name hastily and leapt from his seat. “Let’s go, I need to tell you something.”

  The pair would have evacuated the restaurant sooner if Ammon hadn’t spotted a bowl of mints by the door. Over the mystic Pacific, the moon shone like a pearl frozen in the violet sky causing even the darkest shade of night to glow with moonlight. Ammon waited for a car to run a yellow light before crossing to the shore line with Larissa on his arm.

  “What did you need to tell me?” she asked once they had safely arrived to the sandy side. With the full moon out, the ocean tides had flooded the beach and Ammon let go of Larissa’s touch only to take off his shoes.

  “Oh that’s a good idea.” She noted before bending down to unstrap her own heels but Ammon had beaten her to it. He was loosening the loops around her ankles before she could even grab onto his shoulders for balance.

  “Thanks,” she muttered when he finally stood up with two various pairs of footwear in his hands. For a moment all she could do was stare at him, and the way the moon created a silvery halo in his brown locks and frosted the tips of his lashes. The lighting and the crashing of the waves was enough to
send her in a trance, but the fact that Ammon was gazing at her with that expression made her toes forget that damp sand clung to her feet. Her supernatural senses caught sight of the half millimeter step aimed in her direction and the hesitant reach for her cheek. But Ammon stopped himself for he remembered that four shoes dangled from his grasp.

  “Were your shoes expensive?” he asked folding his brows, “’Cuz I’d rather let them be covered in sand than not hold your hand at this instant.”

  “Then don’t worry about the shoes.” Larissa suggested. “Drop them and hold me.”

  Ammon didn’t have to be told twice. With a simultaneous thunk, both pairs landed on the sand and his hand had grasped onto Larissa’s, but that wasn’t the end of his movements. With his fingers tangled in hers, Ammon lifted her hand until the back of it brushed against his lips. Then he shut his eyes before slowly kissing a trail up her arm, to her elbow, and around her shoulder. With every kiss, time seemed to slow but this time Larissa knew it wasn’t her making it stall. Ammon was working his magic with his soft cool touch until finally his lips met the halter of her dress.

  “Ammon?” Larissa sighed when his breath touched her neck. “Ammon, wha…?”

  “Shh,” he whispered against her skin. In the dark of blindness, Ammon guided her hand to his lower back before brushing the auburn waves from her neck. As he kissed up her throat, Larissa felt the trails of ice painted by his touch. She was so enchanted by this sudden romance that she almost forgot to breath. The feeling of his lips and tongue on her neck was so incredible, her fingers involuntarily balled up against Ammon’s shirt, accidentally untucking it from his belt. Silently she begged him to continue.

  As if he could read her mind, Ammon’s lips continued to travel against her, working from her neck to her cheek. Inch by inch, moment by moment Larissa’s heart raced faster while Ammon’s kisses seemed to slow. He was murdering her with anticipation. As she stood here too mesmerized to even move, all Larissa was able to do was let the electricity flood her veins. Their hips were touching, their chests pressed together, Ammon’s fingers twirled slowly on the back of her gown as his breath sent chills down her spine.

  A light gasp escaped her lips and she raked her fingers up his shirt, begging him to kiss her already. By now Ammon had drawn an invisible line from her hand to the very corner of her lip; to the point where if he were to travel a millimeter over, he would be granting her wish. Hesitantly his lips inched her way, but hovered just over her bottom lip so she could feel his hot breath and taste the mint from the restaurant. Suddenly it was just Larissa and Ammon, far from any care in the world. To Larissa, the humid air was nonexistent because she could only feel Ammon pressed against her body. His arm wrapped around her back keeping her steady as his hand slid behind her neck and tilted her chin to face him. But just before he closed the distance, Ammon uttered three words Larissa had never heard in her life.

  “I love you.”

  A tug deep in her stomach turned into sparks that rushed to her cheeks and her mind went swimming in the strangest haze as she tried to piece together the words freshly spoken. Ammon’s rich voice seemed to echo in her ears making them ring like bells. He had caught her so off guard that for a moment, Larissa forgot where she was until his lips pressed against hers.

  Then her entire body was bubbling down to the farthest point of her fingertips. Ammon’s lips pushed hers open and with their closed eyes, Larissa could feel the very shape of them. Lips she had kissed so many times, but never had they tasted this good. She couldn’t wrap herself around him fast enough, she couldn’t kiss back passionately enough; something new was taking hold of her, and the only way to describe it in that moment was that Larissa felt like she was flying.

  Her toes felt as if they no longer touched the ground. Gravity melted away in the heat of the moment. It was like something she had never experienced before, but at the same time, oddly familiar. A powerful force rocked the center of her chest, the kind of power that accompanied her when time stopped on her command. She was unstoppable. There was no reason to stop kissing Ammon and no reason to stop letting her body be engulfed with energy.

  “Ammon,” she moaned tossing her head back for a breath.

  The boy only gave a slight grunt in acknowledgment before his lips slipped from hers and once more pressed against her neck. The sensation sent Larissa’s hands involuntarily raking up the back of his shirt. “Ammon,” she gasped again, “I need to tell you something too.”

  This time, her words transitioned his kissing from fierce to conservative. He managed to land several more kisses before coming to a stop and resting his forehead on her shoulder. “Is it about,” he began hesitantly, “what I just told you?”

  Once more his words caught her off guard. When she had woken up this morning, the only thing in her schedule had been to wait one more day before telling Ammon the truth about her. After all, he had earned it that night on the fairs wheel. But given the circumstances; how high she felt, and the moment, Larissa couldn’t wait any longer. If possible, she pulled herself tighter against him and resisted the addiction her lips had to his in order to nestle her cheek against his chest.

  “No, it’s not that.” She whispered, “Actually Ammon, I think it’s time I tell you my secret…” her voice faltered and for a moment all she could think about was the view. From where she stood beside him and the silvery glow of the moon, there could have been nothing to ruin the moment… until a pair of shoes came drifting in her view.

  At first, the sight was so unexpected, Larissa’s startled mind told her it was a bird flying in slow motion, but upon closer examination, she realized that they were her heels. Her black four inch heels drifted in midair beside her as gracefully as a bubble in the midair. But the sight couldn’t have been more misleading. With a startled shriek, Larissa pulled away from Ammon’s embrace and stared down at what should have been the solid sandy beach. It was there alright, seven feet of air beneath their toes.

  As Larissa’s shriek turned into a scream, the puzzle pieces made sense. The feeling of flying, and being on a powerful high was from her and not from Ammon’s kissing. But that couldn’t be right. She already had a power; the power to freeze time. How was it possible to have more than one?

  Larissa wasn’t the only one in shock. Ammon stared in bewilderment at the scene, clearly a million times more clueless than Larissa. He was floating- they were floating as their shoes orbited around like planets. Then his eyes met Larissa’s and recognized the sheer terror in her face.

  It was a look he recognized all too well. It was the look of a criminal who was just discovered. That’s when the pieces fit together for him. Her exceptional hearing, as demonstrated in the restaurant. Larissa’s remarkable speed from when they raced at the pier. Even the incredible strength she showed at the crime scene in Tarrillian when only she was able to remove the spikes from the walls.

  “You,” He glared. “You are one of them!”

  Larissa would have traded an eternity of nightmares if only she could have Ammon’s tone scraped from her ears. There was never so much poison and disgust targeted to her, even when she lived with Madam Delilah. But the one thing that made those words burn worse than a bullet was the fact that Ammon said them.

  At that realization, gravity took over and the two plummeted to the ground. Somehow, Ammon seemed ready for it, and caught himself as if he had practiced. Larissa on the other hand slammed against the sand with shaky knees before falling to her back. Tears stung the back of her eyes and her lungs felt as if they had caved in on impact.

  “How could you do this to me Larissa?” Ammon raged. That tone was too familiar. It was the voice of the Ammon born after the death of his father. “How could you lie to me?”

  “Ammon please…” Larissa choked as she strained to sit up on her elbows. “Please Ammon… I’m begging you…”

  “To do what?!” he exclaimed. His voice sounded like a lion as it roared down the empty shore. “What could you possibly wa
nt from me?” He was pacing back and forth now, kicking up sand as he stormed in front of her. Not once did he think to help her up, or even look at her for that matter. “Do you expect me to understand you? Do you expect me to listen? The guy who killed my father was one of you!!”

  “Am… Ammon…” between the crying and her lack of breath, Larissa could hardly force out his name. The salty tears collided with the sand dusted to her cheeks leaving rivers of mud along her face. “Ammon please…”

  Ammon stopped pacing and spun around to face her and her pathetic attempt to speak. “Please what Larissa?” he shouted, “What?!”

  Larissa gaped at him. In the moonlight with his brows folded, and his teeth gnarling like a dog, Ammon looked like a vicious monster ready to strike. In that moment she was more scared than she had ever been in a long time and her bottom lip quivered as she tried to remember what she wanted to say.

  Ammon could hardly take any more of her stalling. In two long strides, he had planted himself above her, and grabbed onto the halter of her dress, dragging her like a doll to her feet. “What is it Larissa?!” he bellowed straight in her face. “What could you possibly have to say?!”

  With tears pouring down her face, and her hand pathetically trying to peel Ammon’s away, all Larissa could do was sob. She cried once more for a man she truly cared- no, she cried for a man she loved. And seeing him as a complete stranger couldn’t pain her any more than it did at that moment. Her words gagged in the back of her sandpapery mouth, but saying them was more important. “Please Ammon…” She forced. Her eyes locked onto his and as desperately as she could, Larissa wished she was able to convey the urgency of her message with her eyes. “Please don’t go back to this.” She choked, “I can’t bear to see you like this again because… because I love you too.”

  Ammon had one second to register what she said before she tore away from his grasp and disappeared.

  Larissa had never tried to run the way she knew a supernatural could. But she was hardly astonished that the world seemed to be nothing but a blur. In that time, her only sense of direction was forward. Palm trees seemed to avert from her path as she sprinted, and her bare feet only detected the change from sand to asphalt in millisecond intervals before she had found her way hurrying up a mountain path.