by D. N. Hoxa
“Guess French names just don’t do it for her,” Joey mumbled, laughing a sad laugh as if he were a lunatic.
I looked at Aaron who was now standing straight and looking at me. He nodded his head, even though he didn’t look happy about it. I sighed.
“Where can we find Adele, Joey?”
“Right here, in Texas.” He went to a drawer in the kitchen and found a dirty piece of paper and a pen. He reluctantly gave it to me with an address written on it, but the look of relief on his face was evident.
“What is it with Texas? Who else is living here?” Supernaturals moved around all the time, but the chance that two people I was looking for were in the same place, was odd.
“I don’t know,” Joey said, and I wanted to push him, but I’d already gotten what we came for. “And please don’t ever come looking for me again, Raven.”
“We’ll see about that, Joey. We’ll see about that.”
11
It was already noon when we stopped to grab a bite to eat in a fast food joint right across from the house that was supposed to be Jacqueline’s—or Adele’s. At least according to Joey, and Aaron was sure that he hadn’t lied. He was too desperate to get us out of his house. We would see soon.
After eating a stinky burger and swallowing some soda that tasted old and weird, we walked to the front of the house. Unlike Joey’s, this one looked freshly painted and perfectly clean. Everything in it was white but for the flowers here and there that seemed to give the building life. I felt Jacqueline’s energy immediately. The witch was very strong. She could freeze you in place by just looking at you. They said that the ability hadn’t been seen or heard before her, and that it wasn’t originally hers. She created the energy with a potion mix and with a few spells to be used all at once. She could paralyze your muscles before you thought to blink and she was never afraid to use her powers, so we had to be very careful. I told Aaron, too, so he could be prepared.
So we made our way to the door, and this time, I didn’t check if the door was unlocked. Jacqueline was better than that. I got two bobby pins and got to work instead. When the lock turned, Aaron stopped me.
“There’s an alarm inside,” he whispered, pointing inside the house. I cursed under my breath and followed him around back silently. The backyard looked even better than the front. She even had a pool out there. Business must be good.
Aaron had already found a slightly ajar window, and he barely fit his arm inside. A few seconds later, I was going to tell him to leave it to me—my arm was much skinnier—but the lock turned, and the window opened all the way.
Adele was awake when we made it inside. My senses told me that she was behind the last door on the left of the long hallway. The air was filled with her perfume. Aaron stood right behind me as I touched the knob cautiously—you never knew what spells she could’ve put in place—and pushed the door open with ease.
The room was suffocated in white. The transparent white curtains gave the room an unearthly glow that made me wonder if they’d been spelled. Everything in there looked expensive.
The king-sized bed stood across from us in all its glory with four pillars in the corners and with elegant white and peach bed curtains hanging from the top to the middle.
Sitting on her bed was Adele.
She was covered up to her armpits with her satin sheets and looked very different from the last time I saw her. The long red hair she’d had then was gone. Now, she had ash blond hair that barely reached her shoulders. Her eyes were blue, when they’d been green. Like all of her other looks, this one suited her, too.
“Raven,” she said, holding onto her sheets tightly. “Such a pleasant surprise.”
“Jacqueline,” I said with a nod. “Or is it Adele?”
“Always so well informed,” she said, batting her lashes at me.
I shrugged. “I do what I can.”
“So tell me,” she said, “why shouldn’t I paralyze you right now and call the Council to tell them about your unexpected visit this fine morning?” She kept caressing her lips with the tips of her fingers, all the while smiling.
“Because I’ll rip you to pretty little pieces before they get here?” I offered.
She showed me her perfect white teeth with a wide smile.
And then I felt it. Apparently, that had been the wrong thing to say. Every muscle in my body started to fight the unusual power that was threatening to paralyze them completely. I struggled against her with my mind before I tried to reach for the air around us. Wrong move. I should’ve reached for my powers sooner.
My muscles froze completely. The only thing still moving were my eyes. Her lips moved fast as she whispered the spell she no doubt stole from some poor bastard.
I’d miscalculated everything. How could I’ve been so stupid to think she’d give me even a second to speak? I was screaming with everything I had in me, but I couldn’t make a sound. My mouth was shut and my vocal cords didn't work. Nothing in me worked. So now I stood there in front of her, unmoving, while she watched me in silence and smiled widely.
I tried to tell her with my eyes all the ways I was going to torture her when she got tired of holding me motionless. Forming a connection with the elements was still not possible because I felt like my body was dead and the elements wanted me alive and in control.
But then I heard footsteps behind me. Aaron.
Adele broke eye contact with me to see who it was and instantly I began to unfreeze. Having learned from my mistake, I reached for air right away, but Adele put her eyes on me half a second later, and I had barely moved my fingers. Shit.
Aaron stopped in the middle of the room. He looked at me and then at Adele, smiling like the devil himself. I kept screaming at him to jump Adele, to punch her in the face or something so she could break contact, but nothing came out of me, no matter how hard I tried. And he didn't move toward Adele.
“Good morning, Adele,” he said instead.
What the hell is he doing?!
“So you brought company?” she said, but she never moved her eyes away. “You little bitch!”
“Now, now, Adele. Didn't anyone tell you that you shouldn’t be rude to your guests?” Aaron said, just as calmly.
“Shut up,” Adele hissed. Her whole body had begun to shake because she already knew what was coming.
Or at least she thought so, because Aaron wasn't making his move!
“So you’re going to kill me now?” she asked, her chin trembling.
“That would be unwise since we still need you, Adele.” Something was very wrong. Why hadn't he kicked her in the face yet?
Slowly, Aaron walked ahead to a closet door and touched the carved lines with his fingertips. “Such beautiful carving,” he whispered. He lost me completely.
“Get away from there!” Adele shouted, but Aaron didn't move.
“Without even looking at what’s inside?” he asked, and without waiting for a reply, he opened the closet door.
“No!” Adele shouted, the second a naked man dropped to the floor. I was stunned!
Holy shit!
He wore nothing but very tight white boxer shorts. His body was perfectly ripped in all the right places, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was a model. A human model. And that had been why I hadn’t felt him at all.
Go Aaron!
The guy was all but crying and the look on his face was that of a little boy who had just found out what school is really all about and now he just wanted to run back home.
“Look at what we have here,” Aaron said, smiling widely as he took the boy by his messy reddish brown hair and pushed him back against the closet door.
“Leave him alone,” Adele hissed. “He’s just a human.”
Her eyes, the way she looked at me now, made me think she was truly mad.
“I will. If you let go of Raven right now and help us. Otherwise, I’m going to kill him,” Aaron said, and the guy let out a cry.
“Fine! Go ahead and kill him. I don't
care,” Adele hissed. Sweat beads lined her forehead now.
“See, I think you do,” Aaron said. “Otherwise, why would you have bothered to hide him?”
But Aaron wasn't waiting for an answer. He took a small knife out of his pocket and pressed the tip against the boy’s neck lightly.
“Any time, now,” Aaron added. He probably knew that the heart was a muscle, too, and that Adele could make mine stop beating any time now. But he did play his role perfectly.
Adele had her mouth clamped shut and her jaw worked while she thought about it. I didn't know why the hell Aaron would think that she would choose saving a human against killing me, but at that point, there was nothing I could do. My life was in his hands. I prepared for whatever was about to happen when I saw Adele release her breath. My heart skipped a beat.
I was free.
“Let him go,” Adele shouted as she turned to Aaron and got up on her knees. My limbs still felt heavy as if I had slept for too long, but I didn't care. I was moving again, and without wasting a single second, I jumped on the bed, caught her by her throat and sat her down again. I thought about calling on air, but I was too angry to use magic. I wanted to hurt her with my own hands. I’d promised her that much.
Bob’s sharp tip was now against her perfect, flawless cheek. She was breathing heavily, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. I grabbed her chin, and she struggled to push me off her with her hands. I pinned them against the bed with my knees and directed her face toward mine.
“Star,” Aaron warned.
He probably thought I was going to kill her. And I wanted to. By God, I wanted to, but I wasn’t stupid. We still needed her.
“Don’t you worry about it, Aaron. I’m not going to kill her,” I said through gritted teeth. “But I’m going to leave her with something that will remind her of me forever, just to make sure that the next time we visit, she’s not going to threaten us without even hearing what we have to say.”
I touched Bob’s tip right under her eye corner. She jerked back. I hit her with my fist in the face, and she screamed. I could also hear the man whining, but I didn’t care. I made her look at me again.
“You’ll probably fix this with a spell,” I said and pushed Bob deeper.
I didn’t stop until I’d made a perfectly straight line down her face. Adele began screaming.
“Maybe even with plastic surgery if you’re afraid of beauty spells,” I continued whispering despite her screams, “but every time you look at yourself in the mirror, you will see it there.”
Blood dripped from the cut, though it wasn’t that deep. Adele was no longer screaming. The fear and hatred reflected in her eyes almost made me want to look away, but I didn’t. I grinned at her instead.
“You’re going to regret this,” she hissed, and she was going to spit in my face, but I showed her Bob again.
“Do you want two scars?”
She would’ve made my freaking day, but instead, she clamped her mouth shut.
“Now, let’s get down to business,” I said.
I went to stand next to Aaron. Adele couldn’t look away from the boy who could or couldn’t be her own son.
“Let him go,” she hissed at Aaron as she used her satin sheet to wipe the blood off her cheek.
“I think I’ll keep him right here for a bit,” Aaron said, but he put his knife away.
“You okay?” Aaron whispered in my ear. I nodded but never looked away from Adele.
“What the hell do you want from me?” she said.
“What we want is pretty simple. Our mutual friend Joey told us about a Council project you were involved in and what we want is for you to explain it to us.”
A big, fat no was at the tip of her tongue, but one look at her little boy toy and she swallowed hard. I had no idea what the deal was and the boy didn't seem so special, except for that young Justin Timberlake look he had going on. But whatever it was, it was working for us, so I didn't complain.
“I wasn't involved in anything,” Adele tried, and really, good for her for not giving up information right away, but I’d already ran out of patience.
“Aaron…” I said, my brightest evil smile playing on my lips.
The next second, Aaron hit the man hard in his stomach, and he doubled over. He would’ve fallen to his knees, too, if Aaron wasn't holding him.
Adele put her lips inside her mouth. The blood on her cheek had already begun to dry, which confirmed that the wound was but a scratch, but she didn’t look like she was going to talk soon. This time, without me having to tell him, Aaron hit the boy again, taking his breath away, and he let him fall to the floor.
Adele’s chin trembled violently. She pushed herself against the wall behind her bed to get to her knees. She was weak. Her magic had taken up a lot of her energy—exactly why I always tried to rely only on my physical strength. Magic dried you up pretty quickly and both times I’d used it to fight, I’d ended up unconscious afterwards.
But Adele still wasn't speaking.
Aaron took a step away from the guy who was now propped on his knees and elbows, and he prepared to kick the hell out of him. I felt sorry for the human. It wasn't his fault that he happened to be in the wrong bed at the wrong time. Aaron inhaled deeply and I knew without looking at him how much this was costing him. But he also knew it had to be done. So he swung his leg.
“Stop!” Adele shouted.
Aaron managed to stop without even touching the guy. He sighed in relief when he put his foot down again.
“Something you want to say?” I asked Adele.
“Just let him go!”
“Not until you tell us what you know. And do not even think about lying. Trust me,” I pointed at Aaron, “throwing mean fists and finding humans in closets aren’t his only skills.”
Adele didn’t look like she believed me, but I hoped she didn't try and find out.
“Fine,” she hissed, and her bottom lip began to tremble before she sighed loudly in surrender. “The Council is using the potion on supernaturals to test Master’s personal army,” she whispered.
“I fucking knew it!”
And I had. I knew Samayan wouldn’t be able to resist experimenting on sups as well as humans. But I dropped the idiot grin when Aaron raised a panicked brow my way. Yeah, this was definitely not something to be happy about.
“Satisfied?” Adele spit dryly.
“Not even close. We need the files,” I said, and a shiver ran down her spine. “Yes, Joey told me that you have the files to prove it. Give them to me and we’re gone.”
Adele kept shaking her head. “They’ll…they’ll kill me. You don't understand, Raven. They’ll rip me apart,” she whispered.
I would’ve felt sorry for her if I hadn't known what a bitch she was.
“Not necessarily,” Aaron said. “You can join us, and we—” but he didn't get to finish. Adele started laughing hysterically.
“You think you’ll be able to protect me? You fools! No one is safe from the Master.”
“Give me the files, Adele,” I warned.
She was seriously starting to lose it. She was laughing like she had just seen a horse poop on someone’s head.
“You think you can protect me…” she said between her laughs.
“The goddamn files, Adele!” I shouted at the top of my voice and that stopped her.
Or rather, the wind that was blowing from every pore on my skin did. I had apparently, in my attempt to stay calm, connected with the air, and now it moved with my anger. I blew her ash blond hair away from her face, and she kept looking at me like I was a freaking alien.
“Now.”
“But they’ll kill me,” she whispered, desperately now.
She was right, but we were all going to die if we didn't stop this. Goose bumps covered my arms. I was a bigger monster than even I had realized.
“And we’ll kill you now if you don’t.”
I forced the words out of me, ignoring the stupid voices in my head. I don't know wh
ere it came from, but a weight dropped in the pit of my stomach and it was making me dizzy.
Adele started laughing again, but this time, it sounded more like she was crying. Either way, it wasn't making me feel any better. I looked back at Aaron but he didn’t turn my way.
A few seconds passed and we just stood there and listened to Adele laughing/crying. Her boy toy didn't even bother to get up from the ground. He had his eyes closed and his head down, shaking like it was minus degrees in the room.
Finally, Adele pushed the sheets off, showing us her perfect body in all its naked glory. She didn't even look embarrassed. She almost fell to the floor when she attempted to stand. Despite my instinct to reach out, I stood still and watched her walk out of her bedroom like she had been drinking all day and night. I followed her while Aaron stayed behind with the boy.
Adele literally fell against the fireplace. Above it, there was only a small glass plate filled with chocolate cubes and a small blue vase with no flowers in it. I couldn’t help but wonder if she had a secret door somewhere.
Her hand went to the chocolate cubes that were apparently fakes made of plastic. She grabbed one of them and turned to me. The blood from where I had cut her cheek was already gone, washed away by her big tears.
“There you go,” she said, pushing the chocolate cube against my chest. I took it in my hands and analyzed it.
A flash drive. It was a freaking flash drive disguised as a chocolate cube. Genius.
Adele was crying in silence. She had her arms wrapped around her breasts and her whole body shook. “They’re going to kill him,” she whispered.
“I though you said he was just a human, Adele.” What a terrible thing to say. Just human.
Seconds past before my words made sense in Adele’s mind. Then, she was looking at me with so much sadness, I didn't know how to believe it.
“I love him,” she whispered, and I felt like something in me broke.
Do I look like this when I am crying over Aaron? Does she feel the same way?
A heartbeat later, I did something I never thought I would ever, ever do.
“Come with me. You know I can keep you safe,” I said, and I was as surprised as she was. Why the hell was I ready to take her in? She would probably rat me out the second I took her inside the Base.