She had to get away from Gregory’s sulking looks and dragged Greyson onto the dance floor. Gregory's eyes followed them. Aiden, who was walking determined towards the blonde cheerleader, the one Jason was so desperately interested in, briefly distracted Gabe. What the hell was Aiden up to? That chick was way out of his league. On the other hand, what did he care. Aiden would hardly have any chances with her.
The band rapped like crazy. In his opinion, they were not really talented and would hardly be discovered by a Talent Scout even if they behaved as if there was no tomorrow. One had to be quite drunk to enjoy that deafening noise, which was considered to be music. Gabe was frustrated, as he had no chance to overhear any scraps of conversation. He gave Gregory a friendly pat on his shoulder.
“I'll go outside for a moment. I need some fresh air. I probably have to get used to that sound.”
Gregory nodded and continued to stare at the dance floor. He tugged at his tie. The thing seemed to strangle him. He didn’t feel quite comfortable in his dark blue suit, the white shirt and tie, which his aunt had chosen for him to wear. She had meant well, but he felt as if he was suffocating right now. He had serious doubts if he was able to do what he had to. Maybe the whole story was far over his head. The responsibility that weighed on him bothered him. And what if he was not the damn savior and only accidentally happened to have these skills? Or if the legend was actually just a pure legend? What then? He wished he could disappear back to Italy. Now that he had everything under control, he knew that he would disappoint many people; people who had now become his friends - above all, Aiden. He had truly become his best friend. And then there was Leyla. She looked straight over to him, while she danced with Greyson. He lowered his eyes. She was better off without him anyway. Whatever he did, it was too late. He was stuck and there was no turning back now that he had crept in among the Vultures.
He wondered what Aiden had wanted to discuss with him so urgently yesterday, when he had repeatedly rejected his call. He felt somehow guilty. Maybe he had wanted to tell him how they could bring down the vultures eventually. After getting rid of Gabe, as he still didn’t know what the Akandos planned after tonight. Sometimes he wasn’t sure if they even knew themselves. They depended on the Community of the elders and seemed to have no clue. He still didn’t know what the prophecy said exactly. Maybe they didn’t want to give him too much Information. Maybe the Prophecy said something bad about the Savior. He should ask Mila, as she might know more. Her grandmother had this book and since everything was in there, he would finally find out about his destiny. He was sweating and his nerves fluttered. He couldn’t wait to get it over with. The vial felt kind of heavy in his pocket, as if he was carrying the weight of the world. Two paper cups of the harmless looking bowl were standing right in front of him on the bar. Rumors had it that some booze had been added to it secretly.
He reached for the vial, acting natural and poured the content into the dark green paper cup. This would be his best chance. When Gabe would be back, they would clink cups and finally have that damn drink.
Family planning
The party was in full swing and Brooklyn had hoped that Leyla would help her counting the ballots. King and Queen would be announced as the Festival tradition requested. The votes had to be ready in about an hour, which meant that she had to hurry up counting. Melissa was not much of help. It was impossible to tear her away from her date - a pimply red-haired dude that she hardly knew. Brooklyn clearly dependent on her help but had to admit that she probably had to do it by herself. She collected the boxes with the votes and started counting and making piles. When she looked up, she saw Aiden coming over. He was carrying two paper cups filled with a pink liquid. Definitely, that bowl everybody was talking about, apparently containing a lot of booze and some other strange ingredients. She had seen a couple of drunks passing by. She wondered how long it would take till a teacher found out about it. The culprit was actually surprisingly none other than this new girl, Angel, who apparently must have been into drunk dudes. Why else would she do such a thing? Maybe she was just plain crazy or it was part of a plan. Anyway, Brooklyn would gladly have hidden somewhere Aiden wasn’t able to find her. She didn’t feel like talking right now. He came up to her, looking at her with his dark piercing eyes. She had to admit that he looked gorgeous really dazzling in his own way. Yeah, that was the right word for it, she sighed dazzling. He had literally dazzled her. He looked amazing in his black suit with the white shirt and the black tie - an unusual sight. He handed her one of these paper cups full of booze.
“Hi, you look as if you could use some help,” he said with a wry smile.
Brooklyn somehow felt exhausted and looked at him gratefully. “That would be incredibly nice of you, because Melissa has let me down and she is on fire for her date.”
He looked at her having the impression that she looked kind of tired beautiful in her white dress and with her pinned up hair. A few strands fell into her forehead. She seemed to be extremely tall. He didn’t remember her being that tall. They were at eye level.
“As a matter of fact, I happen to be incredibly nice Brooklyn, you should know that”
He brushed a strand of hair from her forehead.
“But why are you so tall, I don’t remember you being so tall.”
He glanced at her shoes and laughed out loud.
"Ok, no wonder you look so exhausted. It is a mystery to me how women can walk in such shoes. Yet I must confess you really look very sexy in those shoes.”
He handed her a paper cup and grabbed a few boxes.
“I bet no one has voted for me!”
He laughed, “Let’s drink some of that famous bowl. I don’t want you to be dehydrated.”
She put the paper cup on the table.
“I can’t drink that stuff, it’s no good for me.”
"Why? Is a fruit punch bad for you? Too much sugar?”
He looked questioningly at her.
“Some more flesh on your ribs wouldn’t hurt. You know that, don’t you?”
Brooklyn started to feel nervous again. She smoothed her hair with a jittery movement.
"That stuff is pure booze and is clearly nothing for me.”
Aiden looked at her in disbelief taking a sip.
“Whoa, there's really booze in it!”
He seemed truly surprised.
"That’s what I am talking about,” she said, as she went back to the boxes, piling up the votes in front of her.
“Well, I guess we have a winner,” she said with an annoyed tone.
Aiden glanced at the pile.
“Why, would you'd preferred to be the one?” Brooklyn snorted. “Certainly not, but what an amazing coincidence that it happens to be the person responsible for the booze in the bowl. I have seen her putting it in the bowl, you know. And I don’t believe in hazards,” Aiden smiled at her.
"I didn’t know that you are such an opponent to booze of any kind.” Brooklyn didn’t bother answering, so he continued.
"Actually, I'm here to apologize for my behavior towards you. I am truly sorry and I want to make it up to you. Don’t look at me like this. I know you must hate me. Please forgive me. Things haven’t changed. I am still afraid that something could happen to you because of me, but it can’t prevent me from staying away from you. I miss you.”
Brooklyn felt dizzy and her stomach felt queasy. Sweat dropped down her spine and she shivered. She held a hand over her mouth.
“Brooklyn, are you ok?"
She took a deep breath and the queasiness passed.
She looked at him full of doubts.
“And now it is not dangerous for me to be seen with you, or what?”
Aiden shrugged and lay the last pile on the table.
"Yep, I think we do have our winners.”
He grabbed her shoulders and made her face him.
“No, it's still as complicated as before, but I 'm in love with you and I am not going to ignore that feeling any longer. Hey what th
e hell, I'll have to protect you with my life,” he grinned at her and she felt sick again. She held her hand over her mouth and this time, the queasiness didn’t pass. She couldn’t help it and threw up into the trashcan. Aiden grabbed a napkin from the table and handed it to her.
“My God, Brooklyn either you can’t stand my presence and think that I totally suck or you are sick. I must point out though that I would prefer the second option even if that makes me even a bigger kind of an idiot.”
She choked again and then dried her face with the napkin. She took a big sip from her cup and grimaced in disgust.
"This stuff tastes awful. No Aiden, I 'm not sick at least not really and I don’t think you suck. Honestly, I think you're amazing,” she pointed to the chair next to her.
“Yet, I think it would be better if you sat down. I have to tell you something.”
His gaze was full of affection.
“The thing is,” she said quietly, “I am pregnant.”
His expression went blank at first and then he blinked several times saying, “I 'm glad that you don’t think I suck. I thought you were disgusted and got sick just looking at me.”
Then suddenly, it seemed to dawn on him what he had just heard.
A questionable grin lit up his face. He hugged her gently beaming at her.
"That's good news. I really thought you were sick.”
Brooklyn was completely dumbstruck. Hadn’t he understood what she just said?
"Good news? You must be out of your mind, damn it. Don’t you get it? You are going to be a dad!”
He pulled her close and stroked her back in a comforting manner.
“Shush. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” he kept looking at her. “Now that we're together, we can do anything. We'll find a solution.”
He kissed her cautiously, because he did not know whether she had to throw up again and this time on him eventually.
Over her shoulder, he saw Gregory, who was on the other side of the hall. He absolutely had to warn him and tell him that Vincent was actually Gabe.
"Brooklyn, I know that this is not the right time, but I need to talk to Gregory about something. It is really important. I have to warn him about someone. I'll be right back.”
He kissed Brooklyn again and disappeared into the crowd. Brooklyn stayed behind still overwhelmed. That had been quite an unexpected reaction. He hadn’t panicked at all when she had told him about her pregnancy. He hadn’t even questioned his part in it. Wow, that had quite impressed her. If she wasn’t already into him, she would have fallen for him at that very moment.
Aiden appeared at the bar trying not to be attracting any attention. He got two more drinks and stood beside Gregory. He told him that Vincent was Gabe in reality and that he had to be extremely careful. He tried to keep his voice down. It would be best to call the whole thing off tonight. They needed to think it over and have a new strategy. Gabe was in fact dangerous, there was no doubt about that. Gregory nodded and Aiden disappeared into the crowd. It was impossible to call the thing off. The potion was already standing in front of him and he was more determined than ever before to finish the job. If he could paralyze or whatsoever Gabe, even better. Then there would be absolutely no need to feel guilty as this guy himself was supposed to be the personification of evil. He remembered Aiden's story about the cat and at that time, Gabe had only been five years old. This meant that if Gabe should happen to find out about him being the savior before he drank that stuff, he would probably drown him in the best case. Where was that moron anyway, he wanted to get over with the damn thing as quickly as possible.
The countdown is on and Alex can’t keep his mouth shut
Gabe had just lit a cigarette, standing alone. He leaned against the wall outside the building. It was dark and he couldn’t be spotted by anyone in the dark doorway. He hated to be dependent of any kind of stuff. He really had to give up smoking. To be craving for something was a sign of weakness, no doubt and he was not fucking weak. Yet at boarding school, it had been considered a cool thing to smoke. Only losers hadn’t smoked there, and he was no loser.
As a leader, he had to represent coolness and so he had started smoking. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy to give it up. The craving was too strong. He heard voices; two guys came closer. Gabe put out his cigarette and watched the two Akando dudes approaching. They seemed to be quite drunk. They hardly could walk straight any more. Gabe laughed softly. Angel had improved the bowl in her own special way. Apparently, she had added a few drops of one of her creations containing a lot of alcohol. She told him that whoever was in control of some magical abilities would lose them until being sober again.
He drew back and hid in the shadow of the wall again. The two guys seemed to be completely wasted. He wasn’t into lose time with such losers. As he was heading to the backdoor, a whiny remark of one of them had him turn around and stay. He was complaining about a certain Mila that wouldn’t return his romantic feelings for him. Gabe tried to remember whom they were talking about and then it suddenly hit him. He had a memory flash about that clumsy girl who had spilled her water on his sleeve recently. According to his records, she was an Akando and her element was the earth. What a waste, she seemed to have no clue about how to deal with her element. Those Akandos were a totally degenerated bunch of losers. What a shame. How could they ever only think to have a chance to stand against the Vultures even if this Savior existed?
Suddenly,he heard something that madehim stop at the spot. “You see, Sebastian, even the Savior himself has troubles with girls.”
The tall guy with the long greasy hair said that he had recognized himas being Alex. The other one madea dismissive gesture, “Women,” he said, burping loudly.
Then they both chuckled stupidly, their muffled laughter was
the only sound in the still of the night for some moments. Gabe listened attentively. Damn, did the morons fall asleep? Then Alex continued to speak.
“Kind of hard to believe that she has ditched him and came with this idiot Greyson to the festival. I heard it myself.”
Sebastian had probably dozed off, as there was no answer, only a snoring sound. Yet that didn’t even occur to Alex. He was completely carried away by telling his juicy story to someone finally”
She’ll regret having him treated that way. Tomorrow it will be all over; he will get rid of this Vincent character. He will be nothing but history by dawn. The savior will take care of him for good.
He got hold of a lethal potion from our best poisoner.
That stuff is supposed to be incredible and best of all, there happens to be no cure. Yeah, right. No freaking antidote.”
He had finally noticed that Sebastian was asleep. He nudged him and he woke up looking up questioningly.
“My friend we are going to celebrate tomorrow,” Alex said cheerfully.
Angel had come up next to Gabe silently. She had come outside to smoke a cigarette and had witnessed the conversation of the two Akando guys. She watched Gabe’s expression with some curiosity. How would he react to that kind of news? She felt excitement creeping up. So, Gregory was the savior. What a surprise. Actually, she had never trusted him from the start and had never understood why Gabe was so full of confidence when it came to Gregory. Unless the great Gabe had been manipulated. A gleeful sneer appeared on her face. The two guys had been speaking proudly of their poisoner. She wondered who the hell that could be. Gabe’s expression had turned into stone and he noticed that Angel had joined him. He didn’t even flinch. Alex and Sebastian were still laughing when suddenly two figures came out of the darkness as if they came out of nowhere. The two of them suddenly seemed to be sober again and were looking fearfully at Gabe and Angel. Gabe looked like an avenging angel. He did not say a word. He just looked at them with his dark green piercing eyes. Then he spread his arms as if he unfolded his wings and closed his eyes. The sky lit up at once. One single flash of lightning darted from the sky and hit Alex. He fell to the ground thunderstruck
laying there, his arms and legs spread in a frightening way. He was dead, there was no doubt about it. Sebastian at first petrified in fear, turned around and ran for his life. Gabe was beyond control out of rage; he was completely losing it, but he did not want to risk that someone could prove anything. There was no need for a witness. It had been a convenient coincidence that they had been alone out here.
He turned to Angel.
“Go and take care of him. I 'm counting on you. No witnesses. I’ll take care of the Savior meanwhile.”
His voice had a sharp edge, as if Angel was to blame for the whole mess. She nodded quietly, as it made no sense arguing with him when he was in this mood. Still she wondered how he imagined that she should take care of the other guy. By any means, she was master of the earth and not a coldblooded killing machine that could kill with her bare hands. Annoyed, she followed Sebastian, who already had quite an advantage. She grabbed her cell phone and called Sarah.
”Hey Sarah, Angel here. Can you get Lisa and meet me immediately at the side entrance. I need your fire. Something has to be burned down for good.”
Gabe’s revenge
Gabe's face was a mask of stone when he walked back into the ballroom. Never in his life had he been so humiliated and betrayed. He had trusted Gregory. He had believed him, that the Savior was not here and he had almost agreed to get a transfer for himself and his followers to Vancouver. It was time that he destroyed that bastard. The only thing he was still interested in was Gregory's violent death. He wanted him to suffer. He put a fake smile on his face when he met Gregory at the bar. Gregory seemed to be completely distracted and pissed because Greyson just attempted trying to kiss Leyla on the dance floor. He watched them with a somber expression.
ELEMENTARY VIRTUE: The Savior Page 14