Misery Saves the Night

by Brittany Allen

  Once the mess with Justine had been cleared up, Ian escorted her back to their hotel room. “Please stay.” She half begged her fiancé before he left.

  “I have a night meeting with our mole.” Ian fixed his hair in the bathroom mirror. He could not even look into his own eyes as he lied.

  “And am I just supposed to stay here?” Where Justine was looking for an answer, she did not get one. Ian left the hotel room without another word and headed back to Acanelle’s for the second time that night.

  Out on the brick street the man fiddled with the item in his coats pocket. It was the heel from one of the waitress issued shoes at Acanelle’s. He had picked it up on instinct while Justine was bickering with the café’s owner. Even as he crossed the towns square and stared into the freshly visible stars in the skies, Ian did not know what he was doing or what he would do once he got there. All he knew was that he had to go back to the café. It was the one place in the world where his heart had felt complete.

  “Now that we are all here.” A voice hissed in the darkness somewhere under the streets of Farous. “Let us begin tonight’s and perhaps, this month’s final meeting.”

  “So true.” One of the women whispered. She was crying for a reason even unknown to herself.

  “Oh no!” The island woman stroked the crying woman’s hair. “This is no good.”

  “Not like we did not expect it. Her tears only confirms it.” A squeaky voiced male felt comfort in his wife’s arms.

  Their leader signaled them to the cauldron in the center of the room. It gave off a golden light in contrast to the blue light the walls shinned.

  “Even though he is not the guardian we would have chosen, this man must be more than meets the eye.” The leader dipped his hand in the cauldrons water and let it drip through his finger, resulting in the image changing.

  “And that boy?” The third woman stroked his face above the water surface.

  “He is a great second.” When she stopped her tears, the woman stepped back from the group. “And even she has connected with him.”

  “That girl needs not to be so greedy.” The island woman teased.

  “So why is that we are here?” Squeaked the only other male in the group aside from their leader.

  “We need to prepare for the coming tests. There are countless decisions we must decide on tonight that will affect the future. Not just our little society will be affected, but the world.” Their leader knew his position well.

  In the alley behind Acanelle’s, Ian found the back door entrance and slipped in. By now all customers had left and only three employees were left cleaning up in the dining area. He was able to get from the kitchen to the hallway without anyone notice. Before he could realize where he was, Ian stood in front of Recarie’s door. As it was his heart leading the way, he really had no clue where he was or what was behind the door, but he knocked lightly anyways. After a short sound of ruffling from behind the door, the knob turned.

  “Caleth, I really don’t…” Her words trailed off as her eyes widened and watered.

  Before her stood the man she had made a fool of herself in front of only hours ago. She could have stared into his baby blue eyes, flung herself at him, and say all the things that her heart kept secret from her. Recarie was too far into shock that she had not noticed the black heel he held.

  In his slightly swollen hand Ian raised the item he held on to so tightly. The woman behind the door faded back into the five foot tall girl with mauve hair. She was the same girl that he had only one true conversation with, but felt like they were one in the same. On the other hand, the other part of his body told him that he was engaged to Justine, but only in a whisper.

  Conflicted, Ian wanted to run his fingers across her horrified face to tell her it was okay, but he did not want to lie to her. In that moment, standing in front of the girl he searched for months for, he did not know what he truly wanted.

  Recarie backed slowly into her room and Ian went running back the way he came, dropping her heel in the process. Before shutting herself off in the room she saw the item he dropped. Taking a great chance with her personal and mental safety, Recarie stepped into the hallway and picked the heel up. Smiling to herself, and letting her heart break, Recarie dashed back in her room. She was thinking about running out of the café and chasing him down, but stood in front of her mirror.

  “What am I doing?” She whispered. All the thoughts swimming in her head, needed to come out. “He is engaged to another woman. He is one of the NSSH grunts after me. But why do I feel like THIS!” Recarie did not know even what it was that she was feeling, other than guilty. She wished she could go back to being Sazelina.

  CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! Soft taps came from her door.

  “Oh hell.” Recarie crept to the door. Was it ‘him’? Her heavy breaths could be heard from the other side of the door.

  “Everything okay, Recarie?” Recarie breathed a sigh a relief. It was Daouen. “It has been a while since any of us had seen you.”

  Recarie opened the door, but she did not want to look desperate for company.

  “Um, yeah. I am fine.” Although she did not look it.

  “Yeah.” His crooked smile told her that he knew she was lying. “Listen, Tory and Caleth are already out and they sent me to check on you.” Daouen leaned on the door and closer to her face. “If you are ‘fine’ as you say, then why not join me.”

  “Why not.” She grabbed the purse Caleth had given her and joined Daouen in hall. “I need to get out of here and be around people before my thoughts drive me insane.” Came her thoughts.

  Chapter 7

  She Chose Him

  “Come on.” Trey begged his friend. “Just tell me!”

  “Should I?” Ian asked Trey as the Hunter was plucking D.N.A. from unsuspecting civilians passing by. He only happened upon Trey as he was sprinting across the town’s square and back to his hotel room. What Trey had been doing out there was another question completely.

  “Do it and you might stop wailing like a baby.” The pair circled the fountain in the center of the strip mall.

  “Alright. Well it all started when I went to this café.” Leaving out some minor details Ian had filled Trey in on the current situation. “For some unknown reason, there I found myself in front of this girl’s door after having broken into the place. One minute she was the waitress and then the next she was our target. I felt the hurt and uncertainty that she holds inside. I wanted to hold her and let her know that everything will be alright.”

  “Dude, come on! She is like, what Twelve?” He had finished plucking human D.N.A. and went on to the pigeons and rats that also traveled the streets.

  “There you go.” He flung his hands in the air. “That is exactly what I knew you would say about her. She just does something to me. I’ve changed so much since the first moment I saw her.”

  “You are finding yourself questioning authority and wondering if there’s more to this life.” In a rare moment of sincerity, it was like Trey could read his mind.

  Thanks to the work of Gillian and the other lieutenants, the unsuspecting town folk did not see anything out of the ordinary in the town square. The seven foot tall golem picking the feathers of pigeons did not seem strange in the least sense. Everyone who passed smiled and waved politely at the pair.

  “I watched over her for months and even though she had never said a word to me, the night she escaped that hospital, I could feel the connection.” His hand slide over his heart. Ian could feel the invisible force struggling to bring him back to the café.

  “And what of Justine, your fiancée?” Trey sneezed. He had caught the scent of a peculiar individual.

  “I have thought about her too.” Ian eye’s darted to the sky. “It was like I met her one day at work and then the next we were engaged and living together. Thinking back to it, I don’t even remember proposing to her!”

  Ian doubled over and fell next to the fountain. How was it that just now he was remembering
these things? Why did it take Ian years to question the blank spots in his mind where there should be memories? Happy, loving memories of his courtship of Justine? Endless nights of sharing their hopes, dreams, and visions of the future? There was nothing.

  “And now you are all over Recarie?” The Hunter joined him on the ground.

  “When I looked into her eye’s this evening, it was there!” Ian was bringing all of his thoughts out in the open. “That spark! For once in my three decades of existence, I felt excitement. I was alive.”

  “Who’s eyes?” Trey wanted to ‘help’ his friend resolve his issues.

  “You know who I am talking about.” Ian turned away.

  “No, I don’t.” Trey was serious. “You say ‘her’ or ‘she’ and speak of completing you, but you have yet to say her name! If you ask me, you just like toying with the idea that a younger girl is in to a man like you!”

  Silently, with his head bowed, Ian stood. He would not take that from anyone, even his best and only friend. Sure, he may not know exactly what that girl meant to him, but she did mean ‘something’ to him.

  Daouen and Recarie had just turned out into the streets from the café’s alley way. She was lost in her thoughts as she stared at the sky. Daouen seemed to be a little off of his normal self. He fidgeted and kept looking at his watch.

  “So…” Daouen began. “What do you want to do tonight?” He turned to Recarie, to look her in the eyes, but her thoughts and sight was elsewhere.

  “Hm?” A sigh escaped her mouth. Too many thoughts to sort out jumbled her head.

  “Distracted much?” He raised a brow to be playful. Recarie did not say anything. “That’s cool.” Daouen let her absentmindedness slide for the moment.

  Something stung her throat, she tripped and almost fell knee’s first onto the street. Luckily, her companion managed to catch her hands at the last moment. He slowly raised her to her feet and in a completely predictable fashion, their eye’s met. Recarie felt that same sensation as when she had gazed into his eyes at the café, not too long ago.

  “Are you okay?” Daouen had to ask even though it was obvious she was fine.

  “Oh, yeah. Thank you.” Recarie was drawn to his eyes. They sparkled with the light of the moon. For the first time, she was seeing him in a different light. All other thoughts seeped out of her head, to be replaced with that one image of his shaded features and crooked, playful smile.

  It was Daouen that leaned in close to her face. Tilting her head slightly, Recarie followed even though something was wrong with the situation. She wanted to run away. Why couldn’t she? Recarie did not want to kiss the boy. Trying to pull away proved futile as it seemed to bring her closer to him.

  “No.” Recarie’s mind whispered in repetition. She wanted to scream. She wanted to take flight!

  Ian was going to prove to Trey, and to himself, that his feelings were not solely ideas and wishful thinking. “Recarie…” He whispered.

  Trey jumped up and smiled triumphantly. “There, that’s not so bad. Now, say it louder. Let the whole world hear the secret of your heart.”

  “Recarie!” Ian shouted it this time. Something was wrong and he knew it. Turning around, he’d seen it.

  At the mention of her name, Recarie broke away for a brief second and caught Ian’s eyes. Without saying anything, Ian knew she was scared and trapped. A thought that struck him as strange when he knew the power she was capable of unleashing.

  Recarie did not want to kiss Daouen. Her first kiss would not go to just anyone just to have kissed someone. It would not be meaningless. She was not about to just pass out something so precious to the first guy that came along. The first kiss she’d give was going to be to her true love, the same person she’d kiss for all eternity. Daouen was not to be that person.

  Before Daouen could move in, Ian sprang to Recarie’s aid. He pushed the boy in the chest and sent him crashing to the hard brick road. Adrenaline, something Ian had not experienced in a very, very long time, pulsed through him. His first thought was of pounding the boy in to a mess of broken bones, but then they shifted to someone more important.

  Shaking, Ian looked Recarie over. She was shaking as well. A sense like she was violated flashed through her mind. The thought of being controlled by someone she had so easily given her trust to unnerved the fragile girl.

  Knowing she needed someone, Ian reached out to put his hand on her shoulder to calm her, but stopped. That was not what she needed at the moment. Recarie lifted her head and her sparkling eye’s looked depressed and hopeless. They could feel that the other wanted to say something, but held back.

  A hundred thoughts that started with ‘maybe’ or ‘what if’ kept them where they stood. Well that was until Daouen rebounded and struck Ian. The lieutenant was caught off guard and fell into the fountain. Looking at the mess before her, on a whim of instinct, Recarie jumped off the ground and prepared to fly, but only half of her heart was in it.

  “Ugh!” Daouen shouted as a glowing red thread made its way out of his index finger’s tip. Recarie watched as he pulled it until it was the same length as him and as thick as his fist.

  “Daouen?” She knew something about the whole situation was not right.

  The boy slung the rope behind his back and Recarie turned and made a second attempt to run. At this point a crowd had gathered. Ian had noticed this, but knew as long as his crew kept up their solid work, they should be perfectly fine. More people joined the crowd to watch Daouen sling the rope forward and around Recarie’s waist as she was in mid-flight.

  “Umph.” The breath was being drawn from her body. It was the result of Daouen’s abilities. She was growing weary and descending.

  Ian came to his senses and for the second time that night, he attacked Daouen.

  “Sir!” Daouen lost his concentration and the rope disappeared, allowing Recarie to go free. “I had her!”

  “Stand down! You are causing a scene and unwanted attention that this mission does not need.” Ian had him pinned to the ground.

  “No!” With all his might he pushed Ian away and ran after the girl who was leaving a trail of tears in her wake. Daouen used his speed to dash up the street and jump into the air, swinging a new red neon rope at her. Just like the first time, it wrapped around her waist and pulled her to the ground without too much of a struggle.

  In all of the confusion, Trey had slipped away, but he did not go unnoticed.

  With her mind being so scattered, she could not concentrate her powers so they amplified and dispersed. Energy Recarie could have used to fight back fled her body and destroyed anything in its wake. Buildings crumbled and the roadway was stripped away leaving only the sand beneath it. Debris flew in the air and the civilians fled for cover.

  A second red neon rope extended from his other hand and Daouen flung it towards her. This second one bound her slender legs making her sink faster. Ian used his abilities to break some of the nearby bricks and send them crashing into Daouen’s eyes, but that did not help the situation any. Recarie was still trapped and Ian knew the other NSSH officers were closing him.

  Ian’s thoughts rushed and he was not sure it was even him making his decisions anymore. All he could see was Recarie frantic and exhausted face and her cries rang in his ears. Every emotion, sense, and feeling built to a point until they ceased to exist in his body all together. It was like Ian had snapped.

  At full speed he charged after the boy and using only his hands, grabbed the ropes that bound Recarie. Her binds disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. This may have helped had he been a few seconds earlier to her rescue, but the ropes had already done their job. Recarie was lying flat on the ground, but she had not blacked out.

  Faster than he could make himself move, Trey traveled two blocks and jumped into a man hole. Once at the bottom of the hole, he traced his rock index finger along the wall behind the stairs. A blue light followed it as he moved his finger along. Several symbols appeared and he pushed his hand into the
blank space on the wall between them. A seven foot section of the wall vanished in a poof of shining gray smoke and the Hunter stepped through it. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Trey continued his rushed pace. Eventually more blue symbols lighted up around him in the tunnel allowing him to see his way through the maze.

  “Crud!” He came to a dead end. “Why!” In a mock anger he turned around and took another path. “Of all the nights I forget my way!”

  Something about this Trey was different from the Hunter he was on the surface. His eyes were softer, almost worried even. The wind wafting past him felt cool and practically lifted him off of the ground. At the end of his last turn was a mirror with a moving glass. This liquid reached out and absorbed him into it. He did not struggle and quickly found himself in a dark room. In this dark room he spotted four other individuals.

  “We need to hurry!” The island accented woman grabbed his hand.

  “But this is her fight.” He brushed the tears away from her eyes. Surprisingly his stone fingers did not tear or burn her skin as they passed over it.

  “And we are supposed to sit here!” The squeaky voiced man’s wife pushed him.

  Trey did not move. “We have already gone through this.” He ran his fingers in the cauldron’s liquid like he had done not so long ago. “We will watch from here and if any of you go above ground, well you know what will happen.”

  The other four fell silent at the words of their leader.

  “See?” The other female pointed out Ian standing in between Recarie and the boy who had attacked her.

  Using the powers of the cauldron, the squeaky voiced male read the colors coming off of each of the people in it.

  “His rage is strong.” He commented on the purple waves coming off Ian. “But the boy’s determination is stronger. Ian will need to open his heart to the truth hidden inside to be able to save little Recarie.”