Inamorato

by Keira Michelle Telford

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Rocks Off

  Ella, confined to her bedroom, cringes at the sound of her papa’s raised voice booming through the walls.

  Thump!

  A fist beats down upon a tabletop.

  “I trusted you with her life!”

  More mumbled, angry words.

  Then, “How dare you!”

  More thumping.

  A smashed glass.

  Further angry words.

  A door slams.

  Ella darts from her bed to the window, watching Alex walk down the path toward the main street with his head hung low. She waits for a moment, just in case her papa plans to call upon her next.

  Instead, the apartment falls silent.

  Sensing that the coast is clear for now, she grabs something from the drawer of her bedside table, throws open the window and slips out, catching up to Alex on the street corner.

  “Hey!”

  He stops, even though he’s not at all in the mood to be social. “You should get back inside before he catches you out here. I’m not really his favorite guy right now.”

  “I’m sorry he’s mad at you. He has a tendency to overreact.”

  Alex shrugs. “He loves you is all.”

  “Will anything bad happen to you?”

  “Nothing permanent. I did bring you back alive, after all, and that’s gotta count for something.” Weak smile. “I’m being relegated to the third line for three months, and I have to work Sundays.”

  “You’re normally first line?”

  “Second.”

  It’s still impressive.

  Ella holds out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. “Here, take these. The least I can do is save you a trip to the store.”

  Alex takes them from her, his hand brushing lightly against hers. “Thanks.”

  He sits down on the curb and lights up, admiring the Ella Cross drawn on the lighter in liquid white out.

  “Nice symbol. What does it mean? A secret society? A cult? You’re inventing a new pictorial language?”

  Ella sits down beside him. “It’s just my name. I read it in an Old World book. It’s an ancient symbol: a warrior shield. Some cultures called it an Ella Cross.”

  “Your mom taught ancient history at general school, didn’t she?”

  Ella nods.”I guess that explains it.” She spots the portable music player sticking out of Alex’s pocket. “So what’s your music like? I’ve never heard anything from the Old World.”

  “You’re missing out.”

  “Will you show me sometime?”

  He shouldn’t.

  He knows he shouldn’t.

  He does it anyway.

  With the cigarette between his lips, “Okay, I’m gonna do you a huge favor right now.” He pulls the device out of his pocket. “You borrow this and see what you think.”

  She takes it from him. “Really?”

  “Sure. Give it back to me the next time we cross paths, which, if the last few days have been anything to go by, probably won’t be so far in the future.”

  Ella fights to hold back a smile. “You know what you’re doing, don’t you?”

  “Losing my mind, it feels like.”

  “You’re creating an excuse for us to see each other again.”

  “Don’t read too much into it.”

  “You know you can’t stay away from me, so stop trying to fight it.”

  Impulsively, she leans in toward him and tries to kiss him on the cheek, but he doesn’t see her coming and turns his head at the last second, her lips ending up pressed against the corner of his mouth.

  She pulls back hastily. “Whoa. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to …” Her voice trails off.

  Neither of them moves.

  Neither of them says anything.

  Frozen in their moment of awkwardness, the silence is finally shattered by Maydevine. Ella hears her name called—yelled—at the top of his lungs, and the ferocity of it makes her wince.

  “I’d better go.”

  Music player in hand, she darts back to her room, her papa waiting for her in the doorway.

  “Don’t push your luck.” He plants his hands on his hips. “You’re grounded.”

  “Grounded? Are you serious?”

  “Are you?”

  “What did I do, Papa? Besides help to clear the Belt from Chimera and restore public safety.”

  She has a point, but Maydevine refuses to hear it.

  “You’re not a graduate, and your feet aren’t big enough to fill those boots—not yet.”

  “I’m almost sixteen. In two weeks, I’ll be legally considered an adult. I graduate in less than a year. When are you going to stop treating me like a child?”

  Maydevine doesn’t get to answer that. His cell phone begins to ring and he’s called into work. Before he leaves, he has one final warning for her.

  “If I find out that you had anything to do with these so called Belt fights, you’re going to be in a whole heap of trouble.”

  “Papa …”

  “After what happened to you when you were little, I expect you to know better.”

  Ella rolls her eyes. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “You’re not to leave this apartment while I’m gone.”

  “Fine.”

  “And you can lose the attitude.”

  They both know that’ll never happen.

  She waits until she hears the front door open and close before she collapses onto her bed, the music player in her hands. Manipulating the device, she selects something called ‘The Rolling Stones’ and hits ‘play’.

  *************************

  After dark, sitting at the summer table in her back yard and working under the light of a lamp, Ella bounces her attention back and forth between a partially rebuilt PP-2000 and a bowl of cereal, still listening to Alex’s music.

  All sounds from the outside world are muffled behind a barrage of Nirvana, and she doesn’t hear Luka calling to her from the other side of the fence.

  Tink!

  He chucks a small rock over the fence and it clinks against one of the gun parts.

  She doesn’t notice.

  Another tiny rock flies by, this one landing in the grass.

  Still, she doesn’t notice.

  He tries one more time, and this time, the pebble lands in her cereal bowl and the milk splashes up into her face.

  “Ah! What the—?” She pulls out the earphones and looks around.

  He calls out again. “Ella!”

  “What, Luka? What do you want?” Irritated.

  Standing on an old plastic garden chair, Ella looks over the fence down to Luka on the other side.

  “Come out to play, Ellie bum,” he pleads.

  “I’m busy.”

  “Where did you run off to last night? You didn’t get to see me take the bastard out.”

  “Sorry. I had some other shit to take care of.”

  “Was it you who let them out?”

  Ella turns both palms upward. “Why do people always think stuff like that?”

  Luka dangles two bottles of Old World vodka in the air. “Come on, let’s discuss this over drinks.”

  Ella relents, and meets him outside her bedroom window. “I can’t be gone long. My papa will check my room when he gets home.”

  “A romantic stroll along the seafront it is, then.”

  He crooks his arm for her to loop hers through, but she reaches for one of the bottles instead.

  “Where did you get this?”

  “A Cadet knows an Agent who knows a Hunter.”

  Ella laughs. “That means you stole it from your parents.”

  “Semantics,” Luka concedes. “So what the hell happened out there today?”

  She cracks open the vodka. “Someone opened up the holding cells. Don’t ask me who.”

  Luka encourages her to walk with him. “And you killed them all? You and the Hunters?”

  “Yeah.” Ella doesn’t ca
re to get into the specifics of it, so she leaves it as vague as that.

  “What was it like to work with a real unit?”

  “Amazing.” She swoons at the thought of it.

  Luka swings his arm around her shoulders. “Did your papa go monkey nuts?”

  “Predictably.”

  They reach the waterfront, and Ella downs a copious amount of the vodka as she settles herself into a park bench.

  Luka slides up beside her. “What’s the matter?” he coaxes. “You seem tense tonight. And by that, I mean more so than usual.”

  “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” Another sip. “I need to figure out how to get my papa to sign off on my internship application.”

  “He said no?”

  “I haven’t asked.”

  Luka laughs. “I can’t possibly allow you to be upset over something that hasn’t even happened yet. That’s just silliness.”

  He leans in and kisses the side of her head, making her flinch.

  “Stop it.” She frowns.

  “Why? What’s wrong?”

  He tries again, this time aiming for her neck, but she pushes him away.

  “I said stop it, Luka.” Stern. “I’m not in the mood.”

  “Geez, there’s no need to be such a freeze. You’re supposed to be my girlfriend, El.”

  “I’m not your girlfriend, Luka.”

  “Since when?”

  “What the hell do you mean ‘since when’? Since when did you think that I was?”

  “Since we started hanging out together.”

  “I hang out with a lot of people.”

  “Alone? At night?”

  “Sometimes.” More drinking. “You’re making way too much out of this.”

  “Am I?”

  “Can’t we talk about something else?”

  “Actually, no. I don’t know what the fuck is going on with you, but you weren’t like this a couple of weeks ago. Why won’t you talk to me?”

  “Nothing’s changed, Luka.”

  “Yes, it has. Not so long ago, you were pawing on me in the Belt and your mouth was around my cock.”

  “You want a blowjob, is that it? Is that why you came to my house tonight? So that you could get your rocks off?”

  “No, of course not.” He sighs. “I just don’t understand how you can run so hot and cold like this. One day my hands are down your pants, and the next day you don’t even wanna call yourself my girlfriend. Did I do something to piss you off?”

  “No, I—”

  “Is it because of that girl from the Academy of Medicine? I heard you gave her one in the Belt the other night.”

  “See, how could you think that I’m your girlfriend if you know I’m doing shit like that?”

  Luka shrugs. “She’s a girl. That’s different.”

  “You have a strange view of fidelity.”

  “I don’t understand what you want from me.”

  “I don’t want anything from you, Luka.”

  “Then why do you fool around with me?”

  “I like you, I just—”

  “You know what?” Luka waves his hand in the air to stop her. “Forget this. I’m just gonna go home.”

  “Why are you getting so upset?”

  Luka abandons the vodka on the ground and gets up. “You’re a whore.”

  Ella’s mouth drops open. “Excuse me?”

  “If we’re not together, but you’re still screwing around with me and god knows who else, that makes you a whore.”

  “Luka!” She’s so shocked by the accusation, she almost laughs. “Don’t you think you’re being a little melodramatic?”

  He’s not listening.

  Already a hundred yards away, he ignores her and keeps on walking.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Silver

  Sunday morning.

  As part of his punishment for failing to adhere to the Hunter General’s orders, Alex is forced into work. With a mug of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other, he makes his way toward his truck, yawning.

  “Good morning, sunshine.”

  Startled, he looks up to see a face smiling down at him from the roof of his truck.

  Ella.

  He rolls his eyes. “Christ, you’re like herpes. Once you’re exposed to it, it never goes away.”

  “That’s just about the most unflattering thing anyone’s ever said about me.”

  Alex looks around the loading bay, wary of anyone seeing them together. “What’re you doing here, Ella?”

  She rolls over onto her back, letting her head hang down over the edge, staring at him upside down. “I came to tell you that music’s changed my life.”

  “I thought it might.”

  She rolls back over onto her front, allowing Alex to open up the door and climb inside. After he swings the door closed, she drops her head back down over the open window and grins at him.

  “Do you have any more?”

  With the cigarette between his lips, “Of course.”

  “Can I come over to your place after you get off work?”

  “Noooooooo.” Alex shakes his head vigorously.

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not even going to answer that. Besides, aren’t you grounded?”

  “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

  “Your papa would kill me, and this isn’t the place to be having this conversation.”

  “I anticipated you’d say that.” She hands him a tiny scrap of paper.

  He takes it. “What’s this?”

  “My phone number.”

  Displaying both agility and strength, Ella clasps her hands around the upper edge of the door frame and, supporting her whole weight on her arms, flips herself over and onto the floor, landing skillfully on her feet. Swiveling around to face the truck again, she hops up onto the foot rail and leans on the open window.

  “Can I come with you?”

  “Hell, no. Haven’t recent events taught you anything?”

  “Only that my papa is being unreasonably overprotective.”

  “That being the case, I think you should get the fuck out of here before he sees you. And in the future, a little more discretion wouldn’t go amiss.”

  “Discretion? Why? Are we doing something wrong?”

  Alex looks over at her, trying to see beyond the fake innocence in her expression.

  “Not yet, but I think you want me to.”

  “Hey, I only came here to thank you for saving my life in the Belt.”

  “I didn’t save your life. I endangered it by not adhering to Maydevine’s orders.”

  “We had fun, though, didn’t we?”

  “What’re you trying to do to me?”

  “Nothing. Why? What do you want me to do to you?”

  That does it.

  Alex wants this conversation to end. “You have to leave.”

  “I’m not done.”

  “You’re overdone.”

  “No, wait.” She reaches into her pocket, pulls out the music player and hands it back to him. “I also came here to return this, so it’s all perfectly legitimate and above board.”

  “Go home, Ella.”

  He starts the engine and she hops off the foot rail.

  “Be safe, Hunter.”

  She winks and runs off, and Alex looks down at the scrap of paper in his hands. Inputting the number into his cell phone, he begins to assign her name to the entry. He gets as far as ‘Ella C’, and then stops.

  Delete.

  Thinking it inappropriate to have the phone number of the Hunter General’s daughter so openly stored in his phone—given that her number is restricted, and can only be known if she gives it to you personally—he opts to use a nickname. The first thought that leaps into his mind is of her large, sparkling silver eyes.

  Silver.

  Happy with his choice, he pockets the phone and toasts the paper on the end of his cigarette. Sitting back, he watches it wither and burn, all evidence destroyed.

/>   *************************

  A day comes and goes.

  And another.

  And another.

  Ella goes to school and comes home—diligently. The Belt has been closed since the incident and it hasn’t been spoken of in the Hunter General household, despite the fact that the investigation into the release of the Chimera is still ongoing.

  At dinner, Ella picks at her food, somewhat subdued. Maydevine, across the table from her, looks down at the dirt under her nails: dried blood from another day of supervised slaughter.

  “Couldn’t you at least wash your hands before you eat?”

  “I did.”

  “Did you use soap?”

  “Of course.”

  Silence.

  Ella ventures, “Did you see that my application for the internship program is on the counter? I filled it out already, I just need your signature on it.”

  “It’s not your birthday for almost another week.”

  More silence.

  Ultimately, Maydevine knows he has no choice; he could never deprive her of this. The internship means a fast track toward the rank of Commander, which would put her in a prime position to be the first female Hunter unit Commander in the entire history of the Division.

  Breaking the silence, Ella’s cell phone beeps.

  A text message:

  CAN YOU GET AWAY? A.K.

  She erupts into an instant smile. “May I please be excused?”

  Maydevine, despite being suspicious, wants to be able to trust his daughter. With the Belt off limits, how much trouble could she get into anyway?

  “You’re still grounded,” he reminds her.

  She nods. “I know. May I please go to my room?”

  He lets her go. Fifteen minutes later, when he goes to check on her, he already knows what he’ll find: an empty bed and a Chimera talon wedged beneath the window.

  Fortunately, she’s the Hunter General’s daughter. Although she has yet to receive her permanent platinum tag, Maydevine has taken special precautions with her. While all other Sentinel District residents with a blue tag do not have a GPS locator, Ella does.

  After she snuck out of the house in the middle of the night to go and hunt Chimera in the Belt when she was only five years old, he’d had her tag replaced. She was told it was a routine upgrade. She’s never suspected a thing.