by Lola StVil
“This guy would never lie to me. I had him wrapped around my—finger,” she says, catching herself. Diana and Pryor roll their eyes in unison.
“If it’s true, if there is a Craven still out there, we would have the perfect weapon against Malakaro,” East says excitedly.
“It’s not just any Craven that the angel spotted, it’s Bya, the leader, the oldest and most powerful Craven that ever lived. With her by your side, you could take out Malakaro easily,” Belle informs us.
“Okay, it’s worth checking out. Where did your friend spot Bya? Where can we find her?” I ask.
“Oh, now c’mon, I have given up nearly everything I know. And so far all I’ve gotten in return is insulted, beaten, and mocked. So if you want Bya’s location, it’s time to show me some gratitude,” Belle says.
Pryor, growing angry again, marches up to Belle. I place a hand on her shoulder, signaling for her to stay calm.
“What are you going to threaten me with, First Noru? I’m already dying,” Belle reminds her.
“Yeah, but not nearly fast enough, but I can fix that!” Pryor threatens.
“Hey, let’s just hear her out,” East replies.
“Thank you. I get how that asking to spend the night with him could be perceived as pushing it. So let’s compromise: I’ll give you the location of the Craven, and in exchange, you allow me one kiss from Silver” Belle offers.
“No,” Pryor says.
“All it takes is one kiss to save the world and your best friend, yet you won’t do it? Really, Noru?” Belle pushes.
“Belle, there has to be something else that you want,” I reply impatiently.
“What I want is…this is the deal. Take it or leave it,” Belle replies.
“We’ll leave it,” Pryor announces.
“Belle, give us a minute,” East says as he signals for us to step away from Belle and confer in private. We all gather a few feet away.
“Look, I know this is not ideal, but I think we should take her up on it,” East says.
“The hell we will,” Pry replies.
“She’s dying. It’s not like she stands a chance of coming back and asking for more. And there may be another way to get her to talk, but the fact is time is not on our side,” East reasons.
“What do you think?” Pryor asks me.
“I can’t ask you to be okay with this because I sure as hell wouldn’t be okay with another guy kissing you—ever,” I counter.
“Yeah, but, Silver, you’re not the leader. And right now, that’s who Pryor needs to be,” Diana replies.
“She’s right. This is the fastest way,” Pry says softly.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“Yeah, I am,” she confirms.
“This is a bad idea, Pry. This could get messy. You know that,” I reply.
“It’s already messy,” she reasons.
“Are you certain this is what you want me to do?” I push again.
“No, but I’m certain it’s what has to happen. So, yeah. Do it,” she says.
“Alright. But you should step outside. That way you don’t have to watch,” I propose.
“No, I’m not leaving you alone with that she-creature,” Pry says.
“You should not watch this,” East reasons.
“I’m watching. Now let’s go,” the leader orders.
“Okay,” I reply, trying to ignore the sharp blade of guilt poking at my chest. We walk back towards Belle. East helps her stand up and she demands that Diana give her a bottle of Kofi so that she can look as flawless as she did when we first saw her.
Diana grudgingly hands her the bluish mixture. She drinks, and in a matter of seconds, all her marks are gone. I reach out for her to give her a quick peck, but she pulls away.
“Let’s be clear, this is the last kiss I am ever going to have. I don’t want you to kiss me like you’re kissing your grandmother,” she warns.
“Fine,” I reply.
“I mean it, Silver. You hold back and the deal is off!”
“Yeah, I got it,” I scold, glaring at her.
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. I know I’m asking for a lot. But when this is over, all of you will go back to your lives. I don’t have that. I know I am not a model angel. But I was here. I lived. I laughed. And I even saved you once, Silver. So kiss me good-bye—kiss me like I mattered to you. Because I think at one point I did,” Belle reasons.
“You do matter to me. I’m sorry about the virus,” I reply.
“Then show me you’re sorry this is my last day. Show me. Kiss me like…like you did when we were in Bali,” she says.
“We were in Bali?” I ask.
“You don’t even remember being in Indonesia with me?” she says. She shakes her head with a mix of frustration and sadness. Before I can reply, she walks over to the nearby metal chest filled with weapons and sits on top of it, looking crestfallen.
“Belle…” I call out softly, not really sure what to say.
“Silver, you don’t think I know how pathetic this whole situation is? Having to beg for a kiss? Me? I could destroy an angel from across the room with one smile. One touch and he’d surrender everything.
“I’ve been with kings, Paras, even Originals. But the one time I felt really, truly alive was in Bali with you. The world saw our actions and decided we weren’t worthy of a normal life. But we saw each other, you and me. We looked past each other’s mistakes and bad choices. I saw you, the real you, and you saw me.
“I always thought somehow life would bring us back together. Maybe not as husband and wife but as two professional drifters who had no real home. But it seems you found your home now. And I thought maybe in time I would too. But I’m out of time. So I thought at least I can recapture that night in Bali, a night you apparently don’t even remember.”
“We were chasing a Seller who had stolen a case of Coy Dark we had. We chased him to a little town in Bali called Uluwatu. It started to rain so hard, spotting the Seller became too difficult. So we ended up spending the night in an abandoned temple on the edge of the cliff. There, we saw the most stunning sunset Omnis had ever created,” I reply as I walk over and sit beside her.
“You remember?” she asks.
“Yes, I do. Your hair was down, like this…” I reply as I reach over and release the clip that held her hair up. Her hair now falls all around her, framing her face.
“We were so cold,” she says with a smile.
“But we couldn’t walk away from that sunset. We had to watch every moment of it,” I recall.
“We were soaking wet and shivering. But we just stood there like idiots, too awestruck to move.”
“But then we did move, didn’t we?” I reply, looking into her eyes.
“Yes, we did…” she says as she looks even deeper into my eyes.
“We went back into the temple and we…”
“Yeah, we did,” she says as she swallows hard and parts her lips slightly.
“And I think it started something like this…” I reply as I place my hand under her chin and tilt her head slightly to the side. I skim the surface of her lips with my tongue as I part her mouth. Her response is primal and urgent. She ensnares my tongue with hers and delights in our entanglement. She leans even further into the kiss and growls with desire. She moves to intensify the kiss yet again, but I pull away.
“Thank you,” Belle says with light in her eyes. I look over at Pryor, not sure what her reaction will be. I can’t tell because she’s avoiding me.
“Okay, you got what you wanted. Where is the Craven?” Pryor says in a stern voice.
“She lives in a town house off the coast of Maine,” Belle says. Pryor makes her give us the exact location.
“Is there anything else we need to know?” East asks.
“I don’t—” Belle can’t finish her thought; her body starts jerking up and down uncontrollably. I call out her name, but there’s no calming her down. The vines from the black orchid come to life underneat
h her skin. It grows and travels through her body in every direction.
She rocks violently and cries out as the virus spreads. The stem of the flower wraps around her neck, then up through her nose, and punctures out her eyeballs. A black liquid oozes from her mouth, eyes, and nose. Suddenly Belle’s body is very still. Belle is dead.
“Silver, I’m sorry,” East says as we look down at Belle’s corpse.
“Yeah, me too,” I reply as I close her eyes.
“We need to get going. We have to go find the Craven,” Pryor orders.
“I’m gonna call Swoop and give her an update. If everything is okay, do you want her to meet us back here?” East asks his leader.
“No, give her the address and have her meet us in Maine,” Pryor replies.
East agrees and walks away to call his cousin. Diana, sensing that Pryor and I need to talk, makes an excuse and heads to one of the training rooms.
“So are we…okay?” I ask awkwardly.
“I don’t know. I guess,” she says.
“You know that kiss meant nothing. I just had to make sure she gave us the info we needed,” I remind her.
“You were so…convincing,” she says almost to herself.
“I’m not sure what to say about that,” I confess.
“There’s nothing you can say. You’re just really good at…making girls want you,” she says as she turns away from me. I reach out to wrap my arms around her. She flinches and moves away.
“So you’re mad at me?” I ask.
“No. Yes. No—a little. I don’t know,” she admits.
“You told me to do this,” I remind her.
“Yes, I did. But that doesn’t mean it was easy to watch.”
“I told you not to watch. I pleaded with you.”
“I know that, but if I didn’t, then it would create a picture in my head far worse than what actually happened.”
“Are we gonna get past this?” I ask.
“It’s been four minutes. Can I get some time?”
“Fine,” I snap as I start walking away.
“Why are you upset with me? I’m sorry if I can’t bounce back and embrace you after watching you kiss another woman.”
“Did you think I enjoyed that? Because I didn’t,” I reply.
“It’s hard to tell if you were having fun or not. I was distracted by the intricate dance your tongues were doing. If there is an Olympic event that involves kissing, you two can pack your bags and head to Tokyo. I guarantee you both will win gold.”
“Well, that would be kind of hard to do since she’s gone,” I counter.
Pryor looks over at Belle’s body as if for the first time. She goes into one of the rooms and comes back with the thick blanket that usually covers our training gear. She opens it up and starts to cover Belle. I quietly help her. When we are done, we look over at each other.
“So…you come here often,” she jokes.
“All the time,” I reply.
“You’re kinda cute. Are you taken?” Pry asks.
“Very much.”
“Maybe I could lure you away from her,” Pry says as she places her arm around my neck.
“I doubt it. My wife is pretty badass. She’d hunt you down and kill you.”
“Damn right,” she says as she laughs.
“I’m sorry you had to watch that,” I tell her when the laughter dies down.
“It’s okay. Let’s just focus on getting to the Craven,” Pryor says.
“Focusing on the Craven would be a mistake,” someone says behind us. We turn around and find the Face stepping off a Port. She walks towards us.
“What do you know about the Craven?” Pryor says.
“For one thing, she’s dead.”
Pryor calls Swoop and tells her that plans have changed and that she needs to meet us in the warehouse. In the meantime, we dispose of Belle’s body. Normally, we’d give her a proper send-off, but the fact is, we are at war with Malakaro and we just don’t have the time. Once Swoop lands, she tells us that RJ is safe and that her parents placed a shield around the human home where he is now being looked after.
“Good, I’m so glad he’s okay. I know it’s hard on you, Swoop; you’d prefer Uncle Jay and Miku to be watching him,” Pryor says as we head to the table that’s been placed in the center of the warehouse.
“What I would prefer is to be his mother full-time. I would like to be the one protecting him,” Swoop says pointedly.
“Keeping you from RJ isn’t something I’m happy about. I want the two of you to be together. I love that kid; we all do. But we need you. I need you,” Pryor says sincerely.
“Yeah, I know. It’s just hard to hold his little face in my hands and then take off only moments later. I feel like I’m letting him down. Like I’m a bad mom because I’m not there,” Swoop admits.
“You are protecting him by being here and fighting to make the world safe. You are doing that for him. If evil does win today, there will be nowhere to hide RJ. You being here is what a good mother would do,” Diana replies.
Swoop doesn’t say anything, but she does place her hand on top of Diana’s hand. Now that the two of them are moms, they are connecting on a new level.
Once we are seated at the table, all of our eyes are set on the “guest of honor,” the Face. She looks out at us, and it’s easy to see that she’s lost in thought. She seems uncertain as to how to start this meeting. But judging by our faces, she can tell she needs to start immediately. So she takes a deep breath and begins.
“It’s clear that all of you think I have been withholding information from you. You are right, I have,” the Face says.
“Why have you been keeping things from us?” I ask.
“Some subjects are difficult to discuss,” she reasons.
“That may be so, but we still need to know,” Swoop says.
“I agree,” she says in a soft voice.
“How do you know the Craven is dead?” Pryor asks.
“Because I did some research and also because Ever told me she was,” the Face says.
“Really, and exactly how close are you two?” East says angrily.
“We’re not close at all, unfortunately,” she says to herself.
“Okay, why don’t you take it from the top. And try not to leave anything out. Because if you do…just don’t lie to us again,” Pryor warns.
“Ever Knight’s real name is Everly-Ann Knight; she’s my baby sister. She’s a powerful Quo and she had a good heart. Years ago, she fell in love with someone she couldn’t have. She begged me to speak to him and try to convince him to be with her. I went to him—many times. And in the process we fell in love with each other. We didn’t plan it. It just happened. And we were only ‘together’ for one night.
“I didn’t regret having been with him, but I did regret hurting my sister. So I decided to be honest with Ever. I told her what happened, and something in her snapped,” the Face says, sounding far away.
“The being she was in love with, it was Fate, wasn’t it?” East asks.
“Yes.”
“You stole Fate from your sister?” Swoop asks.
“It was foolish because Fate isn’t…you can’t have a normal life with a member of the council. I knew that and so did he. But we were young and very foolish. Anyway, it ended nearly as soon as it started,” the Face says.
“Okay, so you pissed off your sister a long time ago by taking her guy. What does that have to do with us now?” Diana says.
“Ever let her pain take over her life. She was lured to evil thanks to her anger and bitterness. She began to offer her powers up to the highest bidder. She became a ‘hired gun,’ as the humans would say. She spreads death and agony on behalf of whoever is willing to pay her price,” the Face adds.
“So your sister is an assassin for hire?” East says.
“Yes. She does that because she’s hurting. She’s not a bad person,” the Face replies.
“If Belle were here, I’d think she’d
disagree,” I bark.
“I know, she’s lost her way,” the Face says.
“Gee, you think?” East whispers under his breath.
“Why is she coming after us?” Pryor asks.
“For two reasons: one, because someone is paying her to do so,” the Face admits.
“And what’s the second reason?” Swoop asks.
“This isn’t just a gig for her. She’s relishing this because she has finally found my weakness—this team,” the Face says.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“She has been looking for a way to get back at me for years. When she learned that I was watching over all of you years ago, she paid me a visit. She threatened to hurt you all. I acted like I didn’t care about the team, so she left all of you alone. But over the years it became clear that you all mattered to me.
“I begged her to just walk away and let it go. But the more I fought for her to stay away from you, the more she wanted to harm you. So I tried pretending like I didn’t care anymore. I assured her that your team had disappointed me and that you were more of a burden than anything,” the Face tells us.
“But she wasn’t buying,” Pry concludes.
“No, she wasn’t. So I told her if she so much as thought about harming you all, I’d kick her ass. I cursed. That’s how strongly I felt about it.”
“Careful, we might start to think you care,” East teases.
“Don’t get me wrong, you are all insolent, impulsive little balls of hormones. You are always pushing the limit, going off your emotions and generally making poor choices. But however misguided you all may be, you are mine to look after. I know all your parents are back, but I still feel as if you all are…my family,” she confesses, unable to look us in the eye.
“What did Ever say about that?” I ask.
“She loved it because it meant I had something she could take away. I didn’t know how she planned to hurt any of you. Then years passed, and I thought she was finally ready to let it go.”
“But she wasn’t, was she?” Diana says.
“No. I realized that when I looked into the Portal and I found a box with my sister’s calling card—the black orchid. In addition to the flower, I found a few reddish specks of dust in the corner of the box. I did some research, and the red specks are ashes of a species long thought dead—the Craven. As it turns out, Malakaro found the Craven Bya and burned her alive. He then kept the ashes in the Portal,” the Face adds.