Dangerous (Element Preservers Series, Book 1)

by Alycia Linwood

  “Why don’t you just break up with Paula?” I said. “It hurts me to see her trying so hard to make you fall in love with her. You could at least be fair to her and tell her the truth.”

  “What truth? That her best friend wants me just for herself?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Hey!” I punched him lightly in the shoulder. “It’s not like that. I’m just saying you could have any other girl who isn’t my best friend.”

  “I could have any girl, but I don’t want to,” he said.

  “Alright,” I said, lying down, and Adrian did the same. I snuggled closer to him and stared at the ceiling.

  “Do you think I should tell Michael the truth?” I said after a long moment of silence.

  “I can’t tell you that,” he said. “You’re the only one who knows.”

  “But I don’t know,” I pointed out. “I’m afraid I’m going to lose him.”

  “He loves you and you know it,” he said. “But you don’t love him.”

  “I do love him.” I looked up at Adrian.

  “Not like he loves you,” he said. I frowned.

  “What do you know about it?”

  “If you truly loved him, you would have told him ages ago,” he said. “There’s no true love without trust. And you don’t trust him.”

  “That coming from a guy who sleeps with a girl and then moves on,” I said. “Yeah, you’re a real expert on love.”

  “Fine,” he said. “Be in denial.”

  “Oh, shut up!”

  “Well, you asked.”

  “Forget it,” I said. “So, will you ever tell me how you learned to control the disease without the help of another magic disease carrier?”

  “Maybe someday,” he said.

  “Huh, and why not now?” I said. “Just don’t tell me it’s a long story.”

  “It’s…” He smiled. “...not a nice story.”

  “Who cares? I still want to hear it,” I said. And maybe find out something useful.

  “No,” he said. Maybe I was right about him hiding something from me, but there was nothing I could do to get it out of him. Typical. We stayed like that in silence for a few moments, and then I went to my room to prepare for the next class.

  Michael raised an eyebrow at me when he saw me. It was the day of Adrian’s birthday party, and Michael had come for me so we could go together. Even though it was a bit hard to believe, Paula had managed to do everything to make the party perfect. I’d already seen the lunchroom since I’d been helping her and damn, the place looked completely different.

  “What?” I said, smiling at Michael.

  “You’re going like that?” he asked, surprised. I looked back at the mirror to check everything was alright. I was wearing blue jeans and a light blue top. My hair was down as usual and there was nothing except my dark blue high heels that showed I was going to a party. Besides, Paula asked specifically for casual look. Michael seemed to be surprised by it, because I usually wore something new for parties.

  “Yeah, don’t you like it?” I said.

  “Sure I like it.”

  “Good,” I said. “Then we’re ready to go.”

  He took my hand, and we walked out of the room. Michael was looking hot as usual in his dark jeans and a white shirt, but what was burning through me was the unusual force of his element. He was nervous because of something, even though his face didn’t show it.

  “Is something wrong?” I looked into his green eyes.

  “No,” he said, surprised. “Why do you ask?”

  “I don’t know,” I lied. “I have a feeling you’re not happy for some reason.”

  “You’re right.” He sighed. “I’m not really thrilled to go to Adrian’s party.”

  “But Paula organized it,” I said. “Think of it as her party.”

  “I will never understand why she bothered so much for that bastard,” he said.

  “She loves him,” I said. “She’d do anything for him.”

  “Yeah, but he would never do the same for her,” Michael pointed out.

  “True,” I said. We reached the lunchroom, so if Michael wanted to make more comments about it, he couldn’t. At least not without Paula overhearing something because she was, as every good hostess, waiting for the guests at the entrance. I’d tried to convince her she should be inside and keep an eye on Adrian, but she preferred to make sure no one appeared uninvited or smuggled drugs or something inside. I wondered had she checked her own boyfriend for those.

  “Hey!” Paula smiled at Michael and me. “Go on inside! It’s awesome.”

  I just smiled back at her as we entered. The music was so loud that I was sure she was right about the party being awesome. And there were so many people dancing and standing around the tables with drinks and food that it seemed like the whole university was here. I spotted Adrian near one of the tables, chatting with some girls. His eyes met mine briefly, and I pulled Michael with me towards the spot where he was standing.

  I could feel Michael’s hand tense in mine, but he let me drag him there. Adrian said something to the girls and they were gone. He smiled as we reached him.

  “Happy birthday,” I said, letting go of Michael’s hand and taking a step forward to kiss Adrian’s cheek.

  “Thanks,” he said quietly so Michael couldn’t hear us. “Your boyfriend would like to see me dead at the moment.”

  I just smiled and returned to Michael, whose element was all over the place.

  “Let’s go,” I said, and Michael followed me to the nearest table. He was so angry, and I was afraid to even touch him. I shouldn’t have kissed Adrian, but shaking hands seemed awkward, and I needed a bit of peace from elements to make sure I could get through this night.

  “Why did you do that?” Michael said, grabbing a bottle of beer. I took another one and tried to figure it out how to calm him.

  “It’s his birthday,” I said. “It seemed like a polite thing to do. Besides, how many girls kissed you on your birthday?”

  That shut him up for a second and he just angrily took a swig of his beer. Just as I hoped we were over it, he looked at me.

  “He could have hurt you, Ria,” he said. “I’m not jealous, because I know you love me, but I don’t want you near anyone who has the magic disease.”

  “I know you wouldn’t let him hurt me,” I smiled and risked touching his face. He finally relaxed under my touch, and we kissed.

  “Would you like to dance?” he said, taking my hand.

  “Always,” I said, and we left our beer on the table so we could join the others on the dance floor. I’d never imagined I would dance in the lunchroom, but once the tables had been moved, it almost seemed like a real dance floor. Two hours later, I was too tired to continue dancing, so we went to sit at the tables that were in the corner of the room. Paula had finally come inside and was chatting with some girls, who were probably telling her how wonderful the party was or something similar.

  A few girls who I knew also came to tell me how my outfit looked pretty or how lucky I was to have such a hot boyfriend. Michael went for another beer as one of my friends started to talk about some cute outfits she’d seen at the shop earlier. I mostly ignored her, nodding a few times, and looked at the crowd. Adrian was standing alone near the table and drinking while everyone else was having fun.

  A girl in a very short miniskirt and a top that showed more than it should have approached him, but he just waved her off. A few moments later, I saw him going for the back door and leaving. That surprised me because I had no idea why he would leave a party, especially his own party. Was something wrong? If I was feeling alright around all these elements, then he should have too. I checked my mobile phone just in case, but I had no messages.

  I waited for some time for him to come back, but he didn’t. And I hadn’t seen any girl sneaking out after him. Paula was too occupied with other girls to notice, and Michael was now chatting with some of his friends. And I was really glad there weren’t any girls in tha
t group of his friends. Yeah, jealous little old me.

  I considered sending Adrian a message, but I wasn’t sure he’d get it, and I probably wouldn’t hear if he replied. No, I couldn’t be worried about Adrian. I couldn’t, right? I sighed and got up, walking over to the table with drinks. I glanced around and when I was sure no one was watching, I grabbed a bottle of vodka and hurried to the back door. Adrian was probably having fun with some girl in his room, and I figured I’d need lots of vodka to erase any images that couldn’t be unseen later.

  I knocked on the door of his room and nothing happened. Maybe he wasn’t there at all. I reached for the knob and opened the door. He was there, alone, sitting on the windowsill and smoking. I walked inside, locking the door behind me.

  “What are you doing here?” he said, not evening bothering to look at me.

  “I didn’t know you smoked,” I said.

  “I don’t,” he said. “This is a special occasion.”

  “Special occasion, right,” I said, walking over to him.

  “You didn’t tell me what you are doing here.” He finally looked at me, and there was something in his eyes that I couldn’t identify… sadness maybe or resentment. Just I didn’t know what could have caused any of it.

  “I don’t know,” I said and sat down on the bed, raising the bottle of vodka. “I saw you leaving and thought something was wrong.”

  “Admit it. You got bored of the party too.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

  “Maybe I did,” I said. “But I can’t figure it out why you aren’t there flirting with some girl. Oh, except if you’re waiting for someone to come, and I should better leave before…”

  “I’m not waiting for anyone,” he said, putting the cigarette out and throwing it into the trash bin. Then he came to sit next to me and ran a finger down my bare arm, making me shiver.

  “Paula went through a lot of trouble to organize that party,” I said. “You should at least be there with her.”

  “It’s not my fault she decided to throw the stupid party,” he said. “Besides, it’s my birthday. I can do whatever the hell I want.”

  “And how exactly is being alone in your room better than being at a party?” I said as he continued to trace his fingers down my arm until he reached the bottle and took it away from me.

  “You wouldn’t understand,” he said, opening the bottle and taking a gulp.

  “Wow, slow down with that!” I said, snatching the bottle from his hand and taking a sip. The bittersweet taste of it made me close my eyes for a second.

  “Is Michael’s element too strong for you, so you came to recharge your batteries?” he said.

  “Don’t be a jerk,” I said. “I was actually worried about you. But you seem to be just fine.”

  I got up to leave, but he caught my arm and I stumbled, nearly dropping the bottle. He caught it, but I fell down on the bed. I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Ok, let’s play a game,” I said, kicking off my shoes and pulling my legs up on the bed so I could sit.

  “What kind of a game?” He sat down opposite from me.

  “Truth or Dare.” I smiled. I was feeling a little bit drunk, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get some interesting information out of Adrian. He just eyed me suspiciously.

  “Come on! Don’t be a coward,” I said.

  “Alright,” he said. “But remember you asked for it. Oh, and I want to add something to that game.”

  “Add what?” I said.

  “We take a sip of vodka after each question,” he said. I was chewing on my lip and thinking about it. He smiled.

  “Coward.”

  “I’ll do it!” I frowned.

  “Good,” he said. “So, truth or dare?”

  “Umm,” I said, trying to think which one would be easier, “truth.”

  “How many boyfriends have you had?” he asked, studying my face curiously.

  “Five, before Michael,” I said, and he took a sip of vodka. I just smiled. “Truth or dare?”

  “Truth,” he said, which honestly surprised me, but I’d been waiting for it, so I didn’t complain.

  “Where did you live before you came here?” I asked, knowing that he’d probably been trying to learn how to control his element somewhere. There just had to be a place for such a thing, or maybe there were other ways to do that.

  “In a special place,” he said. “For the magic disease carriers. Or better said, a special research place.”

  Ah, so there was a place, but I couldn’t ask two questions, so I just took a sip of vodka.

  “Truth or dare, Ria?” He smiled, and I knew he had something evil in mind.

  “Dare,” I said, even though I was sure I was going to regret it.

  “Take off your bra,” he said, and I gaped at him.

  “I won’t do that!” I said indignantly.

  “You started the game,” he said. “It’s not my fault. So do it or don’t. Oh, and you can keep your top on.”

  I gave him an angry glare while I thought what I should do. But he was right; it was my own fault. I sighed and reached under my top to unhook the damn bra. After a moment of fumbling with it, I managed to take it off without showing too much skin.

  “Happy?” I said, not too friendly, and saw a happy gleam in his eyes. Yeah, my top was a bit too thin. Fuck.

  “Yeah, really happy.” He smiled and took another sip of vodka. I glanced at the bottle and couldn’t help but wonder how many sips he had taken while I'd been trying to get the bra off.

  “Great,” I said sarcastically. “Truth or dare?”

  “Truth,” he said. “But just because I know you want it.”

  Was that supposed to make me feel better? Yeah… right.

  “That place where you lived,” I said. “What it’s like?”

  He smiled bitterly and shook his head.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Yes, I do,” I said.

  “You really want the whole story?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Fine,” he said, reaching for some pillows and placing them against the headboard so he could lie down more comfortably. “Come here.”

  I moved from my position and lay down next to him, placing my head on his chest and letting him put his arm around me. I half-expected him to reach up for my boobs, but he held his arm firmly around my waist.

  “Have you ever been in a hospital?” he asked.

  “Umm, once. I went to visit someone.”

  “Well, it smells like a hospital in there. It’s a huge place with horrible, ugly, white walls. Most of the rooms there are laboratories used for discovering things and doing research about the elements and the disease. But they don’t discover much, or at least don’t share it with the world,” he said. “The other part of the building is used as a place where some of the scientists live and… for other purposes. One of those special places is a room made for carrying out experiments on living magic disease carriers.”

  “You were in that room,” I said, my voice a little bit louder than a whisper.

  “Yeah, I was in there. Too many times,” he said. “I was probably the first living magic disease carrier they got.”

  “What kind of experiments did they do?”

  “All kinds of experiments,” he said. “They used elements for almost every one of them.”

  “What is that room like?” I said, trying to imagine it.

  “It’s not much bigger than this room. It has white walls and white floor, except for a big black glass on one wall. They can watch you through that glass from the other side, but you can’t see them. And there’s nothing else in that room,” he said and took a sip of vodka. I could feel his muscles tensing under me. I waited for him to continue, not wanting to push it. It sounded like that place was a cross between a psychiatric hospital and prison.

  “They would put me in there and play with their elements around me,” he said. “They tried really hard to make me lose control and they enjoyed w
hen they had to cuff me to stop me from attacking them. But I scared the hell out of one woman once.”

  “What did you do to her?” I asked, wondering what I would have done if someone tried to do experiments on me.

  “She tried using fire in front of me,” he said. “I let her get close to me, even though it was as hard as hell to stay calm. Then I swept her feet from under her, and she ended up sprawled on the floor. It was hilarious, except she didn’t think that.”

  “Bitch,” I murmured, taking the bottle from him to take a sip.

  “Yeah,” he said. “She said to everyone that I was dangerous and that I should be killed. But the others wanted to do more experiments, so they just left me there. After I don’t know how much time, I figured I had something like an element in me and I used it. It helped me, even though I almost froze to death.”

  “Froze to death? But how?” I said, looking up at him.

  “There was nothing I could turn into ice there, and I didn’t want them to know. I have no idea what they would have done to me if they had found out,” he said. “So I just turned the air cold and stopped only when I had to so they wouldn’t notice. Or if I got so cold or tired I couldn’t do it anymore.”

  “How did you get out of there?” I asked. Maybe he was inventing it all, but why would he? My mind was a little bit hazy, and I was sure I was forgetting something, but that didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter if I couldn’t remember what it was, right?

  “Alan didn’t want to work and live there. He got sick of that place and he got a job offer here, and since he couldn’t leave me, he had no other choice but to bring me with him,” he said. “Of course, that was already at the time when I started to control myself much better, so Alan got the permission from the Council. I got my life back on the day we came here, because they didn’t just stop experimenting on me, but they also gave me back everything that belonged to me. Things my parents had left me.”

  “So you do own that company your father had?” I said.

  “Yeah, I do. But others are taking care of it since I know nothing about business and they would never trust me with it anyway,” he said. “But it’s ok since they give me the money.”