Wicked Ones {bxb}

{Chapter 17 : Castaways}

He wouldn't lie, the land was beautiful. Far better than the dry deserts of Arizona. Hill upon hill, wave upon wave, evergreens soaked the acreage as far as the eye could reach. The whole world was stretched out in front of him, his for the taking. Not that he wanted it.

"I can see why," he said, tracing the outline of a hawk careening in the distance.

Vinny silently gestured to follow with the nod of his head, and they made their way toward the large four-bedroom cabin. The building itself was beautiful as well. Polished on a weekly basis by some of the poor unfortunate souls that were cursed to tend to Johnathan's outlandish bidding. Usually the cabin remained empty unless used by an associate of his father or Vinny himself. Granted, he had only visited the place once in the past year. There were one too many bitter memories and one too few reasons to make the journey. Until today, at least.

He didn't go inside of the cabin, but instead walked to the opposite side of the structure, where much of his time was spent on his visits. Greeting him was nothing more than a large hill with a very gradual decline. Or in his opinion: the best view money could buy. Only a few houses and farms invaded the valley far below. The rest of the world was blanketed in emeralds.

He took a seat in the grass and shrugged off his jacket. As much as he hated the sun, he couldn't be ripped away from the scenery.

Kailan had trailed a bit behind, picking his head up as Vinny spoke.

"I'll be honest. I really wasn't expecting you to electrocute the guy."

"Huh?" It took a moment to register the words, but when he did, he laughed and crouched down beside Vinny. "Man that was such a weird feeling when that happened." He fell backwards into the downy lawn. "But he fucking deserved it."

"Can't say I disagree. But I never saw you to be the one serving him justice," Vinny replied.

Kailan plucked a piece of grass from his side. "Guess I'm full of surprises," he said, rolling it between his fingers. "But you..."—he pointed a finger at Vinny—"you and that fire missile shit was weird. We're such freaks in general." He opened his mouth to speak again, but stifled his words with the bite of his lip and turned his attention forward.

A short silence followed, then Vinny spoke: "Well then, why can't you do it again? What's stopping you?"

"What do you think, Vinny?" His sigh carried the weight of the world. "I get that it's not like your fear of fire. But I've been terrified of storms since I can remember. Kudos to you working on yours, though." The last of it was spoken in a grumble, the edges of his lips drawn down.

"I'm still terrified. I keep thinking it'll happen again. That I'll burst into a human torch. That I won't be able to control it. Whether it was my fault or not, that girl died because of my fire." Vinny laid back against the earth, blocking the sun from his eyes with his forearm. "That's why I'm glad you didn't kill that idiot. You don't have to experience what I've spent the last three years of my life trying to forget."

"What exactly happened that night?" Kailan asked, his chin coming to recline on his knees. "I mean with me. When I first found out I was a Wicked, I was under a lot of stress. I don't really understand anything that happened that entire month, to be honest."

"I don't even understand what we are, Kai. Monsters, I guess." Vinny outstretched his arm toward the sky. He watched the silhouette of his hand, contrasting bleak and black against the light of the mid-day sun. "I don't remember what happened that night. I just know I can't go through that shit again. I want control over this fucking curse." He dropped his hand, scowling as it hit his bruised flesh. He held the spot of impact with a grimace and laughed. "I honestly can't believe nothing was broken."