"Kira, what's wrong?" Oliver asked again as I climbed out of the bed. Without another word I hurried out of the room and ran to the elevator. Oliver was right on my heels, questioning me all the way down. Once outside I looked around, desperate for a secluded place. I could barely contain my sniffles as I half jogged down the street until I found an abandoned ally.
"What's gotten in to you?" He asked desperately, eyes wide with worry. I opened my mouth to speak, but a choked sob came out instead. I buried my face into his chest, feeling comfort wash over me as he wrapped his arms around me.
"It's Sam." I said in between hiccups.
"What's wrong? Is he alright?" He asked quickly, pulling back so he could look at my face.
"He's more than alright apparently." I spat bitterly. "He's leading the rouges Oliver. It's him; Axel works for him."
"What do you mean?" He said, disbelief coving his face. The look in his eyes had hardened as he stared at me. From the glare he was giving off, I felt as if he thought the entire thing was my fault.
"Felix was watching Axel and apparently he works for Sam and Sam is leading the rouges. He didn't give me the details." I said, voice catching. I watched Oliver closely as he repeatedly took deep breaths as he paced in a small circle. For several moments he didn't speak, but rather ran his hands through his hair in distress.
"That's impossible. There's got to be a mistake." He said finally.
"Felix seemed to be very sure." I said sadly, rubbing at my eyes.
"We don't know that's the truth though. We don't even know if you can really see my grandfather's ghost! For all we know that's not even him." Oliver shot back.
"I thought we already went over this. He knows everything that Felix would know and acts exactly like him." I said.
"You never met him when he was alive so you wouldn't know how he acted."
"He's never done anything for you to question. Oliver, I don't like this any more than you." I said, feeling my voice cracking at the end. A few fresh tears slipped from my eyes.
"Where is he? I have some questions for him." Oliver said, anger rising.
"I don't know. He said he had to go."
"Why would a ghost have to go?" Oliver asked, looking at me carefully. It was something that had briefly crossed my mind in the past, but Felix had simply said he couldn't spend forever with us down here.
"I don't know." I said, feeling my own suspicion match his.
"Maybe we shouldn't trust his word for it." Oliver said, beginning his pacing again. I knew this must be harder on him than even for me. It was either trust his brother or his grandfather.
"Oliver, think about it though. Even if Felix hasn't exactly been clear in the past, Sam has obviously been hiding something. Did you ever talk to him about why he never told Niah that I was alive?" I asked. The way that Oliver's eyes widened told me that he hadn't. "And he knew that I was going to be a Pure. Sam isn't stupid." I added.
How could I he do this to me? Reagar had said that it had to have been one of my two previous masters. At this point I wished more than anything that it had been Cedric all along. It would have been easier to take than finding out Sam was behind everything.
"I'm going to kill Axel." Oliver growled.
"We can't yet." I said. "He doesn't know that we know, so Felix said we have the upper hand." I said. He sighed, knowing that his grandfather was right.
"I'll be waiting for the moment I can rip him apart." He muttered.
"What about Sam?" I asked quietly. It didn't matter what he'd done; I still didn't want him to die.
"If it's really him, he'll face plenty of charges, but I don't know what yet. I would never be able to kill him, though." He said softly. I nodded in agreement.
"Do you have prisons?" I asked, though I knew it was a dumb question.
"Yes, we do, but they aren't pleasant. The trials are very simple and straightforward. Healer's can tell truth from fiction about 90 percent of the time, so each one is quick and accurate." He said, eyes looking distant. He cursed under his breath, a look of annoyance crossing his face.
"Jansen is heading over here. He's on the phone with someone and they're talking about how you ran out. Our story is that you fell asleep while watching the movie and you had a nightmare that our master was going to find us and take us back." He muttered, looking annoyed. I nodded in understanding. I wanted nothing more than to just hug him so that I could provide comfort to him, and receive it myself. I didn't want to think about what Sam was doing.
"Wait, you can't say that. Remember that you told me to say hello to my imaginary friend?" I said. He huffed.
"That's right. I'll come up with something. Just let me do the explaining." He said. Again, I nodded.
"Oliver? Kira?" Jansen asked, appearing from behind the corner moments later. I jumped slightly, and Oliver turned quickly to look at him.
"Jansen? What are you doing here?" Oliver asked. I sniffled on cue, though I still felt my eyes burning.
"What's wrong? I should be asking the two of you why you're out here at 8 O' clock at night while it's freezing cold outside." Jansen said, eyeing me carefully.
"None of your business." Oliver said, giving him a death glare.
"I get you're angry about the whole Axel and Harvey being vampires thing, but I'm still your superior." Jansen looked guilty about playing that card, and for a moment, the two boys had a silent stare off, but finally, Oliver relented.
"Let's take Kira back to the apartments, then I'll talk to you about it in private." He said, sounding defeated. Jansen glanced to me.
"Alright."
It was a short walk back, but it was quiet and awkward. Jansen kept shooting me worried looks and Oliver kept glaring at him for doing so. When we arrived I was relieved.
"Go on up and I'll be there in a couple of minutes." Oliver instructed with a gentleness that had Jansen's brows furrowing. I bit my lip; I wanted to hear what they were going to say.
"I don't want to be alone." I lied nervously.
"Okay, just go inside the door and wait for me. You can see us and we can see you." He said calmly. I did as I was told, watching them while focusing on listening.
"So what happened?" Jansen asked. Oliver rubbed his face and sighed, looking at me briefly.
"She gets freaked out," He said with a huff, "She's always paranoid, and panics easily," He gave Jansen a pleading look. "I don't want this to go around all of Fight, so can you keep this between us?" He asked.
"I-" Jansen hesitated. "I have to at least tell my dad. He's already suspicious of you both for no reason." He said. Oliver raised an eyebrow.
"Then why'd he let us join Fight?"
"To keep a closer eye on you. Why'd she even start panicking?" Jansen asked, being sure to not look at me.
"We were watching this movie called Taken, and the dad tracks down these people who kidnapped his daughter. Out of nowhere she sort of jumped and, maybe it's my fault-" Oliver huffed, glanced back at me, then leaned in to whisper, "She sometimes talks to herself and usually I tease her about it, but when I did tonight, she just snapped. By the time I got her to calm down enough to talk she was convinced that our old master was going to find us and take us back." Oliver groaned and rubbed his face, "I shouldn't have let her watch that movie."
"Maybe she should see a psychiatrist. It could help her." Jansen offered.
"No, she wouldn't open up to anyone like that. She barely opens up to me. Plus, sometimes she's perfectly fine, more than fine even. She just has her moments." Oliver snorted.
"She talks to herself?" Jansen pressed for clarification.
"Yeah, but not in a weird way. Just like denying her own thoughts. It's more like an internal conversation that slips out into the real world," Oliver released a long breath through his nose, and when Jansen didn't reply, asked, "Why is your dad suspicious of us?"
"Well, you guys got here without a scratch and that alone is surprising enough. You told us that werewolves helped you out, so my dad looked into it and found out that some of the packs are actually helping humans escape their masters, but for some reason he doesn't completely buy your story. His biggest question is why you left, even though you gave a good reason about wanting to get Kira away, he doesn't believe you. But he'll get used to you eventually. He just has trust issues." Jansen said to Oliver, waving his father's behavior off as overbearing.
"Hmm." Oliver said. He wasn't looking at me, but I was certain he was frowning.
"To be honest, I'm not sure I fully believe it as well." Jansen said, leaving an implied question. To my surprise, Oliver sighed.
"You could say I wasn't 100% honest." He admitted. Jansen stiffened and his eyes widened.
"What? Then why did you leave?" He hissed, looking around to make sure they were alone.
"You can't tell Kira." Oliver said. When Jansen nodded slowly, he continued. "My master wanted to turn me into a vampire. I told him no, obviously, but he kept insisting that I would like it. Then he started talking about turning Kira, too." Oliver said.
Jansen took a quick intake of air, processing the lie, "Obviously your master liked you if he made you his slave leader," He hesitated at the words, "But why would he turn Kira?"
"He said that he knew I favored her. I told him no to that too, but he was going to turn us anyway after a work trip that he took, so when he was gone I took Kira and left." Oliver said, shrugging. "I couldn't let something like that happen to her. The only vampire I even remotely liked was my master so of course I didn't want to become one myself." Oliver explained further. Jansen nodded, eyes filled with admiration and pity at the same time.
"Dude, you just gained my full respect. Most slaves would jump at the chance to become a vampire." He said. I could tell that the poor human boy believed every word that Oliver said. Oliver made a disgusted face.
"Vampires killed my entire family and they feast off of our blood. I don't know why anyone would want to be one."
"Yeah, I agree. Vampires creep me out, but I've met a lot that are okay. Harvey is cool, and I've met some from Europe who are nice as well. I feel your pain, though. My mom and older brother were both killed by vampires when I was six. That's why my dad is so involved in Fight." He said, looking down away from Oliver.
Real compassion flickered in Oliver's face, "I'm sorry."
"Me too." Jansen replied, but was quick to change the subject, "So you really like Kira, huh?" Jansen asked, giving Oliver a knowing smile.
"I care about her a lot. I feel like I have to keep her safe."
"You feel that way because you like her." Jansen taunted.
"Even if I did like her, she doesn't feel the same about me." Oliver admitted to him.
"Trust me, she does. I think it's almost unfair that you two get to live together in the same room, but it would be even more unfair to make you split up. You don't have a legal guardian so technically you can really do what you want as long as it's within the law." Jansen said with a shrug.
"Yeah, and you wouldn't be able to force us to separate anyway. It would only freak Kira out even more. I'm the only person she trusts, something I think you're mistaking for feelings of affection."
"I know what love looks like. You two look like you're meant to be together. And tell Kira that no vampire is going to get inside these walls without our permission. Just so you know, Harvey and Axel both have an herb called florane in their blood system. It-"
"I know what florane is," Oliver cut him off.
"Oh, well we have a lot in them. Axel has more in him because of his temper, so you don't need to worry. We keep that in them in case they lose control. We wouldn't be so ignorant as to have full power vampires running around. Except when the Europeans visit." Jansen said.
"Why did your dad let them in here anyway?" Oliver prodded, testing his luck. It was the same question I'd been wanting an answer to as well.
"Harvey and Axel were humans who lived in one of the smaller cities outside of the main wall. Harvey was a Fight leader stationed there, but Axel was just a sixteen year old kid. Some insane vampire was able to brake into the city because it doesn't have high power defense technology like we do here. Harvey said he was going on about how his mate had been killed by humans. The vampire killed several humans before he started turning them. He turned Axel, Harvey, and nine others. He was killed eventually, but not after he did a ton of damage."
"So you brought them back here?" Oliver asked.
Jansen nodded once, a look of disappointment on his face, "My dad wanted to use them as test subjects."
"That's pretty messed up, even for me." Oliver fists clenched; I wondered if he was outraged for his fellow vampires.
"Well, Harvey agreed to it because he was already in Fight and wanted to help our people. We were all surprised that Axel agreed as well. The reason they are both out now is because they have great self control, in comparison, and the will to help Fight with whatever we needed them for."
"What about the other nine?" Oliver asked, eyes narrowing.
"I'm not really supposed to tell you this, but they're locked up in special cells to keep them restrained. They have a bunch of tests run on them, but they aren't treated badly." Jansen insisted.
"Is that what you've been told?" Oliver asked, frowning.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you know that they're being treated well, or is that just what they told you?" He asked again.
"I mean, I've never been down there, but my dad wouldn't let- he wouldn't hurt-" Jansen stuttered. Oliver only raised his eyebrows, giving Jansen a look that said he thought otherwise. "Most of them are young kids. My dad wouldn't torture them." Jansen said, sounding more sure.
Oliver sucked in a deep breath. "Kids? Why don't you just let them go?"
"Because they could be brainwashed and end up attacking us. Once they have good self control we'll let them enter Fight just like Harvey and Axel." Jansen assured him.
Bull crap. I thought to myself. As far as I could tell, humans weren't much better than vampires and Oliver looked like he thought the same thing. "I'm going to go inside. Kira's waiting on me."
"Okay, and for goodness sake, would you behave tomorrow? Your first day was awful." Jansen laughed starkly, trying to lighten the mood.
"No promises." Oliver snickered, then as if an afterthought, gave Jansen a curious look, "Also, why were you out, anyway?"
"Actually I was on my way to check on you two. You were pretty mad at Kira, so I wanted to make sure everything was okay. Also, don't ever leave a Fight session like that again. You can get in big trouble for that, and they'll only let it slide this once because of the circumstances." Jansen warned. I was surprised that he was telling the truth about being on the way to check on us. He must have been filled in on the situation on his way over.
"Yeah, yeah. See you later." Oliver waved him off with a forced smile. Jansen returned it, then headed back in the direction he'd come from.
When Oliver made it inside, we exchanged looks. That conversation had been more than informative. As we walked into the room he sighed. I knew we were about to give Fight something fake to get them off of our backs.
"What did you tell him?" I asked tentatively. He sighed.
"The truth."
"He's thinks I'm crazy, doesn't he?" I asked with a fake pout.
"No, I'm sure he understands. You've been through a lot." Oliver said softly. For a moment I found myself lost in his eyes and before I knew it, he was smirking at me deviously. I raised an eyebrow in question.
Like what you see? He mouthed silently. He topped it off with a short dance that consisted of moving his arms and upper body; I couldn't help but to grin and roll my eyes at his behavior.
"Jansen said something interesting though." Oliver said casually.
"Oh? What'd he say?"
"He said you were in love with me." Oliver said with a slight laugh, as if the thought were preposterous. I decided to take him up on his game.
"Wow, that's ridiculous." I said, sticking my tongue out at him after. His jaw dropped in mock offense. I couldn't help but notice his strong jaw line. The urge to kiss him seemed to hit me like a car, because out of nowhere I was having difficulty breathing and I felt a chill cross my eyes. I knew they would be silver now, but I didn't care.
"Yeah, crazy." He agreed, but an arrogant smirk was resting on his face, somehow making me want to kiss him even more. I bit my lip, trying to control myself, but it had the opposite effect as his eyes darkened.
"I want something to eat, and I don't want the crap they've given us. Jansen gave me some card that has money on it that we can use if you want to go out to eat." Oliver suggested.
"Sounds good to me." I said, trying not to sound too hasty.
"Alright, then lets go." He said. I closed my eyes and focused on gaining my control back. When I opened my eyes, I knew they were normal, and Oliver's were as well.
We both walked quickly out of the building that we'd only just entered, and once we were a decent distance away, he pulled me into an alley. The area was still abandoned, but even if it hadn't been I wouldn't have noticed. His lips were on mine before any rational thought had time to make it into my head. His hands were on either side of my face while he had me pressed against a brick wall. Instinctively I gripped his shirt with one of my hands while the other ran through his hair.
Simultaneously, I ran my hand down his chest as he moved one of his to my hips, pulling me closer. Without really knowing what I was doing, I opened my mouth and instantly I felt his tongue slide in, starting a dance with my own. After several moments he pulled back, kissing me from my jaw down to my neck, then back up. My chest was pounding and I couldn't breathe. The heat and electricity his lips left behind was like nothing I'd ever felt, and I couldn't get enough.
After many minutes, the kiss slowed until he put his forehead against mine. I was pleased that he was out of breath like me, but unhappy that he'd stopped.
"Someone's coming." He whispered huskily. I groaned and growled slightly at the same time.
"Can't we catch a break?"
"I guess not." He muttered, taking a step back from me. "We should go now."
"Okay, I'm hungry anyway." I pouted in defeat, feeling my other senses return. It felt like we hadn't kissed in forever, when in reality it hadn't been more than a day. Our bond was not fully restored, but I could feel it growing with every minute I spent with him.
I watched as he glanced around the corner.
"It's clear, but there's a group getting close. Now's our chance." He said, looking back at me. The light shining down on him made him almost look angelic; his hair was slightly messy and swept across his forehead while his eyes looked dark, yet warm. I could see every angle on his flawless face and the way he was turned toward me accented his defined muscles. A sigh escaped my lips.
"You are perfect." I said quietly. He looked surprised for a moment, but no longer.
"I'm not the perfect one. You are the most beautiful being my eyes have ever seen and your soul is pure. Nobody could ever hold a candle to you." He said, hand brushing the side of my face. His eyes were so soft I could feel my heart melting.
"I love you." I whispered, unable to find my voice.
"I love you more." He said, placing a light kiss on my lips. "I don't know how I was blessed with a mate so beyond my league."
I could feel my face heating up at his compliments and from the sound of his chuckle, he noticed as well. Without further distraction, we found a quick place to eat and went back to the kennel. The memory of our kiss was more than enough to keep my mind off of my troubles as I drifted off to sleep.
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Okay, so apologies are due.
I'M SO SORRY FOR THE INSANELY LATE UPDATE!
I've been really busy lately and haven't had much time or energy for writing lately. I'm going to try to at least write a little everyday so that I can update once a week from now on.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
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You guys are the best!
Love, Ash <3