+++Note, to those who read Super Bad, some parts are kinda in here because I really liked the way I wrote it and I wanted to put that scene in here and I don't like putting good writing to waste :P+++
"Isaac shouldn't be here," I said. I carefully looked over, spotting nothing suspicious.
"I know," Grim said. "But your dad said this was where Cameron wanted to meet."
"For the gang leader of the Eagles you'd think he'd make a smarter choice under our"-I glanced at Isaac who gazed up at the flashing billboard signs-"special circumstances."
We were practically bathing in human activity, the greasy street food smell and car fumes clinging to our clothes. The city folk shouldered their way through the crowd like the rest of us and their constant dismissal of abnormal things relaxed me. I mean, the three of us were wearing hooded trench coats in the middle of June.
"He does know if Isaac is greatly exposed to human activity, then the Purge will transfer again," I told Grim.
The walking signal started and we moved with the herd as they crossed, quickening our pace to not get trampled. "Only if Isaac can find someone who he has a connection with," he added.
Isaac the only thing I thought of at that moment, I grabbed him by his one shoulder and made him walk between Grim and I.
Staying close, Grim turned into a stairway and I heard him say a short, "Here."
I glimpsed up at the skyscraper, it touching the skies with its tall glass windows.
Grim entered through the spinning doors and I shoved Isaac into the next opening, following after to easily exit out. Grim and I ended up in the lobby but Isaac wasn't with us. Fear seeped into my system and we both whipped around to find Isaac trapped in the spinning doors.
Grim groaned. "C'mon."
Isaac missed his exit again, the doors forcing him to walk in circles. He tried again and missed the opening. He banged his nose off the glass.
Grim said, "I find this very hard to believe he's Hell's Personal Purge."
The doors spun again and with frustration and furrowed brows, Isaac made the leap and crashed through the spinning door. Glass was thrown everywhere, it shattered across the ground.
People dressed in office wear stopped what they were doing and stared at Isaac who stumbled to regain himself. Clearing his throat, he straightened up and he cleared his throat, giving us a wave to keep moving.
Security guards quickly took action and advanced but then a voice said, "Stop. They're with me."
Cameron, leader of the gang Eagles, had an impassive mask on and motioned us towards the elevator. I observed his tanned skin that was mostly covered in a white suit, matching pants and shoes that put the word 'fancy' out of business.
We hastily followed him into glass made elevator, it translucent in all four walls. The elevator began its ascent and I began to see the black nothing below us get farther and farther. Our height increased and my toes tingled at the visible ground underneath. I forced myself to look forward and gaze at the city. It felt ugly once my human emotions were kicking up again.
"Where is the dark angel?" Cameron, the gang leader, asked.
Grim puts his hands in front of him, holding them together. "Levi? At the camp, helping them prepare." It sickened me how professional he made himself seem. Demons weren't professional.
"Speaking of camp," I started. We passed the fifth floor. I turned to Grim. "What happened back there?"
He looked at me as if I was the strange one. "What did happen?" he said, asking a question with my question. What a dick.
We passed the sixth floor. "Oh, you know, when I walked into my tent and saw you and Isaac making out."
Cameron bit back his smile. Passing the seventh floor
"We weren't making out!" Isaac defended.
Eighth.
I put a hand between Grim and Isaac and made a sincere look. "It's okay. I support both of your decisions and I understand gender and sex are two different things and attraction is based off of gender, not sex. A lot of people take 'dicks before chicks' to a whole new meaning."
"Alice!" Grim said.
Ninth.
"If you need any advice," I said. "Contact me. I've had my fair share of peacocks." I waved my hand over my pants. "This henhouse over here has been full."
"Alice!"
Tenth.
My hands flew up in surrender. "Okay, okay. I get it. You guys want to keep it completely dickly low on the radar."
Eleventh.
Isaac explained in a rush, "When we were at the shooting range, Grim had too much alcohol and he didn't know what the hell he was doing!"
Grim ripped the hood off his head and hurled an arm up. "Thank you! I'm so happy someone gets me!"
"So happy you'd kiss him?" I said with a grin.
Twelfth.
"Stop it," Grim said.
"You kissed Isaac," I said.
"He was a terrible kisser."
"Right? He puts his tongue in way too fast. It's like a lizard tongue," I said.
"He bites on the bottom lip too hard," Grim said.
"And he always goes right when you go left and it's like a highway collision"-both my hands move towards each other-"first you're merging, you're merging, you're merging and then BAM, you try to get in one lane but he's blocking it and you're both trying to pass and it's like beep beep. Hu-llo, trying to stick my tongue in your lane."
Cameron poked himself into the conversation. "Are all of you always like this?" He seemed terribly amused.
"Everyone always asks that," Grim said.
The elevator made a crisp ping noise and Cameron stepped out. "There's probably a reason to that."
Stepping onto floor sixty, it looked like we entered a bachelor penthouse. I admired the white tiled floor, walls entirely made out of windows and the modern, white, not to mention expensive furniture that spread along the open room.
"Is this your house?" Isaac said, touching a sword that clearly said do not touch.
"Don't be ridiculous," Cameron said and caught him touching. He sent a glare that sent Isaac shrinking away. Cameron planted himself on a chair and it automatically carried him to his desk. He corrected, "This is an office building. In which this makes this my office."
I eyed the section dedicated to guns, weaponry respectively set on the red velvet cushioned wall. "My father sent us here for a reason," I began. I looked over at Cameron who watched me carefully. "Care to share?"
Cameron folded his hands on his desk and leaned forward, Grim and Isaac standing directly in front. "My men and I are willing to help you in the war," he said. I could sense Isaac smiling. "On one condition."
I slowly approached him, keeping a discreetly close eye on the door and him. "I'm listening."
Grim leaned over, putting both hands faced down on the desk. "What's the condition?"
Cameron's eyes darted to me and that certain spark in his eyes made me uneasy. "I want her to stop pretending," he said. I came to a halt. He continued, "She thinks she knows who she is but she doesn't. She wants to find herself, she wants to be who she was meant to be. She is lying when she says she isn't Jessie. She is lying when she says she isn't Alice. She's both. And my team and I will only be your allies if she accepts that."
His stare not only held me, but looked into me, right into my dark box of secrets and locked soul. He saw it.
Trying to not feel anxious, I had to stay afloat in this pool of exposure, careful not to get lost and let him drift into my mind. He had a way of getting into me-my soul."
"And how would you suppose I accept that?" I sheathed a cool exterior over my fear.
He smiled and removed a bottle out of his jacket. A clear liquid sat in the tiny tube, it the size of my pinky. "By drinking this," he said.
Grim snatched it out of his hand and examined it in the light. "And what is this capable of doing?"
Isaac peered over Grim's shoulder, trying to get a look at the drink.
"It will force her to unlock the deepest parts of her mind, including the memory. Then Alice must embrace the soul of Jessie. They have to connect to be accepted as one."
Grim tossed me the bottle and I caught it. I peered through the tube, gaze zoning in on Cameron. "Why do you want this in return? Why the motivation to connect me with Jessie?"
"Let's just say an old friend would've wanted it." I didn't have to question that. I knew the answer would be explained once I drank from that bottle. Deeply sighing, I stared at the liquid again. Flashes of war and blood coloured my eyes, and the fire that burned in my chest for Lord Death's head caused me to roughly pluck the cork off the bottle. Here we go.
About to shoot it down my throat, Cameron lifted a protesting hand. "Wait!" A drop nearly made it to my tongue. Horror cast over his face. "Don't have it yet. You must take it when you're in a safe and silent place. Your body will react with the potion and you will be unconscious. It is unknown how you may react but you will not be able to wake up until you are connected with her."
My face twisted in confusion. I squeezed the cork back into the bottle and tucked it in my pocket. "Why isn't now a good time?"
Cameron smiled and snapped his finger. Ladies came clicking in with their heels and white, skinny fit dresses, both pushing carts with hanged clothes. "Because right now I want you to wear these." One cart of hanged clothes stopped at my feet. I ran my hand down the black lenient fabric. "Appropriate killing attire," he said.
"Hm." Stripping off my clothes right there, I squeezed into the black tank, and skirt that went just past my knees. The end of the skirt was cut diagonal, a large slit going across to show more than one leg. Combat boots laced up, I plucked the stone off the ring and switch the jewel in the choker. Tying it around my neck, I flicked off the girls who tried to put the jacket on me. Feeling it for myself, I slipped my arms through the blood red jacket, it long like a trench coat and open out.
Mentally admitting it all fit nice, I looked at Isaac and Grim who finally got comfortable with simply stripping right there and were now dressed in black as well.
"Why does it matter how we dress?" I asked Cameron.
I didn't get a chance to stop the two ladies from clipping a weapon at both of my waist belts, a double-bladed sword on each. Another slipped a gun on my thigh strap which I squirmed at the intimate touch. Swatting them away, I discreetly admired the weaponry Cameron was willing to give. The handles of the sword were wrapped in red ribbon, and engraved were the letters A. & J.
His lips pressed together with a smile. "I don't know. The time seemed right for official attire."
I paused, letting my senses sink in. I gazed across the room, examining each object until it landed on Cameron. I gave a curious eye. "So why did you bring us into a city?"
He got off his chair. "Because they got a great burger place across the street that I really wanted you guys to try."
"Are you serious?"
He gave a short nod. "Yeah. I am."
Suddenly a whipping flame flashed past the window and we rushed to the glass and witnessed a small meteor the size of two buses land in the middle of the road.
We watched in horror as the meteor cracked open, and like dropping a pebble in the lake, the people swarmed.
Dark liquid pooled out of the rock, pouring into the streets, and people screamed, scooting back but not far enough to not be in radar.
Out sprang a demon, a single thin layer of skin webbed through the jagged bones. It's back was hunched, fingers sharp at the ends as it swiped the air in rage. Phones whipped out of people's pockets and began capturing this horrifying scene.
"We should probably do something about that," Grim said, walking faster towards the window.
But I didn't follow.
"Why?" I asked. "Since when do we fight for humans?"
Isaac stepped in. "W-We don't?"
I twirled around in a one eighty spin and exploded at Isaac. "Can you stop being so innocent? We don't fight for justice, kid. We kill humans for a living. We don't save, we destroy. That's our purpose."
"Who says that?" Isaac boldly countered.
"I do," I sharply shot.
His voice was less shouting like. "No you don't."
"Yes. I do."
Suddenly the billboards glitched and the demons froze on top of the meteor. Suddenly Lord Death's face appeared on all screens, his face painted white and lizard eyes gleaming with such wickedness. A top hat rested on his head, and with his gloved hands he flicked his fingers as if to wave hello.
He then spread his arms out, the white cuffs of his suit in better view. "Welcome to the end, petty humans. This is the moment you have all been fearing. It's when darkness will fall and blood will be drawn, and billions of people will die in snap of finger. Hell will rise and human destruction will become the least of your worries. This is the end. This is the end of the world. And it will start here." He made a cheshire cat grin and I felt it directed right at me. The screen went black.
The demons lifted their heads up and slowly, one by one their mouths crept upwards into a devilish smile.
The closest one pounced on a man and bit into his left cheek. The human didn't have the chance to scream, this infection suddenly consuming his voice and body. Everyone watched in horror as his shoulders jerked, skin rotting purple and he decayed until a single layer of flesh covered his jetted out bones.
I watched the man's pupils shrink into two tiny black dots. A wave of screams pounded against my ears. My senses were heightened already.
Isaac's were too and then he broke off into a run, and before I could stop him, he crashed through the window and started falling off the sixtieth floor.
Grim was a step behind and soon it was just Cameron and I.
"You should go," he told me. I looked at him. "Grim will find us." I hesitated, and then nodded. Making a run, I dove out of the broken window and soon, I was falling. For a moment, I knew what I was doing.
Then my human side hacked into my system. Fear drowned my senses and I screamed.
This was the end.
+++
The part was too long so I divided it in half :) Meaning, quick update since it's already finished!! :)
I apologize for the long wait. Please stay with me! <3
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Cameron up above!
xx8tracks