We got into the car, which was indeed a hybrid, and drove away from the house. I looked out the window at the houses in this suburban area. It was an odd place for the Resistance to be hiding, but I guess it made sense. The Revolution was so obvious in their safe houses, all of which were huge and grand. No wonder there had been a trap set by the Resistance so close to the house, they were waiting to capture either enemy or friend who wandered into the forests by the house.
"Hey Kyran, where are we going to stay when we get to Denver?" I asked.
Kyran glanced at me out of the corner of his eye but quickly returned to looking at the road. "At Janet's brother's house."
"Is he also a member of the Resistance?"
"Yes, but he doesn't have any powers. He knows about all of this from Janet."
"How did Janet get sucked into all of this?" I asked curiously.
Kyran shrugged. "Her sister's two kids were kidnapped by the Revolution. Janet had tried to hide them with her power for a while, but one day while she was out Cody and Andy came and took them away. This was before she learned the trick with the blood."
"Two kids." I whispered. "What were their names?"
"Hm? Oh, Tony and-"
"Hannah." I breathed. "She's Hannah's aunt."
Kyran looked at me curiously. "You know them? This is great! We haven't had word of them in forever, they never leave the house."
I closed my eyes and shook my head.
"What's wrong, they're not... they're not dead are they?" Kyran asked quietly.
I peeked at him around my newly blonde hair and sighed. "Tony's dead. I think he's been dead for a while, almost the entire time since they were kidnapped."
Kyran seemed speechless for a moment before shaking his head, his knuckles were white against the steering wheel. "We never heard anything about that. This is going to break their hearts." he whispered to himself.
"What happened to their mother?" I asked hesitantly.
Kyran grimaced. "You'll see when we get there. She lives with her brother now, can't really take care of herself." he was quiet for a moment before asking me. "Is Hannah safe?"
I gave a humorless laugh. "As safe as you can be all locked up in that house. But yes, safe enough. Cody won't let her leave on missions or anything."
"Why not?"
I shrugged. "As Zach so tactfully put it, she was a miscalculation on Cody's part. She can't feel pain but that puts her at even greater risk since she doesn't know her limits. Her two missing fingers are proof of that."
"Do you know her well?"
I thought back to my last conversation with her and slowly nodded. "Probably better than anyone. Except for Ash, of course. Ash had a knack for understanding people."
"That's Evan's sister, right?" he waited for my brief nod before wondering, "What happened to her? You said someone killed her. Who was it? The same person who killed Tony?"
I laughed nervously. "You going to avenge them or something?"
"It crossed my mind. Knowing Evan, she's going to want some revenge once she gets over the shock that her sister was acting the way she did to protect her. So who was it? Cody? Your boyfriend Zach?"
"He's not my boyfriend." I spat out automatically.
"Well then why won't you answer my question? It sounds like you're protecting somebody, but they should pay for killing Ashley and Tony!"
"They have paid." I whispered.
"Who was it?"
"Please don't ask me that."
Kyran looked over at me in shock and then something seemed to click in his mind. He swerved the car dangerously as his mind wandered and I cried out and grabbed the steering wheel to stop us from hitting the car next to us.
"Kyran, look out! If we get into a crash only one of us is walking away alive and it's not going to be you!" I shouted at him. Kyran steered the car to the side of the road and put the car in park.
"It was you!" he said shakily. "You killed her, didn't you!"
At his words my blood seemed to turn to ice and I closed my eyes tightly together. "I-yeah. Yeah it was." I breathed.
"But-" he seemed at a complete loss for words. "But you said she was your best friend! What the hell, and Tom said we could trust you?!"
"Just shut up!" I shouted, my eyes flew open and I glared at him. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Did you kill Tony too? How can you face Evan?"
"I didn't kill Tony." I told him flatly. "And how can I face Evan? Well I can't, there's your answer. I can't even look at her without seeing Ash. Everything reminds me of Ash, she saved me from that world and do you want to know how? By letting me kill her. She knew what she was doing the minute she refused to kill Diana. She knew she signed her own death warrant, and the only thing she prayed for was that it would be me to deliver it to her because she knew I would kill her humanely. I wouldn't torture her like Cody or Zach would. She died so Diana could live and I could be free."
brushed my hand against my cheek as I felt a tickling on it and was surprised to find tears streaming down my face. The sight of that made me sob.
"I have paid. I pay every night, every single night I dream of that moment when I shoved my knife into her. Every night I remember what it was like to have her ask me to kill her."
I wasn't even sure if Kyran could understand me, I didn't know if I was still coherent. I didn't care. I just sobbed and sobbed as I remembered and I rocked back and forth trying to get a grip on myself. Suddenly I felt hands reach down and unbuckle my seat belt. I jumped in surprise as Kyran pulled me onto his lap and put his arms around me. This made me cry even harder and I gripped the front of his shirt in my fists and sobbed on his shoulder. He rubbed my back comfortingly and made soothing sounds in my ear. I don't know how long I cried, but when finally it ran it's course I let go of his shirt and wiped my eyes. Kyran pushed me slightly away so he could look at my face and I avoided his eye, feeling suddenly self-conscious. I had never cried like that in front of another person.
"Are you all right?" he asked, his voice heavy with concern.
"Yeah." my voice broke slightly. "I'm sorry, I don't usually break down like that. Actually I never break down like that." I gave a tight laugh.
"It's ok. And I'm sorry for acting like a jerk." he said sincerely. "You were right, I judged you without really knowing you."
I shrugged. "I'm used to it. And you wanted to know what happened to Tony?"
"You don't have to tell me." he said quickly, probably afraid of another emotional melt-down.
"No it's fine. It's not my story, even. Hannah killed him."
Kyran's eyes were wide and his hands froze on my back. I nodded at his surprise and gave another humorless snort, climbing off his lap to get back to my seat.
"Yeah, we're all pretty screwed up." I told him.
He didn't respond to that. He just started the car and pulled out onto the road. Finally he asked, "That was why you ran like that."
I nodded. "I had a worse dream than normal last night and tried to run it off. Normally I don't take it quite that far but I couldn't seem to help myself. Seeing Evan made the guilt worse than it usually is."
"Good thing we're getting out of town then." he told me with a small smile. "Why don't you try to sleep? We'll be there in about 4 hours."
I nodded and leaned my head against the window. For the rest of the trip I continually dozed in and out of consciousness, but was slightly grateful for that since I could never get into a deep enough sleep to bring on any dreams. After a while I eventually managed to keep my eyes opened and I shook my head slightly to help wake myself up. I looked out the window and gasped in delight.
"Excited to be back?" Kyran asked, smiling.
"You have no idea." I breathed with a huge grin. "I used to take Ava to that ice cream shop all the time when she was younger." I started pointing out other spots that held nice memories for me. I didn't care if I was boring him, talking to someone like this seemed oddly like a catharsis for me. When we got to the suburbs I quieted down and we drove to a house that was oddly enough not too far from where I lived. A thought came to me that made me nervous.
"Hey Kyran, do a lot of Resistance members live at Janet's brother's house?"
"Yeah, we tend to rotate where we live but maybe around seven people live here and sometimes people just drop by. Why?"
"What if Cody has an idea that there's a house like that in Denver. I was wondering why they were in Denver in the first place when they found me. What if they were here trying to find members of the Resistance and Andy just happened to stumble upon me?"
Kyran was quiet for a while. He drove up to one of the houses, a bigger house in one of the nicer parts of town, and parked the car in the driveway. "He'll be looking for a while, then. Anybody with any talents in the Resistance has a vial like yours."
I sighed in relief. Andy was completely useless then, and what with Janet and Tom the Resistance had a distinct advantage over Cody.
I got out of the car and grabbed my bag from the back before following Kyran into the house. He didn't even bother knocking, he just opened the door and walked in.
"Michael! Susan!" he shouted.
"In the kitchen." a male voice called back.
Kyran dropped his bag and I followed his suit before following him into a different room.
There was a man and a woman huddled around an island table in the kitchen and a three other people sitting at a table in a conjoined living room area. The man looked the oldest, maybe in his sixties, while the woman looked to be in her late forties or early fifties.
"Kyran!" most people exclaimed when he walked in.
"And this must be Elaine." the man, Michael I was guessing, said to me with a welcoming smile. "Janet explained a bit about your situation. You're welcome to stay as long as you want."
"Thank you." I said shyly. Kyran gave me a surprised look. I guess he wasn't used to me being so docile, being in Denver was making me revert back to the girl I used to be. Or maybe it was something about Kyran that made me blurt out things and talk more than I usually would.
"Don't worry, we'll take care of you here." he winked. "I'm Michael and this is my sister Susan." he indicated the woman next to him at the island. She looked a lot like Hannah and I felt my face fall as I looked at her, feeling sympathy for her. She looked completely helpless, as if she had nothing left to live for. Michael then turned to the people around the living room table. "And that's Dan, Cora, and Mitch."
I smiled at them politely and waved. They nodded to me and returned to eating.
"Want dinner?" Michael asked us.
"We ate on the road." Kyran told him and I nodded, showing that his answer served as mine as well.
"All right then. You know where the extra room is Kyran."
Kyran nodded. "After we put our stuff in there, I need to talk to you."
"Go get settled, we'll talk after."
Kyran nodded and grabbed my arm, pulling me out of the room. We grabbed out stuff by the door and headed up the stairs and to the back of the hall to a bedroom. Inside there was a single king sized bed, a couch and a television.
"Are we staying in the same room?" I asked disgruntled.
"There aren't enough rooms for both of us, so yeah. I can sleep on the couch."
"Fine, I'm going to bed."
"Now?" Kyran raised his eyebrows. "It's only nine thirty."
"Yeah and hopefully I can get a few hours of sleep in before Zach makes an appearance. Maybe I should become nocturnal." I added thoughtfully.
"If you start thrashing in your sleep I'll wake you up." Kyran told me reassuringly.
"Wow you really aren't a jerk anymore! Thank you." I laughed.
"It comes and goes." he shrugged and laughed with me.
I grabbed some pajamas from my bag and a toothbrush and went into the bathroom conjoined to the room. After I was done getting ready for bed, I went back to find Kyran lounging on the couch and watching television. I crawled under the covers and turned off the lamp next to the bed.
"Night Elaine."
"Night Kyran."
"You can call me just Ky, by the way." he told me, almost absentmindedly.
"Night Ky." I murmured, closing my eyes.
"Told you I'd be back."
I looked over at Zach and rolled my eyes."Well at least you distract me from my normal nightmares."
"Do you seriously have nightmares about killing Ash?" Zach scoffed. "You think I regret killing my step-father? Come on home, babe. We can fix you."
"I don't need to be fixed, I like it where I am." I snapped at him. "It's quiet and I can be alone." Not entirely true, but I wanted him to think I was on my own with no help.
"It gets better, baby. The first kill's always the hardest. Right now you're not thinking straight, your emotions are all out of whack. Come home so I can look after you!"
"Mm, I don't think so." I grinned at him. Zach's eyes narrowed.
"I'm trying to be nice here, Elaine. Don't try my patience."
"Aw but baby, I enjoy watching you go crazy. It reminds me of why I hate you."
"You want something to hate?" Zach took out a gun and aimed it at my leg, pulling the trigger. I screamed and fell to the ground. "I talked to Cody. He's going to let me be in charge of you when you get back. Including your punishment. So you think this is painful?" he shot my other leg and I screamed again. "Just wait until I get my actual hands on you. The longer you make me wait, the more pain you will feel. And believe me, eventually I will get my hands on you. For your sake you better come home soon."
"ELAINE!"
The voice made me whip my head around. That was Ky's voice! What was he doing in my dream?
"Is that a man calling your name?" Zach asked me furiously, jealousy burning in his eyes. He strode forward and grabbed me by my hair, pulling me up and throwing me against the wall. He had to support most of my weight since my legs were shaking painfully under me. "Who the fuck was that, Elaine? Why're you with a man when you're sleeping?"
I swallowed painfully. "None of your business." Zach slapped me hard. For some reason I felt like my body in this dream was slowly fading and Zach swore.
"That bastard's waking you up. Tell me now Elaine, who are you with?"
"Nobody!" I tried to push him off but he slapped me again.
"Then I'll find out tomorrow." Zach told me seriously. "And believe me, I will find out."
"Elaine!"
I jerked awake and looked over to see Kyran trying to shake me awake.
"Oh my God, thank you." I told him with a relieved sigh.
Kyran breathed in relief. "You worried me. I called your name and you wouldn't wake up the first time."
"Yeah, don't say anything when I'm asleep." I warned him. He looked confused and opened his mouth to ask something but I quickly went on. "Zach could hear everything I could hear in my subconscious while I was in my dream. There went my plan of trying to convince him I was hiding out somewhere on my own."
Ky's eyes widened. "He heard me?" I nodded. "What happened?"
I quickly told Ky about my dream and he his hands tightened into fists angrily. For the first time I looked at him properly and realized that all he was wearing was a pair of sweats. I suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
"Anybody ever tell you that you have an asshole for an ex-boyfriend?" he asked me.
"Understatement of the year." I muttered darkly.
Ky raked his hand through his dark hair, pushing it out of his face. I tried hard not to stare as his muscles flexed a bit by doing that. "Why don't you try to go back to sleep? Tom said he thinks they can only hold the power for a few minutes every night. You should be fine for now."
I shook my head. "If I go back to sleep I'll just dream about Ash."
His eyes softened slightly but he crossed his arms. "Elaine you need to sleep. It's not healthy to stay awake all the time, and I don't care if you can bring yourself back from the dead. I doubt it's very pleasant doing that."
I gave him a small, sad smile. "It's more painful every time. And it takes longer for me to come back."
"Every gift has it's limitations." he nodded in understanding. He sighed and crawled onto the other side of the bed.
"What're you doing?" I demanded.
"Well you're not going to sleep and I am, so I'm going to use the bed." he told me.
I frowned. "Well then I'll go sit on the couch."
But as I tried to get out of the bed, he reached over and grabbed me and pulled me to his chest.
"Ky!" I whined.
"Just try to sleep, ok? I'll be right here and I'll wake you up if you have a nightmare." he murmured in my ear. "Trust me."
I scowled at nothing but eventually sighed and relaxed. When he realized I wasn't going to try and escape from his grasp, Ky loosened his hold but still kept his hands around me. I fell asleep like that.
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D'awwwww they're bonding ;) comment and vote please!