[ 20 ] 2013
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"You're one of us too. You can deny it all you want, but you can't change who you are."
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"But...if you're a shifter too, then why do you hate shifters?" She wondered. It seemed unlikely that someone with the powers she and the other two boys possesed would hate them.
"That," He breathed, closing his eyes slowly. "Is none of your business."
"Uh...right." She said. Suddenly, her eyes began feeling tired and she let out a yawn. "Could you, like...go away? I'm sleepy now."
His shoulders shook lightly with his laugh, his green eyes looking down to the ground. "You know, you're really funny, Quinn. Though its a shame really, that you won't get to live very long after today." She saw a grin form on his lips.
"What- what do you mean?" Her voice shook nervously.
He looked up, green eyes meeting her blue ones. "I mean that after today, your days on this earth are limited. Because I'm not only a shifter, but I also hunt them down. Do you think its a coincidence that I was selected to live at your house?"
"You came here...to eliminate me?"
He nodded, "You, that annoying neighbor of yours...and your mum."
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The next few days that went by, Harley was paranoid.
She didn't know when Michael would strike and how he would do it, though she figured he relied on the element of surprise.
He spent most of his time locked up in his room whenever he wasn't at school, which made it harder for her to figure out what he was planning. It was on the fifth night at her house that she heard movement coming from his room.
The door creaked open and she heard his light footsteps making their way towards her parents' bedroom.
She got out of bed in a hurry, determined to stop him if he tried to kill her mum in her sleep.
Watching from the doorway, she saw him go to her dad's side. He put a hand on his forehead and a green aura appeared on his hand. "Aaron." He whispered. "Aaron, I need the keys to your car."
Opening his eyes, her dad nodded slowly and grabbed the car keys from his nightstand, handing them to Michael.
"Now sleep." He oredered and Mr. Quinn fell back asleep almost immediately.
He turned to leave the room again and saw Harley standing at the doorway. "What are you gonna do with my dad's car?" She asked him.
"I have things to do." He said simply. "Now go back to bed and sleep."
He waved a hand in front of her face, expecting her to do as he commanded. She nodded her head slowly, pretending to be in a daze and walked to her bedroom. But her mind was now strong enough to resist shifter mind tricks. Michael headed towards his room to grab his backpack with some of his things that he was going to need.
She opened the door to her bedroom and sprinted towards the balcony after locking her door from the inside. The driveway was directly below and she called softly, "Ashton..."
She didn't need to call twice before he materialized next to her. "What's wrong, Harley?"
"I'm gonna jump off the balcony." She began.
"Are you crazy?" His eyes widened in shock.
"You didn't let me finish." She whispered. "I need you to stand down there and catch me."
"Why don't you use the front door?" He asked.
"Michael's taking my dad's car somewhere. I'm going to hide in the backseat and find out where he's going. But he can't see me leave the house." She explained.
Ashton shook his head. "No. You can't go, he's a shifter killer. And maybe you've forgotten, but here's your reminder...you are a shifter."
She sighed in annoyance. "I'm going to jump off this balcony in five seconds and if you don't catch me, my death will be in your hands. So get down there right now." She told him, swinging both legs over the railings. "Five..." Her eyes looked down at the driveway, but saw only the dark of the night.
"Harley."
"Four..."
"Stop."
"Three..."
"You're crazy."
"Two..."
"If you die it won't be my fault."
"One..."
"Don't jump."
"Zero..."
"Harley!"
She closed her eyes tightly, her hands letting go of the railing as the plummeted, seemingly to her death if Ashton didn't catch her. She expected to hit the hard concrete and her bones to shatter like eggshells, but instead she felt herself fall into someone's arms.
Her eyes opened to meet with Ashton's hazel eyes. His eyebrows knitted together in annoyance at her.
"You're manipulative." He commented.
A grin was plastered across her face. "There's no time to pretend like you're mad at me." She jumped out of his arms. "We need to hide."
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Michael drove out to the old abandoned furniture district, where there were many run down buildings that hadn't been used for almost thirty years.
After parking the cars behind a school furniture factory, he got out of the car and went inside.
Harley sat up in the back seat and waited a couple of minutes before deciding to follow him. She opened the door and slipped out into the dark of the night. A soft wind made her shiver since she had forgotten to bring a jacket.
"Ashton..." She called again.
Thought he was a supernatural being and wasn't actually alive, she thought it better to go in accompanied rather than all by herself.
He appeared next to her from out of thin air. He took one look at the old building and said in awe. "Is this the school furniture factory? When did it close down?"
She shrugged. "It didn't close down. They just moved locations in like the eighties."
"I've missed so much." He responded. "What else has changed around Sydney?"
"More than you can begin to imagine. Changes happen everyday." She said. "Come on, Ashton." She said, walking ahead toward the heavy metal door, trying her best to be quiet.
He jogged up to the door to catch up to her.
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The factory had five floors, the first two were where the furniture was made and the other three were management offices.
Harley was just about ready to give up looking for Michael when they reached the top floor.
Sure enough, there was a bright light illuminating the hallway that came from the presidential office. She walked towards it slowly, peeking over the edge of the doorframe to see him sitting there, his back facing them. There were all sorts of computer monitors that he was looking at.
Hanging on the walls were different types of guns.
"I found Calum Hood, boss." Michael said to a computer which displayed the image of a man who was sitting in a dark room. Due to the lack of light, she could not make out his face. Michael added, "And I found two more shifters in that same neighborhood; Harley and Harleen Quinn."
"Did you say Harleen Quinn?" The man asked.
Michael nodded, "Yes, boss. Our information shows that particular neighborhood is dense with those filthy shifters."
"Don't touch Harleen." He warned Michael.
"But why?"
"Because I said so." He responded.
It was at that very moment that the most inconvenient thing happened. Suddenly, Harley got the urge to sneeze.
"Ah-choo!"
Michael turned quickly, ending the video call, startled by the sudden noise. When he saw Harley, he got up from his chair quickly and made his way over to her, a glare evident on his face. "You shouldn't have followed me here, Harley. Now I'm gonna have to kill you."
Before leaving the room, he picked up a gun that hung on the wall.
Harley took off into a sprint with Ashton behind her. Michael soon began to run, trying to catch up. She reached the set of stairs in a matter of seconds and hurried down them.
Michael stood at the top and began shooting at her, but she dodged every bullet. Her eyes watched in horror as the missed bullets landed on the floor at her feet while she continued to run.
She noticed they weren't ordinary bullets, they looked like crystals with the tips made out of some type of metal.
She reached the exit, hiding behind the door. She didn't have a ride back home, and this would be the only chance to stop him from blowing her head off. As he past the threshhold of the exit, she balled her hand into a fist and gathered all her strength, punching him in the back of the head.
He fell forward, the gun falling out of his reach. Ashton picked it up and tossed it to Harley.
Michael winced, turning around to face her.
Her hands shook as she held the gun, pointing it at him.
He smirked, green eyes looking up at her in amusement. "Go on then, Harley. Pull the trigger." As a laugh escaped his lips, he added, "That's right. You wouldn't dare."
"Wanna bet?" She hissed.
"Then why are your hands shaking?" He asked.
Her eyes observed the gun for a second. It seemed to be made of a shiny ilver metal. Engraved on the side were the words Diamond Rose in neat cursive.
"Why are the bullets made out of crystals?" She demanded.
"They're made of tungsten and diamonds." Michael corrected.
"Why?"
"Because shifter shields are powerless against them." He explained, "Have you ever tried to kill one with a regular gun? You can't. They shield themselves. But tungsten and diamond bullets will always cut through the shield. If you want to kill a shifter, you need a Diamond Rose gun."
"Harley..." Ashton spoke up, having watched everything. He closed the distance between them, setting a hand on her shoulder. "You're not a killer."
She sighed, her hand dropping to rest on her side. "You're right. I can't kill him."
"You think you spared my life?" Michael mocked. Sticking his hand out, Harley felt the Diamond Rose shake in her hand before quickly floating back to Michael's hold like a boomerang. "I could shoot you right now and no one would know. There'd be one less of your kind in this world."
"You're one of us too." She told him. "You can deny it all you want, but you can't change who you are."
Michael got back on his feet, dusting himself off. She noticed there was something in his eyes that changed then. He knew he was the very thing he swore to destroy, but he shook the thought away. He wouldn't think about it now. His hand went to rub the back of his head to ease the pain. "You have a heavy fist." He complained. "But I guess I can spare your life, just this once."
"Oh, so now you're the one doing me a favor?" She asked.
He smirked confidently.
"I'm the one who has a gun."
-
HEY GUYS.
I THOUGHT YOU WOULD ENJOY A NEW CHAPTER.
SORRY ITS KINDA SUPER LONG THOUGH.
NOW I THINK ASHTON'S GONNA START BEING A REGULAR CHARACTER IN THE NEW CHAPTERS.
HERE IS THE QUESTION OF THE DAY: DO YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT YOUR NAME WOULD HAVE BEEN INSTEAD OF YOUR ACTUAL NAME? MY MUM TOLD ME SHE WAS GONNA NAME ME ARIANNA, BUT THEN WHEN SHE WAS IN THE HOSPITAL, ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH, SHE OVERHEARD ANOTHER PREGNANT WOMAN TALKING TO HER SISTER. AND THE WOMAN WAS TELLING HER SISTER THAT SHE WANTED TO NAME HER BABY CLAIRE YVETTE. SO MY MUM THOUGHT IT WOULD LOOK CUTE LIKE CLARYVETTE.
ANYWAY, THANK YOU FOR READING & SUPPORTING.
I LOVE YOU.
-CLARY xx