Drink
I sat in astonishment, unsure of what to do, when a raging flame of anger seared through my body, almost convincing me to attempt to fight through the crowd and follow him. A deep-rooted fear then began to spread as I looked down at the source of the tingling. Above the circle that the bouncer had branded me with was a small rust coloured star enclosed within a circle, each point branching off into delicate wisps. I frowned, running my fingers over the star, but they instantly jerked away at the strange heat that warmed my fingertips, but my arm itself couldn't feel it.
"You're one of his new specimens, aren't you?"
My head whipped up to see a curvaceous blonde woman with sapphire eyes rimmed with thick black lashes that seemed to have microscopic flecks of silver caught in it.
"Who're you?" I asked warily, trying to hide my arm as succinctly as possible.
"Lexie," she replied cheerfully. "And you're Megan, right?"
"Yeah," I said slowly, a frown forming on my forehead. "How...?"
"I've been assigned as your babysitter, if you'd like to call it that. Don't even bother trying to follow him, there's no way you can find him in this crowd. He's got business to handle."
"But—but why—" I stuttered in confusion. If I was to be safe, why would he leave me with a complete stranger?
"Look, Kieran came here to sort out some problems with someone here in private, and I just so happen to be a friend indebted to him, so I'm doing him a favour. Can't you be satisfied with that?"
"Obviously not," I muttered, fingering the pentacle inscribed into my arm. The heat that it radiated had substantially reduced.
Lexie sighed in frustration and poured a coppery liquid into a tall glass before sliding it to me. The rusty fluid seemed to give off a light of its own, shining in the dim lighting. "Drink this," she said with such danger infused in her voice that I found myself instantly sipping the bittersweet drink, the effect immediate.
I nearly slumped forward in a wave of giddiness, and a thought flew loop-the-loops through my mind. Kieran was right... I am a lightweight, I thought dazedly, giggling foolishly without a defined reason.
"Lightweight," Lexie muttered, voicing my thoughts with derision.
"Are you a mindreader or something?" I slurred, leaning over the bar precariously to squint at her face, enough for my breath to dislodge to glitter decorating her lashes.
"No, sugar bun, I'm Nephilim. Mind reading doesn't feature on the catalogue, I'm afraid," she replied blandly. She turned to the side and shouted over the music, "Hey, Jace! Get over here!"
I twisted around to see who she was talking to, when a lanky young man who couldn't be older than nineteen ambled our way, with blonde hair and lively blue eyes similar Lexie's.
"Yeah?" he asked, giving me a dismissive once-over.
"Keep an eye on her. She's with Kieran."
"What's a Lupi doing with him?" the man—Jace—asked with a confused frown.
"Don't know, don't care. Keep her occupied, would you? And be careful, she's a lightweight," Lexie added with a smug smile as she headed towards another customer.
"Who're you, gorgeous?" I asked curiously, cocking my head to the side. Jace stared at me for a long moment, appalled, before glaring at Lexie, who was talking to her customer in a flirtatious manner, with her shirt unbuttoned to show maximum cleavage.
"Bitch," he muttered, sitting in front of me. He stared at me carefully for several silent minutes before shrugging indifferently. "I suppose I can get something from you," he mumbled under his breath with pursed lips.
"Get what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
Jace snapped his attention to me and grinned wolfishly. "You have a name, sweetheart?" he asked with a sudden change in attitude.
"Megan," I replied, my cheeks burning red under his gaze. "And I suppose you're Jace?"
"Of course. Who else could I be?"
"You never know these days," I responded with a lopsided shrug, taking another sip of the syrupy drink.
"So what brings you here to Fallen, Megan?"
"Dunno, Jace. I haven't the slightest clue. Kieran just said that he had some 'business' here. Nothing else."
"So... how'd you end up meeting him?"
Through the dizzy haze that clouded my judgement, doubt snaked through. You shouldn't be telling him this, Megan. Don't say anything. Don't mess things up for Kieran.
"I..." my mind shut down for a moment in a spur of the moment hesitation, "I don't think it's my place to tell."
Jace raised an eyebrow but nodded. I averted my eyes to avoid to awkwardness of his penetrating stares and a surprised laugh escaped. My veins were painted a violent shade of russet, and I could make out faint pulses that synchronised perfectly with my heartbeat. "Pretty," I whispered, almost childlike, running a finger over the vibrant colour that contrasted against my pale skin.
"Megan," Jace interrupted my hazy thoughts, and I looked up at him questioningly. "You're a very pretty woman yourself, you know that?" He leaned in closer over the table, and I found myself gravitating towards him as I blushed ruby. What's wrong with me? I don't do this normally...
"No, I'd have to say I didn't," I breathed. We were so close that I could identify each and every single long blonde eyelash with clarity, each sapphire spoke that branched off from his pupils, which were dilated with lust. "But I think you know that you are." Jace's lips curved into a smirk as he cradled the side of my face with his hand. His hand was warm, and heat spread from his fingers throughout my body.
His minty breath fanned my face from our close proximity, when a vaguely familiar voice bellowed, "Is this your idea of looking after her?"
I jerked out of Jace's grasp in confusion and stared at him and his amused smile that was aimed above my head. I turned around to see a very pissed off Kieran.
"Where is Lexie?" he snapped through gritted teeth, his words slow with forced calm.
"Who? My sister? Oh, you know her. You'll probably find her out in the back, having her way with another old man," Jace replied good-naturedly. "What brings you here, Kieran?"
Kieran's expression was one of dark and stormy fury as he leaned across the bar to grab Jace's black shirt's front. "When I asked your fucking sister to look after Megan, I meant to look after her and not get her drunk and hand her over to Lexie's fucking pervert of a brother!" Kieran snarled, almost shouting, shaking Jace like a rag doll.
"Nice to meet you too, old friend," Jace said after Kieran had fully vented his anger and tossed him away back to the other side of the bar.
"Where's Lexie?" Kieran growled.
Jace's eyebrows rose as he lips curled into an amused smile. "You sure about that? Do you really want to walk in on her getting hot and heavy?" The pure lividity in Kieran's face was enough to wipe the laughter from his face. "Okay, okay, follow me."
Kieran glanced at my delirious state and took my hand, pressing it against the counter palm-down. I frowned and tried to pull it away, but somehow, my fingers were glued to the cold turquoise-lit glass.
"It's a temporary binding charm. I'll be back soon," he explained tiredly before following Jace through one of the staff exit doors.
I stared at the dance floor aimlessly before slumping against the counter, drumming the fingers of my free hand against the glass. I observed the liquor in my veins pulse with a detached fascination until Kieran returned with a smug Jace and a slightly harassed Lexie, wearing an exhausted expression.
"We're going," he deadpanned, and my hand was automatically freed from his spell. He grabbed my arm and pulled me off the seat, away from the bartending siblings that had lit the fuse of his temper. His fingers brushed over the pentacle that he had cast on me, and the lingering heat of it on my arm disappeared.
I didn't say a word in fear of his underlying anger until the exit was in sight and Kieran's heavy breathing had slowed slightly.
"What went wrong there?" I asked cautiously as the liquor's hold on my senses ebbed slightly, and I didn't fail to notice his grip on my arm tighten slightly.
"Outside," he murmured, teeth still tightly clenched.
The bouncer gave me a wicked glare as we left the building, which I returned with a smile. I embraced the cool fresh air of the night even though it raised the hairs on my exposed legs.
"Explain," I demanded, stepping in front of the driver's door before Kieran could enter the car.
Kieran stared at me evenly and said, "It's cold out. I'll explain in the car."
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion at him but let him enter the car all the same. He didn't speak until we were on the road and the heater was blasting in our faces with the intent to bake.
"I have an... acquaintance who lives in the club," Kieran began quietly and uncertainly. "I had to tell hm about the new information regarding the prophecy and you."
Kieran paused in hesitation, and his lips pursed unsurely. "And..." I prodded impatiently.
"The signs of change are becoming obvious. I'm certain that something big is going to happen, but he's convinced that this prophecy is one of the many that are inaccurate. I've tried to prove him otherwise, but he's refusing to believe me. I know that something big and bad is going to happen soon, but I don't know what form it's going to take, so I... I just have no idea what to do," Kieran finished in a hurried breath.
"And I have something to do with this. Sorry, but with all of this going on, I don't really see where I fit in." I was still confused... sure, something bad was going to happen, but what exactly made me part of the drama, part of the prophecy?
"I don't really know myself, but I'll have to drag you along. You don't really have anywhere to go, exactly, remember?" he added hastily at the objection teetering on my lips.
"So at the moment, I'm technically just a dead weight?"
"Wow, you make it sound so much worse. You can make yourself useful, but not yet. Like I said, only some Lupi packs fight against the demon-dominant Nephilim. I'll... need some advice regarding what to do."
"I suppose you're more human than they are?"
Silence.
I turned slowly to look at Kieran, whose face was pallid and drawn, and he gripped the wheel tightly, his knuckles white where the bones stretched the skin.
"Kieran?" I asked tentatively,
His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed before he whispered, "It's a balance between the two."
"What d'you mean?" What do you think, Megs?
"My blood shares both demon and human blood. There's a bit more human in me, but demon blood's more powerful, so sometimes... well, sometimes it wins over me."
His words chilled my veins as I sat up straight abruptly. "What?" I spluttered.
"You're still safe," Megan," Kieran said tiredly as I tried to back away from him.
"Safe? You're telling me I'm safe? I'm safe with a guy who—what was it? Oh, that's right! He just suddenly turns into a demon! Hey, that's alright though isn't it? I'm plenty safe!" I broke off in a shrill hysterical laugh.
Kieran's jaw tightened as he swerved the car recklessly onto the kerb before turning to face me with a vicious expression. "Don't you ever call me a demon. Just because the demon blood becomes dominant, it doesn't make me any different! I'm still a Nephilim," he hissed at me furiously. I stared at him in terror as I watched his pupils dilate to gaping black holes. Kieran blinked and began panicking.
"Shit, shit, shit!" he muttered under his breath as he hurried out of the car and almost through himself into the backseats, which were cluttered with a menagerie of knickknacks. "Where the fuck is it?"
I stared at him mutely, peering over my seat. "Where's wha-"
"Shut up!" he snarled, the almost bestial tone stunning me to silence. After scouring through half of the junk, he finally found what he was looking for: a small metallic flask. He hastily unscrewed it and gulped down the contents. After several long draughts, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve with a disgusted grimace. As Kieran shifted his gaze on me, I noted how his his pupils were rapidly dilating and contracting from pinpoints to empty black pits before finally settling to their normal size.
"Wha—I—What was that?" I managed to stutter in a weak voice.
"Sorry," he muttered as he returned to his seat behind the wheel. He roughly rubbed his hands over his face before starting the car. Once we were on the road again, he started speaking again, his voice low. "Sometimes the demon blood dominates the human inside me. It's... it's basically making me bipolar, you know? If I were a demon-oriented Nephilim, the chances are that you wouldn't be here in my car talking to me. You'd probably be bound and gagged in the trunk while I find a spot to torture, kill and dump your body. That's how different it is. There aren't many Nephilim like me, hung out in the middle, but there's this potion, Celare, which is kind of similar to your Akonit. It sort of suppresses the demon part of me for around about a day or so before I have to take it again."
"How many potions are there?" I mumbled, adrenal fear still coursing through my veins along side the liquor.
"Oh, thousands, believe me."
"I'll bet there are," I muttered as Kieran parked the car outside his apartment.
"Come on. We'll figure out what to do tomorrow after a night's sleep. You look like you'll need it."
"What was that drink that... what's her name—Lexie? What did she give me?"
Kieran's face darkened at her name. "Asthira, It's way more potent than alcohol, and can kill anybody if they drink too much. She was an idiot to give you so much, especially since you're a lightweight." I scowled at him with such resentment that a crooked grin broke through his mask of anger.
We stood in the lift in silence, with Kieran standing straight while I leaned heavily against the side, feeling the hold of the Asthira slowly wearing out in my bloodstream, and the effects were obvious. For starters, my veins were no longer glowing, but my vision was no longer as clear, and seemed to blur and sharpen with each thud of my sluggish heart. By the time we reached his floor, I was close to slumping to the floor of the elevator. As the doors opened, I attempted to step forward, only to stumble tipsily, as though I was still alcohol fuelled. Kieran was still by my side, and attempted to assist me before giving up and lifting me up in his arms. Through the dizziness that enveloped my mind, I could have sworn I heard the tutting of a disapproving neighbour as I moaned like a zombie.
Kieran carried me to the kitchen, where he forced a glass of water down my throat despite my protests that I would throw up if I ingested or even drank anything. As the water made its way through my body, I slowly became more alert, however slightly.
I changed into a baggy shirt and a pair of shorts that I'd insisted buying, but before I could go to sleep, Kieran blocked the door to the guest bedroom with an old leather-bound book that barely held any pages.
"What's that?" I asked, looking at the book curiously. Kieran passed it to me wordlessly. The cover was jet black despite the aged yellow pages within, embossed with the words 'The Beginning' in artificial silver that shone in the dim lights above us.
"It's a bit of a fairytale, but it tells the story of how the Lupi came into existence," Kieran explained. "Try not to rip it to shred, though," he added as I carefully turned the fragile pages. "There aren't many copies, and I can't have you shifting on one of the oldest ones."
"Gee, thanks for your vote of confidence," I said flatly, but smiles all the same. "Thanks, though. I'll read it tomorrow."
Kieran nodded and shut the door behind him after switching off the lights,
I manoeuvred through the darkness and placed the book on the bedside table before lying flat on my back on the heavily-springed bed.
I stared up at the ceiling until red and green spots danced tantalisingly before my eyes, and when I finally blinked, the spots merged into shapes and incomprehensible swirls. Just like my life. Sure, my life was hell, but at least I understood what was happening, and every single event had a definition, with clear details. But now... ever since I met Kieran, ever since I 'blinked', the elaborate house of steel cards had eroded and collapsed, leaving me stuck underneath. Nothing was what it seemed to be, and everything was beginning to blur together, everything somehow correlating even though I didn't quite understand. Wow. You are such a self-pitying creature, aren't you, Megs?
A small humourless laugh escaped my lips as I contemplated the events of the past few days. To a normal human, I was a myth and nothing more. Lupi were the stuff of dreams and longing and imagination, the incredibly good-looking men who competed against sparkling vampires for the girl that they both loved, and yet... I existed. And I believed that Lupi were the only unnatural beings on this plain of reality, almost like what the humans thought... only to be proved wrong.
Angels existed. Demons existed. Nephilim existed. For all I knew, vampires and bloodsuckers that shone like diamonds under the sunlight existed too. Who was I to say they didn't?
My little world was falling apart, and even though I would try to fight and escape before I could get buried underneath the rubble, I knew that I was chained underneath, destined to crack and shatter underneath.