I didn't slow my stride until I arrived at my favorite gym, the one that looked under renovations. When I rounded on the boys my eyes were black and my teeth dug into my lips. I didn't even know which one I wanted to hit. They were both so stupid, amplified by being together. Instead of deciding which to go after, I threw a sheet of air at them both, thick and wide, quick as a punch - undodgeable and unavoidable.
It knocked Malachi clean off his feet, clearly not expecting it, not knowing the depth of my Sign's strength. But James must have been able to read my gate, my intentions, or he just knew me more, and was ready. He crossed his arms over his face and loosened his stance, stumbling back a few feet when it hit but remained standing. Unlike Malachi, who had blood running from his nose when he righted himself. His eyes narrowed, but for once I didn't feel any fear when he leveled his yellow eyes on me, not even when they turned to shadows.
"You're a fast little Air."
The mocking in his voice, the anger I already had in me, and my Shift all mixed until I felt my second Shift bubbling up. But it wasn't like the other times when I couldn't control it. It felt like a rising wave, but one I could hold onto, ride or subdue. I pushed it down to see if it would listen, and it did, ebbing. Then, I dove for him, wanting to make him pay for whatever influence he had on James. For their stupid plan, for how grating he was, how needling I found him, for his Gift and the emotions he played with. I threw my fists at him, using my Sign to help my speed, but he was just as quick, quicker, dodging and blocking, staying just out of reach.
"What? One knee slips past your defenses and you're scared to fight me?"
"I don't feel like getting zapped, that's all. Unless, this is training and I can hurt you? Do I have your permission?"
He quirked an eyebrow up in question. A wicked grin appearing along with a sliver of razored teeth peeking from behind his lips. I tried to use his response time to sweep his legs, but he skipped back out of reach again, like his feet didn't even need to touch the floor.
"Fine. This is training. Have at me." I growled back, tired of swiping at air.
And then he was before me in a flash, faster than anything should be able to move. But I saw his intentions, finally saw his patterns, and blocked his quick grab for my throat, twisting his hand downward, making him hiss as he pulled back. Apparently he didn't like his hands being restrained or injured. And though his small retreat made my pointed teeth show in a self-satisfied smile, it wasn't near enough as the rest of my blows were still met by nothing but empty space as he danced out of reach each time.
My anger flared again, my Red Shift with it, and whether it was my injured pride at not being able to touch him or curiosity of what I could do in my second Shift when I controlled it, I pulled it over me. I wanted to be better matched to Malachi, wanted to be able to hit him, to make him afraid of me for once.
My second Shift washed my vision in red and made a new power surge through me, one that needed blood to sate it. And then I wasn't the one throwing missed punches and being blocked, I was landing them, and able to avoid most of his, or mitigate them.
My dance with Malachi was deadly, and my red vision made the violence even more beautiful. The renovations and their obstacles were to my advantage, as I knew every brick, chain, and board like we were in my own room. Malachi noticed and gave me more space, keeping our dance looser, further apart, so I couldn't use the tools around me as easily. He was a smart fighter, observant, and adapted quickly, I'd give him that.
The red in my vision begged for its match, and the blood on Malachi's face from my initial hit made me slip further and further under, more and more control being given to the dance, the trance. Soon, I couldn't have stopped even if I wanted to, but I didn't want to, not ever.
I felt a chorus of ribs crack under a kick Malachi couldn't dodge and he jumped back with an angry noise, his face surprised. Before I could advance, fire sprang up in front of me. I quickly extinguished it, pulling the air away and starving the hungry flames, but then another sprang up, and another. I rolled back from the balls of my feet to my heels and glared at Malachi, the coward, as I felt my whole body tense with the need to continue, to dig into him and crack more than just ribs.
"What changed? How are you doing that?" He asked from the safety of the opposite side of his fire moat. "How did you make that hit? I should have been fast enough." He continued with his head cocked in the way I hated, the way that belonged to my Pair.
James.
I remembered he was still there, somewhere, and my mind clearing slightly from the haze of red. I turned to find him against the wall, leaning casually but clearly interested, his eyes on me, that cursed collar just visible from underneath his shirt. I felt my second Shift shudder at the sight of it, but I pushed it down until my world was black and white again and my breath came easier, my mind clearing along with my vision. Something about the Red Shift scared me, called to me and seduced me before overwhelming me and holding me under, until it drowned me. It was so much deeper than my normal one, fueled by something else, emotion or hunger, bloodlust or need. I realized the silence still hung in the air, Malachi's questions unanswered.
"What do you mean?" I asked innocently, trying to make my voice sound genuinely confused.
Malachi rolled his head like I was being intentionally dense, which to his credit, I was, and turned to James.
"You saw it, the change in her. Pathetic little swipes at me and then something happened, and she was faster, stronger, more vicious. She shouldn't have been able to land this." He motioned to his side, which already looked distended, swollen from the broken bones hiding under his long shirt.
James was watching me, his presence a slight current against my skin. I tentatively opened my Gift, carefully, just for him.
He's right. What happened?
I felt his mind flood mine as he answered Malachi out loud.
"I didn't see anything. You must be getting sloppy. Or maybe she's simply a better fighter than you. Less indulgent."
Malachi looked like he might try to take a bite out of James for the mere suggestion as he bared his teeth and growled. Then he huffed and raised his chin higher, indignant.
"You're fucking lying. She's doing something, using something, and hiding it."
James and I had never talked about my Red Shift. I had never mentioned it to anyone. It was just one of the many things that had gotten lost in the shuffle of my new life, this new world. I just assumed everyone's nature had two layers, but maybe they didn't, maybe only I did, or only Halflings. But then Malachi should have it too. Maybe that's what he always used, how he was so good, so much more brutal. Maybe he had just mastered it, or let it drown him.
Do you have a second Shift? A red one?
I finally replied to James' question, studying his face.
Yes. Once I became an adult I found it. After I left my father's house.
Does Malachi? Does everyone? Or every Half?
I don't know.
I let out a noisy breath at his lacking answer, still mad at him from earlier as well. But of course, he didn't know. Just like me, he had probably never brought it up to anyone. At least not our Clan, as they weren't Halfs and he hadn't wanted to let them know he had some elusive second Shift if they didn't.
I stuffed down my Shift and watched the room's colors return. Before leveling my eyes on Malachi again. To my surprise, bright yellow-gold met me, his Shift buried as well. I took a chance, assuming it was a Half trait, and answered him.
"My second Shift. That's what I was using."
Malachi cocked his head again, his eyes searching the rafters above me as he pondered my answer. He swayed back and forth slightly like there was some melody playing in his head.
"Can you do that too, Gabriel? Access a second layer to your Shift?"
Malachi ignored my answer and spoke to James, though his eyes were still roving the ceiling, his body still smoothly shifting from one foot to the other.
"Yes, but I can't control it well or call on it like my normal Shift. And it's red, not blacks and grays. I'm assuming you have it too, then. So, what do you know about it? How did my father train it in you once you matured?"
Malachi grinned, running his tongue across his teeth, sliding the small metal ball along their edge, before leveling his eyes on James and me, his attention flicking between us. His smirk made me feel dirty and I found my breath held as I waited to hear what he knew. I somehow doubted it would be in our favor.
"I can say in complete and total honesty, cross my little blackened and shriveled up heart and hope to die...that I know nothing of this 'second Shift'. I have never heard of a red one or what powers it may give you. And no, I don't have one, no one does as far as I know. But, it does make me wonder..."
He winked at me and I wanted to hit him again.
"Makes you wonder what?" I barked, hating how he was baiting us, getting us to keep asking questions instead of just spilling whatever he knew or meant. He was so theatrical. He loved attention too much for his own good.
"Well, what you are, of course. After all, I'm a Half just like you both, yet II don't have any special shot of hell-drenaline I can take to go from mediocre skills to locked in. So, reason would say that you aren't like me, that you're something different. Any guesses?"
His amused grin was so wide now I felt like I was staring down the jaws of a shark - and I wanted to make him swallow every damn tooth he was showing. His jab at my skills had most certainly not gone unnoticed.
"Maybe it's a True Pair thing," James said with his own arrogant smirk, though he hid his teeth, as always. He watched Malachi closely, waiting for his reaction to see how much he already knew.
Malachi's eyebrows shot up and he looked genuinely pleased at James' words, interested like this was a twist he hadn't seen coming, something shiny and new in his life to toy with.
"True Pairs? Halfling True Pairs? Well, that makes everything much more interesting. If I hurt her, do you feel it, brother? Ooh. What if I don't hurt her, what if I do something she very much likes? Do you feel that?"
Malachi raised a hand with a flourish to pause James' reply, though it wasn't necessary as my Pair momentarily looked both uncomfortable and unsure of how to answer. Malachi took the opportunity to continue his dramatic antics, closing his eyes and lifting his face as a serene smile touched the corners of his lips. When he opened his eyes, he let out an overtly sexual sigh and looked at me through his lashes with bedroom eyes as he pulled his bottom lip through his teeth deliberately and slow.
"Wow, look at that - apparently the collar doesn't stop me from picturing that kind of fantasy. Don't worry, dear Jordan, I'm being very gentle with you in my head. Apparently, as long as I don't plan to hurt you, Abby's collar lets my mind run free. Lucky you."
I wanted to choke the lusty look from Malachi's face, but my Pair clearly had enough as well and beat me to the punch quite literally. Malachi was on his back with James on top of him faster than my un-Shifted eyes could track. James' arm cocked back for another blow just as Malachi rolled him, ending on top even as James tried to continue the momentum.
And then I lost it, finding and surpassing my breaking point for their moronic antics and influence on each other. I exploded and screamed at them both.
"Stop it, both of you! You are acting like pre-teen boys, little high school shits and I'm sick of it! Sick of both of you! Act like adults for one minute or I swear I will go tell Abby I agree with the collars and make him add a goddamned timeout rule!"
I hadn't yelled like that, truly yelled, for years, maybe decades. My life before the Clan hadn't included anyone I cared about or anything I felt deeply enough about to yell at. But letting it out, not with my fists or Sign or Shift, but with my voice, letting them know how foolish they were acting, felt truly heavenly. More cathartic than training or sparring by a mile.
The boys both froze mid-tussle, looking surprised and mildly chastised, before untangling themselves from each other and standing.
"Yes, we are True Pairs. Yes, the Collector knows, but apparently didn't tell you that either. And yes, maybe that's where this Red Shift comes from, but now that we all know it exists, let's try to learn more about it. I'm sure there is research or lore on other True Pairs somewhere in the Vault's libraries. And you can have whatever little fantasies you want in your twisted head about me or anyone else, I really don't care, because I don't care about you. And you -" I rounded on James, "-you're the one who told me to not let him get under my skin, but everything you do is because of him, or a reaction to him. Get a grip. Either stay away from each other or calm the fuck down, because we are all stuck together, and you two are stupid together. And what you did to Grayson was stupid. And you should have told me."
I ended my rant with the root of my anger, still annoyed I had been left out, though I knew it was only so I wouldn't be collared too. Malachi was grinning again, tapping his collar to some private beat in his head by the time I finished. He answered in a mocking tone.
"Though I greatly appreciate the solidarity, which I'm sure is part of the reason you let Abby collar you in the first place, some grand plan to make me feel closer, more similar to you, it won't work. Because we aren't in this together. Don't confuse me being unable to kill you right now with me not wanting to kill you right now. It doesn't mean we are some type of friends. Our field trip today doesn't change that. Grayson doesn't change that. That collar doesn't change that - nothing does. I'm a prisoner and you are my captors, my enemies. So, do whatever research you want on your second or third or fourth Shifts, I don't give a flying fuck, but do it alone. I couldn't care less about any of this or any of you."
Malachi's low voice was taunting, but that didn't surprise me. James' reply did. I could hear the triumph in it even as my Pair turned to leave.
"I always could tell when you were lying, Malac."