Chapter Eighty Seven
“See? Was that so bad?” Maria asked with an arched eyebrow. They were finally almost finished with the major part of the project. She could clean up the rest of the details by herself if she had to. “Being a productive member of human society, I swear Michael! You just have to be difficult.”
“I just don’t see the point,” Michael said, watching Maria flop back against the cushions of the couch.
“You don’t see the point,” Maria echoed with the beginnings of an edge to her voice. Her eyes narrowed as she started gearing up for another round with Michael. Her mother had slipped out for women’s literature thing so she wasn’t afraid of being interrupted or overheard.
“Right,” Michael agreed. “This whole project is just a sex lecture. They assume the masses have the thought process to connect this project with their current actions and make an informed decision. It’s a faulty assumption. Add to that the fact that it doesn’t even begin to address what my actual worries would be and it’s a total waste.”
Maria just stared at him. Too surprised to say anything at all.
“This isn’t even what our baby would look like,” Michael scoffed. “Look at it. How am I supposed to take that seriously?”
Maria looked from Michael to the blanket wrapped “infant”. “What’s wrong with it?” Maria asked in confusion. It looked like a baby to her. Sort of.
“Our kid wouldn’t look like that,” Michael stated again leaning forward. He extended his hand, brow wrinkling as he reformed their mechanical baby. “There.”
Her eyes drifted over the soft baby’s Mohawk formed by the flyaway strands of hair, to the eyes that were the same shade as Michael’s, down to the pursed lips that were a miniature of her own. Her heart melted and tears shimmered in her eyes as she looked from their baby over to Michael.
Michael tensed seeing her tears. Ah shit. Feeling defensive he shifted in his seat waiting for Maria to blow up. “What? I didn’t fuck it up. It still works I just reshaped it a little.”
“Shut up, Michael,” Maria whispered as she leaned over and pressed her lips to his.
Stunned he just sat there as her fingers tangled in his hair. He was afraid to move even though he was reasonably sure she had no weapons handy. You could never be too careful, experience had taught him that. So when she pulled back he still didn’t react.
“Why did you do that Michael?” Maria asked searching his face for an answer. She’d always thought that he never gave her any thought at all. Until this.
“I don’t know,” Michael shrugged scratching at his eyebrow and wondering what the hell he’d done wrong this time. “Why not? I just….Do I have to have a reason?”
Maria bit her lip wondering if she wasn’t about to make another huge mistake. Michael was difficult, obstinate, stubborn, ornery, and an infuriating example of a male but it didn’t seem to stop how she felt. She’d tried but stupid or not she loved him.
“What?” Michael demanded gruffly.
“Did I say speak?” Maria asked her eyes narrowing. “I don’t think so. I’m thinking here.”
“I’m done with this talking thing,” Michael said making an abrupt decision. He wasn’t good at it any way. He couldn’t hope to talk her around so he’d have to do this his way. The baby thing was a bust so he’d have to fall back on the only thing that had ever worked for him. “It’s a bad idea for you to be thinking. It usually ends with me in physical pain. So let’s do this a different way.”
“Wouldn’t that be convenient for you?” Maria snapped glaring at him. How had she for even one instant considered him sweet?
Without another word he slipped his hand behind her neck and drew her mouth back to his. Catching the rest of her words with his mouth and making a harsh sound in his throat at the fire of the ensuing kiss.
“Hold up,” Zan said pushing away from the wall and striding toward the kissing couple. “Not a good idea.”
Max pinned him with a hostile glare over Liz’s shoulder as she turned her face into his neck. “What’s not?”
“Being out here in the open,” Zan answered studying them both. “You ain’t exactly paying attention ta you’s surroundings got me?”
“And you were?” Max demanded. “Just what did you think you were doing? I told you to stay away from her.”
“Max,” Liz whispered trying to draw his attention away from Zan. She could feel his muscles tensing and had no desire for a repeat of this morning’s fight.
“You need ta talk to you’s girl,” Zan said giving a cocky shrug. “She’s a feisty little thing. I was jus defending myself's all. Keepin’ her outta trouble.”
“I’ll keep her safe,” Max countered pulling her even closer while glaring at Zan.
Liz slipped her hand under Max’s shirt, touching the bare skin of his abdomen before moving around him dragging her hand over his skin. It was both better and worse having him close.
Zan’s eyes followed her movement before lifting slowly to meet her dark eyes. He sucked in a quick breath as his pupils dilated in reaction to the feral light in hers.
“Let’s just go,” Liz whispered to Max, eyes locked with Zan’s. She had no patience for this game. Trying to worm answers out of Zan was a bigger job then she was up for right now. All she could think about was Max. Touching him, being alone with him.
“Hold up. What’s the deal wit da Feds?” Zan asked feeling a little testy.
“They’re very interested in you,” Max supplied almost absently as Liz’s fingers drifted back and forth. “They’d like to talk to you. So would my parents.”
Zan stiffened, his posture turning subtly more aggressive. “The folks is your problem.”
“Oh no,” Max shook his head. “You made it both of our problem when you wouldn’t listen.”
“So you’s wanting me ta walk up ta you’s door and knock after all huh?” Zan asked his mouth twisting into some semblance of a smile.
“This isn’t what I wanted,” Max denied ignoring Zan’s attitude. He didn’t give a shit about Zan’s problems. He had plenty of his own to worry about. “This day isn’t what I had in mind but that’s beside the point now. We’ll have to deal with it.”
Zan clenched his fists as he watched Liz draw Max’s attention and saw Max’s fingers tenderly stroke her wrist where it disappeared under his shirt.
“Let’s go. You’re not even wearing a coat,” Max said frowning as he tucked her under his shoulder guiding her toward home.
Zan rolled his eyes as Liz smiled. God Max was pathetic. Lovesick didn’t even cover it.
Looking back over his shoulder Max called back to Zan. “Welcome to the fold. See ya at dinner Friday.”
Zan watched them walk away. Damn Liz had a gorgeous ass. “Fuckin A,” He cursed feeling suddenly trapped.
“What’s your problem?” Ava asked walking up behind him.
Zan’s brows snapped together as he whirled to face her. “Where you been?” He demanded looking her over. The pinched look around her eyes spoke of another headache. “Goddamn it. You been over doing it again. Shit Ava how many times I gotta tell you…”
Ava sighed as Zan drew her into his chest, fingers slipping into the hair by her temples sending out a soothing stream of warmth, taking away the pain.
“What are you’s wandering the streets now?” Zan demanded gruffly worried that she wasn’t saying anything. “What are you thinking? It’s not safe.”
“Zan..” Ava started only to be cut off by his continued griping.
“You shouldn’t be out. What’d you do ta your self?” Zan asked suddenly acutely aware of how cold it actually was outside.
Ava sighed again as Zan’s hands rubbed up and down her arms, trying to keep her warm. “Let’s just walk okay?”
His scowl deepened at her subdued tone and he didn’t fail to notice that she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Studying her closer his scowl deepened at her docile body language. She was huddled in that sorry excuse for a coat like she expected Rath to spring out and beat her ass any second. He didn’t like it. “S’okay. Let’s bounce.”
Ava nibbled at her lip, letting Zan lead her. She felt adrift, afraid, suddenly lost in a hostile world. Before she had always looked to Zan to keep her safe. He always seemed to know what to do, where to go. What she had learned had made her realize just how much danger they were in.
Guiding her down the street he felt her tremble, just a fine quiver almost unfelt but he knew.
Seeing that they were drawing close to the CrashDown he stopped, positioning himself between Ava and the street he urged her back into a sheltered doorway. “Baby Girl, look at me,” Zan urged softly.
“What?” Ava asked glancing up at him then away.
“Ya gotta tell me what’s goin’ on,” Zan said his voice surprisingly gentle considering the internal alarms going off warning him of danger.
“I went to see what was going on with the FBI and….” Ava paused, looking up into Zan’s intent eyes. “Maybe you should go. Just bail now, before they come looking for you.”
Zan tensed, his shoulders going rigid as he searched her eyes.
“You don’t gotta stay here,” Ava said despite the ingrained urge to look to him for protection. “They ain’t looking at me, at Tess, so..”
“Hold up,” Zan said crowding closer to her as if danger were breathing down his neck. “What’s got you so uptight? What happened?”
“I hacked some files and….” Ava stopped and took a deep breath, her frightened eyes darting over his shoulder before coming back to meet his eyes. “I saw some stuff. The Sheriff got me into the station and showed me the room they was using. They were recording the questioning, audio and video, there were files on the murders they’re investigating, but they also left their laptops out.”
“You took a peek?” Zan stated more then asked, feeling a stirring of pride. He knew she’d have been afraid to linger but she obviously conquered that fear to make use of the opportunity. She wasn’t the timid mouse that Lonnie used to accuse her of being.
Ava nodded briefly interlacing her fingers to stop from fidgeting. “Some of the symbols on the bodies, Zan, they look like ones I remember. One of the agents made a connection back to the Special Unit. Apparently, the files were incomplete but they know what our language looks like, at least some of the symbols and the one agent thinks that maybe there’s a connection between those symbols and these murders. Now you show up…..and add to the questions they already had about Max…”
“Fuck,” Zan cursed his lips tightening. What the fuck had he been thinking? Staying here in the open. Stupid. He knew better then to think he could ever leave the sewer behind and live out in the open. “Come on. You’s freezen out here an we got things ta talk bout.”
“No,” Michael said grabbing Maria’s wrist to keep her hand from slipping into his pants. This time was going to be different.
“No?” Maria asked in surprise.
“Not this time,” Michael said and bent his head to suckle her breast softly feeling her breath hitch in her chest at just the softest brush of his tongue.
“Oh God! Michael! What are you doing?” Maria cried even as her fingers threaded through his hair. The pull of his mouth distracted from the light brush of his fingers just above the top of her panties.
Feeling her shifting restlessly on the mattress he slipped one of his legs between hers to hold her in place as he slipped his hand between her legs, almost as if he was afraid she would try to slip away from him.
“Ohh Michael!” Maria moaned, getting away the last thing on her mind. The way his mouth was moving had her brain cells melting into useless mush. When he pulled away she moaned in protest her fingers tightening in his hair.
“Maria, maybe we should stop,” Michael ground out, taking this moment before things got totally out of hand.
Feeling his fingers twitch in the soft moist folds between her thighs her eyes closed before trying to focus. “What?”
“Your mom,” Michael reminded her.
“Is out,” Maria tagged on.
“Yeah, but…” Michael said then stopped, taking a deep breath, nostrils flaring. “Fuck. Just kiss me.”
Maria’s eyes flashed defiance but her mouth raised up to his in heated mating of mouths as her hand unbuttoned his pants. “What?” Maria asked when his hand manacled her wrist again.
“Just lie there,” Michael said gruffly. “Don’t move.”
He watched her eyes snap and smirked as he scooted down the bed.
This time he was going to make sure that she had nothing to complain about. He was going to be gentle and take care of her if it killed him. The way his cock was throbbing it just might.
Maria watched him as he ran his lightly callused hand over her chest softly stroking her. When he moved half over her and applied his mouth to her throat heat flooded her and her newfound caution receded faster then it ever had before. His lips were hot and very skilled, her eyes closed as she sank into the world he was creating. A moment later his cheek was rubbing back and forth over belly, his barely there stubble creating a friction that had her arching up into his touch.
“Michael!” Maria cried her nails sinking into his shoulders.
“What?” Michael asked distracted. Letting his teeth scrape over her skin lightly before moving up to take a gentle bite out of the swell of her breast encouraged by her moans. “You like this?” He asked moving over an inch to open his mouth over fresh territory, his territory. He was claiming this place as his, marking it lightly.
“Please Michael!” Maria begged tipping her pelvis up in an attempt to relieve the burning throbbing ache.
“Tell me,” Michael urged. “You like this?”
“Yes!” Maria cried sharply.
Groaning in painful arousal he released her moving back down to the shadowed indentation of her navel, his panting breaths rousing goose bumps as he worked off her panties tossing them aside. Clinging to his goal he made a place for himself. He had to show her, win her back by showing her it wasn’t all about him.
Maria gasp as he folded her legs up, rubbing his cheek against the inside of her thigh before nipping lightly at her skin.
“God Maria,” Michael groaned nearly overwhelmed the scent and feel of her, the mere sight of her downy glistening curls about destroyed him. He paused to shake his head hoping to clear it before bending his head and sucking her tender flesh into his mouth enjoying her shocked cry of pleasure.
His hands moved to her hips, holding her still for the sweep of his tongue, still feeling them trying to buck under his hands with every lash of his tongue over the silken perfection of her sex. He moved forward with this like he did everything else, with decisive ruthless drive and sheer force of will, carrying her forward right along with him.
A mewling sound emerged from her throat as Michael ignored her pleas and tightened his hold on her, continuing to lick at her, alternately pushing and coaxing her with a patience she didn’t appreciate. Twisting her fingers in his hair hard enough to make him grunt she whispered threats interlaced with more pleas.
Going for it, he drew the swollen bud of her clit into his mouth and sucked while lapping at it with his tongue just like he’d read about, soaking in her wailing cry and the convulsions that pulsed, hot and wet through her straining body.
When she was able to move enough to open her eyes she found Michael watching her with glowing eyes and soft, not quite smirk on his face as he stroked her dewy skin. “That was….Shit Michael. Can I touch you now?”
Michael grinned and kissed the tip of her nose, more then satisfied with her stumbling response.
Leftovers (CC, ML / Adult) (Complete)
Moderators: Itzstacie, Forum Moderators
In TWO posts due to length.
Chapter Eighty Eight
As soon as they reached the fire escape Liz stopped moving. Turning to face him she slowly rested her back against the bricks, her fingers finding their rough texture a poor substitute for his skin.
One small part of her knew this was crazy, it wasn’t normal. Another part of her, the part that had always just accepted what seemed impossible, didn’t care.
Max studied her bent head easing closer, unable to leave the space between them. When she looked up he stilled, caught by the turbulent mixture of heat and need flashing through her eyes.
He felt the immediate impact on his own senses, a jump in the already fevered need to touch her. Instead of following the demands of his body he held still, tensing to keep from carrying through on those desires.
Liz reached out and curled her fingers into the bottom of his shirt, bunching it up in her grip, almost sighing when her knuckles brushed against his fever hot skin. “So…..Thanks for…walking me home,” Liz said softly, her lashes fanning out over her cheeks briefly before she looked back up at him.
“Right,” Max said acutely aware of every brush of her knuckles over his abdomen. “Yeah, ummm you should go in,” Max said then paused to breathe and remember why she should go inside. “It’s cold and..”
“You don’t have a coat either,” Liz pointed out when Max trailed off.
“I’m not…I don’t get cold…..very often,” Max stumbled, more focused on her fingers then on what he was saying.
Liz hummed in agreement. He didn’t feel cold, that’s for sure. She sighed when he moved closer, his heat enveloping her, combining with her own. “Max?”
“Yeah?” Max responded looking up from her hands to meet her eyes.
“I’d really like to talk and ask what happened with your father but,” Liz paused fidgeting slightly, licking at her suddenly dry lips. “I really can’t listen right now.”
“Thank God,” Max breathed. Heedless of where they were he moved even closer, pressing her back into the wall as she lifted up onto her toes to meet the descent of his mouth.
~~~~~
The man watched with increasing anger, his breathing fast and choppy, as the small blonde leaned against her companions arm, whispering into his ear.
How dare she blaspheme like this? Right out in the open! Cavorting and flirting like the worst kind of whore that he’d ever seen.
The Goddess would be most displeased. As her servant it was his duty to punish the transgressors, to right this most grievous affront to Her.
Trailing the two from almost a block away his righteous rage kept him warm.
~~~~~
“You gotta be kidding me,” Michael said looking down at the wrapper of the condom Maria had handed him.
“Hey!” Maria said pelting him with another one. “They’re one of my mom’s best sellers.”
“Yeah but…’Objects are smaller then they appear’? That isn’t exactly an ego booster, Maria,” Michael griped in a surly tone. He would die before he’d admit how nervous he was about this.
“Oh. Well. I don’t think your….ego needs a boost,” Maria stated with arched brow as her stomach fluttered with nerves. “Look, I’m not going one step further until you’re dressed for the occasion, Michael, so forget it.”
“I got it,” Michael grumbled using his teeth to tear open the condom. As he rolled the condom on he looked over at her. “You sure? We can always just…”
“I never said I was sure. I just said that if we were going to…..go any further that you should….just in case…you know?” Maria said at light speed with the last of her air.
“Just in case,” Michael agreed, then suddenly smiled. “That works, no pressure right?”
“Right,” Maria agreed suddenly not nervous any more. Getting up on her knees she walked on them, over her bed, until she reached Michael’s side. Smiling she leaned over and kissed his bare shoulder. “So I’m not very good at the ego stroking thing but I do have some experience at stroking other things.”
“Yeah?” Michael asked, his eyes glinting with interest. His smile was genuine as he went along with her teasing tone. “I might remember something about that. So you think you can handle objects that are smaller then they appear?”
Maria started giggling, falling against him as Michael played with her fingers. “You willing to risk it?” Maria asked her voice saucy as she teased him.
Michael studied her face, shining in this moment with happiness, and slowly nodded. “I think I am, yeah.”
As soon as they reached the fire escape Liz stopped moving. Turning to face him she slowly rested her back against the bricks, her fingers finding their rough texture a poor substitute for his skin.
One small part of her knew this was crazy, it wasn’t normal. Another part of her, the part that had always just accepted what seemed impossible, didn’t care.
Max studied her bent head easing closer, unable to leave the space between them. When she looked up he stilled, caught by the turbulent mixture of heat and need flashing through her eyes.
He felt the immediate impact on his own senses, a jump in the already fevered need to touch her. Instead of following the demands of his body he held still, tensing to keep from carrying through on those desires.
Liz reached out and curled her fingers into the bottom of his shirt, bunching it up in her grip, almost sighing when her knuckles brushed against his fever hot skin. “So…..Thanks for…walking me home,” Liz said softly, her lashes fanning out over her cheeks briefly before she looked back up at him.
“Right,” Max said acutely aware of every brush of her knuckles over his abdomen. “Yeah, ummm you should go in,” Max said then paused to breathe and remember why she should go inside. “It’s cold and..”
“You don’t have a coat either,” Liz pointed out when Max trailed off.
“I’m not…I don’t get cold…..very often,” Max stumbled, more focused on her fingers then on what he was saying.
Liz hummed in agreement. He didn’t feel cold, that’s for sure. She sighed when he moved closer, his heat enveloping her, combining with her own. “Max?”
“Yeah?” Max responded looking up from her hands to meet her eyes.
“I’d really like to talk and ask what happened with your father but,” Liz paused fidgeting slightly, licking at her suddenly dry lips. “I really can’t listen right now.”
“Thank God,” Max breathed. Heedless of where they were he moved even closer, pressing her back into the wall as she lifted up onto her toes to meet the descent of his mouth.
~~~~~
The man watched with increasing anger, his breathing fast and choppy, as the small blonde leaned against her companions arm, whispering into his ear.
How dare she blaspheme like this? Right out in the open! Cavorting and flirting like the worst kind of whore that he’d ever seen.
The Goddess would be most displeased. As her servant it was his duty to punish the transgressors, to right this most grievous affront to Her.
Trailing the two from almost a block away his righteous rage kept him warm.
~~~~~
“You gotta be kidding me,” Michael said looking down at the wrapper of the condom Maria had handed him.
“Hey!” Maria said pelting him with another one. “They’re one of my mom’s best sellers.”
“Yeah but…’Objects are smaller then they appear’? That isn’t exactly an ego booster, Maria,” Michael griped in a surly tone. He would die before he’d admit how nervous he was about this.
“Oh. Well. I don’t think your….ego needs a boost,” Maria stated with arched brow as her stomach fluttered with nerves. “Look, I’m not going one step further until you’re dressed for the occasion, Michael, so forget it.”
“I got it,” Michael grumbled using his teeth to tear open the condom. As he rolled the condom on he looked over at her. “You sure? We can always just…”
“I never said I was sure. I just said that if we were going to…..go any further that you should….just in case…you know?” Maria said at light speed with the last of her air.
“Just in case,” Michael agreed, then suddenly smiled. “That works, no pressure right?”
“Right,” Maria agreed suddenly not nervous any more. Getting up on her knees she walked on them, over her bed, until she reached Michael’s side. Smiling she leaned over and kissed his bare shoulder. “So I’m not very good at the ego stroking thing but I do have some experience at stroking other things.”
“Yeah?” Michael asked, his eyes glinting with interest. His smile was genuine as he went along with her teasing tone. “I might remember something about that. So you think you can handle objects that are smaller then they appear?”
Maria started giggling, falling against him as Michael played with her fingers. “You willing to risk it?” Maria asked her voice saucy as she teased him.
Michael studied her face, shining in this moment with happiness, and slowly nodded. “I think I am, yeah.”
~~~~~
“So this it huh?” Ava asked looking around the dingy one room apartment.
“Yep,” Zan said slamming the door. “Not ‘xactly Kyle’s room is it?”
“Stop it,” Ava snapped then turned away from him. After a deep breath she spoke again. “It’s nice.”
“Riight,” Zan drawled skeptical.
“It is,” Ava said turning back around. “It’s all yours.” She knew Zan had always wanted his own space, his own things, separate from his forced “family”. Now he had it.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” Zan agreed softly, shifting his booted feet, suddenly uncertain. “Let me jus….turn up the heat so’s you’ll warm up.”
“Kay,” Ava agreed moving to perch on the one chair, pulling her coat tighter around her.
After turning up the heat Zan moved to the fridge, pouring her some of her tea with just the right amount of milk. Just like he knew she liked it. Boots clumping against the floor he brought it to her, waving his hand to heat it so she didn’t have to. “So what’s the deal? They gunning for me now?”
Ava stared at her mug for a long moment before taking a sip, glancing up at him in surprise. “It’s Chia.”
“Course,” Zan said affronted at her insinuation that he didn’t know what she drank.
“But you don’t like Chia tea,” Ava said inanely.
“You do though,” Zan shrugged. “I got used to it.”
She watched him sink to the floor at her feet with his usual fluid grace and felt…safe. Cared for, like she used to before everything changed.
“So? What’d you find out?” Zan asked playing with the laces on her shoes, while warming the materials surrounding her feet just a little bit.
“Umm it’s a lot of bits and pieces,” Ava said trying to put it all together in her head in a way that made sense. The trouble was, all the pieces were still floating around all jumbled, in no particular order. “They ain’t thinking bout aliens being real. Neither of them are really, although the older one…Lewis is closer to that idea then his partner. He got the leftover bits of information from the Special Unit but can’t make it fit in with what he thinks is happening with the case. That’s what keeps him poking around. The idea that a supposedly elite unit of the FBI was focused on some kids…..that bothers him. That these same kids are involved in his case, well that REALLY bothers him.”
Zan nodded to show he was listening, while unconsciously his fingers moved up into the cuff of her pants.
“The trouble is that somehow Liz is the issue,” Ava said frowning. “I don’t understand how that is really. There were some digital photos that weren’t erased and several of them were of her but I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s the Native American angle that’s tripping her up. That and the fact that she DOES fit the killers profile.”
“What you’s talkin’ bout? The Native American angle? What angle?” Zan asked massaging her calf muscles. Finding the comfort of touching her to be soothing, remembered.
“Her Gram’s wrote some book about them, one of the photos was of her at the reservation, and the killer is using symbols that appear to be, to the Agents anyway, Native American,” Ava answered.
“They don’t have much on Max. The files containing the results of the testing the Unit did on him didn’t escape deletion apparently. So they’ve got his name, a couple of pictures, part of a file proving the Unit followed him, and some questions. He doesn’t fit. That’s the problem. You don’t fit, plus you bring up even more questions,” Ava ended on a sigh. Looking down at him she almost smiled. “You always seem to bring up more questions.”
“It’s a gift,” Zan shrugged, sending her a cocky smile.
Ava rolled her eyes but her almost-smile deepened turning into a real smile. “Got that alright,” Ava agreed.
“So, why they thinkin’ that the symbols are Native American?” Zan asked steering things back on track.
“Cause they’ve appeared places over hundreds of years that’s why. Caves, pots, some jewelry that kind of thing but all over the world not just here. Liz’s Gram’s wrote about it. I looked at some of the information the other one, Davis, gathered and I see why they think that. Why would they reach to something that they think is impossible when something they know fits? The symbols ARE similar. Very similar actually, I’d have to side by side compare them to say just how similar.”
Seeing the look on Zan’s face she nodded. “Creepy huh?”
“Yeah, makes me wonder,” Zan said slowly. Maybe he didn’t know as much as he thought he did. Shit, did it even matter anymore? The longer he stayed here the less clear things became.
“So what was the deal with you earlier?” Ava asked and when Zan looked up at her with a blank expression she prompted him. “When I found you standing in the middle of the sidewalk? Cussing?”
“Max jus left wit Liz,” Zan mumbled, distracted. “We had a thing.”
“A thing?” Ava asked her tone changing. “What kind of thing? The kind of thing where you’re harassing Liz? That kind of thing?”
“Naw,” Zan denied pushing up off the floor. “Baby Girl, you’s got nothin’ ta get pissed bout. I tol’ya I ain’t making a play for her.”
“Save it,” Ava said putting up her hand in front of Zan’s face. “I’m not blind or, contrary to the hair color, stupid. You’re playin’ all right. You’s breathin’ ain’t you?”
Zan smiled, plastering his most innocent expression over his face, coaxing her to believe him. “It ain’t like dat. I poke at her but it ain’t serious. Maxie needs sum’in ta get worked up bout. ‘Sides she’s…..different. Not in the I wanna open up my guts and spill it ta her, ya know? I’s jus playin’. I ain’t kickin’ it ta her, she don’t play that shit anyhow.”
“I know that,” Ava said, flicking him between the eyes. “Duh.”
“Don’t start beatin’ on me,” Zan protested grabbing her hand. “I’ve had ‘nough.”
“Then stop lying,” Ava returned. “It’s more then you playing around. It’s more then some twisted urge to piss Max off. I know you. It’s more then those things.”
“I jus do it,” Zan said uncomfortable with examining the why. “I jus find myself doing it. Walking by her place, checking on her. I don’t know why. She jus…she’s different. I can’t figure it out.”
Ava studied him for a long moment, seeing the uncomfortable way his eyes shifted away then back to hers, feeling the tension in him. He looked totally vulnerable in a way that was so rare for him, apprehension filled his eyes as he waited for her reaction. “You can feel her can’t you? Like before? Did it ever go away?”
“Yeah, but it ain’t like before ‘xactly,” Zan answered, struggling to explain. He wanted Ava to understand, it wasn’t that he wanted Liz in the same way he wanted her. It was just…..different. “I ain’t sure it’s really Liz.”
“What do you mean?” Ava asked confused.
“I didn’t get nothing ‘fore taking that bracelet,” Zan answered. “Then it felt different. It wasn’t just when she was wit Max, ya know? I can find her. If I focus I can find her, like…she’s part of…something that I should recognize or, fuck it, I don’t know. Then I started getting all these pictures in my head, flashes that aren’t mine. I think they’s Max’s. I know they ain’t mine cause I’ve never felt those things. I’ve never seen her like that, in those places or looked at her that way.”
“Like Max does?” Ava asked softly, tilting his face up with her fingers.
“Yeah,” Zan nodded. “I ain’t like dat. That ain’t me.”
“I know,” Ava agreed softly. She’d never mixed them up for a second. Not even when Zan was trying to look exactly like Max.
His relief was a palatable thing between them. She wasn’t pissed, he could see it in her eyes. She just got him. She understood what he couldn’t explain and wasn’t pissed off at him anymore.
When he cupped his hand behind her neck and drew her to him she didn’t pull away, allowing his mouth to brush over hers in a petal soft kiss of thanks.
He felt the familiar stirring of his body at her closeness and deepened the kiss slightly, drawing her closer, working at her coat, waiting for her to stop him.
~~~~~
Max groaned at the light scrape of her nails up his sides under his shirt, the only thing holding him in check was his desire to prevent a repeat of the guy’s bathroom incident. The way it’d made her feel after wasn’t something he wanted again.
Digging his fingers into the unforgiving bricks he struggled to get the breath to speak as her mouth did amazing things to his ear, his neck, oh God, her teeth.
Nudging his shirt aside with her nose she bit down on the cord of his neck, feeling his jolt of pleasure in the way he crowded her back into the wall behind them. The push of his erection into her stomach quickly followed as she licked lightly at his skin.
She felt out of control. She wanted to lick a path all the way up and down his body. These clothes where a nuisance, in the way and just…awful. Her frustration mounted as she stroked him through the material of his pants. “Off. These, off now,” Liz mumbled against his skin, giving him one last stroke before trying to undo his zipper.
“Whoa!” Max yelped, grabbing her hand and looking around. “This isn’t…Ummm….I’ll go get the Jeep and…”
“No,” Liz interrupted with a shake of her head. Bringing his hand between their bodies she guided it down over her belly, into her pants, until his palm with its throbbing seal was directly over her seal. “Now.”
The sudden wash of molten heat made her as necessary as his next breath, at once there was that curious sensation of the earth shifting under his feet, falling away until there was only Liz.
The change in his eyes had her moving, pushing against his hand, rubbing against him, her eyes drifting closed as his fingers turned, pushing into the damp curls topping her mound. The possessive way he touched her was exactly right.
Her hands drifted up his arms, searching for something solid to hold onto. She was suddenly acutely aware of his strength, something she rarely noticed because it was always tempered by his gentleness. Opening her eyes she noted with satisfaction that he didn’t appear very gentle right now.
“We can’t do this here,” Max reminded her, willing himself to guard her feelings even when she couldn’t. “In the alley. It’s not….we can’t.”
“Look over there. See that door?” Liz said nodding behind him at the building across the alley. “It’s empty remember? It’s been closed for a couple of years and it’s closer then the Jeep.”
She barely got the words out before Max was herding her away from the wall and in that direction rather insistently.
~~~~~
Things were moving too fast. This wasn’t what he’d had in mind when…shit, Michael’s thoughts broke off feeling the tight heat of Maria’s body enclosing him. The faint, barely seen, glow on her chest was dismissed as other more pressing things registered.
“Michael! It hurts!” Maria cried out in pain. Holding perfectly still to keep from shrinking away from him.
“Don’t move, Jesus Maria, don’t move,” Michael gasp struggling to think of what to do now. Hormones and lust had driven reason from their minds, the slap of reality was a rude awakening.
His arms trembled as his muscles struggled to hold the weight of his body, as he forced himself not to move. Not to give in to the urges driving him. He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t want to hurt her.
“Michael! DO something!” Maria cried, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. “Remember me? The body underneath you? The one in enormous pain because the GODDAMN condom wrapper LIED! You aren’t smaller then you appear!”
His eyes fell back onto his mark on her breast. Was it glowing? If it was….Max said that…it wasn’t as bright or defined as the one he’d seen on Liz but… “Okay. You trust me?” Michael asked looking into Maria’s eyes. “I’m gonna try something here. Okay?” There was no time to be afraid of what this would mean later. He could only hope that it would work now.
“Yes, I trust you. Just do it, whatever it is,” Maria agreed in a rush.
Michael bent his head and set his mouth directly on his mark, unable to use his hands he scrambled to focus, pulling his power and trying to focus it on his mouth not on his hands. On his mouth and into the mark on her breast.
The flash of fire that swept through her drowned out the push his body deeper into hers, arching her back sharply off the bed as the exquisite ecstasy of her tight, hot passage clamped down on his invading shaft, gripping then releasing in spasms of pleasure.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he stilled, waiting for her eyes to focus, worried that he’d really fucked up this time. He shuffled his position, trying to cradle her closer without resting his full weight on her, crushing the life out of her. Why wasn’t she talking? She was always talking. She should be yelling at him by now, Michael thought as panic started to eat away at him. “Ria?” Michael wheezed passed a throat threatening to close up tight.
“Okay,” Maria sighed. “It fits. I was worried for a minute there but then….Wow. Liz held out.”
Michael’s forehead dropped to the bed with relief, some of the tension draining out of him as he sagged slightly, more of his weight coming to rest on her. “You scared the shit out of me Ria. Don’t ever do that again.”
“What?” Maria asked in surprise as her fingers stroked down the length of his back.
“Stop talking. I was sure you’d died or something,” Michael’s muffled reply came back to her ears.
“Please,” Maria replied rolling her eyes. “It’ll take more then your appendage to kill me. I’m tougher then that.”
Michael didn’t remind her that she wasn’t singing that tune a couple of minutes ago, instead he was so grateful she was talking he chose to just kiss her instead, an often used plan that had yielded pretty good results most of the time up to now.
Tasting his relief in his kiss she poured herself into her response, wanting to show him she was more then okay.
~~~~~
How she ended up here she’d never be able to explain, Ava thought dazed. This wasn’t supposed to ever happen again, she thought helplessly as Zan’s mouth trailed a fiery path down her chest.
“Zan wait,” Ava gasp feeling his fever hot length pressing into her thigh.
“What’s it, Baby Girl?” Zan asked his arms tightening around her trembling body as he stared up into the vivid blue of her eyes. As fierce and intent as if he could read her every thought.
“This isn’t….I can’t think when you do that,” Ava complained when his fingers slid over her slick folds. She moaned in defeat as his knowing fingers sought out every place that he knew would render her incapable of stringing two words together.
He watched the heat sweep up her chest and face, her heartbeat increasing and her restless movements under him growing more pronounced as his fingers played over her with unerring skill and intimate knowledge. Still he waited, the silence stretching out between them.
She made a single sound, a low moan that ignited the smoldering fire inside him. He nudged her knees farther apart but waited for her cloudy eyes to meet his before moving.
She knew this game. They'd played it so many times the script sprang to her lips before she could decide if she was still willing to be the same submissive player that she'd always been before. “Zan, what do you want? What do you want me to say?”
“Take a wild guess, Baby Girl,” Zan encouraged her. Not taking anything she didn’t give him. Much.
“Do you….want me?” Ava asked in soft wavering whisper. A part of her was still that girl, the one who knew all the words he wanted to hear, the one that wanted him to dominate this game. There was this other part of her, though, that was new, still growing into this new life and was not sure at all that this former game was one she still wanted to play. That was the part that changed the script, that waited to see if Zan could change too.
“Yes, can I have you?” Zan asked breaking with what he usually said because she did. He heard the catch in her voice and responded.
She gave him a short, jerky nod in answer.
There, it was done. Against common sense and all logic she'd caved. Just like she always had. She was both relieved and afraid, as familair as this should be, it wasn't.
The surge of him aggressively pushing into her body wrung a cry from her throat and her legs automatically hooked over his hips, pulling him closer the heat from his body almost scorching her.
Looking down into her glowing cerulean eyes glowing with tremulous hope, her soft white body laid open in surrender beneath him, utterly defenseless, sent a shiver through him. Looking at the expression on her face made him want to cradle her and touch her with tender reverence. Not good.
This wasn’t what he’d expected. It was whacked, it was making his gut twist with something that felt remarkably close to fear.
Pushing that feeling savagely aside, he tried to focus on the lust that had been clawing at him ever since he’d lost her.
Tugging on the hair gripped in her fist she pulled his mouth down to hers, meeting his wild thrusts even as she tangled her tongue with his, the taste of metal paling next to his unique flavor. Sucking at that piercing brought a well-remembered reaction.
Zan gave up trying to control anything as she devastated him by turning her knowledge of him against him. He was lost. The tight slick heat of her hugging his cock washed away the last vestiges of his self-control. He plunged into her faster, her breathless cries driving him on, there was no hope of slowing, no chance of stopping to think. His orgasm bore down on him like a runaway freight train, the explosion wrenching through him with brutal force. The feel of her sheath milking his cock in frantic pleasure drove a groan from his chest even as he shuddered, pulsing one last time into her depths.
He came back to himself, sprawled heavily on top of her, his fingers stroking her shoulder in the softest of caresses. The glow emanating from her skin had him jerking his hand away from her and rolling off her swiftly.
“What is it?” Ava asked in a drowsy voice as she rolled onto her side.
He reached for his pants jerking them on, barely hearing the phone ringing much less her whispered question, his mind a chaotic storm of clashing thoughts.
“Hey, Zan,” A cheerful decidedly feminine voice issued from the answering machine. “I was hoping you could stop by and check out your work again.” The voice lilted in sultry invitation. “The last time was….spectacular. Call me.”
Ava sucked in a swift breath to stave off the pain. She didn’t speak, after all, this was her own fault. She gathered up her scattered clothes, hurriedly dressing as tears ran down her face unchecked and humiliation burned in her chest.
This time the fallout wasn’t limited to her pain. No. This time she’d managed to wreak everything she’d been trying to build this entire time.
A sob broke free as she imagined the look on Alex’s face when he found out what she’d done. Scrubbing at her face she made for the door at a dead run.
She was just trash. She should have stayed in the gutter she’d come from and not dragged the first decent person who’d taken a chance on her down with her.
She failed to notice a lot as she started back to the Valenti’s on foot. The bright V of stars shining down on her was just one of those things.
“So this it huh?” Ava asked looking around the dingy one room apartment.
“Yep,” Zan said slamming the door. “Not ‘xactly Kyle’s room is it?”
“Stop it,” Ava snapped then turned away from him. After a deep breath she spoke again. “It’s nice.”
“Riight,” Zan drawled skeptical.
“It is,” Ava said turning back around. “It’s all yours.” She knew Zan had always wanted his own space, his own things, separate from his forced “family”. Now he had it.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” Zan agreed softly, shifting his booted feet, suddenly uncertain. “Let me jus….turn up the heat so’s you’ll warm up.”
“Kay,” Ava agreed moving to perch on the one chair, pulling her coat tighter around her.
After turning up the heat Zan moved to the fridge, pouring her some of her tea with just the right amount of milk. Just like he knew she liked it. Boots clumping against the floor he brought it to her, waving his hand to heat it so she didn’t have to. “So what’s the deal? They gunning for me now?”
Ava stared at her mug for a long moment before taking a sip, glancing up at him in surprise. “It’s Chia.”
“Course,” Zan said affronted at her insinuation that he didn’t know what she drank.
“But you don’t like Chia tea,” Ava said inanely.
“You do though,” Zan shrugged. “I got used to it.”
She watched him sink to the floor at her feet with his usual fluid grace and felt…safe. Cared for, like she used to before everything changed.
“So? What’d you find out?” Zan asked playing with the laces on her shoes, while warming the materials surrounding her feet just a little bit.
“Umm it’s a lot of bits and pieces,” Ava said trying to put it all together in her head in a way that made sense. The trouble was, all the pieces were still floating around all jumbled, in no particular order. “They ain’t thinking bout aliens being real. Neither of them are really, although the older one…Lewis is closer to that idea then his partner. He got the leftover bits of information from the Special Unit but can’t make it fit in with what he thinks is happening with the case. That’s what keeps him poking around. The idea that a supposedly elite unit of the FBI was focused on some kids…..that bothers him. That these same kids are involved in his case, well that REALLY bothers him.”
Zan nodded to show he was listening, while unconsciously his fingers moved up into the cuff of her pants.
“The trouble is that somehow Liz is the issue,” Ava said frowning. “I don’t understand how that is really. There were some digital photos that weren’t erased and several of them were of her but I don’t think that’s it. I think it’s the Native American angle that’s tripping her up. That and the fact that she DOES fit the killers profile.”
“What you’s talkin’ bout? The Native American angle? What angle?” Zan asked massaging her calf muscles. Finding the comfort of touching her to be soothing, remembered.
“Her Gram’s wrote some book about them, one of the photos was of her at the reservation, and the killer is using symbols that appear to be, to the Agents anyway, Native American,” Ava answered.
“They don’t have much on Max. The files containing the results of the testing the Unit did on him didn’t escape deletion apparently. So they’ve got his name, a couple of pictures, part of a file proving the Unit followed him, and some questions. He doesn’t fit. That’s the problem. You don’t fit, plus you bring up even more questions,” Ava ended on a sigh. Looking down at him she almost smiled. “You always seem to bring up more questions.”
“It’s a gift,” Zan shrugged, sending her a cocky smile.
Ava rolled her eyes but her almost-smile deepened turning into a real smile. “Got that alright,” Ava agreed.
“So, why they thinkin’ that the symbols are Native American?” Zan asked steering things back on track.
“Cause they’ve appeared places over hundreds of years that’s why. Caves, pots, some jewelry that kind of thing but all over the world not just here. Liz’s Gram’s wrote about it. I looked at some of the information the other one, Davis, gathered and I see why they think that. Why would they reach to something that they think is impossible when something they know fits? The symbols ARE similar. Very similar actually, I’d have to side by side compare them to say just how similar.”
Seeing the look on Zan’s face she nodded. “Creepy huh?”
“Yeah, makes me wonder,” Zan said slowly. Maybe he didn’t know as much as he thought he did. Shit, did it even matter anymore? The longer he stayed here the less clear things became.
“So what was the deal with you earlier?” Ava asked and when Zan looked up at her with a blank expression she prompted him. “When I found you standing in the middle of the sidewalk? Cussing?”
“Max jus left wit Liz,” Zan mumbled, distracted. “We had a thing.”
“A thing?” Ava asked her tone changing. “What kind of thing? The kind of thing where you’re harassing Liz? That kind of thing?”
“Naw,” Zan denied pushing up off the floor. “Baby Girl, you’s got nothin’ ta get pissed bout. I tol’ya I ain’t making a play for her.”
“Save it,” Ava said putting up her hand in front of Zan’s face. “I’m not blind or, contrary to the hair color, stupid. You’re playin’ all right. You’s breathin’ ain’t you?”
Zan smiled, plastering his most innocent expression over his face, coaxing her to believe him. “It ain’t like dat. I poke at her but it ain’t serious. Maxie needs sum’in ta get worked up bout. ‘Sides she’s…..different. Not in the I wanna open up my guts and spill it ta her, ya know? I’s jus playin’. I ain’t kickin’ it ta her, she don’t play that shit anyhow.”
“I know that,” Ava said, flicking him between the eyes. “Duh.”
“Don’t start beatin’ on me,” Zan protested grabbing her hand. “I’ve had ‘nough.”
“Then stop lying,” Ava returned. “It’s more then you playing around. It’s more then some twisted urge to piss Max off. I know you. It’s more then those things.”
“I jus do it,” Zan said uncomfortable with examining the why. “I jus find myself doing it. Walking by her place, checking on her. I don’t know why. She jus…she’s different. I can’t figure it out.”
Ava studied him for a long moment, seeing the uncomfortable way his eyes shifted away then back to hers, feeling the tension in him. He looked totally vulnerable in a way that was so rare for him, apprehension filled his eyes as he waited for her reaction. “You can feel her can’t you? Like before? Did it ever go away?”
“Yeah, but it ain’t like before ‘xactly,” Zan answered, struggling to explain. He wanted Ava to understand, it wasn’t that he wanted Liz in the same way he wanted her. It was just…..different. “I ain’t sure it’s really Liz.”
“What do you mean?” Ava asked confused.
“I didn’t get nothing ‘fore taking that bracelet,” Zan answered. “Then it felt different. It wasn’t just when she was wit Max, ya know? I can find her. If I focus I can find her, like…she’s part of…something that I should recognize or, fuck it, I don’t know. Then I started getting all these pictures in my head, flashes that aren’t mine. I think they’s Max’s. I know they ain’t mine cause I’ve never felt those things. I’ve never seen her like that, in those places or looked at her that way.”
“Like Max does?” Ava asked softly, tilting his face up with her fingers.
“Yeah,” Zan nodded. “I ain’t like dat. That ain’t me.”
“I know,” Ava agreed softly. She’d never mixed them up for a second. Not even when Zan was trying to look exactly like Max.
His relief was a palatable thing between them. She wasn’t pissed, he could see it in her eyes. She just got him. She understood what he couldn’t explain and wasn’t pissed off at him anymore.
When he cupped his hand behind her neck and drew her to him she didn’t pull away, allowing his mouth to brush over hers in a petal soft kiss of thanks.
He felt the familiar stirring of his body at her closeness and deepened the kiss slightly, drawing her closer, working at her coat, waiting for her to stop him.
~~~~~
Max groaned at the light scrape of her nails up his sides under his shirt, the only thing holding him in check was his desire to prevent a repeat of the guy’s bathroom incident. The way it’d made her feel after wasn’t something he wanted again.
Digging his fingers into the unforgiving bricks he struggled to get the breath to speak as her mouth did amazing things to his ear, his neck, oh God, her teeth.
Nudging his shirt aside with her nose she bit down on the cord of his neck, feeling his jolt of pleasure in the way he crowded her back into the wall behind them. The push of his erection into her stomach quickly followed as she licked lightly at his skin.
She felt out of control. She wanted to lick a path all the way up and down his body. These clothes where a nuisance, in the way and just…awful. Her frustration mounted as she stroked him through the material of his pants. “Off. These, off now,” Liz mumbled against his skin, giving him one last stroke before trying to undo his zipper.
“Whoa!” Max yelped, grabbing her hand and looking around. “This isn’t…Ummm….I’ll go get the Jeep and…”
“No,” Liz interrupted with a shake of her head. Bringing his hand between their bodies she guided it down over her belly, into her pants, until his palm with its throbbing seal was directly over her seal. “Now.”
The sudden wash of molten heat made her as necessary as his next breath, at once there was that curious sensation of the earth shifting under his feet, falling away until there was only Liz.
The change in his eyes had her moving, pushing against his hand, rubbing against him, her eyes drifting closed as his fingers turned, pushing into the damp curls topping her mound. The possessive way he touched her was exactly right.
Her hands drifted up his arms, searching for something solid to hold onto. She was suddenly acutely aware of his strength, something she rarely noticed because it was always tempered by his gentleness. Opening her eyes she noted with satisfaction that he didn’t appear very gentle right now.
“We can’t do this here,” Max reminded her, willing himself to guard her feelings even when she couldn’t. “In the alley. It’s not….we can’t.”
“Look over there. See that door?” Liz said nodding behind him at the building across the alley. “It’s empty remember? It’s been closed for a couple of years and it’s closer then the Jeep.”
She barely got the words out before Max was herding her away from the wall and in that direction rather insistently.
~~~~~
Things were moving too fast. This wasn’t what he’d had in mind when…shit, Michael’s thoughts broke off feeling the tight heat of Maria’s body enclosing him. The faint, barely seen, glow on her chest was dismissed as other more pressing things registered.
“Michael! It hurts!” Maria cried out in pain. Holding perfectly still to keep from shrinking away from him.
“Don’t move, Jesus Maria, don’t move,” Michael gasp struggling to think of what to do now. Hormones and lust had driven reason from their minds, the slap of reality was a rude awakening.
His arms trembled as his muscles struggled to hold the weight of his body, as he forced himself not to move. Not to give in to the urges driving him. He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t want to hurt her.
“Michael! DO something!” Maria cried, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. “Remember me? The body underneath you? The one in enormous pain because the GODDAMN condom wrapper LIED! You aren’t smaller then you appear!”
His eyes fell back onto his mark on her breast. Was it glowing? If it was….Max said that…it wasn’t as bright or defined as the one he’d seen on Liz but… “Okay. You trust me?” Michael asked looking into Maria’s eyes. “I’m gonna try something here. Okay?” There was no time to be afraid of what this would mean later. He could only hope that it would work now.
“Yes, I trust you. Just do it, whatever it is,” Maria agreed in a rush.
Michael bent his head and set his mouth directly on his mark, unable to use his hands he scrambled to focus, pulling his power and trying to focus it on his mouth not on his hands. On his mouth and into the mark on her breast.
The flash of fire that swept through her drowned out the push his body deeper into hers, arching her back sharply off the bed as the exquisite ecstasy of her tight, hot passage clamped down on his invading shaft, gripping then releasing in spasms of pleasure.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he stilled, waiting for her eyes to focus, worried that he’d really fucked up this time. He shuffled his position, trying to cradle her closer without resting his full weight on her, crushing the life out of her. Why wasn’t she talking? She was always talking. She should be yelling at him by now, Michael thought as panic started to eat away at him. “Ria?” Michael wheezed passed a throat threatening to close up tight.
“Okay,” Maria sighed. “It fits. I was worried for a minute there but then….Wow. Liz held out.”
Michael’s forehead dropped to the bed with relief, some of the tension draining out of him as he sagged slightly, more of his weight coming to rest on her. “You scared the shit out of me Ria. Don’t ever do that again.”
“What?” Maria asked in surprise as her fingers stroked down the length of his back.
“Stop talking. I was sure you’d died or something,” Michael’s muffled reply came back to her ears.
“Please,” Maria replied rolling her eyes. “It’ll take more then your appendage to kill me. I’m tougher then that.”
Michael didn’t remind her that she wasn’t singing that tune a couple of minutes ago, instead he was so grateful she was talking he chose to just kiss her instead, an often used plan that had yielded pretty good results most of the time up to now.
Tasting his relief in his kiss she poured herself into her response, wanting to show him she was more then okay.
~~~~~
How she ended up here she’d never be able to explain, Ava thought dazed. This wasn’t supposed to ever happen again, she thought helplessly as Zan’s mouth trailed a fiery path down her chest.
“Zan wait,” Ava gasp feeling his fever hot length pressing into her thigh.
“What’s it, Baby Girl?” Zan asked his arms tightening around her trembling body as he stared up into the vivid blue of her eyes. As fierce and intent as if he could read her every thought.
“This isn’t….I can’t think when you do that,” Ava complained when his fingers slid over her slick folds. She moaned in defeat as his knowing fingers sought out every place that he knew would render her incapable of stringing two words together.
He watched the heat sweep up her chest and face, her heartbeat increasing and her restless movements under him growing more pronounced as his fingers played over her with unerring skill and intimate knowledge. Still he waited, the silence stretching out between them.
She made a single sound, a low moan that ignited the smoldering fire inside him. He nudged her knees farther apart but waited for her cloudy eyes to meet his before moving.
She knew this game. They'd played it so many times the script sprang to her lips before she could decide if she was still willing to be the same submissive player that she'd always been before. “Zan, what do you want? What do you want me to say?”
“Take a wild guess, Baby Girl,” Zan encouraged her. Not taking anything she didn’t give him. Much.
“Do you….want me?” Ava asked in soft wavering whisper. A part of her was still that girl, the one who knew all the words he wanted to hear, the one that wanted him to dominate this game. There was this other part of her, though, that was new, still growing into this new life and was not sure at all that this former game was one she still wanted to play. That was the part that changed the script, that waited to see if Zan could change too.
“Yes, can I have you?” Zan asked breaking with what he usually said because she did. He heard the catch in her voice and responded.
She gave him a short, jerky nod in answer.
There, it was done. Against common sense and all logic she'd caved. Just like she always had. She was both relieved and afraid, as familair as this should be, it wasn't.
The surge of him aggressively pushing into her body wrung a cry from her throat and her legs automatically hooked over his hips, pulling him closer the heat from his body almost scorching her.
Looking down into her glowing cerulean eyes glowing with tremulous hope, her soft white body laid open in surrender beneath him, utterly defenseless, sent a shiver through him. Looking at the expression on her face made him want to cradle her and touch her with tender reverence. Not good.
This wasn’t what he’d expected. It was whacked, it was making his gut twist with something that felt remarkably close to fear.
Pushing that feeling savagely aside, he tried to focus on the lust that had been clawing at him ever since he’d lost her.
Tugging on the hair gripped in her fist she pulled his mouth down to hers, meeting his wild thrusts even as she tangled her tongue with his, the taste of metal paling next to his unique flavor. Sucking at that piercing brought a well-remembered reaction.
Zan gave up trying to control anything as she devastated him by turning her knowledge of him against him. He was lost. The tight slick heat of her hugging his cock washed away the last vestiges of his self-control. He plunged into her faster, her breathless cries driving him on, there was no hope of slowing, no chance of stopping to think. His orgasm bore down on him like a runaway freight train, the explosion wrenching through him with brutal force. The feel of her sheath milking his cock in frantic pleasure drove a groan from his chest even as he shuddered, pulsing one last time into her depths.
He came back to himself, sprawled heavily on top of her, his fingers stroking her shoulder in the softest of caresses. The glow emanating from her skin had him jerking his hand away from her and rolling off her swiftly.
“What is it?” Ava asked in a drowsy voice as she rolled onto her side.
He reached for his pants jerking them on, barely hearing the phone ringing much less her whispered question, his mind a chaotic storm of clashing thoughts.
“Hey, Zan,” A cheerful decidedly feminine voice issued from the answering machine. “I was hoping you could stop by and check out your work again.” The voice lilted in sultry invitation. “The last time was….spectacular. Call me.”
Ava sucked in a swift breath to stave off the pain. She didn’t speak, after all, this was her own fault. She gathered up her scattered clothes, hurriedly dressing as tears ran down her face unchecked and humiliation burned in her chest.
This time the fallout wasn’t limited to her pain. No. This time she’d managed to wreak everything she’d been trying to build this entire time.
A sob broke free as she imagined the look on Alex’s face when he found out what she’d done. Scrubbing at her face she made for the door at a dead run.
She was just trash. She should have stayed in the gutter she’d come from and not dragged the first decent person who’d taken a chance on her down with her.
She failed to notice a lot as she started back to the Valenti’s on foot. The bright V of stars shining down on her was just one of those things.
Last edited by Lelea on Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Chapter Eighty Nine
The slamming of the front door abruptly jolted Zan out of his own head and back to his surroundings. One glance around had him swearing and jerking on his boots.
He didn’t bother tying them. Ava might be small but he knew from experience that she was quick. If he hoped to catch her he had to move fast.
Grabbing his coat he jerked open the door, not even waiting for it to slam shut before he took off at a fast jog. Bounding down the stairs he felt more off kilter then he could ever remember. Of course he’d never had to chase Ava like this before either.
He didn’t like it.
Hearing what could only be Zan’s steel-toed boots Ava quickly waved a hand over her face, getting rid of all traces of her tears. She couldn’t afford to appear weak, not now.
Picking up her already swift pace she focused on the sidewalk in front of her instead of the hurt and humiliation twisting her stomach into knots.
“Ava! Wait up!” Zan called breaking into a run. “Damn Girl! Where’s the fire?”
“I have to get home,” Ava answered bleakly. Why say more? He just didn’t get it. He never had and he never would.
Tensing at her reference to home, he found himself feeling defensive and angry. Her home was with him. “You jus walk out wit out saying shit to me then? To go where? That ain’t you’s home.”
Ava stopped dead as fury exploded inside her. Whirling to face him she latched onto that fury, holding tight to ward off more unpleasant feelings. “Why not. We’s done right?”
Zan blinked suddenly off balance now that she was directly facing him in all her fury. “What? What you’s talkin’ bout?”
“You got off so what more is there?” Ava asked crossing her arms and staring him down. “If you want another round call someone else.”
“What’s wit the attitude? What’d I do?” Zan asked. “I wasn’t getting up ta leave. I was jus…”
“Done. I got it. It’s not like I don’t know how you are right? So, bye” Ava said with a little wave that was more a flutter of her hand then anything. The pain in her chest was so bad she could only take short quick breaths. She had to get away from him. She always licked her wounds in private. She couldn’t bear it if he knew, saw how much he hurt her.
His brows snapped together as Ava spun on her heels and started off at a fast walk. Goddamn it! “Ava! Wait!” Zan yelled starting after her so pissed he couldn’t see straight. What the fuck? He hadn’t picked up the goddamn phone. Damn.
“No,” Ava said even as he dragged her to a stop. “I will not wait. I am going home. Now!”
Growling in frustration he blocked her attempt to step around him. “What the fuck is wrong wit you? I’m trying ta talk to you’s and you jus mad hostile. If you’s pissed about that damn phone call it wudden’t nothing. I’m not gonna call her back for fuck’s sake!”
“Whatever,” Ava answered with an eye roll.
“No. Not whateva!” Zan snapped. She was pushing every damn button he had with precision, pissing him off more then he’d thought possible but he wasn’t going to get off track. That prickling feeling was back making him feel twitchy and fanning the flames of his more uncomfortable emotions. Dividing his attention at a time he needed to focus. He had to focus on fixing this thing with Ava. “Don’t act like this thing was all me. You could a stopped it same as I could’ve. I don’t fuckin lie ta you’s you know that! You’s dating humans too. Alex remember?” Zan accused.
“I remember. Dating isn’t fucking, not that you’d ever know the difference,” Ava shot back furious. “I ain’t gonna be anotha of your ghetto sluts.”
Spearing his hands through his hair instead of cursing a blue streak he looked up, taking a deep breath pausing as his eyes landed on the stars. “You ain’t no slut,” Zan denied looking back down at her. “Look,” He pointed up the V of stars glittering brightly.
“So what? I see and I don’t fucking care!” Ava shouted. “Next time the stars align don’t even come near me. Find one of your humans to fuck till the urge passes cause I ain’t the one.”
“But you are,” Zan refuted his eyes narrowing dangerously. “You are the one. You forgettin’ who you’s belong wit?”
“I’m not forgetting anything. You’re the one with the faulty memory! You aren’t a King and I’m NOT you’re wife! Which you’re grateful for every goddamn day so don’t even! I’m not going to let some fucked up idea of the past or encoded genes or anything else get in my way! I control me! Not some stupid scientist stirring together some crap in a test tube! Not you with your power games. Me! I don’t want this,” Ava said bursting into tears. She couldn’t take it anymore. Why couldn’t he just go away! “You don’t own me! You don’t even really want me so just let me go.”
Zan blinked, his anger gone in an instant at the sight of her tears. “Who says I don’t? Where do you come up wit this shit? Didn’t I jus tell you…”
“Just stop it!” Ava screamed. “I don’t mean for convenient sex. Anyone can fill in and you won’t even notice. You don’t need me for that.”
“That what you think this is? You sure as hell aren’t convenient, Baby Girl,” Zan said softly, studying her closely. He was at a total loss with how to handle this. Everything was different. Her. Him. Everything. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, all complicated and shit. Tugging at his ear he shifted on his feet while searching for words without really knowing what he wanted the outcome here to be. He was just floundering like a fish out of water, lost and hurting without understanding the reason for the pain. Rubbing at his bare chest to ease the sudden ache there his scowl softened. “I’ve always cared about you, for you. By choice Baby Girl, not cause of anything else.”
When he took a step forward reaching for her, Ava cried harder shaking her head frantically. “Don’t touch me. Just leave me alone.”
“I can’t,” Zan said softly. “You know I can’t jus leave you’s here. It ain’t safe. I care bout you, Baby Girl, even if you don’t want me to.”
“It isn’t enough. I ain’t some human you can fuck around wit and not have any consequences to deal with after. You wanna point to the stars? Then remember what those stars mean. Who I am to you, Zan. I was made to be with you right? Too bad you didn’t remember that BEFORE we had sex at exactly the wrong time,” Ava said watching his face pale. Wiping at the tears drying on her face she lifted her chin as she went for all the things that were guaranteed to shove him away from her.
“You wanna claim ownership now? Remind me of where I belong? How you gonna explain me ta all those girls calling you if we messed up? She’s my baby’s mom? Your wife? Or will you even be here?” Ava demanded her hands on her hips. Waiting for him to run, to just leave her here like before. “I won’t do this. Be this person. Crawling in and out of bed with you wheneva you feel like a trip back in time. Having babies when I don’t even know who you’re with or where the fuck you are. I won’t have no ghetto arrangement. I’m not trash. I can be a good person.”
Shoving his hands in his pockets he squinted up at the stars, silent for a moment before looking back into her stormy eyes. “You always been a good person, Baby Girl. I don't wanna hear Lonnie’s shit outta your mouth. You ain’t her. You neva belonged in the sewer. This life’s betta for you. I can see that. You wanna go home I’ll walk you. S’okay.”
“Fuck off! I don’t need your protection and I don’t want it. I don’t want anything from you,” Ava yelled before storming away.
Teeth grinding to hold back a growl of sheer frustration he waited for her to get a block or so ahead and then followed her. Keeping just close enough to be assured that he could keep her safe and just far enough so she had space.
Walking on suddenly silent feet he jammed his hands in his pockets in an attempt to warm up. Who’d have thought the desert was this fucking ass cold? The cold wasn’t his problem though. Being numb would be a hellva lot better then whatever this was.
Max’s back hit the wall hard as Liz deftly removed and rearranged his clothing. The brief grunt of pain changed swiftly into a moan as Liz sank to her knees bringing his pants and boxer briefs with her.
Tracing his erection with chilly fingers she watched with fascination as it jerked angrily under her touch.
“Too cold?” Liz asked softly glancing up at him. Despite her cold fingers her eyes glittered with feverish heat. She felt like she was glowing from the inside out, matching the heat pouring off of his solid frame.
“No,” Max answered with a quick shake of his head afraid she would stop.
Liz made a soft sound somewhere between amusement and disbelief, waiting until he looked down at her before sticking her hands behind her back. “Right, well, no hands. Just in case,” Liz murmured then leaned forward enough to warm him with her breath.
Max started to say something then stopped, feeling the soft brush of her parted lips and the warm stir of her breath on his throbbing flesh. A flood of possessive heat flared brightly through him wiping away all but the most basic thoughts.
“Something wrong?” Liz asked slanting him a blatantly sexual look from under her lashes. The fiery look shining back at her had her insides doing a slow rolling summersault in response, she loved that look. “This help any?”
His breath tangled up in his throat as her tongue snaked out to lick the entire length of his shaft before teasingly circling the tip.
Taking his rumbling groan for an answer she leaned forward even further, taking him in, sucking at him lightly, teasing the flames higher yet.
“Liz!” Max gasp, fingers tangling in the long strands of her hair. The searing heat of her mouth was in sharp contrast to the chill of the air, the swirl of her tongue had his breath whooshing out in a rush.
Suddenly gaining a strange sense of equilibrium in the midst of the raging desires that had fought for dominance inside her since her fever started hours ago, she focused on Max and his responses, tailoring her actions accordingly. Finally she was free to give the seething force inside her the outlet it was seeking. Dragging her tongue along the sensitive underside of his length she could feel the push of his veins pulsing against her tongue, strong and vital. Hers. He was hers in a way that she couldn’t explain but she could feel it. Knew it without question.
Watching Ava stealthily slip into the Valenti house like she had an angry father waiting up for her made him frown. He didn’t like the confused mass of shit sitting inside his head and restricting his chest down to short painful breaths.
Needing to clear his head he fell back into a long held habit without thought. Protecting Ava was instinct by now, he’d done it all of his life without ever questioning the reason. He’d waited for her to break out of her pod for six long days without moving so a little cold wasn’t going to throw him off now. That fucking prickling at the back of his neck had yet to let up or reveal its cause, spurring him to be cautious. Slipping into the shadows he went over the area silently. Just to be sure.
Suddenly finding herself lifted to her feet Liz swayed, off balance, blinking up at Max in confusion at the unexpected change. Her fingertips automatically went to rest against the muscles of his chest, gliding down over his ribs, watching his nostrils flare as she reached his abdomen. She was unable to stop touching him, needing the contact with his naked skin.
A heartbeat passed in which neither of them spoke, their short panting breathes fogging the air between them, briefly mingling before fading. Then his mouth crushed down onto hers, his hands moving to frame her face as he ravaged her eager mouth.
Feeling something hot and liquid sink into her stomach she clutched at his sides, needing him closer. It wasn’t enough. She didn’t think it’d ever be enough.
Feeling her moving against his overheated body, sliding up his chest as her fingers ran over his chest, his sides, testing the ridges of muscle, and the sparse hair arrowing down past his navel his already strained sense of restraint broke.
“Off,” Max voiced gruffly tugging at her top. “Why is this still on?”
“I was busy?” Liz answered her lips gliding over to his ear, lifting her arms as he removed the offending garment. As soon as it cleared her head she continued to nuzzle at him.
A shudder rippled through him as her naked breasts nestled against him, catching her mouth for another deep hungry kiss his tongue teasing hers as he shoved at her pants. He wanted to touch her and have her touching him everywhere at once, have her hot silken heat enclosing him.
Clutching his shoulders for balance as he left their clothes in a tangled heap at their feet she was oblivious to the cold.
She had the sexist belly he’d ever seen Max thought as he trailed warm open-mouthed kisses over the naked expanse on his upward journey. One hand cupping her breast to hold her still for his exploration, groaning as her pebbled nipple pressed into his palm, he simultaneously smoothed the other hand over her hip urging her closer. He loved her breasts, so responsive.
Making a soft mewling sound as he rubbed his cheek over the soft under curve of her breast, rasping gently against her skin, while his thumb brushing over the other tightly beaded nipple she arched into his touch, craving deeper contact. The strong pull of his mouth had her gasping but it still wasn’t enough.
As soon as she closed the door to Kyle’s old room Ava reached for the phone dialing Liz’s number from memory.
“Liz, its Ava. I have something I need to return to you,” Ava said when the machine picked up. Rubbing at her swollen eyes she tried to focus on leaving a coherent message. “Maybe I’ll come by before school for breakfast or..something. Okay, bye.”
Putting down the phone she curled up into a ball on the bed, tears leaking from her eyes. Maybe she should just leave. Return the bracelet tonight and clear out before she screwed up anymore. Zan wouldn’t even know she was gone for a couple days at least.
Drained, her eyes grew heavy as seriously thought about the idea of striking out on her own. Wiping the slate clean and starting over somewhere else. Where no one would know about her past and what she really was. Her breathing evened out as that life spread out behind her eyes. Frowning as she drifted off she curled up tighter to ward off the cold.
Setting her back on her feet Max moved behind her, wrapping his arms around her and bending slightly so he could meet her eyes in the broken mirror behind the old wooden bar.
Long fingers caressed her breasts, abrading her sensitive nipples with his thumbs while they watched. Her eyes met his in the mirror as she stretched, her arm going back over her head to pull his mouth to hers. Lips closed he rubbed his mouth over hers in a mesmerizing motion. Placing small nibbling kisses, lightly catching her bottom lip in his teeth before laving it with his tongue.
Liz moaned in escalating desire, rubbing back against him, feeling the rigid length of him against her lower back. His hand drifting down her abdomen had her seal pulsing, blazing brightly under his hand. She loved this, being held like this, so close she could feel his heart pounding against her back, feeling defenseless and feminine against his larger frame while knowing she had never been safer. No longer a docile participant, she actively encouraged him by stroking his body with hers, her kisses heating growing more urgent. Her stomach contracted as his fingers glided between her legs, testing her dampness. Legs moving restlessly further apart, something cold and hard like metal hit her just above the ankles.
When their mouths separated, he panted, wild to have her. He groaned deeply as she stepped up onto something, lifting her several inches higher against him, the swell of her backside cradling his erection. Pulling her back into the cradle of his body he positioned himself for entry his hands stroking with slow intimacy over her back, her sides down to her hips, the slope of her breasts telling her they were alone now, finally, and they had all the time they needed.
The slow press of him into her body had her crying out sharply as her body clamped down tightly on his invading shaft.
Hands moving to hold her hips he could barely control his own trembling eagerness as he mounted her, nudging his rigid penis into her tight drenched body. Hearing her cry and feeling the difficulty of penetration even as she struggled to open for him, he slowed still further making small rocking motions with his hips easing his way in.
“Ooooh Max, please,” Liz moaned leaning her elbows on the bar as she pushed back into him. Any pain secondary to having him fully inside her. “I need you, please!”
Opening tightly closed eyes, his gaze sought hers in the mirror, the ragged cracks and missing pieces causing a splintered effect, showing him not just one view of her but several. The dank dimness of the room couldn’t hide her dilated pupils and the tumultuous fire glowing in their dark depths. He made a low tortured sound in his throat, surging into her fully as he held her eyes with his, feeling her body contracting around his trying to pull him deeper.
“Shit, Liz, you okay?” Max gasp out, needing a verbal confirmation he hadn’t hurt her. She was so small and tight despite her wetness and their previous lovemaking he worried.
“Now I am,” Liz answered turning her head and smiling when he moved closer, hovering over her back and kissing her slowly. As their kiss deepened her body clutched at his in pleasure, their kiss sweeping through her like fire.
His fingers tangled themselves in her damp curls, brushing over her as he slowly thrust into her, building into a natural rhythm. He ate at her mouth as she quivered under him, responding with her entire body, her hips rocking as she tried to bring him deeper, tongue mating with his, back arching in pleasure.
“Ahh Liz, that’s right, just like that,” Max groaned against her mouth as her sheath tightened clenching around him, her hips working against his sensually, craving more of the friction between their heated bodies.
His talented hand caressed her sensitive folds and tightly stretched furrows with tender skill, coaxing and petting her until she came in a long liquid crest of shimmering pleasure, never wavering in his long deep strokes into her body.
He couldn’t touch her deep enough, couldn’t get enough of her even now when all his senses were filled with her. Driving into her with steadily more force, faster sharper thrusts, rough encouragement flowed from his mouth as she joined him her urgent movements matching, mating with his, bleeding together until time had no meaning. There was only this. The perfect union of purpose in the interlocking of their bodies.
She could feel the barriers between them breaking down and flowing away, lost in the frantic urgent motion. Her image of herself was drowned out by fierce savage need that burned inside them brightly, shining through matching seals. She wanted to sink her teeth into him, to feel his teeth biting into her marking her as his. His slamming thrusts had her crying out, a sharp loud cry of pleasure she couldn’t control.
He swelled inside her, pounding into her in suddenly disjointed fragmented movements feeling her welcome every part of him. Looming over her back he burrowed his face into her neck, mouth opening over her skin in a hard biting kiss, feeling her hips thrusting back against his, gliding over him again and again. Throwing his head back and surging deep he spilled himself inside her, continuing to thrust helplessly against her as her body fluttered around him.
Feeling the liquid heat of him jetting inside her triggered her own exulted release. In the aftermath he warmed her from the inside out, holding the cold at bay with his stroking hands lovingly moving over her.
Scouting the area thoroughly, slipping from shadow to shadow seamlessly Zan cursed silently. All these years of watching out for Ava, only to fuck it up now.
He couldn’t hope to keep her safe when she didn’t want him anywhere near her. Goddamn it, Zan raged silently working himself up, his movements remaining cool and controlled to the outside observer. What the fuck was happening to him?
The stars alignment aside this was fucked up. She’d been willing, more then willing really. So things had gotten a little out of control there at the very end. When it counted the most. Zan stopped, still as a statue hearing those rationalizations for what they actually were. A load of complete shit and they didn’t make him feel better.
Ava was different, she’d always been different. The one person he’s looked after and protected almost obsessively from day one no matter what. He’d driven across the country to help her, hurt and weak but he’d never thought to quite on her. Now when she needed that protection more then ever he’d fucked it all up.
When a girl fled your place after sex it wasn’t a good sign. When she fled in tears it was worse. When she basically told you to drop dead you were fucked. Goddamn it! He’d known that it was happening kinda fast but he hadn’t meant to freak like that. Now he’d have to do his protecting the hard way until he could calm her down.
“I see you have a way of finding trouble, even creating it, much like your last life,” Cal observed with sardonic amusement plain in his tone and manner as he seeped out of the shadows taking clear form.
Zan sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. The prickling feeling was stronger, but at least he knew why now. “Ya think?”
The slamming of the front door abruptly jolted Zan out of his own head and back to his surroundings. One glance around had him swearing and jerking on his boots.
He didn’t bother tying them. Ava might be small but he knew from experience that she was quick. If he hoped to catch her he had to move fast.
Grabbing his coat he jerked open the door, not even waiting for it to slam shut before he took off at a fast jog. Bounding down the stairs he felt more off kilter then he could ever remember. Of course he’d never had to chase Ava like this before either.
He didn’t like it.
Hearing what could only be Zan’s steel-toed boots Ava quickly waved a hand over her face, getting rid of all traces of her tears. She couldn’t afford to appear weak, not now.
Picking up her already swift pace she focused on the sidewalk in front of her instead of the hurt and humiliation twisting her stomach into knots.
“Ava! Wait up!” Zan called breaking into a run. “Damn Girl! Where’s the fire?”
“I have to get home,” Ava answered bleakly. Why say more? He just didn’t get it. He never had and he never would.
Tensing at her reference to home, he found himself feeling defensive and angry. Her home was with him. “You jus walk out wit out saying shit to me then? To go where? That ain’t you’s home.”
Ava stopped dead as fury exploded inside her. Whirling to face him she latched onto that fury, holding tight to ward off more unpleasant feelings. “Why not. We’s done right?”
Zan blinked suddenly off balance now that she was directly facing him in all her fury. “What? What you’s talkin’ bout?”
“You got off so what more is there?” Ava asked crossing her arms and staring him down. “If you want another round call someone else.”
“What’s wit the attitude? What’d I do?” Zan asked. “I wasn’t getting up ta leave. I was jus…”
“Done. I got it. It’s not like I don’t know how you are right? So, bye” Ava said with a little wave that was more a flutter of her hand then anything. The pain in her chest was so bad she could only take short quick breaths. She had to get away from him. She always licked her wounds in private. She couldn’t bear it if he knew, saw how much he hurt her.
His brows snapped together as Ava spun on her heels and started off at a fast walk. Goddamn it! “Ava! Wait!” Zan yelled starting after her so pissed he couldn’t see straight. What the fuck? He hadn’t picked up the goddamn phone. Damn.
“No,” Ava said even as he dragged her to a stop. “I will not wait. I am going home. Now!”
Growling in frustration he blocked her attempt to step around him. “What the fuck is wrong wit you? I’m trying ta talk to you’s and you jus mad hostile. If you’s pissed about that damn phone call it wudden’t nothing. I’m not gonna call her back for fuck’s sake!”
“Whatever,” Ava answered with an eye roll.
“No. Not whateva!” Zan snapped. She was pushing every damn button he had with precision, pissing him off more then he’d thought possible but he wasn’t going to get off track. That prickling feeling was back making him feel twitchy and fanning the flames of his more uncomfortable emotions. Dividing his attention at a time he needed to focus. He had to focus on fixing this thing with Ava. “Don’t act like this thing was all me. You could a stopped it same as I could’ve. I don’t fuckin lie ta you’s you know that! You’s dating humans too. Alex remember?” Zan accused.
“I remember. Dating isn’t fucking, not that you’d ever know the difference,” Ava shot back furious. “I ain’t gonna be anotha of your ghetto sluts.”
Spearing his hands through his hair instead of cursing a blue streak he looked up, taking a deep breath pausing as his eyes landed on the stars. “You ain’t no slut,” Zan denied looking back down at her. “Look,” He pointed up the V of stars glittering brightly.
“So what? I see and I don’t fucking care!” Ava shouted. “Next time the stars align don’t even come near me. Find one of your humans to fuck till the urge passes cause I ain’t the one.”
“But you are,” Zan refuted his eyes narrowing dangerously. “You are the one. You forgettin’ who you’s belong wit?”
“I’m not forgetting anything. You’re the one with the faulty memory! You aren’t a King and I’m NOT you’re wife! Which you’re grateful for every goddamn day so don’t even! I’m not going to let some fucked up idea of the past or encoded genes or anything else get in my way! I control me! Not some stupid scientist stirring together some crap in a test tube! Not you with your power games. Me! I don’t want this,” Ava said bursting into tears. She couldn’t take it anymore. Why couldn’t he just go away! “You don’t own me! You don’t even really want me so just let me go.”
Zan blinked, his anger gone in an instant at the sight of her tears. “Who says I don’t? Where do you come up wit this shit? Didn’t I jus tell you…”
“Just stop it!” Ava screamed. “I don’t mean for convenient sex. Anyone can fill in and you won’t even notice. You don’t need me for that.”
“That what you think this is? You sure as hell aren’t convenient, Baby Girl,” Zan said softly, studying her closely. He was at a total loss with how to handle this. Everything was different. Her. Him. Everything. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, all complicated and shit. Tugging at his ear he shifted on his feet while searching for words without really knowing what he wanted the outcome here to be. He was just floundering like a fish out of water, lost and hurting without understanding the reason for the pain. Rubbing at his bare chest to ease the sudden ache there his scowl softened. “I’ve always cared about you, for you. By choice Baby Girl, not cause of anything else.”
When he took a step forward reaching for her, Ava cried harder shaking her head frantically. “Don’t touch me. Just leave me alone.”
“I can’t,” Zan said softly. “You know I can’t jus leave you’s here. It ain’t safe. I care bout you, Baby Girl, even if you don’t want me to.”
“It isn’t enough. I ain’t some human you can fuck around wit and not have any consequences to deal with after. You wanna point to the stars? Then remember what those stars mean. Who I am to you, Zan. I was made to be with you right? Too bad you didn’t remember that BEFORE we had sex at exactly the wrong time,” Ava said watching his face pale. Wiping at the tears drying on her face she lifted her chin as she went for all the things that were guaranteed to shove him away from her.
“You wanna claim ownership now? Remind me of where I belong? How you gonna explain me ta all those girls calling you if we messed up? She’s my baby’s mom? Your wife? Or will you even be here?” Ava demanded her hands on her hips. Waiting for him to run, to just leave her here like before. “I won’t do this. Be this person. Crawling in and out of bed with you wheneva you feel like a trip back in time. Having babies when I don’t even know who you’re with or where the fuck you are. I won’t have no ghetto arrangement. I’m not trash. I can be a good person.”
Shoving his hands in his pockets he squinted up at the stars, silent for a moment before looking back into her stormy eyes. “You always been a good person, Baby Girl. I don't wanna hear Lonnie’s shit outta your mouth. You ain’t her. You neva belonged in the sewer. This life’s betta for you. I can see that. You wanna go home I’ll walk you. S’okay.”
“Fuck off! I don’t need your protection and I don’t want it. I don’t want anything from you,” Ava yelled before storming away.
Teeth grinding to hold back a growl of sheer frustration he waited for her to get a block or so ahead and then followed her. Keeping just close enough to be assured that he could keep her safe and just far enough so she had space.
Walking on suddenly silent feet he jammed his hands in his pockets in an attempt to warm up. Who’d have thought the desert was this fucking ass cold? The cold wasn’t his problem though. Being numb would be a hellva lot better then whatever this was.
Max’s back hit the wall hard as Liz deftly removed and rearranged his clothing. The brief grunt of pain changed swiftly into a moan as Liz sank to her knees bringing his pants and boxer briefs with her.
Tracing his erection with chilly fingers she watched with fascination as it jerked angrily under her touch.
“Too cold?” Liz asked softly glancing up at him. Despite her cold fingers her eyes glittered with feverish heat. She felt like she was glowing from the inside out, matching the heat pouring off of his solid frame.
“No,” Max answered with a quick shake of his head afraid she would stop.
Liz made a soft sound somewhere between amusement and disbelief, waiting until he looked down at her before sticking her hands behind her back. “Right, well, no hands. Just in case,” Liz murmured then leaned forward enough to warm him with her breath.
Max started to say something then stopped, feeling the soft brush of her parted lips and the warm stir of her breath on his throbbing flesh. A flood of possessive heat flared brightly through him wiping away all but the most basic thoughts.
“Something wrong?” Liz asked slanting him a blatantly sexual look from under her lashes. The fiery look shining back at her had her insides doing a slow rolling summersault in response, she loved that look. “This help any?”
His breath tangled up in his throat as her tongue snaked out to lick the entire length of his shaft before teasingly circling the tip.
Taking his rumbling groan for an answer she leaned forward even further, taking him in, sucking at him lightly, teasing the flames higher yet.
“Liz!” Max gasp, fingers tangling in the long strands of her hair. The searing heat of her mouth was in sharp contrast to the chill of the air, the swirl of her tongue had his breath whooshing out in a rush.
Suddenly gaining a strange sense of equilibrium in the midst of the raging desires that had fought for dominance inside her since her fever started hours ago, she focused on Max and his responses, tailoring her actions accordingly. Finally she was free to give the seething force inside her the outlet it was seeking. Dragging her tongue along the sensitive underside of his length she could feel the push of his veins pulsing against her tongue, strong and vital. Hers. He was hers in a way that she couldn’t explain but she could feel it. Knew it without question.
Watching Ava stealthily slip into the Valenti house like she had an angry father waiting up for her made him frown. He didn’t like the confused mass of shit sitting inside his head and restricting his chest down to short painful breaths.
Needing to clear his head he fell back into a long held habit without thought. Protecting Ava was instinct by now, he’d done it all of his life without ever questioning the reason. He’d waited for her to break out of her pod for six long days without moving so a little cold wasn’t going to throw him off now. That fucking prickling at the back of his neck had yet to let up or reveal its cause, spurring him to be cautious. Slipping into the shadows he went over the area silently. Just to be sure.
Suddenly finding herself lifted to her feet Liz swayed, off balance, blinking up at Max in confusion at the unexpected change. Her fingertips automatically went to rest against the muscles of his chest, gliding down over his ribs, watching his nostrils flare as she reached his abdomen. She was unable to stop touching him, needing the contact with his naked skin.
A heartbeat passed in which neither of them spoke, their short panting breathes fogging the air between them, briefly mingling before fading. Then his mouth crushed down onto hers, his hands moving to frame her face as he ravaged her eager mouth.
Feeling something hot and liquid sink into her stomach she clutched at his sides, needing him closer. It wasn’t enough. She didn’t think it’d ever be enough.
Feeling her moving against his overheated body, sliding up his chest as her fingers ran over his chest, his sides, testing the ridges of muscle, and the sparse hair arrowing down past his navel his already strained sense of restraint broke.
“Off,” Max voiced gruffly tugging at her top. “Why is this still on?”
“I was busy?” Liz answered her lips gliding over to his ear, lifting her arms as he removed the offending garment. As soon as it cleared her head she continued to nuzzle at him.
A shudder rippled through him as her naked breasts nestled against him, catching her mouth for another deep hungry kiss his tongue teasing hers as he shoved at her pants. He wanted to touch her and have her touching him everywhere at once, have her hot silken heat enclosing him.
Clutching his shoulders for balance as he left their clothes in a tangled heap at their feet she was oblivious to the cold.
She had the sexist belly he’d ever seen Max thought as he trailed warm open-mouthed kisses over the naked expanse on his upward journey. One hand cupping her breast to hold her still for his exploration, groaning as her pebbled nipple pressed into his palm, he simultaneously smoothed the other hand over her hip urging her closer. He loved her breasts, so responsive.
Making a soft mewling sound as he rubbed his cheek over the soft under curve of her breast, rasping gently against her skin, while his thumb brushing over the other tightly beaded nipple she arched into his touch, craving deeper contact. The strong pull of his mouth had her gasping but it still wasn’t enough.
As soon as she closed the door to Kyle’s old room Ava reached for the phone dialing Liz’s number from memory.
“Liz, its Ava. I have something I need to return to you,” Ava said when the machine picked up. Rubbing at her swollen eyes she tried to focus on leaving a coherent message. “Maybe I’ll come by before school for breakfast or..something. Okay, bye.”
Putting down the phone she curled up into a ball on the bed, tears leaking from her eyes. Maybe she should just leave. Return the bracelet tonight and clear out before she screwed up anymore. Zan wouldn’t even know she was gone for a couple days at least.
Drained, her eyes grew heavy as seriously thought about the idea of striking out on her own. Wiping the slate clean and starting over somewhere else. Where no one would know about her past and what she really was. Her breathing evened out as that life spread out behind her eyes. Frowning as she drifted off she curled up tighter to ward off the cold.
Setting her back on her feet Max moved behind her, wrapping his arms around her and bending slightly so he could meet her eyes in the broken mirror behind the old wooden bar.
Long fingers caressed her breasts, abrading her sensitive nipples with his thumbs while they watched. Her eyes met his in the mirror as she stretched, her arm going back over her head to pull his mouth to hers. Lips closed he rubbed his mouth over hers in a mesmerizing motion. Placing small nibbling kisses, lightly catching her bottom lip in his teeth before laving it with his tongue.
Liz moaned in escalating desire, rubbing back against him, feeling the rigid length of him against her lower back. His hand drifting down her abdomen had her seal pulsing, blazing brightly under his hand. She loved this, being held like this, so close she could feel his heart pounding against her back, feeling defenseless and feminine against his larger frame while knowing she had never been safer. No longer a docile participant, she actively encouraged him by stroking his body with hers, her kisses heating growing more urgent. Her stomach contracted as his fingers glided between her legs, testing her dampness. Legs moving restlessly further apart, something cold and hard like metal hit her just above the ankles.
When their mouths separated, he panted, wild to have her. He groaned deeply as she stepped up onto something, lifting her several inches higher against him, the swell of her backside cradling his erection. Pulling her back into the cradle of his body he positioned himself for entry his hands stroking with slow intimacy over her back, her sides down to her hips, the slope of her breasts telling her they were alone now, finally, and they had all the time they needed.
The slow press of him into her body had her crying out sharply as her body clamped down tightly on his invading shaft.
Hands moving to hold her hips he could barely control his own trembling eagerness as he mounted her, nudging his rigid penis into her tight drenched body. Hearing her cry and feeling the difficulty of penetration even as she struggled to open for him, he slowed still further making small rocking motions with his hips easing his way in.
“Ooooh Max, please,” Liz moaned leaning her elbows on the bar as she pushed back into him. Any pain secondary to having him fully inside her. “I need you, please!”
Opening tightly closed eyes, his gaze sought hers in the mirror, the ragged cracks and missing pieces causing a splintered effect, showing him not just one view of her but several. The dank dimness of the room couldn’t hide her dilated pupils and the tumultuous fire glowing in their dark depths. He made a low tortured sound in his throat, surging into her fully as he held her eyes with his, feeling her body contracting around his trying to pull him deeper.
“Shit, Liz, you okay?” Max gasp out, needing a verbal confirmation he hadn’t hurt her. She was so small and tight despite her wetness and their previous lovemaking he worried.
“Now I am,” Liz answered turning her head and smiling when he moved closer, hovering over her back and kissing her slowly. As their kiss deepened her body clutched at his in pleasure, their kiss sweeping through her like fire.
His fingers tangled themselves in her damp curls, brushing over her as he slowly thrust into her, building into a natural rhythm. He ate at her mouth as she quivered under him, responding with her entire body, her hips rocking as she tried to bring him deeper, tongue mating with his, back arching in pleasure.
“Ahh Liz, that’s right, just like that,” Max groaned against her mouth as her sheath tightened clenching around him, her hips working against his sensually, craving more of the friction between their heated bodies.
His talented hand caressed her sensitive folds and tightly stretched furrows with tender skill, coaxing and petting her until she came in a long liquid crest of shimmering pleasure, never wavering in his long deep strokes into her body.
He couldn’t touch her deep enough, couldn’t get enough of her even now when all his senses were filled with her. Driving into her with steadily more force, faster sharper thrusts, rough encouragement flowed from his mouth as she joined him her urgent movements matching, mating with his, bleeding together until time had no meaning. There was only this. The perfect union of purpose in the interlocking of their bodies.
She could feel the barriers between them breaking down and flowing away, lost in the frantic urgent motion. Her image of herself was drowned out by fierce savage need that burned inside them brightly, shining through matching seals. She wanted to sink her teeth into him, to feel his teeth biting into her marking her as his. His slamming thrusts had her crying out, a sharp loud cry of pleasure she couldn’t control.
He swelled inside her, pounding into her in suddenly disjointed fragmented movements feeling her welcome every part of him. Looming over her back he burrowed his face into her neck, mouth opening over her skin in a hard biting kiss, feeling her hips thrusting back against his, gliding over him again and again. Throwing his head back and surging deep he spilled himself inside her, continuing to thrust helplessly against her as her body fluttered around him.
Feeling the liquid heat of him jetting inside her triggered her own exulted release. In the aftermath he warmed her from the inside out, holding the cold at bay with his stroking hands lovingly moving over her.
Scouting the area thoroughly, slipping from shadow to shadow seamlessly Zan cursed silently. All these years of watching out for Ava, only to fuck it up now.
He couldn’t hope to keep her safe when she didn’t want him anywhere near her. Goddamn it, Zan raged silently working himself up, his movements remaining cool and controlled to the outside observer. What the fuck was happening to him?
The stars alignment aside this was fucked up. She’d been willing, more then willing really. So things had gotten a little out of control there at the very end. When it counted the most. Zan stopped, still as a statue hearing those rationalizations for what they actually were. A load of complete shit and they didn’t make him feel better.
Ava was different, she’d always been different. The one person he’s looked after and protected almost obsessively from day one no matter what. He’d driven across the country to help her, hurt and weak but he’d never thought to quite on her. Now when she needed that protection more then ever he’d fucked it all up.
When a girl fled your place after sex it wasn’t a good sign. When she fled in tears it was worse. When she basically told you to drop dead you were fucked. Goddamn it! He’d known that it was happening kinda fast but he hadn’t meant to freak like that. Now he’d have to do his protecting the hard way until he could calm her down.
“I see you have a way of finding trouble, even creating it, much like your last life,” Cal observed with sardonic amusement plain in his tone and manner as he seeped out of the shadows taking clear form.
Zan sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. The prickling feeling was stronger, but at least he knew why now. “Ya think?”
Chapter Ninety
Still embedded deep inside her body, Max felt a sense of fierce satisfaction as she quivered under him signaling her second impending release. Pressing her against the unyielding surface of the bar to control her movements, he cupped the mound of her sex in his palm, never stopping the smooth glide of his fingers.
He needed to saturate her completely so there was no misunderstanding that she was his mate. Driven by things usually well controlled and kept suppressed under the layers of civilized human behavior, he gave in to the territorial urgings that Zan had been inciting almost daily.
“Please…” Liz cried the word breaking from her throat in a pleading gasp of need. The need to move, to take from him what she needed was screaming though her, controlled only by his heavier more dominant form, still she struggled helplessly, pushing herself into his stroking fingers, the small movements keeping him semi erect inside her.
His every cell needed her. Craved her with an undeniable force. He could feel the elemental pull of her calling to something inside him that matched her exactly, that told him they belonged together. It was the lure he just couldn’t resist.
Liz sobbed in relief as he began to move inside her, with her. The soft trails of light followed his hands blended together with the building fervor of their mating, intensifying in direct proportion to the escalating passion of their joining.
She was lost in the strength of his body, the gentle touch of his hands on her swaying breasts, the heat of his mouth on her bare shoulder. The friction was all consuming robbing her of breath, of everything but need. She tightened around him, clutching at his thick length to hold him, moaning as his movements became ragged and frenzied.
The release was shattering, an explosion of their senses, welding them together in a panting heap, barely able to maintain their footing in a still tilting world.
They clung to each other for a long time, communicating silently with soft touches and nuzzling kisses, reluctant to part.
Tilting her face toward him as he trailed butterfly kisses from her ear over her cheekbone her lips curved into a satisfied smile still too tired to move more then that small amount. If it wasn’t for Max’s weight holding her in place she’d be a puddle on the dirty floor.
“Am I crushing you?” Max murmured against her cheek.
“No, you’re keeping me warm,” Liz answered in a slow lazy tone laced with a husky note that she didn’t even notice.
Reminded of the cold he lifted his chest off her back searching for their clothes.
Liz groaned a protest as the frigid air washed over her exposed skin. “No moving.”
Max smiled at the pout he didn’t have to see to know it was there, it showed clearly in her voice. “We have to move sooner or later.”
“I vote for later,” Liz sighed stretching just enough to ease the ache of tightening muscles.
“I’ll be right back,” Max said watching the soft luminescent glow following his stroking fingers utterly fascinated. Pulling himself away he carefully helped her back onto solid ground before striding over to pick up the clothes littering the floor.
Liz curled her sock-covered toes into the floor as she lifted her sweaty hair off of her neck, nose wrinkling at the tangled mess. “It’s freezing in here,” Liz complained feeling the cold acutely now that Max’s body heat wasn’t warming her.
“Here,” Max offered holding out the pile of smudged wrinkled articles he’d rescued before tugging on his own as he kept an eye on her. “You okay with….this?”
Liz looked up at his question pausing to gauge his meaning. “With what?”
“You know….after yesterday….and this morning…I thought you might be…uncomfortable or…something,” Max offered by way of explanation, surprised when she smiled.
“I’m so very okay,” Liz answered her eyes sparkling. “You look surprised. Have I shocked you?”
Max felt his lips twitch in response to her question. “Everyday,” Max agreed hopping on one foot as he struggled into his pants. “So you’re not freaked about this?”
“Nope,” Liz said moving to pick up her shoes. “Now that I know you’re okay with it. That’s all I was really worried about. I know you’ll look out for me, Max. All that control has to be good for something right?”
Max just grinned in response to her teasing walking over to her and brushing a kiss over her forehead as he eased her into his chest.
“You make me feel safe,” Liz whispered wrapping her arms around his waist. “You’re always taking care of me. When you aren’t beating on your chest to keep Zan in line that is.”
Max covered a laugh with a cough while burying his smile in her hair. “Sassy aren’t you?”
“Yep,” Liz agreed stretching to plant moist feather light kisses over his neck.
Feeling content just with her nearness he rubbed his chin against her temple, soaking in the feeling of being accepted, loved for exactly who he was.
“So it didn’t go very well with your dad, did it?” Liz asked in a whisper feeling his arms tighten around her reflexively.
“You know it’s really not important,” Max hedged not wanting to discuss it. Lacing their fingers together he looked around. “Let’s look around.”
Liz studied his face feeling the sudden tension in the lean muscles under her free hand.
“Come on,” Max urged tugging lightly at her hand.
“Kay, just let me put on my shoes,” Liz agreed worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Whatever had happened was bad, that was clear from his reluctance to talk about it along with the turbulent emotions that had radiated from him earlier. She could wait though. She’d get it out of him slowly while they looked around and talked.
~~~~~
“What are you playing at?” Cal asked watching Zan with an intensity that made him uneasy.
“What?” Zan asked defensively. He shifted uncomfortably under Cal’s scrutiny.
“You know what,” Cal said coldly. “You just don’t listen do you?”
“To what? The voice on a tape?” Zan asked his voice heavy with sarcasm. “You didn’t tell me shit. You recorded a fucking tape so’s I couldn’t ask questions or demand answers. But you’s here now. Should I guess the reason for that?”
“Guess away. There are so many reasons I could have come. You do seem to stir things up,” Cal remarked turning to face the Valenti’s house and Ava’s darkened window. “So. I see you didn’t listen and leave her alone either did you? Not only are you selfish but self-destructive. You’re messing around with people’s lives.”
Cal stopped to prevent old long buried issues from creeping into his voice. He had to leave the past in the past and focus on the now.
“What have you been thinking? You come here and parade around putting all of you at risk. Now there are questions that have no good answer. Everything I did you managed to nullify by coming here. Why do you think I separated you? Maybe so you’d blend in? To protect both of you?”
“Yeah, the sewers real safe,” Zan observed his eyes flashing with heated anger. “You jus wanna keep us on the down low. That’s what it is. You didn’t give a shit what happened ta us. Max….now that’s a different thing. To bad that crazy bitch Tess didn’t get you’s tape. I bet she’d a listened real good if you’da got her ear first.”
“You are what you are. The decoy set. I didn’t make the rules here,” Cal reminded him. “You did.”
“Don’t be saying I’s someone I ain’t. Having a part isn’t the same as being the fucking guy. Don’t play that shit wit me,” Zan said in a low warning tone. “You can jus fuck off you’s useless ta me. You ain’t done shit for me before now doubt that’ll suddenly change.”
“The fact remains, here you are in a mess YOU created,” Cal observed calmly.
“I’s came here ta get Ava. I don’t leave my…I don’t leave her behind when she needs my help. I took care of the problem and she wanted ta stay,” Zan shrugged. “Max and them didn’t seem ta mind none.”
“Yeah,” Cal nodded. “So explain the rest of it. You hanging around Liz Parker, taunting Max, stirring up trouble for him by staying here, deliberately not blending in when there’s already more attention on all of you then is healthy for anyone. I can assure you that you do not want to spend any time in the care of the government. It’s not a pleasant experience. So explain it to me.”
“I don’t gotta explain shit ta you’s,” Zan said aggressively. “You explain ta me how it’s possible ta have two seals. Explain ta me how Maxie can travel in time like he’s on a bad fucking episode of Star Trek. Explain how he made a goddamned bracelet that’s been fucking wit me.”
Cal studied Zan warily wondering if he’d hit his head. Maybe Ava had clobbered him scrambling what little brains he’d started out with. Not that he’d blame her if she had. “Why don’t you tell me what’s been happening and I’ll see what I can do.”
“S’okay. Hope you ain’t in a hurry this is gonna take a while,” Zan said then stopped, looking to Ava’s darkened window torn. He didn’t want to leave her. “Hey, look. If I sorta fucked up an maybe forgot the alignment. That a huge fuck up or…”
“She glow?” Cal cut in amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes.
“Ahhh maybe a bit,” Zan said scratching his ear.
“You didn’t use anything?” Cal asked.
“Nope, forgot,” Zan admitted.
“It’s huge,” Cal said bluntly. “I’ll check her out and see. What did I tell you about this? I put it on the tape. I said leave Ava alone didn’t I? Okay, listen up. You aren’t human.”
“I KNOW that,” Zan snapped.
“I figure I gotta cover the basics since you didn’t listen the first damn time,” Cal said taking Zan by the back of the neck and steering him out of the bushes. “See the glowing serves our kind in two ways. It shows chemical compatibility between the couple and it stimulates the female readying her for procreation. Got that? You stimulate the female into pregnancy. Not human, understand? Did you fast forward over this or what?”
“But we’s hybrids right? That changes things,” Zan said half in objection.
“Yes, it does. You were engineered to fit in here but some traits of ours stuck. How much is anyone’s guess so I’ll check Ava out and we’ll see. You might have gotten lucky. You feeling lucky? Or are you feeling like a new Daddy?” Cal asked grinning when Zan scowled. He deserved to squirm a little.
“What about Max? He’s wit a human,” Zan asked. If he’d misunderstood things then how likely was it that Max had also?
“Whose smart enough to use birth control,” Cal agreed. “Ava can not since she’s not human and can’t exactly march into a doctor’s office. It might not even work on her system, who knows. Now a condom, that works, which is why I said to use them if you couldn’t keep your hands off of Ava.”
“I did and I neva had her glow’in before taday,” Zan defended half-heartedly. “I didn’t mean ta forget this time but…ah hell. Then she glowed.”
Cal sighed seeing Zan’s miserable expression. “Surprise. Things change, Zan. Nothing is for certain. I don’t have any absolutes to offer you. All I can do is explain what you were engineered for and what I know of my species of which you are in part. I can tell you about the past not the future. I can tell you what the plan was but since we crashed I’d say we’ve all strayed off course. Now, tell me about the last couple of months.”
~~~~~
“So? What happened to get you so upset?” Liz asked softly leaning into his side as they walked up the stairs to the second floor of the abandoned space.
“I’m not upset,” Max denied.
“You were. I could feel it, Max,” Liz said squeezing his fingers. “Did your dad give you a hard time?”
“He’s not my father,” Max said in a low forceful tone of voice that hid the emotions churning just below the surface.
Liz blinked in surprise, utterly floored by that statement. She realized she’d stopped moving when Max tugged at her hand prompting her to keeping up. “What? Max…What happened?”
“Zan was right,” Max shrugged. “Never thought I’d say that but Phillip Evans isn’t my father. I may live in his house but that’s about it.”
“Tell me,” Liz requested softly.
“I just….I don’t know who he is but I know that I don’t want be like him. He’s always been more distant then my mom. Working a lot, travelling off and on, and now to suddenly have him in my face it’s just….he doesn’t know me. I’m not talking about the whole other world angle. I’m talking about me, Max Evans. I don’t know him either and after today I’m not sure I want to,” Max admitted.
“He seemed a little…..angry. Did he flip out over the FBI thing? Is that what’s wrong?” Liz asked floundering. Max was not harsh hardhearted person so for him to say that was shocking.
“He’s what’s wrong. The ideas he has are what’s wrong. He’s worried about us. About how serious we are and actually toted Isabel as the model I should pattering myself after. That’s messed up,” Max said as they reached the third floor and exited the stairwell.
“Oh,” Liz whispered getting the idea. She was the problem.
“No,” Max said stopping and turning to her. Taking her by the upper arms and looking her directly in the eyes. “Don’t do that. He’s the one who’s got the problem. I’ve got you,” Max said then placed a tender kiss on her forehead. “I love you, Liz. I always have. I know my way and nothings going to change that. I was so lucky the day I found you. I can be who I really am not who I was in a past life or who someone wants me to be in the future. I’m just me, Max Evans, and somehow it’s enough. I’m not giving that up.”
“I love you too,” Liz whispered blinking back tears giving him a wobbly smile. “I’m not giving you up either. You’re stuck with me now.”
“Good, so we understand each other,” Max teased relaxing slightly.
“Yep, we do,” Liz agreeing raising up onto her toes to brush a soft kiss over his mouth. “Come on, let’s see if we can see my balcony from here. I don’t want to be surprised to find my mother waiting for me. I told her I was taking a nap, like, hours ago. We really don’t need both sets of parents pissed off.”
Max just nodded leading the way feeling relieved that she was willing to drop this for now. There was plenty of time to worry about it later.
After checking two rooms and not getting the right angle they entered the third and stopped dead.
“Holy shit,” Max said softly.
“Don’t freak out,” Liz wheezed. “Maybe you can’t see anything or….maybe all this stuff is….maybe it’s been here for awhile and doesn’t have anything to do with…Oh God Max.”
“Fuck. We have to call Valenti,” Max said striding to the window, stepping over the rolled up camping mattress and sleeping bag, to peer out at the perfect view of Liz’s balcony and bedroom window. Turning to the tripod with the expensive looking camera attached he looked it over. “Now.”
Still embedded deep inside her body, Max felt a sense of fierce satisfaction as she quivered under him signaling her second impending release. Pressing her against the unyielding surface of the bar to control her movements, he cupped the mound of her sex in his palm, never stopping the smooth glide of his fingers.
He needed to saturate her completely so there was no misunderstanding that she was his mate. Driven by things usually well controlled and kept suppressed under the layers of civilized human behavior, he gave in to the territorial urgings that Zan had been inciting almost daily.
“Please…” Liz cried the word breaking from her throat in a pleading gasp of need. The need to move, to take from him what she needed was screaming though her, controlled only by his heavier more dominant form, still she struggled helplessly, pushing herself into his stroking fingers, the small movements keeping him semi erect inside her.
His every cell needed her. Craved her with an undeniable force. He could feel the elemental pull of her calling to something inside him that matched her exactly, that told him they belonged together. It was the lure he just couldn’t resist.
Liz sobbed in relief as he began to move inside her, with her. The soft trails of light followed his hands blended together with the building fervor of their mating, intensifying in direct proportion to the escalating passion of their joining.
She was lost in the strength of his body, the gentle touch of his hands on her swaying breasts, the heat of his mouth on her bare shoulder. The friction was all consuming robbing her of breath, of everything but need. She tightened around him, clutching at his thick length to hold him, moaning as his movements became ragged and frenzied.
The release was shattering, an explosion of their senses, welding them together in a panting heap, barely able to maintain their footing in a still tilting world.
They clung to each other for a long time, communicating silently with soft touches and nuzzling kisses, reluctant to part.
Tilting her face toward him as he trailed butterfly kisses from her ear over her cheekbone her lips curved into a satisfied smile still too tired to move more then that small amount. If it wasn’t for Max’s weight holding her in place she’d be a puddle on the dirty floor.
“Am I crushing you?” Max murmured against her cheek.
“No, you’re keeping me warm,” Liz answered in a slow lazy tone laced with a husky note that she didn’t even notice.
Reminded of the cold he lifted his chest off her back searching for their clothes.
Liz groaned a protest as the frigid air washed over her exposed skin. “No moving.”
Max smiled at the pout he didn’t have to see to know it was there, it showed clearly in her voice. “We have to move sooner or later.”
“I vote for later,” Liz sighed stretching just enough to ease the ache of tightening muscles.
“I’ll be right back,” Max said watching the soft luminescent glow following his stroking fingers utterly fascinated. Pulling himself away he carefully helped her back onto solid ground before striding over to pick up the clothes littering the floor.
Liz curled her sock-covered toes into the floor as she lifted her sweaty hair off of her neck, nose wrinkling at the tangled mess. “It’s freezing in here,” Liz complained feeling the cold acutely now that Max’s body heat wasn’t warming her.
“Here,” Max offered holding out the pile of smudged wrinkled articles he’d rescued before tugging on his own as he kept an eye on her. “You okay with….this?”
Liz looked up at his question pausing to gauge his meaning. “With what?”
“You know….after yesterday….and this morning…I thought you might be…uncomfortable or…something,” Max offered by way of explanation, surprised when she smiled.
“I’m so very okay,” Liz answered her eyes sparkling. “You look surprised. Have I shocked you?”
Max felt his lips twitch in response to her question. “Everyday,” Max agreed hopping on one foot as he struggled into his pants. “So you’re not freaked about this?”
“Nope,” Liz said moving to pick up her shoes. “Now that I know you’re okay with it. That’s all I was really worried about. I know you’ll look out for me, Max. All that control has to be good for something right?”
Max just grinned in response to her teasing walking over to her and brushing a kiss over her forehead as he eased her into his chest.
“You make me feel safe,” Liz whispered wrapping her arms around his waist. “You’re always taking care of me. When you aren’t beating on your chest to keep Zan in line that is.”
Max covered a laugh with a cough while burying his smile in her hair. “Sassy aren’t you?”
“Yep,” Liz agreed stretching to plant moist feather light kisses over his neck.
Feeling content just with her nearness he rubbed his chin against her temple, soaking in the feeling of being accepted, loved for exactly who he was.
“So it didn’t go very well with your dad, did it?” Liz asked in a whisper feeling his arms tighten around her reflexively.
“You know it’s really not important,” Max hedged not wanting to discuss it. Lacing their fingers together he looked around. “Let’s look around.”
Liz studied his face feeling the sudden tension in the lean muscles under her free hand.
“Come on,” Max urged tugging lightly at her hand.
“Kay, just let me put on my shoes,” Liz agreed worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Whatever had happened was bad, that was clear from his reluctance to talk about it along with the turbulent emotions that had radiated from him earlier. She could wait though. She’d get it out of him slowly while they looked around and talked.
~~~~~
“What are you playing at?” Cal asked watching Zan with an intensity that made him uneasy.
“What?” Zan asked defensively. He shifted uncomfortably under Cal’s scrutiny.
“You know what,” Cal said coldly. “You just don’t listen do you?”
“To what? The voice on a tape?” Zan asked his voice heavy with sarcasm. “You didn’t tell me shit. You recorded a fucking tape so’s I couldn’t ask questions or demand answers. But you’s here now. Should I guess the reason for that?”
“Guess away. There are so many reasons I could have come. You do seem to stir things up,” Cal remarked turning to face the Valenti’s house and Ava’s darkened window. “So. I see you didn’t listen and leave her alone either did you? Not only are you selfish but self-destructive. You’re messing around with people’s lives.”
Cal stopped to prevent old long buried issues from creeping into his voice. He had to leave the past in the past and focus on the now.
“What have you been thinking? You come here and parade around putting all of you at risk. Now there are questions that have no good answer. Everything I did you managed to nullify by coming here. Why do you think I separated you? Maybe so you’d blend in? To protect both of you?”
“Yeah, the sewers real safe,” Zan observed his eyes flashing with heated anger. “You jus wanna keep us on the down low. That’s what it is. You didn’t give a shit what happened ta us. Max….now that’s a different thing. To bad that crazy bitch Tess didn’t get you’s tape. I bet she’d a listened real good if you’da got her ear first.”
“You are what you are. The decoy set. I didn’t make the rules here,” Cal reminded him. “You did.”
“Don’t be saying I’s someone I ain’t. Having a part isn’t the same as being the fucking guy. Don’t play that shit wit me,” Zan said in a low warning tone. “You can jus fuck off you’s useless ta me. You ain’t done shit for me before now doubt that’ll suddenly change.”
“The fact remains, here you are in a mess YOU created,” Cal observed calmly.
“I’s came here ta get Ava. I don’t leave my…I don’t leave her behind when she needs my help. I took care of the problem and she wanted ta stay,” Zan shrugged. “Max and them didn’t seem ta mind none.”
“Yeah,” Cal nodded. “So explain the rest of it. You hanging around Liz Parker, taunting Max, stirring up trouble for him by staying here, deliberately not blending in when there’s already more attention on all of you then is healthy for anyone. I can assure you that you do not want to spend any time in the care of the government. It’s not a pleasant experience. So explain it to me.”
“I don’t gotta explain shit ta you’s,” Zan said aggressively. “You explain ta me how it’s possible ta have two seals. Explain ta me how Maxie can travel in time like he’s on a bad fucking episode of Star Trek. Explain how he made a goddamned bracelet that’s been fucking wit me.”
Cal studied Zan warily wondering if he’d hit his head. Maybe Ava had clobbered him scrambling what little brains he’d started out with. Not that he’d blame her if she had. “Why don’t you tell me what’s been happening and I’ll see what I can do.”
“S’okay. Hope you ain’t in a hurry this is gonna take a while,” Zan said then stopped, looking to Ava’s darkened window torn. He didn’t want to leave her. “Hey, look. If I sorta fucked up an maybe forgot the alignment. That a huge fuck up or…”
“She glow?” Cal cut in amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes.
“Ahhh maybe a bit,” Zan said scratching his ear.
“You didn’t use anything?” Cal asked.
“Nope, forgot,” Zan admitted.
“It’s huge,” Cal said bluntly. “I’ll check her out and see. What did I tell you about this? I put it on the tape. I said leave Ava alone didn’t I? Okay, listen up. You aren’t human.”
“I KNOW that,” Zan snapped.
“I figure I gotta cover the basics since you didn’t listen the first damn time,” Cal said taking Zan by the back of the neck and steering him out of the bushes. “See the glowing serves our kind in two ways. It shows chemical compatibility between the couple and it stimulates the female readying her for procreation. Got that? You stimulate the female into pregnancy. Not human, understand? Did you fast forward over this or what?”
“But we’s hybrids right? That changes things,” Zan said half in objection.
“Yes, it does. You were engineered to fit in here but some traits of ours stuck. How much is anyone’s guess so I’ll check Ava out and we’ll see. You might have gotten lucky. You feeling lucky? Or are you feeling like a new Daddy?” Cal asked grinning when Zan scowled. He deserved to squirm a little.
“What about Max? He’s wit a human,” Zan asked. If he’d misunderstood things then how likely was it that Max had also?
“Whose smart enough to use birth control,” Cal agreed. “Ava can not since she’s not human and can’t exactly march into a doctor’s office. It might not even work on her system, who knows. Now a condom, that works, which is why I said to use them if you couldn’t keep your hands off of Ava.”
“I did and I neva had her glow’in before taday,” Zan defended half-heartedly. “I didn’t mean ta forget this time but…ah hell. Then she glowed.”
Cal sighed seeing Zan’s miserable expression. “Surprise. Things change, Zan. Nothing is for certain. I don’t have any absolutes to offer you. All I can do is explain what you were engineered for and what I know of my species of which you are in part. I can tell you about the past not the future. I can tell you what the plan was but since we crashed I’d say we’ve all strayed off course. Now, tell me about the last couple of months.”
~~~~~
“So? What happened to get you so upset?” Liz asked softly leaning into his side as they walked up the stairs to the second floor of the abandoned space.
“I’m not upset,” Max denied.
“You were. I could feel it, Max,” Liz said squeezing his fingers. “Did your dad give you a hard time?”
“He’s not my father,” Max said in a low forceful tone of voice that hid the emotions churning just below the surface.
Liz blinked in surprise, utterly floored by that statement. She realized she’d stopped moving when Max tugged at her hand prompting her to keeping up. “What? Max…What happened?”
“Zan was right,” Max shrugged. “Never thought I’d say that but Phillip Evans isn’t my father. I may live in his house but that’s about it.”
“Tell me,” Liz requested softly.
“I just….I don’t know who he is but I know that I don’t want be like him. He’s always been more distant then my mom. Working a lot, travelling off and on, and now to suddenly have him in my face it’s just….he doesn’t know me. I’m not talking about the whole other world angle. I’m talking about me, Max Evans. I don’t know him either and after today I’m not sure I want to,” Max admitted.
“He seemed a little…..angry. Did he flip out over the FBI thing? Is that what’s wrong?” Liz asked floundering. Max was not harsh hardhearted person so for him to say that was shocking.
“He’s what’s wrong. The ideas he has are what’s wrong. He’s worried about us. About how serious we are and actually toted Isabel as the model I should pattering myself after. That’s messed up,” Max said as they reached the third floor and exited the stairwell.
“Oh,” Liz whispered getting the idea. She was the problem.
“No,” Max said stopping and turning to her. Taking her by the upper arms and looking her directly in the eyes. “Don’t do that. He’s the one who’s got the problem. I’ve got you,” Max said then placed a tender kiss on her forehead. “I love you, Liz. I always have. I know my way and nothings going to change that. I was so lucky the day I found you. I can be who I really am not who I was in a past life or who someone wants me to be in the future. I’m just me, Max Evans, and somehow it’s enough. I’m not giving that up.”
“I love you too,” Liz whispered blinking back tears giving him a wobbly smile. “I’m not giving you up either. You’re stuck with me now.”
“Good, so we understand each other,” Max teased relaxing slightly.
“Yep, we do,” Liz agreeing raising up onto her toes to brush a soft kiss over his mouth. “Come on, let’s see if we can see my balcony from here. I don’t want to be surprised to find my mother waiting for me. I told her I was taking a nap, like, hours ago. We really don’t need both sets of parents pissed off.”
Max just nodded leading the way feeling relieved that she was willing to drop this for now. There was plenty of time to worry about it later.
After checking two rooms and not getting the right angle they entered the third and stopped dead.
“Holy shit,” Max said softly.
“Don’t freak out,” Liz wheezed. “Maybe you can’t see anything or….maybe all this stuff is….maybe it’s been here for awhile and doesn’t have anything to do with…Oh God Max.”
“Fuck. We have to call Valenti,” Max said striding to the window, stepping over the rolled up camping mattress and sleeping bag, to peer out at the perfect view of Liz’s balcony and bedroom window. Turning to the tripod with the expensive looking camera attached he looked it over. “Now.”
Chapter Ninety One
“Max, you promised not to freak out,” Liz reminded him.
“Who’s freaking out? I’m not freaking out,” Max denied hustling her into the backdoor of the CrashDown as quickly as possible.
“Of course not,” Liz mocked lightly, her lips twitching despite the circumstances as her eyes landed on Max’s hair, standing up in sweaty spikes from repeatedly spearing his fingers through it. “You’re just dragging me around for fun.”
“It’s cold out,” Max stated locking the backdoor after them. Still nervous about her being so close to the alley he tried to guide her into the store room.
“Umm, Max? The store room isn’t a good idea,” Liz said digging in her heels and bring them both to a halt. “My dad will think it’s strange if he finds us in there. Let’s get something to eat, okay?”
“It’s sort of late,” Max hedged frowning at the idea of being so exposed in the dining room with those huge glass windows. “I could talk to your dad and…”
“Valenti will talk to my dad. Otherwise you’ll be explaining what we were doing in an abandoned building when I said I was taking a nap,” Liz said gravitating closer without conscious thought. “I don’t think you want to have that conversation.”
Feeling his ears heat as her smile widened he tugged her into his chest. “So you’re hungry?” Max asked giving in.
“Very,” Liz admitted her fingers trailing up his abdomen.
“Then let’s eat,” Max murmured kissing the top of her head even as his eyes strayed toward the locked door.
Feeling how worried he was in the rigid set of his spine she sighed rubbing her cheek against his chest as she kneaded the stiff muscles of his back. “Valenti knows what he’s doing.”
“I don’t like this,” Max grumbled still upset over the way this was going.
“You can’t spend every second with me,” Liz pointed out. “Especially right now with your dad so upset. Valenti is better suited for this anyway. It’s his job, Max. He’s got the resources to keep the building under surveillance, he’s got a reason to be checking out vacant buildings in the area, and my dad will listen to his recommendations. I know you’re upset but whoever it is can’t see all that far into my room and…”
“They can see enough.. too much,” Max argued into her hair. It wasn’t that he didn’t see her point because he did. It was a good thing to have as many people keeping tabs on the situation and working within the system was a great way of dealing with the parents but….
“Come on,” Liz said pulling him into the kitchen to keep him from dwelling on the things they couldn’t change. Being as late as it was on a weekday the café had already closed so she wasn’t surprised to find the kitchen dark.
Max hung back, guarding the doorway, as Liz moved around the room.
Valenti’s plan seemed like the best way to handle things on the surface. They were under scrutiny from all sides with the FBI in town and both sets of parents on alert. Letting Valenti keep a watch on the building for whoever had left all that equipment seemed smart but there were all kinds of things that could wrong in his eyes. There was no way to be certain that someone couldn’t slip in unnoticed, after all no one had noticed that sent up before now.
Liz was right. He couldn’t possibly keep her in sight twenty-four hours a day so having her father and Valenti also watching was nothing but a good thing. That didn’t mean he had to like it. How he was going to leave her and go home he didn’t know.
He’d already tried to reach both Michael and Zan and gotten no answer so, for now, Valenti was it.
Reasoning that out didn’t make him feel better. Liz was in clear danger and it seemed like no one was fully suited to protecting her each for different reasons.
Max felt his resentment toward his father grow. Why did he have to show an interest now? Just when he needed to be able to sneak in and out of the house unnoticed? It was his job to keep her safe.
“Do you want to eat here or in the dining room?” Liz asked breaking into his thoughts.
“Here’s good,” Max said moving over to the prep table and positioning himself between Liz and the pass through window to the dining room.
Liz had just taken her first bite of food when her father’s voice boomed down the stairs from the apartment.
“LIZ?”
Swallowing quickly she called back. “Down here, Dad.”
~~~~~~
Two hours later Jeff walked down the stairs to double check all the locks and turn out the lights.
Learning from the Sheriff that some sick bastard had been watching his little girl had thrown him into a tailspin after the day he’d already had.
Walking into the dining room to find Max sitting at the counter in the dark he almost wasn’t surprised.
“Max,” Jeff greeted quietly as he sat down next him. “Is there some reason that you’re sitting in my café in the dark?”
“I can’t seem to go home,” Max admitted glancing over to judge the other man’s expression.
“How much of that is due to things with your father?” Jeff asked adjusting the position of the napkin holder and condiments in front of him.
“I don’t know,” Max answered softly. “Right now I just can’t say.”
“I don’t know your father very well but he’s a very good lawyer from all accounts,” Jeff said and watched Max’s face-harden. “I understand it’s sometimes hard to separate yourself from your work. I’m lucky. I see Liz every day, I work with her and I never forget that I’m a father first.”
“What if being a father wasn’t the reason you…acquired children? What then?” Max asked not looking at Jeff Parker.
“Then it’s a damn shame. He’s missing out on a very rewarding experience but that may not be the case here. He’s understandably upset that…,” Jeff started but stopped when Max started shaking his head in denial.
“He’s really not. It’s not understandable because he’s not upset about the FBI. You’d think he would be. I’m being questioned in relation to people being murdered. But it’s not about that. It’s not even about the possibility that I might get hurt or Isabel might receive dangerous attention from some lunatic. I doubt either possibility has occurred to him. He’s more worried that I might deviate from whatever future he’s got planned. He doesn’t see me.”
Jeff silently studied him throughout his speech, seeing the misery on his face, in his body language, reading more then the words he was speaking.
“I had to leave just to make sure Liz was okay. I had to walk out. Now, I don’t really want to go back. What if something happens? They wouldn’t even let me use the phone to check on her. Now there’s somebody watching her and…stalking her and what if I don’t get her calls? What if I can’t call her? I don’t want her to worry and climb out her window to come find me. Maybe I should just go to Michael’s,” Max mumbled half forgetting who he was talking to as he voiced things he was worrying about if he did go back home.
“Hang on there, Max. I know your mother and I’m sure she wants you home no matter what’s happening between you and your father. I admit I don’t know him since he’s not from the area originally but….I’ll call and let Diane know where you are. I’m sure that something can be worked out,” Jeff interrupted quickly before Max could make a decision one way or the other. Despite his concerns for Liz, or maybe because of them, he was also concerned for Max. He’d seen this boy grow up in this very café and thought he was becoming a fine man. He didn’t want any parent worrying about where their child was. Too many parents in Roswell had already had that experience.
Max remained in his seat, kicking himself, as Mr. Parker called his folks only rising when the phone was held out for him to take.
“Max?” Diane’s voice could be heard even before he had the phone to his ear.
“Hi, Mom. I’m here,” Max spoke quietly very aware of being watched.
“Oh Max! I’ve been so worried about you! Please come home. I promise that Liz can call any time and NO ONE will keep you from calling her,” Diane said shooting a pissed off look at her husband. “Just come home. You have school tomorrow and…Liz can come to dinner some time and…”
“Okay, I’ll be home in a few minutes. Valenti said he’d get me a ride back to the Jeep and then I’ll be right home okay?” Max caved hearing his mother’s worry clearly and feeling guilty. “Oh and umm….I saw Zan and is it okay if he comes over Friday for dinner?”
“Absolutely. Ask Liz to come too,” Diane replied vastly relieved to have him coming home. “She’s welcome. What does she like to eat?”
“Ahhh,” Max stumbled caught off guard. “I don’t know if she can…I’ll have to ask her and Dad…”
“Will be a perfect gentlemen and get to know your friends. I want to get to know them both better. I really do. I’ll cook. It’ll be fun,” Diane encouraged her son. “Max, anyone that’s important to you is someone I’d like to get to know better. I’ve talked to Isabel too. This is your home and you’re welcome to have company. I’d really love to do this.”
“Well, umm okay. If Liz can come then…” Max said rubbing at his flaming ear and looking up sheepishly at Mr. Parker who was trying not to enjoy his squirming.
“Wonderful. Then it’s settled,” Diane said happily.
After promising to hurry home Max hung up and turned back to Liz’s father. “Umm thanks, Mr. Parker for….you know…everything.”
“No problem, Max. I would like to keep my daughter from climbing out the window too.”
“Ahhhh right,” Max agreed his ears burning even brighter as he avoided looking directly at Liz’s father. “Well, I better…go. So can you tell Liz that I’ll see her at school?”
“I’ll do that,” Jeff agreed smiling.
“Okay, thanks again,” Max said again as he slipped out the front door.
Jeff shook his head as he locked the door behind Max. Walking up the stairs to the apartment he tried to convince himself that things would be okay. The police would catch the person threatening his daughter. He just had to hang on a little longer, watch her closely until then because he didn’t think he could handle it if anything happened to her.
He’d do whatever he had to do to keep her safe.
~~~~~~
Heaving a sigh of relief after exiting the café Max closed his eyes wondering how he was going to tell Liz what an idiot he’d been in front of her father. It was a miracle that Mr. Parker wasn’t thinking he was a terrible influence on his daughter and telling him to stay the hell away from her.
Opening his eyes he was startled to see Ava turning the corner, head down and rapidly walking away. “Hey! Ava!” Max called out jogging after her. “What are you doing out this late alone?”
“Umm I just…put Liz’s bracelet in her room,” Ava mumbled leaving her head bowed so Max wouldn’t see how upset she was. “She wasn’t there so I left it on her bed with a note.”
“Oh. Okay, well I’ll drive you home. You shouldn’t be out alone right now. We found out that someone’s been watching Liz from a vacant building….taking pictures. There’s no way you should be out by yourself,” Max explained seeing there was something wrong in the way she wouldn’t lift her head. “Are you okay? You want me to get the Sheriff?”
“No! No, I’m fine,” Ava denied slowing her steps. She’d been planning on taking off right from here. After waking up, uncomfortable from her twisted clothes, face stiff with dried tears she’d decided she couldn’t wait to finish up her business and get the hell out before she made it worse. Her backpack was stuffed with clothes and her tips but hearing the latest development she hesitated. She’d stayed to help them and in turn accept their help in building something good. How could she desert them now? They might need her. “Just tired. I’d really appreciate a ride, Max. Thanks.”
“Sure, it’s just a couple of blocks to the station,” Max observed realizing how many blocks they’d walked while talking. “Let’s pick up the Jeep and we can talk.”
“Okay, I’ve got a lot to tell you. I got a peek at some of the agents stuff and….”
~~~~~~
Fury raced through him as he watched the two of them walk together. Again they dared flaunt themselves. Dirty, filthy deceivers.
This could not be allowed.
They needed to be taught what happened to vile blasphemers.
Waiting until they reached the end of the downtown strip he positioned himself ahead of them, fists clenching around the pipe he’d picked up behind the hardware store. The rush of finally serving as he’d been meant to all his life lit him up from the inside.
Just as the couple reached him, he burst out from the doorway he was hiding in and swung hard. Glorying in the sickening sound of metal connecting with flesh and bone.
~~~~~~
Caught up in their discussion it wasn’t until Max saw the dark shape detach itself from the shadows and the blur of movement that he realized their danger. Ava dropped like a stone to the pavement and then he was turning on him.
The fury of the attack left him floundering as he tried to evade the blows raining down on him. The first solid hit to the side of his head had his legs turning to rubber and sliding right out from under him.
The last thing he saw before everything turned black was a guy kicking Ava’s prone body repeatedly in a frenzy of violence and hatred.
He didn’t even feel it when the man turned back to him landing blow after blow on his unconscious body.
“Max, you promised not to freak out,” Liz reminded him.
“Who’s freaking out? I’m not freaking out,” Max denied hustling her into the backdoor of the CrashDown as quickly as possible.
“Of course not,” Liz mocked lightly, her lips twitching despite the circumstances as her eyes landed on Max’s hair, standing up in sweaty spikes from repeatedly spearing his fingers through it. “You’re just dragging me around for fun.”
“It’s cold out,” Max stated locking the backdoor after them. Still nervous about her being so close to the alley he tried to guide her into the store room.
“Umm, Max? The store room isn’t a good idea,” Liz said digging in her heels and bring them both to a halt. “My dad will think it’s strange if he finds us in there. Let’s get something to eat, okay?”
“It’s sort of late,” Max hedged frowning at the idea of being so exposed in the dining room with those huge glass windows. “I could talk to your dad and…”
“Valenti will talk to my dad. Otherwise you’ll be explaining what we were doing in an abandoned building when I said I was taking a nap,” Liz said gravitating closer without conscious thought. “I don’t think you want to have that conversation.”
Feeling his ears heat as her smile widened he tugged her into his chest. “So you’re hungry?” Max asked giving in.
“Very,” Liz admitted her fingers trailing up his abdomen.
“Then let’s eat,” Max murmured kissing the top of her head even as his eyes strayed toward the locked door.
Feeling how worried he was in the rigid set of his spine she sighed rubbing her cheek against his chest as she kneaded the stiff muscles of his back. “Valenti knows what he’s doing.”
“I don’t like this,” Max grumbled still upset over the way this was going.
“You can’t spend every second with me,” Liz pointed out. “Especially right now with your dad so upset. Valenti is better suited for this anyway. It’s his job, Max. He’s got the resources to keep the building under surveillance, he’s got a reason to be checking out vacant buildings in the area, and my dad will listen to his recommendations. I know you’re upset but whoever it is can’t see all that far into my room and…”
“They can see enough.. too much,” Max argued into her hair. It wasn’t that he didn’t see her point because he did. It was a good thing to have as many people keeping tabs on the situation and working within the system was a great way of dealing with the parents but….
“Come on,” Liz said pulling him into the kitchen to keep him from dwelling on the things they couldn’t change. Being as late as it was on a weekday the café had already closed so she wasn’t surprised to find the kitchen dark.
Max hung back, guarding the doorway, as Liz moved around the room.
Valenti’s plan seemed like the best way to handle things on the surface. They were under scrutiny from all sides with the FBI in town and both sets of parents on alert. Letting Valenti keep a watch on the building for whoever had left all that equipment seemed smart but there were all kinds of things that could wrong in his eyes. There was no way to be certain that someone couldn’t slip in unnoticed, after all no one had noticed that sent up before now.
Liz was right. He couldn’t possibly keep her in sight twenty-four hours a day so having her father and Valenti also watching was nothing but a good thing. That didn’t mean he had to like it. How he was going to leave her and go home he didn’t know.
He’d already tried to reach both Michael and Zan and gotten no answer so, for now, Valenti was it.
Reasoning that out didn’t make him feel better. Liz was in clear danger and it seemed like no one was fully suited to protecting her each for different reasons.
Max felt his resentment toward his father grow. Why did he have to show an interest now? Just when he needed to be able to sneak in and out of the house unnoticed? It was his job to keep her safe.
“Do you want to eat here or in the dining room?” Liz asked breaking into his thoughts.
“Here’s good,” Max said moving over to the prep table and positioning himself between Liz and the pass through window to the dining room.
Liz had just taken her first bite of food when her father’s voice boomed down the stairs from the apartment.
“LIZ?”
Swallowing quickly she called back. “Down here, Dad.”
~~~~~~
Two hours later Jeff walked down the stairs to double check all the locks and turn out the lights.
Learning from the Sheriff that some sick bastard had been watching his little girl had thrown him into a tailspin after the day he’d already had.
Walking into the dining room to find Max sitting at the counter in the dark he almost wasn’t surprised.
“Max,” Jeff greeted quietly as he sat down next him. “Is there some reason that you’re sitting in my café in the dark?”
“I can’t seem to go home,” Max admitted glancing over to judge the other man’s expression.
“How much of that is due to things with your father?” Jeff asked adjusting the position of the napkin holder and condiments in front of him.
“I don’t know,” Max answered softly. “Right now I just can’t say.”
“I don’t know your father very well but he’s a very good lawyer from all accounts,” Jeff said and watched Max’s face-harden. “I understand it’s sometimes hard to separate yourself from your work. I’m lucky. I see Liz every day, I work with her and I never forget that I’m a father first.”
“What if being a father wasn’t the reason you…acquired children? What then?” Max asked not looking at Jeff Parker.
“Then it’s a damn shame. He’s missing out on a very rewarding experience but that may not be the case here. He’s understandably upset that…,” Jeff started but stopped when Max started shaking his head in denial.
“He’s really not. It’s not understandable because he’s not upset about the FBI. You’d think he would be. I’m being questioned in relation to people being murdered. But it’s not about that. It’s not even about the possibility that I might get hurt or Isabel might receive dangerous attention from some lunatic. I doubt either possibility has occurred to him. He’s more worried that I might deviate from whatever future he’s got planned. He doesn’t see me.”
Jeff silently studied him throughout his speech, seeing the misery on his face, in his body language, reading more then the words he was speaking.
“I had to leave just to make sure Liz was okay. I had to walk out. Now, I don’t really want to go back. What if something happens? They wouldn’t even let me use the phone to check on her. Now there’s somebody watching her and…stalking her and what if I don’t get her calls? What if I can’t call her? I don’t want her to worry and climb out her window to come find me. Maybe I should just go to Michael’s,” Max mumbled half forgetting who he was talking to as he voiced things he was worrying about if he did go back home.
“Hang on there, Max. I know your mother and I’m sure she wants you home no matter what’s happening between you and your father. I admit I don’t know him since he’s not from the area originally but….I’ll call and let Diane know where you are. I’m sure that something can be worked out,” Jeff interrupted quickly before Max could make a decision one way or the other. Despite his concerns for Liz, or maybe because of them, he was also concerned for Max. He’d seen this boy grow up in this very café and thought he was becoming a fine man. He didn’t want any parent worrying about where their child was. Too many parents in Roswell had already had that experience.
Max remained in his seat, kicking himself, as Mr. Parker called his folks only rising when the phone was held out for him to take.
“Max?” Diane’s voice could be heard even before he had the phone to his ear.
“Hi, Mom. I’m here,” Max spoke quietly very aware of being watched.
“Oh Max! I’ve been so worried about you! Please come home. I promise that Liz can call any time and NO ONE will keep you from calling her,” Diane said shooting a pissed off look at her husband. “Just come home. You have school tomorrow and…Liz can come to dinner some time and…”
“Okay, I’ll be home in a few minutes. Valenti said he’d get me a ride back to the Jeep and then I’ll be right home okay?” Max caved hearing his mother’s worry clearly and feeling guilty. “Oh and umm….I saw Zan and is it okay if he comes over Friday for dinner?”
“Absolutely. Ask Liz to come too,” Diane replied vastly relieved to have him coming home. “She’s welcome. What does she like to eat?”
“Ahhh,” Max stumbled caught off guard. “I don’t know if she can…I’ll have to ask her and Dad…”
“Will be a perfect gentlemen and get to know your friends. I want to get to know them both better. I really do. I’ll cook. It’ll be fun,” Diane encouraged her son. “Max, anyone that’s important to you is someone I’d like to get to know better. I’ve talked to Isabel too. This is your home and you’re welcome to have company. I’d really love to do this.”
“Well, umm okay. If Liz can come then…” Max said rubbing at his flaming ear and looking up sheepishly at Mr. Parker who was trying not to enjoy his squirming.
“Wonderful. Then it’s settled,” Diane said happily.
After promising to hurry home Max hung up and turned back to Liz’s father. “Umm thanks, Mr. Parker for….you know…everything.”
“No problem, Max. I would like to keep my daughter from climbing out the window too.”
“Ahhhh right,” Max agreed his ears burning even brighter as he avoided looking directly at Liz’s father. “Well, I better…go. So can you tell Liz that I’ll see her at school?”
“I’ll do that,” Jeff agreed smiling.
“Okay, thanks again,” Max said again as he slipped out the front door.
Jeff shook his head as he locked the door behind Max. Walking up the stairs to the apartment he tried to convince himself that things would be okay. The police would catch the person threatening his daughter. He just had to hang on a little longer, watch her closely until then because he didn’t think he could handle it if anything happened to her.
He’d do whatever he had to do to keep her safe.
~~~~~~
Heaving a sigh of relief after exiting the café Max closed his eyes wondering how he was going to tell Liz what an idiot he’d been in front of her father. It was a miracle that Mr. Parker wasn’t thinking he was a terrible influence on his daughter and telling him to stay the hell away from her.
Opening his eyes he was startled to see Ava turning the corner, head down and rapidly walking away. “Hey! Ava!” Max called out jogging after her. “What are you doing out this late alone?”
“Umm I just…put Liz’s bracelet in her room,” Ava mumbled leaving her head bowed so Max wouldn’t see how upset she was. “She wasn’t there so I left it on her bed with a note.”
“Oh. Okay, well I’ll drive you home. You shouldn’t be out alone right now. We found out that someone’s been watching Liz from a vacant building….taking pictures. There’s no way you should be out by yourself,” Max explained seeing there was something wrong in the way she wouldn’t lift her head. “Are you okay? You want me to get the Sheriff?”
“No! No, I’m fine,” Ava denied slowing her steps. She’d been planning on taking off right from here. After waking up, uncomfortable from her twisted clothes, face stiff with dried tears she’d decided she couldn’t wait to finish up her business and get the hell out before she made it worse. Her backpack was stuffed with clothes and her tips but hearing the latest development she hesitated. She’d stayed to help them and in turn accept their help in building something good. How could she desert them now? They might need her. “Just tired. I’d really appreciate a ride, Max. Thanks.”
“Sure, it’s just a couple of blocks to the station,” Max observed realizing how many blocks they’d walked while talking. “Let’s pick up the Jeep and we can talk.”
“Okay, I’ve got a lot to tell you. I got a peek at some of the agents stuff and….”
~~~~~~
Fury raced through him as he watched the two of them walk together. Again they dared flaunt themselves. Dirty, filthy deceivers.
This could not be allowed.
They needed to be taught what happened to vile blasphemers.
Waiting until they reached the end of the downtown strip he positioned himself ahead of them, fists clenching around the pipe he’d picked up behind the hardware store. The rush of finally serving as he’d been meant to all his life lit him up from the inside.
Just as the couple reached him, he burst out from the doorway he was hiding in and swung hard. Glorying in the sickening sound of metal connecting with flesh and bone.
~~~~~~
Caught up in their discussion it wasn’t until Max saw the dark shape detach itself from the shadows and the blur of movement that he realized their danger. Ava dropped like a stone to the pavement and then he was turning on him.
The fury of the attack left him floundering as he tried to evade the blows raining down on him. The first solid hit to the side of his head had his legs turning to rubber and sliding right out from under him.
The last thing he saw before everything turned black was a guy kicking Ava’s prone body repeatedly in a frenzy of violence and hatred.
He didn’t even feel it when the man turned back to him landing blow after blow on his unconscious body.
I know! Finally!
Chapter Ninety Two
Liz eased her bedroom door shut with quiet careful precision before leaning back against it and shutting her eyes to block out the view of the window.
The window where someone had been watching and could be watching right now.
Not that they could see this far into her room but still, she felt very aware of the intrusion.
Taking a deep breath she tried to ignore the heat tinting her cheeks and all the feelings connected to what could be outside the window. Max was already hyper-protective no sense in alerting him to her anxiety.
Pushing away from the door she refocused on one of the many problems plaguing her. This had to stop. Drifting off in the middle of listening to her parents tell her all the things she already knew about having a stalker to have an extremely vivid extremely inappropriate fantasy was not acceptable.
Her DAD was standing right there! How could this be happening? It was wrong. It was wrong on so many levels and soooo not normal. It seemed like she’d go from sated exhaustion one minute to yearning for Max the next. It was just a bit disconcerting when she was supposed to be concentrating on her father and the current situation.
Blowing out a disgusted puff of air she continued to berate herself. Thank God they hadn’t pushed the whole thought you sleeping thing. Her mom had looked at her clothes with narrow eyed scrutiny but her father hadn’t even blinked. Of course he was a little upset and distracted. That had helped too.
Covering her glowing cheeks with her hands she stifled a moan as she paced, driven by relentless sexual energy. Keeping well out of range of the window she tried to think. To strip this all down and examine it from every angle but found her thoughts fractured, refusing to condense into any sort of useful format.
Anxious without knowing the reason, her pacing increased.
Realizing that she was now standing directly in front of the window, framed perfectly and lit from behind, she had to suppress her urge to cringe away.
Spinning on her heels her eyes landed on her bed, focusing for the first time on the bracelet. Her bracelet.
Striding over she scooped it up and put it on feeling better almost immediately, cooler as her body temperature dropped, calmer. Almost like she did when Max hugged her close.
Reaching for the ripped notebook paper she scanned the hastily scribbled note that accompanied it, feeling a sinking sensation in her stomach.
“Honey?” Jeff called as he tapped on her door lightly.
“Yeah, Dad?” Liz called as she dropped the paper in her search for her cell phone. Where the HELL had she left it?
“Max said to tell you that he’d see you at school,” Jeff called through the door.
“He left?” Liz asked distraught. Damn! Someone had to find Ava and convince her to stay. She had been hoping she could catch him. Glancing at her window she nibbled at her lip. “Umm okay, thanks Dad. You didn’t like, hassle him did you?”
“No, of course not,” Jeff answered then paused. “Are you going to be long?”
“Umm no. I just don’t want to rush. In case…umm in case anyone’s watching you know?” Liz improvised swiftly buying some time.
The plan was for her to move around the room like normal, then turn off the light and sneak back out. Her father wasn’t about to let her sleep in a room with such easy access from the outside.
“Okay, I’ll turn out the hall light and wait for you in the living room,” Jeff called back, pride swelling inside him at how well Liz was handling this latest development. His baby was no wilting flower. She was smart and levelheaded.
“Okay, Daddy,” Liz called as she opened her window. “I won’t be long.” Peering out she debated the wisdom of trying to catch Max. That awful anxious feeling had returned since she’d realized Ava was skipping town. Maybe she should just call someone and have them look for her. Max would really freak if she climbed out her window.
She was still debating what to do when the breath was squeezed out of her lungs, doubling over she caught herself on the window ledge, the impact on her seal breaching the protection of the bracelet. Her vision swam for a moment even as she crawled out the window on hands and knees.
Seconds later her feet hit the street. Staggering she blinked against the searing pain radiating through her abdomen threatening to turn her legs to jello.
Pressing her hand to the agonizing pain tearing through her seal she started to run. Sobbing in mixture of pain and terror she ran blind to everything but finding Max.
Right now.
She had to find him now. Something was very very wrong.
~~~~~~
“That’s what I said,” Zan grunted annoyed. Fuck! How many goddamn questions was he expected to answer?
Cal watched Zan’s continued jumpy fidgeting with annoyance. “Listen up. I need more then your one word answers and occasional grunts to get to the bottom of this. You’re not telling me anything I didn’t already know.”
“You want, you kin talk ta da man ‘kay? I’m tired of this! I’m jus the fucking reject anyways so fuck you!” Zan responded fed up. Jumping up he paced Cal’s hotel room like a caged animal.
Cal was just about to tear into him when Zan stiffened, all the color draining from his face. His imperative kicking into gear, Cal caught him before he hit the floor. Cursing as pain flared through him, Cal gritted his teeth as Zan started to seize. Slapping his hand to Zan’s chest he sent his power out into the duplicate trying to stabilize him.
Pictures flashed behind Zan’s eyes. Stark and terrifying in their clarity. He saw the splash of Ava’s blood hit the pavement, glistening under the streetlights.
Zan’s eyes rolled back into his head as pain flared through his head causing blood to burst from his nose.
Max landing half in the street. A pipe rising and falling. Rising and falling.
Liz’s shriek of pain freezing the motion on the street as if she had a pause button.
~~~~~~
“NO! MAX!” Liz screamed in horror as the scene met her eyes. “STOP! Oh please.”
He froze, the pipe falling from his hand as She commanded. So beautiful in her suffering. The halo from the streetlight didn’t wash her of color. To him she was awash in color. So bright he was almost blinded. His breath hitched in joy. She was the one.
She would understand and be pleased.
He would love her as no other could. Serve her.
Liz continued her headlong rush to reach Max. Why was she moving so slow? Her legs were moving. She was sure they were although she couldn’t feel them.
Throwing up her hand she pushed with her mind. Intent on shoving the threat away from the two prone forms. Oh god! Max! Away from Max!
She shoved harder, throwing the man back before falling to her knees beside Max’s still form. Seeing the blood pooling under his head, running from his broken nose, she started sobbing her hands frantically moving over him.
The first rise and fall of his chest under her hands had tears splashing down onto the backs of her hands wetting her skin.
When she saw the black boots enter her field of vision she covered Max as much as she could with her own body. Putting herself between him and danger while trying to focus the raging mass of energy cutting off her breathing, she felt lightheaded and panted for breath, struggling not to pass out.
“Don’t touch him!” Liz cried tightening her hold on Max’s shirt, tensing for a blow as the man hovered.
“I will show you. I will show you what I’ve done. For you. All of it for you.”
Liz’s vision wavered wildly, scaring her. She couldn’t faint for Gods sake! Max was bleeding! Ava still hadn’t made a sound and she was very afraid that she was dead. The seal pulsed angrily feeling as if it was growing inside her rending her flesh to make space.
“What?” Liz whispered in answer to the man’s bizarre words. Show her what?
“I will take you and show you. These….filthy cheating whores aren’t fit to show you my true commitment,” The man declared his lip curling as he looked at the blonde girl. Her very stench was an affront to his senses. To HER senses. “I will show you and then you will bless me.”
“Bless you?” Liz repeated automatically not understanding a word she was hearing.
Sensing he may have taken liberties he bowed his head. “If I have served you….pleased you, yes. I will show you proof of my work. You will see. I am sure of it. Now, we have to go.”
Liz flinched as the man grabbed Ava by her coat collar dragging her limp body into the darkness of the alley. “Max? Wake up!” Liz whispered, too afraid to shake him she spoke directly into his ear. “Please! I don’t…” Biting her lip hard enough to have the pain focus her senses, keeping her from giving in to the darkness.
When the man bent to take Max she fought him, knowing that she was too weak to win but using it to buy time. Surely someone would see. Someone had to have missed her by now.
“Hey! You there!” Peck shouted sprinting forward to intervene. “Leave those kids alone!”
Rage blasted through him. No one was going to stop him. Not when he was so close. Scooping up the dropped pipe he set his feet.
Liz flinched at the sound of metal hitting flesh, of something snapping, but remained in place. The sounds of the scuffle reached her but muted as her focus was centered on Max, protecting him, keeping him alive. She didn’t even allow her own fear of loosing him to get in her way.
Grabbing his sleeve she dragged his hand to her, shifting away enough to pull it between their bodies, struggling to press his palm to her seal, seeking to bring his own to the surface along with the power.
The moment his palm met her skin wrung a cry from her throat at the sheer excruciating force of what was moving through her, forced through a body not designed to hold it.
The girls cry distracted him, brought an abrupt end to all movement, not just his. Peck breathed through the pain focusing on the objective, forcing his broken arm to reach for his gun while he had a chance of saving the situation.
~~~~~~
“AVA!” Zan gasp, abruptly pushing Cal away from him and scrambling to his feet.
“Hold it,” Cal called as Zan broke for the door. Cursing he grabbed his coat and snagged his phone still feeling the affects of the power that he hadn’t used for years buzzing through him, fucking with his senses. His hearing faded in and out as his grip on this form slipped before he caught it.
Zan ignored him letting his instincts guide him into action. This was fucked up. He’d fucked up so bad. He never should have left her.
“Whoa! Car,” Cal barked, as it appeared Zan was going run right out the front door into the street. The kid was so messed up he was going to get hurt. Grabbing the back of Zan’s neck he pulled him back onto the sidewalk as one of the Sheriff’s cruisers sped past.
Waving to his driver impatiently while keeping his hold on Zan. “We need to move faster then you can on two feet. Get in the car.”
Propelled by the hand at the back of his neck Zan got in. Cal was already on the phone barking orders and demanding answers his voice cold and controlled as his genetic imperative kicked up focusing his full power on the programmed goal.
~~~~~~
The first gunshot snapped Valenti into sharp focus. Reaching for his radio he reported the facts, calling for backup, even as he whipped his SUV around tires squealing loudly, afraid he was already too late.
~~~~~~
Caught by the shimmering sight of divine power it was the fire ripping through his side that snapped him back to his duty. Whirling on the interloper he swung the pipe with furious strength, driven past rage at the thought of this unclean thing taking what he’d fought all of his life away from him.
Peck cursed, backing away, knowing he’d screwed up. Instead of a fatal shot he’d only wounded the man. Hurrying to switch the gun from his injured right to his left his next shot went wide striking the building behind his target and ricocheting wildly as the man swung.
Curiously he didn’t feel the pipe connect, suddenly he was on the pavement blinking in confusion. The last thing he saw before the darkness rimming his vision closed in was her, Liz, touching the boy as if every line of bone under his blooded skin was precious before she slumped limply over his motionless form.
Moving fast, a keening noise escaping his throat he stooped to gather Her off the unclean one, freezing as his eyes landed on the boy’s hand laying palm up.
What did this mean?
The glowing mark shone from the boy’s palm, pulsing in time with the matching stars above them.
Better take them all. She could enlighten him. He was, after all, only a servant and therefor he couldn’t possibly understand everything. His grandfather had never told him of this but then maybe that wasn’t surprising. He wasn’t a prophet, he just repeated what he’d heard maybe even embellished it in an attempt to teach him.
He had already learned more then he had ever been taught.
~~~~~~
Zan burst from Cal’s car before it had even come to a stop. He ignored the presence of the Sheriff and other officers, scanning the area for signs of Ava as the lights from the police cars and ambulance lit his face casting harsh shadows.
He walked to where he knew she had lain feeling something break inside at the sight of her blood staining the street. There was so much of it. His chest started heaving as he knelt down and passed his hand over the area, flash points of pain and intense emotion flaring inside his head giving him the focus he needed to find her. To determine if the tugging inside was her or one of the others.
“Well?” Cal asked breaking in.
“She’s alive,” Zan answered sluggishly. Standing up he walked over and picked up her backpack throwing it at the shapeshifter. “Not that you give a fuck. You’s weren’t ask’in bout her anyways was you?”
Valenti stepped up confused about who the stranger was but more worried about the airing of private business in an open environment. “Zan, son, help me find them. Focus on that right now okay?”
“Call Mikey,” Zan ordered shortly still glaring at Cal. “We’s gonna need’im.”
~~~~~~
Sophia curled into the smallest space available as she heard the approach of a vehicle. The ever-present fear bloomed bigger as the vehicle came to a stop and she heard the slam of a car door.
She’d survived by having him forget about her presence. Being silent and small. She clung to who she was desperately closing off the scary outside world and the things she didn’t want to see.
She wasn’t so stupid as to run. He would catch her. She had nowhere to run to. They were alone with miles of nothing between here and her old life. She had no shoes and no clothes, the desert sun even in the winter would be cruel along with the elements. Her dirty tangled hair helped her, allowing her to blend into the darkness, the steady dripping of water masked the small sounds she made.
He’d brought someone else.
She watched him drag the girl stifling her gasp at her battered appearance. Bits of the violence that kept her from sleep was more pronounced on this one. She must have really made him horribly angry. Even Pam hadn’t looked like that at first. Not until he’d started cutting her.
Sophia started shaking her mind retreating into her safe place. She was very sure that if she didn’t he would remember that she was there and get angry, that he would finally hurt her like he had Pam.
She’d only escaped so far by disappearing.
A sound brought her back. Someone was groaning. Making noise. While she’d been away others had been taken from the car. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw who they were.
“Shhh don’t make any noise,” Sophia whispered.
Max stilled as the whispered barely managed to reach him.
“He’ll get angry if you talk back,” Sophia supplied shuffling closer.
“Liz?” Max whispered confused.
“Sophia,” She corrected feeling stronger just saying her own name. She was Sophia. No one could make her forget that. They would remember who she was. That she wasn’t what the man had mistaken her for. “Just stay still. Your friend Tess looks really hurt. Liz isn’t so bad. So don’t draw his attention.”
Sophia tried to see where the man was. Squinting at the light flickering over the walls she didn’t see him. Uncurling her legs she crawled closer.
Max blinked his eyes open feeling cold fingers touching his forehead.
Sophia winced in sympathy as she tried to see how injured Max really was. He looked like hell.
“Liz is here?” Max asked trying to make his thoughts less hazy. Trying to remember what had happened. “She’s….take me to her.”
“No! Don’t move. I’ll check her. Just rest,” Sophia said knowing Max couldn’t move quietly enough. When he settled back she moved feeling him follow her with his eyes.
Moving past Tess she paused concerned by the wet sound of her breathing, it didn’t sound right almost like something was broken inside her chest.
“Check Liz,” Max prompted softly scooting closer to Ava, stretching out his hand trying to touch her.
Sophia moved Ava’s arm so Max could touch her and know she wasn’t dead before moving on to Liz.
“Don’t you dare to touch her with your filthy hands.”
Sophia froze, her eyes widening in terror as she was grabbed roughly by the hair and tossed away.
“Stop,” Liz breathed weakly rolling to her side. Tears slipped from her eyes only to be soaked up by the earth. “Don’t. Leave her alone.”
The sight of Her tears distressed him, causing him to go still. She didn’t look pleased. He’d been so sure. What was he going to do if he hadn’t pleased her? If he was mistaken?
Liz eased her bedroom door shut with quiet careful precision before leaning back against it and shutting her eyes to block out the view of the window.
The window where someone had been watching and could be watching right now.
Not that they could see this far into her room but still, she felt very aware of the intrusion.
Taking a deep breath she tried to ignore the heat tinting her cheeks and all the feelings connected to what could be outside the window. Max was already hyper-protective no sense in alerting him to her anxiety.
Pushing away from the door she refocused on one of the many problems plaguing her. This had to stop. Drifting off in the middle of listening to her parents tell her all the things she already knew about having a stalker to have an extremely vivid extremely inappropriate fantasy was not acceptable.
Her DAD was standing right there! How could this be happening? It was wrong. It was wrong on so many levels and soooo not normal. It seemed like she’d go from sated exhaustion one minute to yearning for Max the next. It was just a bit disconcerting when she was supposed to be concentrating on her father and the current situation.
Blowing out a disgusted puff of air she continued to berate herself. Thank God they hadn’t pushed the whole thought you sleeping thing. Her mom had looked at her clothes with narrow eyed scrutiny but her father hadn’t even blinked. Of course he was a little upset and distracted. That had helped too.
Covering her glowing cheeks with her hands she stifled a moan as she paced, driven by relentless sexual energy. Keeping well out of range of the window she tried to think. To strip this all down and examine it from every angle but found her thoughts fractured, refusing to condense into any sort of useful format.
Anxious without knowing the reason, her pacing increased.
Realizing that she was now standing directly in front of the window, framed perfectly and lit from behind, she had to suppress her urge to cringe away.
Spinning on her heels her eyes landed on her bed, focusing for the first time on the bracelet. Her bracelet.
Striding over she scooped it up and put it on feeling better almost immediately, cooler as her body temperature dropped, calmer. Almost like she did when Max hugged her close.
Reaching for the ripped notebook paper she scanned the hastily scribbled note that accompanied it, feeling a sinking sensation in her stomach.
“Honey?” Jeff called as he tapped on her door lightly.
“Yeah, Dad?” Liz called as she dropped the paper in her search for her cell phone. Where the HELL had she left it?
“Max said to tell you that he’d see you at school,” Jeff called through the door.
“He left?” Liz asked distraught. Damn! Someone had to find Ava and convince her to stay. She had been hoping she could catch him. Glancing at her window she nibbled at her lip. “Umm okay, thanks Dad. You didn’t like, hassle him did you?”
“No, of course not,” Jeff answered then paused. “Are you going to be long?”
“Umm no. I just don’t want to rush. In case…umm in case anyone’s watching you know?” Liz improvised swiftly buying some time.
The plan was for her to move around the room like normal, then turn off the light and sneak back out. Her father wasn’t about to let her sleep in a room with such easy access from the outside.
“Okay, I’ll turn out the hall light and wait for you in the living room,” Jeff called back, pride swelling inside him at how well Liz was handling this latest development. His baby was no wilting flower. She was smart and levelheaded.
“Okay, Daddy,” Liz called as she opened her window. “I won’t be long.” Peering out she debated the wisdom of trying to catch Max. That awful anxious feeling had returned since she’d realized Ava was skipping town. Maybe she should just call someone and have them look for her. Max would really freak if she climbed out her window.
She was still debating what to do when the breath was squeezed out of her lungs, doubling over she caught herself on the window ledge, the impact on her seal breaching the protection of the bracelet. Her vision swam for a moment even as she crawled out the window on hands and knees.
Seconds later her feet hit the street. Staggering she blinked against the searing pain radiating through her abdomen threatening to turn her legs to jello.
Pressing her hand to the agonizing pain tearing through her seal she started to run. Sobbing in mixture of pain and terror she ran blind to everything but finding Max.
Right now.
She had to find him now. Something was very very wrong.
~~~~~~
“That’s what I said,” Zan grunted annoyed. Fuck! How many goddamn questions was he expected to answer?
Cal watched Zan’s continued jumpy fidgeting with annoyance. “Listen up. I need more then your one word answers and occasional grunts to get to the bottom of this. You’re not telling me anything I didn’t already know.”
“You want, you kin talk ta da man ‘kay? I’m tired of this! I’m jus the fucking reject anyways so fuck you!” Zan responded fed up. Jumping up he paced Cal’s hotel room like a caged animal.
Cal was just about to tear into him when Zan stiffened, all the color draining from his face. His imperative kicking into gear, Cal caught him before he hit the floor. Cursing as pain flared through him, Cal gritted his teeth as Zan started to seize. Slapping his hand to Zan’s chest he sent his power out into the duplicate trying to stabilize him.
Pictures flashed behind Zan’s eyes. Stark and terrifying in their clarity. He saw the splash of Ava’s blood hit the pavement, glistening under the streetlights.
Zan’s eyes rolled back into his head as pain flared through his head causing blood to burst from his nose.
Max landing half in the street. A pipe rising and falling. Rising and falling.
Liz’s shriek of pain freezing the motion on the street as if she had a pause button.
~~~~~~
“NO! MAX!” Liz screamed in horror as the scene met her eyes. “STOP! Oh please.”
He froze, the pipe falling from his hand as She commanded. So beautiful in her suffering. The halo from the streetlight didn’t wash her of color. To him she was awash in color. So bright he was almost blinded. His breath hitched in joy. She was the one.
She would understand and be pleased.
He would love her as no other could. Serve her.
Liz continued her headlong rush to reach Max. Why was she moving so slow? Her legs were moving. She was sure they were although she couldn’t feel them.
Throwing up her hand she pushed with her mind. Intent on shoving the threat away from the two prone forms. Oh god! Max! Away from Max!
She shoved harder, throwing the man back before falling to her knees beside Max’s still form. Seeing the blood pooling under his head, running from his broken nose, she started sobbing her hands frantically moving over him.
The first rise and fall of his chest under her hands had tears splashing down onto the backs of her hands wetting her skin.
When she saw the black boots enter her field of vision she covered Max as much as she could with her own body. Putting herself between him and danger while trying to focus the raging mass of energy cutting off her breathing, she felt lightheaded and panted for breath, struggling not to pass out.
“Don’t touch him!” Liz cried tightening her hold on Max’s shirt, tensing for a blow as the man hovered.
“I will show you. I will show you what I’ve done. For you. All of it for you.”
Liz’s vision wavered wildly, scaring her. She couldn’t faint for Gods sake! Max was bleeding! Ava still hadn’t made a sound and she was very afraid that she was dead. The seal pulsed angrily feeling as if it was growing inside her rending her flesh to make space.
“What?” Liz whispered in answer to the man’s bizarre words. Show her what?
“I will take you and show you. These….filthy cheating whores aren’t fit to show you my true commitment,” The man declared his lip curling as he looked at the blonde girl. Her very stench was an affront to his senses. To HER senses. “I will show you and then you will bless me.”
“Bless you?” Liz repeated automatically not understanding a word she was hearing.
Sensing he may have taken liberties he bowed his head. “If I have served you….pleased you, yes. I will show you proof of my work. You will see. I am sure of it. Now, we have to go.”
Liz flinched as the man grabbed Ava by her coat collar dragging her limp body into the darkness of the alley. “Max? Wake up!” Liz whispered, too afraid to shake him she spoke directly into his ear. “Please! I don’t…” Biting her lip hard enough to have the pain focus her senses, keeping her from giving in to the darkness.
When the man bent to take Max she fought him, knowing that she was too weak to win but using it to buy time. Surely someone would see. Someone had to have missed her by now.
“Hey! You there!” Peck shouted sprinting forward to intervene. “Leave those kids alone!”
Rage blasted through him. No one was going to stop him. Not when he was so close. Scooping up the dropped pipe he set his feet.
Liz flinched at the sound of metal hitting flesh, of something snapping, but remained in place. The sounds of the scuffle reached her but muted as her focus was centered on Max, protecting him, keeping him alive. She didn’t even allow her own fear of loosing him to get in her way.
Grabbing his sleeve she dragged his hand to her, shifting away enough to pull it between their bodies, struggling to press his palm to her seal, seeking to bring his own to the surface along with the power.
The moment his palm met her skin wrung a cry from her throat at the sheer excruciating force of what was moving through her, forced through a body not designed to hold it.
The girls cry distracted him, brought an abrupt end to all movement, not just his. Peck breathed through the pain focusing on the objective, forcing his broken arm to reach for his gun while he had a chance of saving the situation.
~~~~~~
“AVA!” Zan gasp, abruptly pushing Cal away from him and scrambling to his feet.
“Hold it,” Cal called as Zan broke for the door. Cursing he grabbed his coat and snagged his phone still feeling the affects of the power that he hadn’t used for years buzzing through him, fucking with his senses. His hearing faded in and out as his grip on this form slipped before he caught it.
Zan ignored him letting his instincts guide him into action. This was fucked up. He’d fucked up so bad. He never should have left her.
“Whoa! Car,” Cal barked, as it appeared Zan was going run right out the front door into the street. The kid was so messed up he was going to get hurt. Grabbing the back of Zan’s neck he pulled him back onto the sidewalk as one of the Sheriff’s cruisers sped past.
Waving to his driver impatiently while keeping his hold on Zan. “We need to move faster then you can on two feet. Get in the car.”
Propelled by the hand at the back of his neck Zan got in. Cal was already on the phone barking orders and demanding answers his voice cold and controlled as his genetic imperative kicked up focusing his full power on the programmed goal.
~~~~~~
The first gunshot snapped Valenti into sharp focus. Reaching for his radio he reported the facts, calling for backup, even as he whipped his SUV around tires squealing loudly, afraid he was already too late.
~~~~~~
Caught by the shimmering sight of divine power it was the fire ripping through his side that snapped him back to his duty. Whirling on the interloper he swung the pipe with furious strength, driven past rage at the thought of this unclean thing taking what he’d fought all of his life away from him.
Peck cursed, backing away, knowing he’d screwed up. Instead of a fatal shot he’d only wounded the man. Hurrying to switch the gun from his injured right to his left his next shot went wide striking the building behind his target and ricocheting wildly as the man swung.
Curiously he didn’t feel the pipe connect, suddenly he was on the pavement blinking in confusion. The last thing he saw before the darkness rimming his vision closed in was her, Liz, touching the boy as if every line of bone under his blooded skin was precious before she slumped limply over his motionless form.
Moving fast, a keening noise escaping his throat he stooped to gather Her off the unclean one, freezing as his eyes landed on the boy’s hand laying palm up.
What did this mean?
The glowing mark shone from the boy’s palm, pulsing in time with the matching stars above them.
Better take them all. She could enlighten him. He was, after all, only a servant and therefor he couldn’t possibly understand everything. His grandfather had never told him of this but then maybe that wasn’t surprising. He wasn’t a prophet, he just repeated what he’d heard maybe even embellished it in an attempt to teach him.
He had already learned more then he had ever been taught.
~~~~~~
Zan burst from Cal’s car before it had even come to a stop. He ignored the presence of the Sheriff and other officers, scanning the area for signs of Ava as the lights from the police cars and ambulance lit his face casting harsh shadows.
He walked to where he knew she had lain feeling something break inside at the sight of her blood staining the street. There was so much of it. His chest started heaving as he knelt down and passed his hand over the area, flash points of pain and intense emotion flaring inside his head giving him the focus he needed to find her. To determine if the tugging inside was her or one of the others.
“Well?” Cal asked breaking in.
“She’s alive,” Zan answered sluggishly. Standing up he walked over and picked up her backpack throwing it at the shapeshifter. “Not that you give a fuck. You’s weren’t ask’in bout her anyways was you?”
Valenti stepped up confused about who the stranger was but more worried about the airing of private business in an open environment. “Zan, son, help me find them. Focus on that right now okay?”
“Call Mikey,” Zan ordered shortly still glaring at Cal. “We’s gonna need’im.”
~~~~~~
Sophia curled into the smallest space available as she heard the approach of a vehicle. The ever-present fear bloomed bigger as the vehicle came to a stop and she heard the slam of a car door.
She’d survived by having him forget about her presence. Being silent and small. She clung to who she was desperately closing off the scary outside world and the things she didn’t want to see.
She wasn’t so stupid as to run. He would catch her. She had nowhere to run to. They were alone with miles of nothing between here and her old life. She had no shoes and no clothes, the desert sun even in the winter would be cruel along with the elements. Her dirty tangled hair helped her, allowing her to blend into the darkness, the steady dripping of water masked the small sounds she made.
He’d brought someone else.
She watched him drag the girl stifling her gasp at her battered appearance. Bits of the violence that kept her from sleep was more pronounced on this one. She must have really made him horribly angry. Even Pam hadn’t looked like that at first. Not until he’d started cutting her.
Sophia started shaking her mind retreating into her safe place. She was very sure that if she didn’t he would remember that she was there and get angry, that he would finally hurt her like he had Pam.
She’d only escaped so far by disappearing.
A sound brought her back. Someone was groaning. Making noise. While she’d been away others had been taken from the car. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw who they were.
“Shhh don’t make any noise,” Sophia whispered.
Max stilled as the whispered barely managed to reach him.
“He’ll get angry if you talk back,” Sophia supplied shuffling closer.
“Liz?” Max whispered confused.
“Sophia,” She corrected feeling stronger just saying her own name. She was Sophia. No one could make her forget that. They would remember who she was. That she wasn’t what the man had mistaken her for. “Just stay still. Your friend Tess looks really hurt. Liz isn’t so bad. So don’t draw his attention.”
Sophia tried to see where the man was. Squinting at the light flickering over the walls she didn’t see him. Uncurling her legs she crawled closer.
Max blinked his eyes open feeling cold fingers touching his forehead.
Sophia winced in sympathy as she tried to see how injured Max really was. He looked like hell.
“Liz is here?” Max asked trying to make his thoughts less hazy. Trying to remember what had happened. “She’s….take me to her.”
“No! Don’t move. I’ll check her. Just rest,” Sophia said knowing Max couldn’t move quietly enough. When he settled back she moved feeling him follow her with his eyes.
Moving past Tess she paused concerned by the wet sound of her breathing, it didn’t sound right almost like something was broken inside her chest.
“Check Liz,” Max prompted softly scooting closer to Ava, stretching out his hand trying to touch her.
Sophia moved Ava’s arm so Max could touch her and know she wasn’t dead before moving on to Liz.
“Don’t you dare to touch her with your filthy hands.”
Sophia froze, her eyes widening in terror as she was grabbed roughly by the hair and tossed away.
“Stop,” Liz breathed weakly rolling to her side. Tears slipped from her eyes only to be soaked up by the earth. “Don’t. Leave her alone.”
The sight of Her tears distressed him, causing him to go still. She didn’t look pleased. He’d been so sure. What was he going to do if he hadn’t pleased her? If he was mistaken?
Chapter Ninety Three
Watching Zan get increasingly restless as the minutes ticked by with no Michael in sight, Cal did what he could to “clean up” the scene, not allowing the situation to rattle him. He had a job to do.
The FBI didn’t need much to get excited about, abnormal forensic evidence would spur a witch hunt the likes of which Roswell hadn’t seen since the crash, and that would only confuse the situation further and cause problems for everyone. He didn’t have time to exterminate any more problems at the moment. Events were moving to quickly to wait while he buried more bodies.
Pushing his way past the paramedic’s with a determined stride that no one questioned, he zeroed in on the man struggling to get out of the back of the ambulance.
“Peck, relax. Sit still,” Cal ordered with every expectation of being obeyed.
Squinting in an effort to focus his fuzzy vision Peck swiped at the blood running down the side of his face. “Sir….” Peck started only to hiss in pain as the paramedic bumped his arm. “Do that one more time and I rip your arms off, got it?” Peck stated softly, pinning the paramedic with eyes suddenly sharp and cold like ice.
Cal watched impressed as the paramedic was cowed by Peck’s softly uttered threat, reminded of why he’d grown to like Peck in the first place. “Beat it,” Cal commanded jerking his thumb out toward the street, waiting until they were as alone as they were likely to get to speak again. “Tell me.”
Peck took a deep breath struggling to gain control over the pain wracking his body, marshalling his thoughts into some sort of order. “I followed the Parker girl here to find the Evans boy and Ava already down. She was engaged in the situation so I intervened and the attacker went ape shit. I wounded him but he beat me down with a metal pipe. Call my team. They would have gone in pursuit. The ones watching the other two.”
Blinking to clear his vision Peck paused, swaying with the encroaching blackness that attempted to blot out consciousness. “The girl, she…glowed.”
“What?” Cal bit out sharply a fierce scowl drawing his brows together. All her medical records over the years had checked out as 100% human. What the fuck was going on here? He’d been certain that his impulsive action hadn’t manifested anything out of the ordinary in the girl. Of course he hadn’t known she’d get shot and the boy who would be king would play hero either. “Glowed how? Hey!” Cal barked snapping his fingers to refocus Peck. “Was she hurt? Where the other two still conscious?”
“No, they didn’t appear to be,” Peck answered his tongue feeling thick in his mouth, his words slurring together slightly. “She just screamed and I turned to look. She was doing something to the boy, it looked like she was. I couldn’t see. She just…..seemed to explode with light. Under her skin. It was so bright. Then she slumped over him.”
Cal gritted his teeth as Peck wavered, his words blurring into nothing before he seemed to catch himself, straightening despite the grimace of pain flickering over his face.
“The stones winked.”
“What stones?” Cal questioned, reaching out to latch onto Peck's shoulder holding him as he captured his gaze.
~~~~~~
Seeing the man moving toward Liz out of the corner of his eye, Max faltered in his attempt to heal Ava, scrambling to his feet in a panic. His fear for her blotted out everything else, his own pain, Ava’s injuries, the knowledge that he had a limited amount of energy to deal with a rising number of problems.
Ignoring the sharp flaring of pain in his head, he lurched forward. “Don’t look at her. Look at me,” Max said harshly to distract the guy and draw his attention back to him.
Whirling to face the challenge inherent in the boy’s tone, his lip curled in disdain. “Why would I do that? You’re filth. Taking, taking, always taking. Never seeing. Content to wallow in the filth of this world. Not even having the sense to know any different.”
Turning to walk closer he kicked Ava sharply in the side drawing a small cry of pain as Ava drifted in and out of consciousness. “Touching this rotting piece of trash even now. In front of Her face.” Shaking his head at the audacity, the blatant lies perpetrated by this unworthy piece of shit, he felt his rage simmering closer to the surface.
“Stop it!” Liz cried drawing the man’s attention and halting his movements.
Max barreled around the man to reach Liz, standing in front of her to shield her from sight. Protecting her from the man who was clearly dangerous.
“Max,” Liz breathed the conflicting feelings of relief and fear stealing the strength from her voice. The fear that any sudden move would cause an eruption of violence from this unstable person made her try to edge around Max and back into view, but Max kept shifting, blocking her efforts.
Something niggled at her. Something that didn’t make sense. The man hadn’t harmed her. She didn’t even have a bruise while the rest of them had been beaten in fits of unpredictable rage. The pain forcing her to breathe in short swallow pants wasn’t directly caused by him at all. It wasn’t her who had been attacked on the street. Slipping her arm around Max’s waist from behind to steady him, she tried to peer around his shoulder.
If she’d met him in the café or seen him under other circumstances she wouldn’t have looked twice. The man was neither short nor tall, his hair was dark and short, his overall appearance neat. He did not match the description the newspapers had reported. His skin was darker as were his eyes. He looked totally normal, almost pleasant in fact.
“Get away from her.”
Liz started at the man’s growl, her heart racing, uneasy and almost certain Max had mis-stepped by putting himself in front of her.
Sophia’s eyes were wide with terror as violence charged the air like lighting just before a storm. She’d warned him but he wasn’t listening Sophia fretted silently. Max’s face was set in stubborn lines that telegraphed his resolve as clearly as if he’d spoken out in defiance. Even so hurt he could barely stand he stood between Liz and any harm.
Struggling to think fast enough when there was just no time left, Liz pulled at Max’s shirt, trying to pull him back out of the way.
The blow came so swiftly she didn’t even see it. It was the blood spurting from Max’s arm and splashing across her face like warm wet rain that registered. Next was the cry of pain wrenched from Max’s throat.
“No,” Liz spoke in whisper so loud it hurt her ears but no one heard her.
Watching the arc of his arm driving toward Max’s chest was like watching fate strike with no weapon to stop it.
Sophia scrambled closer as Liz tried to wrestle Max out of the way, too slow. They were moving too slowly. The knife flashed in the darkness catching what little light there was just like in her nightmares. She heard screaming, shrieks loud enough to echo in her head, slowly becoming aware that it was her voice that was screaming.
Ava’s moan was lost in the chaos. Forcing her eyes open, the confusion that assaulted her was too much for her to process. Her first attempt at movement left her gasping for breath like a fish on dry land, the pain so intense it was all she could do not to pass out.
~~~~~~
“Fuck this,” Zan snapped. “I ain’t wait’in. You’s can all jus catch up.”
“Hold on there,” Valenti said snagging a hold of Zan’s jacket sleeve. “I have a deputy on the way to Michael’s apartment now. We’ll find him.”
“Whateva,” Zan barked shaking him off. “I ain’t leavin’ Ava hangin’ while you’s send out a search party. Fuck that. I ain’t…..You kin do whateva but I’m going.”
“Dad!” Kyle shouted jogging up, waving his cell phone. “I got him! He’s on his way now.”
“What are you…?” Valenti started.
“I heard it on the police band,” Kyle supplied guessing his father’s question. “You should know that if you need Guerin hunted down, call DeLuca. They’re on their way. Here.”
Taking the phone he turned away to fill Michael in as Cal strode up fairly vibrating with rage, grabbing Zan when it looked like he was going to bolt.
“No more bullshit, kid,” Cal snapped. “You tell me everything about that bracelet Liz’s wearing, everything about the seal, everything you know and you tell me now.”
“I ain’t got time for this!” Zan roared pushed past his endurance. The need to reach Ava was growing, pushing him to action. Instinct told him absolutely of her need. He had to reach her. Now. Not whenever these assholes got their shit together. “You want them all to die? If so jus keep talking wit you’s thumb up you’s ass. I’m out.”
Kyle blinked and looked around as everyone around them paused, looking on as Zan came unglued. His mouth dropped open as the guy Zan was shouting at stepped right up in Zan’s face, his eyes going solid black. Scary black alien eyes, devoid of color but somehow conveying quite clearly his intensity.
“Do not fuck with me here. Don’t make the mistake of getting in the way of my job. We both know what will happen in that case. Now get in the car and do as I say,” Cal said his voice changing as his true nature started to bleed through, brought to the surface by the energy coursing through him, surging in response to programming put into place decades ago.
“We’re totally hearing you,” Kyle broke in, nodding even as inserted himself into the fray. “By the way, what exactly is your job? Please don’t say alien slayer. This town is freaky enough without being on some alien version of a Hellmouth.” Pausing he cocked his head. “We’re not right? On a Hellmouth?”
Cal turned his head, staring at Kyle with a fathomless gaze.
“Cause that would suck,” Kyle added in a rush. “Roswell is like the alien version of Mecca and I’d hate to have to move. Besides, I think Max’s a make love not war type of….Well except for that town of aliens we sorta…umm yeah.”
Zan snorted in disgust. “Kyle Valenti meet Cal Langley, protector an shit. Yo, where’s you’s ride? Let’s move.”
Cal pointed to where they’d left it and followed Zan, keeping an eye out for the FBI. His call to delay them wouldn’t hold them back for long. Waving his hand over his standard business card altering it to convey the needed information he tossed it to the Sheriff on the way by before ducking into the car, not at all surprised when Kyle scrambled in after him.
“Now talk,” Cal said gruffly, nodding to the driver who was already speaking into his radio getting directions from Peck’s co-workers.
~~~~~~
Max heard Liz call his name, saw the man’s glittering eyes seek out into the space like a heat-seeking missile, searching for the source of the sound and reacted. Shoving Liz away from him with desperate strength he stepped into the attacker’s line of vision, hiding Liz from his sight by forcing the man to deal with him before anything else.
Uncertain about how well his powers would actually work considering his injuries, the attempt to heal Ava, and the close quarters of what appeared to be a mine shaft he braced himself for the coming attack, not seeing the knife until it was too late.
Slicing at the obstacle keeping him from his goal, like it was shrubbery to be cleared away, he didn’t mind the flecks of blood hitting his face, it was necessary. Nothing would stop him. Nothing.
The sheer frenzy of the attack was like nothing Liz had ever seen. This wasn’t an alien attacking with powers, it was altogether different, and the blood. There was so much blood.
Picking herself up from the ground where she had landed when Max had shoved her clear of the attack, she screamed as a wound opened like a gapping mouth on Max’s chest and down to his side, bone glinting whitely in the flickering light.
Feeling the heat of the seal blaze through her, pulsing as it burrowed deeper, tearing through tender tissue as it melded with her, ingraining itself with a flawed vessel and altering it to accommodate.
“Stop!” Liz screamed accepting the pain that set her very cells on fire, using the pain, focusing it to aid her now when she needed everything she could muster.
Sophia saw the start of it. The sudden sheen of sweat dampening Liz’s skin, pain twisting her features as she pressed a shaking hand to her stomach. At first she thought she was seeing things.
Liz wasn’t really glowing.
It was just a reflection of the light caught by the dampness on her skin being reflected back.
But the light flickering over the walls looked like firelight. Liz looked like she’d swallowed the moon.
The seal latched onto her pain, fear, and anger transmuting it into force of will and tangible power followed immediately by direct action. Throwing up her hands Liz tore the man away from Max, lifting him up into the air just enough, battering him against the walls of the tunnel.
~~~~~~
Zan broke off abruptly as his temperature soared, breaking out in a sweat, every nerve in his body tingled. Something, something was wrong.
“It’s the seal,” Cal explained feeling his own energy react. Riding out the painful sting of his imperative demanding he respond he breathed through it remaining calm. “Okay so, this bracelet was made by an alternate Max for THIS Liz. When you…took it, it reacted how? I get that you influenced both of them but you said that it “fucked” with you. Explain that.”
“Afta her call was silent I was cool wit it. I didn’t feel things for her, like, it didn’t botha me ta be around see? But afta I had the bracelet I’d seek her out, not meaning to but doing it anyways. Pok’in at her ta see….I don’t know. Whateva. I didn’t think bout it much till I saw things that I knew weren’t mine,” Zan stopped blowing out a long breath, waiting out the clawing need to DO something. He wasn’t a talker. He didn’t like acting like part of a committee. He did whatever he thought needed to be done and that was it. This was agony.
“Weren’t yours? What do you mean?” Cal asked pulling him back from his wandering thoughts.
“I neva saw Liz in those places doing those things. I knew that those weren’t my memories. I don’t think like that ya know?” Zan explained watching Cal think that out.
“When you first picked up the bracelet do you remember what you thought?” Cal asked.
“Yeah, I thought it felt like Max. He was all fucked up. Running off ta Vegas and shit an Liz was mad crazy. The bracelet was feel’in like it was amplifying all dat….shit. Like it was tuned inta Max and sending Liz around the bend wit him like,” Zan expounded in a resigned tone his eyes drifting out the window as his leg jiggled, unable to sit still as the internal sense that guided him vibrated stronger the further from town they drove.
“Uh huh, so you just decided to keep pushing?” Kyle broke in remembering Zan’s taunting. “Liz wasn’t the only one that was getting worked up. Ava was NOT happy. Maria nailed you in the balls.”
“Nah, that was Liz,” Zan corrected. “I tol’ ya she was mad fucking crazy.”
Cal sat back in his seat leaving Zan and Kyle to argue, his thoughts racing. Max had stacked the deck. That bracelet was insurance. There was no way that Liz wearing that bracelet and having a seal would be able to stay away from him. Whatever this other Max had said, he’d never had the intention of Liz staying apart from him.
The seal alone would react to itself. It would have to. It wasn’t designed to be separate. There weren’t supposed to BE two seals. How there were two now he didn’t know. You’d think it should have either disappeared with that other version of Max or merged back into this Max who was programmed to carry it.
If the bracelet was a conduit between them, as it seemed to be, that could be the answer for why the seal remained in both of them.
Zan’s reaction after stealing the object suggested that it wasn’t able to distinguish between Max and Zan enough to prevent things from going haywire. Zan was biologically the same after all, they came from the same essence, the same beginning. Add the fact that they stayed in fairly close proximity, Roswell was no LA, and it made sense. Personality could explain the differences in how those impulses were handled.
Whatever the intention actually was when the bracelet was created there was no way they could have predicted how it would react with Liz carrying an active seal. He’d be interested to get a look at this unique piece of jewelry.
Thoughts turning to the seal he mulled over how it could have become active from a dormant state. He understood the reason for giving Liz a dormant seal. It would do as exactly what that future version had said that it would, restart the interrupted bonding process. The question he had was, how had it gone from dormant to an active state? If it had remained dormant it was likely it would have been merged back into one seal carried in one form, Max’s, when that bond had been cemented.
So, had what he’d done in that parking lot so long ago done more then he’d intended? He’d tried to be careful but it had never sat right with him from the start. He wasn’t impulsive. It had always bothered him that he’d followed impulse that night at Peppers café.
Then the pods hadn’t hatched on time, waiting until she’d been born. Leaving him with even more questions, making him wonder.
Why had Nesado killed that women in the first place? What had made him stop, endanger himself, when he hadn’t needed that car? Any one of the cars in that parking lot would have been a safer choice but he’d chosen that one killing Sheila Hubble and still not taking the car?
When he’d walked up and saw the handprint he’d been drawn into action. An impulse. Just a stupid impulse. He’d a job to do but he’d let Nesado go, bending down and following that impulse. Saving that baby struggling to live even after her mother’s death. He’d come back and taken the child from a dead womb. Coming back again and again over the years.
Now here he was again.
Antarians didn’t have impulses. They had duties, jobs to complete.
Looking over at Zan, poster child for impulse control issues everywhere, Cal sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. He had a job to do. No impulse would distract him from that job tonight.
“Sir? We’re approaching your team.”
Refocusing as the driver’s voice drifted over the intercom he shook off the past. “Keep going. We don’t need them. We’ve got our own little homing pigeon right here,” Cal instructed grinning at Zan’s scowl.
Watching Zan get increasingly restless as the minutes ticked by with no Michael in sight, Cal did what he could to “clean up” the scene, not allowing the situation to rattle him. He had a job to do.
The FBI didn’t need much to get excited about, abnormal forensic evidence would spur a witch hunt the likes of which Roswell hadn’t seen since the crash, and that would only confuse the situation further and cause problems for everyone. He didn’t have time to exterminate any more problems at the moment. Events were moving to quickly to wait while he buried more bodies.
Pushing his way past the paramedic’s with a determined stride that no one questioned, he zeroed in on the man struggling to get out of the back of the ambulance.
“Peck, relax. Sit still,” Cal ordered with every expectation of being obeyed.
Squinting in an effort to focus his fuzzy vision Peck swiped at the blood running down the side of his face. “Sir….” Peck started only to hiss in pain as the paramedic bumped his arm. “Do that one more time and I rip your arms off, got it?” Peck stated softly, pinning the paramedic with eyes suddenly sharp and cold like ice.
Cal watched impressed as the paramedic was cowed by Peck’s softly uttered threat, reminded of why he’d grown to like Peck in the first place. “Beat it,” Cal commanded jerking his thumb out toward the street, waiting until they were as alone as they were likely to get to speak again. “Tell me.”
Peck took a deep breath struggling to gain control over the pain wracking his body, marshalling his thoughts into some sort of order. “I followed the Parker girl here to find the Evans boy and Ava already down. She was engaged in the situation so I intervened and the attacker went ape shit. I wounded him but he beat me down with a metal pipe. Call my team. They would have gone in pursuit. The ones watching the other two.”
Blinking to clear his vision Peck paused, swaying with the encroaching blackness that attempted to blot out consciousness. “The girl, she…glowed.”
“What?” Cal bit out sharply a fierce scowl drawing his brows together. All her medical records over the years had checked out as 100% human. What the fuck was going on here? He’d been certain that his impulsive action hadn’t manifested anything out of the ordinary in the girl. Of course he hadn’t known she’d get shot and the boy who would be king would play hero either. “Glowed how? Hey!” Cal barked snapping his fingers to refocus Peck. “Was she hurt? Where the other two still conscious?”
“No, they didn’t appear to be,” Peck answered his tongue feeling thick in his mouth, his words slurring together slightly. “She just screamed and I turned to look. She was doing something to the boy, it looked like she was. I couldn’t see. She just…..seemed to explode with light. Under her skin. It was so bright. Then she slumped over him.”
Cal gritted his teeth as Peck wavered, his words blurring into nothing before he seemed to catch himself, straightening despite the grimace of pain flickering over his face.
“The stones winked.”
“What stones?” Cal questioned, reaching out to latch onto Peck's shoulder holding him as he captured his gaze.
~~~~~~
Seeing the man moving toward Liz out of the corner of his eye, Max faltered in his attempt to heal Ava, scrambling to his feet in a panic. His fear for her blotted out everything else, his own pain, Ava’s injuries, the knowledge that he had a limited amount of energy to deal with a rising number of problems.
Ignoring the sharp flaring of pain in his head, he lurched forward. “Don’t look at her. Look at me,” Max said harshly to distract the guy and draw his attention back to him.
Whirling to face the challenge inherent in the boy’s tone, his lip curled in disdain. “Why would I do that? You’re filth. Taking, taking, always taking. Never seeing. Content to wallow in the filth of this world. Not even having the sense to know any different.”
Turning to walk closer he kicked Ava sharply in the side drawing a small cry of pain as Ava drifted in and out of consciousness. “Touching this rotting piece of trash even now. In front of Her face.” Shaking his head at the audacity, the blatant lies perpetrated by this unworthy piece of shit, he felt his rage simmering closer to the surface.
“Stop it!” Liz cried drawing the man’s attention and halting his movements.
Max barreled around the man to reach Liz, standing in front of her to shield her from sight. Protecting her from the man who was clearly dangerous.
“Max,” Liz breathed the conflicting feelings of relief and fear stealing the strength from her voice. The fear that any sudden move would cause an eruption of violence from this unstable person made her try to edge around Max and back into view, but Max kept shifting, blocking her efforts.
Something niggled at her. Something that didn’t make sense. The man hadn’t harmed her. She didn’t even have a bruise while the rest of them had been beaten in fits of unpredictable rage. The pain forcing her to breathe in short swallow pants wasn’t directly caused by him at all. It wasn’t her who had been attacked on the street. Slipping her arm around Max’s waist from behind to steady him, she tried to peer around his shoulder.
If she’d met him in the café or seen him under other circumstances she wouldn’t have looked twice. The man was neither short nor tall, his hair was dark and short, his overall appearance neat. He did not match the description the newspapers had reported. His skin was darker as were his eyes. He looked totally normal, almost pleasant in fact.
“Get away from her.”
Liz started at the man’s growl, her heart racing, uneasy and almost certain Max had mis-stepped by putting himself in front of her.
Sophia’s eyes were wide with terror as violence charged the air like lighting just before a storm. She’d warned him but he wasn’t listening Sophia fretted silently. Max’s face was set in stubborn lines that telegraphed his resolve as clearly as if he’d spoken out in defiance. Even so hurt he could barely stand he stood between Liz and any harm.
Struggling to think fast enough when there was just no time left, Liz pulled at Max’s shirt, trying to pull him back out of the way.
The blow came so swiftly she didn’t even see it. It was the blood spurting from Max’s arm and splashing across her face like warm wet rain that registered. Next was the cry of pain wrenched from Max’s throat.
“No,” Liz spoke in whisper so loud it hurt her ears but no one heard her.
Watching the arc of his arm driving toward Max’s chest was like watching fate strike with no weapon to stop it.
Sophia scrambled closer as Liz tried to wrestle Max out of the way, too slow. They were moving too slowly. The knife flashed in the darkness catching what little light there was just like in her nightmares. She heard screaming, shrieks loud enough to echo in her head, slowly becoming aware that it was her voice that was screaming.
Ava’s moan was lost in the chaos. Forcing her eyes open, the confusion that assaulted her was too much for her to process. Her first attempt at movement left her gasping for breath like a fish on dry land, the pain so intense it was all she could do not to pass out.
~~~~~~
“Fuck this,” Zan snapped. “I ain’t wait’in. You’s can all jus catch up.”
“Hold on there,” Valenti said snagging a hold of Zan’s jacket sleeve. “I have a deputy on the way to Michael’s apartment now. We’ll find him.”
“Whateva,” Zan barked shaking him off. “I ain’t leavin’ Ava hangin’ while you’s send out a search party. Fuck that. I ain’t…..You kin do whateva but I’m going.”
“Dad!” Kyle shouted jogging up, waving his cell phone. “I got him! He’s on his way now.”
“What are you…?” Valenti started.
“I heard it on the police band,” Kyle supplied guessing his father’s question. “You should know that if you need Guerin hunted down, call DeLuca. They’re on their way. Here.”
Taking the phone he turned away to fill Michael in as Cal strode up fairly vibrating with rage, grabbing Zan when it looked like he was going to bolt.
“No more bullshit, kid,” Cal snapped. “You tell me everything about that bracelet Liz’s wearing, everything about the seal, everything you know and you tell me now.”
“I ain’t got time for this!” Zan roared pushed past his endurance. The need to reach Ava was growing, pushing him to action. Instinct told him absolutely of her need. He had to reach her. Now. Not whenever these assholes got their shit together. “You want them all to die? If so jus keep talking wit you’s thumb up you’s ass. I’m out.”
Kyle blinked and looked around as everyone around them paused, looking on as Zan came unglued. His mouth dropped open as the guy Zan was shouting at stepped right up in Zan’s face, his eyes going solid black. Scary black alien eyes, devoid of color but somehow conveying quite clearly his intensity.
“Do not fuck with me here. Don’t make the mistake of getting in the way of my job. We both know what will happen in that case. Now get in the car and do as I say,” Cal said his voice changing as his true nature started to bleed through, brought to the surface by the energy coursing through him, surging in response to programming put into place decades ago.
“We’re totally hearing you,” Kyle broke in, nodding even as inserted himself into the fray. “By the way, what exactly is your job? Please don’t say alien slayer. This town is freaky enough without being on some alien version of a Hellmouth.” Pausing he cocked his head. “We’re not right? On a Hellmouth?”
Cal turned his head, staring at Kyle with a fathomless gaze.
“Cause that would suck,” Kyle added in a rush. “Roswell is like the alien version of Mecca and I’d hate to have to move. Besides, I think Max’s a make love not war type of….Well except for that town of aliens we sorta…umm yeah.”
Zan snorted in disgust. “Kyle Valenti meet Cal Langley, protector an shit. Yo, where’s you’s ride? Let’s move.”
Cal pointed to where they’d left it and followed Zan, keeping an eye out for the FBI. His call to delay them wouldn’t hold them back for long. Waving his hand over his standard business card altering it to convey the needed information he tossed it to the Sheriff on the way by before ducking into the car, not at all surprised when Kyle scrambled in after him.
“Now talk,” Cal said gruffly, nodding to the driver who was already speaking into his radio getting directions from Peck’s co-workers.
~~~~~~
Max heard Liz call his name, saw the man’s glittering eyes seek out into the space like a heat-seeking missile, searching for the source of the sound and reacted. Shoving Liz away from him with desperate strength he stepped into the attacker’s line of vision, hiding Liz from his sight by forcing the man to deal with him before anything else.
Uncertain about how well his powers would actually work considering his injuries, the attempt to heal Ava, and the close quarters of what appeared to be a mine shaft he braced himself for the coming attack, not seeing the knife until it was too late.
Slicing at the obstacle keeping him from his goal, like it was shrubbery to be cleared away, he didn’t mind the flecks of blood hitting his face, it was necessary. Nothing would stop him. Nothing.
The sheer frenzy of the attack was like nothing Liz had ever seen. This wasn’t an alien attacking with powers, it was altogether different, and the blood. There was so much blood.
Picking herself up from the ground where she had landed when Max had shoved her clear of the attack, she screamed as a wound opened like a gapping mouth on Max’s chest and down to his side, bone glinting whitely in the flickering light.
Feeling the heat of the seal blaze through her, pulsing as it burrowed deeper, tearing through tender tissue as it melded with her, ingraining itself with a flawed vessel and altering it to accommodate.
“Stop!” Liz screamed accepting the pain that set her very cells on fire, using the pain, focusing it to aid her now when she needed everything she could muster.
Sophia saw the start of it. The sudden sheen of sweat dampening Liz’s skin, pain twisting her features as she pressed a shaking hand to her stomach. At first she thought she was seeing things.
Liz wasn’t really glowing.
It was just a reflection of the light caught by the dampness on her skin being reflected back.
But the light flickering over the walls looked like firelight. Liz looked like she’d swallowed the moon.
The seal latched onto her pain, fear, and anger transmuting it into force of will and tangible power followed immediately by direct action. Throwing up her hands Liz tore the man away from Max, lifting him up into the air just enough, battering him against the walls of the tunnel.
~~~~~~
Zan broke off abruptly as his temperature soared, breaking out in a sweat, every nerve in his body tingled. Something, something was wrong.
“It’s the seal,” Cal explained feeling his own energy react. Riding out the painful sting of his imperative demanding he respond he breathed through it remaining calm. “Okay so, this bracelet was made by an alternate Max for THIS Liz. When you…took it, it reacted how? I get that you influenced both of them but you said that it “fucked” with you. Explain that.”
“Afta her call was silent I was cool wit it. I didn’t feel things for her, like, it didn’t botha me ta be around see? But afta I had the bracelet I’d seek her out, not meaning to but doing it anyways. Pok’in at her ta see….I don’t know. Whateva. I didn’t think bout it much till I saw things that I knew weren’t mine,” Zan stopped blowing out a long breath, waiting out the clawing need to DO something. He wasn’t a talker. He didn’t like acting like part of a committee. He did whatever he thought needed to be done and that was it. This was agony.
“Weren’t yours? What do you mean?” Cal asked pulling him back from his wandering thoughts.
“I neva saw Liz in those places doing those things. I knew that those weren’t my memories. I don’t think like that ya know?” Zan explained watching Cal think that out.
“When you first picked up the bracelet do you remember what you thought?” Cal asked.
“Yeah, I thought it felt like Max. He was all fucked up. Running off ta Vegas and shit an Liz was mad crazy. The bracelet was feel’in like it was amplifying all dat….shit. Like it was tuned inta Max and sending Liz around the bend wit him like,” Zan expounded in a resigned tone his eyes drifting out the window as his leg jiggled, unable to sit still as the internal sense that guided him vibrated stronger the further from town they drove.
“Uh huh, so you just decided to keep pushing?” Kyle broke in remembering Zan’s taunting. “Liz wasn’t the only one that was getting worked up. Ava was NOT happy. Maria nailed you in the balls.”
“Nah, that was Liz,” Zan corrected. “I tol’ ya she was mad fucking crazy.”
Cal sat back in his seat leaving Zan and Kyle to argue, his thoughts racing. Max had stacked the deck. That bracelet was insurance. There was no way that Liz wearing that bracelet and having a seal would be able to stay away from him. Whatever this other Max had said, he’d never had the intention of Liz staying apart from him.
The seal alone would react to itself. It would have to. It wasn’t designed to be separate. There weren’t supposed to BE two seals. How there were two now he didn’t know. You’d think it should have either disappeared with that other version of Max or merged back into this Max who was programmed to carry it.
If the bracelet was a conduit between them, as it seemed to be, that could be the answer for why the seal remained in both of them.
Zan’s reaction after stealing the object suggested that it wasn’t able to distinguish between Max and Zan enough to prevent things from going haywire. Zan was biologically the same after all, they came from the same essence, the same beginning. Add the fact that they stayed in fairly close proximity, Roswell was no LA, and it made sense. Personality could explain the differences in how those impulses were handled.
Whatever the intention actually was when the bracelet was created there was no way they could have predicted how it would react with Liz carrying an active seal. He’d be interested to get a look at this unique piece of jewelry.
Thoughts turning to the seal he mulled over how it could have become active from a dormant state. He understood the reason for giving Liz a dormant seal. It would do as exactly what that future version had said that it would, restart the interrupted bonding process. The question he had was, how had it gone from dormant to an active state? If it had remained dormant it was likely it would have been merged back into one seal carried in one form, Max’s, when that bond had been cemented.
So, had what he’d done in that parking lot so long ago done more then he’d intended? He’d tried to be careful but it had never sat right with him from the start. He wasn’t impulsive. It had always bothered him that he’d followed impulse that night at Peppers café.
Then the pods hadn’t hatched on time, waiting until she’d been born. Leaving him with even more questions, making him wonder.
Why had Nesado killed that women in the first place? What had made him stop, endanger himself, when he hadn’t needed that car? Any one of the cars in that parking lot would have been a safer choice but he’d chosen that one killing Sheila Hubble and still not taking the car?
When he’d walked up and saw the handprint he’d been drawn into action. An impulse. Just a stupid impulse. He’d a job to do but he’d let Nesado go, bending down and following that impulse. Saving that baby struggling to live even after her mother’s death. He’d come back and taken the child from a dead womb. Coming back again and again over the years.
Now here he was again.
Antarians didn’t have impulses. They had duties, jobs to complete.
Looking over at Zan, poster child for impulse control issues everywhere, Cal sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. He had a job to do. No impulse would distract him from that job tonight.
“Sir? We’re approaching your team.”
Refocusing as the driver’s voice drifted over the intercom he shook off the past. “Keep going. We don’t need them. We’ve got our own little homing pigeon right here,” Cal instructed grinning at Zan’s scowl.
Chapter Ninety Four
He’d never seen anything shine as beautiful as She. Even as the force of her, the very weight, drove the air from his lungs he marveled over that untainted beauty.
This was what he’d been searching for and never really known what it was. The others had disappointed him without him knowing why. They weren’t her.
That’s what it was. They weren’t as fierce. They didn’t shine like she did, so brightly he was almost blinded. Every part of her was alive, seething with energy that couldn’t be contained in her earthly shell.
Sophia watched stunned, as Liz seemed to lift the man without touching him, the motion of her arms directing his flight, tossing him against the rough-hewed walls of this prison as if he were weightless. She just filled the space around her until the very air felt heavy, crackling with electricity.
Liz began to walk forward, shoving the man in front of her, scraping him back along the wall, pushing her power before her like a giant invisible hand.
The man trembled fighting to move, to breathe, ribs cracking with the effort. The whites of Her eyes blazed brighter framing the emotion seething in the darkness at their center, two blood red tears slipping free to run down her cheeks in scarlet rivulets to mix with the drops of Max’s blood still wet on her face.
Palms out Liz pushed, smashing the man harder against the unforgiving surface, unmindful of his struggles. Driven to neutralize the threat in whatever way she could, even if that meant being responsible for his death. Conforming the power to her thoughts, she envisioned forcing that power into him like a knife, pouring it through him to pin him to the wall like the worm she’d dissected in the beginning of freshman year.
In that instant she knew.
She knew him. What he was. Who he was. What he’d done. He had no defenses to keep her out. It didn’t come in flashes, it came as full-blown knowledge, she just knew. Like she’d sliced him open and seen everything there was to see.
The man felt her wrath burning through him, touching things only a god could reach.
“Liz,” Max whispered, reaching out, his fingers digging into the dirt as he tried to get up and go to her despite the fatigue weighing down his extremities. He could feel the rush of all that energy forcing its way out of her, causing her nose to bleed, joining the tears of blood running from her eyes. Afraid of the damage that much power could inflict on her he struggled to reach her, pulling himself closer when he was unable to rise.
Feeling his call more then hearing it jolted Liz, refocusing her, she dropped the man leaving him crumpled in a forgotten heap as she rushed back to Max dropping to the dirt beside him. “Oh God, Max,” Liz moaned her hands skating over him gently, noting each injury that had been inflicted. Ignoring the terrible throbbing that threatened to spilt her head in two.
Max’s chest and stomach were decorated with blood, saturating the pieces of his shirt that had been reduced to shreds. Muscle tissue pulling apart, glistening wetly through the blood in the deepest of the wounds on his chest. Liz let out a soft sound of distress seeing his arm opened from below his shoulder to his forearm.
Sophia watched her glow gradually dim as she murmured to Max, bending down, the movement slow and painful to watch, touching him so gently, reverently, a soft glow following her fingertips like ripples in a pool of water lighting him from within.
Liz was oblivious to being watched, so focused on Max that nothing else existed. “You have to heal these, Max,” Liz wept, feeling his blood slick on her hands. “You’re the strong one. I can’t do this by myself. I’m not…..I’m can’t. I’m sorry. Tell me what to do.” Her fear growing as she tried to think of how to get them all out of here with Max and Ava both unable to walk. She didn’t even know where here was.
Ava forced her legs to move feeling the sticky wetness of blood soaking through her pants, drawn by the panicky tone of Liz’s voice and Max’s silence. Turning her head she forced her eyes to make sense of what they were seeing, moving as little as possible to control the pain, her breath coming easier now, the pain marginally less after Max’s attempt at healing her. It no longer felt like her lungs were being shredded by broken glass with every attempt at breathing.
“Please Max,” Liz begged brokenly. “You can’t leave me. Open your eyes.”
Opening his eyes seemed incredibly difficult but he struggled to obey, hearing the fear flooding Liz’s voice. He didn’t like hearing that tone to her voice. Hands scrambling over dirt he fought, managing the barest of whispers as his eyes opened. “Like hell you can’t. You’ll do whatever you have to. But I’m not going anywhere. I’m just resting. You tired me out.”
Liz laughed in relief, wiping at her face. “Resting will have to wait. You’re a mess.”
Max looked into her eyes fascinated by silvery glow illuminating them from within, barely noticing the blood streaking her face. “Liz…..Your eyes.”
Liz took his hand before he could touch her face, squinting against the pain in her head. “I’m okay. Let me help you. You look tired.”
Max sighed his response, his eyes slipping closed only to fly open as Liz licked the palm of his hand in an unintentionally sensual gesture, bringing his seal to immediate life. His fingers twitched against her cheek at the heated tingling sensation prickling along the palm of his hand then continuing up his arm.
Guiding his hand down over her stomach, over the place where he’d healed her so long ago, over her navel to the top edge of her pants where, with one tug, she untied the cord holding them up letting them slip even lower. Until, finally, his palm rested over her seal, the place that seemed to rush with heated energy at his touch bringing a cry from her throat, a silvery blush staining her skin.
Ava saw Liz fall forward catching herself on her hand, her hair falling in a dark curtain to shield her face, drifting over Max’s chest and neck, trembling faintly as she held Max’s hand pressed tightly to her. She could feel the pulse of power shared between them, felt it lifting the fine hair on her arms charging the air.
Sophia glanced nervously between where the man had fallen and then back to where Liz sat hunched over Max. She had no idea what was going on, her mind felt overloaded and unable to wrap itself around these latest events enough to draw any sort of conclusions. Whenever she tried she could feel herself start to slip back into her safe place and stopped. She couldn’t shut down now. This was her chance. Her best chance of ever seeing home again.
~~~~~~
Barreling down the street, half her attention on Michael’s shouting, Maria jerked the wheel to swerve around a slower moving vehicle, edging her way closer to full on freak out.
“What the FUCK!” Michael shouted into the phone. “Zan just hopped in the car with some asshole and Kyle followed him? Didn’t you ever give Kyle that talk about getting in the car with strangers?” Michael ranted, veins on his forehead bulging out as his blood pressure skyrocketed. “Maria! Watch the road!”
“He wasn’t a stranger to Zan,” Jim answered, his voice low.
“So now it’s not just Max, Ava, and Liz missing. I have to add Zan and Kyle to the list!” Michael ignored Valenti’s comment, spearing his fingers through his hair in frustrated rage. Five people, not three depending on him, six if you added in Maria and he was the least responsible person of the group. What the fuck? “What’s the car look like? You got a plate number or anything?”
“I’ve got a cell phone number,” Jim answered glancing down at the business card in his hand. Reciting the number he looked up in time to see a familiar four-door sedan roll to a stop. The FBI had arrived. “Call me as soon as you know anything. Don’t come here. I’ll come to you as soon as you call me.” Hanging up he watched both agents exit their car.
“Pull over!” Michael snapped as he dialed.
That was it. Slamming on the brakes the Jetta rocked to an abrupt stop as Maria tittered over the edge into a major meltdown.
Peeling himself off the dash Michael drew in a deep breath ready start shouting, expelling it without uttering a word at the wild eyed look on Maria’s face. Ah hell. “Just go ahead and hit me,” Michael said as he put his arm around her and guided her into his chest. His stomach bottoming out as he registered her reaction and realized that he was failing her. Again. It was doubly upsetting after the leap of faith she’d just taken with him, trusting that he wouldn’t disappoint her like usual. “I’m an asshole. I’m sorry, okay? Just sit tight until I make this call and…”
“You swear they’re not dead?” Maria asked her voice muffled as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck, needing his reassurance before she could believe it. He wouldn’t lie to her.
“Zan said they weren’t. The guy that saw the whole thing said Liz wasn’t hurt at all so that’s good,” Michael said thinking that Liz was motivation enough for Max to stay alive.
Maria wiped at her eyes and nodded. “Then they’ll be okay. Lizzie’s really good under pressure. Go ahead and call. Find out where Zan is then give me the phone.”
Brushing a kiss over the top of her head he marveled at Maria’s ability to bounce back in less time then it took to blink. With the way they’re lives changed in about that amount of time it seemed normal. Maria always seemed to reflect the emotion of any given situation so vividly.
~~~~~~
“Alex?” Isabel’s voice trembled from the receiver pressed to his ear.
Sitting up Alex set aside his guitar, the vulnerable tremor in Isabel’s normally smooth modulated voice telling him that whatever had her calling him so late it was seriously bad.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Alex confirmed already reaching for his shoes. “What’s going on?”
“Max is missing,” Isabel half sobbed. “He was supposed to come right home from Liz’s but he never made it. Ava’s gone too and so is Liz. Sheriff Valenti called and…”
“Where are we all meeting? You need me to come and get you?” Alex asked when Isabel’s voice trailed off, snagging his coat from off the floor.
“Yes, please,” Isabel answered relieved that Alex was…..so Alex. Too bad she was what she was. “I’ll meet you outside okay?”
“Should I pull up without headlights?” Alex asked half teasing.
“That would be great actually,” Isabel admitted glancing at her closed bedroom door. Her parents raised voices drifted through it like it wasn’t even there. No need to worry that they’d hear her sneaking out. “Alex? Thank you.”
“No sweat. See you in five,” Alex promised, not for one second thinking about not helping her. It’s what he did. Friends helped.
Pulling up seven minutes later he’d barely slowed down when Isabel slipped into the passenger seat in her version of commando gear, her hair in a messy ponytail looking more gorgeous then she had any right to.
Of course he barely noticed.
“So. Fill in the blanks?” Alex asked pulling away.
“Sure, I’ll tell you what I know. I’m waiting for Michael to call me back and fill me in,” Isabel sighed her eyes teaming with worry. “Valenti thinks that the guy stalking Liz, killing all those people…” Isabel paused as her eyes teared, glancing out the window to regain her composure. “That guy, he um, attacked Max and Ava first. Someone saw Liz run up and he tried to intervene but the guy basically beat the shit out of…whoever he was and took all three of them. Max and Ava were hurt so…there was blood…..I was so…” Distracted, hot, utterly consumed by things that made her want to crawl out of her skin. God! She was a terrible person. “I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t notice that Max wasn’t home until my mother came in asking me if I’d heard from him. He’d had a big blow out with Dad but he’d promised Mom he’d come right home. Then the sheriff called.”
“So we’re meeting up with Michael and Zan?” Alex asked automatically heading toward the CrashDown.
“Zan’s with Kyle and some…..guy he called Langley,” Isabel answered her brow crinkling. “I should know that name. I’m sure I’ve heard it before.” Shaking her head she continued. “Anyway, Michael’s calling them at the number they left with the sheriff. He said he’d call back and let me know what’s going on. I tried to reach Max….you know,” Isabel waved her hand to indicate she’d used her powers. “But I couldn’t get through. He’s not asleep and I’m not really….focused I guess.”
Alex’s eyebrows shot up at Isabel’s admission of anything less then perfection.
“I can’t reach him but I know he’s there,” Isabel asserted. “Michael said that Zan was tracking them somehow.”
Turning the corner Alex slowed his mother’s car seeing the street lit with half a dozen flashing lights. Hearing Isabel’s gasp he glanced over and found her staring fixedly at the sidewalk where Hanson was setting up markers behind the barrier of police tape.
“Oh my god, Alex,” Isabel whispered, twisting her fingers in her lap as the danger sank in. Those dark stains were probably blood. Some of it Max’s blood. She could actually loose him. Who would care about her, know her like Max did if something happened to him? What had happened to him? How had this happened in the first place?
“You said you know Max is out there. Just remember that. We’ll find them Isabel,” Alex said easily following the train of her thoughts. Covering her trembling fingers with his, he gave them a friendly squeeze as he steered them through the confusion. He had to believe his friends would be all right. He refused to believe otherwise.
~~~~~~
“Liz!” Sophia yelped seeing the man crawling up onto his knees. “He’s coming!”
Liz tore her eyes from Max, finding it unusually difficult to do so, peering into the darkness confirming Sophia’s words. Hearing a sharp cry of pain she darted her eyes over to Ava and saw Sophia trying to help her move.
“Don’t move her yet. She might have internal bleeding or…just stay here,” Liz said her voice strong and firm. Turning back to Max she kissed his forehead softly. “Finish healing these I’ll deal with this.”
“Liz don’t…” Max started only to feel her finger move to press lightly against his lips.
“I can do this. Take care of yourself then Ava. Then we’re leaving,” Liz said her eyes flashing. She could play a goddess. He was insane anyway. How would he know the difference? She’d gotten what she needed to feed into his delusions. All she needed to do was to buy some time. “You know Sophia and I can’t carry you both out so you have to do this. I know what to do.”
Standing and moving away before Max could protest she straightened her spine. “Andres, I’d stop moving if I were you,” Liz spoke in a quiet voice, addressing him by his given name, satisfied when the man froze. “Or I’ll make sure you stop moving.”
“You are angry?” Andres wheezed clutched his ribs tightly.
“Ya think?” Liz replied narrowing her eyes. “I passed angry a long time ago. Now. Stop. Moving.”
Hearing the threat in her tone and seeing it in her eyes he froze. “I did it for you. To find you like my grandfather…”
“Your grandfather NEVER said to do this,” Liz cut him off. “He taught you the history of your mother’s people. His history. YOU distorted it to suit your own warped ideas. What he taught you in no way explains this. You’ve disgraced me.”
“No! I-I didn’t!” Andres protested feeling sick. She was displeased. All his sacrifices were for nothing. Her words echoed his father’s eerily.
Sophia shrank back into the shadows easing the prone girl with her, trying to pull them out of the line of fire.
“You defiled yourself. How many mistakes did you make in your search for me? Did it not occur to you that if I wanted you to serve me I’d have found you?” Liz asked molding her actions and tone into a replica of Isabel’s most icy façade. She’d been on the receiving end of it enough to know how to mimic it flawlessly. “How dare you assume to know my will.”
He gapped at Her speechless as She once again began to shine.
“You have harmed MY people. Placed your hands on them and bled them in MY name! Look at what you’ve done!” Liz gestured vaguely back toward Max. “You are not The Coyote. You are just a man. How dare you presume to know what would please me?”
“He is filth! He chose to defile himself with that WHORE! She looks like an overripe piece of fruit, rotting, disgusting.” He protested heatedly.
Liz didn’t speak, she gathered her power tightly and flung it outward, directing it with her arm.
Ava felt the concussion blast of displaced air rush past her and moved, using it to cover her cry of pain. Tears filled her eyes as she felt a rush of blood leave her. Biting her lip hard she sank back down into the dirt, not even feeling Sophia’s tugging hands. She just wanted to curl up and disappear. She felt hollow, so absolutely empty. She’d never felt like this ever. The struggle ceased to matter to her.
Waiting to see if Andres moved Liz felt a momentary twinge of fear, thinking that she might have killed him. She didn’t want to become that person but circumstances dictated that she couldn’t allow him to gain a foothold. He was dangerous. He’d killed far more people then the authorities knew. His background, while horribly sad, didn’t negate or excuse his actions. He’d raped, tortured, and killed people. Stolen the most precious thing any person had, their life. She couldn’t allow him to harm anyone else, no matter how sick he was or how he’d gotten that way.
When she saw him move she schooled her expression back into an icy mask. “You insult me by insulting them. Ava is a lovely person, kind, and loyal. Appearances do not concern me. I can see inside a person, just as I’ve seen inside you. You’re just as wrong about this as you were all those other times.”
The scorn in her voice was like a slap in the face humiliating him just as his father always had.
“Max has a….twin. You apparently failed to notice even that much. I don’t need you to take action on my behalf. I never asked you to do any of the things that you’ve done. What would make you presume to think that I’d LIKE any of this? What lesser beings do is not any concern of mine. Now, however, you’ve made this my concern. You’ve disappointed me and now I’m afraid I’ll have to show you what happens to people that disappoint me,” Liz said in a steely tone. “You’ve spied on me! Peeping in my widows like a perverted freak! You’ve hurt my people! Now you need to learn.”
Stumbling the rest of the way to his feet despite the jarring the movement gave his ribs, fear seizing him as memories flooded his mind. “I didn’t! I didn’t look in your windows. I-no-I didn’t!” Remembered punishments had him perspiring profusely. “I swear it!”
Liz looked him over, seeing the wound in his side. Looking up into the man’s eyes she steeled herself. “You want to serve me? Bleed for me.”
Reaching out to the foreign object still lodged in his flesh she used the one power she’d practiced enough to be confident in. Picturing the bullet inside him she pulled it toward her, feeling sick as he began to scream. As his screams echoed she felt the bullet land in her open hand and turned her attention to his blood. Creating a vacuum in her mind, using it to speed the flow of blood from his body almost like sucking liquid up a straw, not noticing as her own followed suit.
He’d never seen anything shine as beautiful as She. Even as the force of her, the very weight, drove the air from his lungs he marveled over that untainted beauty.
This was what he’d been searching for and never really known what it was. The others had disappointed him without him knowing why. They weren’t her.
That’s what it was. They weren’t as fierce. They didn’t shine like she did, so brightly he was almost blinded. Every part of her was alive, seething with energy that couldn’t be contained in her earthly shell.
Sophia watched stunned, as Liz seemed to lift the man without touching him, the motion of her arms directing his flight, tossing him against the rough-hewed walls of this prison as if he were weightless. She just filled the space around her until the very air felt heavy, crackling with electricity.
Liz began to walk forward, shoving the man in front of her, scraping him back along the wall, pushing her power before her like a giant invisible hand.
The man trembled fighting to move, to breathe, ribs cracking with the effort. The whites of Her eyes blazed brighter framing the emotion seething in the darkness at their center, two blood red tears slipping free to run down her cheeks in scarlet rivulets to mix with the drops of Max’s blood still wet on her face.
Palms out Liz pushed, smashing the man harder against the unforgiving surface, unmindful of his struggles. Driven to neutralize the threat in whatever way she could, even if that meant being responsible for his death. Conforming the power to her thoughts, she envisioned forcing that power into him like a knife, pouring it through him to pin him to the wall like the worm she’d dissected in the beginning of freshman year.
In that instant she knew.
She knew him. What he was. Who he was. What he’d done. He had no defenses to keep her out. It didn’t come in flashes, it came as full-blown knowledge, she just knew. Like she’d sliced him open and seen everything there was to see.
The man felt her wrath burning through him, touching things only a god could reach.
“Liz,” Max whispered, reaching out, his fingers digging into the dirt as he tried to get up and go to her despite the fatigue weighing down his extremities. He could feel the rush of all that energy forcing its way out of her, causing her nose to bleed, joining the tears of blood running from her eyes. Afraid of the damage that much power could inflict on her he struggled to reach her, pulling himself closer when he was unable to rise.
Feeling his call more then hearing it jolted Liz, refocusing her, she dropped the man leaving him crumpled in a forgotten heap as she rushed back to Max dropping to the dirt beside him. “Oh God, Max,” Liz moaned her hands skating over him gently, noting each injury that had been inflicted. Ignoring the terrible throbbing that threatened to spilt her head in two.
Max’s chest and stomach were decorated with blood, saturating the pieces of his shirt that had been reduced to shreds. Muscle tissue pulling apart, glistening wetly through the blood in the deepest of the wounds on his chest. Liz let out a soft sound of distress seeing his arm opened from below his shoulder to his forearm.
Sophia watched her glow gradually dim as she murmured to Max, bending down, the movement slow and painful to watch, touching him so gently, reverently, a soft glow following her fingertips like ripples in a pool of water lighting him from within.
Liz was oblivious to being watched, so focused on Max that nothing else existed. “You have to heal these, Max,” Liz wept, feeling his blood slick on her hands. “You’re the strong one. I can’t do this by myself. I’m not…..I’m can’t. I’m sorry. Tell me what to do.” Her fear growing as she tried to think of how to get them all out of here with Max and Ava both unable to walk. She didn’t even know where here was.
Ava forced her legs to move feeling the sticky wetness of blood soaking through her pants, drawn by the panicky tone of Liz’s voice and Max’s silence. Turning her head she forced her eyes to make sense of what they were seeing, moving as little as possible to control the pain, her breath coming easier now, the pain marginally less after Max’s attempt at healing her. It no longer felt like her lungs were being shredded by broken glass with every attempt at breathing.
“Please Max,” Liz begged brokenly. “You can’t leave me. Open your eyes.”
Opening his eyes seemed incredibly difficult but he struggled to obey, hearing the fear flooding Liz’s voice. He didn’t like hearing that tone to her voice. Hands scrambling over dirt he fought, managing the barest of whispers as his eyes opened. “Like hell you can’t. You’ll do whatever you have to. But I’m not going anywhere. I’m just resting. You tired me out.”
Liz laughed in relief, wiping at her face. “Resting will have to wait. You’re a mess.”
Max looked into her eyes fascinated by silvery glow illuminating them from within, barely noticing the blood streaking her face. “Liz…..Your eyes.”
Liz took his hand before he could touch her face, squinting against the pain in her head. “I’m okay. Let me help you. You look tired.”
Max sighed his response, his eyes slipping closed only to fly open as Liz licked the palm of his hand in an unintentionally sensual gesture, bringing his seal to immediate life. His fingers twitched against her cheek at the heated tingling sensation prickling along the palm of his hand then continuing up his arm.
Guiding his hand down over her stomach, over the place where he’d healed her so long ago, over her navel to the top edge of her pants where, with one tug, she untied the cord holding them up letting them slip even lower. Until, finally, his palm rested over her seal, the place that seemed to rush with heated energy at his touch bringing a cry from her throat, a silvery blush staining her skin.
Ava saw Liz fall forward catching herself on her hand, her hair falling in a dark curtain to shield her face, drifting over Max’s chest and neck, trembling faintly as she held Max’s hand pressed tightly to her. She could feel the pulse of power shared between them, felt it lifting the fine hair on her arms charging the air.
Sophia glanced nervously between where the man had fallen and then back to where Liz sat hunched over Max. She had no idea what was going on, her mind felt overloaded and unable to wrap itself around these latest events enough to draw any sort of conclusions. Whenever she tried she could feel herself start to slip back into her safe place and stopped. She couldn’t shut down now. This was her chance. Her best chance of ever seeing home again.
~~~~~~
Barreling down the street, half her attention on Michael’s shouting, Maria jerked the wheel to swerve around a slower moving vehicle, edging her way closer to full on freak out.
“What the FUCK!” Michael shouted into the phone. “Zan just hopped in the car with some asshole and Kyle followed him? Didn’t you ever give Kyle that talk about getting in the car with strangers?” Michael ranted, veins on his forehead bulging out as his blood pressure skyrocketed. “Maria! Watch the road!”
“He wasn’t a stranger to Zan,” Jim answered, his voice low.
“So now it’s not just Max, Ava, and Liz missing. I have to add Zan and Kyle to the list!” Michael ignored Valenti’s comment, spearing his fingers through his hair in frustrated rage. Five people, not three depending on him, six if you added in Maria and he was the least responsible person of the group. What the fuck? “What’s the car look like? You got a plate number or anything?”
“I’ve got a cell phone number,” Jim answered glancing down at the business card in his hand. Reciting the number he looked up in time to see a familiar four-door sedan roll to a stop. The FBI had arrived. “Call me as soon as you know anything. Don’t come here. I’ll come to you as soon as you call me.” Hanging up he watched both agents exit their car.
“Pull over!” Michael snapped as he dialed.
That was it. Slamming on the brakes the Jetta rocked to an abrupt stop as Maria tittered over the edge into a major meltdown.
Peeling himself off the dash Michael drew in a deep breath ready start shouting, expelling it without uttering a word at the wild eyed look on Maria’s face. Ah hell. “Just go ahead and hit me,” Michael said as he put his arm around her and guided her into his chest. His stomach bottoming out as he registered her reaction and realized that he was failing her. Again. It was doubly upsetting after the leap of faith she’d just taken with him, trusting that he wouldn’t disappoint her like usual. “I’m an asshole. I’m sorry, okay? Just sit tight until I make this call and…”
“You swear they’re not dead?” Maria asked her voice muffled as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck, needing his reassurance before she could believe it. He wouldn’t lie to her.
“Zan said they weren’t. The guy that saw the whole thing said Liz wasn’t hurt at all so that’s good,” Michael said thinking that Liz was motivation enough for Max to stay alive.
Maria wiped at her eyes and nodded. “Then they’ll be okay. Lizzie’s really good under pressure. Go ahead and call. Find out where Zan is then give me the phone.”
Brushing a kiss over the top of her head he marveled at Maria’s ability to bounce back in less time then it took to blink. With the way they’re lives changed in about that amount of time it seemed normal. Maria always seemed to reflect the emotion of any given situation so vividly.
~~~~~~
“Alex?” Isabel’s voice trembled from the receiver pressed to his ear.
Sitting up Alex set aside his guitar, the vulnerable tremor in Isabel’s normally smooth modulated voice telling him that whatever had her calling him so late it was seriously bad.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Alex confirmed already reaching for his shoes. “What’s going on?”
“Max is missing,” Isabel half sobbed. “He was supposed to come right home from Liz’s but he never made it. Ava’s gone too and so is Liz. Sheriff Valenti called and…”
“Where are we all meeting? You need me to come and get you?” Alex asked when Isabel’s voice trailed off, snagging his coat from off the floor.
“Yes, please,” Isabel answered relieved that Alex was…..so Alex. Too bad she was what she was. “I’ll meet you outside okay?”
“Should I pull up without headlights?” Alex asked half teasing.
“That would be great actually,” Isabel admitted glancing at her closed bedroom door. Her parents raised voices drifted through it like it wasn’t even there. No need to worry that they’d hear her sneaking out. “Alex? Thank you.”
“No sweat. See you in five,” Alex promised, not for one second thinking about not helping her. It’s what he did. Friends helped.
Pulling up seven minutes later he’d barely slowed down when Isabel slipped into the passenger seat in her version of commando gear, her hair in a messy ponytail looking more gorgeous then she had any right to.
Of course he barely noticed.
“So. Fill in the blanks?” Alex asked pulling away.
“Sure, I’ll tell you what I know. I’m waiting for Michael to call me back and fill me in,” Isabel sighed her eyes teaming with worry. “Valenti thinks that the guy stalking Liz, killing all those people…” Isabel paused as her eyes teared, glancing out the window to regain her composure. “That guy, he um, attacked Max and Ava first. Someone saw Liz run up and he tried to intervene but the guy basically beat the shit out of…whoever he was and took all three of them. Max and Ava were hurt so…there was blood…..I was so…” Distracted, hot, utterly consumed by things that made her want to crawl out of her skin. God! She was a terrible person. “I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t notice that Max wasn’t home until my mother came in asking me if I’d heard from him. He’d had a big blow out with Dad but he’d promised Mom he’d come right home. Then the sheriff called.”
“So we’re meeting up with Michael and Zan?” Alex asked automatically heading toward the CrashDown.
“Zan’s with Kyle and some…..guy he called Langley,” Isabel answered her brow crinkling. “I should know that name. I’m sure I’ve heard it before.” Shaking her head she continued. “Anyway, Michael’s calling them at the number they left with the sheriff. He said he’d call back and let me know what’s going on. I tried to reach Max….you know,” Isabel waved her hand to indicate she’d used her powers. “But I couldn’t get through. He’s not asleep and I’m not really….focused I guess.”
Alex’s eyebrows shot up at Isabel’s admission of anything less then perfection.
“I can’t reach him but I know he’s there,” Isabel asserted. “Michael said that Zan was tracking them somehow.”
Turning the corner Alex slowed his mother’s car seeing the street lit with half a dozen flashing lights. Hearing Isabel’s gasp he glanced over and found her staring fixedly at the sidewalk where Hanson was setting up markers behind the barrier of police tape.
“Oh my god, Alex,” Isabel whispered, twisting her fingers in her lap as the danger sank in. Those dark stains were probably blood. Some of it Max’s blood. She could actually loose him. Who would care about her, know her like Max did if something happened to him? What had happened to him? How had this happened in the first place?
“You said you know Max is out there. Just remember that. We’ll find them Isabel,” Alex said easily following the train of her thoughts. Covering her trembling fingers with his, he gave them a friendly squeeze as he steered them through the confusion. He had to believe his friends would be all right. He refused to believe otherwise.
~~~~~~
“Liz!” Sophia yelped seeing the man crawling up onto his knees. “He’s coming!”
Liz tore her eyes from Max, finding it unusually difficult to do so, peering into the darkness confirming Sophia’s words. Hearing a sharp cry of pain she darted her eyes over to Ava and saw Sophia trying to help her move.
“Don’t move her yet. She might have internal bleeding or…just stay here,” Liz said her voice strong and firm. Turning back to Max she kissed his forehead softly. “Finish healing these I’ll deal with this.”
“Liz don’t…” Max started only to feel her finger move to press lightly against his lips.
“I can do this. Take care of yourself then Ava. Then we’re leaving,” Liz said her eyes flashing. She could play a goddess. He was insane anyway. How would he know the difference? She’d gotten what she needed to feed into his delusions. All she needed to do was to buy some time. “You know Sophia and I can’t carry you both out so you have to do this. I know what to do.”
Standing and moving away before Max could protest she straightened her spine. “Andres, I’d stop moving if I were you,” Liz spoke in a quiet voice, addressing him by his given name, satisfied when the man froze. “Or I’ll make sure you stop moving.”
“You are angry?” Andres wheezed clutched his ribs tightly.
“Ya think?” Liz replied narrowing her eyes. “I passed angry a long time ago. Now. Stop. Moving.”
Hearing the threat in her tone and seeing it in her eyes he froze. “I did it for you. To find you like my grandfather…”
“Your grandfather NEVER said to do this,” Liz cut him off. “He taught you the history of your mother’s people. His history. YOU distorted it to suit your own warped ideas. What he taught you in no way explains this. You’ve disgraced me.”
“No! I-I didn’t!” Andres protested feeling sick. She was displeased. All his sacrifices were for nothing. Her words echoed his father’s eerily.
Sophia shrank back into the shadows easing the prone girl with her, trying to pull them out of the line of fire.
“You defiled yourself. How many mistakes did you make in your search for me? Did it not occur to you that if I wanted you to serve me I’d have found you?” Liz asked molding her actions and tone into a replica of Isabel’s most icy façade. She’d been on the receiving end of it enough to know how to mimic it flawlessly. “How dare you assume to know my will.”
He gapped at Her speechless as She once again began to shine.
“You have harmed MY people. Placed your hands on them and bled them in MY name! Look at what you’ve done!” Liz gestured vaguely back toward Max. “You are not The Coyote. You are just a man. How dare you presume to know what would please me?”
“He is filth! He chose to defile himself with that WHORE! She looks like an overripe piece of fruit, rotting, disgusting.” He protested heatedly.
Liz didn’t speak, she gathered her power tightly and flung it outward, directing it with her arm.
Ava felt the concussion blast of displaced air rush past her and moved, using it to cover her cry of pain. Tears filled her eyes as she felt a rush of blood leave her. Biting her lip hard she sank back down into the dirt, not even feeling Sophia’s tugging hands. She just wanted to curl up and disappear. She felt hollow, so absolutely empty. She’d never felt like this ever. The struggle ceased to matter to her.
Waiting to see if Andres moved Liz felt a momentary twinge of fear, thinking that she might have killed him. She didn’t want to become that person but circumstances dictated that she couldn’t allow him to gain a foothold. He was dangerous. He’d killed far more people then the authorities knew. His background, while horribly sad, didn’t negate or excuse his actions. He’d raped, tortured, and killed people. Stolen the most precious thing any person had, their life. She couldn’t allow him to harm anyone else, no matter how sick he was or how he’d gotten that way.
When she saw him move she schooled her expression back into an icy mask. “You insult me by insulting them. Ava is a lovely person, kind, and loyal. Appearances do not concern me. I can see inside a person, just as I’ve seen inside you. You’re just as wrong about this as you were all those other times.”
The scorn in her voice was like a slap in the face humiliating him just as his father always had.
“Max has a….twin. You apparently failed to notice even that much. I don’t need you to take action on my behalf. I never asked you to do any of the things that you’ve done. What would make you presume to think that I’d LIKE any of this? What lesser beings do is not any concern of mine. Now, however, you’ve made this my concern. You’ve disappointed me and now I’m afraid I’ll have to show you what happens to people that disappoint me,” Liz said in a steely tone. “You’ve spied on me! Peeping in my widows like a perverted freak! You’ve hurt my people! Now you need to learn.”
Stumbling the rest of the way to his feet despite the jarring the movement gave his ribs, fear seizing him as memories flooded his mind. “I didn’t! I didn’t look in your windows. I-no-I didn’t!” Remembered punishments had him perspiring profusely. “I swear it!”
Liz looked him over, seeing the wound in his side. Looking up into the man’s eyes she steeled herself. “You want to serve me? Bleed for me.”
Reaching out to the foreign object still lodged in his flesh she used the one power she’d practiced enough to be confident in. Picturing the bullet inside him she pulled it toward her, feeling sick as he began to scream. As his screams echoed she felt the bullet land in her open hand and turned her attention to his blood. Creating a vacuum in her mind, using it to speed the flow of blood from his body almost like sucking liquid up a straw, not noticing as her own followed suit.
~this part is for my very own Pepe, who I will always remember. I'm sorry I didn't do better.
Chapter Ninety Five
“Liz,” Max gasp in a frantic plea, unable to pull his eyes from her. She was glowing so brightly she eclipsed everything around her, searing his eyes, but still he couldn’t look away from her.
The sight of her blood spurred him into action, rolling onto his side he began to force himself to his feet knowing he didn’t have much time. She was drifting farther and farther away from him and he’d be damned if he’d just lay there and allow it to happen.
Sophia shrank back into the roughly cut wall, her eyes wide and frightened as she stared helplessly, transfixed by the sight in front of her. Who were these people? What were they?
It was Max’s abrupt movements that broke her out of her trance. The desperate anguish in his cry struck a cord inside her, making her look at Liz again and see more then the shining surface.
“Liz, no,” Max broke out unable to watch as she punished herself. Watching her blood flow faster his fear ignited, gaining new urgency, he knew she was punishing herself because he knew her.
Lurching to his feet he gasp in pain, weaving as the world seemed to tilt under his feet. Shaking his head to clear it he seized the power Liz had lent him and set about repairing the worst of his injuries, enough so he could move without passing out.
It took more effort just to staunch the flow of blood and keep his feet then he’d imagined. Clinging to consciousness through sheer force of will, he grabbed for more energy while the room tilted and spun around him.
Caught by the power she was wielding Liz was deaf and blind to the outside world. The interior landscape filled her senses as she struggled to retain some small speck of herself in spite of the insidious tide of the seal pulling at her, threatening to overtake her completely. Feeling sick to her stomach she tried to ignore the strange roaring sound in her head, feeling that her head might actually burst to accommodate the expanding reaches of her mind.
Weeping in pain she was assaulted by Andres’ stray thoughts, bits of memory that she lived with him, locked together by the threads of power connecting them. Guilt and pity saturated her as she saw, fully understood what she was killing. Who this person had been before Nesado’s touch attempted to turned him into a Hunter and splintered his mind.
None of that changed what he was now or the things he had done. The seal surged into the breach when she faltered, ripping through her and into Andres leaving her unable to even give voice to her pain.
Sophia’s hand covered her mouth as a gout of blood sprayed the dirt in front of the man Liz had called Andres, seemingly called forth from him by Liz’s hand.
Her stomach cramping in sick terror Sophia couldn’t move as Andres raised his face to Liz, his hand reaching for her even as he bled.
“So beautiful,” Andres gasp, his fingers outstretched still seeking Her touch.
“LIZ!” Max burst out, stumbling slowly forward one agonizing step at a time as Liz stepped closer, her hand lifting, fingers brushing Andres’. “No! Liz, stop!”
Without turning her head Liz responded softly. “I can’t.”
“Why?” Andres asked in awe, clasping her hand tightly in his.
“Isn’t that what a god does? Feels your pain, bleeds for you, with you?” Liz asked in return, beating back the seal to offer what comfort she could, feeling her grip on her body loosen as the seal surged like an angry sea inside her.
Seeing the results of her power bloody tears sparkled like rubies on her lashes, bile rising to choke her. This SHOULD be painful, killing someone should hurt, it shouldn’t ever be easy. She would accept the pain because she deserved it.
Suddenly she had a moment of clarity, so sharp it sliced through the confusion. Through her fear and horror rage had been born. Rage so strong she’d had no choice but to release it, giving it wings to fly and teeth to rend flesh, funneling it into action guided by the seal. She was tired of always being a victim, weak and unable to stand against her enemies.
She’d always wanted to believe that her powers would be like Max’s. Helpful and nice like healing, or pretty like changing colors, but that was a child’s wish. This was reality and it wasn’t pretty or nice. Her power had been forged in rage and fear. It was ugly and destructive.
Everything that Max wasn’t. Unable to look at him she kept her eyes trained on Andres, not wanting to see the revulsion grow in Max’s eyes. There was an unmatched beauty to Max’s soul that she’d never felt from anything else, that she knew she couldn’t match. This was what she was inside, what she had to give.
In that moment something changed inside her, died, leaving bleak emptiness in its wake.
“You did ask me to bless you, didn’t you?” Liz asked Andres softly, playing the part his mind had created for her.
Zan’s feet hit the ground running, pounding up a cloud of debris in their wake. Hitting the chainlink fence hard he didn’t pause to think, he just scaled it, not feeling the barbed wire biting into his hands as he cleared the top.
He felt sick, his stomach churning, the sweat that broke out over his skin had nothing to do with exertion. Ava was hurt, in pain, and he had to get to her. A low growl issued from his throat as he felt the charge of power in the air, the smell of fear and blood carried on the wind stirring his baser nature even closer to the surface.
“Zan! Shit!” Kyle cursed as Zan sprinted into the dark. He jumped as Cal blasted a hole in the fence large enough to drive a truck through, not two feet from where he was standing.
“He never thinks,” Cal muttered in disgust before letting his human form fall away, finding it harder to resist the seals call this close.
“Holy shit!” Kyle yelped eyes wide. “A little warning before you do that!”
A sound somewhere between a cough and grunt was his only answer, Cal’s focus already on the battle as he covered the ground from there to the copper mines dilapidated entrance.
“Yes,” Andres whispered in answer as She bent closer, Her lips so very red, glistening wetly. The fall of Her hair like he remembered his mother’s being. She would make everything better, make the pain go away.
The fingers of her left hand brushing Andres cheek she leaned closer, capturing his enraptured gaze with hers, pushing down the part of her that was already screaming, mourning a loss that couldn’t be prevented. As her lips brushed his mouth, leaving a smear of her blood in her wake, she was swept with a wave of vertigo.
Sophia watched as Liz crumpled to the ground like a switch had been turned off inside of her, rippling with energy that leapt from her to the man. Licking over his skin like fire. She shut her eyes as Max’s shouts of denial rang in her ears. Rocking back and forth, Sophia stroked her fingers through Tess’s tangled tresses as more tears leaked from the corners of her eyes to soak into the already damp hair clinging to her cheeks. Offering the same instinctive comfort that she used to soothe her younger sisters when they hurt she lost herself.
Scooping Liz up and cradling her to his chest Max jerked her out of Andres’ reach, cursing himself for being too slow and weak to protect her. Scooting back in the dirt until he was far enough away he laid her down on the ground, his eyes searching over her for injuries. Heart in his throat, he ignored the new emptiness growing inside his chest.
Beating back the urge to panic Max wiped his hand on his pants before bringing their seals together, gasping as he fell into the fierce battle taking place inside the vessel of Liz’s body.
Gritting his teeth he wrestled for control of the seal, siphoning away as much of its power as he could.
Flung from her body so abruptly it left her dazed Liz trembled between places, her anchor keeping her from drifting too far.
Her world wavered sickeningly as her perceptions flickered between the physical and metaphysical. Suspended there she waited. Waited for her anchor to give way and send her spinning, lost forever in this twilight place.
Funny that when Nesado finally achieved all that he sought he wasn’t even here to accept the victory.
Zan burst around the corner of the tunnel, his eyes sweeping the area for her.
Seeing her huddled there in the dirt his chest heaved, fighting the constriction tightening down on his lungs. He barely noticed the other girl shrink away from him as he skidded to his knees beside Ava, gently tilting her face up with his fingers under her chin.
The stark look of loss in her teary eyes pierced him to the core.
“S’alright, Baby Girl,” Zan murmured softly, moving closer to shelter her body. “I’s gonna fix it. Kay? Jus look’it me.”
“I’m sorry,” Ava barely whispered, tears spilling from her lashes to run down her cheeks.
Zan gritted his teeth as rage flooded him. Nostrils flaring, he breathed deeply, focusing on Ava. She needed him to keep his shit under control. “Don’t start dat shit, kay? You kin fuck me up lata. Now jus look at me.”
Ava blinked away her tears as Zan worked his hand under her coat until he reached bare skin. The warm weight of his hand against her abdomen sent new tears chasing the old as a wave of desolation broke through her. Even Zan couldn’t fix this.
“Baby Girl, ya gotta let me in here,” Zan whispered ignoring the soft shuffling noise of the other girl. “I ain’t leav’in so you’s stuck wit me. Open you’s eyes.”
The second her eyes opened he shoved his way in, knowing she was too weak to keep him out.
Cal dismissed Zan and the rest as unimportant, striding directly over to the fallen man. Glancing only briefly at Max bent over Liz’s still flickering body he knelt down and placed his hand over the man’s chest.
As the first tendrils of his powers seeped into the man Cal paused, feeling the presence of the seal, of Liz’s energy. If he stopped the man’s heart he would also stop hers. She had unknowingly woven herself through Andres, wrapping him in her essence, suffering with him as the seal fought to destroy the threat to its barrier.
Huffing out a disgusted grunt he kept the mans heart beating, closing off his wound, stopping the flow of his blood so he didn’t expire before it was safe.
Standing up he turned to face his duty.
Sophia buried her face against her raised knees, not wanting to see anymore. Those large black eyes were the stuff of nightmares, reflecting back nothing. No emotion, no inner thoughts, they were like huge black pits giving back nothing but absorbing all light.
She wanted to go home.
Her rocking motion speeded up as it started making noises.
Cal huffed when he heard the noises coming out of his throat, quickly changing back into his human form.
“Let me see her, Max,” Cal said softly crouching down to put a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
Max shrugged off the offending hand, folding himself over Liz, straining as he split his attention. He had to hold on to her.
“Evans!” Kyle called as he skidded to a stop, bending over to place his hands on his knees while panting for enough breath to speak. “He’s……….a………protector. Let’im………….see. It’s….cool.”
“Concentrate on the seal. Stabilize it by remaining calm. Pull its power into you and use it to call Liz back. Understand?” Cal asked keeping his voice calm. “I will help her but you need to call her back and you can only do that if the seal recedes.”
“Okay,” Max agreed. He was her anchor. He would do this. He would match her strength and hold her tight. He wasn’t letting go of her, no matter what.
Cal watched, feeling the seal surge, resisting Max’s efforts. He wasn’t worried. The kid could handle it.
Turning his eyes to the bracelet he watched its light pulse like a heartbeat, burning into Liz’s wrist.
“S’okay,” Zan wheezed trembling with fatigue. Rage was building inside him at what had been done to her. She was hurt in a way that he couldn’t fix and that gave his rage more fuel. No one hurt his Baby Girl like that and lived. “S’okay now.”
Ava didn’t bother to argue. For one she didn’t have the strength and for another she wasn’t sure she cared. So she just lay there, numb.
The rocking motion caught his eye, drawing Kyle’s attention to the girl huddled against the wall in the dark. Noting the way she was wrapped around herself protectively, bare skin showing through the tangled mass of hair cloaking her, he pulled off his coat and followed that with his shirt.
Moving slowly, slowly enough so she had time to see him and not be alarmed, he approached her with his shirt and coat in hand. Crouching down he offered them to her.
“Sophia? Hi, umm Kyle,” Kyle stumbled his eyes kind and steady on hers. “Remember me? Umm you look cold so…..here. Put these on.”
At the sound of her name something relaxed inside her. “I remember,” Sophia breathed, unclenching her fingers and reaching for the offered garments.
Kyle turned slightly away while she dressed, shielding her from Zan with his back while looking over to Max and Liz. Realizing what Sophia had probably seen of an alien nature he shifted from one foot to the other. “So umm, I’m not like a…I’m totally human.”
Sophia stopped and looked up at him. “Uh-uh, good to know.”
Kyle smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners at the look on her face. “In case you were wondering I mean.”
“Yeah, well…” Sophia hedged in confusion as she started to stand up.
Kyle immediately moved to help her, pulling her to her feet then reluctantly releasing her. Hovering close he debated what to do here.
Glancing at Zan showed him looking as dark as a thundercloud and no help at all. He cast a worried look in Liz’s direction, he wasn’t leaving until he knew she was going to be okay.
Seeing the direction of Kyle’s gaze Sophia turned to look as well. Although most of Liz’s body was hidden from her she could see enough to tell that she wasn’t glowing any longer.
At first Liz resisted the pull to go back, floating here there was no pain, no fear. Nothing seemed very important here.
It was feeling Max that cleared her head. He was upset. He wanted her to come back to him.
Without thinking about it further she followed his call, crashing back into her body. It hurt. She hurt so much. It felt like someone had hit her in the chest with a sledgehammer. Panicking, her chest rose and fell like a trapped rabbit, bolts of energy skittering over her skin.
“What’s happening?” Max asked Cal, frantic to relieve the pain he could see twisting Liz’s features.
Pushing Max aside Cal knelt down next to Liz combing her hair away from her eyes so she could see him. “It’s okay, Little Bit. I’ll help you.”
Liz calmed slightly, her mind latching onto the remembered nickname, the familiarity of his touch. She knew this person. Or thought she did. “Milagro?”
Cal smiled despite himself. “Yes, it’s Milagro. Now, let me help. Your body is a little overloaded. You try to do too much. I always told you this but you listen about as good as Zan does,” Cal observed with a weary shake of his head. “Claudia always said you had a mind of your own and I can see she was right. There are limits to everything. This is what you need to learn.”
“Who are you?” Liz gasp.
“Later, now we need to see about fixing you up,” Cal deflected.
Liz closed her eyes sinking into the warmth of his touch. It was so familiar, it made her feel safe. She relaxed further as she felt Max skimming his fingers down her arm. She was safe. It was over. This part of it was over.
When Zan started to stand Ava reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Don’t leave me. Please Zan, don’t.”
The hitch in her voice and her tight grip on his arm told him how close to loosing it she was. Pushing down on the rage choking him, the desire to take care of the problem in the way he always had, he forced himself to settle back down beside her.
He wasn’t the one who was important here. Ava needed him.
Gathering her up close to his chest he rubbed his chin against her hair wrapping her up tight in his arms. “I told ya, I ain’t gonna leave. You’s safe now. I ain’t lett’in no one hurt you’s again.”
Ava burrowed under his coat, soaking in the solid strength of him and started to sob so hard her whole body shook.
“Sorry, Baby Girl, but you’s stuck now. Crying bout it ain’t gonna get me ta leave. I didn’t leave ya when you’s was slow outta da pods and dis ain’t gonna do it neither. Ya can’t change you’s mind now. I gotta get you a ring now or what?” Zan asked, talking over her sobs, not knowing what else to do.
“Shut up, Zan,” Ava hiccuped.
Alex followed Michael tuning out Maria’s constant rambling behind them. Maria always talked when she was nervous.
“Are you sure they’re down here? I mean, they could be in the other direction right? Maybe they aren’t down here at all,” Maria said at a hundred miles per hour.
“Maria! They’re down here,” Isabel snapped. “That hole in the fence didn’t create itself! God!”
“Shut up!” Michael barked. “Hear that?”
Alex picked up the pace to keep up with Michael. When they rounded the bend Alex let out a breath he wasn’t aware of holding.
Liz was just sitting up only to be engulfed in Max’s arms. Kyle was half-naked and hovering over what looked to be Sophia, Kyle’s shirt hanging halfway down her thighs.
Alex smiled as he saw Zan kiss Ava’s forehead before wiping away the tears on her cheeks. Looked like Zan was finally getting a clue. Bout time.
Chapter Ninety Five
“Liz,” Max gasp in a frantic plea, unable to pull his eyes from her. She was glowing so brightly she eclipsed everything around her, searing his eyes, but still he couldn’t look away from her.
The sight of her blood spurred him into action, rolling onto his side he began to force himself to his feet knowing he didn’t have much time. She was drifting farther and farther away from him and he’d be damned if he’d just lay there and allow it to happen.
Sophia shrank back into the roughly cut wall, her eyes wide and frightened as she stared helplessly, transfixed by the sight in front of her. Who were these people? What were they?
It was Max’s abrupt movements that broke her out of her trance. The desperate anguish in his cry struck a cord inside her, making her look at Liz again and see more then the shining surface.
“Liz, no,” Max broke out unable to watch as she punished herself. Watching her blood flow faster his fear ignited, gaining new urgency, he knew she was punishing herself because he knew her.
Lurching to his feet he gasp in pain, weaving as the world seemed to tilt under his feet. Shaking his head to clear it he seized the power Liz had lent him and set about repairing the worst of his injuries, enough so he could move without passing out.
It took more effort just to staunch the flow of blood and keep his feet then he’d imagined. Clinging to consciousness through sheer force of will, he grabbed for more energy while the room tilted and spun around him.
Caught by the power she was wielding Liz was deaf and blind to the outside world. The interior landscape filled her senses as she struggled to retain some small speck of herself in spite of the insidious tide of the seal pulling at her, threatening to overtake her completely. Feeling sick to her stomach she tried to ignore the strange roaring sound in her head, feeling that her head might actually burst to accommodate the expanding reaches of her mind.
Weeping in pain she was assaulted by Andres’ stray thoughts, bits of memory that she lived with him, locked together by the threads of power connecting them. Guilt and pity saturated her as she saw, fully understood what she was killing. Who this person had been before Nesado’s touch attempted to turned him into a Hunter and splintered his mind.
None of that changed what he was now or the things he had done. The seal surged into the breach when she faltered, ripping through her and into Andres leaving her unable to even give voice to her pain.
Sophia’s hand covered her mouth as a gout of blood sprayed the dirt in front of the man Liz had called Andres, seemingly called forth from him by Liz’s hand.
Her stomach cramping in sick terror Sophia couldn’t move as Andres raised his face to Liz, his hand reaching for her even as he bled.
“So beautiful,” Andres gasp, his fingers outstretched still seeking Her touch.
“LIZ!” Max burst out, stumbling slowly forward one agonizing step at a time as Liz stepped closer, her hand lifting, fingers brushing Andres’. “No! Liz, stop!”
Without turning her head Liz responded softly. “I can’t.”
“Why?” Andres asked in awe, clasping her hand tightly in his.
“Isn’t that what a god does? Feels your pain, bleeds for you, with you?” Liz asked in return, beating back the seal to offer what comfort she could, feeling her grip on her body loosen as the seal surged like an angry sea inside her.
Seeing the results of her power bloody tears sparkled like rubies on her lashes, bile rising to choke her. This SHOULD be painful, killing someone should hurt, it shouldn’t ever be easy. She would accept the pain because she deserved it.
Suddenly she had a moment of clarity, so sharp it sliced through the confusion. Through her fear and horror rage had been born. Rage so strong she’d had no choice but to release it, giving it wings to fly and teeth to rend flesh, funneling it into action guided by the seal. She was tired of always being a victim, weak and unable to stand against her enemies.
She’d always wanted to believe that her powers would be like Max’s. Helpful and nice like healing, or pretty like changing colors, but that was a child’s wish. This was reality and it wasn’t pretty or nice. Her power had been forged in rage and fear. It was ugly and destructive.
Everything that Max wasn’t. Unable to look at him she kept her eyes trained on Andres, not wanting to see the revulsion grow in Max’s eyes. There was an unmatched beauty to Max’s soul that she’d never felt from anything else, that she knew she couldn’t match. This was what she was inside, what she had to give.
In that moment something changed inside her, died, leaving bleak emptiness in its wake.
“You did ask me to bless you, didn’t you?” Liz asked Andres softly, playing the part his mind had created for her.
Zan’s feet hit the ground running, pounding up a cloud of debris in their wake. Hitting the chainlink fence hard he didn’t pause to think, he just scaled it, not feeling the barbed wire biting into his hands as he cleared the top.
He felt sick, his stomach churning, the sweat that broke out over his skin had nothing to do with exertion. Ava was hurt, in pain, and he had to get to her. A low growl issued from his throat as he felt the charge of power in the air, the smell of fear and blood carried on the wind stirring his baser nature even closer to the surface.
“Zan! Shit!” Kyle cursed as Zan sprinted into the dark. He jumped as Cal blasted a hole in the fence large enough to drive a truck through, not two feet from where he was standing.
“He never thinks,” Cal muttered in disgust before letting his human form fall away, finding it harder to resist the seals call this close.
“Holy shit!” Kyle yelped eyes wide. “A little warning before you do that!”
A sound somewhere between a cough and grunt was his only answer, Cal’s focus already on the battle as he covered the ground from there to the copper mines dilapidated entrance.
“Yes,” Andres whispered in answer as She bent closer, Her lips so very red, glistening wetly. The fall of Her hair like he remembered his mother’s being. She would make everything better, make the pain go away.
The fingers of her left hand brushing Andres cheek she leaned closer, capturing his enraptured gaze with hers, pushing down the part of her that was already screaming, mourning a loss that couldn’t be prevented. As her lips brushed his mouth, leaving a smear of her blood in her wake, she was swept with a wave of vertigo.
Sophia watched as Liz crumpled to the ground like a switch had been turned off inside of her, rippling with energy that leapt from her to the man. Licking over his skin like fire. She shut her eyes as Max’s shouts of denial rang in her ears. Rocking back and forth, Sophia stroked her fingers through Tess’s tangled tresses as more tears leaked from the corners of her eyes to soak into the already damp hair clinging to her cheeks. Offering the same instinctive comfort that she used to soothe her younger sisters when they hurt she lost herself.
Scooping Liz up and cradling her to his chest Max jerked her out of Andres’ reach, cursing himself for being too slow and weak to protect her. Scooting back in the dirt until he was far enough away he laid her down on the ground, his eyes searching over her for injuries. Heart in his throat, he ignored the new emptiness growing inside his chest.
Beating back the urge to panic Max wiped his hand on his pants before bringing their seals together, gasping as he fell into the fierce battle taking place inside the vessel of Liz’s body.
Gritting his teeth he wrestled for control of the seal, siphoning away as much of its power as he could.
Flung from her body so abruptly it left her dazed Liz trembled between places, her anchor keeping her from drifting too far.
Her world wavered sickeningly as her perceptions flickered between the physical and metaphysical. Suspended there she waited. Waited for her anchor to give way and send her spinning, lost forever in this twilight place.
Funny that when Nesado finally achieved all that he sought he wasn’t even here to accept the victory.
Zan burst around the corner of the tunnel, his eyes sweeping the area for her.
Seeing her huddled there in the dirt his chest heaved, fighting the constriction tightening down on his lungs. He barely noticed the other girl shrink away from him as he skidded to his knees beside Ava, gently tilting her face up with his fingers under her chin.
The stark look of loss in her teary eyes pierced him to the core.
“S’alright, Baby Girl,” Zan murmured softly, moving closer to shelter her body. “I’s gonna fix it. Kay? Jus look’it me.”
“I’m sorry,” Ava barely whispered, tears spilling from her lashes to run down her cheeks.
Zan gritted his teeth as rage flooded him. Nostrils flaring, he breathed deeply, focusing on Ava. She needed him to keep his shit under control. “Don’t start dat shit, kay? You kin fuck me up lata. Now jus look at me.”
Ava blinked away her tears as Zan worked his hand under her coat until he reached bare skin. The warm weight of his hand against her abdomen sent new tears chasing the old as a wave of desolation broke through her. Even Zan couldn’t fix this.
“Baby Girl, ya gotta let me in here,” Zan whispered ignoring the soft shuffling noise of the other girl. “I ain’t leav’in so you’s stuck wit me. Open you’s eyes.”
The second her eyes opened he shoved his way in, knowing she was too weak to keep him out.
Cal dismissed Zan and the rest as unimportant, striding directly over to the fallen man. Glancing only briefly at Max bent over Liz’s still flickering body he knelt down and placed his hand over the man’s chest.
As the first tendrils of his powers seeped into the man Cal paused, feeling the presence of the seal, of Liz’s energy. If he stopped the man’s heart he would also stop hers. She had unknowingly woven herself through Andres, wrapping him in her essence, suffering with him as the seal fought to destroy the threat to its barrier.
Huffing out a disgusted grunt he kept the mans heart beating, closing off his wound, stopping the flow of his blood so he didn’t expire before it was safe.
Standing up he turned to face his duty.
Sophia buried her face against her raised knees, not wanting to see anymore. Those large black eyes were the stuff of nightmares, reflecting back nothing. No emotion, no inner thoughts, they were like huge black pits giving back nothing but absorbing all light.
She wanted to go home.
Her rocking motion speeded up as it started making noises.
Cal huffed when he heard the noises coming out of his throat, quickly changing back into his human form.
“Let me see her, Max,” Cal said softly crouching down to put a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
Max shrugged off the offending hand, folding himself over Liz, straining as he split his attention. He had to hold on to her.
“Evans!” Kyle called as he skidded to a stop, bending over to place his hands on his knees while panting for enough breath to speak. “He’s……….a………protector. Let’im………….see. It’s….cool.”
“Concentrate on the seal. Stabilize it by remaining calm. Pull its power into you and use it to call Liz back. Understand?” Cal asked keeping his voice calm. “I will help her but you need to call her back and you can only do that if the seal recedes.”
“Okay,” Max agreed. He was her anchor. He would do this. He would match her strength and hold her tight. He wasn’t letting go of her, no matter what.
Cal watched, feeling the seal surge, resisting Max’s efforts. He wasn’t worried. The kid could handle it.
Turning his eyes to the bracelet he watched its light pulse like a heartbeat, burning into Liz’s wrist.
“S’okay,” Zan wheezed trembling with fatigue. Rage was building inside him at what had been done to her. She was hurt in a way that he couldn’t fix and that gave his rage more fuel. No one hurt his Baby Girl like that and lived. “S’okay now.”
Ava didn’t bother to argue. For one she didn’t have the strength and for another she wasn’t sure she cared. So she just lay there, numb.
The rocking motion caught his eye, drawing Kyle’s attention to the girl huddled against the wall in the dark. Noting the way she was wrapped around herself protectively, bare skin showing through the tangled mass of hair cloaking her, he pulled off his coat and followed that with his shirt.
Moving slowly, slowly enough so she had time to see him and not be alarmed, he approached her with his shirt and coat in hand. Crouching down he offered them to her.
“Sophia? Hi, umm Kyle,” Kyle stumbled his eyes kind and steady on hers. “Remember me? Umm you look cold so…..here. Put these on.”
At the sound of her name something relaxed inside her. “I remember,” Sophia breathed, unclenching her fingers and reaching for the offered garments.
Kyle turned slightly away while she dressed, shielding her from Zan with his back while looking over to Max and Liz. Realizing what Sophia had probably seen of an alien nature he shifted from one foot to the other. “So umm, I’m not like a…I’m totally human.”
Sophia stopped and looked up at him. “Uh-uh, good to know.”
Kyle smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners at the look on her face. “In case you were wondering I mean.”
“Yeah, well…” Sophia hedged in confusion as she started to stand up.
Kyle immediately moved to help her, pulling her to her feet then reluctantly releasing her. Hovering close he debated what to do here.
Glancing at Zan showed him looking as dark as a thundercloud and no help at all. He cast a worried look in Liz’s direction, he wasn’t leaving until he knew she was going to be okay.
Seeing the direction of Kyle’s gaze Sophia turned to look as well. Although most of Liz’s body was hidden from her she could see enough to tell that she wasn’t glowing any longer.
At first Liz resisted the pull to go back, floating here there was no pain, no fear. Nothing seemed very important here.
It was feeling Max that cleared her head. He was upset. He wanted her to come back to him.
Without thinking about it further she followed his call, crashing back into her body. It hurt. She hurt so much. It felt like someone had hit her in the chest with a sledgehammer. Panicking, her chest rose and fell like a trapped rabbit, bolts of energy skittering over her skin.
“What’s happening?” Max asked Cal, frantic to relieve the pain he could see twisting Liz’s features.
Pushing Max aside Cal knelt down next to Liz combing her hair away from her eyes so she could see him. “It’s okay, Little Bit. I’ll help you.”
Liz calmed slightly, her mind latching onto the remembered nickname, the familiarity of his touch. She knew this person. Or thought she did. “Milagro?”
Cal smiled despite himself. “Yes, it’s Milagro. Now, let me help. Your body is a little overloaded. You try to do too much. I always told you this but you listen about as good as Zan does,” Cal observed with a weary shake of his head. “Claudia always said you had a mind of your own and I can see she was right. There are limits to everything. This is what you need to learn.”
“Who are you?” Liz gasp.
“Later, now we need to see about fixing you up,” Cal deflected.
Liz closed her eyes sinking into the warmth of his touch. It was so familiar, it made her feel safe. She relaxed further as she felt Max skimming his fingers down her arm. She was safe. It was over. This part of it was over.
When Zan started to stand Ava reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him. “Don’t leave me. Please Zan, don’t.”
The hitch in her voice and her tight grip on his arm told him how close to loosing it she was. Pushing down on the rage choking him, the desire to take care of the problem in the way he always had, he forced himself to settle back down beside her.
He wasn’t the one who was important here. Ava needed him.
Gathering her up close to his chest he rubbed his chin against her hair wrapping her up tight in his arms. “I told ya, I ain’t gonna leave. You’s safe now. I ain’t lett’in no one hurt you’s again.”
Ava burrowed under his coat, soaking in the solid strength of him and started to sob so hard her whole body shook.
“Sorry, Baby Girl, but you’s stuck now. Crying bout it ain’t gonna get me ta leave. I didn’t leave ya when you’s was slow outta da pods and dis ain’t gonna do it neither. Ya can’t change you’s mind now. I gotta get you a ring now or what?” Zan asked, talking over her sobs, not knowing what else to do.
“Shut up, Zan,” Ava hiccuped.
Alex followed Michael tuning out Maria’s constant rambling behind them. Maria always talked when she was nervous.
“Are you sure they’re down here? I mean, they could be in the other direction right? Maybe they aren’t down here at all,” Maria said at a hundred miles per hour.
“Maria! They’re down here,” Isabel snapped. “That hole in the fence didn’t create itself! God!”
“Shut up!” Michael barked. “Hear that?”
Alex picked up the pace to keep up with Michael. When they rounded the bend Alex let out a breath he wasn’t aware of holding.
Liz was just sitting up only to be engulfed in Max’s arms. Kyle was half-naked and hovering over what looked to be Sophia, Kyle’s shirt hanging halfway down her thighs.
Alex smiled as he saw Zan kiss Ava’s forehead before wiping away the tears on her cheeks. Looked like Zan was finally getting a clue. Bout time.