Tainted - Chapter 12

The chaos in front of the mansion was exactly as Alexander predicted, several bullets shot at them while he sped through the mess, getting past the gates. They had barely gotten out the premises when an unidentifiable van matched their speed, coming behind with evident anger, firing shots straight ahead. The bullets slammed into the metal exterior of the jeep, making several indents but not penetrating through. What a great time to thank Cael for making the vehicles bulletproof huh. He thought to himself, knowing that despite his brother’s nagging, he seemed to be spot on when it came to his instincts.

“They’re shooting at us... We’re going to die”

“Yes, I can see that.” He snorted, “If we were going to die, I would’ve gotten killed a long time back. Put the gun out the window and aim woman” Alexander sped up, they weren’t too far from the nearest exit, the problem was going to be getting them off their tail.

“I don’t need your sarcasm Kasimir, I can’t do this!” her voice cracked at the end but Alexander wasn’t letting her give up just yet.

“Put the gun out, grab the hilt and put your finger against the trigger” Alexander forced his voice to stay as calm as he possibly could. The girl next to him was in her pyjamas, scared half to death, and had been dragged across the floor by a man twice her size just to be on the verge of death. Being an asshole right now wasn’t a good idea. Waiting for her to follow his instructions, Alexander gripped the steering wheel and took a sharp turn so that the gun lined up with the direction of the vehicle behind them.

“Shoot! Now!” the second he had given the order, Theia fell back from the aftermath of the gunshot, a hard blow to the windshield had just about missed, getting only the furthest end of the passenger side.

“Again!” he commanded manoeuvring the vehicle so that the bullets could cause just enough damage to distract the other vehicle so that they could get onto the highway. Another bullet lodged into the windshield, cracking the centre and causing a web of cracks around the area. Perfect.

“Good girl, you’re better than you think pixie” Alexander smirked, giving her a final command to shoot once again. The two vehicles had immediately turned against each other, with Alexander’s Jeep being halfway on the pavement and the other crashing into a nearby street lamp. A moment of silence between the attacks had given enough time for them to gather their bearings. Next to him, Theia whimpered in pain, dropping the rifle and squeezing her eyes shut. Alexander checked the vehicle, doing his best to determine whatever he could see in the darkness, and the sight of movement was all it took before the man got to his senses and forced the jeep back onto the road.

Several gunshots followed shortly after but he was already out of their line of vision and onto a larger road of traffic. Cutting in front of a car earned him another round of curses, honking, and middle fingers but the man had been determined to find his way out of there. He needed to get in contact with Cael, or at least his men, and in the rush of everything, he had left behind everything. Reaching across to the passenger side, he undid the pocket and grabbed the cellphone from inside, putting it on and thanking heavens that he had remembered to recharge it. Cael’s number was the first on the dial pad, however, he could not get onto him. Great. Ringing his assistant, the only other person whose number he knew by memory, Alexander’s jaw tightened when it had failed as well.

“Are we going to die?” Theia asked next to him, her head turning to look at him as he momentarily took his eyes off the road to stare into her glossy ones.

“We are not going to die Aletheia, buckle up,” He said in a voice lower than he expected.

Theia felt her eyes burn, the fact that she hadn’t heard anyone call her by her full name since her mother’s death seemed to be more tear-jerking than the multiple injuries she’d sustain during this escape fiasco. Grabbing the seatbelt tentatively and forcing her hands into a fist so that she could stop herself from visibly trembling, she sunk back into the seat. Where were they going? Was there even a place they could go to? She noticed him trying to get in contact with someone, but from the obvious silence, it didn’t look like Alexander had much luck. A few minutes later and they were on the highway, a blurry vision of cars and street lamps ahead hadn’t been enough to distract Theia from her thoughts. She couldn’t help but fear that they were going to die, all her paranoia was proven true. Someone was watching, someone was keeping an eye on her.

Maybe if she’d brought it up earlier with Alexander instead of locking lips with him, they could’ve avoided everything. Shit. Was he going to blame her? She hated how that was her first thought, instead of worrying about whether they would find somewhere to stay for the night, she had been scared that the man would blame her and yell at her for not telling him about it earlier. Closing her eyes and sighing heavily, the winter season was fast approaching and the cold wind against her face did not feel nice at all. She had not opened her eyes until the jeep came to a full stop, not even realising that they had been driving for so long, she peeked out to see that they reached a very simple cottage-like bungalow.

Opening the door and getting out, her legs felt like jelly, her body was sore and once again, the late November air didn’t feel so great against her barely-there pyjamas. Hugging her arms around her chest, she followed Alexander over when he told her to come and stood on the side of him that blocked most of the breeze while he unlocked the front door and walked in. At a first glance, the house seemed like nothing fancy, but there was a strangely elegant feel about it, and that had been reinforced once Alexander put the lights on and she was welcomed by a beautiful traditionally staged interior. To her left was the kitchen entrance, which opened out to the dining and living room area.

“Where are we?” she asked curiously, stepping a bit further in to gawk at the layout. It looked like something she’d only see in movies, and though the house was not warm enough, it surely wasn’t as freezing as outside.

“My father’s old house; it’s also Cael’s little escape-from-reality bungalow,” Alexander muttered the last bit to himself while setting the thermostat and turning towards her.

“He didn’t strike me as the vintage kind of guy” she noted.

“I wonder why, Go shower, I’ll get you some clothes for tonight.” He stated dryly, turning away to busy himself with the large cabinet of drinks.

“Where is the bathroom?”

“it’s a three-bedroom house pixie, if you open a door and it doesn’t look like it, try another” the man snorted. Of course, what did she expect him to do? Give her a house tour and personally escort her to the bathroom? Ha.

“Oh, my bad, how dare I ask Alexander the Great for directions” she huffed, turning to the hallway, making her way towards the doors, opening them all spitefully to look around. The first two rooms opposite each other were furnished with a bed and simple furniture, while the third room had been transformed into a study. Everything seemed to fit well, from the antique leather furnishing to the solid wood desk, everything looked like it was also very well cared for over the years.

Theia’s shower ended up being more painful than she expected, her arm hurt and she could see the start of a dark bruise along her shoulder near her collarbone. She had several lighter bruises along her body and some scratches which burned like fire under the heat of the water. Peeking out of the bathroom to look for the clothes she had hoped the man got her, she saw a folded set near the decorative side table in the hallway. Taking the clothes back into the bathroom, she slipped the oversized sweatpants on as well as the large black t-shirt that reached her mid-thigh and seemed to swallow her up. It was more comfortable than she expected, though it did smell strongly of mothballs. Now wasn’t the time for her to complain, instead, she grabbed the dirty clothes and stepped out tentatively to look for him.

“Where should I put this--” the words were halfway out her mouth when she saw him from the corner of her eye in the very first room right next to the study.

Alexander’s shirt was off, leaving him in just a pair of black pants, several wounds filled his arms, some much older than others while he bit hard onto a bunched up towel. Snapping herself out of the trance she had been in once she saw the half-naked man, Theia finally noticed that he was attempting to pull the bullet lodged into his arm from his flesh. Closing her eyes shut at the sight of it, she heard him curse and grunt a few times before silence filled the air once again. Pushing the door open and walking into the room, she had set her dirty clothes outside in a corner where she had made a mental note to pick them up after.

“Do you need help?” she asked, but he hadn’t looked up at her, instead he washed the pads of cotton with alcohol and pressed it into his arm with a breath.

“Are you offering your services?” he shrugged the alcohol pad off and then used whatever medication there was in the first aid kit to dress the wound.

“Yes, I am. Why else would I ask?” she rolled her eyes and grabbed a pair of sterile gloves from the small compartment in the first aid kit. “Thian had a habit of getting himself injured, I know how to dress a few wounds,” she said peeling his hand away and then moving to sit next to him so that she could get a better view of the injury.

Alexander hadn’t said anything else after she started to see to his cuts. She also decided that small talk wasn’t necessary, it was strange enough the man willingly allowed her to get this close without a fuss, she told herself that she’d quietly help him and pretend to not notice the awkward tension in the air. Shortly after wrapping the first bandage around his arm, she noticed that his hair was wet and he had the scent of the soap she had used not too long ago.

“Did you shower?” she asked, a bit confused as she took the metal hooks to secure the bandages.

“Do I stink pixie?” he leaned in a little and it was enough to get an even stronger scent of that soap.

“I didn’t know there was another bathroom” she mumbled, shifting back at the distance between them. Deciding not to dwell too long on the topic, Theia picked up the cotton, dabbling a bit of alcohol on one side and reached to his face where he had a large open bruise on his cheek so that she could clean it. Once the cotton came into contact with his skin, Alexander held her hand at the wrist and pulled it from his face.

“Why? I need to-”

“Leave.” He stated promptly, “I can do the rest by myself.”

“What are you talking about? Let me help you” she furrowed her brows and met his eyes when he released her wrist and got up, talking into her ear.

“Leave now, if I put you in this bed tonight, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get out in the morning” He growled, ripping the cotton from her hand and leaving to the connected bathroom with a slam of the door.