"Have you?" Ari squints his eyes in disbelief.
"No, but I imagine it would hurt." Lex says with a smirk. "Besides, all you need is the flame, so stop complaining!"
Ari sighed in defeat.
"Fine!"
As Lex begins unwrapping several to get them ready, Ari just stares on in disgust.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"I hate burritos..." Ari says, his lips pressing into a pained thin line.
"Really? Why?"
"Because they're evil."
I frown, confused at his answer.
"He got food poisoning once." Lex adds in, finished with his work, filling me in on his brothers distaste. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah." Ari sighs, clearly not eager for whatever they have planned. Lex produces a lighter from one of the shelves next to us and dips the makeshift grenade in the alcohol covering the floor from the many broken bottles. The room had gone silent a little, peeking over the edge slightly, Lex signals they're still here, taking their time to avoid the smoke cloud that's been harassing them.
"Alright, we have 3 to our left, 2 to our right and 1 in the center. Where do you want it?" Lex asks as he lights their weapon.
"Straight down the middle." Ari replies as he begins to vigorously rub his palms together. With a deep breath Lex launches it high into the center of the group of men. Ari then lifts his hands that now have a strange orange glow in the center of them. I look up just in time to see flames burst out into the air. I cower in surprise. I can hear the panicked screams of men frantically attempting to pat the flames out that have ignited on all the alcohol coated things near them. They repeat this process, this time aiming to our left, next our right. The heat from the fires is beginning to build and the smoke is getting thick. Ari leans heavily forward placing his hands on the floor, a strong tremble rippling through his exhausted body and weak pants escaping his mouth
"Are you ok?" I ask as I slowly help pull him to the bar so he can lay against it.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's easy to amplify people, it's much harder to amplify elements." Lex leans over and ruffles his hair.
"My turn." Lex scurries around the bar and I follow as well as I can to watch him. I make it around the bend just in time to see him grab one of the assailants and turn him to him sharply. His hands grab the mans face harshly and I can see Lex talking, though I can't hear what he says. Lex releases him and jogs to the wall nearest us that has a fire extinguisher. The man looks like he's sleepwalking or possessed, he turns and begins firing random shots at his own men. They all begin to panic and rush out of the building. The possessed man follows, continuing to fire. Aiden appears next to me, nearly giving me a heart attack.
"You know, spying isn't nice." He says and chuckles.
"What just happened?" I ask pointing in the direction of the man that Lex hypnotized.
"Lex more than likely told him to go give his men a fright." He said shrugging it off like it was nothing. He lifted me up and sat me on the counter. Lex started to make his way to me before Aiden raised a hand to stop him, so he and Ari got to work on the fires.
"Why are you acting like that was nothing, the man was shooting at his own men!" I whisper through clenched teeth, keeping as quiet as possible so Lex won't hear.
"And? Those men were trying to kill us." He glares at me.
"I'm not angry because he's shooting at them, I'm angry because-""
"Because what? Because he didn't want to do it? Or because it frightens you that Lex has enough power to make people do questionable things? To make them become something they would never want to be?" Aiden fumes, obviously having had this conversation one too many times.
"You might not like it, but sometimes there is no alternative. Just because he has the power to do very bad things doesn't mean he will." He finishes and begins tending to my leg. The thought of someone being able to take over your actions, and control your behavior is terrifying, yet I know Lex isn't the kind of man to abuse that. But where is the line drawn? When is it ok to simply manipulate someone in your favor? The obvious start is when they seek to harm you or others, but where does it end?
"I'm sorry." I say quietly as he slowly peels the blood soaked towel off my wound pulling a pained hiss from me. He looks up with a slight glare.
"I mean it, I'm sorry. You all have been nothing but kind and protective of me, I have no right to question what you do to protect yourselves and the ones you care about. Especially considering the type of trouble you seem to find yourselves in." I smile weakly, hoping he's not too angry to accept it. He sighs and pauses his work, holding my leg in place.
"I know. I know this is all new and scary. We never expected to pull you into a gun fight, and we never thought we'd have to show you this side of us, but this is who we are. We're shady and dangerous. And while we may not do illegal things, illegal things still follow us."
I pause, that last bit seeping into my brain.
"You don't do illegal things?" I ask very slowly, sounding out each word.
"No." He replies as he continues lightly cleaning my leg.
"I thought you guys were criminals, heck, everyone thinks you guys are criminals."
"We know, but none of us have ever broken any laws."
"But I thought you guys dealt... like drugs and stuff..."
At that he laughed, getting Ari and Lex's attention.
"Is that what they're saying now? No, the only thing we deal is elixirs and tonics, and only to fellow gifted and other creatures of our world." He says before patting my leg with an alcohol soaked cloth, making me hold my breath and cringe.
"Why is that?"
"Because, if a human ever drank something like that, it would give them the most glorious high they've ever had, followed by a long and painful O.D. Our bodies can handle things that theirs can't." He ties a fresh towel around my leg.
"Hey, how are you?" Lex says, coming to my side and gently placing a hand on my cheek. I blush slightly, thankful that most of the lights have been shot out.
"I've been better, but I'm ok." I reply.
"She needs stitches and rest, so I suggest we get her to a hospital." Aiden adds in.
"Right. I'll take her. You guys find Felix and tell him what happened."
"No need, I've already been told." Felix says from the entrance behind us.
"I ran out the back and went straight to him as soon as Ari left to help you guys." Kirstie says. I smile, thankful she's alright. She runs over to me and pulls me into a tight hug. "I'm so happy you're ok!" She whispers and I can feel a few tears falling onto my shoulder.
"I'm so happy you're ok too!" I say, failing to hold my own tears back.
"Lex, did you snag anyone?" Felix says, assessing the damage to the inside of the building.
"Yeah, provided he's alive, he'll be back here soon." Lex replies before turning his attention back to me.
"Kirstie will take you to the hospital, I should wait here for that man to get back. Are you sure you're alright?" He asks, looking a little uneasy.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I give him my most encouraging smile.
"Ok. Kirstie, take care of her till we get to you." He mockingly commands. Kirstie gives a halfhearted salute. He leans forward and places a soft kiss on my cheek before I can protest. As he walks away, I let myself smile and lightly touch the spot that's still tingling from the contact. Before this ordeal began, I would've brushed his words and actions aside and told myself to walk away before I felt something serious. But near death experiences have a way of changing your perspective. Lex's powers frightened me, I've always valued making conscious decisions of your own free will, and his powers could virtually negate that. But he's a good man, he's kind and strong, and this wasn't the first time he'd saved me. Maybe he didn't feel for me how I felt for him, and his actions were spurred by a friendly affection, or maybe he did have the same feelings for me but not enough that I was the woman he'd choose. Honestly, at this moment I didn't care. I was already pretty certain I was dealing with more than a simple crush.
Comments (0)
See all