Jasmine ran through the crowded sidewalks, shoving past the swaths of people. Jasmine's brother Jax followed closely behind her, his giant body having trouble maneuvering through the clusters of civilians. His slow and muscular body was like a bull in a china shop compared to Jasmine's small frame, which moved fluidly through the crowd. Jasmine felt her adrenaline pumping through her veins as her heart thudded in her chest, propelling her forward. Her legs burned and she took huge, gasping breaths. She was exhausted from the long period of running she was going through. Judging from her brother's heavy breaths behind her he was rapidly running out of energy as well. It was clear that they couldn't outrun their enemy.
It was time to fight.
"Go left, Jax." Jasmine shouted over her shoulder. Jax merely grunted in acknowledgement. He never was much of one for words. She turned into a small alleyway and her brother followed on her heels. Jax caught up with her and the two slowed their pace as they reached the end of the dark alley. The twins each bent over, hands on their knees. Their gasping breaths gradually began slowing down and Jasmine gained the ability to speak again.
"We can't run away from him Jax. And he's not gonna let us get away from him."
"So what do we do?" He panted. His face was still red, sweat dripping down from his scruffy black hair.
"We fight back,"
"Are you kidding? You saw how well fighting went for Damascus."
Jasmine shuddered at the memory of the body of their friend Damascus. His body had been shot full of crossbow bolts, like a human pincushion. The thought of his death, and the man who had killed him, sent chills down Jasmine's spine and sent ice water through her veins.
"What happened to Damascus was...horrible. But he caught him off guard. Now we have the advantage. It's two against one."
Jax looked conflicted, like he was still deciding whether or not to turn around and go back to running. But finally he made up his mind.
"Alright Jasmine," He sighed. "We'll fight."
A smile spread across Jasmine's face, more of relief that she wouldn't fight that monster alone than any actual happiness. At that moment Jasmine felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and a deep dread filled her body. Jax must have felt it to because all the color drained from his face as he turned around and faced the entrance to the alley. Jasmine turned around on her heel, knowing what, or more accurately who she would see at the end of the alley. There he was. Standing there.
"Well well well. Look who I found." His voice was hoarse and rough, almost like he was trying to talk with a throat full of gravel. His silhouette casted a long shadow in the dark alley. He was completely enveloped in darkness, none of his details could be seen. Jasmine was fine with that. She didn't want to see that horrible, scarred face of his.
"Your buddy Damascus slowed me down back there," He continued. He very slowly began taking a step closer to the twins. "It took me at least 10 minutes to pull all the bolts out of his body."
Jasmine balled her fists up tightly, her nails digging into her palms. She had a feeling Jax was doing the same.
"I counted how many I pulled out of him," He ignored their silence, taking another step towards them. "12 bolts. All over his chest, arms, legs...a couple in his face too." He added that last part with a chuckle.
"I've gotta give him credit though. He did land one hit on me," He took another step. "That super strength sure packs one hell of a punch. But he was slow. Sloppy. One of the easiest kills I've done-"
"That's enough, Grave," Jax interrupted. "This is for Damascus."
Jax charged forward full speed at Grave, Damascus' killer. Jax was less than a foot away from him when Grave simply stepped to the side and dodged Jax's attack. In one fluid motion he spun on his heel and pulled a crossbow out from under his coat. It was already loaded with a bolt and cocked back. He faced Jax and aimed his crossbow. Jasmine ran forward, but too late as he pulled the trigger and sent the bolt into Jax's leg, right into his kneecap. Jax cried out and fell to the ground clutching his bleeding knee.
Grave turned, already fitting another bolt into place on his crossbow. With incredible speed he reloaded the crossbow and aimed it towards Jasmine. She closed the distance between them and grabbed the crossbow, pushing it up above their heads. Grave pulled the trigger, but too late. The bolt sailed harmlessly into the air, disappearing into the dark night. Jasmine rammed her elbow into Grave's chest, pushing him back.
Grave was prepared for this, though. He grabbed Jasmine's arm with his free hand and twisted, using her momentum to flip her over onto the asphalt. The wind was knocked out of her chest as he slammed his knee into her stomach, stunning her. She managed to let out a weak groan as he sent his fist into her face. Grave stood, planting his foot on her chest to keep her still as he pulled another bolt out of the quiver he wore on his belt. Jasmine looked around her, trying to find anything to use to escape. Just out of reach was a small metal pipe, about two feet long. She stretched her arm out as far as she could, but it was just out of reach of her fingers. Grave must have seen her futile attempts at grabbing the weapon because he began to chuckle to himself.
Before he could fit it into the crossbow Jax slammed into him from behind, sending Grave flying. The crossbow clattered to the ground nearby. Jasmine took deep, gasping breaths as the pressure was released from her chest. She rolled over onto her side and looked over at Grave. He was already lifting himself to his feet, though he was clearly stunned by the force of Jax's attack. Jax limped over to Grave, the bolt still sticking out of his right knee, blood still dripping down his leg. Jax picked Grave up by the back of his coat and threw him against the brick wall of the alley. Jasmine reached out and grabbed the pipe, feeling the cold steel in her hand.
"Jax! Catch!" Jasmine tossed the pipe in the air towards Jax. He caught it easily, and a smile crossed his face.
Jax's hands and forearms began glowing orange and red, like there was a fire raging just under his skin. His grip tightened around the pipe, and the pipe began to glow as well. Steam rose, accompanied by a hiss, as the pipe began to heat up and glow red. The light from his hands and the pipe cast a red glow in the darkness of the alley.
Jax stalked towards the recovering Grave, gripping it with both hands and getting ready to swing it like a baseball bat. As he swung at Grave's head, Grave kicked out and struck Jax right in his injured leg. Jax collapsed onto one knee mid-swing. Grave simply caught the pipe with one hand, stopping it inches from his face. His skin hissed as he held onto the red-hot metal pipe, but he never flinched or made a single noise. He simply ripped the pipe out of Jax's hands and swung it right into his face.
Jasmine forced herself not to watch the burning pipe slam into Jax's face, but she heard the noise of it. There was a dull thud and a loud crunch accompanied by the ringing of metal. She heard Jax groan and the thud as he fell heavily to the ground. She stood to her feet, recovered from Grave's assault. But she stood helpless, watching as Grave pulled a knife out of his boot, and plunged it down into Jax's chest.
Time stopped for Jasmine, and the her vision was instantly blurred by tears. Jax's eyes widened as he stared at the dagger sticking out of his chest, blood bubbling up and gushing out of him. Jasmine barely registered herself screaming her brother's name, almost like she was watching someone else control her body. Grave turned, a wide, wicked smile on his face. Jasmine was paralyzed, rooted to the spot. Grave began walking over to Jasmine slowly, bending down and picking up his fallen crossbow as he got closer. Her thoughts were drawn to old childhood memories of the Jax and her together. The Twins is what everybody called them. Or sometimes the Terrible Twins when they got into trouble. But now she was alone. Her brother was gone.
Jasmine snapped out of her trance and her mind came back into the real world as Grave began pulling a bolt out of his quiver. Her instincts took over, and she ran. She dashed out of the alley and back into the crowded city sidewalks. In a mad attempt to put distance between her and the man who had killed her brother and her friend she ran right into the street. Cars honked and swerved as she made a mad dash for the opposite side of the street. She stopped in her tracks as a moving truck cut her off, speeding by only a few inches from her face. A car honked, and she turned. She was, almost comically, like a deer in headlights. She was paralyzed, waiting for the car to smash into her body at fifty miles per hour.
Jasmine heard a whistling noise coming at her. Before she could move she saw the front window of the oncoming car shatter, and the driver swerved to the side. The car made a sharp turn and crashed into another car that was parked on the curb, the sound of metal on metal was shockingly loud. The car finally stopped, smashing into a fire hydrant on the sidewalk. Water sprayed out of the bottom of the ruined hydrant into the street. Jasmine approached the crashed car cautiously, peering into the shattered windshield. The passenger, a young, pretty woman, had been killed by the flying shards of glass in the crash, a slit in her throat gushed blood. The driver, a man who looked around the same age as his passenger, was dead. A crossbow bolt was sticking out of his forehead.
Jasmine heard another whistling and gasped in shock as a sharp pain stabbed into her side. She looked down and saw the tip of a bolt sticking through her stomach as blood soaked into her shirt at a rapid rate. She collapsed to the ground, clutching her wound and tried to crawl away onto the sidewalk. As she dragged herself through the flowing water that covered the street she heard a cruel voice laughing behind her. She knew Grave was coming, and he would kill her. But not before he got everything he needed to know from her. Everything she knew about her.
Jasmine felt Grave's hand on her shoulder, flipping her onto her back. She groaned in pain as more pressure was put onto her still bleeding wound. Grave stood over her, his boot once again crushing her chest.
"I've got to hand it to you. You're tough. You're a survivor," His wide smile reappeared. "Your brother...not so much."
He laughed as tears streamed from Jasmine's eyes.
"Please tell me the truth. I really don't want to have to torture it out of you. Where is the girl?"
Jasmine squirmed helplessly as she tried to escape the weight of Grave's boot. He lifted his foot for a split second, only to crush it back down into Jasmine's stomach, right on her open wound.
"I'll ask you again. Where is the girl?" Grave was no longer smiling.
Jasmine looked around her, trying to find an advantage. There was nothing for her to grab, everything had been washed away by the water from the fire hydrant. A few inches of water was now covering the street like a river. A thought crossed Jasmine's mind.
She focused all of her pain and her energy, and concentrated on using the Power. She felt a tingle in her left hand and looked down at it. It was now glowing with a light blue, and like her brother's hand the glowing looked like it was right under the surface of her skin. She saw small flakes of ice crystalize on her hand, and the skin of her hand and her forearm, stopping just below her elbow, turned a pale blue color.
"Tell your boss I say 'hi.'" Jasmine said with a sly smile. She stuck her hand into the rushing torrent of water from the hydrant, freezing it on contact with her hand. She awkwardly grabbed at large shards of frozen water, holding onto a large one. She pulled it out and stuck it into Grave's leg. Grave recoiled in pain, and Jasmine pulled the ice shard out and stabbed his other leg. The injury to both of his legs caused Grave to topple over, landing with his face half covered in a pool of flowing water. Jasmine crawled onto the sidewalk, above the water level, and stuck both of her palms into the surface of the water. She activated her power once again, freezing the entire pool of water solid. Grave screamed as half of his face was stuck, frozen into the ice. His hands and feet were likewise frozen in the few inches of now solid ice.
"GET BACK HERE! GET ME OUT! I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!"
Jasmine turned and walked away, grabbing her injury. She had done it. She had stopped Grave, at least for the time being. And she had protected the secret. The secret that Damascus and Jax had died to protect. As Jasmine walked away from the carnage, she heard sirens approaching.
It was time to run away again.