Chapter Six:

Concert

The woman, whose name was Helen, operated on me for a good three hours. I'd lost a ton of blood, enough for her to ask Cole if I could get a proper transplant. Cole agreed, but on the condition that he do the transplant. I guess he thought that it'd be better if, since I was technically his daughter, he gave the blood.

It turned out that we were the same blood type, too. Type O, which was a rare blood type. I thought it was pretty cool.

The weeks passed without an incident with the Militia. Anything that did start to turn up, Cole and Lucy took care of it immediately.

So, once more, I was forced to stay in bed by Cole. And I wouldn't be able to watch T.V., since he sucked all the juice outta it.

"That's it!" I muttered. "I'm putting a bucket of water over my door!"

I filled a metal bucket full of freezing cold water and attached it to a rope, then looped the rope through a metal pulley that had come with the apartment. I set a book precariously on top of the end of the rope as a last adjustment. Now, if Cole came in, he would open the door, knock the book off of the rope, the bucket would fall, hit the door, and angle perfectly onto his head, soaking him from head-to-toe.

"Hehe, I'm a friggin' genius!" I cheered, and then fell over my couch. "Ow…"

I got up and rubbed my gut. I'd been forced to be stitched up, which hadn't made me very happy at all. Actually, I was kicking and screaming, but Cole used the butt of my nodachi to "keep me quiet" (he knocked me out).

I grinned and took out my cell phone. It was five-thirty, and Cole would probably be dropping in at six.

"Surprise, Cole," I said, smiling. "Eat it."

I heard some pebbles hit my window. I groaned and went to it, pulled back the curtains and glared.

"Hey!" I heard Lance yell, waving.

I pulled up the window. "What?"

"Well, I was gonna come in and knock, but I thought it'd be weird…"

"This is weird!" I snapped.

"Right." Lance rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to go to a concert with me?"

One of my eyebrows rose. "New Marias is getting back into their groove, huh?"

"Yeah."

I rubbed my forehead. "Who's playing?"

"Can I tell you up there?"

I shrugged. "I guess you can come up."

He grinned and ran into the complex. I shook my head and looked at the door—and realized that the trap I'd set for Cole would be backfired onto Lance.

Oh, goody.

I tore the book off of the rope and grabbed the rope before the bucket fell on my head. Then I let it fall so I could catch it. I hid the bucket behind my back just as Lance opened the door.

"Hey!" he greeted.

"Hey," I replied.

"Can I… um, come in?"

I shuffled to the side, hiding the bucket of water. He didn't seem to notice, and gleefully entered. When he passed me, I shoved the bucket of water into a corner and turned back to him. He wasn't really paying attention—he was too busy snooping through my things.

"What're you doing?" I snapped.

"I'm looking for clues," he answered, taking a pillow off of my couch and looking underneath it. "You're hard to figure out, so I'm looking for clues."

I crossed my arms. "In what way am I hard to figure out?"

"Well, you don't like the stations on the radio, and you would rather shut me out than listen to me…"

"That's because you're throwing rocks at my window!"

He looked at me and grinned. I hated how tall he was; it made me feel too short, and I'm 5"7'!

"Well, It'd be awkward if I just knocked on your door."

"It was awkward when you threw rocks at my window!" I sighed. "You're such an idiot!"

"Well, this idiot has concert tickets, and wants to bring you along." He leaned over so our faces were level. "If that makes me an idiot, then so be it."

I gulped and backed away instantly.

"So, will you please come with me?"

I cleared my throat. "W-Who's playing?"

"It's a surprise!" he said, standing tall again. "I think I figured out what music you like!"

Oh, please. No one knows what music I like. Not even Cole, Alec, Zeke, or even Dana. I don't even think about it!

"Are you willing to test out your theory?" I asked, smirking.

"Duh. That's why I'm inviting you." He opened the door and gestured for me to go. "I like this music too, though I wouldn't tell anyone about it!"

I shook my head. "Weirdo."

It took half an hour to get to the concert. I left a note for Cole, telling him I was okay and I didn't want him to follow me. He wouldn't know where to look for me, anyway.

When we got to the steps of the hall (which shouldn't have been called a hall, because it was friggin' huge), Lance stepped behind me and put his hands over my eyes.

"What the hell?" I snapped.

"It's a surprise!" he said, and started to guide me into the hall. "And it's funner this way!"

I grumbled, but didn't make a move to stop him. I was a bit excited, I'll admit, but annoyed all the same. He carefully led me through the crowd, whom I was sure was staring at us like we were idiots, and eventually brought us to our seats.

"Show's about to start," Lance said. "Just hold on 'til then."

I'm gonna kick your ass pretty soon…

I heard someone take the stage as the rustling in the crowd and on the stage died down. I heard a tink tink! sound on a piece of metal, and then it went dead silent. Suddenly, there was some sort of guitar playing a tune I was all-too familiar with, and then the entire auditorium (or "hall", as they insist on calling it) filled with methodical music, peaceful and powerful.

"Woah…" I muttered. Lance took that as his queue to take his hands off of my eyes.

I was listening to Nara, by E.S. Posthumus, live! I couldn't help but watch in awe as the symphony merged together and didn't miss a single beat.

"I figured you'd like it," Lance whispered. "I mean, this is never on the radio."

I nodded. "Good guess."

He shrugged. "I can read people pretty well, though you kinda escape me." I looked at him, confused. "If you're not angry, your face is totally unreadable. This is really the first time I've seen you stunned like this. And I'll bet a hundred bucks that I couldn't sneak up on you to save my life, besides when I catch you a second after you wake up. You looked pretty tired when I broke in."

I nodded again, and we both continued to listen to the song in silence. They played tons more, like Ebla and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (modified, of course). I really, really, really loved that concert. And it was my first one, too! Off to a good start, eh?

Lance and I were walking back to his car later, after a good majority of the people who'd come to watch left. We didn't want to get stuck in traffic, so we hung out, talking about which songs were best, when the instruments gave us goosebumps, and when the choir had come out, scaring everyone (it turned out they were all hiding in the audience until a song came up where they needed to sing, so when some people behind Lance and I started to sing in deep voices we'd both jumped about ten feet in the air).

Anyway, we were walking back to Lance's car when I noticed some people converging on our position, fast. They were wearing black, and tried to look as casual as possible.

I almost turned my fire on, but then I realized that Lance was still with me, talking to me. What about? Hell, I dunno. I tuned-out when we got to something boring. I wasn't sure if Lance was one of the people who hated or loved Conduits, since we'd never talked about it, and I wanted to keep my Conduit powers secret so I could live normally, at least for a bit.

"People coming," I whispered, interrupting whatever he was saying. "Seven o' clock, five o' clock, and one o' clock."

He smiled. "Don't worry, Joan," he whispered back. "I've got it covered."

When we reached his car, the three following us were about four metres away from us. I went over to the other side of the car as if nothing was wrong.

"Hey!" one of them said. "Can you help us out? We're a bit lost!"

Lance smiled casually at the two standing beside him and the one standing beside me. "Certainly! Whatcha lookin' for?"

"We're lookin' for some entertainment," one answered, looking at me.

"Well, you guys missed the show. There's probably another one on tomorrow, though!" I replied. "It's really good!"

The one beside me chuckled. "Not that kind, sweetheart."

He reached for my shoulder, but I casually brushed it away, smiling sweetly. "Touch me and die."

One of the guys beside Lance laughed at his friend. "Oh wow, man! Red's got fire!"

You don't know the half of it…

Lance put a hand on the guy's shoulder. "C'mon, guys. We don't have to do this! How 'bout I buy us all some drinks, huh?"

"Naw, I like this better," the guy replied, and grabbed Lance's wrist.

Lance reacted quickly as the guy twisted his wrist. Lance punched him in the face, then wrapped his free arm around his neck and pulled the guy down, and then connected his knee with the guy's face. The guy released Lance's wrist as he fell to the ground.

The guy beside me reached for my waist. I hit him in the nose with the heel of my hand, breaking his nose instantly. I brought my knee up and hit him in the male "soft spot", and while he screamed from the pain I jumped up and roundhouse-kicked him in the head, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Lance was blocking blows from the last guy, who was quickly tiring himself out. I slid over the hood of the car and jumped onto his back, wrapping my arm around his neck. He tried to get me off by pulling my arm away from his neck, but he failed at that. So, he smashed my back against the car. I cried out, not expecting just how much it had hurt. It'd jarred my guts, too, so it was pretty effective against me.

I released him and managed to land on my feet, but shakily. He grabbed my throat, smashing me against the car violently.

"Bitch! You'll pay for that!" he hissed. Lance tapped his shoulder, so he turned to look at him. "What?"

"Say hello to Mr. Fist, you bastard." Lance pulled his arm back and punched him so hard in the face I was sure it'd be concave for the rest of his miserable life. He fell to the ground, holding his face. Lance stepped on his chest (like the Captain Morgan liquor bottles, really) and glared at him. "Don't get up."

Lance stepped on him as hard as he could, knocking his breath out of his system. I held my throat and rubbed him, taking in as much air as I dared.

"You okay?" he asked, checking my neck.

I nodded. "Y-Yeah, fine," I replied. "Your hand…"

He just seemed to notice the blood that covered it. "Wow. Talk about a thick skull, huh?"

I took my messenger bag off of my back (half-wishing that I'd brought my nodachi along) and looked inside. "Here, gimme your hand."

He brought his hand closer. "But—."

I grabbed some disinfectant and bandages. "Gimme your hand or I'm chopping it off."

"And that's supposed to encourage me to give you my hand, how?" he asked.

I glared at him, and he reluctantly gave me his hand. I quickly put the disinfectant on and had his wounded hand wrapped up in no time at all. He examined it quietly, and when he was satisfied, he smiled.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" he asked me as we got into the car.

I hesitated. "I used to get in a lot of fights. When I was wounded, I would usually treat myself."

"Really?"

I nodded. "The good old days."

"What happened?"

I looked at my hands, which had recently started fidgeting. "Um… Well…" I shook my head. "I don't want to talk about it."

Lance looked at me for about ten seconds, before he shrugged. "Okay. I know when I should stop pressing." He moved his attention back to the road. "But if you ever feel like talking about it, you know I'm here."

I suddenly found my breathing difficult, but ignored it. "Okay."

When we stopped at a red light, he got out a piece of paper and wrote on it. "Here," he said, handing it to me. "My number and my address. Just in case."

I took it and nodded. "Okay," I repeated.

When we finally reached my place, I opened the door almost too fast. I hesitated for a second, wondering what to say.

"Uh… Thanks, Lance," I eventually said. "I had a fun time."

"No problem!" he replied, as if I didn't sound at all nervous. "Let's do it again another time! Minus the creeps at the end, of course."

I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, okay."

When I got inside my apartment, I collapsed onto my bed. Geez… What is it with that guy that makes me want to kick his butt and let him live at the same time? I grasped my heart, which had recently started to hammer. I don't like this feeling. It's… confusing.