Reincarnated Poet: Hey all! I feel so productive, working on another chapter already, even though I know this was how I wrote at the beginning of the story. Not being able to write for a week at a time will do that I guess. A thanks goes out to writersword for the review, as always, and to my new reviewer!!! Throws the confetti, piggly wiggly! If others have reviewed since then, I'm sorry I missed you.
Don't Want You In Me - Chapter Eight of The Conduit
Three hours. Three fucking hours. Reid Garwin was not a patient person, and when it came to finding out whether or not he and his brothers were safe from the addiction, he was even less patient. Pogue had carried Alex into the mansion over one shoulder, commenting on how light she was before placing her on the floor next to Kate.
Reid's eyes studied both girl's on the floor. Near mirror opposites, but not quite. Alex was pale where Kate was dark. Both were slight with dark hair, but watching them, one could see the difference in their personalities. Kate looked just a bit like a devil as she slept, the corners of her mouth turned up just so in a dream. Alex's forehead wrinkled and from time to time her head would turn as if she were following someone with her eyes.
A deep sigh left Reid's chest and throat and drew the other boy's attention. "Chill Reid." Caleb warned and the blonde just slumped further into the armchair he occupied.
"Kate's freaked out, alright? Give you a bit of leash man." That was Pogue. Reid didn't even need to look up from studying the two girls to know that.
"Alex is tired too." Reid's head did shoot up at that. Baby Boy. Baby fucking Boy. A true Garwin smirk made its way to Reid face and his eyes danced now between the paler girl on the floor and back to his best friend, who was also studying the girl on the floor. A chuckle escaped this time, but instead of reprimand, Caleb and Pogue both picked up the cause. In five seconds three boys were laughing almost hysterically, feeding off each other's laughter, while Tyler looked on, confused.
Alex's head tipped again from right to left and a small near growl escaped her throat. All four boys stiffened for a moment before relaxing again, glancing at each other just to check if their moment of weakness had been caught. All ignored it.
~R.P.~
Alex was dreaming again. She was sure that's what these were now, but the woman who stood in front of her, speaking in a rushed tone was from her past, that much she knew. "When you wake up, they will want answers Alexandra, answers that you yet not know. You must listen with mind and soul open if you are to learn what I have to teach."
Alex nodded her head, as she'd been taught. Words were slow, and they had little time. "Good, you're pulling their abilities, their powers, but you need to learn to remove more than the power. Concentrate on the pain in them. The death of the cells. Find what's ageing and stop it." The woman paused. "You'll have to replace it as well." She stopped again, bare feet clenching and unclenching in the grass at their feet. "You can take it yourself, but its much easier to let it leave your body."
"How?" It was an honest question, and one both parties knew would be coming, but only one knew it couldn't be explained.
"I can't explain, just let it flow. You're going to have to wake up soon, listen and try to apply my teachings when you wake." The woman rose up to her full height and spoke again, words spilling from her lips into Alex's ears. Very little she actually applied meaning to, but rather stored them away for later, when she would have time to actually understand what she was being told.
~R.P.~
Kate stirred slowly. Her eyes flickered open and immediately shot to the girl next to her. With a whimper she rolled to her side, putting distance between herself and Alex. "Kate." Pogue was at her back almost instantly, drawing her to his chest. "Relax, baby, its okay. Alex's gonna make it all better when she wakes up." The words had left his mouth, but the validity of them everyone in the room doubted.
"Pogue, she's like you." Kate said, one hand wrapping around his arm. "She's like Chase." That came out darker, fear lacing her tone.
"No, baby." Pogue picked her up and mentally noticed the difference of the two girls' weights. Alex was only a few inches shorter than his girlfriend, but Kate took two arms to pick her up from the floor and place her in his lap on the couch. "She's not here to hurt anybody." Pogue ran a hand through her hair, silently comforting his girlfriend. They sat like that for nearly twenty minutes before Kate relaxed and actually looked at her friend on the floor. "She's hurt." Kate said quietly, most of a question than a statement.
"No." Reid corrected, shaking his head. "Its not hers." He referred to the blood Tyler was currently doing his best to remove with a wash cloth.
"Not what I meant." Kate watched Tyler struggle from a second before scoffing and climbing off Pogue's lap. "If she kills me, I'll haunt all of you." She removed the cloth from Tyler's hand and pushed him away like one might shoo an overly friendly dog. Kate cleaned the skin that was visible and eyed the tattered shirt that clung to the girl's body. "Alright, anybody with a penis needs to leave." She said, eyeing Reid for emphasis. The blonde only chuckled and drug Tyler from the room with him.
"Do you need anything, Kate?" Caleb. She smiled. That boy was more thoughtful than anyone she knew. Pogue waited by the door for his friend.
"A shirt and a pair of sweats would be nice." Kate waited for Caleb to return with the clothes before taking a deep sigh and setting to her task. The shirt left and Kate quickly ran the cloth over her friend's skin, eyeing the ribs that glared at her. "Hm. We'll fix that." She mused to herself and pulled the t-shirt over the girl's head. Not twenty minutes later she'd pulled the girl's hair back from her face in a loose braid and pulled the pants on, pulling the draw string as far as it would go. She stood up, popped her back and glanced down at the girl.
Alex's eyes were open and she was staring up at Kate. "I'm sorry, Kate." Alex said, voice small in the large room. Kate stared back for a moment before taking a deep breath.
"It's…okay." She sat heavily on the couch. "You can fix this though, right?" Kate gestured at her eyes and Alex stiffened for a moment.
"Yeah, I can fix that." Kate let a wide smile cross her face before bounding from the couch out into the hallway. Alex sat on the floor, eyes wide as the girl left.
"Baby, she can fix it!" Reached Alex's ears followed by laughter and the deep voices of the four boys. Her ears almost rang as they came back into the room and Kate pounced on her, yelling thank-you.
"Kate?" Alex questioned, trying to remember what she'd been told to do. The dark skinned girl stopped her attack immediately and sat down obediently on the couch. "Tyler?" Alex's eyes didn't have to go far to find the youngest son, leaning against the door frame out of the way. His eye brow raised. "It's…it's your…" she trailed off, not quite sure what to call the weird energy that she could feel almost pouring off the four boys in waves now.
"Power?" Reid supplied and Alex grinned slightly. Power. That would work. Her hands nearly itched as she laid a hand on Kate's shoulder. She could feel it, waiting. It wanted out. It didn't belong in Kate. A thought echoed into Alex's mind.
"I gave it to you." Alex marveled. "I gave you the power too." Kate eyed her suspiciously, but Alex set her hand back on Kate's shoulder and closed her eyes. In a second, Kate felt her eyes change, she wasn't sure how, but they felt more natural. She felt herself sag slightly, as the electric energy she'd been feeling left. "Tyler?" Alex said, head down, hand reaching out behind her. The youngest boy took a tentative step forward, almost as though he wasn't sure what to do. "Please." Her voice was strained. The pain in her chest was back just as fiercely as it had been in the forest.
Reid watched the youngest stare at her for a moment and finally stuck his foot out and pushed him with it. "Jesus Christ Baby Boy, how long you gonna make her wait?" Tyler looked over his shoulder at Reid and frowned at the smirk there. Reid could make anything a double meaning. Tyler let his hand touch Alex's and the girl sagged against the couch, breath coming in gasps. Tyler jerked his hand away, feeling as though a spark had just raced up his arm into his chest.
The room was quiet for a few moments, everyone glancing from Kate to Alex to Tyler and back again. The silence grew more and more uncomfortable until Kate finally sat up straight again and looked at Tyler. "You know, I like you Ty, but I don't want any part of you inside me again." She sent a playful wink at Tyler and Pogue growled, punching his brother's shoulder lightly. Caleb chuckled and Reid's mouth fell open.
"Kate, love, how about a part of me inside you?" He joked and Pogue tackled him in the chair, causing it to tip over. The room exploded into laughter, Kate collapsing forward and giving Alex a hug. A growl echoed in the room and the laughing stopped immediately as the form of a large wolf padded into the room. Reid and Pogue scrambled up off the floor, but the animal didn't pay any attention. Instead it took a few tentative steps forward, belly lowering to the floor as it approached Alex.
The girl smiled widely and held a hand out to the wolf. Tyler grabbed it quickly and pulled her back onto the couch beside Kate. "Alex!" He chided and quickly grabbed the fireplace poker and shovel, tossing the latter to Caleb, who was in front of the couch now too. A louder snarl ripped through the room and a large mountain cat walked predatorily through the large door, swiping playfully at the wolf's flank before growling at Tyler, who held the poker out in front of him like a saber.
Alex grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him backward, letting him fall into her place on the couch and crawled forward onto her knees and sat back onto the floor. "I'm not sure what to call you." She said finally, to the wolf, one hand reaching a hand out to the wolf.