Rebirth--Chapter 5, Part 2
I was still thinking these little thoughts of mine when Jesse gave a final tug, and let go of my hand. We weren't by any dance club, but we were right next to what looked like a motorcycle…sleek, black, and sexy, perfect for Jesse, which is why I assumed it was his. And I was right, since a second later, he was swinging his leg over it and turning the ignition.
"Um," I said. "Shouldn't we have…I dunno…helmets or something?"
Jesse rolled his eyes. "Just get on, or I'll take off without you."
Not wanting to lose my ride, I came up beside the bike and swung my leg over it the way Jesse did. I was seated a few inches behind him, and immediately aware of the closeness, believe me.
"Are there seatbelts on this thing?" I didn't care that I was starting to sound like a spokesperson for the Safety First foundation. I was getting jumpy on this thing. Especially because Jesse kept revving the engine, making it sound like a restless horse or something.
Jesse looked over his shoulder at me…or should I say, leered at me, with this mischievous little smirk on his face. "Susannah, you'll have to get closer to me than that, unless you want to fall off."
I scooted up about an inch, knowing that wasn't what he meant…but you have to understand, I could feel his body heat, and it was causing some interesting reactions to take place, if you know what I mean. I didn't want him to get the wrong idea, after all, of why I was here…
"Susannah…it's not like we can have that kind of fun on an air bike, anyway," he said, his eyes twinkling in amusement.
OH. MY. GOD. He totally knew.
Apparently noticing that I had been rendered speechless, he reached back and pulled me against him. Hard. Hard enough for me to instantly mold to his body, like we were two pieces of a puzzle. A little harder than necessary, I thought.
"Put your arms around me," he commanded, and though I knew what he meant, it still sounded unbelievably like something a guy would say in a romance novel.
So I kind of slid my hands around him, letting them rest loosely at around the place his abs were. Not wanting to hold on too tight, lest I feel his muscles and attack him or something. But this plan of mine was kind of thrown out the moment Jesse punched the gas and we took off, going way faster than every other vehicle, darting in between cars, missing them by inches. What I mean by that, is that I ended up clinging onto him for dear life, pressing against him tightly and feeling his muscles beneath my fingers, but too scared to really care.
Don't get me wrong, Jesse was a good driver. I mean, he knew what he was doing…but he was just a little wild.
"I thought you liked them wild," an evil little voice said inside my head.
I was startled, but it didn't take me too long to figure out where it came from. Glaring at the back of Jesse's head, I thought back to him, "In bed, not on the road."
He chuckled, out loud. "It's just as fun on the road, as it is in a bed," came his mental voice.
I refused to comment. Or rather, I couldn't. He was too much. Like some kind of…die-hard *sex addict.
A few uneventful minutes after that (can I really say uneventful? I mean, I'm hugging myself to his glorious body, and he's dodging all this traffic all over the place…including the traffic going in the opposite direction), we found ourselves stuck in a traffic jam.
Now, I usually stay cool when stuff like this happens, but, you know, my daughter was kidnapped. So can you blame me for spewing that litany of curses that, if I'm not mistaken, seemed to make even Jesse turn a little pink?
When I had finally shut my dirty little mouth, we were still in the exact same spot, and the traffic hadn't parted for me the way I was willing it to. No…the only thing I had done was scar several children for life.
Jesse turned to me, and gave me this really weird look.
"What?" I demanded.
"Nothing," he said, still giving me the weird look.
"Jesse-"
"Spread your wings," he said suddenly.
I blinked. "What?"
"Spread your wings," he repeated. "Like this." And his wings, which were neatly folded a little to the sides so I could hold on, suddenly unfolded, rippling in the wind like silk and spreading slowly to their full majesty.
They were HUGE.
I just stared, and I could tell the drivers around us were doing the same. They were just so…I guess the word would be, glorious. So black, so shiny, so magnificent. I wanted to reach out and touch them, run my fingers along them. They were so glossy they almost appeared to be wet.
"Spread your wings," Jesse said again. "Unless you want to be stuck in this traffic all night."
Still kind of staring at those incredible wings of his, I spread my own as far as they would go, kind of clumsily and absent-mindedly. They weren't nearly as big as his, and when I looked at them clashing so obviously with his, they seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness. The darkness of his wings, of the sky, of the world around me. But, strangely…it seemed…right. I mean, the feathery whiteness of my wings against the sharp blackness of his. Oddly beautiful.
The thing is, it just wasn't getting me through the traffic any faster. The moment I decided to voice this fact to Jesse, he had the nerve to shush me.
"Just wait for it."
"Wait for what?" I said in a whiny voice.
"You'll see," was his enigmatic answer.
Ah, more warm fuzzies as I remember how no one could ever afford to just give me a straight answer.
So I waited. And waited. My wings were started to get cold, despite that Jesse's wings were blocking them from the wind. The drivers around us, initially amazed at the breadth of his wings, were now mumbling under their breath in an annoyed way.
"Jesse-"
And that's when it happened.
This strong breeze came up under my wings. Our wings. And it just kind of…lifted us up right above the traffic. The moment we cleared the cars, Jesse gunned the engine, and we were flying, without actually flying, the wind lifting us up, bike and all.
I couldn't help but laugh right along with Jesse. And as we glided through the air, occasionally dipping low and rising up high, I realized I was no longer holding onto him for dear life. I was simply…holding him. Hugging myself to him. I noticed the stars in the sky. The night sky, amazingly, looked no different than I remembered. No swirling red gases or anything. Just a peaceful, infinite, nothing. The stars were brighter than I recalled, seeming to have moved closer to earth. The night was beautiful. And even more beautiful because I was flying through it with Jesse.
"I call this, 'hover sailing'," Jesse shouted over the wind. "What do you think?"
"I could get used to it," I shouted back, and I felt his hand go over mine, and give it an affectionate squeeze.
Somehow, it seemed hard to remember that Rose and Bonnie were in trouble. After all, if they really were in danger, Jesse would be much more urgent than this. He wouldn't be so playful and relaxed.
Would he?
I couldn't seem to care…I was in heaven as his hand held mine.
And heaven was abruptly shattered as a huge, blinking neon light came into view.
Roger's Place.
"Party's over," Jesse said wistfully as he slowly drew his wings back into his body. I did the same, and we drifted down slowly, coming to a perfect stop in a parking space right in front of the club.
And Jesse was right. It did look pretty exclusive, if the mile long line was any indication. Loud, booming music was coming from the entrance. Music that made me want to dance, even out here. I must have been swaying a little or something, since Jesse said, "I'll take you there sometime."
And I got this incredibly squishy feeling inside. A date! He was suggesting a date! And…and this wouldn't be the last time I'd ever see him, as I was starting to worry about.
A date with Jesse…my life was complete.
Then Jesse swung his leg over and got off. "But not now, we have to save Rosie," he said, and held my hand to help me off the bike, which I thought was incredibly sweet of him.
"Her name's Rose," I said. "And she'll kill you if she hears you calling her that."
"Well, Susannah," he said, giving me a roguish grin that made me think his thoughts weren't all innocent, "You should know I have a knack for calling people things they hate."
"Yeah, here you are all rugged and wild, and you still won't call me Suze," I said bitterly.
He laughed and put his arm around my shoulders, and I chuckled a little, too. For some reason, Jesse's laughter always seemed to induce some in me.
"It's behind the building, right?" Jesse said, glancing at me. I nodded, and he directed me to the far left side of the building, away from the crowds, the line, and the music, into the entrance of a very ominous looking alleyway.
Amazing how you can go from heaven to freakish nightmare in two minutes. And that's what it was. It was the kind of place you expect a murder to take place. Really dark, narrow, and eerily quiet.
Jesse gave me an encouraging push forward. "Well, go on. Save your daughter. I'll be waiting here."
I spun around and gave him an incredulous look. "You're kidding me, right? You're not at least going to help me fight those thugs?"
Jesse, harboring a lopsided grin, said, "Well, you're the big bad angel, here. No demon is any match for you. So go do your thing, Angel."
I had a feeling he was mocking me.
"Fine then, I will," I said, glaring at him. Then I turned around, stuck my nose in the air, and stalked away from him, into the darkness.
As you may be aware, I wasn't nearly as confident as I acted. In fact, when the only sounds in the pitch blackness was my ragged breathing and the squeaking of all that leather against my skin, I put my nose back down, wrapped my arms around myself, and shivered.
It was WAY too dark.
Then an awful, awful thought came to my mind. Jesse didn't come in, so he obviously didn't value my safety. Maybe he was still mad at me about the whole Paul thing. Maybe he was sending me in here alone because he wanted to see me dead. As a punishment, almost. He wanted me to be brutally murdered.
I almost turned around then, but I saw Jesse's outline, seeming miles away, at the little square of light that was the entrance to the alley. He was leaning against the wall, his arms folded, watching me.
Could he see me in the dark?
Could he read my mind?
Of course he could. Paul could see in the dark, and read my mind. Obviously the invisible mental barrier Paul suffered wasn't a problem with Jesse, since he spoke to me through a mental link, earlier.
So Jesse was seeing me shivering and scared, my nice blanket of darkness unable to hide me from him. And Jesse was hearing all my insecure thoughts.
Great.
So, I took a deep breath, put my right hand to the way to feel my way along, and walked forward, holding my left hand out to prevent myself from walking into a wall. The alley never seemed to end. It just kept getting darker and quieter, until I almost felt like there was a force greater than just my imagination repelling me from this place. It was an intuition telling me to run back to Jesse. And I wanted to. God, how I wanted to. But I couldn't…for Rose, and for Bonnie.
It was right about when I was thinking this that my left hand, stretched out in front of me, hit something. For a panicky second, I thought it was a person. But it was only a brick wall, signaling the alley's end. It kept going to my right…that was the back of the building. Darker even than this alley. Dark to terrifying extremities.
"Hello?" I called out, my voice shaking.
Rose was in there.
I stepped into the darkness.
A/N: I liked writing that chapter...it felt more "Suzish" for some reason. Well, thanks for the reviews, even the people who aren't sure what to make of what I've done to Jesse. Special thanks to Susannah's Secret--you're review meant a lot to me ^_^ It makes me want to finish this story fast for all you great fans, but...well, I'll try for quick updates. At least one a week. So, for now, please REVIEW!!!!!
I was still thinking these little thoughts of mine when Jesse gave a final tug, and let go of my hand. We weren't by any dance club, but we were right next to what looked like a motorcycle…sleek, black, and sexy, perfect for Jesse, which is why I assumed it was his. And I was right, since a second later, he was swinging his leg over it and turning the ignition.
"Um," I said. "Shouldn't we have…I dunno…helmets or something?"
Jesse rolled his eyes. "Just get on, or I'll take off without you."
Not wanting to lose my ride, I came up beside the bike and swung my leg over it the way Jesse did. I was seated a few inches behind him, and immediately aware of the closeness, believe me.
"Are there seatbelts on this thing?" I didn't care that I was starting to sound like a spokesperson for the Safety First foundation. I was getting jumpy on this thing. Especially because Jesse kept revving the engine, making it sound like a restless horse or something.
Jesse looked over his shoulder at me…or should I say, leered at me, with this mischievous little smirk on his face. "Susannah, you'll have to get closer to me than that, unless you want to fall off."
I scooted up about an inch, knowing that wasn't what he meant…but you have to understand, I could feel his body heat, and it was causing some interesting reactions to take place, if you know what I mean. I didn't want him to get the wrong idea, after all, of why I was here…
"Susannah…it's not like we can have that kind of fun on an air bike, anyway," he said, his eyes twinkling in amusement.
OH. MY. GOD. He totally knew.
Apparently noticing that I had been rendered speechless, he reached back and pulled me against him. Hard. Hard enough for me to instantly mold to his body, like we were two pieces of a puzzle. A little harder than necessary, I thought.
"Put your arms around me," he commanded, and though I knew what he meant, it still sounded unbelievably like something a guy would say in a romance novel.
So I kind of slid my hands around him, letting them rest loosely at around the place his abs were. Not wanting to hold on too tight, lest I feel his muscles and attack him or something. But this plan of mine was kind of thrown out the moment Jesse punched the gas and we took off, going way faster than every other vehicle, darting in between cars, missing them by inches. What I mean by that, is that I ended up clinging onto him for dear life, pressing against him tightly and feeling his muscles beneath my fingers, but too scared to really care.
Don't get me wrong, Jesse was a good driver. I mean, he knew what he was doing…but he was just a little wild.
"I thought you liked them wild," an evil little voice said inside my head.
I was startled, but it didn't take me too long to figure out where it came from. Glaring at the back of Jesse's head, I thought back to him, "In bed, not on the road."
He chuckled, out loud. "It's just as fun on the road, as it is in a bed," came his mental voice.
I refused to comment. Or rather, I couldn't. He was too much. Like some kind of…die-hard *sex addict.
A few uneventful minutes after that (can I really say uneventful? I mean, I'm hugging myself to his glorious body, and he's dodging all this traffic all over the place…including the traffic going in the opposite direction), we found ourselves stuck in a traffic jam.
Now, I usually stay cool when stuff like this happens, but, you know, my daughter was kidnapped. So can you blame me for spewing that litany of curses that, if I'm not mistaken, seemed to make even Jesse turn a little pink?
When I had finally shut my dirty little mouth, we were still in the exact same spot, and the traffic hadn't parted for me the way I was willing it to. No…the only thing I had done was scar several children for life.
Jesse turned to me, and gave me this really weird look.
"What?" I demanded.
"Nothing," he said, still giving me the weird look.
"Jesse-"
"Spread your wings," he said suddenly.
I blinked. "What?"
"Spread your wings," he repeated. "Like this." And his wings, which were neatly folded a little to the sides so I could hold on, suddenly unfolded, rippling in the wind like silk and spreading slowly to their full majesty.
They were HUGE.
I just stared, and I could tell the drivers around us were doing the same. They were just so…I guess the word would be, glorious. So black, so shiny, so magnificent. I wanted to reach out and touch them, run my fingers along them. They were so glossy they almost appeared to be wet.
"Spread your wings," Jesse said again. "Unless you want to be stuck in this traffic all night."
Still kind of staring at those incredible wings of his, I spread my own as far as they would go, kind of clumsily and absent-mindedly. They weren't nearly as big as his, and when I looked at them clashing so obviously with his, they seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness. The darkness of his wings, of the sky, of the world around me. But, strangely…it seemed…right. I mean, the feathery whiteness of my wings against the sharp blackness of his. Oddly beautiful.
The thing is, it just wasn't getting me through the traffic any faster. The moment I decided to voice this fact to Jesse, he had the nerve to shush me.
"Just wait for it."
"Wait for what?" I said in a whiny voice.
"You'll see," was his enigmatic answer.
Ah, more warm fuzzies as I remember how no one could ever afford to just give me a straight answer.
So I waited. And waited. My wings were started to get cold, despite that Jesse's wings were blocking them from the wind. The drivers around us, initially amazed at the breadth of his wings, were now mumbling under their breath in an annoyed way.
"Jesse-"
And that's when it happened.
This strong breeze came up under my wings. Our wings. And it just kind of…lifted us up right above the traffic. The moment we cleared the cars, Jesse gunned the engine, and we were flying, without actually flying, the wind lifting us up, bike and all.
I couldn't help but laugh right along with Jesse. And as we glided through the air, occasionally dipping low and rising up high, I realized I was no longer holding onto him for dear life. I was simply…holding him. Hugging myself to him. I noticed the stars in the sky. The night sky, amazingly, looked no different than I remembered. No swirling red gases or anything. Just a peaceful, infinite, nothing. The stars were brighter than I recalled, seeming to have moved closer to earth. The night was beautiful. And even more beautiful because I was flying through it with Jesse.
"I call this, 'hover sailing'," Jesse shouted over the wind. "What do you think?"
"I could get used to it," I shouted back, and I felt his hand go over mine, and give it an affectionate squeeze.
Somehow, it seemed hard to remember that Rose and Bonnie were in trouble. After all, if they really were in danger, Jesse would be much more urgent than this. He wouldn't be so playful and relaxed.
Would he?
I couldn't seem to care…I was in heaven as his hand held mine.
And heaven was abruptly shattered as a huge, blinking neon light came into view.
Roger's Place.
"Party's over," Jesse said wistfully as he slowly drew his wings back into his body. I did the same, and we drifted down slowly, coming to a perfect stop in a parking space right in front of the club.
And Jesse was right. It did look pretty exclusive, if the mile long line was any indication. Loud, booming music was coming from the entrance. Music that made me want to dance, even out here. I must have been swaying a little or something, since Jesse said, "I'll take you there sometime."
And I got this incredibly squishy feeling inside. A date! He was suggesting a date! And…and this wouldn't be the last time I'd ever see him, as I was starting to worry about.
A date with Jesse…my life was complete.
Then Jesse swung his leg over and got off. "But not now, we have to save Rosie," he said, and held my hand to help me off the bike, which I thought was incredibly sweet of him.
"Her name's Rose," I said. "And she'll kill you if she hears you calling her that."
"Well, Susannah," he said, giving me a roguish grin that made me think his thoughts weren't all innocent, "You should know I have a knack for calling people things they hate."
"Yeah, here you are all rugged and wild, and you still won't call me Suze," I said bitterly.
He laughed and put his arm around my shoulders, and I chuckled a little, too. For some reason, Jesse's laughter always seemed to induce some in me.
"It's behind the building, right?" Jesse said, glancing at me. I nodded, and he directed me to the far left side of the building, away from the crowds, the line, and the music, into the entrance of a very ominous looking alleyway.
Amazing how you can go from heaven to freakish nightmare in two minutes. And that's what it was. It was the kind of place you expect a murder to take place. Really dark, narrow, and eerily quiet.
Jesse gave me an encouraging push forward. "Well, go on. Save your daughter. I'll be waiting here."
I spun around and gave him an incredulous look. "You're kidding me, right? You're not at least going to help me fight those thugs?"
Jesse, harboring a lopsided grin, said, "Well, you're the big bad angel, here. No demon is any match for you. So go do your thing, Angel."
I had a feeling he was mocking me.
"Fine then, I will," I said, glaring at him. Then I turned around, stuck my nose in the air, and stalked away from him, into the darkness.
As you may be aware, I wasn't nearly as confident as I acted. In fact, when the only sounds in the pitch blackness was my ragged breathing and the squeaking of all that leather against my skin, I put my nose back down, wrapped my arms around myself, and shivered.
It was WAY too dark.
Then an awful, awful thought came to my mind. Jesse didn't come in, so he obviously didn't value my safety. Maybe he was still mad at me about the whole Paul thing. Maybe he was sending me in here alone because he wanted to see me dead. As a punishment, almost. He wanted me to be brutally murdered.
I almost turned around then, but I saw Jesse's outline, seeming miles away, at the little square of light that was the entrance to the alley. He was leaning against the wall, his arms folded, watching me.
Could he see me in the dark?
Could he read my mind?
Of course he could. Paul could see in the dark, and read my mind. Obviously the invisible mental barrier Paul suffered wasn't a problem with Jesse, since he spoke to me through a mental link, earlier.
So Jesse was seeing me shivering and scared, my nice blanket of darkness unable to hide me from him. And Jesse was hearing all my insecure thoughts.
Great.
So, I took a deep breath, put my right hand to the way to feel my way along, and walked forward, holding my left hand out to prevent myself from walking into a wall. The alley never seemed to end. It just kept getting darker and quieter, until I almost felt like there was a force greater than just my imagination repelling me from this place. It was an intuition telling me to run back to Jesse. And I wanted to. God, how I wanted to. But I couldn't…for Rose, and for Bonnie.
It was right about when I was thinking this that my left hand, stretched out in front of me, hit something. For a panicky second, I thought it was a person. But it was only a brick wall, signaling the alley's end. It kept going to my right…that was the back of the building. Darker even than this alley. Dark to terrifying extremities.
"Hello?" I called out, my voice shaking.
Rose was in there.
I stepped into the darkness.
A/N: I liked writing that chapter...it felt more "Suzish" for some reason. Well, thanks for the reviews, even the people who aren't sure what to make of what I've done to Jesse. Special thanks to Susannah's Secret--you're review meant a lot to me ^_^ It makes me want to finish this story fast for all you great fans, but...well, I'll try for quick updates. At least one a week. So, for now, please REVIEW!!!!!