Ch. 35

Next day…

"Our first date, and she's almost half an hour late."

Abaddon sat at a table at Tea Guru, waiting for Kathleen for a night out. He tied some of his hair in a small ponytail, with two large bangs hanging off both sides of his face. He wore a short sleeve grey shirt under a checkered red and black long-sleeved flannel shirt that was halfway opened, and sleeves rolled up. He also wore a pair of blue jeans and dark grey sneakers.

"Hey, sorry I'm late."

Kathleen finally arrived. She was wearing a dark navy-blue sleeveless shirt under a short sleeved unbuttoned white blouse with black trim, black shorts, and black shoes. She also had light pink lipstick and her newly done eyelashes really brought out her violet-blue eyes.

"Dear lord, I am not worthy," Abaddon immediately thought.

"Damn, could those shorts be any shorter?" Abaddon joked.

"Well, it is our first date," Kathleen replied. "And I wanted to look presentable."

"Presentable? You look amazing!"

"Thanks! And you look handsome." Kathleen grabbed one of Abaddon's hands. "Come on, let's go to the carnival."

They walked deeper into the downtown area until they found the Vale Park where the other carnival was held, besides the one in the Beacon fairgrounds. Abaddon tried to buy both their tickets, but Kathleen had insisted on buying her own. They tried the water gun booth, seeing who could get the biggest prize first. Abaddon managed to win, earning a giant purple stuffed panda. It had a zipper for a hidden pocket on its belly and backpack straps on its back. Abaddon decided to put it on, while Kathleen giggled at how much it dwarfed him in size. They played a game of suction cup darts, and despite Abaddon's best efforts to aim his, Kathleen was faster and won one of the best prizes they had: A hat shaped in the likeness of a Beowulf. Afterward they played several more games before finally sitting down at a wooden picnic to eat.

"Yeah, that hit the spot," said Abaddon as he happily finished his nachos.

"You act like you haven't eaten all day," Kathleen told him as she threw away the cone to her first wad of cotton candy and grabbed another.

"Because I only ate breakfast, then worked out for a while, took a shower, got dressed, then left for the city." Abaddon threw away his food container in a nearby trashcan. "Kat, let me get some cotton candy."

"No, go get your own," she said as she pulled it away from him.

Unfortunately for her, Abaddon knew a way to change her mind. He started to whimper, wagging his tail and having his ears pointed down.

Kathleen chuckled and ate a piece of cotton candy. "That's not gonna work on me. You're not as cute as Emma."

"So, I'm cute huh?" Abaddon asked.

"No, that's not what I- "

Before she knew it, a small black tentacle grabbed a large chunk of her candy from behind her back. It zipped away into Abaddon's hand before Kathleen could grab it.

"Hey!"

Kathleen reached to grab the candy from his left hand, but Abaddon used his right hand to hold back one of her arms. She continued to gain ground though, laughing all the while. Although, as Abaddon kept leaning back to keep his stolen goods out of Kathleen's reach, he lost balance and fell. Kathleen fell with him onto the ground and landed on top of him. Seeing that she was within reach of her goal, Kathleen quickly grasped at it. Abaddon expected this and immediately stuffed the wad of candy into his mouth. Both Immediately erupted into outright laughter.

"Whoa Kat, you and Abb should get a room. We're in a public place," said a familiar voice.

Jurano looked down on them, holding a drink in his right hand and Velvet's hand in the other. He wore a green short sleeve shirt, a bead necklace, brown Capri cargo shots, brown sneakers, and a burgundy fleece jacket tied around his waist. Velvet wore a cream-colored blouse with jean shorts, black tights, and black shoes.

Kathleen blushed. "Maybe I like laying here."

"Hahahaha! Come on Kat, we can talk about that later," Abaddon said as he and Kathleen stood up and dusted themselves off. "So, what've you guys been doing?"

"Well we rode a couple of rides, played a few games, and we just finished eating minutes before we found you two," Velvet explained.

"I wanted to try that hammer game. Ya'know, the one where you use a mallet to send a little bar into a bell at the top of a board. The grand prize was already taken. Was that you Abaddon?" Jurano asked.

Abaddon shrugged. "It would have been if I didn't hear a certain hammer-wielding ginger screaming her own name at the top of her lungs. As soon as that happened, I left the waiting line for the grand prize."

"Shit I would too, to be honest," Jurano replied. "So, what do you two plan on doing now?"

"You could come with us to the Ferris wheel," Velvet told them.

"Thanks, Velvet, but we'll pass. Besides, I want this amazon all to myself." Abaddon's words made Kathleen's face blush hard.

"Oooooooo," Velvet giggled.

Jurano chuckled. "Sounds kinda corny to me."

Abaddon flicked him off in response.

"He's not the only corny boy here. Come on Jurano, let's go. Have a nice night guys," Velvet said as they began walking away.

"Alright Abb, tell me the details later."

"No promises bro."

After Jurano and Velvet had gone, Kathleen hooked her arm around Abaddon's.

"So where do you plan on taking me?" Kathleen asked.

Abaddon smiled. "It's a place Jurano and I found when we were doing our thing a while back. The day you asked me not to get arrested. We can reach it through the park."

The boy grabbed their things and lead his date through the crowds of people, deeper into the park. They walked until they were essentially away from the carnival and in the more quiet and forested portion of the area. In one thick patch of brush and trees lay a large boulder. Abaddon moved the boulder, exposing a large wooden door underneath.

"Jurano and I were hiding in these woods from a couple we pranked," Abaddon told Kathleen. "The boyfriend was so furious he started firing at us with a gun, but we still just ran and laughed. I was planning to dig a hiding spot under this boulder but found this."

He lifted the heavy door and held it open.

"Here." Abaddon created a baseball-sized light orb in his left hand and handed it to Kathleen. She was hesitant at first, not sure whether the orb would vanish or not in her possession but decided to take it anyway. Its brightness and size didn't change as it levitated a few inches above her palm. Also, she felt her aura not only strengthen somewhat, but also a feeling of comfortable warmth flowed through her fingertips, up her arm, and through her body.

"Wow," she thought.

"Ladies first," Abaddon told her. "Don't worry, it's a twelve-foot drop. Not a problem for us."

Kathleen lightly hopped into the opening, landing softly on solid ground. Abaddon jumped down as well with the door slamming shut behind him. He then grabbed a flat metal rod from a nearby wall and barred the entrance before joining Kathleen.

"Alright, now for another spectacle."

Abaddon extinguished the light orb. There was a brief period of darkness, but then another source of light had shown itself. They were in a circular tunnel. Its walls, covered in roots and shrubbery, were also dotted with clusters of glowing blue-green dahlias.

"Bioluminescent flowers," Kathleen said out loud. She put a hand over one of the flower clusters and they grew brighter, adding a purple hue to edges of their petals. "Are they-?"

"Copying the color of your aura? Yes." Abaddon touched one dahlia with his right index finger. Its color changed into a smoothly mixing swirl of red, white, and black. He then plucked that flower and one of the ones Kathleen touched and placed them in her hair.

"They're beautiful. But…wouldn't they lose their luminescence once plucked?" Kathleen wondered.

"Not really," said Abaddon. "We took three from here and found out that the flowers keep their light for about two weeks before losing it. The flowers will be the same color and stay alive like a normal plant, but only replanting them down here will make the flowers glow again."

He grabbed Kathleen's hand. "This is nothing. You'll like what's at the end of this tunnel."

Abaddon put his free hand out in front of him and started to concentrate his power. A few seconds later, a mass of twilight energy expanded in front of them and formed a large horsed sized wolf. It howled like a real wolf before bowing in front of them as a signal to mount it. Abaddon got on first, with Kathleen sitting right behind him. She held on tight to him as their steed bounded down the tunnel. At first, Kathleen thought they would hit the ceiling of the tunnel due to the wolf's height but later found out that the path widened as they continued forward. They traveled about ten miles, which only took a few minutes due to the speed at which they were traveling. The wolf began slowing down as they reached the end of the tunnel. The two huntsmen got off the wolf, which then dematerialized. They approached another wooden door. Abaddon opened the door and light poured in from the other side. Kathleen briefly shielded her eyes. After adjusting to the brightness, Abaddon pulled her inside and closed the door behind them. They were now in a short stone hallway that lead to a regular black door. A single lamp was nailed to the wall on the right.

Abaddon opened the door for Kathleen once more. She entered a huge living space with reddish brown walls and a light-colored carpet decorated with three dark brown couches arranged in a u-shape pointed towards the right where a huge plasma screen television hung on the wall. There were also a few blue flower vases, a large wooden cupboard, a filled five-shelf bookcase and a short wooden table in the middle of the room with a vase and a few candles on it. There was also another door on the left side of the room and a staircase opposite the one they came through.

"I'm guessing this is the man cave," Kathleen surmised.

"Well, kind of," Abaddon said as he tossed their prizes onto the couch. "This place is an abandoned local dust shop, in the northwest portion of the city where the upper-class citizens live. Remember that bookstore I went into when Neo was suffocating me? The couple who own the place have been using this hideout for years. When Jurano and I came here the first time, the husband, Mr. Florence, was here placing those flower vases. The other door connects to a tunnel that leads to the basement of his store. He allowed us to use this place as a hangout."

"Neat. But the furniture here is of the expensive kind. How did they afford all this and the electricity to power this place?" Kathleen asked.

"They just use it. Their son is part of the Vale Council, so he's kind of rich. This hangout is the basement of his private property or vacation and relaxation home he bought. They said he rarely comes here anymore since he's been busy with his family and work," Abaddon explained. "We're on the third basement floor. The second floor is the game room filled with arcade games, the first is a training room and armory. Then there's the main ground floor and the two floors above it which has a dining hall, five bedrooms, four baths, and a family den."

"As always, you really love to make connections," Kathleen told him.

Abaddon led her to the wall next to the stairs. A single coat hanger sat on the surface. The boy turned it sideways and a small section of the wall opened, revealing an elevator.

"Congrats. Not even Jurano knows about this elevator. When I used it to race him upstairs, he thought I used my twilight powers to teleport."

The duo went into the elevator and rode it to the top floor. They exited into a huge ballroom with many draped circular tables with chairs, large ornate glass window arches, and a rounded ceiling. A long rectangular table stood in the middle of the room. The room was dim, thanks to some low light lanterns above the arches.

"Good grief, where are you taking me?" Kathleen huffed. "I thought we were gonna stay downstairs and watch a movie. I would've been perfectly content with that."

"Almost there Kat."

Abaddon continued to lead Kathleen. He went up to one of the windows, opening a door panel to the balcony that surrounded the outside of that floor. He brought her up a short flight of stairs to the roof. It was a small garden with several flowerbeds filled with the same kinds of plants that Abaddon saw around Cinder back at Florence's greenhouse.

"This is one spectacular greenhouse," Kathleen said in wonder.

"This is Ms. Florence's personal greenhouse. The one at her store, visitors must pay to get in and she sells the flowers in that one. Over here."

Another door in the greenhouse lead to a small balcony. Once outside, the view took Kathleen's breath away. The building was tall, like some of the other buildings around them, but they happened to be uphill. This allowed them a view of most of the city.

Kathleen hopped up and sat on the railing. "I can see most of the city from here, the lights from the carnival, the Ferris wheel, even Beacon up the river. This view is indescribably beautiful!"

Abaddon sat next to her. "And its gonna get better in 3…2…1."

A loud screeching noise filled the air as a firework rocket flew from somewhere in the city and exploded high above into a shower of orange sparks.

"I didn't want our date to finish without seeing the fireworks," Abaddon told Kathleen as they watched more rockets being popped off in the sky, now exploding into different shapes and colors.

"Well, I'd say you did somewhat great." Kathleen then noticed something out the corner of her eye. "Except there's cotton candy stuck in your hair."

"Aww shit! Where?!" The boy frantically felt around his head for it. "I don't feel it."

"Hehehehe. It's riiiiiiggggghhhhhttt." Kathleen reached to the back of his head. "Here."

Faster than Abaddon could even react, Kathleen pulled him into a kiss. Abaddon was caught off guard but inevitably submitted. It was a warm embrace that ended much too soon to Kathleen's liking.

"Why'd you stop?" Kathleen asked, both her hands holding Abaddon's cheeks.

Abaddon chuckled. "Cause you surprised me. I wanted to make the first move."

"Well, it won't be the first, but go ahead."

And just as the last volley of fireworks lit the sky, Abaddon pulled her in close this time for a kiss. A much-needed closure for the both of them as their day came to an end.

.