Chapter 15

-Aisha-

Taylor came back into the loft the morning bro and his team were preparing for their next job with singed clothes and smelling of burnt hair. As I took in the glum look on her face - is it just me, or are her eyes glowing a little again? And are those burns? - I couldn't help but ask.

"Hunting accident?"

"The mice are spicy tonight, and jump like sparks," she answered, raising the bed sheet so she could crawl under it. "All the more so when their Iron Lord sent them to the grinder."

"...Okay, then," I slowly said, trying to figure that out while she made herself comfortable. I decided that's as good a reason as any to get out of bed. Alec's probably slacking again anyway, maybe we can play that new game… though, to be honest, I enjoyed seeing the look on Brian's face whenever he saw me and Alec hanging out together more than I did the video games themselves.

... I guess seeing Alec trying to play Mouse Protector's theme song with that plastic guitar does make me laugh too. Especially 'cause he kind looks like a young Ash Rivers.

My trolling of PHO was interrupted by Taylor bursting out of our room hard enough to damn near tear the door off its hinges. I almost toppled over backwards in my chair at the loud bang as the door bounced off the wall. The manic look on her face wasn't made any less worrying by the orange glow of her eyes and an extra fangy smile as she ducked into the bathroom and came out holding the ripped-off shower curtain.

Grabbing the laptop up off the coffee table, I only barely managed to get out of her way before she covered the couch where I'd been sitting with it. "Taylor?" I asked while she began taping it place. "What's going on?"

"The hounds return bearing injured," she answered, smoothing out the edges of the curtain. "The Elder Demon must be stitched like a doll."

Elder De- Brian! My mind blanked as I panicked for a few seconds, during which time Taylor darted into the kitchen, climbed up onto the counter and ripped open one of the cabinets and began to rummage around in it like a girl possessed. It wasn't until I heard the sound of a mug shattering as it was knocked to the floor that I snapped out of it. Tossing the laptop aside, I chased after her. "What are you doing?"

"The tiniest of demons must be purged less they turn against their Elder."

I was about to protest that I'd do no such thing when Taylor yanked two bottles of Blue Turkey out from the back of the cabinet, another mug landing in the sink with a slightly more metallic crash. "The Heartbroken Prince may mourn the loss of his favored drink, but The Noble Lord of Shadow would mourn the plague more." ...Plague? She's gotta mean germs. Okay, that makes more sense.

She handed me the bottles as she leapt down off the counter. Then, with little more than a frantic nod, she darted past me and up to the window.

"Wait! Where are you going?" I demanded angrily as she opened it. Why is she running away when my brother needs help? "If Brian's injured, we need to help… him…" I trailed off at her orange glare.

"Trust more the absence of temptation than the strongest will," the vampire answered, briefly opening her mouth wide and displaying her extended fangs. I heard the door downstairs open, and turned my head briefly. When I looked back at the window, she was gone. Alright, disinfecting the curtain, I guess? I twisted the caps off the bottles with slightly shaky hands and poured them out.

Focus, Aisha, focus! If he's hurt, they'll need a first aid kit. They've got to have one around here, right?

I rummaged through the remaining cabinets and drawers in search of it as I heard the team's voices coming up the stairs.

"Wait, what if—" Lisa's asked suddenly, just a few steps out of sight by the sound of it.

"Aha!" I shouted, pulling the first aid kit out of the drawer I'd found it in. It looked like one of the oversized things Dad kept at the boxing gym, and I promised to never make fun of him for that again if it helped Brian.

"Oh, thank fuck she's already gone," Lisa said as she finally stepped into the loft, taking a relieved breath. Alec and Rachel helped a dazed-looking Brian to the couch.

"Give me that," the blonde snapped at me. As I handed the first aid kit over, she asked me "Do you know first aid? Damn, no. Just… get over here and do what I say, okay?"

I numbly nodded and helped Alec take Brian's jacket off. That's a lot of blood… I shuddered. I'd seen people get stabbed before - Winslow is Winslow - but that hadn't been anyone I actually cared about. I followed Lisa's orders as best as I could, until the wound stopped bleeding.

"Is he?" I asked Lisa, not entirely sure what I was trying to ask.

"It's not the worst place to get hit in," she answered quietly. "He lost a lot of blood, but didn't get hit anywhere really important. I think he'll be fine. Go wash up, okay?"

I stared at my hands. Huh. Red...

When Taylor returned that morning, I stopped her before she could try crawling under the bed.

"Why didn't you stay and help fix Brian? I remember you healing up the bite on that guy who attacked me the first night. Couldn't you have done that to him too?"

"My kiss can only halt the flow of my own bite. And have I not sworn to you that his blood shall not touch my lips?" She rubbed her hands together awkwardly, shoulders hunched as she stared at the floor. "My aid this night could only have brought more harm to our kin."

I sighed. "I suppose you can't have healing powers on top of everything else," I admitted. She tilted her head at that and smiled.

"Fret not, my dear sister!" She patted my shoulder. "For I shall have upon the next full moon, the perfect cure for all that ails our wounded brother."

I was still processing that as she climbed under the bed. When I finally snapped out of it, I lifted up the side of the bed sheet, stuck my head in and shouted "Wait, what kind of fix?"

Curled up under the bed, Taylor simply looked at me drowsily, that same lazy smile still plastered on her face as she blinked slowly and passed out.

"Oh, to hell with this," I muttered and got out of bed. Lisa's good at figuring this shit out, maybe she'll help.

I hadn't had much energy for school the next few days. Brian actually had to yell at me from his spot on the couch the first morning to make me go, but I was kinda happy to know he was well enough to pester me about it. He'd even managed to stand up yesterday, but Lisa practically threw him back to his spot when she saw.

I decided to detour to Dad's place to grab some of the clothes I kept there - the blood hadn't quite washed out of the shirt I wore when helping patch Brian up - when I heard voices nearby.

"That's her." It was a man with a vaguely familiar voice.

"Who?" another man asked.

"The girl I caught skulking around. I tried to do my civic duty, and got jumped by that crazy bitch for my troubles." He whacked his buddy on the shoulder. "You know, the one that busted up the dogfight last week, remember?"

Oh shit. I recognized that voice now. It was the guy who tried to mug me the night I saved Taylor. I looked over my shoulder, then quickened my pace. Where are the crowds when you need them?

I gave up trying to be sneaky when I heard them start running after me, and hauled ass.

Trying to catch people's attention and call for help didn't accomplish anything - Empire territory, duh - and I desperately wished that Taylor's predictions about me becoming a parahuman were true, because I was not outrunning these two bastards while my legs were still sore after gym.

The skinhead grabbed me by the arm and shoved me at the wall. Now would be a really good time for the powers to kick in!

"Okay, little bitch," he growled, squeezing my wrist, "you're going to tell us everything about that friend of yours."

I thrashed about, but couldn't break free of his grip. My wrist jolted in pain when he seemingly tried to crush it again. Uhh… any time now!

"Agh!" I couldn't help but cry out. "I - I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't play dumb with me, you—"

I didn't hear the rest of his sentence as he hit me in the face with an open palm. Stars flashed in my eyes, and I felt dizzy.

Fuck. She was wrong, wasn't she? I'm not going to get powers… teach me to trust the crazy too much…

He yelled in my face again and pulled back his fist to hit me. My everything hurt, and as I bounced off the wall again, the world went out of focus.

The thug and his friend were already walking away when I recovered. I briefly wondered why they'd do that, but decided to just be glad that that was over with. I pushed off the ground with my good hand, ignoring the stinging on the other one and where my face had hit the sidewalk, then started making my way to the bus stop. I checked to make sure the nearest car was far enough away before crossing, but the driver didn't even try to slow down - I had to jump to not get clipped by the car, and he kept driving like nothing happened.

"Watch it, asshole!" I shouted, though I didn't get any reaction.

Nobody looked at me while I was waiting for the bus either, despite my concern that the bruises I could already feel forming had to be visible, and I was ignored even more than usual while riding it. By the time I got off at my stop, I was getting seriously creeped out. I all but ran to the loft and up the stairs to find Brian walking around. He didn't pay me any attention either.

"Bro? Bro, I need to talk to you!"

No reaction. He carefully set down a cup, and I could see he was a little bit dizzy, but seriously?

"BRIAN!"

Still no reaction. Waving my hands right in his face didn't get me anywhere either.

Even grabbing the cup and fucking throwing it at him didn't get a reaction out of him, he just stared at it on the floor with a puzzled look.

Jumping up and down as I shouted his name, I bumped the table and had to grab the milk before it spilled on the floor. Brian still didn't notice, just bent over and grabbed the coffee cup and put it back on the table. Then he stared at the fucking milk like it had just sold mom drugs or something for no reason.

...Oh. Fuck me, how fucking stoned is he on those pain meds Lisa got him? Jesus. Stomping over to the couch I checked his meds box to make sure he hadn't taken too many or some shit like that, but no; he'd only taken the ones he was supposed to.

What the hell's going on? If Taylor wasn't asleep at this hour I'd—

I all but slapped myself for taking so long to figure it out. It's got to be something like Taylor's "ignore me" trick. Does this mean I have powers now?

I remembered how Taylor's trick stopped working whenever she bumped into a person. I tried to shake Brian with my good arm, trying to think unstealthy thoughts. It didn't help much.

"Goddammit, Brian, stop fuck—" - something in my brain snapped - "—ing ignoring me!" I shouted, finally getting a reaction. His reflexive jab was slow enough even I could get out of the way. We stared at each other as he took in my injuries.