Chapter XI: Enraptured and Addicted
Alli will never forget that night. Never will she forget how amazing it felt to be in his arms, to be dancing with him, and to be so close to him. Everything that night just fell into place, everything was just perfect, and Christopher even helped bring the girl out of that tight and dark shell she had been hiding in. He brought that woman that was inside of her all along out, and at last, she was showing her face to the warm sunlight of the world. No more was she Alli, the sweet, shy, socially challenged girl that she had been living by. Now she was Allison, the woman she always was meant to be, the woman that seemed to be whom she wanted to be all along—though she still preferred to be called Alli over Allison. That night seemed to last forever, but in actuality, it was four in the morning when Christopher finally brought her home—in a taxi cab, no less—and walked her to her door. The lights were off, Sam and Sophia were asleep, and he even came in for a short moment just to say goodnight. It was a wonderful moment when she saw the exact same emotion that was plaguing her mind at that very second appear in his eyes, but it vanished within that second as he turned and left, and Alli fell onto the couch, drifting into a peaceful dream that was merely all of her fantasies transpired into one romantic and passionate scene between her and the magician. Every night after that, her dreams have been pleasant, sweet, romantic, and ridden of any horrible or negative essence of her past, her present, or her boyfriend. In fact, for a short time, she had actually forgotten that she had a boyfriend. The morning after, Sam prepared breakfast while asking Alli questions—the regulatory "did you sleep with him?", "did you get a motel room last night?" questions that she always hated—and a shock to both women was that Sophia didn't mention anything or ask anything about the previous night. She was, however, quiet and distant during breakfast and all day. She hardly ever spoke, but neither adult felt like traumatizing her by bringing up something that she might have been pretending never happened and was nothing more than a horrible nightmare that she could easily move on from. Days after that seem to go by rather quickly and pleasantly, all thanks to the fact that Christopher had developed a habit of calling Alli on a regulatory basis—when she got home from school just to see if she was alright, in the early parts of the night to talk to Sophia and then her, and even during the day between classes, (which made Alli nervous of being seen by Julian, but not as much as it should have)—and she had even programmed his number into her phone along with an ID ringtone—"Lie To Me" by 12 Stones. However, not once did it seem like there was a romantic connection between the two of them, merely having now become good friends, but on occasion Alli found herself wondering when he had to leave the city and go back to Las Vegas—something he brought up a couple of times when they talked on the phone.
Julian hadn't shown in his face in days since that night—which was a good thing! He never called, he never showed up at the apartment or after classes with roses and chocolates—which had died since then and were eaten within the day they were given—and Sam had actually been starting to celebrate that he may not show up anymore.
"Good ridden! He was a bastard, anyway!" she kept saying every time the two of them were cooking in the kitchen and Sophia was out of earshot—because Sam had a habit of cursing, Sophia had been getting on her case even harder than before about it.
Alli knew that they weren't officially over. She and Julian had never actually spoken since the incident, so she didn't know if they were done or just drifting apart. She still hadn't been able to make up her mind whether she was going to break up with him or not, but she knew she had to do something. She couldn't have Sophia exposed to that incident again. It's either Julian never comes over to the apartment again and changes how he treats her, or the two of them won't be together at all anymore. As the days went on, things started changing a little more around the apartment. Sophia started growing quieter and softer, and Alli was actually coming out of her shell more, even to the extent of borrowing some of Sam's outfits to wear whenever she believed that she was going to see Christopher—big surprise!
One weekend, though, everything was going to change. They didn't realize it during the time, but before Alli even knew of it, she felt something odd was in the air, something omniscient and deadly, the feeling you would get before a big storm would tear apart your home. She didn't know, but she felt it, and even became more cautious. She started screening her calls on her cellphone—something she had never been resorted to—and even started going with Melissa or Sam to pick up Sophia from school. Paranoia just seemed to overcome her, take hold of her, and although she hated it, she couldn't help it. She started to feel this way for a couple of days before Sam finally confronted her about her reasons for acting strange.
"What's wrong?" she had asked her late one night when Sophia had gone to bed and found the other woman staring through the blinds of the living room window, watching the outside cautiously.
"I don't know." It's all that she could ever answer to her best friend. Something was bothering her, something troublesome and deadly, but what? She didn't know. At least, she didn't until that one weekend came, and Alli found herself answering the sound of the doorbell of the apartment and coming face to face with a dressed up, shaven Julian and another one of his friends, a tall, broad man with a shaven head and a dark goatee, but with a muscular, toned body that could be seen through his buttoned indigo shirt. Alli at first felt threatened, and this didn't go away even after she saw the bouquet of roses in Julian's hand.
"Hey baby, I missed you!" he leaned in for a kiss, but she turned her head away just so where he only kissed her cheek. He paused for a moment, as if stunned by this reaction, but he said nothing—she suspected it was partly because Sam had walked into the living room and noticed them standing in the doorway. At first her brown eyes were glaring daggers at her best friend's boyfriend, but then they turned into soft, molten feathers when they lingered onto his comrade.
"Julian, what are you doing here?" she asked him skeptically, though her soft eyes were still on the unnamed stranger that nearly blocked the doorway. Julian smiled at her kindly and lovingly—obviously a fake smile—and then presented the roses to his beloved, who took them gently, but her rain gray—warmed up—eyes had not left his face. She was thankful that Sophia wasn't there at the moment, but actually spending the night at her little friend, Emily's, house.
"I actually thought I'd come by to apologize to my lady about the other night, and thought I'd offer the both of you something amazing," he told them. "May I come in?"
Sam cast Alli a warning look that went unseen as the younger woman stepped out of the way to let them both in. She closed the door behind them, but Julian lingered to play with his little pet. He caressed her face gently—the healed bruise still stung when he touched it—and whispered suggestively into her ear.
"I missed you so much. I missed your soft skin, your sweet scent…" he leaned in closer to see if she would kiss him now, but she actually pushed him away, trying to keep her distance from him—every inch counted to safety from him. He apparently noticed this, but before he could speak, Sam spoke up.
"Julian, who's your friend?"
Alli looked up to see, despite her total hatred for the man, that her best friend was actually casting flirty gazes and actions towards his comrade. Sam…you just can't get back in your shell, can you?
"Samantha, you remember my good friend, Luke?" Julian introduced the man, who reciprocated the same looks at the older woman, and the girl standing in the corner with the abusive boyfriend rolled her eyes at this. She only remembered Luke as one of Julian's cronies in his gang that always seemed to be the muscle, never the brains. Luckily, that was all Sam ever really cared about.
Julian turned back to his girl, that hungry glare appearing in his eyes, and then she realized just why he had brought his friend along. Just to distract Sam, and keep her out of his hair while he took control of his girlfriend, and nothing was going to stop him. Not Sam, not Sophia, no one. What a sneaky little fucker….
"Um…Julian…you said you had something you wanted to give us?" Fortunately, there was enough room for Alli to slip out from between him and the door and went over to grab Sam and pull her towards the hallway, practically dragging her out of her entranced relationship with the broad man. The dark red head blinked and shook her head, finding herself standing beside her younger friend and in the shadows of the hallway. Julian looked a bit stunned, but also impressed, though his girlfriend knew the reasons why.
"Well, I know you won't forgive me for what I did to you, and I'm not asking you to, Alli. What I did was so horrible, I don't even forgive myself for it." Liar! "But, I wanted to make it up to you. I wanted to take you and Sam somewhere that you both can enjoy yourselves. I thought you might like it, seeing as how you've always been talking about going there since we got together."
"Where are you going with this?" Sam asked him, her stern, serious, defensive personality suddenly flooding back to her.
"I was thinking of taking you both to 'Innocence' tonight."
Sam and Alli both exchanged stunned, surprised looks, and in these looks flew the mental questions that the both of them were thinking. Does he know? He couldn't, could he? Please, please, don't let him know! Sam cleared her throat, and Alli thought it would be better for her to handle it, as she was afraid she might show some sign for him to be suspicious and suddenly think something that would eventually lead to a rather violent and painful end.
"We're both kind of tired, and it's late. Besides, I don't think they'll let us in when we get there," Sam told him, coming up with excuses that at the moment her friend would not be able to come up with.
"I've already taken care of that. I called them up two days ago to get our names on the list. Please? I would very much appreciate it if both of you would come. Please?"
The look on his face was the very same look he had used dozens of times to get his way back into her heart, and make her forget and forgive all the horrible and wretched things he had done to her. Or so he believed she had. She never officially forgave him for anything, nor was she able to forget anything he had done to her. She remembered everything, and every time she thought of those things, soreness would arouse from multiple places on her body that have been bruised, broken, or injured in some way by his hand. It was the very look that he was giving now that made her think after the next time he harmed her that she would never fall for it again, yet she would soon after that, continuing the pattern and cycle that had already been set for her and she had been following for years with plenty of other boyfriends before him. It always worked, it always did, just like how it was working now.
"It'll be nice, Sam." What was she saying? She really didn't want to go to the same place that she had been with Christopher, and ruin the entire memory of that night that she spent with him. She didn't want to, but the face, the expression, the look that was being given to her was convincing her otherwise. Her friend actually gave her a weird look, but it went ignored as she bowed her head in acceptance to what she was doing to herself.
"Alli, are…are you sure?" Sam asked her, though what she was really saying through those words were, "are you serious?! You can't honestly be thinking about taking him back, are you?!" Alli couldn't help but nod…to both questions.
"Alright, looks like a double date! Why don't you ladies go get ready, get something nice put on, and then we'll head out!" Julian clapped his hands together, and then gave Alli a sexy wink, which only meant that he had control over her again. Although dismayed, the young woman went into the rooms with her friend and said nothing about her answer to her boyfriend's words as she dressed herself, applied make-up, fixed her hair, and then went back out into the living room where he and his comrade waited to escort them out of the apartment and out to the taxi waiting for them, although pretending that it was a nice and pleasant night, she knew…she knew this was only another sick and cruel joke that reality was taking much humor out of by the end of the night.
"So, this is the place you took that one girl to?"
"Yeah. Nice, isn't it?"
"I've seen better."
"Yeah, back in Los Angeles. But for a small town like this, it's cool, isn't it?"
"Eh."
"That's all you can say? 'Eh'?"
"That, and…why are they dressed so formal? Isn't this a dance club? Who can dance in a dress that long?"
"You know, I don't know."
Criss tilted his head at his older brothers, who were examining the illuminated building with neon lights flashing through the windows and open doors and streaming across the streets and sidewalks, the music blaring and trying to shatter the windows. Two bouncers stood, one with a clipboard, the other hooking and unhooking the red velvet rope to let people in, stood in the front, being bathed in the violet neon light that came from the sign on the front that said "INNOCENCE." He had decided to bring his brothers, Costa and JD, here after the long and tormenting days of them pestering and bothering him about the mysterious girl he had taken to this club and been calling practically every day since then. His brothers, who have been by his side throughout the years of his performance career and entertainment career, were good at heart, but, like all brothers, had to tease the younger one whenever they could. They had taken part in production and set up of his show, "MINDFREAK," as well as any on-stage acts that he gave. You could easily imagine their facial expressions when they discovered that their younger brother had actually been in contact with a woman that they not only didn't know about, but was actually still technically in a relationship with another man.
"So, you brought her here, huh? That's funny. Usually, if a guy wants to impress or charm a lady, he takes her somewhere romantic," Costa teased him carelessly, but he received a dark glare from the victim of his criticism.
"I wasn't trying to charm her," he informed them.
"Then what were you trying to do?" JD asked him skeptically, and Christopher opened his mouth to say something, but closed it when he couldn't find the words. JD and Costa exchanged looks, but they hadn't said anything more when their younger brother looked over at them and spoke warningly, "Shut up!"
He turned his dark brown eyes onto the building again, watching the taxis roll up in front of it, and people walking out. However, his heart started pounding when he saw a taxi cab drive up to the front and stopped hesitantly. He watched as a man slipped out of the backseat, his dark Latino skin becoming accentuated by the neon lights of the club, and his dark hair combed back to show a gentlemanly character that only fit with his white buttoned-up shirt—which looked familiar—and black slacks. He turned to the backseat and held out his hand, only to have it be taken and gracefully climb out was the owner of said hand. It was a woman who looked stunning, gorgeous in the night, her long, light red hair straightened and caressing her shoulders, her pale face glowing brilliantly due to the flashing, spinning lights. Her body was wrapped beautifully in a black, tight skirt, low-cut black top that was hidden under her black denim jacket, and along with her high heels golden hoop earrings, she looked positively stunning. It didn't have to take long before the magician suddenly recognized her, but he couldn't say anything as he watched her cling to the man's arm and the two of them walked towards the bouncers, followed by another couple—obviously their friends—and walked straight into the club, disappearing behind the veil hanging in front of the entrance way. He didn't have to think, he simply reacted to seeing her again, to noticing her in a way he had never seen her before, and to suddenly feel a cold, horrible knot form in his stomach as he just knew that something was about to happen. He didn't gesture to his brothers, he didn't have time to. That knot was tightening in the bowels of his underbelly, and it was taking hold of him. His throat was becoming dry, his tongue swelled up, yet his feet took off before he could even think of what he wanted to do. He was running towards the entrance of the club—his brothers only realized this a second after he had left them and took pursuit after.
The bouncers didn't have to ask him for name or identification. They recognized him, and just stood out of the way as he ran through the veil and into the dance club, his brothers behind him, and he looked around, trying to find that flow of strawberry blond hair that he had seen just moments ago. A voice in the back of his head was yelling, screaming at the top of its lungs, commanding him to find her, but he couldn't see through the crowd of people dancing and running through the building. Yet, he did recognize someone that was at the bar, her date suddenly missing.
"Julian, this was really nice! Thank you for bringing us!" Alli told her boyfriend sweetly, though she doubted she could be heard over the thumping music that was playing. However, she couldn't help but dart her gray eyes towards where she at one time had been on the dance floor with the magician she was secretly infatuated with. Neither man knew, but that was how she wanted it to be.
"No problem. Anything for you, babe," Julian pulled her into him, and gently stroked her face, his dark eyes burning into hers, and there was an intensity within them, but she just believed that it was there because of the spinning neon lights. The man pulled his girlfriend into him a little closer and cupped her face in both his palms, tilting her head back and leaning down to kiss her. Something inside her wanted to pull away and reject it, but after all that he had done for this night…he deserved at least one kiss.
She felt his lips on hers, and she tried to react the way a loyal girlfriend would have, but just the feel of them…it hurt her. His lips were cold, hard, and the moment they touched hers, she felt him begging for entry to her mouth by his tongue. She didn't like that, and she had to pull away as quickly as she could. She didn't know why, but kissing him felt wrong, like a sin that she knew she was committing and one that she knew was wrong. She felt like she was being unfaithful with him, with Julian, but why? When he realized what she had done, he looked at her, his dark eyes even more intense and burning with emotions that actually made her tremble inside.
"What's wrong?" he asked her. Whoa…déjà vu, she thought. But the way the other man had spoken to her was much softer, kinder, and although still had dominance and command within his voice, it made her feel as if he was trying to look out for her, protect her, even. The way Julian spoke…it was hard, skeptical, and the dominance within his voice sought control, complete control over her.
"Nothing's wrong," she told him, putting back on that mask of happiness, joy, and sincerity. She couldn't wear this mask with Sam or Christopher, as Sam could see straight through it, and with Christopher, it felt like she was lying to him, betraying him. She looked around, and she noticed that her best friend and her date had suddenly disappeared. "Where'd Sam and Luke go to?"
"Oh, I guess they split up from us," he responded, looking around to suddenly realize what she had noticed, but instead of concern, there was a joy and sense of victory in his tone. He pulled her closer, the grip he had on her hand tightening, and actually becoming slightly painful. "That's okay. It gives us some privacy."
He gave her a look that made her feel completely violated, and she tried to pull out of his grip. That familiar sense of trouble was suddenly given life from within her stomach, and she suddenly realized what might happen next. She had to get away, she had to go find Sam, or else there would be no way of escaping, and she would end up being hurt in more ways than she ever imagined.
"I have to go find her!" she told her boyfriend, trying to slip out of his grip, but he actually tightened his hold on her hand, increasing the surge of pain that erupted from it, and she moaned out of pain, feeling as if the bones were being crushed instantly. She turned to him, the sadness and pleas of her past suddenly coming back into those gray pools that were her eyes, but his dark eyes were burning like black flames, filled with such hate and anger, Lucifer might as well be shaking in his boots. "Please, Julian, let me go find her!"
"I wonder," he started off, completely ignoring her fearful looks and cries. "Is it Samantha you want to find, or is it your little boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend? You're my boyfriend," she told him, though her heart was pounding out of horror as she suddenly realized that he might now know about Christopher. Please, God, don't let him know! If you really are merciful, don't let him know!
"Oh, really? Because a few nights ago, I came here, and I saw you here, dancing…with another man. You had your arms around him, he had his arms around you, it looked like you guys were really passionate about each other. So, who is he?" his voice was cold, no mercy, no life, only a dead, powerful growl that threatened all peace, all sanity that still existed within her. Her heart was pounding even faster, throbbing in her chest, and she felt all warmth, all life suddenly wash away from her body. This man had taken it all from her, her joy, her happiness, and all of a sudden, she was the one who felt guilty, who felt awful, she was the one who felt unfaithful to him, though she knew he had to have had someone else on the side besides her.
"What are you talking about?" play innocent. Damn it, I'm a horrible liar!
"Don't lie to me. Don't you dare fucking lie to me! Who was he? Who was the bastard that you're cheating on me with?!" Julian tightened his hold around her hand, and she cried out in pain, feeling him trying to crush every bone there was.
"No one! I'm not cheating on you!" she yelled back, but her cries were half-words, half-yells of pain and agony. She looked up into his face, her eyes filling with tears, but there was mercy in his eyes, no kindness, and no pity. He hated her. What else could she expect from him? He had always hated her. He never loved her, like she believed. He just used her, toyed with her, and then when he was done with her, he was going to discard her. Just like all other men before him who have stepped into his place….
He didn't listen to her yells and cries of suffering, he just pulled her behind him—his grip crushing her hand—towards the other side of the building. The whole time she was struggling to get free, to get away, but he kept his hold on her. He dragged her towards a door that said "EXIT" in bold neon green lights, and then he thrust the door open, revealing the dark shadows of a back alley, the same shadows that haunted her nightmares. She didn't even realize what was happening until she felt his hand on her back, shoving her into the darkness of the narrow alley, and her body collided into a row of trash cans, causing pain to awaken from within her body, a chorus of crashing aluminum filling the alley way and deafening her ears. She rubbed her head where she had hit against the brick side of the opposite building, but when she looked up to see her boyfriend towering over her, she knew that it was only the beginning of the torture she was about to endure.
"Sam!"
The woman turned around on her bar stool, her dark red hair held up in a messy bun, her face colored perfectly with make-up, while her body was dressed in a sexy red dress with strapped heels and a gold chain wrapped tightly around her neck. Unlike most of the other people at the bar, her brown eyes were full of life and sobriety. When the approaching man looked from her eyes to her drink—a simple glass of ice tea—he suddenly realized that she wasn't one of those women that would come and drown her sorrows and pain with the bottle. It was a something awkward to see, though, this woman without her beloved best friend at her arm, and that was what terrified the man as he came up to her, followed by his two brothers, who were just simply confused and stunned by his actions. It didn't even take her a second to recognize him, as the moment he came over, she addressed him as if she had known he would come to her in the end.
"Criss, hi! What's wrong?" she asked him, but the moment she did, her brown eyes scanned the crowded club, looking and searching for a familiar face and a pair of sad, depressed rain gray eyes, but she didn't see them, and then a painful knot started to form in the pit of her stomach. However, it was him who spoke before her what they were both thinking.
"Where is Alli?" Christopher asked of the woman, who shrugged, but her eyes suddenly became filled with fear and horror, as if knowing something horrible was happening right as they spoke.
"I don't know. We split up a while ago. God, I hope that bastard isn't hurting her," although she hadn't realized it, the woman had spoken those words loudly, and all three men turned to her in fear. Before either of them could speak, though, she turned to him, and her face became flushed even more of any color, and her eyes widened. "Criss, you can't be here! If Alli sees you…oh, God!"
She got up from her bar stool and walked quickly past them, her dress flapping at her heels as she walked, unknown to the fact the man had started following her. She finally discovered this when the illusionist reached out and grabbed her arm, spinning her on the spot. Sam turned to look at him, but her bond with her best friend prevented her from saying anything to this man, knowing it would only hurt the poor girl and that it would only cause more problems. But as she looked into the man's dark eyes, she saw something she had never seen any man show for her friend, no boyfriend, no man, at least none they had ever known. Did this guy really care about Allison that much? Samantha didn't know, but if he did, she had to at least give him a hint to what might be going on.
"Criss, I don't know where she's at, but we need to split up to find her. Something bad might be happening," she told him, pulling out of his hold, but he kept his hand on her arm, staring into those soft brown eyes, searching for a meaning to her words, a clue as to what she meant.
"Something bad? What do you mean? Like what?" he interrogated her, but his brothers suddenly appeared beside him and pulled him back, forcing him to release her.
"Criss, what are you doing?!" JD yelled in his ear.
"Have you gone insane?! What the hell are you thinking?!" Costa added, but the man didn't hear them. He saw the fear, he read it, it was clear and vivid on the woman's face. She knew something that she wasn't telling him, and by keeping it concealed, she was putting a life in danger. The life of an innocent woman. They both knew that something horrible was happening to Alli, but because of her friend's silence, he was unable to save her.
"Sam, tell me what you know. You obviously know something that you're not telling me. Why can't you tell me?!" he ordered of the woman, despite his brothers' words in his ear. She only continued to stare at him, scared, terrified, but not of him. She bowed her head, her brown eyes filling with tears, but she didn't shed them.
"I can't tell you, Criss, I just can't. But we need to find her. Go see if she's in the back alley or something! We need to find her!" With that, Sam gathered up the hem of her dress and started running towards the back of the club where the restrooms were—let's pray to God she's there—while Christopher just stood there, his brothers restraining him.
"Criss, what's going on? Why are you acting this way?"
"I need to find her…."
"Come on, let's get out of here."
"I need to find her…."
"Christopher, you're acting crazy."
"GET THE FUCK OFF! I NEED TO FIND HER!"
Christopher tore out of his brothers' clutches and ran through the sea of dancing figures—empty, faceless silhouettes in the spinning lights of never-ending nightmares and tragedies—and darted towards the back door with the glaring neon green sign that read "EXIT." He didn't know why he felt like he needed to find her, just the painful knot in his stomach told him that she was in trouble, but he didn't even know what kind of trouble. At least, not until he threw open the door to the alley beyond, the shadows splitting across the moonlight to allow him to behold the scene happening before him.
"YOU STUPID WHORE!"
A sound escaped the poor creature's mouth—a sound that was more heart-breaking than one of an abused animal would make when being hit violently by its cruel and malicious owner—droplets of blood splattering from its lips across the pavement of the alley, its body shaking and trembling as the foot collided into the side of its ribs, not once, not twice, but four times, and each time the sound would escape from within its chest, worse and more depressing than the one before. The man stood in the doorway, watching this scene happen before his eyes, fear, terror, and melancholy coursing through his entire body, and with each sound that was made, each little cry of pain, every harsh word or crashing, cracking sound of the creature's body, that knot in the bottom of his bowels would tighten substantially, increasing the flow of pain through his body, making him experience similar suffering that the creature was. However, nothing could make him experience what she was anguishing from, as her pain was a millions times worse than that of guilt and grief. Tears welled up in his eyes as he witness the other man yell again at her, both unaware of his existence there.
"GET UP! GET UP! YOU STUPID FUCKING COW—"
The man grabbed the side of her head by her hair—the once light, soft, strawberry blond hair—and through her entire body into the wall, her head bouncing off of the surface, and a soft sound escape her once more. She fell forward back into the ground, but even despite the fact blood was streaming down the side of pale and bruised face, despite the fact her body was mangled and injured, the man kept on going after her. The illusionist couldn't take it anymore, the paralyzes that had come over him suddenly flooded away when he saw the stranger toy with the belt of his pants, instantly knowing what he was about to do.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER!"
Time couldn't keep up with him. He didn't even realize what he was doing, how he was acting, until he had the other man pinned against the opposite wall of the club, his forearm pressed against his chest hard, the abuser suffocating and choking, and the magician didn't even realize that his hand was wrapped tightly around his throat, his dark eyes suddenly burning black in the shadows of the alley, desiring, wishing, to take this man's life for harming such a sweet and innocent soul. His entire soul and heart was aflame with the craving to take his life, to hurt him in the exact same way he had been hurting her—despite her sin, despite her disobedience, Adam still defended and protected Eve, even from the wrath of his creator—but…the human inside him, the Catholic, knew that there was no such thing as "an eye for an eye" in this injustice of a world. The other man continued to stare at him, his eyes wide with terror and fear, pleads for his life bright and shining, yet…when her sad gray eyes pleaded for mercy, did he give any to her?
"Please…please…don't kill me….Have mercy…" he pleaded breathlessly to the stronger man, but in his eyes burned the protection, the safety, the concern, the grief that he was suffering for the poor little creature.
"Mercy? Didn't she plead for mercy when you beat her ribs in?!" his voice was rising, angry, and his grip on this coward's throat tightened, practically choking him to death. "Men like you are scum! Nothing but fucking cowards that like to show how strong they are by beating up defenseless, innocent women! Cowards like you deserve to die!"
"Please…please…don't kill me…" the man pleaded for his life, but Criss didn't hear him. He didn't want to hear him. He hated him for what he had done to Alli. He hated him with every bit of himself because he had hurt her, and that he couldn't forgive. No man was ever allowed to raise his hand to a woman, let alone actually strike her with it. But…if he was going to kill this man, he would be sinning against God, and then everything he had worked for, everything he had accomplished in his life would be all for nothing, and then…if she ever regained consciousness, what would she think of him? That was what stung him the most. He didn't care about his reputation, he didn't care about his career. He cared about what she saw him as. Not a killer…never this cold-blooded killer….
"I'm not going to kill you," he released the man, and he fell to his knees on the ground. "You just better get the fuck out of my sight before I change my mind!"
At his words, the coward stumbled to his feet and ran the opposite direction through the alley and into the shadows of the night. After a moment of realizing that he was gone, and all sensibility came flooding back into the magician, he turned to the woman slumped against the wall, her head bowed in her chest, and streams of blood pouring from her crown. Her outfit was torn and askew on her body, black and blue bruises were on her cheek, her arms, her legs, and even a large one was on her neck—mother fucker tried to strangle her!
Her head moved a little, and a soft, faint moan escaped her lips. At that sound, all hate and anger disappeared from the man, and he fell before her, just inches in front of her, and he placed his hands gently on both sides of her face, tilting it back and placing his forehead against hers—her skin was warm, soft, and she didn't wince when his fingers brushed against her newly created bruise—closing his eyes just so he could feel her life pulsating through his hands. He felt her pulse—her steady…yet slow heartbeat—and he knew she was still alive. But…was she conscious?
"Alli…Allison, it's me, Christopher," he whispered to her, keeping his eyes closed, but bringing his face a little closer to hers so he could feel her warmth a little better. She moaned softly again, but her gray eyes didn't open.
"Alli…you can hear me...come back to me….Wake up…" he spoke to her again, and she moaned in response, her head tilting back even farther. He released her and he watched as she opened her eyes—those sad, sweet, gray eyes—to find his dark ones staring back at her. For a moment, she couldn't speak, pain engulfing her head and body—her side hurt like a fucking bitch—but then, everything seemed to fade away, all the pain, all the suffering, all the misery she had endured, it washed away when she finally realized that this wasn't a sweet dream she was having. This was real. He was here, he was real, and he was with her. She was safe once more, as he had brought her back into that imaginary Eden that was only meant for the two of them.
"Christopher?" she sighed, her voice nothing more than a weak, fragile breath that came out choked and broken. She shuddered from the pain—the eclipsing suffering that she had awoken with suddenly became nothing more than a numb, endless sea, a sea in which she treaded in for so long. Suddenly, the water of this abyss turned to a different sensation around her, relaxing, breath-taking, and it seemed to heal all of her wounds, all of her injuries, and merely just allowed her to float upon the surface, the golden lake of Eden that he had created for her.
"Christopher, I'm…I'm so tired…" she sighed her words softly, closing her eyes and allowing her head to tilt back down, but he kept it up.
"No! No! Alli, don't fall asleep!" Criss was frantic now, feeling that if she suddenly fell into that tempting place of dreams and peace, she wouldn't be able to come back from it. She wouldn't be able to come back to him….
"But I'm so tired…" she whined, though her voice came out like a soft whine of a precious, wounded animal in pain. He pushed her head back up, forcing her eyes open again with his fingers.
"Don't fall asleep! Alli, please, look at me! Don't fall asleep!" he yelled at her, shaking her gently. Her eyes opened a little more, but there was a gaze within them…a broken, sad, depressing gaze that made his entire body shudder inside. That look within them wasn't one anyone should have to see. It was a look only a child could give, a child who was hurt, crying, and abused by someone who was supposed to take care of her, someone who was supposed to love her. Tears formed in his eyes as he saw exactly why her gray eyes looked like the rain, he saw exactly why the rain was supposed to be so depressing. When he saw that look, he knew that there was a storm raging within her…a raging, powerful storm that was crashing and destroying the peaceful world of her Eden…a typhoon that was slowly ripping apart her shelter, leaving her to drift among the shattered pieces in the blackness…merely another victim of so many violent and terrible tempests, only what made it worse for her was that not only could she not be able to be protected from it, but it tore away the last place she could escape from her twisted reality….