Suddenly, the world was blanketed out, and all I was aware of was our breathing so fast we were almost panting, the taste and smell of dust and burning in my mouth and nostrils, the table above us groaning, and Luca's arm over mine as we crouched there. It was black. Not quiet, exactly, I could hear things snapping around us, furnature giving way under the weight of whatever had fallen onto us, hear metal twing as it snapped, hear the distant crackle of something that smelt an sounded like flames.
A little light made me flinch, a globe of light appearing before us, Luca's soft "It's just a light ball," not helping. I was unfamiliar with a lot of their spells and magic. I knew some things, some things that had not had nice introductions, but had never cared about much more than that.
"Does it burn?"
"No." He slid down to sit cross legged, under the table, lowering it. "That must be something else."
So he'd noticed it too. I sat down as well, breathing hard, struggling with the panic that was battling to take over. The table groaned above us, the wooden legs bending like they were plastic, and Lucas muttered something under his breath.
It lifted up, somewhat, the groaning lessening. Right beside us I heard wood splinter and snap, the table that had been beside us giving way under the weight.
"How much fell?"
"It was a two story building. It could be a lot. I can hold it there for a while." He replied, but he didn't look up, as if he didn't want to see what he was trying to keep there.
"It can't have all fallen. Can it?" My breath hitched as I remembered what I'd seen outside. The car exploding, just across the street, the car that I knew wasn't just a random car. It had been Clayton's car. Clayton's car exploding. The car they'd been told to wait inside.
No, I tried to urge myself, as the panic screamed, don't panic. Don't think of it like that. They were smart. They might have heard something. Smelt something. I didn't know that they'd been inside, only that I'd seen it explode. I didn't see their bod-
Reece. Paige. They'd gone too. They had no table. What if the building had collapsed?
"There was a few explosions outside after the second, so close that it was hard to tell them apart." Lucas said quietly.
"Did he hide something in the building?" I wondered aloud, eyes still shut, breathing in and out hard as the panic made my chest hurt from the weight of it. I clutched to my knees hard, squeezing, getting as much of the excess energy out. Changing here wasn't going to be helpful.
"We checked it out beforehand. No."
We both flinched as we saw the table bend, just slightly, my eyes flying open and Lucas shut up, concentrating, sweat shiny on his face in the dim light of the lightball.
I should have realised something was going on when he made his mother leave. I breathed in and out slowly. Clayton's car had been destoryed first. In front of us. Destroyed our mates, the biggest threat to him, got them out of his way. And Elena...
"Elena."
"I know. We can't do anything." Lucas muttered. "There'll already be calls and my father will already know. Second we're dug out, we go after them, if Elena's gone. She's tough. She's probably handcuffed him to a burning pole."
Maybe. I wasn't sure. The panic I felt, the urge to scream, to cry, the fear that my mate was ...it was going to be just as bad for her. I didn't know how she took this fear. Hadn't I felt pain, when it'd exploded? Someone else's pain? "He killed our mates."
Luca's head shot up when I whined, his eyes fixed on me, suddenly apparently remembering what kind of crazy supernatural woman he was trapped with. "Calm down. You don't know that."
"That a spell too?" I muttered, at his words, 'calm down' full of so much pressure. If only it was that easy. This horrible image of Nick in the car, the car on fire, exploding, burning hi... my breathing got faster, my heart rate increasing, less control...
Lucas slapped me, a sharp slap, and I blinked at him, shaking my head, trying to get the image out.
"Not a spell. Common sense. I'm worried about Paige too. We've got to worry about them when we're on our feet."
Paige? I saw it then, the fear in his own face, and swallowed down mine. He was right. Fear was better used when we could hunt them down. "If she and Reece went to the kitchen they'd have sturdy benches to go under or be near a door."
"Yes." He didn't say anything else for a while.
We sat there, shoulders pressed up against each other, the table continuing to make heart stopping groans and shudders, Lucas struggling. How much was he trying to keep up with his spell? Or was fear making it harder for him? He didn't know if his wife was safe anymore than I knew Nick was safe.
I lifted my phone and saw it wasn't working- no reception. Too much shit on top of us.
"Mine was on the table." Lucas saw my face.
Great.
Time ticked past, so slowly, Luca's light ball wavering in strength as he tried to keep the table from collapsing under the weight of whatever was over us. The whole building? Only a part of it? I didn't know. The burning smell had gone for a while but it was back now, stronger, adding another problem we did not need. Particularly as I was smelling gas too.
Lucas didn't smell it, I suspected, because when I asked him what he smelt, he only mentioned the smoke. It was too light for his nose to pick up. But it would be enough to make the fire very happy if they met. We had to get out of here.
I glanced down at the floor boards, wondering what was under the building, if I could... break them apart. "Doesn't America have a lot of basements?"
Lucas followed my gaze and nodded a small nod. "Some old places."
This place was pretty old. I wondered why on earth they had so many basements, especially out here, if there were no tornadoes. It wasn't the time to ask though. I snatched a knife from the ground, a beautiful silver butter knife, brushed the glass off the wood, and tried to pry it up enough so I could grab it.
My own sweat beaded off my forehead as I found it harder than expected. There was only a tiny space under the table, too little for a good slam against it, the floor boards thick and the nails secure. We flinched as one of the table's four legs gave way and Lucas slid over fast to try and get some broken bricks under the spot, as the table started to bend that way.
I took the diamond bracelet off, sliding it into my bra to keep it safe, and slammed my fist hard on the wood, trying to get it to break, ignoring the pain exploding up my hand. Lucas swore as he used his shoulder to keep the table up, piling up the rubble, trying to keep the table from tipping or breaking the other leg.
He slid back suddenly, as the other leg snapped, the table sliding over us in a triangle, Lucas only just making it to my side. Rubble poured in through the opened gap, the two of us having to slide back, covering our faces with our arms as the dust rose and covered us again. The burning smelt closer now and the gas stronger.
"There's gas. Don't use any flames." I warned him. I shouldn't have to. We felt dampness, tasted water, and I glanced up. Droplets were finding their way through cracks.
"Probably firefighters." Lucas said softly. "Or a broken pipe."
I went back to trying to break the floorboards, hoping there wasn't concrete or something under us, seeing them start to splinter and shake with the force of my hand. I smelt blood, tasted dust, knew I was cutting my own hand on glass or rubble or something, but with the table already half dead, and Lucas struggling to keep it from going any more dead, that really didn't matter.
Using fingers and the knife, I pried them up, piece by splintered piece, and groaned as I saw exactly what I hadn't wanted to see. Concrete.
"Get the floorboards up and I'll deal with that." Lucas's eyes were on the table.
"Sure." Whatever he thought. I tried to get them up, sliding over to get enough up for us to get through, then shifted out of the way as best I could as he put his hand on the hard material.
There was a sudden impact on the concrete, harder than I did, though the table groaned and lowered as the vibration made the concrete crack and crumble a little. Lucas swore and lifted his hand, the table lifting.
"It should be easier to smash through it." He was breathing hard again.
I tried it, slamming my fist hard on it, and found he was right. It was falling apart, bits falling into a deep space, and I used my hands and elbow to jab and slam and hit and punch the last of the stuff out of our way. The hole underneath it was deep, dark, and from the limited light it got from the ball, it was exactly what we'd hoped for.
"Get down there." I muttered, reaching up as the table bent, trying to use my strength to keep it there. Slick blood made the wood slide against my hands.
Lucas shifted past me to go first, as the weight of the building got a little heavier, the light ball going with him. He dropped through the hole, I heard him find the ground awkwardly, a grunt of pain as a box or something tumbled out of his way.
"It's the basement all right." He called and I sighed, relieved.
Suddenly the third leg snapped, the table starting to tip, and I threw myself through the hole head first as it gave way, dust and shit coming through the hole after me, falling on top of Lucas' outstretched arms and a box, the two of us falling back onto the hard ground with curses.
We lay there, breathing hard, faces tense with pain, watching the hole as if expecting the entire building to fall right through it. Nothing. Once the rubble had settled, the table half blocking the hole, nothing more fell through.
Slowly, I breathed out, Lucas doing the same thing. We sat up slowly.
"You ok?" I asked.
He glanced at his ankle. "I twisted it a bit on landing. Should be okay. Nothing's broken. You?"
I lifted my hands and stared at them. Bloody, bruised, but I could move my hands. "A bit beaten up but nothing's broken here either."
"Werewolves." He shook his head, the trace of a smile, shifting onto his better side. "I envy that strength."
"I envy that spell you used on concrete. What was it?"
"Trade secrets. Not really. Just an exploding thing. Figured I'd give it a try." He shrugged it off.
The basement's ceiling groaned above us, our eyes going up, but there was no sign of it giving way. Water droplets came in through the hole we'd created, dribbling onto the ground, dust settling, the box of tinned tomatoes tipped over with cans all over the place. There was a wine rack, several bottles fallen and exploded on the floor, a few more intact and having survived the fall.
"Food, water, mood lighting. Just what we wanted tonight." I tried to joke. He smiled a tense smile as his eyes went around.
"Paige and Reece must have gone outside if they're not here." Lucas said quietly. There was a flicker of fear again, just for a moment.
"Probably." I hoped so. I hoped they'd have gone outside when they heard the first explosion, not turned around and come back for us, hoped they'd decide to inspect it...
Who knew.
I stood up and grabbed the broom. Lucas raised an eyebrow at me as I tried to push rubble, glass, and whatever else might cut or hurt us to a corner.
"Don't want to get cut on glass." I muttered. Okay. So I was coping with the situation by doing domestic shit. I guessed he hadn't seen many werewolves sweeping a broom around. He didn't comment, just watched as I channelled my panic into getting the floor clean, almost obsessive about clearing it of rubble and glass, my eyes going up as we smelt gas. Both of us.
"When that meets the flame, the flame will follow it." Lucas stood up, cringing, and I offered him toe broom to lean on. "We need to block that hole."
"Ideas?"
He shook his head slowly. "Probably could use a spell to repell it. Can't guarantee."
"So blocking it is better."
Lucas nodded.
We used cans. Neither of us could think of anything better and I could sort of crush them to fit it, sort of, trying to wedge as many into the hole as possible in order to keep anything burning out. It was obvious there was a good fire now, and a lot more water on the place, the heat in the basement starting to increase into a more uncomfortable warmth. They were just a thin metal, easily destroyed by fire, but if there was an explosion, maybe they'd hold up. Probably not. But I could pretend they would.
While I did that, Lucas used the broom to move around the room, the brush under his armpit, finding a smaller cupboard full of things. "We can go in here to be sure."
I nodded. Probably a better idea. The cans would probably become giant tomato filled bullets if the gas exploded all over the place.
I slid boxes over, as he instructed, so we could block the door from the inside. The air was going to get pretty nasty pretty fast, so we were going to leave it open a crack, but till they dug us out, it was the safer place to be if there was a fire above us. For now, anyway, to shield from an explosion. We had to get out if the fire got bad above us- it'd spread into the basement in no time.
We sat there for a long time, waiting, the smell of our fear mingling with the faint smoke, dust and dampness. Nothing exploded though, at least not down here, we heard several things that may have been something, felt the ground vibrate a few times and shake dust off the ceiling, but nothing much happened. I would have almost preferred it had. Sitting there, adrenaline pumping, tense, ready and waiting for action and... no action.
Just torture of waiting. Waiting. Expecting something to happen at any time and... waiting some more.
And trying to not think about what might have happened outside.
I glanced at Lucas as we waited. The whole supernatural world, it seemed, was beautiful. Stunning. And yet Lucas looked normal.
"What?"
"You look normal." I smiled, somewhat. "I mean, everyone's beautiful, but you look normal." At his raised eyebrow, I blinked, adding fast, "That's not an insult. It's just ...it's a good thing."
"Is it?"
"Yes."
Lucas smiled somewhat, leaning back, brushing the dust out of his hair. "After seeing what male werewolves look like, thanks, I think."
"You should see how long they spend in that gym to look like that. Or go running." I muttered. "I tried both and they bored me."
He laughed. "You don't look as toned as Elena."
I flushed but he wasn't insulting me. He was stating a fact. I wasn't- she was slender, leggy, toned. She used the gym, she ran, and I ...I did yoga. I walked. Clayton was getting me into some kind of shape, he'd been hitting me into it in training for months before the pregnancy, but I still didn't have that slender toned look they had. Maybe I didn't want it either.
We went quiet again, eating out of the tins or whatever else we found, figuring they wouldn't mind so much. I needed it more than Lucas did. The food calmed me down, gave me control over the panic, and my body was really struggling to stay in control right now. All you could eat first class cheese, and smoked meats, and fresh bread? Boxes of first class chocolate? Other things, other goodies they used in the kitchen... there was nothing like finding a pantry to hide in. I might have enjoyed it another time.
A sudden explosion overhead, the whosh of flames following the gas, and Lucas slammed the door shut hard as flames rushed in through the hotel in the basement ceiling, tins flying everywhere. The explosion went up walls, I felt them shudder, felt rubble collapse into the basement, a loud woomph as it collapsed down further. We leaned against the door, hot flames coming under the crack, breathing hard, and then it was done.
When we opened the door, the basement was on fire, rubble and wood and stuff burning and half filling everything, the wine exploding and catching alight, boxes on fire, the heat of the fire and smoke making us slam the door shut fast. Lucas shut the door and tried to block it with his jacket, or whatever else we found, trying to keep the smoke out.
"Shit." I reached down to touch my burnt ankles. The heels had sort of protected them.
"Agreed." He was reaching down too, yanking his shoes off, the rubber melting somewhat. "Shit."
The door was metal. I hoped it would hold, as we backed off it, stuffing food and stuff into the cracks, hearing the metal groan and complain as the heat increased behind it.
We backed up against the back wall, sitting there, bottles of water beside us. I wasn't sure what Lucas could do, but he seemed to be doing something, maybe keeping the flames back from the metal.
"Think they know we're here?" I tried to ask, instead of 'think they found their dead bodies?', and he nodded.
"Paige would be up there right now." He tried to smile. "Ordering them to hurry."
I didn't know if he was kidding or not about that. I hoped he was right about her being up there though. If she was there, Reece was there, and he would be trying to get them to hurry. I smiled, glanced up, hearing the sound of water. More water now, pressured water, as if they were desperately trying to calm the fire down.
I ate, heard Lucas' amused chuckle at my reaction to stress, and he accepted a chocolate bar. It was getting hotter in here now, the chocolate melting in seconds in our hands, but the sound of water was increasing above us. If we'd have been up there still, we'd be not only burnt, we'd be now drowning in the stuff.
I felt something vibrate in the bag I was still hanging onto, grabbing for it, and found Reece's caller ID.
"Fuck. Where are you?" He said, the second I picked up, and I saw Lucas slide closer.
"Paige with you?" He asked, his ear pressed against the other side of the phone, I felt his shoulder shaking. "Are you safe?"
"She's standing closer to the fire but we're fine. Where are you two?"
"Basement." I replied. "In a pantry down here. There's a fire."
He swore, repeated this to someone. "The entire place is on fire. Half the building collapsed, explosions, looks like some cars were set off right against the side, now it's all on fire. Is Elena there?"
"No."
Reece didn't speak a moment. "I'll call you back. Don't do anything stupid down there. They're putting it out now."
He hung up and we sat there. I shut my eyes. He hadn't said a word about Clayton or Nick, but I hadn't heard either of them in the background, and I knew that Nick would have wanted the phone the second Reece got me. But maybe they hadn't know. Maybe Reece didn't tell him who he was talking to. Maybe he was holding one of the hoses himself. I laughed, a slightly hysterical laugh, avoiding Lucas' eyes now, rubbing my head. God. He'd go great in a fire-fighter's calender, that was for sure, topless, shiny with sweat... but I didn't know if he'd actually like the work itself.
"Reece said the entire place is on fire. There were a few cars set off beside us, half of the place collapsed on us, the other half is now burning away." I let Lucas know, rubbing my head. "Elena isn't with them. Sorry... I should have made Reece give Paige the phone."
"It's okay. She's up there." Lucas breathed out slowly. "I can talk to her in a bit. Did you see where Elena was?"
" Demetruis was shielding them both. He didn't look surprised." The memory of him sitting there, so casual, drinking coffee as the world exploded around them, it made me fear a little more. What the hell? Was he going to blame the explosions on his pet cat this time? A disgruntled ...delivery boy? If we saw him again at all?
No, we had to see him, because he had my children.
"If I'm dead, what happens to that contract?"
"Technally it still stands but if one half is dead, the other half isn't going to get bossed around much, is he?" Lucas replied. "Why?"
"If I pretended to be dead... and then showed up a few days after..."
"It's his obligation to hand you the twins in a week, dead or alive. But if you were dead, he'd have no problems with you. You think he tried to do it to get you out of his way? Take away his obligation?"
I nodded and Lucas leaned back, the two of us trying to ignore the increasing heat.
"It'd be an advantage. To play dead for a while."
"It would be." He agreed, nodding slowly. "We'd both have to."
"You ok with this?" I asked, softly.
Then I called Reece. He answered instantly. "I can't get anyone. You ok?"
"Have you told anyone we're alive?"
"Not yet. Can't even get close to Paige, they won't let me, I'm not sure how she got so close. Why?"
I repeated this to Lucas, then, "You need to pretend I'm dead. To everyone."
"Why?" Reece sounded stunned. I heard him stepping back.
"I can explain it." Lucas said softly. "Here."
He took the phone and explained it, as I tried to plug a bit of the door that had red hot smoke coming though, inhaling sharply as it burnt my fingers. Lucas put the phone on speaker so we could both listen.
Reece sounded almost annoyed.
"You can't ask me to do that."
"If he has Elena, if he's taken her, having him break the contract to me means we've got an advantage back." I replied. He didn't argue, just swore. "Is ..."
"Nick around?" Reece's voice softened slightly. "I don't know. I'm sorry. I know it was Clayton's car but they're not letting anyone near it. I don't know if he was there or not. I've been trying to find them for you."
I breathed in and out, slowly, eyes squeezing shut.
"It might not be how it looks." He added, quietly. "Just stay calm. Who can I tell?"
"My father." Lucas said. "In fact, I'll call him now. Just keep quiet."
"Not even Paige?"
My head swung up at that. I saw Lucas hesitate. He looked at me, then pursed his lips, shaking his head slowly. "Not yet. We need to know if Elena's safe or not first."
"Okay. I'll call later." Reece muttered. He hung up.
I waited while Lucas called his father. His father, apparently, was also outside. I didn't know or ask how he'd gotten here so fast but he agreed with what we were planning. They spoke softly, hurried voices, and then Lucas hung up and smashed the phone.
"He-"
"Better to get a new one. Can't track you." He replied, looking almost apologetic. "Sorry."
I nodded, seeing the logic, and slid back down, staring at my phone's corpse. It was already looking pretty sad anyway, the heat was making the plastic warp, and Lucas focused on the door.
It cooled down a little, again, and we went quiet.
"How is this going to work?"
"They're trying to keep the fire from spreading and beat it down now. When it dies down, they'll set up ropes, and we'll have to get out before dawn. It's just after two now. I'll keep us hidden under a spell, Dad has a car waiting, and he'll drive us somewhere. He likes your idea. I think Demetruis has been a thorn for a bit too long." Lucas explained quietly. "You have a diamond necklace, yes?"
I nodded.
"On the way out, we'll leave stuff. Your bag and necklace. My cell's up there. I'll set them on fire and we'll get out. That way they'll assume we were in there."
"My necklace?" My hand flew up to it, protectively, and he nodded, grimacing slightly.
"My wedding ring too. We'll try and leave them on the bag- so they're seen- they should be repairable."
"Is that necessary? Can't we just leave the bag?"
"You're wearing your necklace. It would seem more..."
He didn't have to say it.
"Okay. My ring too. One of them." I muttered. I didn't want to abandon either of these rings, not really, but he was right. The wedding ring was a plain gold band. It was only a ring. It wasn't really important compared to Nick. The engagement ring, which had been repaired and restored, I was hanging onto that one. It'd been destroyed and manhandled too many times.
Lucas only had one ring. I hoped it survived.
"You can put the necklace in the bag though." He said, quietly, as I slipped it off.
I did that. It was so delicate... I didn't want to trust any sort of flames with it. At least it would break apart in a contained spot.
Even with these plans, we had to wait, the hours ticking by so slowly that I wished he'd saved the phone till we were 'escaping'. Finally, when the door wasn't hot, and the sound of water slowed, I nudged him.
He nodded, drew me closer, and we headed upstairs. How the fire-fighters didn't see us, as they stood around the edge, I didn't know. I suspected it had to do with whatever Lucas was doing, with his hand clasped around my arm tightly, trying to not trip or fall on the hot rubble that burnt our feet. Spurts of water, high pressure ones, almost hit us several times, water rebounding off burning rubble and soaking us from head to foot. But we wedged our things between rubble, Lucas setting them alight, the edges catching, and we hurried out of the way before a hose was directed on the fresh blaze.
I felt him falter, as he caught the sight of Paige, her face wet with tears, devestation and grief and fear, and saw him suddenly doubt the plan. I did too, at the look on her face, and Lucas stiffened slightly, inhaling slowly, trying to get himself to focus.
He pulled at me gently and we made our way to a car, sliding into it, his breathing a bit faster now.
"She'd never forgive herself if Elena got hurt and we didn't use this chance." He said, quietly, when we pulled away.
"If you say so." I said, quietly, the image of her face burnt into my head. God. Maybe this was a bad idea after all.
"This is my father. Benicio Cortez. This is Anne." He glanced at the front. I saw an older man, broad shouldered and body, looking like an older version of Lucas. He smiled at me, a smile that didn't really reach his eyes, but he reached out to clasp my hand.
"Good to meet you finally." He said, glancing at us, and I was aware we were soaking wet, covered in soot, ash, blood and dirt, sitting in a car that had to be valuable. "Thankyou."
"For?"
"Capturing Aaron and keeping my son safe. He told me that you broke through the floor." He smiled again, and maybe there was some gratitude there now. Benicio's eyes had gone to my bloody hands as he paused.s "We'll keep you hidden and pretend you were in there."
"He broke through concrete."
"I cracked it. She ended the job." Lucas explained. "After tearing her hands up getting floorboards up. Paige-" Lucas said quietly.
"I know. It isn't too long." Benicio replied, glancing at his son, and then turned back around. "She's a strong woman."
"She is." Lucas agreed, quietly.
"You could have survived. I could..." I tried, but Lucas cut me off, shaking his head gently.
"It's more believable if we were both there. We were sitting in the same place." Lucas shook his head. "No. Elena's the priority right now."
So was Nick, deep down, I knew I had to find out. But I didn't say anything. I watched the early morning light come over, the haze of smoke still in the sky from the fire, shivering a little in the wet clothing.
We were taken to a jet, Benicio, getting on it with us, a private jet that took off minutes after we got up the stairs. I felt again bad as I sat down, getting the seat messed up, but no one seemed to care. Lucas was just as bad, the two of us shivering, accepting soft blankets as they were brought back. No one besides Benicio and the bodyguard with him seemed to see us, and I wondered if we were still being concealed right now. Maybe.
The apartment we ended up in, in the middle of a city I didn't know the name of, was almost a welcome sight when I found it had clothes and a hot shower in it. While I was stripping I found the bracelet I'd slipped in my bra, the who knew how expensive thing, and fingered it in the dim light. Silly Nick. Diamonds were no where near as precious to me as him. I wondered if I could make him give it back when I came back. We'd buy the triplets... new tricycles. Or something.
My mind went to them and guilt washed over me, I froze as I undressed, aware that again I was going to be out of their lives. It was getting to happen too much. The occasional 'here, take them for a night' trick we'd pulled so we could have a bit of 'adult fun'... sadly, mostly, ending up being the two of us passing out from exhaustion after a few beers... but that was nothing like this. At least Ni...
I didn't know if Nick would be there.
I shoved the thoughts away, the familiar sensation of guilt and fear and craving for that drug returning, and piled the clothing onto the bench so I could shower and wash the muck off me. It was a week. I didn't know what Elena was going through, if he'd taken her, or if she was currently hog tying Demetruis and hailing a taxi back to Stonehaven. I didn't think he'd underestimate her like his son had but she was good. Really good. It was possible he'd try and get her into an agreement now instead. He'd never used violence with me, except when he'd lost his control once, so maybe he wouldn't again. Who knew.
The water ran away over me, shades of brown, red, other odd shades, maybe food fragments, I didn't know, and I stood there, cringing as the minor burns on my ankles protested, the cuts and scrapes in my hands got filled with water, clearing them all of debris and shit. I smelt the scent of food, pizza, and hurried. Another shower started up, probably an en suite or something, and I slid out of the shower and re-dressed in the clothing that'd been here. It more or less fit. Sort of. Some of it was a bit too small, and I had to change several times till I found something that wasn't too small, before I slipped the bracelet in a pocket and went out to find a medical kit.
Pizzas waited on the bench, beside something that looked like bottles of beer, but I ignored those. I knew that it was a normal thing people did when they were stressed but I wasn't interested. Not with Nick missing, not with the impact I'd have to force on everyone, not with Elena missing. Beers were for celebration. Relaxation. Love. I'd bought some for Nick's birthday and hidden them months ago- they were expensive, his favourite, and I knew that closer to his birthday he liked to stalk me and spoil surprises.
"How are your hands?" Lucas asked as he came out, rubbing the towel in his hair, looking just as bruised and messed up as I did. But we'd survived.
"They'll heal. Got any nasty cuts?" I held up the kit I'd located.
"I think on my back."
"I'll fix it before you cover my hands in bandages and take away their mobility. Oh, wait..." I paused. "Have you been sick?"
"Yes. That's why I struggled so much tonight. It works when I'm in situations like that, when it's life or death, but not for long. My father hid us in the end." He nodded a fraction, a tense smile. "I thought you knew."
"Lucky we got into the basement."
He nodded and sat down, throwing the towel across a chair, and I went ot check his bare back. There was some nasty looking cuts there. I covered it with the white goo stuff that was antibacterial, relieved that I couldn't accidentally infect him or something, and covered them up with large squares and tape.
"How bad?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder.
"They'll heal. Might not want to go to the gym for a few weeks though."
Lucas nodded and I sat down as he worked on the hands. It wasn't really important, most of it, it'd heal fast. But he got a few of the deeper ones and then we stuck the burn cream on our ankles and feet.
We sat there, staring out the window at the city, Lucas opening a beer and I took one of the pizza boxes. I felt stunned, numb, and kind of surprised that we'd gotten out of there at all.
"Can't believe we got out of that." I told him, as I took a piece of the pizza out, shaking my head slowly. Now the fear was there. It wasn't going to be shut away much longer.
"I know." He breathed out, slowly, leaning back. The beer sat untouched in Lucas hand. "Couldn't have done that without you."
"Or you." I added. It was true. I knew he'd used something to hold that table up a bit longer, even if it didn't work well, and whatever he'd done to the concrete had made it easier to smash through. Without him there, however weak he apparently was, there would have been an unhappy table folding around us much faster than it had.
We went quiet again. I wished I could call Reece, wished I could phone him and find out what was going on, but I knew that wasn't possible. Lucas' father would have to let us know.
I felt exhausted suddenly, not hungry at all, and made myself eat that once piece as the sun burnt down on the city. Nick's birthday was just over a week. Maybe I'd go back and surprise him. I couldn't think that he was dead, I couldn't let myself assume that, because it would trigger an instinct that would endanger Lucas and ...it was just a really bad idea.
After a while Lucas got up and headed for one of the bedrooms. I heard him shut the door quietly and sat there, staring at the city, wondering if I knew it or not. Exhaustion came, drifting around me like a tide, and I stood up and pushed the still untouched boxes into the fridge next to the beer. Lucas hadn't touched his opened bottle.
I lay in bed, exhausted, but unable to sleep. The bracelet winked and flashed in my fingers, as I played with it, and I shut my eyes as I saw that car explode. Again. It was as bad as watching the twins get taken away.
If he thought I was dead, they'd never get taken away again. Never. If he wanted to know them, it'd be with me there, and nothing less would be acceptable.
Funnily enough though, I felt mostly numb. Shocked. I wasn't hungry, I was tired but I couldn't sleep, and while images that should have been distressing kept flashing through my head, I felt nothing as I saw them. My determination to help Elena was so unemotional, so 'logical', that I slid up to make sure the door had a lock. Just in case I stopped being logical all of a sudden.
The rest of the day, neither of us spoke, we came out of the bedroom occasionally, speaking soft even tones, like both of us were shell shocked and still unable to believe what we'd just come out of. Not even a broken bone. Lucas' ankle swelled up big time though, where he'd twisted it, and my hands ached whenever I tried to use them. Dinner was brought by Benicio himself, and we sat there quietly, eating, as he talked at us. I didn't really hear much of what he said till he told us that we were now officially seen as 'missing, probably dead'.
"Paige?"
"Is at Stonehaven with Savannah." He glanced at me. "There was a pair of attacks on Stonehaven."
That got my attention. I slid up a bit straighter. "What?"
"No one got hurt. Several sorcerers and witches tried to capture the children in Stonehaven, not expecting Savannah or the half demon to be waiting. Logan and Matthew were at Forestwatch at the same time. An attempt was made to grab Logan in the forest. Your nephew, Matthew, chased them down as a wolf as they dragged him off and tore their ankle apart. He guarded them till help arrived." His lip twitched. "Clever little kid tore their hamstring on purpose."
"He is. He was learning about the body at school. Guess he remembered something." I tried to smile. He'd probably assumed they were human, or close to it, and he knew the rule about not killing humans. Next best thing was to disable them. So someone did get hurt- just not anyone that mattered. That was nice. "Who attacked them?"
"We're not sure yet." He didn't offer any more information. I suspected he wasn't going to.
I knew I should have asked about the cars that exploded, I should have asked about if someone was in them, but I didn't. Something held me back.
"Are your changes going to be a problem?" Benicio asked, as the meal ended, turning his calm focus back onto me. Or maybe it'd never left me. "I'm aware they have been before."
I didn't ask how he knew that. "There's a lock on the door. Usually I am fully aware but if it happens, I'll keep the door locked, and only come out when it's done. I wouldn't harm Lucas."
Not knowingly.
He seemed to be thinking the same thing but he nodded slowly.
"Tony is in the apartment next door. If she does cause a problem..."
"I know." Lucas had gone a little stiffer. He smiled tensely. "I'll head next door. It should be fine."
I didn't ask about the cars and they didn't volunteer information beyond 'explosives'. That they were handling it. When we put on TV that night, the news was screaming about terrorist attacks in our backyard, no facts, the attack far too public for the Cabal or anyone to cover up. But they didn't know for sure what had made the cars explode, the newsreader admitted, before going on to describe how to be extra vigilant and what the number was if someone saw suspicious activity. No word on bodies or deaths. But they said something about missing people. That was probably us.
It was that night when I finally felt it, the full shock of what we'd been through. Dreams chased me, of fire, of being trapped, of being so hopelessly trapped under rubble that no one would ever find us, of flames burning their way to us, and explosions, and Jeremy's voice somewhere distant and beyond the rubble. Nick's voice. Clayton's voice, calling for Elena. It felt like a memory, felt so vivid and real that I woke up, kicking and trying to get the 'rubble' off us the second the table gave, pillows flying and a bedside table knocked over. I had already started to change.
It was too late to warn Lucas.
The door had been locked before bed but I whined and moaned in pain, in the sheets, twisting, till the change was done and I was tangled up in sheet, head half under the pillows, scrambling off the soft surface as fast as my paws could get me off it. Then I paced up and down, pressing my nose to the window crack, breathing in and out as deep as I could, trying to reassure myself that I was not trapped. I was safe. There was no fire coming to burn us. The urge to run, to snap, to growl, to do all kinds of things I couldn't do battled with the will to stay quiet and to breathe. Focusing on Nick as a calming point did not work. It made it worse, the fear for my mate's life rising up as if it were a snake, and it was Elena that managed to get me to calm down. Elena. My alpha. I had to stay calm in order to protect her and find her.
The change only lasted as long as I was anxious. When it was over, when the panic subsided, I changed back, dressed again, and crawled into bed as the last aches and pain faded from my body. I tried to go back to sleep.
It took a long time to go to sleep again though. I was so tired that I couldn't get to sleep- I lay there and it was only when the first rays of morning came did I really fall asleep, curling up, keeping all pillows and sheets away. They felt too much like being trapped.
Jeremy was there, when I fell asleep, waiting. He was confused. I wasn't confused.
"This isn't a lucid dream, is it?"
It was a dream, it was strange, things were happening around us. I saw it was the space under the table again. But instead of Lucas, it was Jeremy, and he was sitting there as he stared at me.
"You're alive?"
The image swum, a moment, and then he came back, his face stronger in my vision, the blurriness fading. Grief. He was upset.
"Is this really you?" I asked, reaching out, but it wasn't Jeremy when I touched him. It was Lucas. The world shook, something toppled past the table, flames coming back. More flames.
"Jamie said she couldn't locate you."
Jamie. She spoke to the dead. I guessed that meant she hadn't lost her gift after the disease. I shook my head. "We have to play dead."
"Why?"
"Because then he breaks the contract and he's in debt to me. Where's Nick? Clayton?"
"I don't know." Grief returned, fear, I saw it swim across Jeremy's face so plainly that it surprised me. Unless it was my emotions and I was pushing them into the dream. I didn't know. "Where are you?"
That age old question. "I'll come home. I'm sorry. I had to ..."
The flames were close now, flickering, reflecting on our faces. Jeremy only then seemed to notice where we were and what was happening. He stared at the sight.
"You have to stay quiet, Jeremy. If you're really talking to me. You have to keep quiet till we're back."
"We're..." His head snapped back to me, understanding suddenly dawning in his face. "Lucas is alive? Is Elena with you?"
"Yes but you have to keep it secret." Flames licked at our feet, at the edge of the table, the smell of burning as the table started to crack and snap. Jeremy stared back at it. "They took her. I think. I don't know. Find Elena, Jeremy, don't look for me. Find out where they took her."
"She's alive?"
The table gave way and my eyes flew open, the dream slamming away, as I heard a key in my door. I snatched up the sheets and wrapped them around me as the door was unlocked, yawning, trying to hang onto the dream. Was it a real dream? I didn't know. It was already fading from my head.
"How'd you sleep?" He asked, sitting there. Lucas looked like he hadn't slept at all.
"I changed. Sorry. I didn't ...have time." I realised he'd probably have guessed that, there was torn clothing, scratch marks on the window, and the smell of dog all over the bed. "But I was in control. How did you sleep?"
"It's okay." He smiled weakly. "Badly."
"Me too." I yawned again, shaking my head, and slid up out of bed. "Do we have coffee?"
We stumbled around the apartment all day, like zombies, unable to know what to do or say to each other. Coffee became a favourite. Coffee and movies.
More nightmares that night, only this time it was of watching the car explode, seeing Nick and Clayton inside. Over and over. On fire. I ended up giving up on sleep and went to sit in the living room, exhausted still, sitting there as I watched early morning TV. Lucas joined me after half an hour.
"Nightmares about the car?" He asked, softly, as I turned it up so his hearing could pick it up.
"Did I wake you?"
"I was already awake."
I leaned back and shut my eyes. Second I did, there thye were again, burning. "Lots of nightmares."
"My father had them taken. The humans won't find supernatural bodies." He said it so casually, so calmly, that it suddenly occurred to me that maybe he didn't know. Didn't know that one of the cars belonged to us.
"The one across the street..."
"Yeah?"
"It was Clayton's car." The words, once I'd said it, couldn't be taken back. Suddnely the reality of what might have happened struck me.
Lucas stared at me for a long time. Then he got up, quiet, and retrieved two o the untouched beers from the fridge. When he offered me one I didn't resist it. "You sure?"
Immediately I saw it, seconds before the explosion, the back door still with a seatbelt hanging out the door. I'd dropped it there by accident while I was trying to get the twins out and was too upset to care about it after. I nodded, drinking as much of the alcohol as I dared, and Lucas didn't answer. "The car had a seat belt hanging out the back door. It was their car."
Lucas sat there a long time. It wasn't for well over an hour before he seemed to remember something. "My father has the cars."
"Yeah."
He stood up, slowly, putting his half drunk beer down. "I'll go tell him. Ask."
Ask if there were bodies in Clayton's car, in other words. Lucas left the apartment for a while, I knew he'd gone to the one with the body guard, and I sat there watching the stars move slowly across the city, drinking the beer, the numbness back.
When he came back, he wasn't any more relaxed than when he'd left, and I didn't want to look at him.
"There was no one in the car across the street." He said, and I felt my chest cave in, air released, relief flooding through me. My eyes shut as I felt a hand come to touch my shoulder, tentative, cautious. "There were two bodies in the fire."
Two bodies in the fire.
It took a second for me to connect this statement to the previous one. My body connected it faster than my mind, heart suddenly thumping hard against my ribcage, head swinging up to meet his face long before my brain got it.
"Two..."
"No one can identify them yet. We don't know a thing." Lucas added, his hand tightening.
They would have rushed in. The car exploded, Elena was in trouble, they would have rushed in for us. No one expected the other one explosion. No one would have known to be concerned. I bent over, eyes shut, sweating, the reality of what he'd said crashing down on me. Maybe I'd known they weren't in the car but …
"Get out for a while."
"How long?"
"A few hours." I didn't know if I'd change or not. But he let go of my shoulder and backed out, shutting the door quietly behind him, as I bent there, fear screaming in my head. They would have come for us. Of course they would have. I hadn't thought about it, I couldn't bear to, but now the reality was slapped there for me to see.
Jeremy said that they were missing. Missing. Two bodies in the fire.
I threw up, acid burning, my skin crawling even as it started, I shrugged off the clothing as best I could. The fear drove the change to go fast, pain ripping through limbs, till I collapsed on the floor and lay there, eyes shut, paws scraping on the floorboards. Nick. Body in the fire. Of course he'd come after me if there was danger. I would have done the same thing. Run straight inside for him.
I crawled into the bedroom, curling up around the clothing I'd worn the night before, the faint smell of Nick still on the dress if I breathed it in hard enough. It was morning now, I noticed, at some point the sun had risen.
Somehow though, the panic wasn't there, not totally. I was in control. I lay there, breathing hard, eyes shut, body curled up so my tail tickled my nose. Some part of me couldn't accept they'd been in there. I wasn't sure why. Maybe I felt ...I didn't know. Of course, of course they'd go inside, but somehow I couldn't accept it.
After a while, I had to change back, I heard Lucas knocking. It must have been hours. It felt like minutes, that I'd been lying there, just a few minutes. The change didn't work as well this time, it was slow, a torment, my body pleading with me to stay wolf. When it was over I picked up the dress and slid it into my bed, curling up against it, eyes shutting as I found the bracelet and played with it again. Silly expensive thing but it linked me to Nick. I didn't care if he spent millions on the stupid thing. It was from him.
Lucas knocked again after half an hour.
"I'm okay. Come in." I stood up and dressed quickly, the door shut as I heard him come in, the scent of more food. Food. Breakfast.
"It might not be them. There were a number of people seen to go up to the fire." He called, softly, plates set onto the table.
He was right, of course, that kind of incident usually had more people rushing in. I went outside and watched him serve out Chinese food.
"Probably that's it."
"Clayton and Nick are missing." He added, carefully, eyes fixed in mine. "But if they saw Elena taken..."
"I know. They would have followed." I breathed out, slowly, trying to relax. Clayton wouldn't have rushed in for me if Elena was being taken out against her will and Nick did what he was told. Usually.
"We're more or less seen as dead now." Lucas said quietly as we ate. "Officially."
"It's not long now." I tried to reassure him, vaguely it was as much for him as it was for me. Lucas nodded a fraction. "You sure about this?"
"Yes." His dark eyes met mine, he nodded, and there was no trace of indecision there. "As you said. We're already two days in."
'"At any time, you can change your mind for her."
"Paige is strong." But his face twisted, I knew he hated doing this to her, hated to pretend as much as I did. "Savannah is with her as is my father. They are coping."
It suddenly struck me how Matt would take it. Out of everyone, it would be the worst for him, the absolute worst. I tried to focus on how long we had left instead of how it'd hurt him. I also guessed by 'coping', they weren't throwing themselves off cliffs, because no one could ever call grief 'coping'.
That was what we tried to do. 'Cope'. Neither of us were enjoying this time here, knowing how fucking wrong it was to fake our death like this, but we hung on with grim determination to get through it. Demetruis was apparently still being protected by his powerful mother, which was interesting, and they needed more to get him. More to act. It was the powerful over the weak all over again- he was powerful, so he was good at being untouchable.
I thought it was just fucking stupid. Power shouldn't have meant someone was immune from it. But he was the heir to one of the 'four great families', whatever the hell that meant, and throwing him away required more. The spell on my head? They'd pinned it to a sidekick. He hadn't actually cast the spell, apparently, he'd just used it. A third party had done it from somewhere else the second time and they had no way of knowing who did it the first time. That third party, some guy who worked for him, had turned himself in.
As for forcing me to be pregnant, there was no evidence that it wasn't a willing 'encounter', no matter what my memory was. He was covering his tracks and dusting them after.
Attacking Elena, if he had, that was going to be a different matter. I didn't ask why. I guessed it was because she was important, a leader, a member of the interracial council... and a friend of Lucas. All reasons for the apparently powerful Benicio Cortez to take a more personal interest in this.
Neither of us slept well either, as the days drifted on, and we usually ended up sitting in the living room at three in the morning talking instead. It was while there that I remembered the curious thing Demetruis had said about hypnosis. Lucas was pretty smart and knew the world beyond the werewolf world.
"Lucas, there was one thing he said which I didn't get. When we were making the deal about the twins."
Lucas glanced up from the paper. "What?"
"He was seriously worried that I'd hypnotise them to hate him."
His shoulders tensed as he folded the paper up quietly. "You can do that?"
I nodded. "I've been learning for a few years part time, I was doing it before I was bitten, so yeah. Is it ...bad?"
Lucas came to sit at the table beside me then, dropping the paper, his voice lowering. "It's not a trusted skill. People also don't usually have the ability to learn it, in this world, but if you learnt it beforehand you might have bypassed that problem. But you might want to keep it quiet."
I glanced at him, no scorn, no 'hypnosis is a scam' like most humans would assume, he was as serious as Demetruis had been. "How well does it work on supernatural minds?"
"I can't tell you. I don't know. But i the sorcerer world, it's an unwritten rule that no one learns it. Amongst witches, they view it with the same suspicion as black magic, though no one discusses it." Lucas explained. "It may be that it's mostly superstition, that hypnosis is so powerful, but I have heard that it can make people do things they don't want to do."
"That doesn't happen. At least not with humans. You can't make a person do things they don't want to do." I paused, then, adding, "But I don't know. I only tried it on a few mutts to get answers."
"How well did it work?"
"Really well. I was surprised." They'd told me everything without hesitation.
He nodded a fraction. After a while Lucas spoke again. "We use areas of our brain that humans don't. It may be that it is more effective on us because of that. In theory, even a human could be dangerous, so it isn't a spell. You might want to keep that quiet, that you can do it, it will change the way supernaturals trust you."
I was barely believing what I heard but I'd never thought about it. I knew it worked, I did it, but I never thought about how it'd work in the brain. Or how a human's mind was different from that of someone who was a sorcerer, or a witch, or any other gift that existed.
"My father uses several interrogation experts who use it to get answers." Lucas said after a while. "It's a good skill if it's used right."
"I wouldn't use it to hurt people." Never. The idea sickened me. People had the right to freewill, I'd never push it onto people otherwise. "I had no clue it was so … I was just studying it to do something while I was raising toddlers." I tried to laugh. "Finish it and then work."
"Then don't worry about it. Just hang onto that thought." Lucas unfolded his newspaper slowly.
"And don't tell any witches or sorcerers. Or anyone. It's better to keep it quiet. I believe you. But others might be too used to being afraid of it to get to know you."
It did worry me a little, suddenly, this realisation that I could do something to people's minds. That it was on the level of black magic, and while I didn't know much about magic, I knew 'black magic' was seen as bad. Paige ran a coven of white witches. And that it made people afraid of me? Crazy. But it was another way, I tried to reason, to defend myself and my pack. I sighed and put that new knowledge away for now.
A sudden sense of panic and fear and grief nearly knocked me off the chair, literally, and Lucas looked up fast, tensing.
"What is it?"
"I don't know." I didn't know where it'd come from. But suddenly, suddenly I was really afraid that I had lost Nick. Was that what it was? "I need to lie down. I'm suddenly really … I don't know."
"I'll put breakfast in the fridge if you're not here."
I shut the door on him, locked it, and sank down, shaking, my legs giving way. It was like a dam had broken inside me, every last suppressed emotion shaking me, the image of raising the toddlers without their father. Or the twins never knowing the man that'd happily claimed them. Happily, maybe not the right word, but he accepted it as apart of his life more easily than I might have if he'd come home with a baby that wasn't mine.
What if he wasn't around? Lillian, she just got him back, and Antonio...
That really brought it home. Antonio loosing his son. I shuddered, my entire body shaking, but I was beyond even changing now. Nick wasn't strong, wasn't cured, I should have insisted that he stay at Stonehaven. He hadn't needed to be there. I'd just let him come because I thought it'd go smoothly, I thought he'd sit there and be able to glare all he liked at Demetruis, then we'd go home.
If they'd found Nick and Clayton, they would have told me. Jeremy or Lucas. Jeremy came the night before, just briefly, as if he couldn't quite believe I was there. Lucas hadn't said a word about the bodies.
Even now though, I didn't cry, somehow ...it was too big. I sat there, staring at the carpet, my body shaking, the panic and grief and loss built up in my chest but not making it up into my head. He'd already bought them, the triplets, backpacks for their first day of school. I saw them in the basement. And he'd bought them birthday presents already. We'd agreed to re-paint their nursery when they turned three. Give them 'big kid beds' from Ikea. And I had to give him my valentine's day present. Kama Sutra. I'd bought it months and months ago... after we'd lost his copy in the pool one night.
If Nick was dead … I whined, softly, burying my head under my arms. The thought of it, just the thought, made my brain scream for ...sleep, morphine, alcohol, anything. Anything to escape. And I hadn't seen him yet.
Deep down I knew something had gone wrong. I knew. I couldn't hide from it. My heart was already breaking and I didn't know why yet.