The words he spoke lingered heavily in the air as she stared at him, feeling like she was already being hung by the sound of her own name as she choked on the words she longed to say but couldn't. All she could do was stare at the flimsy bit of black lace he held in his outstretched hand. Damn that dress! She thought. She knew she should have burnt the thing but sentimentality had made her hold onto it and look where it had got her. Neither breathed as they looked at each other. Wally saw the way she was standing, her legs apart and her hands open and he cursed himself again. She was in a fighting stance, how could he have been so blind? There was fear in her eyes as they desperately searched the room and he spoke again.
"There's no way out of this room, unless you want to go through me and, even though I've seen your prowess, I wouldn't recommend it. My friends are just down the corridor and I could fend you off until they get here. Your window also looks out over the courtyard so there wouldn't be any point going there. Look all you want, there isn't a way."
Jinx gritted her teeth and emitted a short snarl, curling her lip as she realised he was telling the truth. He was blocking the door and, as much as she wanted to escape, she didn't want to cause a fight or to hurt him though as she looked at his solid frame, she could guess he would put up a better fight than Mumbo had. There was no point in trying, she had already lost. The mouse had been cornered.
"You're right." She said and he was surprised at how her voice changed. It was now lower and far more guttural and sarcastic, the voice of someone who wouldn't be afraid to snap your head off with it. Her previous voice had sounded so natural that he hadn't even considered it wasn't her real one. "You win. You got me." She dropped her hands to her sides and stood up straight, trying not to look at him. "Can we just get this next bit over with?" She snapped in a way that was far more like herself as she held her arms out in front of her and turned her head away, ready to be carted off.
She heard him take a few steps towards her and she squeezed her eyes shut, expecting to feel the cold bite of metal handcuffs and then to be tugged forwards but it didn't come. Instead she felt a pair of warm hands cup hers and then something light and soft pecking at her fingers like the flapping of a small bird's wings. She opened her eyes to see he was holding her hands and planting kisses on them. He stopped suddenly and his eyes looked up into hers. She felt her face go hot as she pulled her hands away.
"Aren't…aren't you going to arrest me?"
Her voice sounded painfully breathless and she wanted to snap at him but she couldn't find the bitterness to. All she could see was his eyes and all she could feel was the warmth that was shooting through her as she drowned in them. Her head felt heavy and dull and her body swayed as she hardly dared believe that this was real and not some dream. He saw how she wavered and he moved closer, placing both his hands instinctively on her waist as hers reached for his arms like she was going to push him away but didn't have the strength. There was only a small gap between them now that pulsed with the electricity of their closeness and neither of them could pull away.
"No. I'm not." He eventually said. He saw the stunned look on her face and his broke into a smile. "Why, don't you trust me?"
"Of course I don't!" She insisted though she sounded more like she was trying to convince herself more than anyone else. "And you shouldn't be doing this! You should be dragging me out of this room and shoving me in the back of a Black Maria whilst your adoring public looks on at the great man who finally foiled Miss Jinx!" Every part of her was telling her to struggle but she couldn't. "That's how it's meant to go! Why are you doing this?"
"There's something different about you." Wally admitted. "Something keeps telling me…you could do better. I know there's more to you and I'm never wrong."
She snorted and he saw her eyes narrow. "Well, you're wrong this time Wally West." She snapped. "You don't know a thing about me. I'm bad, I'm evil, I'm a freak!" She spat the last word out as she threw his arms away from her and turned her back on him. "Go away. You should get back to your friends before I change my mind."
He saw the way she crossed her arms and hunched her body, like she was trying to hold herself together and he felt almost rooted to the spot. She both floored and confused him; he could see the feared killer in her but he could also see a helpless victim and both sides were raging a battle within the frame of this girl. He stepped forwards and put his hands on her shoulders to spin her around to face him again. He expected her to fight him and he almost closed his eyes to shield them if she decided to claw at his face but all she did was stare up at him in shock. Nobody had ever dared to lay their hands on her like that before and that was all she could do.
"I'm not going anywhere." He said and she almost wanted to cry at the compassion she could hear in his voice. "You can't expect me to just walk away, not after everything that's just happened. And you're not a freak Jinx, how could you be?"
She shook herself free and stared defiantly up at him. "You really want to see?" She said and he could hear that she was fighting back tears. "Fine. Then give me your handkerchief."
He handed it over wordlessly and watched her as she rubbed it all over her face and flung it back at him. He let it drop to the floor as she pulled at her eyes and he saw two glittering lenses drop to the carpet briefly like raindrops before she finally took off her hat and shook her head. Hair in the brightest shade of pink he had ever seen poured down her shoulders in a wave of rose quartz as she threw her head back and looked him in the eyes again. Her skin was pale grey and smooth like the surface of a pebble and her eyes were the same shade of pink and shaped like a cats with thin pupils and a pointed shape. For a few seconds he stared at her in amazement before she sniffed and he realised she was crying. She gasped as she only just seemed to realise it too and she turned her head again.
"I told you…" She said, holding her hands over her face to try and stem the flow of tears that couldn't stop now they had started. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried; once she had started to make a name for herself she hadn't tolerated it, calling it an indulgence for weaklings and now here she was, bawling her eyes out in front of her enemy. What are you thinking?! She berated herself when she felt a gentle touch on her quivering shoulders. "I told you I was a monster…"
"No you're not." His soft gentle reply made her stop and she turned around. He was standing much closer than she remembered, his face was barely inches from hers as she involuntarily drew closer. He raised his hand and brushed a finger against her cheek. She flinched at the sudden touch but didn't push it away. "You're the farthest thing from it. I mean, I thought you were beautiful before but now…you're stunning."
Her eyes went wide and he smiled at how suddenly flustered she looked. It was like nobody had told her she was beautiful before. "Wally…you…you can't say those things!" She said, suddenly tripping over her words as she felt warmth spreading through her that was making her face burn.
He chuckled at how pink her face went and gave her a smile that only made it worse. "Watch me." He said before he leaned over and suddenly he found that they were kissing. Their mouths met in a mess of lips, like they had been drawn together by magnets, and his arms travelled to her body, holding her tiny waist in his hands. For a moment she felt stiff in his arms and he braced himself to slam into the wall but then all at once, she softened and she kissed him back, arching her back so that every inch of her was pressed against him. Her fingers traced his neck and dug into his hair as the kiss grew more fiery, each of them unwilling to let go. It was only when their lungs were burning for air did they break apart, their cheeks flushed as they panted. Their foreheads were leaning against each other and they clung to each other even tighter as their breathing returned to normal. Jinx looked up at Wally and saw how his eyes were looking at her, like she was some sort of heavenly apparition, and it made her knees feel wobbly.
"Jinx, I…" He started to say before she put her hand over his mouth and pushed him against the wall.
"Shh!" She hissed as they heard the sound of footsteps and voices coming from down the corridor. Wally recognised them as his friend's voices and made a small noise but Jinx gave him an angry look and put more force on his mouth.
"Where could he have gone?!" Dick's voice, alight with fury, seared through the walls, making Wally wince a little. "He was only in there a few seconds ago, this is important! Why is he never there when I need him to be?!"
"Relax." Victor then calmly said, sounding a lot more in control. "You know what he's like, he probably saw we were done and then went to his room. This really isn't that big of a deal."
"He isn't in his room, I went and checked and there was no response. And I wouldn't usually mind but I have had a breakthrough in this case and I need to tell him before he gets himself into a lot of trouble!" The footsteps suddenly stopped right outside the door and Wally felt her grip tighten. He was nervously sweating as well. If they came in and saw this…
"Wait…" They heard Dick say. "You don't think…?"
"What?" Victor said confused. "Oh…you think he's with that girl from earlier? He works fast!"
"Oh no…" Dick groaned with a loud frustrated sigh. "Wally…urgh, this is exactly what I didn't want to happen!"
"Why?"
"I'll explain tomorrow." Dick answered, loudly exhaling. Wally could picture the way he was crossing his arms and shaking his head in disapproval. "Anyway, if he is then we can't do anything about it now. We best just get to bed. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow if I'm right…"
"Sure thing." They heard Victor's heavier footsteps stride away as his cheery voice grew more distant. "I'll see you first thing in the morning. Goodnight!"
"Goodnight." Dick replied. There was a moment where there was complete silence and Jinx didn't dare herself to move or breathe before suddenly his footsteps set off down the corridor as well. She waited until they were gone before dropping her hand and letting out a sigh of relief.
"That was close." She finally said after he had stared at the door then at her. "Too close. If they found out I was here, that you were here with me…"
"They won't." Wally put his hands back on her shoulders and tried to sound calm but inside he felt like he was being torn apart. Now that he had been proved right and now he knew the feelings he felt about her were returned, he was now in greater turmoil than ever. For years, his loyalty had been with the police, with his mentor, with justice and he had never doubted the righteousness of his cause for a second but now, looking down into those pink eyes brimming with uncertainty, he knew he couldn't turn her in no matter what she had done. Every one of his instincts was telling him she was dangerous yet he could sense that there was more to it and he was desperate to find out. "Listen to me, they won't find out, I promise you." He looked back over at the door. "I wonder what his big breakthrough was…"
"It doesn't matter right now!" She snapped at him as she ran her finger through her loose hair in frustration. "What matters is, how are you going to get back to your room without him leaping on you? Knowing him, he deliberately said that out there so you would hear him and he's waiting outside for your return!"
Wally remembered with a pang that she was right; his room was right next to Dick's and he knew he would be listening out for him. "Well, there's no other way around it," he said, fighting the grin of glee that was trying to slip onto his face. "I'll have to stay here all night."
"Are you kidding me?" She looked at him like he was crazy and he thought for a second that she was going to slap him. "You can't say here, it's…" She tried to think of a reason but the grin he was obviously trying to hide was making her face flare up and derailing her train of thought. "Completely inappropriate!"
"Have you got a better idea?" He asked her and saw she was stumped. "And besides, isn't it also a little inappropriate to murder someone then stay in a room two doors down from where you killed them?"
She gave a little snarl that reminded him of an angry kitten and he wanted to giggle at the cross look on her face. "Fine." She said finally, trying to ignore the smile he gave her and the butterflies it sent flying in her stomach. This was going to be a long night.
A few hours later, both of them were lying on the thin hard bed staring at the ceiling as their minds were too full for sleep. Wally had taken off his overcoat and waistcoat, which were now draped over a nearby chair, and was lying there in his shirt and trousers whilst Jinx had gotten into a long nightdress (she had forced Wally into the wardrobe when she had changed with the threat that she would use his eyes as marbles if he peeked) and they were both cuddled into each other, their bodies fitting almost perfectly with the other though Jinx would have died if either of them acknowledged it. She wasn't sure how they had got like this but she felt like she was incapable of moving away. She could feel his hand stroking her hair as her head rested on the warmth of his shoulder. She could feel the thump of his heart beating and it both thrilled and terrified her. She had never been this close to anyone, had never been in a situation this intimate and she couldn't believe it was with him. I'm quite literally sleeping with the enemy, she thought, what would the gang say if they saw me now? She tried to relax but everything felt too stifling. He seemed to sense this and she felt his hand stop mid-stroke.
"Jinx, are you alright?" He asked her and his voice was soft and kind. "What's wrong?"
"I'm fine." She told him and he resumed stroking her hair. She felt the need to tell him something but she didn't know what. "I wasn't lying to you earlier."
"About what?" She could feel him wriggling up the bed so he could lean his head against the wall and she propped herself upon her elbow so she could look at him. He looked at her quizzically and raised an eyebrow.
"When I was telling you about me earlier. I just wanted to say that, most of it wasn't a lie. I have been travelling a lot and not all of it was nice." She looked down a little, not wanting him to see the pain that surfaced with her memories and bit her lip. "And my parents could be dead…I just don't know what happened to them."
She almost jumped when she felt his fingers touch her chin and he tilted her face upwards to meet his eyes again. Their blue colour was swimming with concern as his thumb ran tenderly across her cheekbone. "I'm not interested in them. I'm interested in what happened to you."
She took a deep breath before she started to talk, memories coming back in floods. "I was born in India, I'm not sure how long ago as I've long forgotten my birth date. My mother was a servant in the house of a white family, she looked after their children for them but she caught the eye of the master there. No one ever told me his name and I don't want to know. He…took advantage of her, forced her to even though she didn't want to and she ended up pregnant. She went to a local woman who had knowledge of these things and begged her to get rid of me. They tried everything but no amount of poisons she took or rituals she went through could kill me. And then to make it worse, I was born like this."
She sweepingly gestured to her face, ignoring the protests Wally was about to make and continuing. "That convinced everybody in the village and beyond that I was cursed, a freak of nature born from a crime. My mother was hounded away and she took me with her. She said I was bad luck, that her life would have been so much better if I had never been born, if I had just died in her womb. She asked me that so many times, 'why wouldn't you just die?' but I didn't have the answers. We lived on the streets of whatever city we came to, me stealing food for us both. Then one day, when I was about ten I think, I woke up to find she wasn't there anymore."
She carried on talking, scared of what would happen if she stopped. Wally was still watching her but she couldn't meet his gaze. "I tried to find her at first…but everywhere I went people would send me away. They told me I was a monster, that I would only bring a plague of bad luck and misfortune on everyone I met. Somehow I found my way to a port and there was a ship that I overheard some people saying was going to London in England. The way they spoke about it…it sounded like such a beautiful place, a city with streets paved with gold. I thought, maybe it was somewhere I could belong, maybe they would accept freaks there. So I got on board and by the time they realised I was there, they couldn't do much about it so they put me to work." She shuddered as she remembered the ship, the memory so vivid she could almost feel it rolling. "It was awful, they gave me all the menial jobs and fed me on the leftover scraps from their plates. There were all these burly men who would leer at me as I walked past and try to grab me. At nights I had to lock myself in the pantry to stop them getting at me." She looked up and saw Wally had clenched one fist around the bedsheets and he looked furious. She put her hand over his and tried a wry smile. "Don't worry, I learned fast. They never stood a chance."
"When I got off the ship at last, London wasn't how I pictured it. The city was cold and murky and full of smog, not warm like my old country. The people still called me freaks and I found myself in the same situation as before, living on the streets and stealing. But then I was picked up by this group of thieves…they were led by a criminal named Brother Blood. He took children from the streets and turned them into his gang members and that's what I became. I was the best one there, I learned the quickest because there was nowhere else for me. When he was finally arrested and caught, I had already made a name for myself, people feared and respected me for the first time in my life, I didn't feel worthless…so I made my own gang and started wearing all this, made an image and a name for myself…and that's how I ended up here."
She was crying again, tears silently pouring down her cheeks faster than she could stop them. She didn't understand, how could it hurt so much now even though it was such a long time ago and she had tried not to think about it? I really must be weak, she thought, crying twice in one day. What is wrong with me? What's going to happen to me now? "Wally…the things I've done, the things I've seen…I really am a monster. I'm bad inside and out, you need to get away from me…I'm just bad luck."
She felt Wally shift again as he pulled her closer, his strong arms holding her as he wiped away her tears. Her body felt sinewy and strong in his arms and he could feel the outline of the muscles that were built up under her pale skin. What she had gone through to get those didn't bare thinking about and he held her even closer as he softly kissed her wet cheek. "I told you before Jinx, I'm not going anywhere," he told her softly. "I don't care what you did before and I don't believe that you're a monster. You're not a freak and you're not all bad, the fact I'm still here proves it. You have the potential to be good in you, I can see it."
She looked up into his face and saw that he was smiling calmingly. How can he be so optimistic about me after all I've told him? "This is pointless. Good was never an option for me Wally."
"It could be if you want it to." He replied, his lips hovering not far from her own. "I believe you can be. I know nobody else has been there for you but I am now. I won't let you down Jinx."
Their lips touched again, this time more tenderly as they each started to feel hopeful. Maybe, just maybe, they thought, there could be some way…
The peace of the night was suddenly shattered and they broke apart as a great crash came from the other side of the hotel. Loud voices rose up in complaint but were silenced by a childish voice yelling "Shut it, you bunch of fart-sniffers! We're on a mission here!"
"Oh no!" Jinx cried out and Wally saw how she went as white as her nightgown. "How could I have forgotten?! The stupid fools, this is so bad…"
"What? What's going on Jinx?" He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him and the fear in her face made his stomach lurch. "Who was that?"
"That's the rest of my gang." She whispered, her voice shaking as the realisation of how much danger they were in dawned on both of them. "And they're coming for me."
Sorry this took a while, I hope it was all worth it. Please leave a review!