Bloodlines: Everything That Glitters (6 page)

“The intentions never lie, my friend.”

I bi
t the cork out of one of Benjamin’s vials and was about to pour it into the bowl when Benjamin limped into the room and stopped me.

“Let me do that, young man. You have to be very careful with these things,” he said, prying the vial from my fingers and sitting it down on the counter,
before manifesting a pair of gloves and putting them on.

“How can we be sure she’s going to drink it?” Wade asked while walking over to stand by Benjamin
to watch over his shoulder.

“It’s a special blend of senses. I’m designing this especially for Ikuista, so that when she sees it, she won’t be able to resist.”

“Smart idea,” I said, moving across the room to glance at some of the things Benjamin had accumulated in this shop over the past few years. “Where do you find this stuff?” I admired while picking up a small statute.

“Places all over this world, and ours.”

“I’ll be back,” I said before teleporting from the room.

Even before I could decide on a destination, I found myself standing outside of the grey and red two
-story home Alizarin resided in for now. On this side of the world the sun was setting, whereas where Benjamin and Wade were in Paris, it was the just the fade of dawn.

When the wind picked up around me, I knew Centure was somewhere close- undoubtedly watching the house as she always did. It was all a part of her bond with Alizarin- a bond that could not be broken once formed.
One I’d never be able to understand.

I stood across the street, staring
up at the wide bedroom window, noticing first that the light was still on at this time of night and also, an unfamiliar car was parked in the driveway.

“She has company,” Centure allowed the wind to whisper softly in my ear without showing herself.

“You know how much it creeps me out when you do that, Centure,” I replied from shock.

When the front door of the house flew open, a man stepped out onto the porch, allowing the porch light to reflect from his face.

“That guy,” I mumbled, realizing that it was only Joseph. I couldn’t help the jealousy as he got into his car and drove away.

With my knowledge that only Alizarin was
alone in the house, I teleported into the living room then quietly made my way up the stairs. The light was still on in her room and the door was left slightly open as I came as close as I could to her room. From the hallway, I could hear her crying and talking to herself as if trying to explain something away.

“It couldn’t have possibly been that bad,” she sobbed.

After quickly piecing the puzzle together, I soon found myself in the passenger seat of Joseph’s car. Upon seeing me, the car temporarily swerved on the road when he let go of the wheel.

Using an electric pulse, I temporarily disabled the engine and snatched the keys from the ignition.

“Who are you?” he asked, frightened for his life.

Though I wasn’t here to kill him, I would teach him a lesson. I turned on the hazard lights of his car and briefly watched as a few other cars behind us drove around.

“Do you make a habit of snatching up virginities and disappearing off into the night?” I demanded while coldly staring into his eyes. I dared him with every bone in my body to say something wrong- just one wrong word.

But he didn’t reply, just looked at me with fear in his eyes and tears slowly falling to his cheeks.

“W-what do you want from me?”

At seeing his cowardice, I softened my face and smiled. “I want you to take a nice and long nap, my friend.”

He flinched hard when I lifted my hand up, then fumbled with the door lock and handle as he tried to get out of the car. The bastard ran down the middle of the neighborhood and screamed for help.

Suddenly in the mood to play ‘cat and mouse’ I allowed him to believe he’d a
ctually escaped me for a minute- until a few porch lights flickered on. I swiftly ended the chase and grabbed him from the street and teleported him back into the driver’s seat of his vehicle.

“Start the car,” I ordered calmly.

“No,” he answered boldly. “I’m not going to drive myself somewhere where officers can’t find my body,” he continued.

“Have it your way.”

Instantly and effortlessly, I reached across the seat and sent a stun through him that will force him to sleep it off for three or four days. He slumped over across the middle of the seat seats and gradually began to snore. After pushing him off of me, I reached over and grabbed the steering wheel with one hand and the passenger door with the other, teleporting the car three hours away from town.

Feeling a tad bit of emotion, I pulled a $10 bill from my wallet and crumpled it into his hand before heading back to Paris, where Wade and Benjamin still worked on the potion.

“I’d have only left him $5 if it were me,” Wade announced when he saw me come into the room.

“You should just be worried about not messing up when the time comes,” I answered.

“Young man, you shouldn’t interfere into people’s private lives. You hate when Wade does it to you.”

I nodded. To an extent he was right, but I felt my actions were justified. “He shouldn’t have done what he did,” I replied while falling back onto an old couch. 

***

Sunday August 22, 2010

The potion worked- that’s a relief. Now the real problems start. I walked into my room and fell on top of the bed, thinking briefly about Alizarin.

As soon as I found myself getting comfortable, Wa
de knocked on the door and walked in. “Am I not the man, or what?” he beamed from ear to ear as he obviously reflected on his display with Skylark.

“Yeah, you did a good job. I almost believed it for a second myself,” I replied after sitting up on the bed. “But, your potion made her throw-up,” I continued.

“Minor defect. You know something; I can’t help but wonder how did the guy discover a power? We only made one bottle,” he said, taking a seat in the chair across the room.

“I don’t have all the answers, kid.”

Truthfully, I’d wondered the same thing. Where’d the second bottle come from?

Soon our mother tapped on the door twice before stepping in. “I’m assuming today was a productive day? Which powers has she discovered?” she questioned, moving through the room and kicking piles of clothes around with her feet. “How many times do I have to tell you, I am not your maid,” she continued.

“The potion that Benjamin and I created initially triggered Stage One Telepathy, while Skylark and Thorne were able to uncover healing,” Wade answered with a sense of pride in his tone. “Needless to say, none of this would have been possible without me,” he gloated.

I rolled my eyes. “Also, the blood of a Phoenix courses heavily through her veins- which means we also know the nature of her Beast,” I said.

Wade beamed as he folded his hands behind his head and interlocked his fingers. “I honestly can’t wait to find out what mine is. I’ve waited long enough.”

My mother came across the room and sat next to me on the bed then placed her palm on my knee. “Wade told me about your feelings toward her. Don’t worry, they are nothing to be ashamed of, after all, she is one of a kind,” she said softly as if telling me a secret.

I cut Wade a dirty look then traveled from the room before I allowed myself to be embarrassed further. One day I’d have to teach Wade a lesson about minding his own business and keep his mouth shut.

Instantly, I appeared on the private shore of a white-sanded beach and sat down in the warm sand as tiny waves, kissed my feet. Looking over the water, I allowed peace to wash over me. I always came here when I needed the perfect place to get my mind together.

Somehow I couldn’t fight the feelings I had for Alizarin, my mother was right- she
was
one of a kind. I realized at that moment that my mind wouldn’t let me rest until I had a piece of her, until she knew I existed and accepted me into her life.

Taking a long sigh, I fell back and let my head rest tiredly on the sand. “I have to pull it together,” I whispered to myself as I watched a flock of birds fly over me.

Alizarin

Friday August 20, 2010

The rest of the ride was silent, neither of us really had anything else to say. Corey had moved Ash’s bags to the floor under the seat and stretched out across the back seat to catch up on a nap. I had barely noticed that I had fallen asleep during the last hour of our journey as I opened my eyes and looked out of the window, expecting to see a lot more than what I saw. The trees had disappeared and vast areas of plowed land now surrounded us, there was one blade of grass here and another blade of glass over there.

“We’re about ten minutes away, I’m glad you’re awake. I would have absolutely hated to have had to punch you in the arm.” He snickered.

“This is just great,” I huffed sarcastically. “It should have been named New Desert, Alabama. Who would move to
Alabama
anyways?”

Ash just smiled, “It’s a test area, and if you had done your research like I did you would have known that.”

We left turned into the upscale neighborhood; most of the houses were beautiful, each sort of crafted into a uniquely different design. It was definitely a change from the ‘cookie cutter’ neighborhood we’d left. “So this is where they want their doctors and lawyers to live, huh?”

“I’m pretty sure you can get into just as much trouble in the country as you can in the city.”

“Let’s hope you’re right,” I replied, digging into one of my pockets for the gate remote.

Ash drove until we had reached a white and black house with an iron black fence surrounding the perimeter. It was definitely gorgeous on the outside but what I really wondered about was what the inside of the shower looked like, I smelled like a working class man, and although unseen, I still hadn’t completely removed all of the blood stains from my body. But how could I, when we’d stopped at a string of portable restrooms.

I gazed out of the window, looking over my new home, the hauler Ash had mentioned loading was already unloaded and my mom’s car was parked in front of the middle of three garage doors.

“You’d think with four cars needing to be parked, they’d have had this house built with four garage doors,” I complained. “Since you don’t even drive your car I guess I’ll be taking the third garage space. Your bucket of bolts can stay outside.”

When Ash finally pulled into the driveway and turned the car off I reached into the backseat and lightly tapped Corey on the leg. The poor girl jumped up from the seat so fast she slammed her head against the glass window. Immediately she grabbed the side of her head with both hands and toppled over into the seat.             

“Oh my! Are you alright?” I said, opening the car door and walking around to the back. I opened her door and reached in to lightly grab her arm and lift her up.

“Yeah I’m fine,” she replied calmly, pulling away from me. Not a hint of embarrassment or even pain was in her voice, I figured it was because worse things had happened to her living under an abusive father.

I gently pulled the girl out of the car and reached down to grab a few of the bags she had under the seat. “Do you want something for your head? I’m sure that had to hurt like hell.”

“No, I’m fine. Pain relievers don’t work on me, I’m naturally immune to poison.” She took her hand away from mine and wobbled to stand on her own. I took her hand again and led her up the walkway to the front door; behind me Ash was getting the rest of the things out of the trunk and sitting them on the ground.

The door to the house was surprisingly left half open so I just gave it a little nudge with the tip of my foot and opened it the rest of the way. I sat Corey’s things on the floor and looked around for any sign of my parents- between everything that’d happened still fresh on my mind, I hadn’t had enough time to come up with a really good lie about why I was bringing a complete stranger home. It was kind of like bringing a stray dog home and asking your parents if you could keep it.

“I thought I heard a door slam outside, how was the trip?” My mom said as she sauntered down the stairs holding one of the cardboard boxes.

“I don’t think that was the car door you heard slam,” I replied under my breath.

My mother sat the box down in the corner of the disorganized living room and walked over and planted a tiny kiss on my cheek. When she caught sight of Corey she was utterly stumped and unsure what to think of the child. “Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met before,” my mom said, extending her hand for a friendly shake. “I’m Alizarin’s mom, Psenora.”

“Mom, this is Corey, a friend from Hot Springs.”

Corey smiled and got up from the couch and walked over to my mother with her hand extended. “This is a lovely home ma’am.”

My mom smiled back and pulled me to the side. “Was she living under a bridge in Hot Springs?” she asked, puzzled.

Since I hadn’t thought of that story on my own, I was happy that she had done the work for me. All there was left to do was agree. “Yes, I found her lying down under an overpass and told her she could come a live with us until she got on her feet.”