Rouge (34 page)

But he was there, staring
down at her, eyes blazing brighter than the sun. Colors of gold and red and
white and yellow bloomed around him in a magical mix of wonder and joy and
everything that is love.

I did it. I kept the fire
in.
Hunter had no
energy left to wonder how on earth she had done it, but something in her heart
felt confident that it was not her control that doused the flame, but the power
of love.

“I love you,” she whispered,
her chest heaving and her heart beating harder than a thousand drums.

“
Shh
,”
he said softly and lay a gentle kiss on her lips. They tasted of the heat
inside her. It was like tasting heaven. It made her forget everything, all her
pain and suffering and heartache. Even the fire was no more than gentle embers,
glowing peacefully in the depths of her soul.

Jack kept his head down and his mind
distracted as he stalked home through the dark streets. His bus took off down
the road and turned at the corner of Park Avenue and East 79th Street. The
apartment was just beyond that.

His heart was still racing
from the conversation with Hunter. She could walk through fire. He knew someone
who had a superpower. With a jig in his step, Jack thought about all the comics
he kept in a box under his bed, of the sketches he drew in secondary school. He
used to dream about dressing up in a black suit and mask, or climbing walls and
shooting web from his wrists. Now, half his dream was coming true.

Hunter.
Eli’s girlfriend.
Jack could hardly contain his jealousy. How badly he wanted to be the one
in her arms and not the best friend. Why Eli? What did he have that Jack
didn’t?

Parents. A nice home. A
promising future. The list could go on. Jack scowled at himself, wishing his
life wasn’t so miserable and he had more to offer a girl like Hunter.

A taxi skidded past him and
Jack cast a glance behind him. That was when he saw someone, about a yard back.
He was shadowed, and kept a pace just a little faster than his. Jack knew this
neighborhood like the back of his hand, but it wasn’t normal for someone to
follow him home.

Clutching his fears, Jack
made a sharp turn down an alleyway on the opposite side of his building. If
there was anyone following him, he wouldn’t let them know where he lived. Not
when he couldn’t protect Clare on his own. 

He put his back against the
scratchy cold wall and held his breath. The man turned the corner and Jack
jumped in front of him. Light flashed haphazardly across his features. He was
familiar, but not recognizable, with creepy eyes and really white teeth.

“What do you want?” he
growled.

The man’s smile widened.
“Jack Holloway, am I correct?”

Jack eyed him suspiciously.
“Yeah... who are you?”

“That’s not important. I’d like
a few words with you.” His eyes roamed over Jack as though he were an item of
clothing he considered buying. The crazed look in his eyes was terrifying.

Oh no,
Jack panicked, looking around and
realizing they were alone.
I’m going to be raped.

“Um, this is kind of a bad
time… Sir. I need to get home and cook dinner for my sister so...”

The man let out a cackle so
manic that Jack leapt back in surprise, cursing and falling back against the
sidewalk.

“What the-”

“Oh Jack,” he sighed, wiping
a tear from his eye. “I can tell you have a sense of humor.”

This guy is nuts,
Jack panicked. A crazed look flashed in
his eye.
And he knows my name.

“If this is about the rent,
I promised Tony I’d pay as soon as I get the
cheque
from the government-”

“It’s not about rent Jack,”
he murmured in a deep, chilling tone. Fear started to leech from his skin and
his limbs were becoming like
Jello
. “It’s about what
you
know.
”

“I don’t know anything,
seriously!” Jack yelled. “I’m just a senior, I’m not even in the popular group
at school!”

The stranger began to laugh
louder, and the air around them went cold. Jack tensed his entire body,
preparing for the knife to slice into his stomach, and as he did a bitter taste
came into his mouth. There was something stirring inside him, and Jack thought
it might be vomit, but this was something different. Vomit was sticky and tangy
and came from the pit of his stomach. This feeling was dark and toxic like
poison.

Then a loud crash came from
above them, and Jack’s heads shot up as what looked like part of the fire
escape was soaring down-

-directly toward the
attacker’s head. The large metal chunk collided with something solid and a
burst of blue blinded him. Jack’s hand whipped up to protect his eyes, and a
gust of ice-cold air hit him full-force. He waited a few seconds before opening
his eyes.

The man stood before him,
his face alight with glee. The slab of metal that had fallen on top of him lay
cast aside on the road, completely frozen in ice.

“Well isn’t this
intriguing!” he exclaimed, his eyes wide and bright like headlights.

Jack glanced at the metal
and couldn’t understand what just happened.
Did I do that?
His blood was
racing. He could no longer feel the damp concrete ground beneath him or smell
the pungent trash in the bin.

“Please,” Jack begged,
backing away on the sidewalk until he hit the brick wall. “Don’t kill me, I
didn’t mean to-”

The stranger raised his hand
and blew against his palm directly at Jack’s face. The air passed into his
airways and suddenly his throat constricted. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t
breathe. He clenched at his neck and struggled madly on the concrete until the
stranger was standing over him, chuckling psychotically.

“Oh Jack,” he whispered.
“You have a lot to learn and no time to learn it in. Let’s go find a place to
talk, shall we?”

The last thing he remembered
was feeling cold to the very center of his being before all was black.

Eli breathed deeply, his hair ruffled and
askew, his face buried deep into the pillow. He looked different without his
glasses; older and less vulnerable. Even in a peaceful slumber, Eli glowed
stronger and more masculine than he ever had. Hunter smiled, watched him for a
few more minutes, then decided she was hungry.

Not wanting to wake him,
Hunter gently climbed out of the bed, slipped on one of Eli’s hoodies -
refusing to look at Jack’s - and crept to the door. As she glanced back at Eli
with his hands under his pillow lying flat on his stomach, one foot sticking
out the side of the bed, Hunter remembered last night as one of the best and
the worst nights of her life.

Gently closing the door
behind her, Hunter crept downstairs. Her understanding of the morning after
usually involved one of two options; sneaking out and leaving a note on the
pillow or breakfast in bed - depending on the guy. Hunter couldn’t think of
anything worse than leaving, so she started gathering breakfast.

Hunter didn’t know a time
when she was happier. When she was young, she used to dream of her parents
mysteriously appearing at their apartment door to take her away and start a
family. Hunter knew now that she couldn’t find happiness in raising her parents
from the dead, but in moving forward and making a future of her own. A future
she desired with Eli.

It took her less than ten
minutes to prepare a quick vegetarian breakfast and some coffee for she and
Eli, having no need for a kettle, stove or toaster. She should have been more
careful. Even if Mr. Akerman and Melissa wouldn’t be returning until tomorrow,
this wasn’t her house. Anyone could waltz in and see her.

But at that point in time,
Hunter didn’t care.
The whole world practically knows anyway,
said her
conscience. She held the pan above her fingers and watched her eggs fry. Hunter
had come to enjoy using her powers after the long months of training. Perhaps
it was her mother’s words of encouragement in the letter, or even because she
had saved two lives already. Perhaps it was also because she hadn’t killed Eli,
which was possibly her worst fear. On the contrary, the fire made the
experience even more passionate. For it was passion that had led Hunter to
believe she loved Eli so much that it had changed her, that for the first time
in months she felt like she had a destiny beyond using her powers to save
people. She could have a normal,
real
future.

The clattering of the china
woke Eli as Hunter entered the bedroom. She found herself grinning as he rolled
over, revealing a distressed hairstyle and pillow creases on his cheeks.

“Morning,” he yawned and
took his glasses from the bedside table.

“Good morning.” She gently
placed the tray in the middle of the bed and crawled under the covers, pressing
a kiss to his lips. “I made breakfast. It seemed fitting.”

Eli adjusted himself and
frowned, reaching beneath the duvet. When his hand came out, he was grasping
Hunter’s necklace.

“Oh no...” she muttered,
fingering the broken chain delicately.

“What is it?”

“It’s my necklace. My mother
gave it to me. I mean, she
wanted
to give it to me when I was younger,
but didn’t get the chance to. Joshua says it means fire.”

Eli took it out of her hands
and looked at it closely. “It’s beautiful. Pretty ironic, though.”

She smiled. “I used to think
so too. But then, my mother knew about my powers. Actually, she only knew one
of them. She had immunity to fire as well.”

“Wow. How did-”

“Hey,” she snapped,
“breakfast first, questions after.”

He smirked, inspecting the
tray of steaming food. “This is great Hunter. I feel terrible that you had to
make it
though
.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s
fine, here have some.”

Eli began picking at his
toast as Hunter leant against the leather bed head with her coffee mug between
her fingers. She closed her eyes and became aware of Eli’s arm touching hers as
he ate. It seemed like only yesterday they were sitting in the theatre watching
the black and white movie. How much had changed since that night. It was as if
they had finally crossed the bridge to where the grass was greener, to where
they were completely comfortable with each other.

“Are you okay?” he asked,
putting down his knife and fork. “You’re not saying much.”

“Yeah. I’m a little worn
out.”

“I know,” he sighed. “I have
that effect on people.”

Hunter chuckled. “You sure
do.”

“Are you talking about your
powers?”

Hunter frowned. “What do you
mean?”

“I could just tell that it
was worrying you. Was it hard… you know, not to set me on fire like you almost
did last time?”

“It was.” She stared at the steam
curling from her coffee cup. “But last night was different. The fire wasn’t
angry or harmful. It was… I
dunno
, driving. There was
something new in me, and I didn’t have to worry about the fire getting out.
Normally it behaves according to my emotions.”

“So when you’re angry, it
hurts people?”

Hunter tensed, thinking for
the first time in a long time of the homeless man in the alley. She’d come to
terms with it a while back, but suddenly she knew that she had to tell Eli.
Keeping a secret like that was worse than not telling him she had powers. She
was a murderer. How would he see her now?

“What’s wrong?” Eli frowned
at the distressed look on her face and the tears welling in her eyes.

She tried not to look at
him. “It’s... um...”

Eli’s fork clattered down on
his plate. “Hunter, look at me.” She obeyed. His eyes were warm and bright,
like the ocean on a scorching summer day. “Whatever it is, it won’t change a
thing. You and I have been through far too much together to give up on what we
have. I will love you forever, no matter what other secrets you’re hiding.”

The tears escaped. “I killed
someone.”

The warmth in Eli’s eyes
vanished immediately. “You... what?”

“When I first discovered my
powers, I didn’t know how to control them.” She watched the steam dance in
ribbons from her coffee to distract her from the pain of repeating the story
that was still a little raw. She hadn’t even told Miss Smart, let alone Eli.
But she gritted her teeth and pushed it out. “I was angry at Joshua for not
telling me when I was a young girl, and confused at what I am and scared of
what would happen to me. This... fire inside of me was fresh, like an out of
control demon that had just been released from a long imprisonment. It wanted
to be fed.