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Within
seconds, he blinked and Tavish, Alastair’s right hand man, was
right in front of him with a menacing grin on his face. Before Jack
had a chance to do anything to him, a strong hand wrapped itself
around his throat, cutting off all oxygen. He kicked and fought
trying to break free.

Behind him, he
sensed the men storm into action. Neither one of them helped him.
He hadn’t expected them to. He’d spent months telling them he could
handle himself perfectly fine. Now they were testing him. He would
show them what he was made of.

He pulled at
Tavish’s hand trying to break away, but for a second doubt plagued
his mind. My god, what was he? Tavish had to be as strong as the
bloody Hulk. His feet lifted off the floor and Jack felt the blood
drain from his head into his feet. His mouth moved trying to suck
in air but the pressure at his neck wouldn’t let it
through.

Jack felt
darkness move into his vision, the kick in his limbs was more of a
twitch. Christ, he was going to die if he didn’t do something soon,
but his hands wouldn’t listen to the instructions his head was
sending to them. It was like they were detached from his body.
Before he felt himself fall into eternal darkness, a bright light
shot across his blurred vision and then he was falling.

His body
slumped heavily to the floor. He gasped sucking in massive amounts
of air. Looking past the black spots in his vision, he could see
that Eli was fighting Alastair. Several Ayden’s surrounded Tavish,
throwing the punches as Eli attacked Alastair with several sharp
implements that had appeared from nowhere.

Jack watched
in shock from his position on the floor, as the ornamental witch
from the pavement flew towards Alastair. He waited for it to hit
its mark and was left disappointed when the thing disappeared into
thin air. Where had the heavy witch disappeared to?

Jack turned
his attention to Clay who was fighting one on one with Quinn. Quinn
was a tracker which meant he didn’t have the same magical power as
Clay, but that didn’t seem to faze Clay. Clay would much prefer to
fight with his fists anyway, and by the looks of things, he was
winning. Quinn’s lip was split, blood trickled down his cheek from
a cut underneath his eye. His movements were slowing each time a
fist from Clay connected with his cheek. Jack had felt those fists
before and he knew it wasn’t pleasant taking that punch.

Tabitha held
onto Cora who was actually running to help Quinn. Jack stood and
launched himself at Alastair. Eli stepped aside as if he knew what
Jack was about to do. Jack threw a great right hook which made the
man stumble. Before he could right himself, Jack launched himself
at him again and then suddenly found himself surrounded by
darkness.

Jack held his
body still whilst his heart was drumming in his ears. This was a
trick, he knew what Alastair had done to Cora at their meeting in
Edinburgh. This was his power, but how was he supposed to get out?
He couldn’t see a bloody thing. He could hear something, a noise
that sounded like tapping, but it didn’t sound like fighting. He
couldn’t hear the shouts from Ayden or Eli. Where was he? The
tapping stopped. He held his fists out in front of him as a figure
stepped out of the darkness. Everything suddenly became light. He
sucked in a shocked breath. He couldn’t believe it.

Jack held his
breath and looked into the death black eyes of Varick. No, he was
dead. They’d killed him. This was an illusion. It had to be. Jack
stepped back just as a bolt of lightning flew across at
him.

It struck,
burning his skin. How could Varick hurt him here? How could he hurt
him at all? Jack dropped to the floor in surprise and hissed
holding his injured leg. The ghostly grin on Varick’s face made his
stomach curl with disgust. Varick’s curtain of death black hair
moved as he grinned. Pushing the pain to the back of his mind, Jack
stood up, pulling at his element. He played with it, feeling it
expand and contract.

He gritted his
teeth once the power reached its peak. He released the overwhelming
force of power towards Varick and watched with satisfaction as it
hit him, the air from his lungs rushing out in a gasp and then with
a shocked look on his death white face, he flew back into the
darkness.

Jack scrambled
to his feet, panting with exertion and pain, and waited for him to
reappear. The darkness around him seemed to cling to his body.
Where the hell was he?

“
Ayden!
Eli!”

No one
responded. The lack of a response sent the hairs on his arms
standing to attention. His body shuddered when he heard
footsteps.

Jack looked
around, studying his surroundings. There weren’t any walls from
what he could see. He peered down at the floor. Even with the
darkness he could see this, and he was surprised to find, that he
was standing on some form of a cloud. How could you hear footsteps
on something that was supposed to be soft? He shook his head,
something was coming towards him, he didn’t have time to think of
such silly things at the moment.

Jack clenched
his fists readying himself for a fight, but his body was suddenly
slammed flat to the floor. His chest was pushed against the
apparently fluffy clouds, he now knew that they weren’t fluffy. He
wheezed in a very difficult breath and lifted his head to see
Evander float towards him from within the shadows.

As he neared,
the pressure on his body intensified. He cried out using much need
oxygen and was unable to suck more back in. How was he meant to get
out of this one?

“
What do...you
want?” he gasped, struggling with each word.

Evander didn’t
reply. He merely tilted his head to the side, smiled at him and
then raised his arms high in the air. Jack knew what followed. His
internal organs would explode under the pressure, he would die a
very slow death whilst feeling the blood gurgle at his mouth, then
his bones would crumble. He wasn’t going to let that
happen.

Jack struggled
against the hold, he tried to kick his feet and move his element
under his body so he could stand but it was useless. He wouldn’t
give in, he continued to struggle as he felt the pressure increase.
Biting his tongue, he felt the bones in his arm snap as they broke
apart. The pain sent fireworks exploding in his vision. He cried
out as Evander lifted his hands higher. Before any further pressure
was applied to his body, Jack suddenly felt the ground give way.
The cloud dispersed and then he was falling.

He screamed as
he fell. It didn’t make him much of a man but he didn’t care. He
was falling into complete darkness unable to see anything around
him. He didn’t know where he would land. He didn’t know what would
come at him next. He held his breath, holding his broken arm. Then
he heard the distinct whoosh before his body impacted against the
ground.

39

TAKING THE
NEXT STEP

“
Jack!
Jack!”

His name was
called over and over, but it felt like it was coming from a
distance. It had that unique tinny sound as if they were talking
through the cans connected by a string.

“
Jack, you
need to open your eyes,” Eli told him sternly.

He groaned and
moved, but the pain in his arm forced him to stay still. He opened
his eyes and found Eli looking down at him, an angry scowl on his
face. For once he knew that the scowl wasn’t aimed at
him.

“
Are you
okay?” Eli asked, looking at his arm.

“
I...think...it’s broken,” Jack whispered. His arm wasn’t the
only thing that hurt. His entire body was one continuous throb of
pain.

“
What the hell
did you do to him?!” Eli yelled at Alastair.

They were
still here? On the street? Eli helped him stand up, he did so with
great difficulty, holding his arm to his chest. Jack couldn’t stand
on his own so he leaned against Eli and found Alastair standing in
front of them with a smug smile on his face. He would do anything
to wipe it off, but he really didn’t want to go back to that place,
wherever it was.

He looked
around their group but couldn’t see Tabitha. Jack really needed
some of her miracle cure. Where was Cora? He could see that Tavish
was holding Clay back.

“
What was
that?” Jack whispered.

Alastair
smiled, “Ma gift.”

“
Where did you
send him?” Eli demanded.

“
A sent him
where A always send em’.”

“
Which is
where?” Clay growled as Tavish tightened his grip.

“
A dae not huv
tae tell yer. It’s ma gift, yer huv them too.”

“
Not a gift
where he disappears and lands on the street like you’d dropped him
from a great height!” Eli barked.

Alastair
simply shrugged, and then moved aside allowing him to see where
Cora had disappeared to.

She was knelt
on the floor comforting Quinn. Her hands were touching his face as
she looked over the cuts and bruises. He felt anger flood every
part of his body as she whispered sweet nothings to him. She looked
up, her eyes narrowing with anger.

“
You had no
right to do this!” she shouted at him.

Alastair
smiled, obviously pleased with how things had turned out. “A see
Cora has chosen wisely. A meitin’ will tek place next week
regarding yer actions of today.”

“
When will the
meeting take place? Can we go to those meetings to defend
ourselves?” Clay asked as he stepped alongside them. Tavish had
finally let him go.

“
Yer are not
allowed tae gae tae these meitin’s. It will be next Thursday, so A
will let yer know the verdict on Friday.”

They weren’t
interested in the verdict. They didn’t care. They only needed to
know the day.

Eli,
understanding that he needed to get home to tend to his wounds,
turned Jack around and helped him walk back to the cottage with
Clay following behind them. He knew Clay and Ayden were guarding
them to make sure Alastair and Tavish didn’t do something as they
left.

They turned
the corner and then Jack allowed the pain to come. His limp was
getting worse with each passing second. How could he tell Ayden the
man who’d murdered his future wife had come back and was capable of
hurting them, even from the grave?

“
Do you think
he bought it?” he asked Eli.

Eli was
shaking his head telling him he didn’t know. “That was an awful lot
to go through. You got a broken arm out of it, but it was rather
believable. I am sure Alastair believes he has won.”

Jack nodded.
“Good, because when he finds out what has happened, I plan on
wiping that smug smile from his face.”

*

Cora stood
back and admired her handy work. She loved the colour, but the
paint had flown in every direction. Her smaller than average bed
was covered with old tattered sheets. This was the only piece of
furniture left in her bedroom. Her computer desk and bookcase were
in the back garden ready to be burnt. She had decided to buy new
furniture, to make new memories. This was the start of something
new, and Quinn had convinced her to buy new things.

Quinn was also
helping her paint the wall a gorgeous emerald green colour. She’d
made the choice of doing one wall a dark emerald green and the rest
of them a soft jade. She looked at Quinn getting sidetracked for a
moment.

His jumper had
been discarded a long time ago. Her box bedroom was good at holding
heat, and now he was standing in her room wearing a khaki vest top
that revealed muscles she hadn’t realised he had. His arms flexed
with the movement.

“
I can sense
you staring at me,” Quinn said, and turned around with a grin on
his face.

He’d caught
her red handed, the blush on her face making it more obvious. “I
wasn’t staring at you. I was looking at the green. Do you think
it’s too much?”

He moved back
with her and assessed the walls, folding his arms across his
chest.

“
No, I think
it looks perfect.”

He dropped the
roller on the floor and grabbed her, pulling her into his arms. She
grinned. Before he could kiss her, she wiped her finger along the
roller, gathering a cold splodge of paint and wiped it on his nose.
His face held shock as she smeared the paint from his nose onto his
cheeks.

“
Oh, no you
didn’t!”

She squealed
and ran away from him as his hand scooped up a massive amount of
green paint and he jumped after her. His free arm flew around her
waist as he smeared it all over her body. She laughed as he pulled
her onto the bed where he sat on top of her holding his slimy,
green hand in the air ready to attack her.

“
You’ve got
paint on my carpet,” she laughed.

“
It’s a good
job you are throwing that one out then.”

He closed the
distance between their bodies. She felt a cold drop of paint hit
her shoulder. She lost all train of thought as his green nose
brushed softly against hers.