Deadly to Love (15 page)

He rolled his eyes at me as he got comfy in his seat.

“Don’t you want to call your mum first?” he asked, passing me my mobile that was inside his jacket pocket.
Why does he have my phone?
He must have seen the confusion on my face as he handed it over.

“I was making sure we couldn’t be traced via the signal,” he said nonchalantly, while I pretended to understand what that meant.

“What do I say to her though?” My hand was shaking as I dialled the number and my finger hovered over the call button.

As the phone rang, I started trembling with nerves. Thankfully Kai placed a soothing arm around my shoulder, pulling me towards him in comfort and even though I was still slightly mad at him, it worked.

“Hello.” My mum’s voice rang out from down the other end of the phone.

“Hi Mum,” I said, my voice breaking slightly. “I have some stuff I need to tell you, but it’s going to sound crazy and you probably won’t like it.” I steadied my breathing for a little before continuing.

“Serena what’s going on? Are you okay?”

This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

“First of all I’m really sorry to do this to you and I know my timings really bad but I couldn’t help it.”

I sighed before speaking again.

“I’m leaving Mum. I haven’t been with Chloe this weekend, I’ve been with my boyfriend...”

“What are you talking about Rea! And what has Ian got to do with it?” She was shouting down the phone to cover up her sadness.

“Mum calm down and let me finish. First of all it isn’t Ian, we broke up awhile ago actually and I’m with someone else. It’s safer for you not to know his name and I’m not leaving you for him, things have just got really complicated. This is going to sound crazy but supernatural things have been happening and we have got caught up in it. You don’t need to know the details but just know I am safe and my boyfriend won’t let anything happen to me.”

Kai gestured for me to give him the phone.

“I have to go Mum, I love you and I’ll try keep in touch but it may not be for a while.” I was sniffling as I passed the phone to Kai, cutting off my mum’s tirade.

“Hello Mrs Jackson,” Kai said into the mobile and I had never heard him speak so formally. On the other end I could hear my mum asking question after question but it didn’t rattle his calm composure.

“I understand and I know this is really bad timing but what Rea said was true. We have been spotted by some paranormal creatures and have to go into hiding. It’s not safe for you to know any more details than that so please don’t go looking for answers. I promise you I won’t let anything happen to your daughter and I’ll protect her with my life. Hopefully I’ll be able to bring her back to you soon.”

The other end of the line was silent as Kai waited for an answer.

“How do I know I can trust you?” was the reply my mother gave eventually. She seemed calmer now and was playing the stern parent card.

I saw a small smile tug at Kai’s lips but it did not reach his voice, which remained serious. “Mrs Jackson, I can assure you I won’t let any harm come to Rea, I love her. It’s up to you whether or not you believe me and honestly this wasn’t the first conversation I would have liked to have with you but it’s out of my control.”

I stared open mouthed at Kai’s words. He had just told my mum that he loved me when he hadn’t even told me yet.

“I’ve worked in this specialist field since I was ten so I know what is best and how to stay alive. I work for a section of the government that deals with issues like this so I have the power to keep Rea safe. That is all I can tell you and if you can live with that much information you will stay safe, so please do not go digging for information on me, my job or the paranormal activity I mentioned as you could end up in serious trouble or worse.”

After a few more minutes of arguing on my mum’s part, finally I could hear her agreeing on the other end of the phone before she hung up.

Kai turned to look at me, his face looking older than ever for a second.

“Thank you,” was all I said, deliberately forgetting what he had said about loving me. He squeezed my shoulders, pressing me harder into his chest as he placed a light kiss on the top of my head.

Maybe I shouldn’t be so mad at him, and this might not be so bad,
I thought as I leaned against him.

“She’ll be fine Rea, she’s stronger than you know. You’re going to have to put her out of your mind though, you can’t have any distractions and thinking about her is only going to make things harder.”

No matter how much I wanted to disagree with him, I couldn’t. He was right and I was going to need all my focus to get through this with him.

My food had cooled quite a bit by now but I had lost my appetite. I picked at the almost cold burger but most of it lay untouched.

“So are you going to tell me about this necklace or not?” I said, pulling myself off him and trying to force a smile onto my face.

“Yeah, I guess I should,” he said in a reluctant tone while he scrunched up the bag his food had been in. I didn’t know when he had time to eat anything, let alone finish it all but he had.

“OK, so that necklace is something that appears in the old legends. According to them it was created when the first lot of humans came to Mavera. It was a key used to keep the Elementals under control. It limited their power and stopped them becoming visible or taking on something like a human form. The necklace stayed within one family’s lineage, yours apparently, but their name was always a closely guarded secret.” He paused to check if he was making sense. When I nodded he continued. “Anyway someone in your family history was in possession and used the necklace to undo what your ancestors did by unleashing the Elementals. No one in my sector is sure what happened to cause this, and up until I saw the necklace myself it was pretty much a myth. However seeing it changes everything. The necklace always gets passed down through the family’s eldest child and is rumoured to be able to reign in the Elementals once more. Do you see why I need the necklace now?”

All I did was stare opened mouth at him.

“You mean to say this old thing is magical?”

He chuckled at my puzzled expression as I looked down at the old necklace. “I wouldn’t use the word ’magic’ as it’s more like a key that’s using the Elementals’ energy against them.”

I nodded, sort of understanding what he had explained.

“So you need the necklace because you’re hoping it will put an end to these frequent Elemental attacks.”

“Yeah, pretty much. It’s a long shot, but it’s better than anything we have got so far.”

Before he could say any more a phone went off interrupting him. He checked the screen and before answering it, he got out of the car, walking about a hundred metres away.

While he was out of the car, I used this time to call Chloe, who would probably freak out worse than my mum had.

“Hey Chlo,” I said when she answered.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“OK, this is going to sound crazy, but Kai and myself are caught up in some weird paranormal stuff so I’ve got to leave town for a bit. My mum knows so you don’t have to cover anymore, I just wanted to tell you so you don’t freak out when I’m not around for the last week of college.” I held the phone away from my ear as I waited for what I predicted to be an exaggerated reaction.

“Oh my god Rea! You can’t be serious. Is Kai forcing you to do this? I’ll kill him if he is.”

I laughed at her reaction.

“Chlo, Kai is protecting me. Some stuff which I can’t explain happened and he’s the only person with enough knowledge to help. I’ll try tokeep in touch but I can’t guarantee when you’ll hear from me.”

I heard her sigh.

“I’ve got to go now, tell the others for me yeah?” She muttered she would before we said goodbye and I hung up just as Kai was getting back into the car.

“Sorry, that was my boss...”

I could see from the look on his face that there was more and he felt slightly uneasy about what he was going to say next.

“There’s been a huge Elemental sighting on the outskirts of Pasole...I kind of need to be there,” he said, his voice dripping with guilt as he started the engine.

“I’ll stay in the car this time,” was all I said to acknowledge and accept what he had said and it earned me a weak smile.

The short drive to Pasole had been tense and awkward. Neither of us uttered a single word; me because I was incredibly scared of what we were driving towards and Kai was quiet as he had an intense look of concentration on his face. We arrived on the outskirts of the city, quicker than I thought possible, to find smoke billowing above the buildings. I could just about see the enormous flames dancing in between the houses, while the smoke spiralled up, forming tornadoes that twisted high into the sky.

“Shit, he wasn’t exaggerating, they’re going to destroy the city if they carry on like this,” Kia muttered under his breath as he drove steadily down the street, trying to find somewhere safe to leave me. His body was on constant alert as his eyes searched the street for any danger.

When I wasn’t staring at Kai my eyes were fixated on the hypnotic flames that kept on growing. I heard the engine switch off but the dull sound barley registered in my thoughts.

“Rea.” He gripped my shoulder, forcing my attention to be directed at him.

“You should be at a safe distance here but if not and something goes wrong, the keys are in the ignition. Get yourself out of here, and find your mum. Then go to my work and give them this.” He thrust a card and badge into the palm of my hand and I nodded, not breaking the eye contact between us.

“Hopefully this will be a normal, routine job but there are a lot more than I have ever seen in one place before.” He was reaching into a bag that was resting behind the passenger seat. I looked down at what he had given me; a metal badge encased in a black leather wallet showed the Maveran government’s insignia and engraved clearly below it were the letters O.D.E. Then I turned my attention to the card he had given me as well. His name, Kai Seevers was printed next to his photo, which he looked too good to be true in and then there were just a load of numbers and a strip of brown which appeared to be for a scanner. Also I noticed his birthday was printed amongst the code as the 3rd October. I was about to flip the card over to study the back when Kai spoke again.

“Just promise me you’ll stay out of sight because the last thing we need is for an Elemental to see you.”

“I’ll try.” My voice was coarse and raspy and I tried to speak around my nerves. Kai’s head finally appeared again and in his hands were two hand guns. Checking they were both loaded before replacing the safety, he slipped one into the holster he kept inside his jacket and the other one remained in his hand. He was just about to turn and exit the car when he swivelled back to face me.

“Here. Take this as well, just in case,” he said as he passed me a wad of notes from his pocket. He then leaned over, gently pressing his lips to my forehead and left the car.

I watched him as he ran towards the chaos, gun drawn and ready. When he was nearing the row of houses another man and woman ran out to join him. None of their features were visible though as they were silhouetted by the flames. The man, was shorter than Kai, but had the same strong, muscle defined build while the woman was tall, curvy with long hair that was tied back in a pony tail. It was also obvious she too worked out as although she didn’t look muscular, she was clearly toned and with an athletic build. Both of them had their guns drawn as they spoke to Kai.

The meeting between the three of them was only brief and before long they had split up once again; Kai taking the middle, the woman to his right and the guy to his left. They all crept forward slowly, using cars, buildings, post boxes and anything else for cover.

Kai made it to the heart of the chaos first. His gun was drawn as he peered around the edge of the car. I took my eyes off him for a second to look beyond him at the Elementals and gasped at what I saw. When I focused on the scene in front of Kai, I saw that there was a group of about seven fire Elementals causing the flames to grow and spread. In the sky there was at least three air Elementals, that I could see who were twisting and swooping in the sky, circling their tornadoes. Their movements were elegant and almost dance like as they guided their specific elements to wreak havoc on Pasole. They weren’t close enough for me to see any defining features but their elements flowed around them like silk, making them beautiful to watch in a strange way.

A gunshot brought me back to reality, breaking my fixation over the fire Elemental. Kai had fired at one and where it used to stand was now a ball of intense yellow, orange and red light that disappeared in an explosion as the being vanished. Kai’s shot and the death of one of their kind had got the attention of the other Elementals that were surrounding the area. There was a flurry of activity as they all seemed to quicken their pace but it was no use.

More shots rang out across the city and three more Elementals went up in flames, consumed by their own element. As more and more disappeared the fire started to relinquish but it seemed to have distracted the E.Ks attention from the air Elementals. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one hurtling through the sky towards the woman. I screamed in the confinement of the car, shocked as the creature drew closer to her but I was too scared to move.

The creature was about to hit her, and she hadn’t even noticed it when I saw Kai spun to face her, gun in hand and arm outstretched as he fired a shot without pausing to aim. The bullet hit its target and the Elemental started to convulse as it was consumed into the purple energy of air. The girl had finally noticed the burning Elemental beside her and automatically dropped into a roll to get away from the explosion.

I had to admit, seeing Kai in the situation scared me but I was more impressed by how good he was. The E.Ks were exceptional at what they did, especially Kai. They were clearing up the Elementals at an alarmingly quick rate, hardly taking any time to aim their guns. Elementals were exploding and vanishing all over the place, the purple and orange lights looking strangely beautiful as they glowed amongst the flames.