Persona (38 page)

“Marty would’ve never left you; you know that?”

The boys are inches apart from one another, and while Ray looks very pissed off, Liam just looks glum. He glances at Moira for a second, and she doesn’t know how to describe the way he watches her.

But in a moment, everything that happened the night before comes crashing into her; the kissing, Marty interrupting, her pulling away and running after him, leaving Liam. It makes her the one to look away first, since she has no clue what any of that means anymore.

“You know Raymond, I have a feeling he would have done the same, and gladly too.” Liam says a little too smugly.

Moira glances back up at him in shock, just in time to see Ray haul back and punch him in the face. Liam head turns to the side from the blow, and he slowly turns back to face Ray, while whipping away the blood that flows from a split in his lip. He doesn’t make a move to hit him back though, which is why Ray slumps his shaking shoulders and walks away from him.

Liam watches him go, and Moira is at a loss over what his expression says about what is going through his head. Ray walks over to her and the girls, and makes a move to take raven’s arm away from her. She relinquishes it willingly, not sure how she could have walked and carted her limp friend at the same time.

“Do you need help to the bathrooms?” Ray asks, as the three of her friends stare at her.

She doesn’t glance behind her to Liam, even though she wants to, she thinks now is a good time to get some answers over why Liam did what he did.

“No it’s alright, you guys go on ahead; I’ll be right there.”

They look like they want to complain, but Ray simply nods his head at her, before giving Liam a look that would scare a bigger man. It makes her want to smile over the obscenity of it, but she isn’t in the smiling mood.

She sighs to herself as she watches them walk away from her and towards the restroom, she sort of wishes she was heading for with them; but she feels Liam at her back and knows she has to stay. That’s when she picks up on the faintness of cinnamon, and unlike the other times, this time it makes her feel worse.

Thankfully she doesn’t feel his or her own persona come, but has a feeling that by the time the conversation ends; she will. She turns around now, and faces him only to find that he is in the same stock still position watching her.

She narrows her eyes, and feels like her heart is breaking for like the hundredth time in a week.

“What, you want to hit me too?” He says with an edge to his voice, something his face doesn’t hold.

The cinnamon scent of him spikes, and it plays across her persona, making it want to come out to play. It clouds her senses to the point that she doesn’t even feel her persona fully rise until her vision is clearer and her auburn curls hop on her shoulders.

She can almost feel his like an echo of her own, and wonders if he feels it too. It was the same way when they were kissing, except now it doesn’t make her feel anything but hurt.

“Why did you really leave Marty behind like you did?” She begs him, feeling tears in her eyes.

He glances away from her for a second, and licks at his already healing split lip, before looking back to her and taking a step forward.

“It’s not what you think, I left Gordon behind too. I did it, to keep you safe. The cops would have gotten us all, and then it would have been for nothing the last couple of days.”

He finishes right in front of her, and she has to look up at him slightly. She knows everything he just said is most likely true, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. Marty is still gone, and she’ll never have the chance to tell him how sorry she is.

Or more importantly, she’ll never have the chance to tell him how she really feels about him; because after all this time, she knows now. She cares for him the same way he does for her, and Liam made her see that with crystal clear clarity.

Sure, she might have conflicting feelings for Liam and almost thought she might be falling for him, but what he did changes things. She can’t be with someone who would just abandon someone, no matter the situation, she just can’t.

So she does the only thing she can do, having Liam so close to her, and still making her feel for him while she doesn’t want to anymore. She takes half of a step backwards, and pulls back her hand before bringing it forward to slap him.

He doesn’t even move out of the way, almost like he was expecting it, and the force of the hit turns his head. She felt her clawed nails rip into his cheeks, so she knows he must be in pain, but he doesn’t let on that he is; he just keeps his head turned away from her.

Breathing heavily, tears flow down her cheeks as she backs away from him and towards the rest room.

“I hate you Liam Morgan.”

She turns away from him then and feels her persona fade from her body; leaving her feeling hollow as she limps away from him on her one good leg.

She is about a foot away from him and almost to the entrance of the restroom, when she hears him say something so quietly she almost misses it.

“I hate myself too Moira. I really do.”

She stumbles in her step, but doesn’t turn back to him because it doesn’t matter anymore. The damage is already done, and there is no fixing it.

Shaking, she walks the rest of the way to the others and leaves him alone outside.

***

They make it too Libby, Montana in about a twelve hour drive; not bothering to stop much to Moira’s relief. The only thing that got her back into the truck after the arrow was taken out of her leg, was the fact that she was is so much pain, that and she needed to sit down or she’d fall down.

It was pretty much the same for the others, and she finds it kind of sad and maybe a little funny, that no one sat up from with Liam. No one said two words to each other either, and that was fine with her basically. Besides, if she were to say anything, it would be how angry she is at Liam and how upset she is over Marty; and both would leave her a sobbing useless mess.

She is so over that, it’s already forgotten; the crying.

To keep her mind off of the obvious, she thought about other things to keep her mind busy. Those things involve what she did at Gordon’s house, when she was filled with rage so grand that it affected her persona.

Or maybe it was the other way around, but whatever it was, it still scared her. Made her afraid of what she was really capable of, because the thing is she thinks she might be able to do so much more. She felt it when she moved, that it was only the beginning and that is what scared her. That she was afraid of herself and what she could do.

Hopefully she’ll have some of her questions finally answered, it wouldn’t make up for anything, but it would be a start for her to be able to deal.

One good thing though, is that they are finally pulling into Liam’s family’s ranch; and a ranch it really is. The entire property is to be larger than the military base where the facility was stationed; meaning it’s roughly twice the size of a football stadium.

Like any self-respecting ranch, there is a tall fence around the place and at the entrance there is even a sign with its name; Gli Eletti. She doesn’t know what it means, but she thinks it might be either Spanish or Latin. She files it away for something she’ll ask about later, since she feels like it could be important.

Liam drives under the sign and onto the start of a long graveled driveway. She can pick up on his cinnamon scent and wonders if he nervous about coming home for some reason.

Then she remembers that his mother was taken by Fletcher and she almost stops from hating him long enough to feel bad for him. It doesn’t last long though, since he isn’t the only one to have someone taken from him. So she ignores the scent and anything it might make her feels, and stares out the window instead.

She isn’t alone in her ogling either, her friends that were pretending to be asleep. Stir around just to get a good look at the place, and it deserves a good ogling too.

The driveway goes down for about a mile, and on either side of the road within the fence is an actual farm. Not the unused baron buildings that were at Gordon’s place, but thriving and animal filled barns and coops.

It’s still early morning, but it’s light out, and Moira can see people driving trackers, mowers, and horses all around the place. Every one of them turns to the truck as they drive pass, and Moira begins to get really nervous about meeting all of these new people.

As they near the end of the road, there are five houses that loom on the horizon. The middle one is the largest, and what she would call the main house. It stands three stories high, and resembles an old time mansion; still in good condition too, as it’s a cream color with real green shutters.

The other four houses are all two story standard farm houses, but still impressive to Moira.

Liam pulls the truck up to the front of the main house, and as he does a group of people come walking out from every direction towards them. It’s enough to make Moira’s pulse race and feel like she is about to give a school presentation she isn’t ready for.

Then Liam puts the truck into park and turns it off, and he too takes a look out the windshield like he hasn’t seen the place in a while. She wonders briefly if that is true or not, but then just dismisses it; she needs to stop thinking about him.

Among the people, an older man swaggers over to the truck with a smile on his face. He resembles an older version of Liam with grey eyes and sandy blonde hair, though a little darker, but he holds darkness in him that Moira can pick up on easily.

The man, Marshal, stops at Liam’s door and taps on the window. This causes Liam to turn his face to his father. Moira can’t see Liam except for his profile, but she does see Marshall’s smile dim and then he turns to her and the others in the back. His eyes rack across them all, and then finally rest on her.

Their eyes meet and she picks up on the cinnamon scent she associates with Liam, but she realizes that it’s slightly different. Whereas Liam is all cinnamon spice resembling a pastry, this scent is spicy sweet with a hint of another spice she can’t quite put a name to; sage comes to mind though.

That’s when she thinks that maybe it’s coming for Marshall, and when his eyes flash obsidian through his grey eyes, this confirms it. They return to completely grey and the scent vanishes, and he suddenly smiles at her as if nothing just happened.

He taps on the window again, and Liam lets out a heavy heart sick sigh, and opens the door without saying anything to them or her. The others hesitate, but then curiosity gets the better of them, and they get out too. Moira is alone in the truck now, and watches as her friends exchange acquaintances with the crowd of people that are gathering.

Even Raven, who has been healing slowly, so she is still somewhat hurt. They seem to be in better spirits though, she finds and it only makes her feel alone and a little lost. It makes her miss Marty, he has been good at being there to steady her.

She makes a vow then, that no matter what happens, she will get him back; and nothing will stand in her way.

She reaches for her door and pushes it open before she changes her mind about getting out, and every head turns her way.

This sends a blush through her body, and she forces to keep her head up high and not to shy away from their probing stares. Climbing out of the truck and taking that first step towards everyone, she has a weird thought.

She may not be Red Riding Hood by any means, but she has a feeling that the wolves have got her now.

***

Adirondack Mountains

Peter Fletcher is sitting at his desk in his office and is very upset. He just received word that the lead in North Dakota fell through and Moira hasn’t been caught. He was so close to having her back, and yet she manages to slip from his grasp.

This makes him fill up with a rage, he hasn’t felt in years. In a dramatic move, he tosses around the files on his desk in a fit. He stops his incised movements when something catches his eyes. It’s a medical report file, and it’s on Moira’s cellular growth regeneration. With a smile, he lifts it up in his hands for a better look.

He realizes suddenly while reading it over that his serum has actually paid off.

After all his testing and administering different dosses those years ago, they have finally worked. Now he has even more reason to want his little darling Moira to come home. The he has a thought, and wonders if she has noticed any changes yet.

He is grinning into the paper when his office door opens. It’s Dixon Hetch, and he also looks pleased with something.

“What is it General?” Peter asks distractedly.

“I just got word from the White House.”

Peter lowers the paper to look at Dixon, who is now smirking. He is filled with excitement now, and can almost guess before the man finishes telling him.

“The MBS Rights Bill is being put to a standstill until the fugitives are caught.”

Peter is grinning from ear to ear now, and thinks at least something good has come from all of this lately. He now has mixed emotions about the ‘fugitives’ being caught, but knows too that he can work out a way to have them both.

One thing is for sure, Moira just might be the one to come crawling back to him, rather than him going for her. He would if he was in her position, if strange things were happening for no reason.

And he knows things must be happening, the reports don’t lie about blood work; if they haven’t then they will.

He sits back in his chair with a laugh and shakes his head.

Chapter Twenty

Struggling against the restraints that hold him tightly to something that feels like a cold metal pipe; Marty still can’t get any traction with them. It’s been this way since he woke up, to the darkness of a blindfold wrapped across his eyes. The one thing that keeps him tugging at the ropes, which are biting into his flesh with a stinging pain, is that he has no memory of being knocked out and taken somewhere.

Beside the slight headache, he is almost positive he was taken too; there might be some tension between him and Moira, but he doubts she would tie him up.