The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (54 page)

That was the pain Ithaca had
warned him about before he took the element. But
pain
had been such an
inaccurate word to describe him in that moment. Even if she had
used a word more meaningful, it wouldn’t have captured an ounce of
what he was feeling. Physically he was broken beyond repair.
Emotionally, he was lost in a place that didn’t exist.

“
Ace.”

When the voice came to him, it shattered
every fiber that had concealed him. Instantly the overwhelming
darkness that had chained him into isolation was broken. He awoke
with the sudden relief as if nothing had ever been taken from him.
He was alive and he knew who he was. Mason Diachi. He remembered it
all, even the things he had forgotten. Even the voice that called
is name and ended his suffocation was familiar.

Ace sat up knowing full well that he was in a
cave on an island. He remembered everything; including the memory
of the man who called his name. But he was supposed to be dead.

Ace turned his head slowly. As he panned the
empty cave, his vision finally came into collision with a familiar
man standing in the darkest part of the cave.

“
Shadow?” Ace called out in
a quiver as he blinked multiple times to make sure what he was
seeing wasn’t a mirage.

It would have been a lie to say that he
looked exactly the same as the last time Ace had seen him. His
entire ambiance was still the same; dark, fare skinned and tall
enough to knock his head on a doorframe. As Ace stared at him,
Shadow hid his long white fingers in the dark denim of his skinny
jeans. His pitch black hair flung carelessly to the side and fell
over his forehead so that it skimmed his brow. A brow that had once
been pierced. The gauges in his ears were now closed up as if they
had never been touched. His black eyes seemed so gentle without the
ring of liner around them…

“
Shadow?” Ace called once
more. It was still a struggle to wrap his mind around what he was
seeing. “I thought you were…”

Shadow smiled. It was a smile that lit up his
entire face and brought out the dimple in his smooth cheek. “You
thought I was dead? Well, aren’t you in for a mindblower, then! Are
you ready?” Shadow cleared his throat and leaned in toward Ace
without leaving the darkness of the cave wall. His voice fell into
a soft whisper and he continued to smile at Ace as he said, “You
see Ace, I’ve never really been alive. My name is Shadow. And
that’s exactly what I am.”

Ace stared at him in bewilderment. “How…?” He
was dreaming. That must be the case. There is no other way he could
be speaking to or listening to his dead friend.

“
No questions!” Shadow
exclaimed holding up a finger to silence Ace. “We haven’t got time.
Lee needs you.”

Ace’s eyes widened at the sound of her name.
His heart longed to hold her as he remembered what had happened
earlier that morning. “Where is she-?” When Ace looked back at the
dark cave wall, Shadow was gone as the last of Ace’s voice calling
out to him faded into a faint echo inside the cave.

Ace staggered to his feet, not noticing how
weak he was until he stumbled out the cave. When he cast his eyes
up into the sky, he was amazed to see that the sun had only fallen
a few inches back to the horizon. Either the element had worked on
him quicker than Ithaca had anticipated or he had been unconscious
for over a day. Consuming the element had taken a lot out of him.
But even though he had just had a conversation with a dead man, and
had is memories restored, the only thing on his mind was Lee. With
whatever ounce of strength he had left, Ace willed himself off the
island.

As the world spun around him, Ace felt as if
a force had sucked all the air from his lungs. When he handed back
down in the Stelter penthouse, his weak knees sent him face down on
the carpet. A tunnel was beginning to swim around his vision as the
carpet scratched his cheek with each of his desperate breaths. Ace
wasn’t sure what room he landed in, or if he was able to muster the
energy to get him where he wanted. Either way, he knew he couldn’t
stand up without a lung full of air.

It was times like these Ace was grateful to
be a supernatural. With a single breath, he knew he was laying on
Lee’s bedroom floor. It smelt exactly like her; honey-lemon, soap,
and cotton. But with his single breath, Ace also picked up the
salty metallic scent of something else that belonged to her.
Instantly his eyes weren’t so foggy. When he craned his neck
upward, he was staring at the wall with an address written in her
blood.

A wave of fury ignited
within his core as his fists clenched beside him. He didn’t even
know where the location was. All he knew was that whoever
hurt
her was going to get
a taste of him.

Ithaca.
Of course. Who else would want to sabotage the
Stelters?

He read the address several times as his mind
went off wondering where Ithaca could be. That’s when he remembered
Ithaca’s cell phone was sitting in his front pocket. Furiously he
whipped it out and his rage built as he angrily tried to remember
how to find the contact list in the phone. It wasn’t hard to find
her name and when he called, Ithaca picked up on the second
ring.

“
Hello?” she answered
skeptically.

“
Ithaca, where is she?” Ace
growled through gritted teeth.

“
Oh, Mace! I had forgotten I
gave you this phone.” She said and Ace could almost see her wicked
smile. “How are you awake so early? You were only gone for about
three hours.”

“
Where is she Ithaca?” Ace
bellowed once more. His free hand had clenched into a fist so
tightly his nails were digging into his palms.

“
Ohh…” Ithaca groaned. This
time her tone wasn’t sarcastic or fierce as it usually was. For the
first time since Ace had met her, she seemed lost.

“
Well…” She began slowly,
“to be honest, I wasn’t planning on you waking up so soon. This
throws a wrench in my plan. Do you see what I mean?”

“
Ithaca,” Ace began again.
His voice had almost grown so cold he was nearly hissing at her.
“Where is Lee?”

The other end of the phone went silent for a
while. He knew she was thinking about something. She was probably
straining her thoughts for a plan B when finally Ace heard Ithaca
snap her fingers from the other end of the line.

“
Well, you see Ace,” Ithaca
began again. This time she was more confident in her speech. “I was
going to kill her-”

“
Ithaca
!” Ace hissed, his anger had now boiled into hot rage, “I
swear if you touch her-”

“
I won’t,” Ithaca
interrupted with the same amount of venom Ace had used in is words.
“as long as I have your allegiance.”

“
What?” Ace asked as his
brow went up involuntarily.

“
I need you Mason. I can’t
exactly move forward without you actually. I mean, I need a Diachi
to claim back the corporate throne and unfortunately I am not of
your blood.” Ithaca went on, “You see, I had hoped that after your
baby Stelter was out of the way, you would have nowhere to go but
to join me. But you see there’s an issue with that plan.” Ithaca
hesitated to make sure Ace was following. “I wouldn’t have your
loyalty and you wouldn’t have my trust. It occurred to me now that
instead of using the
love of your
life
against you… well technically I’d
still be using her against you. But instead of killing her so that
you would join me, I’ll make you a deal.”

Ace swallowed hard. So many thoughts ran
through his mind as he pressed the cell phone closer and closer to
his ear with each one of her words. “I’m listening.”

He could hear Ithaca’s victorious smile as
she said the next words, “I swear to you Mason Diachi that I will
let her go. I will not touch her. I will not touch her family. I
guarantee that I will have no involvement on any damage that may
come unto her from this moment… on one condition.”

Ace inhaled deeply. He hadn’t realized he had
been holding his breath his vision started to tunnel. “On the
condition that you have me.” He finished, “That you have my loyalty
and that you can trust me.”

“
Exactly.” Ithaca grinned.
“Do we have a deal Mason?”

It was now Ace’s turn to stop and think. No.
He wanted to say it. No, no, NO! But the word choked on the back of
his throat. How could he promise to be loyal to the woman that
ruined his life in more ways than one? How could he possibly sell
his soul to her so that she could only continue to peruse her
villainess ways? She was going to have Lee killed while he was
asleep in a forsaken cave. How low, how wicked, how all around evil
was this woman? That was just a taste of some of the criminal
things she was capable of. He could not pledge his life for her
disposal. There was no way. No.

“
Yes.” His voice cracked
after what seemed like an eternity of contemplating. His already
dry throat seemed to be growing rawer as a burning sensation rose
up to the back of his eyes. “Ithaca, if you let her go…” His voice
was cracking now and though his eyes were burning, he could not
shed a tear. “Then I promise you, you will never doubt my
allegiance.”

Only a moment of silence separated Ace’s
words from Ithaca’s vibrant cackle. “Oh goodness me. I am having
the greatest day of my life!”

“
I don’t care about you
Ithaca. Lee goes free this instant.”

“
Oh, poo, can’t I enjoy
myself for even a moment?” She frowned, “Fine, whatever. After I’m
done doing whatever it is that I’m doing here, I want you to meet
us at the airport. We’re going back to Tarrillian City.”

“
And Lee?” Ace
growled.

“
I’m telling one of my guys
to let her go right now.” Ithaca replied casually.

“
No.” Ace cut in.

Ithaca scoffed, “No? Well if you want her to
die, I can arrange that right now.”

“
You promised me Ithaca,”
Ace growled, “
I will
get her from you and I am going to take her somewhere safe.
Where is she?”

Ithaca chuckled once more, “What you don’t
trust me?”

Ace didn’t feel like pondering the extent of
Ithaca’s trustworthiness. “Where is she?” he spoke slowly and
coldly so for once Ithaca could take him seriously.

“
She’s with me.” Ithaca
replied a little surprised at the tone of Ace’s words. “I’m looking
at her right now. She’s got a little something over her mouth so
she can’t talk right now. You know it would be really inconvenient
for you to come get her. You don’t even know where we are and I’m
supposed to be putting on a show in… five minutes ago.”

Ace had had enough of her delaying. He had no
idea his voice was even capable of speaking with so much hatred,
but he managed to growl out his next words. “I will ask you one
last time Ithaca. Where is Lee?”

He could hear the rush of wind escape her
mouth from the other end of the phone as Ithaca sighed. “You know,
it kinda turns me on to hear you so cold.” She said before
repeating the address written on the wall in blood. “There’s a
chain of filming studios at the base of a valley outside Honolulu.
I’ll have August stand outside and keep an eye out for you. Is
there anything else I can do for you Mason?”

No, there was nothing more that Ace wanted.
The phone was back in his pocket in no time without a farewell
address to Ithaca. He wasn’t sure what valley Ithaca was talking
about, but if he kept looking, sooner or later he would find
it.

Once more the blood stained wall and smell of
honey-lemon was swirling around him as he willed himself off
Heleow. As the scene vanished before his eyes, there was only room
enough for one thought in his mind; saving Lee. If he dared to
think about the commitment he had just made with Ithaca, then he
would be doomed to imagine the pain it would cause Lee to know
about what he had done.

Chapter 14 A Love Without A Story

~Nothing had changed from the fancy hotel
room since Larissa vanished. The white sheets were still a rumpled
mess as well as the assortment of Cassie’s dirty laundry scattered
all over the un-vacuumed carpet. Even the curtains along the other
end of the room hung half open as if someone had been too lazy to
close them all the way. From where Larissa stood in the doorway,
the sliver of a bathroom light poked through the half open door
along with the stench of Cassie’s fried hair permanently stitched
into the bathroom odor.

As Larissa shut the door behind her, she
wondered if her friends had missed her at all. Had they even tried
to find her or did they care? Deep down, she was a little
disappointed to find that her hotel key still worked because maybe
if it didn’t, then that meant her friends had abandoned their
vacation to search for her.

There was only one reason why Larissa even
held onto her hotel key though she never wanted to come back. There
was nothing she wanted to keep because she knew that those
possessions would turn into the scars of her broken past simply
because they reminded her of what a life she could have had with
Ammon. That’s why she didn’t plan on bringing anything back. But
the only reason why she returned was to bid a last farewell. To
burry whatever future she could have had if she had never developed
the powers she never wanted.

Cassie’s pink headphones sprawled across the
carpeted floor and Larissa had to step over them if she wanted to
take a seat on the only somewhat clean surface in the room. It was
the bed she had slept in for only a few nights before Ammon
discovered what she really was. She remembered the nights with a
pillow over her head to block out Cassie’s off pitch singing and
the alerts coming from her phone. But at the same time, she had
strained her ears to hear Ammon’s soft voice from the other room.
At times it had been muffled, but other times she could hear him
say her name and a smile would spread across her lips because she
knew he was thinking about her.