Inamorato

by Keira Michelle Telford

  A looped recording begins to stream through speakers placed in all four corners of the net.

  Gunfire.

  Explosions.

  War cries.

  Chimera shrilling, huffing, rumbling, and whistling.

  Footsteps.

  “Familiarize yourself with it all,” Alex instructs them.

  The looped recording starts off low, and gradually increases in volume.

  The class is silent.

  Concentrating.

  Listening.

  All the while, Alex continues to wander through them, circling closer and closer to Ella. He’s drawn to her. All of a sudden, he stops behind her and slides his hands over her breasts. She gasps, but the sound of an explosion obscures it.

  Teasing her nipples with his fingers, he leans in close to her so that she can feel his breath upon her neck, and so that she’ll know by his shallow, irregular breathing how much he enjoys touching her.

  It’s all over as soon as she reaches for his crotch, though.

  He’d begun to get aroused as soon as he’d had the idea to touch her, and he wants her to feel him rigid and longing for contact, but he knows he can’t let it happen. He withdraws his hands and pulls away from her.

  He needs time to settle himself down.

  Sensing that the class is ready for more of a challenge, he begins firing off balls again. He fires them randomly, at random intervals, sometimes two at once.

  Red’s hearing is impeccable, and she never misses a ball.

  Most of the other Cadets fare less well, though some show a great deal of promise—including Ella.

  After almost an hour of this, they progress.

  One at a time, each Cadet is blindfolded while another Cadet tries to attack them with a foam mallet. As before, the first round is conducted in silence. Then, Alex plays the recording again.

  At the conclusion of the four-hour class, the Cadets are a combination of frustrated, exhausted, and determined to do better. They’re all hungry, and eager to get to the dining hall for lunch.

  As they pack up their things, Alex holds out an empty wire basket.

  “Anyone want to volunteer to help me clean this mess up?”

  Nobody does, so Ella assumes the job. As the rest of the Cadets disperse, Alex hands her the wire basket and sits back down on his bench.

  Ella upturns both palms. “I thought you wanted a helper, not a slave?”

  “When you’re the teacher, you can make the rules.” He lights up a cigarette. “Besides, I’ve been up all morning and I’m very stiff.”

  They look at each other, each struggling to remain straight-faced.

  Silence.

  A few seconds later, when the last Cadet has left the net, they give up trying to hold it in and they both burst out laughing. His muscles sore from spending so much time on his feet, Alex clutches his hip and leans back on the bench, trying to stretch out as much as possible.

  “You wanna know what I think?” Ella begins retrieving balls. “I think all this bed rest has spoiled you. I’m pretty sure some exercise would actually be good for your recovery.”

  “Are you volunteering to give me some physio?”

  “The chance would be a fine thing.” Looking around, making sure that nobody’s in view, she sets the basket down by the bench and kneels in front of him, resting one hand on his knee. “Excuse my reach.”

  Smiling wryly, she leans forward and reaches between his legs and under the bench to retrieve a ball. She dumps the ball in the basket, and then the hand on his knee begins to slide upward, gradually moving toward his crotch.

  He stops her. “Don’t. Not here.”

  “Oh, come on! That’s not fair. You got to touch me earlier.”

  “I couldn’t resist, but that was during class when nobody was likely to be wandering around campus. It was a calculated risk.”

  “Excuses, excuses. You’re not the only one with desires, you know.”

  Ella moves away from him and collects up the last of the balls.

  “I wish I could satisfy you,” he says at last. “Between this”—he points at his hip—“and that”—he points to the Academy building—“I feel completely impotent.”

  When she’s done gathering balls, Ella plunks the basket in the corner and sits beside him on the bench.

  “I’m not going to get bored, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Alex finds her hand on the bench between them and seeks her out with his fingers. Gently, he weaves his fingers between hers, touching her so lightly but so deeply.

  Silence.

  Then, “Has it been six months yet?”

  Ella laughs. “It’s been five days.”

  “Geez, is that all?”

  She turns to face him, their fingers still intertwined. “Do you really think we can do this? Given that we seem to find a way to commit little indiscretions every time we see each other.”

  He reaches out and tucks some stray hair behind her ear. “We have to.”

  “Are you sure? Isn’t there any way that we could … cheat?”

  When Alex looks at her, he imagines what it felt like the last time they were together. They’d spent the entire day and much of the night in bed, and by the end of it, she was confident about being in control.

  She’d ridden him in every way possible. She’d drained him, and left him exhausted, happy, and contented.

  He wants to feel that again.

  He wants to take the risk.

  “It’d have to be somewhere that we both frequent,” he relents. “Somewhere it could be expected that we’d cross paths. The right place, at the right time of day.”

  “Here at the Academy?”

  Alex shakes his head. “Security cameras.”

  “Not outside.”

  “Not behind the bike sheds either, but I’m not about to take you back there and screw you like some desperate, hormonal kid on prom night. I’m a grown man, not a Cadet, and I’m not going to treat you like that.”

  Ella throws her head back and grunts. “Ugh, this is impossible.”

  Alex strokes his hand across her arm. “Not impossible. Just complicated.”

  More silence.

  Then, Ella has a light bulb moment. “What about the Fringe District?”

  Alex pulls a face. “I’m not gonna have sex with you in the Fringe District.”

  “Why not?”

  “What do you want first: hepatitis A or B? That place is diseased. I wouldn’t take my shoes off out there, never mind my pants.”

  “Fine. So we won’t have sex, but we can still be alone, can’t we?”

  Alex works through the specifics. “The tag network is one dimensional out there. No matter if you’re on the ground floor or the top floor, the network just bunches all the platinums together as if they were in the same room.”

  “So you’re saying we can?” Ella begins to caress his fingers. “Because my unit and a bunch of the other guys are going out there tomorrow night. We’ll be at Kink Central. Do you wanna come? I’m sure it wouldn’t look suspicious. Plenty of other Hunters will be there. Otherwise, I won’t get to see you until Monday.”

  Alex nods. “Okay, you win.”

  “Good.” Ella checks her invisible watch. “Now I should go. I wanna grab something to eat before afternoon classes start.” As she prepares to leave the net, she points down at the wire basket. “Do you want me to do anything with your balls?”

  He opens his mouth to make a joke, but she sees it coming and walks away from him, shaking her head.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Health & Wellness

  Alex enters the pit fight room at Kink Central, limping, but without his crutch. The first thing he does is look for Ella, and he finds her arm wrestling with James Harkin.

  She’s surrounded by men.

  Hunters.

  Agents.

  Other Interns.

  Harkin wins the wrestle, and almost breaks her wrist in the process. He’s much stronger than
she is, and he was holding back until the very last second. While the other men around her encourage her to down shots to numb the pain, Harkin actually wants to try and help her.

  He takes her by the wrist and begins poking and flexing her.

  “It’s not broken,” he deduces, “but you need ice.”

  As he gets up to assist her, Alex intervenes.

  “I think you’ve done enough.” He glares at Harkin and places hand on Ella’s shoulder, claiming responsibility for her from this point on.

  Since his relegation to the third line, Harkin knows that Alex temporarily outranks him. Because of that, and because of the fact that Alex has always been a favorite of Maydevine’s, he doesn’t put up a fuss. He sits back down without a word, and lets Alex escort Ella into another room: the main bar.

  In here, Ella sidesteps a steaming pile of fresh vomit and almost bumps straight into a child. Sitting on the edge of a table, chewing gum, her arms folded, the girl glares at Ella. She looks as though she’s about fourteen or fifteen, and she’s wearing electric green contact lenses.

  There’s a metal collar around her neck.

  Number: 042957.

  She’s a Jade.

  A whore.

  An underage whore.

  They call it Kink Central for a reason. All kinks are accommodated, and sex with a minor is the least perverted of all the fetishes that the Fringe District has to offer.

  Sex with a Chimera.

  Sex with a girl pretending to be a Chimera, gray skin paint, dental implants and all. They call it petplay.

  Necrophilia.

  BDSM.

  Whatever you want, someone will offer it—for a price.

  Ella catches up to Alex at the bar. While they wait for service, he keeps her close. This room is filled with drunken perverts, and Alex isn’t about to let any of them get too near her. Protectively reaching his arm around her, he starts absently stroking her lower back. Finding a small gap between the hem of her Kevlar vest and the waistband of her pants, he sneaks his hand inside and lightly caresses her.

  She wonders if he even realizes he’s doing it.

  She inches closer to him.

  He doesn’t stop.

  “Why were you arm wrestling with a man who’s twice your size?” He looks down at her. “Didn’t it occur to you that you might get hurt?”

  “I thought I could take him.”

  Alex laughs. “You’re so deluded.”

  “I bet I could take you.”

  “Don’t make me prove you wrong.”

  The bartender finally acknowledges them. “What can I get for you?”

  “Do you have any ice?”

  “Huh?”

  “We need some ice.”

  “With what?”

  “With nothing. Just ice.”

  “Fuck off. I serve liquor, not rain.”

  Not in the mood to argue about it, Alex takes Ella by her good wrist and drags her toward the kitchen.

  “Hey!” the barman yells after them. “You can’t go in there!”

  Alex swings around and locks him in the glare of his dark brown eyes. “I’m a Hunter. I can go wherever the fuck I want.”

  The barman backs off without wasting another breath.

  In the kitchen, Ella hydroplanes through a large puddle of blood. She grabs hold of the edge of a massive sink to steady herself, and finds herself looking down upon a corpse.

  A human corpse.

  Obviously a Fringer, the corpse is underweight and filthy. His shirt’s been removed, and his chest is pale and blanched. His left wrist has been cut open post-mortem, and his black tag was taken. Whatever he died of, it had nothing to do with him being ripped.

  He’s lying on a bed of ice, and as Ella stares at him, a kitchen worker comes in with a bucket and dumps more ice on top of him.

  “We don’t want him to go off before dinner,” the kitchen worker explains.

  Ella’s repulsed by the facts, and by the man himself. He’s got the worst case of dental hygiene that she’s ever seen. He’s missing most of his teeth and his gums are bleeding. He smells like her belly button does after a long day on the line.

  She takes a step back and brushes up against Alex. Spinning to face him, she points at the corpse.

  “They’re going to eat him!”

  Alex doesn’t look surprised. “Of course they are. They don’t have anything else.”

  Without hesitating, he pulls off one of the dead man’s socks and fills it with ice cubes. He ties up the end of it, then offers it to Ella.

  She doesn’t take it.

  “Gross.”

  He dangles it in front of her. “You need to ice your wrist before it starts to swell.”

  “This is vile.” She snatches the sock from him.

  “No shit, this is the Fringe District. And you wanted us to have sex here.” He lowers his voice as if someone might hear him.

  “I’ve suitably reduced my expectations, okay? I do still have a little surprise for you, though.” She leans in and kisses him on the cheek. “Meet me on the roof in ten minutes, and bring beer.”

  He does as he’s told.

  Right down to the minute.

  When he gets to the roof, he finds a romantic gesture waiting for him. Ella’s laid out a picnic blanket and pillows, and she’s kneeling there expectantly. Alex hands her one of the beers and she invites him to sit with her.

  “Once I get down, I may never get back up.” He lowers himself slowly onto the blanket, groaning as his hip protests.

  “You’re not using the crutch anymore. Does that mean you’re getting better?”

  “It means I don’t want to look weak.”

  “People know that you’re hurt, Alex. They don’t expect you to be on top form.”

  His cell phone beeps.

  A message from the Academy.

  REMINDER:

  END-OF-TERM EVALUATIONS.

  DUE 21/12.

  Alex pockets it.

  “What are you going to say about me?” Ella wonders.

  “I can’t tell you what I’m going to write on your report card.”

  “Why not?”

  “Come on, El. This is precisely the reason why they don’t want any teachers sleeping with their students.”

  “I’ve performed well this semester, though. Right?”

  “I haven’t had you for that long, but I can definitely say that your performance to date has been exemplary.” His eyes twinkle wickedly. “I won’t fault any aspect of your conduct at all.”

  “Are you going to fail anyone?”

  “I’m tempted.”

  “Who?”

  “We can’t talk about this.”

  “Don’t fail Luka just because you don’t like him.”

  “Why not?” Alex takes a sip of his beer. “He’s transferring anyway.”

  “You give him such a hard time in class.”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  Ella nibbles playfully on his earlobe. “Are you still jealous of him?”

  “He flirts with you.”

  “So do a lot of boys.”

  “But they haven’t been in your bed.”

  Silence.

  Ella leans on her elbow, looking at him. “You don’t think I’d actually fuck him do you?”

  Alex says nothing.

  “Alex …” She rolls her eyes. “When are you going to start believing that I’m yours?”

  “When I can call you my wife.” He looks over at her. “Does that scare you?”

  “Should it?”

  “Sometimes I forget how young you are, and I wouldn’t be offended if you thought it was too soon for me to—”

  “I’m not an idiot, Alex. I know what’s expected of us. That’s why I was so fucking hurt when I thought you’d turned your back on me. I didn’t feel like I’d just lost a lover, I felt like my whole damn future was gone.”

  Alex’s heart aches to be with her properly. He sets aside his beer and lies down with her on the b
lanket. Holding her against him, he wraps his arm around her shoulders and encourages her to nestle into him.

  After a while, “Was Maydevine really in love with your mother?” he asks.

  Ella takes a long time to answer. “I think so. Why?”

  “Why didn’t they marry?”

  “I think he wanted to, he just … it was complicated. She was already married to J.C..” She snuggles closer to him. “What about you? What happened to your parents?”

  When Alex finally answers, his whole tone changes.

  “They were banished. You already know that.”

  “Do you ever see them?”

  “No, of course not. Why?”

  “Don’t you want to?”

  “They’re banished, El.”

  “So? They’re not dead.”

  “They are to me.”

  Silence.

  Ella can tell that he’d much rather end this conversation, but she wants to know more. Especially after her recent encounter with Mrs. King.

  “What did they do? I mean, why were they banished?”

  “My mother was a thief.”

  “And your father?”

  “He was worse, and if I ever see him again, I’ll kill him.” He locks eyes with her. “Don’t ever ask me about my parents again, okay? They’re no more a part of my life than J.C. is a part of yours.”

  “They’re your blood.”

  “Don’t, Ella.” He turns away from her. “Don’t try to humanize them. They’re nothing to me.”

  More silence.

  Not prepared to let this little upset ruin their evening together, Ella quickly retraces her mental steps.

  “I’m not afraid to be your wife, Alex.” She swings herself onto him, straddling him. “I’d marry you tomorrow if I could. I’ll be the only family you’ll ever need.”

  To that, he reacts instinctively.

  He grabs her around the waist and flips her over, wanting to be on top of her. He spreads her legs and lies between them, kissing her. As he presses himself against her …

  Pop!

  His right hip almost gives out and he winces. Biting back a few choice curse words, he stops moving and makes Ella hold still beneath him.

  “Don’t move.” He prevents her from reaching out to him. “Don’t touch me.”