by Miranda Kavi
It pinned me against the wall, holding me in place with a cold hand around my neck. It squeezed hard, choking off my breath. I stared at the thing in front of me as it drained the life out of me. Where the face should be there was nothing but darkness, a swirling, moving, cluster of black matter. I tried to scream, but I couldn’t. I struggled violently, kicking like a mad woman. My head throbbed in pain.
My leg made contact with its body and its grip loosened. The thing made a strange clicking sound, originating somewhere where its face should be. The inhuman noise spurred my fear, and I clawed at its cold unsubstantial strange skin, gouging bloody holes.
One of the blockers pounced on it from behind, sending it to the floor in front of me. Once its grip was released from my throat, I sunk to the ground, gasping for air.
It fought back, throwing the blocker with super-human force out the broken front window.
Konstantin and Carmen jumped on top of it, struggling to keep it down. The third blocker jumped in, pinning it to the ground. It struggled, rapidly flickering like the ones I had seen in New Orleans. “Hurry. I can’t keep it from moving for long,” Carmen said.
I lunged forward, looking for the gun I had dropped, still gasping for breath. As I clamored on the floor in confusion, five steady shots exploded in near my ear. I looked up as my mom lowered her gun. She had delivered the shots precisely to the thing’s head, or at least the place where its head used to be. Gore was now splattered over her green couch, ivory wall, and me. Carmen, Konstantin, and the blocker were still pinning its now limp body down, but they were unharmed.
My mom pulled me off the ground. “Are you okay?” she said, her fingers probing the painful spot at the back of my head.
“I think so.” My voice was scratchy and weird.
She pressed my dropped gun into my hand. “Try and keep it with you this time, okay?”
“They’re coming!” Carmen shouted over the rain and wind now howling through the open window.
Three more hazy, dark figures filled the street, standing in the swirling wind and heavy rain. In perfect unison, they drifted up the length of the long driveway.
A pair of headlights pierced the darkness down the street. The car slammed to an abrupt stop in front of the house and a tall slim figure jumped out and started jogging up the driveway.
No!
He was running to the dark figures. He would encounter them in mere seconds, and they would kill him. “Gavyn!”
“Oh no,” Konstantin breathed.
I was out the door and zooming to Gavyn before anyone could stop me. I had to at least try to save him.
As I flew forward, the three figures flashed closer to me. I was, for the moment, a complete exposed target that caught their attention.
I was dead meat.
As Gavyn passed within their reach, they froze in their track and began backing away, all in different directions. Their unified movements were gone, their flickering movements muted.
Gavyn reached me. “Aurora,” he whispered. He wrapped his arms around me. An ocean of emotion ran through me when his voice reached my ears and his flesh touched mine. He was here, holding me, but we were going to die.
He pushed me behind him, holding his arms out to block me from them. He backed us up, until we were near the house.
One was moving in erratic, slow, pace down the street. One was standing near the garage, staring dumbly at the wall, the other was still advancing. It flashed and was suddenly within arms reach of me. Gavyn tackled it, pushing it up against the wall.
It threw Gavyn off, sending him alarmingly high into the air and out of my field of vision. Before I could even look to see where he was, it had me pinned to the ground, its strange clicking noises drowning out all the noises around me. Its cold hand pushed into my chest, sinking suddenly unsubstantial fingers into my body.
Freezing cold rushed though me, slowing my heart beat. So this is how they kill.
No! I gasped. I struggled wildly, trying to gain the slightest inch of wiggle room.
The other Shyama snapped out of their reverie, moving toward me faster than anything should be able to travel.
I brought my knee up, driving my leg into it with all strength in my body. It was momentarily stunned, releasing its grip enough for me to free my hand. I shoved the gun into the swirling mass of its face and pulled the trigger. Guts exploded all over, filling my mouth with blood. I pushed it off me, coughing as I struggled to stand, searching for Gavyn.
Gavyn was crumpled on the edge of the lawn in a too-still heap, one arm splayed out to the side.
My mom was running toward me, screaming my name. The blockers were following her as the remaining two Shyama closed in.
Konstantin and Carmen poured out of the house. The lawn became a loud haze of rain, thunder, lightening, and flashes of gunfire and glint of knives.
I stumbled to my feet. “Get back in the house!” I screamed at my mom.
“I’ll help you get Gavyn!” she yelled over the battle.
The Shyama flashed and re-apparated all over the lawn in a dizzying display of speed. Carmen crumpled to the ground, clutching her shoulder as blood poured from it. She scooted on her butt into the open front door, pain written across her face.
I shared a glance with my mom. We ran to Gavyn across the spinning vortex of shadow and flesh. One of the Shyama tried to tackle us, but I pushed it off, sending it tumbling into Konstantin. He grabbed its arms while on of the blockers hacked its neck with the meanest looking axe I have ever seen, decapitating it in three powerful swings.
“Carmen, she’s hurt,” I told Konstantin.
“I know. Go to Gavyn. Hurry,” Konstantin panted. “We can handle the other one.”
I ran to Gavyn, my mom not far behind me, covering me with her gun.
“Gavyn!” My knees sank into the mud and grass.
“Aurora.” His eyes fluttered opened. He grunted and crunched his abs, trying to sit up.
“Slowly,” my mom said, gun still raised. She eyed the battle. The blockers had successfully overpowered the remaining Shyama and forced it into the side door of her garage, out of public view. She reluctantly holstered her gun before crouching next to him.
“Does your neck hurt? Can you feel your toes?” she asked him.
“I’m okay. I was unconscious for a minute, I think.” He carefully unfolded his body until he was standing. “I’m fine, actually.”
He stood in front of us, a tiny smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.
He’s okay. He’s here.
The world started to spin. Black encroached on the corners of my vision.
“She’s passing out,” my mother said, but her voice was muted. I couldn’t hear much over the roar in my ears.
Gavyn’s strong arms wrapped around me. “Careful, don’t hurt yourself,” my mom said.
I wanted to protest, to tell him to rest and not to carry me, but my lips could not form the words.
Gavyn carried me back into the house through the open front door, past the shocked eyes of my mom who held it open for us. We were both soaked from the heavy rain. He gently lowered me to the floor.
He kneeled next to me, pulling my face closer to his. “I’ve been looking for you for months. We’re supposed to be together. I’m supposed to protect you. I can feel it. Aurora, please. We need to be together.” He pulled me closer to him. “Thank God you’re okay. I can’t live without you. Please, don’t leave like that again.”
He pulled me into a seated position. “Please say something. Please tell me you’re okay.”
“Are you really here? Are you really okay?” I whispered.
A huge smile broke out on his face. “Yes. I’m here and I’m fine.”
A soft cough brought us out of reverie. I had forgotten about all the other people in the room, the broken window, the storm, and even the incapacitated Shyama. Gavyn was all I could see. I stood on shaky legs.
Konstantin came in through the door. “Neutralized rather q
uickly. Gavyn saved us.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“The handler bond,” Carmen said. She was leaned up against the couch while my mom bandaged her arm. “Gavyn.”
“Handler?” Gavyn echoed. “What the heck is going on? Does this have something to do your flying thing?”
Konstantin spoke. “We have a lot to explain to you, but yes, you’re instincts have led you here today for a reason.”
Konstantin’s cell phone rang, startling everyone. He flicked it open and turned away, muttering into it.
He came back and slung his arm around Carmen’s shoulders. “Dennis and the crew are down the street. We’re going to move this operation into the garage.”
“Excuse us.” Gavyn grabbed my arm and led me away from the living room, into the first open door he could find. He shut the guest room door behind us, spun me around, and put his hand on my face. His finger traced around my rain soaked forehead, nose, and lips “Are you okay? I can’t believe I’m looking at you right now. I thought I’d lost you forever.”
“What are you doing here?”
He rested his palm against my cheek. “What am I doing here? I’ve been searching for you ever since you ran away. I tried calling you, I tracked down your old friends in San Antonio, but nobody knew where you were. Did you think I didn’t want to be with you anymore? That I could walk away from the best thing that ever came into my life?”
“I thought you were afraid. I was trying to protect you,” I said. “What about Mira? I saw your picture.”
“Oh my,” he said with a low chuckle. “You, of all people, should know how the paparazzi are. I went to lunch with her and her fiancé. I gave her a hug as we were leaving and they snapped a shot, cropped her fiancé out, and called us an item.” He pulled me even closer. “It’s you, Aurora. It’s always been you.”
I wiped a stupid stray tear off my face. While my arm was raised, he pushed up my sleeve further so he could look at the bracelet. “You never took this off?”
I blushed and nodded as I looked the now tattered bracelet.
He put the tip of his finger on my chin and brought it up so I met his eyes. “Does that mean you still love me?”
“I love you,” I whispered, but my words trailed off and my thoughts were instantly dissolved as his warm lips crushed mine.
We stood there for a long time.
Chapter 20
I took his offered hand, using his arm as an anchor so I could pull myself out of the limo. I sucked in my stomach, awkwardly standing up in my tight dress and ridiculous stilettos.
I wore about ten pounds of makeup, hair extensions, a padded push-up bra and a tight corset carefully arranged around the plunging neckline of my plum colored gown.
I looked hot.
The flashes of light started going off as soon as we emerged. I pasted a smile on my face, though I’m not even sure why I bothered. It was all for him.
Him.
He was mine. I glanced over at his perfect face illuminated in the flash of the cameras.
He still took my breath away. “Thanks for doing this.” He spoke through clenched teeth, his smile frozen for the benefit of the cameras recording our every move, anxiously waiting for him to walk down the red carpet.
He leaned close to me, placing his lips against my ear. “You know, if I had it my way, I would have removed that silly, silly dress in the limo. You look amazing, my love.”
I giggled, momentarily forgetting the audience. “Thanks.” My already shaky knees wobbled as he raised his eyebrows and smiled in a way he only did for me.
A piercing, high-pitched voice ruined our moment. His talented but evil publicist crawled out the limo right behind us, all business in her simple black cocktail dress and ever present smart phone. She tucked a graying strand of hair behind her ear. “Okay, kids. Stop screwing around. Walk arm in arm down the carpet, but when he talks to the media, take five steps back, out of the shot. Got it?”
“No. I didn’t get it the first twenty times you told me.”
She threw me a nasty look.
She was very irritated at my presence, well, my existence in general. She had pleaded with Gavyn to keep our relationship a secret from his rabid female fans, but he stubbornly refused. She had asked if he would at least feign in an interest in a Hollywood figure, which he also refused. She was stuck with me.
When she found out I was attending the premiere of Blue Leaf, she had sent a personal shopper to find me a nice designer dress, shoes, handbag and what she called “foundational” garments to correct the areas of my figure she thought were not up to snuff. She then presented me to an overpriced hair stylist to wrangle my long hair.
After all the primping, I understood why movie stars were so hot. Somewhere underneath the foundation, false eyelashes, hair extensions, body shapers, push-up bras, double sided tape, spray-on tan and a five-thousand dollar vintage designer gown, I looked perfect. Almost too perfect, like an airbrushed, vamped up version of myself.
“You ready?” His musical voice was in my ear again. “Just ignore her. You’re with me.”
“As I ready as I’m ever going to be.” Lights danced around my vision from the constant flash of the cameras. I hooked my arm through his as we started down the carpet.
The red carpet ran the length in front of the theatre. One side of the carpet abutted against the outside wall of the theatre, which was plastered with promotional movie posters. The other side was a velvet rope holding back a crushing group of eager cameramen, photographers, and screaming fans.
Reporters leaned over the rope, shouting to grab Gavyn’s attention. Voices piled on top of each other with requests for him to look at them for their picture, while various reporters waived microphones wildly trying to get his attention.
His publicist scanned the sea of photographers with narrowed eyes. She motioned him over to a national entertainment show host who was waving him over. “Go, talk to her. Keep it light.”
I unwound my arm from Gavyn’s and hung back with his publicist. Troy stood twenty feet away, laughing his big laugh and smiling and waving at all his fans. His easy personality and sunny disposition were perfectly suited for fame.
He spotted me and strode over with a bright smile. Ignoring the press, he pulled me into a big hug. “Hey, Texas! Hot Damn. You look sexy! Gavyn is one lucky man.”
“You look pretty darn good yourself.” I pulled away to arms length so I could check him out in his tux.
He put his arm around me and faced the cameras, who were constantly flashing during our exchange. “Smile! You’re on camera!”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Seriously though, I’m glad you’re back in his life. Those months you were gone he was miserable. And, well you know I missed you too.”
“I missed you too.”
Gavyn appeared at my elbow. “Hey, man, are you trying to steal my date?”
Troy laughed and they embraced with some manly back pounding. The photographers went crazy. The evil publicist hissed at me. “Five steps.” I tried not to roll my eyes as I stepped out of the shot.
Gavyn returned to fetch me later, keeping firmly by my side for the rest of his interviews. Per the publicist’s instructions whispered into my ear, I did not say a word.
Twenty-five excruciating minutes later, we were seated and watching the movie. I spent most of the movie watching the lights dance across Gavyn’s perfect face. I was thrilled to notice he spent most of the movie watching me too.
Life had been good since I moved to Los Angeles.
I had settled into Gavyn’s awesome townhome in the hills over the past few weeks. It was modest and tucked away safety behind gates, so he didn’t have paparazzi bothering him. I loved the huge canopy bed, the large deck and the gleaming marble counters. I often found myself wandering around the cool wood floors staring at the vaulted ceilings, the chandelier, the built in Jacuzzi, and the surrounding Hollywood hills out the window. I still couldn’t believe I lived th
ere.
Living with Gavyn was easy. Really easy. First of all, he still knocked my socks off every time I saw him. After the several months of not seeing each other after my exposure, we appreciated our alone time together. A lot.
Gavyn nudged me, startling me out of my reverie. “You ready?”
“Um, that’s it? We walk down a red carpet, look pretty, then we’re done?” I took his offered arm as we filed out of the theatre.
He chuckled. “Not so fast. We have to go the release after-party. There will be another red carpet there, plus press inside. You’re stuck with me for a few more hours.”
“Oy.” My feet were killing me and I could feel the weight of the makeup on my face. The only thing I wanted to do was take a long shower and wash off my makeup, and change into some comfortable jeans and flip-flops. “Please tell me there is at least going to be alcohol, preferably free, and preferably strong.”
His publicist’s shrill voice answered me. Where did she even come from? “Yes. But you may not have more than two drinks. Try not to act like a total lush.”
I spent the next three hours following Gavyn around the release party. Despite his publicist’s warnings, I took four tequila shots. I would have preferred beer, but I was afraid to drink that much volume for fear I would explode out of my dress, and not in the sexy wardrobe malfunction way.
By the time it was 11:00, I was teetering around in my silly stilettos, flushed deep red, and giggling too much.
Gavyn guided me to the back door. “Okay, love, let’s go. You look a little too cheery.”
I said nothing, but thought my hiccup in response sufficed as a yes.
I sobered up by the time we returned home. I went into the bathroom and removed the bobby pins. My brown hair tumbled around my elbows, grazing the middle of my back. I took a long hot shower, scrubbing until I could no longer feel the cake of makeup on my face.
When I got out, I changed into shorts and tank top. I glanced in the mirror. It wasn’t as pretty as the red-carpet version of me, but it was me.
“Welcome back.” Gavyn came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Sorry your glamazon is gone.”
