Gravity

by Amanda Miga

  ***

  Gabriel

  I'm glad the club isn't as crowded as the other night. There's room to move which gives me the confidence to focus on keeping my aura in check. Most of the people are hovering by the bar until the live music starts, making it easier to scope out the area for Grey.

  "I got nothing." Dash makes his way to Alex from searching the other side of the club. "I asked the bartender, he said he left hours ago. It'll be hours until he gets back. He said he's usually out all night."

  "Out all night?" Violet perks up hearing the information about Grey.

  Alex rubs his necks. "You don't think he would slip pass us, right?"

  "The trail I saw outside was old." I watch Violet when I know I should be watching for Grey. She's anxiously scanning the room again. I wonder why such a guy would leave her all by herself in the Sanctuary. She seems so worried about him. It must be nice to be missed by someone.

  "Let’s give it a once over again. We'll split up." Alex says as Violet starts walking away.

  "Follow her." Alex says to me. I'm astonished he trusts me that much.

  We walk the perimeter of the club. I don't even think she's notices I'm trailing her. She stares up at the staircase leading up the second floor. She touches the railing.

  "Violet!" I reach out to her arm and retract before I touch her. "Violet, we can't just leave." I look back at Alex and Dash who also part ways.

  "You see that?" Her eyes are affixed at top of the staircase. "Gabriel, do you see?"

  I shift to my auric sight. A dulled silver mist floats up the stairs. "Grey."

  Violet's eyes light up and she darts up the steps.

  "We can't just go without—"

  "I have to see him, Gabriel." She says as she jogs up the stairs. "Please understand. I can't wait another minute. You can go tell the others, I don't care."

  I look to where Dash was, but I can't see anyone with glasses. The lights have dimmed for a band to play. The crowd at the bar begins to spread across the floor, making it even harder to spot Alex and Dash. Shit. I clutch the banister. "I'm coming with you."

  She's already nearing the top of the stairs. I follow her up. The live music begins to vibrate under foot. Alex is going to be pissed and everything seems more dangerous without Dash by my side. They'll worry about Violet for sure. I never needed a cell phone. I wish at this moment I had one.

  I follow closely behind her down a narrow corridor. I concentrate to see the silver auric trail end at a particular door. It doesn't feel right.

  "Violet, what if Alex is right?" My stomach feels sick.

  It's seems she didn't hear me. She clutches the door knob and hesitantly raises her fist to knock. She had to have heard me. She's ignoring me. She knocks and the sound makes my body stiffen. Should I run and get Alex and Dash? What if he's inside?

  "I guess he's not here." She says disappointingly.

  A sigh of relief escapes my mouth. I don't have to defend her from her crazy ex-boyfriend. An adult telepathic Hybrid living above a bar is probably a scary guy; more threatening than Eric Anderson. I think Dash said he has tattoos too. I'd definitely get crushed.

  "How are we supposed to get in?"

  She's probably regretting leaving Alex who would just break the door. Dash would probably take a part the whole damn handle. I reach in my pocket and whip out my lock picking tools.

  "There were times when I needed shelter when the weather was bad." Gabriel says softly. "I never thought I'd have to use them again."

  "Hopefully this will be the last," she smiles. "Thank you."

  It takes a few seconds before the distinct clicking sound tells me the door is unlocked. Violet pushes it open to a small dark room. We step inside.

  Scarlet dust hovers in the air like a thin mist. The origin of the trail seems to be coming from the corner of the room. "Um... Violet?" She's not listening. She's heading straight to the dark corner where the red aura emanates.

  The sound of metal on metal squeaking echoes through the room. "Caw! Caw! Caw!" The bird doesn't sound right. The call sounds stressed. It makes me want to cover my ears. I feel the wall and find the light switch.

  There he is; a large crow crammed in a small swinging birdcage. I recognize him. His kaleidoscope eyes shine brightly while his weak aura pulses like a dimming light bulb. His feathers are ruffled. He looks like he has a broken leg dangling between the cage bars. Blood drips off the edge collecting in a small red puddle beneath it.

  Violet whimpers.

  "Red?" She approaches frantically. The crow squawks sounds like it's crying out like baby birds do when they've fallen out of their nest. They make those horrible sounds because they know they're going to die.

  My backside alerts me; someone is too close. Before I can turn around, a painful knock to my head makes my vision light up like a camera flash. My body hits the floor with Violet's scream ringing in his ears.

  ***

  Violet

  A tattooed arm locks across my neck and a hand muffles my mouth. His body closes in from behind. A familiar chill creeps slowly up my spine. Grey is strong and his grip tightens as I try to push away. My body gives way to the floor as my energy is stolen from me. I'm a doll in his arms once again.

  Grey sniffs my hair and my neck.

  My eyes focus to see him. "Grey..." I say weakly.

  He lets go and my body collapses to the floor.

  "Your little friend here looks an awful lot like Red." Grey's black boot kicks Gabriel's leg, but he's knocked out.

  Red squawking is deafening. The metal squeaking is torture to my ears.

  "Shut the fuck up!" Grey hits the cage. It swings from its chain. "I've tried killing him." He kneels beside me. His face looks worn and foreign eyes are as cold as granite. He's the Grey that tried to hurt me once. He was so angry with me for kissing Red, he almost violated me. Now he's furious. Now, he knows that I love Red. There's no denying it.

  "I tried setting him on fire, tried ripping his wings off, I shot him, stabbed him hoping he'd bleed to death, but he just won't die." He sneers. Those toxic eyes look so unfamiliar, so insane. His menacing smile waits for me to respond. I cover my mouth at the sight of Red reduced to an injured animal. All this time he was here, in that cage. The thought of Red enduring the agony of all those things makes me furious enough to stand up. I hold my shivering body up by leaning against the wall. Grey took so much energy from me I can barely stand on my own.

  "Oh, tough now, are we?" He snickers. "Don't worry about him. He's caused more pain to me then you will ever know." He snatches my arms with his icy hands and placing them at my sides. I try to clench my fists and pull back, but I'm starting numb. He pulls me from the wall and throws my down on his bed.

  Red squawks and the cage swings.

  "Fuck you!" Grey throws a book at the cage. What is Red saying? He gives Red another stare and Red stops his noise. There's no telling what this Grey will do.

  He climbs on top of me. His noxious stare corrupts my will. Great satisfaction curling his lips as his cold energy spreads across my body, sweeping my skin just like the he did on his bedroom floor.

  "How old are you now?" He examines my face. "You're not so young anymore." His smile grows deviously from ear to ear. The crow in the cage is making an awful lot of noise.

  "Why did you do this to Red?" I whimper.

  "He ripped my heart out." His forehead wrinkles.

  "He saved your life. He's given you everything."

  "Only to take it away." He growls.

  "This isn't like you. Where's the Grey I know and love?"

  "He's fucking gone. Don't you get it?" He caresses my cheek with his icy finger. "Who you were in love with died when you chose him. If you even were in love with me."

  "I still love my Grey."

  With those words, the darkness recedes from his face like a fog lifting. Clear gray eyes gaze back at me. His silver aura shimmers without anything clouding it. For a moment, he's here with me—my best frien
d; my lover; my Grey. I smile. It's been so long since I've seen his face. I've dreamt of him every night since he left.

  "You still love me?" His gray eyes tear and the corners of his mouth twitches.

  "Get off her you son of a bitch!" Grey is pulled off of me. Alex stands at the foot of the bed looking down at him. His murky aura returns quickly.

  Grey tackles his legs and Alex hits the floor hard.

  "Stop fighting!" I try to prop my weakened body up.

  Dash is helping Gabriel to his feet. They back away from Grey and Alex rolling around on the floor.

  "Red!" I point to the squawking crow. Dash nods. Gabriel starts picking the lock. His hands are trembling so much he keeps dropping the pins.

  Grey straddles Alex with his hands firmly around his neck. "Grey, no!" Violet shouts. "Stop it! You'll kill him."

  "That's the idea." Grey grinds his teeth.

  This can't be happening. This isn't Grey. My Grey isn't a killer, but there he is, with his hands wrapped around Alex's neck. Red is nearly dead. Alex was right—he dangerous. It's strenuous to inches to the edge of the bed. It feels like my muscles are still asleep. How am I going to stop him? Tears blur my vision. "Grey, please!"

  Dash takes a wooden chair and swings it hard over Grey's back. I feel the pain twinge on my spine. His hands loosen from around Alex's neck. Alex gasps for air.

  Grey rises off Alex and stands before Dash.

  "Grey, stop!"

  My plead falls on deaf ears. Grey's fist plunges into Dash's stomach, sending him the floor.

  I clench the bed sheets as he eyes Gabriel trying to pick the lock. His trembling hands drop the pins to the floor when Grey takes the broken chair leg as a weapon.

  The feeling of the floor is nonexistent beneath my feet, only pins and needle sensations tingle throughout my body. There's no way I can stop him. There's nothing I can do except for beg. I feel so powerless.

  "Grey, he's my friend." My out stretched hand reaches for him. I can't imagine what he'll do to Gabriel's thin body. "Please, please, don't hurt him."

  "Your friend?" Grey raises an eye brow. "They just want to take you away from me like Red did. I don't think you can have friends like these." Grey aims the chair leg at Gabriel. "This one here is about to piss his pants."

  Gabriel backs away like a frightened animal. What have I gotten us into? Why did Red want these poor boys to face Grey?

  "They are my friends." I shiver in desperation.

  "Red used to be your friend." Grey approaches me. It's a relief he's not near Gabriel but I'm anxious he'll flip again. His knuckles turning white from gripping the chair leg so tightly. "He's not your friend now is he?"

  I look pass Grey. Alex and Dash are still on the floor. Gabriel is cowering in the corner. Red is squawking so loudly I wonder what he is saying.

  "Answer me!"

  My body shakes with his shouting.

  "Say it!"

  I rise off the bed. If I could just look him in the eyes and reconnect with him again, my Grey will understand. My Grey never forgot I still love him too.

  "I love him....but I love you too."

  He shakes his head in disbelief. "You can't love both of us." Grey pushes me into the wall. "There isn't room for both." His hand slips under my shirt and press over my beast. His fingers dig into my flesh.

  "Grey, it hurts." My hand covers his.

  "Not as much as you hurt me. You know what it's like to know, feel, see the one you love loves another? How much they love each other?" His teeth grind. "How long you've loved each other—it haunts more than anything."

  His eyes are too painful to look at. I can't turn away from them, they tell the truth. Red has been in my life for a long time and we share a deep love for one another. I love Red, but it's also true that I love Grey. If he's hurting this much, I should be punished. It's my fault he's turned out this way. I've hurt a loved one and he's tortured Red and he's tortured himself, all this time because of me.

  "I'm sorry—" I gasp. It's hard to breathe." My chest tightens.

  "That's what it feels like—a broken heart." Grey applies more pressure. If he doesn't stop, my ribs will be crushed.

  An arm comes between us. A hand grabs Grey's wrist. The instant warmth takes over the chill in my bones and puts strength into my limbs. Grey's hands are pulled away and a body blocks my view of Grey. A familiar sensation pulls my forward. My body meets up with the disarmer's back. I lean into the strong red aura—Red, I whimper. I press my hands on his shoulder blades, but the form is too low to be Red's.

  Gabriel stares intently at Grey. Grey backs away shaking his hand of Gabriel's touch as if it were hot.

  "You have no right to make her feel bad."

  "You're like him." Grey sneers. "No wonder." I retract my hands from Gabriel. I know what it looks like. He knows what I feel. He knows everything in my head. Gabriel feels like Red. Grey glares at Gabriel in disgust. His fingers grasp the chair leg and raises in the air. "Violet can't have friends—especially one like you."

  Gabriel's body goes stiff. The warm aura he emitted is sucked away like a vacuum.

  "Gabriel, get away!" I try to push him away but he's got me pinned to the wall.

  The chair leg flies out of Grey's hand and hovers above us. Grey turns around and Dash has his hand up.

  "Get away from them." Dash's fingers flex and the same time the sharp wooden spikes of the broken chair leg threaten to take out Grey's eye.

  "Gabriel." Dash summons Gabriel forward. I grip the bedpost so I don't obey his gravity. For every step Gabriel takes toward Grey, Grey takes one back, cautiously eyeing him and Dash's weapon.

  "He's got a knife in his pocket." Alex rises to his feet.

  A folded knife flies out of pocket and into Dash's hand. "The closet." He says to Gabriel.

  "You're going to let your so-called friends do this?" Grey glares at me.

  I don't know what to say. He won't listen to me.

  The lock on the cage rattles before bending like taffy and falling to the floor.

  Alex removes his jacket and goes to the squawking crow. Blood spills out on to the floor as he frees Red from his prison.

  "Careful." I quickly limp my way to Alex. His jacket is absorbing the blood quickly. I cover my mouth. There's so much blood around the pile of black feathers; it's hard to tell it's a crow.

  "You came for him not me." Grey's voice trembles with such anguish it tears my heart apart. It's true, I came for Red, but I wanted to talk to Grey. I have so many questions, but he was being so unreasonable. Right now, all I want is for Red stop bleeding.

  "You don't want me, you want him." Grey backs up into the closet.

  "Vi," Alex touches my shoulder. "We need to get him out of here, now!" Alex looks to Dash. Dash nods.

  I stare down at the pitiful bird and then back at Grey. "We can still talk." Grey pleads.

  "You had your chance." Gabriel shuts the closet door. Dash places the rest of the broken chair under the handle.

  "He should come with us." I approach the closet.

  Alex pulls my shoulder back. "Are you crazy!" He shouts. "The guy will kill us all."

  "Violet!" The closet handle jiggles.

  I don't want to leave him like this. His mind is confused, like two parts of him are battling. This has happened before. He just needs time to cool off. My heart is torn in half by the two I love the most in this world. If Red were okay, he'd know what to do, but Red is... My eyes suddenly can't see through the tears. My body is getting too heavy for my legs.

  I hear him calling my name over and over. The voice I've longed to hear again is screaming my name. We just need to talk; connect.

  Alex takes me arm.

  "Violet!"

  I'm pulled from the room.

  "Violet!"

  He's locked away in the closet, just like my Grey is locked away in that body. That other Grey hurt the boys and hurt Red. That other Grey hurt me and is keeping my Grey prisoner. This is what heartbreak made him
do. This is what I did to him. The sound of him banging on the closet door, calling out my name can't be the last thing I hear of him. He needs my help. I need to make this right. I still love him.

  "Grey..." I feel dizzy. There are a number of hands taking me away from the one I love. His voice is crying out now in such heart ripping agony, it poisons my ears. My body falls weak like I've been injected with venom—My Grey's call for help.

  "Violet! Violet! Violet! Don't leave me!"

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Violet

  Re-entering the Sanctuary is a nightmare. A storm blows hard enough to knock us over and the torrential rain floods the lake, making a muddy mess wherever we step. The storm is Red's tangible pain and it's hurts us all. The icy rain and wind stings my skin as I cradles the helpless crow wrapped in Alex's jacket as close to me without hurting him.

  "What's happening?" Gabriel calls out over the storm.

  "The Sanctuary is reacting to Red." Dash tries to cover his face from the rain beating him.

  "Alex!" I lose my balance. He catches me, leaving his hand on the middle of my back to steady me. I'm still getting my bearings on my legs after my energy was stolen.

  When we make it to the cabin, I remove the broken crow from the jacket. I whimper at the blood that soaked through to my drenched shirt. Losing all this blood from a bird, how is he still alive.

  "He said he's fine and to put him in his room," Alex rakes his wet hair back.

  I place Red on his bed. He squawks in pain and he can't sit right like a crow should. His body flops on its side. His claws try to grasp the air. A wing unfurls lazily from his little body. The bleeding wounds reveal his fleshy organs, spilling from his gut. I cover my mouth in horror before I cry out for him.

  "Oh, my God!" I sob. Alex catches me when my knees buckle.

  "Violet, you can't be here."

  I push him away and kneel beside the bed, trying to grab sheets to surround Red. I know it's a poor attempt to make him comfortable. What can I do? I have to do something. This is my fault he's like this.