Cardinal

Chapter 2

I'm currently seated in the alleyway next to the coffee shop staring at four pairs of eyes. Eyes that haunt my nightmares and star in my dreams.  If we were in any parallel universe, I would be ecstatic. At the moment, I think I wanna hurl. I feel the connections in my heart do a somersault at their proximity. 

"Good job, guys. You've found me, now what?" I'm trying to dispel any emotions that they might have seen earlier. Trying to save us. 

"Good god, Lilac. Where the FUCK have you been?" I place my attention on one of my links, Keenan, who is now staring at me with more intensity than before. I'm looking him up and down and wondering how the hell he went from a scrawny, little 16-year-old to a full-blown adult male. He's still got the same fire in his brown eyes, just more muscle and more...tattoos. No kidding, this guy is literally a bad-boy-slash-model walking. 

"I'm not going to pretend that this is a happy reunion. The magistrate has grown tired of your antics and you're to come with us at once." Another surprising statement from my other link, Damian. I recognize his curly, blonde hair and blue eyes from anywhere. They always say that the eyes are the windows to the soul and Damian's eyes can definitely see through mine. Though now, he mirrors Keenan's with their menacing gaze and scowls. I'm literally screwed. 

You're mine, Lilac and you're not going anywhere this time. What the actual fuck? I look at Steel this time. His eyes are like his name-Steel. He gazes at me, tilting his head as if daring me to say something. His gift has always been that of the psyche. I didn't know just how strong he was and how far his gift extended. He ruffles his raven hair, and I swear, drool just comes from my mouth looking at him. He doesn't seem covered in tattoos like the other guys but his hands are covered in tattoos. 

"You think I'm going with you guys without a fight?" I challenge at my links. I calculate the possibility of escaping right now. Statistically, abductions in humans by strangers result in survival odds of 92% if they do return home. In the gifted community, once you're abducted? Slim-to-none. This is going to have to be dealt with later. I get a good hold of my gift before it slips out with the emotional rollercoaster that I've been going through today. I grit my teeth and count to 10 in my head, feeling the energy simmer down until it was none. 

I've been avoiding my last link's gaze throughout since my initial encounter with them. William. He's always been the one to get through my heart and my mind. He held my hand first. He made me promises when we first found out we were links. My sweetheart. I finally push my cowardice down and get a good glimpse at him. He sneers at me when he finally notices that  I'm looking in his direction. He's the biggest one out of all of them. He just silently looks at me. My emotions overwhelm me, and I'm trying to keep a hold on my gift as it slips out. I grit my teeth again, clench my palm and count to 10 in my head. The energy again dissipates. I'm going to have such a terrible time controlling my gift when I'm near my links. I'm feeling nauseous again, turning away from them, gripping the side of the wall for support. 

Hurl. This is literally so embarrassing. Good thing I turned and vomited on Mr. Creeps' shoes instead and not towards my links. 

"Good god, kid. Get a hold of yourself. This is going to cost you 2 more grand, Mr. Strong." Mr. Creep sneers in disgust, shaking his shoes, and looks at Damian. I wipe my mouth after my episode of vomiting and look up at him with disgust. 

"If your face wasn't so ugly, maybe I wouldn't have vomited." I counter. 

I hear a chuckle somewhere and a throat clearing. "Rhodes, you're dismissed. Money's wired to your account. Steel make sure she doesn't escape. Keenan get the car and for the love of whoever holy, William, get your shit together. Don't make her hurl again. I don't want to clean up after her. " He punctuates that last statement with disgust. 

I look at William, surprised that he used his gift on me. He has this permanent scowl on his face that seems to clash with his, god-like features. God, why did you have to make them so beautiful and good-looking? 

Steel steps to my side and wraps his beefy arms around my shoulder and leads me down the street from the alley. You're in a whole lot of trouble. Epic proportions. Steel relays-psychically.

Well crap.  I look back at the coffee shop and remember that I need to grab my stuff and tell Brad I'm quitting.  

"Wait, I need to tell Brad I'm leaving and I have to get my stuff. I need to tell my landlord that I'm leaving..." I tell Steel. 

"So let me get this straight. You're going to tell these people that you're leaving when you didn't even tell us that you were leaving five years ago? Wow, these people must be really important to you, huh?" William says, disdain seeping from his voice. Tears begin to form and I puff my cheeks, looking up to the sky, trying to will my tears back to my head. 

Steel tightens his hold. "Don't worry. Their memories were tampered already. No one's going to know you were here." Steel replies in a curt manner. I guess he was okay messing with my mind but didn't want others to know he was using his powers to psychically talk to me. 

I sniff and keep quiet, knowing that anything I say right now will literally piss someone off and I'm not about to piss them off. As much as they're good-looking, they're also dangerous. I'm not about to lie to myself and pretend like our unit is not powerful or sought after. William had the gift of Affliction. He can make any person, even masses, come down with sickness. He can also take it away, if my theory was correct and if our little incident previously had tipped anyone off. Steel has the gift of Psyche. When we were teenagers, we always thought that he had mind-reading abilities. Evidently, he has grown more powerful over the years and is now also a telepath. Keenan is an elemental and has the gift of Fire. Finally, Damian is the Empath. I'm not exactly sure how their gifts have grown and I'm not exactly ecstatic to find out. In our community, having two links with gifts of the Mind were rare. Having three? A miracle. It's why I've been targeted and why we were sought after. However, I'm resigned to my fate at the moment and keep quiet, knowing the only way for us to survive is to literally be on good terms with them. When their guard is down, I can make my escape. Hopefully, the bad men will take me instead of them. 

Keenan pulls into the side of the street with a sleek, black Escalade. Damian sits shotgun. William enters the passenger row first. Steel pushes me to follow after William as Steel follows me. He closes the door after him with a slam. The Escalade is roomy so I'm not squished between the two gigantic men in the passenger row. William doesn't say a word and just glances out of the window. Keenan, in the driver's seat, is quiet as well. Steel keeps to himself and also stares out of the window closest to him. I keep quiet and sigh as I rest my head against the headrest and try to keep calm. 

"I expect you to be in good behavior from now on, Lilac. We are to be present in front of the magistrate in two weeks and I expect to present a show of a good unit." Damian punctuates. 

"I understand," I reply, defeat in my tone. Damian's phone rings and he sighs as he picks up the call. 

"Hey, baby. I'm headed home now." I snap my head in Damian's direction. My heart shatters and tears flow freely now. I wipe my tears and close my eyes, resting my head on the headboard, and muting his conversation in my head. I'm hoping this nightmare will end. I didn't expect them to stay celibate or to not have been in any relationships. But I wasn't ready to actually see it in front of me. 

"Don't pretend you've got emotions now." William declares, sneering at me again. Everything he says irrevocably breaks my soul. Can't they feel what they do to me? 

"Bye, love. I'll see you soon." I hear Damian announce, ending the call. Love? I open my eyes and see Damian's eyes through the rearview mirror. I erase emotions from my eyes when I catch him staring as well.  Confusion, resentment, and longing from his eyes stare back at me. He knows my soul. We're literally links. I can't hide anything from this man and he knows it. Yet, I'm sitting here wondering why he needed to answer that phone call in front of me. Was it a test that I needed to pass? Or are we just all irretrievably broken from my actions and are my efforts futile to the danger that awaits us?