Fire

Chapter One - Fire

"Where are you taking me?"

"Some place safe," replied Ignatio as he pulled the car out of the driveway. He rapidly looked left and right, trying to make sure they were not followed. He hoped to God no one had followed him to her family's house. They usually operated under the cover of the night –which is why he chose to move around during the day.

"Did you have to tie me up and put on a blindfold?"

He huffed with irritation and tried to control his emotions. If he didn't get himself under control, he was going either going to speed and they would be discovered or he would ignite the car... and that would be seriously counter-productive.

"I told you inside Cass," he wiped frustrated one hand through his dark, blond streaked hair, "They can read minds."

"But they can't read yours," it sounded more like a statement than a question and he glanced in the rearview mirror to his passenger in the back of the van with a crooked smile. One of the things he loved most about her was that she was sassy.

"I've told you that I'm different... numerous times. It's really irritating that you continue to not believe me."

"I need more than that Nate! You can't just kidnap me in the middle of the night-"

"-it's twelve in the afternoon–"

"-and take me to some place I don't know! What are my parents going to say? What are my friends going to say? Heck they already think you're bad news with those sleeve tats and ear-piercings."

He grinned in the mirror at her, realizing that she was trying to pull him into an argument they'd had before so she could distract him from the fact that she was trying to get out of the ropes he'd tied around her hands. He also knew the sound of the ropes chaffing against skin... he had the scars around his wrists to prove it.

"It won't work Cass, I've been trained... I know what I'm doing."

She growled in frustration and stopped trying to get rid of the hand ties.

"Then tell me something, damn it! I know I may sound calm but I'm totally freaking out here. We've been best friends for two years and I still feel like I know nothing about you! You won't tell me anything but you say it's because you want to keep me safe –what does that even mean? You need to give me something, Ignatio because I'm starting to feel like everyone was right about you; that you're the one I need protection from," she took in a shuddering breath hoping he understood her words. She didn't want him to know that in all his surliness, he crept his way into her heart in a way she couldn't understand and shouldn't have allowed, knowing that he couldn't feel the same way, "Please. Tell me why you kidnapped me –and take off these damned restraints! I'm not an animal."

Her words made him sad. For all the times he'd been tied up as a child and treated like an animal, he should have known better. How could he have tied up the woman he loved –exactly like she'd said, like an animal? He wanted to protect her and knew that she would have fought him demanding to know everything even though there was no time, but he could have gone with a sedative –although he never liked how underhand those things were.

He wanted to pull over and untie her but he knew that they weren't safe, not yet. They needed to get further out of the hot zone before they could stop or they would be found. If they were smart, they'd be tracking him with a thermal scan... He knew these guys were not from Regener8 because those guys were smart. They'd have planted soldiers just like him near to him to befriend him –and when he least expected it, they would attack. He had the scars on his back to prove that.