PROBLEM - Anthony Lockwood

CHAPTER SEVEN

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vii

its a cat i promise

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"DEANE.... ALICE DEANE...."

Alice awoke, eyes wide and searching. The room was dark and empty, with nothing in it. But there was a dark presence there. A voice that sounded like nails scratching against a chalkboard.

She sat up in her bed.

"Meow."

"Aww, aren't you a sweet little thing," Alice reached over to the foot of her bed where a black cat sat, purring contently. It must have answered her call from the night before. "What's your name?"

Onyx.

She quickly got up, clearing away the dust from the table back into the jar, and hiding her bell and the jaw in a drawer.

The door knocked.

"Come in."

Alice turned to see Lucy up the stairs into the room, "Ohh, I thought I heard a cat. Is she yours?"

Alice smiled, "Yes, she is - her name is Onyx."

Lucy began petting Onyx, "That's adorbale." She looked back up at Alice, "Have you got everything you need, or do you want me to take you shopping? I've only been here like 2 weeks myself but there's this market nearby that has everything."

Alice grinned, "That'd be great."

...

Giggling and holding arms, the two girls made their way back into the house, dipositing some bags onto the ground.

George raised an eyebrow, "That's a lot of shopping."

"It's two bags, George," Lucy declared.

"One of them is literally just cat food," Alice added, she leaned down as Onyx came over to her, "Or would you prefer dead pigeons?"

Lockwood chuckled, "There'll be time for that later. Do you have your rapier?"

"I left it in the basement."

"Pefect."

Lockwood and Alice made their way into the basement, Onyx following. He grabbed his own rapier, unsheathing it.

Alice grabbed the one he'd given her. Both of them making their way to the training area. Her's was shorter than his, but that was for the best - at least she'd have balance this way.

"Ladies first," Lockwood mused, a smirk on his face. He stood still, waiting for Alice to make the first move. In that moment, something changed about him like a switch in his personality. There was a dark look in his eye. Like he was unhinged.

Alice lunged forwards and he blocked it. He was constant, with perfect technique and reflexes so quick that he almost didn't seem human. She hoped that he wasn't holding back, because if he was, then that almost scared her for what he was when he put all of his effort in.

Suddenly, all the newspaper clippings made sense.

She fought back visciously and recklessly. She'd been trained by the witches as a child, perfected in combat as one of their fighters. But while his fighting style was quick and calculated, hers was crazy and strong.

He twisted his rapier around hers, but she pulled it back, slashing at him.

Alice had the urge to grab her knife from her pocket but resisted it.

"You're strong," Lockwood grunted, a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead as he blocked another of her slashes.

"Please tell me you're not holding back," Alice hissed, narrowing her eyes and lunging again. Perhaps she could push him back and he'd loose footing.

Lockwood simply smirked in response, lunging forwards and twisting his sword around hers, this time, Alice didn't have enough time to pull back, and her rapier was torn from her grasp, and Lockwood caught it.

Without waiting to see if he wanted it to end there, Alice pulled her sleeve over her hand and grabbed the side of the rapier, pulling down at it and then kicking the hilt of it and prying it free from his hand.

Lockwood raised an eyebrow in suprise, but didn't say anything.

She lunged at him again, and the swords clashed. She hand hers horizontally over her face and his was above hers, pushing down.

Alice grunted, locking her legs so that he couldn't push her down to her knees.

If it were a hunter, she would simply tap into her magic and stop his heart, or throw her knife into his throat.

But she didn't have that option here, and she also felt an urge to prove herself.

She put her other hand on her sword's end, trying to keep his rapier away from her.

And then he swiped his feet under hers.

"Fuck!"

She lost her footing and he grabbed her rapier, twisting it around her so that she was pressed to his body, her back against his chest. Her own rapier was pressed to her throat now and his was against her waist, entrapping her but also threatening to skewer her if she moved.

Lockwood huffed, "That was good. Most competition I've had in a while, but you need to be more aware of every aspect of your enemy, not just the sword. But I suppose neither of our strategies would work against a ghost."

Right, they can't touch ghosts.

Alice sighed, letting her head loll back against his chest, closing her eyes. "You're not human."

He chuckled darkly, and she could feel the laugh rumble in his chest, as well as the heat of his breath. Suddenly, she was very aware of how close they were, the rapiers were still positioned on her, but his hold had relaxed. But she made no move to get out of it.

She couldn't move.

She was transfixed.

Lockwood released shallow breaths, a shift in his demeanour. She could feel his body pressing against hers, and she simply leaned against him. He was strong and steady against her, and smelt uncharacteristically nice. Like musk and sandlewood.

She'd lost count of how long they stood like that.

"Lockwood, we have a job - oh!"

Alice and Lockwood sprung apart.

Lucy stood at the steps, face red. She blinked a few times, trying not to smile. "Urm, we've had a call come in - a type one on Sheen Road. They want us to go tommorow night."

Lockwood nodded, "Oh, okay." He swallowed, his face red, shifting as he tried to regain his composure, "We'll all go, why don't you and George get the kit ready while I inform Alice about the different plans."

"Nah, nah," Lucy interrupted. "You and Alice can go alone, it's only a type one and it'll you a chance to see how she is in the feild." She was holding back a laugh now.

Alice stared hard at the ground.

I'm never living this down.