Claws

f o u r

❝ Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us

but we can't strike them all by ourselves ❞ - Laura Esquivel

                                                         f o u r

                                                       g r a c e

I felt weightless, yet the pounding in my skull kept me grounded. It wasn't until I opened my eyes, however, that I realized I wasn't grounded at all. My eyes were met with a serene blue, streaks of white floating by. I shifted my gaze to observe my surroundings. Four dangerously handsome men were sitting in large chairs, swiveled to face each other. Two girls, most likely older than me, sat in front of me, talking quietly. A loud voice interrupted my observations.

"Attention passengers, we have approximately one hour until we begin our descend. Thank you for choosing Sinful Airlines..."

We're on a plane?

Flashes of a new report, detailing the crash of a flight, flashed through my mind.

"You're awake."

 My eyes shifted to a familiar looking man. He had royal navy eyes that glinted in the sunlight streaming through the small windows. Dark brown hair was mused on his head, some strands sticking at awkward angles most likely due to a slight cow lick. A very light dusted of freckles crept across his nose onto both of his cheeks. A silver lip ring shone on his plump lips. There was a deep purple bruise on the corner of his bottom lip, and a harsh cut that jagged through his left eyebrow. Everything clicked together when a flash of gold swam through his eyes.

"You're definitely not supposed to be." I replied, shuffling myself deeper into the soft black leather of my seat. He raised an eyebrow at me. "I hit you with my car, which was going over 100 kilometres per hour, and I hit you with my metal bumper bar. So you, Sir, most definitely should not be awake."

A small smirk cracked onto his face as he turned to the other men before speaking in a voice i could only describe as sex, "And you said she would be timid..."

The plane shuddered, sending me into the air before the sealtbelt jerked me back into the seat. Flashes of a firey wreck were ghosts in the back of my mind. My arms flew to the arm rests and my nails dug into the fabric, most likely making permanent indents.

oh god oh god oh god

The man who I was talking to before creased his eyebrows in confusion, "Are you okay?"

I shook my head, clenching my eyes closed to try and block out the clouds zooming past. I try to forget the past so often that it seals itself tighter into my mind. My blood begins to chill in my veins and my breathing ceases it rythmic functions. A warm calloused hand gently rests against mine, a whisper of skin against skin. Calm washes over me in tides, like waves softly pounding against the shore. A gasp of air floods into my lungs and I open my eyes, staring into dark blue, swirling with emotions unknown. I glance down at his rough hand that rest gently on top of mine. I snatch it back, pushing myself further into my seat, and kick my legs out to push him backwards.

"What the hell are you?" I hiss, panic egging on my irrational thoughts, "I saw you. You're not human. Your eyes glowed and you had fangs and you were a monster."

He flinched back at the last comment, shuffling back towards the other men who were simply observing us. The two women in front of me had also turned around to see what the commotion was about. 

"And you just... touched me! And when you did I felt... I felt-"

"Calm?" He said, looking straight into my eyes. I nodded, wrapping my arms around myself.

"Just... Please," I whispered, moving my eyes to look at them all, "Tell me what's going on."

The man sat in the spare seat next to me and sighed, rocking his head back and closing his eyes.

"My name is Luciano... Or Luca. I'm a Beast, Werewolf, Monster and I'm also one of the Seven Deadly Sins. You, My Innocence, are my Virtue. Do understand any of what I've just said?"

I looked around at everyone. No one had a trace of humour on their faces, just waiting and watching to see my reaction. I looked back at the man, Luciano, who was waiting for my reaction. I don't mean to sound vain, but I was smart enough to understand everything he had just said.

"You've got to be kidding me..." I breath out, running my hands through my hair stressfully, "You better explain everything to me, and then once you're done you're taking me straight back home to my mum and-"

"You're mum?" One of the women gasped, wide eyed. I frowned, taking note of the shock on everyones face.

"That's not right..." Luciano muttered, glancing at the men nervously.

"What? I dont get it... She's all I have since my Dad died..." I mumbled, my mind feeling overwhelmed with the amount of emotions, mainly confusion, that I was dealing with at the moment.

"As a Virtue, your parents should have both become deceased when you were at a very young age," Luciano said, gazing nowhere but at me as I felt the familiar feeling of sorrow over come me,

"Your Mum should be dead."

+ happy new years! bring on 2015 +