The black Mustang Dark Horse skidded to a stop in front of a modern mansion with tall tinted windows. I couldn't begin to describe it, and apparently didn't even have the opportunity to get a good look, before Brandt guided me inside. His energy had changed from oozing with confidence to a little rushed.
Just inside the front door, we were greeted by a girl with long, dark hair, who looked like the feminine version of Brandt. She was avid.
"You went back? Really Brandt! And you brought her here? She's a normie." She gesticulated as much as she spoke.
"Back off, Levina," Brandt said as we strode through the hallway and down a corridor, only to stop in front of a closed door.
"Wait here," Brandt said as he opened the door and entered. I looked around the hallway and at Levina. For the briefest moment I considered running towards the front door. Flight seemed the most feasible option, but if Brandt shot blue lightning, what could Levina do? We only waited a few long minutes before the door opened and Levina and I were invited in.
"Welcome to our home, Harper. My name is Neil Duncan." Neil smiled behind the massive chrome and glass desk, which was the focal point of the office. He gestured to a chair across from him. I sat down as directed. What was I doing here? I wanted to go back home. And at this point in time, I even admitted to myself that I missed my mom.
"We have an issue with you. You saw Brandt in the woods and despite his best efforts you remember what you saw. We will have to remedy that." Neil spoke pleasantly enough and touched his short beard specked with grey, but I sensed the dark undertones.
"I won't tell anyone," I said; my voice crumbling as I spoke. Neil laughed as he spoke,
"Of course you won't, but it will be better if you completely forgot. Brandt, when did you try to erase her memories?"
"Last night around 11 PM." Brandt answered swiftly and dutifully.
"Right then, we will give it another shot tomorrow morning."
My jaw dropped open. Was he talking about giving me an electric shock like the one Brandt had given me? I wanted to scream and protest, but I saw Brandt shaking his head with the slightest movement.
"Levina, show our guest to a room."
"Why do I have to..." Levina protested.
"Levina!" Neil roared and I felt the hair on my arms frizzle with static electricity. Neil's eyes shone blue for a moment, before he regained control. Brandt guided me out of the office and grabbed my arm in the corridor. He leaned in close and whispered:
"Stay calm, Harper, and whatever you do, don't try to run. Please."
His proximity made me loose my breath. He was that kind of beautiful and dangerous combined. The please seemed out of place. I studied his face, trying to decipher the meaning behind his words. Levina joined us in the corridor.
"I don't know what your plan is, but keep me out of it." She whispered harshly to Brandt before urging me to follow her. The mansion was a maze of open spaces and corridors, white walls and the massive windows that let in the surrounding landscape of green. It was beautiful and ominous at the same time like the gentlemanly Neil, who almost exploded at Levina.
Levina showed me to a guest room to the rear of the house and closed the door behind us. She sat down on the bed and bit at a fingernail. I looked out of the window at the calming landscape outside. In the last 24 hours, my life had been thrown off the loop of ordinariness and into a chaotic oblivion. I witnessed a fight where the weapons were blue lightning and solid smoke, I seen Brandt murder someone, I think. Brandt had tried to erase my memories and when that didn't work, he took me here, to his home. Apparently, there was something happening.
"I don't understand much of the last 24 hours." I said aloud to myself more than to Levina. Her legs were jittery and she got up, starting to pace the room.
"You won't remember any of this anyway," she said and continued, "Normies are supposed to know about us. We inhabit the same towns, but our lives are worlds apart. I bet you go to high school, have friends, go to parties, live your life. We don't. This," Levina balanced a globe of blue electricity in the palm of her hand, "is what sets us apart. Our blue power from the Gods of thunder and lightning. Once the power awakens in us, our lives are centered around it, honing it, training, getting ready to fight. You see, we aren't the only ones with powers. Well, actually, you already saw that, didn't you? You saw a smoker."
There was a knock at the door and a maid entered with a tray of food. Levina left with the maid, before I could ask her any more questions.
It was all surreal and creepy. I wanted to run out of that room. Out of the house with every fiber of my being, but Brandt had asked me not to. And I believed him to be sincere!? He hadn't harmed me, other than the zap to my head. I knew he was capable to kill someone with his power, but he hadn't killed me.
I paced the room. My head was all over the place. Brandt didn't kill me, ergo I should trust him? The reasoning was so wrong and I had to ask myself, if I was being a naive teenage girl with an emotional reaction to his blend of beauty, brawn, and badness. Every time I was near him, I felt his presence in the pit of my stomach and there was something about the way he said 'please'.
YOU ARE READING
Crossfire - a sizzling slow burn with supernatural powers
Teen Fiction"I... I didn't see anything." I tried, not knowing where to look. I was curious enough to take glances at him. His dark hair was flopped into his face to obscure his chiseled jaw. He laughed out loud. "What exactly didn't you see, Harper?" He said...
