Another's Demise

At their fingertips

Alara

"We can't just leave them," I hissed as Mel dragged me through the woods. It had all been so fast her gripping my arm and us slipping out of the door concealed in an alcove next to the kitchenette.

"We will do whatever we must to protect you, hon," she leaned forward, scouring the area, the thicket of trees dwindling as we ran, open streets, civilisation that felt so foreign to me.

The blinking lights of the city, the skyline dipped in an orange sunset I would have spent hours pouring over, had my heart not been in my throat, had there not been people intent on seeing me killed, using me for my blood, my body.

"No," I ripped from her grasp, "Enough."

My voice was sharp, Mel's brows rose, but that was the extent of surprise on her face.

"I'm sick of this, sick of running, and hiding and being away from those I love. I am sick of seeing people I care about hurt for me. It isn't about protecting me," my eyes reached hers, my hands slipping back into her soft ones, her eyes were wide, a sheen of tears there, but Melanie Strata would never let them fall in anyone's presence, "It's about protecting us."

"I-" my breath caught, "Whatever my father said-"

Mel's stare hardened, "He knows nothing."

"Mel..." I tried, my expression softening.

Her grin split in two, half a grimace and the other a cunning smirk, "Just know that the people that did that to me, are all dead. I killed them all."

"Good," I breathed, "Because if you hadn't I would have."

I didn't press further; I could infer enough from what my father had said. I would protect Mel to the end of my days. And this is what was burning in my blood, this severe love for them all.

"I'm done with the sacrifices for me, I'm done with hiding. We are going to fix this once and for all."

"Alright, hon, but we need to get to Echo first," she gripped my wrist and pulled me into an alley, the only spot on the street that wasn't illuminated by the street lamps.

We slinked past crumbling bricks, and over the side of a mesh fence. I felt my palms dig into the uneven spokes of metal that jutted out against the grate, I hissed, the bite of pain only grounding me further as I swung myself over the fence, landing cleaning beside Mel.

"Where is Echo?"

"He's with Cam's brother and mum, but we'll be needing this to get there," there was tarp thrown over an obscure object, but as soon as Mel ripped it off, I realised it was a motorbike.

"How many of these do you have?" I murmured, looking at the chipped paint, a well worn bike it was, with a dark midnight blue theme. The exhausts looked ok.

"One at every safehouse we have," she smoothed her fingers across the arches of the bike, testing the firmness of the seat, and unhooking the helmets from beneath and tossing one my way.

"I didn't even know you had safehouses in Italy."

"We have one in most countries in Europe, and few in America, it's useful to have ones where the underworld sprawls. There are enough gathering and politics to justify it."

She swung her leg over the side of the motorbike, her fingers pressing against the handles, and the motorbike roared to life.

She threw me a wicked grin, red lips pulled into a dangerous smile.

"How?" I gasped.

"Echo rigged each one up for me, only responded to my fingerprints. No suckers hotwiring my babies,"

"But if I ever needed a getaway I couldn't?"

"Oh honey, that's the coolest part," she reached for my hands whispering a few words to before pressing my fingertips to the handles where her fingers had just been, "Now you're a trusted user."

"That's incredible."

"It's the same tech that lets your phone unlock with your fingerprints; I honestly don't know why more vehicles don't use it."

"Same, well we get to Echo how, isn't he still in England?"

"Remember how you wanted me to steal Grayson's jet to get here?"

"Yes," I laughed pulling myself onto the bike behind Mel.

"Well, have the hell do you think I'm here?" her laugh was alive reaching to the stars, as she revved the engine.

"Ready to steal a plane Alara?"