The Nocturnals (Revised)

Chapter Two: Joshua Kray

The man stares at Eliora as if unsure whether to kill or befriend, that is, if he could kill. He's still paralyzed, just not from the neck up.

"Who are you? What do you want with me? Why can't I move?" he rushes his words as Eliora furrows her brows and rests down on her lawn chair. She scans his panicked face and waits patiently for him to stop babbling.

She gives him a confused glance as he mumbles to himself, "Calm down. I can't answer a billion questions at once. What's your first question you want answered?"

He looks at her for a moment with his now blue eyes, still a little grey, but more natural this time, "Who are you?"

"My name is Cassandra," He gives her a look as if saying, 'Tell me the truth, cause you're fooling no one.' "Can I trust you to tell me your name?" Eliora crosses her arms over her modest chest.

He looks at her with a raised eyebrow, "Well, I can trust you, because you saved my dang life," Eliora looks at him with suspicion. She'd saved many lives before, and no one had thanked her, and she guesses, in a way, he's saying thank you, "so, my name's Joshua Kray, I'm from Alabama, I don't like being asked questions, and I-" he chokes suddenly, the blood red spreading through his eyes again. A sigh escapes her lips as she grabs the cilantro butts and waves them in front of his face, the same temporary effect happening.

"What the hell happened?!" he shouts out.

Eliora shushes him, looking over her shoulder, then gives him an apologetic glance, "That neurolizer lasts for six hours... It's only been two."

Joshua blinks his eyes, "What about the thing you did to me to allow me to move my head?"

"It's only temporary. It brings focus of your brain onto your five senses, but it only spreads through your brain's focus on the head," Eliora hugs her elbows, sitting back down in her chair. Eliora thinks of how weird it would be to have someone next to her, assisting her. She's been lonely for two years with no one except her gazebo. It's not really her thing, but she could make an exception. What if he's dead weight though? Her thoughts spread through her head as if waves, crashing into her mind and making her headache worse.

"What are you doing?" Joshua breaks her train of thought.

Eliora breaks her zone out and looks up at him, "What?"

"You're biting your lip," he comments.

Eliora notices her front teeth digging into her lip, "If you knew what I was doing, why did you ask?"

Joshua tries to turn his head, but ends up making it look like a twitch, "I don't know. I was trying to ask nicely for you to stop. It annoys me."

"That's a weird petpeev..." Eliora breaks her gaze with his striking blue eyes.

He takes a deep breath, "I have a question." Eliora nods in reply to express allowance. Joshua purses his lips thoughtfully, "Why did you save me?"

Eliora looks at the rotting ceiling of the gazebo, "Well, I felt bad for you... I'm not a super hero, but I do the best I can to help others... I believe that helps me hang onto my morality."

"Morality... huh. I don't hear that word that much nowadays. At least one person still has it, but sometimes, morality can kill you. What about that?" Joshua mumbles.

"That's why I fight and train everyday. I'll get those bastards... I-I can't stand that evil is overunning everything I know. I want to be back to when I could go out in the clearings and know I won't be killed..." Eliora's chest grows warm from the fury she holds back.

Joshua's eyes narrow, "If you feel that way, why haven't you joined the Ravens?" he says with a somewhat bitter tone.

"I've already been there and I know their-" 'secret' Eliora finishes in her head, "intensity. It's too much for me," she lies. She mentally puts a lock on that subject withdrawing from talking about it, "You were being strangled by a Gambler. What did you do to piss him off like that? Usually they use stealth to kill, not face to face killing. They only do that when you've done something horrible."