A Touch Of Lightning (COMPLETED!)

Chapter 18 Mirage

Chapter 18 Mirage

"It will work! I know it!" Mirage was adamant. She sat on her bed, watching him pace in their cell, her flame-red hair half covering her face.

Callin always knew when she wasn't sure what to do next because she invariably tried to hide half of her face behind the curls of her long, red hair. He wondered for the thousandth time if she knew how beautiful she was to him, how he would die before he saw her hurt.

"I didn't say it wouldn't work. I just don't know if it's the right time." He said quietly, pausing with his hand just above the steel bars that separated their cell from the hallway.

Mirage saw what he was going to do, he heard her sharp intake, could picture her hazel eyes widening in horror.

"Callin! Don't-!"

His hand clamped down on the steel bar, and instantly, tens of thousands of volts snapped into him, sawing his muscles about, making him twitch like a puppet driven by a mad puppeteer bent on physically tearing apart his toy. He was only vaguely aware of the choking, garbled whine slithering out past his clenched teeth, but he still heard Mirage start to sob behind him.

He heard when Mirage's hands flew to her ears, as she tried to block out the sound of his agony. Part of his mind threw itself deeper into his own power, as he hated the thought of Mirage suffering by seeing him suffer.

His healing power rose up from the depths of his mind, towering bright in his thoughts like a swaying cobra forged of fire and starlight, and then it came crashing into him. It soothed the damage to his muscles and skin, it formed a shield inside of him, deflecting the energy coursing through him to the outside of his body.

He turned to face Mirage, smiling at her triumphantly. No longer jerking wildly, no longer beginning to burn from the raw electricity coursing through him.

Mirage let out a choking half-laugh. "How..?"

"My healing power is deflecting it. It feels like it changed me, I can hardly feel the electricity." Callin said, his voice a rasping snarl due to the savage power coursing through him.

Mirage met his eyes and scrambled to her feet and backed away, and Callin could hear the frantic thunder of her heart. He could feel that his fangs were extended farther than he could remember, and the copper taste of his own blood filled his mouth. Then he drew in a breath and her scent hit him like an invisible shockwave.

"You...you're scared. I can smell it. Of...of me?" He whispered, unmoving, unblinking. He was afraid if he moved too quickly she would bolt, although there was no place for her run.

"Scared you were going to die!" She snapped, seeming to recover, to pull her fear back down.

Callin could still hear the desperate hammering of her heart. She didn't smell as scared, and she no longer looked like she was ready to flee from him in terror. But the fear in her eyes cut him deeper than he could remember. The idea that Mirage was scared of him, was scared of what he became when he embraced his wild side, was like acid poured on an old, festering wound.

He needed to get out of this place. He needed to escape this prison before it finally broke him and he lost the only precious thing in this life. The only good thing he had. Mirage. She went to him, moving with the same grace and confidence he had always seen in her. He was watching her closely, now. Looking for signs she didn't trust him.

He sighed when her arms went around his waist, when she pressed herself tight against him. He buried his face in the side of her neck and breathed deep. He wanted to etch the entirety of her scent, of all that she meant to him, into his memory forever.