Inchoate Blood (CRUX I)

7. Deal

7. Deal

From not far away, I hear a storm of footsteps approaching us into the chamber. I quickly turn to the broken wooden door where I see about twenty armed men are charging towards us. Heck, did I miss something?

"Holy... crap, they're here!" Eire gasps as she notices them as well.

"Visitors you invited? Who the hell are they?" I ask, momentarily forgetting about the murderer. I must've lost her while I blindly chasing this red-haired girl I mistook. Dammit, why was I so rash?

"The girl's in there!" the men' voices become louder as they approached, "Get her down! Don't lose her again!"

Are they government policeman? I look back at Eire to see her running towards the expanse of glass windows. She can't be thinking...

"You do realise we're on the fourth floor?" I yell at her in anxiety, "It's dangerous to-"

The group of men starts to arrive into the chamber and begins surrounding us. Totally ignoring my warning, Eire shatters one of the windows with her alchemy, and takes a step back, ready to jump. I swear under my breath.

Grabbing her by the wrist, I hastily pull her back into the room, now crowded with armed men in their uniforms. I was right, they're from the police force this bunch.

"Let go you asshole! What's wrong with you- can't you see I need to escape?" she mutters angrily.

This ungrateful bitch, I don't even know why I pulled her back myself. Starting to regret yet another rash decision, I turn to the police with their narrow focus on our every action.

"Hand her over to us," the leader says to me, "She's a criminal who is to be indicted."

Wow, this woman's a criminal? Part of me is curious; another part not even the least surprised. But now what? Roughly feeling my jeans pocket, I smile at my luck. The fracture bomb I prepared earlier is still unused. Biting off the trigger, with my other hand still holding her wrist, I throw it at the army of policemen.

"Run!" I pull Eire after me as we escape through the ashes, out of the chamber.

The fracture bomb goes off behind us and I hear the men shouting incoherent curses. They should at least be happy that the bomb won't really kill them. A fracture bomb only target materials like rocks and the earth, and they're alchemy-made so that they don't injure humans themselves. So what's with ungrateful people these days?

"Distract anyone who comes after us," I tell Eire, pulling out my own five alchemy needles, "Please tell me you know the way out?"

"Turn right!" she says, running behind me. I hear her shoot a few bullets at the people chasing after us.

I aim my needles and throw towards a wall in the middle of the long corridor. Quickly using a 'temporary change' alchemy, the wall breaks down and forms a hole the size of a newly drawn transmutation circle. We run through it just before it seals itself close after us, I stop to unpin my needles from the wall.

Thank god the transmutation actually worked because I only guessed the wall was made of cement. To use alchemy, you must first know what the matter is made of, even if you have to guess half the time.

"Oh, we're back at where we started," Eire observes the room, not even the slightest out of breath. I look up from my shameful panting and see that we are in the wild partying room of Marsq again.

"Are you alright? Let's go, we need to get out of here before the police finds us again," she says, then giving me a pitiful hand, "Do you need me to carry you, slow-poke?"

I slap her hand away with a death glare, making my way through the Marsq party room to the exiting door. She has a laugh but follows me anyway. "Easily offended are you? So why did you save me?"

I ignore her until we finally reach the outside of Marsq, away from all the chaos and loud music from inside.

"That was for earlier when I mistook you for the murderer," I answer her, quite matter-of-factly.

She laughs again, "Hey that was just me having my own fun with you. I found it pretty hilarious when you acted so serious though."

"I am serious," I say staring into the darkness of the night, "Whoever the murderer is, I swear I'll make her regret ever laying a finger on Jett. It's just a matter of time before I find her now, and I won't let her escape- even over my dead body." That's right, I've made my resolve.. for now.

A silence follows and I decide to break it. "Why were they after you anyway? And about you all being a criminal or something?"

"Oh that," Eire folds her hand, "I was stealing money from a casino earlier this morning. Quite a lot of money, actually." She pats the thick pocket of her coat, grinning in her pride almost.

"Robbing a casino first thing in the morning?" I find it more interesting than her stealing money.

She shrugs, "I had nowhere else to go. Besides, I kind of do need the money."

"Stealing money and escaping from the police. That's quite a combination- are you a run-away or something?"

"Yeah you could say that." She laughs with me a little, "a homeless run-away, really."

Again, there is another expanse of our silence. I wonder what she is thinking of right now. Where to stay the night? How to buy food and live a life stealing money, running away from the police? In a way, I can compromise with her because I've felt the same way before, perhaps a few years ago before I met Jett.

"Well, I need a partner," I say at last to no-one in particular, "You're a good fighter you know, Eire." It's the first time I've called her name and it sounds too familiar already. Even in the dark, I can see a smile escape from her lips.

"I know I am" was her reply.

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