Absolution and Fragility

XVIII

We are all born without sin and we all die without sin. God has made it this way. We repent and repent until repenting is all we know.

"Lex, up, now!"

Lexi was up in an instant in the dark. The light of the moon shined through the barely cracked curtains on the floor to let her know it was deep in the night still. Looking further into the darkness of the room, she noticed one feminine figure closest to her and a masculine one in the doorway.

"What's going on?" Lexi asked on high alert.

"Change, quickly. We have little time," the woman demanded quietly.

It was Jocelyn. Her defense softened, but she moved quickly and quietly to the closet. The clothes she had preemptively set aside for such an emergency were still in their place, so she made quick work of changing without caring if she had shut the door or not. Lexi didn't know what was going on out there and did not have time to ask. All she knew was that she needed to be quick and quiet.

Once dressed with her shoes laced up, she met them in her room. Jocelyn moved out first with a silent indication for her to follow and she did. The man brought up the rear. The three of them moved quietly through to halls, pausing at every turn and checking each room for intruders. Down the hall a ways, the firing of a gun echoed in the dark silence. Lexi lifted the gun from Jocelyn's ankle quickly as they paused at a turn.

Two quiet taps from behind her let her know there was a code she didn't quite understand, but that there was more going on than she cared to not be in the loop about. Jocelyn from there was quick to set out from there and go down the hall she had been looking down. Lexi was hot on her heels and checking into the rooms more thoroughly. After a right and two lefts, there was a door at the end of the hall. A light came on underneath it, but there was no following sound. Questionably, Lexi followed until Jocelyn pushed her through and she was met with Jasper and a few of the other men. Many were armed and aiming at the exits while some were loading the vehicles in the shed.

"Ja—" Jasper pressed his hand over her mouth and glared down at her. He grabbed her arm and all but dragged her to the last vehicle and put her in the backseat. The doors were quiet and the engine was already running – a silent purr.

"It seems as though someone didn't like finding Timothy Watts dead," was her greeting.

Lexi sat up and saw Isla sitting beside her in the backseat. She pulled the gun up quickly and aimed it square between her eyes as the fury rose up in her gut to enrapture her. This could be the end of all her hate and all her nightmares.

"Put the gun down, Lexi."

Her silvers looked away from the fearful blues to see Calvin sitting in the driver's seat. His eyes were trained on hers through the rearview mirror in a disapproving manner. Unsure why that impacted her so, she brought the gun down to her lap.

"You can bicker about it on the way there, but don't shoot her. Jasper would murder you. Then, Theo would murder him. Then, Dean would murder him. So on and so forth. It'd be a murder parade. Are we clear?" he asked.

"It wouldn't be—wait, there? Where are we going?" she asked.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw some man with a rather large weapon through the windshield wave their hand. Calvin nodded back to him and threw the car in gear before turning to look through the back window.

"Get down and wait," he replied before slamming his foot on the accelerator.

Lexi looked back just in time to see there was nothing blocking their exit now and they were the first vehicle to leave. She heard the gunfire loud and clear just as the car swift gears and decided now would be a good time to duck. Brilliant timing too as her window was hit but not yet shattered. The metal of the door was pelted, but she felt no hits.