Chapter Three- Want it. Fight for it. Earn it.

Burning Inside the Black
ENcoreDeZiza
All Rights Reserved
2013
Chapter Threee
Want it. Fight for it. Earn it.

“This is beyond ridiculous,” Richelle began, looking around the hotel room, “DO we have to jump from hotel to hotel again?” She whined as Hale pushed past her.

“Yup.”

 

 

            It hadn’t taken long for Zi and Richelle to hit head on. It took Hale restraining Zi and Ashton to step in between the two for the fight to stop. Promptly afterwards, Zi had vanished and Ashton joined Hale on their balcony for a beer… And hopefully some answers. “So, um,” Ashton began as he looked at Hale’s profile. The most prominent were his eyes, unblinking, they just starred ahead and if you looked closely, you could see the memories- the fear, the sorrow, the cold-blooded adrenaline, the uncontrollable blood-rush, the desperation, his longing, and his regrets. The more he looked, the more respect grew for him and the more fond of him he became.

“Zi’s a wolf,” Hale randomly stated, effectively snapping Ashton back to reality.

“Yeah, I got that when her spine popped out of her skin.” Hale cringed, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine- you were just starring at me, and it creeped me out a little,”

“Right, sorry,” they sat in silence before Ashton cleared his throat and tried again, “So how exactly did that happen?”

“The wolf thing?” He nodded, Hale sighed, “It’s not my story to tell.”

“Can I ask her?”

He instantly stiffened, every muscle in his being contrasting, “no.”

“Why not?” Hale closed his eyes, “Look man,” Ashton added, softer, “I need answers.”

“I know,” Hale admitted, sighing as he leaned back against the glass doors. “Because I like you, and I think you have a high chance of survival, I’ll share one thing with you.” Hale promised, “One.” Ashton nodded, urging him on, “In this war, there are no straight answers, the reality of it all is warped, burnt, and twisted in a disastrous tragedy that’s only one- fifteenths of the truth. That girl you love, Richelle, right?” Ashton swallowed, “Don’t let her stray too far. She’s a tough cookie, but the fact that she knows that makes her week. They’ll spin her in their web until she sees yellow and black. Then they’ll play with her. Your girl is one of the ones who’ll believe it’s her. She won’t see past their disguise. She won’t see them.” Hale sighed, taking another sip, “Your girl won’t last, son. But you can. So don’t let her wonder, because she’s half of your strength.” Ashton swallowed.

“So… The dragons…. Can you explain what happen-“

“No.”

“Oookkkaayyy, can you vaguely tell me why the hell Fae’s locked up?”

He heaved a heavy sigh, “Faerie’s in jail because she has a crush on me.”

Ashton cocked an eyebrow, “And the humans frown upon that..?”

“No, it’s supposed to be me in there. She took the fall for me.”

“What’d you do?”

“The humans can’t know what we are. It will set us up for World War Three, and we don’t need it. Honestly, our underground, shadow war is bad enough. If this takes to the streets, to the public…”

“Worse?”

“So much.”

“So, you got public.”

“No, the man I killed got public.”

“Oh…” There was a long silence, “What’s any of that have to do with Zi?”

“She was with me.”

“So?”

Another sigh, “Some how, they know. They know that we- you, your girl, me, Zi, and Fae. They know we killed the witch. They attacked us, because, some of them frown upon being free- I suppose with good reason, since not having a script is the reason this whole thing happened.”

“So what happened?”

Hale’s jaw flexed as he lapsed into another episode of silence, “As I’ve said, it’s not my story to tell.” And that was it. The man never once opened his mouth. Rejected and confused, Ashton stood, stepped cautiously over Hale to the door.

“ASHTON!” A girlish voice screamed, before he could even blink, he was shoved against a wall. He just stayed, attempting to regulate his breathing; he could hear Richelle freaking out from inside and just focused on being calm. For her. He waited till the weight was lifted and turned around to find Hale gone, their beers untouched. Nothing on the balcony. Confusion only fueled his growing curiosity as he moved to the side, peering down. He wished he hadn’t.

            It was hard to spot Zi; she was fast, small, and agile. She danced around the tall man like it was nothing, just an average walk in the park. Hale was standing in front of him, arms crossed over chest, shaking as the thing tried launching out at Zi, but she was too fast. The sun glinted off something she held making Ashton furiously blink back his temporary blindness. When he looked back down again, all three were gone. He gaped in awe. “We’re going,” A strong, confident voice spoke from beside him, he jumped, smashing his head into the glass door and groaning. It was Zi; she placed a steady hand under her body before shifting her weight and jumped over the balcony’s edge.

“We just got here….”

She shrugged, “Sorry kid.” She walked forward and he grabbed her arm.

“I don’t know what happened to you, but your cold, emotionless attitude is both unpleasant and displeasing. I’m not a kid, I’m not even younger than you, you are younger than I. I don’t know how you became a wolf, but my kind kills yours for a damned living. So listen to me and listen good-“ He was cut off as she grabbed his arm, twisting it so that it was his own arm against his throat as she drove him into the wall and lifted him off his feet. He swallowed, desperately trying to reach for air, but he couldn’t. She was stronger, faster, and quite honestly smarter. He should spend less time talking-

“I don’t give a f**k what you think you are, your kind is weak and cowardly. You may or may not be different, I don’t know and I don’t care. But I just saved your a*s, and you will show me some respect. Got it?” He nodded numbly, already missing how easily oxygen came to him. She dropped him with an icy look and opened the door before walking in. He rubbed his throat and watched her walk away, My God, he thought, what has the world done to you?

 

            She’d turned her brain off hours ago, her wolf had been pissy since her previous kill because they hadn’t tasted any blood. Zi’s retort was ‘oh go to bed!’ to which her wolf replied ‘I can’t sleep without blood!!’. Whatever. She never understood why her inner wolf was a psychotic killer anyway, on the bright side, it did keep her alive. “You’ve got to give them the benefit of the doubt,” Hale admitted, walking over to her, “They’re holding on. Tightly.” He added before plopping down next to her.

“Yeah but the question is to what?” He looked at her; she locked her jaw, grinding her teeth, “Their going on power trips.”

“So?”

“So, they’re gonna get their dumb asses-“

“Zi,” Hale breathed, his breath fanning over her ear and down her neck. She shivered. He was too close for comfort. “It’s fine. Let them go. They’re losing their sanity.”

“It won’t help them get it back,” She retorted, “They won’t be able to get it back.”

He let out a deep, slow breath, “Not everything has to end the way it did with us.”

They sat in silence, “Do you think she planned this?”

“No,” He admitted truthfully.

“Some days I think so, think she wanted to die, wanted the chaos.”

“I doubt it,”

She bit her lip, taking in the stars. “How so?”

“Because. She was a coward, even more cowardly than Chevelle’s. If she knew they were this powerful…”

“But she’d be dead, so how would it affect her?”

He sighed, “You know somethin’, you have a point, that b***h was crazy.” Zi gave a short, harsh laugh. “I miss your laugh,” Hale confessed.

“I just laughed.”

“No, the old one,”

Zi sighed, letting her head dip back on her neck, soaking in the moonlight as the silence surround her, “She’s dead,” She stated simply.

“When we survive, do you think there’s a chance, any chance in the world that we could live normal lives?”

“No.”

“And why’s that?”

“I firmly believe that this won’t end until we go public.”

“Public?”

“We’ll be exposed,” Shivers rushed down his spine at the ease in her voice, how easy it was for her to state this fact, how she’d already come to terms with her death. “We’ll destroy the world.”

He was silent for a while before approaching a topic he knew was pushing it, “Why don’t you go sleep love, you look tired?”

Another harsh, humorless laugh, “Why don’t you?”

“Sleeping will make you stronger,” He urged.

“If I close my eyes, they’ll never open.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” He joked and she could practically hear him wink. She scrunched her nose in response and he chuckled, “Ah, come on, love! Don’t you dream of me?”

Her eyes shot open, her head snapping to look at the stupid smirk on his face she just wanted to shoot right the f**k off. “No.” She snapped, “But thank you for giving me yet another reason to stay awake.”

He snorted, “Please, how could not want this?” He gestured towards his body. She raised her eyebrows in response. “Tell me you don’t find it absolutely drool-worthy,” He pushed, leaning closer to her, almost face to face. He’d done this before, she instantly tried really hard not to listen, “You get out of the shower, and the first thing you smell after-“

“Where is this going?” She asked skeptically.

“Shhh, patience love.” He soothed, she just rolled her eyes, “The first thing you smell is something familiar you can’t quite place your finger on, something tempting, alluring. Your stomach growls in agreement and your prance your cute little but into the kitchen where I am. You stop, unable to stop your eyes from taking it in. Every inch. I’m shirtless, of course, standing in my boxers, flipping pancakes. There’s a plate of bacon to my side and you hop over, greedily snatching it away from me and taking the first from the pile to your lips. I turn, half-annoyed you stole my food, but I see you, in your cute little bun and sexy-a*s shorts.” He moved his lips closer to her ear, “’You look darling today’ I compliment and then lean on the counter, you blush, to the normal eye. They wouldn’t be able to see the light pink specks on your perfect, soft cheek, but I’m familiar with it enough to notice every detail, every single one. So I step closer, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you in, close enough for you to become breathless, you stutter, earning a chuckle out of me as I steal the plate and return to my position at the stove.” He moved back then and smirked, obviously feeling accomplished and proud of himself.

Zi shoved him, “That is so not fair! You used my shirtless pancake thing! You freaking a*s hole!”

His booming laughter seemed to endlessly sprawl out into the night as she groaned and lay back down on the roof. “Ah come on, you enjoyed it.”

She shook her head and snorted, ignoring the red that stained her cheeks, “In your dreams, Parker.”

He gasped, “Never call me that!” He yelled in fake horror.

“What are you gonna do about it?” She challenged, removing her cold hands from her ridiculously over heated face. Right after she said it, she realized her mistake. She tried jumping up, but she’d waited too long. He grabbed her by the sides and pulled her back down, positioning himself over her and giving her a wicked grin before mercilessly tickling her. “OH MY GOD!” She screamed, “STOP! I’M……….. SORRY! I’M……. SO….. SORRY! OH MY GOD!..... I’M…. DYING! ST…..TOP!” She screamed, she wanted so desperately to shove him off the freaking rooftop but she was really freaking ticklish, and this posed a problem.

He laughed from above her, “What do you say, Blackburn?”

“I’m sorry,” She breathed as the tickling ceased, “It won’t happen again, Parker,” She smirked, shoving him off and running across the roof, laughing like mad.

“THAT’S IT!” He called after her; she could hear his clothes rip as he shifted and the heavy thud, thud, thud of his massive paws as he ran over. It didn’t take him long, probably less than thirty steps, to run the distance of the roof, he was right on her tail, and he took it to his advantage, snapping up the back of her shirt and sending them both rolling till they hit the ledge. He let her go; his big, black wolfy eyes contrasting well with his dark brown-almost black fur. She just starred at him, her laughter dying out as she realized just how beautiful his wolf really was. She’d never really looked at it before considering the first time she’d seen it she was dying, and every time after that it seemed he was always drenched in blood, or drinking it. She didn’t shutter or even move, she just laid there. Observing. Taking it all in. A bit of pink escaped from his mouth, quicker than she could register before a warm, slobbery substance rubbed against her face. “GROSS!” She yelled, eagerly swiping at her spit-on face. “Ew, Hale, just- Ew! Bad dog!” She was too busy wiping at her face to notice as he changed back, his body hovering over hers. She scowled up at him, his smoky-blue eyes trained intently on hers. “I can’t believe y…” She let her sentence die as she got lost in his eyes. She stared from one to the other, but they never strayed from her. And suddenly it all came rushing back. ‘Tell me you don’t find it absolutely drool-worthy. You stop, unable to stop your eyes from taking it in. Every inch. I’m shirtless, of course, standing in my boxers, flipping pancakes. There’s a plate of bacon to my side and you hop over, greedily snatching it away from me and taking the first from the pile to your lips. I turn, half-annoyed you stole my food, but I see you, in your cute little bun and sexy-a*s shorts.” He moved his lips closer to her ear, “’You look darling today’ I compliment and then lean on the counter, you blush, to the normal eye. They wouldn’t be able to see the light pink specks on your perfect, soft cheek, but I’m familiar with it enough to notice every detail, every single one. So I step closer, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you in, close enough for you to become breathless, you stutter, earning a chuckle out of me as I steal the plate and return to my position at the stove.” He moved back then and smirked.’ As she replayed the scene in her mind her gut dropped, her throat went dry, her lips slightly parting as the reality of it all hit her head on. S**t. She was so caught of guard she forgot to hide the emotion from her face.

“Hey,” Hale whispered, “Are you okay?” Concern. Concern. Why the f**k was he concerned?! No. No. Red flag. Get your f*****g a*s up, NOW! She yelled at herself, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t speak, she was paralyzed, all she could do was stare at him. And the longer she starred, the better he looked. OH MY GOD!

 

 

 

 

      “Hey guys, do you kn- OH S**T!” Ashton screamed making her heart lurch into over drive, she jumped up, hitting heads with Hale and groaning.

“S**t, I’m so sorry.” For ruining our friendship, for having no self-control, for not seeing it before, when I didn’t need you so damn much, for smashing my head into yours because it’s not enough that I think I’m falling in love with you and that scares the living s**t out of me…

“You’re fine.” He said, together they turned to see Ashton, facing the opposite way, shielding his eyes.

“Is it safe?” He asked,

Hale chuckled, “If you look above the waist.”

 

Ashton shuttered in disgust, turning to face them, a deliciously evil smile on his beaming face, “Soooooooo, what were ya dooin?”

Author's Note

okay so just wanted to say that when i was typing my usual copyright stuff, i realized that typing Burning Inside the black didn't feel right. Which means I may have(In the last few chapters) accidentally written No Rest FOr the Wicked. If this is the case, don't freak out. I'll fix it.