I'm So Screwed (Hale)

My wrist still burned from the glow of the bracelet.

Lev was waiting for me outside. Once she saw me she was at my side.

I rolled my eyes and kept walking, but she just kept pace with me.

"Are you okay? You look a little freaked."

"I'm fine. Why are you still here?" I huffed not looking at her.

"That's a long story I don't think you're ready for yet, but in shorter words. Your kind of stuck with me," She grinned.

I stopped dead in my tracks and finally turned to look at her.

"No, I'm not. I don't need a babysitter. Thank you for all your help, but I can take it from here,"

I started walking again, she followed me, I was about to tell her off but she grabbed my wrist forcing me to stop.

"What's this?" She asked in a more serious tone, I looked at the bracelet on my wrist.

"A gift," I answered with a bit of annoyed.

Lev took my wrist more into her hands and glanced over it.

"It's blocking your magic. It's already taken some damage. I don't think it's equipped for how much power you have. If you really try you could break it." Lev explained as she inspected it.

"Great, glad that's covered. I have to go. Don't follow me," I pulled out of her grasp.

"Why?" Lev asked taken back.

"Because it's dangerous and personal, and oh yeah, because it's none of your business,"

"Then I'm definitely coming. There's no way you're going into something that dangerous without complete access to your magic."

"You just said if I wanted to use it I could break through it." I restated with a humorous tone.

"I don't want to take any chances." She shot back sternly.

She was taller then me, like everyone, so it took more of an effort to try and walk quicker then her.

I groaned and threw my head back.

"Plus I have the bike, how far away is this personal errand of yours? I could get you there a lot faster,"

I narrowed my eyes at her.

The abandoned lot from last night was on the other side of the city, walking there would take almost an hour.

"Fine, let's go,"

She smiled proudly that she won and tossed a motorcycle helmet to me. I caught before it hit me in the face.

"Hale? Would you even consider dropping out of the fight? To get out of this?"

My wrist burned from the flame of the metal. I felt Lev's hands grab onto my smaller ones, sparks tingled on my nerves, it tensed up and pulled away. Her figure blocked the sun from my eyes as I looked up at her.

"Calm down, breathe."

I took in a shuttered breath, it helped and the bracelet let up.

"I like the fight, I'm good at it." I protested sternly. It was mine, it was all I had.

"You have a war coming, isn't that enough?"

Her words struck me with reality and I gave her a quick nod. I slid the helmet over my face and Lev was waiting for me, straddling the bike. She offered her hand, I ignored it and swung a leg over the bike.

"You're going to have to hold onto me you know," Lev chuckled, as she revved the bike.

I sucked in a breath and slowly wrapped my arms around her. She was so warm, her scent filled my senses, the part of me that was valuable to her was going into overdrive.

The bike gave a loud roar and then we were flying down the pavement. The wind rushed past my face, adrenaline was pounding in my veins.

I guess Lev could tell I was having a good time, she hit the gas harder and we were going even faster. We got to Mickey's sooner then I liked.

When I swung my leg back over and balanced myself, my legs felt like jelly. Lev was going to have to teach to drive this thing, I'd make her.

I slid the helmet off of my head and set it on the seat.

I looked over to the rust-covered door. For the first time, my stomach turned in nervousness when thinking about entering. Normally I was excited and confident.

"You ready?" Lev asked.

I gave a small node and took a step forward. I went over to the back door. I yanked it open and the smell of musk hit my nose. I started down the stairs, very aware that Lev wasn't leaving any space between us.

Once I - we entered the fighting space I went rigged. Dark marks were scrapped over the ring that wasn't there yesterday when I entered. I moved closer and saw that it was dragged all over the concrete.

"Is that . . . mine?" I asked in a small voice.

"Most of it. Your legs really got the hit of it when he started dragging you around, the same things with your hands. Then when he got ahold of your face. Your nose was gushing blood, I could barely watch after that. I almost interfered when he got a hold of your throat." Lev stopped when she started to choke on her own anger.

I was almost taken back about how angry she was, she was furious that someone hurt me. It was a position that was new to me. No one ever cared if I was okay if I was cared for.

"Mickey!" I called out into the dark abyss. The back door squeaked open and Mickey stumbled out still in his clothes from last night.

"Hale! There you are! I was worried about you. Last night went to shit. I thought you were dead." His voice was slow and slurred and he was stumbling all over the place. He tripped and fell in front of me, catching onto me before he could hit the floor. His breath stank of beer.

"Are you drunk?" I asked surprised and slightly irritated. I was expecting more anger and sobriety.

"What's it to you? They'll be here soon, I'd like to be numb before I die, you might have time too."

I shook my head.

"Before who kills us?" I asked my heart pounding in my chest.

"My boss, your boss. Things got to close last night. They want to move operations, so they will need to tie up loose ends." He motioned between me and him."That means us."

"It's not our fault that things went south!"

"Yes, but the money that was stolen was almost five-thousand dollars."

"Shit," I muttered, my hand raked through my hair, one of my nervous tactics.

"Whos' you new toy?" Mickey asked completely changing topics, too drunk to think of a way out of this.

"None of your concern." I snapped harshly.

"Hmm so touchy," Mickey grumbled.

"I quit, I'm done. They can't kill me if I'm out."

Mickey gave a belt of laughter.

"Sure, yeah, go ahead. Cause that's gonna stop them. Do what you want, soon we both will be too dead to give a shit."

"Now Mickey that's no way to talk to a lady, especially one that's made us so much money."

I hadn't noticed that someone had joined us. My stomach was churning in knots and my heart felt like a jackhammer in my chest.

The man was behind Mickey and Mickey started to sweat bullets.

"We thank you for your service." The man offered as he made a quick motion with his hand. We heard the snap before we saw Mickey's body drop to the concrete.

His gaze flicked back to me, his face was dressed up with a dark smile. I could feel the heat of the metal on my wrist.

No one was hurting me, or Lev. I'd let this building crumbled before that happened.

The glow of the bracelet bit at my skin. I didn't have to worry about the pain because a few seconds later it snapped in two and clicked to the floor.

The whispers flooded back into my head, it was overwhelming. My head spun trying to get used to the hushed murmurs and the power the surged through me.

The man only hesitated for a second before his fist was flying at my head. Lev jumped in front of me, but with the help of magic, I pushed her out of the way.

I would not involve her. This was my fight, my final fight in this ring.

I could feel my magic trying to break my mental block of control. I wonder what would happen if I took it down? If I just let my magic run free.

As soon as I stopped resisting it was like it a waterfall effect. My magic ran free and powerful through my body. The building shook violently, dust and dirt shook down.

It disrated the man long enough for me to get in a good hit. I aimed my hand for his chest, it would take him a second to regain his breath.

His mouth gaped as my hand connected with his body. As I withdrew my hand, a whispy ink-like smoke followed. The man fell down just like Mickey - dead.

I opened my hand to wave my hand through it but it shimmered into nothing.

Lev was back at my side and I looked at her confused.

"Soul grabbing." She answered my unspoken question. "You took his soul from his body, instantly killing him."

My lungs squeezed together and my body went numb.

"I-I killed him." I stuttered out. Lev didn't say anything, instead, she wrapped an arm around me and tucked me into her side. For a second I let my guard down and let her comfort me when I realized what was happening I shrugged her off and put more distance between us.

She gave me a small look of hurt before masking it and started walking back to the door we came in through.

"Come on, you need a new bracelet."

-*-

Once we were back I could feel the throbbing start from the one punch I took. I winced as the helmet brushed by it. Lev took the helmet from me and looked at my eye.

"It's starting to bruise, I'll put some more medication on it later."

"How do I look without the spell? Is it better?" I asked, remembering this morning when Lev put the potion on my skin. It took the pain away, but it would be a while until it was healed.

"Let's see," Lev whispered in incantation and I didn't feel anything, but I saw my skin turn from its pale tone to a mix of purple, blue, and yellow blotches.

"It fits in well." She joked.

There was a high pitch intake behind us and we turned around swiftly.

Jade was standing there her hands covering her mouth, horror-struck.

"What happened," she gasped coming closer. Her hands hovered over my skin, careful not to actually touch me.

I took a step back.

"Your friend last night. He enjoyed himself." I answered smugly.

"No, that's not possible. They weren't there this morning."

"Magic is really helpful." I snapped, not in the mood to argue with her.

"He . . . " She didn't finish her sentence. She pulled her probing hands away and fast-walked back into the manor.

Lev spun me around to look at her.

She whispered the incantation again and my skin cleared up.

"I have to go get some stuff done. I'll be back soon."

"You know you really don't need too. I can take care of myself," I protested again.

"You're not getting rid of me that easy," she gave me a small wink.

I scowled at her and looked away.

Lev used the tip of her finger to turn my chin back to her.

"Get a new bracelet and forget about what happened, okay? These people can help you, so be nice."

"Nice isn't really my thing,"

"I've noticed," She smirked. "And just in case you forget about me."

Lev dipped her head down and planted a swift kiss to my lips. She was back on the bike and started down the road before I could even react.

My fingers brushed my lips.

I grimaced at myself.

I could still feel that sparks that came from her touch. I hated that I was starting to enjoy that feeling.

I was slipping, she was going to tear down the walls I built to protect myself.

She was dangerous, which is why I had to keep her far away from me.