Chapter 17

A foreign feeling of her body makes her blinks as the familiar blurriness of her eyes, the ringing of her ears and the throbing of her head faded little by little. She massages her temples before open her eyes. Seeing the limp body of her soulmate on the floor, she quickly rushes to his side and supports his entire body on her as she brings him in her arms. After little struggles, she walks to the back and into the room where the rest of her soulmates are in with ease.

Thank God for making the body of Luciano bulkier than Daniel, as she could lift him easily.

"Luca!"

"Luca! What's wrong with Daniel?"

They are not even fully inside the room, but raised voices already shouting her way, asking questions in panic.

Feeling the oncoming headache, with all the things happening draining her energy, she frowns disturbingly, "Shut up." She grunts in annoyance. Her voice is calm but firm, not raised at all but they laced with great authorities. Something about it make the men in the room couldn't help but listen.

Silence instantly engulfed the room. She lower her eyes, looking at everywhere but their eyes as she put Daniel down on the sofa gently. "We can't stay here. I saw one of Giuseppe's lackeys. They must here for Isaac." She said grimly.

"Who?"

"Giuseppe. A highly organised Italian mafia group. Drugs, illegal weapons, sex trafficking, they are famous with that. I never thought the day we bump into them to come so soon." She mutters distractedly.

Luigi Giuseppe, the current family head of the Giuseppe family has some twisted hobby to keep human as his pet. And recently in current years, he got bored with normal citizen and started to change their target to famous people to satisfy his twisted desires.

So, it is certainly not weird if they are here. That means their target is Isaac.

Fuck.

Ara suddenly recalls the condition of Alyssa and Ali when she found them in one of the Giuseppe's bases. They were beaten, used near death. When she found them last year, she saw the familiar haunted look in their eyes. Who knows what they did to them. Their condition are so terrible at that time, she nearly couldn't recognize them with blue and black bruises covering every inch of their skin as the pair of famous twins, actor and actress that were reported missing a few months before that.

If the same thing was to happen to Isaac...

"That старый пердун !" She grit her teeth, hot anger swimming through her veins when her brain produces a mental image of her soulmate's battered body, eyes missing the light of hope. "I fucking swear if he touch even a strand of hair on Isaac, I will make him regret it so bad that when I get my hands on him, he will wish he die early and never was born. Fuck, that motherfucker." She murmured in Russian, chest heaving in sudden anger as she fisted her hands.

Relax, Ara. We won't let that happen.

She huffs as she grunts in agreement. Like hell if she ever would let that happen.

Valentino shares a look with Kairo and Zachary, before he address the room." Then, we will not waste anymore time."

With that final words, they scattered around the room to help their unconscious brothers. Ara throws Isaac across her shoulder as gently as she could before looking around the room.

Zachary lift Raphael, Isaac with Kairo and Ezra with the red headed.

Without a second further, Ara strides her way to the door and throw it open cautiously while looking around for Giuseppe's men. She walks faster into a hallway before making a few turns to finally see the back door of the building. The building is still merry with people busying away, passing them along the way.

Just when she wants to open the door, she halts abruptly and turned around. "Merda," She curses under her breath, "Turn around. They are waiting on the back." She slips into the nearest room, checking for any occupant before entering, turning to face the rest of the men.

"I guess we are surrounded." Ara bit her lower lip in thought, eyes still casting downward, avoiding eye contact. She couldn't risk it. What if one of them is another one of her soulmates?

"Kairo." The red headed man calls. "Can you make a portal to our vehicles?"

Portal? Is this man out of his mind?

Kairo nodded before he draws some complex symbol in the air while chanting under his breath.

An ancient symbol floated in the air, the hazel light started to shine brilliantly until a hole of sort was form in front of him.

A PORTAL?!

Her eyes widen so big she fears they bulge out of the sockets. For a moment Ara was frozen in shock, before she gathers her senses watching everyone already step in the portal. She hurries in after taking a deep breath and tightening the hold on Daniel across her shoulder.

A second she was still in one of the room of the hall, the next second she blinked, she saw two shiny black cars that she recognize as 'rich guy's car' with a glance.

She scurries after them to the cars that she assumed theirs with quick steps. But before they could get a few feet closer to the cars, Ara could hear several beeping noises overlapping each other, growing faster with seconds passed.

Her heart lurches forward, it beating in sync with the beeping.

This time she didn't bother to lower her voice as she curses, "Cazzo! ", she turns around and sprints farther from the cars, hand grabbing whoever within reach, "Run! There's bombs in the-"

The cars explode, sending them flying forwards onto the ground from the impact of the explosion. Smoke coloring the air, making her coughs as they enter her lungs, her entire body feels sore as she slowly get up, thankful that nothing is broken.

She looks around with squinting eyes, trying to look through the thick smoke for the man she grabs earlier. Getting annoyed with limited sight, she waves her hand once, the smoke around her clears in a second.

She spots the man with auburn hair a feet from her, laying on his stomach on the ground. She coughs. What was his name again? Ah. Zachary.

"Hey, you. Wake up." She nudge his torso with her shoes cladded feet. He groans, moving slowly.

Numerous thudding of boots against the cement floor catches her attention, alarming her up. The sound getting closer, towards her way.

"Dammit. Don't they get tired?" She grumbled under her breath as she quickly grabs Daniel's unconscious body in front of her. She nudges the guy with auburn hair still laying on the ground, but this time roughly. "Dude, get up quick. They're coming."

The sound of their boots coming closer, and she quickly snatches Zachary's shirt and drag him with Daniel on her shoulder. But then, she saw another body laying near them, his black hair tousled and messy from all the chaos.

Raphael.

She grunted in frustration, before looking around. There's a couple of cars scattering around what she could guess is a parking lot, maybe the staff's car. Making a quick decision, she drag them to a silver car nearby and put them behind.

The enemies are getting closer, maybe just around the corner.

She quicken her steps, not familiar with the extra weight of the body, her steps sound heavier than usual. She quickly snatch Raphael from the ground, sprinting just in time before the enemies arrived.

"Check the cars for their bodies." A gruff man voice orders in Italian. "Makes sure we get him tonight!"

Following the voice, the men scatters around, boots scratching noisily against the floor.

Ara strains to hear. One. Five. Twelve. She then curses internally. They are outnumbered.

A sound of shoes squeaking against the floor snaps her out of her reverie. Her head turned towards Zachary, who is frozen amidst his movement.

Ara tsked, annoyed her partner exposing their location.

"What is that?" A man checking the car beside them started to make his way to them.

Ara makes an inaudible noise of frustration under her breath, Zachary whispers 'sorry' in a small voice.

She frowns, before she gathers energy within her, calling the darkness to envelope them, acting as a camouflage.

"Huh?", The man scratches his head in bewilderment, "Nothing?" before he shrugs and walks away.

Ara lets out a breath of relief.

Suddenly, she was pushed against the floor roughly, forcing a rush of air out of her lungs.

Just inches away from her face is Zachary, his fingers wrap firmly around her neck but not enough to hurt, his body heavy against hers she could feels every dips and curves of muscles of them. His warm breath fanning against her lips hotly as her black fading to amber eyes widen in surprise, staring at his forest green eyes, shining with seriousness. The smell of forest and earth after rain combined attacking her senses.

"You are not Luca, right?"

His voice is smooth, deep but not as deep as Luciano. Nonetheless, still manages to capture her like others did, leaving them ringing in her head non stop, like a broken radio, repeating the same thing again and again. She wants to close her eyes, preventing another Soul Exchange that she knows will soon happen, but his mesmerising green eyes hold hers captive, sending waves of calming aura, like what nature always do to her.

No. Not now.

With great effort, she painstakingly close her eyes, but it was already too late because the next second, consciousness drift away from her.

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старый пердун - Old fart (Russian)

Merda - Shit (Italian)

Cazzo - Fuck (Italian)

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