Chapter 4.
Reuben
I find myself distracted even when dealing with the next assailant. His features blur with all the others, but just like them, he has that same nauseating colour in the air around him, a visual manifestation of his hostility.
Murky, brown crimson
He’s wearing a useless bulletproof vest like the rest of them, but instead of a gun, he’s holding two fancy long blades.
I feel bad for the guy really. He’s twirling them around in his hands as though I’ll win a prize by correctly guessing which one will deal the killing blow.
I grab his wrist when the blade comes down from above, grab the other aiming for my open side, kick him in the balls, then shoot him in the face when he goes down.
It’s anticlimactic really.
His partner rushes towards me next, his features just as easily forgettable and that same disgusting colour creeping into my vision, but all I’m thinking is…
Did Christian really throw himself over two kids he barely met?
“Ha.” I can’t help the grin from spreading on my face. How is he still alive with all that softness?
My outburst throws the man in front of me into a hissy fit—pretty self-centred if you ask me.
His swings become sharper and faster, and it takes just a bit more energy to get out of the way, until I throw my arm over his, mid-swing, grab his collar with my other hand and twist my body to pull him into the air and down to the ground.
I admit I wasn’t paying attention, because this position is awkward now for both of us. I stomp each of my feet onto his wrists, plant my weight on his chest—
And shoot him between the eyes.
It’s only ever in that moment that the colours finally disappear. Sucked out of the room as if they were never there—my only real taste of normalcy—a glimpse of what normal people see when they look at others.
I was maybe around 12 when I realized that was the only way to get rid of it. It was around that time too that Abuelita told me I had chaotic energies inside me.
Even so, I haven’t been able to stop since. Unlike painters who transform blank canvases into masterpieces of colour, I can only find my joy in stripping the colour away.
And even then, I can’t erase it completely, because all that’s left behind are the pigments and textures of warm blood.
I pull myself out of my thoughts to get to my feet.
Thanks to the redirection of gunfire, I can finally take a good look at what’s happening outside the store.
Wesley is huddled behind an unfamiliar van, likely belonging to the family of four inside, using his pistol to draw the attention away from us.
The explosion was likely his doing but although it was able to take out two of them, there are still four more to go.
And all of them have taken their eyes off the big fish.
Tsk tsk tsk.
Two black jeeps are parked parallel with the curb in front of the store, and a third one at a right angle, in a bid to protect the remaining four men from Wesley’s rapid-fire shots.
I can’t help the smile that slips onto my face, or the excitement tingling through my nerves as I sprint towards the one furthest from Wesley’s position, more than happy to take advantage of their inattention and barricade them in.
I’m almost insulted that they thought they could take their eyes off me.
Did they really think the men they sent inside were enough?
I feel a presence right at my heels, one that only causes my grin to widen, and I don’t have to turn to look when I leap over the hood of the car.
I can always count on Tobias to be right behind me regardless.
The seconds slow into an eternity when my victim finally notices me. The fear in his eyes spikes euphoria beneath my skin, and I can feel the grin stretching my face. Tobias’ favourite knife is tearing through the air, passing by my ear to sink deep into his throat and the eternity breaks.
I grab the dying man by the back of his throat and place him between me and the other three. Poor guy takes about six bullets from his own men when they finally notice I’ve violated their defensive line. It only takes one bullet each to get rid of them.
The moment I turn to dispatch the last one, his head explodes before my very eyes and both Tobias and I turn in the direction of the shot. Where Xavier is lowering his rifle.
“Pretty good exercise if I do say so myself.” I can’t help the smugness as I crouch down to poke one of the dead bodies. “I can’t wait to tell Baal about this.”
Tobias pretends not to hear me as he retrieves his knife from the dead guy and wipes it on his clothes.
“The police will be here soon, sir,” Wesley’s voice is like cold water poured all over my happy place and I resist the urge to groan by clicking my teeth instead.
“Everyone, move out fast.” My command is sharp in the air, and Wesley and Tobias retreat to our SUV, parked far enough away to have avoided all the chaos.
Xavier steps out of the store holding up an injured Gabriel, and my gaze immediately cuts to Christian, before I can stop them. For the thousandth time, my eyes are snagging on the silver and blue aurora around him.
When I told him I was taking him to Seattle with me, I’d come up with the idea on the fly. I’d hoped that by giving him another purpose I’d be able to get rid of that black I’d seen when he killed Everett, but even I had to admit I was surprised to see it had disappeared completely.
Of all the colours I’ve ever seen… his is the only one I think I don’t mind. The only one that calms the urges. Throughout the entire car ride it took every effort not to look at him. I had to put a mental wall between the front and back seats just to block him out.
I can’t tell yet if I hate it.
Christian drops an empty plastic water bottle onto the floor and I have to blink to make sure I’m seeing correctly. While the rest of us were fighting for our lives, he’d been trying to clean the scraps of snacks and juices off his clothes.
I’m holding back the laugh bubbling in my throat until he’s pouring another bottle over his head to get the grime of jello and orange concentrate off of him, and my laughter is immediately stolen away from my chest. He’d already used about three bottles to attempt to get it out of his clothes, but now water droplets are clinging to his black hair and wet curls are coiling around his face.
When he drags a hand through his hair to quickly shake off the excess water, the bright colours of his irritation are so pretty, clashing with the bright blue of his eyes and making my dick twitch again.
The vision of eating bits of jello off his wet skin and dragging my tongue along his neck is so intense I have to drag my gaze away, and the moment I do, hot annoyance is flaring up inside my chest.
“Stupid fool, it's like you're a virgin again, have you lost your mind?” Spanish pours off my tongue naturally and I hurry forward to help carry Gabriel, while muttering under my breath, “You’re a Taiga, a Taiga. You kill people for a living, not lose your shit over some wet fucking skin. It’s the Portland air, right? It’s the Portland fucking air.
Don’t they know they need to plant more fucking trees? The air is killing me.”
I ignore Xavier’s look of confusion as I strap the unconscious Gabriel into the SUV quickly, still mumbling about the fucking Portland air.
The shot in his shoulder doesn’t look serious and I’ve seen him get patched up from worse before, so I know he can hold out for treatment until we get to Seattle.
Both Wesley and Tobias are already strapped in the car to go when I shut the SUV door and tap the hood twice, a little harder than I mean to, “Let’s move it guys, we need to be out of here now.”
I move around to the other side, half convincing myself I’ll leave Christian here to deal with the feds if he doesn’t get in this car fast enough because I refuse to look at him again. And that’s when I notice Xavier, staring at the fallen men outside the store, unmoving.
“Xavier,” I snap, “now’s not the time to have a séance for the dead men, it’s time to go.”
“There are six.” The words are spoken so softly I barely hear them, but the strange look in his eyes does cut my snappiness down a fraction.
My eyes narrow, “What?”
His eyes are wide with a new realization that creates an uneasiness in my stomach, but the moment Christian steps forward, Xavier’s already buried away whatever he’s about to say, heightening my curiosity even more.
Christian himself is quiet; he’s wearing that inexpressive mask that probably fools everyone else, but I can see the suddenly orange hues in his energy, and I know whatever Xavier was about to say made him anxious.
I’m more intrigued than annoyed when Christian hands Xavier a grocery basket stacked with snacks, and despite the orange hues in his energy, he’s a master at looking unfazed as he turns away, slides into the backseat, and buckles in.
And now I’m convinced there’s so much more to my new member than meets the eye.
The moment the Taiga estate comes into view my body unconsciously relaxes.
The last half of the journey back was pretty quiet in comparison, mostly because Xavier was too deep in his thoughts to be his usual annoying self, so there were only the sounds of the late-night creatures and the light from the stars in the black sky to keep us company.
From the stories I’d heard from Dahlia over the past few years, Christian himself could supposedly talk circles around Xavier, but from what I’ve seen of him so far, that couldn’t be further from the truth… I suppose losing your team can make you find fewer things to say.