5. Lightning Knight
5
Lightning Knight
C assie’s Taylor Swift playlist blared through the speakers as Alexa walked into the kitchen the next morning. Her sister stood at the stove with her back to the doorway as she sang along, with a little dance in her steps, turning over the pancakes on the griddle.
Alexa walked over to the island and lowered the volume, catching Cassie’s attention. She turned and greeted Alexa with a warm smile. “Hello there, sunshine. Breakfast is almost ready.”
She sounded like a mother when she used that dialogue. And she might as well have been one.
Cassie became Alexa’s mother-sister after their mother abandoned them. They hadn’t always been this close. When they were younger, they enjoyed pointing out each other’s flaws. Ratting each other out to their parents, particularly their mother, and enjoying watching the other be punished was a usual occurrence in their lives. Despite their five-year age difference, Alexa and Cassie had experienced every sibling rivalry that existed at the time.
But tragedy pushed them together until they had no one but each other to rely and count on, until they realized no one understood them better than they did each other. Despite their childhood rivalry, they deeply cared for each other, and they had no one but each other to cry on without being ashamed or judged.
Alexa still remembered the early days of their parents’ intense arguments. Their voices would ricochet through the walls and reach her in her bedroom, and Cassie would place a headset over Alexa’s ears, playing her favorite songs at high volume. It used to help block out the arguing voices, and Cassie would go down and try to bring some order to the situation.
The more this went on, the closer they became. By the time their parents divorced, their bond had become unbreakable, and it refused to let them remain broken as a result of the chaos. They went through it all together; since then, Alexa’s sisterhood had served as her anchor in the storm.
They trusted each other more than anyone in the universe, loved each other unconditionally, and knew each other like the back of their hands. If anyone claimed to know her sister better than she did, Alexa wouldn’t forgive them. Even when Brandon married her sister, she would simply let him pretend he knew Cassie better than she did.
Her sister had been Alexa’s everything, even when her dad was still alive. He had been a wonderful dad. Despite his sorrow over the divorce, he had prioritized their happiness— they had been his priority. Unlike their mother, who claimed to love them before abandoning them, their dad never did. He had been with them till his last breath, loving them and trying to be the greatest dad he could be.
“Morning, sis,” Alexa greeted back as she made her way toward Cassie and gave her a peck on the cheek. “You’re not going to believe what happened last night.”
“Last night?”
“Midnight,” Alexa clarified, leaning her back against the counter as she stood side-facing her sister. “You might need to brace yourself for this, because I bet you’ve never heard anything like this before—a real life incident like this. You might even be inspired to write a book.”
Cassie turned to her with an incredulous but amused look, crossing her arms with spatula in hand. “You’re driving me insanely curious. Spit it out already.”
Alexa took a deep breath, unsure where to start and how to deliver the story. She wasn’t a storyteller like her sister, after all. But she could try going from the beginning.
“Melissa called me at midnight in a fit of sobs and apologized for yesterday.”
Cassie blinked.
Alexa could practically see questions running around her head in small specks and Cassie struggling to choose her first question.
At last, all Cassie could say was an incredulous, “What?” She blinked twice more before releasing an array of questions. “Midnight? Couldn’t she wait until morning? Was she drunk? Why would she be crying? But this is Melissa we’re talking about. Why would she apologize at all? What did she say?”
Alexa took another deep breath. “And that’s the most insane part of all. I still can’t wrap my mind around it.”
“What did she say?” Cassie pressed, impatient with curiosity.
“That there’s a ghost in her house who threatened her into calling and apologizing to me right away.”
“What?” Cassie sputtered a laugh and turned off the stove.
“Yeah, and unfortunately—or, fortunately rather—it’s true. I heard it.” Alexa widened her eyes, and her heart pounded as she recalled hearing the bang from Melissa’s end of the line.
“I don’t get it.” Cassie shook her head, her amused expression replaced with bafflement. If it wasn’t for her faith in Alexa, her sister would have laughed now. They had long sworn not to lie to each other, so they trusted each other’s words even if it was next to impossible.
“Melissa heard a crash in her kitchen that woke her up. She went down to check but there was nothing amiss. She turned to go back, and then she saw this, a moving figure. She said it was like vampires moving in movies, that fast, dissolving into the air type, hard for our eyes to track. She was scared and ran back to her room, locked herself in, and saw a note on her bed that said, ‘Apologize to Alexa right now or you’ll regret it’. It was signed by a strange name, Lightning Knight.
“Melissa hesitated, because of course she is Melissa, the queen, the one who doesn’t bend to anyone other than herself. Then, this ghost banged on her door. She was scared out of her life. She said that it banged until she dialed my number. I didn’t answer the first two times, thinking she was drunk and was calling to insult me again. But when she called the third time, I answered. The last thing I expected was to hear her wailing and apologizing.”
Alexa told her the rest of the story, and through it all, Cassie stood frozen like a statue, listening to her every word with eyes that couldn’t grow any wider. Only when she was done and a beat of silence passed between them that Cassie moved to release the breath she held all this time.
“I know it’s hard to believe…”
“And I wouldn’t even be trying to consider it if you didn’t tell me you heard the banging too.” Cassie collapsed into one of the chairs at the dining table. She rubbed her temples, obviously thinking hard.
“What do you think it is?” Alexa asked softly, taking the chair opposite, their knees brushing as she sat down. “I’ve been thinking about it even in my sleep, but none of it made sense. Do you really think it’s a ghost?”
“Ghosts don’t exist, Lex.”
“According to what we believe, despite loving fiction, what happened yesterday at Melissa’s house concerning me shouldn’t have happened, too. But it did, so are you sure we can still say that?”
“Certainly not a ghost, really, it’s stupid.” Cassie ran her hands through her blonde hair, causing the side bangs to slip from behind her ear and frame her face. “Even if she thinks it’s our dad’s ghost, I refuse to believe ghosts are roaming around us. Ghosts are transparent; they cannot make contact with an object, certainly not make crashes in kitchens, bang on doors, and write notes. ”
“Then what? A vampire?”
“I would definitely go with that one,” Cassie replied with a small, cheeky smile. “A vampire—not to mention, a gorgeous one like Stefan, or Damon, or Edward—defending your honor.” She shook her head, laughing lightly, and ran both hands over her face. “Goodness, did the world suddenly begin rotating the other way?”
Alexa chuckled and looked down at her hands. “I’m trying to figure out the name signed in the note. Lightning Knight. Only, it doesn’t strike a familiar chord or… or anything.”
“The note.” Cassie’s head shot up suddenly. Alexa met her eyes; they were wide with an all-too-familiar look. A look Cassie got whenever she got a plot hole filled.
“Yes?”
“Alexa, the note !” She emphasized the word, her eyes boring into Alexa’s, trying to infuse the meaning behind it through their eyes alone.
The puzzle piece clicked into place. Alexa caught the meaning, and a small gasp escaped her lips.
“But… no, that is impossible.”
“The utmost impossible has happened already. What’s more than that?”
“Still, it can’t be Tristan!” Alexa insisted, partially in disbelief that her sister thought such a thing would come from a complete stranger like Tristan. “This thing, it’s not normal; it’s either magical or supernatural. Tristan is neither!”
“How can you know? Did he tell you?” Cassie challenged. Before Alexa could reply, she continued, answering the question on her own. “No, he didn’t. But he knew your name when you met him at the bookstore, he was staring at you at church when you saw him, he refused to turn and face you at the bookstore, he disappeared— practically disappeared according to what you said—those two times when you tried to reach him. Can’t you connect the dots?”
“This is insane.” Alexa leaned back in her chair and shook her head, crossing her arms and averting her eyes from her sister.
“Precisely, because that’s how it should sound when something abnormal happens. You’ve read enough books for me to tell you that.”
“So, you’re saying Tristan is a vampire?”
“No, I’m saying that he is the one behind this, whatever he is.”
“I thought you might say he is a stalker and then call the police.”
“Well, I’m still inclined; only this time, he’s an obsessed stalker.”
“If you’re trying to scare me, it’s not working,” Alexa quipped with a sly smile.
Cassie matched her grin. “I didn’t expect you to. I’ve trained you over a lot of bookish adventures to be intimidated by any of this. But.” She paused to take a deep breath and continued. “I won’t hesitate to admit I’m also worried. Does anyone other than me know about Melissa’s insults?”
“You, Daph, every student present in the hallway, and everyone they had passed on the gossip to.”
“There was Jude, too. And he came to your defense.”
Alexa scowled, matching the one on her sister’s face. “He can get lost. It’s most definitely not him. I’d rather stick with Tristan being a vampire. ”
Cassie’s scowl melted as she chuckled. “Not to mention, you told him you didn’t want him to play your knight in shining armor. The note is signed by a Lightning Knight .” Her eyebrows rose suggestively.
Alexa huffed and looked away; she hated that it made sense. “Then no thanks to him.”
“Of course, there’s no thanks to him.” Cassie rose from the chair. She took the plate of stacked pancakes from the counter and placed it on the dining table before grabbing two plates, knives and forks, and maple syrup.
They said grace. And like every other time, Alexa wondered why they hadn’t stopped it yet. Perhaps it was to cherish the memory of their dad.
“I’ll tell Gracie I can’t fly with her to Orlando, then.”
Alexa paused chewing on her food. She almost asked what for before remembering that Cassie had promised to go with her best friend Gracie to Orlando for the three-day work trip she was assigned by the magazine she wrote for. It was her first one, and she was given an extra flight ticket and accommodation for one person she could bring with her. Gracie, of course, asked Cassie, and Cassie accepted it after making sure Alexa would be fine without her. Not that Cassie was actually going to leave her alone; she had already asked Brandon to stay in the house at night.
Then why change the plans now?
As though reading her mind, Cassie said, without looking up from her pancakes, “My sister has an obsessed stalker, and there’s no way I’m leaving her behind even if my boyfriend guards the house.”
“Could you kindly say secret admirer instead of obsessed stalker ? Seriously it’s starting to grate on my nerves,” Alexa retorted, but with a smile.
“You’re scared.”
“I’m annoyed. ”
“Then obsessively stalking secret admirer, it is.”
“You’re worse than annoying older brothers.”
“And you’re worse than annoying younger brothers.” Cassie grinned back, just before they both burst into laughter.
“I almost forgot about your trip with Gracie. When is it, again?”
“In two days.”
Alexa’s eyes widened. “Seriously, Cass? And you’re going to cancel on your best friend on such short notice?”
“For my sister? Yes,” Cassie said.
“I’m not gonna let you do that, not to Gracie.” When Cassie opened her mouth to protest, Alexa held up her hand. “It’s all the same whether it’s you or Brandon staying with me. This ghost, vampire, or whatever it is, was defending me, bringing me justice. So, to think that I might be in danger at its hands is what sounds senseless. And if this thing wants to attack me for some senseless reason, it doesn’t make any difference who is staying with me. Do you get me? Besides, Brandon is a man. He’s probably got more skills at defense than both of us, so better trust him with my safety rather than canceling on your best friend two days before the trip.”
“Don’t underestimate me, sissy,” Cassie mused, with a smirk at the mention of her boyfriend’s strength. “You have no idea how far I’d go for you.”
Alexa’s heart melted at those words. She reached for her hand over the table with a soft smile. “I know, Cass, because I would too, in a heartbeat. But you won’t have to do that, it won’t come to that, I promise.”
“Don’t promise anything when you have no idea what the future holds.” Cassie gave her hand a squeeze before letting go. She sighed. “I guess we’ll stick to the original plan, then.”
* * *
Melissa’s attitude toward Alexa that day at school was astounding and miraculous. True to her word, she had talked her peers into being nice to Daphne and Alexa. Though Melissa wore her happy-Melissa smile every time she and Alexa came face to face, Alexa could see it was strained and exactly for the display. Much to Alexa’s shock, there had been fear in her eyes too.
Melissa made her and Daphne promise not to tell anyone about the incident; not only because of the fact that she had bent her morals and apologized to Alexa, but because of what prompted her into doing so. People would think she was out of her mind, and the queen of the school definitely didn’t want that.
The next day, at Cassie’s word, Alexa requested the Lightning Knight’s note from Melissa so they could compare the handwriting to Tristan’s. But one look at it, she knew it wasn’t his.
Where Tristan’s handwriting was cursive, this one was all caps and blocky letters.
Alexa wasn’t sure whether she was disappointed—to learn it wasn’t him—or smug—to prove Cassie wrong.
She checked in on Melissa in the following nights after the incident, to know if the Lightning Knight had returned to haunt her. The answer had been no, and Melissa had her grandmother staying with her until her parents returned from their romantic vacation. Melissa also refused to disclose the incident to anyone else, so her family didn’t know what had happened; only that she suddenly didn’t entertain the idea of staying alone at night.
All Alexa and Cassie and Daphne had to talk about in those days was the Lightning Knight. Who was he? What was he? Even though they were grateful for what he did, why was he doing this? What were his intentions?
A lot of questions like that.
A day later, Cassie prepared to leave for Orlando. Gracie arrived punctually, just before Brandon did, to take on the role of Alexa’s temporary guardian during her absence. As Gracie waited in the car, Cassie and Brandon argued about where he would sleep. Cassie insisted he use her room, while Brandon initially opted for the couch in the living room.
Alexa rolled her eyes, amused by their banter, until Brandon relented.
Brandon had no idea about the Lightning Knight; Alexa had asked Cassie not to tell him anything about the incident. He would probably think they were all mad; he was not quite the fiction aficionado as John, and they hadn’t even told him .
“Take care of my Lexi,” Cassie said to Brandon as they embraced. Alexa could only imagine how many times her sister told him that since he showed up.
“I’m more than capable of taking care of her. She’s in safe hands, babe. You have a good time, worries aside.” Brandon leaned down and kissed her briefly.
Cassie stepped out of his hold and drew Alexa into a tight embrace. “Promise me you’ll stay out of trouble.”
“I will if you promise me you will,” Alexa replied cheekily, before adding in a whisper, “Besides, I have my Lightning Knight to handle my bullies and the bad guys. Don’t worry.”
Cassie chuckled and pulled away to look at her. “Say that one more time and I’m canceling this flight and staying.”
Alexa opened her mouth to accept the challenge, but clamped it shut; only two days ago her sister confessed about going all lengths for her, she didn’t want to test it.
“I’ll miss you,” she said instead.
Cassie hugged her again. “I’ll miss you too.”
“Your display is touching, but our flight will take off without us if we’re late!” Gracie called from the car with a grin.
Alexa and Cassie pulled away, laughing. Hugging Brandon once more, Cassie walked to Gracie’s car and got inside.
Alexa waved as they drove away.
A phantom feeling settled in her heart when the car was out of sight. She and Cassie hadn’t been separated in a long while that she had forgotten when the last time was. Three days were going to feel like three weeks without Cassie.
An arm wrapped around her shoulders and Brandon pulled her to his side. “Three days will pass in no time, Lex,” he said, as though reading her mind. “Before you even know it, Cass will be back.”
“I hope so.” Alexa sniffed .
“Come on,” Brandon tugged them inside. “I know what you need; you need distraction. Let’s head to the kitchen.”
“Oh, someone’s eager to get their hands dirty.”
“What can I do? I’m stuck with my favorite chef.”
Alexa sniffed and laughed. “Cassie shouldn’t hear that.”
“Cassie knows already.”
When they entered the kitchen, she asked, “What do you prefer for dinner?”
“Whatever you choose, I’ll go with it wholeheartedly,” Brandon said with a dramatic gesture of touching a hand to his heart.
Alexa laughed. He was being unusually cheerful today; probably trying to distract her from missing her sister too much. She was touched by his brotherly care. “It’s your choice. You’re the guest.”
“Guest?” Brandon widened his eyes, feigning surprise. “I thought I was family.”
“You know what I mean! Of course you are family, Brandon. I couldn’t wait for the day I can officially call you my brother.”
Brandon smiled, but it was a little strained. Alexa refrained from asking him if everything was alright. Did he not see a future with Cassie? Was there something wrong with them?
But, no. She saw them together just some moments ago and they were perfectly okay. Besides, her sister would have told her if there was such a thing as a strain in their relationship. They never hid anything from each other.
Before Alexa could think more of it, Brandon’s voice pulled her from her thoughts. “Then I guess I’ll opt for pasta.”
Alexa beamed knowingly. “I knew you would.”
They got on to preparing dinner. The last time Brandon was in the kitchen helping them with dinner was when their dad was still alive. It was a long time ago. Alexa sighed as she remembered it.
“Do you remember the last time we prepared dinner together?”
Brandon turned to her from where he was cooking the pasta. His face softened. “Of course, how could I forget?”
Alexa smiled and turned away, chopping the onion with expertise. “If I remember correctly, we made pasta then too.”
“I think I remember that.” Brandon chuckled. “It was your dad’s favorite as well as mine.”
“And Cassie joked something about making pasta all her life for the two men she loved.”
“And I threw a tomato at her.”
Alexa dropped the knife when something hit her back. She gasped and turned around with wide eyes. “No you didn’t!” Her gaze fell to the tomato on the floor, and a mischievous glint entered them as she bent down to pick it up. “But now that you did, at her sister, be ready for revenge.”
She threw it back at him and laughed as he ducked out of the way.
Brandon’s eyes darkened with a strange look as his gaze locked with hers. He turned off the stove and smirked at her, reaching for an orange from the bowl on the island. “You have no idea what you just started. ”
“I didn’t start anything, you did.” The words sounded almost familiar to her ears and she remembered Tristan. Her grin widened at the thought of him. “Whatever you say, as long as my kitchen won’t end up in a mess, I’m in.”
Brandon threw the orange at her and Alexa caught it in the air instead of ducking out of its way. She threw it back at him. He did the same.
Their laughter filled the air.
Lost in the mischief and silliness of the game, Alexa didn’t realize when Brandon had gotten so close to her that their bodies almost touched.
Alexa’s stomach recoiled from the nearness. She backed away to put decent distance between them, however, her back pressed against the counter, leaving her with no room to escape. She looked up and met Brandon’s blue eyes that were darkened with a familiar hunger, reminiscent of Jude’s lustful gaze.
Alexa’s amusement faded.
“Brandon, what—”
Before she could react, Brandon closed the distance between them, and their lips met in an unexpected kiss.