AJ
Amora swats my hand away and glares. Does she know it's me? She must be furious. "I don't let strangers comfort me." She takes a step closer to Raven. I nod at her "I und'estand." Raven narrows her eyes at me. I hate faking this accent. It was Darren's idea, he always has terrible ideas. I can speak Russian, French, Spanish and Latin; but the man insisted I fake an Irish accent. I try to look everywhere but at Amora. My heart is thundering in my chest. She's just as stunning as I remember her. I smile from under my mask. I missed her, but I can't let her know it's me yet. Not until we get into the car that Darren is waiting in just outside the airport. I saw Ren's disguised eyes spark when he saw Raven wearing his jacket. He really saved our asses back there with that lie. We wait in the baggage claim line, Raven exchanging icy looks with Ren. How does she not recognize him? His eyes may be a different color but they're still cold and hyper aware. I've never met anyone else with eyes like that. We slowly move through the line, I can tell Raven is examining us closely. She doesn't trust us. Amora is scared. I can sense it. She recognized my scent. She has to know it's me...but why wouldn't she be saying anything?
"AJ" Darren says cooly over the com in my ear. "Breathe, I can see how tense you are even through the shitty airport security cameras. If she recognizes you she's obviously not trying to cause a scene. Raven is the one you need to worry about. Focus on convincing her." I run my hands through my hair, I feel like a mess. I try to breathe. I hate how he can read me so well. Like I'm not allowed to have any secrets. I hope Raven doesn't notice my slightly trembling hands. I look over at her and try to casually make conversation. "So 'ow's the flight?" She turns her eyes towards me. A polite look on her face that she's using to disguise her suspicion. "Fine, it was a little chilly." She gets a look on her face that tells me she has an idea. Her arms are crossed over her chest, Ren's jacket hangs loosely on her body. Her black hair is shiny as ever, her lips painted a venom red, her makeup perfect. You would never guess how much she's changed just by looking at her. Darren had us keep tabs, he showed us how to use the surveillance systems. It was easy for Ren to hack into the surveillance cameras in Arizona, he used to do it for me all the time. We know exactly what Raven and Amora have been up to, I've even been able to check up on Jason and Millie. Not much but enough for me to know they're okay and happy. My mother doesn't bother them much, she uses Amora's kindness and care for the kids to her advantage. I guess I'm grateful for it. My mom never hit me but in a way she caused more damage. She used to be a kind woman. Watching her fall apart and turn into an alcoholic whore as my father beat me day after day was one scar I got that will never heal. I pull my attention back to the present moment, Raven is still staring at me icily.
"Well 'en good ting ya had dat 'ere jacket. Looks cozy." She pulls it closer to her, her face changes from icy to pensive. I wonder just how much she cared for Ren, sure I had known that they made out. I didn't really know how close they had gotten in the short time they knew each other. Were they as close as Amora and I? Why else would she have kept his jacket all these years. Is she in love with him? I think I should feel something like a block of ice in my chest, some form of jealousy, insecurity, anything. I don't. I hope she loves him. Maybe he loves her too. Even if he doesn't, he deserves to have someone love him.
"It belongs to someone I haven't seen in a while." She says quietly, she glances over at Ren. She does notice the resemblance. She looks back at me. "So how well do you and Connor know each other?" She asks, knowing fully well I had introduced myself as Connor. She's good. That's a tactic that's hard to master. I smile knowing she'll see it in my eyes even if she can't see the bottom half of my face. "I'm Connor, dat's Ronan. E 'nd I er old frens." By now we've reached the baggage claim, Amora hefts up two heavy bags like they're nothing. Raven walks over and struggles a bit with hers, Ren rushes over to help her lift it out of the machine. She glares at him "Did I ask for your help?" she shoves him away with her bag. "You didn't. I offered it." He's speaking in contractions, smart, he never does, not unless he's overwhelmed. They wouldn't be able to pick up on that very specific quirk. Ren really is a quick thinker, I admire it. It gets us out of a lot of situations. What would I do without him? I would be dead 100 times over. "Well I refuse your offer, get away from me. " She turns around and walks up to A,ora. She seems on alert but more comfortable now. She still stares at me, her head slightly tilted, her eyes slitted at me. I wonder if she can turn her eyes to cat eyes without fully shifting. As if the hybrid part of her heard me, her eyes turn to cat eyes, vibrantly green so much that they're glowing, pink outlines the irises. Amora staggers back and blinks furiously. Her eyes return to normal but she fumes at me. "How did you do that?" she says darkly. Raven tunes in, "Do what? What did he do to you?" Ren looks over at me, silently asking what the hell happened
"Fuck. She's gonna run." Darren sounds in my ear. Just as he said, Amora glances at Raven and starts sprinting out of the airport. Raven follows behind her, damn she can run fast in those boots. Ren and I run after them. Even with our training we're no match for Amora's speed. We get several concerned stares from airport patrons as we chase after the girls. "Go around!" Ren yells to me over the sound of our feet pounding on the white tiles. I nod to him. I go around to a side door in the airport hoping to intercept the girls, before I go out the doors Darren says "No AJ go to the south exit they're running around to the bus." I do as he instructs and cut them off at the bus zone. Ren comes up behind them. Amora has unsheathed her knives and has them at the ready to strike. I spread my hands out in an attempt to show them I'm not going to hurt them. It doesn't work. Amora lets one of her knives fly, it zips past me, nicking my clothes and biting into my flesh. I wince but don't let it slow me down. I approach her but before I can get close enough to Amora Raven lashes out at Ren. Slapping him with her octopus ring. "Goddammit." Darren barks out over the intercom. With my attention divided Amora gets the upper hand slashing out at me with two knives. She catches me in the stomach and across the chest and then slams into me with full force, knocking me flat on my stomach and twisting my arm behind my back and out of its socket. All before Ren hits the ground, out cold. I speak past the burning sensation that has torn through me. I kick up my leg and catch her in the knee, the millisecond of her faltering I use. Grabbing her arm with my good one, pulling her to the ground and pinning her to the pavement. "Amora!" I say to her, "I'm not going to hurt you." During our struggle my glasses have fallen off. I pull my mask down to calm my ragged breathing, it feels like my body is on fire. She stares at me, finally realizing. "AJ." she says softly. "Raven Wait!!" Raven had been coming up behind me with what I'm sure is some kind of poison, she looks at Amora. "Are you kidding me?"
"It's AJ" She says tearfully.
Raven takes a moment to process, she looks at me and then down at the stranger on the floor, she gasps and rushes over to him. "Ren?" she whispers, touching his face ever so gently. She runs her fingers along his jaw and through his hair. "Ren." She whispers. I've never seen her look so human, her piercing, undying, unnerving beauty sometimes makes me forget. Meanwhile Amora is in front of me and cracks her hand against my face with brute force, my head snaps to one side. I shake it off and look at her. "I deserved that." I say with a nod, she grinds her teeth and slaps me equally as hard with her other hand, sending my head to the opposite side. I blink a few times. "Fair."
"You scared me half to death!" she shouts, "I could have killed you!" She stomps over to Ren and kicks him hard in the side. He groans and rolls over, relief washes through me. He's still alive. I rush over to him and pull him against me. I stick my fingers down his throat to trigger his gag reflex. He vomits a sickly yellow color and coughs before rolling onto his back and falling asleep. "Idiots." Darren swears over the comms. He walks up to us emerging from wherever he was hiding. Amora looks shocked.
"I...I know your scent."
A group of spectators stare at us. No one really knowing what had just happened. Darren lazily pulls out his badge and shows it to our spectators.
"Homeland Security. I need everyone to step back." He projects to the crowd, I work myself off of the ground slowly, I have cuts and scrapes all along my arms, Amora caught me in my side, torso, stomach, and shoulder with her knives. She was seconds away from slitting my throat when she realized who I was. I hold my dislocated shoulder, wincing as the burning sensation tore through my entire upper body.
"Here, let me help you with that."
Raven says venomously, before I have the chance to move away, she yanks my arm and pops it back into place. The grotesque crunch brings a blood red smile to her lips. My vision starts to blur and go dark.
"AJ!" I hear Darren say as he moves to wrap his arms around me. I can feel the tingling sensation of heat dance between the small area where our skin is not touching. As the world swims back into my vision I am looking up at Darren, his brows together in concern and his dark eyes dancing with something that isn't just anger. I know he must be angry with me, I messed up the mission. His arms are cool, they feel nice on my burning skin...I snap out of my trance and shove away from him, the sudden motion leaves my stomach rolling.
"I'm fine." I lie to him, I still feel like the world is spinning. He looks at me for a few seconds too long before breaking his gaze to look at Amora, Raven is still kneeling by Ren's limp form. He's probably better off dead, as soon as he's coherent Raven is going to kill him.
"Well, I'm glad you two got your energy out. Because now you're going to be sitting in a dark vehicle for a while. But not to worry, the boys will be happy to keep you company."
Before either girl can utter a protest, two men come up behind them and in the next second, both of them fall to the ground. Unaffected, I look at the girls on the ground as Darren slips the two anonymous men each a thick envelope embossed with the agency's logo.
"Was that necessary? We could have just told them what was going on." I say to him as the men walk briskly away. Darren shakes his head and looks around, most people have continued to go on about their days but a few are still staring. "Not in front of all these people." I sigh out and nod, I wince through the burning and the cuts on my body as I carefully lift Amora and carry her to the "dark vehicle" as Darren said, also known as a standard government issued black Sedan with tinted windows. I place her gently on the seat and put her seatbelt on. Darren is carrying Raven and then we both go back for Ren, sleeping soundlessly on the cold pavement in front of the airport. Darren and I both take one arm. Ren places his head on my shoulder so I kiss his forehead. Since Ren and Darren are much taller than me I practically have to lift Ren over my head to keep him level with Darren's shoulder.
"Is he going to be okay?" I ask him. Darren just nods "He'll be fine. He's stronger than a little bit of octopus venom." I buckle all of the sleeping forms into their seats. I've gotten a little rusty since the last time I did it with Millie, who had fallen asleep at the movie theater. I miss those kids. My kids. I think sullenly. My baby boy is 15 now. And my sweet little girl who used to look up at me with awe is 10 and can probably barely remember who I am. I brush my hand across Amora's face, they're her kids too now. And I've just taken her away from them. My babies...they deserve a much better life than the one they were given. I wish I wasn't their brother. They would have been happier somewhere else. I feel a hand on my shoulder,
"I'll see what I can do." Darren says softly in my ear. It leaves goosebumps along my neck. Does he know that I'm thinking about Jason and Emillie? I turn to him, a million different things flooding through my head, more questions of why. Why can't I ever just stay strong? Why do I have to be so weak? Why am I so dependent on Darren's hot and cold kindness? He wipes a tear from my face and stares at me with those infuriating eyes. "C'mon. We gotta get going before the girls wake up"