Firefly

It felt like being pulled underwater. She couldn't breathe. His nails were digging into her cheeks, his callouses scraping against her teeth as she tried to scream. The taste of dirt and skin on her tongue choked her.

“Hush Alice,” he whispered against her neck. His tongue was hot and slimy against her collar bone. “Come on baby, let me take you down the rabbit hole.” His hand slipped up the front of her shirt, teasing her belly button.

Oh god...

Lucciola tried to scream. She twisted away from him, bringing her knee up and slamming it into his gut. The man keeled over, groaning, but his nails dug deeper into the side of her face. She felt the sharp prick of them breaking skin, smelled the blood running down her cheeks. She bolted, but even as he fell to his knees, his arm around her waist stayed firm. She stumbled under his weight, unable to break free, and he fell on top of her, taking them both down to the ground. Lucciola's head cracked against the pavement.

“Come on baby,” he kept muttering. He scrambled over her, his fingers clawing at the zipper on her jeans. “Alice....Alice..”

“I'm not Alice!” Lucciola cried. “Get off of me! Don't touch me!” Her hands were weak pushing him away. There was a fuzzy warmth spilling from where she'd hit her head. The edges of her vision were going black. She was crying, the tears streaming freely down her cheeks as she struggled to push the man off of her. She couldn't breathe under his weight.

“I'm going to take you to Wonderland.”

“GET OFF!” she shrieked.

And suddenly he was gone. She could breathe again.

It took her a second to realize what was happened. Lucciola sucked in a guttering breathe, planted her hands beneath her, and realized the ground was shaking. She whipped her head around and saw a man standing with his back to her. He seemed unaffected by the shaking, his stance still and intimidating, even though his white hair and long jacket whipped around him.

What the hell is going on here?

Lucciola scrambled to her feet. The pressure in her head was intense from where she had hit the ground, and as she stood it felt like two thumbs were pressing against the back of her eyes. Her vision went black. Her body shifted dangerously to the side, and she had to reach out and grab the wall for support.

The bricks underneath her hands rippled. They popped out of their mortar, spraying dust into the air, moving across the alley wall like a wave as they popped out, twisted, and fell back into place again.
The man who had attacked her was crouched against the wall by the dumpster, staring at the other man with frightened eyes. Now that Lucciola could see his face, he looked small, insignificant, round and beady eyed like a rolly polly. The rippling bricks were cresting now like huge waves, a tsunami of dirt and cement flying towards the bug eyed man with a vengeance. He scrambled farther into his corner, his feet uncertain on the shaking ground.

“It's the train!” he shrieked. “The Looking Glass Line! Oh the noise!” The man with his back to her took a step towards him, his hand outstretched. “THE NOISE! MAKE IT STOP! THE NOISE!”

The man snapped his fingers, and the ground stopped shaking. The bricks in the walls snapped back into place. The alley was dark and silent, as if nothing had happened at all.

“Make it stop...” the beady eyed man muttered, still shaking in the corner. “Make it stop....” The other man leaned over him, swallowing him under his intimidating stance.

“It's not polite to attack a lady,” the man said, and the beady eyed man whimpered. “I will give you five seconds, and then I will hunt you. Rest be assured, this is only a polite gesture on my part. I will catch you, and then I will tear you to pieces.” He stood straight again, backed away from the man, and then turned to the side so he no longer blocked the alley mouth.

“Five....”

The beady eyed man scrambled to his feet, screaming, and took off.

“Four...”

He bounded around the corner and was gone, the only thing left of him his screaming still echoing down the street. Lucciola swallowed the lump in her throat.

“What the hell just happened?” she choked, not as sure with her words as she wished she were. The man turned around, and behind his white bangs she could see his golden eyes staring at her.
“You,” she whispered, and took a step back from him. “You're the guy who was watching me in the coffee shop earlier.”

“Is that any way to thank the man who just saved your life?” he asked. His voice was like honey, sweet and sticky. There was something oddly fake about it. His eyes flashed in the dark, turning blue, then red, and Lucciola was struck with the feeling she had been saved from once monster just to be eaten by another.

“What's your name?” she asked. The man frowned at her.

“I'm not going to eat you,” he promised. “Cross my heart and hope to...well, you get the point.”
“Your name?” Lucciola asked again. The man stared down at his feet, kicking a pebble with his boot. Lucciola felt safer with his eyes off of her.

“Aries,” he told her, not looking up.

“Well Aries, can I ask you a question?”

“You've asked several.” Lucciola bit her lip. This guy was starting to frustrate her.

“Well I'm going to ask another. What the hell just happened? Earthquakes don't just happen every day, and they sure as hell don't disappear when someone snaps their fingers.” Aries sighed, combing his fingers through his hair.

“Can't you just say thank you and leave it at that?”

“I'd have to be an idiot to.” He smiled at that, chuckling under his breath, and turned to look at her. She could feel the full force of his strange eyes on her, but the honey smooth voice was gone. He sounded rougher now, a warm kind of rough, like he spent most of his time laughing and refusing to shave.

“I suppose you would have to be, yes. How about I take you home?” He held his hand out briefly like he planned to offer it to her, but at the last second faltered, shoving it into the pocket of his trench coat.

“You know a man who looks like you could scare a girl to death,” Lucciola said to him.

“I suppose so.”

“And your white hair and yellow eyes look like you're making a statement.”

“I assure you miss, I am not.”

“And trench coats? Who wears trench coats except for streakers?”

“A man who gets cold very easily and would like to walk a young lady home to keep himself warm.”

“You're not going to tell me what just happened, are you?” Aries gave her an amused but exasperated smile.

“And ruin the mystery?” he asked. “Haven't you heard a magician never reveals his tricks?” Lucciola glared at him, but took a step towards him.

“Well I suppose you can take me home,” she said, and couldn't help but glance around the corner where the beady eyed man had disappeared. “I wouldn't want him coming back...” Her arms slipped around her stomach, holding herself where he'd touched her.

“Are you going to be alright?” Aries asked after a moment. Lucciola nodded.

“It could have been worse,” she replied hoarsely. She couldn't bring herself to look at him. She was embarrassed suddenly, too exposed. He had seen how weak she was, what had almost happened to her....

“You know it's not your fault, right?” Aries asked. Lucciola snorted.

“Of course I know that.”

“Just making sure,” he said, and suddenly he was standing right beside her, almost closing the distance between them completely. Close enough to feel the heat of his skin beside her, though not an inch of his touched hers. “For a second, I wasn't sure you did.”

Lucciola's head snapped up to look at him. For all the distance he put between them, almost calcuated, too carefully, he spoke the words as if he were holding her in his arms, whispering them right into her ear. The cold, predatorial look that had been in his eyes before was gone, the fake voice abandoned. He was warm now, genuine.

Safe enough at least to take her home.

“Well, are you going to take me home or not?” she asked, and her voice wasn't too unsteady, and his smile wasn't unfriendly. He gestured for her to lead the way and took a half step behind her, but when Lucciola hesitated, stepped back beside her.

They walked in silence for a long time, not quite awkwardly but not companionably either. Lucciola, while curious about the man beside her, didn't feel like talking. What had happened, what had followed, the man pulling her into the alley and the bricks throwing themselves away like desperate animals, was too much to handle with one conversation. If Aries wouldn't tell her, it was almost not worth thinking about. She had bigger things to worry about: getting enough sleep, getting up early for practice, ten hours of intense choreography.

When they reached her apartment building she stopped. It was shabby at best, grimy on average. The ground floor windows were boarded up. There were strings of garlic hanging from the stairwell, crucifixes above every door, which the landlady polished herself daily- the heat and water, not so much. Aries wrinkled his nose in distaste.

“I'm not sure I'm comfortable leaving you here,” he commented. “It's hardly better than where I found you.”

“Yeah, well all the street lights work at least,” Lucciola snorted. “And the rent is cheap.”

A curtain of wild roses had been hung over the eves. Lucciola had to push them aside to climb up the stairs to her floor. Aries raised an eyebrow.

“The landlady is paranoid,” Lucciola explained. “Has a thing about...um....vampires.”

“Vampires?” he repeated.

“I did say paranoid, right?” Aries laughed.

“No, no. She has every right to protect herself.” He seemed overly amused by it, but Lucciola didn't comment. After all, she chose to live here.

“Anyway,” she said. “I better get some sleep. I have an early morning tomorrow.” They stood in silence for a long moment, feeling awkward. “Um...thanks for everything. I guess I'll see you later.”

“Your name?” Lucciola stared at him.

“What?” she asked.

“Your name,” Aries repeated. “You never told me your name.”

“Oh,” she breathed, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “Lucciola. My name is Lucciola.” Aries smiled. It made the corners of his eyes crinkle up, and now that she thought about it, his eyes were kind of beautiful. They almost glowed, blue and red and gold all at once.

“Well Ms. Lucciola,” he said, and bowed before starting to walk away. “I saw you dancing on the street earlier. It was beautiful.”