Storm Brew

I turned the pointer all the way to the zero and kept going. I couldn't find the off switch on this giant thing. Bashing the lock with a crowbar was my only option. If I wanted to get it inside the door's slot the chains had to go.

I swung the long metal piece crashing it dead-on.

"Open already you piece of shit…" I muttered with a frustrated groan—again I hit—where was Nate when you needed him? I could really use his lock-picking skills about now.

A tumble rumbled upstairs. I grimaced. That would be my boyfriend and half-brother—Nolan. The Order members hadn't been many—three, not counting my brother. I didn't even know if Nate killed them. On my end, I'd immobilized one, then raced downstairs to stop Anna from becoming an ice-fossil.

I felt my arms muscles turn rigid with each swing at the lock, I was growing tired—something caught the tool. No matter the strength I applied it wouldn't descend. When I twisted around, I saw a man—not older than Aric—tall, well built like expected from a killer.

I gulped softly under the cold gaze—then, my brain geared into kick-ass mode; acting mechanically on the things Aric taught me. I released the crowbar; he didn't stumble much, not until I kicked his side. I moved forward already going for his face. Next thing I knew, a gasp was crawling up my throat.

"Now, now little girl, you should know better than to play with big boys." My fingers wanted to curl on the pipe beside me, to help me stand—I was backhanded. A thick cough wheezed through my lips as I got kicked in the stomach. "You'll end up getting hurt."

I rolled on my side avoiding another kick—thinking I was about to get back on my feet, I felt my scalp flaming with pain—I yelped, my arm getting caught and bent.

"Nolan wants you alive, but I don't see why we can't have some fun. What 'ya say, princess?"

My eyes snapped open ignoring the pain being caused, I gritted my teeth tightly. My hands were useless, but this guy… he was a man. There was a place I could hit without using my arms.

The back of my foot met its mark—he toppled to the floor as I high-kicked him squarely in the chin.

Standing over the moaning man like a conqueror, I sported a sneer.

"Only one person calls me that and you aren't him." Speaking of which, the scuffle was still going on upstairs. "Getting back to work..." I muttered, gripping the iron bar off the floor.

I gazed at the indented lock. This thing hadn't been causing the smallest dent; my guess was that I wasn't strong enough.

There's something else I can try, I thought as my eyes searched the floor. The douchebag I'd kneed had a gun. My legs shook, the last time I held a gun in my hand... I'd shot in cold blood. I'd killed.

I was afraid to hold it, afraid I'd kill again… it was stupid. I wouldn't start shooting just because I could. Anna was one of my oldest friends. I needed to get her out!

Without thinking further, I unclasped the gun from the holster. Soon, I aimed at the lock—closing one eye to make the shot more precise—and prayed I could do it.

The gun went off with a tremendous 'boom'. There was a short period of silence following it. My eyes blinked. The lock was hanging open.

I replaced the gun in my hand for the crowbar, forcing its curved end into the slot. If I'd thought breaking the lock was difficult, opening the door was—

I huffed after falling flat on my face.

Brr.

My shoulders shook out of my control—it was cold, freezing—and I was never happier for being cold. I'd done it. I opened the door!

I braced my palms against the freezing soil pushing myself into a kneeling position. My aquamarine irises gazed in turn, searching for signs of her. Sure enough I found her and I was shocked by what I saw.

"Aric…" I mused in a whisper. My admiration couldn't be put into words. How had he been caught? Another racking chill took my body under siege. "Anna?" my hand reached out touching her shoulder. My eyes grew wide at how cold she felt, like touching a rock in the winter. "Anna, please open your eyes—please. Come on," I shook her. Nothing. I tried pulling her apart from Aric and saw his arm around her waist. "Huh…" I mumbled, perplexed again.

A puff of cold air lingered next to me, my eyes darted from Anna's waist to Aric's face.

"Aric," I said with tangible relief. His eyes were opaque the complete opposite of what they usually were—glowing and translucent. "Shh, you'll be fine, we'll get you out."

Somewhere in my brain I felt a certain familiarity. This reminded me of when I'd saved Nate.

"…Me-Melissa…?" I gripped her shoulder reassuringly.

I smiled softly nodding my head.

"You're alive," I couldn't help myself, I had to say it, like it would prove I wasn't sleeping. "Thank God," I heaved a shaky breath.

I couldn't imagine losing Anna. Heck, I would even hate losing Aric and he was who he was…

"You… sure…?" she slurred keeping her face on Aric's chest; none of them moved more than they had to.

"Pretty sure," I choked a chuckle. "Now, let's get you out of ice age."

Understanding me, my half-brother dropped the restraint on Anna, allowing me to grab and maneuver her outside.

I was just about to sit Anna on the floor when a weight crashed down the stairs, rolling down them like a sack of potatoes. Make that two sacks of potatoes. Upstairs wasn't enough for Nate and Nolan, they had to expand their match down into the basement.

Nolan got up with agility, eyes locked on me and the open freezer—Nate didn't let him walk very far, putting him in an arm-lock tugging backward. They were like two cats in an ally fight. As long as Nate got out on top… I didn't mind.

"Wait here, I'm just getting Aric." I told Anna. I could see her eyes flattering, wanting to close up and stay that way for the longest time.

Nate pushed my half-brother into a wall, but Nolan elbowed him in the splint. I winced as Nate stumbled, shaking his head, doing his best to push through the pain.

"I advise you to leave things as they are, sister, or—" A crunch cut him off.

My boyfriend tugged on Nolan's shirt collar pulling him away from the walk-in freezer's location. A knee got him fiercely in the stomach. Nolan's head fell forward as he heaved a hollow gasp, afterward, he got pinned onto the brick wall—a dry crunch filled up the space and blood poured from Nolan's symmetrical nose. Well, it wasn't so perfect anymore, I thought with a moderate grin.

I hastened to grab one of Aric's arms, pulling his weight onto me. We didn't have to walk much.

It was curious how tables could turn in a matter of seconds.

I nearly dropped Aric's trembling body as we reached the warm zone. I clenched my teeth while quickly placing him by Anna's side.

Watching Nathaniel's neck being compressed by a chain wasn't pleasant at all; my eyes drifted around… what could I do? I saw the gun but refused to pick it up—what if I hit Nate?

"Argh!" Nolan's face contorted as I hit his back with the iron bar—the curvy edge embed into his skin. I grimaced taking a step back.

Nate pushed him off successfully. Nolan was met with a feral gaze and a devilish smirk Nathaniel had already used earlier—when we went to interrogate Tom, if you could call hanging someone upside-down from a building interrogating.

Nolan climbed to his feet groaning against all the ache. Nate jerked him past me. I tried not to look at the blood flowing down his chin. Nathaniel yanked the crowbar from its hanging spot on my half-brother's back—I closed my eyes for a second as blood sprung forth from the wound—there was a thud followed by a closing door.

When my eyes opened, Nate was alone, the freezer closed. He was placing the crowbar on the door handle so Nolan wouldn't get out.

Nathaniel jolted in my arms as I hugged him from behind. I blinked, and carefully let him go.

"I think my bruises are going to have bruises… those guys were animals." My face must've looked pretty panicked because he smiled, albeit dimly, revealing how tired he was. "Relax, I'm not going to drop dead at your feet or anything. They're bruises, not internal bleeding." Nate chuckled.

"Let's hope not…" I muttered gloomily. I could already see purple spots from where the chain had been pressed up. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by worry. All I wanted to do, was make sure Nate was alright—

"Ha," his laugh cut me off. I followed his gaze. "My girl's a bad ass." He kissed the top of my head chuckling deeply. My heart fluttered.

"Yeah, well, he called me 'princess'. No one gets to do that but you." I replied seriously, but smiling, what I found to be a strange combo. There were more important things to do now, though. "We need to go. You take Aric and—"

"Aric?" he questioned.

Seriously, hadn't he noticed both of them sitting beside the container? Then again, he'd been pretty busy.

"Yeah," I nodded toward them. Nate frowned looking to me for an answer; I could only shrug knowing how confused he felt. "Let's hurry."

Nate was muffling groans—he'd spent about five minutes trying to find a position that didn't hurt too much when it came to help—or rather carry—Aric upstairs. Fireman style had won.

Anna kept dozing off and waking up, she didn't say anything, her eyes just fluttered. I had to maneuver us around the dead bodies once we reached the first floor of the abandoned bar. Nate's car was in the back ally, we were almost free.

One thing had been bugging me, though. If Nolan was here, where was Riley? Not that I wanted to go up against her or anything, it just seemed odd because they'd been working together on locking us down.

Outside, I was so happy to see the Mustang I could kiss it. Nate held Aric against the car while unlocking the doors. The backseat had always been small. For Anna, it wouldn't be bother, for Aric... It would be a little cramped. On the other hand, he needed to get warm so maybe cramped wasn't such a bad thing. I got the thermal blanket from the trunk spreading it on top of them.

Nate was cranking up the A/C.

"Where are we going to go? We can't stay in Chicago."

Nathaniel was silent for a while, driving us with that usual ability of his—like he had a map of every single place we visited inside his head.

He took a fleeting glance at the rearview mirror.

"How are their lips?"

My eyebrows furrowed, then I understood what he was getting at and switched the backseat light on, turning my head all the way to them.

"They've lost a little color, but they're not blue…" I switched off when Aric moved his head to shadow his eyes. "That's good right?" I asked quietly.

"Better than blue, that's for sure. Check the heart rate," he ordered calmly like a medical expert teaching a student.

This time I unbuckled my seat belt twisting around, I had to stand on my knees to grasp their wrists. Anna's heartbeat seemed normal; her skin hadn't gotten much warmer, though. Those clothes were all wet, they had to go and soon. Aric's pulse was going a bit faster, also, there was slight shivering Anna didn't possess.

I gave Nate the results.

"Shivering and accelerated heart rate can be signs for hypothermia." He shared a glance with me. "We have to get something warm inside him—and Anna, just in case. The wet clothes need to go and we need a warm place." I nodded, feeling a certain pride on how he handled things. "Did any of them talk to you back at the bar?"

"Huh… Anna did. She recognized me almost immediately." I glanced from her to Aric. I'd always seen him calm, tough, secretive—now I didn't have a category to put him under, other than vulnerable. It was unsettling. "Aric didn't… he didn't say a word." My words weighed and felt like giant lumps.

Nate parked in front of a Starbucks before I knew it. He turned towards me.

"Try and talk to him, make him talk back." I opened my mouth and met the door. I hated when he did that.

With Nate on a coffee-crusade and my stomach turning with preoccupation, I ended up reaching for Aric's knee, looking to his face for signs of awareness.

"Wake up! Come on, Aric… please?" I asked at the end growing annoyed with my sense of powerlessness.

I recalled sneaking into Aric's room, he'd pinned me by the throat in seconds. This Aric was nothing like the normal one.

As I despaired in the assignment Nathaniel gave me, I heard a groan. My spirits lifted when emerald slits met my aquamarine irises.

"Yes! I thought you were dead." I sighed relieved. As if fate enjoyed giving me heart attacks, my half-brother's eyes closed heavily. "Oh no, wake up, wake up, wake up…"

"Wha-what…?" I stopped shaking him endlessly.

Anna was mumbling something—probably because of all the turbulence and noise.

"Huh… hi?" I said lamely waving a little. Aric's head fell to the backseat softly, his eyelids stayed open. "I, hum… Nate said to talk to you because you might have hypothermia." Why did I have to go and tell him his brain might be stopping right now… I sounded like a blurting idiot for God's sake! "So… don't fall asleep." I instructed fast. "Please," I rushed, not liking all the silence going around.

When the car's inside lights glowed, Nate appeared, handing me a card box with six coffee cups. I almost awed out loud when he said one of them was a vanilla latte.

"Surprised I remembered?" he smirked with a know-it-all attitude.

No… Maybe?

"Thanks," that left five black coffees. "They're going to drink all of these?" I frowned upon them. "Won't too much caffeine—"

"Are you seriously going to argue with me on this?" Nate cut off sternly. "Besides," he began, taking one cup from the box. "One is for me, it's going to be a long night."

Oh boy, something told me we were going to drive light-speed-pace again. I could only hope my head and stomach didn't act up this time.

"How many of these things have you drank this week?"

"Lost count, sweetheart." He shrugged before sipping at the fuming coffee.

I shook my head some, before turning around. Aric was still awake—that stroke a relief cord in my heart.

"Can you hold this?" I asked softly, making the cup reach him. Our eyes were linked for a little while until his fingers twitched, though, a little shaky.

"Y-yeah," Aric breathed out.

I smiled, "It's hot, careful." Next up, was Anna. "Hey, lazy-brain wake up." I didn't need to shake her a lot, she'd probably been nursed back to life by the smell of coffee—the nectar of the Gods, as she called it. "Here." She took it instantaneously.

Nate was glancing at rearview mirror when I sat back. When he saw me looking, his gaze deviated.

I smirked to myself.

"Worried?" I whispered.

"No," he said in his emotionless monotone. "Why would you think that?" Nate's lips grazed my chin, warm from the recent coffee.

Which reminded me… He scolded when I pulled away.

"My latte is getting cold." I winked, taking the first sip. Nate's eyes twinkled making me want to say more than a normal 'thanks' but right now there more important things. "Have you decided where we're going to go?"

With a short sigh, he leaned his head on the window.

"We'll get out of Chicago, then we'll see."

Like expected, Nate flew down highways and old open roads. Soon, we were arriving at a city called Peoria and I was giving Aric and Anna their second cup of coffee.

"It would be really good if we could find an empty house." Nate commented drumming his fingers along the wheel.

I slid back into place, facing him.

"This isn't Stafford, Nate, we can't do that here." I crossed my arms. The police was the last thing we needed.

"Of course we can—we can do anything we want, we just can't be caught doing it." A winning smile was flashed my way.

I rolled my eyes, of course he'd think something like that.

"Why would it be good? To find an empty house, I mean."

Nathaniel was quiet for a little while.

"The money's running out." He informed shortly. My mouth formed an O.

"But… but there was so much of it… how… how…?" How did we spend all that money?

"Daily meals, motel rooms, that five star hotel, the cottage—and you gave half of it to Aric." Nate's eyes jumped to the mirror for a second, and the gaze I saw gave me the chills. "That's how."

"Yeah… hum, what about that job in Roswell? Didn't you get paid for that?"

"It's the informant that receives the money not the assassin. Reed probably deposited my half into my account, but since it's a risk using credit cards…" he trailed off knowing there was no need for further explaining.

"Anna still has money from Reed—but it was in her car." Wherever that Kia was now, it had her belongings and money. Great, just fantastic…

"How bad is it?"

"A little bad, don't worry though, it might last two more weeks. But if we cut on motel nights it might last a little longer." He shrugged.

Two weeks? It wasn't enough… was it?

"We should stop at a motel tonight and figure out what to do afterwards." I stole a glance over my slim shoulder taking notice of their exhausted faces—I imagined how their clothes were still soaked from all that cold. "They need a warm change of clothes, and a good night's rest. I'd prefer not to worry about their health and the possibility of us being caught crashing in some random house."

Nathaniel's hand—the one on the gear shift—turned upward. I glanced from his palm to his brandy irises smiling in my head. My hand slipped over his.

That was a mute yes.

***

When I finished pulling the covers around Aric and Anna, I turned the lights off, slipping out into the only other room besides the one bedroom and bathroom.

It was hall, living room and kitchen all combined. I found Nate lying on our sofa bed. He patted a place next to him and I nearly ran to throw my arms around his neck. I heard him chuckle into my neck in the midst of kissing it—I don't know what came over me, I just wanted to wrap myself around him, never let go.

His hair was messed up worst than a whirlwind attack, once I restlessly leaned on his chest smiling dumbly up at him. Nathaniel's pearly teeth showed as he grinned, holding me by the waist.

"What was that?" he laughed blowing the bangs from my eyes. I kissed the six-pack any girl would pay to see once in their lives. My boyfriend tilted my chin. I let go of his forearms and toyed with his ring. The springs squeaked as we moved around, I tried not to touch his bruises as much as I could.

"I don't know," I giggled feeling Nate's hand slipping under the red sweatshirt. "Do I need a reason to jump you and kiss you like a mad-woman?"

He cackled tracing a finger over the curve of my hips, "Nope, I just want to know what happened so I can redo it. I like you in this mood." Nathaniel's trimmed eyebrows wiggled. I laid my face against his shoulder.

"Tease," I slapped his hand from underneath the loaned sweatshirt.

He nuzzled my neck shortly. "You owe me."

"Owe you?" I mumbled, drawing a blank about what he was referring to—then I giggled strongly. "Oh come on, it was either me or you. Someone had to do it."

Nate grumbled with a roll of his eyes.

"Why couldn't you have woken Anna up? I bet she wouldn't miss out on a chance to strip him..." My nose twitched along with his. "The things I do for you." He sighed deeply pulling us down, under the covers.

I snuggled up, "So, what? You'd let Aric stay in those freezing clothes just because you didn't want to see him naked?"

"Yes," Nate stated appearing quite serious and outraged. "I'm scarred for life now, thanks so much, Mel."

I tilted my head wagering whether he was speaking truthfully or not, about letting Aric freeze. Just as my eyes were looking over the hard lines of his European traces—I recalled the glance he'd given the rearview mirror, the one he ceased the minute him.

A smile started, the corners of my lips twitched.

"Mel," he whispered lowly. "Don't even say it—don't."

You wouldn't, I thought triumphal, and proud that Nate could be the better man. It earned him a last goodnight kiss.

I stayed still in his arms, holding one of his hand waiting for him to fall asleep and trying to do the same myself. I couldn't seem to do it.

Nathaniel was blissfully asleep when I moved off his chest. I inspected some black bruises showing on the golden skin, especially around his neck. I wanted to hurt Nolan all over. Speaking of him, was he dead? I doubted he could escape in that state—alone, at least.

I coursed my fingers in the soft sea of ash waves, aligning them, stroking them—thinking how close I'd been to losing two people I cared about. Looking into Nathaniel's sleeping face made my heart calm down, eventually my eyes flattered.