***POV – Damion WARNING – sex scene!!! Knock-knock-knock!! These past few weeks were grueling – all I could do was think about Mel. We've been touring around Europe and Asia to promote our bikes. I was hoping Mel would join me, but she had some family issues she didn't want to talk about on the phone. Alejandro kept an eye on her for me, and according to my brother, she's distant, in her own world, and still feeling sick. Fuck-it, it’s been hell. I’ve never even thought about a girl for more than five seconds, what to say minutes, hours, days, weeks! Kiara opens the door and it's as if the devil came knocking. Something is wrong. “Uh, Damion …. eh … hi! You’re back early. You look tired.” She doesn’t move to let me in and her face is a combination of guilt and fear. She tries to hide it. Maybe she was just not expecting me … I am a day early after all. But I wanted to surprise Mel. “We’ve missed you at the New Years' party.” “Hi, yeh, it's been too long and
***POV - Damion “I think it’s too late for that. I told you before that I will stand by you. That I will help you chase away those monsters.” I remember the words of the song, words that mean so much to me. “Mel, that shit, I can’t put it on you!” “Well, you'll have to. We don’t really have a choice anymore,” I frown at her words, wondering what exactly she means, but she doesn’t give me much time to top about it. “I can't help you if I don't know what it's all about ... and you can’t go forward if you don’t face the past first. I need you to do this, for us … eh for me … ” I let out the breath I was holding. I’m not sure what the feeling in the pit of my stomach is, but I’ll have to investigate it sometime. However, if I have to hypothesize it, it smells like fear, the fear of losing her to be precise. “But I don’t want you to regret anything later … I’m telling you to walk away now.” “I’m big enough to make up my own mind … I don’t need your permission to date you.”
***POV - Melaena ‘At week 8, your baby is about the size of a kidney bean. Hands and feet are forming tiny fingers and toes, and those arms are able to flex at the elbows and wrists. At this point, eyes begin to develop pigment, and genitals are forming too, although it's still too soon to know whether you're expecting a boy or a girl.’ Is that what’s in my tummy, a little bean with Damion’s DNA in its system? The repercussions of … passion, love, forever? How did an intelligent girl like me walk knowingly into this situation? Can I blame ignorance, innocence, or maybe hope? Kiara puts her head on my shoulder, her voice against my ear while she reads on. To stipulate this situation, I’m pregnant by the devil without even knowing his exact feelings towards me. Since the first positive test on Boxing-day, I did a few more and all of them came back positive, but I still kept it from Damion … well from everybody except Kiara. And him being on a four-week tour made it so much
***POV – Melaena The little boy takes his hands from the pockets of the number 13 jacket, raven black hair in serious need of a comb, the face of a little angel, sinlessness exemplified by big green eyes highlighted against thick dark lashes – an image of perfection. He smiles at me and the dimples in his cheeks deepen, a small finger wiggles for me to follow him. He runs too fast and I’m lost in a dark hallway; iron doors with locks on either side. The boy appears at the end, smiling at me. Then his eyes turn hazy, fearful, as claws reach from the shadows to pull him toward the darkness. I run forward, frantically, as if knowing I’m his only hope. His hand grabs mine, but slowly it slips from my grip and he gets pulled further and further away until he’s entirely engulfed in the blackness. A small hand covers my mouth, obstructing me from shouting, and I get dragged down the hall, away from the dead of darkness that swallowed the boy. I struggle to get away from the hands th
***POV - Damion Boring, boring, boring! Can anything be worse than going from one place of waiting for tests to the next place and waiting again for more tests? At least I’m about halfway through, just a brain scan left, but they shifted an emergency in before us. I understand the situation, it’s just that I’m not very good at waiting and sitting motionless for long periods of time. My leg is bumping up and down impatiently; neither waiting nor patience is my strong suit. Sitting still is a challenge for me … it’s always been. A mischievous grin creeps over my face as I recall the number of times I got in trouble at school for this exact reason. This quarterly checkup that Mark insists on is the worst part of my job. I take a sip from my Starbucks coffee, envying Sean sitting quietly in his chair reading a magazine. Shifting in the chair for probably the hundredth time, I give the girl at the desk a lopsided smile, her constant flirty stares towards me not going unnotice
***POV - Damion “Let’s get ready, guys,” Logan shouts as soon as he walks through the door with Jesse and Noah, carrying some duffle bags. Some of Garcia’s guards are behind them with boxes, machines, and weapons. I grab two more sandwiches from the kitchen table and slam my arm around my mom. The devastation I see in her eyes mirrors mine, hers just lacks the darkness I know is stuffed behind my soul. Uncle John tells the men where to place what … most of it some sophisticated equipment any spying agency could kill to have … thanks to the Blackburn company. Logan drops the bags on the floor and drags Jesse to where the men are setting up a high-tech computer area, leaving him there to get acquainted with everything. “Guys, there’s some gear for each of you,” Logan now pulls stuff from the bags, including a spray can, and he starts shaking it. “You all know that the company created this new tracking device. You spray it onto the skin and it leaves an invisible tracker that
***POV - Melaena The misty rain outside chills the already cold wind blowing through the broken glass of the tiny window a few more degrees. Covered in goosebumps I pull the thin blanket tighter and move closer to Luke’s small body, hoping to transfer more of my body heat over to him and vice versa. The movement wakes Kiara and her eyes flick open, catching mine over the little man’s head. We just silently stare at each other, drained loopy eyes looking but not seeing. I know exactly what she’s thinking, that she’s uncomfortable with everything, but she keeps quiet. We’ve ployed up a plan A, and just in case it flops miserably, schemed a plan B and C as backups. Although it’s all altogether the same plan. Kiara is not happy with it, and yes I know it’s risky at best, but we both know it's the only way. The tiny bean in my tummy seems to tap all my energy and I swear I’m too tired to even close my eyes. I send up a mindless prayer, hoping that Damion will find us in time, a
***POV - Damion Guppy winks secretly at me before he slams the door of the van closed. They’ve handed me over to two other gang members, looking like Homer-Simpson-twins. I adjust my hands behind my back slightly, making sure the loose ropes don’t fall off prematurely and ruin my plan. Turning my head to the right I give the guy my cockiest lopsided grin, the one that makes girls weak in the knees and wet between the legs. Guess it won’t have quite the same effect here though. I watch as the van drives off, and my smile turns slightly sinister. I hope the meeting between the boys and our new allies works as planned. I phoned my father while we were driving here and know that Jackson and Luke escaped, both of them now safely with the others. But things do not look too good for Mel and Kiara. And even though I know that they’re ready to infiltrate the house at any moment, I’m not totally relaxed – I have a bad omen about all this. Anyway, I need to play my part collectivel