E L E C T R A|COMPLETED|

Chapter Six~ And So It Begins...

~Braden~

"I'm just sayin' that if a had a girl with that body throwing herself at me and she lived near me I would let her have whatever she wanted," Madden said through a mouthful of pasta.
I glance around the restraunt trying to avoid Madden's conversation, but returned to stabbing and my uneaten tortellini. "Braden, man are you even listening?" He asked and sighed. "You've been acting strange ever since that night. I know near-death-experiences mess with people's heads sometimes but damn, don't let it get to you." He reminded me of that night and the dark savior that I couldn't stop thinking about.
She broke into my house and now she was stalking me. Not to mention the fact that I almost had sex with her. I should have known it wasn't a dream.
"See, you're doing it again, "Madden stated with a sigh and I brought my attention back to him. "What?" I asked. "You got that far off look in your eyes again and your jaw is all tight," Madden explained.
"How are you?" He asked and I stopped moving around my food long enough to look at him and answer the question. "I'm fine. I still feel the same," I answered then returned to my uneaten food.
"You gonna eat that or just keep stabbing the hell out of it?" Madden asked. "I'm not really hungry, " I stated truthfully. I hadn't had anything all day except for coffee and I felt fine. I did find that kind of off, but I wasn't about to tell him that. I didn't feel weak or any kind of sign that I was hungry or needed food. If anything, my stomach was beginning to recoil from the food just sitting in front of me.
"Well I was just-" Madden's phone beeper and he checked his message with an irritated look creeping up on his face. "Shit, my wife wants me home to watch the kids so she can go to some kind of sewing expo. I gotta run man," Madden stood and tossed a twenty on the table for his meal. I stood also and tossed a twenty for mine as well as a tip.
"Yeah. I should be going to. I'm going to go home and look over some more files, " I said as we walked out of the restraunt and over to our cars. "Take it easy, try not to overwork yourself Cross and for God's sake call me or Darby if weird shit starts happening," he said then slid into his car.
I gave a slight wave and got into my car before turning on the ignition and driving home.
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I took two Aleve for my pounding headache and that was almost three hours ago and my headache was still going strong. It seemed to be getting worse. My eyes that were scanning the online files began to grow hazy from the amount of pain my head was in and I could feel my pulse through my veins.
"Shit," I cursed from the pain and put my hands on my head and dug my fingers into my hair. Sweat was begin to form on my skin and I knew I had to have a fever, my body felt like it was on fire.
I went to stand and felt my leg muscles spasm and I fell to my knees in agonizing pain. What the hell was happening to me? I grunted and used the coffee table to steady myself and stand upright.
I blinked my eyes rapidly to gain some focus and none came. Everything was spinning and pulsing and now my entire body was aching. Darby. I had to calm Darby to see what the hell he did to me. I felt like I was dying, that fucked probably injected me with poison. I'm going to wring his damn skinny neck.
I stumbled through the living room and fell onto the tile floor of the hallway. My head hit the tile hard and I felt warm and pain ooze from the side of my head. I was going to die.
Braden.....Braden....Braden
Voices from all around me whispered my name making my head pound even harder. I let out a pained cry and flung my hands to my ears. "Stop!" I yelled and then I felt a sudden hand on my arm. I shoved at it and struggled to get them off. "Stop moving," a feminine voice grunted when my knee rammed into a stomach.
I stopped moving and looked up to see a hazy figure coming in and out of focus. Those eyes. Those damn blue eyes. It was her. It was Electra. She layed a cold hand on my forehead. "It begins," she said solemnly.
"What-what begins?" I asked
"The Change," she said simply. "I should let you suffer and die on your own," she smiled devilishly then frowned,"but I won't." She stood and tugged me up. I wrapped my arm tightly around her waist and felt her stiffen before walking down the hall. "We need to lower your temperature or It will burn you up alive," she stated and dragged me into the nearest bathroom.
She sat me down on the toilet lid and turned her back to me. "Strip," she demanded and crossed her arms as she faced the now closed door. I wiped beads of sweat from my forhead and pushed aside my damp hair before I tugged my sweat stained shirt over my sweaty body.
I tried unbuttoned my pants with trembling fingers and my vision zoning in and out and found that I couldn't. This was embarrassing. "I- I can't, " I said like a child and cursed how I sounded. She sighed and dropped her arms to turn around and walk over to me.
"Stand," she ordered in a bored tone and I stood shakily from the toilet. Another muscle spasm shot from my ankles to under my arms and I fell forward right onto Electra. She grunted when my body fell on hers and pressed her against the wall. My nose brushed her and I felt her hot breath run across my cheeks. Her hands grabbed hold of my arms to steady me
"Get your fat ass off of me before you squish me," she said and pushed me back slightly. "Shit!" She said when I went to fall backwards and grabbed my hands to pull me back hard against her soft chest. "Here," she lead me over to the shower,"hold the shower curtain." I gribbed the black shower curtain with both of my hands and felt her long, thin fingers quickly pop open my pants button with ease. She probably had a lot of practice, I thought to myself with venom.
She tugged down my pants all the way down to my ankles and I kicked them off. "I'm not taking off your boxers so you will have to shower with them on," she said and walked into the shower to turn the shower on. She stepped back just went the water began to fall and motioned with her hand for me to get in.
I placed a shaky foot inside and then another and went a dizzy wave come over me. I fell into the corner and dug my fingers into the cracks in between the tile. "It's not going to work if you're going to stand in the corner the whole time. You need to get under the water, " Electra said with frustration.
"I can't. I'll fall and bust my damn head open again if I do," I manage to get out and she sighs. I peer our to the side and see Electra shrug off her long black coat and tug off her leather boots. She walks halfway into the shower and avoids the stream of water and grabs my arms. She pulls me under the gentle stream of water and holds my arms to steady me there.
"What's h-happening to me?" I say through gritted teeth when I feel my head pound even harder. "The virus is burning out your old cells before it can create the new. Most people die in this stage," she informs and I look at her through water down eyelashes.
"Will I die?" I ask the dreaded question and I see her keep a strait, serious face. "I'm here. As long as you have someone who has survived the Change who understands what is happening and how to deal with it, you will live," she states.
"That's what happened to the others, isn't it?" I asked and she set her lips into a grim line. "Stop talking," she says and reaches up to turn the cold water onto full blast. "IT'S FREEZING IN HERE!" I cry out and shiver under the water. "Yes, but your body needs it to fight off the heat," she says. How the hell do I still have a fever if I'm freezing to death?
I tremble under the water and rest my head against the wall pulling part of my body out of the water. "Hey, get back under the water you moron," she says with agitation. I groan in pain when a stabbing pain cuts through my head and down my spine. I close my eyes to try and fight it, but it won't stop. I roar in angered pain then feel her hand pull me back under the water.
She grabs my arms and I feel her body near mine. She's under the water with me. My heart rate picks up and blinding pain shoots across my chest. My hands go to her waist and I grip her tightly. "It hurts so fucking bad," I seeth.
"I know, it will pass. If I couls do it on my own then you can do it," she says with a surprisingly soothing voice. "Come on, sit down before you fall down," she says and tugs me down onto the shower floor. She surprises me again my sitting behind me and pulling me in between her jean clad legs so the water could wash over my entire body.
I lean against her and rest my hands on her thighs and lightly dug my fingers into them when the pain grew to be too much. "You know you owe me for the rest of your life now, right," she said and I could hear the smirk in her voice.
She pulls my hair back out of my eyes and runs her fingers through my soaked hair. My vision starts to dot and I dig my fingers into her thighs. "It's okay to fall into the darkness. It will take away all of your pain and I will be here to watch over you," she whispers softly and I slowly let go. I slip into her darkness that I had tried so hard to fight.