E L E C T R A|COMPLETED|

Chapter Twenty One~Nightmare

~Braden~

Electra had me sitting on the edge of her bed while she picked the shards of glass from my back. I was thankful for the pants the bald guy had packed me and tugged on a pair whenever we reached Electra's estate.
From the outside, it looked like a cozy woodland estate and inside it was even more amazing. Well, except for the fact that it only had one bedroom. I didn't understand who would own a place this size and grandeur without adding on any more bedrooms. Electra was a strange one.
"Electra," I said as I watched her pour alcohol onto a cotton ball.
"Hmm?"
"You can sleep in your room. I'll just sleep on a couch or something," I offered.
"It's fine, Agent Cross. I don't sleep anyway. At least not much anymore," she said and swiped the cotton ball against the wounds on my back. I winced in pain and cringed from the stinging.
"Sorry," she muttered and placed the bloody cotton ball onto a tray on her lap. She sat up on her knees and peered around my shoulder to look at my back.
"Your healing is improving. That means your cell reproduction is increasing," she explained and sat back down to soak another cotton ball in alcohol. I looked down at my arms and noticed that many of the tiny cuts I had earlier were now gone. That was an upside to things.
I cringed again and drew back when she started to clean what cuts I had left on my arms. I watched as she did so and took notice of the concentration on her face.
"There," she placed the cotton ball on the tray and stood to place it on a small table,"you should be fully healed within a few hours." She turned around and wiped her hands on her little black dress.
"Why are you helping me?" I asked without thinking. Her arms fell to her side and she moved to sit on the bed beside me.
"Whether you agree or not," she started,"you and I are not so different. If I don't help you then they will find you and one of two things will happen. They will either use and test you until you are too weak to live, or they will kill you on spot. To answer your question, Braden, I have to." I watched her pale eyes shine in the light until she cast them downward.
"You hurt a lot of people, Electra," I say quietly and she looked up waiting for me to continue,"but I don't think you're all bad. You're f*cking psycho, but I think that deep down there's a good spot in you. If you let me help you, I can show you that the world isn't as bad as you think." A small, sad smile quirked up her lips.
"I am bad Agent Cross. You're just into that humans concept that everyone deep down is good when in reality everyone is dark inside," she murmered.
"If you let someone inside, if you let them help you, then they'll listen. They can show you another way, a good way," I tried to explain but she shook her head with a sad smile.
"If I let someone in, if I showed them my past and the demons in them then that will only fuel their need to destroy me. I am no good, Agent Cross. Hopefully you will be stronger than I was. Hopefully you can stay good," she said with pain laced in her voice and cupped my chin in her warm hand.
She drew me closer and tilted my head down to brush her lips faintly against my own. My own lips slowly moved against hers after sometime and I brought my hand to her silky hair to press her closer to me. I ran the tip of my tongue out across her bottom lip to ask to deepen the kiss when she pulled away and stood from the bed leaving the space beside me cold and empty.
She walked to the door with the faint sound of her heels moving across the flooring and stopped to glance back at me.
"Goodnight Agent Cross," she murmered then walked out of the room closing the door behind her.

I had been lying in this big bed for hours with no sign of sleep. Thousands of thoughts ran through my head keeping me wide awake. I thought that by now I would be too exhausted to even keep my eyes open, yet I was still awake.
The sound of the bedroom door faintly opening had me on high alert and I stared motionless at the door. Electra's silhouette silently moved through the room to a dresser where she sifted through her belongings.
"You're still awake?" She asked quietly as she collected a few things. I sat up in the bed and watched as she turned around with a few clothes items in her hands.
"I can't sleep. It's like--"
"A million things are going through your mind," she finished for me.
"Yeah," I say in a voice so low that I'm sure she could barely hear it. I see her shadowed face look down causing her hair to fall around her.
"It never stops. You think it will, but then the years go by. I can't remember a time where I sleep the entire night," she laughed lightly in the end and I could hear the hidden pain in her voice.
"Goodnight again," she said and moved towards the door. She slipped back out of the door and closed it behind her.
"Goodnight," I said into the quiet room.
Maybe half an hour dragged by as I tried and lost the fight to go to sleep. I was too restless to sleep and decided to venture out and find Electra. I doubted she was asleep snd was curious to see what she did to pass the long hours.
I walked to the door wearing only a pair of pants as my feet padded against the cold floor. I walked out of the door and entered a long, darkened corridor lit only by a few dim candle chandeliers.
I started down the stairs and looked around the main hall finding no one in sight. The house was silent. Too silent that it became creepy. I walked across through the hall and stopped when I found the sliding doors leading outside were wide open allowing a cool breeze inside. Could she be out there?
I slowly walked outside and looked around at the lush plants. For such a dark girl, she had an eye for living things. I walked fully outside and scanned around the well manicured yard that had woods not too far behind it. It was definitely a step up from the city.
My eyes focused on a silhouette illuminated by the moon that sat in front of a pool. Lights from the inside of the pool made it look like it was almost glowing and I found myself drawing closer to the fairy looking girl wearing a small black bikini.
Electra sat in front of the pool with her hair damp and her legs moving slowly back and forth through the water. She looked like a water nymph. A dark goddess. I knew I was being creepy as f*ck but--
"Are you going to stand there staring all night?" She called out and dipped her hand into the water before sliding in completely and facing me. She put her hands on the edge of the pool as I walked closer and she watched me closely.
"It's not good for you to be wandering around at night," she stated and lay her head on her hands while watching me stand there like an idiot. I don't even understand why I came out here. I should have just stayed in the room.
"Couldn't sleep," I shrugged and stuffed my hands in my pockets. She propped her head up by placing her fist under her chin.
"And, why did you come out here? Were you looking for me?" She asked with amusement and I saw a playful gleam in her eyes.
"I honestly don't know," I answered truthfully. She straightened up and watched me intensely.
"You can swim with me if you'd like. I find it calming during some nights," she suggested then pushed herself into the water using the wall. She flipped around and I caught a perfect glimpse of her ass in her bikini bottoms as she went under water. F*ck. F*ck. F*ck.
She looked like a water nymph as she swam deeper then resurfaced covered in droplets and streams of water. She wiped the water from her face and turned around to face me.
"Are you coming in or am I going to have to drag you in myself?" She mused and leisurely swam around twisting and turning like a ballerina in the water.
What the hell am I thinking? You're not thinking dumbass. I started to unbutton my pants and stepped out of them unsure of what I was doing. Electra rolled her eyes noticing my hesitation.
"I'm not going to drown you," she said dryly and started to lazily swim on her back with her eyes closed and head tilted back. I can't believe it's late at night and I'm going swimming with Electra Volcov in her pool. I'm going f*cking crazy.
I sighed before diving in and feeling the warm water surround my body as I plunged in. I swam upwards and broke through the surface brushing my now dripping hair from my face. I watched as Electra slowly swam around on her back with a relaxed look on her face.
She looked like she had no worries in the world. No blood on her hands. No people after her. No superhuman virus in her body. She looked like a carefree teenager like she was supposed to.
"I used to be so terrified of water, but now I love it," Electra spoke with her eyes still closed as she slowly moved around.
"You were afraid of water?" I asked and found myself drifting closer. Electra was scared of water of all things?
"Yes," she answered as she still swam on her back,"no one ever taught me to swim and I slipped into a pond one day." Her face furrowed as she thought deeply about something.
"I would have died if my friend had not been there," she added with a murmer.
"How did you learn?" I asked and was now only a few feet away. Electra opened her eyes and sunk down into the water to swim in a still position. Her eyes found mine and something flickered in her eyes before she answered.
"I was thrown into the same pond and came across a revelation while I was dying at the bottom. I saved and taught myself to swim that day," she explained.
"What kind of sick f*ck throws a kid into a pond?" I spat out. Electra watched her hand as it moved through the water and didn't answer.
"Who taught you to swim?" She asked and brought her eyes back to mine.
"My dad," I answered with the memory playing fresh in my mind.
"That's nice," she said and swam closer making my heart quicken as well as my breathing.
"Do I frighten you?" She asked in almost a whisper. I swallow the nerves building in my throat as she swam even closer.
"No," I answer.
"Do I make you nervous?" She asked and was now only a hands distance away.
"No," I answer.
"What about now?" She asked snd moved to be a breath's distance away. I looked down at her plump lips then back into her eyes.
"What are you doing?" I try to ask with firmness. I watch her eyes stare down at my lips and almost lose it when her tongue darts out to dampen her lips. She brings her eyes back up to mine and I find an unrecognizable glint in them that dwindles away as quickly as it came.
"Do you think I'm evil?" She asked slowly. The question was sudden and caught me off guard and I looked deep into her pale eyes.
"No," I answered,"I don't think you're evil. You're just a girl who got caught up in some bad stuff." She gave me a curious look and I saw her eyes gaze down at my lips before meeting my eyes again.
"If you knew all the things I had done you wouldn't be saying that. If you knew the things I've done you wouldn't hesitate to put a knife in my back," she muttered softly.
"If you talk about your nightmares, if you ask for help then I can help you the best I can," I explained. I didn't think I could help her the way she needed to be helped, but I could try. Electra's eyes flickered down to my lips again and I stopped breathing when she lowered her warm lips against mine. Her lips brushed against mine for less than a second and then she pulled back to look into my eyes.
"I am the nightmare, Agent Cross," she stated and swam away to return gliding on her back. She started to hum a soft, saddening tune and I watched her slowly glide through the water. She was beautiful, but she was dangerous. She was young, but she was worn. She was mysterious, but she was broken. She was broken and I found myself yearning to fix her.

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