Alexa Frostbite

17 - The Shiek of Araby

All it took was a few seconds for Jake to make up his mind. He knew in those bare moments what he had to do, where he had to go.

Get out. Get out, the voice repeated.

Find Alexa. Get out.

Richard East motioned for him to come closer, but he didn't. He didn't fancy going anywhere near the man. Not one who reeked of betrayal. Or one who reminded him of every cartoon villain from his childhood.

"Jake, you don't have to be afraid of me," said East kindly. The kindness was fake, of course. Constructed poorly and completely fake. He wasn't going to fall for that. He'd fallen for too much already.

"Tell me where Alexa is and maybe I'll corporate". East stepped back, his smile widening. Then he let his façade melt away.

"You know what these are, don't you Jake?" he asked, gesturing to the Vaskels. At first, he didn't want to answer, but the question had seemed innocent enough.

"Vaskels. At least that's what Alexa told me," he said. Not that he was inclined to believe her word anymore. Still, he had to find her. He had bigger things to worry about than how they both felt.

"Yes, well done. You're a very clever boy, Jake. These are Vaskels. I'm human, but you already know that. And what are you, Jake?" There was the fire.

"You're not human, but you're not inhuman either. So, what are you?" Jake spat at his feet and stood up. His muscles surged with pain, but his eyes glowed like acid set against the white room.

"Did you come here just to taunt me Mr. East or are you actually going to ask me questions?" he said darkly. East shrugged.

"I'm not supposed to be here at all really. James said not to hurt Alexa, but he didn't say anything about you". Alarm bells began to ring, but Jake held his ground. If he was a Half-life, he must be pretty unstable. The football match had been his first clue. The roof was his second. This time would be his third. Trying to quell, the rising adrenaline in his stomach, he gritted his teeth.

"Get on with it then". East might have looked impressed if he hadn't been smiling like that.

"You got some guts kid, I'll give you that," he said. Jake gave him the pleasure of seeing his serpent smile. One of the Vaskels stepped forward, but East pushed him back. Reluctantly, it remained silent.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Jake. I'm here to make you a deal," he explained. Jake's eyes narrowed. There was no way someone like East would want to make a deal with him. A sour-lipped guy like that wasn't worth negotiating with. But still... He was curious and he had nothing left to lose.

"I'm listening," was all he said. East smiled like he'd already won, rubbing a thumb over his clean-shaven face.

"Tell me everything you know about Alexa and in return, I'll save your life".

Alone in the room, Alexa endured the pain. Welcomed it. Bowed to it. She let it inhabit every part of her. The hurt in Jake's eyes had been enough to make her one of the damned. How could she have kept that from him? He was a footnote in time, while she was immortal. He'd had dreams, desires, plans. She'd ruined his life. More than her brother had ruined hers. That truly made her a monster. He was right. Her parents had been right. The room which the Vaskels had moved her into was just like the one before. White walls, white floor, white ceiling. No windows. A heavy metal door. Although it wasn't the door that kept her from leaving. It was the guilt. The guilt and the pain and the realisation of what she'd done. This, this was more painful than anything she could've imagined. Worse than death. Life was worse than death. Was this how her brother had felt? That night? The more she sat there, alone in the room, the more she thought about her brother. About her choices. All of that anger she'd harboured, all of that pain from the loss of parents, she could channel it into killing him. That had been her first thought. Her second was to swallow it, and live harbouring that dreadful pain forever. The third, the third was to let it go. She chose wrong. Shifting her gaze over to the door, she caught her reflection as it faded in and out...and in and out. Inhuman. Disgusting. Monster. So near, yet so far. Was that what Jake had thought of her? He'd called her a monster; the other names mustn't have been too far from his mind. Her own mind drifted again back to James, to that night on the bridge. The one she tried ever so hard to remember but couldn't.