An Ember's Touch

Questions

“Hold on.”

Kassandra stopped a couple of feet just before the door and turned back to Sebastian combing his hand through his hair then flop his hat back on. After her ‘punishment’ and being able to walk again, she found her lady bits still quivering every now and then on the drive to the hospital. Thanks to the new experience, Kassandra was more astounded by how his tongue worked. He eyed the door for a second when he joined her side, regretting on not smoking a cigarette on the way here. He was edgy ever since her confrontation. It’s been a while since someone yelled at him like that, let alone not full-on lashing back out like he usually did. He didn’t want Kassandra digging deeper into the mess he was stuck in. But she was and felt like he beginning not to be able to stop it. At this point, he’d rather call it a day, lay around, and play video games from how exhausted she made him. “Remember, I’m asking the questions.” He c****d a brow and rested on his right foot, watching a nurse walk by. He narrowed his eyes a little and peeked over his shoulder to watch her disappear around the corner. Flexing his fingers, he muttered it under his breath. “You’re lucky I’m even letting you be in the room with me.” 

“He’s my brother.” Kassandra hissed, making him crane back with a hard look.



“You think I haven’t learned that by now? If you said it for the eight-hundredth time, I might just believe you. I’m just keeping a wedge in between you two because that’s how they recruit.” He took a step closer and leaned in closer, Kassandra soon consumed by his cologne. She nervously swallowed but kept her eyes locked with his, it was a hurricane vs Tsunami. “They see peoples’ relationships and snatch up or threaten those you have the strongest bond with. Personal experience, remember?”

Kassandra’s heart shriveled, instantly feeling like a jerk. Her eyes fell to his abstract hoodie, frowning now. Her voice was barely audible. “Right…sorry.”

It wasn’t her fault. Sebastian forced himself to exhale calmly, placing his hand on her back. “You go in first, I think he’ll be happy if he sees you first than myself. I’m sort of a d**k sometimes.” 



Sometimes? Kassandra managed to hold back her snort as she turned back to the door. The door squeaked a little as it opened, poking her head in first to see Balter awake and watching TV. His right eye was swollen shut while his left was puffy but luckily enough to manage to stay open, he glanced over to see Kassandra leaning in with a soft smile. “You busy?”



Balter picked up the remote and turned it down a little, “No, of course not. Come in.” He sniffled and scooted to sit up more, grimacing in pain till he saw Sebastian appear by stepping in after her. The blood drained instantly from Balter’s face, croaking. He pointed a finger at Kassandra and his jaw dropped, trying to form words but coming rolling out as babbling. Kassandra and Sebastian exchanged looks, Kassandra raising her hands and came over as Sebastian did his best to not roll his eyes from the drama king’s reaction. “I-I thought our deal was done.” 

Sebastian shut the door and enthusiastically smiling. “Let’s just call it fifteen grand off your debt. So yeah, I still own your knee caps.”

Kassandra shot him a dark look then shifted her purse onto her shoulder, Balter gawking at Sebastian who blinked a few times to her. In the moment, Sebastian’s expression was blank yet his irritation was vibing off of him like a heating oven. “I’m just tagging along while Sebastian wants to ask a few questions. He might know who did this to you.”

Balter’s lips thinned then, locking eyes with Sebastian then. His tone came out coldly, “…I wouldn’t be surprised.”



Sebastian joined his hands against his belt and tipped his chin up, mentally restraining himself. He already expected this whole situation would be interesting, but he never had the patience to deal with this whiny little brat. “You know…this wouldn’t be the first time I beat the s**t out of someone in a hospital.” 



“Stop it! Both of you.” Kassandra snapped, glancing to each of them. Balter managed to swallow and frown to his lap, Sebastian huffed and looked away. She snapped back to Balter and touched his hand, “Please…just…answer his questions.”

Balter closed his eye and gripped the blankets. “…Fine.” He croaked.

“You were running for Alice, weren’t you?” Sebastian said flat out, making Kassandra turn to him and Balter get goosebumps. “What was she trying to accomplish?”

Balter licked his dry lips and reopened his eyes. “She’s trying to get Demetri out.”   

Sebastian huffed and gripped the edge of the bed, his head dropped and cursed under his breath. Kassandra opened her mouth the second the question formed into her head, but then it popped when Sebastian stood up straight. “Did she say how?” 



“She just said through some paperwork.” He shrugged, “I broke into a record place, stole some files for her.” 



Kassandra turned back to her brother now and grunted. “Wait. You stole from a record place?”

“That’s a question.” Sebastian growled low, exchanging looks. At first, Kassandra matched his irritated vibe. Same time, she squeezed her legs tighter together. After a long pause, Kassandra finally gave in by nipping her lip and ducked her head. Balter simply blinked with confusion. Sebastian exhaled heavily and glanced back to him, “Was there any other jobs that you were doing for her till this happened?”

“No.” he swallowed. “I don’t know why she would do this.”

“Because she’s a cunt.” Sebastian stood up, making Kassandra look to him through her hair. “She’s Demetri’s crazy b***h wife. She thinks she can do anything she wants because she’s Demetri’s crazy b***h wife.” 



Kassandra’s purse suddenly vibrated, the boys looking to her when she flinched and went finishing for it. “I’ll be right back. Please play nice.” She held it up then answered it while she stepped out, the door clicking shut behind her. 

Sebastian exhaled heavily in defeat, walking over and took a seat. He crossed his arms and bounced his right knee violently as he stared at the dim light. The room went dead quiet, Sebastian figuring he’d put his questioning on hold till she got back or she’d get pissed off at him. He listened to the monitors as he stared at the ugly ceiling tiles, letting memories of his own hospital experiences flooded back. Just then, his rib cage ached. 



“…You like her, don’t you?” Sebastian was quick to grimace over at Balter who smirked. “Every guy she meets like her, she has that kind of personality.”

Sebastian shrugged his question off and slouched more into the chair. I thought I was doing the questioning here? Smh. “Calling your sister a w***e or something?”

Balter snorted, picking at a string on the blanket. “No. She’d punch me. She’s the type if she cares about you, it’s genuine.” He smirked.

Sebastian stared at him but his bouncing knee calmed. The thing she said about me not being a bad guy…did she really mean it then? “She’s nice, that’s all. ” He cleared his throat and ducked his head, ignoring Balter’s smirk. 

“…Z.”

There was a long pause that Sebastian even felt time freeze. Such a letter being said and it gave Sebastian utter goosebumps from hell. He gulped and slowly glanced up to Balter. His eye were glassed over with fear, his frail smile twitching. So they were still interested in a dumb cocksucker like him? f*****g why? “They set the date and target?”

“Target, yes. Time, no.” He croaked. “He asked if I had any siblings.” 

Sebastian’s heart cannonballed into his stomach, going numb. His voice was ever so gentle.“…That’s how they get you.” He slapped his knees and got up, looking to the door. “I’ll keep an eye on her. Consider it twenty off your debt.” He started for the door when a question popped into his head. He gripped the doorknob and cracked it, seeing Kassandra down the hallway still on the phone. It must have been important by her concentrated look on the wall. “One more thing.” He turned halfway to Balter who swallowed. “Z. Did he mention anything I should know about?”

Balter shrugged, “He didn’t venture off from our conversation. If anything, he just said his current agenda was filled up.”

Great. Sebastian nodded gently and opened the door. “Get better.” He slipped out.

~~~~~*~~~~~



Luitinent Grant gently knocked the doorframe of Oxen’s office, making the man snap up from his research then melted back to his gloomy posture. Oxen’s eyes dropped back to the folder, brushing his fingers on it. “What’s up?”



“I knew you were looking into the Frey Boys.” He came in and dropped a couple of folders on the desk, peaking Oxen’s interest. “These were faxed over from Bronxton this morning.” He took a seat and groaned from exhaustion. “Recently, they had a few files from the records go missing. This was on their footage.” He pointed at them, Oxen blinking then pulled them over. He flopped it open to pictures of a male in all black clothes and ski mask, shoving files into his messenger bag then escaped out the fire exit and on a motorcycle. 



“License Plate?” 



“Couldn’t spot one.” Grand shifted and knocked his knuckles on the chair arms. “Reason they faxed it over was because that’s the same bike that was the Frey’s property.” Oxen’s eyes flickered onto him, “Whoever the punk is must have tried dumping it since it was found in the creek.”

“What files were taken?” 



“Files on Demetri G. Klause.” Grand nodded when he noticed Oxen stiffen. “Bronxton told me a couple of months ago, Demetri requested probation but was denied due to him attacking his cellmate the day before.” 



“Demetri Klause.” Oxen fluttered his eyes, pushing his hair back, and got up. “I’ve never heard of him.” 



“Could be a coincidence.” Grant drummed his fingers. “29 years old. Walked into a DMV and killed the manager there, the man was Walter Woods. Shot him in the wrist then both knee caps. He held the man hostage till the cops almost got there, killed him by shooting him through the right temple. He was found sitting outside covered in blood, smoking a cigarette. They found the guy’s face smashed in when they went in.” 



Oxen was at his filing cabinet, turning back to him with a sick look. “You sure that’s not a coincidence? The rest aren’t this openly crazy that I read up on. The rest plan ahead.” he came over with a stack of files and dropped them on the desk, walking over to the door.



Grant chuckled and licked his lips. “When he confessed, he said he did it for his sister. Looking into the matters, his ‘sister’ was 21-year-old Samantha Delaney. She was r***d then her throat slit, found in a dumpster week later. Never found the person who did it.”

“He thinks this Walter guy did it?” He glanced over the bullpen the dropped the blinds, walking back over. 



“If he is a Klause from the System.” Grant started and Oxen took a seat. “He’d got the killer.” 



“Still, I never heard of him. He’s nowhere in the books.” He started to pull the thick folders in front of him. 



“Has Sebastian ever mentioned him before?” Grant murmured. 



Oxen flopped the folder open to the pyramid of names. At the bottom was filled question marks, but the second row had three names: CHARLIE N. KLAUSE, VINCENT N. KLAUSE, and SEBASTIAN N. KLAUSE. The three names pointed to the top was a big fat, sloppy question mark which pissed him off. No matter times he questioned his nephew about who he worked for, Sebastian rejected to tell him. It’s for your safety to never know, he’d always told him. “…No.”

“Well…question him about it.” Grant stood up, thumping the pictures of the record thief. “Also ask him about this, I know he’s interested too in the Frey Case.”

“Yes, sir.” He ran his hand over his head, listening to him take his leave and shut the door.

~~~~~*~~~~~

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

Catherine smiled at the whiteboard as their teacher, Professor Kilm, scribbled onto about different variables. “I don’t know, you were 5 minutes late to class today.” She nipped her lip. “You guys were f*****g, weren’t you? Totally bending your ways, Kass.”

Kassandra bit her tongue and picked up her highlighter, uncapping it. Like I was gonna openly say I was getting my car out from being impounded. But being late to school for f*****g him? “I was not. He’s not like that. He’s a gentleman.” She highlighted the term Professor Kilm wrote down and turned to the class.

Catherine snorted, “Please, you attract guys with big d**k egos.”

Kassandra stared at her notes, not quick to reject it. She wasn’t wrong, Sebastian did have big d**k energy. He wasn’t the first to lay moves on her which made her more frustrated with herself and how he took her virginity. But the way he cooked, the way he handled her, it lured her in. “He’s different.” She tipped her chin and pushed her hair behind her ear.

“Right.” Catherine grinned at her notebook, writing. “Darian was talking about you yesterday.”

Kassandra’s heart thumped. “Was he?”

Catherine nodded. “He said you looked good in skirts.”

She tugged her skirt more over her crossed thighs, peeking through her hair to Darian and his friend. Just then, she got goosebumps at the fantasy of Darien grabbing her thighs and taking her against his car. She squeezed her thighs tighter together and shifted, suddenly getting a flashback of Sebastian and her in the treehouse. He was different, he was aggressive, toasty, hungry for her. “Yeah, the guy I’m talking to also like skirts.” she commented, ignoring Catherine’s playful dirty look.

“You had s*x with him, didn’t you?”

“Ladies.” The girls glanced down to see Professor Kilm smiling and repeatedly uncapping his marker. “I don’t know if you two are taking s*x Ed classes, but this is not the class to be talking about that.”

Kassandra’s cheeks burned when a couple of people snickered, weakly smiling. “Sorry, professor.”

“Sorry.” Catherine smiled and rubbed the back of her neck. When their professor turned around and resumed class, Catherine leaned in and whispered it. “Later.” She winked, making Kassandra roll her eyes. Knowing eventually, she would have to spill the beans about Sebastian exploring her body.