Mixed Worlds

Chapter Nine - You Cut Off His Hand??

    After the kitchen is all cleaned up, Ally heads to her room to change. Pyjama pants and a baggy T-shirt probably isn’t the best attire to go hunting with. It’s warm out, so she puts on her spandex capris and a loose army-green shirt with the sides cut out, and her black sports bra. She packs up her ‘Fed Threads’ as Jack calls them, which consists of two different blouses, dress pants, a dress skirt, little black heels, and a jet-black blazer. She opens up her makeup bag, and makes sure her all she needs is in there. She glances at her mascara, and takes it out. She walks over to her mirror above her dresser, and stares at herself. She looks down at the black tube in her hands, and opens it. She slightly leans over, and applies the mascara to her lashes. She puts the mascara in her bag, and zips it shut. She picks up her gym bag, and heads for the door, only to be stopped by Jack.

            “Are you wearing mascara?” He smiles. 

    She clears her throat. “Uh, no... I don’t wear makeup unless we’re on a case.” Jack chuckles.

            “Then why can I see a little black streak under your eye?” He points to her eye.

            “Shit.” She spins around, and grabs a makeup wipe. She wipes some of it off, and laughs. She turns around and has black circles around her eyes, and looks like a raccoon. “Look familiar?” She asks.

    “Yep. Second year frosh week. You got caught in the rain after Ronny Marshall broke up with you. I saw you sitting out in the rain when I was walking home and gave you my umbrella.” Ally turns around and laughs with Jack.

            “Yeah that was a wonderful night. It’s a good thing I have you Jack. I don’t know where I would be if you weren’t in my life.” She walks over to Jack with her makeup wipe in hand, and says “I’m ready now.” Jack takes the wipe from her, finds a clean spot and wipes a spot she missed off of her nose. 

            “There. Now you’re ready. Here, I’ll take your bag. You go check on Christian and meet me in the garage.” He leans forward, and kisses her on the top of her head. Immediately realizing what he did, he drops her bag and puts his hands up and apologizes. “Uh, I don’t know why I just did that.”

            She smiles. “It caught me off guard but it was nice... no one’s ever done that before. Don’t worry so much Jack.” She stands on her tiptoes and gives him a hug. “I’ll meet you after I check on Christian.” Jack grabs her hand before she gets too far, and she turns around to face him. “Jack?” He’s standing still with his head low and pink cheeks.

            “Ally, can I... uh...” Jack clears his throat.  He drops her bag again, and takes both of her hands in his. “Look, I really do care about you a lot, and I don’t even know if you feel the same way, and this is probably a dumb time t even be thinking about it, but there’s something I really want to do, but I promise you, I won’t until you tell me you want me to.” He can feel his throat close up, and he’s as nervous as he has ever been before.

            “What do you want, Jack?” She asks him flat out, but she already knows what he wants. 

            “I really want to kiss you.” He lets go of one of her hands, and places it on the side of her face. Ally can feel the butterflies in her stomach, almost as if they are about to launch out from within her. She takes a small step closer to him, almost pressing her body up to his. Just as their lips are within an inch of each other’s, they stop as they hear the sound of Lucas’ voice calling their names from down the hall. 

            “Come on guys! We have a Siren to kill. Lets go!” Jack and Ally jump apart, and Jack picks up her bag. Lucas walks into the doorway with his hands in his jacket pockets.

            “Sorry Luke, we were just talking about another case up near Washington.” He looks down to Ally with wide eyes. “The one about the Wendigo.”

            “Yeah,  four bodies left scattered around the city. Could also be a Ruguru though. Won’t know till we get there. I’ll meet you guys in the garage!” Ally speeds out of her own room towards the back room where Christian is and slams the door behind her. 

            “What was that all about?” Lucas asks. He crosses his arms, and gives Jack a confusing look. “What were you really doing in here?”

            “We weren’t doing anything. I was just helping her get her things together so she can go check on Christian.” He pushes his way past Lucas, and walks down the hall. “What are you doing? Let’s go what are you waiting for?” 

            “LUCAS FOSTER!” They both hear Ally scream, and Jack drops her bag and runs into the hallway. 

            “Yeah. That’s what I was waiting for. I may or may not have gone to see Christian after she told me not to.” Lucas smiled sheepishly at Jack, taking a few steps back. “I have a feeling she’s not happy about what I did.”

    Ally comes around the corner, holding a bloody hand. “You cut his hand off?! What the f**k did I tell you!? He’s NEVER going to tell me where his nest is. Way to f*****g go.” She whips the hand at Lucas, picks up her bag and walks into her room. “Sorry Jack. You guys can go take care of the Siren. I’m staying here to try and fix your mess, again.” She slams her door, leaving the brothers alone in the hallway.

            “What’s gotten into you?” Jack pushes Lucas in the shoulder, and scoffs. “You do realize that every time you do something like this it’s gonna just get harder for things to go back to normal, right?”

            “Things are never going to be normal, Jack. And as for Christian, she needs to push harder. She can keep beating him up but she won’t get anywhere with him.” He crosses his arms, and says “What’s so special about him and his nest anyways? She’s killed off vamps before and never blinked twice.”

            “He’s the one who killed her whole family, and almost killed her. Twice. It was his nest that raided her home years ago. She knows they knew each other before it happened because her dad called out Christian’s name. Ironically enough, the night she ran into him, we were talking about him just hours before it happened. This means a lot to her, and you may have ruined her only chance of having any kind of closure as to why he went after them. I hope you’re happy.” Jack waits for a response, and he sees Lucas attempt to knock on her door. Jack grabs his arm and says, “No. Leave her alone. You’ve pissed her off enough for one day.” And he pulls Lucas away from her door.

            “Okay! Fine! Let go of me. I’ll be in the garage.” Lucas walks down the hallway. 

            “No. I’m going to call another team of hunters and they can handle it. I’m staying here and so are you.” Jack walks by Lucas and into the garage, grabs the keys to the car and locks the garage door. “You’re not going by yourself and I don’t feel like sitting next to you for six hours.”

            “Oh come on Jack! It’ll take a day tops. Lets just go.” He says as he tries to reach for the keys.

    Jack places his hand in front of him onto Lucas’ chest. “I said no, Luke. We’re all sitting this one out.” He stepped back, and walked into his room.

    Lucas sighed and walked away in a huff towards his room, and slammed the door shut. He throws himself into his bed, and stares at the ceiling. After a few minutes, he gets up and says; “f**k it.” He goes out into the hallway, and sees that the bloody hand is still there. He picks it up, and walks to the back room and unlocks the door. 

            “Back so soon? I knew you’d miss me.” Christian laughs, and dangles his arm. “Come to cut the other one off?” 

            “You guys can re-attach your limbs right? So if I stitch this back on you’ll be fine in an hour or so?” He walks to the shelf filled with knives, ropes, stakes and more, including a medical kit with sutures and bandages. “Because my friend needs information from you, and I want you to be comfortable when you tell her where your nest is, and how you knew her father. Clear?” He picks out vervain-rope and a med kit, and walks over to Christian. He stands behind him, and ties his chest to the chair making sure he can’t attempt to bite him. Once he’s finished he kneels next to him, and opens the med kit to prep the needle and thread. “You haven’t answered my question.”

            “I thought I was supposed to answer the girls questions?” He mocks. “Your strategy isn’t very well thought out.” Christian tries to adjust himself in the chair, and winces when the rope drags against his skin.

            “Its not my strategy you have to worry about. It’s Ally’s.” He finishes up the stitching, and stands up. “There ya go princess. Now stay put. And when she comes in, it’s in your best interest to cooperate.”he walks towards the door, and unlocks it.

            “So, her name is Ally? The girl was clear that I did not need to know her name as it was useless information to me. So thank you for that, Lucas. I’ll be sure to have a conversation with her about that.”  He laughs. He begins to rotate his hand, as it slowly re-attaches itself.

    “Shit.” Lucas grunts. He walks out, and locks the door behind him. Just as he is about to pull the shelves in front of the door, he hears Ally behind him. 

            “You told him my name? Are you kidding me? What are you even doing here? Did me throwing his bloody hand at you mean anything? I’m so sick of your s**t! I don’t know why I ever... ugh. Get out of my way.” She pushes past him and grabs the keys out of his hand.

    Lucas takes the keys back and holds them behind him. “Why you ever what?” She goes to reach behind his back, and he puts his hand on her shoulder to hold her back. “No. Talk.”

            “I don’t know why I ever thought you cared! Why I ever let you kiss me and get away with it. Why I didn’t beat the s**t out of you for what happened in Colorado. Why I ever thought you could change. I can never look at you the same after all of this. You haven’t apologized for anything you’ve done and I can’t even stand talking to you. Stay OUT of my business. Stay OUT of this room, and stay AWAY from me until I say otherwise. Got it?!” She takes a deep breath, and sticks out her hand. “Keys.”

    Lucas lowers his hands to his side. “Ally, listen-“

            “KEYS!! I’m done talking to you! I have better things to do than to argue with a child.” She grabs the keys from his hand, and walks away. She turns the corner headed for the briefing room, and Lucas is left alone with nothing to do but think.