Terror (Part 1 of the Valeska Series)

Reunions

✮ a c c a l i a  POV✮

Jerome speeds down the hallway, cackling like the maniac he is. Rolling my eyes, I walk after him, hoping that he hasn't broken anything of his or my father's. A loud crash sounds and a sigh escapes me as I round the corner, crossing my arms at the sight of the ginger sprawled out on the ground with a wide grin on his face. At least it was only a table he ran into. Smiling, I look down at him and shake my head in amusement before walking over and pulling him up off the floor.

Another laugh escapes him as he gets to his feet and takes off again, but this time the run is a lot shorter. As soon as he rounds the corner, he runs straight into Aaron. Chuckling, I skip over to the two. Smiling up at Aaron, he grins down at me as I give him a small punch on the arm. Slowly, the larger man raises his own fist and mimics my movement, lightly brushing my arm, not wanting to harm me. Over the past few days, Aaron and I have grown close, and he is more like an older brother than a murderer.

Grinning up at me, the ginger cackles and sits up. "Man, I should have known you had the gorilla wrapped around your little finger, Cali."

Shaking my head, I snort in amusement. "He's the older brother I never had. He's a sweetie, and he'll kill anyone who tries to harm myself or Barbara."

"I'd do that too. Well, anyone who tried to harm you. Not too sure about blondie."

"Is that because she can take care of herself?"

"You're makin' sound like you can't take care of yourself." Jerome rolls his eyes and stands up, straightening his clothes. "Which we both know is utter bullshit, little terror. You kill people, and that means you can take care of yourself - no need for me to worry about that."

Aaron wanders away when I wave my hand, and I move closer to the psychotic ginger. "Don't test my patience, ginger. I might just go stay with Eddy and not visit."

"You really think you can manage that, love? To stay away from moi? Be reasonable."

"I think it's you that's going to be struggling, ginger."

Watching his eyes widen in disbelief, I walk backwards away from him with a smirk on my face. The green of his eyes turns dark and he walks toward me, causing my pace to quicken. The chilling grin on his face makes a giggle escape me as I turn on my heel and speed down the hall. A psychotic laugh follows me and his feet fall faster, making adrenaline pump through my body. The chase is something that has never failed to make my gut churn with excitement.

Sliding along on the marbled floor, I look over my shoulder to see the ginger staring me down with a predatory look. Shuddering, I turn away from him and slide past the main room, waving to my parents and simultaneously picking up my satchel. Swinging to the side, I throw myself into the open elevator and press the 'ground floor' button, grinning at the look on Jerome's face as he skids to a stop in front of the closing doors. His eyes glimmer in excitement, but there's an underlying layer of sadness.

"I'll be back soon, ginger," I promise just as the doors close. "Call if you need anything!"

The elevator doors click together and my ginger love disappears from sight, a curse being the last thing I hear from his lips as the elevator drops to the ground floor. Smiling to myself, I waltz out of the open doors and head towards the front door. Surprisingly, a guard stops me on my way out. Looking up at the man with annoyance, I watch as he winces away from me. Swallowing down his fear, he clears his throat and straightens his body in an attempt to regain control of the situation.

"What in hell's name do you want?" I spit at the former friend of mine. "I doubt there is anything you can say to me that is worth listening to."

"Accalia, please," Travis begs.

"No. You lied to me - more than once - and you pretended that you knew nothing about what was going on in the god forsaken f*****g city! Burn in hell, you dick."

"Cali!"

Turning on my heel, I stalk out of the building, his pleas echoing in my ears. He knew everything that was occurring in Gotham, and he never told me - even when I asked. Travis is one of my father's higher up people, and he was paid to keep an eye on me, and then report back to my father. So, really, he wasn't anyone important to me - just someone paid to be my friend. That does explain why he was basically the only friend I had other than Jerome, and Mandy.

Growing up after Jim and Barbara picked me up from the orphanage, I couldn't make any friends. The children I was in school with were so different to the ones I grew up with, and they pushed me to the side because I was different. I was covered in scars of all kinds, and they saw me as a monster who deserved nothing but their harshest judgement and sentence. Once I came to the primary school in Gotham, the children there started abusing me - physically, mentally and emotionally.

No friends came from there, and that meant I was still alone. Well, I was only for a few more weeks. To celebrate them adopting me, Barbara and Jim both took time off their daily lives and decided to take me to Haly's Circus. The noise had caused me to freak out to begin with - all the screams of laughter and happiness and shock. It took both Barbara and Jim a little while to calm me down, but they did manage to convince me to give the circus a chance.

So, I did.

That, of course, is where I met my ginger.

✮ n i n e ✮

✮ y e a r s ✮

✮ a g o ✮

I watch in fascination as the acrobats twirl around high above, graceful and practised beyond compare. Their glittering and glimmering outfits catch the light and create patterns on the walls of the tent. I feel like I am in a scene from a movie, and that I am about to be whisked away into an adventure of magic and untold beauty and danger. My eyes follow the acrobats, but my interest begins to be pulled by the scattered light on the tent. Following them, my eyes meet shining green ones staring directly at me.

Staring at him with curiosity, I drop from my seat and make my way over to the green-eyed boy. Jim gives me a glance, assessing the situation, before turning back to the acrobatics. Running into a few people, and earning a more than a few choice words and threats, I finally stand in front of the boy, eyes running over his body to see if he meant me any harm. Too quickly for my liking, he sticks his hand out, causing me to flinch back from his outstretched hand.

"I'm Jerome," the young boy says, grinning at me. "What's yours?"

Giving him a wary look, I slowly take his hand and shake it. "My name's Accalia."

"Pretty."

"You think so? I don't really like it."

"It's unique." The ginger begins to walk away. "Just like you."

Eyes widening, I follow after him, not wanting to be left alone.

"So, you here with your parents?"

"My adoptive parents. I don't know who my real parents are."

"Awesome." Jerome grins at me over his shoulder, and then grabs my hand. "Come on. I wanna show you something."

My eyes widen in shock as he begins running, tugging me along behind him. Forcing my legs to move faster, I keep up with the energetic ginger with minimal hassle. Laughter echoes in my ears and the hair on the back of my neck rises when I see the grin on Jerome's face, laced with malice and promise of harm. Swallowing down my fear, I feel excitement bubbling in my gut, and a smile works its way onto my face.

His grin widens and we jerk to a stop in front of a trailer, my mind spinning. Jerome runs inside, and I take a step forward, making a move to follow him, only to freeze when a pained yell leaves the trailer. My skin crawls, but I can't stop myself from moving forward, peering into the trailer. Standing over the small ginger is an older woman, and she is brandishing a broken beer bottle. Eyes widening, I back away from the sight and run into another body.

Jerking forward, I stumble and a hand quickly grasps my wrist, preventing me from falling. Shuddering out a breath, I look up at the person and go still when I see the face of the young ginger boy staring down at me with concern. Glancing back at the trailer and then turning to the new ginger, I tear my wrist from his grip and step back, instantly wary of the newcomer.

His eyes turn sad at my reaction. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Shaking my head, I shakily point at the trailer.

"She's at it again? Damn it."

Nodding, I look at the trailer, my fists clenched and anger boiling within me. Giving up, I pick up the closest object, which turned out to be a plank of wood of all things, and walk into the trailer, the second ginger watching me with wide eyes. Jerome's eyes stare at me with fear when he sees me standing behind the woman, and they beg me to leave.

Grinning, I shake my head and raise the wood plank. Swinging it forward, it smashes into the woman's side and she falls forward, a screech leaving her lips. Jerome scuttles out of the way of her falling form, and moves over to me, smirking as he stares down at her prone form. Footsteps sound behind me and I spin around, holding the plank ready to defend myself, but freezing when I see the other ginger.

Dropping the plank, I move behind Jerome and stare at the duplicate. "Who are you?"

Jerome looks over at the other ginger and his smirk gives way to annoyance. "So, you show up now? Of course you're not here when she's beating me senseless. What a good brother you are."

The second ginger bristles at the jab. "It's not like I do it on purpose, Jerome."

"Sure."

Moving out from behind Jerome, I walk over to the ginger. "Who are you?"

His green eyes turn to me and his gaze softens. "Jeremiah. I'm Jerome's twin. Yourself?"

"I'm Accalia. It's nice to meet you, Jeremiah."