297 THE WAY HE LOOKED AT HER
“You are playing a dangerous game, Vanesha,” Gael said, as soon as he appeared in this train station and stood right next to her.
It was hard to see his face, as he was wearing a white mask and a baseball cap. He was also wearing a black jacket that was too big for his frame and a pair of worn out jeans. At a glance, no one would be able to tell that he was a supernatural creature or a man in his forties. He looked so young, but the gloomy vibe that he gave off didn’t change a bit since the last time Vanesha met him.
“I am not playing a game, Gael,” Vanesha replied, she looked ahead and only spared him a single, brief glance. No one would be able to tell that they knew each other at this point.
They looked like they were just two strangers waiting for the train to arrive.
“You got too attached to him,” Gael stated. “I can’t tell whether you are faking it or you are genuine about it.”
If Vanesha was surprised, she didn’t show it at all. She was very good at pretending and now, she had collected herself to be able to face Gael.
“No, I didn’t. You are reading too much into things,” Vanesha simply stated.
At that time, the train that the two of them were waiting for had finally arrived and both of them boarded, as they found seats for each other.
Vanesha put on her earphones, as she connected them to the phone that she was holding, while Gael simply held his phone to his ear and started talking, as if they were taking separate calls on their respective phones.
.....
Vanesha and Gael needed to take great precautions in this situation, since they didn’t know who could have followed them. It was better to be safe than sorry.
“You don’t need to lie to me, Vanesha, I can see it in your eyes,” Gael said quietly. He stared at the blue sky, it was so clear, a good day for a picnic. “You fell for him, didn’t you?”
Vanesha blinked her eyes, she looked around this train wagon and only saw five people in total, who didn’t seem to be someone from the facility in her opinion. Two men were too old to be trained soldiers, while a woman was with her toddler and the other woman was sleeping.
“I didn’t,” Vanesha lied smoothly. She didn’t even flinch when she denied her feelings. “You don’t need to be worried. I will get River out of the facility as soon as I get the chance.”
Gael looked at the sky grimly, as if it had wronged him. “You have said that countless times in the past.”
“You don’t know what the situation in the facility is like,” she replied and received a scoff as a reply.
“You have to start finding something more reliable as your excuse,” Gael said, his voice was slightly darker now. “You have told me the same thing over and over again.”
Vanesha didn’t answer that. She remained silent, especially when the train stopped and three young men entered. Two of them sat in front of her and the other one sat far away from her and Gael.
“You know that I almost lost my position.”
“Because you let that bastard experiment on my daughter,” Gael hissed in a low voice. He didn’t make any commotion and his words were barely able to be discerned by the people nearby, but of course the sound of him talking was already vicious enough to make those who heard the way he muttered glance at him briefly.
Gael remembered how he was only a step away from ruining everything that he had planned and barged into the facility to take his daughter away from any harm that they caused her.
“In order to not let him know, I must do what I need to do. I have to be incognito, that’s what you said to me. Don’t you remember?” Vanesha reminded Gael about this. He was the one who trained her to be like that.
If it was not for Gael losing his power, he would have burned the whole facility to the ground by now.
After he returned from the frozen lake, gradually, he lost most of his power, he became more human than a supernatural creature.
It seemed during the time when he was in a different realm, his energy was sucked dry. After all, he was different from Chaos and Knox. The two of them were built differently from him and this side effect completely enraged him, especially when he needed his power the most.
However, it let him and Lise be able to infiltrate this city, since these people managed to create a machine that could detect a supernatural creature from a certain distance.
Their defenses were getting stronger by the year, as they expanded the span of their territory by taking as many cities as possible, especially those occupied by the supernatural creatures.
“I left all the information about River in a box in the next station. You have to get off this train by then,” Vanesha told him. This was how they exchanged information throughout all these years. She would leave any information regarding River in a random place and then inform Gael about it.
Gael had changed, through years of hard life and how he had to adjust himself to be a mere human, he felt vulnerable and devastated. His easy going nature was nowhere to be seen, even Lise rarely heard him laughing or even saw him smiling. He always had this serious look on his face.
People changed, but for Gael this transition was more than that.
“I hope you know where you stand.” Gael stood up, as the train had entered the next station.
“I will not forget what you have done for me. I will not betray you.” Those were the only words that Vanesha could say to ease his doubt.
Yet, Gael said nothing to her before he got off the train, not a single word or any indication he was convinced by what she was saying.
Vanesha could feel it. Gael became more and more restless. He was far away from the man that she knew in her early childhood. Yes, she remembered him. He was the one who bought them food and blankets. She still remembered the warmth of her favorite blanket that she left behind when they had to escape the chaos years ago.
He was not that man anymore...
Yes, it was right, people changed, probably she did too.
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Chaos opened his eyes when he felt Zuri had fallen asleep as her breathing became deeper. She looked very vulnerable at times like this and he hated to leave her alone.
He felt safe from his own dark thoughts whenever he was with her, not only because he had let her absorb his shield, the black sword, but because it was her. It must be her, even centuries ago, it was always her, who would be able to control him...
Zuri’s lips were parted, her eyelashes fanned out over her red cheeks and her skin looked flawless. Chaos let himself touch her one more time before he got off the bed and left to deal with his own things. His intentions to come to this place.
Yet, a touch turned to a kiss and a hug... until Chaos found himself unable to leave her.
He didn’t show it whenever he was with her, but he always had his eyes on her, how she threatened Norbeat to get her way, or how she would mindlessly caress White’s fur, while staring into the distance, or how she let her head rest against the window door as she fell asleep inside the car.
Chaos paid attention to all of that.
Zuri had come so far to be able to interact with people again, she looked normal, except for a few nightmares that would haunt her in her sleep, over which Chaos didn’t have any power. He knew what she dreamed of...
Even though she had never said a word about it.
“Sleep well. I will come back,” Chaos whispered into her ear, as he pressed a soft kiss on her forehead before he got off the bed and closed the door behind him.
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“It had been a long time since the four of us got together, right?” Killian grinned at Knox in front of him. “Hee... you are still with that human woman, huh?” Killian’s green eyes fell on July, who was sleeping and had no clue about what was happening.
At the sight of an unpleasant visitor, Knox immediately got up from the bed and approached him with long strides. He grabbed Killian’s collar and the two of them disappeared from inside the room, before they made any noise that would wake July up.
“What do you want?” Knox threw Killian to the ground as they appeared in a dark alley that the dragon shifter couldn’t recognize at all.
“Calm down, don’t you think you are being too harsh on me?” Killian complained, as he tidied up his clothes. “Chaos came to me. Hell, he is in my house with Norbeat and a girl. He ordered me to gather the four of us.”
The moonlight shone brightly upon them, as Knox emerged from the shadows of the buildings around them.
“Who is that girl? I know you know something about her.” Killian tilted his head. “I know this girl is important to Chaos. The way he looked at her makes me cringe.”
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