A pressure settled in on his shoulder but he didn’t turn to look.

“It doesn’t have to hurt when you feed. He wanted to hurt you when he did it. Think about how much easier it would be if they weren’t scared.” Dante’s voice was rougher than usual and it sent a shiver down Alex’s spine. He held onto her tighter, but not because he wanted to hold onto her, because he liked the way Dante’s voice sounded in his ear.

Alex felt the creature unlock inside of him, listening.

So much easier if they don’t want to fight. If they don’t want to run.

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“I just wish I knew more. I’m stuck here. What could I do with the information anyway?” Mia watched him roll his eyes at her.

“I’d think you’d know what sort of trouble you can get into with information.” He waved a finger at her then pointed directly towards her. “Especially you.”

Mia felt uncomfortable that he saw right through her. Of course, he was right. She’d gotten one piece of information and followed Alex right into the fire, now here they were. She’d just always had a thirst for it. Now that they’d followed it she was stuck somewhere between a nightmare and a dream. Mia had always wanted magic to be real and now it was, and she was in a home that she suspected was full of it.

“You have a point, Detective.” She replied.

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“We don’t disagree. In fact, we’re actually tryin’ to keep you safe. Believe it or not.” Renny looked down away from her. Mia watched her like a hawk trying to interpret her expressions as best she could. The problem was anyone could pretend to be empathetic. Some people were experts at that. Actions spoke louder than words and they were holding her and Alex hostage.

“No offense but I think I’m going to hold off on trusting the people that put me in the hospital bed.” Mia shot back.

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“I made a promise to you that I would serve you as long as she lived. That you could wield my magic as your own as long as she breathed.” His voice sounded strong, defiant. There was a time they would have counted each other amongst their friends. Those feelings had long ago sputtered into ashes.

“You have fed on me like a parasite.” He took a step towards him.

“And I am starting to remember.”

He felt a crackle of magic in the room. The sharp rise of temperature that would have made sweat run down his back if he was human.

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The house was surrounded by a thick forest. Alex turned his head to look around he realized that even with sharper eyes he couldn’t see anything but trees in all directions. Even the trail that they’d driven up lead off into the darkness of trees. There were no city skylines in sight. He suddenly felt more claustrophobic than he’d ever felt in his entire life. The wide expanse of sky littered with the multitude of stars felt like it was going to collapse down on top of him.

 This house might have looked like a home but he got the distinct impression that it was a prison.

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The leaves on the trees around her curled in on themselves. Green colors of spring faded into the amber flames of fall until finally they turned winter brittle and brown. Dead. They fell to pieces. Disintegrated into crisp puzzle pieces of what they used to be. The distinct smell of compost rolled through the clearing.

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“See,” She saw the wave of a finger out of the corner of her eye. “You’re the smart one. You know exactly what this situation is.” A wave of his hand back behind him. As if she could forget. 

“You’ve had a feeling that this could happen since Violet. My question is, why didn’t you stop him? You would have been the one to stop us all from ending up...here.”

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“...you and your friend managed to convince her to invite you into Fever. We aren't even sure how she did it.” Her hand reached out for his face and Alex tried to turn his head away from her while he stared at her but he didn't get very far. Then he saw golden white sparks appear around her fingers with a crackle like a campfire. 

“And I'm the one that's supposed to discern how.” She hesitated and met his eyes.

“I apologize because this won't be pleasant.”

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If he knew what was good for him though...he wouldn’t go back. He’d almost died and he was a smart kid right?

Right?

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Music heard in this episode is from

"Rumblin'" Trey VanZandt (YouTube.com/c/treyvanzandt) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

and

"Running Wolf": https://www.pond5.com/artist/lexanmusic

The place had been rubble. A relic. They’d always been afraid that one day they would hear that it had finally lost it’s integrity and collapsed in a plume of dust and drywall and their secret hideout would be gone. This had been their place and he had known Fever.

It turned out that Alex didn’t know anything at all.

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