We must return to Boris and leave immediately, Lucian thought, calculating the fastest route. He took a step, intending to lead Elle away from the scene, but his body betrayed him. His knees buckled, he stumbled, his vision blurring. What? he thought. Confusion. Followed by a chilling understanding. If this had happened moments ago, I would be dead. He had been too careless, too focused on protecting Elle, even from himself, too dismissive of his own limitations. He wanted to laugh at his own foolishness. How could a seasoned warrior let this happen?
He sank to his knees, his body protesting with every fiber. Exhaustion, he realized, a wave of weariness washing over him. He not only hadn't slept in four days, but he had been pushing his Praetorian physiology to its limits using all those Quantum keys in her wedding. I've been too careless… I should have slept at least two hours…
Then, her scent invaded his senses, a delicate floral fragrance that wrapped around him like a warm embrace. It was a soothing balm, a siren's song that made him yearn to lose himself in the depths, to surrender to its intoxicating ocean of allure. Her voice, laced with concern, reached him, her hands, soft and gentle, touched his face. It was all overwhelmingly pleasant to his senses. He wanted nothing more than to lie down, to be enveloped by her scent, to drift into oblivion with her near him. There was nothing better in life than this.
Elle helped him to his feet, her touch gentle and caring. "Come on," she said, with tenderness. "Let's get you somewhere you can rest."
She hailed a taxi, sharp and authoritative, and directed the driver to the nearest hotel. The ride was a blur, Lucian's exhaustion deepening with each passing moment. He leaned against the seat, his eyes closed, his mind drifting in and out of consciousness.
The hotel, with its gaudy heart-shaped sign, seemed surreal, a dreamlike image in his weary mind. Elle paid the driver and led Lucian inside, her hand firm on his arm, guiding him to their room.
He collapsed onto the bed, sinking into the soft mattress. The world around him faded, as the a wave of exhaustion took him. He drifted into sleep, to his mind came fragmented images and half-formed thoughts.
Then… the dreams began.
He dreamed of Elle, of her laughter, of her eyes, of her scent. He dreamed of their first encounter, the clash of their powers, the spark of recognition that had ignited in him. He dreamed of their journey together, the battles they had fought, the moments of connection they had shared.
He dreamed of a world where they were not adversaries, but partners, their destinies intertwined. He dreamed of a life where he could protect her, adore her, love her without reservation.
"She is mine!" The voice was cold, possessive, and powerful. The black-armored figure, Lucian, was running towards an impossible being of crimson wings. His mind reeled with the battle plan, frame by frame. He jumped, dodged, shot, set another key in position, repeating the process, just like his brothers. A group effort, a calculated strike to clip the wings of the giant. Then, the black-armored warrior lifted a colossal tungsten rod and drove it into the giant's face, into its very brain. The giant fell. The warrior roared, a sound not of victory, but of raw anger and despair. Their enemy was dead, and now they had no purpose. All the armors melted away, revealing their powerful, naked forms, and they looked at him, the burning universe a backdrop to their rage: "She is mine!" All of them roared, and all of them were Lucian.
Lucian's eyes snapped open. One of his arms was clenched around the other, the one being held, threatening to crush the delicate figure sleeping between his arms. His heart sank. Elle stirred, turning to face him, her eyes filled with an accusatory gaze.
"You were born to destroy. All that you can build is meant for destruction. Take me. Destroy me. And then destroy the stars. Destroy everything."
"This is a dream..." He breathed, hoarse. "A nightmare..."
"No, you are the nightmare," Elle replied, her form fading into the shadows as he fully awakened.
He smirked, a wry twist of his lips. My mind is an interesting place, even beyond my comprehension. Next time, don't forget that I am physically incapable of harming her, he thought, his gaze softening as he looked at the true Elle. Her pretty face was buried in his chest, hiding from the morning light. He tenderly placed a kiss on her forehead, his nightmare trying to linger, a dark echo in his mind. But nightmares were old companions, familiar shadows he had long since learned to navigate. This dream, this fragile moment of peace with Elle in his arms, seemed too perfect, too good to last, and that was far more terrifying.
"You're tickling me! Let me sleep!" She complained, tightening her hug around him, burying her face deeper into his chest. He stifled a chuckle, a warmth spreading through him. Then, she looked up, her eyes wide, her cheeks flushed crimson. He leaned down, gently kissing the tip of her nose. Elle immediately recoiled, standing up abruptly, as if she had committed a grave transgression.
"I-I... You did it! You trapped me in your sleep!" She exclaimed, a mix of anger, embarrassment and accusation.
"Elle... forgive me," his voice was soft. "I hope you slept well, at least."
She calmed. Silent first, but then spoke: "I did... I mean, how could I sleep well like that?!" She retorted, her gaze darting away from his. "And why does this hotel room have only one bed when I asked for a room for two?!"
Lucian chuckled, a low, rumbling sound. "This is a love hotel, Elle," he said.
"What is a love hotel?" She asked, brow furrowed.
"What do you think it is?" He countered, a playful glint in his autumn eyes. Her eyes widened in realization.
"B-but we didn't do that! We would never do that!" She stammered, her cheeks burning.
Ah, well... Now the 'wife' thing she loves will never stop, Lucian thought, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Elle," he said, gentle.
"What?" She asked, too sharp.
"You didn't run away," he said, his gaze fixed on hers. Her eyes widened, shock crossing her features. "Be mine, Elle."
She turned away, her body trembling slightly. He closed the distance between them, his presence a warm, comforting weight.
"I-I want to eat something," she said, barely a whisper, changing the subject.
"Real restaurant again?" He asked, making her feel like she could ask for anything and she'll have it.
"No. Order something. Room service. They said it was good," she replied, her gaze still averted.
They left the hotel after a silent breakfast. The tension hung heavy in the air, a delicate dance of unspoken desires and fears. He would watch her, his gaze trying to meet hers, and she would steal glances at him when he wasn't looking, a game of cat and mouse.
"Miss, sir, we've arrived at Boris' Bazaar of the Forgotten... I suggest you two are cautious around this area. It's a dangerous zone," the driver said, with concern.
"We will," Lucian replied, paying him with five silver coins. He helped Elle out of the taxi, the cold breeze hitting her protective fur coat, making her feel more things because he had given her this fur.
They walked towards the Bazaar, their hands together, their fingers intertwining, the awkwardness slowly fading into a sense of naturalness, of belonging.
"I expected you yesterday," Boris said, with amusement. "Not ten hours and twenty-five minutes later."
"We had a very long day, and we wanted to rest," Lucian replied, calm.
Boris chuckled. "I understand. Everything's ready."
"Are those books really books?" Elle asked, her gaze sweeping over the cluttered shelves.
"Of course," Boris replied, his eyes twinkling. "Are you interested? I'm sure Lucian will pay for anything you want. Please, say everything."
"Everything," Elle replied, releasing a delicious giggling.
"Alright," Boris said, his fingers flying across a holographic calculator. Lucian's eyes widened slightly.
"I'll pay with this," Elle said, placing the gold ring on the counter, the sound echoing through the shop. "It's engraved with my name and Alexander's."
"A fine piece," Boris murmured, examining the ring. "And the historical value will become immense. Deal. I'll give you four books. Choose wisely. Meanwhile, I'll go get your key, and some for Lucian too." He disappeared behind a hidden door.
"If I asked for everything..." Elle began, her gaze fixed on the shelves.
"Would it make you happy?" Lucian asked, his voice soft. She loves teasing and playing, but she's even prettier when she's honest, he thought. "I would, if it makes you happy."
Her cheeks flushed crimson. Fuck... Is it that nobody ever loved you, little one? Or did you kill them all? he thought, amusement dancing in his eyes.
"Ah... I would like all these books," she said, gesturing towards a specific section of the shelves.
"Ada has copies of some," Lucian replied.
"No, not copies. I want to feel the covers, the paper, the story they carry," she said, with a hint of longing.
"They are yours," he said, warm. Her eyes lit up. "If you become mine."
"I'm about to get my key, Lucian," she reminded him, a playful smirk on her lips. He chuckled.
"Tell me something," he continued. "Would you have given your body to that bastard I killed?"
The question hit her like a sledgehammer. "I had no choice," she whispered.
"Choices," he said, low. "You had no choice to marry him and be a pawn. You had no choice to come with me. But now you have a choice to stay with me, willingly. Be mine. We could go anywhere we want with nobody to stop us. We could destroy, conquer, or just live in a quiet corner... Anything!"
Elle was about to answer, but he was quickly next to her, his expression stern, and she knew they were in danger again. He abruptly kissed her. "Hide these." He whispered on her lips, after breaking the kiss, handing her two small Quantum-enhanced knives.
Elle stared at him in shock, but took the knives, slipping them into the sleeves of her fur. Boris returned.
"There you are," Lucian said, approaching the counter. But Boris was not alone.
"Ah… Lucian!" A graspy voice said, as men entered the bazaar, and others came from behind Boris. "Bastard!"
"Aldebaran!" Lucian recognized the figure next to his friend. The men surrounded him and Elle. He maintained his nonchalance. "It's been a long time. You were how old, eight? Time hasn't been kind to you, has it?"
Aldebaran was a grotesque mountain of a man, his skin a sickly pale that suggested a lifetime spent in the shadows. His eyes were tiny and greasy, and they roved over her body with an appetite that made her want to retch.
"You bring this beauty to me?" Aldebaran said, licking his lips. "I am going to feast today, and tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow! And so on for months! I might die even! But feasting on this beauty!"
"You will die for those words, Aldebaran," Lucian declared, cold but calm. Elle almost let out a curse of dissapointment, but she didn't, she waited because he was calm, he had a plan. I... Trust him now? she thought.
The fat man just chuckled, waving his hand dismissively. "You think you're above me, don't you monster?" He spat. "You're just a pet that forgot his place. Take his weapons! And take them to the warehouse! And don't you dare get so touchy with the beauty or I'll chop off your hands and your dicks too!"
"Your father cried when I killed him, Aldebaran," Lucian taunted. "Why bothering for a man who didn't include you in his genetic legacy?"
"Silence, you dog!" Aldebaran cried out in anger, his pendant glowing with the purple energy of Quantum Energy, his fists imbued with power, and he started slamming into Lucian's ribs loudly. "Take this, dog! This! And this!"
His fists hit repeatedly, the impact echoing through the shop, making the shelves shake and the ancient artifacts rattle. Despite the brutal assault, Lucian remained standing, his smile never wavering. He looked at Aldebaran with a mix of amusement and challenge, his eyes gleaming with a dark light that seemed to feed on the pain, a bit of blood dripping out his mouth, but no more visible damage. Elle knew that the damage was minimal, he had taken far more damage from her in their past. Lucian was a Praetorian but on top of that he could control his body and minimize the damage from the blows.
"What? Did you get tired already?" Lucian scoffed, his grin wide and arrogant. "You should forget about this. In one hundred years more you'd have enough influence and the Aethera will help you."
Aldebaran's rage grew with each hit, his breath became heavy but he continued. The men holding Lucian tightened their grips, on their faces fear and excitement. They knew they were witnessing a show of power, but they didn't know if it was their boss's or the man they were restraining. They had heard that Lucian was a Praetorian, Lord Lucian they called him here in the capital, but they had never imagined this. The monstrous man took all that beating and didn't flinch, making justice to his legend.
"Argh! Let's take them to the warehouse! We'll break him there!" Aldebaran declared, exhausted, and then he looked at Elle with hungry eyes. "And then... We'll enjoy the dessert."
Elle's heart raced, but instead of fear, she felt anger and defiance. This monster would not touch her, not while she had the power to stop him. She didn't care if Lucian had a plan or not, but this thing of a man would never lay a finger on her. She reached for one of the Quantum-enhanced knives. But Lucian's gaze stopped her, and she could read clearly that it wasn't the time yet.
"Logistics! Prepare Quantum teleportation!" Aldebaran shouted, and two figures, hidden until now, stepped forward.
"Wait," Boris stopped them.
"What now, tinsmith?" Aldebaran yelled. "My patience with you is hanging on a very thin string."
"The girl. She left a ring for me to take care of. She was afraid of the streets. I must return it to her, personally," Boris said, his voice cold.
"What ring? Show me!" Aldebaran asked.
"This golden one." Boris showed her wedding ring, but she knew what his plan was. Aldebaran was about to take it, but Lucian spoke:
"One minute, just you and me, Aldebaran."
"Shut!" He screamed, punching, producing loud noises. "The fuck! Up!"
"Keep the ring!" Elle quickly said.
"No, young woman." Boris countered. "There will be an investigation about you most likely, and it wouldn't be good for my business if your ring is found in my store."
"Fuck! Just give her the damn... Hah... Hah... Ring!" Aldebaran groaned.
Boris walked towards her. Their eyes met.
"You will have to use all the gifts that you've been given, wisely, young lady," Boris said. "That's the only thing that will keep you alive."
Elle nodded, and took the ring, hiding it in her fist. Her captors tried to take it.
"Please, Aldebaran," Boris said. "Control your gorillas."
"You two idiots stop with that!" Aldebaran yelled. "Now, if there's nothing more. Quantum Teleportation now!"
The logistics Quantum Users nodded, and started the calculations for the space-time jump. They were specialists in jumps and portals.
As they were teleporting, Elle felt the cold steel of the knife she had hidden. It was now or never. With a quick and precise movement, she stabbed the man holding her right arm. He yelled in surprise and pain, and she used that moment to break free and put on the ouroboros ring that Boris had given her. She felt the Quantum Energy again, diminished due to the tier of the key, but she had never felt happier. I am myself again! Her powers were back.
As they materialized in the warehouse, a vast, dimly lit space filled with crates and the smell of stale air, she killed her second captor while raising a few protective, invisible Quantum barriers around herself. It was a reflex. She saw that Lucian had freed himself, and was finishing the last man who had imprisoned him. The Quantum Users who had teleported them there, were lying on the floor, dead, with Lucian's black knives on their backs.
Aldebaran was surrounded by his own men, his fat jiggly body hiding behind them. "You think you can win here?" He shouted, red with anger and fear.
"Oh, I don't plan to win," she intervened, smiling sweetly, "I'll make sure that you can't enjoy a 'dessert' ever again."
With that, she unleashed her telekinesis powers, snapping necks with a sharp twist, crushing hearts with a focused pulse, and imploding brains with a sudden, localized pressure. Aldebaran's men didn't stand a chance, and she reveled in their cries of terror. Her father had taught her to control her power, but now she let it loose like a wildfire, feeling the thrill of freedoom rushing through her veins. But something more fascinating made her delight even greater.
"I told you that you would die for your insinuation, Aldebaran…" Lucian said, and his knife got buried in Aldebaran's leg. The confused gangster gasped, losing his breath. "What? Did you get tired already?" Lucian mocked him, burying another knife in the other leg. The gangster fell, the sound as painful as the vision of his whole body landing on his knees. He screamed like a pig. And then was choking, two blades more, buried in his chest, piercing his lungs. Lucian's eyes were pure wrath. He wasn't a Praetorian anymore, this was a male erasing what had threatened his woman.
Elle chuckled and shot a concentrated Quantum plasma sphere. Lucian jumped back, on time to dodge the pillar of energy that devoured Aldebaran alive, he couldn't even scream with perforated lungs, but his agonizing choking and pseudo-moaning was a delight for her. That morning, Aldebaran's gang ceased to exist.
Their eyes were locked on each other's. She had her powers back at last, and Lucian was there, standing defiantly with a wild grin.
"He deserved to suffer more," he let out.
"Yes, but I enjoy your rage more than his suffering," she said. "It's like stealing your meal."
"Oh, you're a mean one," he joked.
"I am..." She answered, with a smirk. A Quantum plasma sphere materialized in her hand. Lovingly for Lucian.
"Does that mean that you want me to make you mine already?" He challenged her, reminding her of his words that if she failed killing him when she got her powers back, he would take her as his woman even against her consent.
She pushed him with telekinesis, chuckling while doing so. He used the knife and deflected the attack, with a grin.
"You didn't do that on our previous dates," she said.
"New moves, baby. The least I want is to bore you," he replied.
"We'll see," she tried to catch him with her telekinesis, but he wouldn't stop, not even for a second. She used the guns of the gangsters, their blades, she threw them at Lucian, she shot him, but he danced around her attacks, his body moving in a way that looked beautiful. Untouchable. She watched with admiration and annoyance. He was playing with her. And she was falling for it. The thrill of the chase. But this time she was loving it.
He threw his knives, and she stopped them with a flick of her wrist, then she sent them back. He caught them in mid-air as she had expected, and when he did, the force she had hidden in the knives sent him flying across the warehouse. However, he landed on his feet, unscathed.
"Your touch has turned more delicate..." He taunted, his grin wider than ever.
"Shut up! I'm still trying to kill you!" She yelled playfully.
Her eyes narrowed, and she focused her Quantum energy. A swirling vortex of raw energy formed around her, and she sent it towards him. He didn't move. He just stood there, watching her with those cold, calculating eyes of autumn. She hated autumn so much, she thought. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he sent his own Quantum-enhanced shadowy blades slicing through the vortex, disrupting the energy flow and dissipating the attack.
The room grew hot, the air thick with residual Quantum energy. Sweat trickled down her face, stinging her eyes. But she didn't stop. She couldn't. This was her chance to prove herself, to show him that she wasn't just a trophy to be claimed, and she wanted to do it regardless of not having her full power. He was very annoying, and had to be stopped. The good thing was that he wasn't shouting all the time that she was his, at least.
"What would you have done to him for talking to me like that?" She suddenly asked him, trying to get an opening.
"I'd have torn him apart," he said. "One thousand times."
The words sent a shiver down her spine, and she knew he meant it. This wasn't just a game to him. This was a promise, a declaration of his protective instincts, and his ownership. She found herself smiling, unable to contain her amusement. "Let's finish this!" she declared. He smiled at her, he was beautiful, that knowing smirk playing on his lips. I'm not going to be his, she thought, before her final attack.
With a wave of her hand, a wall of raw Quantum energy roared to life between them, separating them. The heat was intense, and the energy crackled and pulsed, reaching out to him. He stepped forward, unphased, his shadowy blades at the ready. He threw them towards her. Then he disappeared. Her eyes widened. I forgot he can do that! she thought, and laughed as he reappeared behind her, the knives breaking her walls at the same time, allowing his hands to trap her hand, the one with the ring. Their eyes met. Her other hand, holding the other Quantum-enhanced knife he had given her, pushed it into his chest with a chuckle.
"Ah, very well played," he congratulated her, grinning.
"I am not yours," she whispered, getting closer to him. He leaned forward, all the knives fell, forgotten, his Quantum-enhanced regeneration keeping his wounded heart working while it quickly healed. Her voice, a sweet whisper:
"You… are mine."