Chapter 1
The ground beneath her fingers felt...grimey.
Her vision blurry, her hearing distorted; Jesse scrambled to try and stand on trembling legs. She stumbled towards what looked like a brick wall and braced herself against it, before emptying the contents of her stomach in a stream of orange liquid.
I shouldn’t have had that extra mimosa.
Holding a hand to her stomach, Jesse staggered closer to the wall and leant her back against it, breathing heavily. As her vision and hearing slowly cleared, she took stock of her surroundings and started to panic.
Where were the girls?
They were meant to do this together but she was out here - wherever here was - alone.
Again.
Jesse dust her hands off on her dark jeans, unwilling to dissect what they may have landed in before. She adjusted her white vest and cropped leather jacket as she looked around, hugging herself against the slight breeze. It was summer time warm - no need for a jacket unless it set your outfit off just right - and smelled like smoke and machinery.
It looked like...home.
“Where the fuck am I?”
The dark alleyway, the dumpster occupying most of the dingy space; even the paving on the street at the end of it, all looked like...London.
“Figures,” Jesse mumbled to herself as she walked precariously towards the open end of the alley. “I bet the others are in some fairy-tale enchanted forest and I end up in a concrete jungle.”
Jesse still felt queasy but she had to figure things out and find the girls. They could be hurt or...
No.She wouldn’t think like that. There was no logical reason to think they were dead if she had arrived relatively unscathed.
“Christ, I sound like Bess.” Jessie staggered along, trying to get her bearings, the end of the alley feeling incredibly far away.
“Okay Jesse, woman up. Find the girls, get out of here an—”
Jesse’s mental plan regurgitation was cut short when she felt aripplethrough the air around her. It suddenly felt thick, stifling and the back of her neck grew warm. Turning as quickly as she could on still unsteady legs, Jesse was met by a ripple of kaleidoscopic colour at the end of the alley from which she’d staggered.
A portal!
Relieved that one of the girls was on their way, Jesse hobbled back towards it as it widened. Trying to keep the smile off her face in case whoever came through caught any sign that she’d actually missed them, Jesse watched as a smokey figure appeared inside the portal.
“Ava?”
The second before Jesse’s smile broke free, the shadowy figure fully emerged and Jesse came face to face with a nightmare.
It had mottled tar black skin that seemed to bedrippingoff it. It had two red orbs that served as eyes and as Jesse watched the monstrosity, frozen to the spot with fear, she watched two darkened slits - in what she assumed was its face -sniffin her direction. Its spindly arms reached out while its haunched legs took a step towards her and roared.
Jesse screamed at a pitch she didn’t know she could reach. When the creature raced toward her, she turned on her heels and ran. The ground shook beneath her as the creature bolted after her, thick white liquid salivating from a maw that suddenly opened with accompanying razor sharp teeth. Jesse continued screaming as she dashed down the alley on legs that threatened to give way at any moment.
Just as she approached the street, a man appeared in her path and she screamed at him, “RUUNN!”
He didn’t run.
Instead, the man, dressed in black from head to toe just like Jesse, held his arm out in front of him and grabbed hold of his wrist before pulling away from it. A beam of bright blue light extended from his outstretched hand, just as Jesse reached him. His empty hand darted out with incredible speed and caught her, careening Jesse into his side before spinning her to brace his arm across her body. He shot her a quick confused look.
“You’re running from a Level One?”
Before trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about, Jesse had the brief brain function to acknowledge hisAmericanaccent as well as his exquisite face. Time slowed down, the imminent danger a distant memory as she took in the radiating brown skin, strong capable jaw and stunning moss green eyes of this stranger. Any reply she could have made was cut off as he dartedtowardthe monster.
Jesse watched in terrified wonder as the man fought the approaching beast. With the length of blue light that essentially resembled a Lightsaber, the man hacked it to pieces with a series of moves that she had only ever seen in movies. He moved as fluid as water, as graceful as a dancer; all while wreaking havoc on that disgustingthing. Jesse watched in morbid fascination as the man jumped impossibly high into the air, before crashing down over the creature and slicing its head clean off.
The head bounced and rolled toward Jesse who let out a vicious scream before the man reached out, clicked his fingers and the head burst into flames, turned into ash then sprinkled to the floor like dark glitter. The other limbs followed the same fate and blew out onto the wind.
Despite her racing heart, Jesse fleetingly wondered why he hadn’t just incinerated the creature from the start. She continued staring, her eyes wide with shock and fear and somewhere deep down, a thrill she couldn’t quite explain at the skill of this attractive stranger. The man stalked over, his Lightsaber now nowhere to be seen and stopped in front of her.
God he was gorgeous.
He stopped almost directly underneath a street lamp, illuminating his whole face and what an incredible face it was. He was mostly clean shaven but for a neatly trimmed goatee and perfectly shaped sideburns. He had full lips with a deep Cupid’s bow, a strong nose and those gorgeous green eyes were framed by illegally long eyelashes. The man had dreadlocks, neat black ones but bleached at the tips that were currently held back in a tight braid and fell to the middle of his back. He wore a thin silver or white gold chain that rested on his clavicle, peeking through his black vest and had a diamond stud in one ear. He was dressed head to toe in black looking every bit like a twenty something, beefy Lenny Kravitz. Complete with skull shaped rings on his index fingers and thumbs. He was quite possibly the sexiest man Jesse had ever laid eyes on.
And then he smiled.
Hewasthe sexiest man Jesse had ever laid eyes on.
“Seriously? A LevelOne?”
His voice was a smooth, deep caress that had Jesse clenching her thighs together even while knowing that he was mocking her for something. She tried to reply with her signature snarky response but her mouth had decided to go dry. She couldn’t form words but she also couldn’t stop staring at him. His smile suddenly disappeared and Jesse had the most peculiar sensation that she hated being the reason that it went away. The stranger stepped forward and made to reach out to her before deciding against it and spoke again,
“All this time and you have nothing to say? Why didn’t you just kill it, Alex?”
Jesse’s mouth finally caught up with her brain and even that was completely discombobulated.
Who the fuck was Alex?
“Wait, what? I don’t know how tokillanything! Whoareyou?”
The man scoffed before rolling his eyes toward the sky, clearly exasperated. He looked back down and folded his arms over his chest.
“So that’s how you’re gonna play me?”
“I’m notplayingwith anyone! What was thatthing, who are you, how did you kill it and who the hell is Alex?” Jesse’s words fell out of her mouth in a stream of consciousness filled with fear. The man watched her incredulously before giving a heavy sigh, as though giving into something. The smile returned though, clearly amused by her.
“Well, to answer your questions:thatwas a level one Kraugnell Demon, my name is Archer and I was able to do that, because I’m a witch and Alex, is you... my fiance.”
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