Chapter 44: Chase

Lit candles decorated her room.

It was Hailey's last night in the cabin. Being on her own left thoughts of endless worry, but she knew it was the best option. She couldn't deal with the Kult's actions, more specifically, Carlos. Kind at first, he gradually showed his true nature over the following months of their relationship. The fighting, the clashing of minds. It took its toll on her, and she knew she needed to escape.

She just needed the push, and Girston gave it to her. A duffle bag sat next to her, full of clothes and blankets, around thirty grand buried inside from her and Girston's combined accounts. They may have lived in a cabin, but money was always a need, and the Kult, amazingly, pays handsomely for their jobs.

She was dressed in a dark blue windbreaker and black track pants, layered with denim overalls and knitted scarf. Her back faced the door, legs swinging slowly off the side of her bed. She was waiting for the signal, glancing over her shoulder patiently, waiting for the kitchen lights to turn off.

The minutes passed by in her thoughts agonizingly slow.

"The hell is he doing? I know he's a baby but it shouldn't take this long to prep him with warmth." She hesitated, slowly standing, feet creaking against the wood. She approached the door, kneeling down and looking through her knob's keyhole. At first, she didn't see anything. Counting the seconds in her head, she spotted Girston moving past her door. He looked worse for wear, face completely pale and twisted with pain. A dark mist was rising from his body, clouding around him faintly.

Blinking, her immediate reaction was to leave her room. Hailey rushed to his side, grabbing his arm and looking at his face. "Girston! Are you alright?!"

"I… Hailey. Go hide…" He dropped to his knees, holding the marble counter for support. She knelt down next to him, eyes scanning over his body. His shirt was stained yellow, caked in the thick sweat pouring from his pores. "Carlos… He knows…"

"Knows? Knows what?"

"The truth," Carlos' voice chimed in from around the corner. His eyes were red, full of untamed rage. Voice full of hostility, blackness slowly creeping up the right side of his face. "Thought you could pull a fast one, huh?"

"Stop this." She said sternly. "I'll leave and be out of your hair in a bit."

"That's not what I want."

"I don't care what you want. I care about myself and my child."

"Child, huh. Sorry, he's mine." He crossed his arms. "That boy will grow into the best battle partner I could ask for. Can't let you ruin my chances of killing Takabi."

"Again with that…" She said, standing up. "Let it go, Carlos. Killing him means nothing, not that you could."

"Excuse me," He asked.

"We both know you're nowhere near as powerful as him. You gave up everything, killed your own parents and abandoned your sister, and it didn't matter." Her lips rose in a smirk. "Kinda pathetic, don't you think? To try so damn hard and still come up short?"

Growling, he thrust his palm forward. Girston jumped between them, stopping Carlos' magic with his bare palm. Hailey's duffle bag appeared on her shoulder, hands clutching the strap tight. "Hailey, run! Now!"

Run she did. Through the door, stumbling over her feet through the snow. Her heart rammed against her ribs, cold air rushing past her face like razor sharp blades.

She had to get away, because staying meant dealing with dangers she wasn't ready for. It wasn't five minutes away from the cabin, before something crashed down in front of her, blocking her path down the mountain.

Rising through the smoke, a grey body faced her, blank face full of veins and large muscles prominent.

'Carlos sent a highbreed after me?!'

The creature launched towards Hailey. She leapt aside quickly, the High Breed's fist crashing down in the snow, ground quaking under its knuckles. She dashed through the trees, willing the air around her, before she hopped and kicked off branches. Her breathing was sporadic, heavy and unfocused. Her mind couldn't process the last few seconds.

All that crossed her thoughts were escaping, but she felt even that was impossible with a High Breed on her trail.

Tree after tree fell behind her, the High Breed stomping through the snow at an intense speed, effortlessly keeping up with Hailey. She looked down, twirling her fingers, throwing a blade of wind. It severed the High Breed's arm clean off, yet it just grew another in its place. Gritting her teeth, she turned forward and kicked harder off the next branch.

The cold air began to fade away, replaced by a warm nighttime air. It would be relaxing, if not for her current situation.

Birds flocked past her, obstructing her field of view. The High Breed used that chance to leap into the air after her, heavy fist crashing down on her back, spine snapping with ease and eyes going wide with white hot pain and limp legs. She flew towards the soil, crashing down face first through the thin layer of Denver's woods, before breaking through into the jungle sector of the city. Further she fell, duffle bag dropping with a heavy thud. Blood oozed from her nose, her back came in contact with the jungle section's soil, the soft floor breaking the worst part of her fall.

Her body refused to move, an intense pain rushing through her muscles. Struggling, she coughed, before finally crying out. Not just in physical pain, but mental as well. The High Breed came crashing down, Hailey's spine slowly fixing itself.

Painfully she stood, rubbing the blood from her nose. She screamed, rushing at the High Breed. When she threw her fist forward, the creature slipped behind her, grabbing a branch from a tree nearby, ramming it through the back of her skull and her left eye.

She froze, the pain not registering until a few seconds later, where she screamed in a heavy and strained voice. Animals rushed away from her direction, Hailey hitting the floor, blood pouring from her eye socket and skull as she ripped the branch out painfully, right eye nearly rolled into her head at the growing numbness in her mind.

'Keep.. together… Good thoughts… Your child, that you WILL save… Yes, hold onto that!'

Slowly, she rose, steam rising from her eye and skull. Her vision was blurry, but she still held her ground. She would not die today, not by this creature's hands. Again, she ran at it, air bellowing around her fist.

She poured everything she had into her next attack. Mana spun wildly through the air, Hailey's knuckles connected to the High Breed's chest, heavy winds ripping the trees nearby apart with thick slashes and tearing of roots. Her own arm suffered a few slashes, but nothing she couldn't heal later.

Her eyes shut as she lowered her head, exhaling. Two hands broke through the air, gripping her arms and raising her into the air. Hailey's eyes opened wide, shocked at the minimal damage she caused to the creature.

"You can't be fucking serious…"

It raised her left arm, then with a jerk, tore it clean from her body. She let out a heart wrenching scream, eyes wide with tears streaming down both cheeks. Next came her right arm, tore with a wet snap, Hailey's body hitting the floor, blood shooting out at both her sides. The pain was too great. Her mind was shot, so much that when the High Breed tore off both her legs, she couldn't muster so much as a whimper.

It watched her, tilting its head aside, before raising its foot.

Hailey watched, unable to move, slowly beginning to accept her death at the hands of this abomination.

Tortured and killed in cold blood. A fitting end for a fake… Her thoughts hushed, sight blurring and developing black spots in its view. Gotta say… If you're listening God… Can you bless me, just once… I want to see his face before I go..

The High Breed brought its foot down, ground ripping apart under its heavy force. Hailey lay there, waiting for her heart to stop, for her life to fade from her eyes.

Pain was what met her.

But the pain gave her a realization. She was still alive.

As her left eye finally healed, her vision slowly came to. Painfully, her head rose, eyes gazing upon a bare, sweaty coco back. White hair tips touched his shoulders, and his arms were raised in the air, holding the High Breed's foot back. With a roar, black wings burst from his back, with enough strength to blow the High Breed off balance, and into a tree a couple feet away.

".... I'm hallucinating. I have to be."

"Well, you have to be something to come walking into our territory like this." Takabi looked back at her, cringing at her worse for wear state.

The High Breed rushed at the two, feet stomping in the dirt. "Give me a minute." He said, rushing forward, sliding under the High Breed and launching himself up, gripping the creature's head and forcing it into the soil. He hopped back, white flames cackling around his body. Violet electricity began to merge with the fire, Takabi taking a deep breath, swallowing both elements.

When the High Breed rose, Takabi exhaled, a wave of fire and lightning ripping up soil and scorching trees. The creature was swept up, muscles bulging and bones twisting awkwardly, before it turned completely black and broke apart into ash, that quickly turned to absolutely nothing. The flames died down, Takabi relaxing himself and patting his back at a job well done.

He turned and approached Hailey, White Gem's markings rushing up his body, palm opened and light washing over her. First came Hailey's arms, red and sore, but moveable. Her legs, while they grew in slower, came in full and fresh.

She stood on her feet, wobbly and light headed, but examined her regrown limbs with an intense interest. Slowly, she looked at him, previously flowing tears dried and eyes red. "Thank… Thank you…"

"Yeah, well, lucky for you I was going for a late night run." He said, walking towards her bag, careful not to step in puddles of blood. Hailey could tell something was bothering him. Despite looking tired, his eyes held hurt. A kind of pain that was fresh. 

"What are you doing here," He asked, picking it up and slinging it over his shoulder.

She hesitated to tell him for a bit, the thought of painful torture plaguing her mind should the Kult find out. Then came Girston's words, and she relaxed. "I… I left them."

"Left them? The Kult?"

She nodded. "Girston… He…"

"I don't want to know about him," He said coldly. "If you're here on his behalf, go somewhere else."

"But he saved me!" She pleaded. "I had no previous intention of coming here, believe me…" She bit her lip, mulling over and weighing her options. Going on her own meant looking over her shoulder for the Kult every time she left home. The fear of being killed without a second thought, and no one would know nor care.

Being with him, at least if she could convince him, she would be safe.

"I just… I need help… And I have nowhere else to go." She looked him in the eye, speaking softly. "I know I'm not Nana, and I have no right to ask you for help in any sort of way… But… I can't be alone. I'm terrified, Takabi."

He didn't say anything for a long while. He watched her, his cold gaze slowly easing away into something warm. It was then she looked away, continuing her words. "There's nowhere else for me to go. I guess I can admit I'm taking advantage of your feelings and forgiving heart. I look like your girlfriend. Kinda hard to turn me away, truthfully."

"Shut up," He said, stepping over the blood. "I know very well what it's like to be afraid."

"You do?"

"Of course. I was every time I fought the Kult. Most are misguided humans. Others are pure demons with no remorse. I live with the mindset that if I fail, everyone suffers for it, and I can't have that. I lost once before, and it cost me a home and a normal life." Takabi gave her the duffle bag.

"I'm going to get shit for it, but I haven't done anything not to be trusted, and it wouldn't be the first time I took in an enemy. I did it twice already."

Hailey giggled at his words, grabbing the bag and bowing to him. "I promise I won't hinder you."

"Hey, chin up," He replied. "Let's go, and quickly." He turned to lead her back. Hailey hesitated a moment, unzipping her bag and pulling out the file. She skimmed it over earlier, and while most of the content held plans for the Kult, one page served an important purpose, and if she didn't tell him now, she never would.

"Wait. Takabi. There's something you should know."

He stopped and looked back at her.

"I…" She paused, taking a deep breath, hands visibly shaking. "I have a son. My child is artificial. Girston made him for me and Carlos."

"Alright." He muttered. "What does this have to do with me, exactly? If you want to get him back, we can later. You gotta rest."

She clenched the folder tightly in her hand. "Well… Being artificial, he would need the DNA of two people to be able to remain stable. Carlos isn't the kid's father, something I knew about before. What's shocking is… Well…" She began shaking more, legs wobbling. "Y.. You see…"

"Just spit it out, Hailey. It's not gonna kill you."

"No… But it'll kill you…. He's yours."

Takabi blinked at her.

"Takabi… We… We have a child together."