Page 9 of Defy Me

Which meant he was going to find out about all her weirdness. He already saw her pick pockets, but that was just a skill she'd learned, picked up out of necessity. Escape was like her super power, like good parking karma or knowing exactly when an avocado was perfectly ripe. It wasn't something she ever revealed to anyone. Ever.

Her pseudo-super power was the only reason she was still alive today and how she'd gotten all the way to Germany without them finding her. She didn't know who they were, just that they'd been hunting her. Someone or something was always flippin' after her.

She'd known this guy for all of twelve hours, ten of which she'd been either running away from him or asleep. No way she could trust him with a secret this big. Because what if he was from the They or part of a secret government agency who would want to dissect her and find out how she ticked?

No was he was a G-man. A t-shirt, jeans, and more than a couple days of scruff weren't exactly the standard issue uniform for a super secret sneaky spy. James Bond this guy was not and Yvaine was no Bond girl.

He brushed his lips ever so gently across hers and whispered against her mouth. "Stay behind me. If they take us to hell do your best to hide in the caverns. I will come for you."

Uh, hell? No. Yvaine was ready to admit there were some things beyond her explanation, like her own escape artist abilities. She'd seen too many weird things since she'd left the convent not to believe, but actual heaven and hell. Naw. He meant like a horrible prison or something. He couldn't possibly mean actual hell. That wasn't a real thing.

The evidence of monsters from hell in front of her aside. He was being one-hundo percent serious. Yvaine cringed her mind not allowing what she was seeing and experiencing to coalesce with the idea of the supernatural actually existing.

Plus, Jett had said to hide in caverns. The thought of being in an enclosed underground space gave her the heebie jeebies. Being locked up like that would be hell.

That settled that. The two of them were getting out of this. Trust him? She had no choice now. Either giving that up to him would come back to bite her on the ass or... Wow. Two good kisses with a hot guy totally out of her league and her mind was so far into the gutter she was filthy-licious.

Jett tried to shove Yvaine behind him but she pulled him in close, wrapping her arms around his neck so she could whisper into his ear. "Listen. I can't explain, but let them come closer. I can get us out of this, but you have to trust me and never let go of my hand."

She'd only helped someone else escape once before and look how badly that had worked out.

Jett's brow wrinkled and he shook his head already denying her request. They were rapidly running out of time and if he didn't trust her she wasn't sure what would happen. All she knew was that she was getting out of here and she wanted him to come with her.

Want wasn't the right word or feeling. There was a strange tug somewhere in the vicinity of the necklace - just over her heart. But it was coming from inside and accompanied by a real sense of need. Not like the need for chocolate croissants and coffee, or even the need to sleep when she was exhausted from running. This was so much stronger, deeper. She needed Jett to come with her. She needed him to trust.

There was no time to examine why she felt so strongly about him. Later. She'd think about that later. She slid her hand down his arm and slipped her hand into his.

He gripped her hand tight but was still trying to put himself between her and the monsters. "No way. I won't let them hurt you. I don't want to kill any of them but, I will protect you."

Of course he didn't believe her. He had no reason to. As long as he didn't let go of her hand her weird little super power would take over anyway and they'd get away safely. What happened after that?

He wasn't freaked out by these crazy ass monsters, maybe he wouldn't even care that she was a mutant. Not like she was the badass X-men kind that could fight crime. She was no where cool enough to be a villain either. She was just flat out weird. None of what he thought mattered anyway. It wasn't like she was planning on marrying him, having his adorable AF babies, and living happily ever after with him.

Nope. None of that had even crossed her mind. Not at all. God, she was so lame.

She'd get them out of here, maybe kiss the bejesus out of him one more time and they could go their separate ways. After they got away, she'd continue her search for her past and he'd, uh, fly away into the sunset in his helicopter or whatever. Yes. Fine. Time to make that happen. Jett probably wasn't going to like how she did it. Big tough guys didn't like being rescued by the damsel in distress.

Yvaine spun around to face the monsters, put her thumbs in her ears with her fingers splayed like antlers and stuck out her tongue at them. "Nanny, nanny, boo boo. You ca-an't get me."

The two monsters approaching them looked at her like she was a crazy bitch. Jett probably was too. She'd happily take that tiny moment of surprise and use it to her advantage. She grabbed Jett's hand again, flipped the internal switch in her mind that made her invisible as far as she could tell and ran straight toward the bad guys dragging her new partner in crime along behind her.

"Holy shit, babe. What the fuck are you doing to us?" Jett squeezed her hand tighter. She needed all her concentration to get them through the mass of scaly black bat-man things, so she couldn't reply or even examine what his tone meant right now. She'd have to file it away for later to see if he was shocked, in awe, humored, or scared.

She zigged and zagged through the monsters, pulling Jett along behind her. One of the monsters sniffed the air and blew out stinky puffs of smoke right in her face. Step by step they worked their way up the stairs, carefully picking a path through to freedom. Red eyes darted around looking for her and the two that had come for Jett flapped their wings and squawked like some sort of giant evil ostrich-bat hybrids. More squeals sounded from the stairwell behind them and darts of fire shot through the small space.

Great. Fire spitting evil batstriches. Yeah. If Jett wasn't phased by these creatures he probably wouldn't blink twice about her Houdini act. She'd done her best to guide him out of the danger zone, but enough was enough. No way she was letting either of them go up in flames. She kicked it into high gear and yanked Jett through the door to the roof.

They busted through the exit, leaving the things in the stairwell flapping around looking for them. Except the roof was no safe zone. The sky had gone almost completely black with ominous clouds and if there was a helicopter coming for them, it would have to land on top of, and hopefully squish, about a hundred more monsters. They covered the roof like a summer dance party.

"Who the hell started a batstrich coup up here?" Crap. She knew this was a bad idea. Where were they supposed to go now? She really didn't want to go back down the stairs.

Jett halted them in their tracks, out of the path of several batsritches scuffling with each other. "Fuck me. He's sent every god-damned demon dragon after me."

"After you?" After him? Wait, they were after him? No way. Why?

"Yeah. We have to get out of here fast. I hope that spell of yours is still working and you aren't afraid of heights."

The wide open space above them quashed any feelings of claustrophobia. Not exactly a good thing, because without that sense of being closed in and unable to get away, that switch inside she'd flicked earlier, unswitched. Yvaine looked around at the mass of monsters that hadn't yet seen them and tried to hold on to the panic that was integral to her weird power. Until they moved in to capture her again the ability would fade.

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