Chapter 6

When they had originally arrived at Club Vicio Alison was sure that she had made a poor decision and would be miserable for the rest of the night. The club used to be a large three story house and so the club boosted some unique features, like crown molding and banister stair cases. There was a large dancing room on each floor for rock, techno, and hip hop. The club also boosted a room with darts and pools tables, three bars and many dark hallways and corners in which to discreetly hook up. The close proximity of so many people felt slightly overwhelming, but after a few drinks and being forced to the dance floor by her sister, Alison began to relax and start having fun.

While Alison was finally letting loose, there was another development that could possibly ruin their evening. Alexa had met a reasonably cute guy in the pool room and had danced with him once. But when she made her goodbyes to him and tried to go to another room, he followed her. And he had been continuing to follow them for the last two hours. Now, they were currently in the hip hop room trying to avoid him and actually enjoy dancing.

"Oh my god, there he is again. Like seriously, I am so not into the stalker-type. I can't believe we're going to have to move again." It was obvious that Alexa was beyond irritated with the guy and the interruption he was causing to her night.

"Come on. Let's go get a drink and then head to the rock dance floor. We haven't been there for a while" Ali placed her hand on her sister's shoulder and gently pushed her toward the bar. "And if he follows us down there I will set him on fire for you." Alexa grinned and her spirits lifted slightly.

"You're the best sister ever."

When the girls arrived in the rock room they were surprised to see it so packed full of people. An hour ago when they had been there, it was the least popular room, but now it was wall-to-wall people. They squeezed and pushed their way through the crowd and finally found a location where they had a reasonable amount of personal space. They also had a great view of the stage, which proved to be good for Alexa. An announcer came over the sound speaker and began to introduce the next act.

"How are you feeling tonight Club Vicio?! Well I hope you're in the dancing mood, 'cause if these next performers don't get your heart pumping and your body moving then you're dead! Please welcome to the stage the newest band to rock the sound waves of the kingdom! Levanthal's Paradox!!" Cheers and screams filled the air but none were louder than Alexa's, who was jumping up and down with excitement.

"Holy shit! He's here! I had no idea they were playing here tonight! I didn't think they would be performing like this over break. Melodic Records must have finally agreed to sign them." Alexa grabbed Ali's arms and started dragging her even closer to the stage. The band came out from back stage and the man who was obviously Damien Brice stood behind the lead microphone with a guitar strapped across his shoulder. Alison had to admit that her little sister had good taste. He was, as Alexa had described him, totally dark, mysterious and gorgeous.

"Good evening to you all," Damien said in greeting. "We are thrilled to be with you tonight. So let's get this party started shall we?" The drummer counted off the beat with his drum sticks and then an intricate, fast-paced rhythm was established by the guitarists and bass player. It was obvious to Alexa from the moment Damien had spoken that his element was Water. His voice was smooth and had flowed over the audience like a gentle rain. Now that he was singing and the song was picking up intensity, she felt like she was in the middle of rapids. It was exhilarating to just listen to it. The man obviously had a large amount of musical talent.

"You certainly know how to pick 'em. I see what you were taking about earlier," Alison leaned in to comment to her sister.

"So help me Ali. If you go after him I won't hesitate to hurt you, even if you are all super magical now." Alison had never seen her sister so possessive before. Still, there was more to Alexa's crush than she was letting on to. It ran deeper than him being really cute or musically talented. Ali was starting to realize that her sister might actually have fallen for the guy.

"I would never do that to you. Plus, I have my own guy to be obsessed with." As Alexa began to relax and turned her attention back to the stage, Alison couldn't help but wonder what that guy was currently up to.

Braden pulled into the lab's parking lot around midnight. It wasn't unusual to see multiple professors' cars still parked outside this late at night. In fact, the complete lack of other cars seemed strange. After parking and cutting of the engine of his truck Braden headed in the direction of the lab. He had to pass through multiple checks points. In fact the elevators that led to Alison's fourth floor lab wouldn't even work unless you had the proper ID card with you.

Once in the lab, he switched on the lights and took stalk of the mess they hadn't addressed after their fateful coupling. They had taken the time to clean up the mixed air and fire extracts, but that was it. Books and papers were strewn across the floor along with glassware and office supplies.

"Note to self: no sex in the lab," Braden thought allowed. He then set to work cleaning up the mess. After completing his plan to confront these bastards he probably was never going to see this place again. For some reason he needed to let Alison know he truly cared, and cleaning the lab seemed like one way he could start to do that.

After about twenty minutes, Braden began to organize all the documents that described how to make the extracts or what they could do. The last thing he grabbed was his lab notebook, and then he headed to the vault room at the end of the hall. Each lab group had a vault that they could store confidential or particularly vulnerable documents or compounds in. They could even change the temperature of the vault if the contents inside needed to be kept a low or high temperatures. Usually the extracts themselves would have been stored in the vault, but since they had been smashed on the lab's floor, that was no longer an issue. What was an issue was insuring that Simon Newgate and his cronies never got their hands on how to makes the extracts for themselves. If the power that he and Alison currently possessed was used for Simon's purposes, there was no telling what terror would be unleashed upon the kingdom.

Braden had been lost in his train of thought about what he needed to do first in his plan to confront Simon, so he didn't originally register that voices could be heard coming from the vault room. Once he did catch on, he was immediately put on the defensive. He pushed himself against the wall next to the room's entrance. Closing his eyes, he pulled himself mentally around the corner using his Air magic and spied on the men he found there. There were two of them dressed in all black from head to toe. Black masks covered their faces, and hand guns were holstered around their waists. Braden immediately noticed the butt of the gun of one of the two men; a single silver snake was coiled around itself until it formed a figure eight. Simon's symbol, the one he took upon himself when he started this whole crazy push for power and domination. There was only one reason Simon would have sent men into the lab's vault in the middle of the night: the extracts. They thought they were still here, because that's where months ago Braden had told them they would be.

At least I didn't tell them the code, Braden thought just before he felt a fist collide with the side of his head. His mental connection rushed back into his own body and his eyes popped open to see the barrel of a gun pointed at his head.

"I'll be taking those from you know." A third man said as he reached for the documents. Braden attempted to stop him but he was still disoriented from the blow to his head. Stephan, the man Braden recognized as Simon's right-hand man pick up the documents and stuffed them inside his leather jacket. "Now if you would follow me into the next room, there is a safe I'd very much like you to open for me.

Levanthal's Paradox had the entire audience shaking their asses and dancing with enthusiasm. Alexa and Alison were facing each other with their arms over their heads, moving back and forth to the pulsating beat. When the song ended, Alexa began to look around at the huge crowd to see their reaction to the band. It thrilled her soul that so many people liked Damien's band. He worked so hard and it was paying off for him. What she didn't like were the throngs of girls who vied for Damien's attention. Horny Bitches.

Along the back wall of the room she saw the man who had been stalking her either. Her irritation began to rise, but with one gesture he made her heard drop into her stomach. He had reached up to touch his ear and was speaking. It was obvious that he was communicating with someone on the other end of a micro-earpiece. Alison, he was here for Alison. He hadn't been following her at all.

His eyes traveled across the room and she followed them as well. In the left hand corner was another man, who was behaving similarly. His hand went up to his ear, and it was obvious that he was looking for someone. Well not just someone, them. Alexa turned back to her sister, trying to maintain a calm demeanor. Drawing attention to themselves right now would not be a good thing.

"Alison. I hate to have to say this but I think we're in trouble." Alison immediately stopped dancing and focused her attention on Alexa.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look over my shoulder, but be casual. See the man in the black shirt in the corner?" Alison's eyes scanned the wall and widened when she saw the man.

"Yeah. What about him?"

"I think he is here for you. I think the stalker guy who I danced with was actually following you. I saw him talking on an earpiece and then the other guy responded. They're obviously looking for someone, and I think it's you." Alison's face filled with panic and her eyes locked on Alexa's. If she was important enough to send men after, there was most likely more than two people here looking for her. The song that the band had been playing come to an end, and Damien began to introduce the next song.

"This song is called "Fire in Her Eyes" and it's about this amazing girl I know back at school named Alexa." Alexa gasped loudly and drew his attention her way. "Holy crap Alexa, Alexa Morris is that you?"

While Alexa was staring dumbstruck up at Damien, Alison quickly turned around to find the men who were looking for her. If they knew enough to know where she was, they most likely knew that she had a sister named Alexa and the last name Morris. This was not really the best time in the world for Damien to be dedicated a song to her sister. And sure enough neither man was where she had last saw them. Instead they were moving through the crowd, converging on them.

"Shit, Alexa was gotta move. You can talk to him later. Come on." She grabbed Alexa's arms and yanked her toward the exit. She tried to duck and weave between people, hoping to throw her pursuers off a little. If they could just make it to an open location Alexa could hurry the process up by jumping them to a safer location in the building. As long as an Earth witch could touch an organic substance, she could jump back and forth between locations.

"Alexa, Alexa you gotta jump us to the balcony." More people were moving in their direction, and this time it wasn't just men, there were a few women who were dressed like clubbers, too. "When we get to the hall jump us to the balcony upstairs, ok." Alexa nodded her head as if she understood. The band had started the song, and dancing bodies made it even more difficult to maneuver through. Alexa slowed as if torn by the desire to stay and listen to the lyrics, but Alison pulled her even harder in response. She did not want to be caught by these people.

Finally they made it past the last group of dancers and spilled into the open hallway. Alison counted five people following them, but she was sure there were more. One of the women, a water witch, formed a bubble in her hand. She was going to try to trap them inside it.

"Jump, Jump, Jump!" Alison cried hugging her sister tight to her body. She felt Alexa clutched her firmly and then a sensation like being squeeze through a tube of toothpaste hit her body. It was uncomfortable but not painful and when it stopped, she felt herself fall on her butt to the wooden third floor balcony.

"We have to get out of here," Alexa said. "We could call Dad's security detail." No, they couldn't. Alison no longer trusted anyone even remotely connected to the government. The only person she trusted to get her out of this was miles away. She decided to try to contact him to ask him what she should do, but when she reached out to him mentally all she felt was his pain.

"I'm not going to ask this again. Give us the combination of the vault." Braden was being held by two of the henchmen while the third paced in front of his, examining his gloved fist.

"Fuck you, Stephan." Stephan's response was to drive his fist once more into Braden's stomach. Braden doubled over and groaned.

"I really didn't want to do this but I guess you leave me no choice. You're pretty little lab partner is by now in the custody of my best men, and on her way to meet Simon as we speak. All it would take is one phone call and she would be in so much more pain than you are right now." Braden eyes narrowed and flashed silver. He felt murderous over the prospect of them hurting her.

"We both know you won't hurt her. You need her for your pathetic plans." Stephan just shook his head and chuckled.

"You're correct that we need her, but all we need if for her to be alive, not whole." Braden struggled against his captures wanting to attack the man in front of him with his bare fists. But he had to reign in his emotions. He was really the one with the upper hand here. They had no idea that the vault was currently empty or that Braden now possessed the power of fire. However, if he used his new power he'd have to kill these men. Simon could never know that not only could the magics be extracted singularly but they could be combined to form even greater weapons than he could have hoped for.

"Fine. I'll give you the code. But don't you dare touch her."

"You are not in a position to be making demands right now Braden. And I've seen the girl. She is a fine piece of ass. If I ask Simon nicely he'd probably let me play with her a bit before he put her to work." It was with that comment that Braden knew he couldn't let this man leave here alive. He closed his eyes and attempted to look defeated while he ran off the ten digit number, but he was really trying to center himself. He was going to need a lot of control for what he planned to do next.

The minute Braden heard the beeping noise that indicated a successful code entry, he formed a fire ball in each hand and then used his Air magic to hurl them at the faces of the henchmen holding him. Stephan, who had been opening the heavy vault door, turned at the sound of their screams only to be met with a fire ball heading straight toward him. He was a Fire warlock himself and simply grabbed the ball in his first and extinguished it.

"Well look at you. Seems the pretty little bitch was keeping information to herself. Why is that an Air elemental can now throw fire balls?" he rhetorically asked himself right before he hurled one of his own at Braden. Braden moved out of its main trajectory, which was his chest, but was grazed in the shoulder. He was about to return fire when he was knocked to the ground. A water blast from one of the other men had hit him squarely in the chest at full force and it felt like needles were piercing his skin. He heard Stephan darkly laugh, cock the gun he now had pointed at Braden, and then rattle off a report to the main compound.

"ContactSimon. Let him know that we have just been informed of a very interesting development involving the girl. Have her prepped from interrogation when she is collected. Full report to be given upon return." Stephan approached Braden and knelt over him. "Now would you like to tell me why that vault is empty or should I get that information from Alison later tonight?" Fury coursed through Braden and an impulse shot through him to get to Alison as quickly as possible. He had to take care of this situation and get to her.