Chapter 13: Helping Touch


    ir had woken to Isaiah telling Alpha and Beta to leave the man who''d had the bomb. She inched her


    way to the door near her, not making any sudden movements. His back was to her and she used her


    mind. Taxing as it was to do. Seeing he was holding the door closed, and she very carefully put


    pressure on the handle with her mind watching him for any tell that he noticed. He was focused on the


    scene, not her. Intently focused and that was her luck.


    She got out and moved quickly. Once she was far enough away she ran and ran fast. She went to a


    bathroom on the third floor to deal with her wounds. Her arm had bruising and teeth marks in it. Her


    right side was horribly sore and starting to bruise. She had a few cuts here and there. It was hard to


    breathe and she sat down on the toilet cleaning her wounds and soot from her. She still had some of


    the art supplies on her. The bag lopsided and had banged against her side as she ran.


    ir set her head back against the wall and passed out for a few minutes. She jerked awake looking


    around. Putting a hand to her chest she stood and realized that she didn''t really hurt so much anymore.


    It was odd because just a couple minutes ago she''d been incredibly sore, and bleeding. She lifted her


    shirt to look at the wounds again.


    She looked at her arm, the wound was almost gone. The bruising yellow looking days old. She could


    breathe easier too. She knew what this was from, she didn''t know how but she knew.


    "Thank you." She said feeling that she should never look a gift horse in the mouth, and touched the


    walls of the bathroom. This house was alive in ways that she couldn''t understand but was d it


    helped her at times. She jerked her hand back when she felt a kind of electric jolt go through her. She


    gave a startledugh.


    N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive ? material.


    "That was unexpected." Perhaps a few weeks ago she''d have passed it off. Thought herself crazy for


    just believing the house was alive with magic and dark things. But not now, kind of hard when the


    evidence was right in your face. ir went back out into the hall and went to the nearest vent. She


    wasn''t far from her home now. She only moved a little ways and felt rather tired. Shey in the vent for


    a bit not moving looking at the room in her view.


    There were several cabs in the room and it had a kind of red and white appearance. She noted that


    at least four statue heads were in the room. She wondered what they were for. It looked odd to set up


    like that at one side of the room.


    She was just about to start moving when she heard someonee into the room. She looked to see


    Isaiah was there. He moved to one of the cabs she couldn''t quite make out and got something from


    it. She watched him toss the small silver des. He threw them hard and straight. Anger clear in every


    line of his body. She stared in awe when he hovered the one de and it shot across the room. She''d


    love to have that kind of control, but more practice she guessed.


    Then he''d moved saying, "I need this." He smashed the window in the room, then moved on. ir had


    scooted out of the vent and followed. Curious as he went down the hall. Doors mming open with


    untold force and cracking, anything with ss seemed to shatter. She saw him go into one room and


    then she heard what sounded like a thousand vases smashing on the floor.


    ir moved past the room after a moment. Then went into a chute and climbed up finding a very small


    grate that let her see in the room. He was standing there looking out the door and she was worried that


    he might have heard her.Then he moved back and the pieces of floating ss filled the spaces in the


    wall like puzzle pieces.


    When he was done he turned and left the room. His eyes were notpletely ck anymore, but she


    felt for the first person he came across. She recognized this as a very dangerous time to be out in the


    house.


    ir went to her little home andid down. She ate some food and then put in her music. She always


    charged it while she was down in the studio. Humming to the tune ying she fell asleep like that. It


    was nice to have the sound of music in her ears because it drowned out the screams.


    The next day ir woke and was kind of angry. She couldn''t really go anywhere now for the next few


    days. She wasn''t going to go around the house with the scent of blood on her. She wasn''t suicidal and


    she knew that the hell hounds had a great sense of smell.


    "Fuck being a woman." She was just grateful for the supplies she had and over the next three days she


    stayed where she was eating and drawing in her space. She didn''t even dream of freedom anymore.


    She dreamed of drawing and bloody things.


    To be honest the outside world was just fading from her and these walls were what she considered


    safe. What she considered her home now. It was all a game. A game of how long could she live? She


    wondered if she could make it a year, that would be a feat. She had barely made it two months. It was


    really just a month and a half. She wasn''t sure how long anyone had eversted, but she was going to


    last as long as she damn well could.


    She''d given up on trying to find an out, no reason to. She wasn''t going anywhere. On day four she


    thought it okay to leave because she wasn''t really bleeding anymore and she wanted to look at her


    drawings in proper light. She rolled them up and tied the stic tube she had to a rope and hung it


    down the right shaft.


    ir climbed down with expert skill and went out the swinging grate after checking that no one was in


    the hallway. She reached back in and grabbed the tube. Closing the grate she moved down the hall to


    a room near the back of the house. It had windows on all sides but one.


    She rolled them out the drawings and stared at them. She''d drawn Isaiah with the ss floating around


    him eyes closed. Then she''d drawn him with anger in the motion of throwing one of the knives.


    "Not so bad." She said. "For the darkness, hard to draw. What do you think?" She asked the house.


    Feeling like she had apanion. Maybe she was going crazy but at least she didn''t feel totally alone.


    There was a kind of warm touch to her skin, approval, and she smiled.


    "Thank you." She remarked and then reached back into the canister and pulled out a third drawing. It


    was of the house as a whole. From what she''d remembered froming up.


    "This was from memory so sorry if I didn''t get it right, but it''s for you." She held it out to the room that


    was empty. Again the feeling came to her but stronger.


    "You''re wee." She said rolling it up. "I''m thinking of putting some color into it. Do you think that


    would be a plus or minus?" She said tucking the pictures away. She felt a cooler touch this time.


    "No? Okay it''s your picture. I''d pin it up but I''m not sure where it could go that it wouldn''t be destroyed.


    There was no response. "Well, perhaps I''ll find somewhere to leave it out and you can do with it as you


    wish." A warm feeling, she was getting good at thismunication thing.


    "I don''t suppose you''d help me leave." She said sadly. There was a very cold touch but then a warm


    one right after.


    "It''s okay." She said the small hope she''d told herself not to feel was still crushed.


    "Will you help me stay alive?" She asked quietly. She didn''t feel anything at first but then she got a


    warm touch. She felt it on her face.


    "You''ll try." Another warm touch, she gave a smile. "Thank you, I will try not to destroy anything in the


    house, just for you." She got a kind of flipping feeling in her stomach. She''d never felt that from


    nowhere before. Then there was a warm touch. She was d that she was able to feel the sensations


    so well, and her talents helped with that. It was much more than an added bonus.


    ir touched the wall and went to move to the door but it pulled out of her hand and shut. She felt


    around her and turned back into the room. He wasing this way, so was one of the hell hounds. A


    panel slid aside and she ran to it. Going in she turned to put a hand out.


    "Wait!" But the panel closed. She''d left the canister in the room. Well at least the house had kept its


    word. Or she was going crazy.


    ir moved down the wall and stopped at a mirror that had been in the room along the wall with the


    door, as it was the only wall. She could see into the room and she stopped. She heard the door open,


    and in stepped Beta.


    He loped around the room sniffing the air and then stopped at the canister leaning against the sofa. He


    picked it up with his teeth and moved toward the door.


    "What do you have?" She heard Isaiah say. She stayed still, unfamiliar with this passage and where the


    creaks and moans were.


    Isaiah stepped into the room and unscrewed the cap of the canister. He was only wearing a pair of


    jeans. ir however didn''t need his shirt off to know that he had to be pure muscle. It was still shocking


    to see it, ripped, serious he could probably bench press a house and not even get tired. ir didn''t


    know what he''d do once he looked at the images. He''d know she''d seen him, been where he''d been


    and he''d missed her. Would he figure it out?


    ir moved off when he pulled the pictures out. She felt the drop in his amusement as she made a


    quick escape. A panel moving for her and she was in the hall. She took off thinking it best to give him a


    bit of space until he calmed down. Well at least not do something like this again. She didn''t want to be


    caught again. She didn''t think she''d make a second escape.