Kristy
At this point, I knew full well what my job as the apocalypse unit of Pride was. I was meant to help bring strength to fellow apocalypse units and also give them a sense of peace with their sin. Their sin lasts with them forever, you know, so whatever it is they won't be able to get rid of completely. But that was okay, so long as they didn't relapse and become what they used to be. Pit challenges go smoothly; we all know it's a game, so losing doesn't matter. We usually don't go to the extent of killing one another for the sake of the game, unless it's a much more competitive arena, in which all of us apocs will make sure to team up.
But Pit challenges weren't what were on my mind this day. I was walking back to the strong spiritual energy area, and who should I find except this incredibly stunning young woman. I probably stared for five seconds, there, without moving.
I didn't know what it was that made me feel that way, she was incredibly beautiful, sure, but it isn't like I hadn't seen anything like that before. She just had this smile about her. Eventually I pulled myself together, though; I didn't stay standing there for very long. I aired out my shirt and I moved reluctantly closer to her.
"Um, well, I challenge you, spirit, to a match. Let's see how strong you really are!"
Now, I would have started this same intro with Torren and Archie, but Archie was too pathetic and Torren had no obvious intention of fighting. However, this one was different. She gave me a wicked smile and instead of answering my challenge, she decided to give me a question.
"How about we skip the challenge so I can claim my prize?"
I wasn't sure what that meant at the time, but within a split second, I understood, as she now moved very much closer to me. She circled me; all I did was watch her as she circled around me, very slowly. She put her right arm around my left shoulder, in a very enticing manner. She now went around to the front of me, now quite close. She now quickly reached over and grabbed my jacket collar and was about to pull me straight into her.
Now, normally I would have no problem with such a situation, but I could tell that something wasn't right. When she grabbed my jacket collar, I smelled some sort of aroma around her hand, it wasn't a normal smell, and it smelled too sweet. So when she grabbed my collar, I placed my hands on her shoulders and prevented her from coming forward. Eventually she let go and seemed rather displeased, but at the same time a little curious. I recollected myself, obviously I must have been sweating profusely, but nevertheless, I took out my notepad and very shakily checked off lust' from my list.
"Yeah, you're definitely lust, alright. Well, uh-"
I looked at my hands and felt a numbing sensation. A very fine, but moist feeling was on my hands, and it numbed them. I took note of this while she smiled and got much closer a second time.
"What's the matter? Too much for you to handle, big guy?"
I needed to escape this aroma around, as it clouded my judgment and caused me to want to give in. I whipped out a bandana from my jacket pocket and tied it around my face, so I couldn't breathe in 100% of this fragrance. I put my hands in front of me, in a defensive gesture, meaning that she was not to get closer to me.
"I have no interest in THAT kind of a relationship, okay."
"Oh, I'm SURE; all of the signs prove it: you're sweating and you're blushing. I'm ABSOLUTELY sure you don't have any feelings for me."
I shook my head violently to get rid of the blushing and the impulses I had at the moment. I gestured for her to follow me.
I have to admit, that was the first time I had ever question my own physical perfection, as it was not obvious that SHE was physically perfect. Nothing was overdone; everything was "just right". There wasn't very much to say about it other than that.
For the next few weeks, I took note on her behavior. I was noticing several things: above all else, she would stay out for very long periods of time. Demons would be pronounced dead almost every day, from a fast acting poison. For some strange reason, all of these dead' demons were male. I had to figure out why it was only male demons pronounced dead and why all of these murders occurred at precisely the same, late, time of night.
I have to admit, it seemed fairly obvious who was doing it. I mean, who else could it have been? But KILLING them seemed a little bit extreme, so I had to figure out what exactly was causing the deaths. I watched her more closely for the next few days until it got to the point where, normally, I'd give up the observations late at night. But I needed to assure myself that the deaths were caused by her. I watched her bring home another male demon she brought one of my own Pit warriors, one that I call a Vertexinite, after my own last name.
I was worried she'd kill him, because that would mean one less guy for me at the next pit challenge, but at the same time, my priority was to find out what she did. What fast acting poison could she use and how? Apparently, she had been bringing them back to a darker area of town, somewhere nobody could see them. I kept chase. The guy was totally enticed by her aroma, the same one she had used on me. Her beauty wasn't enough, no; she just HAD to have some sort of an unfair edge. Anyway, they slunk into the shadows, and as such, I needed to shed some light on the area. Thinking quickly, I decided instead to slink in the shadows with them. I was close, for sure, but I kept the bandana around my face so I couldn't be tempted to get closer to her.
Sure, I was affected, but my mentality is strong enough that if I had a simple edge, I could maintain logic. I heard her pull him close to her, as she had done to me. THEN I heard her start to violently kiss him on his lips. I must admit, I felt semi-guilty about stalking them, but at the same time, I still needed to find out what killed them.
Suddenly, and without warning, the man sounded like he was convulsing. I tried to remain calm, but I couldn't help but hear the horrible choking this man endured before falling on the ground, motionless. I jumped backwards to avoid him falling onto me, but in doing so, Alexis turned towards my general direction. She knew I was here, because I could hear her tremble.
"No, no, don't tell me it's you."
"Yes, it's me, Alexis, it's me alright. Tell me what's going on here, now!"
She moved to escape, but I put myself in the way. I made sure she could physically touch only my clothing, meaning my jacket and my shirt. She slightly touched my face with her hair. It's a good thing that it wasn't enough to pull me over. I struggled to breathe, and then confronted her.
"Look, Alexis, don't run away from this problem. You have to tell me two things: why you killed him and how it happened."
She tried to escape to the other side, but I put my sleeved hand across so she couldn't do leave. I felt constantly weaker from the aroma, and at this time I couldn't fight it. I coughed loudly and fell to my knees. Alexis seemed ready to escape, but I pleaded.
"No, Alexis, don't go. Don't leave me here, don't you run away from this problem. You can talk to me about this, Alexis!"
She turned; eyes filled with tears, and simply shook her head.
"You just don't get it!"
With that she ran away, not looking back at me at all. I felt disappointed in my own inability to help her that day, but I also kept telling myself that it wasn't my fault. Even so, I knew it was my own weakness that allowed her to get away, all because I wasn't strong enough yet.
But how can someone get stronger than themselves? It's impossible, because if you improve yourself, you ARE still yourself. So I wasn't going to be able to beat it, no matter how much stronger I thought I became. If I was to face it, I had to face it now. The very next morning I went on a search. I asked every outpost holder, every scout, and every demon police unit. Eventually I got word of a beautiful woman that was in distress. I scoured the city to find her; I eventually found an old abandoned building that nearly everyone said she was in. It obviously wasn't hard to find a beautiful woman, gee, I can't imagine why.
I was wearing a long sleeved shirt underneath my leather jacket, with leather black gloves to match the jacket. I wore black glasses, the cooler ones, and I drank a tonic to clear out my body system of un-needed gasses. Normally I don't have any reason to keep such a tonic, but as it would turn out, everything eventually comes in handy. I kicked the door of the abandoned building as I thought to myself how clich the situation actually was. Inside the aroma filled my nose instantly.
"Yep, you're here, Lust, now come on out; I want to talk to you."
I heard nothing stir. I could only hear the sound of myself breathing hard. I slowly walked around inside that forsaken house. I looked for some sign that she was here. Eventually I found somebody, but it wasn't Lust. Apparently it was William White, looking for her as well.
"Oh, hello, Will, I'm not quite sure you know who I am, but I know who you are."
Will laughed out loud at this comment.
"What? Almost everybody at the Pit knows your name, Mister Vertex."
"Please,"
Before finishing the sentence, I straightened out my jacket and took out a comb to fix my hair.
"Call me Travis."
Will didn't seem completely awed by my presence, but he didn't look at all disappointed to see me. He just looked around as he tried to find Alexis.
"Any luck, then, William?"
"No, I haven't seen her since last night."
"You saw her last night?"
"Yeah, she was running away from something. She ran inside here, and since last night I've been here, trying to find her."
I leaned forward slightly so I could see Will with my own eyes instead of through the sunglasses.
"So you've been searching for at least four hours and haven't found her in this house?"
"Yeah, Mister Ver-, I mean, Travis. I don't know, this house is small, but I just KNOW she is in here. Something about a smell, something."
Obviously this fragrance had effect on Lumisonians as well as just Hells. So long as it was male, this fragrance seemed to work on it. I watched William for a little while longer until offering to search in his stead. He eventually gave up and let me search.
I didn't want William to get involved with something this dangerous. He seemed like a good kid, I saw him at Pit challenges often, smart kid, smart kid alright. But he also struck me as being particularly impulsive, but then again, aren't all younger people impulsive? I should think so.
Anyway, the house was completely empty. Apparently she had escaped through the window on the second floor. I made chase. If she had four hours, that meant she had gotten far by now. But then again, if she had gotten far, then what was up with that strong aroma? I reluctantly followed the smell, as it seemed the only way that I was going to be able to find her.
The smell got stronger as I moved north. I eventually reached an old wall from the ancient Fire Wind War. I had read about the war, it was part of my whole training to become Pride. Funny thing is, the smell was really strong here.
I looked behind the wall and there she was, crying in her sleep. Why is it that I tend to show up at the moments where my soft emotions will be totally revealed? Why does it have to happen that way? Is there something I'm missing here? Oh well, in any case, I picked her up and carried her back to my own house.
I placed her on a couch inside my main room. There, I watched her as she slept for about twenty minutes. After twenty minutes I think I dosed off myself.
Nobody knows how much time passed while I slept, but one thing is for sure, I heard somebody stir. I'm a very light sleeper, so I heard this noise and woke up instantly. I saw Alexis wake up with a start and panic.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME, YOU PERVERT?"
"I am not a pervert, okay, I found you laying on the ground, so I picked you up and brought you here to ask you what happened."
She tried to run away, but she was in my house now. I took out a button console and locked all of the doors. When I lock them, I don't mean with some tiny little stupid lock, I'm talking heavy duty iron bars, meant to stop trucks from coming in, they'll keep this lovely lady from going out. I watched her as she tried every exit on the first floor. She found the windows barred on the second floor. She came back down eventually and appeared furious with me. She pounded on my chest and slapped my face several times. Eventually I grabbed her arms and patiently waited for her to stop attacking me.
"You're not going to hurt me, Lust, Alexis Altair, whoever this is I'm talking to, so why don't you just give up and tell me what happened."
At this, I released her arms and watched her compose herself. I beckoned her over to the couches and offered her some wine to drink. She took the wine which seemed to settle her mind a little bit, so that she could speak more openly. I outstretched my hand and smiled.
"I haven't formally introduced myself; I am Travis Warren Vertex, apocalypse unit of Pride."
She reluctantly took my hand and shook it.
"Uh, nice to meet you, Travis."
"Okay, so go on ahead; tell me what's with the killings. Don't be afraid of it, you can tell me, and I know you want somebody to trust. So go ahead, trust me, you have nothing to lose."
Even though what I said could be considered a lie, I don't care at this point, because she had been ready her entire life in Hells to tell somebody what was wrong with her.
"When I kiss a boy, he just dies."
"Huh, when he dies, he convulses and drops unconscious. Yep, I've seen it. But you don't intend to kill them?"
"No, I don't want them dead! But it still happens to me! Every time I try to have an intimate relationship with someone, they die!"
I gestured for her to sit back down. What I was about to do would test my hypothesis.
"I want you to open your mouth and say ah'."
She gave me a questioning look, but proceeded to do as I told her.
"No matter what I do, continue to hold your mouth open a little ways."
I took off my sunglasses and got closer to her, now. I stared directly into her eyes and slightly rubbed her shoulder. At this, her eyes closed a little and inside her mouth I could see some purple colored liquid excrete from her saliva glands. She moved closer to me quickly and tried to get me into an arm lock, but I moved out of the way in time. She pulled herself back after that and seemed upset at herself.
"I almost did it again! What is going on with me? Look, I'm sorry; you have to let me go, please!"
"What are you talking about? When you get emotionally tense, the glands in your mouth secrete a toxin: a fast acting poison. If I let you back out there, you'll lose your mind again and kill somebody else. You need the tension, Alexis, you appear to NEED these sexual feelings."
I put the glasses back over my eyes and leaned back in my sofa.
"Alexis, I'll let you go for now, but you have to promise me one thing: that tomorrow we will talk. Before you go, also know about one thing from yours truly."
She sat up and listened.
"I know you don't want to kill off the men you kiss. I know your sin is Lust, and a wretched sin it is to bear. I also know, however, that inside of you there is a part that doesn't need this carnal pleasure that you so desperately seek. That's the part that I'm attracted to as of right now, Alexis. I want to get to know the person that doesn't need intimacy. I want you to go outside and not kill anyone tonight. Think about what I just told you. Remember who I am and the fact that I'm trying to help you. Also, try to maintain a stable emotion for this day. When you come back tomorrow, trust me, it will mean a lot more than you know for those emotions to be under control. Understand?"
Alexis nodded in recognition.
"I get it, Travis."
"Good. Now go and find some place to stay for the night without killing anybody. I think the aroma can be controlled by your emotions, too, so you won't attract TOO much attention if you remain calm."
I had a much bigger purpose behind what I had said that night. Just as I had thought, she had done exactly as I said. Nobody approached her that night, because she wasn't trying to attract attention. She usually seeks out people, I could tell from the past, but last night she didn't do a single solitary thing. She showed up early the next morning. I opened up my door and greeted her. I tried my best to appear extremely casual.
"Hello, Alexis. Well, come on in."
I had an elixir before she came in, just to make sure I personally couldn't get sucked into the aroma. It probably wasn't working, I had faith that she DID have control, but at the same time, what I was about to try was going to take my full concentration and I couldn't allow for a margin of failure. I can't figure out what to say if I'm not concentrating, that stays true today.
I invited her to the same room I used on Torren, except I had it remodeled. I can't stand that blankness very much, now, I swear, it drives me insane. I make the inside walls finished wood again, for some reason I really like the color of finished wood. The floors were also wood, except with a large red carpet in the middle. The windows I left out, for the simple security that Lust would know nobody could watch what was going on inside. On the carpet there were two chairs which directly faced each other. I entered the room and sat down in a chair. She seemed reluctant to come in, but I beckoned her to come in and sit down. I had to make sure nothing seemed minimally suggestive of what I was about to do.
Like I thought, she trusted me and sat down in the chair opposite of my own. I took a deep breath and made sure to stare directly into her eyes.
"Alexis, I need to ask you if you trust me before going on with this exercise."
She seemed like she didn't know how to answer. After some silence, she nodded slightly, but swallowed hard as she did so.
"You're sure you trust me, then?"
She nodded more quickly at this. She was sure, at that point, that I could be trusted. With confirmation, I took out a remote and pressed a button. The door that entered into the room closed and locked itself. She couldn't leave unless she could get that remote from my hands. She panicked and stood up, ran over to the door and slammed it with her fists. I remained in the chair and rubbed my temple. I should have known this was going to happen. With great vigor she rushed back to my chair and looked angrily into my face.
"Open the door, Travis."
I stood up and looked into her face, now. I was also appearing angry on purpose, I was taller than her and I appeared completely un-vexed by her aroma. She wasn't used to this, like I thought. I got closer to her face and said quite clearly.
"No."
She got angry at me and slapped my face. I was in no position to fight back, so I didn't. She hit me again; all I did was stand and take it. She hit me several more times. She didn't seem like she wanted to hit me, but she also seemed desperate to escape. When she stopped, she still seemed very prepared to hit me again. I got closer to her face, as I did before and said it again.
"No. Sit down."
She was about to hit me again, but I grabbed her hand as it reached my face and threw her back into her chair. She wasn't used to it at all; she tried to escape. When she attempted to get up, I held her down by her shoulders, as I did before. She tried and tried, but I was physically stronger than she was. I didn't break my facial expression. While she tried to get away from me, I projected my voice. I spoke clearly so she could hear.
"Just a second ago, you trusted me, so what happened, then, Alexis? After I closed the door you panicked?"
She stopped struggling and relaxed, but she seemed distressed. I turned and sat back down.
"What are you so afraid of?"
She looked up at me and saw my expression; I was smiling lightly. But she still didn't seem fully convinced of my trustworthy' behavior. Her eyes seemed to search the room for an answer to my question.
"It has to do with my past, Travis. I'd rather not talk about it."
I smiled more and leaned forward a little.
"That's okay, Alexis, I understand, don't worry about it. If you don't want to talk about it you don't have to. That's not what this whole thing is about. But you see, you have to take control of this emotion you have right now."
"Why do I have to do it now?"
"Because, Alexis, you're not leaving this room until you can complete a task I've set for you."
She seemed about ready to get up and attack me again, but I backed up and tried to seem utterly helpless. I outstretched my hands in front of me and had a pleading look on my face.
"Please sit, Alexis, please don't make me restrain you again, it hurts me to have to do it."
She believed me, now, and sat down.
"I don't know what you have planned, Travis, but this better not make me do something I don't want to."
I put a stern look on my face and made sure what I said seemed completely serious.
"That completely depends the way YOU feel. Now, I'm going to ask you again, and this time I want you to answer me honestly. Are you capable of trusting me completely?"
It took her a long time to answer that question. She searched the room again, perhaps for my intentions. She found nothing, because I put nothing in it except for our chairs, that rug, and a fireplace. That fireplace was the only thing emitting a warm light into the room. With no windows, there was little else causing light. To be honest, I thought it was pretty romantic. Eventually she had little choice but to tell me she trusted me. I nodded, but asked her again, to be sure. Like I thought, she said yes.
"Okay, then, Alexis, this is going to be a strange request, but I want you to take it and remain quite calm about what it entails. Go ahead and take a few deep breaths before I say this, just to reassure yourself."
She did as I said, quite nervously. Eventually, I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths myself. Then I opened my eyes and I looked directly into hers again.
"Are you prepared?"
"Yes."
"Good, now then, I ask you of one task. Alexis, I'm going to say this one time and I want you to think about it for a second. Two things come into play for this task. One: you have to kiss me. Two: you have to let me live."
For a minute, there was a dreadful silence in the room. I didn't change my stern expression, and for that whole minute I looked into her eyes. She stared wide-eyed and slowly shook her head.
"No, NO, NO, TRAVIS! I can't do it, I can't do that, and you know it, it just HAPPENS!"
"No, it doesn't "just happen" like you said, Alexis, it never "just happens" like you think it does. It happens because you feel emotionally tense, because you are sexually engaged in the moment. It is THAT that causes it to happen, I recognized it yesterday, remember?"
"Yeah, but Travis-"
"There's a mentality behind it, Alexis, you must understand me to be only a very close friend of yours. You must kiss me without having any serious emotion about it, or else face killing me within seconds."
I showed her all of my empty jacket pockets, to show I had no remedy for the poison.
"I don't know what your poison does exactly, nor do I have any way to prevent it from killing me. If you kiss me and become enraptured in the passion of it, you will kill me, and you will watch me die from what you did. For your sake and my own, don't let your emotions kill me."
"Travis, I'm not ready to do this."
"Yes you are, you ARE ready, Alexis. I know you can do it; you have control over your emotions. And what's more? You don't want to kill me; I can see it in your eyes. Don't feel pressure, pressure will cause you to break under the strain. If anything else, be completely emotionless if you want to save me. It's not going to be easy with the sin you bear, but don't worry, I believe in your ability."
She seemed very tense at this time, and that wouldn't do. It's a good thing I saw this coming. I fell backwards and took out a small breath spray.
"And don't worry; I brought breath spray so you don't have to worry about lending me some."
My little joke broke the tension in the room. She laughed a little bit as I sprayed the mint flavored mist into my mouth. Although I didn't appear tense, on the inside I knew it could very well be one of the last things I do before going down. To release the tension in the room more, I aired out my shirt on purpose and took several exaggerated breaths. She caught it and laughed a little more. Then I simply waited as I smiled, until she told me she was ready.
"Alright, then, whenever you feel comfortable, and don't worry about if I like it or not."
She smiled a bit more, then she got up and took small steps forward, apparently trying to take it slowly, as I suggested. She gently placed her hands around my head and pulled me closer to her.
Then it happened. It felt like forever that she held me in her arms and kissed me on the lips. It was long, alright, but the entire time, I didn't feel any sort of immense pain or distaste that could possibly mean poison. But, to be honest, at the time, I probably wouldn't have noticed, as I was caught up in the kiss itself.
Eventually she stopped, and when she did, I got it into my head to make it seem like I was poisoned. I started to feign convulsions and eventually lay unconscious in my chair. I couldn't see what she looked like, but I heard her speak.
"Travis? Travis! No! You can't be dead!"
At this point, I gave up the charade and chuckled a little bit. I opened my eyes and sat up in my seat. I grinned very widely and stood up at this point. There was very little to be said, but I felt the need to break the silence.
"No, I can't be dead, can I? Because you overcame it. YOU did it, Alexis, you beat the sin that's tied to your fate. So many others wouldn't have been able to do it. But you know what? You beat it; you spared my life."
She seemed to be ready to cry; her tears welled up, but she was speechless. All I did was smile and stand there. Eventually I figured she would want to get out of here, so I took out the remote and opened the door.
"There, you can go now, if you want. No sense in me keeping you here any longer, eh? Go on, before I start to cry myself."
I put the remote away and began to walk towards the fireplace to shut it off. Before I could kneel down and shut off the machine, though, I felt Alexis forcefully spin me around and smack me across the face again.
"What was that for?"
"That's for scaring me half to death after kissing me!"
I rubbed my face slightly but I continued to smile, painfully. Then she grabbed me into another kiss, but this time I backed out of it.
"Whoa! Hold on, there, I don't think I deserve two in one day! Besides, one was enough for me, trust me."
I gave an awkward smile and shrugged. She simply giggled and walked away. As she did, I added.
"You know it won't work out between us, besides, I don't exactly feel THAT WAY about you."
She turned to me quickly and gave me a deceptive smile.
"Who said I was doing it because I felt something between us? I was doing it to see if you would give in. I'm surprised, Travis, it seemed like you really enjoyed that kiss from before. How can you restrain yourself when so many others can't?"
I laughed out loud at this. I really DID assume that she wanted a relationship with me. Eventually I figured I'd answer the question, despite how awkward the answer would sound.
"Not that I don't think you're attractive, Alexis, because you know you are, but I don't see you as a potential wife for me. I see you more as my daughter. I know it sounds weird, especially since I justyou knowbut that had to be done to teach you how to control yourself. I'm sure you understand."
She continued to smile deceptively and spoke half with her eyes.
"Oh, I understand alright, pervert."
She spun around and exited quickly. All I could so was stand and chuckle. Oh, does she have wit about her.
My daughter once was impulsive, seductive and incredibly dangerous to be around. I didn't know how to stop her, but that was only because she didn't know how to stop herself. I couldn't have been more proud to know that my daughter learned how to manage her own mind. She learned how to be responsible for her own actions. Compared to so many others in this world, she is mature beyond her years. What could possible be more attractive than that?