The Blue Burn

And How Do I Explain This?...

Madalyn

    I finally make it to the Tavern. Walking inside, I am thankful for the relief from the downpour that is wreaking havoc outside. As I stand there, dripping wet, I began to feel that familiar warmth stir inside of me. 

What the hell?

    My skin is still cold from the cool autumn night, paired with the chilly rain. Warming up from the inside out, I can see the steam begin to rise off my skin. This doesn't make any sense! I am literally smoking right upon my entrance into the Tavern. If this was a Church, I'd actually be able to wrap my head around it much better. That would actually make sense, on account of the things I've been up to the last 5 years. But HERE? In the Tavern? It's practically my home away from home!

    There must be something going on here....

    Come to think about it, I do feel this same warmth whenever I tap into my newfound abilities, or powers. I still can't explain what happened just moments ago with Jasper, but honestly I don't even want to think about that right now. Right now, I need to figure out where this is coming from, find out what is causing this.

    Looking around the room, I notice a group of men sitting at corner table seeming to be very shady. The hefty guy with the bald head eyeballs me for awhile and then his focus shifts as a cute little barmaid brings them more drinks. Cheap bar ale, they must be typical low profile thugs. The biggest one of the bunch, the one with the neck tattoo of a black widow, is sporting the crested ring of The Hunter on his left hand ring finger. That's interesting. He is worthy to remember. Memorizing his face and some slight characteristics I can already pick up on, I quickly move my attention around the room. 

    Taking a few more steps inside to hang my jacket on the coat rack by the door, I'd like it to start to drip dry, so I can too. I feel another sudden rush of that warm burn run through me. Skimming the room, it doesn't take me long to rest my eyes on a lone mysterious figure sitting at the bar with his back to me. He has on a black jacket, sort of like mine. Obviously a good sense of style. I also notice his shoes, boots, combat style. Also sort of like mine. 

Hmmm...

    He must be in the biz. Crime Biz. Of course, him wearing those classic aviator sunglasses , inside? At night? How cliché can you get dude? From the looks of the graying in his hair and beard, maybe he is just an old guy trying to look cool and he is also nursing a hangover. I'll admit, sometimes I can overanalyze a given situation. In my defense though, my initial instinct is very rarely wrong. 

  Shit..

    He is looking RIGHT at me. Even with those sunglasses on, I can feel his stare. That burn inside stirs, running through my veins and coursing through my body. Even though my skin is still cold to the touch, I can feel the remaining raindrops evaporate off my skin. I can even feel sweat beads now starting to form and make their way rolling down the dip in the middle of my back. With both hands, I lower my hood off my head, allowing wet tendrils of my hair to fall and casqued over my shoulders and around my face.

    A nearby open window blows a soft breeze through the Tavern. But for me, it was as though that gust of air came from this mysterious man at the bar. Then, our eyes meet, and it's almost like an electric shockwave jolts throughout my body. 

"Whoa..." without meaning to, the word escaped my mouth before I could catch it.

"Did you say something Miss?" a kind old man with a cane asked me as he was passing by.

"No, um.. I mean yes I did, but um... No. I'm sorry Sir. Thank you kindly." I managed to find my words, well sort of. With that I nodded politely(Yes, my Mama taught me manners. And if she were here and saw me NOT using them properly? Oh she'd make hide out of my hind-end. I may be a criminal, but manners are manners.) Once the nice old man eventually, slowly but surely, finished crossing my path, I sort of regained some sense within myself.

    I reach for the coat rack and grab my jacket. Not even making time to put my jacket on. Or to put my hood back up before returning outside to the monsoon that continues. I just bounced. Walking as quickly as my feet could carry me, and without drawing any unwanted attention towards some strange girl wearing a hood and dressed in all black and running down the road. I have no idea where I am going to go. Normally I'd go to Jasper, but that is SO not going to happen right now. And then the Tavern is my next go-to, but we just saw how that worked out for me. 

    What the Hell happened back there? What is going on with me?  I just want to find Sebastian and rescue him! I don't care about the stupid coin, some guy(or guys. Even if one of them IS Jasper. Someone I've always been so close to and who reminds me of home and of all those good memories). I don't even care about some stupid super powers, except for the fact that they might just help me get to Sebastian and help save him. That's it!! I just want my BABY BROTHER BACK!! I don't care if he is already15! He will ALWAYS be my baby brother, no matter how old I get, or how old he gets!!

    I'll tell you one of the things I love about the rain. You can stand in it and no one can tell that you're crying. You can cry all you want, and just let it wash over you and wash those tears away. Tears are pouring out of my eyes at this point. I stop at the end of the road, right where I am. A dead end part of the street where most of the shops are a good distance behind me. A place where there is no one around. So, I pull my hood down, tilt my head up towards the blackened rain-filled sky, and I just let it all out. Tears, snot and all. Falling to my knees I sob uncontrollably.

    Images of what Sebastian must be going through this very moment, where ever he is. The human trafficking biz is no joke.  I can't even image the things he has been through these last 5 years. Normally I don't allow my emotions to flood and overflow or even get to me, but right now, as I stand here in the pouring rain... I release the floodgates. I allow all these fears and worries for my baby brother to rush over me. All of these memories of him while we were growing up together, his first steps, his first words, the first time Dad took us hunting just the three of us. Mom taking us to the park, and reading us bedtime stories. Our little happy family. 

    How all of that is gone. How all of that got taken away from us too soon and so abruptly. How the world denied us any sort of "normalcy" to the rest of our childhood years. How The Hunter ripped my brother away and took away such innocence that he should have been able to have. His dark and disgusting businesses. That horrible and sickening sad excuse for a human being! The monster that shouldn't even deserve to breathe anymore! As my sad thoughts and feelings shifted to anger and hatred, my body begins to shake. My breathing coming and going in ragged breaths. I can feel my insides begin to boil. The familiar burn turns into searing hot molten lava. Raindrops evaporate instantly all around me. I open my eyes and I am astonished at what I am seeing. 

    There is what seems to be a forcefield surrounding me. The hot burning from inside of me is so tangible that I am creating some sort of barrier. Knowing there is no one around, I decide to try something I have never tried until this given moment. All of this anger and this hatred I have built up inside for The Hunter and his evil that he spreads, and the lives he has shattered. The energy radiating inside of me, this hypnotic burning buzz I feel flowing from within. Centering myself, I breathe in. Collecting these emotions I feel inside and gathering them into one central spot. I focus, and then breathing out.....

I release it.

    Allowing myself to watch what unfolds, I watch in disbelief. 

    A blue hued splatter bursts at all the edges of my barrier. Sending waves all around, in all directions. The road crumbles, buildings collapse, glass windows shatter, nearby trees obliterated and scatter tree shards in all directions, the air seems to fold in onto itself. This barrier seems to protect me, but everything that resides outside of it? A sad depiction of what it once was. 

   The warmth is no longer with me, and I begin to feel a little light headed.

     "Holy s**t!" a husky voice from behind me gasps. The man from the Tavern.

    "You got to be kidding me," I shake my head in disbelief. My vision begins to blur at the edges, dizziness hits me really hard as my knees start to feel wobbly. I think I'm about to pass out...

And then, Darkness.