"Another case. This is getting ridiculous," I grumbled, lightly jumping on my feet to make my pair of jeans slide over my hips. Just because I was catching criminals, didn't mean I couldn't wear nice pants that complimented the booty. Never know when you can distract a man into custody.
"I agree with Scar. Maybe you should tell Kendrick we're going to need a break soon. I know we're one of the best teams to deal with the madness going on right now, but we're really pushing ourselves here. I haven't slept longer than five hours at night for the last week," Michael complained, walking out of the washroom with a towel around his waist. "And that water is fucking hot. Never showered so damn fast."
"You always complain about my water being too hot, and you take two-minute showers all the time. Don't blame my water for that," Jaxson pointed out as he put on his black t-shirt. He was standing next to the window and fixing up his shirt, smoothing out any lines in the cotton material.
"Hmph, you suck," Michael grumbled and I gave him a sympathetic smile. I knew he disliked water, but I still hadn't gotten the opportunity to find out why.
"Meow."
We all turned to Moonlight, who was on the bed rolling around with his Nightmare doll, the bell making cute little noises as he played around. He noticed us watching him, his turquoise eyes landing on me. Then he picked his doll up, leapt off the bed, and walked over to sit next to my feet.
"Morning, Moonlight," I greeted, noticing his Nighty doll's bow was a little off.
I knelt down and took it from him, straightening the pink bow while he waited patiently for me.
"Meow,” he replied. "Morning, Scarlet. Feeling better?" Risuki's gentle voice flowed into my mind. I looked at my familiar with confusion. Huh? Uh...I feel perfectly fine? Was I not before?
"Maybe. Are you done fixing my doll? I want it back," he whined.
I grinned, shaking my head. He lifted up onto his back paws, reaching for his doll in my hands. I finished fixing it up and gave it back to him. Then he ran back and hopped up onto the king-sized bed.
"Moonlight is obsessed with that doll," Michael pointed out. He walked over to the bed and reached out to pet Moonlight, who stayed still for a moment, staring at Michael cautiously. When he realized he wouldn't lose his doll, he relaxed, sitting down to allow Michael to pet his head. He began to purr while cuddling his new doll that Makoto Heart and I made for each of our familiars.
Moonlight was my familiar, but also a Starlight god. His name was Risuki, the Starlight God of War. When I died and came back to life, he'd introduced himself, revealing his hidden identity.
It had been a month since the bomb incident, and during the last two weeks, the guys and I had gotten the chance to be introduced to Junho's friend, Marcus Hunt, and their group of friends, which included their girlfriend, Makoto Heart.
I'd been so nervous about meeting her, yet we'd surprisingly connected really well, which led to our familiars getting more time with one another as well.
Risuki had a huge crush on Nightmare, aka Nighty. We ended up making dolls for both of them. Nightmare got a doll of Risuki and he got one of Nighty.
Since then, he’d taken it everywhere with him, guarding it like he was afraid someone would snatch it out of his hand. Didn't blame him, seeing as he was having some war with Christian Ross, one of my lovers and private Uber driver.
"He misses Nighty and just doesn't want to admit it," I explained.
"I don't need to admit anything. Leave me alone," Risuki huffed. I giggled, walking over to the dresser to get a white dress shirt from my designated drawer.
We were in Jaxson's place, seeing no point in going to mine or anyone else’s when work had been a nonstop struggle. Ever since the bomb incident destroyed all of PINC’s files, the paranormal crime rate had tripled.
We'd been given two weeks off to rest, which was spent with me recovering from the incident and spending time with Makoto and her loyal knights. Once she left, we were supposed to have at least another week of rest, but the demand for help was so high, that the President of the United States asked for our assistance, as the other teams at PINC just couldn't handle the workload.
Of course we couldn't refuse, but after two weeks of non-stop car chases, robberies, house searches, and chases on foot, we were all wearing thin. I was incredibly exhausted myself, still not feeling at 100% after everything that happened.
My interaction with Xerxes had changed my life in a number of ways. First off, I came to the realization that I was scared of heights, which was rather understandable, seeing as I fell 37 floors to my doom.
That sad event led to my death, as well as my resurrection. The locket my mother, Marilyn Sinclair, had given to me before she was murdered contained the Stone of Awakening, a gem that Xerxes was in desperate need of obtaining.
He had targeted five women, all of us with one thing in common: having the potential to be the Elemental. In the end, I came to find out I was the Elemental. I woke up in a pool of my blood and discovered the Stone of Awakening from my mother’s pendant was now in my beating heart and the only reason I was living and breathing now. Too bad none of the guys knew about that minor detail.
I'd yet to find a good opportunity to tell them about it, and I was honestly frightened to discuss the topic. How do you tell your five lovers, best friend, and biological father that your heart had a stone in it and without that stone, you'd be dead?
"Are the others on their way to the office?" I asked, making sure my black bra supported my breasts properly, just in case I had to run for my life to avoid some type of catastrophe. I retrieved the white silk dress shirt I was looking for, quickly putting it on and fixing it up so it didn't show too much cleavage.
"Yes. Ethan and Junho slept at Christian's place so they're heading over to the office now. Ethan's working on tapping into some druggie’s phone line who may have a connection with Xerxes. Maybe listening in on his conversation will give us a lead as to what he's planning," Jaxson explained.
I noticed how the tone of his voice dipped low at the mention of Xerxes, prompting me to turn my gaze to him. His facial expression was guarded, making it impossible for me to know what he was thinking. I took a quick glance at Michael, who also was staring at Jaxson and looking worried about the obvious change in his demeanor.
"Jaxson...you okay?" I asked, walking over to him. He stayed where he was, his eyes glancing out the window to the busy streets of LA. It wasn't as sunny today as usual and we were expecting some rain, so the clouds were beginning to roll in.
"I'm fine,” he declared, lifting his hand to fix the watch on his wrist. I followed his movement, knowing it was more of a distraction than a desperate need to fix his Rolex, which was already fine and in place.
Junho had bought all the guys high-end brand watches as a gift for surviving the last case and had gotten me a gorgeous Bvlgari Divas’ Dream watch in a limited edition rose gold style. I didn't even want to know what the price was, but I assumed all five guys Rolexes combined might match the price of the blinged out watch that remained in its red velvet box in my vanity at home for special occasions when I could flaunt it and pretend to be super rich.
Sure, I was a billionaire like Junho, while the others were millionaires, but I couldn't spend THAT much money on an item without working up a sweat and praying to the gods I'd be able to make it back in a few years.
The impact of all that had happened must have done something to the guys, because there was a lingering tension in the air. I'd been trying to ignore it, but it was getting difficult, especially when combined with all the stress from our cases and the feeling of working non-stop.
I took a step forward, sliding my arms around Jaxson’s waist. He looked a little calmer, and within seconds, his arms wrapped around me, holding me tightly against him.
"What's going on with you?" I whispered, wishing he'd talk to me about what was bothering him. I noticed in the corner of my eye Michael pick up Moonlight, before quietly leaving the room, closing the door behind him to give us a moment.
I would bet neither myself nor Jaxson cared if he was present, but I knew something deeper was going on here and I needed to know what the problem was. That required us having a moment alone for me to try and pry the information out of Jaxson.
He was quiet, holding me tighter as he took a deep breath. I relaxed in his hold, resting my head against his chest and listened to his beating heart, which was racing although he didn’t look like he was out of breath or anything.
"Jaxson. Will you talk to me? I can't help you if I don't know what you’re thinking. Please?" I begged, tilting my head to look up at him. He moved just slightly so he could stare into my blue-green eyes, and I saw a flicker of fear in his gaze as he debated whether to tell me or not.
He opened his mouth to speak, but then both our phones rang at the same time, causing us to flinch. I mentally cursed, but moved out of his embrace to retrieve both phones from the nightstand; the ringtones told us it was work calling. For both of us to be called must mean something big was about to go down.
I passed Jaxson his phone and he gave me a quick thanks before we both answered.
"Hello," we both spoke into our phones at the same time.
"Oh, you two are together?" Ethan asked on my end.
I exchanged a look with Jaxson and he mouthed Ethan's name with a questioning look on his face. Ethan had a habit of calling all our phones at once so he didn’t have to repeat information.
I nodded, and put mine on speaker while Jaxson hung up his.
"Yes, we haven't left yet. We were discussing work," I explained, staring into Jaxson's amber eyes. He looked away and his troubled expression made me reach out and slip my hand in his. He met my eyes once more and I mouthed, "Later. No excuses."
He slowly nodded. Then we tuned back in to Ethan's voice. "I tapped into that sleazeball’s phone moments ago. I think I have a clue what Xerxes may be looking for, but I don't want to discuss the details on the phone. When are you guys gonna be here? We're at the office already."
"We're on our way. Just about to leave," I reassured him.
"Cool. We'll see you guys there," Ethan replied.
"Kay." I hung up, looking up at Jaxson, who was frowning.
"For Ethan to call both of us must mean it's important," I pointed out.
"Ya. He probably would have called Michael too, but he only picks up in emergencies or if his brother calls."
"Daniel, right? He looks just like Michael, minus the glasses. I guess that makes sense. Michael missed out on meeting him before they went back to um...Minato was it?"
"Yes, Minato. They're going to head to Heila after they're done with their exam, which should have already happened. They're probably busy now, so if you don't hear from Makoto for awhile, you know why," Jaxson acknowledged, moving over to grab a leather jacket.
I slid my phone into my pocket, walking over to the nightstand to retrieve my hair tie. I gathered my hair up and quickly tied it into a ponytail before walking over to where Jaxson was in order to get my jacket.
Before Jaxson could move to the door, I stepped in his path. "Promise me we will talk about what's going on with you when we get the chance," I urged with a pleading look.
"I promise,” he replied, looking into my eyes. Satisfied with that answer, I took a step forward, fixing his leather jacket before lifting up on my tiptoes to kiss him.
He moaned, his hands immediately landing on my hips as his lips firmly pressed back. We were both out of breath when we finally broke apart and he let out a deep sigh.
"I love you. You know that, right?" he whispered.
I could see the vulnerability in his eyes, which broke my heart. I wasn't used to seeing this side of him. Jaxson was the confident one, always trying to be in control of the situation, rather than letting the situation control him. Right now he was trying to appear strong, but I could tell he was hurting and I could guarantee the others had noticed as well. I just wished I knew why.
"I know," I whispered, claiming his lips once more. I heard the click of the door and the little sounds of footsteps. I pulled back and smiled at Jaxson. "I love you more."
We shared a look before I felt Moonlight's tail rub against my leg. I looked down to see him sitting there, staring up at us with a curious look.
"What's up, Moonlight?" I asked, kneeling down to pet him. Risuki? Why do you look so curious?
"Hmm. You haven't broken anything today. I'm just wondering if you're getting better with your new powers."
I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not. I rolled my eyes but continued petting him, noticing Michael was back, fully dressed and ready to go. He'd tied his hair back into a low ponytail and wore blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. I looked up to see his warm smile and twinkling gold eyes filled with kindness.
"You two ready to go? I'm assuming Ethan called,” he stated.
"How'd you know?" I asked, giving Moonlight one last scratch before I stood up.
"Angel intuition,” he teased.
"He means Ezriel told him." Jaxson rolled his eyes and let out a huff. Michael grinned, putting his hands in his pockets as he relaxed against the door frame.
"Ezriel...that's Michael's angel spirit?" I questioned.
"Ezriel is appalled that he wasn't given the opportunity to formally introduce himself. Jaxson, you should apologize," Michael teased.
"Ugh. I don't want to," Jaxson mumbled.
"Stubborn." Michael huffed, closing his eyes. When they opened, those gold orbs were glowing vibrantly and a confident smiled formed on his lips.
"Good morning, Princess of Feminara. My name is Ezriel Moore. A pleasure to meet you," he greeted, bowing his head.
I gawked at him, but quickly recovered. "Uh, morning," I squeaked, my heart skipping a beat. I didn't get why I got all nervous all of a sudden, but I was still getting used to the whole spirit thing.
"MORNING!" Serenity and Aurora greeted, which made me flinch. Then the lamp on the nightstand flickered on and off before it short-circuited; a little stream of smoke filtered out from where the dead lightbulb was.
"Meow," Moonlight announced while he stretched. "Spoke too soon," Risuki teased.
"Oh, that wasn't my fault," I whined. "Serenity and Aurora scared me. It wasn't because of Michael, I mean Ezriel!" I quickly defended, looking at Jaxson, who had a wide grin on his face, then back at Ezriel, who was on the verge of laughter, his shoulders moving up and down as he tried to hold in his snickers.
"Oh, don't blame us. I just came to see who Ezriel was," Aurora huffed.
"He's cute! Can we share him?" Serenity hummed.
I sighed, shaking my head. "No, you can't share Ezriel," I mumbled out loud.
Ezriel laughed. "I'm assuming Aurora and Serenity are your spirits? What race are they?" he questioned, curiosity lingering in his tone as he smiled in amusement.
"Uh, angel...wait. Serenity is an angel, but Aurora... Hey Aurora, what are you?" I asked, realizing I hadn't even asked them what shifter they were. I simply assumed they were some type of angel because that's what my mind envisioned, but I hadn't actually confirmed that.
"I'm an angel, silly," Aurora huffed.
"Me too! Well, you figured that out already. I can heal pretty well, like I did when you crashed into that glass mall sign two weeks ago," Serenity pointed out.
Wait. How are you both angels? I don't really understand. Sure, in the movies I knew there were good and bad angels. Aurora wasn't necessarily bad, but to me, her magic didn't feel warm and fuzzy either. It felt dark and powerful.
My extended silence must have clued Jaxson and Ezriel in on my internal dilemma.
"Are they both angels?" Ezriel questioned.
"Um. That's what they're telling me," I replied, confusion clearly on my face as I frowned.
"Seraphim angel."
I turned to Jaxson, noticing the change in his voice; bright glowing orange eyes met mine as a confident grin crossed on his lips.
"Orange eyes?!" I asked, feeling a little surprised by the sudden appearance of Jaxson’s spirit.
"Good morning, Princess. Ah, did I ever introduce myself? Hmmm. I can't recall." He crossed his arms, looking deep in thought.
"I bet not." Ezriel laughed. The sound was so beautiful like a church hymn. It helped to soothe my nerves as I relaxed, glancing between both of them.
"Well, that's rude of me. Agni is my name, since Jax's last name sounds weird partnered up with mine. Feel like it diminishes my greatness," Agni hummed. I snickered when, a moment later, Agni rolled his eyes and huffed.
"Let me guess. Jaxson's complaining?" I smirked.
Agni groaned. "You see? It's better when he's asleep. Anyways, back to your question."
Ezriel came over to us and Agni gestured for me to sit on the bed. I did as he asked, knowing we were on a time limit, but didn't want to pass up this opportunity to get to know them.
When Ezriel moved to stand beside Agni, they exchanged glances before they began to explain.
"Seraphim spirits. They're dual spirits that are born at the same time within the host," Agni revealed.
Ezriel nodded. "Twin spirits is the more simple term for them to help you understand."
"Twins? Serenity and Aurora are twins?" I asked with a gasp.
"Bingo!" they said in unison, their tones now sounding exactly the same, which freaked me out a little. But...but wait. Why do you guys normally sound a bit different?
"Because it helps you distinguish who's talking," Serenity explained.
"We didn't want to freak you out. Imagine you just learned about our existence, only to start hearing two people with the same voice talking in your head all the time. You would have thought you were crazy," Aurora added.
"She already thought she was crazy, though," Serenity reminded.
"True, but I mean ‘she'd maybe admit herself to a mental institution’ kind of crazy," Aurora defended.
"She probably wouldn't be able to handle us," Serenity whispered as if I couldn't hear her.
"Totally. Our epic twin duality would be too much for her," Aurora agreed.
I sighed. Okay, I got it. Crazy Scarlet wouldn't be able to grasp your dual epicness. Let's continue the conversation.
I noticed the silence in the room, lifting my eyes up to see Agni and Ezriel's wide grins. I groaned. "Sorry. Continue."
"No worries, Princess." Agni winked.
"Seraphim angel spirits are twins that are usually opposites of each other. Fire and ice, wind and sea. Their elements are complete opposites but are incredibly destructive when morphed together. The strongest of their kind are those whose elements are light and darkness," Ezriel explained.
"Seraphim angels spirits are the most unique and rarest of spirits. Generally, it can be cycles, or generations before the next set is born. Their appearance when they shift is exactly the same as what you guys call identical twins. The only difference is the theme of their appearance, one being of light, the other of darkness," Agni continued.
"Wait, so Serenity and Aurora are Seraphim angel spirits? They don't feel like any of the other elements you mentioned so that means they're dark and light?" I pondered out loud, trying to figure it all out. "So Serenity is of light, Aurora is of dark. Identical twins with opposite elements."
"But we're very dangerous when we work together." Serenity hummed.
"Very lethal to tell you the truth." Aurora’s voice held a level of amusement.
"Correct," Ezriel answered my question.
"That's really cool," I mumbled to myself.
"Ah, she praised us!" Serenity cheered.
"Of course she did. We're amazing," Aurora huffed and I smirked, shaking my head.
"You've adapted well to them, I must say," Agni pointed out.
I nodded. "I guess once I realized I wasn't crazy and they were a part of me, it was easier to grasp. It also helped meeting Makoto, who has multiple spirits and still manages to handle it rather smoothly. Well aside from her talking out loud, but that was really cute."
"I think we should be on our way before-" Ezriel began, but just then my phone rang.
I pulled it out from the back pocket of my jeans and answered. "Ethan, sorry we're on our-" I began, but was interrupted.
"Tell Ezriel and Agni to stop holding us up, and good morning, my beautiful Scarlet," Nyx spoke over the line.
A smile formed on my lips at the sound of Onyx's voice. Onyx was Ethan's spirit, but we called him Nyx for short, since he hated being compared to the rock Pokémon, Onyx.
Agni mumbled to Ezriel, "What are the chances that's either Nyx or Cyrus?"
"Totally Nyx. I don't get how he always knows when we take over," Ezriel replied, looking disappointed. I couldn't help but giggle at their conversation, their attempt to keep it among themselves a complete failure.
"We'll be right there. I hope we get to talk soon, Nyx," I hummed.
I could recall how he saved me back in the mall and the concern in those beautiful glowing midnight blue eyes of his. We hadn't had time to discuss all the details regarding his spirit nature, but I did hope we would get some time to talk about it more.
"Of course, beautiful," Nyx whispered.
"Nyx. Can Ethan come back now so we can finish this search? Also, tell Agni and Ezriel to go sleep or something." I held back a smirk at the sound of Cyrus' irritated voice in the background.
"How did you know Agni and Ezriel are in control?" I heard Junho ask, the only one of the males who hadn't been taken over by his spirit.
"Because Nyx only shows up for Scarlet or if one of us is gonna get killed. He especially loves showing up when his so called ‘spidey' senses are tingling, as Ethan likes to call it, and that tells him when Agni or Ezriel are in control and delaying us," Cyrus huffed.
"I'm hanging up, Scarlet. I don't want to hear Cyrus complain. It hurts my ears. Farewell." Nyx sighed before ending the call.
I grinned at the phone, shaking my head in amusement. Then I rose and faced Ezriel and Agni, who were patiently watching me.
"Thank you two for giving me a little more info about myself. I really appreciate you both making an appearance," I acknowledged. Agni smirked, then stepped forward and swiftly gave me a peck on the lips, which caught me by surprise.
I blushed, slowly lifting my hand to press my fingers to my lips as if it would preserve the simple kiss.
Ezriel sighed. "Can't you keep your lips to yourself? You just love teasing the Princess, don't you?"
"You could just admit you want to be like me when you grow up," Agni chuckled.
Ezriel rolled his eyes, but had a small smile on his lips. "Just be lucky I can tolerate you."
He took a step forward, reaching out and gently grasped my free hand. He raised it up till his lips pressed firmly to the back of my hand, making me blush harder.
"Ohhhhhhh, so romantic!" Serenity squealed.
"Very angelic of him," Aurora commented.
Ezriel lowered my hand before letting it go, returning to stand next to Agni.
"We'll see you soon, Princess." Ezriel bid farewell with a serene smile.
"Don't destroy too many things," Agni teased. I wanted to reply, opening my mouth to speak, but they both closed their eyes and when they opened them, both Jaxson and Michael had returned.
"Why does he always kiss her? Agni?!" Jaxson huffed. Michael chuckled quietly, walking over to me and slipping his hand into mine.
"Is Agni ignoring you again?" I asked, grinning at Jaxson's frustrated expression as he lifted his hand to ruffle his black locks.
"Yes,” he mumbled. Michael and I exchanged looks before we both burst out laughing.
"Let's get going," Michael encouraged. I nodded, holding my free hand out to Jaxson. His eyes met mine and after a few seconds, he sighed. A small smile formed on his lips as he reached out to grasp my hand.
I smiled back at him as he took a step forward to stand on my right side while Michael was on my left. I quickly looked at him and saw his radiant smile as he took a quick sneak peek over at Jaxson. He looked satisfied that Jaxson wasn't as troubled as before and I mentally thanked Agni and Ezriel for their entrance.
As we headed towards the door, I thought about how I hoped to get to learn more about both of them while we tackled the next series of crimes I knew were on the horizon.
I guess I’d have to wait and see.