Uh Oh

Easter weekend had been uneventful, it was spent mostly recovering from the trip to Ohio visiting relatives. Arania's sisters were smitten by MusiKai, but fortunately were too occupied with their boyfriends to make too big a deal over it. She was still happy to be home, though Meow was still mad at her for being left alone for the week, in spite of the supply of tuna and being visited by the neighbor every day. She sighed heavily at the snubbing she was getting, and with the unpacking finally done, decided to go for a long walk, and escape from MusiKai's watchful gaze for a while. He had begun to hover even more after the cold medicine incident. She blushed a bright purple at this. 'Apparently my blood is still red, and with combination of the blue skin, blushes are purple...I hate that color,' she thought to herself. The idea of what she could remember doing was still very embarrassing, she apologized daily to the Kai's from the castle she saw, whether they were on the roof or not. She had to admit to herself though, as she rounded the corner, the thought of performing like that in the bar excited her. She had always loved music, but never had the nerve to do a lot with it. Singing in the Lexxbar with the girls was a whole different thing than singing in front of strangers. She raised her hand slightly to wave at Mrs. Wiley, then returned to her musings.

She jumped as she ran into someone, and looked up, prepared to apologize. She recognized him immediately as the handsome man from the bar where she embarrassed herself in front of so many people. He smiled down at her, forgiving her silently before she had a chance to speak up.

"Don't I know you?" He asked, voice oddly familiar.

"Umm, yeah. I saw you in a bar a bit back." She chuckled softly. "Though I was dressed quite differently." He smiled back, nodding in recognition. She looked up at him, and saw he had deep blue eyes, the colors of sapphires.

"I remember now. You look a lot better today." His smile grew broader. "Say, I was just going to get lunch, care to join me?"

"Sure, let me get my purse." He shook his head, saying he'd pay for it, and escorted her to a small cafe nearby.

"I saw how you handled that guy in the bar. He'll learn when a lady says no she means it. Mind if I ask what you were doing there anyway? It does not seem like the type of place you would frequent." She had to laugh. He was so right in that. She explained what had happened, avoiding the embarrassing parts and how she came to have the abilities, only talking about what led up to the bar and what happened there. He laughed at it, not cruelly, but seeing the humor in the situation. "I see, heck, I would love to have that time when I'm sick."

As the waitress brought their food, her eyes went over him again. 'He is very cute.' She thought to herself. "Hey, we don't even know each other's names yet. I'm Arania."

"I am Mitchell. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." His eyes glittered as they looked at her. After about another hour of discussion over lunch, he walked her home.

"Arania, would you like to get together for dinner sometime?" He stood at the bottom of the front steps.

"Sure. Sounds good. How does Saturday night sound?" They made the arrangements and parted, not seeing the watchful eyes from the upstairs bedroom.

As she walked in the door, she saw Meow coming down the stairs. The cat looked a bit upset, and when Arania asked what was wrong, the feline huffed and walked out the cat door. She followed the cat with her eyes, and shrugged. She'd been acting like this since they got home, so it wasn't a big deal. She chuckled softly. It was nice to have met someone new. MusiKai walked in a few minutes later, as she had settled in to watch TV on the large screen they bought to replace the one she blew up.

"Hey sweetie." She got up and greeted him, very affectionately. "How was business?"

"It was fine. The spring clothes are going quite well." He sat on the couch with her as she rested her head on his chest.

"That's great. Oh, I have dinner with a friend on Saturday night, care to come with?" He shook his head slightly and took her attention away from the TV his own special way.

A few hours later, she made dinner, enough for herself and Meow, but oddly, the cat hadn't gotten home yet. She shrugged slightly, she'd be darned if she'd let the cat ruin her day. She'd made a new friend and had spent a great afternoon with her clone. She didn't pay any attention and missed the blue eyes watching her from outside the kitchen window.

He chuckled darkly to himself as he left the yard. This was going perfectly.

Arania woke the next morning feeling odd, not sick, just strange. She stretched, and figured a nice hot shower might do her some good, but first called out to Meow. The cat didn't answer, or appear when her breakfast was set out for her. Odd, but if she was still mad, perhaps it was better she vent somewhere else. She can fend for herself.

With that thought she climbed into the hot water. It was surprising really, apparently her body insulated her against the water, like the rubber wrapping around the wires in the wall. It actually relieved her, she didn't want to have to get by with buying a gallon of perfume a day. She toweled dry, and looked through her closet for clothes. The rest of the week went the same way really, with Meow not turning up at times when she could be seen, but was obviously eating her food when no one was around.

Arania figured she'd turn up when she was ready to. Saturday finally came, and she got out of work early, MusiKai said he'd close up the shop for her. She promised to thank him when she got home later that night, with a wink. She darted home, and got ready.

The dinner went nicely, time spent chatting and enjoying a nice meal. Mitchell was a perfect gentleman. He seemed to even understand when told about MusiKai. Surprisingly, he asked to meet him when they walked back to the house.

She unlocked the door, noting that Meow's dinner was eaten, but she was still nowhere in sight, and called out to MusiKai. Getting no answer, she checked the time, and saw he should have been home by then. She darted around the house while Mitchell waited on the porch, and even called the shop. He was nowhere to be found.

She sniffled back her worried sobs, still awake well after four in the morning. Neither of them had turned up yet, and she did not like this in the least. Mitchell had waited with her for an hour or so, then begged off, having to work the next day. She flipped impatiently through the channels, not able to concentrate long enough to watch anything, looking at the door every few minutes, and at every little sound.

Three hours later, neither had come home yet. She called Zen, apologizing for the time and asked him to run the shop for her that day, she was going out looking for them. He agreed, and she hung up, and went to get dressed, wearing a straight black sweat suit, the one she would usually only wear when depressed. She was angry and scared both, if they decided to stay the night somewhere and did not tell her, she would kill them. But she instinctively knew that wasn't what it was. got a small thigh band out, and put her favorite dagger in it, clasped tightly against her leg, and got her key-chain with the switchblade,clasping it tightly in her hand. If what she was afraid of was right, she'd need them. She walked out the door, only to see Mitchell there, leaning against her car.

She looked him over, he unusual feeling she had previously grew stronger. She unconsciously gripped her key chain knife and opened it. He stood and walked over to her, eyes running over her body in a way that made her shiver unpleasantly. She glared at him a little, causing him to freeze where he stood.

"Okay you, what are you doing here this early, and what do you want?" Here eyes narrowed, as he gave a smirk. "You know where they are. What did you do?" The air around her started crackling and popping in her rising anger.

His chuckle was dark and menacing, but oddly, did not frighten her. "I am here for you my dear. They are, shall we say, merely resting, out of the way for the moment. Out of my way, and will remain unharmed, if you do as I ask."

He approached her, and actually grabbed her arm, and in spite of the waves of powerful electricity she sent out through her body, did not let go. She fought against him, trying to shoot sparks in his eyes, and mouth, anywhere she could, but they had no effect. Finally, he poked her with something, causing all of the energy she had left to come forcefully out of her mouth, and she slumped against him, unconscious.

The next thing she knew, Arania opened her eyes in a dark room. She tried to sit up, but was tied at her wrists and ankles. She turned her head examining her new surroundings. Her eyes landed on a cryopod leaning against one wall. Inside rested MusiKai, and on the floor by it, a smaller, more compact one held the form of her beloved feline. Her white eyes filled with tears, then flashed in anger.

"Ah, you are awake. Very good." In came Mitchell, accompanied by a strange woman. She walked over, wearing a pair of thin rubber gloves, having been warned about what this odd looking girl could do. "I see you have located the hiding place of your companions. Don't worry, I did no more to them than I did to you to get all of you here." He chuckled and walked over to her, running her hand along her side. She realized then she was not wearing what she had on when she encountered him outside the house.

She had been changed into a short skirt, and a top, much like the one she wore when she did not have control of herself the night at the bar. She glared and tried to bite his fingers when his hand approached her neck, but he was too fast. She growled menacingly in her throat.

"Let me go you monster!" Her voice echoed in the almost empty room. Her eyes again streaming tears, and flashing, a combination of fear for her loved ones, and anger for the position she was in. Oddly, the other woman looked sympathetically at her, and left the room, carrying a vial of her blood.

He laughed again. "No my dear, I cannot do that. Not yet anyway. You see, when I saw you hurt the man in the bar, I knew I had to know your powers, and since there are very few women of your appearance in this town, it was easy to find you."

She strained and tugged against the bonds, feeling them out. The ones on her hands were rubber, which she expected, but the ones binding her feet were only cloth. She smiled inside, there might be a way out after all.

He stood in front of her for a few moments longer, gloating and boasting about how he was going to harness her powers and make an army of living batteries. He finally walked out, and she went back to examining her position. She did a slight test, and found that, while she could not give off powerful charges, she had some access to her abilities. She focused, and twisted her bare feet in the cloth bindings, managing to produce sparks from her toes, starting a small fire in one of them. It burned through and she did the same to the other, pulling her feet free. 'Now for my hands...how will I do this?'

She felt something cold and hard on the bed beside her that had not been there when she first woke up, barely hidden by the sheets and her clothes. She looked down, and saw her dagger laying there. She smiled and managed to barely grab it in her feet, bending her waist up and dropping the knife within reach of her bound hands. It took some doing, but she was able to cut through the thick rubber and free herself the rest of the way. She walked over to the two cryopods, and ran her hand lightly across them, but did not turn them off yet.

'I got you into this,' she thought to herself, 'I will get you out.' With determination and fury in her eyes, and sparks crackling in one hand, her dagger in the other, she set out to find and eliminate her captor.

She peeked into yet another door, this time finding the woman peering into a microscope, she could tell it was her blood, she could feel the electricity in it. This was not who she wanted, she had a feeling this woman was as much a pawn as she was in this, but she crept up behind her, dagger going to her throat menacingly.

"Where is he, where is the monster?" She held the startled woman's arm behind her back for leverage.

"He's in the secondary lab. Down the hall a little ways more. Please don't hurt me, I asked him not to do this, but he didn't listen.." She shook a little in Arania's grasp. When she was let go, she ran, in the opposite direction of where she said he was.

Arania crept down the hall, encountering no one else in the dark hallway. She looked in one of the windows and saw him sitting, talking on the phone in front of an electron microscope. He was saying something about specially adapted cells. She walked in almost silently on bare feet, dagger poised to strike.

Arania watched him from behind for a second, barely even breathing. Then she grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his hair back, forcing him to look at her. His eyes widened at the fury he saw in her white eyes. She motioned with the dagger at the phone, which he hung up. His eyes showing fear and surprise. She held the dagger under his ear, tip digging into his soft flesh and drawing a thin line of blood.

"You could have been smart." She hissed at him through clenched teeth. "You had the chance to know me and my powers as a friend, but now you will know them well, on the receiving end."

She dug the dagger further into him and blood dripped down his throat. Arania forced him to stand, dagger not moving, but where she gripped him did. She moved her hand to the soft fleshy part of his arm. Her petite size belying the strength brought on by this. She dug her fingers in, and shocked him, only enough to show she meant business. Dragging him back to the room he had held her in, her eyes sparkling and hair crackling, standing out madly as though in a wind storm. She forced him to tell her how to work the controls for the cryopods, and made him lay on the table, tying him there with strips torn from her own clothes. She hovered over him, hot breath moving his hair.

"And now, the fun begins." Her mad laughter filled the room.

He fought against the bonds, but they were almost tight enough to cut off his circulation, which only got worse with his struggles. She smiled wickedly, and used the dagger to cut his clothes off, starting with the shirt. He looked around desperately, but found nothing that could help him.

Her voice hissed in his ear. "Now you know what it's like to feel trapped and helpless." She dragged the dagger down her chest, drawing out a thin trickle of his blood. The sight made her smile, so she did it again. "Now you feel the pain I have felt."

She loomed over him, her dark blue hair brushing across his face. As she turned to move around the table, her eyes landed on the pods, and she froze. Looking at her love, she came to her senses, anger dying, like the growl in her throat. Arania let out a tortured sob, and went over, shutting down the cryopods, ignoring the man yelling behind her to be let go. She waited impatiently for them to open, and as MusiKai stepped out she darted forward, embracing him, and kissing him all over his face. He squeezed her gently, then saw the man who had put them there.

His eyes flashed in anger, but felt her gentle hand on his arm, and looked down at her. Arania shook her head, and turned to pick up Meow, who was shaking the ice off her fur.

"Let's just go home. I'm tired." Her eyes pleading with him, and he agreed, following her out, and going home.

A couple days later, and she finished packing the last box. Since Mitchell knew where she lived, they had to move. She had an apartment to move to until they could find something more permanent. She looked around at the bare walls and sighed. She loved Kaitown, but boy was living here going to be interesting, especially now. She picked the box up and put it in the trunk, driving the last load over. MusiKai took it from her, and she left to go to the store. Things had to get to some semblance of normalcy eventually, at least she hoped so.