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“Fucker”AJ kicked at the dirt, imagining that he was kicking Nick. How he hated his friend right now. Some friend he’d turned out to be! Not only had Nick got the girl AJ wanted, but he’d also acted like he wasn’t even there anymore. They’d been the best of friends for most of their lives, and now a girl had come between them. It wasn’t right and AJ intended to seek his revenge on the pair of them.


 


“We’ll see who has the last laugh” he laughed to himself.


 


He skirted around the outside of the town, making sure not to be seen by anyone. Kevin had warned them to stay out of sight, in case the Luminary and his cronies were lurking. AJ didn’t want to bring unwanted attention onto Kevin; he hadn’t done anything wrong and had only shown them kindness and hospitality since their arrival. He didn’t want the Luminary to know that Kevin had given them shelter and that the whole village had made them feel at home. He only wanted Nick and Emma to suffer and had the attitude of ‘If I can’t have her, then no one will’.


 


The moon shone brightly, but once he was away from the village and its lights, AJ once again had a hard time seeing where he was going. He tripped over something, he couldn’t tell what, and muttered a few ‘fucks’ under his breath, trying to be careful not to be heard. He was sure he’d scraped the skin off the palm of his hand as it stung quite a bit, but he’d live. He’d had worse since leaving Endwise.


 


He carried on walking; his arms kind of out in front of him to prevent bashing into trees and such, but then stopped suddenly when he thought he heard voices. He was aware that he was breathing quite heavily and so took a couple of deep breaths to slow his breathing down. He didn’t know who was out there in the dark, but he didn’t want to be found scurrying around alone.


 


If he was going to the Luminary, he would do it on his own terms.


 


AJ heard the voices again; he couldn’t quite make out what they were saying so moved as quietly as he could until he could hear them clearly.


 


“Sir, with respect I think we ought to go back to Endwise in the morning. The villagers were telling the truth, there are no fugitives here” a voice – one of the guards – said.


 


“You have the nerve to question my authority? Don’t you know to whom you are speaking? I should have you whipped for your insolence” the unmistakable voice of the Luminary replied, his voice as cold as ice, just how AJ remembered it. A shiver went down his spine.


 


“I just meant…I’m sorry sir…it won’t happen…” the guard began but was quickly cut off by his superior.


 


“I don’t trust him” the Luminary said, “He’s a threat to our society. A threat which needs to be stamped out!”


 


“But you said you believed him” another guard said, obviously confused.


 


“What I told him and what I plan on doing are two very different things. You know I will not tolerate being lied to, and Kevin was most definitely lying or at the very least concealing something from me” the Luminary snarled. “For that reason, we will make an example of them all”


 


AJ listened to the conversation from his hiding place in the dark, growing ever more horrified with what he heard. If the Luminary was being serious – which AJ had no doubt about – then everyone in that village would be held accountable for Kevin’s actions. Actions which were none of the Luminary’s business! He had no authority out here; he was just a little man out of his power zone.


 


I’ve got to warn them AJ thought, all thoughts of revenge now pushed to one side. He would address that at a more appropriate time. He turned to go back the way he had come, eager to warn the people who had taken him in and called him a friend. A twig cracked under his foot and he froze in fear, hardly daring to breathe in case he was found out.


 


“What was that?” the Luminary spoke up and AJ could hear footsteps coming towards him.


 


Fuck, what do I do now? AJ deliberated.


 


He soon made up his mind.


 


~*~


 


“Where did he go? He can’t have just gone for a piss as he’s been gone ages” Nick paced the floor, worried about his friend. He’d been gone for quite a while, and with it being so dark outside, Nick was worried that AJ might’ve got lost.


 


“Relax…he’s a big boy now, he can look after himself” Emma told him. She’d seen the way AJ had looked at Nick, knew that he was in a foul mood and was better off being left to cool down. “I’m sure he’s just sulking nearby, in fact, he can probably hear us talking about him”


 


“Sulking? Why would he be sulking?” Nick asked, not really knowing what Emma was sulking about.


 


“Erm…I was hoping it would all blow over, but obviously not. AJ told me he had feelings for me”


 


“What! When?” Nick asked, shocked that he hadn’t seen the signs himself.


 


“It doesn’t matter, I told him we could only be friends and he seemed alright with it” Emma replied, not wanting to get into a discussion about AJ with his friend, who also happened to be the person she was falling for.


 


“Well AJ, if you are out there sulking, get your ass back in here now before someone sees you!” Nick said, trying not to raise his voice too much.


 


“Come on, come back to bed” Emma requested and Nick was happy to oblige. He was enjoying getting closer and closer to Emma as the days went by. He was in no rush for their relationship to take the next step yet though; it was early days and would come when their lives weren’t at risk of being ended by the Luminary. Although if Emma had wanted to step it up; he would not turn the opportunity down. Many a time since he’d met her had Nick fantasized about what the sex would be like.


 


They snuggled up together to keep one another warm and soon drifted off to sleep, thoughts of AJ pushed from their tired minds.


 


~*~


 


“Hello…anyone there?” AJ called out, knowing full well that there were at least two or three people there. He’d heard their voices after all; heard their scheming talk of destroying the village which had done nothing to warrant it.


 


“Who’s there?” a guard called, waving his lantern in the dark, trying to find the source of the voice.


 


“It’s AJ McLean, the flashing red from Endwise and I want to make a deal” AJ replied smugly.

Chapter End Notes:

I just want to say that I, Purpura, have really dropped the ball on this story.  We've been holding onto a couple of chapters because we try to keep a couple of chapters ahead but I just really haven't written my next part.   I am hoping after the holidays are over I will be able to write more and this will be updated more frequently.  We hope you enjoy the chapter, cause we think it's really getting good :)