Chapter 260: Celine Is In Danger!

Chapter 260

Meanwhile back outside, at some point Alex had just stopped a taxi and slid right into the backseat before proceeding to shut the door behind him.

The air inside smelled like cheap pine air freshener and old coffee which reminded him a lot of his previous life. On the dashboard was a small plastic hula girl performing her iconic dance, while the car radio was busy playing the latest pop song that just came out not too long this month.

"Where to, handsome?" the driver asked, looking at him in the rearview mirror.

She was a slightly chubby woman in her late thirties with curly brown hair and big hoop earrings. She kept ogling his figure and face while continuing to smile at him in a way that Alex did not like one bit at all, but he just chose to ignore it. Sigh. This was one of the effects of having a handsome face and it couldn’t be helped.

He gave her his address, and she pulled out onto the road, humming along with the radio. So for about thirty seconds or so, everywhere was actually peaceful. That is... until the woman started talking.

"So, are you from around these parts, or are you visiting?"

"Yeah I’m from around this part."

"Then that means you must have heared about the big storm going to hit here later today?" she asked. "The news said it was going to be the biggest one this year. But with how bright and sunny everywhere looks, some good folks of mine are saying the weather people might have gotten it all wrong again."

"Oh, wow," Alex said. "That’s crazy."

"I know, right? And did you see that thing on TV about the guy with the Nokia phone?"

"The what?"

"The guy who dropped his Nokia off a building and it still worked. They say it’s indestructible. My brother bought two of them." She laughed and glanced at him in the mirror again. "You have one of those?"

"Nah, just this."

"Ooh, fancy." She winked at him. "You look like a fancy guy. You got a girlfriend, sweetie?"

Alex coughed. "Uh, kind of. It’s complicated."

"Complicated is good. Still means you’re still available," she said happily, turning at a red light. "I’m Tammy, by the way. You should take my number. You know, in case you need a ride sometime."

"I’ll think about it," Alex said, nodding stiffly.

He kept nodding for the next ten minutes while Tammy talked about gas prices, her ex-husband, a new diner near the mall, and how the president’s speech on TV was too long. Alex gave short answers like "Yeah" and "Really?" and looked out the window like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

’Why didn’t I bring my car yesterday?’ he thought, rubbing his forehead. ’Or I could have just run home. It would have only taken a few seconds.’

[Maybe it’s probably because last night sex was still on your brain so you forgot you actually have, I don’t know... Super speed! ] the chibi said, sitting on the back of the seat next to him, while swinging those tiny legs of hers. [Now you have to suffer in this taxi. This is your punishment.]

’Way to go for those great words.’

[Why thank you]

’you do realize I was being sarcastic.’

[Yeah, but I don’t care]

Alex sighed. It was his own bad luck, and he had to take it. At least the night had not been a total loss. Thanks to Claire, he had gained a good amount of Desire Energy. Everything was waiting for him once he got to a safe place, and he could not wait to see how much it was.

His thoughts slowly drifted to Celine.

She was going to be so mad at him. He had promised her dinner and then he had disappeared for the whole night without even so much as a text message. He could already picture her sitting on the couch with her arms crossed and those intimidating black eyes of hers glaring at the door.

’Maybe the second I walk in, she’ll send me a welcome gift of Deathfrost Bloom straight to the face,’ he thought with a nervous laugh. ’That wouldn’t surprise me at all.’

Just then, a sharp soul stirring pain he knew all too well stabbed through his body.

Alex gasped in pain as his whole body went weak. It felt like someone had just grabbed his soul and given it a hard pull. The pain was not new. He knew it very well. It was the same feeling he got whenever one of his women was in danger, like the time Olivia was in danger. But this time it was strong. Much more stronger than before.

"Hey, you okay back there?" Tammy asked, glancing at him with a worried look. "You look pale."

"I’m fine," Alex said through his teeth. "Just a small headache from studying overnight."

He clenched his fists on his knees and forced himself to breathe slowly. The pain came in waves, tugging at him over and over. Whoever it was, that person was in serious danger.

’Who is it?’ he thought, and for a moment, panic started to rise. ’Who’s in danger?’

He shook his head hard. Panicking would not help anyone. He needed to think. He needed to be calm.

Okay. Let’s think logically like how Nyx would do. Nyx was with Jade at the Aurelian family estate. It was one of the safest places in the country, so the chance of them being attacked was very small. That left Sofia, Olivia, Doris, Celine, and Annie. Five women. Any one of them could be the one.

’Which one? Which one?’

Then something Doris had said yesterday came back to him like a lightning bolt.

*Someone powerful is coming after Celine and her black skull faced partner.*

The Awakened with a grudge against the persona he had used when they killed Marcus. The same man who wanted nothing more than revenge but had no idea who was really under the black skull mask. The only Clue the person had was the mask, and the woman who had who was also responsible for what happened that day.

Alex’s eyes went wide.

’Celine!’

The enemy had already been looking for her, and Celine lived in his place. If the man had found her, or even found his address...

His heart dropped. Then that means the damned bastard must have gone after her. After all, she was someone who had been present that very day. And another important thing he just figured out was that she was also someone he could use to eventually find out the true identity of her partner which was him of course.

"Damn it!" Alex said through his teeth.

Tammy jumped in her seat. "What? What happened?"

Alex didn’t answer. He yanked a hundred dollar bill out of his wallet and tossed it onto the seat beside him. It was way too much for the fare, but he didn’t have time to care. Not when one of his women was in danger.

"Keep the change," he said quickly.

"Hey, wait, you’re not even there..."

Before she could finish, Alex activated Void Step causing him to vanish. By the time Tammy looked in the mirror, the backseat was completely empty with no trace of him left. The only thing there was a hundred dollar bill resting on the cracked leather. She slammed on the brakes so hard that the hula girl on the dashboard fell over.

"What the...? Where did he go?!"

Meanwhile, Alex appeared in the middle of a busy street, a few hundred meters away from where he had been. Then he activated the Void Step again and teleported from the street to a rooftop, then to a bridge, then to the top of a tall building. Each jump was excuted as soon as he appeared with each one draining a little more of his energy.

After a handful of jumps, he stopped and shook his head. ’Don’t waste it all. I don’t know what I’m going to face.’

So he switched to running instead. Alex pushed legs off the ground, and in no time the world turned into a smear of colors, from breaking past the sound barrier. He ran so fast that his shoes had long since ignited from the friction.

’Hold on, Celine,’ he thought. ’Just hold on.’

Seconds later, he turned a corner, and the neighborhood he knew all too well like the back of his hand finally came into view.

He slowed down, and then he stopped completely.

It was his neighborhood. The tall trees, the quiet street, the row of fancy villas on the hill, the place where he lived. But it didn’t look the way it was supposed to. The villas near his house, the ones that used to stand so proudly behind their gates and neat gardens, were gone. Now only huge piles of broken stone and twisted metal were left, with smoke rising lazily from the rubble. A lot of walls had followed suit, and trees lay flat on the ground like broken matchsticks.

And around the area, there were two enormous craters, each one wide enough to swallow an entire villa. The edges were black and smoking, and the ground around them was still hot.

Alex walked forward slowly, with his heart pounding so hard that he could hear it in his ears. His eyes moved over the ruins until they landed on one building at the end of the street. Which of course was his house.

He came to a stop right in front of it, and froze in shock as the scene registered in his mind...