Chapter 5. Noah Hudson
Speeding in her new Lamborghini, Clementine Hunter and her best friend Violet, yelled each time they made a sharp turn along the road.
Violet wanted her to venture into deeper routes with fewer cars. Routes as the country side roads and the island highway. Edinburgh was a big city.
Though Mr. Matthew's Law Firm was situated at London. Commuting wasn't a problem, since he had a private jet…
Mr. Matthew had a fleet of real estates scattered around the country.
He wasn't very much into real estate, even though the bulk of his money came from real estates.
Mr. Matthew had three wealth managers and three estate managers. Young Noah Hudson was an expect in Law, but he owned and operated an insurance company too.
Noah had first met Matthew in a real estate summit programme, organized and sponsored by Matthew a few years back.
Noah had asked a few questions that showed how exposed and current he was.
He also stated facts that demonstrated his exposure and significance in law.
Matthew was impressed. He had asked him to begin working with him as junior partner several months back.
"You know Vee, I really need a guy these days. It seems am the only beautiful rich arse who haven't found love yet. It's disgusting you know."
" Claire, what you saying." Violet smiled, as the Lamborghini raced hard on the gravel part, leaving plumes of dust and smoke at it's wake.
Noah is handsome, tall and athletic. His smart, manipulative and wickedly hot.
"I want him for myself, but all he does and talk is work, as though he doesn't notice me. I mean come on, this dude walked into my room while I was naked, kissed me for over a minute and now he acts this way? He is a perfect description of annoying. "
Violet laughed intensely.
"Says who?" She smirked.
Clementine took her eyes from the road, and scowled at her.
"Who said guys like that didn't know or spoke of anything else aside work?" Violet smirked again.
I'd crash this ride and we gonna both die instantly if you give me that face one more time.
They giggled. The road was wide and mostly scanty. A few vehicles and fewer pedestrians. They tore deeper and deeper into the country side surrounding of Edinburgh.
"Baby girl you wanna know something?" Violet looked her in a wickedly lusty way. Bitting her lip simultaneously.
"What?" Clementine smiled.
She raised her brows up and down, at intervals. Violet was funny and loony mannered.
"What's in your mind Vee?"
"Nothing Claire" she grinned.
Violet called Clementine 'claire' only when they were intimate or on a ride. The last time they had a rather serious argument about a guy was a year ago.
Violet had just crashed her new Audi vehicle from her lover, and Clementine had just been gifted a new Mercedes Benz.
They went on a spin to some really far place, and they ran out of gas. They had to leave the vehicle and walk miles before they found help.
They risked their lives and kept the mental health of their loved ones in jeopardy.
"Noah Hudson is a good catch you know." Violet say in a rather light tone.
" What makes you say so?" Clementine asked.
"You know, I don't need to start recounting his well pronounced attributes, I don't want to suddenly fall."
Clementine used her left arm to push Violet away.
"We should make a dare on this one you know."
"I like the idea," Violet coughed.
"Look out," she cried, pointing to a fast encroaching vehicle.
Clementine wheeled the car away from potential danger. It was about colliding into a waste truck. When they were out of danger, into safety, Clementine parked the car in a corner.
"I'd sleep with him before a fortnight runs out."
"Say what" Violet smiled.
"a fortnight" Clementine repeated with a naughty smirk hanging in her tooth.
I see the way he looks at me from over his shoulder, when I walk pass the hallway.
His a junior partner, but so am I. His cabin isn't far from the hotel I was going to begin lodging at from next week.
"Like, Vee, his hot as fuck. I could stay up all night, licking his slimy large dick."
"Oo oops…. Uhhhmmm"
" Stop it you naughty bitch" they chuckled.
I owe you a seven hundred pounds, if I don't sleep with that seductive thing, before a fortnight.
"Thing?" Violet peered hard with curiosity.
"Humans shouldn't be so seductive, don't you agree?"
" Hmmm"
"What's your date with Noah's brother been like?"
" That fool, don't wanna talk about it. I'd end up hating him more and myself subsequently."
" Oh, wow."
The sun lit the black tarmac in a very furious way. It began to show a mirage at the far length of the road. It was as though a thick water had formed there. Of cause there was no rain, or drizzle so it was beautiful.
When Clementine was younger, she used to as Mrs Clementine, if the sun was a deceptive body, or the laws of nature forgot an equation to have resolved or solved the mirage.
She would laugh Clementine away and read her a poem or a short novel, to distract her thoughts.
Clementine observed Violet importantly, as though they had just met. They were straight and normal. They weren't lesbians either, but at this juncture, they had both spoken lots about sex and lust. They looked each other in the eyes.
Violet Fisher appeared slender, funny and beautiful. She has freckles and dimples in her face. She is light skinned and tall. Her skin is so smooth and delicate, a clear sign of indoor and luxurious living. Violet was as pretty as Clementine, maybe prettier.
"Thinking what am thinking now?" Violet say with a very heavy and shaky voice.
"I dunno, am not sure but yeah maybe"
Violet turned the music on, and Clementine turned the AC on as well. They wind up, and Violet took her shirt off.
Clementine did the same. Slowly, very gradually, They stretched their heads to each other, closer, closer, just a breath away now.
Clementine pressed her lips and crushed them on Violet's. Violet fondled Clementine's breasts.
A flashy red Ferrari passing same country road, sped pass them. Leaving plumes of dust and wild breeze everywhere.
Simultaneously, they broke away, with astonishment and shock. Eyes still staring at each other.
The weather began to change slowly. It was now cloudy and cool breeze, piercing the intricate parts of their skin, from the cool AC.
They resumed kissing and pressing each other. I think you'd have to eat my pussy. Clementine managed to voice out. Violet raised her mini skirt up, and sank her head between her legs. Clementine moaned.
"Quiet!" Violet demanded.
Leah said, “Where are we going?”Freddie said, “The railroad station.”“Why?”“Because I’m a responsible copper. I delivered Valerie as a attainable suspect. Which intended the uniformed division got his picture. The toes on the street. They confirmed it around. A cash changer at the railroad station recognized it. From a couple of days ago. Which makes him your business, not mine.”“Thank you.”“However,” Freddie said.“That doesn’t sound good.” This time, there was no barrier. Maybe because she was traveling alone, through an Announcer summoned of her own fierce will. But the way out was so easy. Almost too easy. The veil of blackness simply parted. A blast of cold tore into her, making her knees lock with the chill. Her ribs stiffened and her eyes teared in the sharp, sudden wind. Where was she? Lawrence already regretted her panicked jump through time. Yes, she needed an escape, and yes, she wanted to trace her past, to save her former selves from all the pain, to underst
She slowly became around, trying to spot the flash of the purple hat in the night.There.The lady used to be strolling downhill toward the river. Lawrence started out running, too.They ran at precisely the equal pace. When Lawrence ducked at the sound of an explosion, Lukeman ducked, too--in a weird echo of Lawrence s very own movement. And when they reached the riverbank, and the metropolis Noah e into view, Lukeman iced up into the genuine equal rigid stance as Lawrence herself.Fifty yards in front of Lawrence , her reflect photograph began to sob.So lots of Moscow used to be burning. So many homes had been being leveled. Lawrence tried to fathom the other lives being destroyed throughout the town tonight, but they felt distant and unreachable, like some thing shed study about in a history book.The girl was once on the move again. Running so quickly Lawrence couldnt have caught her if shed wanted to. They ran round large craters reduce into the cobblestone road. They ran previo
Daniel! she cried, and left the shadows, racing towards him.She desired to return all the kisses and embraces shed just witnessed him giving to her previous self. She knew it was wrong, that the entirety used to be wrong.Joseph s eyes widened. A seem to be of abject horror crossed his face.What is this? he stated slowly. Accusingly. As if he hadnt just let his Lukeman die. As if Lawrence s being there was worse than looking at Lukeman die. He raised his hand, painted black with ash, and pointed at her. Whats going on?It was affliction to have him look at her this way. She stopped in her tracks and blinked a tear away.Answer him, anyone said, a voice from the shadows. How did you get here?Lawrence would have recognized the haughty voice anywhere. She didnt need to see Noah step out of the doorway of the bomb shelter.With a gentle snap and rumble like an enormous flag being unfurled, he prolonged his excellent wings. They stretched out in the back of him, making him even greater
Joseph stopped, composed himself. Im sorry. Of route you know. But . . . the question is, does she understand why this life is different?Noah appeared at his empty hands. One of the Elders of Zhsmaelim received to her, interrogated her before Lawrence knew some thing about her past. Clementine Hunter recognizes that anybody is centered on the truth that she has not been baptized . . . but there is so a great deal she doesnt know.Joseph stepped to the side of the roof and gazed at her dark window. Then whats the horrific news?I worry there is additionally a whole lot that I dont know. I cannot predict the penalties of her fleeing backward into time if I dont discover her, and cease her, earlier than its too late.Down on the street, a siren blared. The air raid was over. Soon the Russians would be out combing the city, searching for survivors.Noah sifted thru the shreds of his memory. She was going similarly back--but to which lifetime? He turned to seem challenging at his previous
The door slammed with Lawrence on it. She had to grip the stool to maintain from falling off and landing on the soldier at her feet. The ambulance used to be stifling hot. It smelled terrible. The solely mild Noah e from a small lantern striking from a nail in the corner. The only window was directly in the back of her head on the interior of the door. She didnt recognize what had happened to Giovanni, the boy with the bullet in his stomach. Whether shed ever see him again. Whether hed stay through the night.The engine began up. The ambulance shifted into gear and lurched forward. The soldier on one of the pinnacle slings commenced to moan.After theyd reached a steady speed, Lawrence heard the pattering sound of a leak. Something used to be dripping. She leaned ahead on the stool, squinting in the dim lantern light.It used to be the blood of the soldier on the top bunk dripping thru the woven sling onto the soldier in the middle bunk
In the late-morning light, a shadow stretched out from the furnish closet in the corner. It looked like one she may want to use, however she wasnt completely assured of her abilities to summon. She targeted on it for a second and waited to see the area the place it wobbled.There. She watched it twitch. Fighting the disgust she still felt, she grabbed hold of it.Across the room, Lucias focus used to be on bundling the bedsheets, on attempting challenging now not to exhibit that she used to be nevertheless crying.Lawrence worked fast, drawing the Announcer into a sphere, then working it out with her fingers extra rapidly than she ever had before.She held her breath, made a wish, and disappeared.Noah felt guarded and on facet as he pushed out of the Announcer.He was unpracticed at how to rapidly make sense of the new time and place, no longer understanding precisely the place he was once or
There, he said softly. Now, thats the reaction I used to be after.What? Lawrence whispered, confused. Something used to be rising to the forefront of her mind, telling her to pull away. But Daniels eyes overrode that hesitation and she let herself be pulled in, forgetting everything however the taste of his lips.Kiss me. His voice was once a raspy croak. Chis.Lawrence screamed and jumped back. Her mind felt jolted as if from a deep sleep. What had happened? How had she notion shed considered Noah in--Chi. Hed tricked her. She jerked her hand away from his, or maybe he dropped hers at some point of the flash when he modified into a large, warty toad. He croaked out two ribbits, then hopped over to the spring of water dripping down the cave wall. His tongue shot out into the stream. Lawrence was once respiratory hard and trying not to show how devastated she felt. Stop i
She would possibly be better off with him than except him.She glanced down at her feet. The short moist ledge under them ended where she was once standing, dropped off into nothing. Between her shoes, some thing caught her eye, a shimmer in the rock that made her blink. The floor was shifting . . . softening . . . swaying below her feet.Lawrence appeared at the back of her. The slab of rock was once crumbling, all the way to the wall of the cave. She stumbled, teetering at the edge. The ledge jerked below her--harder--as the particles that held the rock collectively commenced to wreck apart. The ledge disappeared around her, faster and faster, until fresh air brushed the backs of her heels and she jumped--And sank her proper hand into Chis extended claw. They shook in the air.How do we get out of here? she cried, grasping tight to him now fo
Every other time one of her past selves had died Lawrence s release from the flames and into the Announcer had been simultaneous. Something was different; something that was making her see things that couldnt possibly be real. Wings on fire. Daniel! she cried out. What looked like Daniels wings soared through waves of flames, catching fire but not smoldering, as if they were made of fire. All she could make out were white wings and violet eyes. Daniel? The fire rolled across the darkness like a giant wave across an ocean. It crashed onto an invisible shore and washed furiously over Lawrence , rushing up her body, over her head, and far behind her. Then, as if someone had pinched out a candle, there was a quick hiss and everything went black. A cold wind crept up behind her. Goose bumps spread across her skin. She hugged her body closer, drawing up her knees and realizing with a jolt of surprise that no grou
Chi watched Lawrence pick it up. Gotta look ones best in the afterlife. He was sitting atop the head of a startlingly lifelike sculpture of the former pharaoh. Laylas mind told Lawrence that this sculpture represented the pharaohs ka, his soul, and it would watch over the tomb-- the real pharaoh lay mummified behind it. Inside the limestone sarcophagus would be nested wooden coffins; inside the smallest one of them: the embalmed pharaoh. Watch out, Chi said. Lawrence hadnt even realized she was resting her hands on a small wooden chest. That contains the pharaohs entrails. Lawrence jerked away and slid the star shot out from her dress. When she picked it up, its shaft warmed her fingers. Is this really going to work? If you pay attention and do as I say, Chi said. Now, the soul resides directly in the center of your being. To reach it, you must draw the blade precisely down the middle of your ches
In the darkness before him, a figure slowly filtered into view. First, the wings: undersized and gossamer-thin. Then the body deepened in color just enough for Noah to see a small, pale angel sharing his Announcer. Noah did not know him. The angels features were soft and innocent-looking, like a babys. In the cramped tunnel, his fine blond hair blew across his silver eyes in the wind that Daniels wings sent back each time they pulsed. He looked so young, but of course, he was just as old as any of them. Who are you? Noah asked again. How did you get in here? Are you Scale? Yes. Despite his innocent, infantile appearance, the angels voice was gravel-deep. He reached behind his back for a moment, and Noah thought perhaps he was hiding something there--perhaps one of his kinds trapping devices--but the angel simply turned around to reveal the scar on the back of his neck. The seven-pointed gold insignia of the Scale. Im Scale. His deep v
All the rage left Chi like air being let out of a balloon. How do you mean? When I die, its not because of anything that Noah does. Its something that happens inside me. Maybe his love brings it out, but--its my fault. That has to be part of the curse, only I have no idea what it means. All I know is, I saw a look in his eyes right before I died--its always the same. He tilted his head. So far. I make him miserable more than I make him happy, she said. If he hasnt given up on me, he should. I cant do this to him anymore. She dropped her head into her hands. Lawrence ? Chi sat on her knee. There was the strange tenderness hed shown when she first met him. Do you want to put this endless charade to rest? For Daniels sake? Lawrence looked up and wiped her eyes. You mean, so he wont have to go through this again? Theres something I can do? When you assume one of your past selfs
Noah nodded. And when they get here, the rebels will expect me to fight. Lawrence winced. Shed been with Noah twice already when he was gearing up for battle, and both times it had led to something shed never wanted to see again. What should I do while youre-- Im not going into battle, Lu Xin. What? This isnt our war. It never was. We can stay and fight other peoples battles or we can do as we have always done and choose each other over everything else. Do you understand what I mean? Yes, she whispered. Lu Xin did not know the deeper meaning of Des words, but Lawrence was nearly sure that she understood--that Noah loved her, that she loved him, and that they were choosing to be together. They will not let us go easily. The rebels will kill me for deserting. He replaced her helmet on her head. You will have to fight your way out of this, too. What? she whispered. I cant fight. I can
The wardrobe was jammed with colorful, exotic garments, but one object caught her eye: a large curved helmet. It was heavy, made mostly of thick leather straps stitched together with tight seams. At the front was a smooth bronze plate with an ornate fire-breathing dragon carved into the metal. The dragon was the zodiac animal of the kings birth year. Chi floated toward her. What are you doing with the kings helmet? Lawrence slid the helmet onto her head, tucking her black hair inside it. Then she opened the other side of the wardrobe, thrilled and nervous about what she had found. The same thing Im doing with the kings armor, she said, gathering a heavy tangle of goods into her arms. She donned a pair of wide leather pants, a thick leather tunic, a pair of chain-mail gloves, leather slippers that were certainly too big but that shed have to make work, and a bronze chest guard made of overlapping metal plates. T
Lawrence probably seemed crazy to Lu Xin, barging in here wearing a singed animal hide and a necklace made out of bone, her hair a wild and tangled snarl. How long had it been since shed looked in a mirror? Had a bath? Plus, she was talking to an invisible gargoyle. But then again, Lu Xin was standing vigil over a dead guy, giving Lawrence dont-mess-with-me eyes, so she seemed a little crazy herself. Oh boy. Lawrence hadnt noticed the jade knife with the turquoise-studded handle, or the small pond of blood in the middle of the marble floor. What do I-- she started to ask Chi. You. Lu Xins voice was surprisingly strong. Help me hide his body. The dead mans hair was white around his temples; he looked about sixty years old, lean and muscular underneath many elaborate robes and embroidered cloaks. I--um, I dont really think-- As soon as they learn the king is
I wont set foot in there. Noah pointed at the temple. Lilith was close to tears. Then you dont love me. I love you more than I ever thought possible, but it doesnt change a thing. Liliths thin body seemed to swell with rage. Could she sense that there was more to Noah s refusal than merely some wish to deny her? Noah didnt think so. She clenched her fists and let out a long, shrill scream. It seemed to shake the earth. Lilith grabbed Noah s wrists and pinned him against the tree. He didnt even struggle. My grandmother never liked you. Her arms trembled as she held him down. She always said the most terrible things, and I always defended you. Now I see it. In your eyes and your soul. Her eyes bored into him. Say it. Say what? Noah asked, horrified. Youre a bad man. Youre a--I know what you are. It was clear that Lilith didnt know. She was gras
She did, and it looked different than it had before. The veldt of stars was endless, the dark of night folded again and again over so many bright spots that the sky was more light than black. Its beautiful. Its about to be a tabula rasa. His lips curled into a twisted smile. Ive grown tired of this game. This is all a game to you? Its a game to him. He swept his hand across the sky and left a dark swath of night in his wake. And I refuse to concede it to that Other simply because of a cosmic scale. Simply because our sides are in balance. Balance. You mean, the scale between the fallen angels who allied themselves with you, and those who allied themselves with-- Dont say it. But yes, that other. Right now there is a balance, and-- And one more angel has to side, Lawrence said, remembering the long talk Arriane had given her at the diner in Las Vegas. Mmm-hmm. Except this time, I wont leave it to chance. It was a shortsighted goal of mine, the whole starshot bit, but I