The House of Fire and Bones

Found You

   "Hurry up and get in, you're letting all the cold air in." Elijah huffed.

   "But we're in the building already. "

   "The halls get cold at night so get in."

   "Yeah ok..." nonetheless Koa did as told and trudged inside, taking in a big, exaggerated gasp, he rushed into the center of the living room to take it all in. "Gosh! Your place is huge! Is this a penthouse or condo or something?" He laughed in disbelief. But he wasn't exaggerating. It was an open concept room with large windows that stretched to the ceiling looking down on neighboring buildings and passing cars, large, dimly lit lamps in corners of the room, along with ceiling lights to set the mood. From the designer maroon couches, white faux fur rug, sparkling marble tile, and large wine bar with all types, you could really say he was a wealthy man.

   There were also large potted plants on the floor and even dangling from the ceiling, large humidifiers spouting out steam, and soft music playing, giving it an earthy feel.

   "It's a small penthouse-like apartment complex you could say. It's not something anyone could get there hands on." Elijah said simply, closing the door behind him and taking off his shoes. He hung his coat on the coat hanger and motion for the man to do the same.

   "Is that a subtle brag?" Koa snorted, shrugging off his coat and sloppily hanging it up. Looking around more, he noticed the large amount of candle and gave a sly whistle. "You reeaally love you scents, huh?"

   "Your point? I'm going to sleep, or at least try to." He pointed to the two doors across the kitchen. The furthest one is the guest bedroom so that'll be you." Elijah explained with a yawn.

   "Ok, Elijah!"

   "Priester..."

   "Right, haha."

With one last yawn, Elijah retreated to his room, gently closing the door behind him. Koa glanced around in silence. 'Well if he's got all these candles, I might as well light them up.' After shuffling through the kitchen drawers for a lighter, he settled upon light the cinnamon and teakwood scented candles. Koa threw himself on the couch.

"Oh! That thing's tonight!" Koa brightened up, grabbing the remote and turning on the tv, flipping through the channels trying to find the right one. "Oh, oh! Isn't Shamron supposed to be at the Monique Ball too? The red carpet's gonna be packed!" He said to himself, eventually finding the right channel.

"As another limo comes up, Shamron gives her last pose for those last minute pictures. I just know those are going to go viral!" The commentator tuned it, giving a small wave to the celebrity, who didn't wave back, and looked back to the camera.

"Damn it, I'm too late..." Koa whined, "well I'll still wanna see who else shows up."

"Oh they're stepping out now, let's take a look." The commentator pointed. The camera panned over to the dazzling black limousine, the doors slowly sliding open.

First, a slim leg with bright red heels stepped out. Then, a head with short, curled, blonde locks popped out. The woman that stood aside for the next person to walk out looked deathly familiar; he'd seen her somewhere before. Work maybe? In a picture?

Koa gritted his teeth in frustration, getting close to the tv, as if that would help him remember. "Ugh! Who is she!?" He knocked down hard on his head in an attempt to get his brain turning. And that's when the second person came out.

"And who's this coming out next?" The commentator gasped, "well he's quite handsome isn't he?" She laughed, cheeks reddening. The man practically towered over the other woman. From his fluffy, slicked hair and rosy skin to his tall figure, it'd make sense that he'd be a ladies man. "Aww, look at that nervous smile! It's probably his first time here, whoever that hunk is. I'm sure the viewers at home thinking the same thing."

"OH MY GOD." Koa screamed, covering his mouth in realization. It wasn't a coincidence they looked familiar. In fact Koa, being a detective, should've known the moment the woman stepped out.

"What!? What happened!?" Elijah asked in a panicky tone, rushing out of his room. He was understandably half asleep and still in his work clothes, confused as to what Koa could be screaming about. He looked over to his horrified face full of shock, then to his finger waving at the screen. "What Koa this better be—"

They both watched dumbfounded as Rose waved hand to the crowd, and posed for the numerous amounts of cameras and reporters. The inmate behind her, who the two were so desperately looking for, naturally did the same thing, even more cameras pointing and snapping at him.

"Koa... get the keys..." Elijah gaped.

With a rush of adrenaline the two snapped into chaos, Koa rushing to find the car keys and put his shoes and coat on, while Elijah counted his lucky stars he still had on his work clothes, and ran to get his shoes.

"C'mon! C'mon! We gotta catch 'em!" Koa said in a hurry, hopping from one foot to the other ready to move. Elijah quickly rushed over and they both sprang out the door, "This is so exciting!" Koa yelled happily with a smile spreading across his face. The halls seemed to stretch forever. Turning here and there, waiting for the elevator to come, getting confused faces from nearby neighbors. Finally speeding out the lobby doors to the parking garage.

The two came up to an expensive looking BMW. "Get in now!" Elijah hopped in the driver's seat, tapping his fingered on the wheel with an inch to drive. Koa barely had enough time to close the door before the car roared to life, and made its way into the streets.  "We're going as fast as we can so hold on." Elijah laughed in an almost insane manner with a creepy grin.

   "A-As fast as we can!? You blood-thirsty demon we're gonna get pulled over by the police!"

   "You idiot, we ARE the police!"

   "Y-Yeah and I heard that police still get pulled over! Plus how are they supposed to know we're policemen if we don't have the car or sirens!?"

   "You have your detective badge, and I have my police badge! Simple."

   "But—!"

   "Shut up, and let me drive." He vigorously stepped on the gas pedal.

   "Getting pulled over for speeding by a coworker of yours is definitely a new fear unlocked, haha.." koa whimpered to himself as he held on to the roof handles for dear life.

As time went on through the silence of the car, other than the occasional sound of the engine picking up, their anxiety began to tear away at them.

"It takes more than an hour to get there... are we gonna make it, Elijah?"

"Priester..."

"Yeah, um," Koa turned on the radio, "I heard you can listen to the commentator talk for the Monique Ball on the radio. I'm sure we'll know what's going on if we listen to this..." turning up the volume, the two listened in.

   "Well, Danny, they must be one of the mystery guests tonight. We get a good number of them each year, but this year's guest seems to be quite the popular person." The woman said in an exciting tone "I've hosted this event for many years, or at least been apart of it, and I can say even though no one really knows who that man is, he's getting a lot more attention than a lot of famous celebrities!" She noted.

   Koa bit his lip. "Damn... at this rate he's gonna be in every magazine. And it's going to be too suspicious or too late to ask to remove him. By the time we do it'll probably be sold out, and in every household."

   "It's a shame those things sell like wildfire. They sure like to be fast when it comes to these type of things." Elijah grumbled.

   "Yeahh, news articles, social media, other radio stations too... see, it's already a news headline." Koa quickly waved the phone at him before reading it out loud, "It says 'Mystery Guest Tops the Charts on Most Popular on the Red Carpet' This is amazingly terrible!"

   "Smile one more time and I swear I'll leave you on the highway until morning."

"Yessir!"

As the car zoomed on the highway, a sinking yet exciting feeling flowed through the air. Axel might've been safe at the moment, but it's only a pleasant nightmare.