heartbeat // zayn malik AU

chapter four

"Maybe we were meant to be lonely, lonely

Maybe we were meant to be on our own."

- The Fray [The Fighter]

"Valarie, slow down!" Zayn tugged back on my hand, effectively grinding us into a halt right as I reached the now-doorless opening to my house. "You don't know what you're getting into! There are ten armed men in there, and they have a Sectrum, which really limits how much I can help you. I know one of them's your uncle, but  you need to realize something. If they're after the Infinity Sword, they could kill us for it."

Flushing with anger, I whirled on him, fighting to free my arm from his surprisingly tight and unyielding grasp. "Let go of me! And no, I don't realize that about the Infinity Sword. Do you know why? Because you won't even tell me what it is!"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "All you need to know is that it's a huge deal in our world, and that anyone after it is dangerous, hands down."

Giving him a poisonous sneer, I said, "No, that's not all I need to know. Now let me go before I kick you so hard you'll never be able to be a father."

Retrospectively, I probably should've put a little more thought into that threat. For one thing, I wasn't even sure if angels could be fathers in the first place. I'd never heard of any angel babies, either. But I was kind of distracted at that particular moment, and anyway, it worked. Eyes bugging out of his head--and one hand going to his crotch protectively--Zayn loosened his grip on my wrist just long enough for me to escape him and duck into the house.

Swearing up a storm, he followed hot on my heels.

Inside was a mess. It literally looked like an angry mob had ravaged our house. How could ten men do that much damage in such a short amount of time? It had been five minutes since they'd gotten here, tops. I gasped, skidding to a stop in the middle of the kitchen. "What?" was all I managed to choke out.

A short, rat-faced man with a wiry black moustache looked up from where he was ransacking our fridge. Oddly, instead of kicking him or screaming or calling the police, the first thing I blurted was, "You're looking for a sword in our fridge? What the hell is wrong with-"

"Not now, Valarie," Zayn snapped, dragging me past the confused looking intruder. "We've got to go upstairs, get your mom, and then make a run for it-" 

He fell silent abruptly, stopping in front of the staircase. I soon saw why; my dear Uncle Jack was standing in the middle of the stairs, blocking the way up with his heavyset bulk. Zayn tensed beside me, and I knew he was looking for the Sectrum--of which there was no sign of. At the moment, anyway. I was sure Uncle Jack wouldn't hesitate to pull it out and blow Zayn to bits in a split second, from the way he'd talked about angels. And... I thought about what Zayn had said, about people being willing to kill for the Infinity Sword(which I still had no idea what it was, but still). Was it possible that my own uncle would kill me?

He almost did anyway, when you tackled him. And he didn't make any effort to save you when you knocked yourself out. If he'd shot you on accident, would he have cared? A small voice piped up in my head, asking me questions I couldn't answer. My mouth went dry, and much to my annoyance, my knees knocked against each other with fear.

Desperately hoping Zayn and Uncle Jack couldn't tell how terrified I was--I was ready to piss my pants, seriously--I squared my jaw and planted my feet. "Get out of the way, Uncle Jack," I said in a voice that shook like a 8.0 earthquake on the Richter scale. 

Sneering down at me, my uncle said, "And what if I don't want to, Valarie?"

Impulsively, Zayn stepped in front of me. "Then I'll grind you into dust."