Love/Hate (Aspects Book 1) Read online

  Love/Hate

  The Aspects, Volume 1

  L.C. Mawson

  Published by L.C. Mawson, 2017.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  LOVE/HATE

  First edition. September 16, 2017.

  Copyright © 2017 L.C. Mawson.

  Written by L.C. Mawson.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Love/Hate (The Aspects, #1)

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Author’s Note

  Book Two Preview

  Also By L.C. Mawson

  Love wasn’t quite sure when facing down a ten foot tall beast with glowing red eyes contrasting its emerald scales, and teeth and claws as long as her arm, had become normal, but she found herself nothing but calm as the dropship approached the creature in question.

  The air became acrid with smoke as they approached, a dumpster from an adjacent alley aflame.

  The creature reared its head, filling the wide street with its body as it stretched to its full height, its eyes scanning the second story windows of the buildings on either side of it.

  After a couple of moments, the creature’s jaw stretched open, revealing an array of vicious teeth before a plume of fire erupted from its throat.

  “A Dragon,” Love muttered to herself. Dragons were perhaps one of the most common creatures they faced, but this one was particularly large.

  Not that size mattered to her powers, but she wondered how it had gotten over the walls protecting the city.

  “You ready?” Serenity asked her, drawing Love from her thoughts as she readied her headphones.

  Love smiled at the dark-skinned beauty before giving her a quick kiss.

  “Now I am,” she said.

  Serenity smiled back as she put her earbuds into place, blocking out the world around her so that she could focus on remaining calm.

  Their powers were emotion-based, after all, and any slip in battle could be fatal.

  “You two are sickening,” Hate muttered, but Love continued to smile, refusing to take it personally.

  After all, Hate had to focus on her emotion as much as the others. Love almost pitied her for that.

  “You two focus on subduing it,” Vengeance said, rounding out the team. For only one creature, four of them should be enough. Even if that creature was a genetically engineered monstrosity from beyond the stars. “Hate and I will blast it until it goes down, but you two need to make sure that it doesn’t attack any civilians. I swear, they’re getting into the city more and more...”

  Love had to admit that he was right, but decided to focus on the task at hand, placing her mask over her face so that no one on the street would recognise her. Not that she had much of a life outside of her work to protect, but what she did have was worth preserving. “We can wonder about why it’s here when we get back to the Tower,” she told him. “For now, let’s just make sure it can’t hurt anyone.”

  Vengeance nodded, putting on his own mask as the dropship lowered into the street, the wide road just barely giving enough room for the oval ship to land so that the Aspects could jump down from the large open door on the side.

  As soon as they landed, the creature turned to glare at them.

  Almost as if it knew why they were there.

  Serenity, unable to hear any instruction given to her, moved as far from the monster as she dared. As long as she could see it, she could use her abilities to neutralise the creature’s flames, but if it rounded on her, her concentration would likely break, and her powers would be useless.

  Love didn’t move as far back. While the creature didn’t need to see Serenity for her powers to work, Love needed it to be paying attention to her.

  It was more dangerous, but if Love could get her powers to work, she wouldn’t just neutralise the creature’s fire attacks. She would be able to send it away.

  At least, theoretically. She'd only actually managed it a handful of times...

  But with Serenity so close, her powers were at their strongest, and she had nothing to fear.

  Within a few moments, it was clear that Serenity’s powers were taking effect, the creature no longer able to spit flame at the street.

  It halted, confused, and Love made her way towards the creature, focusing her mind on Serenity.

  On her laugh.

  On her smile.

  On the way she'd given Love hope again...

  “It’s okay, you don’t have to attack us,” she told the creature softly. “We don’t want to hurt you.”

  She could see her powers taking effect as the creature cocked its head in curiosity at her, like an oversized cat.

  “It’s okay. I’m a friend.”

  She took another step forward, expecting the creature to bow its head, as they always did.

  Except it didn’t.

  Large claws swiped through the air, gouging out a side of the building Serenity was standing under.

  “Serenity!” Love cried out, spinning around to see her girlfriend dodge stone debris.

  Debris and a body that the creature had flung from inside the building, lifeless silver-lilac eyes staring back at Love.

  By the time she realised that she'd turned her back on the creature, it was too late.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Claire bolted awake with a scream.

  There was no rush to see what was wrong. After all, nightmares weren’t uncommon for her.

  Even nightmares of the monsters that prowled the wastes.

  After a few minutes – presumably enough time to galvanise herself properly – there was a knock at Claire’s thick, wooden door and she didn’t have to ask to know that her best friend, Lindsay, stood beyond.

  “I’m fine,” Claire called. “Just a nightmare. You can go back to sleep.”

  The door opened, regardless.

  Lindsay entered, rubbing her eyes. The movement of her hand caused her jet black curls to bounce around her flawless black skin.

  Claire couldn’t help but envy her. Her own, slightly lighter skin was littered with spots, and she detested the feel of makeup.

  Despite her evident exhaustion, Lindsay was fully dressed, answering why she'd taken so long to respond to Claire’s scream.

  “It’s almost seven,” Lindsay said, closing the door behind her. “The dining hall will be open for breakfast soon. If we don’t want to be the last ones on the bus, we should make an attempt to get there early.”

  Claire nodded as she pulled herself out of her thick, red duvet. “Right. I forgot. The skating trip.”

  Lindsay nodded with a groan. “I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to put my dyspraxic arse on ice...”

  Claire couldn’t help but smile. “You’ll be fine. I’ll show you the ropes.”

  “How can we have the same developmental conditions and yet you’re so good with this stuff?”

  Claire shrugged. “I guess I’m just a natural ballerina, which comes with good balance.”

  Lindsay shook her head as she walked over to the wooden desk at the other end of the room and turned on Claire’s terminal. The plastic machine was about the only sign of modernity in the room. St Cecelia’s lay
in the heart of the city, where the old buildings had been preserved beyond all else. Buildings made from more advanced materials were better for keeping out the monsters, but the people of the city clung to the old architecture. Even if the world had changed beyond recognition in the last two centuries, people kept what they could.

  As the terminal activated, Lindsay switched it over to a news broadcast, the sound filling the room through the well-hidden speakers behind the red and gold patterned wallpaper over the walls.

  Claire frowned. She never watched the news, and she was sure Lindsay didn’t either.

  “Have you seen this?” Lindsay asked, nodding to the screen.

  Claire looked, only for her stomach to turn to ice as she watched shaky, hand-held footage of a creature swiping its claws at an all-too-familiar woman.

  She wore a fluffy pink dress over white leggings, short enough for her to still have freedom of movement, and one of the all-encompassing facemasks of the Aspects.

  With the mask on, Claire couldn’t see her face, but that made it no less horrific when one of the claws swiped across her neck, cleaving her head from her body.

  Claire’s hand went to her neck, the echoes of dreams reverberating in the back of her mind.

  She turned away from the terminal, heading to her wardrobe, the thick wooden door stiff to open.

  “They shouldn’t broadcast that kind of thing,” Claire said sharply. “It’s horrific.”

  Lindsay just shrugged. “Maybe they shouldn’t, but you can’t deny that it grabs people’s attention. Especially since now they’ll be looking for a new Aspect of Love.”

  Claire quickly pulled a T-shirt over her head, but she didn’t miss the way her friend looked over to the mirror on the far wall.

  Claire had seen that same look on enough of the other girls’ faces every time an Aspect died to know what it meant.

  Lindsay was cursing her dark brown eyes. A sign that she was fully Human, and carried none of the alien blood that would make her eligible to be the next Aspect.

  Claire couldn’t help but glance to her own eyes in the mirror after that. They weren’t the shining silver colour that would indicate Rena blood, but they also didn’t seem entirely Human.

  No, they were a silver-lilac colour. During the first doctor’s appointment she remembered, her doctor had commented that it might be the result of Rena genes becoming weaker over the centuries since the handful of aliens had come to earth to save humanity from the genetically engineered creatures that had arrived before them.

  If her eyes were a result of Rena genes, she hoped that they weren’t enough to get her declared as an Aspect.

  While most others at St Cecilia’s Academy seemed to want nothing more, Claire had never seen the appeal.

  After all, Aspects died rather frequently. And this Aspect of Love had lasted more than most of her predecessor’s, even at only six months.

  No, a short life of hunting down monsters was the last thing Claire wanted.

  She quickly pulled on the last of her clothes before turning to Lindsay. “Come on, let’s go before we’re late.”

  “I HAVE A HEADACHE,” Lindsay groaned as they left the bus.

  “I thought you took your travel sickness tablet before we left,” Claire said.

  “I did! It must be the sun. It’s too bright today.”

  Claire had to agree with that. The sun was out in full force, making Claire feel a little faint.

  She cursed herself for forgetting her sunglasses.

  “All right,” Madame Sanderson called to the group. “We’re going to split up into two groups. One will go skating first, and the others will head to the slopes.”

  Claire twirled her plait in her hands, careful to not let her long dark hair fall out of the bobble holding all of it.

  “First half of the register down to... Amy Nettle, you’re skating first.”

  Claire grinned. “Yeah. Fist-bump for same team.”

  Lindsay completed the gesture before they headed down to get their skates. Thankfully, the shoe collection was quiet, so their classmates were the only ones with them. Claire was the last to finish lacing up her boots, but Lindsay stuck around.

  “You ready to head out?” Claire asked as she carefully stood up, the blades on the bottom of her shoes balancing on the rubber mats covering the floor.

  “No,” Lindsay replied, pouting a little. “Also, you might have to help me up.”

  Claire offered her hands, though Lindsay took her wrists, keeping her friend steady as she wobbled to her feet.

  “There, see, this isn’t so bad.”

  “Speak for yourself.”

  Lindsay took small steps as she carefully tried to navigate out to the ice. Claire waited patiently for her friend, helping her to keep her footing.

  As soon as they reached the edge of the rink, Lindsay clutched onto the edge. Claire let her hand skim along it momentarily, but she quickly found her balance.

  “You can skate ahead,” Lindsay assured her. “I’m not going to be comfortable leaving the edge for a while.”

  Claire nodded. “I’ll just do a few circuits,” she promised before skating off. By the end of her first lap, she'd mastered her balance, gliding easily. She was a little tempted to try and mimic the basic twirls she'd seen the skaters do on the ice dancing show she liked, but she knew better than to try without an instructor.

  She returned to Lindsay after three circuits. Her friend had barely made it halfway around the rink, clutching to the side the whole time.

  “You’re never going to get anywhere like that,” Claire told her, flexing her fingers as they started to go numb thanks to the artificial cold.

  “I don’t want to go anywhere except to the cafe at the other end of the rink. Do you think Miss would catch us if we sneaked off for coffee?”

  Claire shrugged. “We can just say we were overloaded.”

  They made it to the cafe slowly, but they made it without their teacher noticing nonetheless.

  As soon as Claire’s boot made contact with the rubber mat, she heard a blood chilling screech that she'd only ever heard over the TV before.

  “No, it can’t...” Lindsay gasped.

  She was quickly answered by a loud thud above them, followed by the sound of falling roof tiles. The screams of her fellow students told her that there was indeed a monster on top of the building.

  Claire skated back out to the rink to get a closer look, grabbing one of the ski poles as she went. She wasn’t suicidal, she just knew that she was going to have a hard time getting her shoes off and would be quicker on the ice with them on.

  She quickly turned to face the monster as she reached the other end of the rink, staying clear of the edge as people were still using it to get themselves off the ice. It was a large, reptilian beast, with spikes running down from its head to its tail and large claws. It had scales ranging from a deep crimson to bright yellow and despite frantically looking over the creature, Claire couldn’t see an area of vulnerability. Her ski pole wasn’t going to help her if it couldn’t penetrate the scales.

  She looked around and saw that most people seemed to be getting out of the way quickly but she spotted a young boy on his knees in the middle of the rink, struggling to get up.

  Claire skated over to him. “Need a hand?”

  “Thanks,” the boy said as Claire helped him to his feet, struggling to keep both of their balance while not dropping her improvised weapon.

  As they moved to the side, Claire saw two people seemingly appear out of nowhere. One was a young woman, wearing black cargo pants with a black turtle-neck and black military boots. Though the most obvious feature was the jet black mask obscuring her entire face. It was the same as the masks that the Aspects wore. The man with her, Claire instantly recognised by the white ponytail as Vengeance. Making the woman Hate.

  “Vengeance?” Hate asked.

  He shook his head. “No,” he replied with an accent Claire couldn’t place. “It hasn’t hurt anyon
e yet.”

  “Remind me why we told the others we could handle this?”

  “Because they’re grieving, which is weakness to all but we three.”

  Claire helped the boy onto the side, where he began to pull his skates off. She, however, left hers on, her grip tightening around the ski pole in her hand. She looked around the rink again, wondering who the third Aspect was. After a few moments, she saw a boy standing in the middle of the running crowd with the same mask on. He looked much younger than the other two, thanks to him being much shorter than the other Aspects and very thin, with milky white skin and sandy blond hair, though it was hard to tell through his mask. He was standing straight, his head turned to face the monster, though after a moment, his mask turned to face her, sending a chill down her spine.

  She straightened her back and turned her attention back to the monster, who was now spitting fire at the Aspects, who were moving quickly so as not to lose their footing on the melting ice.

  “Hate? Now would be a good time for you to dig deep.”

  “I’m trying!” Hate bit back, and Claire imagined that she wore a frown beneath her mask. Hate threw her arm out after a moment, a bolt of black lightning extending from her hand to hit the side of the beast.

  Vengeance drew a crossbow at that and began firing at the beast, though none of his shots penetrated its scales.

  Claire turned her attention back to the cafe, trying to see whether or not Lindsay managed to get out.

  She hadn’t. A second beast had somehow arrived unnoticed and was making its way across the cafe, stalking Lindsay.

  Claire looked over and saw that the Aspects hadn’t noticed the second monster. She knew that she should yell to them but her jaw was wired shut, her words lost in the rush of adrenaline.

  She had no choice. She skated quickly over to the cafe, dodging the melted ice patches the first creature had made. Her grip on the ski pole tightened as she remembered back to the sports day last year. After the 2208 Olympics, she’d had a slight fascination with the javelin and had learnt enough to earn her the first place ribbon. The problem was the creature’s scales.