2Kayla had spent the last three days carefully getting her facts together, assessing the situation she was in. As far as she could make out she was stuck between a rock and a hard place, problem being that the hard place had not been far from her thoughts for the last three days. She had abandoned all the secrecy that she had once held in the past to her interests in Activating Evolution which stood open on the back of the bar as the nights had worn on.
The blue book was striped of it's dust jacket and held up by and empty bottle of Jack. She had made the decision early on that she needed to talk to someone who knew what he or she was talking about.
She looked up as the door opened, it was still early but it was the weekend, tonight would get busy, in a way that made her happy, maybe she could forget about Gabriel for a while.
Her heart had skipped when the door opened, but she had known before she even looked up that it wasn't him she would have felt him, she knew that now.
Hiro had called again and not only had she heard him coming she had felt her body adjusting to his presence.
Hiro intrigued her, in theory she should be able to do what he could do, but try as she might the pieces just didn't fit together unless he was there.
She had got to grips with most of the abilities that she had inherited from Gabriel but some she struggled with more than others had.
Her memory seamed to be better now than it had ever been, she no longer struggled with the drinks orders and remembering the long complicated names of the various conditions that were charted in Activating evolution had become so good that she barley needed to look at the tomb anymore.
What she couldn't understand however was why she had never inherited the abilities from Peter? Should Peter, who apparently owned the same genetic structure as she, not have taken Gabriel's abilities on the numerous times the two had encountered each other?
"Damn it!" She looked up from the book again to Teddy who was kicking a pipe under the bar.
"What's up?" she asked sideling over.
"Damn pump's gone again, I'm gonna have to call someone out again." He said resting his weight ether side of the pump.
"It took weeks last time." Kayla said flatly. "Have we got the manuals?" she asked.
"Somewhere, but you don't seriously expect to be able to fix it do you?"
Kayla looked back at the book and then thought back to the conversation from several nights ago.
"I can have a go, I can see how it works, I can fix it."
Bennett had been easy to find, and he knew that the man he had incarcerated in his own cell would soon lead him on the path to the person he really wanted to locate.
He had followed them to an old factory on the outskirts of a city. Sylar had smirked at the irony; the so-called heroes, hanging out in the trademark evil doers' hide out was like something straight out of the crazy painter's comic book. He had slunk in to the shadows, unheard by the passing, unseen by the watching. He had seen Suresh come and go, but he was not the one that he wanted.
The pain in his side throbbed; he had questions for the good doctor, why had his side not healed? Why were his abilities not as strong as they had been? Were there some wounds that would never heal?
He realised that he had been staring at nothing for over five minuets. He was distracted his mind filled with a soft scent and a warm smile; someone who he knew wasn't scared of him for what he was, what he could do, but because they had felt the same connection. The one that made her as big a threat to him as he was to her.
He shook his head trying to defog his thoughts. He had become a watcher, he had watched the city, watched the way that people moved from place to place, who came and who went. His mind remembered the patterns; it gave him time to think of other things.
"I have to give it to you kid, I dunno how you did it!" said Teddy wiping an already spotless beer glass.
Kayla looked down at her beer soaked clothes.
"It was easy, I told you I have a knack for making things work." She tested the pump; the dark brown liquid fell smoothly in to the sink below.
"You mind if I nip home to get changed?" she asked looking up at Teddy who watched the ever-filling bar.
"No problem, just don't be long it looks as if it could get busy in here tonight."
Kayla untied her apron and kissed Teddy on the cheek, " I promise I won't be longer than twenty."
"What do I say if your fan club turn up?"
"Tell them the truth, it'll not kill them." She rolled her eyes as she walked for the door, her coat almost flying to her hand till habit told her otherwise. "Peter can bite my arse." She said as she checked the street for unwelcome visitors.
There were lights on across the road in the café and a cop car pulled up outside. Kayla waited a second before crossing the road; she could feel the eyes on her.
"What Peter?"
"Two body's one strangled with a phone cord, the other impaled to the wall with knives, no other physical signs of a struggle. All the calling signs of Sylar, still sure you haven't seen him?"
Kayla started to walk.
"Positive."
"Kayla wait up."
"Why so you can send one of your mates to follow me?" Kayla swung around to look at him.
He stepped out in to the light.
"Why wont you just leave me alone?"
"Because we need you." The voice didn't belong to Peter; it belonged to Hiro who had just held a sword to her chest. Instinct took hold, she reached out and grabbed the sword, the blade melted away.
Hiro hesitated long enough for her to break free from his grip in the confusion, she ducked out from under Peter's flailing arms, and he swung around and looked straight through her.
"The bitch has gone invisible!" Said Peter wafting his hand out towards her and missing her in her hiding place by half an inch.
"She must have got that from you." Said Hiro looking around.
"Maybe so but that." He pointed to the sword. " That's not one of mine it's one of Sylar's, It's one Mohinder said he had, she's seen him."
"How do you know it was not someone else?"
Peter glared in to the darkness where Kayla was currently making the diplomatic decision to get out the way before whatever was happening wore off.
"I know its Sylar, trust me Hiro." Kayla looked back over her shoulder as she rounded the corner. It was just in time for her to hear peter mutter. " And when I find him, this time I'm going to kill him."
He had watched her from the rooftops, ready to help if she had needed it.
However there had been no call for him to run to her aid, she had surpassed his expectations and now as he lowered himself on to the fire escape opposite her apartment he knew exactly why he was drawn to her. It was the same reason that Peter believed that he needed her. Evolution needed to find a way.
He watched as she cast her clothes and flicked open the wardrobe with utter disregards to anything around her. She had become so much more confident in only a week; it was like watching himself. She disappeared in to the bathroom for quite some time, he moved along the fire escape trying to work out the best way across.
He looked down for a second to check the street, when he looked up Kayla was staring him in the face. He looked down again she was standing in mid air.
"Boo." She said smiling and stepping on to the iron walkway.
"You can levitate?" he asked her looking her up and down she was wrapped in her bath towel. He tried to repress the déjà vu that was happening.
"So that's Maya?"
"Do you have to do that?"
"Do you have to sit out here like some sort of perv?" she said looking towards him, she shivered. He instinctively reached out and pulled her towards him.
"I'm just looking out for you."
She pulled herself away from him but grabbed his wrist. She stepped out in to the night dragging him with her; it took most of his power to stay up with her. He actually felt the relief when his feet touched the metal outside her window.
She let go of him and ducked in to the apartment.
"I watched you tonight, Peter knows that you've seen me, you gave it away when you melted the sword."
"Peter is and idiot."
"Yes but that's not the point." Sylar said watching as she flicked through the clothes in her wardrobe.
"I dealt with it, did you kill the Redpaths?" He walked up behind her he wanted so bad to reach out and touch her bare shoulders. To stroke her wet hair…
"Yes."
"Why?"
"They were going to call the police."
"You couldn't have just cut the phone line?"
He reached out to touch her just as she turned around to look at him. Her big blue eyes looked up in to his. "Why kill them Gabe? There not special, they weren't like us, so why?"
He didn't have an answer, he didn't know why. For the first time in a long time he felt remorse.
"I don't have to answer to you." He said angrily. Kayla signalled for him to turn around whilst she changed. When she walked around to look at him she wore a plane white T-shirt and blue denim skirt.
"No you don't answer to me, but you need to answer to someone." She said advancing on him. " I don't know what's happening to me Gabriel, I don't know what's going on and I don't like it." She reached around him and grabbed her bag. "I don't need you just drooping in on me, I don't need Peter and his gang jumping on me in the street," she shoved an arm full of clothes in to the bag and headed for the door picking up Angel as she walked. "If you're coming bring your damn clock."
She knew he was following her even if she couldn't see him she could hear his thoughts, he knew where they were going, he had done ever since they had turned down the road with his fathers shop on it. She found the key in her purse and made her way through the almost empty apartment block. The entrance hall showed more signs of life than her own, people still lived here even if the place was way past repair. The door still had a police sign hanging there; she ignored it as she put the key in the lock.
She saw a flash of what had happened that night. She said nothing as Gabriel stopped on the threshold. She placed Angel carefully on the counter before turning to look at him, she could see by his face that he had expected to see the apartment the same way as he had last, his eyes flicked to the floor.
"I cleaned it up the best I could, I wanted to make it look nice, maybe sell it and pay for a nice headstone for your mother." She walked over and took the clock off him making him break from his resolve. She closed the door behind him as he walked in to the room so that Angel wouldn't escape.
She flicked the light switch and nothing happened, she placed a hand over the light switch and gave it a jolt of electricity, the lights flicked in to life for a few seconds and then died.
"She kept candles in the top draw next to the sink." Gabriel said, quietly flicking his hand in that general direction candles flew to the counter making the cat jump. Kayla lit them both and carried one over to Gabriel; he was crouching over the spot where he had slain his mother.
"Why did you bring us here?" he said his voice low and flat.
"There was no where else…"
"There are a million other places we could have gone." This time she could hear the anger in his voice.
"No one will think to look for us here."
He ran his hand across the floor.
She felt the impact against the wall. Saw him advancing on her.
"Why did you have to bring me here!" he raised his finger towards her head as he neared her. "Did Peter make you? Are you working for him, I should have just killed you when I had the chance."
"For Fucks sake Gabe, do you really think I'm working or him after what you saw tonight?" she could feel the blood running down her face. She fought with him flinging him back against the counter. She reached up and touched her forehead. "So this is Sylar is it?" she said grabbing him and sending a minor jolt through his body. He looked at her, smirking he grabbed her back.
"Why did you bring me here?"
"Because I have to protect you, because I need to…" she let go of him, he dropped his grip on her. Both stood looking at each other, beside them Angel purred.
"Why are you following me?" she asked him quietly.
"I don't know."
She looked him in the eye, the candle flickered reflected in his eyes, drawing her in she knew she was moving forward.
"You're all I've thought about for the last few days." He said quietly.
"It'll be that evolution thing." She said offhanded, as he reached his hand up in to her hair, they were so close now, she knew for a fact that he could feel how fast her heart was beating, heck he could hear it, she could certainly hear his.
"I don't think it is, but we can blame it on that if it makes you feel better?"
"Who are you now Gabe or Sylar?" she said as he moved in closer.
"To be honest right now, I don't know." He looked down at the floor as if he was deep in thought when he looked up a smile played on his lips. She found herself looking at them as he moved in closer.
"Who do you want me to be?"
His face went blank as he watched her forehead; she wiped the blood away knowing that he was watching the cut heal.
"Nice trick you have there."
"I thought it was one of yours?"
Gabriel shook his head; "If it was one of mine I wouldn't have a massive gash in my side would I."
Kayla was about to answer when a loud crash sounded in the hall outside making both of them jump. Kayla kicked herself mentally for letting her guard down; it was going to get her in to all sorts of trouble.