Chapter 1: A moment of weakness

Chapter One

 

 

         

 

            Tucked away in our room on the second floor, my sister and I crouched at the only vent of use. Silently listening in on a conversation occurring downstairs, we waited to hear our fate. If we strained hard enough we could hear the caretakers of our orphanage animatedly arguing back and forth, with no real end in sight. We weren’t the least bit alarmed as the harshest of threats and accusations were thrown around left and right. That type of speech seemed pretty standard when the subject was related to either of us.

            "She blew up the fucking barn!” Miss Mij yelled over the others. Her use of profanity so early in the conversation served as proof of how pissed off she was. She obviously had stopped caring whether or not the other children heard her, “We're lucky none of the animals were in there!".

            "They’re demonic! I’ve told you time and again that we need to take them to the church!" Her sister, Miss Gladys shouted. She was demonstrating that like her sibling, she too did not care about disturbing the younger wards. They always forgot they existed when the time came again for them to try to convince David to get rid of us.

            As a moment of silence passes in the conversation I imagine that David is pinching the area between his eyes, I can see it all as though I was in the room. It’s all very predictable as Mr. Ruthford replies in his usual calm voice, "Ladies,” Cue loud sigh “please lower your voices.” Pause to make sure they’re listening, “I’m sure that you both remember we've already tried turning to religion. It hasn’t resolved this problem you both seem to claim we have with them. We've baptized them, practically drowned them in holy water, we’ve had priests pray over them, had them adorn crosses and we've gotten them both exorcisms.” We hear the door to the room open and one of the little kids excitedly alert everyone that they saw a car at the gate, before rushing out. “Everything leads me to believe that the girls are simply suffering from some type of mental illness brought on by their situation, or they’re acting out for the attention we have not been able to provide them with." Another brief moment of silence as I imagine he’s shaking his head. Slight smile on his face as he marvels at his own ability to diagnose everything and everyone around him. “Now with that being said I believe this conversation is over. Would you ladies like to join me in the front room to greet our unexpected guests?”

            Continuing on like he hadn’t spoken we hear, “The things those girls are capable of are nothing short of evil David. They’re sick twisted little bastards that probably sold their souls to the devil for his influence and powers!” We could actually hear the tremble in Miss Mij’s voice as her body shook with what had to be an unhealthy dose of disgust, knowing her, it was probably both disgust and prejudice.

            "Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean its evil." Veronica mumbles to me, as I roll my eyes.

            I smile up at her and say, "One more year and we'll be 18 and free. No group homes, no more foster homes and no orphanage." We had learned early on in our lives, that you have to have faith in something, even if it’s something miniscule or you risk losing yourself. Once you’ve lost yourself, it’s hard to find your way back. It’s already hard enough to keep living every day, faith in an impending reprieve just makes it a little easier.

            "You really don’t seem to understand David! I told her to clean the stables, as punishment for getting expelled from school--"

            "You see David?! Even the nuns couldn’t handle them!" Gladys interrupts sounding exhausted, the old bat was well past her prime.

            "--she wouldn’t listen, so I used a little bit of force. Next thing you know, the barn is on fire and she’s smiling like she’s the damn Cheshire cat from Alice in wonderland!" I shiver at the malice in her voice. "Do you know what she said after it burnt to a crisp?! Do you?” I can just imagine the hot steam coming out of her ears, slowly at first as the anger builds to new levels, “Ouch!”

            My sister glares at me as I whisper “Whoops”, immediately I remove the image from my mind before a trip to the hospital is needed.

            “Well David?!" Her sister chimes in for her, as I’m guessing she’s too busy rubbing her ears.

            Veronica turns to look at me, one eyebrow raised, silently asking me for my side of the story. My vision starts clouding over, and I begin to see red, "She slapped me. She slapped me and then dared to say that mom was some irresponsible slag who couldn’t keep her legs closed. I couldn’t help it. I just got so mad..." I started to seethe so much that I could no longer speak, I just crouched there grinding my teeth. I felt invisible fingers in my mind, like someone trying to get in, so I closed my eyes and replayed the memory for my sister to see.

            She watched my flashback and swore when it finished. She opened her mouth to say something to me, but was cut off by the sound of the doorbell floating into our room.

            We heard shuffling through the open vent, before the room below cleared out. Unfortunately for us, our closet sized room on the second floor in the back of the house was in no position to allow us to hear what was happening at the front of the old building.

            Veronica sighed and shut the vent before moving around in the cramped space so she was sitting across from me, her back leaning on the filthy mat she was forced to use as a bed. I mimicked her posture, sitting to lean on my own mat, our knees brushed and she stared into my eyes. We were quiet for a moment, both thinking of the conversation we were about to have.

            She would tell me that using my powers out in the open like that was risky and stupid. I would tell her that it was a moment of weakness, and I lost control for a bit. She would sigh and tell me that in this world we couldn’t afford to lose control, we couldn't afford to slip up. I would tell her that no one would know, because right after, I handed Miss Mij a box of matches and came back to the orphanage. She would ask me where I got the matches with a raise of her eyebrow, and I would sigh and say I pulled it from the kitchen drawer. She would scowl and say it was dangerous and what if she had noticed. I would tell her that the woman is going blind and doesn’t pay attention to detail. She would get exasperated with me and give up. I would feel guilty for endangering her as well and we wouldn’t speak to each other for a few minutes.

            I sighed and closed my eyes, effectively ending our argument before it could even begin. I felt Veronica get up and sit on her lumpy bed, putting a little space between us for comfort. I feel her staring at me as I open my eyes and stretch my legs. When I look up I see that she’s closed her eyes and has started massaging her temples. Futilely trying to get rid of the headache I’m causing her as she starts stressing too much.

            "I just don’t want to see you get hurt Jyps. You're all I have left in this world."

            "Mom's still out there." I remind her, although I know it’s no use thinking about her. We've never known her, and although she’s blood, Veronica doesn’t consider her family.

"We can’t be sure of that. We don’t even know what she looks like, we know absolutely nothing about her. What if she doesn’t want us? I mean obviously she doesn’t or else she wouldn’t have brought us here." Veronica states, knowing fully well that’s what I was thinking.

Veronica and I are strange like that, yes, most twins are close but we’re different. We were the same person, but complete opposites at the same time. We had an unbreakable bond, and we could read each other perfectly, even without our powers. It’s like we shared half of our minds, in a connection that was never lost, yet we still had a separate mind from the other. It was strange, and had been there long before we received our powers on our 13th birthday; it was something we were born with.

"Someone’s coming!" Veronica hissed, breaking me out of my thoughts. My hand flew up just in time to catch the book she threw to me as the door opened. We looked up to see Miss Gladys' face of perpetual revulsion shining down upon us.

"Pack up all your crap." she said with a sneer before turning around to go back downstairs.

"Miss Gladys?" I said as politely as was possible for me, my face the picture of innocence.

Without turning, she said to us, "It seems that someone is foolish enough to enter the adoption process for you."

Chapter 2: I wonder if she's alive

Chapter Two

 

 

"Which of us will be going?" Veronica asked while sliding over to my side to grab my hand.

"Thankfully both of you." She sped up her pace, not wanting to spend any more time around us than absolutely necessary. We watched as she practically sprinted down the stairs, before turning to grin at each other.

We had no reason to believe that we were going to a good home where we would be loved and understood, but we still stood there grinning like idiots for a few moments before jumping into hyper drive to pack the few things we owned. We threw all of our clothes into our backpacks, which consisted of only about 6 pairs of jeans between us and about 8 shirts. We grabbed our shoes; we only had one pair each, and slipped them on. Veronica began stuffing our few possessions into both of our bags as I brushed my hair. Once I was done I threw her the brush which she used and stuck in my bag while I found the borrowed screw driver.

She hopped over me and shut our room door, leaning her weight on it so no one would see as I pried the floor board open. Once the corner popped out of place, I pulled it up, successfully disconnecting it from the rest of the floor. I quietly reached in to grab the envelope we had cryptically received on our thirteenth birthday.

At first it was hard to obtain, my fingers just brushing against the edge, but with a sigh from my sister I felt a rush of air move the paper pouch into my grasp. I pulled my cobweb and dust covered hand out, and Veronica, without moving slid the board back into place with her powers.

"So it’s fine if you use your powers but if I do it’s dangerous?" I ask with a small smile on my face and a raised eyebrow.

"I never use my powers in a place where people can see me." She says sticking her tongue out at me as the rest of her face mimics mine. I narrow my eyes slightly and the door thumps as though someone just rammed it. Veronica gets thrown forward a bit and I laugh as she scowls at me while rubbing her backside. “Besides, I can only do the little stuff. Enough to make sure we’ve got a little extra protection, no more. Our powers are dangerous Jypsie, really we shouldn’t use them at all.”

"Come on then. Let's go before our new wardens change their minds." I say, moving to get up and grab my bag, pretending that I didn’t even hear her last sentence. We both know that I did though.

"Alright, but give me my ring first. I think we should keep them on us just in case anything happens.” She pauses and her once relaxed face slips into an angrier expression, “That does not mean use your powers for the hell of it Jypsie, and don’t let anyone see it.” I look at her and smile, “I’m serious. You already know they’ll raise way too many questions. After all there is no way two orphans with no money and no family would be able to afford something like this, let alone two."

I nod slowly, and tip the envelope on its side so that they slide out, she catches them both, and waits to hand mine over.

“I promise to try to be as careful as I possibly can so that you won’t be exposed to danger.” She thinks on my pledge for a moment before shaking her head, sighing and handing over my ring. We put them on at the same time and turn them so the jewel is palm in. I watch as the ring seemingly vanishes into thin air. The only way I can tell that it’s still there is by the slight weight of it on my finger.

"No matter how many times I see that. It still amazes me, I don’t think I’ll ever be used to magic."

"Come on." Veronica says as she grabs her bag and proceeds out the door.

"You’re so damn impatient." I mumble as I follow her retreating figure.

We get to the front room and see a young couple with an excited little girl talking buoyantly with our caretakers. Numerous other strays are in the room moving in ways to grab their attention in hopes of being adopted as well. Surprisingly, none of them notice us enter the room, and we're able to hear the last bits of a conversation where Gladys and Mij make us sound like angels. Veronica scoffs as they play up our intelligence and skills, never once mentioning all the schools we've been expelled from, or all the trouble we've had with the authorities.

We can use this to our advantage.  I hear Veronica's voice in my head.

How?  I project back into her mind.

Just follow my lead.  She replies, before saying out loud, "Miss Gladys, Miss Mij." Everyone turns as they realize we’ve entered the room. I watch as our new family appraises us, appearing to once again ignore all the other children in the room trying to catch their attention.

The little girl’s mouth drops open and she screams excitedly, "So pretty! How old are you? What’s your favorite color? Mines pink! You look the same! Is that magic? Will you teach me? How powerful are you? What kind of witches are you?" She has a lot more questions, but we see her father whispering something and as he finishes, she goes mute. The little girl continues to move her mouth spiritedly, but not a sound escapes. She stops and rubs her ears before trying to talk again. When she still can’t hear herself she rubs her ears and looks at her hands. Panicked now, she looks up at her mother worried.

As if nothing is out of the ordinary, her mother picks her up and cradles her head into her neck, effectively keeping her mouth shut, "Ignore her, she has quite the imagination. She was right about one thing though," She smiles widely at us and continues, "You two are very beautiful young ladies."

Veronica and I stand there looking confused and probably a little freaked out, but we manage to nod as we plaster fake smiles on our faces. An awkward silence falls on the room as the couple continues to study us, and the other children change their tactics. Miss Mij and Miss Gladys have both significantly backed away from all of us. We don’t have to use our powers to know what they’re thinking, it’s written all over their faces.

That was a spell.  Thinks Veronica,

Are you sure? ...It couldn’t have been, they’d have to be...

I think they are. She says, like I should already know it.

Do you think they know that we’re--?

Yes. I mean what’s the coincidence of them adopting us out of everyone else if they were only here for normal kids?

I don’t trust them.

You don’t trust anyone.

Learned it from you. I nudge her with my elbow, but maybe a bit too hard because she turns and glares at me. What should we do?

I say we just keep an eye on them for now, anything has to be better than staying here.

Do you think they may be able to help us in some way? I question, looking at them appraisingly.

I don’t know yet, but let’s keep an eye out on their minds.  I look at her with confusion that she brushes off with a raise of her shoulder. We may be able to learn some interesting new things, like that muting spell.

The man, our new father, clears his throat rather loudly and breaks Gladys and her sister out of their thoughts. They begin to shake slightly and their eyes cloud over in unwarranted fear. Mij looked like she was about to scream bloody murder and run screaming, while Gladys looked like she was on the border of consciousness and sweet oblivion.

David walks back in the room smiling, giving us a slight shock, we hadn’t even realized he had left. Strolling over to our new father, he hands him two manila envelopes, his easy going attitude and presence starts to slowly ease the awkwardness as it always does. After all he is the type to make friends with everyone, everywhere he goes.

I watch as Veronica clears her own throat before repeating, "Miss Gladys, Miss Mij."

They both turn towards us sharply with sneers on their faces and an unkind retort on their tongues. Quicker than I thought possible, they realize that there is still a guest in our midst and they need him to relieve them, "What is it dear?" Miss Mij asks with a forced smile. She was being nice, most likely because they were still present in the room. This would be easier than we thought.

"Our mother left some things in your care when she deserted us. I believe she requested that you return it to us on our 17th birthday. I doubt we will be here then, so do you think you could give it to us now?" I ask sweetly, as Veronica puts on her award winning innocent expression, puppy dog eyes and all.

We watched as they deliberated, biting their lips and playing with their fingers, it was so obvious they didn’t want to do it. They didn’t want to hand over anything that would make life easier for us in anyway, even if they weren’t sure that’s what the items would do.

It would seem that mom left us quite a bit.

What are you on about? I throw yet another question at her.

I was reading their minds, it would seem that mom left us quite a bit of cash. She also left us keys and two bank accounts.

Tell me more. I start to briefly fantasize that we were left a house and enough money that we wouldn’t need to work for a few years to come.

There’s about $1,500 in cash. They don’t know how much is in the bank account because we're the only ones with access to them.  All sorts of inquiries started cropping up in my mind.

Keys?

They look like car keys.

What kind of car?

They never went to the warehouse where the car is supposedly held so I have no idea. I can tell she doesn’t feel like answering anymore questions, so I ask her just one more.

Why not?

It’s out of state.

Huh. I guess mom must have some pretty good damn reason for leaving us. I mean after hearing that, it’s not like she didn’t have the money, and it’s not like she didn’t care. Obviously. I say to her, testing to see if her views on the woman that gave birth to us has changed.

I wonder if she’s alive.

We can cast a location spell later. Although considering this is the first time we've ever tried finding a person I'm not sure if it'll work.

No harm in trying I suppose.

I’m surprised that you’re suddenly willing to help me in my quest to find her.  Veronica just shrugs and starts to make her way down the stairs.

I follow after her, both lost in our own thoughts until we reach the bottom. We hear a rubber ball hit something to our left and turn to see what broke. At first we speculate at the little children freaking out about the vase they just destroyed, but then I shift my eyes over. I stare at my sister’s reflection and our resemblance, wondering if we look like our mother or our father.

 Feeling my stare on her, Veronica too looks into the mirror that the children are lucky not to have broken. I don’t bother to see what she’s thinking about, I just stand there and stare into her eyes. Physical appearance so like my own that no one has ever questioned whether or not we were identical, but mentally different. I wonder if she takes after another family member we’ve never met and have little hope of meeting.

"Veronica! Jypsie!" We both snap our heads to the demanding shrill that is the voice of Ms. Mij. Standing there in all of her glory with a large box in her hands, and an angry expression on her face. "Do you have any idea how long I’ve been calling you?! Stupid little twits."

She hands Veronica the box with a sneer as I look around the room for the gentleman from earlier. "They went to wait for you in the car." David says answering my unasked question.

Without a goodbye or a single glance backwards, Veronica and I leave our current hell hole, for another new start with yet another family. This time promising each other that we would behave. We promised each other that this time we wouldn’t get caught using our powers and this time we wouldn’t get in trouble, so that we wouldn’t have to return here. Basically, we were repeating to each other the same promises we always seem to break.

We walked across the front porch, climbed down the stairs and slid into the car with our new family.

 

Chapter 3: Without sugar

Chapter Three

 

 

 

"Sorry about earlier." Our new mother says while attempting to make eye contact with us through the rear view mirror.

She opens her mouth to say something else, but gets cut off, "I didn't mean to expose you! I’m sorry! Really!” A short beat of silence, “So what kind of witches are you? What kind of powers do you have? What’s your favorite spell? Which one of you is my sister? Who’s marrying my brother?" The words just seem to jumble out of her mouth as the little girl excitedly bounces in her booster seat.

If this is her without sugar... Veronica comments wryly.

What the Haagen-Dazs is she talking about?

"We're both your new sisters."

"Nuh uh! Cause then one of you can’t marry my brother! I don’t mind having two sisters, but I’ll have two sisters after the weddings.” She seems to be in thought for a moment before yelling out, “Will you teach me stuff? Will you buy me clothes? Will you tell me how to make babies?" Her last question has her straining against her seat belt with her eyes popped open wide and a large expectant smile on her face.

Veronica and I stupidly start choking on our own spit.

"Hush sweetheart. You need to learn to control yourself when--" Her mother once again attempts to get an entire sentence out of her mouth.

"You also need to learn not to speak about any aspect of magic in front of the mundane." The man cuts his wife off, before turning to Veronica and I. "I'm sorry about my daughter, she’s not used to being around garden-variety people. We live in a rather large supernatural community."

Veronica and I remained silent as we observed them; we looked at them as though they were crazy. I mean do you randomly start saying things like this to strangers if you're sane? I think not.

 Ready for this?

For what? I ask.

Yes or No?

As ready as I’ll ever be I suppose.

If I win you have to streak through the Macy’s day parade.

If I win you have to streak through Disney world for 4 hours without being caught.

I see her hesitate for a moment, Deal. I was planning to--

His lips are moving, but I’m not hearing anything. Are you casting a spell?

No, but I believe he is. We'll have to hide our conversation in the void.

I immediately started filling my head with thoughts of ways to escape these people. I thought of how psychotic they must be, and wondered how my sister and I would survive. I let my thoughts wander, thinking as though we were normal girls in the car with mental patients.

"We’re not crazy." Our new father says with a frown.

I give him a strange look, as Veronica nods at him weakly. Our new mother says, "So what kind of witches are you?"

"W-w-witches?" We stutter, sinking further into our seats. Making it look as though we're scared and confused, not preparing our defenses and planning our escape. "There’s no such thing as witches, it’s all bedtime stories to feed a child’s imagination and scare them into submission."

"You guys can speak at the same time?! Teach me! Teach me!" the little girl squeals passionately.

"Priscilla!" Her mother says in that be quiet voice that most moms we’ve encountered seem to have.

The man, our new father calmly begins, "Um, why don’t we start over?” When no one objects he says, “Forgive me and my manners, but I don’t think we’ve even introduced ourselves to you girls yet.” Deep breath and a gush as it’s released, “My name is Gregory Flint, and this is my wife Rebecca Moss-Flint." He gestures to his wife before entwining their fingers once again.

"I'm Priscilla Marie Flint! But my big brother calls me Cilly" The little girl, Priscilla, says proudly before her parents can introduce her.

"My name is Veronica-Monet Kirraley Darling," Veronica says before gesturing to me and saying, "And this is my sister, Jypsie-Jenae Evangeli Darling."

"It’s nice to meet you three." I say, I don’t have to try very hard to make my voice weary.

(Is he still probing your mind?) Veronica asks me in what we call the void, our combined mentality.

(Not acti--)

"Is that all you girls have?" Mrs. Flint breaks into our conversation.

"Yes ma'am." We answer.

“Really?” She asks surprised.

“It’s all the orphanage could afford to give us with the limited amount of funding it gets from the government.”

“It’s my understanding though, that the government should be giving orphanages enough money to not only pay their bills, but to feed and clothe their wards as well.” Her husband enters the conversation.

“Hate to break it to you sir, but they only get enough to pay the bills and sometimes have just enough food to feed everyone. A lot of our clothing comes from hand-me-downs and clothing drives.”

“Don’t get us wrong, not every orphanage faces the same financial struggle as the one we were just at, many also receive money from various charities around the country.” My sister chimes in helpfully.

“I’m sure I saw horses behind the orphanage.” Gregory says slanting us a quick look, before turning back to the road.

“Miss Mij pays to keep them fed and housed out of her own pocket,” My sister answers him.

“Her pocket and the orphanages.” I look towards the couple in the front seat as Mrs. Flint gasps, “there are quite a few horses, so she takes some of the money out of what the government gives them to keep the horses comfortable.”

“That’s so upsetting,” Rebecca says as she makes eye contact with me in the rear view mirror.

I see her frown deepen as I reply, “We have what we need.”

"Oh Gregory!" She says looking at her husband distraught.

Without warning he swivels the car around a break in the lane divider and makes a U-turn in the middle of a busy street. People start swerving, luckily no one crashes, but they're all angry. Some people step out of their cars and start shouting and cursing at our retreating car. A few times we see a middle finger, but thankfully Priscilla doesn’t notice.

After 20 minutes of speeding and sharp turns, we finally stop outside a mall. A very large mall that looks to contain every shop known to man.

Veronica and I stare at it while Mrs. and Mr. Flint get out of the car. They come around and Mr. Flint opens the door so that his wife can take Priscilla out of her car seat.

"Sweetie, this is a mall for the mundane." Gregory says to his daughter, "I don’t want you talking about the supernatural alright? I don’t care if you see one; you will not point him out. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes daddy."

"Good." Gregory replies before smiling and ruffling her hair. “Let’s go girls.”

I sigh and climb out of the car. (I’m starting to wish we had a dad like Gregory.)

(You just met him.) Veronica replies as we follow them inside.

"Can we go back to the car for a minute? We forgot our money." Veronica says, reminding me of the box of things our mother left for us. I hope there’s a bank card and money in the account. The sealed box had shown signs of previously being roughly opened. (I wonder why they never took our cash, or used our bank accounts.)

(I think they were bewitched, from what I saw of Mij’s memories, they weren’t able to completely remove anything from the box. I believe we're the only ones capable of taking stuff out completely. Apparently our mother, or whoever cast the spell on it all was no weak little witch.)

"It’s alright." Gregory says, "We'll pay for everything. There’s no spending limit so get whatever you want."

Chapter 4: Marriage Proposal

Chapter Four

 

 

 

About 7 or so hours after our little shopping trip, we pull up to an old Victorian style home. The distance from our orphanage and their house so substantial that we no longer believe our adoption was by coincidence.

"Welcome to your new home girls." Gregory says with a smile, swiftly ushering us inside.

We spin around slowly taking in our new surroundings; scoping out where we'll be living for the next year or so. Discreetly checking out all of our possible escape routes, just in case shit hits the fan.

"It's beautiful."

"Thank you." Rebecca says.

"Do you guys like Barbies? I have a whole lot! Wanna see? I’ll get them! We can play Barbie and Ken at the beach! I'll bring all my dollies!" Priscilla gushes.

"Cilly dear, why don’t you just bring your favorites? Actually, we'll come to you, but just give us a few moments to explain everything to the girls." Gregory says and she runs upstairs after a brief moment of thought.

"MARCO!" He shouts after she gets to the top of the stairs, successfully startling both my sister and I. His wife, Rebecca, glares at him for his behavior and he returns it with another smile, this one showing his dimples.

"POLO." Came the reply in a deep voice. Veronica and I look at each other, simultaneously raising one eyebrow.

"It’s amazing how synchronous your actions are, you know twins have always fascinated me." Rebecca says before smiling, "I’ve always wanted one." We smile a little at her, both thinking that it’s definitely not all it’s cracked up to be.

Rebecca moves, starting to lead us all into another room. As she passes him, her husband gives her a not so gentle tap on the butt that she attempts to ignore. He follows behind her and we take that as our cue to switch rooms. In the new room, we see another couple sitting on one of the couches in what we assume is a living room.

"Hello." The male greets with a smile, as the woman waves to us cheerily. We let Gregory and Rebecca lead us to seats and end up sitting across from the two couples.

"Hello" we reply to the new couple, "I’m Veronica-Monet Darling, and this is my sister Jypsie-Jenae Darling." V says gesturing between us.

"We know" The new male says smiling even wider as his wife’s eyes light up. He leans forward extending a hand to me, "Hello Jypsie, I'm your new father Mathew Blaize."

I shake his hand, "I'm sorry, but what do you mean? I thought Mr. Flint was our new father."

He frowns and turns to Gregory, "You haven’t told them yet have you?"

Gregory shakes his head with a frown, “I thought we’d all tell them together.” Mr. Blaize nods his head, turns back to us and shakes Veronica’s hand. Gregory takes a settling breath and reaches for his wife’s hand before turning to us, "Girls. We didn’t just adopt you because we wanted daughters. We adopted you because a trusted witch with many of the more advanced foretelling abilities told us you were our sons' soul mates." He turns to me, "But it wouldn’t look ethical for my wife and I to adopt both of you and have Jypsie be with her stepbrother, in a way it’d be incest, so Matt here adopted you." The way he said it, you would think that those were his wife’s views and none of his own.

"Jypsie, you will marry Greg's son, and Veronica you will marry my son."

"No we will not!" Veronica and I say standing up. "We're too young to marry! Plus, we don’t even believe in soulmates!"

"You can marry with parental consent." Rebecca says gesturing between the couples. "Do you know what a soul mate is? I’m sure that if you did you wouldn’t be so quick to shoot the opportunity down," she states a bit angrily.

“We know what soulmates are,” I start, “Our answer is still absolutely without a doubt, no.” My sister finishes for me.

"A soul mate is, and I’m quoting from the dictionary here, a person with whom one has a feeling of deep and natural affinity, love, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality, and/or compatibility. A related concept is that of the twin flame or twin soul – which is thought to be the ultimate soulmate, the one and only other half of one's soul, for which all souls are driven to find and join." The unnamed woman says, completely disregarding our last comments, “Even just listening to the dictionary definition how can you say no?”

“Easily” we reply.

"To a supernatural that person is their life, their one and only true love. That person isn’t just needed for spawning, but they are needed to keep you grounded, to make you see bliss where there once was pain. To give you reasons to keep living when all you want to do is disappear. They bring you happiness, they bring you fulfillment, and they understand you better than anyone else. Someone who is going to love you not just for your positive attributes, but for all of your flaws as well. Someone who is necessary for you to feel whole, and content with life.” Rebecca stops for a moment, seeming to realize that in the middle of her speech, she had turned and was staring into her husband’s eyes instead of speaking to us. She turns our way once again, tears shining in her eyes, “Please don't deny our son’s this, they’re good boys and I can guarantee you both will live exceedingly happy lives. They’ll make sure of it." She tries to reason with us, tries to make us see that this is a wonderful thing. That this isn’t some sort of sick twisted joke they’ve decided to pull on some random orphans for their own entertainment.

"Spawn?' I ask, fearing that the answer is the same as what I’m thinking, but hoping none the less that I have the definition wrong.

"Reproduce."

“Nope. They can do that with someone else, ideally someone that consents.” I reply.

“You’re wrong. For the child to be gifted supernaturally, both parents must be supernatural.” Rebecca says,

“And for the child to be fully accepted socially by the Supernatural world, it must be born to mates.” Unnamed grabs hold of her husband’s hand. “Our children would only want the best for their own kids, they wouldn’t want to put them in any position to be bullied. We want the best for our future grandchildren, so--”

"So what you’re saying is that if we don’t accept them they won’t have children?" Veronica says with a straight face, void of emotion, “Because they put so much stock into the way society views them that they don’t want to be ridiculed in any way?”

Both women nod, Veronica’s face does not change as she asks, “And that’s our problem because?” The mothers look as though they’re getting angry, and they’re going to start yelling at my sister so I cut in with the first thing to pop into my mind.

"I'm too young to get as big as a whale!"

My new mother, the still unnamed woman, begins to frown a bit before saying, "Don’t worry hon." She moves around the coffee table to sit next to me so she can pat my knee, and I suspect it’s also so that she’s close enough to hit us, "Every pregnancy is different. You might not gain more than 10 pounds, and you could only be pregnant for a few months."

"Um, not to cast aspersions on your intelligence or anything, but the average pregnancy lasts around 9 months."

"That’s for the mundane dear, dragons are different."

"Are you trying to tell me I’m a dragon?!" I scream while jumping up, causing everyone else in the room to wince.

"No, you two are witches." Unnamed says as her husband leads her back to his side by her hand.

I sigh whilst pinching the space between my eyes and say, "You know none of this stuff really exists right?"

Matt smirks at me while his wife mumbles something in Latin, next thing I know I’m floating 7 feet in the air and turning green. I scream as loud as I can and hear something hit the floor somewhere above me.

"Put her down!" Veronica yells at my new mother, "She's got acrophobia!"

Rebecca tips her head to the side confused, “What do spiders have to do with anything?”

“Not arachnophobia dear, acrophobia.” Her husband answers, “It means she’s afraid of heights.”

In less time than it took mother dearest to levitate me, I sink back into the couch. I bury my face in my sister’s chest as she holds me, strokes my hair and tries to calm me. I start shaking just before we all hear thudding on the stairs.

" I am so sorry dear! I had no idea! Oh my, you must think I'm a horrible mom now." She starts crying, "And you should because I am! What kind of mother does something like this to her daughter?" She starts wailing even louder and Matthew pulls her onto his lap and into his arms. He starts consoling her, telling her over and over again that she’s not a bad mom. Rebecca has her hand on her back giving her examples of how great a parent she is.

I sense another presence in the room seconds before someone else enters, "What happened? What’s wrong?" Veronica's whole body tenses before relaxing into jelly. I’ve stopped shaking, and my stomach has started to settle so I once again feel brave enough to face everyone. I look up to see Veronica staring over my head, and the adults staring at her with a smile. I follow her line of sight and see a very attractive male standing near the archway that served as a separation between rooms.

There stood a tall flesh and blood version of Adonis, he was breath taking, and obviously oblivious to the rest of the world as he stared in my direction. I had a beautiful ego boosting moment as I imagined he was looking at me with such raw sexual need. Then I realized he was looking at my sister and deflated immediately. Even knowing that we’re identical I still felt a shot to my pride. He has weird eyes anyways.

(V!) I have to yell at my sister multiple time mentally before she finally answers. I can tell I don’t have even half of her attention though. That’s another shot to my pride.

(Who’s that? Who’s there?)

(Your sister! You remember me right? The girl who just flew too many feet in the air and almost died of fright?)

(Oh yeah. You. What do you want? God he's beautiful. Isn't he beautiful?)

Before I can even answer her she says, "You're beautiful”. I can feel my eyes widen as I stare at her, my sister has never been the airhead type. He chuckles and this amazing smile leaps onto his face as he further strides into the room towards us, he looks as though his intent is to get as close to my sister as is possible. Unfortunately for him though, there’s not enough room on the loveseat for all three of us. My pride starts reviving itself as I find some satisfaction in that knowledge. Until in an attempt to make space and to my utter surprise, my sister, my twin sister that I’ve gone through everything with, the person I’ve been with my entire life pushes me to the floor.

I land with a loud thud and a flaring pain flying through my butt and up my spine. My eyes go wide with shock as he steps around me and takes my now vacant seat, grasping my sister’s hands. They sit there and just stare into each other’s eyes with horribly goofy grins on their faces. I turn my head to the adults, still in shock, and see our new parents trying as hard as they can not to laugh.

Standing up and leaving my now destroyed pride on the floor I ask, "Excuse me, but where exactly will I be staying? I’d really rather lay down right now if it’s ok with you guys."

"We haven’t fully finished getting your room together so you will be sleeping in my son, your fiancé, Jason's room. We figured that since you guys are mates and you’ll probably be spending a lot of time in each other’s beds anyways you wouldn't really mind." Rebecca says while watching my sister and her new beau interact.

"Especially after you see him." Unnamed starts with a large smile on her face, but gets cut off.

"It's upstairs, third one on the right. Your things should also be in there waiting for you already." Gregory says just before breaking out in hysterics alongside of the other male as my sister accidentally kicks me in the process of moving even closer to her newly discovered mate. I calmly get back up once again and walk out with my head held high. Bruised ego and all. As I step out of the room, I let my facade fall and surrender to my pain as I trudge up to the room where I’ll be sleeping.

I cautiously slide in after a quick knock, and can tell immediately that while it may be typical for some, it’s not to me. This room is so much better than my previous living arrangements. Just a little bigger than what you’d usually expect for a well off teenager. There's some clothes on the floor, some books and papers in piles on the desk and my stuff sitting neatly on the floor near another door. What really catches my attention as I look over the room though, past the posters of half-naked women and shelves of empty bottles, is the couch. Yep, that’s where he’ll be sleeping till I get my own room.

I nod to myself, slightly pleased by the fact that I won’t have to share a bed with a stranger. I walk to my things and go through the bags until I find what I want to wear, I open the door and step into the bathroom. I look around, and I’m surprised to see that it’s clean enough for me to use, the trash is full of condoms though. At least I know he’s somewhat safe, and apparently he never has to go without. After changing and preparing for bed, I step back into the room, and stop to look out the window.

He has a beautiful view of the back yard, which is nothing short of spectacular. A small garden with flowers and what I’m guessing are edible crops. A small grove of fruit trees behind that, which turn into trees you can find in an everyday forest. What truly takes my breath away, like my sisters reaction to the sight of Adonis downstairs, is the lake. The beautiful lake with all the houses surrounding it, the lights reflecting off the water’s surface from the decks. For the first time all day, I was finally starting to feel at peace, like the universe wasn’t trying to play some kind of colossal joke on me.

Chapter 5: Betrayed

Chapter Five

 

 

 

Standing there with my hand and forehead against the cool glass thinking over Veronica's reaction to that boy, I kept confusing and frustrating myself. I just couldn’t understand how seeing some guy could cause such a reaction. Guys have never made either of us act like that before. I stared out at the lake thinking about how she treated me, how hitting that floor didn't just hurt my butt; it hurt a whole lot more. Left me feeling raw to know that I could be so easily forgotten by the only person I love.

I mean how could she? After all we’ve been through together, even knowing that we have no one else in this world but each other, I can't believe she just tossed me to the side like that. Nice to know that I mean oh so much to her. Whatever happened to chicks before dicks? Sisters over misters?

"Babe you know I want you, but tomorrow’s the first day of school. We both know damn well I’m not going to be on time for the rest of the year, I figure I should at least be on time for the first day back. Plus you know coach wants us in early for a brief morning practice tomorrow.” Silence “Aw don’t make that face, you know I want you. I just don’t think having you tonight would be a good move. If I’m late he won’t let me play in the game this weekend and we start the season against one of our rivals. I have to play. We’ll do something after you finish practice tomorrow ok?" I hear a smooth voice, definitely has to be a guy, right outside the door. I turn and after bending over a bit to get a better view, see the shadows of two people slipping in through the bottom. One is wearing heels and the other isn't, solidifying my guess that a guy is indeed outside my new room.

"Okay baby. I’ll miss you tonight though, and I know you'll miss my body,” she whispers quietly “all the guys always miss my body,”  before speaking up again, “Promise me that tomorrow night you'll be between my thighs again. Okay? Promise?" The girl says in what she thinks is a sexy voice, but it actually just sounds like someone constipated. She leans up on her tip toes, the back of her heels leaving the hardwood floor and I hear the sound of saliva swapping. No way in hell am I kissing him now, I don’t want her germs. Germs that she’s apparently passing around to everybody. How did he not hear her talking about other guys?

I make my own promise to myself not to sleep with my fiancé, anyone who isn’t deaf can tell that he’s sleeping with this girl, and she sounds like he’s not the only one getting some of her taco. I can just imagine the amount of STD's or "Special Sauce" this girl is harboring, and honestly it sends deep shivers of disgust through my body. Absolutely revolting.

I hear them separate as little feet come running in our direction. “Jason! Jason! Mummy and daddy got the surprise! She’s so beautiful too! I bet you’ll fall in –“

I hear the male voice cut her off, “Silly,” he pauses and I hear him sigh, “Why are you naked?”

Right on cue I hear her mom coming down the hall yelling, “Priscilla Marie Flint! Get back here and take your bath!” Priscilla squeaks and after saying “I have to go” runs off in the opposite direction of her mother. Right outside the door I hear her mother say “Octavia shouldn’t you be home at this hour? I wouldn’t want your father to worry, and we actually need our son for something important. You understand I’m sure, so say goodnight and hurry up home dear.”

 “Ok Mrs. flint, I’ll be leaving soon.”  

I’m guessing she walked away, because the girl apparently named Octavia then says to the male I now know to be Jason, “Something important? What are you hiding from me baby?”

She must have been touching him while she asked if his answering moan is any indication, "Mm. Babe, you’re turning me on and we don’t have time for that." He says before she squeals, I'm guessing he squeezed her ass cheek or bit her neck or something, maybe he tried to fondle her boob, I don’t know. “It’s nothing you need to be concerned with, just have to prove something to my parents.” My stomach starts threatening to empty itself as the sound of saliva swapping fills the hallway again. Thankfully it stops sooner rather than later, and then I just have to hear quiet mumbles as they whisper to each other. I catch the click clack of her heels as she walks away. Then silence.

I sigh and leave the window, strolling towards the bed mulling over the mess I seem to have landed in. I pass the dresser and notice a poster on the wall that I don’t remember seeing when I first waltzed in, another half-naked female. Nice. I sigh again and shake my head as I hear the door swing open.

There’s a moment of absolute silence, accentuated with a heated feeling on my back, like someone’s watching me. I stop moving as my mind starts coming up with the oddest thoughts at a mile a minute. What if he decides I’m not pretty enough and tries to kill me? What if he likes that girl better than he likes me? What if my body alone isn’t good enough? What if he thinks I’m too smart? Wait, why do I care?

"You must be my fiancé."

I slowly turn my head, Good lord, to see the most beautiful guy in my world, I don’t think I could or ever have been able to imagine anyone hotter. He wasn’t a perfect specimen physically, well probably not to every other female on this planet, but he did look delectable. His nose was a bit crooked, in a way that told me it’d been broken before, and he had a few scars on his face here and there but he still looked amazing. Two seconds of actually being in his presence and I already wanted to strip him and jump his bones. I wanted to make him the happiest man alive, or at least die trying. The thought of a frown staining his face nearly ripped my heart in two, and I didn’t even know him. I wanted to though, damn did I want to know everything about this man.

I opened my mouth to say something and break the silent hold he already had on me, but he beat me to it, "God you’re sexy.” He looks me up and down real slow, his gaze stopping on my ass and staying there, “I like your outfit by the way."

Ignoring the weird feeling that’s sprouted up in my stomach and the urge to let him touch me wherever he pleases, I roll my eyes and resist the urge to pull my tank top down over my shorts. Solemnly reminding myself of the promise I just made, stating I wouldn't sleep with him, I take a deep breath to try and calm myself. I start to chant mentally, I will not show him any signs of the way he has already started affecting me. In the next minute though, a thought occurs to me, I never said anything about torturing him. Maybe I can torture him enough that he “cheats” with that other girl and they hopefully let me out of this whole perfect for each other marriage bullshit.

I turn and try to finish my journey to the bed, slightly swaying my hips as I walk, completely ignoring his presence. He obviously doesn't like that, because I hear him growl a little, something I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone do outside of a movie, before quickly walking into my path. I stop moving as he does a bit of a semi-circle around me, no longer liking the idea of having him behind me, I turn my body to face him. Big mistake. I should have just kept moving.

"Hello” He starts, and receives no response from me as his voice draws my attention to his lips, “my name is Jason.” His tongue slides out quickly to wet his lips and make me shiver. I notice out of my peripheral vision as he slowly starts looking me up and down again, a smile curving on his lips “and I will be taking your body on a very pleasurable trip tonight.” he says rather smoothly with an emphasis on the very. “In a moment I'll be taking you to cloud nine and beyond, but before that why don’t you take a deep breath? Because I can guarantee breathing won’t be as easy once I start." He says to me as his mouth slips into a confident smirk, like he’s some sort of sex god or something and he knows it. Lord help me if he is.

Leave it to me to get the cocky one. "What makes you think I want you?" I ask, trying to feign disinterest while raising an eyebrow and crossing my arms over my chest. Another mistake, because it accentuates my cleavage and raises my tank top to reveal some midriff.

Jason growls again and suddenly leans into my personal space, forcing me to back up in an attempt to regain it. He keeps coming, pushing me up against the wall, he reaches up and pushes my hair out of my face, before staring in my eyes for a few minutes. Somehow knowing that it’s making my body warm up for him.

I gently push my way into his mind without his knowledge and find it anything but blank. Not a single thought could be heard, not a single memory seen, just a snapshot of this moment. It’s as though just staring into my eyes can quiet his world, and that thought causes an unwanted and unexpected feeling to spread through me. Happiness. A man I just met, who I know next to nothing about, that people are attempting to force me to be with is making me happy. This day can’t get any weirder. The thought causes me to blink multiple times breaking the innocent connection. As his mind starts to fill with fantasies straight out of a porno, staring yours truly I know it’s time I leave his mind before he gets me any slicker.

His vision slips from my eyes to my mouth, this look comes over his features, like he’s hungry. Not the kind of hunger that would make you jump back and scream bloody murder, but the kind that tightens your stomach and sends your blood pumping through your veins at high speeds. The kind of hunger that makes you want to pull him closer, run your hands through his hair, wrap your legs around his waist and mold yourself to his body. I wanted him like a little kid wants candy. Like a man who just crossed the Sahara desert wants water, and I just didn’t understand why. I needed him, I needed him bad and I needed him now.

I licked my lips and before I knew it, Jason was slamming the rest of his figure against me. With his body pinned on mine, he ran his fingertips down my arms and sides, like a feather at first but getting rougher and rougher the more he tried to hold back. A soft moan broke free from me, I didn't mean to but it just escaped before my lips could stop it. He bent down and hitched my left leg around his calf, placed his hands back on my hips where he squeezed me. His thumbs slid under my shirt and he dug them into the soft flesh of my stomach a bit, earning another moan. He rocked my hips into him and brought his head down to my level, his chest leaving mine. His lips were so close, our ragged breathing combining into an aroused melody, it all happened so fast.

Then somehow we got caught again. He stared into my eyes and I felt something deep in me start to move, like it was trying to shift into place.

Chapter 6: Next time

Chapter Six

 

 

 

After what felt like an hour, but was probably only a few moments, Jason finally leaned in to kiss me. He shut his eyes and at the last moment I turned my head, causing him to kiss my cheek. He growled a bit, then using his cheek pushed my head to the left so he could get to my lips. He leaned in, and I moved my head all the way so he kissed my right cheek instead. He growled once again, prompting me to wrap my arms around his neck. I’ve never had to do this on purpose before, damn I hope I’m doing it right. I leaned up on my toes, away from the wall, and whispered in his ear while I attempted to seductively tousle his hair, if that’s actually possible.

"No."

"No?" He repeated.

With a nod of my head he asked, “Why not?”

I forgot my answer the moment I felt his tongue on me. Unlike the males who tried it before, instead of being disgusted I found myself wanting him more. He drew a circle on my skin with his tongue before I felt his entire mouth on me. I stopped breathing as I felt him suck gently on my neck then pull back. He blew softly on the spot and my resistance weakened as my traitorous body shook in pleasure. “I’m waiting.” He said quietly.

“What?” I tried shaking my head a bit, to rid my brain of its sexual stupor. His mouth came back, this time though he thought to throw a little nibbling into the mix, causing me to gasp and have to choke out my next sentence, "I refuse to be another notch on your belt.  Another nick in your headboard. Another name on your list." I finished on a moan that I didn’t think he could pull out of me so easily.

"Never." He says to me, his voice heavy with the sexual tension in the air. As soon as I felt the unfamiliar fluttering in the pit of my stomach, I tried pulling away, but didn't get too far before his lips were on mine. Sealing my fate and taking my breath away once again.

He reaches down and pulls my right leg up to be wrapped around him. As soon as I feel his arousal, the rest of my sensibility flies out the window. Surprising myself, I attempt to grind on him and get rewarded for my efforts with a groan of pleasure. I smile into the kiss and he wraps his arms around my waist. Seconds later, my back leaves the wall and hits something soft and plush. The bed.

I unwrap my legs from around him, planting my feet on the soft mattress, and run my hands through his hair again. He licks my lower lip, but I deny him entrance. Feeling a bit of sense return, I tug on his hair in an attempt to end the kiss, it doesn’t work. He again tries to gain access into my mouth, but I once again oppose him. He growls, but doesn't push it and decides to just kiss the rest of my body. He kisses the side of my mouth, across my jaw line, my ear and then travels down my neck. Half way down he bites me, not enough to break the skin and not painfully hard, but enough to get another moan. He keeps kissing down, and stops to suck on my collar bone.

His fingers brush the skin on my shoulder as he gently starts tugging my spaghetti and bra strap off. They leave a trail of fire, and I'm so at home in that moment. I lay there feeling like I’m finally where I belong, not necessarily on my back under a man, but with the person I’m supposed to be with.

Then it gets interrupted. His phone goes off and although he groans to acknowledge it he doesn’t move to answer. Thankfully it stops, as he draws lazy circles down towards my nipple with his tongue. I can’t help but hold my breath in anticipation of his mouth on my hardened peak, impatiently reaching out for his attention.

His phone rings again, but he ignores it and moves back up to kiss my collar bone lightly. I start breathing a little bit, before my breath is stolen as he bites a sweet spot between my neck and shoulder that has me arching off the bed with my head back. He allows me to come down a bit with light sweet kisses down towards my breast again. His phone rings a third time and he curses. I feel him start to pull away, and wait for his body to leave mine. When his phone continues to ring and I don’t feel him continuing the motion off of me, I open my eyes.

The first thing to enter my lust filled mind, is the successful smirk on his face. Seeing that I’m completely confused, he moves one hand to squeeze my thigh. Blushing with embarrassment, I realize that my legs are wrapped tightly around him again, and I’m clutching on to his shoulders. With as much dignity as I can muster, I slowly release him while feigning a nonchalant attitude. He leans in again for another kiss when his phone starts going off again. I groan and shut my eyes, thinking every expletive I know in every language I know them in.

With another gentle kiss on my neck, now that I’ve released him, he gets up and searches for his still ringing phone. I hear him curse again just before he shatters the lust filled fantasies that have started to play in my mind. “Hey baby.” I angrily open my eyes as reality instantly comes crashing back to me. I look around and find him near the foot of the bed with an apology in his eyes. “Sorry, I was in the shower and didn’t hear my phone ring. I’m glad you got home safely.”

He reaches out to try and touch my leg. As if I would let him continue, what type of girl does he take me for? An easy one. My mind answer’s before I move away. Angry at myself for my wanton behavior and angry at him for the burning lust he stirs in me, I move up the bed and under the covers. He finishes his conversation and tries to reach for me again but stops when my glare hits him. Turning on my side, facing away from him I say, “You’re sleeping on the couch. Don’t even think about touching me again.”

“Babe…” He starts, but thinks better of it, realizing that he’s fucked up and nothing will be happening the rest of the night. I hear him moving around for a few moments before a door shuts and the shower starts.

My eyelids get too heavy to keep open, with the day’s activities catching up to me and the pain I’ve had to deal with, I shut them to seek sweet oblivion. Right as I’m on the edge, I feel the bed behind me dip and arms reach for me. I swat them away as best as I can, not sure if I landed a successful hit or not, but they stop trying to grab me so I take it as a win. The last thing I hear before falling into a deep sleep is a sexy male chuckle like I’ve never heard before and the words, "Next time love, don’t worry we have eternity to play."

Ugh, the bastards got talent and he knows it, knows how he affected me. Heavens help me survive this demon.

Chapter 7: Even

Chapter Seven

 

 

 

I woke up to an empty bed and a smashed alarm clock, I guess I hit it harder than I thought. I'll have to get Jason a new one I suppose. I think on it a moment more, No, it’s that bastard’s problem not mine. I roll over and fruitlessly attempt to go back to sleep, enjoying the warm comfort of the Queen sized bed.

The door groans open, "Jyps get your fat butt out of bed. We're being forced to go to hell," I hear veronica. I slowly roll back over again, cocooning myself in the blankets, and open one eye. “Otherwise known as high school.”

Instead of responding I take a good look at her, trying to see who stands by the door striving to speak to me. What I see may as well be a stranger in my twin’s body. Looking completely different than what I’m used to, she leans against the door frame applying lip gloss to already covered lips. I want so badly to ask her why she put in the effort to look so out of the ordinary today, not that she looks bad of course, but an emotional pain in my backside has me glaring at her instead.

"You’re mad at me?" She questions innocently, looking into my narrowed eyes. Sighing, "Look. I'm sorry about shoving you on the floor yesterday, but I just wanted to be near him. Carter makes me feel things that no other man ever has, and I’m not sorry about that. Don’t ask me to be."

I say nothing to her, choosing to ignore my so called other half. I climb out of bed and head towards my clothes still lying in shopping bags on the floor.

"Wear something sexy.” She says, seeming to not notice that I’d rather she leave me alone, at least for a little while. “I want Carter to always see me at my best, and since were identical... Well you get the point right?" Then she crosses her feet at the ankles, leaning heavily on the door frame, placed one finger on her chin and looked towards the ceiling. "Put on some mascara and eyeliner too. Some lipstick and a bit of lip gloss wouldn't kill you." She was really working my nerves. "You know what? Just wear that micro mini-skirt Rebecca thought was cute, with that tiny little triangle bikini she forced you to get yesterday, the one that barely covers your nips, let alone your tits. The more skin you show the better."

Her little rant really woke me, before she was even finished I was pissed. Without hesitation I leaned over, picked up one of what I believed to be Jason’s shoes and hit her square in the face. Her nose started bleeding and I stood up from my position feeling a bit better. I watched as she straightened herself out and pinched her nose. She started moving it side to side, making sure it wasn’t broken as I just watched.

“That was completely unfair!” she yells at me, still rubbing it.

“After yesterday, that’s totally fair.”

“I didn’t draw blood! And it’s not like I made you face plant!”

“It’s completely fair! Actually my injury hurt more, because I don’t have any ass cushion! Whereas I’m sure the size of your nose protected the rest of your face!”

“We have the same face idiot!”

“We do not!” I scream getting in her face. She squeezes my nose painfully, and I smack her butt just as hard.

"Now. We're even." She says, "I could care less what you wear and look like, as long as you're wearing clothes."

I turn back not bothering to reply to her, and head over to my bags. Rummaging through them, I grab a decent set of clothes before heading into the bathroom. "Hurry up, or your coffee will get cold." I hear her walking towards the stairs before I even decide to answer. Well, it’s not like I was going to answer her anyways.

 

Chapter 8: Destroy her

Chapter Eight

 

 

 

I reached for the shelf to put my shampoo back, and ended up dropping it out of surprise instead. Someone had randomly started playing music throughout the room. Very loudly.

            I’m just glad it’s a good song, I thought as I picked up his body wash and started singing along. Equally as loud but nowhere near as good, my voice probably carried back through the door and into the room as well.

I sang with as much effort as I could offer this early in the morning, only stopping when I felt a rush of cold air signaling that the bathroom door was opened. Thinking that it was probably just my sister entering without knocking like usual, I started crooning again. I rinsed all the shampoo suds that had fallen on my face off so that I could belt out the rest of the song without choking on soap. I began awkwardly dancing in the shower, giving her a million dollar show before turning towards the door and going pale. Standing there in all his sex god glory was my “fiancé”, with a very seductive smirk on his face and the inability to keep eye contact. As he visually raked over my naked body, his eyes seemed to get darker and darker, almost turning completely black.

"Don't even think about it mister." I said sounding a lot more relaxed than I really was. Actually I felt like I just may faint at any moment and that scared me. When I died, I didn’t want them to find me in the tub. Naked. For all to see. Please don’t let me slip on any of the soap I dropped.

Lost in my thoughts, I almost missed when he stepped into the bathroom. Oh, who am I kidding? I did notice. I definitely noticed how he slowly made his way over to me, his tight black shirt doing wonders for his appearance and my imagination. At this point, I wasn’t sure if it was me or if the steam in the small room really was getting thicker by the second. I swore someone had flushed the toilet, or had the tap running somewhere else in the house, because the once hot water from my shower started feeling calmingly cold on my increasingly heated body.

I didn’t realize it, but at some point my breathing had gotten heavier. He reached for the shower door and slid it open. He made eye contact with me and kept it up as he leaned in and turned off the water. The steam in the room, strangely seemed to increase instead of dissipate, which would have confused me If I could get my mind out of the gutter. All I could really think about was having his tongue in my mouth. His body pressed up against mine. His mouth on my neck. Fuck! His mouth on every inch of my body.

If I had thought about it rationally, I probably would have had the good sense not to do it, but I didn’t and ended up surprising us both by jumping on him. He really must not have expected it in the slightest because he was so shocked he didn’t even try to fight for his balance.

We ended up on the floor in a heap of tangled limbs. He groaned and reached up to rub the back of his head. I couldn’t help the smile that played on my lips as I looked down at his stunned expression. I moved the hair out of my face to enjoy it a little better, he took the opportunity to attempt to lean up on his elbows. I shoved him back down and a very seductive growl bubbled its way through his lips. I shivered in pleasure and slid my body down, so that I was still straddling him, but my head was closer to his. Trying to align us as best as I could.  I bit the side of his neck and pulled on the skin with my teeth. He breathed in sharply and I felt his hands grip my thighs. I slid my tongue from the place where I had bitten him, to the front of his neck and licked his Adams apple. He arched his head back and gave me full access to his neck. Handing over the power in the situation.

Everything in the room froze, and a holographic version of my sister floated up through the floor. It took me almost a full minute to realize that Jason was no longer enjoying what I was doing to him. I looked up and met my sister’s wide eyes, just before they settled back into their usual position. She raised an eyebrow and a smirk played on her lips.

(Get it!)

(Can I help you with something? As you can obviously see, I’m busy here.)

(You guys are some true freaks huh. I thought maybe you could hold out on him, guess not eh?)

(Veronica! Do you need something?) I snapped out getting more than a little irritated.

Her smirk turned into a mischievous smile. (No. Just wanted to see what was taking you so long.)

(Well now that you know, get out.)

(If you keep that up, it looks like Carter and I will be leaving you. I'm not about to be late on my first day of school because you two wanna be up here making babies in the bathroom.)

(We were not!)

(Mhm. Just remember, it takes many nails to build a crib, and one screw to fill it, so don't make a mistake, cover his snake.)

(So you’re using your powers now?)

(Stop trying to change the subject Jyps. All I’m saying is cover his tool or end up looking like a fool.)

I opened my mouth to yell at her to leave once again, and found that I didn’t need to, for with that last piece of advice she disappeared and time resumed.

Jason started to growl and I looked down to see his usual hazel eyes completely devoid of color. I couldn’t read a single thing in those dark pools, which both scared and excited me simultaneously. I seemed to be experiencing my usual sluggish early morning thought process, because it was a moment before I froze as I remembered exactly what I just did. The look on his face said he remembered it too.

I shyly sat up, and tried to swing my leg back over so I could get off of him and out of there, but his grip on my hips tightened. He sat up again, and I slid down onto his hard crotch. He moved me around on his uh “best friend” and bit my neck. Now, it was my turn to breathe in sharply as the tables turned.

I pushed at him to lay back down on the floor again, but this time he wasn't having that. He held on to me tightly as he laid, then rolled us over so my back was against the cold hard tile.

"Can’t handle it when someone else is in control can you?" I attempted to seductively tease him, but it probably came out breathy and indignant.

"Not really." Came his guttural reply, with what I’m hoping and dreading at the same time was lust mangling his beautiful voice.

I pulled him down by the collar of his shirt and kissed him, in hopes of distracting him long enough to come up with a game plan. What I didn’t expect, was for the kiss to have so much passion that I’d forget my own name. We could have set the house on fire kissing like that. It didn't matter though, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have noticed.

"Oh my flapjacks!" Someone exclaimed above us, effectively dousing our flames, well at least mine anyways. It takes a moment for our faces to disconnect, but when they do we look up to see Mrs. Flint, Jason's mom, standing there with wide eyes and a bright red face. I make eye contact with her for all of 5 seconds before her eyes travel and she notices all the nude flesh I'm sporting. She gasps, quickly turns around and runs towards the door where she hides her face in her husband’s chest. I look up at his face and he’s looking down at his son with a proud gleam in his eyes and a smile on his face. I look past him to see a slightly blushing Carter politely covering his eyes with one hand and holding my sister up with the other.

Veronica has the reddest face of them all, but she isn't blushing. She's trying her best to breathe through her fits of laughter. I watch tears stream down her face as she gasps to fill her lungs. I am going to kill her. My cheeks flush and I squeeze my eyes shut tightly. I breathe in and out, trying my hardest to calm down my raging hormones and get over my embarrassment. I feel soft lips on my forehead, before Jason starts slowly getting off me. Panic surges and I wrap myself a little more tightly than intended around him so he stops. Without opening my eyes I know that he’s looking down at me with confused eyes and amusement plastered all over his face, arrogant bastard. I imagine Carter and Jason’s mother still can’t look at the scene while his father has a raised eyebrow and an equally amused expression. I can hear Veronica laughing even harder and it’s making the moment that much worse for me. I really am going to kill her.

"Do you guys think you can leave for a moment?" I mumble. Please just kill me now.

"So you guys can finish?" Gregory says. I can just see him smiling like the Cheshire cat from Alice in wonderland as he says this. "Ouch!" I bet 5 bucks Rebecca just hit him.

"I'm kind of not exactly suitable for company." I mumble once again, God I’m probably as red as a tomato right now. Can this get any worse? I have to repeat myself two more times before I finally say it clearly enough for him to understand me.

"What do you mean?" Gregory asks, the smile still evident in his voice.

"Sh-She's completely n-n-naked!" I hear my sister choke out before breaking down in hysterics worse than before. At this point Carter has to be literally carrying her, there’s no way that she’s standing on her own.

I hear Rebecca say oh my goodness and Gregory’s laughter as he pulls her out of the room. Carter mumbles an apology as he literally carries my sister out. Once we're left alone, I open my eyes slowly to see Jason smiling down at me in pure amusement. His eyes, now hazel again, but still rimmed in black lust. I can sense something dangerously animalistic just below the surface, something that calls to me in a primal way that I’m not sure I’m comfortable with.

"Now, where were we again?" He asks me with a nibble on my bottom lip. “Oh yes, I remember.” He licked the spot to soothe away any pain, “it’s not like they’re going to come back, so let’s finish.”

"Absolutely not! How did that not kill your mood?!”

“I’m a healthy male in my prime.” He leans close to my ear and whispers, “besides, I’m not human nor was I raised to succumb to the same social conventions as they were. Sex is a very natural thing amongst not only my kind, but all supernaturals. We’re not as prudish as humans, although we do try to keep in mind our mates intimate preferences when it comes to location. As yours weren’t really compromised, I feel no need to stop and move to a better place.”

“English?”

“I’m not bothered by everyone knowing that we’re fucking and I’d very much like to continue.” He winks at me as he lightly grinds his pelvis into mine. I feel the rough fabric of his jeans covered member in my most sensitive area and the moan that’s freed from my throat scares me.

“Get off me you randy demon!"

In a flash, his Hazel eyes go pitch black again and he growls at me. "I love it when a girl attempts to tell me no, even as I can smell how much she yearns for me. Makes me want her much more." He leans in and kisses me, his tongue dancing with mine in a fight for dominance. After I win, he just starts kissing across my jaw line. He kisses the sides of my mouth, and my temples while his fingers run across my body. The tips of them lightly kissing my skin as he leads a trail of fire all through my flesh. I can feel his full weight on top of me and although it’s not exactly comfortable, I don’t know if I really want him off.

Finally making a decision I say, "I want to be on top," adding a bit of pout to my request in hopes that it’ll get me my way.

"Whatever you wish." He flips us over again and squeezes my ass, obviously thinking that things are settled and I’ll be going along with his desires. Unable to resist and after telling myself it’s just to keep up appearances, I kiss him one more time, startling myself with another moan.

I open my eyes, checking that he’s closed his and can’t see me. I stealthily raise my arm and grab my clothes. I press them to my naked body as I ask him, "Whatever I want?"

"Mmhmm." He moans as I run my free hand over his clothed body.

"Let go of me."

He grips me tighter and my resolve weakens a little. To give myself the mental strength I need for my plan, I think over his previous comment about other women and how they tease his appetite by saying no. "Don't worry, just let go." This time he does and I swing my leg off him. He groans as he feels my body leave his, his eyes flutter but I put my free hand over them and tell him to keep them closed.

Starting from his Adams apple, I run my hand down his body while using my magic to pull open the closest door. As it’s hard to focus, it takes me multiple tries before it creaks open, and even more focus as I try to widen the gap enough to fit through. Keeping my eyes on his I lift his shirt and draw circles on his abdomen, I slowly start drifting south. He attempts to grip the tile on the floor, sucks a deep breath in through his nose and I bolt. I grip my clothes tightly so I won’t drop them and run for his closet. I’m able to get there in time to lock the door and hastily start getting dressed.

Not 10 seconds later do I hear him banging on the closet door, loudly cursing like a pissed off sailor. "What’s wrong baby?" I coo at him with a grimace on my face as I stumble trying to pull on my pants.

The door swings open just as I pull my shirt down. He pushes me up against the back of the closet and leans in to kiss me but his phone rings. He growls, but digs in his pocket. Once he finally pulls it out he looks at the caller ID and curses again. I raise one eyebrow and he just puts a finger to his mouth, the universal sign of be quiet.

"Hey Tavie." He says trying to calm himself, I’m guessing so that she doesn’t hear the emotion in his voice. Who the hell is Tavie?

The room is so quiet that I can hear their conversation perfectly. "Baby" she whines "I thought you would call me when you woke up to tell me good morning and talk till you had to practice! I’ve been waiting for 45 minutes now! I should still be asleep you know, but I figured you would want to hear your girl’s voice before all the B.S. he throws at you--"

I push him off me and exit the closet. I grab my things for school and head for the door, but he grabs my arm.

"Where do you think you're going?!" He harshly whispers to me.

"You don’t really expect me to stand by and listen to you sweet talk that little hoe do you? You know, I'm happy she called because I must have lost my goddamn mind. See you later Jason. Have fun with the head cheerleader." I say before walking out of the room and slamming his door shut behind me. I sit on the step and yank my shoes on, choosing to wear my old pair for the comfort. I take a deep breath in an effort to calm myself as I listen to the approaching footsteps of someone a little too excited. It’s too early for this.

"My big brother is so lucky. You’re way prettier than all the other girls he’s ever played with! And you smell nice, and my mommy says everything on your body nature gave you. My brother’s newest special friend whose really an old friend, Octavia, bought her body from someone named Dr. Hose its. At least that’s what her sister says, she’s nicer than Octavia. She was supposed to come over to swim today, but nobody wants to watch us. Mommy and daddy are too busy like aunty and uncle, and I think Carter's going to play with my new sister and I don't want to ask Jason." Priscilla rambles to me.

I stand up and lead her as I continue on my way down the stairs, "And why don't you want to ask Jason?" It’s seriously too early in the morning for this.

"Cause he'll tell Octavia and she'll come over in her stringy suit with all her friends. Mommy says they’re as fake as she pretends to be because they all got boob jobs and nose jobs and butt jobs. Mommy doesn’t know this but once I heard Octavia say to her friends that she gave Jason a hand job and a blow job. But she wouldn’t tell me what that was and she told me not to ask anyone or I’d get in really big trouble. Don’t tell anyone ok? I don’t want to get in trouble! Mommy says soon I’ll have longer school days and she can’t wait. Daddy says he feels bad for the teachers already. I asked him why and he said because they have no idea what’s headed their way --"

"Tell you what,” I cut her off before she could give me a headache, “I of course have to go to school right now and don’t know what time they let everybody out, but when I get home I wouldn’t mind watching you and your friend in the pool. We’re definitely going to finish this conversation about Octavia." I have to watch what I say in front of her, she talks too much. Damn it’s early.

She starts screeching and bounces into my arms as I walk into the kitchen, "You’re the best cousin I ever had!" she shrieks as she wraps her little arms around my neck in a death hug. How the hell is she this strong? Or am I just weak?

My new parents start chuckling as they watch her little display of affection. Rebecca turns bright red as she drops her eyes to her joyous daughter. Gregory starts chuckling and Carter turns away from me to hide his smirk. Veronica walks into the room from another entrance and breaks down in hysterics all over again.

"Did we miss something?" Matthew asks, eying everyone suspiciously before stopping on Veronica.

"Can we just head to school already? We're going to be late." I say not meeting anyone’s eyes. Hmm, the floors have such intricate designs on them. They’re absolutely breath taking.

"Wait one second; I just need you to sign this paper." My mom says, "Oh and I'm not sure if I said this yesterday, but my name is Gianna. Gianna Blaize, but you can just call me mom." I look up at her, and the look on her face tells me I'm only allowed to call her mom.

"Yes ma'am," I say as I sign the mysterious papers. "What is this anyways?"

"Your marriage license my dear." The pen slides out of my hands and my jaw drops.

"They tricked us into signing one earlier as well," Veronica says. I just turn to her with wide eyes and a loose jaw. Who is this woman who stands before me? Smiling, laughing, not worrying or trying to protect me from the evil marriage license.

She smiles at me and grabs two coffee cups. Carter gets up, grabs his car keys, his back pack and Veronica's, a cup of coffee and his sweater. They both nonchalantly walk past me towards the front door while I just stare after them. Is this some kind of nightmare?  “Come on Jyps, we’re supposed to be having a conversation with the principle before classes start.” She beckons over her shoulder as she moves out the front door.

"Hey," Jason says walking into the room. My mouth snaps shut and my eyes narrow as they land on him. The first thing I notice, is that he no longer has sex hair, he’s wearing a different outfit than before and he’s no longer pitching a tent in his pants. Without preamble I turn on my heel and walk out the house. Only getting caught looking back at him once out of three glances. I climb in the car and buckle up with prompting from Veronica’s beau. Seeing my expression in the rearview mirror Veronica hands me my coffee.

"You guys ready for school? It’s nothing like the ones you’ve been to before." Carter says trying to make conversation.

"How would you know?" Veronica and I ask at the same time, my angry mutter almost completely over shadowed by the gentle curiousness in her tone.

"My parents told us a lot about you guys while we were waiting for you to arrive." He answers sheepishly. Veronica reaches over and pinches his cheeks while saying aww. I stick a finger in my mouth pretending to gag, and she narrows her eyes at me before laughing again.

"I apologize for walking in on you guys earlier this morning, you know when you were uh busy. I tried to stop them, but they weren’t listening.” Carter trails off blushing furiously.

"No prob man." I start to think aloud as I sip my coffee, finally starting to wake up, "I was facing a bit of insanity at the moment. You really saved me from doing something I would have regretted. This is really good coffee, who made it? Angels?"

"Most girls he sleeps with never regret it." He quickly shoots me a small smile in the rear view.

"I'm not most girls." I answer. The car slips into a comfortable silence as we quietly drive to school. Rather than disrupt it, and so Carter isn’t in on our conversation, I return to the void to question my sister. (Speaking of this morning, are you alright?)

(Yes, why wouldn’t I be?)

(Well for one, you haven’t yelled at me for getting caught in such a position. Two, you haven’t said anything about the fact that his parents witnessed it, or at least have an idea of what we were doing. Three, you were laughing. You don’t laugh V. Well at least not anymore, and certainly not during any situation you find uncomfortable, troublesome, or dangerous in any way.) I was looking at her with my eyebrows drawn together and my lips pursed. Instead of answering, she just turned away from me to stare at her new beau. He chanced a quick glance at her before turning back to the road. He opened his mouth to say something, probably to ask what was going on, but decided against it when he felt my sister’s hand on his thigh. At that movement, we both turned to my sister a little thrown off for different reasons I’m sure, but she was staring out of her window. Clearly not willing to be pulled into conversation anymore.

 At some point the walls of Anglo Academy came into view and we pulled into an almost empty parking lot.

"Everyone else won’t really be here for another hour." Carter informs us, “The people that are here now are my team mates. Coach decided we needed an early morning meeting.” He rolls his eyes before looking at what I’m guessing is the direction he needs to go, he looks down at his watch and then finally Veronica and I.

"Go ahead to your meeting sweetheart, I'm sure we can find our way." Veronica says to him as the three of us walk into the school.

"Alright. The front office is just down that hall anyways." He says pointing down a side hall before pulling my sister into his embrace. I stare wide eyed as he kisses the life right out of her body just to bring her back from death.

I watch for a moment before realizing I probably shouldn’t be and should turn around. As soon as the thought enters my head they separate and after a minute of staring into each other’s eyes like lovesick fools he turns and walks off. Veronica stands there looking after him with longing, not once noticing how sick I’m pretending to be. I eventually give up, sigh and turn towards the hall he pointed at before leaving me with this pining stranger. I grab her free hand and we start walking down the hall in silence sipping our coffee. When we finally arrive we spend a few seconds appraising the office with its beautiful glass windows and dark wood frame. I reach out to open the door, but someone else opens it before I can and we almost collide.

"Watch it loser!" Some tacky looking girl with a too short skirt and a too small shirt says to me. She squints at me while looking my body over, stopping at my shoes she says with disgust written all over her make-up caked face, "Oh look girls, I didn’t know our school was taking on charity cases." Her little clones all laugh before sauntering off and swaying their hips in a dangerous way. They look like they’re about to hurt themselves, especially since none of them are walking in their heels correctly.

"That must be the school’s queen bee." Veronica says with a grunt. I could tell that like me, she wasn’t impressed.

"How nice of her, to introduce herself to us like that," I say sarcastically. “It makes me want to destroy her.”

"Behave Jyps." Veronica says with a glare.  

“I’m simply saying that it would be fun teaching her some humility.”

 

Chapter 9: Feisty

Chapter Nine

 

 

 

We enter the office, and the woman behind the desk immediately lifts her head. She clearly eyes us up and down, before smiling and handing us a few pieces of papers. We watch as she disappears behind another door in the office for a few moments before popping back up with two sets of gym clothes and sweaters in her hands.

"In your hands are your schedules, as you can see you share your first 4 classes, but you separate after lunch. Sharing part of your schedule was a special request from your parents; because they figure things would be easier for you this way. Don't worry; all of your teachers have already been informed that you two have yet to receive your powers." She handed us both a pair of shorts, a teal shirt and a black with teal writing and stitching medium sized sweatshirt. "And these are your gym clothes. Classes won’t be starting for another couple of minutes, the principle wanted you to come in early so that he could go over the rules and regulations here. Unfortunately he called in earlier to say that his commute time has increased due to traffic, so I’ll be going over it with you. It is important that you girls know what the academy has in store for you and what we offer as well as what we expect from you in return.” I’d heard the rules speech so many times in my life, that even though this school is vastly different by way of attendees, I just tuned her out. My sister would keep me from breaking any of the major ones anyways. “It is amazing how quickly time seems to fly sometimes,” she shuts the book she was reading from and hands one to each of us. “There should be a map on the back of your schedule if you have any trouble finding your way. I believe that should be all, so if neither of you have any questions then hurry along to class before you’re late and have a nice day ladies."

We got to the door just as someone pushed it open. It hit the coffee cup right out of my hands, and my coffee spilled all over my legs leaving a slight burning sensation. I couldn’t help but curse as the no longer hot but still sticky substance trickled down my jeans clad leg. Are all doors going to be out to get me today?

"Oh my!" The secretary exclaimed coming up behind me. She quickly surveyed the damage before dragging me out of the main office and into the girl’s bathroom. She told me to change into my gym shorts and she would get my clothes clean for me using the schools facilities. The gym teacher in charge of the female locker rooms would bring it to me at the start of class.

When I was done, I put my hoodie on, glad to see that it was a large. The shorts were shorter than I thought; I swear I could feel the wind on the bottom of my ass cheeks. Though they actually gave me about three inches or so of extra coverage to prevent that. I pulled my oversized hoodie down as far as it would go before walking back into the main office.

Veronica was standing by the desk chatting it up with the secretary and the man I had collided with. I walked up to them and watched the man’s eyes widen slightly. The secretary gently smiled at me in recognition of my presence. Veronica let out an appreciative whistle.

"Nice legs.” She laughs at my blush and narrowed eyes.

Before I can respond the secretary cuts in, “I've been speaking with your sister and she tells me that you guys were interested in the best ways to stay under Miss Octavia Macintosh’s radar. That’s a very wise decision."

"Octavia? I’ve heard that name quite a few times since I’ve been here. Just who is she?" I ask as I walk over to where everyone is standing.

"Queen Bee." My sister answers.

"The girl who left the office as you walked in." The secretary answers.

"Daughter of one of the council men." Mystery guy answers.

I turn to him first and stick my hand out, "We haven’t been introduced yet, my name is Jypsie-Jenae Darling."

He shakes my hand, "Vice principle Crowley." I turn to the secretary.

"Melissa Fiendir." She says with a smile while shaking my hand, "But feel free to call me Melissa." I turn to my sister.

"Roni. It’s nice to meet you Jypsie." She says shaking my hand, as the two adults in the room chuckle.

"So Mr. Crowley... What's the council?" He motions us to sit in the office waiting chairs, and we all do, settling in for what I’m guessing is a long talk. After a brief phone call, Melissa comes over to help explain.

"The Council is a group of high level supernaturals in charge of keeping Order. They assign the Guards, people who will make sure every supernatural community is protected and will enforce rules. The council, well you could say that they are our version of the president." He says to us slowly, as though he was talking to two little girls.

Melissa is the one who gives us some actual details we could use, "Each supernatural type has someone to represent them on the council. Being represented by only one view would cause trouble, so each group is represented by three families."

"What are the families for the witches?" Veronica asks

"Why they're witches of course." Melissa answers her with an amused smile. If we hadn't been undercover, and I wasn’t under strict warnings to behave I would have done something horrid to her. No one messes with my sister in any way and walks away unharmed.

I roll my eyes, "What are their family names?"

"Flint, Blaize and Macintosh." I turn and look at my sister, to be met with the same reaction.

"Look at the time!" Mr. Crowley stands up to help Melissa usher us out of the office. "Class is already half over,” Melissa quickly moves back to her desk to write us a note. “You girls better hurry if you want to make any friends before second period. You’re going to need allies if you want to make the school year more enjoyable. Don’t ever hesitate to seek us out if you have any questions, there are also counselors here that you can see if needed. We're all here to help you as much as we can." With that said, Melissa shuts the door in our faces and we turn to each other again.

"Flint, Blaize and Macintosh." I repeat. My sister’s face mirrors mine as she pales a bit. Standing there longer than we probably should have, slowly the color returns to our faces and I break into a huge smile. "I feel so powerful."

“Behave.” She admonishes me.

I look down at my schedule in way of response:

 

History

Spells & Potions

Herbology

Gym

Lunch

Photography

Double Pd. Mechanics

 

I checked the room number next to our first class, cast a very simple location spell and ran off. It wasn’t until we got to the door did I remember we had a map, so I really didn’t have to waste our energy on that location spell. My sister looked at me and I just shrugged, we were over energized today anyways.

She reached up and knocked on the door. Two minutes later our teacher appeared and let us in, when he did our mouths dropped. The man was huge, bigger than Veronica and I combined.

"You must be the new students, I was wondering where you were." He bellowed with a smile on his face. I swear the school shook as he spoke; his voice was so strong all we could do was dumbly nod with our mouths open. He chuckled at us when he saw Veronica’s hand shakily holding out or note. Reading it quickly he motioned us in to the classroom. We snapped our mouths shut, took a deep breath and walked to the center of the room, right in front of his desk.

"Class this is Veronica-Monet and Jypsie-Jenae Darling." Mr. Ditch introduces us before stepping out to speak to the guy now waiting at the door.

"Darling? Is that some kind of joke?" We see the red head from earlier, Octavia, sneer at us. Live in the moment for a little, I think towards my always cautious twin.

"No sweetie, the only joke here is that boob job of yours." I say with a sugary smile remembering an earlier conversation. Paybacks a witch.

"You’re out of your damn mind if you think you’re seriously fooling anyone." Veronica says eying her up and down in a disgusted manner. I don’t let it show on my face, but I’m surprised to see her take my advice. I honestly didn’t think she would. Who is this woman?

We watch as queen bee sits there opening and closing her mouth continuously. Obviously not knowing what to say, she was so shocked that I’m guessing people usually don’t speak to her like that.

"Damn! If you can make Octavia shut up like that, then you’re obviously worthy of being in my presence. Why don’t you come take the seats next to me gorgeous?" Some guy says, we look up from Octavia and see a blonde guy smiling suggestively at us. Seriously are all the guys in this place cocky? There are two empty seats next to him, and the one in front of him is occupied by Carter.

"You have a very large ego." I state simply.

"You know what they say about a big ego right?" He says with a seductive smirk.

"Yea, it makes up for a lackin' in the packin'." Veronica says to him with an innocent smile. Everyone in the room starts laughing, and he turns beet red. He opens his mouth to fight his case, but someone else cuts him off.

"Feisty. I like that." Another of the guys says, smirking like the one before him.

"Yea, I liked you too, in lord of the rings." I started

"You looked so cute when you would fight with yourself talking about the precious." Veronica finished for me with another smile, letting go and probably loving it. We were daring them to say something else. It surprised me to see the pride shining in Carters eyes as he stared at my sweet sister Veronica.

The whole class erupts into frenzied retorts of burn and others like it. Our teacher simply grunts and says “Okay girls, please take a seat anywhere.” We hadn’t even noticed that he’d reentered the room.

 

Chapter 10: Tartar Sauce

Chapter Ten

 

 

 

As expected, Veronica sat in the seat next to Carter and angled her body so that she could look at him and still see the board. I rolled my eyes and had a quick internal debate over the remaining seats. I could sit behind Jason and be surrounded by Octavia and her clones; I could sit behind my sister and be forced to spend unwanted time with a different arrogant prick. I looked over my options again, and noticed a seat in the back. It was surrounded by people I didn't know, but it was my best choice, besides I didn’t really know anyone in the class yet anyways. I walked over to the seat, avoiding lustful glances and death glares alike. You’d swear they’ve never seen a pair of legs before.

Where are you going? A male voice said in my head, at first I thought I was crazy, but then I realized it was just Jason.

To my seat. I thought back.

Sit near me.

No.

At least tell me your schedule.

Before I can stop myself, I think of my schedule and he sees it.

We have the same morning classes. He says smiling over his shoulder at me. I feel the heat of the glares increase.

Shouldn't you be focusing on Octavia? He went silent after that, I felt him leave my mind.

(Jyps) My sister began, (I don’t think that…)

I had to quickly cut her off before she could convince me to sit near her or Jason (I’ll be fine V, besides we’re still in the same room.)

After sliding into the seat, our teacher went back to his lecture, and I immediately felt eyes on me. I took a moment to look around and the people surrounding the seat were all staring.

"What?" I whispered twisting my head to question all of them in turn.

"Nothing. We just expected you to sit with the popular girls." One of the girls next to me says blushing and looking down. I hold my hand out to her and her head snaps up, "Sorry. My names Silvana." She says shaking it.

"Those girls are not the type of people I like to associate with.” I look in Octavia’s direction again, noticing the way she ogles Jason.  “Hey, all you guys are friends right?" I ask as I pull a Cookies & Cream Hershey’s bar out of its secret hiding place in my bag. I slip it under my desk and keep the corner of my eye trained on my sister, making sure she doesn't catch me. Her latest worries are the risks of being diagnosed with diabetes, or me being so hyper that I actually have fun with my magic.

"Yea, you could say that." The guy in front of me says without taking his eyes off our teacher, "The names Ilvandi. I'm Vivi's mate."

The other girl next to me says, "Hi, I'm Viviette.” I nod at her, and add the new found info to my memory bank as I stealthily sneak a piece of chocolate into my mouth. “Vivi for short.”

"Why was this seat empty?" I ask

Ilvandi answers before Vivi and Silvana can, "The ceiling above that one spot is crumbling, it was a curse done by a witch years ago. No one's broken it yet." He stopped to write down some notes, which is what I should have been doing, before continuing. "Sitting there could get you a concussion or a trip to the morgue depending on your strength."

I look up and watch as a piece of the ceiling gives way and falls. I sat there idly, watching it sail towards me in slow motion. I blink and the next thing I know I'm staring at my now empty seat. I'm sitting on something fleshy and I'm completely safe from harm.

Are you okay?! I hear Jason's voice in my head once again.

I have got to learn how to block people out. I know he’s heard me and can’t seem to care one bit. He already has a girlfriend, who is not me, to bug. Yes, I’m fine.

Good. Come here. It's dangerous back there and I don't like the sight of you in another man's arms. Especially that one, no matter how grateful I am that he saved you.

I ignore him and look up. The person that saved my life just smiles down at me with amusement shining clearly in his chocolate brown eyes. I tilt my head to the side and raise an eyebrow at him, to which he responds by digging his face in my hair and sniffing me. One of the strangest moments of my life.

You smell like dragon. Although, I'm not surprised that he would try something with you, I hear a new voice in my head. Hello.

Oh great. I really am going crazy!

He snickers and looks up. I turn around to see the whole class staring at me, with a mix of emotions plastered on their faces. I see disappointment and disgust from Octavia and her people, pure distress from my sister, jealous rage on Jason's face and unconcealed curiosity on everyone else's. I groan and look at my teacher, who just has an eyebrow raised.

"Are you alright?" he says, "Maybe, you should move up front in the seat behind Mr. Flint."

A smug smile spreads across Jason's face, contrasting drastically with the emotions already there. "Actually Mr. Ditch, I think I'm quite fine where I am."

"I'm fine with it as well sir." I hear the same voice from my head, except now I know who is speaking.

“I’m not.” He frowns, “I’m afraid it’s too inappropriate. If you two were mates I could let it slide,”

I open my mouth, ready to lie and say we are when the girl in the seat next to him gets up and moves into the one I was supposed to occupy. She smiles towards Octavia, then each of her cronies and says “Hey girls.” They all groan and look towards the front again.

I move to the newly vacated seat with a smile of triumph directed at Jason. Our teacher turns back to the board and the conversation in my head continues. Sorry I haven't introduced myself yet, I'm Phaedron, but most people call me Dron or “Phedro”.

So Phae... I start, Want to be my friend? I mean you did just save my life, which gives me the impression that you may like me. Just a little.

He laughed quietly at me. I don’t know if I like that nickname but yea. Sure.

I finish off another piece of chocolate with a smile, proud of myself for not dropping it. Woo! Now can you please explain to me what the hell is wrong with this school, and the ways this community can change a person within 24hours?

What isn't?

The bell rang and I reluctantly put the rest of my chocolate away before getting up. "Give me your schedule."

“Forgot how to say please?”

“Please.”

I dug around in my bag until I found it folded up at the bottom. I handed it to him and did a sweep of his body, but stopped when I saw a scar. It looked to be pretty deep, and it trailed from below his right eye to below the collar of his shirt.

He catches me staring, "Makes me look manly doesn't it? Like a warrior." He says, and my vision snaps up to his face where I see him smirking, "I can’t blame you for staring though, females are always checking me out. Guess they can’t get enough of my damn good looks. You’d have to be blind or mated not to notice how sexy I am."

"Oh yes. It's quite the turn on, makes me want to just jump you right here right now." He starts laughing at my nonchalant response, while I look through the crook of his arm at the guys standing there.

"Those are my companions." He says gathering his stuff to pack into his bag.

“Companions?” I question the use of that word by a high school student. He just shrugs one shoulder and tries to wave me in the direction of the door.

Curiosity took over with an intensity, but I couldn't see around his big frame. Thinking quickly I started jumping up and down to wave. "Hi. Boy. Z." I said between jumps, finishing with a Z instead of an S just to have an excuse to look at them again.

They smile at me and after one more jump, I saw them wave. A huge smile spreads across my face to know they won’t scorn me for being strange. That’s how I took their smiles anyways. Phaedron wraps his arms around my waist and pushes me out of the room.

"I don't like walking backwards Phae." I say in a reprimanding tone.

"Fae? As in... Faerie?" I hear his “Companions” start snickering.

"Yup," I say with a smirk. Not sure they understood me considering I was crushed to Phaedron's chest, and what a nice chest it was.

"No. Phae as in Phaedron."

"Phaedron the Faerie princess." I hear one of them say before they all break into laughter. "I can just see him flying around with his little pink tiara and matching dress." I hear someone croak out as their laughter increases.

"Now look what you've done." Phae says while maneuvering me around so I can see the guys falling over laughing. "You've turned my pack into a bunch of hyenas!"

I laugh and wait for them to finish, "So you guys are Shifters?" They nod "Werewolves?" again they nod before looking at me as though their waiting for me to end all contact with them. "Cool! That explains the sniffing... Will you shift or morph or turn or whatever the hell it is that you do and let me ride you?" I ask excitedly, not realizing what I’ve said until he and his friends are smirking at me.

“If it’s a ride you want baby girl, I believe I’m the better choice.” One of his guys says.

 I smack Phaedron’s arm as I say to all of them, “that is not what I meant.”

They laugh again before Phae answers, "Not right now. We have to get you to the Hocus Pocus wing."

"Wow. That's original..."

"That's not its actual name." Phae starts but one of the other guys, who proceeds to come to my other side finishes, "It’s just what we refer to it as."

"Oh." I say as Phae takes my hand and the other guy wraps his arms around my shoulders. "Names please."

The guy with his arm around me says, "Bastien."

“You guys sure are,” Struggling for the term on the tip of my tongue, “what’s the word I’m looking for?”

“Hot?”

“Physical.” I finally decide.

“You don’t know the half of it sweetheart. Don’t worry though, you’ll get the chance to find out.”

Ignoring the comment, I tilt my head backwards, and watch as the other guys tell me their names. Someone tickles my throat, and my head snaps forward, "Let’s go! Let’s go!" I sing while skipping to match their long strides. "So are your next classes near mine?"

"No... The Shifter building is in the opposite direction." Phae says and I come to a complete stop. Just as they turn to give me questioning looks, the most delicious of scents hits me. Without thinking, I run off in its direction and stop outside a small little shop like area. My eyes widen as I look around at all the mouthwatering morsels.

"I think I'm in heaven." I say in complete awe.

"Hm, so food is the quickest way to your heart? I have to remember that." Phae says from behind me while Bastien laughs. I turn around and stick my tongue out at them, noticing Jason walk past.

"Why don't you guys go to class? I don't want you to be late, besides I know someone who can take me where I need to be." I say as I pull them out the shop. I push them in the opposite direction of the way we were going and turn around after they start walking down the hall. Before they were out of sight though, Bastien looked back and yelled, “We prefer Lycans by the way. Only Hollywood and teen fan girls call us werewolves.” As I expected, Jason had stopped and stood a little bit of a distance away glaring past me. Octavia clinging to his arm like the annoying leech she was. She shot me a triumphant smile and I couldn't help but smirk at her. She was about to find out exactly who she was messing with, I just hope her minions had some tissues for her.

I walked towards them, watching her practically sharpening her claws, ready to pounce on me. What she didn’t understand was that she didn’t have my attention, she wasn’t the reason why I was approaching them. She opened her mouth to say something snide to me, but I silenced her by grabbing Jason's other arm.

"Will you buy me something from in there?" I say pointing to the in school bakery, Little Slice of Heaven, "I forgot to grab some cash before leaving the house this morning. I figure since it’s your fault that means you owe me."

He looked a little taken back as he remembered this morning, to my pleasure he shook Octavia off and walked into the store. "What would you like?" He asked simply.

“Jason, you cannot be serious.” One of the tagalongs says.

“What’s she talking about babe? This morning? I thought you had practice?” Octavia sputters shocked.

“I did have practice this morning.”

“It was before that.” I add pretending to be helpful, “You didn’t hear me say good morning when you called?”

“Jason?” she says paling.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he says looking away from her watering eyes, “I don’t want you to be late to class.” He turns fully into the store and I almost start to feel bad for the girl. Almost.

It was my turn to give Octavia a smug smile, and when that was finished I skipped into the store to pick something. I spun around in a slow circle next to Jason checking everything out, including my fiancé, but I couldn’t decide. That is, until I looked towards the bakery display under the cash register and saw the most savory of pastries.

"See something you want?" Jason asked, following my line of sight. I couldn't speak for fear that my saliva would brim over and I would drool on myself, so I simply nodded. He smiled slightly and walked up to the cashier.

"Can I please have an Apple turnover and a cherry Danish?" He asked her sweetly, for a few minutes the woman just stood there admiring him, with a goofy expression on her face. I felt bad for her solely because I had been in her situation before. The man is rather attractive.

Thank you.

Stop that! Get out of my head!

He cleared his throat and she snapped out of it. She blushed a deep red and looked down before mumbling sorry and turning around. I watched her grab two pieces of wax paper to get our orders and directed her to the exact one I wanted. He handed the apple turnover to me; I shut my eyes and just basked in the moment before he ruined it, "You want something else?"

"Espresso Macchiato!" I yelled excitedly as my eyes shot open. The people who hadn’t been watching us when we walked in now turned to stare at us. "Please."

Jason shook his head at me, his smile never wavering. The cashier who was looking between us quizzically blushed again as he looked her over. "An espresso macchiato and a cup of coffee. Black, no sugar."

She nodded and quickly finished our orders in a daze. She was probably fantasizing about waking up next to Jason after a long night of passion. I should know because she had on the same face I did when I was getting in the shower this morning.

Jason paid and we walked out of the store, everyone following us with their eyes. "It's even more delicious than I thought it would be." I say dreamily as I eat my turnover.

He laughs at me and motions me to follow him into the school courtyard where we see an art class starting to gather. I frown and say, "We'll be late."

"We get a few minutes between classes, besides your new so I can just say I was showing you around a bit, or helping you with your locker." I nod and we finish our pastries in silence. I take a sip of my Macchiato and it burns my tongue, but I don't spit it out. It's too good to spit out. So I just sit there doing a little dance as I quickly swallow it and try to cool my tongue. Again Jason laughs at me and tells me to blow it first. I know that now! Of course it would be blazing hot, sometimes I just don’t think.

“I stepped over here so we could have a chance to talk without everyone in the hallway staring or listening in.”

“Oh? About?”

“Octavia.”

“Let’s not, ok? Take me to class please.”

“I’m going to fix things between us so that what happened just now doesn’t happen again. I don’t want to hurt her, but I also don’t want to give up a chance with you. You’re supposedly made for me.”

“Jason.” I warn, unable to look up from my cup. Some things you just shouldn’t have to deal with at school, or at all.

"Come on. Let’s go." He says helping me up and leading me back into the hallways, which are basically empty. I took that to mean the bell was about to ring. Not even 5 seconds later it rang.

"See? Now we're late." I say to him in mock anger, he smiles and picks up the pace. He uses his heightened speed and soon I don’t see him at all. Damn Dragon! I yell in my mind, knowing he’s listening in and can hear me. Jason!

Yes love?

I don't know where I'm going.

I stop moving and frown down the hall. My good mood turns sour for a moment as I look around confused.

"The longer you stand there. The later we'll be." Jason says in front of me, sipping his coffee peacefully. I hope it burns your tongue. He gives me a cheeky smile when he hears my thought. I sigh as he turns around and starts walking again. This time I take his hand tightly in mine so he can’t pull his stunts again.

"I knew you'd give in to my charms sooner or later." He entwines our fingers and holds on to my hand.

"I just don’t want to get lost."

“Sure,” He drags it out like he doesn’t believe me.

“Jason, why do you have classes here, and not the shifter building?”

“My afternoon classes are in the shifter building. Some species of magical beings have to be separated to avoid hostile disputes in the school.”

“Why do you have classes in this building though?”

He frowns down at me before answering, “My dad is in large measure dragon and part witch, my mom is full witch. I belong in this building just as much as you do.” He seems to rethink his response, “Well, just as much as you will when you get your powers.”

I quickly change the subject, “So why do you like your coffee disgusting?”

“It’s not disgusting. Here. Try some.” I make a face at him and try to escape the sense of foreboding spreading through my body.

We continue to the classroom like that, with idle chit chat allowing us to get to know each other a little better. He frowns once again and turns to me looking sad that we were finally at the door. I started to get lost in his eyes as I felt something deep inside moving to click into place once more. Then his mouth was on the corner of mine and I snapped out of it. He straightened and with a smirk said "Yum" before walking into the classroom.

I stood there for a good minute touching the spot where he kissed me and blinking rapidly. A voice breaks me out of my thoughts, and I turn to see my teacher, who makes me introduce myself. She asks me why I was late, when my sister wasn’t, and I freeze. Thankfully, my sister and Jason come to my rescue with a plausible story about my locker jamming. I end up sitting near the only familiar face outside of Jason’s group, Silvana, from earlier. She introduces me to two more people, twins like Veronica and I except they’re not identical.

I chat with them while we do our work and take notes, trying my best to forget Jason, or at least not get caught looking at him. The entire class and the one after it passes in a blur of conversations and strengthening friendships, until gym.

I walk into the girl’s changing room and get dragged to the back by my new friends. Apparently they’re all in the same class, so I get a locker by them. We change quickly and run outside to huge fields bordering a track.

"Wow," I gasp in awe at the land around me.

"Nice isn't it?" My newest friend Eleanor say's as her sister drags me towards the track.

"We always run 2 laps before the coach drags us off into some ridiculous sport." Her twin sister Cassie says. I nod and we make our way to the track where virtually the whole class is already assembled.

"We're just going to spend the entire class on the track today." Coach says before walking away and sitting under a tree in the shade. I watch as he leans back and slips into a nice comforting nap. I think I may like the teachers in this school.

"Are you serious?" I ask my friends as I watch our teacher sleep.

"Mr. Crowley must have worn him out last night." Ilvandi says without interest.

"Crowley? You mean vice principle Crowley?" I ask in disbelief.

"Yea." they all say nonchalantly. I think about it some more before just nodding and turning back to the track.

"So," I drag out the word, but stop when I see them change. Ilvandi stretches out his beautiful faerie wings, completely stunning me. When ready, he and Vivi race, him flying while she uses some incredible speed to run. They’re both practically a blur at their pace. A faerie and a vampire. Who would have thought that was actually a possibility? Shouldn’t they be trying to tear each other apart on principle? Without notice, Silvana sneaks off and I watch everyone else race away down the track as a huge beast approaches me.

Holy fuck! There are bears here?!

I’m a wolf. We’ve been through this. Hop on.

Excuse me? I ask the voice that sounds like Phaedron.

I said I would take you for a ride, didn't I?

A bright smile immediately lights up my face as I look at him. How fast are you?

Pretty damn fast. Why?

"Monet! Shall we race?" I yell to my sister, she looks bored out of her mind surrounded by the "popular crowd".

"If I win, you have to kiss Octavia. French style." Veronica says immediately, not giving herself any time to overthink the idea.

"Hell no!" Jason and Octavia yell at the same time outraged for different reasons.

"Fine. If I win... You have to do a strip tease for Carter somewhere public." I say with a smirk. An evil grin matching my own spreads across my sister’s face as she makes her way towards me. It’s amazing how boredom can bring her out of her shell and cause her to throw caution to the wind. Having been with my sister all of our lives, learning everything about her, I knew I had only a brief moment of time before her worries would catch up to her fun side and take over.

"Deal." She says as she stands next to me.

"No deal!" Carter yells angrily.

Veronica and I sigh, "A competition isn’t fun unless the loser does something degrading." We say at the same time.

"Change your consequences." Carter says.

"Fine then." we snap, still speaking at the same time, "Loser has to cut her hair."

Carter and Jason look at each other briefly before agreeing, not that their opinions really mattered. We turn around and Jason yells go, immediately Veronica takes off. I turn and jump on Phae’s back, he takes off passing Veronica in no time. As soon as we pass her, Veronica stops and pulls her phone out of her sports bra. Who is she texting?

In no time at all, we pass the finish line, but don’t stop. Phae runs around until coach gets up and tells us we have 20 minutes of class left. He sends everyone into the locker rooms to change and Phae drops me to the floor while he changes back. I look him in the eyes and we both crack up uncontrollably, gasping for breath. It takes a moment for us to sober up, but it does happen. We end up as the last ones outside heading back towards our respective locker rooms. Jason heads us off at the doors, well, he stops me and tells Phae to keep going.

Phae looks at me questioningly and stands as though he’s not going anywhere. Curiosity takes a hold of me, and I have to convince Phae to leave us alone. Having Jason standing there glaring at him the entire time doesn’t really help things, but eventually he goes inside. I watch him leave to make sure he actually goes into the locker room before turning my full attention to Jason. "Yes?" I ask him.

"You’ve basically been ignoring me since second. Checking out other guys and comparing me to them, looking at me and counting off all my flaws and short comings. I know what you’re doing."

"You know, a person’s private thoughts are meant to be just that Jason. Private.” I say beyond annoyed. He doesn’t respond, doesn’t even feign remorse. Giving up, I shift my focus back to the last words he did say. I let his words play in my head again and again before giving in to his game, “What am I doing?" I raise an eyebrow.

"You’re looking for Mr. right, and honestly? You’re not going to find him. Nobody’s perfect. We're all flawed, and even so I'm the closest thing you’re going to get to him so stop being so stubborn and just give in. We both know you will sooner or later." He says pulling me to his chest sharply.

"I'm not looking for Mr. Right." I say against his chest. Being the opportunist that I am, I start to feel around. Happily exploring the muscles of his chest and abdomen, “2… 4… 6… 6… 8?”

“6.” He corrects, "What did you say?" When I don’t immediately answer and just keep exploring he pulls me away from his chest to look into my eyes. He searches my face looking for a hint of something, what that something is? I have no idea. I’m too busy imagining what he looks like under his shirt, a shirt that I’m currently trying to lift. He stops me and holds my hands at bay.

I sigh, "What if I'm not looking for Mr. Right?" I say with conviction as I pull away from him completely. It's so much easier to think when my body isn't pressed up against his. "What if I say I'm looking for Mr. Right now, and right now, baby, you aren’t him?"

He quickly crushes his lips to mine, and fireworks go off throughout my body like they always do. He pulls me and crushes me to his body tightly; I can’t say that I complain. He squeezes my waist and licks my bottom lip, but I deny him entrance.

This is not the place for that. I hear Veronica's voice in my head. Although it was just a memory from when I played strip poker with the older kids during a friend from the 8th grade’s birthday party, it fit this moment perfectly. It gave me the strength I needed to pull away. I turned and ran back towards the building only stopping to look back twice before going through the doors. I lean back against the doors trailing my fingers against my swollen lips trying to catch my breath.

            Finally I walk back into the girl’s locker room. On my way back to my cleaned clothes, Veronica pulls me into an empty row and says, “Tonsil hockey at school?” with a confused look. I’ve never really been one for public displays of affection at that level. “You like him don’t you?”

            “You know he has a six pack? I’ve never been with a guy who had a six pack.”

            “You’ve only ever been with two guys.”

            “Neither of them had anywhere close to a six pack,” I challenge. “Yes I’ve kissed Jason. We haven’t done much more than kissing though.”

            “Do I hear disappointment?”

“Not at all.” Damn, I look away, “Now if you’ll excuse me oh great queen V, master of perfection, I’d like to change.” Without waiting for a response I keep walking. Reaching my row I head over to my locker and start to get dressed, happy to once again be wearing clothes the school didn’t give me.

It’s pretty quiet in our area, even with everyone there, and that begins to raise some red flags for me. I immediately start to worry that maybe they don’t like me anymore, what did I do wrong this time?

“What’s going on?” I ask them, but no one even looks at me. “You guys ok?” I wave my hand in front of Eleanor’s face before tipping Silvana’s chin up. She’s as red as a cherry.

“Hello? You guys in there?” I ask while knocking lightly on Cassie’s head. “What the fuck happened?!” I yell at them all.

            That’s what ultimately startles them back to animation. All of my new acquaintances, look at me angrily as Silvana stares at her feet. Trying to remember what I could have possibly done incorrectly I return their glares. Do they not like wolves or something? Do I smell? Silvana begins fidgeting even more as Eleanor is the one who finally snaps, "She slept with a fuckin fish!" Even though I've only known them for a few hours, I already know that unlike her twin she rarely curses. Cassie had let me in on that choice piece of info during a conversation last period, telling me that when Eleanor does curse it's because she’s more than a little upset.

"Don't say it so loud!” Silvana looks out to the other rows, making sure that no one else is paying attention to us, “Besides, he's not a fish.” She starts chewing her lower lip, blushing more than before if that was possible, “well, not completely anyways." Turning away again she doesn’t see the huge idiotic grin that spreads across my face. I throw my arms around her and jump up and down happily. The reaction they should have had.

"Silvana." Vivi say’s exasperatedly as she shuts her eyes.

"What is your problem?! You should be happy that she’s making some progress with her mate!" I snap at Vivi angrily. Everyone else just turns to look at me, now I really am going to be friendless again. "Are you all jealous or something?" I ask snidely.

Cassie snorts and rolls her eyes, "Oh please. I for one am not jealous at all. I would be happy for her, if it wasn't for the fact that he's one of the biggest playboys in the entire fucking school! Which you probably didn’t know because you just got here! Silvana isn’t new, she should already be aware of that."

"She’s right." I hear Silvana say as she goes from Rudolph's nose red to fresh untouched snow pale, "What if I was just some fling to him? Just another booty call?" She looks at me dejected, “I gave him my virginity. In the supply closet for goodness sakes. I gave the man something I’ve wanted to save until the right person and the right time, and I gave it to him in a supply closet.”

When she starts crying, I do the only reassuring thing I can in this moment. I hug her with her head shoved into my chest, “Oh don’t you cry child. You just sink your head in your good ole Mama Celeste’s bosom now while we figure this out.” Although probably inappropriate for the moment, my unexpected antics seem to work as she laughs a bit. At least she’s not crying anymore.

            "I’m sorry Silvana, we’ve been friends since we were in diapers, I should be the one to have your back right now. No offense Jyps, but we did just meet you.” Vivi says, obviously coming around. “Besides, a supply closet isn’t that bad, do you remember where I gave Ilvandi mine? We had like no space what so ever.”

            “At least you guys didn’t have brooms and mops falling on you.” She sniffles.

            “No. I just got a concussion from knocking my head into the car door multiple times.”

 “He's your mate right?" Cassie checks, as though she wasn’t just on the opposing side. "No way in hell it's like what he did to other girls. He should cherish that gift forever because you saved it for him." She tries her hand at comforting, “Yea he played the other girls, but they weren’t his mate. They weren’t you.”

I blink and next thing I know they’re all reassuring and hugging her. I take that time to gather my shed clothes, it’s all covered in fur from a horse sized dog and in desperate need of a wash. I can smell Phaedron on them and I don’t even have a super powered sense of smell like everyone else seems to. We start making jokes and teasing her as we walk out of the empty locker room towards the cafeteria.

"I always knew you liked fish, but I never thought you would take things to this level." Vivi says smirking.

"You get any tartar sauce on him?" I ask wiggling my eyebrows. She turns a bright red and we break down into hysterics, earning weird glances from the stragglers in the hallways.

"Sh-Sh-Shut up!" She yells at us as we fall to the floor laughing with watery eyes. She gets even more embarrassed as people start staring at us and whispering. She starts stamping her feet, and eventually we sober up, only to look at each other and break out in a fit of laughter all over again.

We sit on the floor for a while, completely sober but still grinning at each other. "I hate you guys so much!" She yells at us and we just turn to look at her.

"Love ya too!" They all yell before everyone gets up, everyone except me.

"Are you just going to sit there Jyps?" Eleanor asks me, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm keeping the floor warm." I say as they roll their eyes. Something catches my attention, and I look past them to see the new love of my life. I get up without warning and run to him. Only stopping when I'm in front of him, I reach my arms up and acting like a child, I clench and unclench my fists. Understanding immediately, he leans down and picks me up. He holds me like a toddler as I wrap my body around his.

"What's up love?" He says to me as he kisses my cheek.

"We were only apart for a few minutes, but I missed you!" I say as I bury my face in his neck, breathing the warmth in.

"I missed you too."

Chapter 11: Home Wrecker

Chapter Eleven

 

 

 

"Are you eating lunch with me?" Phae asks pouting his lips and giving me puppy dog eyes, which is kind of ironic considering he is one. Well, closely related enough to one.

I turn around to see Silvana fidgeting, Ilvandi looking at me in confusion and the others just beaming. I unwrap an arm and motion them over with a confused look. "You guys want to eat with these nice gentlemen here?"

"We'd love to eat with you and your mate." Silvana smiles. I turn my head to meet Phae's questioning gaze before we both turn back.

"What?" We ask at the same time while tilting our heads to the side in confusion.

"Wow. I thought only twins could do that..." Cassie murmurs to herself.

"Don't try and hide it. We saw your mate mark during gym, and the way you jumped into his arms..." Eleanor says trailing off.

Viviette fakes hurt, "We're not that stupid." Phae and I look at each other again before bursting into laughter which earns us puzzled looks from everyone around us.

"What's their deal?" Eleanor asks Phae's friends, but stops short, forgetting everything when her gaze meets Bastien. Her mouth drops open and she just stands there watching him with wide eyes. We call her a few times, and the guys try calling Bastien but neither of them answers. Everyone but Phae and I start moving their hands in Eleanor and Bastien's faces. When they get their hands slapped away for interrupting, things start to click for me. I look at Phae and without a word he understands too, we go and stand between them. They try to push us out the way but we fight back, and they snap out of it.

"Well look who found their reason for living." I watch as Eleanor blushes and looks at the ground mumbling incoherently. Everyone starts congratulating them and teasing the newly formed couple as Bastien takes her into his arms. Unfortunately the happy moment is ruined when I see Jason walk past with his friends, Octavia and her entourage following. The guys continue down the hall and I see them stop outside the cafeteria asking Jason about something, but I don't get the chance to snoop because Octavia decides to engage me.

"Hanging with the freaks?" One of her accomplices says as they approach.

"Exactly where she belongs." Octavia says smirking, as everyone in the hallway watches silently, even Jason and his buddies are trying to catch the confrontation.

"And you belong on a dirty street corner turning tricks. Need a pimp?" I ask her with a bored expression.

"Where do I apply?" Veronica says walking past with Carter, she tries to stop and stay in the conversation but Carter tugs her away. They head into the Cafeteria, leaving me to wonder what the hell is going on with her.

Just like earlier, Octavia opens and closes her mouth like a fish. She looks to Phaedron standing next to me, and her jaw slackens. It feels like 5 minutes pass as they just stare at each other, one of her friends elbows her in the side and she snaps her attention back to me. I put an innocent mask on my face as I say, "Did you know that you remind me of a McDonalds?"

"Popular? What everyone wants?" She says with a smirk regaining her composure.

"No,” I pause for dramatic effect, “Open for business 24/7."

"Bitch!" She screams at me frustrated.

"Octavia!" Jason bellows, "Come here for a sec."

She glares at me before fixing her clothes and strutting away with a flip of her hair. She walks up to Jason and he pulls her down the hall away from all the curious eyes, even mine.

"I think I mated her." Phaedron says to himself quietly, while we’re all making our way towards the cafeteria. His little mumble breaks me out of my fantasy about the delicious foods I’m going to consume to satiate my growing hunger.

What do you mean you mated her?

I ask Phae, knowing fully well that he and Jason are trained to my mind. I don’t feel Jason listening in though, so I’m hoping it’s safe to speak freely.

I'm pretty sure I mated Octavia.

How do you know? If she's your mate, why did it take you guys so long to connect? Are you positive she’s really your mate?

The way her face lit up when Jason called her, the way she couldn’t walk fast enough to be near him... It just made me want to snap that pretty neck of his, made me want to break every bone in his body for having that effect on my woman. I've never felt jealousy like this. My thoughts have never been this violent over a female before. I could literally kill him right now.

"You better not!" I accidentally scream out loud gaining weird looks from everyone around me. All of my new friends, except Phaedron turn and look at me questioningly and all I can do is shrug noncommittally.

Why not?

You just can't, I reply vaguely. Why did it take this long for you two to mate?

That was our first time ever actually being face to face, and making eye contact like that. Everyone in this school usually just sticks to their own species; there are only a few integrated groups.

That explains why even though you've gone to school with them for a while; you didn’t know Ilvandi and everyone else.

Yea. He says as his thoughts travel elsewhere, our initial bond isn’t complete yet, but I can tell she’s my soulmate, the one I was made for. I can see this conversation is pretty much over, so I tune back into my surroundings.

"How did I get here? With lunch?"

"So princess finally decides to join us back on earth?" Cassie asks me with a smile.

"We thought we'd lost you." Viviette says smirking.

"I was thinking... God, how much did I miss?"

"Not much. We just got to know your other friends a bit more, they're not too bad." Eleanor smiles at Bastien and the other shifters at our full table start whistling and grunting in approval.

“Hey Silvana,” I waited until she looked at me, “Why did it take so long for you to snag Alec? I mean you guys have been going to school together for a long time now right?”

She thought about her answer while she finished chewing, “Well, I didn’t exactly know he was my mate. I just knew that I was physically attracted to him on a really serious level, and that his smiles made me smile. I don’t know how to explain it, it was just the way I felt, but I was always too afraid to go up to him and say anything. I didn’t know if he felt it too.”

“What made you take that chance? And why today?” Eleanor joined our conversation.

“Veronica and Carter.”

“Excuse me?”

“I got courage from watching your twin and her mate. They weren’t laughing every minute, but they looked really happy together.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile that much, and we’ve been in school with him since kindergarten.”

Silvana nodded her agreement before continuing, “He’s quiet, doesn’t really interact with a lot of people, but word still gets around. He was almost as bad as Jason and Alec when it comes to having.” She looked around and lowered her voice drastically, “sex” she looked around again to make sure no one heard her.

“From what I’ve heard, they are far from bad at it.” Viviette giggles with Eleanor.

“You know what I mean. Most supernaturals can’t catch STDs like the mundane, shifters mostly, so they sleep around a lot.”

“They did? Good to know.” I started scanning the room for Jason so I could hit him.

Silvana looks over at Alec and smiles to see him already looking at her, “Watching them gave me the courage I needed to approach him and see where it would go. All I really got out was a hello before we made eye contact and well everything else is private.” She started blushing and could no longer look anyone in the face. She dropped her eyes to her tray and began eating.

“You guys made eye contact and then you gave him something you’ve been saving all your life?” I looked at her incredulous.

“Don’t act so surprised, you’ve met your mate. You know how it is. You look into each other’s eyes, you feel something deep inside you click into place and from that moment on you’re as much his as he is yours.” When Viviette stops speaking Ilvandi gives her a quick kiss before going back to his food.

“Something click?”

“Yea, it’s one of the components of bonding. When you and your mate initially meet there’s a strong physical attraction, it drives you to procreate so the species is always growing, and that’s the first component. The second is more of a spiritual component. The clicking into place is your soul recognizing its mate.”

“The eyes are the window to the soul after all.” Eleanor throws in.

“The third component is physical intimacy and it sort of seals the bond.”

“The clicking thing how long does that usually take?” I start thinking about all the moments I’ve had with Jason in comparison to how quickly it seems to have happened for Silvana and Phaedron respectively. "Does one person click before the other?”

“Both click at the same time, and for your first question it depends on the people.” Silvana makes eye contact with me again, “Why do you ask Jypsie?”

“Call me Jyps. I ask because my mate and I haven’t clicked yet, and I don’t know why. I can feel it happening but we both always end up breaking the connection before it happens. Lately he’s been breaking it more than I have. Is that normal?”

“He probably just wants to get to know you better or something. Once the bond is made it can’t be broken and some people find that overwhelming. Talk to him about it, you won’t really know unless you do.”

“It may just be that it scares him to be tied to one woman for all eternity. I mean, what supernatural guy can turn down sex?” Cassie says, making everybody laugh, even the guys who had just been listening.

 We all start making jokes, just laughing and talking. After a while Phaedron snaps out of his thoughts and joins us in our discussion on baby food. I finally gave up trying to eat when Bastien made a joke that had me choking on food while I laughed. I got up to quickly throw away all my trash, and the trash everyone else so conveniently piled on my tray, when Octavia stormed in.

Her eyes, red and puffy, were filled with rage, her face, although tear stained held a ferocious expression. She literally looked like she was ready to kill someone, and judging by the direction she was walking, I knew exactly who that someone was. Her lackeys had to run to catch up to her, but I could tell she didn’t care, she reminded me of a lion, and her clones were the flies buzzing around her tail.

Finally making it to her destination, she stopped. One of her lackeys knocked the tray out of my hands, and stepped back with her hands on her hips like the other clones.

"You fucking bitch!" Octavia screeched out as everyone in the cafeteria moved away from us to watch.

I shut my eyes, and focused on keeping calm, so as not to stoop to her childish level of name calling. It wasn’t working very well; I was finding it very hard to bite my tongue against the things I wanted to say.

Calm down Jyps. Don't let her little name calling get to you, you’re bigger than that. My sister chided me warningly. I started counting to 10 slowly in my head the way one of my previous foster mothers had taught me before she was killed.

"You're such a home wrecking slut! I can't believe you think you can steal my man!" That’s what she’s bitching about? I can't believe she thinks he would ever be hers. Delusional whore.

She can't speak to you like that! Don't hit her, it's your first day and it won’t look good if you’re suspended for fighting during lunch, but put her in her place! Veronica was really starting to get on my nerves, more than she did when she turned into the always cautious worry wart.

"Don't be mad at me because he's tired of what you've got. Most men prefer their women tight and it’s not my fault your shit is loose. Plus he's my mate; you should have known he was going to leave you sooner or later." I was on a roll, but before I could say anything else, I felt my head snap to the right. She slapped me. The bitch slapped me. My eyes were wide as my mind tried to compute what just happened. I have got to stay calm, can't let my temper take over, I don’t want to get suspended for fighting, or imprisoned for murder.

Fuck that! Beat her ass! Beat the bitch senseless!

My mind went blank as I clenched my fist and brought it forward to her nose with as much force as I could. I can’t explain the pleasure I felt when her nose broke under my fist, or when she fell backwards on her butt with a groan. I straightened up and glared at her.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, but nobody hits me and gets away with it. Nobody." She stood up, and tried to punch me again, but I dodged it and punch her in the gut. One of the flies tried to slap me, but Veronica pushed her hand out of the way and punched her out cold.

"Anybody else wanna take a shot at my sister?" She asked raising an eyebrow. I wasn't paying attention to her, so Octavia had the chance to sweep my feet and drop me on my ass. The pain that shot its way up my spine, and the embarrassment of being tripped just fueled my anger as I watched her get up with a triumphant smirk. She tried to kick me, but I rolled out of the way and jumped up. She tried to punch me but I caught her fist and roundhouse kicked her in the head with my thigh.

She flew into one of the lunch tables and laid there for a bit before getting up. I had to give her credit, she wasn’t some weak little prissy princess, she could fight back. She pulled a hair clip out of her hands and pointed it at me with a murderous glint in her eyes. Before I knew what was happening, I was sailing in the air towards a wall on the opposite side of the cafeteria.

Considering the situation, I call the bet off. Just beat her into the ground. Okay? My sister says swiftly and sweetly.

At the last possible second, I do a flip and feel my feet connect to the wall, before I do another flip and land on my feet on the ground. I turn the ring on my finger around, and get ready for her next attack.

"Stop it! It's not fair to use your powers against someone who doesn’t have any!" Silvana screams out with tears running down her face, safely tucked away behind her mate Alec. I quickly take a look around to see all the mated girls forcefully protected by their mates, while my own mate stood near his friends in shock. I looked in the opposite direction of him to see Phaedron being held back by all his friends with a violent glint in his eyes.

All this mayhem because of one little hoe...

I turn back to the whore in question to see her fling a raging ball of wind at me like a pro baseball player. Thinking fast, I catch the ball in my right hand and spin for momentum. With as much precision as I’m capable of I send it back at her with a flaming bonus from my left hand, and watch as she’s crushed into the wall behind her.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to mess with witches stronger than you?" I taunted as the whole cafeteria stares between us wide eyed and silent. I'm surprised they don’t get whiplash the way their heads are moving.

"Ahahaha," My sister falls on the floor dying of laughter at the scene in front of her. Carter snaps his mouth shut and scoops her up into his arms were she laughingly cries into his shoulder trying to regain her composure.

"Jypsie." Eleanor says slowly, quietly looking at me in shock.

I don’t even bother to answer her, knowing that if I take my focus off of Octavia again, she could easily land me a trip to the hospital. A minute ticks by, and just as I’m about to drop my guard a little a table comes flying at me.

Moving as fast as I can, I dodge out of the way only to come face to face with my opponent. Clever little bitch. She swings at me and my arm flies up to block it just in time. She opens her fist, grabs my arm and flips me over her shoulder. Slamming me down on top of another table and causing what little pity I still had for her to disintegrate. She climbs on top of me and grabs my arms, trying to pin me. After a brief moment of success, she yelps and pulls back as my body gets too hot for her to keep touching. With the bit of space I’ve just gained I bring my leg up and kick her in the back of the head. Hard. She flies forward and there’s my fist to cushion her landing. I push her off of me and she falls from the table, landing on the cold floor.

Down for not even enough time to process pain, she hops up and tries to swing on me again. Barely dodging it, I send her flying further back with another successfully landed kick to the chest. I roll off of the table, without hesitation, on the other side just as a strong gust of wind slams an additional table into my previous spot.

"What in the hell is going on here?!" A deep voice booms from the cafeteria entrance. I look behind quickly and start positioning myself so I can keep both the door and Octavia in my line of sight. I recognize the new comer to the fight from one of the brochures I received earlier in the main office. The school’s principal. Everything is silent as we all watch his face turn all the different shades of red from restrained anger.

"An itty bitty teeny weeny tiny little microscopic dispute sir." Cassie says trying to diffuse the situation as best as she can.

"Silence Ms. Janan! I wasn't asking you." He huffs, "Macintosh! Flint! Darling! My office. Now!"

"Yes sir." Octavia says straightening up. Covered in burns and charred clothing she sneers at me until she’s pushed back up against a wall. Again. I watch as the wind abruptly dies down and she falls to her knees with a thud.

"Darling!"

“Yes?” I ask startled.

"Sorry, I was only trying to blow out the flaming embers on her clothing sir." Veronica says snickering. A look of pure innocence masking her face that only an idiot would believe. We go down together. There’s a reason we’ve always been kicked out of a school at the same time.

"My office!" He bellows again and everything begins to go back to normal. Everybody’s jaws snap shut and they start moving, trying to gather their things while not getting caught staring at us. Fueled by my own still simmering anger, I walk over to Jason with everyone’s eyes on me. I look at Octavia to make sure she’s watching; when I see that she is I lean on my tip toes and bring Jason's head down to meet my lips. It's a soft slow kiss that ends before I get any response from him, but it works perfectly as I see Octavia plummet to the ground completely.

"That was more than unnecessary and you took things too far." Jason says to me angrily as he pulls me out of the cafeteria towards the principal’s office. He lets go of my arm, expecting me to follow, and we continue with the silence slowly eating me alive. Coming down from an adrenaline rush is a bitch.

"Jason?" No answer, "Jason??" He just keeps walking away from me to the main office. When we finally get there he knocks on the door before walking in and sitting in one of the chairs in front of the principal’s desk. It’s only a few minutes before everyone else joins us and we sit there awkwardly as the principle uses his magic to survey what happened.

"Macintosh, you are suspended for the rest of the week."

"Yes sir."

"Flint, you will have in school suspension for a day. It would seem that you caused this fight to happen."

"Yes sir."

"Darling."

"Which one sir?"

"Both of you.” he says pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. "You are suspended for 11 school days.” He opens his eyes, “Now all of you out of my sight!"

"Why do we have the longest punishment?" Veronica and I ask at the same time.

"I don’t know how things worked at your previous schools, but behavior like what I just watched you and Ms. Macintosh display is absolutely unacceptable. You have a longer punishment because as new students you need to fully learn and understand the severity of your actions today. I prefer to nip a problem in the bud before it can fully bloom. I don’t want this happening again. Your punishment is the longest because I said it is." Octavia and Jason walked to the door to wait in the lobby for the parental units.

"What if we fix everything?" He raises an eyebrow at us. "You know? Heal the whore and repair the cafeteria?"

"We do not use that kind of language in this school ladies." He chastises us, "Your punishment stays the same."

"But--" I start. Veronica quickly cuts me off before I can make things worse, "Yes sir."

We walk out of the room back into the main office where we sit on the opposite side of the room from Jason and Octavia, neither of them meeting our eyes. Veronica closes her eyes and gets to work on her growing headache, while I start healing the pain from the fight. Now that the adrenaline has completely worn off I was seriously starting to feel it all. Damn, the bitch really can fight.

“Can you really heal her?” Jason asks without looking at me.

As an answer, I eventually swallow my pride and walk over to them. I raise my hand so that the palm is facing her, shut my eyes and begin the slow healing process. It’s hard to keep my focus and I can feel my powers starting to overwhelm me but I don’t stop. Jason is watching me and I don’t want Octavia thinking I’m weak.

"Hello, I got a call from the school principle, Mr. Wylde, about my daughter Octavia Macintosh?" My whole body stiffens.

"Ah. Mr. Macintosh, please come into my office." I hear shuffling as Mr. Macintosh walks into the principal’s office, but before the door can close the principal calls out, "Mrs. Blaize, Mrs. Flint, this way please."

Aw shit. I finish up with Octavia quickly and run back over to Veronica. We both sink back trying to blend in with our chairs.

"Kids." My mother calls as the adults exit Mr. Wylde's Office. We obediently stand and follow our respective chaperones out of the office and through the front hall past curious students to our doom. The car ride home is silent and when we get there, we only receive frowns and a promise that the subject will be discussed when Gregory and Matthew get home. Thankfully they let us escape to our rooms until then.

After a few hours of just sitting around the bedroom I was still sharing, I finally build up the courage to go seek out Jason. I find the room he’s been occupying in an attempt to avoid me with little difficulty and knock. "Who is it?" He says in monotone.

"Me." When I get no answer I knock again but he doesn’t say anything so I just walk in to find him sprawled on the bed staring at the ceiling. "Jason?"

"I know she can be difficult, hard to deal with sometimes, but she didn’t deserve that. You completely humiliated her in front of the entire school.” He looks at me, “Why didn’t you tell us you had your powers? Or that you guys were that strong?"

"Jason I--"

"Get out. I want to be by myself so can you please," deep breath, "Please just leave me alone? For now." Without another word I quietly walk out of the guest room and head back to ours where I find my sister sitting on the bed.

"Carter's mad at me. He won’t even look at me."

"I know how you feel."

"They sure now how to make you feel guilty right? This is the first time a man has ever made me second guess myself... I don’t like it."

"Want to go--"

"Jypsie! Door!" Rebecca yells from downstairs. My sister pats my hand as I get up from where I was sitting next to her to see who’s here. When I get to the top of the stairs I blanch at the sight in front of me, completely sure that I’m about to hurl.

 

Chapter 12: Huge Mistake

Chapter Twelve

 

 

 

Octavia was lying on the couch with her hands above her head, her chest angled upwards and her legs wide open with her tiny little skirt showing off her thong. Classic slut right? But that’s not what made me freeze. Not what shattered my heart, and made me feel like the world, my world, collapsed and I was the only thing left standing there clutching at the black hole where my heart once was.

Jason was laying on Octavia, pinning her body down with his, her legs wrapped around his thighs. He had one hand on her hip and the other holding her hands above her head. With every hard ragged breath they took, my black hole grew until it consumed me. All I could do was stand at the top of the stairs and watch as they embraced each other.

"Jypsie." I turned my head and noticed for the first time, all the adults sitting on another couch watching them. Everyone except my new adoptive mother Gianna of course, who not only called to me, but brought me to their attention as well.

"Baby..." Jason trailed off struggling to get up, only to fail time and time again because of the way he and Octavia were tangled together.

"Come here please. Mr. Macintosh wants to speak to you for a few minutes." Rebecca says as she tries to read my blank face. I sigh and walk downstairs towards them, my body on autopilot while my brain tries to function. I stood behind the end table separating both couches waiting for them to tell me what they needed so I could leave before I killed someone.

"Hello Miss Darling, my name is Jack Macintosh. I'm Octavia's father." Jason and Octavia finally disentangle and sit up straight smoothing out their clothes. "I have been fully informed on what has happened earlier today, and I just wanted to come over and apologize to you personally for my daughter’s behavior. She was out of line to attack you over something she knew from the beginning wasn’t hers to begin with and I'm very sorry that she did. I hope that you please accept my sincerest apology. I also hope that you and my daughter will be able to work through your differences, so that this doesn’t happen again."

"I'm sorry for hitting you; none of this was your fault." Octavia says actually managing to sound like she’s sorry.

"If that’s all, I would like to return to my room." I say speaking for the first time with a voice that portrays how empty I feel.

"Are you alright dear?" My mom says, possibly hearing the void in my voice. The vacantly hollow dull ringing of my words as they fell barren from my lips.

"I'm fine."

"Well I probably should be leaving now..." Jack trails off, "Martha will be dropping Olivia and Priscilla here after their karate class." He walks towards the door but stops and turns around to the rest of the adults. "I thank you again for allowing Priscilla to play with her, as she has trouble making friends with the other girls in her school." Gregory and Rebecca nod to him understandingly and Octavia looks down as he finally leaves.

The other adults leave the room, heading in different directions as I just stand there thinking maybe, just maybe it wasn’t what it looked like. Jason wouldn’t hurt me like that right? And our parents wouldn’t really just sit back and watch him cheat on me right? They were the ones who brought me here and had been trying to push us together after all.

"Well I’m just going to head to the kitchen. Do you guys want anything?" Octavia asks standing up, attempting to play nice. Jason shakes his head. I just watch her as the black hole recedes and the shattered pieces of my heart come together again. I had to have overreacted; I mean they probably just fell on the couch like that.

Octavia leaned down and kissed Jason on the lips, his eyes went wide and my tattered heart just turned to dust scattered in the wind. She pulled back abruptly and looked down at him seemingly surprised at what she just did. “I’m sorry. I know we’re not together anymore, old habits just die hard you know? I mean we only split today, I’m going to need some time to adjust.”

A breeze flew through the house and we all turned to see Phaedron standing in the door way looking like I felt. He took a deep uneven breath before turning on his heel and running out the house. With Octavia on his trail. I turned and walked back up the stairs to my room quietly listening to the aching thump of my black hole. I got to my room, opened the door and found it empty. Rather than search the house for my sister, I walked over to the bed and fell on it, turning my head away from the door to stare at the paint on the walls. I stayed like that, not moving and trying hard to breathe for hours. My mind completely blank, my mouth wired shut and my eyes glazed over just staring at one spot on the wall.

Many times I heard someone approach my room just to hear them turn and walk away at the last second. Of course my sister and the adults came to visit continuously, but when I gave them no response they just seemed to stop.

At some point, I heard whining and muffled voices, it sounded like someone wanted to come into my room but they were being held back. Two minutes later I heard the pitter patter of little feet in the hall and then my door flying open.

"Jypsie lets go swimming!" For the first time since I climbed into my bed today, I turned toward my now opened door to see Priscilla and another little girl standing there in their bathing suits. "What's wrong?" Cilly asks me while dragging her friend along further into my room. I don’t answer, I just look at them, "We don't have to go swimming today if you don’t feel okay." She says standing in front of me. “We went over to Olivia’s house to play for a while before coming here so we’re kind of tired too.”

I sigh and get up, "No. I made you a promise, one I plan on keeping. Just give me a minute to change into my bathing suit okay?"

"Okay!" She says cheerily, "This is my best friend Olivia!"

"H-h--hi." The other girl, Olivia, says shyly as she hides behind Priscilla.

"It’s nice to meet you Olivia." I travel over to the closet where whoever washed my new clothes stashed everything. Putting on my bathing suit slowly, I use the time to push today’s events to the back of my mind. I’ll have to deal with it all later, right now I’m going to go work on my tan and have fun with my future little sister. I walk back into the room and head towards the door expecting both girls to follow.

"Wait!" Priscilla screams as she runs into the closet with her friend right behind her. I hear a quietly mumbled conversation before they both break out and run towards me with a thin white dress and black flip flops. "Put this on over your swimming suit. Olivia chose it, it matches!" She says to me with pride. I take it and slip it on thanking them both before walking out of my room and towards the stairs.

I stop for a few seconds and survey the room full of boys and girls watching football. My eyes stop on Carter and Veronica for a bit and she nods at me, before I continue and stop on Phaedron with Octavia sitting in his lap. Damn she moves fast. I see Alec with a blushing Silvana sitting on his lap and a few other people that look familiar but I don’t know. There’s one girl sitting in the corner by herself looking like someone I used to know, but it can’t possibly be her because she died. It’s still so out of place though that I can’t seem to get it out of my head for a while.

Priscilla and Olivia walk ahead of me towards the pool in the courtyard. Now it’s my turn to follow after them. I know if I look up things will come back to me, so I walk looking straight ahead, focusing on the slapping of my flip flops on the linoleum. Everyone turns around and starts checking me out, who knows what’s going through their heads. With great effort on my part, I ignore them keeping my mind on the prize. The pool.

"Jypsie." Slap. Slap. "Baby please..." I don’t hear anymore as I step through the sliding doors and head over to the lawn chairs.

The rest of the day goes by uneventfully as I watch the girls play in the pool, and then help bathe them for dinner. Olivia gives me a hug before she leaves with Phae and her sister. I walk back to my room and slowly start getting ready for bed finally dealing with today’s events.

I got in a fight and won. I exposed my powers and my sisters, but I don’t feel guilty. I got suspended from school and for once I regret it, because I won’t see my new friends as much. I got my heart ripped out, stomped on, grilled, barbecued, sautéed and flambéed. All over a guy I don’t even love. I could have loved him though, I can feel something there. Between us.

"Jypsie." I turn to see Jason standing in front of our bedroom door.

"Get out. I don't want to see you right now." My voice is so sharp I wonder if I can actually use it to carve him a new one. I wonder if I can use it to make him feel how I do; I want him to know my pain. “You can sleep in the guest room tonight.”

"We have to talk."

"I don’t want to."

"I don’t care as long as you hear what I have to say."

"Forget this. I'll just sleep in one of the other rooms if you’re not going to leave this one." I move to walk past him and out the door.

"Woman!" He snaps at me and my eyes widen. I’ve never seen him this pissed in the 30 hours or so that I’ve known him. It's quite the turn on. "Sit your ass down on the bed and listen to me. I’m tired of this avoidance shit you’ve been pulling! You’re damn wrong if you think I’m going to just let you walk away from me again!"

I obediently walk back and sit on the edge of the bed looking him up and down in surprise. "Nothing is going on with me and Octavia anymore. She and her dad came over like 5 minutes after we got home, she was nervous about being near you again so we turned on the TV to calm her down. We didn’t want any more fights breaking out because the furniture was not cheap. When she was ready we were going to call you downstairs. Then we started fighting over what channel to watch, she took the remote from me and I was just trying to get it back. That’s when you suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs looking completely void."

"Are you saying you've been downstairs watching TV since we came home?"

"Yea. Why? Were you looking for me?" My whole body freezes. If he was downstairs the entire time, who was that in the guest room? "Jypsie?"

My hands get clammy and my mouth goes dry, "You said suddenly appeared at the stairs, you didn’t hear your mom call me?"

"She was watching us and cheering Octavia on. No one had called you yet Jyps." My breathing gets off track and he notices, "What is it? Baby what's wrong? You okay? Shit! Do you have asthma?!" He's throwing his hands all over my body trying to find where I’m hurt, trying to figure out what’s wrong with me. "Veronica!" he yells panicked.

As if on cue, she glides into my room looking bored. "Fix her!" He yells and moves to sit next to me on the bed. My vision starts going and I see black dots, every breath hurting more than the last as my lungs try to give out. I’m vaguely aware of Veronica walking towards me and helping me stand from the bed. She hugs me and whispers, "What’s wrong baby? You look like you’ve seen a ghost." She licks my cheek.

I snap to and shove her so hard she falls to the ground with a smirk. Just as the real Veronica runs into the room with everyone behind her. She walks over to me having the same reaction I did as she grabs my hand tightly. "Didn’t think you'd get away from me that easily did you my love? Have you forgotten that we share a bond? I will always find you." The figure on the floor says to us before laughing maniacally as it transforms back into its true face. We watch in quiet dread as the person, the boy, turns into a liquid tar like substance and drips into the carpet, then ultimately through the floor boards below it. Gregory, Matthew and Rebecca all run down stairs to see if he’s there, but I know he isn’t.

Veronica and I sink to the floor where we are and start sobbing uncontrollably before we're lifted away from each other. Jason absent mindedly, cradles me while all kinds of thoughts are probably flying through his mind.

All the adults that left return back to the room with confused and scared looks, "What the heck is going on?" Rebecca asks clinging to Gregory.

"The better question would be who the hell was that?" They file into our room and take seats around us.

"That was a mistake." Veronica whispers, "A huge mistake."

 

Chapter 13: Armed and Dangerous

Chapter Thirteen

 

 

 

"Keep talking."

"It's a long story." I whisper.

"We've got time." Everyone finds a comfortable spot in the room surrounding Veronica, Carter, Jason and I. I see both moms trying not to stare at the half naked women on the walls and notice Jason’s slight blush.

"Um--"

"Wait!" My mother jumps up, "Let me go get you two something to drink, I'm sure your parched." She waddles out of the room with her husband on her heels. Not sure if that creature is still in the house or not, they don’t want anyone moving around alone. Rebecca and Gregory go to check on Priscilla and end up brining the sleeping child back with them. After a while Gianna finally returns holding two glasses, her husband with a large pitcher of liquid. She hands us each a glass, and he pours the liquid into our cups. We wait until everyone gets comfortable, quietly sipping our drinks, before we tell them our tale.

"What is this?" Veronica asks.

"It’s kind of strong don’t you think?" I say looking in the cup and swirling its contents around curiously.

"Yea but it tastes pretty good."

"It’s a specially blended iced tea with a few extra leaves of some edible calming herbs mixed in." My mom says with a small mischievous smile. “It’ll help you not only get the story out, but it’ll help you remember the details of it as well.”

"Never had iced tea like this before..." I say as I continue to drink it. "It makes me feel a little funny, must be the herb." Jason takes the cup from me and I can't help but frown as he drinks some of the delicious liquid.

"This tastes like..."

            My mom cuts him off, "So girls, I believe you were about to tell us what’s going on?"

"Oh yeah!” Veronica says before a large gulp of her tea, “Well, we kind of don't know where to start..."

"Why don't you tell us how he got so insubstantial?" Rebecca suggests.

"Actually. Why don't you start at the beginning? From the first time you met him onwards. Tell us the important facts of your relationship with the boy." Gregory advises us with an encouraging grunt.

Carter speaks up for the first time, "What's his name?"

"Chad Thomason." Taking things from there, I start, "We met him when we were 7."

"I fell in love with him and we started going out when I was 11." I feel Carter tense up next to me as Veronica releases that tidbit of info. “We dated for somewhere around two years… worst decision of my life.” Carter relaxes.

"When we were 13 we got our powers for the first time. At first we were terrified and thought the foster family we were with at the time had done something to us. We avoided eating at home for days, thinking it was in the food…"

Veronica cuts in, "Our powers came in so strong and uncontrollable that not only were we a danger to everyone around us, but we were also dangerous to ourselves."

Before Veronica and I could go off on another story, Rebecca cut us off and kept us on track. She repeated her earlier sentence, "How did he get incorporeal? I apologize, but I don’t really see why you guys getting your powers for the first time ties into this."

Veronica and I start fidgeting with our fingers and the hem of our shirts. "I get the feeling he's the way he is because of something you girls did, I also get the feeling that your powers play a very large part in this story." My father accuses with slight amusement in his eyes.

"Why don’t you tell us about the day he became the creature he is now?" Gregory encourages, to keep us talking. We finish off our cups and grab the pitcher for more, finding that the liquid really is helping us to speak freely.

"Sorry. We've just never told anyone about this before." I say staring down into my cup before taking a long drink from it.

"We're still getting used to all this supernatural stuff."

"We never had anyone to talk to about it. We had to teach ourselves how to control our powers and all that." Veronica says sadly, "We still slip up sometimes, and that just goes to show you that we don’t have full control yet."

"It’s alright girls. We'll be happy to help you with all that after we hear more about this Chad Thomason character." Gregory breaks in.

"Oh! You're right. I totally forgot. Uh, where were we? You know, we remember every detail from that day. I mean it really wasn’t a day we could forget like the first time we ever snuck into a bar, got drunk and almost got raped by a few unsavory types." I drink more iced tea from my cup. "Anyways, I got mad one day. The absolute worst of things had set me off..."

"The sunlight streamed through her bedroom window and woke her up." Veronica says shaking her head. "Like I said our hormones were completely out of control with the added pressure of our powers. We were like ticking time bombs ready to blow at anyone who pissed us off."

"As I was saying,” Blushing hard, I tried to erase my sister’s words, “I got mad, and after taking my shower, went downstairs like normal. Our foster parents at that time started yelling at me immediately. I had stayed out past my curfew the night before, and I had completely forgotten about my chores apparently. They wouldn’t stop yelling, and my mood just kept getting worse and worse until I blew up the microwave. As soon as they turned around to check it out and save their hot pockets, I left home and went to relax at the park. Alone."

"Important fact at the time!" Veronica says perkily. "There was a rapist in the neighborhood, so all the women and children were hidden behind locked doors." She nods her head proudly at remembering that bit of info from long ago. She reaches for the pitcher, but my mother pulls the jug away.

"I think you've had enough." Carter says frowning while pulling her arm back to her side. She turns to him and pouts her bottom lip out, causing him to get indecisive. Eventually he nods to my mom to refill her cup and she squeals while doing an awkward happy dance on Carter's lap.

"Yea," I drag it out looking inside my cup. "So, I was just sitting on the swing kicking at the grass when someone covered my eyes and started breathing in my ear." I shivered, "Guess who?' He whispered before biting my ear. He trailed his hands down from my eyes across my body before dropping them to my hips and rubbing my inner thighs." I finished off my cup and got another refill from the large pitcher.

"It didn't feel right letting Jypsie storm out of the house unprotected when there was a rapist on the loose so I left the house chasing after her. I mean what kind of sister would I be if I just left her to fend for herself against the scourge of innocence?" Veronica declares standing up. Carter pulls her back down into his lap and she breaks out into a fit of giggles.

"I laughed and told him, 'Chad, you know that if my sister saw you she'd kill you right?' He laughed and sat next to me on the other seat. He pushed the seat backwards so he could see me before he answered, 'I don’t think she would. She loves me too much." Veronica growls when I finish, probably trying to imitate her mate.

"That’s when I walked into hearing range, I heard Chad say 'loves me too much', and figured he and Jypsie were talking. We had always been good friends, but they had become closer while Chad and I dated, I guess I just never knew how close huh?" Veronica says turning to me with an upturned eyebrow, which causes me to roll my eyes. "I kept quiet thinking that I would jump out and scare them." She pours yet another cup, almost spilling some on to the floor.

"I looked at Chad, 'Chad you can't do this. You’re dating Veronica, she’s my sister and I would never do anything to hurt her.' I told him. He just looked at me, raking his vision over my body instead of looking me in the eyes, 'I can't help myself. You’re both just so delectable. Twins are supposed to be able to share everything right? Why can’t you two share me? I don't mind.' Then he reached out and grabbed me, I was in shock because he's usually so sweet and not this forward. He kissed me that day. Kissed me so hard I almost fell out of my swing." I say nodding at the memory like an idiot.

"I was standing in perfect view of them. If they had just turned they would have seen me." Veronica mumbles. "I stood there frozen feeling my heart break and sink out through my toes." She mutters while wiggling her toes and giggling.

"I got even angrier and shoved him off. I watched as he fell on his ass with a smirk on his face. I barely noticed as someone else walked into the park from the other entrance by the forest. The chick had a gun and wasn't afraid to aim it at me."

"I was already right behind them at this point so I reached forward for Jypsie's hand, but Chad caught my arm first."

"He looked at the woman and said, 'Hey baby. What took you so long? I texted like 30 minutes ago.' The girl got even closer and placed the end of the barrel to my forehead 'Please, It was more like 20 minutes.' She grabbed me by the waist and pulled me into her."

"Chad scoffed and said 'I texted the minute I saw her babe.' Then Jypsie asked, 'what the hell is going on? Chad who is this?' 'Yea who am I?' the lady laughed before sticking her tongue down his throat."

"They pulled apart and he licked Veronica's cheek 'this is the one I was talking about baby, but aren't they both beautiful?' The lady started stroking my cheek with the gun while Chad grabbed Veronica's face and forced her to kiss him." I say nodding again, "She kneed him in the balls with as much strength as she could, and he doubled over grabbing his bologna pony and berries. If I wasn't about to die, I probably would have laughed..."

"You did laugh. That’s why she slapped you."

"Oh yeah! And then you got mad and started walking towards her with your hair flying everywhere. Kind of like if there was a huge static storm."

"She raised the gun to me but I still kept going, I guess I thought it was fake or something. Even though I didn’t know her, I didn’t think she would actually shoot me. She did. The bullet went straight through the meaty stuff on my arm," Veronica raised her arm and started trying to flap it in demonstration of where she was talking about. The bullet went straight through.

"And I got pissed off, then-- Can I have more juice please?" The splash of the jugs contents as it fell into my cup, "Yummy."

Rebecca yells out frantically as she’s on her hands and knees, closer to us than before, "Then what?!"

"My powers started flowing freely and the sky filled with storm clouds."

"Electricity started hitting random areas of the park and the wind started picking up."

"V started a hurricane..." Veronica starts nodding and saying yep twice, "The playground equipment started lifting up and flying like vengeful birds."

"Like an idiot, the cold hearted bitch started shooting in random directions, but she wasn’t really hitting us. At first anyways... Then out of nowhere she shot Jyps in the leg!" I raise my leg and point at where I thought she had shot me, "There was a hole there before it closed up and my leg healed."

"So at this point we’re both furious. The storm got worse and then we killed them. Is there anymore juice left?" I watched Veronica get a refill as I finished my cup off again.

"If you killed him... what is he doing here? Looking at least half alive?" Gregory asks us wearily, "I've seen vindictive spirits before, and they have never looked like that. They were always sort of see through, transparent almost and covered in a dark aura. This boy has the aura, he has one of the darkest auras I’ve ever seen actually, and despite his departure, he seemed very solid to me."

“Well we got really scared, I mean we just killed two people.”

“So, as quickly as we could, while everyone else in the homes around us were focusing on the storm, Veronica and I dragged the dead bodies into the forest behind the park and started freaking out. By that time the adrenaline was gone and the pain had set in. Veronica used a little wind to go into the holes and pull the bullets out, nearly ripping my leg and her arm in two. Then I tried my hand at healing. Didn’t work like I would have hoped. I was able to stop the bleeding and shut the wound as if it’d been stitched. Hurt like hell, even after I tried to numb it. Exhausted we couldn’t come up with a good enough plan.”

“We ended up leaving them behind some bushes covered in foliage and running home to do some research.”

“When we got home, our entire foster family was gathered in the living room crowded around the old TV set watching the news.”

“The minute we walked into the room their attention snapped to us and we were immediately engulfed in numerous hugs.”

“Our foster parents chastised us for around an hour about being so reckless. They kept going over the possibilities of what could have happened to us. By the time they were done Veronica and I couldn’t stop shaking. They told us about what they had seen on the news and everything they had learned about the rapist in our neighborhood.”

“Turns out Chad and this girl were worse than we had thought…” We paused, debating on how to tell them the rest, wondering about their reactions when they find out about the real Chad. Everyone gave us encouraging looks as if to say go on. Downing the rest of our cups we finally did.

“Well apparently Chad had lied, he told us he was 15. Turns out he’s actually 31 with a baby face and his name isn’t really Chad Thomason.”

“It was really Troy Dorian.”

The women gasp and their faces slip into masks of shock and horror before my father speaks up, “Baby you know him?”

“Not personally of course,” my mom answers, “but I have heard of him… He pops up all over the news all the time, although it’s not as bad as it used to be four— oh my goodness!”

“Four what?!” Gregory yells, “Why can’t you women ever just finish your sentences and tell the whole story before you start freaking out and yelling ‘OMG!’ We could have been fully informed by now if you would just keep on track and for once in your lives…” All the women glare at him and he quietly trails off, while the other males slowly shake their heads.

“I know what you mean man, but it’s best not to say anything, you know how testy women can be.” My father unwittingly says to him, slowly falling into the hole Gregory had apparently dug for both of them.

“What was that?” My mom, Gianna, asks turning to her husband.

The blood drains from his face and fear sparks in his eyes, before he swallows his distress. He clears his throat, looks into Gianna’s eyes and answers with an innocent smile, “I love you. I love you so much baby. I just love you.”

“That’s what I thought.” She narrows her eyes at him.

Carter cuts in impatiently, “So who the hell is this Troy Dorian guy?!”

“Troy Dorian, is one of the worst serial rapists in this country.” Rebecca starts, “But that’s not all, he’s also the right hand man to the second in command of a very large human trafficking organization. His boss was found and arrested 3 years ago thanks to an anonymous tip.”

“He’s an extremely dangerous person, and you girls are lucky to still be alive.”

“He’s been charged with murder multiple times, he’s kidnapped and sold hundreds of young girls on the black market for years, he’s also been suspected of working for one of the biggest drug lords in Europe and no one’s been able to stop him.”

“That is, no one was able to stop him until four years ago, and now unfortunately, it’s apparently become harder.”

“That’s what she said.” Jason whispers in my ear and I pinch his leg.

Gregory sighs exasperatedly, “You girls said you dispatched him, hid his and his accomplice’s bodies, and then rushed home right?” We bite our lips and nod at him, “You went home, got in trouble found out more about ‘Chad’. Then what?”

“We ate dinner, swallowed some pain meds and went up to our room. After locking the door, we sat at the old desktop and immediately went on google.”

“I don’t know what I would do without google, it keeps me going.” I say completely serious. “I use it every day for practically everything.” I sighed thinking about it lovingly.

“Yes, well… We looked up some things and got a whole bunch of useless crap. I opened this bullshit magic site, searched it and upon exiting it another window popped up.”

“It was a chat screen with one of the site moderators.”

            “Jyps and I had a very interesting conversation with her. We found out that she believed herself to be an oracle, and her name was Philomena. We didn’t give her any details about our situation, but she seemed to know a lot about it and spoke to us in this creepy cryptic way.”

“After a really long time she asked us a question, although I can’t for the life of me remember it, I do remember feeling like we could change the fate of the world with our answer.”

“We probably should have listened to that feeling and thought through our answer, but we didn’t and after we told Philomena our choice she gave us the address to a store on the outskirts of town. She gave us some specific directions and then she shut down the chat window. Thankfully we had written everything on a piece of paper.”

“Quick as lightening we changed into all black clothing, borrowed Paul’s keys and rushed out the door to our foster dad’s car like escaped convicts. We drove straight to where the lady told us, only getting lost about three times before finally pulling up in front of the old dilapidated building. Thank god it was so late that only a handful of people were on the streets. The only perk to living in a small town.”

“The directions led us around the old store to the back were we found this equally creepy, old, dirty looking demon head thing, which when kicked, opened up to be a book.”

“There was a sticky note stuck between the empty eye sockets of the demons cranium with a note wishing us luck and hoping we stayed on the correct path through our journey.”

“Whatever the hell that meant,” Roni mutters to herself.

“Basically, we sat on filthy crates in the dimly lit alley thumbing through the oddly cased book. We had been kind of detached since the incident at the park so although tired and hurting, the day’s events hadn’t fully hit us yet.”

“Anyway, we looked through the book and found our way out, we found the spell that would help us. A revival spell.”

“Of course there was a warning on the page--”

Gregory cuts me off, “Because you can never be sure of what you’re bringing back when you use one of those spells. It goes against the laws of fate and nature.”

“Yes, the warning also said that what you revive might not be what was lost. The being brought back would come back as something dark, unnatural, possibly someone else entirely. When you revive that person they bring back a piece of evil with them, the size of that piece depends on how bad they were before they departed.” Veronica sums up the warning.

“Of course we didn’t really think it through, we just ignored it and skipped straight to the ingredients and directions.”

“A lot of the stuff we had never heard of and others, we had no way of getting.”

Veronica says, “So we got up and started walking back to the car when Jyps tripped over a box. Of course being the uh, curious adolescents we were, we had to open it.”

“All the ingredients were inside, and after going through the box and reading the spell again, we rushed back to the car like world renowned sprinters.”

I closed my eyes and kept talking, finding that it was extremely easy to tell them the story that way. “After a quick stop to a few stores, we went back to where we left them, to find the whole place surrounded in yellow crime scene tape. There was a huge crowd of people all around the entrance watching the police comb the scene because apparently there was blood or something.”

“Long story short, we snuck around, found a way to get to the bodies and pull them further into the trees. We surrounded them in salt, because one of the websites we checked out said something about a salt and sand circle. Cast the spell on ‘Chad’ first to see if it would actually work, but when he didn’t move or even show signs of reanimation we decided to stop halfway through and just pack up and come clean to the cops.”

            “I turned to blow out the candles when an arm grabbed my leg and I screamed.”

            “Her hand accidentally knocked over the candle and the forest caught fire. I pulled her out of the salt circle, and ‘Chad’ stood up growling at us.”

            “We were scared shitless, standing outside the circle hugging each other and shaking.”

            “His eyes were pitch black and he had this fierce murderous look on his face. He opened his mouth to say something and we turned tails and ran.”

            “I looked back at him once and saw him pounding on some invisible barrier screaming something, it looked like the salt served its purpose because he couldn’t follow us.”

            “We heard the cops coming and made a split second decision to turn back grab all the incriminating stuff and drive home in our borrowed car.”

            I opened my eyes and looked around at everyone’s shocked faces. No one said anything until Gregory opened his mouth and then they were all talking at once. He shouted for everyone to be quiet before he could question us, “So what exactly does he want? And where’s the book now?”

            “We’re not actually sure how he got out of the circle, but he did tell us what he wanted after he slaughtered our entire foster family and burned the house to the ground.” Veronica says with a grim smile.

            “He wants to be whole. He wants us to complete the spell, and bring back his dead girlfriend, so they can rule the world together.”

            “Apparently he has her body on ice.”

            The room goes quiet again until Matthew whispers, “Whole?”

            “He looks solid but he isn’t, and he’s actually trapped in the visible world between life and death. He wants us to finish calling his soul back to this world, but if we do he’ll get stronger.”

            “If you think he’s scary now, wait until he’s whole again and has who knows what kind of demonic powers in addition to what he stole from us.” Silence.

            Matthew gets up and dusts his clothes off before reaching for Gianna’s hand, “Come on my love. Its past 1 in the morning and you shouldn’t be up this late.” She takes his hand and he helps her up, she kisses both of our heads and follows her husband to the door where they stop and look back at us looking completely shaken.

            “Don’t worry girls, we’ll find some way to stop him. You’re not in this alone anymore.” Rebecca says before she takes her husband’s free hand and they join the other adults at the door in shock. “Honey, I think we should have prissy sleep with us for the rest of the night. It just doesn’t feel right letting her sleep alone after hearing about Troy Dorian.”

            They leave the room in different directions, “Come on then V, I think it’s time I got you to bed.” Carter says lifting my shaking sister from his lap and into his arms so he can carry her out the room. “Night guys. Hope you get some sleep.” He calls to us quietly over his shoulder.

            I slip out of Jason’s arms and grab the jug of juice from the floor, I raise it to my lips and drain its contents. “Damn.” Jason calls before he rifles through one of the drawers for something. He takes a shaky breath before grabbing what he needed and walks into the bathroom. “Will you be alright without me for a few moments? Or would you like to join me in the shower?”

            “I’ll be fine.” I attempt to lie, but can’t hold on to it, “hurry up please.” He nods at me from the door way, then disappears back inside the bathroom. With him gone, I take the time to change my clothes and start putting my things away. Anything to get my mind off the hell my life has been the past few years.

            I heard the bathroom door click open, but I didn’t turn, and kept my focus on rearranging the things on our dresser. He snaked his arms around my waist, and I leaned back in delight. All night my body had been hot for him, the passion growing with every breath and standing here in our room with him all alone and practically naked wasn’t making things any easier. “Jason.” I whispered quietly, and felt his arms tighten around me briefly before he spun me around and let go.

            “Good night Jypsie.” He said with a ghost of a kiss against my lips before he climbed into our bed. With my back to him, I reached up and touched my lips lightly, before turning and jumping on him.

            “Whoa! Wh--” I smooshed my lips to his aggressively, effectively shutting him up. His hands find their way to my butt, and he starts groping me. I moan in his mouth as he squeezes me hard and bites my bottom lip roughly, but not so hard that I bleed. I try to sit up, while straddling him, so that I can admire the chest I’ve been fantasizing about, but one of his hands shoots up and holds my head in place near his.

            There isn’t much space between us, but there’s still enough for me to run my fingers all over his upper body.

            “Jypsie.” He moans as I tweak his nipple, which just drives my passion even deeper. I have to have this man.

            He was the only thing on my mind, having him body and soul was the only thing going through my head, that is, until he started lifting my shirt over my head. As soon as it was dealt with, my lips were immediately back on his, the fire between us growing hotter and hotter by the second.

            His tongue brushed up against the roof of my mouth, and that’s when I realized that it was in fact in my mouth. Soon as that thought registered within me, his tongue was gone. He flipped us over so that he was on top, and while I was trying to regain my bearings from the fast movement, he stopped kissing my lips.

            He instead, left a trail of phantom kisses across my jaw and down my neck, barely making contact with my skin until he got to my chest. He cupped my right breast and began kneading it while he sucked and teased my left.

            I reached to pull his lips back up to mine, but faster than I could blink, he had my hands pinned above my head. “J- Ja- Jason!” I panted out on a moan as he slightly bit down on the erect bud. I bucked my hips into him and arched my back to give him more access. He let go of my left breast and trailed his hand lightly down the left side of my body to my panties, his mouth slowly following down the center.

            He let go of my hands and slowly trailed his right hand down to my hips, opposite my other hand to start playing with my panty line.

            Just as he started slowly inching my panties down, the door flew open and a large dark silhouette of a stranger flooded into my room, he was fully armed.

 

Chapter 14: Crack

Chapter Fourteen

 

 

 

            He turned to us to say something, but unfortunately we never got the chance to hear it. As soon as he opened his mouth to utter a word, a spear cut straight through his upper torso, slid through his heart and effectively ended his life.

            "What the fuck?!” Jason yelled sitting up, but I had other things on my mind and pulled him back down. I flipped him over so that I was on top and began kissing his lips.

            He squirmed beneath me and seemed to be trying to say something so I moved my lips to his jaw and trailed kisses down his neck instead. He began speaking and I felt the strong baritone of his voice reverberate through his body, which caused me to tremble with need, “Jypsie, sweetheart, you have to stop.”

            Had I been paying attention to anything he was saying I would have felt the mood of the situation take a turn for the worse, but I was only paying attention to the way his voice made me feel. His words went through one ear and out the other as a parent’s does to their child.

            “Jypsie! Stop!”

            “Why?” I couldn’t help but whine, he was interrupting something beautiful. Ignoring my passion completely, and giving all of his attention, attention that should be directed at me towards some bloody hulk of a man bleeding onto our clean white carpets.

            “A man was just killed in our room, and now his blood is soaking into the floors. I know you’re under the influence of a few very strong aphrodisiacs, but you can’t tell me that it doesn’t affect you.” I nod my head, “Not even a little bit?”

            “Why should it? He’s dead, and we can always just get a new carpet, or hard wood floors.” I mused between kisses placed in various places on his neck.

            I felt Jason’s jaws move under my lips as he was about to say something again, but someone else cut in instead, “Are you kids ok?” His mom asks not looking at us, but looking at the dead guy.

            “Well considering there’s a dead man in the room. Bleeding through a hole in his chest. With a spear sticking out of his back. I’d say we’re just peachy!” Jason says, sarcasm dripping from his every word.

            “Good to hear.” His mom replies as she places her foot on the man’s back and begins pulling the spear free looking like a warrior princess instead of the innocent slightly childish woman she usually does. “Get up, get dressed and let’s go.”

            This time I’m the one who speaks, “Why is it, that every time we try to get intimate someone always has to interrupt!” Jason rolls to the side and removes my legs. Making it look easy despite how strongly I’m clamping them around him.

            “Don’t worry baby. One of these days it’ll happen.”

            “Not in this house it won’t. As soon as this is over you’re renting a nice clean hotel room somewhere far away from them and we are taking care of all this built up sexual tension. Is that clear Jason?!”

            “Yes ma’am.” He salutes me before running into the closet.

            I turn to his mother and she’s wiping blood off of the spear and onto the dead guys back. “Get dressed.” She demands me without looking up from what she’s doing.

            I sigh and go into the closet too. Looking around at all the clothes, feeling hot and hopeful I decided on a short skirt, a tight V-neck shirt designed to make the girls look good and a very cute pair of high-heeled boots. “You’re not wearing that. Put on something practical.

            “Jason.” I whine.

            “Jypsie.” He responds.

            “Fine!” I snap at his back as he goes back into the room. I change into pants and sneakers.

            “Jypsie hurry up! We don’t really have time to spare!” I rushed out of our closet to see Rebecca standing in the doorway looking out next to a fully clothed and shoed Jason.

            “Now will you tell me what’s going on mom?” He held his hand out for me and I quickly walked over and grasped it. He turned to give me an apologetic smile for the earlier interruption, but it wiped off his face quickly as he looked me up and down.

            Just by looking into his eyes, I could tell that he approved of the new choices, but that the mood had also been revived a little. He pulled me into his arms and leaned down to kiss me but froze in mid descent by one word from his mother. “Hunters.”

            Before I could even open my mouth to ask for more details, I was pushed behind Rebecca in the hallway. I turned my head to ask Jason what his problem was but he was different, and I don’t mean he had changed his clothes or that he was no longer Jason. I mean his eyes were that of a dragon’s, his shirt was gone and his shoulder was covered in shiny black scales.

            He looked extremely intimidating and a lot bigger than the last time I saw him. He dropped his gaze to me because I wasn’t moving and his pitch black eyes had my knees going weak, if it wasn’t for his heightened speed I would have fallen to the ground.

            “Is she alright?” Rebecca asks looking back at me briefly before pulling a vial out of one of her pockets. She hands it to me and Jason makes me drink it. Disgusting. He ignores me and we continue on towards the stairs.

            “I think so. Where are they? What’s our current situation?” He asks as he follows his mother, supporting my full weight with one arm.

            “They’re all over the place. The attack seems like it’s been planned out to a great extent, and they move around like our town is their very own backyard. I fear that someone may have betrayed us to them and told them our town’s layout, including things not available in public records.” Another armed man pops out of a dark corner near the stairs and takes aim at Rebecca. Jason quickly raises his free hand and sends a ball of electricity into his chest. He’s dead before he hits the floor.

            “Chad.” I whisper quietly while clinging to Jason’s side.

            “He’s at the top of the list of possible informants, but he couldn’t be the only one working against us. The hunters seem to know too much. I’m afraid we have a traitor somewhere in our community.” Rebecca says as she looks down into the fray of dead bodies strewn all over the first floor. Jason gets close enough so that I can see a group of men standing in the living room staring at the broken front door; they all look like they’re waiting for something.

            Just as I open my mouth to ask a question, a group of armed men and women burst through the doorway and everyone except us is locked into battle. Rebecca sighs and walks backward a bit before turning and leading us back down the hallway.

            She leads us to a room near the back of the house, and closes the door behind us. She then starts tapping various spaces in the floor searching for something.

            I turn my attention back to Jason as his grip on me tightens to a painful hold, and see him staring at the floor in front of us in deep concentration. I reach up and stroke his cheek, his face slightly relaxes under my touch, so I lean up and kiss his cheek hoping it’ll have a much stronger effect.

            His grip on me loosens and he turns to me. “I need you to promise me something.” He whispers in a guttural strangely animalistic voice that gets me hot all over again.

            “Anything.” I say breathily.

            “If something happens to me, if we’re not able to defeat all the hunters, I want you to run.”

            “No, I’m tired of running from him. I’m tired of watching him hurt people.”

            “Yes. I want you to get out of here and be safe. I don’t want to die knowing that you could be next. I want you to live the rest of your life happy with kids. Whatever you want. Alright?”

            “That’s not possible for me as long as he still exists, besides I want you. End of discussion.” He sighs and shakes his head before walking over to his mom. He taps her shoulder to get her attention, before walking over to the corner of the room and punching the floor.

            It pops in about 5 inches and he slides it to the side under the rest of the floor and beckons us over. He puts his hand up, telling us to stay there and be quiet as he climbs down the ladder into the dark hole. We wait there a while until an electricity ball floats up to us. Taking it into her hand and snuffing it out Rebecca whispers quietly, “You go down first dear.”

            I look down into the hole before sitting on the edge and slowly sliding/angling myself onto the ladder. I slowly climbed down into the never-ending darkness hoping to a higher power that there wasn’t some kind of mouth below waiting to swallow me whole simply because I was stupid enough to climb into this hole in the first place.

            I kept climbing down, with my mind racing a mile a minute when I felt arms wrap around my waist. If it wasn’t for the butterflies in my stomach or the heat building in my body I would have screamed, but I knew it was Jason.

            He pulled me down off the ladder and put me to the side, I couldn’t see anything but the way he squeezed me before letting go, told me that I was not to move. A few silent moments passed before I felt his arm around my waist once again. He pulled me along through the dark little room before lightly pushing on what seemed like a wall in front of us and sliding it to the side a little.

            I squeezed between Jason and his mother and peeked outside the crack just in time to see a man fly down the hallway. We watched for a little longer waiting to see if there were any more hunters, but all we saw were a few supernaturals I was told lived in town. Jason pushes the wall to the side just enough for all of us to slip through.

            He nods to some of the fighters on our side before stealthily leading us through the house to another wall that he pops and slides out of place. He leaves his mother to guard the entrance to the wall and we walk down a short hallway, make a right at the corner and walk down a few steps to a door.

            I reach for the doorknob, but he catches my hand and pushes me up against the wall instead. He lays a kiss full of passion and love on my lips before wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me close. He lifts me off the ground and nuzzles his face in my neck for an immeasurable moment before whispering, “I love you” and pulling away.

            He kisses me one more time before placing me on the ground and opening the door. I watch him as I carefully back my way into the room, and stop to watch him close the door behind me. The last thing I hear before turning around is his voice in my head saying, “Stay safe.”

Chapter 15: Hunters

Chapter Fifteen

 

 

 

"Who are the hunters?" It took me a moment to realize that it was my voice that I was hearing, I hadn’t meant to say it aloud. At first, no one answers, no clamor of voices jump to answer my question, just a bunch of blank stares. When moments pass by and no one answers, I open my mouth to ask again, and pause. I hear someone very quietly whisper "The cursed".

The odd label seems to bounce around on the walls like a super ball as if it was screamed and not whispered into the muted room. It seems to give everyone the consent they were looking for to speak, as if it were a key to the locked doors of their mouths. The next thing I know everybody's screaming "monsters!" and "Evil incarnate!" as loud as they dare. In fact, had she not been next to me, I wouldn't have heard a regal old woman I had not noticed before say, "They are our family members; our loved ones."

I couldn't help the "What?" from escaping my mouth as I turned my head to face her; surely I must have misheard. Her answer is so different from everyone else’s that it’s obvious there's something missing. She speaks again, but I can't hear her over everyone else, and apparently neither can my sister.

"Everybody shut it!" I scream and the cellar immediately goes quiet. Everybody holds their breath and turns to either the door or the ceiling above us; waiting to see if anyone heard us. After a few long moments full of anxiety pass, everyone turns towards my sister, who turns towards me, which gets everyone to shift their gazes once again. I then turn to the little old lady and urge her to repeat her statement.

"I was saying that my son is a hunter."

My eyes open wide and my jaw slackens, as I stare at her. In my mind her declaration is a kin to growing three heads and telling me she is a direct descendant to a god. "So does," I swallow the frog lodged in my throat, "does that make you a hunter as well?" I ask seriously, trying desperately to hide the mix of fear and worry. If I have to kill to protect my sister I will.

She chuckles darkly before answering, "No. It doesn't, but then again being a hunter isn't something necessarily genetic, it doesn't always run in the family."

I watch as Veronica gets up and moves closer to us so as to better join the conversation. "My sister and I are very green when it comes to all of this, I'm afraid we know nothing about hunters except for the fact that almost everyone dislikes them." She sticks out her hand, and the old woman simply stares at it, before my sister awkwardly withdraws it, "My name is Veronica Darling."

"I know who you are, we all do." She smiles at her, "My name is Elizabeth Grantbirch, but almost everyone just calls me gran. I'd love to share with you and anyone willing to listen, my knowledge of hunters." She turns to me and smiles; I can't help but to smile back.

"I suppose I should start at the beginning." She says.

"That would help." I remark and my sister jabs me in the side with my elbow, Mrs. Grantbirch chuckles before jumping into her tale.

"Hundreds of years ago," She begins, sounding like an ancient story teller, capturing the attention of everyone in the room immediately. "Well actually, they’ve been around much longer than that, just under a different name. They used to be called 'Capti A Animae' and they were killed almost immediately after they got the title."

"Capti A Animae literally means a trapped soul." My sister says absent mindedly. I simply turn and look at her with one arched eyebrow and she shrugs, "Remember the 7th grade? You learned how to bake and sew; I learned how to speak Latin." I shake my head at her and turn back to the old woman, to see her smiling.

"Sorry." I apologize for my sister's interruption, she just smiles a little wider and jumps back into the story.

"The title was given to anyone born of supernatural parents who could not release their life force energy in its true form." I just stared at her, trying to convey without words that I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. She chuckled once again, "Our life force energy is what makes us different, it is what gives fairies the ability to tune in to nature, what gives them the ability to fly, to manipulate an element. It is what gives vampires their thirst--"

Viviette cuts her off, "What do you mean? It gives vampires their thirst?"

"Vampires, do not have enough life force energy on their own, which is why they drink blood. They must take the energy of another to sustain themselves." Viviette's eyes start tearing up, and she looks down at her hands, "Do not feel bad dear, vampires are a real asset to the supernatural community."

Viviette's head snaps up, "Really?" she asks weakly.

"Yes, you help get rid of inferior beings who believe themselves better than everyone and everything on this planet." Gran smiles at her sweetly. Veronica and I, and I'm sure everyone else as well, do a double take on this small woman. "Anyways, as I was saying," She continues, "It is what gives Lycans and other shape shifters of all kinds, the ability to change form. It is a witch’s power; she expels it from her body to do her bidding, her strength depends on not only how much of it she has, but her control over it as well."

She turns and looks at Veronica and I directly, "Necromancers have the most of it, they give the dead some to bring them back to life, they also give a bit to ghosts so that everyone may see and communicate with them.” She pauses for a moment, “Necromancers are the living bridges between life and death." She looks at us a bit longer, as if to let some hidden message sink into us. Then she turns to address the whole room again, "I am sure you can figure out how it works in all of the other species as well. Correct?" A few murmured yea's and yes's ring out quietly through the room.

"Well then let us get back to the history of hunters." She takes a minute to think, to get back on track. "Capti A Animae did not become 'hunters' until the 1500's, the man who grew up to become the first hunter was born on February 5th, 1543. His parents were the rulers of all Lycan kind in the world, and being first born, he was the heir to the throne. He was loved and doted on by all; he was the perfect crown prince."

Do you see a twinkle in her eyes as she talks about him? Veronica asks me, and I subtly nod my head.

"On his 16th birthday in 1559, he stood in the courtyard, surrounded by his family and friends; the rulers of other supernatural beings. Any and every one."

“I think he has even more friends than me!” Priscilla says loudly from somewhere in the room, a small smile spreads across the woman’s face.

“Yes, I do believe he did sugar plum. “ She says in what I’m guessing is her general direction. “Everyone stood, surrounding Crown Prince Acacius in the courtyard, waiting for him to shift and discover his bride; the future queen. They had been out there since the sun was at its highest point in the sky, and now that the moon had almost replaced it in its position, everyone was very excited.” She smiled, and got this look in her eyes, as though she was going back in time, as though she could see it all right before her eyes. “All the young ladies lined up in his sights, perfectly primped and ready with large expectant smiles. Anticipation grew with every passing minute, and everyone was ready to just burst with happiness.”

A smile unexpectedly found its way onto my face, and I’m sure others as well, it was hard not to enjoy the story the way she told it. “The moon was at its highest in the sky, it was officially Crown Prince Acacius’ birthday, but nothing was happening.” The smile faded off of her face slowly, taking everyone else’s with it as well. “He stood there in front of everyone, the same as always. He was not doubled over on the floor in pain, he was not gasping for air and none of his bones were reforming. Fur did not sprout out of his skin, there was absolutely nothing of the change evident.” She whispered quietly, but it was loud enough that I’m sure even the people sitting furthest away heard her.

“All of the women but his loving mother ran from him as though he were a monster. The men were outraged. The guards seized him, but he didn’t seem to notice what any of it meant. They dragged him down into the dungeons and locked him away while his mother tried to calm everyone down and his father made plans to kill him.”

“Poor thing,” Veronica whispers quietly as her eyes begin to water, gran shoots her a sad little smile as I take one of her hands in mine.

“They decided that he needed to be killed as soon as possible, as with all the other Capti A Animae, but they couldn’t bring themselves to kill him at the moment. They all still loved him you see, they needed some time to take it all in. Eventually his father decided to leave him in a dungeon cell and kill him later that day; when the sun was high in the sky.” A few sniffles from all over the room broke the silence as she took a breath. Mothers began to feel the pain of losing a child that way, knowing that they could do nothing to save them.

“In the time of very little light, before the servants woke to begin their daily tasks, when women and children slept and the world was still covered in darkness, someone packed a traveler’s bag.”

“A traveler’s bag?” Veronica asks.

“A satchel that anyone going on a journey took, it wasn’t that big so you could only take essentials. Most people took a bit of food, some money and other small things that would fit.” She looked at me and I just shrugged, “I did girls scouts, and you did karate.”

Gran continued her story, as though Veronica and I hadn't interrupted at all, “They took the traveler’s bag and moved stealthily through the night to his cell where she found him sitting on the ground just staring at the floor...”

“I don't mean to sound rude,” Silvana said cutting in, “But how do you know so many details?”

Gran ignored her question and kept going, “She immediately unlocked his cell as fast as she could; she ran in and helped him up. He was slouched over, looking broken, so broken. As quietly as she could, she led him out of the dungeon and through the castle grounds into the safety of the great forests. The forests were very dangerous, but he had a better chance of survival in there than he did in the palace." A single tear ran down her cheek, and she stopped for a moment. I put my hand on hers, they were as cold as ice, and she gave me a sad smile before telling us the rest.

"She told him that even though he was cursed, he was still her child, and she could not bear to see him killed. She gave him a cloak for warmth, and a satchel filled with things she believed he would need." Gran wiped the tears from her face, but they were quickly replaced. "She held her first born one more time, whispering her love for him. Pulling away she gave him a sword and watched as he walked off into the shadows of the trees; turning to look back at her every few steps, his loving mother."

"If she saved him, why did he become a hunter?" I had to ask.

She took a moment to wipe her face clean and compose herself, before turning back to me and giving me a small smile. "He survived the forest with hardly a scratch on him, thanks to some of the finest combat teachers the land had ever seen. Clearing the forest he found himself in a small town. He had the markings of a great warrior, and the cloth of someone with a lot of money, he immediately had the village's full attention.  Women came out batting their eyelashes and flaunting their bodies. Men came out to share stories of battle and children simply stared at him, for he had the look of a great fighter with even more amazing tales."

Pride flashed in her eyes, and the smile on her face grew as she spoke about him, "He spent two days being worshipped in that town, thinking of what he was going to do, how he was going to continue his life when all the people he loved and cared about, had turned their backs on him. He could barely eat, and he could not sleep at all, so at night he would wander the village or the forest, just thinking."

She paused for a moment, as if in thought before continuing, "I suppose it was a good thing. For on the third night of his stay, palace guards came riding into town looking for him."

"What?!" Priscilla yells, as outraged as everyone else. “I don’t like this story anymore!”

"How could they have known where he was? I mean, what makes them think he didn’t die in the forest?!"

Another sad smile from gran, "He was in the forest that night, and watched from the shadows as they entered. The captain walked right up to the town leader and they had a brief conversation. He watched as the chief pointed out the home in which he was supposed to be staying. In less than a minute, guards swarmed the place looking for him. He pulled back and turned to run when he heard one of the soldiers yell, 'He's not here captain!' He stayed to hear the captain’s response. At first all he saw was an argument between the captain and the village leader. Angry, the captain threw the chief on the floor and spoke in a loud commanding voice, 'if you are found harboring or aiding the condemned prince Acacius in any way, you will be killed like our late Queen Elizabeth. Without question. Without trial. For all to see. You have until sundown tomorrow to bring him to me.' With that said he turned around and stomped out of town with his soldiers trailing behind."

"Uh oh!" Priscilla and the other children say, sitting right in front of gran. None of us even saw the little ankle biters move, but somehow there they all were.

One of the little boys, with a gleam in his eyes, jumped up and started an epic battle with the air while asking excitedly, "Did he jump out from behind the trees and beat the bad guys up? Did he slay them with his sword like swish? Swish. Boom!" Pandemonium broke out, and soon all the children were up demonstrating what they believed happened next.

With a laugh at their enthusiasm, Gran began again, "Prince Acacius already had his things on him, as he did not feel safe leaving it anywhere. From years of warrior training. It was no problem for him to turn around and venture deeper into the woods. He built a place to live, and a training ground of sorts, with the intent that he would become a better fighter and avenge his mother's death. He trained day and night, for the treacherous battle he believed he would be in. When he wasn't training, he was perfecting his entrance and escape plan."

Somewhere above us, there was a loud crash, and the world Gran had created around us with her story, just seemed to melt away. Reality despairingly made itself known once again, at the front of my mind. The thought of that clattering coming from Jason's dead body hitting the ground had my heart rate picking up. I started imagining the most horrible of situations, all ending in his utter demise. I thought of never being able to gaze into those piercing green eyes, whose mere memory easily had me weak in the knees. I thought of never being able to run my hands through that amazingly soft jet black hair of his that just asked to be played with. The thought of never being able to kiss those delicious pink lips of his again had tears quietly streaming down my face.

"One day, while training he heard a strange sound and decided to investigate. Travelling away from his usual spot in the forest, he came across one of the young women from the village who had waited on him hand and foot. She was running as fast as her legs could carry her away from a large animal with rather sharp tusks and claws, a shadow dweller." Gran said breaking the silence, once again giving us something else to think about other than our possibly dead loved ones. Wait, do I really love him? It’s only been like 2 days.

"Is it going to eat the girl?" One of the little boys asks with wide eyes.

"No dear, he slays the monster and saves the girl--"

"And then they get married and live happily ever after," One of the little girls pipes up next, "Right?"

Gran smiles in her direction, "He questions her until she finally confesses. She tells him that she ran away from the village to find him. She tells him that she cares for him and wanted to make sure he was ok. He allows her to stay and she helps him in any way possible with his training and plan, even though she had no idea what it was for. It was weeks before he let her know of his secrets and intentions. He thought she would run back to her village or try to threaten him after he told her, but she simply started training with him. She told him she would fight with him, against his beliefs that she would get hurt. I suspect that had he been able to shift, and meet her, she probably would have been his soul’s love."

"When does he storm the castle?" I ask rather loudly, over everyone else’s voices as they prepare to ask for details on the odd couple, impatient to get to the action.

"April 29th 1560."

"Why then?" I ask curiously, "I mean exactly what’s so special about April 29th?"

"His entire family, and other supernatural royalties; the important people of the world and everyone who had been there at his birthday celebration, had gathered at the palace to celebrate his younger sister's 5th birthday." A few people in the cellar gasp, already realizing a part of his plan. “Everyone he needed and wanted to kill would show up, so it was the perfect time. At the same time of day as he had stood in the courtyard waiting all those months ago, he snuck back in. Only this time he wasn’t heading to the gallows or even back to his prison cell. This time he had company as well.”

“Oh no.”

“They stowed themselves in one of his favorite hiding places as a child. Secreted away for the perfect moment to pounce.”

“He didn’t think it through well enough,” I said “There are too many skilled opponents against just two people. There’s no way either of them could win, let alone survive.”

“Acacius had already decided that it would be after the feast, when all the lords were too drunk to properly defend themselves. It would give him a better chance at getting his love out of harm’s way. He did not want her existence extinguished this night.” A distant look entered gran’s eyes as she spoke, “He had already planned on dying in the palace, he just wanted to take as many down with him as he possibly could before he went.”

“He’s not going to die is he?” Olivia asks from where she sits near Priscilla.

“Of course he’s not!” Priscilla says, “Make it a happy ending so Livy doesn’t get scared!”

“Before he could lose his nerve, he moved out of his hiding spot and killed the first person near him. One of the guards that had helped to imprison him.” Gran says without acknowledging Olivia and Priscilla. That faraway look enters her eyes again, like she’s no longer here with us but in her story.

 Do you think she was there? When this all happened? I ask my sister.

No way. She’s old, but I don’t think she’s that old.

“He tried to make as little noise as he could, dropping the body with care. After all, holding on to the element of surprise for as long as possible was a lesson drilled into his mind constantly as a child. He was able to move quietly enough to take quite a few more lives. It wasn’t long enough though to get everyone, or even two thirds of the amount he planned to kill.” She stopped for a moment and closed her eyes, “His uncle noticed him first and drunkenly attacked. He couldn’t keep his sword or stance steady, but that didn’t make him much less of a danger.” She kept her eyes shut, too deep in her story to notice the looks on everyone’s faces.

“Luck seemed to be on Acacius’ side though, for his uncle stumbled and impaled one of his other would be victims. He struggled trying to pull his sword free, lost his balance again, and fell backwards onto a small deserted table. Everything sitting on the table went crashing to the floor in a cry loud enough to be heard over the music. Acacius knowing that he’d lost the element of surprise still looked up in hopes that he was wrong.”

For the first time since everyone had begun moving closer to hear the story, I noticed Octavia sitting behind her sister less than 5 feet from me. “Was he wrong though? Even if it was loud enough that it could be heard over the music, that doesn’t mean that people actually paid attention to it.”

“They paid attention to it,” She said staring through us all, “He looked up and everyone was staring at him. It all happened so quickly after that. Women screamed and men grabbed weapons to fight. A fire broke out thanks to the village girl’s quick thinking. Of all the people in that castle only about 5 survived.”

“We read about that in school, there isn’t actually much detail on it, but that’s the night everything changed for the Lycan community. The royal family was killed and so were all of those in command under them. Many of the other supernatural communities were effected too, but they fared better than the Lycans who lost their whole hierarchy system in one night. Now none of the packs are connected and there is a lot of fighting and distrust between them. The entire royal family was wiped out.” Octavia spoke out like she actually studied the subject previously. Everyone just sort of looked at her like this was the first time they had seen her. Who knew she was somewhat smart?

“Not exactly.”

“What?” I asked.

“Your history books don’t tell you this because it is not well known, but one member of the royal family survived that night. The birthday girl.”

Chapter 16: Surprise

Chapter Sixteen

 

 

 

“What?”

“A servant took her out of the castle through the servant’s quarters. They hid her for years and hid her children by warning them that they must never share their true identities with anyone. After the collapse of the empire, the rise of the hunters began. Prince Acacius found and saved others like him. They all banded together to bring down those that shunned them. They were fueled by revenge and hatred for all supernaturals. Both of which they taught to their children and was passed down from generation to generation.”

“How do you know that the Lycan royals haven’t died off yet?”

“I have watched the family, although their family name has changed over the years, they still possess royal blood. They will rise to power again.”

“Wait a minute that sounds like doomsday stuff. They’re not going to raise an army and kill everyone because of something that happened thousands and thousands of years ago are they? I mean the fact that it was done by their own has to count for something right?”

“They will rise to order again, because it will be needed. They will be needed, to take their places amongst their brother and sister races.”

I opened my mouth to question her again, but forgot my voice immediately as something slammed into the basement door.

All the air left my body as I turned to watch someone repeatedly slam into the door.

“You monsters think you can hide from justice? In your little savage dreams!”

Many of the women who had initially screamed were now choking back loud sobs as they attempted to protect themselves and the children. Those too old to fight, the pregnant and any child in the basement were all pushed to the dank back of the cellar. Those capable of fighting, who once were afraid stood to the front. Drawing on courage they hadn’t thought they had.

“I’m not going down without a fight.” I whisper to my sister as we take spots on the front lines.

“I’m scared.”

“We all are.”

“Don’t worry, he won’t be able to get in. These doors are reinforced beyond their strength capacity.” I hear from behind.

“Let me in little pigs.” He taunts through the door.

His voice is mangled, like someone else is speaking at the same time as he is. “Don’t make me huff and puff.” He mocks the Lycan women in the room.

We stand there shaking in fear and as ready as can be, waiting for whatever is going to come next. He doesn’t bang on the door. He doesn’t threaten anymore, he does something even more horrifying. He goes completely silent. Succeeding in his efforts to terrify us more as we watch the screws in the door slowly come undone. Two at a time.

They fall to the floor in pairs before bouncing in different directions. I don’t think that what was happening was truly registering to me, it was like I was watching some kind of twisted scary movie. Especially when the last four screws began to unwind together, slower than the others. I’m guessing to prolong the moment. When they were about to fall they rewound so quickly that I saw smoke.

My lungs began to burn as I realized I wasn’t breathing. I couldn’t help coughing as I choked on air after filling my system too quickly. The screws started moving again, and my sister’s grasp got tighter. When they rewound themselves again, she loosened the death grip she had on my arm. “I don’t think he can get in.” She whispered hopefully.

Laughter immediately flew forth from the other side of the door. The screws fell to the floor just before the door did. Shaking the entire house, and I’m guessing the grounds for miles around as well. It was at least a foot thick. Completely metal.

“Here’s Troy!” He smiled into the room, then hopped on to the door surveying us like a predator. I throw a fireball at his face, managing to hit him in that shit eating grin of his. It’s my lucky day. Well magic wise anyways.

His face melts, becomes more than a little distorted. A normal person would be in pain, screaming on his knees while he grabs his face. Not this demonic son of a bitch though, he starts laughing like I just told him a great joke. He laughs harder than when he dropped the door. “I can smell your fear.” He says only a little louder than a whisper, “It excites me.”

“I’ve got something that’ll excite you!” Octavia yells as she throws a ball of razor sharp wind at him. She catches him by surprise. He moves, but not quite fast enough to completely avoid injury. The ball hits him in his shoulder and tears up his flesh.

“Ouch.” He narrows his eyes, swipes his hand through the air and knocks her back into a wall. She slumps to the ground unconscious with blood seeping down into her clothes from some wound on the back of her skull.

“Octavia!” Her cronies scream as they rush to her, all of them dropping the people they were supposed to be protecting.

“Go ahead and join her.” Chad swipes his hand again. Like watching a reenactment, I watch them flying into another wall and piling up unceremoniously on the floor. “I’m sorry to disappoint ladies, but this is a private party. Anyone but Jypsie and Veronica tries to join and I’ll kill you.”

“That’s funny,” I reply to him, knowing that the others will stand with us, “you really think that’s going to scare anyone?”

I expected everyone else to agree with me, say something sarcastic to him or maybe spit in his direction or something. I didn’t expect them to move back towards those we were trying to protect.

“I’m sorry” Silvana apologizes, shielding the children.

I couldn’t say anything. I knew we weren’t close enough yet for her to even think about placing her life on the line for me. Still hurt though.

“Poor little Jypsie,” I felt his breath right by my ear. All the hairs on my body stood up. “It seems you’re doomed to be alone.”

I faced him head on, “I don’t need them to beat you. Besides, I will always have my sister.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes.”

Veronica steps into me, so that he can clearly see her matching glare. He smiles again and I feel the room freeze. Literally. He grabs my sister right in front of me and I can’t move. I’m as immobile as everyone else in the room. Veronica! I try to scream, but my mouth doesn’t open. My body won’t even move enough to show my tears.

“Jypsie!” She screams as she tries to fight him. He shares in our powers, and can use them better than we can, so it’s not very effective. He knocks away most of her attacks like he’s swatting gnats. The few that hit him, he barely flinches from. After all, as a being no longer of this world, not much can hurt him.

“My dear veronica, I see that not much has changed in the few months we’ve been apart. You’re still such a weak little bitch. You can’t use powers you refuse to fully accept to fight me.” He barely moves and he’s still stronger than V. She starts clawing at her neck, like something is cutting off her air way. Her feet leave the ground and she starts kicking at the air. “If you’re a nice obedient little girl, maybe I’ll teach you how to fight instead of just killing you when I’m done.”

She floats out of the room with him following behind. “Enjoy your time alone Jypsie, when I’m done taking care of your sister we’re going to have a little chat. Don’t get lost.” He climbs onto the door and follows my sister out the doorway. I try as hard as I can to pull against the magic holding me in place, I have to go after him. I have to protect Veronica. It’s obvious that if I don’t then no one else will.

Jypsie! I hear her scream in my head, Help me!

I can’t move. V I can’t move! I can’t move!

There’s a struggle in the hall way and my heart soars as I see my sister run back to the room. She jumps over the door and gets snagged midair. She slams down on top of it with a thick vine wrapped around her throat. Troy walks back into the room, calmly, and lifts her by her hair. “I wouldn’t do that again if I was you sweetheart.  I may not be able to kill you just yet, but I will make you wish you were dead. Don’t test me.”

Our eyes connect, I’m sorry Jypsie, my vision is completely clear as I watch hers swim with free falling tears.

I’ll come and get you. He can’t have you and you won’t be with him for long. I’ll come for you V. I love you.

Jypsie! She screamed over and over in my head as she was dragged out of the room and through the house, to wherever he was taking her.

“Jypsie, I am so sorry.” I heard Silvana crying behind me, I didn’t care. If I could move I would turn around and punch her out. She has no right to speak to me anymore. Not when she watched my sister be taken from me. Not when she didn’t even try to help once.

I heard her moving before I could. I listened to hear words that I could only think at the moment. She walked into my line of sight. “Help me move the door back into place before more hunters come. At least we’ll have some sort of cover while we think up a plan.” Octavia cracked her neck as she moved towards the door.

No! I screamed, hoping she could hear me. I have to go after my sister!

“Your sister will be fine. I don’t care how strong he thinks he is, it’s impossible for him to get out of here with everyone still fighting upstairs. Carter is the top fighter in our class. He’ll protect his mate.” She looked past me to everyone still out of my sight, “they need shielding, and not all of them have mates of that caliber. Before we can go save one person we have to make sure the masses down here are as far out of harm’s way as we can possibly get them.”

I fought my bonds as people moved past me to do her bidding, they worked together to lift the door, the shifters working harder than others. “Grab that and bring it here vamp.” Octavia just rolled her eyes at the hiss she received in response, obviously not bothered as I’m guessing the person did as she had ordered. They put the door in place and held it while Viviette slid a heavy beam in front of it.

Happy with their handiwork, they moved away from the door and started making plans. I didn’t listen to a single one. I could care less about them and everybody else who just watched my sister be forcefully hauled away. I tuned my focus into breaking free. I couldn’t save my sister in my current position, so fixing it would be my first priority. I worked on the magic surrounding me, searching for any breaks in his spell. Nobody’s perfect, and he wasn’t born to our powers so he shouldn’t have control like we do. I just had to find a crack and burst it wide enough to slip through.

It took longer than I expected it to, my thoughts constantly wandering to my sister and her wellbeing. What if he kills her? I felt my control slipping and struggled to grasp at the little progress I’d made. No Jypsie, don’t think like that. He wouldn’t kill her. He needs her. He needs us both.

“Jypsie I’m sorry about your sister.” Viviette said from my side, “We couldn’t take the risk to help her, you have to understand, if we had, then he would have--.”

I felt my anger boil over and my powers flood out around me. They bent and shaped Troy’s spell until it snapped around me and I fell to my knees. Finally mobile again, I made no hesitations and had no reservations when it came to finding my sister.

Probably thinking that I was just moving to regain some space, or join the planning no one really paid me any attention. It must have shocked them to their core to see me walk towards the basement door and start moving the beam from across it.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Octavia was the first to yell.

“Hush!” Everyone quieted her, looking furiously between her, the ceiling above us and I.

“I don’t know about any of you, but I’m about tired of this shit.” I stopped to briefly look back at the room, “I’m not going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs waiting for either rescue or death. Feel free to stay here if you want to, someone has to watch the children, but don’t think you have even a chance of stopping me from not only fighting for my own safety, but for my sister’s as well.”

Realizing that I didn’t have the physical strength to move the beam bodily, I stepped back down the stairs and raised my hands, reaching for the magical force to move the beam. “Jyps,” someone tried, knowing full well that I would ignore them.

“Stay here if you’re scared.” Focusing on the beam, I called on my powers to move the obstacle from my way. A hot blast flew out of me towards the door, increasing in strength the closer it got. It took a moment to get the right amount of pressure going, but the success of watching the charred beam fall harmlessly to the side was sweet.

I didn’t wait to see who would go with me, I couldn’t depend on them. I just flipped the lock, placed my foot on the wall and yanked the door. I had to move swiftly to avoid it landing on me, but that wasn’t a problem. Before I could even take another breath of air, I was striding out into the tunnel leaving them behind to do what Veronica does the best; worry.

Halfway to the tunnel exit I saw the door shaking. Someone was either being slammed into it, or they were trying to break it down. It wouldn’t last for long. It was built to hide the basement door, not to protect it. I doubt anyone ever thought that the basement door would need to be protected.

“I don’t understand why we’re doing this when we could be helping alpha squad slaughter those monsters at the front of the house.”

“We’re doing this because that’s what the Captain ordered.”

“You really think those savages are humane enough to hide the weak ones instead of killing them off?”

“No. Hell I don’t even think those animals are smart enough for what captain warned us of.” Something slammed into the door. Grunting a few times before speaking, “orders are orders though. If captain says they’re hiding people in this wall then they’re hiding people in the wall. Hit it with me on the count of three.”

I moved back and stabilized myself. My plan was to strike first and strike hard, I don’t know what they’re capable of. When he said three I was ready. I jumped when the wall came down, but I didn’t hesitate, I threw a fireball at the first one I saw. He flew backwards into the wall behind, slid to the ground and I knew I’d hit. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air as his clothes and skin was consumed in the flames.

I was so busy watching this man get burned alive that I didn’t notice his partner raising a gun. Wind blew through the tunnel past me and hit him before he could pull the trigger. My legs gave out. “Get the fuck up. This is not the time to lose your fucking nerve.” Octavia snapped at me, “You wanted to rush forward without thinking. You better pray that none of the children lose their lives because of you.” More men started filling into the space the first two occupied. All fully armed with no reservations on ending my life.

A handful of people flew past me. The only one I really saw was Viviette, tossing a hunter through the wall that Octavia and I were knocking them into. Everything that happened after that was just a blur to me. I couldn’t grasp what was actually happening as I watched people die. Some swiftly, others slowly while fighting for their lives. We all were fighting for our lives. Every one of us. Hunters and non-hunters, we’re all someone’s child, someone’s loved one.

“I know it’s hard to accept, because they’re people too. People with goals and dreams just like us, but you can’t look at them like that right now.” Eleanor said beside me, she was trying to protect me from any stray attacks. “Right now for them, for all of us, its kill or be killed.”

Cassie stopped to say four words to me before joining the fray, “Your sister needs you.”

I stood so fast that I got a rush. I tilted towards the ground as my vision blacked out a little, thankful that Eleanor caught me. I shrugged her off, still tasting the betrayal that took my sister. I ran forward and tried to throw a fireball to clear away the man in my path, but I didn’t focus enough and it came out more like a string of fire than a ball. I hit him and lost control at the same time. It smacked into Octavia, slightly charring her clothes and knocking her on her ass. The initial blast had hit the hunter so she’ll only had to suffer through the meager leftovers from it. She spared me only a brief glare before she was moving again, fighting any opponent still standing. “Just go!”

I dodged bodies and jumped over weapons as I raced into the hallway. Where would he take her? I ran to the left, but men turned into the hallway so I turned tail and ran to the right. Every hallway I ran through was littered with bodies. None I recognized thankfully. There were bodies of the uniquely dressed hunters and bodies of people dressed for bed, for work or a night out. It was upsetting to see, but I couldn’t stop to check if anyone was still alive. Kill or be killed. I checked the rooms, when I saw one. I fought hunters, I fought tears. I couldn’t find my sister. Don’t give up, Veronica is waiting.

I checked another room, near the back of the house where there wasn’t much fighting. Not many bodies were on the floor, and any that were, belonged to the hunter’s forces. It was empty, but I entered anyways. Something felt wrong. Dead.

“There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you my dear.”

I spun around quickly, searching the room for the body attached to that venomous voice. I did a full 360 without seeing him, so I spun again. I slowed down my second spin and noticed a dark aura. I stopped and fully faced its direction. “Troy.”

“I’ve been looking all over the house for you my dear.” He said taking shape.

“You’re not welcome here.”

He ignored me, “Although our little pastime of hide and seek has been fun over the years, I’m running out of time, as I’m sure Veronica’s noticed by now. Your sister has always been smart and observant. It’s one of the things I liked about toying with her.” He reached out and ran a hand through my hair leisurely, “The new friends I’ve brought along with me this time are just one of the changes I’ve made to our game of chess.”

“Don’t touch me!” I snapped, moving out of his reach. He smiled and shot me a condescending look as he continued.

“You will find that I now have the ability to do whatever I want to you without opposition. Unless you’ve had a change of heart and don’t mind having the death of many on your hands?”

“What?” I immediately started to feel nauseas.

“The pale look just isn’t your thing baby.”

“What do you mean death of many?”

“Right to the point as always.” He sat in one of the chairs near the fire place. “Take a seat with me and I’ll tell you. Wouldn’t want you fainting before I explain just what type of position you’ve put yourself in.”

I sat across from him in the other chair. It was still too close for my liking though, so I pushed it back a few more inches. He chuckled at my discomfort, his face contorting in a disgusting way, “You have something I want.” I opened my mouth and he raised his hand to silence me, “You have something I want, and I have something you want. Someone.” He laughed at my confused expression, “Quite a few people actually.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I forgot I was dealing with the idiotic twin.” I narrowed my eyes as he grinned, “You will give me the immortality you and your sister waved before my eyes as you brought me back. When I have been fully returned to this world, you will give me your life.”

“Fat chance.” I snorted.

“You will give me your life, or I will take the lives of all those I captured tonight. Starting with the little one called silly and ending with your sister.” A vicious smile spread across his lips, “You have one month to gather everything and return to where the spell was first cast. No tricks or you will watch as I snap Veronica’s neck.”

I stood quickly and felt myself get lightheaded. I’m not sure why I thought I could get my hands around his scrawny neck, but I still tried to throttle him. He moved and I crashed into his seat. Whipping my head round to the fire place I watched him dissipate with one last warning, “Tick. Tock. The countdown is starting and your time is running out.”

“Jypsie!” I heard Silvana yell from another room. Without hesitation I began walking backwards to the door and away from where Troy had evaporated. “Jypsie quick!” Reaching the entry way I turned and ran towards her voice, hoping I was going the right way. I was dodging fallen bodies and furniture left and right in my haste to get to her. “Jypsie!” As I jumped over a large man on the floor spanning the hallway he reached out and grabbed my leg. I stumbled to the ground and had to scrabble around for purchase before I could turn towards him. Dark soulless eyes stared at me unblinking. I felt my breath leave me and heard the pumping of my own heart in my ears as he slowly pulled me towards him. Too late, I noticed the wood sticking out of his back and the sharp fangs he was going to attempt to tear into me with.

“Jypsie!” She called, breaking into the trance. I tried pulling my leg out of his grip in fear. He squeezed down and the pain shooting from my ankle through my body had my heart beating even louder in my ears.

“Please,” I whispered, knowing that if he bit me I would surely lose my life. “Please,” I cried a little louder as he opened his mouth wider to feast on me.

“Gosh darn it Jypsie! I need you here now!” Panicking, I started lashing out as hard as I could with my free foot. I didn’t take the time to aim, I just started kicking him anywhere I could reach in as damaging a way as I was capable.

Relief rushed over me sweetly as I felt his hold slacken before ultimately vanishing. I looked up and saw Cassie leaning heavily on the wood now completely embedded in his body. “Are you ok?”

“Jypsie!” Silvana’s voice had me jumping up and once again speeding in her direction. Even with my new limp, I thought I had reached her with great timing, considering she still had the capacity to yell.

“What’s wrong?! Who’s trying to attack you?!” I said wildly looking around for a threat.

“I’m so sorry Jyps,” She said looking down towards the floor near the open front door. Finally seeing what captured her attention, I felt myself freeze. Many bodies of different coloring and sizes littered the front entry way, but only one seemed familiar.

“Jypsie!” Cassie yelled running into the room behind me, flanked by Eleanor and my adoptive mother. I felt my legs give out completely as Gianna identified the body I had just been pressed up against not too long ago. “Oh shit,” Cassie said from somewhere in the room.

I didn’t hear anything else as I crawled towards the man lying face down in a pool of blood. A large piece of glass sticking up out of the right side of his body, below his ribs. I barely noticed the small pieces of glass cutting into my palms and knees as I moved towards him.

“Jason” I whimpered quietly, hoping beyond all reason that he was miraculously okay. It wasn’t until I was close that I saw his chest moving up and down slightly, but I still couldn’t tell if he was ok or not.

“Get up. They’re gone and it looks like they took some souvenirs with them.” Carter said coming into the room, “Jypsie, I can’t find Veronica. Where is she?” The tears started flowing immediately. I tried to talk but found that I couldn’t say it out loud.

He took her too.

 

 

 

Chapter 17: Awaken

Chapter Seventeen

 

 

 

 

Carter just stared at me like he couldn’t understand a single word I'd said, “What do you mean he took her? Who?”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes sir? I’m not sure what you’re asking me right now.”

“I’m asking you where the fuck my wife is.”

“He took her.” Carter just stood there in the doorway a moment before walking into the room towards me. I opened my mouth to tell him to back off and found that I couldn’t. It felt like something was caught in my throat; it took me a few seconds, but I finally realized I couldn’t hold it back. He stopped when I stood, I ran towards the door when he opened his mouth.

I’d managed to reach the door before he grabbed me, “Stop fucking with me, I haven’t the patience for it.” He took a threatening step forward into my space and then a forced one back. A few harsh breaths and a false calm to his voice, which fooled no one, he tried to pretend he wasn’t seconds from losing it. The dark look that clouded his eyes gave him away completely. “Where is Veronica?”

“Troy took her. He said--” A sob tore through my throat and took over my speech. It was all I could get out for the moment.

“What do you mean Troy took her?! Stop bullshitting me. If he had been here he would have taken you too!” I couldn’t even breathe and he was trying to make me talk? He shook me by the arm he was surely bruising, “Why would he take her? It doesn’t make any sense.” He had to be questioning himself now, thinking out loud. “He should have taken you instead.”

“I wish it had been” He let go of my arm as if my quiet agreement had physically shocked him.

“Enough.”

Now I believe in miracles, kind of comes with being magical and all. Sometimes incredible and unexplainable things happen. So yes, I most certainly believe in them, but even I thought I was hallucinating when I turned around and saw Jason sitting up. Spear still seemingly impaling him. It was so astonishing I thought I would faint. It was too bad though, that Carter had decided to let my arm go. I could have really used his strength to keep from crashing to the floor.

I’m sure I was only out for a couple seconds, so I definitely did not appreciate the clobbering I was getting from Cassie and the close up of the inside of Silvana’s well-kept nostrils. “You guys wouldn’t believe the nightmare I just had.” I pushed Silvana’s face away with one hand while swatting at Cassie with the other. “This evil nut took my sister, my adoptive family’s house got destroyed, Jason was impaled by a spear,” I stood and quickly had to shut my eyes. I reached out for one of them to grab onto as my legs tried to give out on me and my stomach rolled. My head had taken on a very foreboding lightness.

“Are you ok Jypsie?” Even though I’d only met him yesterday or so, I’d know that voice anywhere.

“Jason?” My eyes flew open before I had even finished calling his name. “It wasn’t a dream…” Considering there was still a weapon sticking out of his chest, I think I was perfectly justified in my loud reaction. Cassie on the other hand, was definitely in the wrong for slapping me once again.

“Cassandra!” Gregory yelled, voice both equally reprimanding and startling.

“What? I heard that’s what you’re supposed to do when someone’s having a panic attack.”

“I was not having a panic attack!” I made sure my retaliation was swift, leaving a red print on her cheek to match the other. She pulled her fist back as if to punch me, but found herself immobilized by Gregory’s grip.

“We don’t have time for this. We can’t afford anymore useless injuries on those we have left capable of fighting.” He let her go with a warning glare more effective than his gasp had been. Both of us cooled off immediately with that despairing dose of reality. “All the injured civilians are being moved into the kitchen and surrounding areas to have their injuries looked at. Silvana, Cassandra, I suggest you join them and find out how you can be of use. Jason, Jypsie, we’re joining the security team, council members and pack leaders in my office. We need to discuss tonight’s attack and set in place plans to make it never happens again. We also need to retrieve everyone that was taken as soon as possible.”

“I just need to find Carter to remove his spear and we’ll be there.”

“Carter is already in my office. We’ll go now.” He spun on his heel without waiting for a response and left the room. Rightfully expecting us to follow.

“You can touch it if you want to,” Jason says, noticing my stare on his wound, “It doesn’t hurt.”

“How is that possible?”

“Magic.”

I shot him the most flat look I could muster. When all he did was smile at me, I asked him if it was an illusion, “In a way it is, but not really.”

“What in the world is that supposed to mean?”

“It means its magic. It’s something only few know how to do successfully and only one of them would I ever let use it on me.” He waited patiently while I tentatively touched it. “We need to head to me dad’s office. The bastards took my mom, right now he’s not someone you want to piss off.”

“They took your mom?!”

“We’ll get her back.” He said as he pulled me along like a child needing direction. Entering the hallway I expected to still see the vampire that attacked me earlier. Instead, an empty hallway greeted me. No longer apprehensive I quickened my pace so that I could walk next to Jason instead of behind him. If something else popped up I wanted to see it; to have time to defend myself. “You were actually out for a couple hours, the sun is just setting again.”

“When?”

“When you fainted.”

“Seriously?!” I stopped walking immediately. He stopped as well and turned to look at me, “Why didn’t anyone wake me up? Wait! You guys let Cassie smack me for that long?!”

“I knew you were tired and we didn’t need you for the moment, so I told them to let you sleep.” He began tugging my hand again. I wasn’t needed. “Come on, we don’t want my dad to come get us, and we don’t have the time to waste.”

I let him drag my listless body along to the office. My mind wandering to faraway places of the past.

Imprint

Text: Copyright 2011 by Chant'e Francis
Images: Chante Francis
Editing: Chante Francis
Publication Date: 01-22-2011

All Rights Reserved