The worst part about being incarcerated had not been the actual sentence itself.
Sure, it had sucked. Drakken couldn’t deny that it did. Being incarcerated had been absolutely the worst experience he had ever gone through. It had been bad enough that he had only been 15 when the sentence it started, but the fact that It had lasted until his 26th birthday had added a level of despair he never previously known before. Drakken had remained locked up, deemed a danger to society and to other, a threat to be contained, and quite honestly he had been inclined to agree with them, up to a point. He knew that he couldn’t deny what he had done, the evidence stacked up against him in ways that only could glaringly point to the fact that he indeed was the culprit. He hadn’t tried to deny it, even pleading guilty during his trial simply because he knew there was no saving him.
But That have been fine. He had only been 15, so of course he hadn’t been able to perfectly calculate the crime in order to get away with it. He hadn’t had time to plan, hadn’t had a moment to try and think about what this might have meant for him because he had only one thing on his mind as he had washed the blood off his Hands and grabbed the matches.
He would protect her.
It had been the singular most glaring thought in all of the 11 years that he sent his sentence had spanned. He would’ve done anything to protect her, the lengths and depths of his need to ensure she had always been happy boundless as the sea that now spread before him...and when she had asked him to help her, to get him to stop, take care of the threat that hung over her head like a wordless guillotine, get rid of the man that was denying her the childhood she deserved ..., Drakken had been all too happy to oblige.
Drakken had Committed murder with a smile, and set his family house a blaze with hardly a look over his shoulder.
For her.
Only for her.
Drakken watch the waves as the ferry took him in, docking on the side of this little hodick island in the middle of nowhere. His duffle back sat neck to him, set firmly at his side as his hands held onto the metal bars that line along the sides of the overly large ship, the sounds of laughter and boisterous voices spilling from the inside, away from the chill and spray that came with the movement of a boat over sea. Drakken however, stood apart from the rest, away from prying eyes with the hood of his grey sweatshirt pulled up and over his head.
He didn’t have any desire to mingle with the rest of the inhabitants on this boat. All he wanted was to get off and get to this island as quickly as possible.
Drakken had never heard of Whatt island. True, when he had been trying to find a ticket to this place he had found that actually many people had never heard of the place, and was incredibly difficult to even find out that this place had a ferry that ran from the mainland to it. Most people just assumed he was making a place up and had hung up on him, and the increasing frustration he had felt trying to find this place was only added by the fact that he was just so damn close, so fucking close to his goal and it was like everything wanted to get in his way.
But he had found it, found this boat and had payed the five hundred dollar ticket with only a minor grimace, and now he had sat at this small little corner of a very large boat with too many people, grey eyes locked on the horizon as he scanned the waves for any stretch of land, like he might find what he was looking for in the wave of the ocean and the drops of ice scattered along the waters.
Though the boat was full of people, He stayed apart having come to this place two hours before they had taken off and he hasn't moved since then, hair matted to his face with the dusty spray of the boat, The salt of the water stinging his eye but he refused to close them, refuse to allow himself to take his eyes off this island in the middle of nowhere so that he could get off this god forsaken boat the instant he was able.
She was here.
He knew it.
Drakken had come here, for one thing, and one thing only. It wasn’t t escape his past, or to find peace or anything else that the people on this boat sought. No, Drakken’s reasonings were something a little more substantial, something a little more held up by the ties of fate and a bond that could not be served, no matter how desperately she might have tried. Drakken’s though fell onto his one reasoning for living, the spill of laughter that made his chest clench and the pull that lingered deep in his gut when ever he thought of her.
His sister, Jordan.
How long had it been? The thought sprang to life in his mind, almost accusingly as it settled to the front. How long had it been since he had seen her?
Honestly he couldn’t really tell you. It was a stereotype the people like him knew the exact amount of time that they had been away, knew it down to the second, the minute…. But he couldn’t tell you anything other then the fact that it had been a long, long time. The years had felt far longer Than their days, spacing out far longer than then their seventy two hours, and the months had spanned on for eternity and beyond.
He supposed that was what prison did, however. Locked up and away from normal society , people tended to lose track of things like that. He had. Fates only know that Drakken had lost all sense of anything living in those walls, living in the cells of a max security prison with nothing but criminals and guards who looked the other way when things started to get bad. He had lost more than his fair share of time in that place, had lost what felt like a lifetime, but he had managed to do what most could not and he had crawled his way from the depth of that hell and back into the world with only 11 years of lost time.
Drakken had lost a lot, eleven years of his life, time he could not get back, his innocence, his future, his teenage years. He had lost it all to the labyrinth that they had put him in, the hellhole that made up their prison and only one thing had pulled him through it, only one thing had made him stay focused and contained and together.
And he was here to find her.
He could tell you it had been eleven years since he had seen her, eleven years since he had been able to physically see the long streaming silk of brown hair that tumbled over her shoulder, eleven years since had had seen those eyes turn to him and look to him with hope and trust and… All Drakken could think about was what would happen when he met her, what would happen when he finally saw her again.
He didn’t have time to dwell
Drakken felt the boat tremor under him as it finally docked, the sound of joyous cries from the center of the boat doing nothing to brighten the dimming glow of wicked embers that burned in his chest.
So It was super glitchy on the phone app so we split it to try and make it easier to read. we think there was too many words.
Hey guys, take this in honor of MerMay that we didn’t really get to participate in, though we love mermaids (Especially Xell, they’re her favorite). It’s still may Technically so at least we didn’t miss it. This was written a little while ago, but it was fun.
Tell us if you like it!
Word Count: 14846
NOTES: IT IS SUPER SUPER AU. AUs: Mermaid!AU, AlternatePairing!AU
It was written as pure self indulgence and was super fun.
PART ONE
It was dark.
Somehow, Carson hadn’t thought the end would be so dark. He had heard stories, little rumors of what death would be like, the standard ‘bright light at the end of the tunnel’ having embedded the imagery that death would be white, bright and powerful, an eternity stretched out before you as you fell away into it. He pictured it warm, happy, soft…. But as he struggled to breathe, pain rippling over his skin as he struggled to find which way was up, Carson could only describe an abyss that rested before him, all consuming and unforgiving. There was no direction, just endless black that had his mind hazing with ice, his mind freezing in the tundric waters that now created his grave.
The ocean had never been a kind mistress...He should have been more careful.
“Carson! Get away from the edge!”
His Brother’s voice was frightened, the anxiety that was clearly running through his veins laced in his words, a light tilt to his voice that made him look up from the railing of the boat that they had both come to adore, their little run away from the overbearing pressures of human society. It was his mother’s boat, something she had saved up for and bought before she had even met their dad, but she allowed them to take it out to open seas when they wanted to, so long as she didn’t have a trip planned. Ragnar had decided to take it out this weekend, and Carson had to beg him to let him come along, having missed the open ocean, salty winds brushing kisses along his face.
His hands clenched the metal as he leaned back, mismatched eyes on his Brother’s own, his eyes widening as he gripped the wheel of their boat harder.
He smiled, tilting his head, opening his mouth to say something, when the boat rocked suddenly, jerking with some hidden underwater rock edge or a particularly nasty wave, one the would have been expected due to the darkening storm clouds that were circling ahead. Carson felt the boat buckle under him, jerking forward. Not having kept his footing stable, Carson lurched, his body moving, flipping into the dark waters below.
Pain ripped over his mind as his head slammed into something hard, and Carson Watched as his World faded from Blue, to red…. Then black..
But he didn’t sleep for long. His body forced awake as his lungs tried to draw breath, only feeling the heavy set of the salt water around him sliding into his lungs, pressing against his chest to bind his heart, the thud and roar of his own heart beating running through his ears. Everything felt light, but heavy, stuck in one spot with nowhere to go.
‘Shit…’
Carson cursed, his hands finding his throat as he heaved, needing air but his mind not receiving, darker spots of black flashing over the abyss before him. He struggled, but his body was starting to slow its response, limbs heavy, sluggish, the ice in his veins making his whole body ache.
He felt so tired…..
‘I don’t want to…..’
----------
Truthfully? Lochlan Hated this job.
It wasn’t that it was hard. On the contrary, hard labor was tiring, to be sure, but it wasn't anything Lochlan could call difficult. It was simple motions, simple turns and pulls to lift the nearly cripplingly heavy pulls of fish from the ocean, the scent of salt and brine all he could smell and the lingering scent of the still wet cigarettes that clung to him. There was the sound men’s laughter, the ugly cursing of men twice his age calling out vulgarities to each other, to him and his Ever silently friend, Ebbe. Ebbe took it all in stride, ignoring the ribbing of the other men on the ship with a pop of the bubble gum in his mouth, Lochlan acting as mouthpiece and spokesperson for the two newbies on the trip, the only one to say anything back as they ribbed on him.
“Don’t throw out your back, Pretty boys! Get your arms into it! Get your asses moving, the fish ain’t gonna just JUMP ON BOARD!”
“It’d Go a Lot faster with ALL OF US PULLING, JACKMAN!”
Lochlan curses as he momentarily lost his grip, hearing the grunt as Ebbe caught the slack his distraction had cost him. A quick sorry over his shoulder was the only apology that Ebbe would receive, his ears burning as the sun beat down on him and the dark laughter of men who had nothing better to do the bully the newest crew members lingering in his mind, his lips pulling back to let out a growl as he cast a look over to Ebbe, his friends long red hair sticking to his face and back and neck, the beanie he wore doing nothing to help keep the strands hidden….
Though Lochlan could not talk, his own duel colored strands sticking to his neck itching as the sweat rolled down his back.
The others would not help them, testing them, throwing them to the choppy waters to see if the sink or swim. Lochlan knew it, and So did Ebbe, and really, if this job didn’t pay so well, Lochlan would have given up a long time ago, would have told them to go fuck themselves and hidden away until they returned home, their trips never longer than a few days in the off season. Lochlan hated them, the way the underestimated him and the way they seemed to think he was the village fucking idiot and talked to him slowly, to help him understand. Normally he just would roll his eyes and do his job, but today? Today the forecast called for heavy storms and choppy waters, and being out in conditions so ready to become dangerous, and STILL pulling this stupid hazing ritual was irresponsible and stupid on their part. They Were going to lose a whole net just to fucking push them and see how far it too until they broke.
Lochlan would not break.
Things would be so much easier if he could.
As it was the ocean called to him. In what way, he never really could say, but there was a need in him, a pirate’s blood call in his veins made the sea sing to him, her waves soft and whispered lullabies, her currents and riptides calling to him. He needed to be by the ocean, needed to be surrounded by her.
It was why he worked so hard, why he jumped at the chance to work on this boat.
His calling was here, on these waves, in these waters, He just had to find it.
“Why is this so fucking heavy?” Lochlan cursed, yanking again to pull just that little bit more out of the churning waters. He could have swore he heard splashing, like something huge was slapping its tail against the ocean's surface, but eh didn’t dare look up, his focus on pulling this net in before the storm caught them off guard.
He pulled, He yanked and finally, after what felt like a thousand years of nothing but holding the world on his shoulders, there was a final cry, both Ebbe and his body swinging with the effort of pulling the net up and over the boat's railing.
And the world froze, silent, for a moment as Lochlan saw him for the first time.
He was small, smaller than any of the men on board, his skin tan and dusted with freckles along his shoulders face and arms, hints of them along his torso. He sucked in a breath, teeth sharp, and the tail of something far beyond humanity slapped against the wooden surface of the boat.
“What the actual Fuck is that?”
Ebbe’s first words spoken aboard this ship. At any other time it would have caused an uproar, but the words now were only met with silence.
“Someone bring me my radio… Mr. Dhouti is gonna want to hear about this.”
-------------
Dear god, no. This wasn’t going to happen to him. Not now, not when he had so many mistakes to already make up for. He already had so many rules broken, so many errors that had almost cost him and his friends lives. That was why he was out here, to make up for them. To prove that he was still needed in this kingdom of theirs.
He had to prove that he was actually worth the pain that they had to put up with.
Whiskey colored eyes watched the man, horrified, watched as his body slammed against the rocky edge of the mountain. Bile roe in the back of his throat as the man slide through the turbulence. His hands reaching, grasping out only to find nothing to save him, no one to see the man struggle to survive underneath the power of the currents. But he was valiant in his efforts, a trait that Echo could only applaud. A trait that Echo himself wished he had possessed more than once. But here was this human, ditching all of his energy to try a perceiver for the air that was only feet away from the flailing man.
There was no way, no way to save him without being cast out, if anyone found out. But the fear he felt jerking his heart to his throat was real, it was dangerous and turned the man’s vision hazy as he swam closer to the fighting human.His eyes never leaving the man, instead focused, trained to the spot where the man thrashed.
Twice. Twice!
The man almost had the surface his fingertips only inches away from the breaking point between air and water. Echo could hear his lungs screaming out for mercy, could hear the man’s heart racing relentlessly to win against the pain that must have been wracking his body at this point.
‘Fight…. Fight it!’
Fingernails grazed the inside of Echo’s palms, bitting heavier and heavier as he saw the fight slowly dying in the darklings eyes. His body slumping, the thrashes turning less and less aggressive as he sank. It was over, he was giving up. He was dying.
‘No. No. No… Oh,.... nonoonononononono!”
Echo could feel his body lurching forward, his arms already extending to try and wrap the darkling into him before he could even contemplate the situation. His hands moving on his own as tanned finger wrapped around the man’s chest, forcing him out of the murky darks of the water, he was light under the water, his body pressed too tightly against the warmth of his own chest. He didn’t have much time, his body forced the two through the surface, only for Echo to gasp, his lungs filling with oxygen. His fingers pressed the boy nose together, just as he had watched others do on the shore lines, and he pressed his lips to the boys mouth as they found the soft sand of the shores, his lips forcing the darklings apart so that he could do what he could only assume was right.
--------------
”Ethan, get it, my arms stuck…. Ethan! ITs stuck stop looking stupid and get over here and help me! ...Now!”
Panic was setting in, actual living fear was welling into his chest as he thrashed, his tail whipping under the currents that would have usually been calm. But there was a boat, far from the humans territory, there net wrapping bits of his arm into the thickly draw rope. Logically he knew. He needed to calm down, he knew that panic was no way to get out of here. To get out of the net he was going to have to have some sort of focus on the appendage and the net that was tangled around his scales.
“You have to calm down Ridley. Ridley! Calm down. I can’t help you f you’re thrashing around like that.”
But no matter how many time he thought to calm himself, no matter how many times he opened his mouth to take that calming breath, he found the terror was only sinking in. Even as pale fingers ripped away at the net from his arms his tail still swung, his body still yanked out trying to pull himself from the net. A motion he would regret as his tail jerked, only to find the net tangled into the briny ropes.
“Fuck! Fuck, COME ON RIDLEY STAY THE HELL STILL!”
Genuine fear gripped him, tore a hole into him as his eyes widened, his body trembled as Ethan yanked at the ropes, none of them seemed to come lose, none of them budged as he gripped each yanking and manoeuvring to get the ropes un-entwined. But nothing seemed to work. But he could see Ethan's eyes widen as a cran began, giant floodlights filling their vision. But Ridley had to give it to him. Ethan didn’t let go, instead his body pushed against Ridley trying to land some kind of force as he yanked at the ropes more viciously.
“Swim down Ridley! Swim down!”
He could only listen, his head nodding even as he began to shift, to try and power through the fishing net that was cast around him. Ethan grappled onto Ridleys free arm forcing the net down with himself. But it was to no avail. The lining to strong, and the fishers almost even stronger. The gasp that left him as Ethan's fingers slid off was appalling to say the least, his mouth opening to scream for those fingers that were outreached for him.
“Ethan!”
The air was cold, almost freezing against his skin, the wind almost blistering as the fresh night air plummeted against his exposed skin. But it distracted him briefly from the shock, from the hard floor hitting him, the net draping itself over his body, pressing him harshly into the woodend halt of the small fishing boat. Small finger reached yanking at the ropes as the eyes caught onto him, human eyes. They were every where, surrounding him in a small cluster.
He shook, his eyes wide as he took in each face. Their words played through his ears, but the meaning never hit. Their actions were those of confused children, the lot of them only gathering as one or two spoke. His escape was only inches away, the edge. He only needed to get the edge, even if he could only drop off with the net, at least Ethan could help him escape the cage he seemed to find himself in.
Small fingers inched quietly for a second, two, maybe, before he was bolting, using the end of his tail to push off the floor of the boat, his fingers gripping the ridge. Freedom was only a mere feet away.
“Ethan!”
----------
Carson didn't want to die.
Sure, there were moments, times when he thought otherwise, but in the moment, the moment that Death circled around him like the jaws of the beast, claws raking over his body, Carson found that he did not wish to die. He didn’t want this to be the end, didn’t want to live on ninteen years of his life before it was thrown away to the sea, another victim, another statistic that would push people away from the oceans and her beauty. He didn’t want to sink into her depth, didn’t want to be the reason Ragnar never went to sea again, because he knew, his brother would never forgive himself for allow this to happen on his watch. He was a freshman in College, had a future ahead of him that he wanted to see, scholarships and nights on the ocean he still wanted to enjoy...
But he wouldn’t get to. Because the sea had claimed him.
Carson didn’t want to die.
There was a strange feeling, a warmth that circled around him as he closed his eyes sluggishly, the darkness almost completely taking over his vision as he felt his heart starting to slow. There was a pressure, another bind about his chest as something spun around his head, a whooshing feeling threading through his mind as he felt his body drift. That darkness was still there, darkness that clung to him even as a warm solid feeling settled under him, an icy rush over him all he could feel.
That warmth was still there, still about his shoulders and grazing over his face before he felt something, a rush of air sliding through his body to push into waterlogged lungs. Carson felt it, once, twice, three times, before he suddenly jerked, his body forcing the water back up past his lips, burning as it force itself from his mouth, his nose, making the dark haired boy purge his body, turning to allow all the water and bile to fall onto the sands next to him. Had he died? The thought shot through his mind, and Carson decided that if this was dying, then dying really, REALLY sucked, and Hell looked a whole lot like home.
His whole body ached, his head throbbing as he tried to open his eyes, hand moving to lift up to his head, feeling pain explode behind his eyes he felt the gash on the back of his head, sand clinging to blood as he grazed fingertips over it. He still felt pain, so that was a good sign.
Carson sat up, only to let out a painful gasp as his head spun, pain throbbing enough to make him slip,slumping over as his hands reached up…. Only to land on something soft and wet, something that felt warm to the touch but strangely cold. Carson’s eyes finally opened, duel colored gaze holding nothing but confusion as he took in the sight before him.
The man Couldn’t have been any older than he was, his eyes wide, cognac colored with hints of red in the cinnamon brown. His gaze was on him, looking at him like one would look at a growling dog, all strangely hesitant and cautious. His skin was tan, blond locks falling to stick to his face, and it was only when he shifted that the light gleamed of the expanse of scales that created a long tail that resembled the legends he had read about when he was young, his mother's words filling his mind.
Mermaids, Carson… The Ocean is Deep, and she is vast. She gives no secrets willingly, and so no one can say for sure if they truly exist…
The kind of words used for children’s fairytales, to make them believe just that little longer. Carson could not say that he believed in Fairy tales anymore, but what eh could say, without a shred of doubt...Carson could say eh was…. Easily the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen.
He stared a moment, before his hand lifted, slowly, hesitantly, the worry that if he blinked this creature would be gone and left to his memories, a vision he would never be able to replicate. Was he real? He didn’t know. He didn’t seem real, mythic and strangely enchanting, beyond human.. His hand moved, hovered over his cheek, before he grazed his skin, a sharp gasp hitching his breath as he ran a fingertip over his cheek, his lips.
“Who are you?”
Carson asked. He had to be real…. Carson’s imagination was good, but he was sure he could never fantasize about a feeling so vividly.
“Did… You save me? Fuck…” Carson cursed as his head pounded again, looking away from the man to close his eye against the light shining off the waves.
“Where am I?”
---------------
Humans were vile, disturbing and blatant in their disrespect and their cruelty towards ocean life. They were selfish and wild. Unpredictable some said.
But if this wasn’t the most interesting human he had ever laid his eyes on.
A beauty that the gods and goddesses would praise for a millenia. And those eyes, god those eyes were ensnaring as they took him in. Echo swallowed around the boulder building in his throat, his fingers digging into the soft sand as the waves lapped against his tail. Something he should have been trying to avoid being seen.
But how could he just leave when he wasn’t even sure if the human was okay? All the work with no pay off? He thought not.
Echo watched, fascinated as the human stirred, his gaze unflinching as the darkling turned himself over, and it only seemed to grow more intense in his stare as the human turned those multi colored eyes to him. Locked him into place, when he knew he should have moved. Forced him to captured in the lights filling up behind those once dying eyes. There was something of marvel, something of wonder as he moved slightly to take in Echo. But there he was captured, entangled in the human that sat out beside him.
Cool air whipped around wet blonde tendrils of his hair, taned fingers movved to brush them back only to catch the darklings hand come up, his words slipping past to part those lips. Words he should not have been able to understand, words that were forbidden under the waves of the ocean. Words that once learned could earn a man’s death.
But he knew them. And he knew them well now, the simple brush of their lips together entwining the knowledge of this humans language into his veins. Pouring sickly sweet into him as he felt the smooth skin of the darkling brush over his freckled cheeks, over his lips.
There was a small shift in him, a skipped heart small, smoldering at the motion. A simple touch that had Echo concentrating much to hard to focus on the boys words, at least until the boy jerked. His hand coming up to his head in a jarring motion.
“Echo. Echo is my name. And yes, i did. No need to thank me.”
Echo’s heart snatched as he watched the darkling move backward, the words continuing to pour out of his mouth.
“I don’t know what you humans call this, we call it the End. Where the land reaches much too high for any of us to wander.”
There was a silence as he watched the boy writhed, and Echo shifted, digging his fingers into the small pouch that clung to his hip , digging for the small pocket of Salve he carried in the pockets. His other hand moved out, forcing the boy's neck to the side to let the bleeding gash hit the open air. Echo’s eyes narrowed on the cut, fingers trying to move the debris that seemed locked into his locks.
“This is going to hurt. But stay still for me a moment.”
The oiled substance stuck between his fingers as he pressed the tips of his fingers against the gash, smoothing the small amount into the wound. It would burn, it would sting the wound beyond any type of mercy but it would work. Help the blood clot and start to close the wound. The man would be able to be up and moving at any point,
at a point that he knew he should be far away as possible by then.
“It should start to take effect relatively soon. It is better to feel this type of pain rather than be dead i suppose.”
--------------------
“LOCHLAN! GRAB IT!”
The captain’s words shot out like gunfire, snapping lochlan from his trance at seeing something so strange. His body moved before he even really realized he had listened, the entirety of his 6’4 frame moving to push off against the slippery deck, his hands finding the body of the half man, half fish like creature. He practically tackled him, sliding along the floor to grab hold of his arm, his eyes widening as he spotted his other tangled up in the rope of the net he had just pulled up.
‘That explains why it was so heavy.’ Lochlan mused for all of a moment, feeling the slap as the boy struggled under him, his tail slapping against his jacket covered back, a grunt pulling from his lips as he wrapped his arms around him, pulling him up as he rolled onto his back and forced them up, his breath heavy as he looked down at the man in his arms being held down by the weight of Lochlan and the tangle of the net.
“Calm down, I don’t want to hurt you!” He could hear himself saying, not really knowing if he could understand him, but choosing to try anyway. The boy wasn’t really that much trouble when he was subdued, his strength impressive by with the adrenaline running through his veins and the hours he had spent on this ship, in the gym training for this trip and for the team he had found himself on in highschool, Lochlan found he didn’t even feel it as the boy battered against him, though eh had the feeling it was going to leave some serious bruises.
“Take It to the Cargo Hold, any of you!…. I gotta get Mr. Dhouti on the phone…”
The captain mumbled his words after that choosing to turn on heel and head back toward the captain’s quarters, stopping just enough to turn to the rest of the baffled crew and snap his next orders. He looked stressed, his fingers cracking as they clenched and uncurled. The darkness of the clouds was starting to settle in, the storm approaching, and Lochlan had to wonder if he would die on this boat.
It was looking like a pretty big possibility.
“DROP ANCHOR HERE! I’m not leaving this spot until I get a hold of The Senator, so you all can quit your bitching and rest like the princess fucks you are.”
Then he was gone, returning to his quarters, and leaving them to fend for themselves.
Fucking asshole.
“Alright, Come on, Captain’s orders…” The voice of Crane, a man in his mid fifties with salt and pepper hair moved forward, his voice gruff and straight, like sand had worn at his vocal cords. He was like an alcoholic father figure that didn’t know how to stop making creep vulgar comments, but mostly harmless. That didn’t show as He shifted, picking up the boy roughly, mostly by the net to throw him over his shoulder, not seeming to care that the position looked like it would hurt.
“Stop! You’re gonna hurt him!”
Crane ignored him, just disappeared into the cargo hold.
“This whole boat is full of assholes…. Whatever, let’s just do what eh says and try and settle in…”
That didn’t prove to be easy. Once the Anchor was dropped, everyone pretty much settled in for the night. Crane and Jacob set up their cards, Ebbe had returned to his own little room to read the book he had brought along with him, a large thick tome in some sort of ancient language. The rest were milling about, but Lochlan returned to the boat’s deck, ignoring the clouds as he looked out to the ocean, watching her waves crack against the boat but held himself steady.
It was a stupid man who did not keep his footing at all times on a boat.
“You’re worried about it, aren’t you?”
Ebbe’s voice shot out, making the blonde and brunette bounce and jump, his gaze snapping back toward the redhead whose gaze matched the clouds above. He blinked, opening his mouth to say something but the words were halted by Ebbe again, who rolled his eyes at him.
“Just go check on him. You’re too nice…. You’ll make yourself sick again with worry, so just check on the thing…”
Ebbe shifted, leaning on the rails next to him.
“Just bring your knife with you.”
“I already have it….” Lochlan said as he moved, leaving his spot to head toward the hold.
He could have swore he heard him call him a bitch, but if it was from Ebbe, he probably didn’t mean it.
Lochlan creeped down the stairs, blinking into the dark as he looked around. His hand fell to his pocket fingering the pocket knife. The light was dim as he pulled the chain, illuminating the room to reveal scores of tools and weapons, nets and hooks, and in the middle of it all, tied to a support beam, was the creature.
“Hey… Hey… can you talk?” He asked as he moved closer, crouching down low, fingertips against the ground. He was close, close enough to smell the sea on him, Lochlan’s eyes flickering over him to see if he was wounded
“Are you hurt?”
---------
All the legends were true, all of the myths and lores he grew up on, thinking they were just trying to make a species so monstrous that none of them dared approach, were in fact real. The cruelty that laid in these creatures was black and lifeless, soulless. And he would not doubt it if they bleed black and grew horn in the middle of the night.
They were not creatures to be reckoned with. And his mistake would never be rectified, would only be fully understood after his death at the hands of these…. Monsters of the land. They ignored him, stopped his only attempt at leaving and moved him too far away from any possible escape now.
He was lost now. His fate would have to be simply accepted.
They were rough, fingers tightening on his skin with bruising forces. He tried, tried to call out to them, tried to beg with everything he could offer, bribe the humans. But not one of the men batted their eyes even the old guy that dropped him with a thump onto the ground seemed uninterested in his words.
Not that they could understand Ridley. He knew that. Knew that his words were coming out in chirps and gruffs that their ears could barely audibly pick up. Knew that they would only hear them if they concentrated hard enough, and knew that truly none of them had any interest in what he had to say at this point. He was only a pawn now. Could only be valued after his death took place.
“Sir, please…. Please… hold on… Sir!”
He called after the old man as he stood, his eyes looking over the ropes and net that tangled him, making sure that the work he had done was well. If Ridley had a say in it, the man had done too well. The ropes cutting into delicate flesh and scales as he bunched his tail as close to him as possible. Trying for the life to him look as small as he could. It wasn’t until the light shifted, flickering before turning completely out that dread wrapped itself around him.
It was cold, the air frosting over his skin as the wind whirled and whipped against the boat, the wooden structure creaking and groaning in the silence of the blackened room around him. It was heart wrenching, the cry that ripped apart his lips, Ridley could feel the tears stinging behind his eyes, but he wouldn’t let them fall. Not to these humans, not to the absolute filth that inhabited this boat.
But for his brothers he would, for Ethan he would, for the life he knew was getting ripped away from him, he would. Another sob parted his lips, ripped through the silence he was trying to hold. His fingers clenching at his hips as he sunk deeper into this heart ache that was gripping him so heavily.
Until the lights flickered, the sound of foot steps accompanying the light that flooded the wooden floor. Ridley tried to move, to squirm into himself, to look away from the man as he bent over in front of him, his words ringing to unaccustomed ears. Ridley flexed, his fins shifting and widening, as the man spoke, his ears lifting to frill the fins that laid attached to them, as if this would help him understand the man in front of him.
“Don’t leave me down here… please.”
He knew the words would fall on deaf ears, knew that it would do nothing to beg for this man help. But he could try, could try to somehow get across to him. And he shifted trying to lean in closer to the man as he spoke. The chips poured from his lips, whines and gruffs trying to explain himself out of the situation desperately.
“Let me go home… I’m scared.”
------------------
The moment he spoke, Carson was ensnared, his head snapping back up to take him in again for a moment before the pain hit him again suddenly, achingly desperate to make it’s presence known that it slammed against his temples, pulsed behind his eyes and made alarm ring off in his head. His voice was soothing, the calming hint of the waves hidden in that voice, a pull like no other, practically a song in it’s own right. Carson couldn’t remember a time that he had thought so highly of a voice that had said something so flippant and carefree, like it was nothing, that he wasn’t a creature conjured up from the depths of his imagination.
But he was. There was no denying that, bit as the sun glinted off scales in luminescent colors, like the light shining off a puddle of oil. This man, Echo, Echo was something he had never dreamed of seeing, long having left fantasy on the shelf as he picked up textbook after textbook to follow in his father’s footsteps, all while ignoring the call of the ocean just outside of his home.
“I do need to thank you. I Thought… I thought I was gonna…” the words faded away, unable to voice what he had though, the truth he had almost accepted. There was a moment, before Echo spoke up again, moving on, But Carson would not forget.
Echo spoke, his words soft, and Carson could feel it as he mouth the words that the blond had just said, before the dots connect, his mind much too distracted by the freckles dusting over Echo’s face, the strange accessories he wore.
“We call this the Shore… or the beach. We’re closer toward the bay, if I can guess correctly.” The last words were mostly to himself, a mutter that was almost inaudible with his accent lining his words. His thoughts wavered, spilled over as he thought, and suddenly he felt hands on him, moving his hair out of the way, fingers threading through his hair to pull a shiver down his spine. He liked it, the feeling of his hands on him, and carson leaned into the touch, his eyes hooded but his gaze flickering through dark lashes to look at what he could of the blond, not wanting to take his eyes off him.
“Echo, what are you…?”
He didn’t get to say much else, as for the second time that dayl, pain exploded behind his eyes, lights flashing in his veion as the back of his head felt like it had been bashed in with a bat. He cried out, hands moving as he fell forward, his eyes squeezing shut as he let the pain run through him. It was fine, he thought, forced himself to think over the pain, small droplets welling in his eyes as he sucked in another breath.
He had dealt with worse.
“Ow… FUCK me… That hurts… what’s in that stuff, Glass?”
The words came out accented, thick with his native tongue as he hissed in displeasure, but true to his word, the pain started to fade, dimming away to something almost manageable. Carson’s hand moved, to trace over the gap, one that while still tender was now healing, and quickly. He could already feel the itch of scabs starting to form.
“Holy shi-”
“I have to go.”
Echo voice pulled him from his mind once again, and even if he wanted to eh could not keep the look of shock and disappointment from crossing over his features. He moved, his hand reaching out to grab Echo’s who looked down at their hands in what looked like shock or confusion. Carson didn’t care.
“Wait, I-”
“I have to go.” Echo repeated, and pulled his hand away. Carson Panic, watching as the man moved, sliding along the soft sands to pull himself into the waves, and before he lowered his head underwater, Carson moved, leaning forward.
“Carson! My name is Carson Dhouti! Thank you!”
And he was gone, and Carson was left alone, nothing but waves and seagulls calling to him.
--------------------
“Woah, Hey, Hold on, I can’t…”
Lochlan could see he was trying, Trying to speak, to say something, but the words were lost to him, ears too human, to foreign to truly understand what it was this boy was saying. They Were pretty, little chips and grunts and tilts that sounded something like a song, though he knew that this boy had no reason for singing as he was tied up, ripped from his home. His expressions flickered over his face freely, the tinge of desperation that lined his features made Lochlan’s heart clench tightly, his hand moving from out of his pocket as his hands came up, to lift and brush over his shoulders.
His heart hammered in his chest, seeing him like this bothered him, deeply. He could see he was afraid, could see the fear in his eyes as he tried to speak, tried to get his point across but could not.
“Calm down… I can’t understand you… Shit this would be so much easier if I was like Ebbe and could pick up twenty thousand other languages for fun…..”
Lochlan cursed his brain, not the first time and most certainly not the last. He wished he was book smart, Like Ebbe, like Carson, the kind of guy who had studied for fun and knew the answer to everything. As it was, Lochlan had hardly made it through school with his scholarships, his grade a product of work and long nights killing himself for not understanding simple questions. It would be helpful now, but all the wishing in the world did not change what was.
This boy was scared. He was terrified and had no one to help him. Hell, he had been thrown here without so much as a courtesy light, and a temper he tried to keep down flared brightly.
“Shh… It’s okay…” lochlan cooed, his lids lowering as his eyes hooded, his hands moving to brush over his cheeks , through his hair to sooth him in all the little ways that helped him. He settled, sitting his butt down on the cold floor, the rocking of the boat getting harder as he pulled the boy into his lap. His hand reached for his pocket again, pulling out the knife that started the man in his hands, making Lochlan wrap him in his arms to settle him down again. He spoke softly against his skin, his cheek, his temple, his neck, fingers tracing patterns over him in familiar ways, soothing him.
“Just the net… I’m gonna get you out of the net.” He pointed to the rope, his gaze locked on it as he moved slowly, pick up the trapped arm with a gentle touch, the blade finding the ropes to cut through them. It was a meticulous task, one that slowly made his arms burn with the weight of holding him close and working slowly through the ropes, until he was finally free, remnants resting on the floor around them like littered scales. Lochlan place the knife down, shifting so that eh could lift his hands in front of them both, turning them slowly.
“There. I’m done. I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, I don’t know how to help.”
He wanted to help. That was the thing. Lochlan wanted to help, wanted to say something, anything, to make that look of fear go away. But this was all he could do, all he could hope to do without understanding him. Lochlan’s hands ran through the man’s hair, blond locks and a red brown gaze that locked the older man in place. He held him, soothing over him with words that he hoped he at least understood the meaning, his hands running through hair and along his spine. He breathed stories to him, kept him safe as the boat rocked with the storm and the light shut off again.
Lochlan did not leave until they had docked, and he did not let go until the man was pulled from his hands.
Lochlan was given a bonus and told not to speak of it.
Lochlan had not slept well either, the sight of his face as he was being pulled away haunting his dreams.
He had to see him again.
He had to.
------------
It was world altering, a moment he would probably not forget for years to come. His fingers were still warm from the human's touch,... from Carson's touch. The look that he was giving Echo still gleaming even as he turned back to look through the ocean waters at the darkling that sat lost at shore.
He would find his way. What mattered, what truly mattered was that the human was safe, he was alive and breathing in the cool air into his lungs instead of the ocean water. Something Echo had learned through watching many humans, something he had witnessed first hand. It was simple, they breathed their air, their form oxygen and Echo breathed both.
The humans didn’t function on the same level, and took Echo seeing the marvel for himself to truly believe the words that his dad had spoke to him. Words of warning and those words were meant to scare them, him and his brothers. Meant to strike some kind of fear into the heart of the blonde boys that surrounded their father as he sung his praises of being mermaids. The praises of well they had it down here, how well they had all done to conceal their presents to humans for centuries.
And they were doing so well, until Echo had fucked it up. Unable to listen to the rules of their society. The number one being, leave the humans to their own. To never interact and to make sure that they never saw them. Was never able to lay eyes on a tail or fin. Or scales, anything of the sort. Anything that the greedy humans could deem as valuable.
But this human seemed thankful, truly. His interest lying in only the unknown of Echo and what could a human with no real way to find him do? Nothing that Echo could take too seriously. But he was alluring in his own way, the human boy Carson. His eyes haunting him even to this moment, those eyes that stuck to him so well. Even though Echo knew without a doubt that he may have been the one staring. A little too much, but a human up close was so different. Their reaction unexpected and reality unlike anything he had ever felt.
Echo could feel the smile pulling at his lips, offering what could only be described as a crooked smile.
“ECHO! THEY HAVE RIDLEY! THAT BOAT! IT TOOK HIM, IT TOOK HIM!”
The voice caused Echo to flinch to pulled so quickly out of his thoughts it was almost alarming. But small hand were yanking on his flesh as the words were bellowed. Distress etching every inch of Ethan's small frame. It was his brother's name though that caught him, that snapped his attention and forced Echo forward, his arms finding either one of Ethan’s biceps, pulling him close.
“What do you mean it took him? Ethan?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT TOOK HIM!?”
Echo could see the sheer grief over Ethan’s expression even as he got shook ruthlessly.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ETHAN?!”
------------
He should have been used to it, to the blistering cold and the wild winds that seemed to surround him by now. Should not have expected any sort of treatment besides this from the dastardly humans. Only a few had been allowed in, ogling at the what he could only imagined they called ‘fish-boy’. Hell, he would have called himself that,.... If he still had a fin or tail. Instead he had dried out, his skin losing it sheen as the cold air took away every drop that had previously clung to his flesh. Now in his tails place was what the humans called legs, sprouting but unmoving as he shifted uncomfortably in this new form of his.
Which had initially surprised him, scared him even further. He felt lost. Too far away from home as he sat in the cell, his back pressed into his corner and his legs shaking against his chest.
They were trying, he could say that, all pretty smiles and words of silk and honey. Not that that mattered. He didn’t respond instead trying to force himself smaller in his cage. They brought him squares of fluff, which he could only eyeball wildly. Was it supposed to be a comfort in the human world? A square of puffed fluff. The humans had given him dish after dish, trying to coax Ridley. Trying to force feed him until his teeth had found one of the men’s fingers. It was the last time one of them had walked into help him. The last time any of them had made attempts to calm the raging Langdon.
The only remnant he had now of his heritage was the scales that littered his skin, small splotches of ‘freckles’ and the fins that protected his ears so well. He knew he looked other worldly to the lot of them. Knew that most of them were only interested in the part of him that wasn’t ‘human’. But the truth behind it was, he wasn’t. He was a mermaid. A creature of fable and legends on dry land.
But his surprise only happened days after being there, his ears straining to hear the whispered words that echoed outside of the cell walls. But what he caught meant nothing to happen, instead only confusing him further. It was a woman's voice, soothing and caressing. Almost insuring as she spoke her words. But a man’s snapped back, firm in his resolution but yielding to her as she spoke, stopping to allow her to explain.
There was a silence before the man spoke again, this times his words brief. The tone defeated, he could almost visibly see arms getting thrown up over the situation.
Once more the woman spoke out, her words all the more loving, all the more soothing as she insured him.
But then the doors creaked open. And Ridley threw a glance over the tops of his knees to the dark haired woman. Her multi colored eyes on him, shining as she bent down outside the cell. Her forearms coming up to catch onto her thighs.
“Hello,... My name is Arber. Arber Dhouti. And i am going to need you to speak to me.”
Ridley marveled for a moment, his whole world spinning as the woman spoke, the words clear as day to him. He could feel himself getting pulled, the knees dropping as his mouth went slack all at once. His confusion clearly painted across his features as the woman spoke.
“That right there.”
Her hand moved suddenly, her finger pointed to the square of fluff laid out beside him. But her eyes remained on him.
“It’s a blanket. The humans use them to keep warm. It goes around your shoulders. Or over your legs…..”
Ridley was still reeling, but his fingers moved, reaching out for the square in almost a trance with the woman in front of him. Pulling the cold bundle over his bare legs, but he didn’t dare break eye contact. Not with this woman. Not to the only one he could understand.
“What is your name, Nekmit?”
The familiar endearment struck him odd, and only fascinated him further. He was almost afraid to answer her, afraid that the woman would turn away if she got what she wanted, but she wore a smile, one that almost seemed genuine. She seemed to care for the small boy in the cage and he couldn't deny her what she wanted, not when she used that voice so heavenly sweet to call to him.
“It’s Ridley. Ridley Langdon.”
“OH! You’re a Langdon son. It explains a lot about your stubborn nature you seem to harbor.”
There was a small chuckle in her voice as she spoke to him, her fingers coming up to brush against her lips. It took a second but finally the woman sat, her bottom hitting the floor with a small thump.
“You know the rules that are set underneath? They are set for a reason my dear, Ridley. Why would you get so close to the humans?”
“.....Who are you?”
He couldn’t help it, now when the woman, Arber Dhouti spoke to him so calmly, so fluently. Her eyes kind and her tone even kinder. Though she wasn’t the one she was hoping for he took the company with ride, through the confusion was beginning to become somewhat of a problem as she shifted uncomfortably.
“It’s best if we move on from this subject, Ridley. Just know, my name is Arber. I’m here to help you. No one else is going to hurt you. It is something i can promise.”
“Are you going to let me go?”
“......No. unfortunately. The rules are setting you in dangerous ways if you go back. Me and you both know that. We are finding other methods of… release. Somewhat. But the ocean is lost to you now, Nekmit. There is no returning.”
-------------------
Carson’s return home was loud, full of sobs and hugs and worried glanced over shoulders, his mother's and his father’s arms around him as they pulled him close, their murmurings of how they had been so scared, how they had thought they lost him to the sea whispering over his hearing. His mother had refused to let him go, and his father brushed tears off his face with the back of his expensive suit, Ragnar practically sobbing for forgiveness at almost killing him. It had taken a while, that was sure, to soothe them all, to tell them he was just tired and achy from his tumble in the underwater rivers, that he just wanted to rest. His mother insisted he sleep with her that night, had insisted he share the bed with his parents like he was four again and scared of the dark.
But it soothed her, and If His mom was happy he wouldn’t have to hear it from his dad.
They hovered over him, watching him like he might fall right back into the ocean, but Carson did not care, could not really find it in him to be bothered by such things. As it was, His mind had been consumed, absolutely enthralled with finding each and every bit of information he could on Mermaids.
Days had passed since he had least seen Echo, days that had seen Carson pouring over books to glean even the slightest bit of information, and night spent staring at the moon as he listened to the waves just outside his home, listening as his dad rambled about the biggest scandal to hit their town since his father had chosen to marry his mother. He listened to the waves, the birds as they called, and he remembered the little look of shock as he grabbed his hand and the way he had seemed to carefree, the cute little smile that was not really a smile at all. Days had passed, but Carson found he could not get the beautiful man out of his head, could not stop longing for his voice to drift up with the waves below him, and night where he should have been sleeping were spent hoping, wishing …. And remembering.
His mother had told him so many stories when he was young, and never in his wildest dreams had he thought he would become so enthralled by something as fanciful as Mermaids, But as it was, it seemed the fates had other plans for him, as not even an hour after his return home, his father received an important call. He could remember his dad trying to brush it off, but in the end, he had been forced to leave and see to the matter, something that, at the time, Carson had thought nothing of.
His father was a busy man, someone looked up to, a man people told first without pause. He ran this city, this town, this state, and nothing happened without his say so, especially not here in their pleasant little mountain beach home.
But when he returned home, his father seemed…. Spooked, shook like he had seen the depths of hell and the creatures that dwelled there. It had taken some persuading, but eh had finally got it out of him.
Some fishermen had found something. Something unexplainable.
Carson, later that night, met the second Mermaid he had ever seen in his life.
It wasn’t Echo. There was a shock as he took in the man behind the bars, the man much smaller than the blond he had seen but barring a very close resemblance to him. Carson hadn’t expected the fates to deliver Echo back to him so easily, if at all, but it had been… a spark of hope, a gleam of a wish. It was crushed as he took him in, but he still watched him with interest, his one way to possibly know more about Echo if he could just get him alone.
There was only so much that Carson would do in one day. He was ushered out before he could even talk to him.
Thus why he was so excited for this morning.
Today, He got to see the mermaid again.
He wasn’t paying attention as he was walking. That much was obvious as he was taken by surprise, grabbed roughly and suddenly. He was on his way to his bike when he was stopped, the feeling of a hand on his bicep making him jump as he blinked, his body being slammed against the wall as a very frustrated looking Lochlan glared up at him with a snarl on his lips. Carson blinked, breathing in as Lochlan stared at him, waiting for him to get on with what eh wanted.
He didn’t have to wait long.
“Take me with you.”
The words were clipped, short, hurried and irritated. Knowing that no one was supposed to know about it, Carson pulled a face of ignorance, blinking as he tilted his head to the side.
“What?”
“Don’t play DUMB, Carson, the boy, the one that I pulled up from out of the ocean, and left to be poked and prodded by the scientists. The mermaid. Take. Me. to. Him.”
The words hit him oddly, a low soft sound of anger drifting over him as he took in the unhinging man. Normally, Carson would say no, laugh at him, but something in him make him reconsider. Maybe it was the way Lochlan looked so distressed, the usually calm boy frustrated beyond all belief. Lochlan was kind, soft, the sweet summer child kind of boy to Carson’s jagged winters. It must be important to him to demand it in this way.
“You pulled him up? Where? How, what did he say?” the question flew past his lips as he raced to get his car keys, practically running to the car, only matched by Lochlan’s pace. They rode together conversation flowing as he asked questions, though the answers only made him more curious.
No one could understand this boy, but with Echo he could perfectly understand him. Echo spoke fluent English, not a sign of a foreigner's tongue on the words. Why could this one not?
“I have to see him again. I fucked up, Car. I shouldn’t have kept him on that boat.”
Carson’s gaze glided over to the man sitting before him, snapping back to the building that was just starting to loom.
“You did the right thing. This is an important discovery.” The words were empty, repeated from his father’s advisors. Lochlan didn’t look at him, looking out of the window as they drove into the garage to park, descended into darkness as he finally spoke up.
“Could you have done it? If You had seen him?”
Instantly, Echo’s face popped up, fresh, vivid in his mind.His smile, the look of shock…. And then the boy’s dead expression as he had seen him last. Could have seen that face on Echo and the knowledge he had done it to him, could he have lived with that?
Carson had no answer for that.
---------------------
Lochlan wasn’t used to this sort of establishment, did not belong here, and it showed the instant that he walked through those doors.
There wasn’t many people around, only a secretary at the front desk that paled as she saw Carson walk in, her hands crinkling the paper she held as she watched the darkling moved. Lochlan could admit, even as his friend and a close one at that, that Carson was an intimidating sort of guy, the kind that seemed to have a switch in him that went off at the slightest bit of inclination that he might be underestimated. There was something about him, something in him that radiated leadership and demanded respect, made you want to follow his commands, a fear engraved in you even though he had never so much as rose his voice in your presence. You listened to him. And it only helped that his dad was practically the king of their little town, it’s inhabitants following him blindly, without protest.
Such devotion to his father had bled to his son, and Even now, Carson walked like he owned the building, breezing past the secretary without so much as even a glance, the juxtaposition between his awkward wave, stumble over his own two feet and nearly silently ‘Sorry’ more blaring than a siren.
Carson seemed like he was born for this, Born to get and do what he wanted, when he wanted, for no other reason other then he wanted it.Meanwhile, Lochlan had to hope he got lucky and someone took pity on him, or he had to work his fingers to the bone to get a suitable substitute.
Not this time.
The thought was harsh, glaring against the usual nerves that flooded his mind when he was in places like this, Expensive and rich and clearly not made for a fisherman to walk through it’s halls. He gave Carson Credit, taking him here with only the smallest of explanation, but as he delved deeper into the twists and turns of the labyrinth that called itself a lab, Lochlan couldn’t help but feel like maybe he had made a mistake in rushing over to the Dhouti household, had been rash in his instance that Carson took him with him. He didn’t belong here, he didn’t belong in this place. What would he even say to him when he saw him, considering he couldn’t understand him and he couldn’t tell him how sorry he was he had gotten him into this mess. Lochlan knew it was rash, it was irrational that he had stormed here, But the memory of his face, that expression over his features as the pulled him from his hands….
It haunted him, and Lochlan had this need, this urge, to see him again, To fix something beyond his reach...
But now that it was in front of him, what was he supposed to fucking do? What could he do?
Lochlan could only guess.
The doors opened before him, a bright light stinging his eyes as they stepped from the dimmer hallways and into the darker room, light spilling from what Lochlan could only assume was a one way window into the cell that they had placed the boy in. Dark brown eyes narrowed as he lifted his hand, the sound of a sudden gasp slipping past Carson making his gaze snap from the overly bright window to the figure leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, glare locked on the window like it had personally insulted him.
“Dad!”
If Lochlan had thought Carson was intimidating, Soven Dhouti was absolutely terrifying. He was the exact picture of what he assumed a senator to be, the exact image that his mind created when he thought of the world leader. Soven was more than just a Senator, he practically ran this town, the owner of multiple companies and the father of one of his best friends. More often than not, you would find him in suits, hair slicked back or hidden away, clean cut and absolutely lethal. Now, however, it seemed he couldn’t have been bothered with appearance, clad in his white t-shirt and a pair of ragged jeans and boots. He would have looked like he belonged on the cover of some sort of fan service magazine for women if it wasn’t for the very palpable anger that was radiating off of him in heated waves.
Lochlan fell behind as Carson smiled, walking up to the imposing man.
Carson seemed to have a birth defect that made him lose his sense of fear and self preservation.The man stood at 6’7, towering over most, a trait he had given to his sons in spades, which only added to the imposing air he already had.. He was blond, platinum blond falling over his eyes as he glared, his eyes narrowing as Carson walked in, speckled blue green and brown drifting over to his black haired son, the look on his face softening immensely before he looked back again at the sight in the cell, his stance never moving.
“What’s going on?” Carson never sounded more like a child then when he was talking to his parents, all curious tones and absolute trust. Soven sighed, dropping his hands to his side before lifting them in what could only be described as irritated acceptance.
“Your Mother wanted to talk to him, and she wouldn’t let it go. I tried talking her out of it, but she’s hard headed, like someone else I know.” Lochlan watched, amazed as Soven smiled and teased his son, pulling on his cheeks and earning a laugh from his friend. The blond man watched him with adoration, before his gaze hardened again.
“You were told not to come back here, Carson, why are you here? More importantly….” He tried off, and for the first time since he entered, Soven’s eyes flashed over to Lochlan. The man swallowed thickly, brown eyes locked on speckled blue, a shot of fear rippling over his spine.
“What are you doing here?”
Carson moved, laughing as he placed himself between them. He opened his mouth to say something, but something in Lochlan made him move, his hand falling to the Darkling’s shoulder as his own stare hardened.
“I want to see him. The mermaid. I was the one who pulled him out, I was the one held him during the storm and I was the one who made sure nothing happened to him. I’m not being left in the dark.”
Soven didn’t say anything for a moment, and it felt like an eternity had passed before he sighed, once again lifting his hand in a dismissive gesture.
“Go on then. I guess i’m just surrounded by Hard headed people. You will be required to sign a silence waver. You’re not allowed to talk about anything you hear or see in this building, Do you understand?”
Lochlan understood. You didn’t cross a Dhouti without serious consequences.
Lochlan moved, ignoring the mummers behind him in favor of the small little chips that were filtering through the door that led into the cell. Lochlan paused, his eyes on the door as he breathed in, now or never, sink or swim and god he felt like he was drowning.
Just see him again… we’ll start from there.
------------
Days. Four to be exact.
Four days of nothing but excruciating madness as the Langdons seemed to fall into what could only be called a madness. His father switched between anger and suffering, his mother inconsolable, the only solace she had was found in his father's arms.
The story was repeated. And recited to every Langdon, their interrogation of the smaller Delarosa was intense, their question bombarding, and relentless. Even Echo found himself tearing into the obviously frightened and worried boy. His words were starting to break, his spirit obviously deteriorating quickly as Scythe began for the thirtieth time to question Ethan. Blue eyes locked on cognac ones, ones that were filled with something between rage and desperation.
It was a long process, a process that Echo knew would lead them nowhere if they didn’t actually do anything. Not that the laws allowed them to do anything about the situation. On the contrary, if he was going to stand by their laws, Ridley was gone to them. His youngest brother was gone and by the laws would remain that way, even if he returned, he would have been an outcast, or worse, killed off.
Relations with any human was strictly forbidden. A law that was not taken lightly down here. A law that was taken to the fullest extent went presented, there were no warnings, there were no second chances. No matter the age. You were gone, nothing other than a traitor to their kind.
But still the days passed, a blur of emotions riddling through him until he had made that final decision. The one he knew could end his life, the one that he knew that the others had been having whispers of. But… They did not all have to suffer the same fate as what he knew making this decision would force him to face. The same fate that Ridley had been forced into.
But it wasn’t Ridleys fault he was caught, he was tangled into the net. From what Ethan had described he had fought against the ropes, he had tried to get out to free himself from the fate that he inevitably knew would befall him if he didn’t. And still. He had lost. And Echo could feel his heart wrenching, trying to tear from him as he thought about the fear that must have been wracking his brother. He could feel the frown pulling at his lips as the images raced behind his eyes.
But he was soft, his words coming out smoothly as tanned fingers pressed the bridge of his nose. His other hand clenched onto the smaller boy's shoulder, trying to force him into place so he could speak to him.
“Tell me again, Ethan. Tell me what happened out there. I need to know before i head out.”
He had to give Ethan some kind of credit, he stood tall, something most didn’t expect out of him. The boy was fragile looking, small and almost dainty in his movements, but he knew how to carry himself, knew how to act when it came down to it. And it came as no real shock when Ethan bucked up, his chest puffing out just that bit.
“I’ll just show you myself, we can get him back together.”
He was stern his voice, much like Echo’s came out softly, almost tentative but still he let those eyes fall on Echo own. Stern in his motion to accompany him. Ethan Delarosa let his hands clench into small fist. He knew what it meant to get caught, he knew what it meant just to go look for Ridley.
And here he was, still prepared for whatever the outcome may be.
“That makes sense. You did lose him.”
He chuckled half heartedly, his finger releasing the bys shoulder just to slap against his skin one good time.
--------------
“Wait…. What, what do you mean i can’t return?”
“If i allowed you return to Hydsa, if i said you could leave and not have to worry about any of us coming after you, where would you go? To your family? To the kingdom that you know would label you a traitor and willingly feed you to the shark?”
Ridley sunk back, his back hitting the cold concrete of the wall with a small thump, his head smacking right after that. He lifted his eyes to the ceilings, looking but not really seeing. She was right, where would he go, what would he do with himself once he got back, the questions would pile in. Every official would be sure to drag out the truth from him. If Ethan did not already tell them himself.
It was his fault. His fault for taking Ethan out so far into the human territories. Luckily though, it was only him paying the consequences. It was only him that was crammed into a hollow husk of a cage, and not with Ethan along his side. Stuck in the same predicament, with nowhere to run.
Arber shifted on the floor, her eyes trying hesitant but watchful. Her fingers rested easy against her knees, her black hair fell over her shoulders in waves as she watched. She was trying to be helpful, but she was human. She cold possibly make the damage worse. She could take his trust and twist games around the people holding him captive. He was always told that the humans were evil, always felt the itch of fear when the stories of them were told.
And from his experience with them thus far, he could truly state that they were just as horrible as he thought they were gonna be. She spoke softly as if she was speaking to an injured animal, her tone much too calm for a woman he knew was probably the reason he was actually here.
“I’m not here to scare you, Ridley. I want to help, but yo have to trust me. If even just a little bit.”
“How do you know my lan-”
There was a creak of hinges, the aluminum door swinging open to reveal the same man who had wandered across his thoughts once or twice since being in the confinement. Ridley watched with curious eyes as the darkling in front of him turned her head, shifting that smile to the brown and blonde haired boy that passed behind the door. One of her hands flung out in welcome to the much taller boy, her other coming down to rub against the floor that she was sitting on.
Brown eyes flickered to Ridleys and he couldn’t hold them, turning her head to shift his eyes back to Arber. There was a flare of temper whipping at his mind, forcing his eyebrows down as he looked away from the man. Irritation bloomed in his chest, but only if because it was the very man that had him confused. Forcing him to this and then soothing him through his way to this hell.
Ridley could see the hesitation that was littered in the man’s expression, painting across his body as he strode closer.
“Ah, Lochlan, here my love, come sit next to me. I’ll introduce you to Ridley.”
---------------------------
He watched him, Watched his long time friend slip into the cell, the old wooden door shutting quietly behind him with a soft click that resonated through the silence that had followed Lochlan’s declaration. He could see him still, Lochlan’s Brown and blond hair falling down his back, little braids and hair mattes that laziness refused to brush out, long strands spilling over his shoulders as he spoke, the words muffled by still slightly audible. He moved slightly, moving to place himself next to his mother, and Carson found himself wondering how of all people, the one to have pulled the scandal straight from the sea itself was his own Lochan, his sweet summer child, the boy too kind hearted for his own good and just about the last person who needed to have the weight of guilt slowing him down.
But fate had never been kind, and so it was with a heavy mantle about his shoulders Lochlan tried to make things right.
“Why did you come here, Carson?” His father’s voice asked, and Carson turned, duel colored gaze flicking back to his father's.
What was he supposed to tell him?
Carson hadn’t spoken a word about that day, the day he almost drowned and echo had saved him from an almost certain death. It wasn’t from a lack of being on his mind, mind you, as it had been on his mind frequently. Carson couldn’t tell you the number of times he had thought about it, about the merman that had stolen his thoughts with that red brown gaze and the quick quirk of his lips, could not tell you the number of hours he had spent in his bed staring at the window as he heard that ocean's lullaby, wondering about a creature long since thought fantasy, if maybe he didn’t dream it, imagined it….
But fantasies don’t hold him, and they don’t fix near lethal wounds.
Carson had wanted to tell his family… Hell, the moment he got back, Carson had wanted to tell them about the man who had saved him, about the Mermaid named Echo who had saved him, healed him and swam off, the only reason he still breathed today. He wanted to tell them what happened, but as soon as he had made to, his father’s phone had started going off, calling him into work. His mother had been angry at the phone, and his dad had put it off for as long as he could before he left, and really, as strange as it sounds, Carson felt fine after nearly dying. He was thirsty, tired, hungry, but his body only ached from fatigue, his headache gone and there was a fire in his chest that spurred him into the library.
Carson never got to tell his story, and now, with how this one was being treated, and seeing the regret in Lochlan’s frame…. Carson wasn’t sure he wanted to. If this was how they treated one, he didn’t want to see Echo like that. He didn’t know him, didn’t know anything on him other then he saved his life and had vanished just as quickly as he had come tumbling into his life, but Carson could already tell you that he didn’t want to see him look so…. Lost.
So Carson did something he had never done before.
He lied to his father
“I was just curious, Dad. You know my thing for the ocean and to see that Mermaids actually exist? It’s fascinating. I just… want to know more.”
“... I don’t know how much he would be able to give you, considering he doesn’t speak our language.”
Carson let out a slow breath he didn’t even realize he had been holding. His father accepted his lie easily, and any guilt was overshadowed by relief that there was no one out looking for Echo.
“But Mom speaks thiers.”
It was something that had been bothering him, something that had struck him as strangely and inherently odd. His mind raced with questions, his head tilting as he listened, catching small clicks and grunts that somehow almost formed words, occasionally a word jumping out of him to his tounge.
“That’s-”
“Hey, Carson.”
The sound of another voice stomped out any words his father might have said, any answers he could have gotten. Carson sighed as he turned to ebbe, his friend glaring at him with storms in his eyes. Ebbe tilted his head, long red hair falling over his shoulder, before he jerked his head toward the Exit, his arms in his jacket pockets.
“The boat is heading back out to that spot again.”
The words took a moment to register, clipped and short with jagged glass in the tones. Ebbe was a hard boy to get to know, not saying much and instead choosing to stare and ignore most of everyone, and when he did talk, more often than not what he said was something insulting, grade A asshole material. Most people chose not to look past that, but Carson knew better, knew Ebbe since he was in middle school. Carson had asked him to keep him updated on when he would be returning out, had told him to tell him if anything else strange had happened or been seen.
Carson nodded, a smile crossing his lips before his dad spoke.
“Can anyone Just… walk up in here? Like how is it that three nineteen year olds just found their way into a supposedly guarded laboratory. Was anyone even up there, anyone at all?”
“No.”
“Oh. Of course. No one to guard the lab with the mermaid in it. Yeah. Okay. that makes total sense.”
Carson watched his father’s brow twitch, his hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose, his eyes closing as he shook his head. Carson wanted to laugh, holding in a chuckle from building in his throat. Ebbe only stared, seemingly uncaring about the obvious distress of the older man, instead turning to look back at Carson.
“Let’s go then. Up that security, Papa Dhouti.”
Ebbe turned on heel, walking back down the hallway. Carson turned, casting a look to the boy who looked so similar to the Mermaid he wanted to see, before he turned away and started out the door.
“Wait! Carson! You Just almost Drowned, I don’t want you to-”
“I’ll be fine Dad, I feel fine. Nothing hurts or anything. I’ll be super careful. Okay, Love you too, bye!”
Carson left him gaping, heard his Dad’s frustrated growl, but he was already following after Ebbe, running to catch up to him. Ebbe said nothing as they walked through the building, but Carson hadn’t expected any different from him, considering he wasn’t the most talkative guy.
“When do we leave?”
“As soon as we get there.”
Carson smiled.
“Then we’ll take my car.”
---------------------------
Ridley. His name was Ridley.
Somehow that knowledge made everything more real. Lochlan hadn’t had a name before, didn’t have a name for the face that had haunted his dreams. He didn’t think he would ever be able to know his name, didn’t think he would ever really get to know him, and suddenly he had a name to place with him, and it was like everything shifted right into place.
His name was Ridley. Lochlan had fucked over a mermaid named Ridley.
It seemed so much more real with a name for the mermaid, like it was cemented now in facts and not in his head. He couldn’t deny thinking it was possible he imagined it all, that he would wake up and go to work and everyone would laugh at him if he brought up fantasies like capturing a mermaid. He had thought it would be all one extended dream, but the problem with that was that the thoughts of his face, memories of seeing him hurt and scared and alone made his chest hurt and his gut wrench kept him up until morning's early hours, plaguing him enough to create dark shadows under his eyes. It was more blatant now, apparent, and Lochlan bit his lip out of nervousness, tongue playing with the silver of his piercings.
Lochlan moved, taking another step forward to take the seat next to the woman he had come to call Momma Dhouti. He had only known her since freshman year of highschool, but over the years, Mrs. Dhouti had become something like a second mother to him, her entire being warm and inviting and alluring, every inch of her the super mom that she seemed to be known for. It was comforting to see her here, comforting to know that she was here taking care of the boy he was worrying about constantly. She would make sure he's okay, heal any wounds and soothe him, like she did for her sons and their friends, for Him and Ebbe and Ender. If anyone would make sure the mermaid, Ridley, was okay, it would be her. He settled easily next to her, crossing his legs to let his hands rest on his knees, nerves kicking up again, though there was a slight hesitance to all his movements, his gaze flickering over to Ridley as he drew in a breath.
“How’d you find out his name? He speaks a language I’ve never heard before.”
Lochlan flicked his gaze back to Mrs. Dhouti, his stare curious and confused, but ultimately just returned to the smaller boy, taking in the luminescent scales over his cheeks and face, the bright stare of his eyes as he stared back. He offered him a hesitant smile, a little wave before he dropped his hand..
“If he doesn’t want me here, I’d understand.”
----------------------------
It had been hours, or at least what felt like hours of continuous swimming, the area just off the shore of the ocean a lot further away than he originally remembered. First to look was Ethan, his body dipping down to nodded almost excitedly towards him. The boat was only spotted after a single search above the water, Their floodlights must have been blinding up close, because even from thirty feet away he could feel the sting just behind his eyes.
But the waters here were dark, more seaweed dense. So he could see why they would be trying to see into the waters, if only to catch another glimpse at one of the ‘elusive’ mermaids. And they would if Echo had anything else to say about it.Water droplets spray against his skin as he moved just above the surface his eyes on the boat, inspecting for a minute, before dipping again where Ethan stared at him with hopeful eyes.
“Could you throw those guppy eyes somewhere else? God man.”
Storms were already rolling, roaring above the edges surface, cooling the waters as it weathered on. It did nothing to deter Echo Langdon. Rather encouraged, pushed the boy closer until he was within feet of the nets that the humans so haphazardly threw out of their boats. But what all could he really say, it's not as if the Humans really knew what laid beneath the surface of the waters.
“Is that the one though?”
“Yea! That’s literally the same exact boat.”
“Okay, okay dude. Don’t cream yourself, we still gotta get to Ridley.”
Echo smiled, his hand reaching out to push Ethan slightly, but he could feel his own excitement building up in his chest, could feel the hope that had already deep rooted itself in his heart. This was probably the most excited he had felt in a while, but he refused to let relief hit until he had Ridley back safe in Hydsa with him.
“Okay, so what do we do now?”
“No, no sir. Noper dope. I’m not the only one that gonna sit here and figure things out Ethan. I’m not the smart one of this group thing we all got going on here.”
He could almost hear the boy roll his eyes as he swam closer to the ropes himself, fingers skimming over the thick tufts of net. But Echo was right behind him, his hands shaking as he watched Ethan move fluidly through the ropes, yanking on various ones.
“I mean, one of us can get caught, distract them to the front... Other gets on the ship…. boat ,.... I really don't know the difference. I just thin-”
“Ok, i’m gonna stop you there, your plan is flawed. And borderline stupid…. It's just stupid.”
“Then what do you suggest, Echo?”
“Waiting, at least until they get to shore, we can see where they took him at first at least.”
-------------------
It was strange. Most people would be uneasy with the thought of returning to sea so quickly after they had almost drowned, but as the boat rocked and they moved away from the harbor, Carson found that eh felt more at home then when his feet touch dry solid, mostly still land. He knew his father worried, but his love of the Ocean had not stemmed simply from his mom, his father happiest when you saw him on the waves, be it on a boat, a board or neck deep. Carson lived for the ocean, the sea and it’s waves, and it had been his careless mistake that had caused him his misfortunate near death.
It was a mistake he did not plan on making again.
The boat rocked, waves still high from last night storm, dark circling clouds telling that nature was not quite done with them yet, the ocean’s spray ghosting over his skin as he looked out toward the horizon. There was nothing but ocean, so much calmer than last night's waves,but still able to rock the boat enough to make him grab hold of the railing again, fingers practically white with ice and force. Ebbe was a few feet away from him, grabbing hold of the rail as he looked out to see, grey eyes moving to search over the water like he would find the exact point that they had pulled the mermaid out of the water. They were close, if the murmurings of half drives as he held onto a hope that was slowly beginning to fade and Carson could not help but feel… disappointed.
It wasn’t like he has expected to see Echo swimming between the white crests of waves, he didn’t expect to really see him out here, but there had been a glimmer of hope that maybe he would see him, or even another Mermaid again. Besides his obvious biases fascination, Carson had always been interested in the sea and it's creatures, had always liked reading and learning about the living beings under the oceans glassy top, and to know that one of his favorite mythical beast were real, living beings he could see and touch and hear…. It was like he was five again and believing in magic and fairy tales. He felt light and giddy, childish in a sense as he hoped to catch a glimpse of one, but ultimately stared at nothing but blue waters and grey skies.
Reality sunk in harsh, shattering the childlike hope, and Carson, for the first time since his obsession had been rekindled by the appearance of mermaids in his life, Carson was reminded that it was a more than likely chance that He would never see Echo again. The ocean was vast, and she was deep, and Echo was far beyond his reach now, far beyond any place he could ever follow.
Carson breathed out a low, slow breath.
Maybe Fairy tales are true, but life was still unfair.
“ALl RIGHT, FU- BOYS! TIME TO SETTLE IN FOR THE NIGHT!”
Captain Jackman’s words were stilted, jerky and twisted, almost foreign on his tongue as he awkwardly tried to cover the curse he almost said with another word, The son of his boss on board and not looking the least bit amused as he turned around, dual colored gaze locked on him with a dull expression. They were stopping for the night, and Carson just watched them idly as they set up anchor, throwing out the automatic nets for the night, sticking close to Ebbe but far enough that he wasn’t in the way.
Really, Carson just wanted to go home… The acceptance had cost him a lot of enthusiasm about this trip, and eh wasn’t so keen to spend the night on a ship with a bunch of old men who were trying to act friendly because he was Soven Dhouti’s son and didn’t want him talking bad about them when he returned home, treating him like a child who they could not curse around for fear he would run back to daddy dearest and tattle. Carson Rolled his eyes, passing time by star gazing on the very back edge of the highest point of the boat, high up and away from the sounds of the men under the deck who were laughing a joking with each other.
“Fucking hell Carson. You could be in bed, but nooo…. You had to chase a cute mermaid halfway around the ocean because you don’t know how to casually do anything, do you? Fucking idiot.”
Carson berated himself, his eyes on the stars above him, the flashing little lights so much more apparent here than from his bedroom window. One hand rested under his head to cradle his head and the other resting over his stomach, and he stared up at the sky, sitting up only to look at the light of the moon glimmering off the ocean waves.
Safe, like, if she was in his arms, nobody could touch her. As long as his hands were on her, as long as he was there, around her, nothing could hurt her. He was warm against her frozen flesh, his suit wrapping her in the comfort of smells that she had grown to love, cigarettes and woods. A smell that haunted her waking hours, the smell lingering over her clothes long into the school days. He even smelt like home, or at least what she wanted home to be. The familiar feel of just being generally wanted rose up the back of her throat as his fingers threaded through her hair, his nails grazing lightly over her scalp to produce a relaxing motion.
There was something almost magical about those fingers, something that had her completely wrapped up in within seconds. She needed him. That much was undeniable now. Now that he had left her for a whole week. He hadn’t opened his apartment door to her knocks, didn’t return phone calls or text, no response on any social media. The boy had not even shown up to school. He had just left, disappeared without any sort of trace, right along with the other three. And no one seemed to be worried, not a single person seemed to be out looking for him. Not a single person bothered in any sort of absence of the bubbly blonde boy.
Besides her, that was.
She closed her eyes to the feel, trying to keep out the incessant buzzing that seemed to be blaring at her through her blonde haze. She could feel him speaking, his chest rising and falling against her cheek, she could even feel his heart beating, her own trying to slow down to match his. Her fingers came up to bunch in the fabric of his suit, pulling him closer, as if, if he was not touching her that she would explode into some sort of wild array of something probably pretty important to keep together.
She wanted it to be a blonde bundle of overly excitable boy, she wanted it to be the boy that she had been longing after for two years. Kasmir. She wanted him to be hers, she wanted her to be his.
He was speaking now, his words only hushed hums through her ears, even as he took hold of her chin, forcing her to look up to him, she could not understand. But she watched those lips move, watched as those icy eyes pulled her into some sort of daze that she could not possibly understand. But she watched those lips form each word, diligently. Saw his pink tongue dip to touch his lips and she saw the small quirk to his frown as he watched her.
There was a pause between his words though, as he waited, for a response she supposed. That was the norm. To respond when someone said something to you. But she had not heard him, his words literally going over her head. Instead the buzzing still rang in her ears as her thoughts raced across the channels that she seemed stuck on. It was shrill, loud, brought a shiver that wracked her bones as she tried to pull back into the warmth of his chest.
“Liam… He doesn’t like astrology. Says it’s a waste of intelligence. Intelligence better to place somewhere else. He doesn’t know any. Not a single constellation… You do. You care about things. You care about me?”
Her eyes lifted from his lips that drew her in, seeking something, to the bridge of his nose, exploring his cheeks as she spoke. Her words flowed easily from her mouth now. There was no stopping them, not once she had started. Not once she caught on to the small obsession she had been holding on to with him. Her own fingers came up to caress his jaw, her finger running soothing circles over his skin as he let worried eyes rest on hers.
The affection that bloomed in her chest for the boy was alarming, something that her mind cold steadily focus on through the euphoria that was clouding out the bad. He was always there, he was always ready to defend her to the hell and back, but Emmy had only been able to appreciate it through a false facade of just friendship with him. A tick that she knew right off the bat that Kasmir did not appreciate. But here she was, in his arms, uncaring of their surroundings. Instead she was trying, with every ounce in her to hears his words. To understand why he looked so forlorn. But try as she might she couldn’t seem to focus beyond the string of thoughts running through her head.
‘Why did he leave you for so long if he really cared about you?’
‘He probably got sick of your excuses and just wanted to get away from you.”
‘It’s your fault for choosing Liam over him. Why should he have to say anything to you when he decided to leave?’
“You could have at least said goodbye.”
--------------------------------
She wasn’t listening, or she couldn’t listen, that much Kasmir was able to tell as he watched her eyes move along his features, tracing them with her gaz as he tried to draw a response out of her. She didn’t fight as he moved, his hands sliding along her body so that he could hook her legs in the crook of one of his arms, pulling her close to his body as he held her, her arms wrapped around him as she pressed her body harder against him.
Her voice spilled, fall as he turned away from the massacre before her, her eyes wide and unseeing as she spoke of a boy hours past dead, her head rested on his chest as she spoke whatever it was that came to mind. Her question to him made him pause his movements, Kasmir looking down at the woman in his arms with something of a surprised look, confused but there.
His mouth opened, lips parting as he took in a breath. All words seemed to catch in his throat, to stay stuck to a gummy tongue as he swallowed thickly to try and speak again, but he found he had no words, not a single clue as to how to answer her. Kasmir was a bright boy, not the top of his classes but damn near close, but no amount of studying or reading had prepared him to give voice to the emotions she brought to life in his chest. He wasn’t Davy, he didn’t know how to find the words to name these emotions, didn’t have the skill to string them so artfully together as his friend did even if he had managed to find the words. He didn’t have the words for what she really meant to him, and even trying felt forced and felt flat on what he really wanted to say. There wasn’t a way to voice it, this heat, this need , this fire that boiled his blood. There was little he wouldn’t do for his friends, but there was even less when it came to the woman in his arms, her touch, her kiss, her body on his drove him crazy in all the best of ways. He needed her, needed her in his apartment laughing as she found his baby pictures again, In his kitchen, clinging to him with her legs and arms wrapped around him as she begged him to cook something for her because she was starving, and if she didn’t eat, right now, she was absolutely going to die. He needed her in his bed, completely on top of him with her hair falling in his face, nearly drowning him as it got caught in his mouth but what did that matter if it was her in his arms?
Kasmir loved her. The words were weak and tired and overdone, but they were true.
“Of course I do. You know that, Emmy. I’ll always care about you“ He muttered as he pressed his lips to her temple, walking past the bodies of friends and men he called his family. His words were spoken against her temple, light brushed of his lips on her skin, nuzzling into her as he walked them both toward the only exit in the school.
“You know I love you. I won’t let anything happen to you…. I got you, It’s okay, just relax…”
He was thankful, suddenly, absently, that he didn’t really have to deal with the same struggles his friends, his brothers had to, the ones who were now starting the hunt to track their girls down, the ones that were now turning from the bloodshed of the masses to those who had either wronged them or they desired. Kasmir didn’t care really either way, his mind having heavily settled on Emmy since the moment this plan had come to fruition, only a few other names added to the exempt list because of him. His mind was wholly consumed by her, and he thanked whatever gods may be that Emmy had simply walked straight to him, into his waiting arms with only a mumble against his chest.
She was shaken, in shock, but she came willingly, and that was what stuck with him.
“I won’t leave you, not ever.”
----------------------------------
“Hmm? Who?”
There was a hum as he snapped his gaze up, pulling it away from the blood that was starting to pool at his feet, to seep into his shoes and collect about the sole. He didn’t know why he bothered to look really, considering Neferox didn’t see himself as a particularly bright boy, names often slipping from him almost instantly after him learning them, the effect of a few too many concussions left untreated. He leaned into Vaughn’s Touch, his kisses, the little smile on his lips widening with every press of his lips to his cheek. Blood soaked hands moved along the back of his brother’s suit, the fabric wet and sticking with the blood that coated him, to reach of the little strip of cloth that had been placed in his pocket, pulling it out to wipe off his hands. The handkerchief, quickly changed from white to pink to red, stained forever with a memory he carved, painfully, into his mind.
The small little gestures of affection pulled a laugh from his lips, a chuckle building in his chest before he looked to his brother, catching the same mismatched gaze he held boring into him. There was a smile on Vaughn’s face, a pull to his lips he hadn’t seen in so long that he had almost forgotten what it looked like, what his brother looked like without the troubles of another bully, or the wounds from yet another fight that they had found themselves in littering their skin, bruise blooming under his eyes, lips pulled into a deep frown as he fought to stop the bleeding from his nose and split lip. Everyday had been the same thing, over and over and over, the same fights, the same bullies, the same beatings from people who didn’t have the courage to face the Matthews brothers on their own. They had endured it, had learned from an early age that life was not, would not, be fair. Fair was for bedtime stories and kindergarten classrooms, a non existent concept anywhere else. They had learned that there wasn’t anyone who would help them, had learned from a young age that they only really had each other, and over the years, that had taken a toll on their morale. Neferox could hardly recall the last time he had seen Vaughn really, genuinely smile, and to see it lighting up his brothers face now made his chest tighten with an affection he could not name.
If Nothing else came out of tonight…. At Least Vaughn was happy.
Neferox turned his gaze away from his younger twin, dual colored eyes flicking toward the sight of Neket and Audi as Neket drew in the taller boy easily, the same sort of knowing movements that had Neferox’s hand moving to his brother's hair, fingers running soothing little lines along his scalp. He glanced at the set of twins before them, the vivid pastel purple and the glimmering fake strands of the girl next to her, and it took a moment for it to click, the names coming back as he drew in an excited little gasp. His eyes widened as he allowed his own smile to drift over him, hands moving excitedly for a moment.
“Oh! I actually know this! That’s Lunthe and Braithe! Neket’s wifi wifey, and Audi’s eye candy!”
There was pride in his eyes, a flash of it as he turned slightly toward his brother, before pulling a face at hima twist to his expression as it became just that slight bit darker, that little shift that had his smile sliding straight from a puppy like adorable tick to a smolder of darkness that had been present on his face before, the sadistic flair to his features as he turned them away from the sight. The laughter bubbled in him, in his chest, the feeling foreign and almost new, a memory he had about another life. He had never felt so wonderfully free, wonderfully justified and righteous and god he felt Powerful, lives taken by his hands, his tormentors, the ones who had specifically made his life hell.
“But they aren’t the important ones…. Now are they?”
His voice changed slightly, a dark velvet hum along the scent of blood that now hazed the air like a lingering fog.
There Was the minor sound of gurgling blood behind him, the slight shift in tone as someone let out a dying breath, the plea silent but there, present and unanswered. The sound sent a shiver down his spin, a jolt straight to his gut to pool and simmer with need.
“I know I personally have no real interest in Lunthe and Braithe…. Not tonight at least.”
--------------------
He could hear the concern lacing each word, the thoughts projecting the caring tone in his voice. He could hear the slight agitation that seemed to build up at the fight that his Khaleen put up. A valiant attempt to protect a sister that they both knew she could not. At least not for long. But he couldn’t bring in him to spill his guts at this moment. Not while his eyes were on Lunthe, not when he could see the shivers running up her spine and the chill to her blood. Her heartbeat was a roar in his ears as he made his way over to the girls and his bleeding heart of a best friend. Not an etch of the concern was in his features, they were all hard edges and mockery. That was until those caring hands reached out for him, fingers wrapping around the back of Audi’s neck to press him closer to Neket.
There was a twinge, a small quirk to his smile as the mask crumbled just that little bit. Just that fraction for just that split second as those multi colored eyes landed on his, shifting his attention entirely to his Dhouti. There was a crack somewhere in the armor he wore for Neket, there always had been and he was sure there always would be one. He just slipped under his skin, warmed his very veins and on the bad side, brought a lump to his throat when he thought about even trying to lie to him.
Audi shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his free hand coming up to cup the back of Neket’s neck. He let the small connection soothe him, let the calm wash over him at the feel of his own Dhouti. His fingers smoothed back strands of wild black hairs, twirling the locks between his fingertips before answering.
‘I’m as fine as I can be… Let me just get this done so i can get Lunthe out of here.’
There was a pause a subtle flicker of acknowledgment as he heard the sigh rip between the two, Neket’s lips parting to let out small sigh. The smile on his lips turned into something sweet for a moment, Audi’s hands worked quickly, pulling Neket’s forehead down so that he could press a soft kiss to the crown of his head. His own smile lifting as he kept his lips pressed for a second.
The truth was, this night was not meant for him. Honestly, he could not even tell you if this life was fit for him yet, but it was perfect for Neket. Suited the King more than it suited others, more than it suited the Michaels at least. Or just him, his brother seemed to be stepping into the position as shadow king very well. But point being, there was a spot in his heart that was just for his Dhouti, strictly. And that spot enabled the boy to be able to get in and pull on some heartstrings, enough to get whatever he wanted from Audi.
Even now, Audi could feel it, the need in Neket for Audi to be just as happy. And it was that need that built the smile up just a little bit more. There was a need rising up in his own guts to give his Dhouti exactly what his Dhouti wanted.
Dhouti’s get what they want.
Lee’s, they take what they want.
‘Don’t worry about me, Tovak. Besides,... you have bigger things to worry about. Do what you came here to do.’
He let go reluctantly, his eyes stuck on Neket’s for a moment longer. He wanted him to be happy, could honestly say that he wanted almost nothing more in this world than for his Dhouti to be safe and happy.
But they were there for bigger things, than the small connections that they needed to feel from time to time.
The second he turned his eyes from him though he could feel it, the dread pick back up as eyes as blue as the ocean swept him up. A fear hidden behind them that caused his heart to absolutely stumble in his chest and threatening to rip him apart from the inside out. She was scared, terrified, her heart erratically pounding against her chest, her eyes were wide, tears on the cusp of falling, droplets sprinkled across thick lashes as her eyes shifted from him and Neket and back again.
There was sorrow that raced through his vein for her, and he was moving, the ache to soothe those fears encompassing him before he even knew what he was doing. His hand moved almost on instinct, moving to rest her cheeks in the palms of his hands, his thumbs coming up to wipe at unshed tears.
He shushed her, his body bending so they could look at each other on an eye level . There was concern, genuine running through him. He could understand, her need to stand up, to protect the one person in her life he knew she needed. He could understand her fear of him as he pulled her into his arms, letting one single hand move to her hip. He could understand the punches that she threw.
Hell, she didn’t know what was going on. Had not a single clue as to why it was this was happening around her. But she also didn’t know that she was safe, that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her. That nothing,... horribly bad would happen to her sister. At least not fatally.
It was not her fault that she didn’t know their plans, she didn’t have any sort of clue what she had in store at this point.
“Calm down, Khaleen. You’re fine. I’m not here to hurt you.”
------------------------
“They aren’t even looking this way. Break the window.”
“Jess, they are going to hear i-”
“Just break it Thomas. I swear to god. I’m not trying to die tonight.”
They were all talking, they were all whispering among each other as the shots rang out, their eyes wide as they focused on nagging each other instead of the situation at hand. Their scared and panicked tones kicking up into the air to create a thick layer over the already tense atmosphere. Brown eyes shifted, watching each movement from her corner of the room, she watched as they argued and nitpicked, their hands coming up to push at each other as their words got more and more heated. But she knew. Knew what fear could do to a person. Even if it was quite possibly the worst decision they could possibly make in a situation like this.
Circee ducked into the corner, her back sliding along the cold of the wall as she dipped down to the floor. Logically speaking, none of them were going to be able to hear the window breaking. Not over gun-shots. They would have to be right in the general vicinity of the classroom. Which since they the shooters thought they were all stuck in the gym, they would not be. Really, Thomas was being the fucking idiot here.
And he was going to be the reason they got caught.
“Jess, listen. We can just go see if the exit’s are open there’s one that's not too far down the hall.”
“It’s locked. And you heard his announcement.”
“They couldn’t have locked them all. Not that fast. Come on.”
“Thomas,...”
“Trust me”
‘Don’t do it Jess, you’ll regret it.’
“Alright. Fine”
‘Fucking Idiot.’
The thought was short, blunt. But they had decided on their own death. And their was nothing Circee could say, let alone wanted to say. The girl followed the dumb jock to her death again. And they would end up being the romeo and juliet of the sunday header of the newspaper.
That's what they had decided their lives could amount to.
“Come on, baby. I got you don’t worry.”
Thomas was gonna be able to play tough guy up until the moment that those gunshots were heading straight his way, then Jess would be left out in the dusk. But Circee supposed she was really going to die one way or the other so what happened.
“You’re right baby. You’re right.”
They shuffled in their spots for a minute, unsure on their next movements, but with a small touch to the small of the little black haired girls back, Thomas was able to move her forward. Her hands reached for the door, turning the knob as quietly as she humanly could. She didn’t move, didn’t dare breath as they opened the door, the soft click of the lock catching as the door shut behind them was almost jarring in moments like these.
But what was it she was supposed to do to escape from the same hell?
But the world around her went quiet, the shots fading almost just as fast as they had begun. The screams that had echoed died, and there was only quiet now. Something that seemed to shake her even worse than just the terror that had just been rising through the air.
Circee was not a scared girl, she didn’t shy away from danger. Hell, usually she ran face first into it. Taking on any sort of challenge as she seen fit. Bungee jumping, sky diving, tank diving. She’d been surrounded only the best, all of her friends or family willing to jump head long into the danger of it with her.
But right now. She was shivering, and not just from the cold that clung to her skin, her heart was jerking erratically against her rib cage. Right now, she was not a strong girl .She was not brave. She was scared. Intimidated. Cowering in the corner of a classroom with her hands brought up over her ears to only deepen the bone chilling silence that was resonating now.
‘Breathe. Just breathe. In through your mouth and out through your nose. No one knows you’re here.’
She couldn’t sit here and call people names when she could not even gather the courage to stand up, to look for some sort of exit. She couldn’t even lift her eyes as something rang out low in her ears, the words or sound all together inaudible, but it was long, and if she had to guess it was probably screams. Probably Romeo and Juliet themselves getting caught up in an idiotic plan, that Romeo that was the ‘smart’ decision.
‘No one knows, no one knows you’re here.’
There was a crash, loud, reverberating through her bones again causing her to jump. The sound rocketed off again. Soaring through the night air as a loud holler of enjoyment echoed through the halls. The twins sounds collecting into a noise that she wanted nothing to do with. She shuffled, resting her forehead on top of her kneecaps, er ears still covered by both her hands.
‘Someone had to have called the police by now. They are probably on their way here already...’
The bangs shifted, turning into loud low shrieks of shrill metal running across the hallway bricks. If she had to pin point the sound it sounded like an aluminum baseball bat colliding with the hard brick that was the foundation of their school. But that was not the part that had her trembling, that part was that the noise was getting closer, louder as it approached. The scream of metal obnoxious in her ears, even through her hands, even through her desperate attempt to quiet it. Her body shrinking in on itself to the best of her abilities.
But then it disappeared, gone past the door to continue on through the halls. Until finally she was dipped into the silence again. At least for that moment.
---------------------------------------------
His words were nothing, something she could only call a hum of background noise as her mind suddenly came to screeching halt as she took in his looming form. moving through shadows and oceans of blood before he came to a alt before her, her eyes locked on him but his attention for the man before him, his eyes flickering over to her before he turned to reach for the smaller man that was already reaching for him. Her eyes flickered between them, the Snow that kept her sister glued to her phone, who her sister stalked and fawned and laughed over, who she cried for when she told him she couldn’t talk to him anymore. She still remembered her sobs, the gut wrenching churn in her own gut at hearing them as she watched her sister's phone light up in her hands, His messages falling through before she could manage to pull up the contact she would need to block him from reaching Braithe’s phone.
‘Braithe, Wait.’
‘Please Don’t do this.’
‘Braithe please i can’t I can’t lose you’
‘I can deal with nick, It’s not like he can make my life worse’
‘Braithe don’t give up on me i need you’
‘I can’t do this’
‘Please don’t let me go’
‘You’re all I have left’
The last of the messages before she managed to block him hovered in Braithe’s inbox, and Lunthe could remember looking at her sister as she screamed into her bed, holding her stuffed animals as she sobbed her misery over losing possibly the only man she had ever seen her sister really, truly care for, Lunthe had deleted them, the whole of their conversations, and continued on the mission that Braithe had asked her to do, To Block him from reaching her on any social media, because Braithe didn’t have the heart to do it herself, but she couldn't let Nick Destroy Neket Snow.
And she had. She had done her job as her Older sister, had done what anyone would have done to save the person that meant everything to them from further pain. But it had apparently backfired splendidly, as now Neket let go of the taller man, his smile unhinged and his eyes snapping back to the silent younger Durandal.
Lunthe hardly noticed Neket, could hardly focus on anything as Audi turned his gaze to her, locking her in her place, froze and unable to even so much a breath.
It was him. It was him, it was him, it was him. She felt the tears start, the burn behind her eyes falling to burn along her skin. She shook, her hands trembling as she sucked in a little, her eyes on him as the realization hit her that it really was him, Audi Michaels, the silent boy who had managed to steal her attention away without her even realizing it was happening. She didn’t really know when she started to look for him. She could remember having him in a few classes, mostly required classes she decided to take a little early or electives, and he never said much, was never really involved with the rest of the school. She could remember watching him, watch as he ignored the school around him, as people passed him for a partner, for homework, almost like he wasn't there. It had started somewhere around her noticing him, her seeking him out to be his partner on projects or lab, her taking a seat next to him in classes when she saw him. There was something about him, something in his clipped responses and him looking away from her as he responded to something she had said that pulled her, the boy a mystery she wanted to know, an ocean with hidden currents. She found herself thinking about him, wondering as she laid in bed at night with her sister cuddled next to her about what he was like,w hat his room looked like, his favorite color or his life.
Audi was a mystery, but a mystery that had already started to seep into her veins. Even now she felt it, that strange allure, but it was tainted now, a dark thread of fear tracing through her blood to make her body tremble. Audi had always been quiet, but she had never seen him as violent, never seen him so angry and free and unrepressed. He moved easily over the floor, straight to Neket without so much a a flicker of his lashes, uncaring about the lives around him. There was the instant fear, the shiver of terror that closed her throat and had her hands clenching tightly to Braithe.
It hit her like a freight train.
She was going to die tonight.
He stole the breath in her lungs as he moved. His hands found her cheeks, pulling her to him, His words sliding along her skin as she moved to fight, to struggle and pull from his hold. Her eyes were wide, fear rippling through dark blue eyes as she gasped in surprise, his arms steel she could not bend. She pushed, getting nowhere as she heard Neket move, shifting as she heard her sister’s twin gasp. Her heart stalled, eerily silent in her chest before it reappeared in her throat, pulsing out a roar in her mind that made everything else fade away.
“Everyone’s Dead. Everyone… I know is dead.” Her Words fell, her eyes wide as she pushed, though her strength had died long ago. Her hands clenched now, pulled at his jacket as she stared, vivid, distant eyes, terror apparent in the shine of it.
“I didn’t mean to make anyone angry.” she was babbling now, her mind starting to frizz over with the harsh static of fear,
“Don’t kill her, don’t Hurt Braithe.”
-----------------------------------------------
Arsen was going to be sick.
The scent of death hung heavy in the air, the reek of dead bodies seeping through the heavy wooden door Arsen had locked behind him. His stomach curled as he stifled a gag, his eyes snapping away from the door, his hand moving to cover his mouth for a moment, before he dragged it down along his face. Arsen had never had a particularly strong stomach, not able to handle the bloody gorey movies Heru and Neket seemed to love so much, or the particularly bad food combinations that the High minds of Neferox and Vaughn, or Inness and Oberon liked to make. He never had a good tolerance for things he found absolutely disgusting, and as it was, it turns out that people in general were one of them.
People were absolutely disgusting. Rotten, sewage from the inside out, only proven by the stench of death they emitted when they passed. Spilled blood created a thick stench of metal decay, a burn along his throat as he breathed in, his tongue tasting the rot and curling in on itself, waging war with his self control.
This past week and taught him the importance of scents. He was able to pick out the healthy from the sick, the sober from the drunkard and the weak from the strong. Everyone had a scent, but Arsen had found that every human he had ever come across smelled the exceptionally awful, lingering rot following in their wake. Their true stench was one of decay, rancid to the core and pungent enough to make his eyes water and his stomach to heave. He was lucky there was nothing solid in his stomach as he turn to walk out of the front office, taking in a deep breath as he stepped outside those confines.
God He hated blood.
“Ugh…. Someone tell me That the announcement went all the way through the school… I’ve had it with the gun play.”
The words echoed in his mind, along the bond where he could feel the presence of each one of his squad members, the minds of each of them bubbling along his own thoughts as he tried to shake the vaguely sick feeling from his gut with a ruffle of his hair, his eyes closing as he breathed.
“What? Can’t Handle a little Violence, Mr.Trigger Happy?” Oberon’s voice purred along his thoughts, the rumble of his Twin’s laughter following immediately after. The twins were notorious for getting under people’s skin, and now it appeared that they had set their sights on Arsen.
“Took the first kill away from Neket and everything. Greedy.”
Arsen rolled his eyes, hardly acknowledging them as he heard the warning snaps from His Dhouti, before he just sighed, his arms crossing as his stomach slowly started to settle down. Oddly enough, this connection, one he had once thought would be more embarrassing or strange and hard to get used to, was actually surprisingly comforting, a low constant hum of activity over him, an anchor he needed to remain grounded. It was them, his friends, the only ones who had remained by his side, lingering in the back of his mind. It was hard to explain how it worked, much like talking but all completely mental and over longer distances. He felt it with all of his kind, with the man He called his father and the others who had saved his friends, and feeling them there was soothing over his nerves, by himself but never really alone. Even the insults and teasing light remarks fell short of irritation, Arsen simply shaking his head.
“She shouldn’t have treated me like a dog. Either way, I wanna get this going. I’m already sick of staring at these walls again.”
“Then let the Hunt begin. Everyone knows the names of the people who are off limits, so if You find anyone you don’t recognize from it. Off them. The less people left alive the better. I’d rather not have the police arrive a little too early.”
The smile curled along his lips, spreading along his features like melting butter. His eyes narrowed, his back straightening as he turned to make his way down the hallways. His head tilted as he listened, hearing the groan of a building settling, possible for the last time it would hold students within it’s walls.
Ryker was here. Somewhere… Somewhere in this maze of classrooms and halls and lockers.
And he would find her.
--------------------------------
“Shh, shh, hush now, Khaleen. Everything’s going to be ok. I promise. It’s going to be okay.”
His words were low, whispered under hushed breaths as he watched her, his fingers moving to capture her tiny wrist into the palms of his hands. His own fingers a velvet cage around her fragile flesh, cradling her as soft as he possibly could in his hands.
His words seemed foreign, even on his tongue, just a mimicked way to make the only girl who had ever caught his attention seem somewhat safe in his arms. He knew that in her eyes, everything was probably not gonna be okay. Even ‘if’ she did make it out of this. Her whole world was going to change, her entire logic and sound mind was going to be twisted until he was her very rock. The person she would cling onto for affection the only person that was ever going to be able to satisfy her again.
She was going to be his, so everything, in the end of these grand schemes was going to be okay. There was no real lie behind his words.
There was a moment where all he could do was watch her, her reactions, the way she felt in his hands, the way her eyes screamed with so much built in emotions. There was a moment where he could only marvel at the woman that he had only dreamed of holding thus far. The girl he had let hold his imagination during those nights where he just could not bother to go to sleep. Lunthe Durandal, the girl that he only dreamed he could possibly even stand a chance with.
Those chances slide right into his fingers in the grace of his King, the grace of the only man who had made this possible for any of them to be here. It was all thanks to NEket that right now the very definition of human perfection stood right in front of him, in his hands, crying for him. Yes, he knew it was for Braithe and herself, schoolmates that he had personally never got onto a friendly level with that was making her actually cry. But it was him she begging, it was him that those eyes were finally focusing on. It was him that finally had all the attention that he had so rightfully deserved. Lunthe had no choice but to acknowledge him, she had no choice but to plead to him, she had no choice but to choose him.
He wasn’t giving her the option. Not anymore.
“You didn’t make anyone mad baby, no. This isn’t your fault… “
Not when she had chosen so wrong for so long.
Audi let his knee hit the ground as he stared up into wild blue eyes. There was another tug on his heart, the world already hazy seemed to blur into nothing but blank ground. Her skin felt nothing like the way his late night fantasies had felt, silk and satin held no candle to the pale flesh under his. Her eyes more blue than he had ever expected, the bright flecks of sapphire more vibrant in her eyes than had ever been able to see. In this sort of despair, the sort of defeat that was beginning to cling to her like a second skin, she seemed fragile, so easily broken that he needed to keep her. Had to keep her, by his side, protected, endeared and loved properly for the first time in her life.
He needed to provide for her the safety that she had never been offered before from this world.
“Lunthe, listen. As long as you cooperate, as long as you listen, Braithe is safe. She won’t die tonight. Okay?”
One of his hands shifted pulling both of those wrist into one of his hands, his other hand came up to push violet strands back behind her ear, his finger coming down to trace the pattern of her jawline until his thumb caught up under Lunthe’s chin, tipping it backwards slightly so that she had to catch his eye. And entrancement took over him, petty and weak to the ways of his violet haired queen.
“Lunthe, you do understand me, right?”
-----------------------------
It was quiet in the gym now.
Derek marveled at it as he sat in the bleachers, bright blue eyes flickering over the bodies of people he had grown up with, people he had sat next to in class, had given paper to when they had been out. His eyes danced over faces that had sneered at him, faces of people who had made his life a living hell and laughed as they watched his misery unfold before their eyes, not a single one of them lifting a hand when the world seemed to be closing in on him. They passed im, ignored him, for something as trivial as the person who had helped conceive him’s sins.
None of them had helped him. None of them had reached out a hand for fear he would be like the man he was forced to call his biological father, for fear he was like a man he didn’t even really know, a man who had been in his life long enough to leave the ragged scars over his body and heart and soul, his mind ravaged and bleak, but not a single person had lifted a hand to help.
Why should he help them as they beg for their lives now?
He listened for a moment, the heavy feeling of his phone in his hands as it lit up once again with another text message, listened and ,used on the sound of their hearts, the rapid fire beats that filled the air, silent to those who had not made the change and strangely comforting to those who did. Namely. Him. Derek listened to the hearts as they started to stutter, slow, but the sound of more, or harsher heartbeats covered the last dying soft beats with rapid, vivid pounding, the course of blood singing in their veins before he shifted, lifting his phone backup to read the little box that held Kasmir’s message.
Derek was happy for him. Honestly if there was anyone in their group who had deserved a no fight capture of their girl, it was Kasmir. Now, don’t get him wrong. Derek Loved Emmy. Adored her really. She had easily become one of their group when she had started hanging out with Kasmir, her intergration not nearly as awkward as he had anticipated it to be. She fit in well with them, mismatched as they were and as Rowdy as they could potentially become, Emmy had become sort of dear to them, the past two years seeing her on a near constant basis. Derek loved her, but he didn’t love her like Kasmir did.
Derek could honestly say it was almost sickening how much Kasmir loved the girl. For years, all he would draw was her, little doodles on homework that Derek was trying to copy because work took too much of his time, on paper probably best left untouched but kasmir couldn’t ever find it in himself to care. Derek could remember rolling his eyes as Kasmir went off, again, about her, some thing she did or something she had said that some how made the sun shine out of her ass. Watching him was nauseating. But he was happy for him, happy he found some who made him feel that way.
At least he had the courage to start something with the girl he loved. Derek had never so much as said a word to his in real life.
His heart rate sped has he thought of her, the one girl who had managed to ensnare him with nothing but the wave of her hands and the glance of her vibrant eyes. Derek had never really spoken to Romi Masters in real life, but he had developed something of a crush on her early on in his school career. It wasn’t hard to see why. Even when they were younger, Romi had always been pretty, a child everyone loved to be around and tried to befriend. Derek had watched from afar, the heavy cloud of his father’s last name following him everywhere he want, preventing him from basking in the sun with her when all he was meant for were shadows. Like every other boy his age, he had developed a crush on the girl, and his feelings never wavering but never intensified either as he made his way through the grades. It just was, she was continuously the prettiest girl he had ever seen, and it had remained as simple as that.
Until he found her online.
He hadn't been looking for anything discriminatory when he had found the website. Rather, he had been curious, bored enough to go through the effort of searching, a long hot night of summer that found him skimming over blue links as he typed away. It wasn’t until he notice a few words, over and over and over again that he found the tumblr in the first place. He could remember the panic in his veins as he saw video after video, picture after gif after gif and picture of her, bent over in various degrees of undress and that had been the start of his slow decent into madness. There she was, a practical goddess, a queen of his school, talking and laughing and joking, her private snapchat and her private accounts available with a monthly subscription.
Romi Masters was a Cam girl, and she was a damn good one, and Derek was not a strong man.
He had started looking for a job the next day.
Derek closed his eyes now, breathing in as he felt his body shake again.
Looking back on it, it all seemed just so innocent. An Innocent crush. He was just like the rest of the men who followed her, lead by hormones and teenage impulse. He had never expected it to lead to this, to lead to this burning aching feeling that lingered in his blood long after she had gone to bed for the night and told him goodnight.
But it saved her tonight. Her ability to pull his heart strings with a bat of her lashes saved her from the massacre that he watched indifferently.
“Kasmir’s on his way back to the Hold. Emmy’s all sorts of out of it, but she’s not putting up a fight. If only we all could be so lucky.” Derek’s voice snapped out of the silence, amplified slightly by the open air of the now near empty gym. He stood easily, sliding his phone back into his pockets as he allowed his foot to slip of the bleacher, catching himself mid fall with the other foot to send a loud resounding bang out across the acoustics.
His mind was filled with the pretty dyed white and brunette, his thoughts lingering on her as he settled on the ground floor, taking in a deep breath as he heard the heart beats racing at the sound of his footsteps.
“Do you hear that?” Derek’s voice purred as he tilted his head, missing as his brother rolled twin colored eyes, though one was a much lighter blue than the other, scares spilling down one half of his face as a reminder of what this night was really about.
“Yes Derek, Because there isn’t ten thousand other sounds going on right now.”
“Shut up Helix, I mean that thrumming.”
His gaze shifted over the bodies, listening, as his body tense, lips pulling slightly in the slightest of smirks.
“Someone’s still alive in here.”
-------------------------------
It hurt. So bad. She could not recall a moment in time when she had ever felt any sort of pain this bad. Not even the time she broke her leg in third grade falling off the fireman's pole. Even then she had been able to keep a smile on her lips, hell, she had been the one to comfort her parents. Her mom was in damned near in sobs, her father had tears running down his neck. But Romi, she had kept that smile on, let them believe the pain was nothing. But not now. Now she cried, her heart stuttering to a halt before picking up pace again in her throat. Pain bloomed in a wild array,her head throbbing right along with arm, the bullet still lodged into her shoulder. Now pain was the only thing that she could concentrate on while the world around her was going crazy.
She couldn’t recall a time where there had seen so much blood, slipping through her fingers to cruise down the length of her other arm as well. No, there was not a single memory she could even try to connect to as much blood there was in this moment. But the scene played behind wet eyelashes hundreds of time over now. The kid that had decided to have just the right amount of courage to ask her to prom, all smiles, sweet. Aaron Weatherly. His hand wrapping over her shoulders as Arsen Michaels began to talk. A valedictorian she had not even heard of before, but he was way too serious, more than anyone should be at prom.
Aaron let her rest in the crook of his body, warm and protected almost, as he bent down to whisper sweet little nothings into her ear. Which she really couldn’t lie, they were working, blush crawling its way up her neck as he spoke softly. Words only meant for her. Words that distracted her from the problems that were pursuing on stage, as she pulled closer to him, her arms wrapping around his waist.
It was a good night. All the fun and magic that she had heard of. To be honest the night had been exactly what she had wished for it to be. She had a hot date, who knew how to treat her, she had the perfect dress, people were staring in awe.
That was until the shocked gasp ripped through the air, another person she really could not name taking the stage with a swoop of enthusiasm that the other boy just didn’t seem to hold for the night. And that’s when her night turned sour. The magic seemingly disappearing in an instant.
The scurry, the crowd clattering, running over one another to get to the doors before the shooters could get to them. There was a sickening calm as they had been huddled back into the gym. This new figures words echoing through the room, only to cause more panic. Shots rang out, wild and coming from every angle. There was a rip, an audible one she could hear. But it wasn’t just the sound, it was the pain, the burn that blossomed in her shoulder that made her realize what had just happened.
But there had been no time. No time to collect herself, to try to get somewhere safe. No in the frenzy of the crowd.
She had lost Aaron, not a second later. Almost immediately, his body collapsing on hers in a messy heap. His body completely limp as he looked down at the world with dead eyes, his mouth open, blood already swelling to pour over what she had once or twice that night thought were rather pretty.
It wasn’t the initial terror she would have thought would have went through her mind, it was confusion. A deep rooted confusion that had her head spinning. It took only seconds for the disgust to build up, another one she had not expected if this situation had ever occurred. But even that subsided as realization hit. A scream of terror ripped through her lips as shifted, desperate to get out from underneath her dead date. Her fingers clawing into the cloth that made up his now ruined suit jacket.
“Here,... Romi grab my hand!”
Electric blue filled her vision, gold eyes penetrating her as a pale hand was offered, even though his eyes reflected the panic that she could feel rising there was a certain courage that he held that she knew she didn’t. But she moved, latching onto Tanner’s extended arm.
An from there that how they had found themselves here. Huddled in the back corner underneath the bleachers, with Tanner’s hand trying to pry away blood soaked fingers. She could vaguely see the furrow of his eyes brows, the concentration that he was exerting to move her hands, the small plea in his eyes as he flickered from the wound to her and then back again.
“Romi,... I have to stop the bleeding. You have to let go.”
He was crouched in front of her, back to the darkness that surrounded them, his only concern helping a girl that felt utterly helpless.
“Do you have your phone on you? We gotta call the cops or something…. I can’t find mine.”
Her voice came out softly, barely a whisper, almost what she would call inaudible. She shook, with pain, her voice cracking underneath the pressure of her tears. But she didn’t move, didn’t lift her fingers from the wound even as his fingers pried.
“No, i don’t… But someone had to have already… Romi… I need to see your arm.”
“It hurts.”
Silence bristled between the two for a few seconds. The thick atmosphere not any clearer back here than it was out there. But she could feel his body warmth over her, the protection that he was exuding was something she clung to now, in this moment there wasn’t anything else she could really concentrate on. Her fingers pulled away, only to rest on a clean cut suit, bunching the fabric in her fingers.
“I know.”
--------------------------------
It was strange. Death was not something new to the black haired girl. Death was something she had seen, and witnessed up close and personal. She had never personally had a hand in the death of another being, having never been the one to land the last blow that ended a human being’s life, but she had seen it, witnessed it as her brothers tried to move her out of the way, tried to block her vision but never quite being able to fully shield her away. Death wasn’t something new to her, but this was something more than just death, something more than the brush of inevitability, The light at the end of the tunnel that everyone would see.
The massacre she watched unfold before her was nothing more than pure, cold hearted revenge, such brutal violent acts could only be spawned from the hatred that must have boiled in their blood, found home in hearts blacker than coal. There had been only one instance she had seen when the rage in their movements, their laughter, the wicked gleam to their smiles, in another person, and it had been years ago, days long past but now, she felt like she was reliving that horror all over again, but in a scale so grand it both dazzled and terrified her.
This was not how she had thought she would die, and the fact had long since settled in her gut, a thick pill to swallow but done easily with the fear that now raced through her veins, her heart hammering in her chest to pulse out a beat of her terror, fast paced and loud in her ears. Her eyes were stuck, locked on the sight of boys she knew, boys she used to hang around when she would be waiting for Heru to leave a class or a meeting with a teacher, boy she had watched grow up as she did, had followed behind as their school existance got darker and bleaker, and Nephine found that in the deepest parts of her heart, she could not pass judgement…. At the very least, not for the actions they chose.
Pushed enough, tempered enough, hurt enough…. Everyone had a breaking point. It just seemed that These boys had met thiers.
Nephi breathed as she huddled behind the curtains on the stage, her heart hammering as she glanced around the shadows surrounding her, once again to try and find a way out they may not have thought of. She already knew the doors to the gym were a no go, one already sealed shut in some sort of way, the other guarded by someone who was plucking off daring would be escapees one by one. The bathrooms on either side of the stage were a no go was well, she would have to walk down the stairs to get to the bathrooms to even attempt to get to the windows that lined the bathroom walls, running a higher risk of being heard. Nephine’s heels were already resting in a forgotten corner of the stage, her breaths shallow as she tried to breath as silently as possible.
Gunfire had slowed to nothing, and now she could hear the soft murmurs of voices, too muffled to make out words but just clear enough to hear tone, for her to make a guess on who it was. She could hear them as they converse, bits and fragments of sentences as they moved, the rippling sounds of sobs the only other accompaniment to the laughter and purr of voices along the gym’s floors.
In times of trouble you can’t sit still, Nephi. You have to move, you have to try and get yourself away and get to one of us. It’s harder to hunt a moving target, so make sure you're the most difficult target there is.
Cain’s voice drifted to her mind, her heart rate slowing as her Eldest brother’s words ran over her again, a soothing tone she had always found comforting. Her eldest brother was a little over protective of his family, far more than willing to do whatever he had to to ensure their safety. He had taught Nephi how to survive in the streets, how he had, how to fight, that fair was fair but victory was dirty, and you always strived to be the victor. His voice sparked to life a little flicker of an idea, growing as she breathed in, her eyes closing as her tried to calm herself. Her heart slowed, just the tiny bit, her head clearing slightly of the haze that terror had created, her thoughts falling to one single sentence.
She had to find Cain.
The thought hit her, even now, oddly. She felt like a child for it, felt like a child because it was the first thought she had. Nephi’s single thought was to find her brother, simply for the fact that Cain was Cain, and he always had the answers. It was like this since as long as she could remember, where Cain was always able to solve the problems of his Younger Brothers and sister, always had the answers to any question, and problem that popped up. It was a long shot, she could give it that. Besides the fact that her school was locked down and there was manic killers left on the loose, boys she once knew but could no longer recognize. There was also the fact that her brothers, all eight of them, had suddenly up and disappeared. About a week ago, Nephi could remember waking up to a silent house, something unusual for the family of nine. Her house was not known for quiet, wasn’t known to be peaceful. It was hard to maintain any level of order when there was eight boys crowded into a house, regardless on how much space her brother had. So when she had woke up to silence, She had been confused. Later she found all her family gone, left with coffee still steaming in the pot and a note from Cain that simply said “Use for food and emergencies” and instructions on how to use his credit card. It was true, there was some times that Her brother went on ‘business trips’ and oftentimes many of her brothers went with him, be it for protection or intimidation, Nephi never got to hear,but it was never all of them, certainly not Sterling, the only other protected Child in the family besides herself.
She knew part of her plan was because she missed them, but a huge part, the larger part, was the scared little girl that would run to find comfort in her brother’s , the girl that ran to them when ever she got bullied. They were nasty, they were crude, they were assholes, but they always protected her, and right now, all she wanted was the familiar. They had been gone for a week now, and it would be a huge jump, but she could go to Cain’s hideout, where his office resided and he could usually be found, if not that, then a clue as to his location.
If nothing else, if by some miracle she found him, he would be able to keep her safe, would be able to fend off any monsters that might creep into her nightmares, would fix this and help her find Ryker and Braithe and Lunthe, visions of them, uncharacteristic but there in Nephi’s fears, huddled away as they shook in fear, Her heart plummeting at the thought of Ryker’s breath catching in her chest as her body worked itself into overexertion. Worry hit her harshly, and she squared her shoulders and pushed off the floor, hands braced against the floor as she started to move.
Her only option at this point was to try and get to the back door of the stage, the rarely used exits of the dressing rooms. She started to move, her mind scream at her as she tried to silence her raging heart, bare feet hitting polished wood as she sucked in a breath, heading straight for the stairs that would lead to the back maze of dressing rooms, and hopefully to one of the few girls Nephi would give her life for in a heartbeat, be it the pastel twins or her little golden girl.
She stood as she came to the door threshhold, her nerves on fire as she pause to listen, to try and hear if anyone could hear her. She heard nothing as the door moved silently only, thankfully , oiled hinges, her eyes scanning the area before moving on, allowing her feet to hit the stairs as she felt around in the dark for the rail. She pause only for a moment as the door closed, allowing her eyes to adjust to the pitch black, before she continued on, a determined look across her face
Keep moving…. Don’t stop…
Nephi breathed, trying to keep herself quiet, finally down the stairs and into the dark. There was a sliver of light from the little glass rectangle in the door, where she could see them standing, just a few yards away from the stage, backs turned toward her. She would have paid it no mind, would have turned away from them if it wasn’t for the flash of pastel purple strands and bright pink gloves and rainbow shoes.
The twins.
Her heart dropped as she watched them, her hands on the wall as she stood on tiptoes to see them, the hands of the abnormally tall Michaels wrapped around Lunthe’s body, the lavender colored girl pushing and shaking her head. She still couldn’t hear words, but she saw Neket, the mirror image of her own demon, move toward a practically vacant Braithe, the small girl’s eyes locked on him, never moving.
She knew it was stupid, knew that her best plan of action would be to find a way to get help, to get to her gang leader brother and get back up, weapons, anything, but she couldn’t leave them, not like this, not in their hands. She couldn’t just do nothing, and so she moved, biting back a curse as she stepped back into the darkness, looking around for something, anything she might be able to use as a weapon. Most props were pushed to the sides, on top of one another in a rush to get things ready for prom. She shifted, creeping until she felt her hand close around something solid and small, long enough to swing and heavy enough to do some damage. She wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be, some sort of cane or staff of some sort, gnarled wood with of black along it, smooth but bumpy.
That’ll work.
There wasn’t much time to plan, as she knew she would only have maybe a second or so’s opening to do anything, so she moved, creeped slowly until she was in front of the door, green eyes lifted to peek out again, this time t judge carefully for her opening. Her hand moved, placed on top of the light switches just inside the door, hoping and praying they were what she thought they were, a connected set that would turn off the lights to the gym.
Her gaze never wavered, her heart a steady pulse in her ears, her breath caught and stuck in her lungs. She wouldn’t allow them to kill them, wouldn’t allow them to take her friends.
Not without a fight.
Okay...GO!
Nephi’s hand swiped down on the lights next to her, her prayers answered as the whole of the gym descended into darkness for a moment. The bright lights stopped, only the disorienting flash of the colorful strobe like lights moved along the wooden floor, music pulsing the back ground to cover the groan of her opening the door. They looked up, blinking as they tried to adjust back to darkness, off guard for all of a moment. They didn’t see her as she moved, creeped along the floor, before she burst forward and swung, eyes closing as she threw her weight into it. She felt it connect, but she didn’t wait before she turned, using her moment to strike at the other.
She didn’t look to see what she had done, only moved to pull a Stunned Lunthe and a shocked Braithe to their feet, pushing them to run as she pulled them along to the now guard free door.
“Run. Run run Run Run Run Run!”
Nephi couldn’t remember speaking them, but she heard it, a chant in her mind and on her tongue as she bolted, ears ringing and her heart pounding as light flooded behind her again.
Oh God what had she done. She was a fucking idiot, why didn’t she just go for help, they were going to shoot them, holy shit….
There was a soft click of metal on metal as the stall door shut in place behind her, dark eyes turned to the brunette she called her best friend. Who, in this instance looked just as confused as her. The voice was strong, confident as he spoke out loud. His voice carrying more authority than he really ever had before, or at least more than she had ever heard from the dainty looking Michaels.
Arsen was not a confident man. But the man on the stage? He was. He was confident and proud and was for once standing up for himself. Something she had been saying they all needed to do.
‘Good for him.’
“Lee? Who the fuck is Lee? You don’t just fucking disappear for a fucking week and then come back with a new fucking name. You’re friends are fucking idiots.”
Buster smiled, looking up at Axel through a rim of thick lashes, letting her forearms rest on the cold granite of the sink, brown eyes finding green a little too easily. The brunette only offered her a stoic expression and a eye roll, her lips pulling carefully into a sarcastic smile herself.
They both knew damned well that the small group of misfit loser had become more like family to them. They both knew that the group was like a second home, would either of them admit to the truth? Never. But that didn’t mean it was not true.
No matter how ‘hard’ Buster wanted to pretend she was, her boys would always have a little soft part of her heart.
There was a pause between words though, a shuffle that she couldn’t quite keep up with, instead she turned her attention to the sink she currently had her hands under. The water was warm, refreshing where the air around her seemed frozen. Like it had dropped twenty degrees with no sort of announcement. She knew she was going to get cold. It’s part of the reason why she originally planned on wearing a tux. Before Oberon had said yes to her, that was.
She could feel the sting to her cheeks as she thought about it, a sting of shy that she was nowhere near used to having, crawled its way up her spine. Trickling through her veins until she felt as if her entire body was lite up like a fucking christmas tree.
Oberon fucking Mathers.
Just the thought of him, his name alone, brought a warmth to her chest. One that try as she might she could not squash down.She still hadn’t seen him tonight, though he had left her many instructions. Including taking the damn limo that had got herself and Axel there. To be honest, after a week of no messages or never seeing the familiar faces at the school she had thought they dipped out on her and Axel. She thought they had all decided to take themselves away from the girls.
But she had seen Neket, she had seen Heru and Brahm. Heard Arsen even now. They were here, if the others were. They basically didn’t exist without the little squad.
-----------------------
Axel wasn’t sure who Buster was trying to fool, but it certainly wasn’t her.
The smirk curled along her lips, pulling like the slow spill of ink over a white canvas as she leaned against the counter. Her Eyes flickering toward Buster as she leaned against the counter, that little blush drifting over her features, almost invisible, hidden so well that if Axel hadn’t known her for years, she might actually think that Buster had no cares about anyone in the squad, had no qualms about them and couldn’t care less about what happened to them, like she did for most of the people who had ever come in contact with her. But as it was, there was no one who knew the bond like Axel did, and she would see it, the light tint of pink over her cheeks as her mind drifted, as it always did, to the one one who had managed to wrap the strong willed Xander around his fingers.
Oberon Mathers.
Axel wasn’t sure how the two hadn’t fucked already. It was obvious that the two cared for each other, regardless of the insults that seemed to flow between them like one might give a lover kisses. She had watched her train with him, watched her as she had spoken to him longer than she did most, the soft little motions they gave to one another when they thought no one was looking, how they only continued if nothing was said, the slightest of questions enough to get their guard back up and the curses flying again. There watched each other when the other wasn't paying attention, always seek each other like they had been apart for years rather than hours. The past week had been pretty horrible to watch, watching Xander, her best friend, one of the only girls she could actual claim to love, get her hopes up as doors opened and she waited for a head of platinum blond hair that would never show. Her heart ached, but she kept her mouth shut, her lips sealed from making any comment on it that might embarrass her or make matters worse.
Because she was missing a Blond Haired, Storm Eyed Mathers of her own,and Axel knew first hand the hurt that could be accompanied with a name.
Axel sighed as she looked back to the mirror, running her lips stick along her lips before she pulled back, taking in her whole expression, wholly stoic and free of any emotion besides complete and utter boredom. She watched herself, the vision of a girl with infinitely aching heartbeats and spiraling nerves, a girl she knew too intimately and could hardly guess at. Axel tried to make herself pretty, had learned all the tricks and tips to make her eyes pop, to make her lips look fuller, to make her hair fall in just the right way to bring to mind thoughts of tangled limbs and silken sheets. She had struggled to make herself someone to be seen, someone people wanted to be near… because that was supposed to make him want her, supposed to make him see her. Everyone loved beautiful people. So she became pretty, so that he would love her.
There was a moment of pause before she pocketed the useless thing, not sure why she was even bothering if the boy she wanted to see her tonight hadn’t bothered to show.
Axel wasn’t stupid. Despite how he acted, what he said, what he thought, Inness wasn’t completely heartless. He wouldn’t have left her in the dark if it wasn’t something important,a grain of truth she held onto when night fell and sleep evaded her because her messages had went unanswered, again. He was, at the very least, Her friend, someone she had grown to lean on, to care for, maybe possibly more than she should have. He didn’t usually go this long without answering her, without telling her off for blowing up his phone or for being outside his window, throwing rocks, acorns and climbing his tree so she might just knock on the window to see if he was there. This past week, she hadn’t seen him, hadn’t heard from at all and while this was strange… She knew he had to be here, having seen a few of the members of the Squad, had even caught eyes and waved to Neferox as he slid through the crowd. They didn't go really anywhere without each other, and the squad would not leave the squad behind on prom night. She just hadn’t seen him, and the thought of maybe he was trying to avoid her sprung up, unwanted but possible. She supposed it wasn't anything she could really be mad at.
After all, He had never told her to fall for him. He hadn't told her to be attached to him. He hadn’t told her to want to be around him or talk to him nearly every second of the day...
Axel was just an Idiot.
She sighed as she tilted her head, listening as Arsen spoke up, his voice clear, strong, distant and muffled in the sort of way that she could not really hear what he was saying, more understanding the tone. She smirked as she listened, turning back to the refection in the mirror as she lifted her hands to her hair.
“Sounds like Mr. Valedictorian grew a pair.”
She hummed, before she heard the rumble of confusion and the shriek that followed. There was a sound, something she could not describe before she heard it, the single fire before the screams ripped through the air and footsteps started to roar. Axel’s heart dropped, her lips parting as her eyes widened, her breath catching in her throat as she whipped around to stare at the door.
“Lock the door Buster.” the words were spoken lowly, whispered as she felt her heart sink and slam into her gut, lungs not getting enough air.
“Where’s my phone…?”
-----------------------
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
The words slipped through her lips, barely audible but spoken to Axel nonetheless.There was a mixture of confusion that was swarming, buzzing in her head with enough intensity to throw the blonde completely off. Her eyebrows were narrowed at the door as the screams tore through the gym, shrill and enough to leave a chill up her spine. She could hear Axel’s frantic whisper, eyes wide on the door. Just as much of the confusion that Buster felt was painted over her best friends features.
“Did he say Neket? He said Neket… Neket’s doing this?”
It was real. This was really happening at their high school. Someone had really decided to shoot up their school on prom night. Someone had actually showed up, dressed to the nines and looking more than likely the best they ever had in their life and decided that this was the perfect time to get rid of their problems. And from the sounds that swarmed outside of the door, it sounded like every breathing person in the school was a problem.
It was seconds later and another shot fired through the air, those terrible screams stopping momentarily. All of them coming to halt as she heard the shuffling begin to pick up. She heard the soft click of heels against the wooden floor, the hard clunks of students dragging their feet in defeat. There was a silence again, only the low sobs of distress, and a hollow laugh picked up. Loud and clear through the quiet of the night. Buster’s heart plummeted, dropping until she could no longer feel the organ. A hand pressed into Buster’s shoulder, yanking her attention from the sounds of horror that lay outside the thick door.
Buster let her eyes fall back to Axel, momentarily before Neket’s voice picked up again. Just the sound of his voice sent a tremor up her neck, setting her hair till it felt like it’s ends. He was unhinged, completely lost in some sort of madness that he had found.
“Lock the door….”
There was a hesitation to her moves. They were her friends she thought. Neket, Arsen, all of them. They were supposed to be the boys that had a shit time in highschool but once they were out. You knew they were gonna make it big. She used to say it. All the time. Mabe not in so many words, but they were her boys. They were supposed to be by her and Axel when they graduated. They weren’t supposed to turn on her. They weren’t supposed to turn on Axel. They were supposed to be there when times got too hard for them.
Though from the looks of it, she was never there during their hard times.
“Lock the fucking door Buster!”
Buster moved, launching herself forward until she was against the door, her fingers shook as they turned the gold lock into place, the click louder than she would have liked. But still she pressed her ear to the door, listening to the words that Neket was speaking to the crowd, their cries becoming increasingly louder.
“Get to the window, see if you can reach it. If it opens.”
It felt like a black hole was starting in her chest as she skidded to Axel’s side, who was already turned to the bathroom stalls.
----------------------
She didn’t hear words, didn’t hear really anything as she watched Buster moved, launching herself at the door to lock it with trembling fingers. She watched her as she pressed her ear against the door, her own heart drowning out the words that spilled past her lips, her body already turning, eyes snapping toward the small square windows that lined the bathroom wall. Her hands were shaking, her vision blurring as her breath felt like it was caught in her lungs, shallow pants accompanying the sting in her eyes.
She had heard his voice, Had Heard Arsen Michael's Voice, then she had heard the noises, the screams that had burst and bloomed along the night, to join the cry of the cicadas outside. She had heard it as his voice disappeared, heard the calls of another familiar voice, once that she had last heard a week ago as it mumbled something about needing space and time, the notes to that voice so melancholy it broke her heart. There was nothing of that sorrow now, as his voice rang out in confidence and pride, resounding victory interlaced in every word as she moved through the stall, her hands pressing against the white wall that held the windows, her only chance it felt, at surviving.
She didn’t know what to think anymore.
She thought she knew them. Axel had spent years by these boys side, years spent hanging out with them, getting to know them, growing closer and closer to the boys until she couldn’t imagine a life without them in it, all of them, their differences so vivid and bright, people she proudly, and often proclaimed as her boys. They were supposed to have each others backs, supposed to care about one another, but now, if what she feared was true, they had turned, betrayed them, and Axel was left in the dust now, wondering about whys and what ifs.
Her mind raced, hearing those shots again, every little sound making her jump slightly as she reached, lifted her hands so she might graze at the bottom of the sill. She reached, not able to get much leverage in the heels she had decided to wear, grunting as she reached for something just beyond her grasp.
“I can’t reach it.” the words were strained, tight as she left out a frustrated sigh, her heart hammering as a certain kind of anxiety slid along her spine, making her feel heated, hot, like there was a beast breathing on her neck that might finally catch up to her, jaws snapping against soft skin as she jumped, trying to reach it. She heard her moved, the soft click of her shoes as the screams got louder, her hands finding axel in the dark, the lights slowly, methodically, turning off.
Axel nearly let out a whimper and fear closed around her throat, tightening like solid fingers over her neck as she gasped for air.
Axel didn’t want to die. Her heart hammered with desire, a lightning hot flash of desire to live, the desire for the life she had always fantasized for herself.
Axel wanted to see that new horror movie that was coming out next week. It was supposed to be wicked scary, completely and totally out ranking the old ones on gore and scare, and she was hoping to ask Inness to go with her.
Axel wanted to go to the mall with Buster tomorrow. She had presents she had to shop for, little graduation gifts she wanted to buy her boys and little party favors for the parties she would throw just for them. She wanted to buy Buster those new boots she had been eyeing, wanted to spoil the girl she had come to care so desperately for. She wanted to take her to her favorite places, wanted to hold her hand as she walked down the boardwalk.
Axel wanted to own her own auto shop, a place she would love to hate and love to love and work, placing all her love and interest into a single place, a place she could just work on cars and learn new tricks or just relax as she did what she loved, working on a new car for herself or for him because let's face it, she was a sucker for that half smirk that was more malice than joy and a blond with pretty grey eyes.
She wanted to get her own apartment, realize she hated paying bills and be an adult but still live with it because the house would be hers, the tiny little slice of an apartment would belong to her, and it wouldn’t be much but it would be a place she could make into a home,A Place He could go when life around him seemed to be to hard, a place to call his home away from home, where she could protect him and black out all the hate the world seemed so determined to throw his way.
She wanted to live. She wanted with everything she had to live.
Buster pushed her up, axel’s hands catching the sill of the window. Axel was never a strong girl, fast but weak. Her arms shook as she pulled herself up, trying to fight with the lock on the window as her mind raced and pushed her shaking hands to work faster, her eyes widening as she felt it, the danger creeping up on her and Buster. She shook, but finally shaking fingers had their day, the lock finally releasing as she pushed, the heavy window feeling like it hadn't been moved in centuries.
“Push me up!” Axel spoke, her hiss accompanied by her eyes flickering over the moon lit courtyard of her school. She wasn’t that high up, she realized as Buster pushed her farther up, but it would take a minute to jump down without hurting herself.
“Okay, Come on.”
Axel held out her hand as she shoved herself halfway through, dragging Buster up with her as her body started to slide down.
Just a few more minutes…. And they would be free.
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It was every where, it was on her hands, across her chest, her neck, splattering across pale cheeks, she could feel the blood dripping off her fingertips as they dangled off the sides of the bench. The droplets hit with a light tap against the floor, barely audible in her ears as she stared out the wide windows of the gym. The world was a haze around her, blurring objects around the edge of her vision, all the while she tried to concentrate on the moon. Tried to take the constellations in but through the slim confines of the tiny windows she could only see the moon and clouds that seemed to be devouring the sky.
Or at least the view. Even the moon dipped, under the cover of the clouds. Almost as if the scene that was unfurling in front of it was too unbearable to watch. Stas peeked from the clouds, dotting the sky in a shining brilliance before receding back into the comfort and safety of the clouds.
“Ursa Major…. Aquila…. Lyra….”
There was a buzzing behind her ears, a dull thump roaring to life just to disappear just as fast as it appeared. There were dull unearthed screams, humming of the tragedy that was her living nightmare. Serving as a dim reminder of what was happening feet away from her. But blue eyes were unphased by the surrounding. Her lips still moved to mumble each of her memorized constellations, her mind trying with all its seeming might to block out the gathering frenzy around her.
The words came out a little louder than before, trembling around each word as it passed her lips.
She wasn’t ok.
“Orion… Scorpius…. Cygnus….. Draco, Taurus.”
Emmy moved her hands, the shaking digits came up to push against the wood that she rested on. But all she did was lean forward, her eyes shifting to the floor, and back to the window.
She wanted to stop trying, she wanted to stop fighting, she wanted to give up. She wanted it to be done with. She wanted someone to take her out already, she wanted to stop feeling. She didn’t want to feel the terrible tremors running through her veins anymore. She didn’t want to feel this deep rooted dread that thrummed evilly through her body.
There was a moment's breath as she stood from the bench, her eyes turning from the window to the wave of people that seemed to be falling one by one. She could see the blood filling the floors, feel it slick under her heels. There were familiar faces, faces she called friends and some she only knew from a meeting in the hall. Some alive,... some dead. Some of them stretched, reached out with blood splattered hands out to her.
But she couldn’t feel it. Couldn’t feel the sympathy to bend down to any of them. She couldn’t find the drive to tell them it was going to be okay. That they would get out of this. What was the point in lying to people who were already dead? What was the point in lying to them when there was no sort of real hope that anybody was making it out the doors alive unless these people so willed it.
Her eyes glanced over one of the perpetrators, his grin alive and crawling with evil, his multi colored eyes grazed over her. But there was not a single reaction, his eyes quickly going back to the task at hand, back to the malevolent acts, that smile unwavering. Others passed her, never even batting an eyelash towards the girl.
But Emmy barely noticed, instead her attention was on the soft clicks of her heels, the sound becoming louder as the screams began to die off, the guns unloading less frequently. She could hear the groans of the people on the floor that were still breathing. But her eyes were on the wildcard blonde that she had once called her kryptonite.
The person that she knew ultimately would steal her life away from her one way or the other. The man that had taken her breath away in whispery kisses and late night conversations. The only person she could truly say if she had lost she would not know what to do with herself. He was her… her friend? Lover?... Possibly killer.
But she couldn’t even really concentrate on him, her eyes shifting back to her feet, her hands were shaking, uncontrollably, her eyes shifting over the little group she had grown to love bit by bit. Even if it was rocky at first. Davy. Derek. Dean. And Kasmir.
Each of them sported a gun, each of them sported the same splashes of blood across their clothes as her and about everyone else in the room. They were lethal, she could feel it in her bones. The way they carried themselves now, each of them different. Physically, mentally. They looked professional, like they did this every tuesday and then went home to sip on jack afterwards.
“Volans,... Leo. Pyxis. Uh,... there has to be more.”
Even her words were shaking now, playing through her mouth with a chatter to her teeth. Wet hot streaks spilled down her cheeks, something she hadn’t noticed until tears began to roll down her neck. She let her hands come up to her neck, wiping uselessly at the tears, her bottom lip jutted as the tears began to build up. Burning behind her eyes. But there was no stopping them when they began to fall, there was no ridding her from the threat of her tears overflowing.
“I can’t remember them all. There’s more. There’s more than that… Maybe. I-i I don’t know…. I can’t think…”
---------------------
He couldn’t do it anymore.
There was only so much that he could take, the wave of nausea hitting him, rolling over his spine as little shivers shook his body. His stomach heaved, jolted in his throat as he turned away, his eyes closing as he sucked in a weary breath... Arsen wished he could be like them, wished he could be like his friends and like Heru, able to reveal in the direct destruction he was able to cause. His body moved, turning away, his lower back resting on the podium as he fixed his eyes on the wall of curtains behind him, his heart pounding out harsh irregular rhythms in his mind as his chest shook with every reverberating beat.
He almost didn’t notice when the principal moved, shifting as they finally let go of the young student president to bury their face in their hands. The old man’s voice wavering as he sob his prayers, words no one would hear, words that meant nothing more than wishing.
“Please God…. please god, no…. Make it stop...”
He could hear the sobs, hear the whispers of running tears and the sniffle of a running nose as the Principal crouched along the floor, huddle in his hands as he shook, blood pooling around him as he tried to gather himself in a ball as small as possible, trying and failing to keep out of the blood. Arsen watched him, and oddly distant look to his gaze as it stilled on him, hardened and cold even as he caught his breath.
“God?” He heard himself ask, his voice smooth, slow, questioning in the heat of screams that smoldered around them. He heard the music sing, the strangely soft embodies purring over the scene around him, mingling in the momentary bloodshed, the slowly quieting screams as one by one by one, they were all picked off, the laughter of his friend echoing off the walls. His footsteps sounded hollow, cheap wood with cheap labor matched fault for fault, as he closed the distance between them, his gaze never leaving the man’s hands, watching them as they shook, every little twitch and clench memorized as he pointedly ignored the bleeding body next to him. He didn’t look, did not allow his eyes to drift from the man before him, the man who looked up with a shivering gaze and a blubbering sob that disgusted Arsen to look at.
“Has he answered you?” He continued, expression hazed over, a strange distant look to his eyes as he bored into the older man’s, “He never answered mine…. Maybe I wasn’t important enough to save….” He mused, mummering quietly to himself as he leaned back on his heels. He tilted his head, looking upwards for a moment before allowing his gaze to fall straight back onto his, a dark burn lingering in his eyes as he watched the man sob.
“I wonder if He’ll save you? Up. Now.”
Arsen snapped the words, The principal jumping as his tone suddenly changed. There was a growl to his voice, a ripple in the tone as he flicked his hand up and stood, eyes narrowing on the man the refused to move. He looked confused, blinking at him with wide bleary eyes, earning only an eyeroll from the irritated boy. He moved, reaching out with strength he should not have, pulling the man to his feet. The smaller man trembled under his hold, the tall boy scowling as he moved, pulling the man along as he made his way over the stage, hallow footfalls leading him to the stairs, drawing them out of the white hot spotlight that filled the stage.
“I don’t have all night, Morath. Don’t waste my time.“ the words were double edged, the blades of which found their mark as Arsen heard him whimper, the memories clear as they sprang to the forefront of his mind, flooding his thoughts and Arsen’s as he took them to relive him seeing a fifteen year old Arsen Sobbing in the chair before his desk, brown hair ripped and pulled, nose clearly broken, his eyes nearly swollen shut. He saw his bruises as The principal had that day, and heard him as he spoke, his tone irritated as he shoved the box of tissues toward the hurt boy and sneered.
“If you're just going to cry about it, then just go home already. Don’t waste my time.”
He had sent him on his way with a kick, the words of an over worked principal who hadn’t heard many of the other stories stinging along the last hope Arsen Micheals had ever held. He had wanted to believe that his school would save him, that this wouldn’t be like elementary or Middle school, where they used the phrase ‘Kids will be kids’ at him enough that he hated the phrase, that they would hold people accountable for their actions.
No such thing happened. High School was just like middle and elementary school, but with more social pressure and raging hormones. People didn’t care about you, people didn’t want to deal with you...You had to deal with your own problems.
Arsen allowed a single quirk of his lips as he pulled the man past Audi, through the hallways that held the rest of the students, the people who had managed to slip by them and the ones who were not to be harmed. He could hear some of them, light panting and hearts that fluttered like a fly in his ear, a low hum, a buzzing in his ear that followed him through the familiar halls, the lockers, the darkened hallways. Up the stair cases he knew so well, along the twist and turns and classrooms before he finally found the front office.
“Open the door.”
The principle let out another whine, only moving as Arsen’s hand pushed, shoving him forward to slam against the door. He brushed his hands off on his suit as the man searched his keys, frowning as he shook his head at the feeling of having touched someone like him for so long. Violet eyes narrowed on the figure, little more than a silhouette in the dim orange light of the street lights outside. He pushed open the door, Arsen’s hand coming up to hold the door as he stepped through. He grinned as he shut the door behind them, his hands falling to his pockets as he turned to look at the Principal one more time.
He was so much more suited for things like this, the parts of the plan that did not involve gallons of blood.
“Get in your office, and turn on the intercom. I want you to repeat after me….”
-----------------
“Attention, all Students! ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS! Congratulations, first, for making it this far. This did not prove to be an easy feat, as the good majority of you now are…. lying dead….. along the gym floor. Oh God Please-”
There’s the sound of a scuffle, the sharp sound of something heavy hitting wood, the sharp cry of pain followed by the slow cries and sobs of a broken old man.
“... For those still alive, The game has Changed. You did well to Hide, But now…. It’s time to Seek. We are going to hunt you down. We are going... to get what we want. ... “ Another sob, more scuffling. The sobs changed, are strained more somehow. There’s a whisper, a hum along the waves that can’t quite be picked up.
“See... if…. you... last any longer than I- PLEASE DON’T-”
SNAP.
There’s a low thump, then silence.
And the intercom shuts off.
-------------------------------------
Kasmir was weak.
This much he knew, without a shadow of a doubt. He was angry before, filled with vivid rage that seemed to consume him wholly, Had spilled from him in the form of a strangle battle cry as he had launched himself at Liam, words flowing from the bastard's mouth that only added fuel to his anger, white hot and painful in his limbs as pain exploded on his knuckles. He knew that it was stupid, that he was already better them him so he didn’t have to prove a thing, but the moment he saw him, Kasmir forgot about the change in his blood, forgot the new legacy he had taken like a crown, forgot everything. He was suddenly nothing more than human, and he was overwhelmed with the hate he could have for the man who held a claim on the woman who had claimed him. He had beaten him, ripped him apart with his own two hands and Kasmir had reveled in it, his grin widening as he laughed, and laugh and laughed, unable to express his fury in any other way.
He was his first kill, and the memory of it was enough to burn in his body like his blood was made of gold the sounds of violence to loud to drown out, the soundtrack that would be his prom now seared into his veins. The other had only watched him, had pulled him off when Liam was nothing more than a corpse, shot full of holes and bean in bruises that bloomed over paling skin. They had been the ones to direct this new found energy into the revenge before him, though that really came as no surprise, considering these boys were the closest he had to a real family, people who cared and loved him completely unconditionally, accepted him in all the ways the world would not. That anger had not dissipated, had not waver for some singular moment, held fast and steady strong as he watched the bodies pile up as the screams turned to sobs, tears of people he would not touch and those he would love to watch die.
Until he saw her.
Kasmir was weak, his will and steel backbone melting as he finally saw her, hands lowering as he turned from Davy to look at that figure he was watching, the silhouette of her fame materializing out of the gloom that had started to settle in with the darkness around him. She moved easily; smoothly, like she wasn't thinking on the blood on the ground or the bodies of the people she knew, but rather was just mildly irritated, a stroll in downtown on a particularly windy day. She moved with a purpose, like there was a mission set in her blood and she would burn from the inside out if she did not see it through to the end. She walked toward him, her eyes flickering from him and his friends to the ground and hands before her, her lips moving but he could not quite make out whats he was saying, the thrum and reverberation of gunshots just too loud to let him hear. As she got closer he could make it out, confusion sliding over his features before he moved, taking a few steps toward her as she neared his friends. She stepped right into his arms, his arms moving, coming out to drop the metal gun in his hands to pull her to him, her face pressed into his neck, free of any blood, as she started to let those tears fall.
Arsen’s announcement started, his words drifting over the dying sounds in the room. Kasmir hummed, before moving his hand, trailing it so that it cupped the back of her head to press her into him, not letting her up as he held her to him, one ear over his heart and his lips near the other whispering soft little words to her so that he might take away some of the fear still lingering in her gaze.
“Shhh…. Shhh. it’s okay. It’s alright Emmy.” His words fell softly, lowly, a soothing hint along the purr as he pressed her into him. He sighed as he heard her speak, her words something that would make no sense to others, to most normal people, but Kasmir’s mind instantly went to the nights he had spent with her on the roof of his house, night spent with a few pillows under their head as they rested on his thickest blanket, comforter pulled up around them, her hands pulled tight around him, for warmth and pleasure. Her words drifted over him, a song he loved and craved as she carved out the figures in the stars for him, her head resting on his chest, directly over his achingly thumping heart, hand moving to trace messages and figures in the night sky with only her imagination. She traced the patterns again and again for him, night after night after night, and Kasmir could just barely remember them, the names she gave and the smile that graced her lips as she pointed them out. Stars were a mystery, fascinating to be sure, but Emmy was just that much more captivating.
It was hard to keep his eyes on the stars above when all he wanted was to count galaxies in her eyes.
He ran his hands through her hair, nails running soothing paths through her brown hair, his heart aching but unable to take away her pain, no matter how much he wished it. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, brushing his lips over the crown of her skull as he played soothing patterns on her back, in her hair. He held her, pressed her too him, trying for all the world to be whatever it was she needed.
“You don’t need to remember them all…”
Finally the announcement was done, a furrow to his brow as he pulled slightly away from her, not allowing her to look away from him as he moved his hand to her cheek, fingertips brushing, running over her soft skin as he took her in. Her eyes were wide with fear, lost in her mind as he locked his own blue gaze with hers, a drew in a breath.
He could remember trying. Trying and trying and training and failing to count the stars in her eyes, the seas that drew him in and begged him to come explore their depths. He could remember the color of her eyes vividly, but in the past week he hadn’t had that, hadn’t had colors or emotions or anything. He had felt as he had before when he would see her with Liam, almost empty, filled with nothing but rage and revenge. But when he looked at her now, he didn’t have to remember, because the color bloomed to life before him, radiat skies that made his knees weak and his breath catch as he struggled to find himself in her eyes.
She was absolutely the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. H had always thought this, but new eyes took her in, aching, bubbling with all the emotions he had thought she had lost.
More than beautiful, she was his. Only his now.
“She okay, Kas?” He heard Derek speak, his voice turned and twisted, concerned mixed with trepidation. He was worried, that much was sure, But he could see it in the eyes of the other, Dean and Davy that were looking over their shoulder to their little honorary member of the group.
They worried about the Squad. They worried most about their own. Emmy was theirs now, and so their worries over the other bleed straight into their worries about her.
“I have to get her out of here.” it was his only reply, the only thought that did not circle about Emmy. He saw Davy cast a look to to Derek and Dean, catching their eyes to pass a look between them they thought he couldn’t see. Kasmir ignored them as he shifted slightly, leaning so he could speak to her lowly, her heart hammering in his ears.
“Emmy. Emmy, baby, My love, I’m gonna pick you up now, okay?”
---------------------------------
There it was. That steel she had been waiting for, the anchor in the turbulent storms that she called her emotions. Braithe’s words hit her, harshly, and she felt herself dig her teeth into the soft flesh of her tongue, trying drawing vivid blood red to the surface, to fill her mouth as she swallowed thickly around the need to tell her how wrong she was.
Now, really was not the time, and the Purple haired sister cursed as she realized she would have no time to try and dislodge those ideas forming in her mind.
She sucked in a breath, fighting the urge to speak her mind, knowing that every minute she spent arguing was another minute spent in the growing open. She moved, keeping her sister’s hand locked with hers, the feeling the weight of her hand in hers the only thing striving off that fear from taking over her again. There was a mission now, a goal she had in mind,a living breathing desire that she held tightly with her hand as she moved, pulling the girl in the remembered direction of the school bathrooms. She didn’t bother to look around, trying to hide in the shadows as much as possible, screams drifting into an almost non existent shiver over her hearing as she pulled Braithe along.
She had to get out of here, she had to get Braithe out. She crept along the floor, crouching low to the shadows as she pulled them back towards the walls. Her free hand moved, other clenching at Braithe’s fingers like they were a lifeline, painted nails lightly grazing over the weirdly thick paint that seemed to cover all public schools. She crouched, forcing her sister into a low crawl as they crept along the walls, slowly but surely making their way to the only bathrooms in the gym.
She didn’t get to go very far before she heard him, the scuffle of shoes on the wooden floors of their gym stopping her as she heard his laughter spill past his lips. Her heart raced,panic in her blood as she stood slowly, her body rising without her telling it too, before she felt the heavy weight of something cold and silver on her shoulder. She could feel it as her throat closed, swallowing thickly around the lump that had formed as he let out a low whistle, taking his cane off her shoulder as Neket Snow moved, danced into their line of vision.
He looked…good. It was a strange thought, but in a sick, twisted, strange sort of way, Neket had never seemed happier. He looked free, a light to his eyes she had not seen before lighting up the mismatched gaze that seemed to drift, constantly, toward her shivering sister, the girl she pulled back behind her, placing her body between them. He moved easily, eyes shifting back to her, ands he was able to see the worry lifted off his expression, his body relaxed, casual, like he was just walking down the boardwalk.
The smile on his lips practically spread from ear to ear, his shoulders, usually slumped slightly, weighed down by the burdens his life had become, were sight, squared as he moved to swing the showman’s cane until it was resting on his shoulders, other hand moving to catch the other side like one might a baseball bat.
“Well, well, Well Look who it is…. The guests of honor!”
His voices slid uneasily along her spine, her body instinctively moving her and Braithe back a step as he moved forward. His arms spread in grand gesture as he spoke, a pause as he watched her move, the smile only growing wider as he carefully shifted his expression, a clearly mocking look of surprise on his face.
“You’re afraid of me? Oh that’s just fucking HILARIOUS!” His hands moved, cane swinging as he crossed his arms over his torso, laughing heartedly as he bent backwards slightly, black hair falling as he jerked back up. His eyes were wild, untamed as he snapped his eyes back to hers, locking on them as he rolled his shoulders, fingers and hands moving the cane idly, a dangerous ripple of lethal ease sliding under his skin.
“You should know better by now….. It’s me, Neket! Loveable, droppable, dangerously homicidal! … Neket. Now, you know you never answered my Question Braithe.”
It was like she wasn’t even there. His eyes slid past her, moved to her more sullen sister, her eyes wide as she clenched harder to Lunthe. The purple haired girl let out a hiss of displeasure as Neket moved forward, eyes only for her twin sister, his hands playing with that cane, tapping it against his hand, his leg, his shoulder as he swung it up once more. Lunthe held up a hand, fingertips pressing lightly into his chest as she pushed back lightly, trying and keep him apart from her pink haired sister.
“Stop… Neket, please, don’t do this.”
-----------------------
It was fun. This was supposed to be a fun night. And it was. All the fun he could have imagined and more.
Revenge was a foggy haze in his mind as he moved forward, his arm coming up to rest around his brother's shoulders, the other coming up to pull the man closer to him. His lips found Neferox cheek, pressing adoring kisses all over the tanned freckled skin of his big brother, the last one sounded off with an obnoxious pop as his fingers pulled the chin closer to Vaughn cheek. He was happy, what could he say? Something that did not happen very often in Vaughn’s case. But it was a special night. A, to put it into Arsen’s words, ‘night to remember’. Corny bastard.
The smile that broke over Vaughn’s lips was anything but innocent, the sound of Neket’s laughter pulling up the bubbling giddiness that played a twin, running through his veins. He let his cheek rest against Neferox’s, his eyes moving over the screaming students, his fingers unable to keep still, running their lengths over the fabric that was Neferox’s tux.
Honestly, there was not anybody else that he would rather be here with him. No body else that he would have wanted to share these moments with than all of the squad, his brother.
This was what he supposed to be doing. He had always been meant for this. Him and his squad. It suits them well, more than any of them really cared to contemplate over. But he knew, in the bottom of his little black heart that him and his brother. His friends, cousins. All of them, they were born and fated to be kings. It had just taken a little while and a little pain to get to the position they so rightfully deserved. For the world to finally right itself of its past mistakes.
They were happy, truly happy. Beaming, god damn it.
Not an ounce of pity behind those smiles that they wore tonight, not an ounce of self loathing or any guilt that would have wracked them usually. Instead, there was a genuine happiness running through them, connecting them all to one another. There was nothing and no one that could take them on, not with them finally feeling the most alive they ever had. Not when they knew they were on top of the world, above them all.
But the scene was coming to a swift end, the blood that had been flying across the room was fading, instead there seemed to be a gathering lake of it. People who were crawling across the floor, smeared it, uncaring in their state that they were ruining their nice attire. There were plea’s now, plea’s that bleed through the thick air around them, those who were left begging for their lives, hoping that in some way they could possibly have a hope, some sort of escape from their inevitable death.
He felt nothing for them, no remorse, no guilt, not even the vague tingle of shame as he watched them, his grin only spreading as pain filled eyes turned up to the boys. Really the only emotion he could equate for them was the fact that they had been able to do what only one other person had been able to do. Only one other person seemed to flare the ‘emotion’ to life, much like the students littering the floor. Only one other person brought this sort of warmth in the pit of his stomach, blossoming in its heat as he watched. And it was that one other person that could soothe it, the only person he would allow.
“Rock fucking solid, my man.”
He didn’t have to ask Neferox to know he felt the same, he didn’t have to even look at his brother's expression. He could feel it, thrumming through him, feel his cheeks move as those lips pulled into a sadistic smirk. A twin of the smile on his own lips. He had seen some of the actions he had chosen, seen some of the things that he had done to the few students that he had specifically marked as his.
Neferox was marvelous, at his absolute prime. The glimmer in his eyes alive and well as he huffed out the shook breaths that held him. His heartbeat was singing in his ears, screaming at the enjoyment that he had raised from the occassion.
Vaughn shifted, pulling himself apart from his brother, his fingers came down to run his hand over the confines of his slacks, his hand running over his covered dick for a moment, before restraining, pulling his hand back up to the back of his neck.
Just as the announcements began Vaughn shifted, his eyes moving to Neferox and back to the doorway. That Audi was moving from, his eyes on the purple haired siren that he held eyes for. A clear ‘battle’ bubbling as he pushed his way through the mass of dead bodies, his eyes never shifting from the girl, the one who seemed too ready to lay down her life for the pink haired one.
His head dipped, lulling on his shoulder to catch cognac eyes. Vaughn feigned a frown, his lips pulling down in an exaggerated display, but his arms came back up to cross over his chest. There was no denying the fact that he knew the girls, saw them or heard about them on daily basis, thanks to Audi and NEket. But the interest never seemed to stick, their names and faces easily slipping from his memory.
“I can never remember names. Which ones are those?”
---------------------
“She speaks! A little odd, considering. You’re not really the one I saw begging me for anything.”
Revenge was going wonderfully. It was more than he had ever dreamed, the screams of the people who had tormented and robbed him of the life he should have had, the dying light fading in their eyes, the disappearance of which made his heart sting with a memory of watching his own burn out, watching his light fade with every passing year. He couldn’t remember when it had died, just waking up one morning to look in the mirror to see the eyes of a corpse, a dead man walking and talking and breathing, but he was no longer there, a part of him detrimental to healthy human life gone. Their pain made his heart warm, made his body feel light and bright, like his veins were filled with fire. He could still smell it, the blood that flooded the floors of his gym, the salty tang of metal that hung like candy in the air. He breathed in, taking in a deep breath to feel it as the scent filled his lungs, his gaze trying, valiantly, to remain in Lunthe as she pressed her tiny little hands into his chest, like that would keep him at bay.
Courtesy kept him at bay, and only the ties of loyalty saved her from the fate the rest of her classmates shared. Neket didn’t dislike Lunthe, Rather, back when he had still been nothing but a human, he had actually rather liked her. It helped she was Braithe’s twin, easy enough to look at when she looked exactly like the one you desired, save the mismatched colors. They had gotten along, mostly talking over Snapchat or texting when he wasn’t attached to Braithe’s, He didn’t dislike her, But the fact of the matter was, she was becoming a problem, a hurdle between him and his one. And to him, though he liked her, cared for her…. That made her expendable.
However, her saving grace was that she belonged to, not only a squad member, But Neket’s very own newly crowned Lee, the one he would give his life for if it came down to it. She was not his to touch, not his to play with. Lunthe may have looked, a whole awful lot like his, but he knew better than to try and take what was Audi’s.
Neket moved, his gaze never leaving Braithe for long, as he reached out, felt the strenuous tremor of the bonds that connected him to the rest of his Squad now, bonds that connected him and his thoughts and their minds to his with a simple thought, his words drifting, seemingly into nothing but knowing that Audi would hear them, that all of his Squad would hear them as he thought them into the bond. His head tilted, the heavy wood of the cane laying heavy over his shoulder, taping once, twice, as he flicked his duel colored gaze toward the man already shifting through the bodies.
Come get your girlfriend, Tovak. I promised I wouldn’t hurt her, but She starting to get in my way.
There was no malice to the words, only a slight, light warning laced into the tones. He grinned, turning his attention back to the twin girls before him, pink and purple fluffs that hid their crazy colored hair under synthetic wigs, though usually they were far more lively. Neket stepped back, seeming at ease with it all as he cast a wink to Brathie.
“So tell me, my darling, Did. You. Miss. Me?“ He purred, his hands still moving that cane around, this time his fingers circling over it to bends and twist, playing with the thickness, trying to see how much pressure was too much as his hands shook with anticipation.
“Really, i’m just Dying to know…. Not as much as everyone else, but i’m pretty damn close to second.” He amended after cast the Gym a look, his face falling as there was a moment's pause between his words, his gaze narrowing on the sea of bodies next to them as he played with the hem of his pocket, cane on his shoulder again as he turned to face the approaching brunette with a smile and a light filling his eyes. His hands moved, almost like a reflex, his body turning to step forward toward him, his hand moving to reach out and pull the man to him, arms finding their place around his body, hands trailing before finding his cheeks, fingertips on one hand and his palm resting on him as he looked up at the taller boy.
His expression fell as he took in his gaze, took in the features of the face he had come to know so well.
My Audi… Tell me you're okay. The words were there, silent but hanging in the thoughts between them. Neket’s expression fell slightly as he pulled him closer, so that he could lightly bump his head against his, forcing him to look him in the eyes. Neket needed Audi to be okay. He needed it if tonight was going to be anything close to perfect, and he could see the worry in Audi’s face, the slight difference in expression. His eyes flickered back to Braithe and lunthe, who stood rock still in their spots…. Which was smart.
The hum of exhilaration in the surrounding area was almost palpable. The bodies moved through the small crowds, people were pressing against one another, others attempting to dance while some just sat at random tables at the outskirts of the prom. Their eyes watching each other, pushing more of the rumors through the crowds as the men split once in the doors. Now he was on his own, his brother and cousin preoccupied, the other cousin gone off on his own it seemed. Leaving one Dhouti very alone, thoughtful as he watched the people buzz along. Watched as girls practically purred over his brother, watched as boys seemed to seethe but were too weary to actually approach the small shows. But none of it mattered, not when the one getting the looks seemed more oblivious to the advances or he was just blatantly ignoring them.
Neket did not look bothered, quite the opposite. He looked practically on top of the world, positively in his prime. A lethal machine as he moved through the crowds, dissecting his prey with piercing eyes and a devilish smile. He was proud, truly proud to be himself for the first time since they were small. He was distractingly cocky, and Heru watched for a moment as he spun his way through the small burst of people.
A low rumble slipped through Heru lips, his own eyes scanning over the crowd again, until a small cluster of girls fell into his view. Bringing up a lump in his throat that he had failed to realize was growing in size. It was almost overwhelming just to see her from afar. It was almost like the world was coming to a halt, just for him. Just so that he could take her in and not have to miss any minute that he could have with her by his side. Where she rightfully belonged. Where his Nephie had always rightfully belonged.
“Ryker, please. Pick up your phone.”
The voice came from the vivacious darkling, skimming over the crowd to his nely sensitive ears. Smoky. Suggesting dark nights and silken sheets. Sex and Sin. Velvet like a neat whiskey so smooth, yet burning all the way down.
Heru closed his eyes. His body tightened, a savage, urgent reaction to that amazing voice. No woman should be allowed to sound like that. That candlelight and “come fuck me” tone gave her unfair advantages over a man.
He turned slowly. No one could possibly live up to that sultry, drawl so erotic and sensual, an invitation to wild nights and temptation. She stood draped against the wall, one hand on her hip, her enormous eyes on her phone. He would never forget those eyes. Before, they’d taken up her face, a wild flower green fringed with impossibly long, thick feathery lashes, as dark as the cloud of hair tumbling around her face. Now, her eyes drew attention to her remarkable skin and the perfection of her bone structure.
As if her inviting skin and the wealth of thick black hair cascading down her back weren’t enough to bring a man to his knees, her body was all soft inviting curves, and firm defined muscle. Her legs were long and slender and she had a small waist, emphasizing her breasts and hips. Her generous mouth had full, curved lips, bringing on enough fantasies to last a lifetime. His breath caught in his throat and need slammed low and mean into his body.
His reaction to her shocked him. His beast raked and clawed for supremacy. His body hurt, a deep savage ache, every muscle tense. He’d never had such a visceral, intense sexual reaction to a woman in his life. He wasn’t a gentle man, his beast was too aggressive, but he’d learn to control and kept a tight grip on both the man and the beast. For her, he would turn over everything he had. What the hell was it about Nephine Avendale that sent him spinning out of control?
A low growl rumbled through him, deep, grounding as he let his eyes lavish over her. The sight of her provoking some possessive burst through him, something that turned his blood, and roared in his head as he watched the worry paint her pretty features. He wanted to reach out and brush the worry from her features with soothing caresses.
There was a thick swallow as he ripped his eyes from the girl, trying to fight down the urges that were screaming to be let go. It wasn’t near time, Neket had not made any sign of starting yet. And it damned sure was not going to be his fault this whole scene was not going to get to play out the way his brother had wanted it to.
------------------------
He hadn’t meant to say her name.
Not at first, at least. He hadn’t really meant to say anything, had simply intended to glare at the person who had dared to bump into him, not really wanting to make much of a scene before it was time, but not quite willing to act as if walking all over him was okay again. He had intended to ignore most everyone until he couldn’t any more, But the moment his eyes landed on hers, there was a shift, a sudden awakening. His eyes locked on hers, and suddenly his vision,which had bled dry of colors for about a week now, his world lost in hues of greys and blacks and whites that he could call colors blasted by hues of them, suddenly exploded again, vivid and bright in color as he stared at her startlingly golden gaze.
This would make the third time that Ryker changed his life, and as they say, third time's the charm.
Truth be told, Arsen wasn’t sure he would have seen her here at the dance, considering anytime the dance was ever mentioned Ryker seemed to be more than a little pissed off and more than a little stressed about it. But here she was, low bags under her eyes as she flickered her gaze up to meet his, her hands reaching out to rached over the suit he had gotten just for tonight, His breath hitching, heart racing in somersaults as she actually recognized him, her lips pulling in a smile and spoke his name around alluring lips and tongue. He lost himself a moment, watching her lips form the words, little pink tongue brushing out just slightly, occasionally to wet her already glossy lips with a flick of her tongue, all sorts of little vivid fantasies racing through his head. He smiled, his eyes adoring as he looked her over, taking in her dress and body as he took a step closer.
“Not as Incredible as you, Ryker, You’re rather bad for my health you know, stealing my breath and heart like that. ”
He grinned at her, extending his hand to her, palm up fingers lightly curled, extended for her to place her hand in his, his gaze never leaving hers as he took her in. He could see it, through the shining beauty she had, the dark circle under her eyes, the shortness of her breath.
“I had a bit of trouble getting here….. But I’m glad i made it as well, if only because I get to see you.“
----------------------
‘Oh, no. No. Nope nope. He is not supposed to be… this. ’
She watched the movement, her eyes moving to the out lifted palm of his hand, the change in him something so apparent that it almost hurt. Gone was the clumsy, shy boy that always offered her his help or food, gone was the boy who had gone out of his way to try and talk to her. This was not the same boy that she had talked to over a week ago. Not even in just the way he looked, but in the way he spoke, in the confidence that seemed to exude from his lips and his very pores. Everything about him had changed, he seemed… bigger than before. Filled out. And she could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks as she heard his words, heard his attempt at flirting.
Something he had tried many times before, but she had just thought it was cute. Thought that the way he stumbled over his words and the way his cheeks lit up as he spoke was probably the most adorable thing she had seen. But that was not who was standing in front of her, and instead her usual reaction to his flirtation she could feel her heart stumbling and failing to keep up with her emotions. Her eyes flicked to the deep violet, drowning almost instantly in the depths of all that was Arsen Micheals.
“You’re date is a very lucky lady, sweet words and good looks. You don’t usually get both.”
Her voice was low, a shake to her words as she moved, placing her hand daintily into his hold, the warmth of those fingers instantly wrapping around hers. Was he always able to make her head spin like this? No. That was impossible, she felt light headed, she felt the second her hand was in his it was where she belonged. Her fingers curled over his palm, trying for the life of her to get more of his skin.
Ryker was a leader among her peers. Number one in most of her classes, least the one that Arsen was in. She was only a junior and already had full scholarships to go where ever she liked. Whether it be an ivy league or public college. She had the world at her fingertips, nothing seemed to be an impossibility for her. But even with all this, even at her peak, she could feel it in her chest that if he let her go none of it was going to be worth it in the end.
Or maybe that was just her cough medicine kicking in finally.
She didn’t need people. She was Ryker Ecchevarria. She controlled her destiny and she controlled how the outcome to most situations played…. But she felt lost in his gaze, in his touch. She felt so completely wrapped in him that she could not look away if she wanted to. She felt like if those fingers were to release her there and now she would sink, her only lifeline would fall away from her.
-------------------
He heard her, heard her as her words drifted past her lips with a light tense waver to her voice that he wasn’t entirely sure he would have picked up on if he had come here unchanged like he had originally planned. His gaze never left her body, flickering over her as she took him in for the first time in a week. She seemed, confused, the low mummer around him spiking for a moment as her thoughts flared sudden and intrusive in his mind like a stray anxiety he didn't want to think about. His gaze flickered, moving from her face to thier hands, interwoven like they couldn’t let go of the other, his thumb moving to brush over her skin, taking in the feeling of actually having his hands on her, a feat once impossible to him.
But Nothing was impossible now. The world was at his fingertips, and true to Neket’s word, everything seemed… easy, like the world was finally realizing that he deserved more than it had given him and was now trying to make up for lost time with gifts draped over pretty golden platters. Everything he had ever wanted… Just within reach, just beyond his grasp suddenly in the palm of his hands, and the unbridgeable gap that had been them seemed suddenly, much more manageable.
Arsen moved, slowly, every inch of him alight with promise as he drew in a breath, allowing the smile to move languidly over his lips, watching her gulp slightly, swallowing thickly around an already formed lump in her throat, and his heart hammered, sudden, harsh, stumbling into a race he did not know how to win. He forced his gaze up again, back to her eyes, those vividly golden eyes that had brought back the colors he really hadn’t missed at all.
His other hand moved, brushing along her features as the sight of her stress seemed to slip through the cracks, but he smiled, shaking his head as he answered her, his girl, ( and she was his, that much had become certain the moment she had made his heart stammer in his chest with only a look, had become his the moment she had locked eyes with him and he realized that the emotions that had filled him as a bullied nobody hadn’t left like he had imagined, thought they would, only grew in intensity and fire) To satisfy her curiosity.
“I can assure you, even if I had one, I don’t think she’d see herself as lucky. I don’t think I’ve noticed a single person since you bumped into me, everyone pales in comparison… But you don’t seem to be feeling all together.”
He spoke, his expression falling into something of concern as his hand brushed along the sides of her face, pushing back black strands with a soft gentle tease, tracing his fingertips over her skin and cheeks and hair, enjoying, immensely, too much, the feeling of her under his hands. She looked so tired, looked so stressed, Arsen moved, pulling her closer to him, their hands never leaving each others as he pulled her flush against his body, letting his free hand fall, over her exposed shoulders, the soft fabric of her dress and the light indention of her pretty curves. He turned her, so her back was against his chest, her own arm in front of her and still laced with his as he brought it up to his lips, dipping just slightly to brush his lips against her knuckles as he moved them through the crowd, the sea of people parting as he moved to take them away from the bubbling noise of thoughts and people.
“Have you eaten lately, Ryker?” He asked easily, almost as if he was talking about the weather, his lips brushed her knuckles again, before he looked back toward the lined up catering. He could smell her, through it all, through the aromas that filtered up from sizzling grills and running punch. She smelled… Different, then he remembered, off and slightly daunting. There was something about her, maybe a new perfume, that didn’t make her smell bad( He felt she could have literally taken a dip in sewage and he’d still find something he liked about the scent) but there was something just… off.
“You’re almost running a fever, you look stressed, uneasy. You’ve been overworking yourself.”
He loved the feeling of this, of her in his arms, guarded, protected. He wanted to make sure she was alright, that she was taken care of. He wanted to be that person….
He didn’t want to let her go.
“Haven’t you?” the tone was playful, not an inch accusatory, and he smiled as he pressed kisses to her hand again, wishing to just trail up open skin and devour her for all she was worth.
----------------------------
Ryker wasn't picking up her phone, and in a crowd like this, Nephi had managed to lose every single person she had come here with in the span of twenty minutes, a feat she both marveled and fumed over.
“Of Course. Just perfect. This is exactly how I wanted to spend my night.” She hissed, low sinister sounds slipping past full lips that peeled back to reveal a snarl of irritation that managed to fight it’s way free from her chest.
This wasn’t the way she had envisioned her night going at all, even without the deviant fantasies that she had envisioned when she was younger, smaller, filled with the not yet broken childish giddy joy that came with having crush. Nephi rolled her eyes, leaning back against the wall she had found herself perched on, looking through the masses of people she had classes with and would never remember, past the people about her that seemed to be bubbling with happiness, living out their dreams as best to their short sighted imaginations would let them. She narrowed her eyes as she shook her head, long waves of ink black hair spilling over her shoulder as she leaned her head back,allowing it to hit lightly against the wall.
This wasn’t how she envisioned her prom, and if she was going to be honest with herself, she had known her prom wouldn’t live up to her expectations anyway. She wasn’t really like the other girls, who had spent days and years and long sleepless nights fantasizing about it, about what her prom would be like and building up some sort of expectation that would be sure to far surpass what actually happened. But Nephi hadn’t been immune, and she could admit she had thought about the idea before, had had a hope that she might actually enjoy her prom, that maybe it would be like the movies and books and be everythings he dreamed, a night that made her imagination come true….
But it wasn’t.
That much was sure, was cemented long before she said yes to someone she didn’t even care about or lost all her friends in a wave of people that never seemed to end. That hope had died, the moment that Heru Snow had made it, more than apparent that he didn’t want her around anymore, that he was tired of her, tired of her trying to stand up for him and told her to back off.
It had been him she had hoped she would share tonight with. She was honest, if only in her mind. It was him, Heru, always Heru Heru Heru for years on a nonstop loop, a mantra in her mind she desperately wished she could stop. It had always been him, had been him that she hoped that she would (Shyly, though she wished she could say otherwise) give herself to at the end of the night because he was just about the only boy she had ever had eyes for, her attention never pulling from the tormented outcast that seemed to drift farther and farther away the more she watched him from afar. She used to stop them, used to step in and push and punch and kick and fight to get the people who hurt him to stop, to see them just as red as her vision when they dared to touch him.
But He had snapped at her, had turned that narrowed haunted gaze to her and told her to back off and that she was embarrassing him.
She hadn’t approached him after that.
How did you try and talk to someone who had torn you apart inside without even a second glance back? She didn’t know, and instead, Nephi had buried herself in her own group, her friends and her Brother’s little gang, not quite part of it but affiliated, her aggression and her temper and pain making a formidable weapon to use in her after school activities. She hadn’t talked to him, didn’t intervene when she saw him getting bullied, instead turned away doing exactly as he told her to.
But it just wasn’t enough to ignore him. He was in her system now, a part of her, as vital as blood and as painful as a knife. He was the glass in her veins,there and ripping her apart from the inside out. She could not leave him entirely, she could not give him up.
He was her first, Her first crush, her first love, whatever you wanted to call it, and she had hoped he would be all her firsts, but he wasn’t. Stupidly, Nephi had saved herself, played it off like she hadn’t, the whole school thing she would easily fall into bed with anyone half good looking, and honestly she prefered it that way. She acted like she didn’t need anything, didn’t need anyone, that she was just fine on her own, and the school bought it, believed her bluff easily, a pull to her passed off her lies.
The whole school believe her, and for a moment, Nephi was almost able to believe it herself.
Until she saw him.
Her gaze lingered, flickering over the faces of all the people she would never remember, only to stop on the on the one face she would never forget.
“Heru.” She breathed, everything stopping for just a moment as the crowd parted just enough for her to see him past all the heads.
He looked…. Amazing. God she had thought about him in multiple different scenarios, ranging all from complete and total fantasy to mundane, but how he looked now… it caught her off guard. He looked, Relax, a sort of tenacity to his shoulders she imagined would never leave him, but he seemed, easy, like nothing really bothered him. She found herself moving without her making the conscious decision to move, her body reacting to the sight of him, the call that seemed to exist between them, even if she was the only one to feel it. Her breath hitched, her heart hammering in her chest, one hand coming up to press against her heart, manicured nails pressing into dark flesh, wings fluttering in her rib cage like it beat against steel bars.
God, was it even legal to look like that? She was sure there was some law that dictated no one was allowed to look like that, to have that look and that slicked back hair all wrapped up in a suit, ready and primed to annihilate Nephi with only a quirk of his lips.
He Didn't know how much power he had over her.
Nephi took a few steps more, pushing through the people that created the crowd before her, her eyes locked on him as her heels clicked against the ground, the wooden floor of the gym. She Pushed, pressed her body against and through groups to try and get closer.
Before the truth hit her in the face.
Heru didn’t want her.
It wasn’t like she had forgotten. The way he had snapped on her wasn't something someone really forgot, but there ad been a moment, one that lingered in her blood as she reached up, out to him like she could cross the rest of that distance with just a touch, her eyes widening and falling to the floor before she pulled her hand back again, fists held at her side clenching with enough force to allow her nails to bite her skin.
Why run to him when he would just push her away again?
“Some prom this turned out to be.”
Nephi was ready for this to end. Now.
---------------------
She felt small.
Childlike almost. As if Arsen himself were someone to be listened to, as if he was someone who could somehow get her into some kind of trouble. Her ability to think straight was beginning to drain from her as he dipped his head, thoughts seemed to fly away from her as she watched on. He was in control, and he knew it, just as she did. A shiver ran up the length of her spine as those lips found her knuckles, brushing soft caresses over her flesh, enough to start a slow churning in the pit of her stomach.
Though his lips moved, even though words slipped from him, she could only stare at him in baffled amazement. All ability to comprehend his words dissipating with just the simplest of touches. Her tongue touched her lips, trying to gather some sort of motion to concentrate on rather than everything that was Arsen Michaels.
“...I’m fine. “
Her words came out as a hushed whisper, her tone wavering more than she could ever remember.
She didn’t know how to act, she didn’t know how to react to the once nervous Arsen. She didn’t know how to handle the boy that stood in front of her now. Before she could write it off. Before she could name each movement that he made as cute, something to be adored and smiled at. Now though, he was different. Now he demanded the attention that she had failed to give him before. Now he demanded her presence, even if the motions were sweet. Even if the words were soft and whispered against her skin. He demanded her.
Normally she wasn’t a girl to give into demands. And yet here she stood. Still with him and still enthralled by him.
He moved suddenly, her breath knocked out of her as she spun slightly, her body pulled back to press against his hard chest. The gasp that passed her lips falling short as he moved through them through the small burst of people.
Oh god, if she didn’t know she shouldn't, she was an idiot. But still her body moved, melting into him while he spoke to her, a small groan escaping her as her other hand found his, resting still on her hip. Her head leaned heavily, her chin lifting to try and catch his gaze again. She felt weak, if it was because of the fever she was sure should have broke by now or him she did not know. But she felt her knees buckle slightly, felt the heat rising up her throat finding its way to her cheeks far too easily.
This wasn’t her. This wasn’t him. No matter how many times she thought it she could not shake off the emotions running through her. She was rational, she was grounded in her choices in life. She always took the high road and always made sure she came out on top. And from the looks of how this was moving if she didn’t try to wiggle her way out of this situation she was gonna be a goner this time around. Arsen was going to take her for everything she was worth. And at the moment as much as she was trying to fight back the feeling. She knew she would let him.
“Arsen?”
His name hit her heavy. How was this the same person, how was it that he had the ability to make her feel this way? This couldn’t have been him, could not be the same person as before.
Ryker shook her head clear, trying to release the thoughts from her head.
Her fingers slipped from his reluctantly, pulling her arm back to her own side. She tried to seem unphased, tried to push the wild emotions down as she pulled away from the violet eyed enchanter that had a hold of her. But the second his hands left her she felt cold, empty suddenly where she had just been whole.
Ryker offered him a quirky smile, her eyes turning to the crowd that had grown too thick to try and alleviate some of the ache that was beginning to fill her chest when she looked at him.
“It’s just a cold, i’m fine really. I think, i’m just going to go home for the night. Try again on monday, you know.”
----------------
He could feel it, feel his face twist slightly as he heard her words, took them in, processed them easily even as the slight unease settled on his features, his gaze never leaving hers.
He didn’t doubt that she would be fine by Monday. Somehow, some way, Ryker had this sort of… ability, he could call it, this strange and aggravating ability to be perfectly fine after leaving to her home, leaving and finding her place away from him, away from the bubble of humanity that they were forced to be a part of. He watched her, often, more frequently than he really wanted to admit, as she left stressed and came back seemingly better than ever. She never seemed bother for to long, always beyond any problem this world could throw at her, nearly an entity beyond human on her own. If Nothing else, Ryker certainly knew how to fake it.
But that didn’t make it any easier to see her so distressed, didn’t make it any easier to see her so stressed out and bothered and sick. The sight of it bothered him, since long before a week ago when everything in his life changed. He wanted to be the one to take care of her, he wanted to be the one that saw that stress lifted and her troubles ebated. He wanted to be the one to care for her when she was sick or hurt or scared but he had never really had the chance. She had never let him, always brushing him off and never really seeing him as a person, a guy, but rather as some cute charity case she had in a few of her classes.
He wouldn't let her brush him off anymore.
There was this urge, this almost overwhelming protective wave that seemed to invade his mind, entirely take it over as he pressed her further into him, her hand never moving from his as he let out a little sigh of disappointment. He let her drift, not far from him, closing the space between them with a step so that she only had a slight bit between them, not allowing her to drift far from him. He leaned, his weight to his leg, allowing his hands to fall to his pockets as he took her in, a soft, almost affectionate look to his eyes.
“You’ll have a lot more mondays, But You’ll never have another Prom, Ryker. I wouldn’t want Prom to miss out on a sight like you…”
His words were smooth, black velvet as he moved silkily between them. His hand moved lifting her chin as he captured it between his fingers, forcing her to look at him, look him directly in the eyes. His armageddon swallowed as he bored into her, her emotions a symphony of flavors on his tongue as he breathed her in. His eyes flickered, to her lips and back, a moment’s lapse where he moved his thumb, brushed over her bottom lip with a gentle motion, watching her lips part for him, enticing his own.
“You never answered my question, but I suppose That is an answer all on it’s own. Follow Me, Khaleen.”
The word was foreign on his tongue, a sudden drop of knowledge he did not have spilling past his lips. Arsen paused only slightly, his eyes flashing with surprise before covering it with a smile, letting his hand drifted along her again to her hand, the other moving to settle heavily into his pocket.
“At least Try for me, I might miss whole nights of sleep worrying over you.”
-------------------
Her voice called to him. The voice was melodic, pitched to wrap itself around his heart. Need slammed nto his body, into his soul. Deep and hard and urgent. It roared through his blood stream with the force of a freight train. He could see her features, he had no idea her thoughts but he saw the expression that crossed over, and his soul cried for hers. Low and hushed under the roar of an overly excited crowd, even under the blare of the music that was thrumming through the room he could hear the pull in her voice. Something so kinetic he could feel the warmth growing in the pit of his stomach as gooseflesh found its place along his skin. A tremor rushed up the length of his spine while let his gaze arc through the small gap behind him and the girl he was undoubtedly going to win over one way or another this night.
His heart was beating faster than normal, a phenomenon that intrigued him. His heart was always the same since turning, rock steady. He controlled it casually, easily as he controlled every aspect of his now body, but the racing of his heart was now unusual, and anything different was welcome.
Her eyes locked on his and Heru took an immediate step forward before coming to a dead stop. Everything in him went completely, utterly still. He had not seen color in the whole week, yet he was staring at green eyes that shined underneath the shifting lights. It seemed almost impossible, not real. Perhaps he was losing his mind as well as his soul. No one had told him that a preliminary to losing his soul was to lose his color at varying intervals.
But tonight was different, even from before. Even when he was seeing colors in his human life, nothing had been as vivid as the colors he saw now. Nothing as intense as the need that was hitting him hard straight through his veins.
Everything seemed vivid. His hearing was even more acute than usual. The flashing lights were threads of glittering silver dancing behind and against Nephie. Heru inhaled, taking in the scents, separating each until he found the one he was looking for. One breath and this woman had already changed his life for all time.
Heru moved completely enthralled, caught by the attention in her eyes, the sheer intensity of it. She glowed with a sort of happiness, something that if he was human he never would have noticed, but it was happiness she did not even try to hid from him. Though he was more than aware he deserved some of the whiplash that he was getting from her. Her body had went from reckless wandering to completely still. But now there was a subtle difference. She was wholly feminine, soft and inviting.
But he knew it wouldn’t last, the magic of the moment. Nephine was too strong, too god willing to allow such a thing as want happen to let her slip in her grudge he knew well that she held.
It was yet another reminder as to why tonight had to happen. The sight of her back turning to him.
But he was off, his legs carrying him through the small crowd as she walked away. Something it seemed he was not going to allow as he reached out to her, his fingers wrapping around her thin wrist. He pulled lightly, forcing her body to swing back towards him, the surprise in him seemed to be lit a twin her, her expression conveying it all. There was a split second where he tried to think about his actions.Where he really gave it the good college try to think of a reason why he shouldn’t just take her and leave. But it seemed his mind was made up, the second his free arm swing to press the much smaller girl to him, locking arm around the small of her back. His body pressed tightly against her, taking in the soft of her curves on him.
“See, i’ve got this little problem. I’ve seem to have some stalkers,... I need a cover. I need for you to pretend we’re having a scintillating conversation and you are wildly entertained.”
Heru tried to throw his best crooked smile as, his fingers moved smoothly to entwine their fingers together, spinning her slightly into the crowd of dancing students.
---------------------------
His voice was one of unparalleled beauty. She found she wanted to succumb to his dark power. His grip was extraordinarily gentle, tender even, he held her with exquisite care. Her awareness of his enormous strength, combined with his gentleness, sent strange flames licking along her skin. She was trapped for all time in the fathomless depths of his eyes. There was no end there, just a free fall she couldn't pull out of. Her heart did strange flips in her chest as he moved her back in towards him. Refusing to wholly let her get away from him. His determination was something to marvel at though.
Ryker had a will of iron, honed in the fires of trauma, and yet she couldn't pull free of that dark, hypnotic gaze, even though a part of her recognized she was under an unnatural black magic spell, which logically made no sense. Her body trembled slightly as he dipped his head, as he brought his hand to her chin, catching her easily. But it was the slow caress that made her sigh.
Ryker’s eyes widened in shock. Warmth. Heat. It was sensual intimacy beyond her experience, and all he had done was touch her lips. His fingers moved over hand before she could even notice it, soothing a caress along the back of her hand. Black velvet and sensual. Her entire body clenched, went liquid in front of him. Her breath caught in her throat. To her utter astonishment, she could feel the blood rushing right back into place on her cheeks, her body turning back into a honey for the man in front of her, he moved his hand from her mouth to leave a tingling awareness behind. The violet eyes drifted over her face, intense, burning.
Intimate.
She could only stare at him helplessly for an eternity it seemed, lost in his eyes. She forced air through her lungs and nodded her head slowly.
They were moving before she could properly answer him, not that he really cared for the lie he seemed to know she would have tried to spill to him. They were in front of the buffet in only a couple strides of Arsen’s legs. But he was speaking again.
He spoke softly. His accent gave his voice a sensual twist she seemed to feel right down to her toes. She had smelled the scent of him before, in the night air of the stuffy gym it seemed a little more alit. It had called to her before, but nothing like this, it beckoned her through the darkness like the brightest of beacons.
‘What the hell is wrong with you, Ryker.’
This wasn’t right. None of it, gold eyes flicked over the food in front of her, only causing the small sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach grow. Something wasn’t right. It wasn’t normal. This was not normal.
The boy went from a high school crush, someone that she would occasionally talk to. Someone she hoped she would see while walking down the halls to a flame. A hot wave that burned deep in her chest. Now, his body moved like poetry.
Ryker moved delicately away from him, needing a small space to herself. To think. To breathe. To be Ryker and not part of this heat that was setting her ablaze.
“I’m not hungry Arsen. Did something happen,... while you were gone?“
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She never even got to fully turn, her body already in motion when she felt those hands on her arm, a touch she had nearly forgotten finding it’s place on her once again. His hands found her wrist, encasing her arm in his hand with an iron grip. Nephi let out a startled gasp as she felt his hands circle around her, her eyes snapping first to the hand that had captured her from retreat, marveling on how tiny her arm seemed in his hand, a sight that was foreign on her thoughts, almost confusing in a way.
Nephi was in no way shape or form small, except maybe in height. She was used to being the strong one, the most muscular of her friends and being the girl who was able to arm wrestle the best of the wrestling kids and come out a winner. Her brothers called on her when stamina was required for the violence, Her brothers called on her when physical force was needed. She was Used to feeling a thousand feet tall and unstoppable.
But in his hold, she suddenly felt… small, nervous, altogether made of glass, and strangely enough…. It wasn’t exactly a bad feeling.
Either way, Heru didn’t allow her to mull on it for long, moving smoothly, (too smoothly, had he always been able to move like that?) his hand sliding along her side to find it’s place at the small of her back, her body pressing up against his, chest so much more wide then she remembered, until he was flush against her, her other hand caught in his as his fingers intertwined with hers.
In an instant, she felt it, the sudden electric pulse that rippled through her, almost a burn as it found it’s way into her blood, veins strong and true and positively singing with golden fire. Her face flushed, a light burn running over her cheeks as she dug her fingers into the cloth of his shirt to grab hold of in surprise, Her eyes widening on the little smile that played along his lips, that burning dual colored gaze holding her own. She felt her body move, responding to his little signals, turning easily on heels like she had practiced all night for one dance. Her eyes remained on his, but the sudden rush from the pleasure of his hands on hers faded from her mind, letting the situation slip through into her thoughts.
It was Heru.
This was Heru. Her Elementary school crush. Her childhood friend. Her partner, the Boy who told her she was embarrassing him and to back off. The boy she had cried over, the boy she had needed to break her addiction of, tried to move on from.
Her first heartbreak.
“Heru… I… What?”
It wasn’t the most eloquent thing she had ever said, and the moment the words were out of her mouth she wanted to reach out and grab them from the air, to put them back so that she wouldn’t have to feel the burn along her cheeks, the bright glowing fire that was her embarrassment. She stilled, forcing them to a stop where they were, not noticing the small little space the students had given them, not daring to touch the outcast boy but not having much room to move. She blinked, her lips parting to draw a sharp breath, and she lightly pushed, trying to move out of his hold.
“What are you doing? I Thought….”
I Thought you didn't want to see me
She couldn’t finish it, her lips closing after a moment of silence, her breath catching in her throat at his eyes on her. She felt his stare, like hands along her skin, a whip of heat and desire racing over her to twinge darkly in her gut. She swallowed thickly, tongue darting out to lick her lips and look away slightly, eyes trailing to his lips.
Worse Idea.
“It doesn’t matter.” She spoke around vivid fantasies of how she would ravish that mouth if given the chance, her lips brushing over his own to catch it between her teeth. He let out a little growl of pleasure as she pressed kiss after kiss onto his lips, tongue soothing over bite marks and swollen lips from her heated kisses as her body pressed flush against his own. She’d take her time, explore every bit of him she could, her lips finding home with his more often than not and she’d memorize the little rumbles he gave when she kissed him the little bit harder. Her fingers tracing along his neck, feeling every inch of him, her reverence clear in her loving kisses and worshiping hands.
“You sure know how to give a girl whiplash. What happened to ‘You’re embarrassing me, back off?’” Nephi snapped, trying to blink away her fantasies with nothing more than pure anger. She pushed again, this time a little more harshly.
You’re gonna fuck me up all over again.
------------------------------------
That made him freeze.
Arsen was not a good liar. He never had been, His father and mother always able to tell when he lied, able to see right through him and right to the truth he was trying to protect. Really, he hadn’t really tried in his new life, had never tried to use any of his new found power to see if he might have been a better liar, because he hadn’t needed to up to this point, it had never even really been a need. If He was going to be honest, he didn’t think he would be any better a liar then he had been when he was human. There were just some things, some ticks he could not change no matter what power he happened to come into.
But how did he explain what really happened to him? Everything he had known had been turned upside down, all he had known was shattered, and the person he used to be had been murdered in a blaze of pain and blood and fire, body peeling away to reveal the man he had become, the same but nothing like he was before all at the same time. He hardly had words for what had happened over the past week, and now, as he looked at her, turning his head slowly to take in her gaze again, realizing she wasn’t going to eat anything and that she was starting to try and distance herself from him for some reason.
How did he explain what happened without sounding like a fucking idiot?
With Vague truths.
“Something always happens, Doesn’t it? Nothing moves without something happening...” He spoke, his gaze sliding off her face to the crowd, seeing the bodies but not really seeing them, his mind thousands of miles away in the dark of night, in a gleam in the darkness that had become his life. His vision flickered away from her, to the floor and back again before they returned to her, his lips still pulled into a smile, though it was a little more forced than before.
“So I suppose you could say that. ”
It wasn't a lie, but he refused to go any farther, his head turning away from her as his hands clenched in his pockets, lips pressing into a thin line. His heart hammered, unease hitting him for the first time in a week, the feeling so newly eradicated you would think he would be prepared for it, the feeling something of an old friend to him, lingering in the hazy memories of his previous life like a filter of a photo, there and evident but impossible to really describe. Arsen allowed his smile to drop a little, turning his gaze back on her, locked on her form as he took her in once more, this time with the slight flavor of nearly forgotten emotions bursting on his tongue.
He could remember how it felt. He could remember seeing her in the hallways, seeing her surrounded by all those who care for her, those who loved her, who longed to stay with her, by her side, who would miss her when she was gone and he could remember the disconnect he had from that feeling because she was right there in front of him but was simultaneously far beyond his reach. He could remember how his heart had raced when her eyes caught his, her lips pulling into a smile, one that wringed his heartstrings and had him returning her gesture with one of his own, hand lifting to wave before he would, eventually lose his footing as some more popular kid passed him and pushed him, making sure to make him slam into the metal of the lockers in an almost eye roll worthy impression of bullying. He could remember the excitement when she would sit next to him, the way his heart fluttered when she whispered to him, and all he could remember was that he had desired nothing more then to make her laugh, to make her smile and see that she was okay. He wanted to protect her, to take away her stress to place it on his shoulders, better suited for the heavy mantle, and it amazed him, fascinated him really, that that had not changed in the slightest after he changed.It was still there, burning in him, harsher than before and much more vivid in its instance.
But what was he supposed to do when the thing she needed to be protected from was him?
“Are you sure you want to leave Ryker? I promise I can be absolutely professional if you let me play Doctor.” He tried one more time, a slow burning smirk sliding along his lips as he cast her a look through hooded lids. He took a step closer, not liking the distance between them, His hand lifting, coming up to follow the path that had created that breathless ball of fire in his chest. His fingers found their home on her skin, tracing light patterns over her cheeks before his fingers found her chin, thumb moving to brush over her lips again.
Instantly, that white hot need flushed over him, making his whole body light up as he sucked in a breath. Her lips were smooth, soft, and it took everything in him not to bend to taste what his two am fantasies and his imagination could not possibly conjure.
“Though I can’t say i won’t be tempted. You’re gorgeous Ryker.”
------------------------------
“Aye! I’ll drink to a better night!”
Pale fingers moved to take the drink from Lunthe’s hold, her own body pressing into her twins side, her free arm coming out to hook itself around the slim waist of the blonde. There was something about clinging to her sister that had her feeling safe, made her feel like she was almost invincible as she chugged the disgusting mix of alcohol and juice, her taste buds all but dead by the end of it. But still she cheered, her arm jutting up into the air to holler her excitement through the gym. Some cheered, some screamed, others ignored her completely. Really none of who or why they did it mattered, what mattered was Braithe was here. IT was supposed to be a pinnacle in the life of a young adult right?
So why didn’t she feel alive? Why couldn’t she find the will to go out and seek the attention she generally craved? Why couldn’t she find some sort of shred of happiness in her veins on the one night she was supposed to remember for the rest of her life?
Her sister seemed happy, or at least content. Ryker and Nephie well, they were always like this. She couldn’t change it. But she could see Nick in the distance, a smile on his mouth and a sparkle in his eye. Someone who was thriving in this scene. But his girlfriend, well she was falling behind.
There was a split to her lips however, a smile that she refused to let drop no matter the circumstance. With or without the actual emotion behind it, she would convince them tonight, that she was happy. With this thought process she released her sister, her other hand coming up to grip the back of her neck, then let it slide, until it reached her collarbone, her thumb rubbed soothing circles over the skin.
“Why are we jus-”
Her words were cut short by strong hands, a small squeal pulling from her lips as she spun around. Confusion smacked her hard, her vision spinning but her hands moved out without a thought, locking around the man's neck so that she didn’t lose her footing. Something almost laughable to think about.
And shock ran through her body as she stared up at… Neket?
No, it couldn’t be.
Braithe pulled herself closer still, until every muscle of his body was imprinted on the softness of hers. His mouth moved, words only meant for her ears, hot silk, while molten lava flowed through her bloodstream. The entire universe shifted and moved, and Braithe gave herself up completely to his seeking eyes, blue on multi colored eyes, and icy grey and something like dark wood. Her body melted, soft and pliant, instantly belonging to the man that swept her away.
His mouth was addictive, her eyes returning to them every time he spoke. Braithe made her own demands, her arms creeping up around his neck to cradle him close. She wanted to feel him, his body strong and hard pressed tightly to hers. Real, not an elusive dream. She couldn't get enough of his mouth, a vice she didn't care to have. Braithe didn't think of herself as being a sensual person, but with him she had no inhibitions in the two seconds it had took for him to sweep her literally off her feet. She moved her body restlessly against his, wanting him to touch her, needing him to touch her.
There was a strange roaring in her ears. She knew no thoughts, only the feel of his body against hers, only the sheer pleasure of her vivid day dream, his mouth taking possession of her so urgently. She gave herself up completely to the sensations of heat and flame. The rush of liquid fire running in her veins, pooling low in her body.
He shifted her closer, his fingers finding her thighs to pull her up flush against him, she gasped at the exquisite pleasure. She hadn't expected company, not of this variety. His thumb nudged a strap from her shoulder, a simple thing, but wicked.
His mouth opened to blaze a path of fire along her cheeks. She heard her own soft cry of need mingle with his groan of pleasure. Pretty eyes yelled hums of need, her body went up in flames and every cell cried out for his possession. His arms were hard bands, trapping her close so that she could feel the heavy thickness of him, an urgent demand, tight against her.
A shudder shook Braithe's body. Something dark and dangerous raised its head. His needs were swamping him, edging out his implacable control. She noticed it, the feral snap just underneath the smooth surface.
“Wow, you’re pretty.”
Fraternizing with the enemy.
The words came out of nowhere. With a low cry of self recrimination, Braithe dragged herself out of the little day dream that had wrapped itself around her mind. It didn't matter how familiar he looked, he wasn't human, and he was very, very dangerous. There was something about him, something about the guy that had tingles running up her spine a tremor running through her veins.
All at once her night was lit up with stars, bright flashing bursts of white lights exploding in her eyes, making Nephi’s lashes flutter with a slight discomfort, nose scrunching as her bright green gaze moved to a sheepish looking girl who was already fiddling with her phone to turn off the flash. The excitement was still clear to see under the fear of upsetting one of the School’s queens, and Nephi watched, a light, distant amusement drifting over her as she watched the flushed faces of friends taking pictures as the music played in the background, a low bumping bass that threaded through her veins and called to her, made her desire to move and twist and dance, but she refused, turning away from the dance floor to look for her own friends.
All her life, she had heard stories of this night. She had heard the excitement that seemed to run through the veins of every teenager she had ever met, the happy wistful little whispers of girls as they entered high school, the one night that was supposed to make up for all the horrible bull shit that was the rest of your days in the confines known as public school.
Prom night.
Or THE night, depending on what girl you seemed to be talking to.
There was a lot of rumors that floated around about this night. With the way that people went off about it, you would think it was some sort of ritual or a rite of passage rather than a just extensively long and supposedly lavish dance. Nephi had never seen the appeal, her brother’s dates before her awkward and filled with ill fitting suits and shy smile as they handed over the flowers they had saved for, but her friends had been excited and had been giggling about boys and streamers and themes like it was the second coming. In the past month, Nephi had heard so much about prom, had seen so many bad movies based around the night that Nphi held no hopes or expectations for hers. She knew what it was supposed to be.
Tonight was a night of wonder, of days you spent daydreaming finally coming true before your very eyes and you get everything you ever wanted, all the attention, the recognition…
The boy you had been pining for since kindergarden….
Nephi sighed as she leaned a little, settling her weight to her left leg, long slit of her dress parting to allow a length of brown skin to peek beyond her Dresses folds. Her date had wandered off somewhere, a boy on the football team that she could hardly remember his name but he had asked her and had been the least repulsive of them in the way eh had asked, so she had ended up saying yes to save herself the embarrassment that was the only one of her family to not have had a date to prom. Her brothers would have never let her hear the end of it, and truthfully, Nephi was glad to lose him.
The boy may have been pretty to look at but he wasn’t the brightest bulb of the bunch. He followed her around like a lost puppy, telling her, often, frequently, like it was the only point of conversation that eh wanted to talk about was how great her legs looked or how her heels made her ass look great, a vulgar tongue she had not known before she had said yes. She was glad to lose him because it saved her a little bit of sanity she would need to make it through this night, but truthfully she wasn’t sure how much longer she could stand his company, her mind too used to the whipcrack mind of her best friend, Ryker Ecchevarria, or the strange unique taste of her perverted but bubbly other best friend, Braithe Durendal, or even Lunthe’s constant movement. This man was a dead rock in the water, about as entertaining as a cavity search, and had lost her ten minutes after arriving.
“Fucking hell. This night already blows. Where’s my real Date?” Nephi spoke, her voice low and muttered over painted lips as she cast her gaze back to the floor, trying to find her tiny friend.
-------
"Damn, I missed the entire thing," Braithe Durandal whispered overly loud to herself, but her body was moving forward, blue eyes finding her dark skinned best friend. "All those plans going up in flames and Nick losing his mind and wanting to machete someone. I slept right through it. Next time, wake me up! What was the point of getting a hotel room if we don’t get to see the crazy stuff?"
Deliberately, she glanced over her shoulder at Ryker and some other new guy, pretending to be covert, as if her booming voice was so low in her pretend whisper that they couldn't possibly overhear her or know she was talking about them as they trekked in single file through the narrow opening of the gymnasium doors.
Ahead of her, Ryker stiffened, but she didn't turn around.
Ryker pressed her lips together tightly. Braithe was only going to make things worse by being so boisterous, but she was teasing and the darkling knew that. She wanted to stir up trouble because neither Nick nor her sister would give her the time of day and her ego was bruised. She sighed and rubbed her hands against the back of her neck, stretching the other above her head as she pressed against the wall beside Nephie. She couldn't wait to make it to the end of the night, but honestly she had only came here for one hope. The hope of seeing the one person that had been missing for the past week. Although Ben Charger had stayed true to his word and kept a close watch for him, along with Jubal Sanders and Gary Jansen no one had seen him. His social media had died. No snapchats. No late night skype calls. For a week. And it was getting to a point where her feeling were in the way of being in trouble.
Ryker reached her hand back and brushed Nephi's arm. The touch was featherlight, but Nephie and Braithe could feel her fingers tremble slightly as she adjusted the dress that was a little too skin tight. She had gone very quiet, rarely speaking, her face pale and for the first time, lined a little with worry, her bright gold eyes flashing over the crowd. Braithe tried not to feel panic, but she honestly felt as if one of her best friends was retreating from her, slowing slipping away. Everyone had talked nonstop of the incidents in the middle of the night. And Ryker had been to afraid to come out of the bathroom for a good majority of the night.
Half the girls regarded Nick as if he suddenly had become a serial killer. But it was not as if nightmares weren’t a normal occurring thing. He just He didn't seem to remember much, just kept repeating it was a nightmare he'd been caught up in and how sorry he was. To be strictly honest, Braithe felt terrible for him. She was still afraid of him, but she couldn't help but see the misery in his eyes, and he had tried to resist that continual pressure and command in his mind. She'd seen him two or three times trying to go back to the bed, to stop moving around and trying not to defy the sleep that was beckoning him.
But after that she had knocked out. The rest of the night a blur to the intoxicated and then unconscious Braithe Durandal. But she had heard whispers of the things that had happened.
Ryker hadn't made a single comment, not even when Braithe had explained she'd seen him have nightmares before, this time he just reacted a little bit,... more than usual. She'd just looked at Braithe with hopeless eyes-almost with that same defeated look Nick had-and shook her head. She'd hardly eaten anything before they'd started out again. Nick and the other guys were hoping to get to the back to the hotel by nightfall. From there, each group would go their own way. Braithe had to admit, she wasn't as eager to part company with Ryker and Luneth and Nephie as much as she'd thought she'd be. There was something very reassuring about the three of them.
"I wish he'd stop talking," Braithe said suddenly. She rubbed her temples as if she had a headache. But her eyes flashed to the vice principal at the podium. Welcoming the incoming seniors and juniors in with a warm welcome and a lecture.
“I don’t think he knows how to.”
“‘Welcome to prom. Try not to get knocked up kids.’ We get the gist Mr. Portmen. Get on with it already.”
“I think the point is to not get it on Braithe.”
Braithe watched with a sly smirk as gold eyes rolled, pale hands reached out to grasp onto Nephi’s undisposed arm, wrapping herself around the sun kissed skin. They stood there after that, the three of them all trying to let the man finish. Which felt like it dragged on for too long, but they finally got through it. Ending the whole lecture with wild whoops and screams from the surrounding students. A small blonde bundle emerged from the students, her hands waving at some and her lips offering small smiles to others. But those matching blue eyes caught onto her twins as she approached.
“Looks like they already got to the damned punch. These damned hooligans.”
--------------
The lights stung. Bad.
He could feel the sting starting behind his eyes.
The lights from oncoming cars hurt his eyes and seemed to pierce right through his skull, stabbing at his brain until he wanted to scream. He quickly tuned the radio station until the soft, voice of the Night Siren flooded the car. It was taped, but it helped. Helped calm the lump that was beginning to form in his throat. His vision tunneled, so that everything took on a dream like quality. Buildings flashed by, cars appeared as streaks of light rather than solid matter. Nerves should not have been settling in the way that they were. It should have been a time for excitement. A time to feel like he was truly alive for the first time. One of the only opportunities that he had ever actually taken a chance in.
Truth be told he was excited, somewhere deep inside him he could already feel the beast bubbling up. Unfurling and stretching as low rumbles escaped. But Heru sucked it down as he watched the students file into the building, all of them dressed to impress and all of them were happy. Unknowing. Almost innocent if he hadn’t known how they had treated him, he would have called them that at least.
“Where are we going?”
He jumped. For a moment he had forgotten he wasn’t alone. Throwing an impatient glance at the whore seated beside him, he felt the terrible pounding in his head, which had just begun to ease, return. In the dark she looked a little like the woman he needed. A little bit like the woman that he had already decided he was going to have one way or the other tonight. If she kept her mouth shut, he could pretend. Tempted to tell her she was going to hell very soon, he forced a slight smile instead. “You’re getting paid, aren’t you? What difference does it make if we drive around for a little bit?”
She leaned forward and fiddled with the radio. Tanned fingers skimming through the channels too swiftly. Light eyes transfixed on the flashing numbers in front of her.
He slapped at her hand. “Don’t touch anything.” He had the station tuned right where he wanted it, needed it. The Night Siren’s voice was drifting out over the airwaves, making his body hard and his head clear. The woman wasn’t going to make it through the hour if she touched that dial again.
Not when he was already on edge.
He kept his eye on the car he was following. He knew what he had to do. He had a job and he was damned good at it. The whore was such a good cover, and gave him such an anticipation of the pleasure to come later. He hadn’t been caught yet. Damn Arsen for his interference. The man had threatened to send someone else again. Stupid man didn’t like his reports. Well, fuck him. The man thought he was so superior, so intelligent, and was worried about the situation deteriorating. What a crock of bullshit. There was no situation, nothing was deteriorating. He could handle surveillance on a school any day of the week.
Arsen and Neket both seemed to think that since this decision happened they were all to be revered. Well, that was something Heru could whole heartedly agree with. He knew better now, more than ever that no one was going to every question him again. they were genetic mutations, aberrations, abominations, not the fucking miracles Arsen purported them to be, but Heru had no problem with it being seen this way. The entire lot of them should be wipe humanity from the face of the earth, and they were just the men to do it. They were nothing more than scum that should have been scrapped long before they were ever let loose on the world.
He saw himself as the guardian, the lone man standing between themselves and the humans. He should be revered. They should bow down to him, kiss his feet, thank him for his mere glances and his attention to detail…
“You never told me your name. What do I call you?”
The voice jerked him out of his reverie. He wanted to slap the girl by his side. To pound his fists into her face until there was nothing there but bloody pulp. To take her head between his hands and hear a satisfying crack just to shut her up, but that was for later. If she kept her mouth shut he could fantasize that she was...
She belonged to him and he’d have her soon enough. He just had to get rid of the rest of the pest once and for all. And then she’d do everything he told her.
“You don’t need my damned name.”
The girl had the audacity to roll her eyes at him, but he resisted the urge to punish her. Resisted that tingle in his hands as his fingernails pressed into his palms. He had other plans for her.
“I am a naughty girl,” she said and leaned over to rub his covered dick. “And you obviously like me that way.”
“Don’t talk, you sound like a fucking idiot.” he snapped, and sighed when she opened his pant suit. Let her just go to work on him while he took care of business. It would keep her mouth and hands occupied. He could look at her skin and hair and everything would be all right. It was going to be a long night tonight, and at least he could look forward to later.
Up ahead the car he’d been following pulled to the curb. It was a strange thing to do, but he couldn’t get caught and he couldn’t lose them. He pulled over as well and waited while the girl worked on him, the rush beginning to flood his veins like a drug.
--------------
One night.
One night could change everything.
This. He knew. Neket knew the power of change, knew the pull and switch, knew intimately the feeling of rushing air about you as your world shifted and pulled out from under you, everything you knew shattering into a thousand tiny pieces. He had already gone through it, had faced Change and survived, had come out the other side of his sudden freefall better and stronger and better at the end. It had only take one night for everything to change in Neket’s life, the life he had long gone, a distant burn on his memory that eh could recall with vivid detail, but could not touch, could no longer connect with that person he used to be.
There was nothing to miss in his old life. He would like to say there was something to it, something good he could pull from his memories, but nothing, nothing that he hadn’t already reclaimed was really something he could call good. His life was nothing more then hit after hit, insult after insult, prank after prank after harassment and threats… It was Safe to say, Neket Dhouti never quite…. Fit in.
Starting at a young age, people seemed to avoid him, be it from his odd mismatched eyes or the way eh clung to his brother like a moment apart would be the end of him. Whatever the reason was, whatever it was that seemed to turn people away from him, it had become a constant pattern in his life, and everyone else seemed to just,,, pick up this vibe from him, this strange sort of air eh could not explain and avoid him and antagonize him. All Neket had ever known was ridicule and slander, all he had known of looks were nasty and disgusted, and all he had learned of touches were drunken slurs of how hot he was, how bad, how he was such a bad idea, so mysterious and alluring. People ignored him, people saw him as pathetic, the weird, fucked up kid, the one fucking idiot failing his classes and being yelled at in the back of class for not turning in some assignment…. Again.
But It only took one night to change your life, one night to change the way the world treated you, saw you, reacted to you. It only took one night to shatter it, and one night to make sure, nothing would ever be the same. There were only a few of those nights, only a slight few in the lotto that was your life.
And Tonight … he was feeling lucky.
The air rushed around him as he sped down the mountain roads he had long since learned by heart, twists and turns he could make in his sleep as the woods of his mountain home passed him by, slowly giving way to his small little no tourist town, a little dot barely on the map nestled between the mountains and the woods that covered them. He was flying through them, speeds far too high to be safe in any sort of situation, but there was something liberating, something wholly uplifting and relaxing to feel that sharp sting of pain as razor winds cut under the sleeves of his suit, already slightly rumpled from his fast paced ride down the mountain. The roar of an engine next to him made his eye drift, lips pulling in the slight smirk as he watched the sleek black care slide from the shadows, the low tint of purple flashing in the street lights as they passed by.
Neket inclined his head, a stiff nod toward the driver before passing him, the laughter spilling from his lips drowned out by the rushing of the wind past him and the roar of engines in the dark the surrounded him, his gaze brightening as his eyes landed on the hell he still managed to just barely call a learning institute.
His school.
The parking lot was practically full by the time he arrived, but Really, Neket didn’t mind the little bit of the extra walk eh had to make because he was parked so far away from the school, in the grasses barely used and some even in the parking lot of the fast food chains that had decided to make a good business move and place themselves next to impulsive buyers with little sense of the value of a dollar. Neket moved, taking off the helmet to shake his ink black hair out of the mold it had found itself in, his eyes wide, body shaking as he placed down the hemelt. He shifted, moved, pulling his leg over to settle himself as nervous hands found the wrinkles in his suit, pulling and twisting them before they straightened back out, the light smile on his face small and almost hesitant as he looked over himself, pleased with the look his messy hair and straightened suit.
The rest of his friends slowly pulled in, one by one by ne, filling up the rest of the empty spots easily as they filed out, dressed to the nines in their own sort of flairs and Neket watched each of them with a interested tick of his brow, seeing so many of his friends dressed so far out of character.
But Every important event required a suit. It was the only belief he had taken from his father, a distant angry bitter old man who was too busy fucking other people’s wives to pay attention to His sons. Every important event often had impressions attached and every event that meant anything required a suit if you really were serious about it, and Neket was nothing if cut throat serious about his long awaited night.
His Night. He loved the sound of it, the very thought filling him with an excitement that could not be held off his features.
“Everyone have their party Favors?” He spoke easily, fixing his cuffs as he asked, voice breezy and light, like eh didn't have a care in the world.
--------------------------
“Hooligians, Or Prom savors? Let me tell you, I’m already feeling ten times better about coming here thanks to them.”
Lunthe Smiled as she brought her drink up to her lips, already the fifth glass she was on and the effects of the alcohol that had already found it’s way into the vibrant selection of punches lines along the wall were already beginning to appear on her skin. Her face was flushing, a light ghosting of dusky pink over her cheeks as she grinned, her eyes clear but bright, her body never stilling, little light movements in time with the music that played as she dance in her place, almost unconscious of the movements as she held out her hand, three cups placed precariously in her hands, held together only by balance and Lunthe’s fingers. She waited for each of them to take a drink, watching Nephi’s eyes narrow as Ryker grabbed hers, the clear worry written over her face at the sight of the extraordinarily tiny girl taking the drink to her lips.
“Ryker, You sure you should drink that? You weren’t able to eat this morning Or afternoon.”
“She’s fine, Momma Bird, stop hovering over her. One night of drinking is fine, plus there lots of little finger foods over there she can nibble on.”
Lunthe jerked her head behind her, toward the other wall that held lots of station, different arrays of food that were all line of prettily on plates and platters, waiting for the large jocks to devour everything and make the caterers struggle to keep up wit the demand. Nephi’s eyes softened slightly, but her back straightened as she took her own drink to her lips, a light, embarrassed blush fluttering over her features.
“Someone has to worry, cause none of YOU seem to.” She tried to defend herself, valiantly as always, but it fell a little short at Lunthe’s little laugh, the buzz of the poison in her veins making everything feel bright and hazy.
So she wasn’t exactly a heavyweight like her sister. So sue her. She knew that alcohol didn’t affect her sister like it did her, where as five cups in this would have done nothing to her sister but it was already making her world just that bit more colorful and alluring. She didn’t mind being a light weight,as It made it all the easier to forget that she had come here alone because no one had bothered to ask if she wanted to go.
Lunthe was Popular. This much could be said without any sort of doubt. Lunthe was Popular,She was loved, she was adored by the masses of her school, for reasons both that had to do with school and without. She was a popular girl, a cheerleader and energetic theatre kid all rolled into one, the kind of girl that got invited to parties and had a hundred people blowing up her phone at any given time. People liked to talk to her, liked to hang out with her. There was no shortage of people who would kill to spend even a moment at her side.
But no one ever really Liked her, not in the ways she ever liked them. In all her seventeen years, Lunthe had not had one single person ever ask her any sort of dance, any sort of person ever confess a crush or feelings toward her, and any time she happened to have plucked up the courage to tell someone she had a crush on them, it was always met with a sympathetic pitying face and the start of an awkward separation of friendship. Over time, it became easier for her to avoid those feelings, notably most happening when she was young, and so the disappointment of not being asked never really stung so bad…. She was able to ignore it, ignore the slight stings as The girls around her got boyfriends and dumped them, a rinse and repeat process that never really started for her.
But this was prom, PROM NIGHT, Night of fulfilled memories and awkward, weirdly sentimental first times in hotel rooms that cost way too much, and despite her promise to not place herself in that sort of situation again, Here Lunthe was, Pining and yearning for someone who could not, would not like her back.
She didn’t see him here, she had noted that a while ago…. But that didn't really come as a surprise. She didn’t really expect him to come, not with how the rest of the school treated him, but she had been hoping maybe she could trick a dance out of him if eh had shown up, all the weird desire in her chest churning in disappointment.
Lunthe took another drink. She almost hadn’t shown up either, the pressure of being popular and arriving alone getting to her as everyone started to clamor about dates and pictures and limos, Her acquaintances asking who was taking her and her making up vague little excuses before she managed to brush the subject off, her throat closing with embarassed waves…. all of it was making her head swim as she fretted over stupid things.
In the end a little rum and a pep talk was all she needed to go, and now here she was bouncing on her feet as her lips split into a grin.
If nothing else, Lunthe loved a good party.
“Braithe~ My Love, My sister, My Darling!”
Lunthe moved, sliding over through the bodies of her friends to wind her arms around her twin, mirror image of her own face staring back at her with artificial brown strands falling into her face, carefully styled to keep it’s hold but still look natural.
She had done some damn good work.
“Last night was weird, for sure, but it’s nothing that hasn’t already been resolved. Nick is practically sobbing at Your feet to get your forgiveness, and Ryker is okay. So let’s drink,and make tonight a better one. ”
--------------------------
Heru Dhouti leaned back against the plush seat in the low-slung sports car and stared incredulously at his date, his hands wiping the debris off on the girl's white laced dress. He tapped a finger against the door's armrest, fingers sliding the window down. Excitement filled the air between the boys who were arriving but Neket’s voice was the only one to rise above all of them. There was a beautiful melody to his brothers voice, the happiness that laced through his words felt contagious as he opened the door to his car with one hand. The other came up to wipe at the blood that was beginning to settle on his lips, thumb brushing the liquid back into his mouth as he let multi colored eyes shift to the puppy like boy he called his twin brother.
“Nobody's going to forget them Neket… I know i didn’t.”
There was tilt to his voice as he spoke to his brother. His eyes gleaming in the same respect as Neket’s as he glanced at his twin. So engrossed in his plans that nothing could truly ruin his mood. Not even a sarcastic younger brother, those eyes just trapped him. Forced a smile to his own lips.
Inked fingers found their ways into his pockets, finding warmth in the shallow depths of the slacks.His fingers traced over the cold metal that clung underneath the thin cloth. The only part about this whole thing that felt too showy. But it was what Neket wanted. And who was he to deny a king.
There were very few things in life that Heru was not sure about. This plan being one of them. Really the plan here was to more make sure they got some sort of revenge on the beings that had made their lives a living nightmare. Not just to go in guns blazing and take them all out in one swift move. No they all wanted them to suffer. They all wanted some sort of retribution or at least acknowledgment from their fellow peers. A feat he was sure by the end of the night they would all be throwing at their feet. Not that any of his squad was going to listen. Another thing he knew for certain.
They were ruthless in their ascent. Knocking down who ever they wanted and who ever they needed in the last week. The last week felt almost like he was on top of the world. Like they were meant to be there from the very beginning. The gods had just been a little confused on their positions at first, but it had seemed that they had fixed their previous mistakes. So what could Heru say to that.
They knew where he stood, his rule to this low maintenance plan that they had thrown together so haphazardly. One that he hadn’t truly thought would be put into action, but here they were. Buttoning up their coats, slicking their hair back and trying for some reason to look some what appealing to these people. Something that without a doubt in his mind he knew they would all achieve.
Some of the girls were already flocking, their eyes on the men in awe and questions. Their dates seemed to stare in the same kind of awe. A trait that with this new found ‘power’ Heru found he could not really complain about. He could hear their shocked gasp, hear the small whispers. The doubt that they were who they thought.
A half cocked smile spilled over Heru’s lips. His eyes turning from his brothers to the small crowd, taking each of the gasping students in for a moment. Allowing them to bask in his gaze for a singular moment before he began forward, his hand extending out to the door while his eyes shifted back to the small group.
“Shall we get this started then?”
-----------------
The taste of victory was sweet on his tongue, washing away all the bitter hate that used to cling to his throat in heated lumps and stinging eyes, that hate, the bile, the bitter sting falling to his gut to churn into something so much darker. His hands found his pockets, the door slamming behind him as he locked the newly acquired car he had added to his collection, the sleek black nearly blending into the shadows the trees about them created, his eyes flashing, his lips parting, gleaming white teeth sharp as razors in the moonlight.
His gaze fell to Neket, the power the coursed through him hot with a new feed and the tang of blood still lingering in his mouth making his lips part in a slight sigh, a thrum of energy under his skin that allowed him to roll his shoulders smoothly, easily, his expression softening, warming, but in the most lethal of ways.
“Everything will be to your liking, Your Majesty. There’s not a pawn out of place…” His voice was a purr, low, dark, unhurried even as he shifted his own hand to his pockets to feel the bit of cold metal into his flesh in several different places as he shook his head, allowing the long brown strands to fall about his face…. The ones not currently held back in a bun that he normally never cared to wear.
He moved, sliding past them, toward the doors of the Gymnasium that hed the practical entirety of his school, of the people who had long since pushed him past the breaking point and had decorated permanent scars along his ego and psyche, wounds that would never heal, and scars that would linger forever on his skin, times, moments, years they had taken everything he had and god Arsen had only wanted out.
He watched them as they took him in, watched them as the stunned awe hit them first, a low darkly pleasured growl boiling in his throat as he made his way in, only flaring as the recognition hit them second, the realization of who he was more pleasing than anything else he had seen so far. This gift, this ability, whatever it was that Neket had granted him just that week ago, made the heads of girls who had long since scorned him turn with lust painted over their faces like a whores make up, the men blinking as they tried to connect the scrawny boy who sat in the back of class and got good grades, a natural target for bullies to try and get him to, stereotypically do their homework.
More often than not he did it, if only to avoid the beatings and the bullying that was sure to follow a no.
He wasn’t that boy anymore. Arsen was no longer the kid they could push around and get what they wanted.
Arsen moved, his stomach full but his body taking him to the steam of cooking food and heated whispers, the area of the gym everyone seemed to be gathering with unspoken social cues. He moved easily, picking up foods he knew he liked, foods he was curious about, things he simply saw someone else wanted and he took so they could not have them. It brought him pleasure to know he had obtained something someone else had desired, knowing they felt a little of the disappointment he had known too intimately and deeply for nearly all his life. He moved with ease, gaze flickering to watch as his brothers, his friends slid along the floor to mingle, relishing in the way the people stared, the recognition that it was the class losers that had stolen their girls attentions.
Then his eye caught sight of a group he had slowly been getting to know, his eyes narrowing in on the one girl who had been on his mind consistently, for years now, her thin form standing out next to her friends, exceptionally tiny even in her beautiful dress that only accented everything he loved about her.
From the moment he first saw her, He had known she would be his downfall.
It was a quiet knowing, a soothing rush of river currents over a sunburn you obtained yesterday, the play of the sun heating your skin as you dipped into ice to allow the chill to sit and settle into your bones. He knew it like you craved that cold, knew that she would ultimately lead to the ruination of his character, had known that when his life changed again, because meeting her was something that had so effectively altered his life he could not say that meeting her was not a life changing event, That she woulds be at it’s center, the catalyst that started it all. She would be the reason his whole world turn upside down, the whole reason he would change everything, for better or worse.
He was not wrong, but what eh could say was she had changed his life in a way he hadn’t expected at all. Ryker Ecchevarria was most definitely a girl worth changing your whole life over. However, He had expected it to be for worse. There was something about Ryker that drew you in. She was small, but she made a huge impression. She was gorgeous, that much inarguable when you saw her, pretty pink lips pulled into smiles and bright golden eyes framed by ink black hair. She had flawless skin, laughter that made his knees weak and eyes that made his heart flutter in his chest. She was more than that though, devastatingly smart and funny and poise, sweet and kind and she tried so hard to to offend him it almost made him cry. She cared, she saw him, she saw him as Arsen, not as the kid who would do your homework and not as the kid who you should push around.
She was different from the usual…
She looks stressed.
He mused as he felt Neket move beside him, hand outs to clap against his back, his gaze following his to catch onto the small group of four that were huddled by the wall, lips splitting as he took in his own little addiction, the social media Queen of snapchat, Braithe Durendal.
“Do you think they saw us?” He asked, the childish, almost playful tone still lingering only his voice as he breathed out his words, looking up at the brunette as he cocked his head, tilted it to look overly curious.
“Oh i hope so.” He answered himself, that smile bordering on madness as he straightened and turned away from him.
“I hope they all saw. The spotlight suits me, don’t you think?” He asked, practically twisting on heel as he spread his arms out a little, eyes bright, flashing, razors and all lethal energy under the guise of friendly conversation. “ I think It suits all of us so much more then the shadows they tried to force us in.”
There was a pause, before, Neket laughed, legs bending slightly in over exaggerated gestures of joy. He moved, faster than eh should have to keep a low profile, eyes wide, on him as he took his face in his hands, forehead pressed against his as a suddenly serious look drifted over the Freckled kings features. He shook him slightly, lightly, with meaning, his gaze steady, clearer than he had ever really seen it.
“We’re going to get absolutely everything we deserve Arsen. Everything will be handed to us on golden platters simply because we wish it to be. Do not forget it.” The words were a his, spoken with such reverence and determination Arsen could feel his heart stumble and jump at the intensity of the words.
Neket moved, danced away, the twist of a fae’s smile on his lips, the Dark king in his ballroom.
“Enjoy yourself, Enjoy others, Enjoy that ice statue over there, I don’t judge! Tonight is The last night, before the rest. Of. Our. Lives...So make it your bitch!”
Neket thrived in the spotlight, Arsen mused, shaking his head at the excited king as he moved through the crowds, relishing in the way the girls clambered.
“Revenge brought out a demon in your brother.”
-------------------
“For all my love birds out there, this is a special love song from the Dj to you.”
The Dj’s voice was loud, booming through the speaker systems so that everyone could hear him. His eyes searched over the crowd but he clearly couldn’t seen any of them their retinas probably burning from the blaring lights that were flashing in his eyes. Ryker had no sympathy for him, the boy had chose the position though she had warned him relentlessly that it was going to be hard on him., instead she let her own gaze fall back to the blonde that was strapping herself to her twin.
A sigh passed pink stained lips, gold eyes closing as she shook her head. Her thoughts shouldn’t have been so low but with her body the way it was right now. She knew there was no way to stay positive in this sort of situation.
“Five minutes in and it’s already about love birds and couples. Of course.”
Ryker sent her soft, whispery voice out over the airwaves, punched in the music, and stared up at the clock for the hundredth time.
Her head was shrieking at her, she had a sore throat, and she had wiped beads of sweat from her forehead more than once. She couldn’t even come up with decent dialogue for tonight's conversations between them all. The studious little sure to be harvard graduate was as sick as she could possibly be. She had been out of the hotel room for exactly two hours and she was ready to surrender.
Ryker rubbed her temples, trying to soothe the awful pounding. She had fallen asleep at six in the morning and, unusual for her, had slept most of the day away. The sore throat and headache had been with her from the moment she’d opened her eyes.
“Oh, yeah, you guys don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.” she muttered resentfully. She had looked the epitome of health as she went off to start the weekend, but she had been distant. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Ryker was never distant, but she felt she was closed off to her friends, and she was never that. She sighed and laid her head against the cold of the cement wall, using her arms for a pillow. She was too sick to figure anything out.
Brian Hutton, her soundman, waved to her from the other side of the gymnasium, indicating the phone. When he mouthed the principal’s name, Ryker wrinkled her nose in distaste and shook her head. Just the idea of the louse increased the awful pounding in her temples. She was going to have to go home, crawl in bed, and hope she could fall asleep with the lights on.
She flipped a switch. “They told me it would be done when prom started,” she said with genuine regret. She had never missed a day of school, had never even been late. It meant nothing to her to be able to go to prom committee, however brief her stay always was. She liked having a clean record, knew they would think well of her after she left. But she moved, pushing through the crowd to the blonde that continued to beckon her over.
“You look like hell,” Brian informed her.
“Oh, thanks. I needed to hear that. Would you cover for me so I could go home and get some sleep?”
“Sure, Ryker,” he agreed sympathetically. “It’s just as well, the crazies are calling in tonight.”
Her fingers wrapped around the phone she had been reaching out for, and everything inside of her stilled. “What crazies, Brian?” She was exasperated and she knew it showed on her features no matter how hard she fought the expression down.
“Don’t worry about it,” he reassured. “I didn’t think you would be so upset over the news. We will get it under control if anything happens Ry. Just go home, get some rest. Don’t want your crush to see you looking like that.”
Ryker forced a laugh, forced her tense muscles to relax. “If they could only see me now.” But she would have to be more careful than usual. She’d grown too comfortable here. Too comfortable with Brian. “What did he want? The principal?”
“Nothing. He just wanted to see what was happening, how everything was going.”
Ryker breathed a soft sigh of relief, dropping her head into her hands. All she wanted was to crawl into a hole and hide.
Brian pressed closer to her and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. “You’re burning up. You okay to drive? Or do you want me to call you a cab? I can drive you home.”
She patted his hand, shifting out from under him on the pretense of gathering her things together. “I’ll be fine, Brian, thanks. Rest, orange juice, chicken soup, I’ll be here tomorrow Monday with bells on.” She held up her car keys. “I didn’t lose them this time.”
He grinned at her. “That’s a shock. Wait for the security guard. You know how Nephie is about you wandering around in the parking lot alone this time of night. He’d have my job first, then my head, if I let you.”
“Poor Nep.” Ryker smiled at the thought of her in spite of the fact that even her teeth hurt. “She really thinks I’m a pack of trouble, doesn’t she?”
Ryker took out the little phone from her purse, clutching it in preparation to call Nephie and let her know about the current situation. There was way too many pressures right now.
“I’ll call her, don’t worry about it.”
Brian grinned at her. “She’s right too. Come on, I’ll walk you down.”
“Thanks, I’m fine, really, but next time you want to take a day off, do it on someone else’s shift. On some other guys shift, like the Dj, whatever his name is…” The boy said chucking a finger back to the man that Brian called his brother.
She rolled her eyes. “He’s a grump and a bore. Last night was no fun at all working with him.”
He grinned at her. “I’ll be sure to plan all my future days off around your schedule.”
She thumped his shoulder, knowing sarcasm when she heard it. The sound of vibration humming from the boys tux pocket. “My phones lighting up all over the place.”
He shrugged, uncaring. “Probably that nut. He’s called six times already tonight. I don’t want to talk to him.”
“Might be,” Ryker agreed. “But on the other hand it could be our mighty boss. Ever think of that?”
Brian’s smile faded instantly. He was halfway through the gym by the time Ryker lifted a heavy hand to wave. She sighed running a hand down her neck as she sighed loudly. Her eyes shifting to the bar that she stood by, the smell of the food making her face turn in disgust. There was nothing in the slightest appealing to her on this table, her fingers coming up to press the cold of her phone to her lips. Trying to cover the expression.
There was a sharp turn on heels that were too high for her, her body shifting to turn away from the array of smells and smacking her straight into a brick wall. At least that’s what he felt like to her, her own body flinching from the impact, her head shrieking in protest to the pain. Thin fingers pressed her phone against the table, leaving it in its place so she could press cold fingers to the bridge of her nose. But her hand came up to wave lazily trying for the life of her to focus on the person in front of her.
“I’m sorry... Sorry. I should have watched where i was going.”
Gold eyes took in the burst of colors in front of her, allowing her eyes to roam over the well tailored suit, to the brown tendrils that dropped loosely onto his shoulders not stopping until they landed on violet eyes, smoldering. And she could feel her heart drop in her chest only to reappear in her throat. Those eyes were transfixed, and there was something in them that made her recoil, a fear jumping over her bones as she took a quick step back.
“Sorry! Sorry! So sorry,...”
Pale fingers reached out to snatch her phone, and run but she never got the chance her name a whisper between the two. She let gold eyes slowly flick back to the brown haired beauty that was in front of her. His smile drew her and forced her to suck in a breath, his teeth practically gleaming in the low lights of the thrumming prom. It took her a second, her eyes wandering over the man again.
“Ryker.”
There was an ache in his voice.
But that wasn’t what gave away who he was.
Ryker’s fingers clenched the edge of the table as she inhaled deeply Arsen’s distinctive male scent. It flooded her lungs and made her stomach do a strange little flip. He had been missing for a whole week, in one of her busiest weeks he had disappeared along with the rest of the squad he hung around, But now here he was, all smiles. Her mouth curved at the thought. He said her name and she could feel her already fragile heart flipping in her chest, but she loved his voice. The thought of it, of him solely talking to her, had a warmth spreading quickly through her entire body.
She took another breath, breathing in the heady aroma that she had grown so fond of, wondering whether she should leave immediately before she became obsessive over him, or stand there lost in him forever, slip him into her emergency pack so if she had to run fast she would always have him.
Arsen. He smelled so good all the time. He smelled safe and clean and so very male. With a little sigh she forced herself to back up. Having no idea what she was going to do with herself, she forced her body into motion, taking no time in throwing a smile over her lips, genuine, savoring the feeling of his gaze on her.
Now she wasn’t going to be able to get the boy out of her mind.
“Arsen! I’m glad you came,... you look incredible!”
--------------------
Tonight…. God, Tonight was absolutely magical.
There was a feeling, a light hum of burning energy that simmered under Neket’s skin. It was like a livewire, bright and snapping with cracks of vicious electric energy that simmered under the surface of the whispers that were spreading around the room. It was burning, bright, a hum even more apparent when they had walked into the room. Part of it was the natural sensual bubble of promised anticipation that happened at any sort of event like this, the pressurized simple things that held more worth than they really should. There was a charge to it, a lacing ribbon of something otherworldly twisting into the seams of the night and pulling it all together, his heart elated at the sight of so many eyes on him, the thought the retribution at hand.
His fingers found his hair, shaking even as they moved, soothing back the black strands into the sort of messy slicked back style that seemed to be working for all the girls that were around him, the sound of their little hearts racing for something they shouldn’t want only adding to the almost giddy elation that had found it’s new home in his heart, his throat, his mind. He let out a breathy laugh as he twisted on heel, turning as he allowed the world to slow, taking in the pathetically attempted decorations and the contrasting with the phenomenal catering service the school seemed to choose to pour the entirety of the Prom budget into.
Everything was so different with a view from the top.
“Neket!” He heard her call, the vision of red hair flashing in his head as he turned, smile still in place as he took in the sight of Vivianne Strides, A girl who, just last week had told him off for touching her desk when he was falling and tried to catch himself so that he didn’t fall straight to the floor and hit his head after some random pushed him. He smiled wider as his hand came up, palm up and extended, something she delighted in as she placed her fingers along his, her face turning smug for only a second, her eyes flashing back to him. He lifted her hand to his mouth, lips never touching her hand, but instead breathing in, before he dropped her hand suddenly, like it burned him.
She looked flustered, but undeterred, at least, Until he moved, pulling out a handkerchief out of his pocket to rub along his hands, his eyes unbothered but his lips pulling slightly at the edges.
“You’re not supposed to touch trash with your bare hands, you know. My mother would beat my ass if she found out I had forgotten. She was such a strict woman, lovely when company was around, Smiles, perfect hostess ...beat me and my brother with rulers and starved us when we made noise, or breathed or make less than an A on a test.”
He shook his head fondly, leaning back to bend his legs again as he balled up the cloth in his hands, rolling his head as he straightened back up to look at her with an almost child like innocent expression. He leaned forward, his hand up over to the side of his face like he was sharing some sort of secret, his voice low, whispered only for her to hear.
“She also told me not to kill her, begged me really, but I did that too; I really was never good at listening, I have a real problem with authority.”
He spoke this with a nod, laughing as she pulled away, the laugh catching in his throat as she lifted her gaze to him, absolutely disgusted.
“You’re a fucking freak.” Her words stopped his laughter, expression falling as he narrowed his gaze on her. He reached out, careful that the handkerchief stayed between them as he pulled her to the side, into a darkened corner that no one was paying attention to. She attempted to scream, but her eyes caught his, a shifting blend of colors swirling in her eyes as he reached into her, the strange compulsion spell falling over her as he lifted his fingers to his lips.
“Shhhhhhhh……” He hushed her, low hiss sliding past his lips. His gaze stayed steady on hers, her breathing growing faster as she realized he held her there with nothing more then his gaze. His lips quirked, a light lift of a half smirk that fell before it could fully form, his mind clearly racing, flashing with the option to completely fall or to allow this new persona to fall through.
“You’re not to say a word, not one more noise is to leave you until I tell you otherwise. I want you to suffer, silently, Quietly, without notice...as I have for the past eighteen years….”
He took a step closer, her body taking a step back to hit the wall, her eyes tearing up as she watched him grin, watched his finger, still against his lip move, curl away from his mouth as he leaned down toward her. The ability flexed in him, the compulsion a vibration to his words, a low sensual growl as he purred them, commands directly into her.
“You will live, as I have. And you will say not a word. You will not leave, you will not scream, or cry, or sob, but you will be plagued by your worst nightmares.”
He saw it when the visions started to appear before her, dark light and fading fragments shattering in her eyes as the darkness started to overtake her. He watched her eyes for those few moments, losing the light of a happy life as her mind filled with her own horrible nightmares, mind trapped in an endless loops as she had to live her reality. He watched it because he recognized it, the soulless eyes that just barely passed as living, a mirror image of his own. He watched with that growing smile as she shook, trembled, taking a step back to enjoy it, enjoy her fear, the fear of a girl he had once feared himself. Her nightmares came to him like knowledge, things eh could block out if he wanted, but he simply smiled, before throwing the cloth at her.
“Here, i’m sure you’ll be needing it to clean yourself up later after twenty men corner you in the bathroom to gang rape your drunken ass. No need to thank me, all in the spirit of Prom, no? Don’t bother returning it, I don’t want to catch anything you might get.”
She stared at him wide eyed, as he pulled away, shrugging like he was honestly doing her a favor and it really was no problem. She shook as he waved, grinning as he took those steps away from her with a carefree wave.
“Enjoy your night!”
And he was gone, the sound of her knees hitting the ground as she silently screamed her despair into a void in her mind making the giddy happy feeling rise again. God it felt great to put the filth in their place, to put someone who had once made it a rather nasty point a state why no one would ever want to date him or ever even want him and had encouraged him to take out the problem in his life, which she had assure him, was himself, into such a state of distress all she could do was shake and silently cry.
Tonight was shaping up fantastically.
Neket moved, stepping back into the crowd, standing up to his toes as he took in a deep breath, the hum of blood making his mouth water. He allowed his gaze to move, slide over the people to catch heads or tails of someone he knew, be it bully, Friend or….
Braithe.
He saw her, was able to pick her out of the crowd easily. She wasn’t dressed like the rest of them, was never one to follow what the rest of the masses like but rather stayed very true to her own cares and needs. She was popular, Her and her sister But Neket had never really had much interaction with Lunthe, but rather most of his free time was spent with Braithe over the internet. She stood out blatantly, something that made his heart stutter as he looked at her, cheeks heating as he watched her bounce on her feet, looking around like she was looking for something as Ryker walked away and Nephi seemed to panic.
Desire hit him like a freight train, and before he knew it, he was moving, sliding through the people until he manage to sneak up behind her, Nephi not seeing him as she looked around, his hand sliding along Braithe’s waist to pull her back, into his chest. He was already moving,twisting them, turning her in his hands in easy moves that had her dress spring out and her words shifting, before he settled, his hand finding the divots of her waist, holding her as he lowered her, dipped her so she had to rely solely on him to not fall to the ground. His other hand pulled up her leg, fingers finding her thigh and pulling, holding her tightly to him. He grinned at her, lips pulled into a half smirk, eyes flashing as he looked her over.
“Good Morning Beautiful… Well, Technically goodnight, but I have about a week of greetings to make up for.” He spoke easily, playfully even as he gave her a slow burning look that only grew the longer he looked at her. He purred his next words, a rumble of need in his voice that wasn’t present before, a longing only ever apparent for her.
Humans, at their core,were utterly oblivious creatures.
This was something that Carson had always known. Humans were, by nature, self absorbed creatures, creatures that relied on the ‘every man for himself’ as a law of nature. They were absorbed in themselves, wholeheartedly selfish, a key trait that had played a large part of monsters, beings of power and fame, going unnoticed for millennia, living among them right under their noses. It wasn’t anything they could help, an inherent flaw in them as a race, but it made things sort of interesting, fascinating to watch unfold, creatures so oblivious they walk straight into a hunter’s trap.
Tonight was the night. Tonight was the night that everything changed, and Carson watched in amusement and a curious fascination as the people filed into one of his many homes, thier bodys shivering from the snows icy touches, winter not yet here but just around the corner, the nip in the air a gentle reminder of it’s presence. He watched as they huddles around each other, the fire, for warmth and smiles, alcohol long since finding it’s way into the hands of needy teens who wished to let loose and rebel just that tiny bit. It was curious that they could not feel what was looming, be it winters turn in just a few weeks, judging by the amount of skin showing, most girls had blatantly ignored the chill, or be it the dark looming shift in the air. Tonight was the night that everything would change, and not a single one of them batted an eye at enter his mountain home.
Could they not feel it? Could they not feel the energy, the touch of the unknown just beyond their realm of sight. Carson felt it like a lover’s hands, the brush of fingertips along his spine, little shivers of pleasure accompanied by a nearly silent purr, deep rumbles in his gut that expressed his pleasure. He could feel change as she brushed feather light lips over the back of his neck, lingering in the air to create a hum of energy under the voices beginning to gather, a spice that he could almost taste on a heavy tongue. It was amazing they could not, all smiles and relaxation as anxiety licked along his spine, his hands gripping the banister so that he might have some hold, his thoughts racing and lifting, slipping past his mind’s fingers like ribbons of smoke in the cold. He could feel her as if her hand was on his spine, and they felt nothing at all.
It was no wonder they were on the path to extinction. They never noticed anything that wasn’t told to them.
There were a few exceptions, of course, a few humans Carson had noted that didn’t seem to fit the social norm that humans had created. Those favored few, They were observant, maybe not as much so as a monster might be but significantly more than a normal human. They Weren't dull, vapid, boring, they were interesting and coy and while they did not recognize him and his brothers for what they were, they had seen past layers carson hadn’t even known were there.
Carson’s gaze flicked back to the growing pond of people at the foot of his stairs, a make shift sort of dancefloor made in the center of his foyer, as he heard the sounds of laughter, screams and enjoyment as the people found all the party favors he had set up, as any true host would. Beer, hard liquor, food by the tons and endless music and wood to ward off the chill, Carson had left nothing up to chance. The night had settled in, the sun not quite gone but setting, streaking the sky thousands of colors, lighting up the forest that was surrounded by his family's walls, beautiful, but Carson’s eyes skimmed over it, watching the door intently, with a purpose flashing in dark and light mismatched eyes.
He breathed in, taking in the music that was pouring from the speakers, the spice of alcohol he had provided creating a slightly sensual and exotic tang in the air, a night for bonfires that burned brightly in the fire pits that had been douge into the earth in front and behind his house, for secrets, lust and need. This energy was alive, a beating in it’s own right, infecting them all with that slow dreamy sort of haze that burned them, slowly, inch by inch, every moment another blaze and he could feel it....Every lick of need another hit to his veins. Carson wanted to burn, and He wanted to burn slowly.
Every inch of him ached for it, the layer of need this night had created, and his gaze moved, taking in body after body after body, searching, hoping waiting….
For her.
“Have you seen them Abram? They said they would come, right?” Carson’s voice was low, a purr of unease now in his chest as he searched the people in his home. He allowed his eyes to move, flickering over to his best friend and practical brother.
“Why aren’t they here…. They said they were coming.” his impatience was starting to color his tone. His body tensing as he allowed his anxiety to take over, and he clenched harder at the wood railing, fingers tapping as he foot lifted to tap his toes against the floor, all signs of the ball of nerves that was plaguing him.
He just had to see her….
--------
Honestly, nothing should have been as difficult as opening the front door to this house.
It was just a house. Just like any other…. Alright. Maybe it was a little more extravagant. But wasn’t that even more reason to want to go in?
The sigh that parted her lips was long, exasperated as the others gathered around her. Their words hardly reaching her ears. But she could hear the music already thrumming, hear the low hum of laughter and conversations she was better left out of. The smell of liquor and weed hung thickly in the air, a tell tale sign of a Dhouti party. A party that no one in their right minds would miss. Not when people were clamoring to make the Dhouti boys happy. Clamoring to get a minute in the lime light, even if that meant just hanging in the shadows beside them. Watching and hovering in the masses that followed after them.
But that wasn’t Requiem. And hell would freeze over before it saw the day of her begging for any Dhouti attention.
So, why was she here?
Right now, she should have been scurrying to rush into the home, into the warmth. Should have been striving to get the icy burn out of the tips of her fingers. She knew that they were pink, knew that her nose and cheeks would match. But she could not find the motivation to press forward and open the door. Instead she stared for a minute, watching the shadows move behind the glass.
“Requiem?”
The voice was soft, pushing in the tone, but it was enough. Enough for the darkling to lift a single eyebrow, grey eyes flicking to the brown haired beauty at her side, those royal violet eyes almost smoldering as they rested on her.
She shouldn’t be throwing attitude to her only companion, the only other person who didn’t seem too interested in being here either. The only other person who had just as much anxiety rolling off her. But still she did. Still, she could feel her nose scrunching up. She could feel her eyes rolling as she flicked those grey eyes back to the door, all pretty stained glass and stained wood.
“Ashlin.”
She knew why, the second the her name passed her lips. She knew that it was only because Ashlin knew. Ashline always knew. She could feel Requiems anxiety just as easily as Ashlin could feel hers. It was a comfort to know she wasn’t the only one. But never the less, there were others with them. Ones who only ever got to see this side of her. Ones who would judge her.
“Are you fucking kidding me Requiem. Open the fucking door you fucking ingrate.”
Those eyes snapped back to the blonde that was all snapping teeth and snarled tone. Her own expression irritated and she moved to cross those arms across her chest and she only looked all the more pissed. It was a second, it couldn’t have been more than that before Menzy was moving pushing her way through the small crowd of girls, pushing aside the ones who didn’t move.
“Hard of hearing now too, princess?”
Menzy moved, her own fingers pressing down the lock on the door to release it, where the warmth of the house began to flood out. Almost no one noticed, their attention to thwarted by the awe in the house or too engrossed in each other or their drinks too notice. Grey eyes paused on the emeralds that were staring Requiem down, and what did she do? The only thing she could think of to do as an acceptable reply.
She shrugged.
“Jesus.”
And that was it, Menzy moved on, pressing forward and disappearing into the house. IT wasn’t a weird case for her to act this way. The attitude, the pushiness. None of it was out of character for Menzy. But, the word ‘princess’ rarely came out of those lips. Her insults generally pointing at her ‘carelessness’.
“Where’s Ankou?”
“She’s already here. Probably off with Echo, let’s be real.”
“That explains that.”
-------
“Shhh. Shhh,shshshshsh.”
His arm dropped his arm loosely across the shoulders of his taller Alpha, his other arm coming up to cross Carsons chest just to come up to caress the clearly unamused darklings neck, his thumb brushing across the fine jawline. He let his eyes lock onto that multi colored gaze, his own lashes fluttering in an obvious display of his affections.
“I’m here now my love. There is no more need to fret.”
“You literally just walked in… and you already have everybody staring Echo.”
“Let them look. To miss it would be tragic.”
Echo let his eyelashes flutter against, his hand only coming off when Carson put a gentle hand over Echo’s, his fingers prying lightly at the fingertips. He was bothered. Obviously. Something was wrong, the tension in the tall darkling almost spilling off of him in waves.
“What’s wrong Carson? The girlies giving you trouble again? Want me to beat them up for you?”
A small chuckle passed the blonde's lips, his arms dropping to his sides just to find warmth in the depth of his pockets.
He would be lying to say that seeing the expression on Carson’s face didn’t bother him. The only solace he could take was Abram taking his place next to the boy, his own lips quirking slightly as he leaned over the banister that Carson had been on. Blue eyes thrown up towards him, the smile on his lips was sincere but obviously cautious as he smiled up at Carson.
“I’m sure they are coming, Car. You gotta chill a little bit.”
A hand patted Carson’s back in what Echo had to assume was supposed to be some kind of reassuring motion but Echo would never have a clue why.
“Who? Who are we talking about right now?... Damn. All right.”
If looks could kill Echo would be on the floor probably bleeding from the mouth, Abrams face one not to be reckoned with in those seconds. And Echo could only put a hand over his heart, feign baffled by the look. Like it was something easily tossed his way.
In reality, it was something thrown his way too often and too easily. And not from just little baby Abram either. His friends and family seemed to give the “The look’ just as often and just as easily as Abram. But he knew that when it concerned Carson from Abram, he had better clam the fuck up.
-----------
“Read ‘em and weep, boys! That makes three wins, and by rules of best out of five, I win! I’ll be claiming all of your wallets and your dignity now, thank you.”
The smile was apparent, even without seeing Ankou DeAngelis’s expression as she placed her winning hand on the table for the group to see, the men huddled around the table in nothing more than their underwear leaning to take a look at her cards before the low groans of disappointment and irritation began to bubble around her in a full bloomed chorus of manly dejection. Ankou’s grin only widened as she crossed her legs, her hands moving from the smooth feel of her cards to the wood of the table, her bright eyes, flashing poison green, bright but hazy with a light hint of alcohol. She tapped the table, once, loudly, with one long finger, one brow raising in question as she watched as some of the men started to stand, making gestures and curses like they were just going to leave.
She didn’t allow her smile to falter, her tone all sun and ease and laughter, a hint of something dark, primal, that stopped the men in their tracks.
“Ah, Ah Ah…. I believe you have something of mine. I would hate to have to collect on any of you over a fun little game, simply because you could not keep your word.”
She supposed, given the chance, most of them would have tried to make a clean getaway. She knew it was on their minds, a thought that rested in the shadows of bad ideas and alcohol brightness shone light in the dark. They stared at her a moment, and Ankou could practically read the ideas flickering through their minds. They all wondered, briefly, for a moment, of their chances of making it out of this with their money if they just ran. I could never be said it was not a thought.
But they knew better then to act on that idea. There were just some things, no matter what pack you hailed from, there were some things and some people you did not touch, did not fuck with, and as it was, Ankou was one of the. It was not wise to cross her, hell, most would have advised stray from even catching the young woman's eyes, vivid green a siren's call that too many had fallen victim to. It wasn’t that Ankou was particularly nasty...Ankou was… friendly, smooth and warm, the kind of girl who smiled and made your day a little brighter. She wasn’t the cold beauty that Ashlin and Abby had, she wasn’t the regal distant princesses that only allowed the gods themselves to part their legs, like Requiem and Perilium. Ankou was…. Summer nights and cinnamon liqueur, the burn of Alcohol and the hum of butterflies in your stomach as your crush wound their hands around your waste. She was sensual burning and slow touches, heated glances and panted breath, all the heat and lust high schoolers seemed to desire. She was the embodiment of your first love,your highschool love and unrequited crush, and that made you want to please her. She was the kind of girl who spurred feelings of desire and heat, and she made you want to try harder, take more.
But Ankou was a wildfire, and as quickly as she could warm you, Ankou could consume you, burn the flesh of your bones and leave you, empty, used up, a shell of who you once were. She showed no mercy, none to those who would cross her path and spike her temper, and it was common knowledge, you did not cheat her of her prizes, for she would use every bit of what she stole from you against you, and bring you to your knees.
“Your wallets, place them on the table before you leave.”
She watched their hesitance with an amused eye, watched them before they sighed and fished their wallets out, eight thumps of distinctive leather on wood before they moved, grabbing their clothes and leaving the room in a huff, her hands already on the leather to place them in the jacket pockets of the jacket she had stolen a week ago, much to large sleeves sliding off as she grinned and laughed at her new fortune.
She pocketed them all, the smile on her face changing slightly as she hummed her contentment.
Now, she really needed to find her girls.
She stood, her spine cracking as she lifted her hands, stretching them out as she yawned, her body stretching as she stood on her tiptoes for a moment, her head lolling slightly to the side before she inhaled, the familiar musk of smoke and sweat and woods filling her, her eyes closing as she allowed her hands to drop. Her heart ract stuttered, her stomach clenching as her thoughts shifted, to his smile, his eyes, the feel of hima against her… she felt that familiar ache, the need thudding through her veins, ands he sucked in breath, trying to calm herself.
First Menzy…. Then she would go look for him.
She had just enough liquid courage for that.
“Oh Menzy~”
Her voice sang, waving through the crowds as she followed the embrasses men and left the room, her eyes flickering over the moving bodies and sensual fire light. She only had to look around twice before she spotted that head of platinum blond hair, her smile returning with even more force than before.
“MENZY!”
That was the only warning the girl got, before Ankou had thrown herself on her, her hands wrapping around her as she pressed her body flush up against her best friend.
Sometimes…. Saho wondered if he even had a heart anymore.
It was more than just the fact he could no longer feel, could no longer see the colors he knew ran so vividly through the world, a memory painted in the, admittedly, flawed spectrum his mortal mind had, More than just the missing emotions he knew she should be there, knew he should be feeling but instead of their rampant appeal, he felt nothing but an aching hole in his chest, another reminder of what used to be. He loved his father, He loved his brothers, his friends. He loved them, with every aching fiber in his soul, but he could not feel it, could not feel the burning attachment that he knew was there…. And Yet still, he acted on it, played into like most Vampires did, only his was strengthened by the longing the dwelled within him, that longing for both emotion and the people they were attached to. Saho wanted Amun… He wanted Alta.
He supposed that was the human remains in him, the side of him that had died thousands of years ago when his father had brought fangs to flesh and turned him from a peasant misfit to a king. He could remember seeing in color, could remember the feelings that rushed through him, new, hot, vivid, only to be taken away after one hundred short years, all color fading along with his joy, his happiness, anything light in him. He had been told it was normal, told this was the way a vampires worked, and after thousands of years, Saho had accepted that. It didn’t matter so much anymore, and he even began to appreciate it, content that his chest no longer swelled with sympathy, no longer felt any empathy for those under him.
It was in moments like these, in the flickering candle light of what they had deemed the throne room, his back pressed against the high raised chair with, what looked to him like murky grey but was actually a vivid blue cushions comforting his body, that the thought rose up again, the question he held no answer to and did not really care to.
What what the price of immortality?
Was it simply your humanity, or was it possible that it was the very beating heart that lay in you chest? Sure, it beat against his hand as he held a curious hand over it, his eyes hooded, shadowed as he felt it’s rhythmic thump in one, two, threes, but his question laid more with the ‘heart’ or had he given that up, Handed it to his father In exchange for immortality and power that now sang through his veins? It wasn’t a question he wondered often. In truth, Saho was content with how his life was playing out, in what it was that he could do, what power he held over people and their thoughts. He knew what he was, a Vampire, a king, and most days it gave him a strong vivid surge of enjoyment to see people beg him for small things, a loan, a day… their lives, and their vigorous fear only proved to him what he already knew…. That he was made to be a king.
But sometimes he wondered what price had paid for such a right, what he had given up to make this his destiny.
The question popped up now, fresh in his mind now, as he stared down the men who had fallen to their knees before him, dark long hair falling in his face as his hands pressed flat against the floor, his body, invisible to other who were looking upon him, shook slightly under the weight of his stare, like his eyes weighed more than his body could handle, a thousand pounds of judgement and promised pain. Saho’s head tilted, his eyes blinking slow as he took the man in, his memory, longer than that of a normal human, could vaguely recall the image of this man standing before him, to promised wealth and reputation to the kings should they simply give him a small loan.
Saho had known that he would not be able to hold up the loan that he had given to him. He had know this was how it would end, that the man, so cocky before, so arrogant, so sure, would end up here once more, begging, pleading with him to give him just that one more chance, that if he just gave him a little more time, he could make him double, no triple what Saho had dished out.
He didn’t realize Saho had never intended for him to make it.
“So you’re telling me, that you have come here, empty handed….. And expect forgiveness?”
The man stiffened, his sobs silencing even as the tears spilled from his eyes. He knew. He knew what it was that was coming, the words that would fall from, his lips even before he said them. Saho knew that if he commanded it, the man would slit his own throat, that all the King had to do…. Was simply say no, and they would know just exactly what that meant. In Reality, Saho didn’t have to say another word, didn’t have to even look up from his worn boots, didn’t have to do more then wave his hand in his direction for all of this to be over...
But it was far more fun to go through formalities.
“What’s that? There is no mumbling in my court.”
The man shivered as Saho’s voice ran over him, his body shaking, trembling. Saho gave him a moment, a few seconds of his prolonged silence, before the quirk in his lips became to hard to hid, the twist of his lips into a wicked grin flashing in his eyes.
“You don’t deserve my Protection any longer. All that you have…. Belongs to me now.”
The man snapped up, just as Saho Lifted his hands…. And snapped his fingers.
The sounds of his screams reverberated through the halls as the men lining the walls, the ones hooded, flashing ravenous eyes snapping toward the man’s figure as he spoke, who responded to Saho’s gestures in an instant, their movements quick, a blur of motion, and all that could be heard was the screams, the splash of blood across stone as they tore into his flesh, the sight of it hidden by the splay of limbs, the rush of bodies of starving vampire fledglings flailing and covering the sight of the body being torn apart.
Saho only watched, grinning slowly as he leaned back into his chair, his hand coming up to catch his cheek against his knuckles. He settled, tilting his head to the side to allow himself to soak in the screams…. For a moment, anyway.
“So…. you couldn’t have killed him in a normal way…. Like say slitting his throat? Stabbing him with a knife that I know you have on you…. Snapping his neck maybe? You know, like a normal vampire king might have? Do you have to use the starving fledglings? I hate the sounds they make….”
The smile that had been creeping along his lips dulled into a surly pout as Saho turned his head to look at the person who muttered the words lowly, softly, to the point that they were reserved simply and only for him. Saho took a moment to take in the image of the man lying across one of the other thrones, his hands raise so his fore arms rested on his chest, his eyes, blue as the oceans and just as deep, just as vivid, locked on the little cube of what should have been colors that rested in his hands, fingers moving over them to rearrange the smaller squares again and again and again, his expression never changing from his typically bored mask.
Alta Lee was a Formidable man. It didn’t matter that he was currently sitting in a throne with a child’s toy in his hands, It didn’t matter that he had seemingly never allowed his eyes to move from his hands, his fingers that moved easily over the little rubix cube, Saho knew that the brown haired king had seen, heard, processed everything that had transpired with a troubling ease. He didn’t have to look to see the bodies on the ground, didn’t have to look up to know who it was that stood before them and whose blood now painted the ground. A Lee’s business was knowing, and Alta was a picture perfect Lee.
“I like using the fledglings…. What the point of starving them if we can’t use them?” Saho huffed, slipping from his Kingly air for a moment as he huffed back, a child again in a golden crown. Alta huffed, scoffed at the words, his gaze only flickering once toward the black haired boy.
“That would be the point. What’s the point of starving fledglings? It’s almost cruel.”
“As if You care about what’s cruel or not.”
There was a moment of silence as Alta could not say a single thing to that matter. Saho grinned. It wasn’t often he won in a battle of words against the Lee. If he were to keep score (Which he wouldn’t, that would be pointless) Alta would have 18654 wins to his 4.
Including this one.
So he soaked in it a little.
“Next. Shalen Tustin.”
Saho, still reeling in his little victory against Alta, hardly heard the words that the courtkeeper had spoken, the rest of the court’s head turning as the wide double doors opened, revealing a small man with nervous mannerisms, his fingers touching as he shuffled forward, blues eyes flicking toward the fledglings that had returned to lining the sides before moving on to the kings that sat, unamused and imposing, at the head of the throne room. Saho’s head tilted, his mind racing as he tried to bring up some fragment of a memory on this man, but for the life of him, he could not remember.
The man stopped,paused in front of him, and from the corner of his eye, Saho saw Alta move, fingers dropping the rubix cube as he straightened his spine, twisting so that he faced the man with a visible interest in his stance, something that caught Saho’s attention immediately. Alta didn’t care for court dynamics, and he very, VERY rarely showed any interest in anyone who walked in. Infact, Alta made it a point to simply ignore almost everything that was going on before him when it came to the days he had to hear what the public had to say, choosing to play some sort of childish game or ignoring everything around him. To capture Alta’s attention was something extraordinary, and now they whole heartedly had his attention as well.
“Why are you here, Mr. Tustin?”
The man shifted, mumbled something under his breath as his gaze slid along the ground. Saho could hear Alta starting to shift again, and he knew from experience a restless Alta was not a Alta that anyone really wanted to deal with. It really wasn’t a matter on if he could hear him or not. Saho was, if not just a king, but a Dhouti, one of the strongest lines of Vampires, turned by by the originals themselves and holding their blood. He could hear him, perfectly, hear the words that slid past his lips, but Saho wanted to hear him articulate. He gave no special treatment, even to those that interested him.
“Why are you HERE, Mr. Tustin. I can’t be bothered to try and hear you if you want to whisper.”
“MY DEBT! I’m here…. I’m here to settle my Debt.”
“And what do you think you have that might interest me?”
There was a silence, before the man before them seemed to steel, and his eyes hardened as more people stumbled through the open doors. His voice was clear now, his mind already made up, long before he had even set foot before the Kings.
“My Daughter, Caven.”
And there was that human nature, the nature of loyalty so easily broken in the fragile creatures that made up most of the world's population. Saho blinked, his expression betraying nothing. He could not deny that he had expected something of the sort, the man's fortune, his house, his servitude, but to off his own daughter as repayment for a debt was something that saho had very rarely heard. He moved, shifting slightly as his gaze narrowed, the grin twisting his features, black and blue strands falling into mismatched eyes as he breathed his question, a simple one with a hopefully interesting answer.
“Tell me, why would your daughter be worth your debt?”
--------------------------
Vampire males, any of the males of the Originals blood without a lifemate, without their one, didn't dream. They didn't see in color and they certainly didn't feel emotion. Pain, yes, but not any good emotion. So why had he been reaching for a dream for the past few years? He was an ancient, an experienced warrior. He had no time for fantasy, or for imagination. His world was stark and barren, a necessity for battling an enemy who, inevitably, had been a friend or family member.
Over the first hundred or so years after losing his emotions, he had held out hope. As centuries passed, the hope of finding his one had faded. He had accepted he would find her in the next life and he was carrying out his resolve to do his last duty to his people. Yet here he was, an ancient of great experience, Alta of the Lee line, a lineage as old as time itself, a man of wisdom, a warrior renowned and feared, sitting wide awake, dreaming.
Dreams should have felt insubstantial, and at first his had been. A woman. Just a vague idea of her appearance. So, young in comparison to him, but a fighter in her own right. She hadn't been his concept of the woman who would partner him, yet as she grew in substance over the years, he realized how perfect she was for him. He had fought far too long to ever lay down his weapons. He knew no other way of life. Duty and sacrifice were bred into his very bones and he needed a woman who could understand him.
Perhaps that was what dreams were. He'd never dreamt until a few years ago. Never. Dreams were emotions, and he'd long ago lost those. Dreams were color, although not his. But they felt like color as the years shaped the woman. She was a mystery, sheer confidence when she fought. She often had fresh bruises and wounds that left scars on her soft skin. He'd taken to examining her carefully each time they met, healing her had become a traditional greeting. He found himself smiling inside, thinking how she was entirely confident when it came to viewing herself as a woman. For a few moments, he contemplated why he should be smiling inside. Smiling was equated with happiness, and he had no emotions to feel such things, but his memories of emotions were sharpening as he moved toward the end of his life, instead of dimming as he had expected. Because when he summoned the dream, he felt a sense of comfort, of well-being and happiness.
Over the years, she had become clearer to him. A fierce leader with exactly the same values he held on loyalty and family and duty. He would never forget the night, only a week ago, when he saw her eyes in color. For a moment, he couldn't breathe, looking at her in wonder, shocked that he could remember colors so vividly that he could attribute an actual color to her eyes.
Her eyes were beautiful, glowing blue with faint hints of gold and amber that darkened when he managed to elicit a laugh from her. She didn't laugh often or easily, and when she did, he felt it was more of a victory than any of the battles he'd won.
As dreams went, and they only occurred when he was awake, they always seemed a bit out of focus. But he looked forward to seeing her. He felt protective toward her, as if his allegiance had already swung toward his dream woman. He wrote to her, songs of love, saying all the things he wished to tell his one. And when she refused to rest, he'd lay her down, her head in his lap, stroking her thick mane of hair and singing to her in other languages. He'd never felt more content, or more complete.
He had often called her Varis, his tongue caressing the word. She had no idea what it meant, but that single word made a swarm of butterflies take flight in her stomach. Something that made him soar, made that smile that usually only played over his expression for his Dhotui display with a brilliance he could not wipe away.
And now, she was here. Her figure moving out from behind a man who did not even warrant a second glance. Alta could hear Saho’s words. Could hear the man speaking in hushed, trembling tones. But none of the words clicked with him. None of the words made any sort of sense when she moved forward, those blue eyes down cast.
He stared down at her, afraid to move or blink, terrified she would disappear, that his perfect dream would shatter. She didn't want them to see her injury. In his dream, she wasn't supposed to have an injury. She'd always been able to control his dream, but lately, reality had crept in a little too much.
Alta shifted out of the throne, his leg that was thrown so haphazardly over the side over the chair threw over to hit the floor. His fingers dropping the rubicks cube without a hesitation as he moved to tower over the small girl.
He gripped her chin in his hand and turned her face toward the light of the flickering fire, a small frown settling over his features.
“Your face is bruised.”
Those bruises shouldn't have been there. Reading her thoughts, as he always did, her warrior swept her hair from her face with gentle fingers. He allowed himself to just feel, to drink in her presence, to enjoy that moment of not just dreaming of her. He touched her hair, rubbing the silky strands between his fingers.
A very male part of him rose up, dominant, protective, a hint of rage at the idea of another man uncovering her vulnerability, at the thought of a person striking her. The woman, his Caven belonged to him alone, as he did to her. The world could see the warrior in them both, but the man and the woman were an intimacy no other needed to know.
“She’s mine.”
His words were meant for Saho’s ears, his finger still tracing over features of a woman so small in comparison to him.
Colors as bright as the sun swirled in front of his eyes, nearly blinding him. Every emotion was magnified a thousand times. Humiliation. Embarrassment. Sorrow. Rage. A terrible sexual hunger, raw and volatile, a craving he'd never experienced.
This need, this craving, was stronger than any one thing he'd ever experienced. It took his breath and stole his sanity. The passion didn't just involve his body, every single part of him, heart and soul, seemed to have an overwhelming desire to be with her. Life mates. His one. She had seen the devotion his grandfather’s Alder one had to him. He paid attention to the smallest thing, seemed completely focused on her every moment, and that kind of concentration would make Alta crazy. He'd been waiting for her too long. He went weeks without seeing or talking to another person besides Saho. How could he possibly be in a relationship? He didn't know how. He didn't know the first thing about sharing his life or, or anything. He could barely breathe, his lungs burning for air.
He would try for her though, he knew this with only moments of finally knowing her.
“Who gave these to you, Varis?”
-------------------------------
Caven never thought she would be the kind of girl who would long for death.
It was a strange concept to her, to be sure. Death was something that she knew, every human familiarizing themselves with the ideal and concept when they were young, a just in case mentality on most and a forced perception on others. It wasn’t hard, not really, to grow used to the idea of it, the act of it almost becoming something of a rite of passage, a coming of age for most people that called Heaven’s Falls thier home. Death was familiar, an ever present constant, a shadow that stalked, hunted, followed around humans. It was a creature lingering, a companion that trailed in the shadows they left behind, always there, mostly unnoticed, but forever connected, pressing dark fingers into spines to send little ripples of fear along their bodies.
Caven knew that she should be scared. It would have been the logical thing, the most appropriate feeling. She should be terrified, she should be fighting against the bonds that held her, the rope that bound her wrists together and tied them to her waist,, she should be cursing the day she was born because this was it, this was how she was going to die. She knew that…. She knew what she should be feeling with a vivid clarity. It was the vision she had always had when the subject was broached, as it always was, particularly in the early hours of the morning as kinds, children, hid under blanket forts with nothing but a candle to illuminate their youthful, naive faces, hushed whispers of what they would do if they should ever be caught by the monsters that went bump in the night, grand illusions, bold boasts of fighting, of ripping them limb from limb as they went down fighting….
No one ever realized it wasn’t like how you imagined. It was never going to be the picture perfect scenarios you thought of in your head. Sometimes…. You didn’t get to play the Hero. Sometimes, you had to accept that you were never going to amount to anything….
Except a Pawn.
Caven moved, following silently behind the man she was forced to call her father. Her hands twisted, not in struggle,in simple discomfort, her fingers clenching as her eyes, bright blue locked on the ground before her as it passed under her converse clad feet, worn shoes scraping along the floor as she heard the doors open to reveal her tomb, her deathbed, her grave.
She didn’t mind, not really. It was strange, but rather than curse and bemoan the luck that had fall upon her, the luck of having a father too arrogant for his own good, too cocky to think he had to pay back what he owed to the Vampire Kings, Caven instead choose to greet death as an old friend, a creature so bonded to her it might as well have been her twin. She was no stranger to death, having dealt her own hand of it, dealt her own pain, and so she simply graze past him, her soul lingering, fluttering about in bony hands... She straightened her back, eyes dry of the tears that most expected of her, her blond hair falling to frame her face, pigtails spilling down her back to lightly graze over the small swell of her hips.
She found herself thinking, marveling at how little she regretted her short life. She had only lived for eighteen years, but there was only two things that she even found herself feeling even the slightest bit of remorse for.
One was she never really got to say goodbye to Vendetta, her one true friend in this world, the only girl that Caven would give anything for. Caven and Vendetta had been born on the same day, the same year, within minutes of each other at the same hospital. It had been simply fate that she had met the girl in her later years, when she was about three or four and her mother had dained to take her to the park on one hot summer afternoon. Caven, who had been nursing a bruise the side of a baseball on her side, hadn’t been moving much, simply playing in the sandbox when some kid had come up to her and knocked over her silly little castle, a tragedy of a castle really, but it had been hers and she had spent a total of twenty minutes on it, a eternity to a child. Caven could remember the sting behind here yes, could remember the rage, but she never got to express it, as there was a sudden yell, a scream that was more battle cry then anythings he had ever heard before, and the form of a small girl, perhaps smaller than even her at that time, the cry on her lips as she came flying in feet first to slam into this person, some random whose names she could not remember, whose face had long since faded from memory.
But Her first look at the girl who would come to mean everything to her was something that would never fade from Caven’s mind, forever ingrained in her soul, her heart, her mind. She was beautiful, even back then. Her hair had been much shorter, long white strands that flowed around her in an almost mystical halo. Caven could remember looking at her, her eyes wide as she looke dup at the girl who was grinning down on her, thinking that there had to be some mistake, that there had to be some sort of mishap because this girl was far to gorgeous to have ever paid her any mind. She was like some sort of mystical creature, a warrior, a valkyrie on angel’s breath come to save the common rot that littered this earth. She was ethereal, strong and powerful, and she choose her to befriend. Years were not kind to Vendetta in terms of life, both Caven and Vedetta drawing short ends of the straws in terms of parents. Caven could remember Vendetta standing before her, another protective stance as she took a beating that should have found Caven’s already ruined flesh.
She was like that, protective of her, even when Caven had not earned such a gift. Caven did what she could to make it better. She was not strong, something she knew from her father's hand, her mother's whips, but hands that could not strike could heal, and Caven’s fingers had skimmed over Vendetta’s ruined skin, her bruises, her cuts that both belonged to her and did not. Caven would trace over the smile, false, it always rang so false, fingers brushing pretty pink lips and bright blue eyes wide and watery with tears she would not shed, a weakness they could not afford. She wouldn’t cry in front of Ven, for crying would equate to failure in the young Albino’s mind, and if Ven could fake a smile for her sake, Caven would do the same, her lips forcing a smile even as they brushed over bruises and cuts that she knew would sting long into the night.
Caven had not seen her this morning. Had not seen her when her father had woken her at the crack of dawn and told her to get ready, to not bother with breakfast because they were running late. She hadn’t gotten to say goodbye, but she had left a note, knowing, assuming, that whatever her father had planned wasn't good.
It was the only thing she could have done, but it wasn’t enough to express her heart on tiny lines on a page.
Caven’s only other regret was something that she couldn’t really explain. For as long as shecould remember, Caven had been dreaming, thinking, envisioning someone who had long since become a comfort to her, a shoulder to cry on when she could not show tears to Ven. She didn’t know if they were real, she had to assume they weren’t, as she only ever saw them in her dreams, hazy images of a tall man with dark hair and bright eyes who brushed fingers over her skin, pressed kisses to her cheeks as she breathed in the comfort he offered without words, her hands grasping, clutching, reaching and wishing for such a handle in reality.
Her regret was she never found out who this person was, and now…. She never would.
But These regrets were few, and truly if she only had two regrets at the end of her life, This was something Caven could, figuratively, live with.
She heard her father speak, mumbling in his meek voice,earning an eye roll from the blond as she huffed her breath upward. She didn’t hear him as he moved, didn’t hear the footsteps approach her as she shifted on her own feet, fingers clenching, clasping, until she felt it, a hand on her skin as fingers hooked under her chin. Her face was forced up, a light gasp pulling from her lips as she blinked in surprise, and her eyes snapped toward the man whose hand brushed her skin so easily, whose touch rang a thousand bells in her mind, his very presences a soothing familiar feeling.
“I know you….” the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, and she felt her heart, once hammering in her chest as his touch sung it’s call in her veins, stall at the sight of the frown that pulled on his lips. It was Him…. It was him, it was him, it was him, the man from her dreams, the one who so sweetly calmed her tears when she came to him crying, the one who in meeting healed her before all else, her body refreshed and vivid whenever he made her drink from his wrist. She recognized him, not by his looks, but by the sound of his voice, by the touch of his skin, light, almost hesitant, like he wasn’t sure it was her…. That frown however was a clear contrast to what she knew of him, and her heart plummeted. Had she disappointed him, was she not to his liking? The thought of being less than satisfactory suddenly hit her harder than it really should have, her eyes welling, stringing as she blinked rapidly and drew in her shaking breath. She wanted to be enough…. God she wanted to be enough.
His words, however, caught her off guard. No one had ever cared to ask that before…. Not anyone who didn’t know the answer already anyway.
“.... They were my fault, my lord… I was not fast enough to get ready this morning….”
She mumbled the words, her gaze lowering slightly away from him. The name he called her, she could remember it from her dream. It was always spoken so affectionately…. And today was no exception. Her heart fluttered a little at the sound, her breath catching as she leaned slightly away from him, though her body moved, leaned closer to his touch.
So absorbed with her discovery, Caven didn’t hear the commotion until it was at their front door, the doors slamming open and her name being called by a voice she would recognize anywhere.
“VENDETTA!”
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Her life was a living hell.
There was no way around it, no denying the world she lived in was wrapped in a dark mist of pure hell fire. Every minute of her waking hours nothing but a sad excuse of a life. Something that she would not wish on her worst enemy. There was no happiness besides the little moments she would steal away Dragging Caven and their sisters off, pulling from the fist and the lashes. The moments where her and Caven would sneak away, their secret spots hidden from prying eyes so they could just be. So they could just have each other. Wrapped in the little bit of happiness that both knew would not last long.
Her life was sad.
She didn’t want to be save though. Hell, if anything she wanted to be the hero of her and Cavens story. Wanted to be able to come down on the vicious world that they lived in. She couldn’t count how many times she had saved each of the small girls from the hands of their parents. Could not count how many times she had sucked down her own tormented emotions so she could show a toothy smile to the other girls. Show some sort of hope in the dark reality they called life. Her only saving grace, her only reason for continuing through the world was for Caven. For those blue eyes that stared so hopefully at her.
So she would be damned if her life was going to be a sad, hellish, and Caven-less.
With that thought in mind and blood dripping down her lip, dribbling down the column of her neck she pushed forward. Pushed through the onslaught of humans who tried to barricade the door from her, pushed through the guards, who she knew could have honestly taken her down. Fist pounded at her flesh, her mother’s screams reached her ears, but they held little suede over her. Not reaching any empathy as her voice cracked in a weak attempt of betrayal.
Elbows flew, catching her ribs, the side of her cheek, but nothing deterred her as she reached the spoked doors. Her hands pushing them open with a huff, tears that she had not even realized were falling causing her gasp to come out a little too desperate as she caught sight of the small blonde.
“CAVEN! DON’T TOUCH HER!”
Hands caught her as she lunged forward, fingers digging into raw flesh and squeezing on the what seemed fragile bones under their grasp. There was not too much she could do as her head slammed into the marble flooring, her head instantly pounding and brilliant lights playing behind her vision. But still she moved, even if it was lagged, sluggish under the assault of the body guards. The guards who seemed to be mildly distracted, their words flying towards eachother. Swearing at the guards at the door for even allowing her in.
The second she had a hold on her hands and knees, a white-hot flash of pain burst in her ribs, the red heads boot finding a home in between crushed bones. The air was gone and all she could do was arch, her mouth agape as stared wide eyed at the spiraling ceilings.
“I killed the last one, you gonna pick up the slack or do I have to do all the work?”
The red head spoke as she turned her head, her vision swimming as she tried to move out from under him. Blood poured from her mouth as she got back to her knees. Where she was only meet with yet another whip of pain, her head crashing back into the marble flooring.
“Let’s not be so hasty, why don’t you get your foot off our esteemed guest so she can speak properly.”
The voice echoed against the walls, reverberating through her very veins. Soothing a piece of her that she didn’t think she could get a hold of at the moment. There was a calm to it, a whisper of a promise that she could not grasp. But you could hear it, the tone lying right underneath the words. The tone of a leader, of a man not to be played with. A man in charge.
And Vendetta shivered against the cold of that tone.
But the boot moved, sparing her. Though she would not admit it, her heart hammered out a rhythm of fear as she laid there, pain radiating through her body. It would be a lie to say she was not letting said fear affect her, that she was only laying there still because of the pain. The truth was she was scared. Scared for Caven, scared for herself.
By the time she made her move to stand, her mother had entered the room. But Vendetta did not give her passing glance as she stood, a whine spilling from her as she winced from the pain that splintered at her side. Pale fingers gripped at the already bruising skin, her eyes finding those blonde locks again. Then finding the blonde locks of her best friends father. And she could not detain the rage that instantly burned through her, easily covering the fear as she approached the small group of three.
Her fingers of her free hand fisted, and the second it took for her hand to connect to the Shalen’s cheek seemed endless. But he went down, her hit so hard that she could feel her knuckles screaming from the contact. But her own body fell forward, breathless still.
“You’re not taking her from me. She’s not an ‘offering’ for a shit hole you cannot even keep up with.”
