Chapter Eight
Something cold and wet brushed my cheek in a gentle caress. I desperately wanted to open my eyes so I could see what Julian was doing to my face even though I knew exactly what he was doing because he’d explained it to me. Repeatedly.
Julian was finally rubbing his magical juju concoction on my face. It smelled horrible, but I was glad to finally have it happening so I could be done with it.
And I wanted to be done with it.
I was over the whole damn thing.
Poor Julian was only trying to help me out but was only succeeding in making me annoyed with him. He didn’t deserve this kind of attitude from me.
Since Julian didn’t deserve me being a serious A-hole to him, I sat there in silence as he rubbed his freezing cold cream with his blood in it that smelled a lot like shit, all over the side of my face.
Neither of us spoke as he went to work on my face and it was over in less than two minutes. I would know, I had counted down the seconds inside my head.
“We will leave this on here for the rest of the day,” he told me. “You can take it off before you go to bed. And I don’t want to hear you complain about the smell, it’s a small price to pay and after a while you won’t even notice it. Thankfully, the stitches will dissolve on their own so we will leave them be. I’ve never used these things on something as extreme as the mark on your face, I’ve never had the opportunity before. I don’t know how well it will work on you.”
I sighed.
The rest of the day did not sound enjoyable. And I was not filled with encouragement at his statement that he’d never used these things on someone else before. Although, he’d sounded confident enough when he’d said it. Like, there was no doubt in his mind that it would do whatever he wanted it to do. I envied him his confidence.
“You guys,” Tyson called loudly from the other room. “You need to get in here and see this. Right now. Hurry. You aren’t going to want to miss this. Holy shit, I’ve got to call Uncle Quint. He is going to freak.”
Well, that sounded promising. If it was going to make Uncle Quint freak, then I wasn’t so sure I needed to hear whatever it was. I was certain I should consider running in the other direction like a scaredy cat. I had enough problems, I didn’t need to hear about any more.
Julian nodded his head in the direction of the living room where Tyson had been shouting from.
“Go ahead,” he said in a soft voice. “I’ve got to clean all of this up. Something for you to remember – if it’s got your blood in it, you don’t want to simply leave it lying around. Powerful magic can come from your blood and you don’t want it ending up in the wrong hands. Clean up after yourself. Always.”
Wise advice. I’d take it to heart.
“Thanks,” I mumbled as I stood. “For,” I waved my hand up towards my cheek, “everything. Even if it doesn’t work, thanks for taking the time and trying. It means a lot.”
I wasn’t lying when I said that, it did mean a lot that he would put the time and effort into healing me. I had no idea what he put into those jars, the kind of spells he’d used, the energy he’d burned up. All that effort, for me.
I owed him more than a simple thank you. Even if it didn’t work.
He reached out and gently grabbed ahold of my wrist as I moved to walk past him.
“It will work, Ariel.” He growled in a low voice that rumbled with an emotion I couldn’t quite place. “You shouldn’t underestimate me. Ever. I will prove you wrong every single time.”
My face heated. Only partially in embarrassment as his eyes burned brightly into my own. The other part of the heat came from what he’d put on my cheek. It was clearly doing something.
There was something in his eyes, something he was trying to communicate with me without the use of words.
Julian, like Quinton, had a darkness inside of him and he wanted to make sure I was aware of it.
I knew now, I saw it lurking in his eyes. And I wouldn’t forget.
“I won’t underestimate you,” I promised as I gently removed my wrist from his grasp.
He nodded slowly.
“Good,” he growled. “Now go and see what Ty’s yelling about. I’ll be right behind you after I clean this mess up.”
I didn’t want to say it because he was freaking me out just a little bit and it would probably do me some good to get away from him for a few minutes, so I could calm down a little bit. I had to say it even though I didn’t want to.
“I could help you clean this up,” I offered quietly. “If you’d like.”
Why did I feel the need to be polite all of a sudden? I could have kicked my own ass because the last thing I wanted to do was help him clean something up. I hadn’t really wanted to be subjected to this shit in the first place.
His lips tipped up on one side in a small, sad smile.
“Just go, honey,” he said. “I don’t need help with this. Go be with Tyson before he comes in here and yells at the both of us for taking so long.”
“Okay,” I whispered gratefully, happy he let me off the hook so easily.
Then, I turned and practically fled from the dining room. I didn’t even care that I felt his eyes burning into my back until I was out of sight. The heat of his eyes burning into me matched that of the burning on my face.
I wasn’t so sure I was ready for more quality time with Julian any time soon. Not if it involved magic in any way.
I found Tyson in the living room sitting in the middle of the sofa. His elbows rested on his knees. His head was bent forward, cradled in-between his hands. This was not the pose of a happy person. Not that Tyson was usually a happy go lucky person, but he usually didn’t look this distraught.
The television mounted to the wall above the fireplace was on but muted. The screen showed the local news channel. From what I could tell, a man was talking about the upcoming weather forecast.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked Tyson rudely.
He couldn’t be upset about next weeks weather report. Right? And surely that’s not what he wanted Julian and I in here to see, what he worried Scary Uncle Quinton would get so upset about.
“Tyson,” I said when he didn’t say anything in response to my question.
He shoved his fingers up and into his hair. He wrenched his hair back from his face in one painful movement.
I winced for him, it looked that painful. He didn’t seem to notice.
“This is bad, girl,” he said as he looked up and straight at me. His dark brown eyes were troubled, almost frantic. “This is so fucking bad. You have no damn idea.”
I rushed across the room on silent feet. When I made it to the couch, I collapsed onto it and beside him. My thigh pressed along the length of his. I leaned into him and rested my head on his shoulder. I wrapped my arm around his lower back and simply sat still, waiting for him. He’d give it to me when he was ready to. I wasn’t about to rush him. I wouldn’t need to, Tyson had a short fuse and it didn’t only apply to his temper.
And I was right not to push him because he didn’t make me wait. What he said when he did open his mouth to explain? It was so unexpected and unbelievable that it had my insides freezing over. I was also conflicted because part of me was relieved by what he told me had happened. The other part of me was baffled and frightened. Not that I would ever share that with him. Or, with any of them. Ever. My babysitters had already instructed me earlier not to share my opinion when it came to our current subject matter. Especially if I shared a different opinion than was popular amongst them. I wasn’t too bent out of shape about this. I would rather not have to argue with them.
“It’s unbelievable,” Ty whispered in disgust. “Uncle Quint is going to fucking lose it on everyone. Every damn body. Do you know what I just saw on the news?”
I shook my head in the negative even though he wasn’t looking at me to see me doing it. My throat was too closed up to speak actual words. I had no idea what was going on because I had no psychic abilities that I was aware of. But I did know that I did not like how he was acting.
“There were Council members,” he said. “On the news and they were walking outside of the goddamn police station and they had that stupid football player with them. The lady was standing outside the police station with her microphone out, interviewing a detective about a case and there they were in the background. They just strolled right on out with Chuck. Like, what the fuck? What the hell did they do to get him out and why in the hell would they do that? This means that not only are they still in town, which we did not know about, but that they’ve been paying attention to the situation going on here with us. We had been told they had gone home. They lied to us, spied on us and now they’ve gone and gotten Chuck released from jail. Who the fuck knows what kind of magic they used for that and on who. Or, what stories they weaved to gain this outcome. It’s fucked, the whole thing is fucked. And now I have to call Uncle Quint and tell him about what I saw. Something, in case you missed it, girl, I have no desire to do.”
My mouth tightened as my stomach dropped. Thinking about Chucky being in the hands of the mysterious and, in my mind, evil Council of Elders didn’t bring me warm and fuzzy feelings. Nothing I had heard about them made me think anything good about them. They sounded like horrible, scary people. After all Chucky had been through because of us I did not want him to have to go through any more. I wanted him to be in a safe, contained environment. One where he wouldn’t ever get anywhere near me or my coven again.
Tyson shifted beside me as he pulled his cell phone out of the back pocket of his dark blue jeans. He tapped his fingertip on the dark screen, bringing his phone to life.
He hesitated before pulling up his contacts list and scrolling down to Uncle Quint’s name. He hit the green button, engaging the phone call and put the phone up to his ear.
He wore a grim, determined look on his face that made me realize just how much he did not want to have to tell his Uncle about what he’d seen on the television.
I didn’t blame him, and I immediately felt sorry for him. Quinton was going to lose his mind and he was going to do it all over Tyson. And I felt bad for him.
Do you know who I didn’t think Quinton would lose his mind all over?
Me.
Therefore, I sat up straight, moving slightly away from Tyson as I did. I reached up and plucked the cell phone out of his fingers.
I put it to my ear just as Quinton growled, “What?” into the phone.
I rolled my eyes, unsurprised by his rudeness.
“Is that really how you answer your phone all of the time?” I asked. “Or, is it just your Nephew you share all that goodness with?”
“Ariel?” he murmured in a soft, sweet voice that was so far from the voice he’d used when he answered the phone that it wasn’t even funny. “Did something happen to your phone? Why are you calling me on Ty’s phone? Did you forget about it and leave it at the house and need me to go and pick it up for you?”
I blinked and thought about my cell phone. I couldn’t even remember when the last time I used it was. Had I left it at the Alexander house? I didn’t think I had. Honestly, I couldn’t think of one time I had even seen the thing while I had stayed there over the last few days. And I hadn’t once used it during our stay at the hospital.
That left, what?
Upstairs on my dresser.
I had gone without a cell phone for most of my life and hadn’t even noticed it’s absence for over a week. That didn’t seem like a normal teenager almost adult thing to do. Then again, neither did being stabbed, unless you lived in a really shitty, gang banger neighborhood.
“No,” I murmured into the phone. “I think my phone is upstairs on the dresser but thank you for offering to go and get it for me. That’s sweet.”
Now that I had that out of the way, I wasn’t sure how to break the news to him.
Tyson’s hand appeared in front of my face and he gestured to his phone at my ear.
“Here,” he said. “Give it back to me and I will take care of it. You shouldn’t be the one to tell him this garbage, then he will hold it against you.”
Tyson’s face had gotten darker and he glared at me.
Oh boy.
Now he was angry and directing that anger my way. It did absolutely nothing for me.
I glared right back at him and bit out, “No.”
I didn’t think, with the smelly mess covering a rather large portion of my face, that my glare had the desired effect on him.
I ignored that, and him, and focused instead where it was important. On Quinton.
This time when he spoke, Quinton sounded a lot more alert. “What’s going on, Ariel? Why are you calling me? And don’t go getting all pissy on me for asking that of you. You and I both know you don’t ever use my number. Spill it, babe, and don’t leave anything out.”
Damn. He had all good points.
I wasn’t going to leave Ty to face this beast alone. This time I would be acting as the buffer.
“Soooo… Julian put this stuff that smells horrible and like shit on my face. Oh, and it was mixed with his blood. And it’s on my face.” I told him, feeling it best to start there. I had done exactly what he’d wanted me to, like a good little girl. Didn’t this earn me something here? Brownie points, maybe? Probably not.
“Good,” he said, and he sounded relieved. “I’m glad to hear it.”
I winced, knowing he wouldn’t sound relieved for much longer.
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s good. If it works, it will all be pretty good. Julian is really arrogant about the whole thing working. Now, listen-”
He cut me off. “Please, tell me you did not call Julian arrogant to his face.”
“I’m what?” Julian asked in a low voice from behind me.
Damn.
“Ariel?” Quinton asked in a strained voice.
“Excuse me?” Julian said in an equally strained voice.
This was working up to being a seriously messed up moment in my life, if there ever was one.
Tyson must have felt the same because he surged to his feet in one smooth, lethal movement and whirled around to snarl at Julian.
“Shut the fuck up, Julian.” Tyson snarled as he stabbed his finger in Julian’s direction. “Just shut your stupid fucking mouth right this second or I swear on my dead mother’s grave I will shut it for you.”
My mouth dropped open in horror and I almost dropped the cell phone right along with it.
“What is going on?” Quinton yelled in my ear and I jerked, remembering he was on the other end of the call.
“Uh…” I mumbled stupidly as I watched in sick fascination as Julian launched himself over the back of the couch and at Tyson.
“Ariel,” Quinton yelled at me. “Tell me what’s going on, right this second.”
Julian’s body flew through the air on a dive before colliding with Tyson’s.
Tyson stumbled back a foot before his feet became tangled together and he went down. They both did, but Tyson took it the worst when his back slammed into the floor with Julian’s body on top of him. Tyson grunted loudly when his back slammed into the floor.
I cried out in surprise and scrambled off of the couch, moving to the side and back. I kept going back and back further until I met something solid, likely the wall.
As I tried to fuse with the wall, I watched as Julian slammed his fist into Tyson’s cheek. I think he would have nailed Ty in the eye if Tyson hadn’t jerked his head to the side at the last second.
After that, it was on. They both rolled around on Dash’s living room floor while they struggled for dominance. Somehow, in their struggle, Tyson managed to get Julian on his stomach and had his forearm wrapped around Julian’s throat in a very firm looking choke hold.
I couldn’t see Julian’s face from this angle and I was glad for it. Fortunately, I couldn’t see Tyson’s face either. I imagined seeing both would have frightened me. I didn’t want to see their expressions right then.
I realized the phone wasn’t giving off anything more than radio silence, so I pulled it away from the side of my face and looked at the screen. The call had ended. Quinton had gotten fed up with my non-answering him and he’d hung up on me.
Good for him.
I probably would have hung up on myself too.
Julian was kicking his legs under Tyson and bucking his body violently. Tyson didn’t look like he would be letting go any time soon.
“Shit,” a deep voice said from the doorway and my head jerked to the side so I could see which twin had spoken. They both had identical voices and I could never tell who was speaking unless I was looking at them while they were doing the actual talking. If they had a tell with their voices, I had yet to find it.
And I wouldn’t know who had spoke unless I asked because they both stood in the doorway. For a second. Then they were on the move.
I checked them out as I watched them pry Tyson off of Julian and then Addison dragged a red-faced Julian out of the room by under his arms. Very undignified. I had a feeling Julian wouldn’t be pleased about that when he thought back on it later. I wouldn’t care, but I knew a guy would. Whether it be male ego or male pride, it didn’t matter because it was there and all the same to me.
Abel had his hands wrapped around Tyson’s biceps and he was pushing him back while telling him to calm down. Well, more like yelling at him to calm down.
I had Tyson’s cell phone clutched to my chest and I was trying really hard to control my breathing. It wasn’t working very well, and my entire body was shaking from nerves.
That whole scene had been so extreme, and I didn’t understand why. Tyson and Julian had been perfectly at ease with each other on the car ride over and even more so when we’d walked through the front door. They hadn’t started to bicker with each other until Julian got his black bag out and then Tyson started to pick at him for no apparent reason. He’d done it again, and again. And I absolutely did not understand why they had snapped at each other or why Julian would launch himself across a freaking couch at his friend.
None of it made any sense to me and I felt like I was missing an important piece to the puzzle. I did not like not knowing things.
Abel muscled Tyson over to the couch and forcefully shoved him down until he had no choice but to sit.
I wasn’t surprised by this. The twins were big guys, clearly capable of throwing their weight around for whatever use they wanted. They were big. Not fat, but muscular. If you excluded their hair and eye colors, both twins were identical in physical form. They were the same height. That height being roughly six-foot-two. Maybe even slightly taller. They were the same build, the same exact size. They had full, wide, muscular shoulders. Wide hips. Thick, tree trunk like thighs. They were solid and packed with muscle.
Abel was my Pepper twin. He had the blackest hair I had ever seen on a person and vibrant, bright green eyes that practically glowed in his face.
Addison was my Salt twin. He had hair so blonde it bordered on being white. His eyes were a pale, light blue, and they, too, glowed in his face.
Together, they made up what I lovingly referred to as my Salt and Pepper twins.
To some, their sheer size and the intensity they radiated might intimidate them. To me, I thought they were pure, masculine beauty at its finest.
And, right this moment, I had Abel eyeballing me as I huddled into the wall.
I had always thought of Abel as the sweet one of the two, even though Addison had his moments, but he had a more aggressive personality than Abel did.
Just then, Abel wasn’t looking like the sweet Pepper twin that I knew him to be. His mouth was pinched in a tight, angry line. His eyes were narrowed and on me. His body was strung tight, like he was struggling to keep himself in check.
“Why are you huddled into the wall like that?” He asked carefully in his rough, deep voice. “Like you’re scared. What are you afraid of?”
His angry gaze dropped down to where Tyson sat hunched over on the couch and he balled his large hands into tight fists at his thighs.
“What’s she afraid of, Ty? Is it you? Are you the reason she looks like she does right now? Scared and huddled into herself. Is that your fault, or do I have Julian to thank for it?”
I thought, at this point, it prudent to keep my mouth shut so that’s exactly what I did.
Tyson’s body jerked, like he’d been physically struck, before he whipped around. His eyes found me immediately, I wasn’t hard to miss. His jaw clenched, and he immediately surged to his feet.
Abel put his big hand in the center of Tyson’s chest and he shoved him back down into the couch.
“Get out of my way, Abel.” Ty snarled viciously. He sounded remarkably like his Uncle Quinton. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
Abel leaned forward and down, sticking his face directly in Tyson’s. They both wore dark, sinister expressions and I feared another fist fight would break out at any second. I did not want to stick around for another brawl in Dash’s living room.
“Not going to happen,” Abel said in a quiet, lethal voice. “You’re not getting anywhere near her while she looks like that and I think you’re partially to blame for it. What were you idiots thinking? You want to beat on each other? You want to choke out Julian? Go right ahead. But use your damn brain about it and be smart. Do it outside where you’re not going to destroy Dash’s house. Christ, Ty, this is supposed to be his homecoming. What if he had walked in on that shit going down in his living room? What if he’d walked in on you guys like that and our pretty girl huddled into herself and looking absolutely terrified? And, that’s another thing. You don’t do this kind of thing in front of her. And, you never, not fucking ever, do you frighten her in any way. After all the violence she’s already had to deal with in her life, you go and pull a stunt like this? No. Just, no. This is not acceptable behavior. And you’re not getting anywhere near her until I’m sure you’ve calmed down and you’ve told me why she’s like that.” He spit the last words out on an angry hiss as he stabbed his finger in my direction.
And, just like that, as if a switch had been flipped inside of me, I stopped shaking. Abel’s words had calmed something inside of me, soothing that sad, scared little girl inside of me. Abel cared, and he was looking out for me in a really big way. He wouldn’t even let Tyson get anywhere near me, wouldn’t even let him off of the couch. Warmth bloomed to life inside my chest. It spread, filling me up inside.
I moved away from the wall and walked towards the couch. Abel watched me as I walked, and I could see the disapproval stark in his eyes. He clearly wanted me to stay away from them and on the opposite side of the room.
I didn’t listen to what I read in his eyes.
Tyson wouldn’t ever do anything to harm me, at least not physically. I knew this like I knew the earth was round… It was fact. And it meant everything, absolutely everything to me.
I moved around the end of the couch before Ty realized I was coming his way. He looked up at me from under his half-closed eyelids and thick lashes.
“Girl,” he said on a tortured whisper. “I never meant to scare you. That’s the absolute last thing I would ever want to do. You’ve got to believe me on that.”
“I do,” I said as I pushed Abel out of the way and sat down beside Tyson on the couch. He was bent forward with his elbows pressed into his thighs, his chin resting on a fist. My thigh brushed up against his and it was like we had gone full circle since I had first walked into this room today.
I put my hand on Tyson’s knee and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“You don’t scare me, Ty.” I told him honestly. “I don’t even think I was scared at all. It was just the sudden violence of the situation and how fast it escalated that bothered me. It came out of nowhere and I hadn’t been expecting it. And, honestly, I still have no clue why it even happened. Do you know why Julian would launch himself over a freaking couch of all things to get at you? Because I certainly do not. And, Tyson, I’m so over this being left in the dark business it isn’t even funny. Please don’t hold back and keep things from me. If I’m going to be honest with you then I really wish you could be able to do the same for me. This is important to me.”
His shoulder bumped into mine as he sat up and lifted his head from his fist. He wrapped his arm around my back, placing his palm firmly on my hip. His fingers pressed in as he gave my hip a squeeze. I know he didn’t mean anything by it, but my entire body heated from that one touch and I momentarily forgot what we were talking about, what I had been talking about.
“I don’t think we should talk about this, girl.” He whispered. “I don’t think you honestly will want to hear about it.”
Bullshit.
Complete and utter bullshit.
And a total copout.
For them, when it came to me, it was all or nothing. They hadn’t come right out and made it clear to me, but I was smart enough to get the gist of the situation. It didn’t hurt that I had shamelessly listened in on several conversations that hadn’t been meant for my ears and then I’d gone ahead and convinced some of them to give me information that some of the guys might not be entirely comfortable with me having. I didn’t care about that last part. It was the all or nothing part that I cared about.
If they wanted all or nothing with me then they had damn well better be honest with me. It was the least they could do. I know that might sound bitchy, but, honestly, it wasn’t me who had proposed a relationship between all of us. I never would have been crazy enough to suggest such a thing even if I was attracted to more than one of them. Or, in my case, all of them. I never would have suggested this shit. Not ever. Not in a million freaking years would I have dreamed up some relationship between myself and seven different guys. That was bizarre in the extreme.
But I was a girl with magic and I had met a coven that was made up of seven different males who had grown up with the dream of having a female with magic to share amongst themselves. Apparently, I was that female for them and this is where the all or nothing came in. They hadn’t all been on board at first but they all seemed to be now.
What did that really mean for me?
I’ll be honest… Part of me, the bigger part, felt like this meant a constant headache was in store for me. And it would get worse for me if I was constantly having to pry every tiny little piece of information out of them.
I pushed Tyson aside. His hand slipped away from my hip, he had to either let me go or force me to stay and Tyson would never force me to do anything. So, he let me go. I pushed him away from me and got to my feet.
I whirled around so I could stare down at Tyson, so I could let him see the hurt in my face. And I was hurt. It felt like I was always taking a step backwards with them. Just when I had started moving forward, I felt like I had been forcefully shoved backwards. This time by Tyson, and it hurt.
I threw my hands out wide and shook them in frustration. “You don’t want to tell me about what just went down in front of me?” I snapped at him and hoped he missed the tears threatening to spill out of my eyes. The flashing in his dark eyes told me I had failed. And failed miserably. Whatever. There was nothing I could do about that, so I carried on, it was the only thing I could do. “Fine. That’s just fine. If that’s how it’s going to be then you can go to hell, Tyson. You can just go straight to hell. And, don’t ever, ever expect me to be honest with you because it’s not going to happen now. I’m done with this bullshit.”
I didn’t let the look of surprise and hurt on his face get to me. I couldn’t allow it to because if I did, I would sit back down on that couch, wrap my arms around his waist and likely never let him go. If I backed down on this then he would feel like it would be okay to keep things from me. Important things. Things that had him and Julian rolling around on the floor in Dash’s living room while exchanging blows.
I know I had told Julian that he didn’t have to share his secrets with me and that I wasn’t stupid enough to expect him to do so. Don’t call me a hypocrite. This wasn’t the same thing at all. This had happened right in front of my eyes and I felt like I deserved an explanation, anything.
But the hurt I felt? It was there because I considered Tyson to be my best friend. He was the only one I had ever had, and I didn’t like him keeping things from me.
I didn’t think it boded well for my future amongst them.