by EJ Everette
“Well, that part wasn’t what we practiced, but you’re not wrong,” Finn says, coming around the loveseat. He lifts little Nanette out of his spot, plops back down beside me, then sets her in his lap as if she never moved.
“Could we maybe not talk about kissing. It’s disgusting to think about Finnick locking lips with someone, no matter how pretty she is.”
“Even worse when it involves swapping spit. Total gag-fest for sure.”
Two very identical teenage girls walk into the room, back to back, their announcements regarding their brother less of a shock than how difficult it is to tell them apart. Holy shit they are the spitting image of one another.
“Ah, yes. You’ve met little Nan, and these two brats are Darla and Daisy.” He points to each of them but there is no way I can figure out who is who. Like literally everything about them seems the same from their long curly dirty-blonde hair to their deep brown eyes. Both wear glasses, and they are dressed in matching jean shorts and plain pink tanks. Did they do this on purpose to mess with me?
My question is answered without me having to voice it when Finn gives them a look of annoyance. “Oh great, the one and only time you agree to match is the day my girlfriend comes over. Nice, twin-pitas!”
“If she talks to us and gets to know us, she will be able to tell us apart just fine,” the one on the left says. Darla, maybe?
“Yeah, if not then it won’t matter if she can tell us apart or not because she won’t be around long after that anyway,” pipes in the one on the right. A challenge, huh. Game on.
“Finnick, huh?” I glance at my boyfriend, who apparently has only told me his nickname. Wow, you think you know a guy. Of course, I could tell him Gray is apparently short for Grayelle, but I’m not quite ready to share all the new revelations with others yet.
He shrugs, like it is no big deal. “I really get sick of people referencing that Hunger Games movie around me all of the time so I don’t usually tell anyone my whole name. Obviously I would have told you, we just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. It’s no big deal.” He reaches around his littlest sister to grab my hand, holding it tight in his to reassure me. Oddly enough, I don’t find that it bothers me and shrug it off. I have been challenged, afterall, and that takes priority.
“Well, seeing as how I am here to prove I am worthy, we might as well start off with a game of sorts. Weed out those who can’t handle the heat. Am I right, girls?” My lips curve up in the corner, a clear line drawn. These two want to play, then we will play. This is just the distraction I need to help make this day as normal and care-free as possible.
They look at each other, both seeming to agree on whatever their decision will be, and step toward me. Their hands go to their hips insync, attitude clear on both of their matching faces.
“What exactly did you have in mind, Gray?” The one on the right says, drawing my name out like it was difficult to say it out loud. Oh these girls. I have dealt with girls just like them all my life. I look over at Finn, waiting to see if he is going to stop me from challenging his sisters, but he just looks amused as he bounces sweet little Nan in his lap.
I face the girls again, hands coming to rest on my hips as well. Smirking, I look at them with complete confidence when I say, “How about a little game of truth or dare?”
14
Mitch
“I still can’t get over the look on Daisy’s face when you called her out like that.” Finn says, laughing as he sits across from Gray. They are at some restaurant I have never heard of, tucked away in the back of a shady part of town. I thought he was carrying her off to kill her for a second. If I had not seen Gray’s face light up when she realized where he was taking her, he would be nothing but a bloody mess under my boot right now. Still, my eyes have been darting across this place for the last hour while they ate. Lucky me to have the shift on what appears to be “date night”.
“There are a few ways to get to know people, but Truth or Dare seems to be a sure way to break into the stubborn ones. Of course, now I think I might be stuck with them forever.” Gray’s voice is honey, sweet and smooth. I am unable to see her from where I sit, doing my best to stay out of sight despite the fact that I know she can feel me just as well as I can feel her.
“Hence the last minute date night. I knew if we stayed at the house for dinner, there was no way I’d get any alone time with you.” The kid apparently knows the owner, since the large man has stopped by their table often to chat and even greeted them both with hugs when they arrived. Gray seemed genuinely happy to see the man, so once again I kept my distance.
Their evening has mostly been spent talking about his family. I gather from their conversation she enjoyed the day she spent with them today. Chance said he avoided being close enough to listen in, but that Gray arrived and left a few hours later, alone but smiling.
Why does this kid make her happy? Out of all of the guys, I have the most patience, but this is extreme and just plain stupid. She knows who she is now. She knows she is not some human and he is. She knows she is a damn goddess! A princess! And yet she is still spending her time with him. It does not make sense to me and the council has been no help at all. We were specifically told she has to take her time and come to us. We have to let her choose us. I am all for letting her have a choice. I am. If she decided right now she wanted no part of the bond, I would respect that. We all would, no matter how much it would hurt. Nothing could stop us from being her guardians, though, and protecting her. But the rest? We would step aside and let her live her life however she chose to live it.
I can feel Gray getting closer as they head my way to leave, so I sneak around behind the building to the right and stand in the alley. A moment later, I see them walking, hand in hand, to the parking lot. My chest warms as I recall how Gray’s perfect hands felt wrapped around me when she rode with me on the bike. She trusted me, let herself go, and held me without fear. As the empath of the group, I can sense so much from people. Gray took more time, more contact, to read, but I finally got to see a little inside of our girl, and it tore at me. So much pain lay beneath her smiles. So much darkness, mistrust, and fear. I feel the growl grow within me at the thought of what she has suffered through, cementing my mission even more to protect her so she never has to suffer again.
The two of them stand outside of Finn’s car, smiling and talking. When he leans down to kiss her, I look away. I may be more patient than the others, but it still wounds me to see my girl’s light covering another man. My brothers and I, we know we will share her with each other, and there are no feelings of jealousy between us. We know each of us will give our life, if needed, to protect and honor our princess. We are a family.
“Not as tough as you thought you were, are you?” Chance approaches from the other end of the alley, taunting disgust in his voice. He can act all he wants, but I can feel every bit of his pain at seeing Gray with Finn. It is eating him up just as much as the rest of us, he just refuses to admit it. Dumbass.
“I did not expect you here. You pulled day shift, you should be sleeping.”
“I went back to the ranch for a while. Tried to play some in the music room, but…”
He doesn’t have to finish. We all know something happened that day in the music room with Chance and Gray. Something that made our brother go from treating Gray like she barely mattered to caring for her, though he refuses to let anyone see it. Still, he has been unable to play since the night we told Gray about her destiny.
We chat some, mostly about the council and what to do with Reid and Dean because those two are driving us insane. Chance and I are the biggest in our group but even we need a break sometimes from sparring. Those two have been releasing all their pent-up anger out on the mats and, while it is much healthier than anywhere else, it cannot continue at this pace. We have to figure something out besides just waiting Gray out. We need to try to talk to her again. I know Rip promised her distance, and I get it, but waiting is tearing us all up.
S
uddenly, I sense a deep darkness around us. I push my power out, tasting the air for emotions, instantly on high alert. Feelings of hunger, hate, and desire swarm around me. Something is here. Something dark and sinister.
“What is it, brother?” Chance is also on alert, scanning the area, his eyes never straying far from Gray as he takes in the surroundings.
“Gash demons. At least two of them. Close. They are coming for her. I can sense their need for her. It is strong enough that they might attack despite the kid being there.” I shake loose the overload of emotion, grabbing for my daggers on my belt. Chance reaches behind him to pull his stick from its wrap on his back. He prefers to beat the enemy to death while I prefer to slice and dice, though we are both fans of modern guns and the damage they can do. Together, we are nearly impossible to defeat. Suddenly I am very glad he showed up.
“Fuck. We have to get to them before they get to her. The last time they attacked, they used a shade and a witch to take over that Aiden kid’s mind. What do you think we are dealing with this time?” There is no need for me to answer him, as two large demons appear just across the street from us, hidden in the darkness to the humans and their poor eyesight.
“Looks like a forge and a brute. That explains how they found her so quickly. The house is warded, but she has been away from it for only a few hours and without a forge it would have taken longer to track her. Damn!” I push off the nearby brick, looking for a way across the lot that will keep us out of sight of Gray or Finn. The last thing we need right now is for her to see any of this.
“Look, they are heading back into the restaurant for something?” Chance pauses. “Sounds like she left her purse.” He nods once and we watch them enter back into the building. “They likely will not be in there long. If we are going to keep those two out of sight, we need to go now.”
The two of us duck low, communication no longer a necessity as we head across the parking lot to confront the demons waiting to hurt our girl. Decades of fighting together gives us the advantage over the creatures, our movements like a well-oiled machine, smooth and insync.
We reach the other side of the lot and the demons turn their attention from where Gray and Finn are coming back outside, to the attack right in front of them. Chance reaches them first, raising his large stick in the air to slam down, the forge demon barely avoiding the hit. He then backs himself down the alley, luring them to him and out of sight should anyone glance this way.
Guess that leaves the brute to me. That suits me just fine. Brutes are dumb as they can be, but they are strong as hell. Forges can be quick, their job is to track down prey, but they aren’t fighters. Chance will likely dispose of his enemy long before I do mine. The brute comes for me, its nine foot stature dipped down to rush me football style. My daggers feel comfortable in my hands, like they are home, as I prepare my attack.
The brute’s massive head has only one eye on the front, another on the back. Depth perception is nonexistent to these fuckers, but it also means it can see me from almost any angle of attack. When it reaches me, I let its head slam into me, the breath leaving me quickly as I absorb the impact the best I can. I have only seconds to react, and I push both daggers into the demon’s neck, one piercing each side, before twisting them and shifting out from under its head. The beast roars in pain, but I know the wounds will not stop it. No, they just make it angrier.
I round the brute’s body, coming to stand so that my back faces my partner’s, though he is at least twenty feet behind me in his own fight. The brute comes at me again, this time swinging its massive arm out at me, catching me before I can move. The force sends me straight into the wall to my left, a cracking sound indicating at least one rib is likely broken from the impact. It reaches for me, another hit sending me back into the wall again before I can recover. I can feel the blood rushing down my back from my head. No time to calculate injuries, I pull myself together and tuck to roll out of the way of yet another assault. The brute’s body is nearly as wide as it is tall, its arms covered in rough stone-like bulges. It is naked, save a small chest piece that guards its weakest spot.
I hear Chance yell something behind me, but the need to focus on my own fight is greater. I know he can handle his own. I throw one dagger with expert precision. It finds its mark on the back shoulder of the brute, just out of reach of its long arms. To the beast, it is just a nuisance, but to me, it’s the most important part of my plan. With its hulking frame, reaching its head again will be difficult. Thankfully, I have fought brutes many times before, and I have a plan.
My body is already sore from slamming into the brick. Damn, it’s been too long since I had a decent battle and the Realm of Deeter is messing with my mojo. I’ll never hear the end of it from the guys if I don’t finish this demon off. Using my remaining dagger, I slice into the brute, again and again, while dodging its attacks. Brutes may have sheer power and force on their side, but their movements are big, meaning they are much easier to maneuver around if you know how. Finally, I get a decent size slash into its thigh and it drops to one knee momentarily. Seeing my chance, I push off of the wall with my foot, giving me the additional leverage I need to jump onto the brute’s back. I wrap my free hand around the dagger I threw into its shoulder earlier, using it to keep myself from falling as I move upward towards its head.
In my experience, the easiest way to kill a brute demon is to stab it through the chest. However, the bastards know they’re most vulnerable there and often wear armor, like this piece of shit. So, when the easiest way is blocked, Plan B goes into action. Remove its head.
The demon is already standing back up, the pain in its thigh from my dagger much less important than the enemy climbing its back to strike. Thankfully, big brutie here can’t reach me with its big ass arms. That doesn’t keep it from tossing its body around in an attempt to knock me off. Using my dagger, still buried deep into the demon’s shoulder, I hold on tight as I am knocked around, slamming into the beast’s back over and over again. Finally, I find my footing enough to propel myself back up so that I can reach the brute’s head. I have to work quickly to finish this so I make sure I am latched on as good as I can be, then pull the dagger from its shoulder in one swift tug.
The demon screams and I, once again, pray to the gods no one hears it. Chance must be finished with his fight against the forge, because I hear him holler at the brute to distract it for me. Using the holes I pierced on my first attack, I take both daggers and sheath them completely in the neck of the demon. It attempts to throw me again, but my hold is secure now. Legs gripping tightly on the wide body, I use all the upper strength I can gather to twist the daggers clockwise, cutting through the demon’s neck one inch at a time in a complete circle. The brute staggers beneath me as warm black icor drains from the severe neck wound. When it drops down to its knees, its clawed hands hit the pavement, and I move myself further up the beast with ease.
“Want some help with that?” Chance asks, his shirt torn and covered in icor like mine. We will both go home a mess tonight, but victors. I shake my head, a smile crossing my face. If we were home, I would have embraced a full shift from the beginning, but since this realm prevents me from channeling my alternate form, I call on my inner strength to aid me in the final moment of my enemy’s demise. My bear spirit stirs within me, and with a final surge, I push in on both daggers, turn them once more, and sever the head of the demon.
Chance reaches into his pocket and pulls out the dust we all carry to dispose of bodies in this realm, and sprinkles it across the detached body and head of the brute, having already done so to the forge he killed. Within moments the demon’s body has evaporated, icor and all, save the remnants on our clothing and coating our bodies. No special dust for that shit.
“That was fun,” I say, trying to wipe off as much demon blood as I can from my daggers before putting them both back in the sheaths I keep on my thighs.
“Hell yeah it was,” he agrees. “I have not had a good fight since who knows when.
Should have stretched first, though.” He raises his arms, one bleeding slightly from a cut just above his elbow, above his head to stretch out in exaggerated movements. Still, I know what he means. My body is aching all over, though I can feel my ribs and head healing slowly as I recover.
“Did you catch sight of Gray?” My eyes dart to the parking lot at the mention of her name. I was so caught up in the battle… Chance has already moved past me to scan the lot. Finn’s car is gone.
“I never saw them leave,” he continues, “but obviously they did. Want to call Rip and fill him in? Maybe there is someone out who can keep an eye on them till he drops her off at home.” I can both hear and feel the worry and jealousy in my brother, but I let it slide. I grab my phone to call Rip and fill him in on what happened. We will have to meet with the council to report the attack soon.
Heading back towards the Sweeten residence to keep watch until Rip can come out to relieve me, my mind recaps the evening. One minute, I am fighting my envy of the human kid who has captured my princess’ heart. Next, I am elbow deep in demon, fighting to keep her safe. What would have happened if we had not been there tonight? The gash demons are obviously getting anxious, taking more risks to get to her. They would have ripped her away from Finn before he could bat an eye. Probably killing him in the process, and she would be gone.
I was right before. We have to do something more. Talk to Gray. Explain the risk better. Shit, I don’t know. Whatever it is, it needs to be soon. Before we lose her.
15
Gray
At nine o’clock on the dot, Petra’s black car pulls up into Leanne’s driveway. The same man who drove her before exits the driver side to open the door for the uniquely intimidating older lady who holds the answers I need the most. Petra steps out of the car, her legs looking twice as long in her knee-length dark green pencil skirt with a matching blazer. The off-white blouse beneath it matches her pale skin tone almost perfectly, somehow adding to the power that seems to emanate from her. Her red and white hair is pulled back in the same low bun she wore the last time we met. She may be in her sixties or seventies, but no part of her looked frail or weak. As I step down from the porch to walk towards the car, she looks up at me with a question in her eyes. Ha! You think YOU have questions, lady? Join the club!