Scorpion

by Cyndi Goodgame

  I know! But some need to be reminded often that you are off limits.

  His phone buzzed and he stepped away.

  He’d not said anything the entire time. He was just too perfect. That seemed crazy odd. I’d have to remember that the next time he was off taking care of Vampire lord business.

  I flipped my hair back and forth effortlessly feeling the air whip across my neck to fan me. I need a fan for the mugginess the empty warehouse lacked in breeziness. Calum was still on the side of me facing the door where I wanted Cas watching. I felt Calum lean in, “Fanning your neck?”

  He remembered the oddest things. I nodded disbelieving he could actually recall little things like that or that I myself recall all the times he would watch me so closely. I caught him eyeing Cas to be sure to have him witness acknowledgement of his personal knowledge of me so I doubled my head back to see Cas’ reaction. It wasn’t pretty. Thinking it best to ignore it I vowed to keep from moving any part of me around Calum to a minimum since he appeared to be unable to make comments that rile my boyfriend up.

  “Where is Anastacia going to remain indefinitely?” Cas asked directing his question to my father and Dr. Green using my whole name! I knew his aim on both intentions. I was figuring him out.

  “Meaning?” my father asked.

  Dr. Green, now lord, offered Calum's apartments.

  I listened quietly but something triggered in my mind hearing the two of them speak back and forth. What Cas said. I’d heard it before. Where…I knew! That day in the gym with Quinn and Green. The sexy voice in the dark was Cas. What had they said? Birthday. He’d known that far back about the birthday.

  And saving you.

  I jumped at hearing him. He was carrying on a conversation, listening to my head, and speaking to me. Way to multitask, mister.

  I’d missed them saying that I was to carry on at the Cross Manor, escorted by Cas when needed, guarded otherwise. They already had this entire conversation before. Why were they repeating it? Probably to rub it in that I wasn't free to make my own decision.

  But Cas’ aim was to hurt Calum.

  I’d focused on Cas for a second too long and found myself not defending the single-mindedness they were presenting me with. I scrambled for words, “No, I told you both before. I can take care of myself.” I expected Cas to try to comfort me, but he stayed still. The words were so bitter and tasted acrid on my tongue like poison.

  “She is right. Give her some slack and she will decide.”

  Lord Hathown gave us both a meaningful frown and eyed Cas warily trying to read him. “A guard or Lord Cross will be with you at all times. End of discussion.”

  “Fine! For the record though, I want to stay with Cas but not because of anything other than I choose too. I’m tired of people telling me what to do,” I shouted. I refused to look at anyone. I wasn’t a damn pet.

  They are just trying to keep you safe.

  I turned fast from the circle we’d somewhat created and looked up at him. This alerted the group since nothing had been said. They figured it out fast and I caught several shaking their heads in awe or disgust or something. It was childish, I know, but I wanted to choose on my own.

  Fine. For now.

  “Next matter. The Weres are in an uprising since learning of the hoax. They intend to meet with the other faction leaders to discuss compensation for the false pretenses,” Calum’s father said. That’s all of us.

  Lord Hathown addressed the new Hunter lord, Lord Green’s statement, “We will meet with him, explain that measures were taken to assure the fours safety. Whether he wants to believe in them or not, he will accept regardless that we will not stand down on their safety as he will soon give either way once meeting Anastacia.”

  “The Were leader thinks that we are not what we are? I can show him. If he was tricked then he has every right to be pissed. I will rectify it by meeting with him.” I said across the group.

  Cas and my father answered together, “No!”

  Didn’t he just agree to let me? Conflicting agreements, anyone? They weren’t making much sense.

  Lord Green intervened, “The man who is their new leader, Cord Ryan, just a boy really, will be most adamant to create a war over this if he doesn’t get to Stace soon. They have no order within their faction and seem fit to cause havoc among the rest of us unless he finds her favor. If Stace is to be this “ambassador” of sort through the factions, I think it fair to see what she can accomplish today. Perhaps he will stand to listen through her, if not by their destiny within your acceptance, but by taking us into the equation once he sees her. Maybe then, he will listen to us.”

  The elders, he means. I just listened, but it sounded oddly worded like he was avoiding something. There was an insurmountable barrier surrounding the words they used. “What do you presume this Were leader will have to say? He can’t hold you accountable if you were trying to keep us alive. What exactly does he want from us?” Both Cas and Calum snorted in unison. Szar bellowed a laugh that meant he knew something I didn’t.

  “Among other things, he will demand compensation for losing his men at the party though he volunteered them,” Szar said.

  “Why would he do that?” I asked.

  “He didn’t win,” sneered Cas.

  Win what? I wondered but certainly didn’t act. The way they were acting made me all too suspicious.

  “Their faction was told by some unknown source that they were to attack you though we made only to make it look like an attack. Signals got mixed and Ryan is pissed. We never found the source of who offered him external information, but refrained from telling him hoping to fish out the leak before this meeting. We saved you and that was what mattered at the moment. Lord Cross was successful, I pulled my son to safety, and your father had Szar whisked away before you were ten feet in the air,” Lord Green was all but thorough.

  “Sounds like he has a right to be mad. So I show him proof.”

  “Proof?” Dr. Green asked.

  “Yes,” I got seriously nervous at the all faces attention, “I will tell them what was done and what was meant by it. Then...we show him who we are. He will have no reason to go against us then. He can see that we should work together. We’ve already established that we should not hide it.”

  “How?” my father insisted although he knew the answer well. No one in the room had seen all four of us in real time “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” fashion except for me. It was then I realized I was THE ONLY one in the room who had seen all of us.

  My voice quivered, “Well, we show how the four of us are linked both mentally and physically.”

  “And how is that exactly. All four I mean?” Quinn asked. I’d forgotten he was there. Did he not know all of it?

  I looked at Cas who had a permanent scowl at the first mention of going to see this Were leader. He didn’t budge. I looked at Calum, eyeing his one shoulder shrug. I took that as an I will if you will. I looked at the all too silent Szar, my twin brother, who I’ve known my connection with my whole life. He nodded as blithe yes. I looked back to Cas. Can you do this with me?

  If it’s what you think we should do. Just stop, think, and be sure this is the right thing.

  “Give me five minutes alone, the four of us.” All the sordid men in the room nodded as three of them followed me.

  The four of us walked outside. I started since this was my party to plan. “I don’t get why we have to prove ourselves to anyone, but if this is what it takes to make progress, so be it. If we show our marks what happens?”

  “The Weres will think they are just tattoos, but Ryan will be ecstatic.”

  Cas made a noise I couldn’t make out.

  “Not looking for humor Szar.” Especially since he’d tattooed his entire right arm to match his stomach and then some a year ago.

  “We give them more.” My mind was ticking.

  “And what is that, pray tell dear sister?”

  I frowned at him. Lammo brother with the asinin
e questions! “Since meeting Calum I,” Oh gods and goddesses! I was about to announce all the things that have been happening to my body. Rethink! No, this is the right thing to do, somehow I just know it. I had to do this. Gain trust. “Since meeting Calum, I get this feeling inside, like some type of shock feeling. I showed you before at my father’s court, but I didn’t tell you that it is also like an alert system. I know when he gets near me. And I him.” I looked at Cas who probably knew all this if he’s been reading my mind a while.

  Cas nodded assuring me he did.

  “I can feel emotions stronger than I ever did as a Valkyrie. I’ve always felt another’s fear and anger. Both Szar and I can. But when I met Calum, I figured out that his fear was stronger somehow. I can sense something more, like if someone has bad intentions. And it grew but don’t always catch it.”

  Viscerally so as time went by, but that was beside the point.

  Calum whispered, “Hunters can sense danger.”

  “Oh! I didn’t know that. That explains a lot.” I pondered a second. “That explains why I always knew when something was coming when you were around like at the party. That must be getting stronger for me too.” I paused.

  Cas moved uneasily at that revelation.

  “And Cas and I. You already know we can talk to each other telepathically. And…I can feel him get near me too and he can feel me. Nothing like the pain from Calum.” My eyes were glued on Cas. He didn’t want me telling something that seemed too intimate to tell. I hated it now that I was saying it. It didn’t seem right, but I knew we had too to figure this out. His heartbeat spiked as did mine. His eyes went to my heart and wrist where my heart couldn’t lie. At least I knew the feeling was mutual.

  Calum was throwing darts behind me. “I didn’t mean it that way Calum. It’s just different.” I wouldn’t tell them what exactly. None of their dang business. I took a breath and continued. “And when I met Cas I could sense more than just fear and anger after just hours near him. Happiness. Joy. And other emotions.” I couldn’t divulge everything. They could figure some things out. I stared at Cas as we read each other’s face completely, his own penetrating gaze biting into my psyche. Some things are just too private. But at least these other two were getting the gist of just how important Cas is to me.

  “They are getting stronger as time goes by. And I don’t need to eat but rarely. Szar always ate more than me. We never needed food as much as others did. We thought it was a Valkyrie thing, but time told it was just us. Neither one of us wanted to admit it to the other, but here, right now, I’m saying it. It seems it is not a Val trait after all. But rather, my make believe fix of chocolate seems to give me “the warm fuzzies” and for my brother, he is a human garbage can of anything to fuel his tank.” I left out that I see it as I am the sweet and he is the sour. Bit of my own creative ironically disturbing thoughts.

  “So what’s the point? Why will this help us?” Szar popped his knuckles giving the sign of his discomfort and I wondered then if he was talking to us or himself. He did like to hear himself crack jokes and enjoy the audience. He was so easy to read sometimes, and yet other times, I couldn’t figure him out for the life of me.

  “Because she sees what all of it means put together.” Cas was ever on my side. I loved his face when he talks about me and even raised an eye at my sidetracked mind.

  “You see, if we can figure out why we were all created together, work together, harness what we have together, maybe we can work as a team to get things down. Harness what we all have in one collective force. Get the Weres to…”

  “What like some kind of superhero team?” Szar lidded almost intrigued.

  I hadn’t thought of it that way. Funny! “Well, if you see it that way, I guess so, except there is no Joker, or Jack Nicholson, or Thor, or any other good guy/bad guy villain or whatever. Just us, the joined factions trying to gain the Weres and facing Borgon or whatever else is out there.”

  “Well, put that way, what exactly did you have in mind,” Szar asked with folded arms. Now that I noticed, I was looking up at three folded armed, big muscle bound men. I felt like a bird in a man cage.

  “Well, brother think. If we can use our imagination for a moment we can create a bigger picture here. Somehow I just don’t find it a coincidence that we have all these powers and feelings for no reason.”

  “Correction sis, you have all this. It seems us men only are your pawns with more limited powers. You are the top cat stealing ours. Story of my life it seems.”

  Unfreaking real! “Szar, stand down for two seconds please.” He didn’t answer.

  “Give up already. She will have her way.”

  I ignored Calum’s snide remark and continued on to my brother. “We have the power to make this more than it is. Two of us can sense danger coming, two of us can read every emotion we know of or have tested, and two of us have the power to go on without food.” I rethought my line of thinking, “We have telepathy, alert systems, strength, sense of danger, better than normal hearing, heavy weapons training...we are all linked.”

  “Correction again, you are linked to all of us. Kind of sick really. What were these mothers thinking?” Szar wouldn’t give up till I agreed with him. Case in point-I was linked to four muscle-toned giants who could knock me to next Sunday if they were willing.

  He was getting a bit annoying. “I seem to absorb others powers. Cas absorbed mine some.” I looked at Calum for answers. “Did you start to get anything different?” Intensely odd to ask, I felt like I was admitting in some kind of way more than a casual relationship with him by asking if we’d spent so much time together that perhaps he’d absorbed my powers in that vast amount of time. I had the sudden urge to deny everything.

  “Yes. I can read some of your emotions now, but no one else. I have since …the first picnic we went on. I didn’t know that’s what was happening until I found out who you really were,” he said despondently.

  My first thought was the reality that at that first picnic, where we first kissed, my first real kiss, I’d felt a flood of emotion also. I chalked it up to the kissing part. Uh, oh. What if it’s linked to the kissing?

  Which emotions? The alarm on my face must have shown, not to mention I now knew he and Cas both could read my face if not my thoughts. I tried to block the memories but they were too strong.

  “And knowing you remember that as much as I do helps. Let’s just say that if any of our enemies can read your emotions, we are in trouble,” Calum would try very hard to make all of this difficult.

  I pushed my anger to the front knowing and hoping for the wanted results, “But we know it seems to be only us. So for now, I think we should use what we have for good. If we could work as a team, we could really do something awesome I think. Cas, have you gained anything beyond what was mentioned?” I wasn’t sure I knew the person talking. I mean, I know it was me, but I seriously was beginning to worry about my own sanity. I sounded all authoritative.

  Cas only grinned like a damn devil looking for a score to settle. “I think we all know what I gained.” Oh, this was directed back to Calum for his little stinging comment about the picnic and what happened there. Arg!

  “I have gained her emotional pull and the ability to sense her even more. I can be as far as five miles and still now where she is.”

  Szar came to the ruddy rescue with, “Wow! That’s just...damn. That will come in handy.”

  The indignation of the whole conversation was making me sick. It did that a lot lately, but I’d never let it show.

  “I want to know why the hell he can do this and how it happened.” Calum was steaming like this was dig on him, for which it wasn’t. His implacable way of making me feel like I’d wronged him somehow tore at my heart. I didn’t do anything wrong.

  I blushed profusely at the implications of Cas and I that hung in the air, “Calum, it just happened. Naturally.” I’m not embarrassed by the act, just the telling of it to another.

  His face turned purple from ho
lding his breath. He needs to let this go. “What exactly did you do to make it happen?”

  Is he really doing this?

  “Not that it’s your business, but I think it just happened by being close to one another. Nothing more.” I half screamed it trying to beat Cas to whatever sordid comment might have come net from him.

  No one spoke for a minute or two. I walked away from them pushing my foot in the dirt to appear unaffected. Naturally, I know now that Calum and Cas were reading me. It bothered me a bit that I could read ALL their emotions now and knew they would hate it as much as me.

  I heard their whispers and decided I’d let them talk alone. I was the only dang girl in this little fours group of freak accidents in nature.

  Come back Kissa?

  I turned to show him I’d acknowledge him. “Cas, it’s not like I couldn’t hear you. And I’m glad you’re all in agreement, but I feel…I feel…alone. I can’t do this alone.”

  Never alone.

  Yeah, cuz’ men know everything. The other two were bothered by the fact that I had answered his nonverbal message. That just shows how freaky I am.

  “She is the only one who can bring this to fruition. Four knuckleheads making a plan will just end in disaster. Without her, we lose.”

  I don’t think I have ever once heard my brother say so many kind things about me in one sentence and yet really, he said nothing.

  “We will do this. For you,” Calum had his arms folded still. I looked at Szar. Arms still folded. I looked back at Cas. Arms folded. Was this the standard male dominance position cuz’ they all had it down well. The wrong thing to be thinking, I realized at that time how good looking they all were. Even my brother. They kind of looked like gods now that I think about it.