by Quell T Fox
I’m going to need some rope to tie this guy up. Where would there be rope around here? I close my eyes, resting my head against the cool wall and think. Outside. The shed. I blink and suddenly I’m no longer in the kitchen. I’m outside and in… a tree? I try not to panic, but this is freaky shit. How did I get out here? The tree is massive, bigger than any tree I have ever seen before. I look further and see Callan’s house to one side and the shed at the other. Looking down my brows furrow at the sight of little brown feet. Feet? No, paws. They are tiny brown paws.
A squirrel. I’m a fucking squirrel? How the hell did this happen? I don’t have time to figure it out now. This is a gift that has been giving to me, and I’m not about to squander it. I scamper down the tree and into the shed, the door open enough for me to squeeze in. Hanging on the wall is a long piece of rope tied up perfectly. Of course it would be. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Callan.
When I blink again, I’m back in the kitchen. Looking to my right I see that the huge guy is stuck in my trap, and he’s angry. Like really fucking angry. I whisper the spell for the rope to come to me and it does. I can’t pull things out of thin air, but when I know where something is, I can call it to me. I pluck it from the air, holding it between my hands and enchanting it with unbreakable strength. It doesn’t work forever, but it’ll hold long enough. I throw the rope into the air and watch it unravel and swirl around arms that are the size of tree limbs. The rope wraps around his wrists, chest and legs. The more he struggles with it, the tighter it’ll get. He’s pale and shivering from the ice trap, but I know this won’t hold him much longer.
Coughing sounds from the other room, and I peak my head in to see Maddox rubbing his hands down his face. He looks up to see Friday and realization strikes his face. He stands quickly, causing his chair to fall back with a crash. I figured he wouldn’t be down long, with being a vampire and having the healing powers.
“Maddox, she’s fine. Now isn’t the time to freak. There is a huge dude in the kitchen, and I think he’s here to kill us. I need your help.” He nods his head and stands without a word. He trusts me. He follows me into the kitchen. If I thought this guy was taller than me, he looks even bigger next to Maddox. But that doesn’t stop him from walking right up to the guy and punching him in the face. He does it quickly, using his vamp powers, or else his arm would get stuck in the trap. The giant dude laughs in response. I know that hurt Maddox as well, not just from the punch but from putting his hand through the ice trap. He definitely felt the effects of that.
“Who are you and why are you here?” Maddox asks him in his creepy, if-you-answer-wrong-I-will-kill-you voice and I don’t have to look at him to know that his eyes have gone black. I stand back and let him do his thing, knowing that it’s a safer option for everyone.
“Little Vampire, do you think you frighten me?” The giant’s voice is deep, deeper than any other voice I’ve heard before. He’s got to be a strong one if he can talk okay while being in that trap. That takes a lot of power.
Maddox takes a step closer to him and takes a deep sniff. His eyes narrow and then widen. “You’re the douche that broke into our bar.” Maddox clenches his fist, ready to throw another punch.
The guy smirks but says nothing.
I pull Maddox by the arm towards the other end of the room.
“Are you sure he’s the guy that broke in?” I ask in a hushed voice.
“I’d know that smell anywhere. Of course, I’m fucking sure.” Maddox’s jaw twitches with anger.
“What do you think that means?” Maddox shakes his head and opens his mouth to speak, but a deep rumble sounds behind us.
“It’s been fun, boys. Until next time?” I stiffen at the sight of the man only a foot away from Maddox and I, the rope in a frayed pile at the floor. A second later, he disappears. Just disappears.
“He’s a Whisper.”
“That is not good.” I shake my head and I feel my face paling. “At all.”
CHAPTER 17
Friday
My head is pounding. I feel hungover, but I don’t remember drinking. Did I drink that much? No. I definitely didn’t drink at all. I open my eyes and I’m blinded by the bright light of the lamp by the couch. I quickly shut them and use my arm to shield my face.
“Oh, you’re awake. How are you feeling?” Lenny’s sweet voice asks me. “We were starting to get worried.” He looks a bit pale, with dark marks under his eyes. My poor, sweet Lenny.
“My head hurts. What happened?” I respond in a groggy voice, the heel of my palms digging into my temples to help ease the pain.
“I can help with your head if you’d like?” I narrow my eyes at him – the memory of the last time someone (Maddox) helped me heal pops into my head – but nod my head in agreement. Anything to make the pain go away. He stands and places his hands over my head, his fingers barely touching me. I don’t hear him speak any words, but a warm trickle starts falling down over my head like raindrops. It freaks me out for a second, but then I relax and the pain goes away.
“Better?”
“Much. Thank you. That is so… convenient.” I say, running my fingers through my hair. There isn’t a mirror, but I have a feeling that I look like a hot mess.
“It is kind of nice. I can’t heal anything broken, not like Maddox, but I can help with pain. It’s kind of nice.” He shrugs, like what he can do isn’t totally badass and is just as normal as a card trick.
“Are you okay?”
“You’re worried about me right now? Friday, I’m fine. I’ve dealt with worse. I’m upset, yeah. I probably will be for a while, but I’ll get over it. Maddox was right in what he did, and he was even more right in telling me. I think it’ll help me move on. And I’m not talking to Charlene anymore. Not because of Maddox, but because she doesn’t deserve anything from me. I don’t know what I was thinking in talking to her anyway. I should have ignored her from the get-go.” He sits down on the side of me, reaching for my hand. He pulls it towards him and rests it in his lap. He brushes his fingertips along my arm, which both tickles and soothes me. He looks up at me under his long, light lashes and I can’t help but smile. “I guess part of me hoped that she had changed, and that maybe I would have a mom.”
“I get it. I can’t say I would have done anything differently, but at least you tried, ya know?” He shrugs in response. “Now tell me what happened.” He gives me a smirk, and his eyes shift to the doorway that leads to the dining room. “Go ahead. Go get them.” I roll my eyes. Knowing that nothing can be talked about without us all together. See, this is okay. Calling a meeting? That is what annoys me. This isn’t a business and I won’t be treated like I own shares in this thing. Having everyone together to talk, especially now that we want to be together, that is good. Really good.
“How are you feeling?” Callan asks as he walks in, carrying a glass of water. He hands it to me, and I take it. Drinking half before I place it on the end table beside me.
“Better, after Lenny’s help.” I shoot Lenny another thankful smile. I sit up and cuddle into the corner of the couch. Much to my surprise, its Maddox that comes and sits beside me with Alec on his side. My eyebrows raise and Maddox shakes his head. Lenny sits with his legs crossed on the floor in front of us and Callan gets comfortable in the recliner that isn’t too far from the couch.
“There’s a few things we need to talk about,” Maddox starts.
“Can we start with what happened?” He gives a side eyed glance, but nods slightly.
“It took you a lot longer to wake up than we anticipated. Alec and Callan have been up for over an hour. Do you remember who it was that brought the food? Was it a guy? A huge guy, by any chance?” Maddox faces me. He’s tired. His eyes are sad. But he stays strong, for us.
“No,” I shake my head. “It was a young, blonde girl, actually. Why?”
“The food was tainted with a sleeping agent
. A heavy one, apparently. Normally, they last for only 30-45 minutes. Alec and I didn’t wake up for over an hour, which is odd. Maddox of course woke up almost right away, due to his healing powers. Did anything seem weird about her?” Callan asks me, adjusting his glasses before steepling his hands in front of his mouth.
“Not really. She seemed nervous, but that’s about it. Why would someone do that?” I look from Callan to Maddox, then to Lenny and Alec. The only one not looking at me is Alec. He’s staring straight ahead, but not in an I don’t want to deal with this kind of way, more like an I can’t deal with this. Like this is beginning to be too much.
“We aren’t sure why, yet, but we will figure this out. We are certain now that someone is trying to harm one or all of us. That is absolutely clear at this point.” Callan says. Maddox shifts closer to me, I give him a surprised look, but he ignores it, settling his hand on my thigh.
“I was the only one that didn’t eat the food, so I wasn’t affected. I was lying in bed and the food smelled so good, I had to come down to eat. I was trying to be stubborn, but my stomach was grumbling so loudly that I couldn’t keep up the game. This was maybe ten minutes after Alec left. I went straight to the kitchen, piled a plate with food and walked to the dining room. That’s when I found all three of you. Faces in your food. Fuck, I thought you were all dead.” Lenny shakes his head, raking his fingers through his hair and tucking it behind his ears. “I heard someone come into the house. I captured him inside of an ice trap and then tied him up. Maddox woke up, but the guy was a Whisper, so he just disappeared. I wish I had known that beforehand, because I would have enchanted the ropes differently.” His brow furrows and a frown appears on his face. He’s disappointed in himself.
“You did the right thing,” Maddox reassures Lenny.
The guys talk about things so freely, and sometimes I think they forget that this world is new to me. Sometimes, it’s like they’re speaking another language. “Okay, two things here. What is an ice trap and what the hell is a Whisper?”
Callan chuckles before explaining, “an ice trap is something that Lenny used to torture us with when we were kids. It’s a juvenile trap, but it works just the same. Essentially, it’s a trap that makes you feel like you’re standing in ice water. It’s terribly annoying.” Callan pushes his glasses up his nose, before glancing at me and giving me a crooked smile that makes my panties wet.
“I got you guys so good with those things when we were younger.” Lenny lets out a laugh, and it’s so good to hear him laugh again. So damn good. He leans back on his hands, a huge smile on his face.
Callan rolls his eyes and continues. “A Whisper is a type of Paranormal. Someone that has powers similar to a wizard but can also space jump and sometimes even time travel. They’re also big and great at fighting – a hodgepodge of magical creatures.” Only Callan could make the word hodgepodge attractive.
“That sounds bad ass.” I’m impressed… and terrified.
“It is, and would totally be awesome if he wasn’t the person against us.” Lenny adds, pointing a finger into the air.
“What can we do about this?”
“I have a friend from work that is big in the paranormal community around here. I’m going to reach out to him when I go back to work on Monday and see if he’s heard about anything going on. We can go from there. We all need to be extra cautious in the meanwhile. No going out alone,” he shoots a look to Maddox.
“Well this sucks balls.” I cross my arms over my chest and fall back into the couch.
“No, you suck balls.” I laugh at Lenny’s comment, “yes, I do.” I wink at him before laughing again. This back and forth banter between us is refreshing.
“If you guys are done, we have something else that we need to talk about.” Maddox says. He needs to work on his people skills. I’ve seen his other side, the one he keeps locked away like an unwanted stepchild. It’s there, I know it. He needs to let it out with all of us and stop being so stiff all the damn time.
Patience.
Fine! Patience.
“Done.” I add, holding my hands up in the surrendering gesture.
This time it’s Alec that speaks up. “It’s no secret that we all have our issues here. Issue’s that we’ve had well before you came along. We all spoke about this briefly, while you were still asleep, and we thought it best to put it out there.” He takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. His eyebrows turning south, in deep thought of how he wants to say what he’s about to say. “We are all going to try harder. For this, for us. All of us. Maddox and I have worked through our shit, I think we are okay with starting fresh.” Alec looks to Maddox and then to Lenny. “Seems Maddox and Lenny are also okay right now. Then Callan, well no one ever gets mad at Callan, so he’s fine.” We all chuckle at the comment. “But mostly we all wanted you to know, that moving forward everything is going to be about us, our family and this Circle.” His bright eyes find mine, and for a moment I’m lost in them. “Closing it is our main priority, starting our life together. I know that I haven’t been helpful, and I am going to tell you up front that it will take me more time to completely open up. Just know, that no matter what happens, that I am trying. If you ever think that I’m not, remember this conversation, remember what I’m saying to you right now, in this moment. What we are all saying to you. What we are promising you.”
Tears sting my eyes, but I push them back. The only thing I can manage is an okay, that comes out broken, because of the tears that still threaten to fall. Maddox is closest so he gets a hug first. He stiffens at first, not expecting it, but quickly recovers and hugs me back, kissing the top of my head. His overwhelming scent of raw man takes over. I stand and move in front of Alec, who looks up to me and nods slowly. I run my fingers through his beard before bending down for a hug. Hugging him is like hugging a bear. I let go and move to Callan, who welcomes me and squeezes me tight. I hug him and kiss his cheek. And last but not least, I bend to my knees and before I take Lenny into a hug, he wraps his arms around me and falls backwards, pulling me on top of him as we both fall to the floor. He’s squeezing so tightly.
“Lenny! It hurts! It hurts so bad.”
“Lenny, please don’t kill Friday.” Callan deadpans.
“Why not? You lookin’ forward to getting laid again?”
“What?!” Alec and Maddox shout in unison.
Cue eye roll.
“Guys, it’s not that big of a deal,” Callan argues, trying to keep this situation under control.
“You finally lost your virginity? How is that not a big deal? We should throw a damn party!” Maddox says with a grin, while Alec shakes his head with a proud look on his face. “This is what happens when we leave? Well, shit Callan!”
“It’s just not a big deal.” Callan repeats, his cheeks bright red in color. “But I am looking forward to more of it.” He says on a shy laugh.
Everyone glares are Callan with wide eyes. Did he just admit that out loud?
CHAPTER 18
Friday
I’m finally feeling well enough to check out Callan’s library, so I do just that. I walk through the short hallway that opens up into a large room that is most definitely a library.
The ceilings are high, the walls are lined with bookcases made of a dark wood, and they are filled with books of all kinds. Books of different colors, sizes, ages and shapes. I walk through, and the smell of book engulfs me (if you’re a reader, you know what I mean). This room is the biggest room in the house, easily twice the size of the master bedroom, which I thought was pretty big. As I walk in, I look above and note that the bookshelves line the top of the door, too. Ahead of me, against the far wall is a small raised area that reminds me of a bridge. In front of it sits a desk and chair that are made of the same wood as the bookshelves. A small laptop sits on top of it, along with a small desk lamp. Ahead of me, high up on the wall is a large glass pane, half c
ircle window that allows the perfect amount of natural light inside. It’s the only window in the room. All the other space is used for books.
I walk deeper, brushing my hands along the books as I go. I notice that they are organized and categorized in a fashion that only Callan must understand. The shelves are labelled in tiny letters with the genre and alphabetized by author within that genre. Fantasy. Science fiction. Thriller. Romance. Biography. Reverse Harem. I don’t know what that last one is, but by the covers of some of them, I’m interested. The genres are repeated throughout, and I’m starting to think they may also be categorized by age. Again, something that only Callan understands.
I feel like I could spend days upon days in here, reading every last book. I wonder if Callan has read all of them. Who am I kidding? Of course he has. I make my way to the tiny bridge thing, that isn’t really a bridge at all. In fact, it looks like there may be storage underneath, behind the desk. I walk up a few steps on the right-hand side and stop in the center. The window is much larger from here. I look through the books on the shelves and realize that they are much, much older than the rest of the books that I’ve looked at so far. They’re also missing the genre tags.
“You know the nerd has everything logged on the computer? Whatever it is you’re looking for, you can look it. I bet he has it.” I turn to find the youngest of my men leaning on the doorjamb.
“Creep,” I mutter to him around a smile.
“I haven’t been standing here long enough to be considered a creep. Though, I do enjoy watching you. Is that a problem?” He smiles his big beautiful model-like smile, and I melt at the sight.
“Not at all.” He saunters to me, his hand brushing through my hair. I look up at him, his eyes are their normal bright blue, and I’m once again filled with happiness knowing that he’s feeling better. Better enough to act like his normal self. He’ll always have to deal with what happened to him, but I think he’s right in saying that this will give him the closure he needs to move on.