by K. D. Peters
Chris glanced over at me, but didn't say anything. Far be it for me to break his concentration. He'd already knocked down three trees near there. I sighed inwardly to myself. Just how in the world had I fallen so hard like this? I was in way too deep for a first love. But then again, I also considered that perhaps it was the love I was meant for as well. At least, it was supposed to be according to everyone else.
The sound of footsteps near me brought me back from my daydreams. Looking over, I saw that it was Will. "Looks like you got back early." I commented. He'd been gone for a few days now, and I really had expected him to be gone longer, considering the kind of work he'd been doing.
"It actually went a little bit better than I anticipated." Will replied, running a hand through his hair. He looked surprised though when he saw me. Apparently, he didn't know what had happened the night before, or that my arm would be in a sling. "What the hell happened to you? That looks like it was pretty bad." he said.
"I'm okay. It's finally getting better. I kind of had a run in with a spider lady last night." I admitted.
Will looked really shocked then. "You mean Norma? How in the world did you run into her? I thought Chris was supposed to take care of her." he said. Obviously, he'd known about the issues with Norma. I hated being the last to know...
"I did. It just took me a bit longer to find her then I thought it would. But she's gone. I made sure of that." Chris said, finally taking a break to walk back over to us.
"Well, apparently you didn't do that good of a job if she managed to do this kind of damage to our girl here, did you?" Will contended. He looked pretty mad now. It was an odd sight for me. Will always seemed so cheerful and laid back. But sitting there, I also noticed something a little odd. Once again, I thought that I saw flashes of red specks in his eyes. But once again, they were gone as quickly as they had appeared.
"It wasn't like she knew that much about the ones like Norma. And there aren't that many Shadow Wings that can defend against spider venom. But we've got it healing now, so just drop it." Chris ordered. He didn't seem too happy about even seeing Will now, let alone having to argue with him.
But Will wasn't about to give it up either. I could see it in his eyes, and how his fists balled up slightly at his sides. "Give me a break Chris. Just how in the world could you let that happen? You didn't just let her go out there on her own, did you? As I remember it, you were supposed to take her out yesterday." he said.
"She's free to do as she pleases. You know that. Besides, if I hadn't been stuck with the problem of Norma in the first place, then I wouldn't have been too tired to take her. So who's fault was that?" Chris replied.
"Come on Will. It's not that big of a deal. I'm fine now." I insisted. I really hated it when they decided to argue over me. It happened a lot between the three of them. But then again, Zane and Will always seemed to be hard on Chris about the things he did with me.
Will wasn't listening to me though. Instead, he was too focused on arguing with Chris. "Let me guess, you wanted to sleep all day because you felt tired over searching for Norma and let her go without even thinking about it. And then you ended up trying to help her, but still underestimated Norma in trying to attack her." he said.
Chris gave him an angry glare then. "Shut it." he ordered.
"And I hit the nail on the head. Honestly Chris, you do this kind of shit all the time. You underestimate, and things end up happening that you regret later. You haven't learned your lesson yet?" Will continued.
"I said shut it!" Chris ordered, sounding more forceful this time. It was more than I'd ever seen before. He was actually losing his temper now. His wings came back out, the black feathers shining in the filtering sunlight from the trees. Yep, he was definitely mad. A part of me wondered if maybe I should get myself up from where I was, although I knew that it might be a little difficult with my one arm in that sling.
Will just stood there, looking just as defiant as him. His own wings came out as well, ripping open the back of his dark shirt. "So you dare to challenge me? You know better than to threaten me Christoff. I don't back down." he said. For the first time, I felt a little unsure of myself around him. I'd never seen Will act like this before. He was always so cheerful and easy going. But he was genuinely angry now.
Chris wasn't intimidated at all though. "Fine. You want a good fight, then I'll give you one. But not around her. She's been through enough, and doesn't need to get hurt anymore because of your temper." he told him.
"Chris..." I started. But the two of them ignored me. Instead, they quickly walked back out into the middle of the clearing, spacing themselves about ten feet from one another.
I sat myself back a little then, considering whether I should try to call for Zane. But just as I thought about that, my pendant lit up again. "Now this should prove interesting. Let's see what they can do." Saffron said. He sounded very amused now.
He would think that this is great, I thought to myself. He'd probably just love to see them kill each other...
As I watched, Chris held up his hand. Black electricity built up in his palm, then stretched out to form his sword. Will just watched him, his expression not changing at all. "Go ahead and give me what you've got. Don't keep holding back on me. I'm getting tired of it." he said.
"You asked for it." Chris agreed. As I watched, he took the sword and swung it in a circle over his head, black flames forming within it. After a moment, he let them go and they flew quickly at Will. But Will quickly countered this, sweeping his hand around and bringing the dirt up in front of him to form a solid wall. The flames were easily repelled to the sides, scorching the trees near us. The bark was left black from the fire, and the leaves completely disintegrated into ashes to the ground.
You have to be kidding, I thought. This wasn't just practicing. They were being serious!
"You'd better start fighting back this time you coward." Chris told him. He really sounded mad now.
"If you insist." I heard Will say. Suddenly, something glowing black flew out of the wall and wrapped around Chris's sword. It took me a moment to realize that it was a whip. Apparently, Will had formed a weapon that I hadn't seen before. As the wall of dirt fell down around them, I could see him holding it tightly as Chris tried to pull his sword away. But the whip was a lot stronger then what Chris could do. Will looked at him almost triumphantly. "As I said, you underestimate your opponents. It's the one flaw in your incredible fighting abilities. And if you continue to allow it, then you will always allow her to end up hurt. Use your head and listen to your gut more. Got it?" he told him.
For a long moment, the two of them just stood there like that. Then, Chris dropped the sword, apparently conceding. It disappeared into a burst of flame on the grass. "Fine. I get it. You win this one." he said.
Will smiled, actually looking like himself again. "Good. You've actually started listening to me. I told you before that it would do you some good." he said.
"Whatever." Chris replied. He then walked away from him and back over to me. "How's your arm feeling?" he asked as he sat himself down beside me.
"It's getting better, although it still hurts. By the way, please don't scare me like that again." I said, finally feeling my heartbeat coming back to normal. I really hadn't been sure of what to expect then.
"What was there to be scared of? You know we wouldn't hurt each other that badly." Chris replied.
"You scorched the trees up with the same fire you threw at Will. That's a little more serious than usual." I contended.
"What can I say? I lost my temper." Chris admitted.
"You don't need to worry so much. I'm very good at defending myself. After all, I've been doing it for centuries now." Will assured me as he walked over as well. He looked over his shoulder and made a face. "Although I do admit that I should've thought more about losing my temper here. I really liked this shirt."
"Well, whose fault is that?" Chris said.
"No sympathy, even though I just taught you somethin
g." Will said, pretending to pout a little. It wasn't that believable though.
I had to laugh a little bit to myself. Now this felt normal. Around my neck, the pendant glowed once again. "Bravo. Now that was impressive." Saffron told them.
"So you just had to watch. Why am I not that surprised?" Chris said.
"Of course. I always like to see what the Fallen Children are capable of. Especially you, Wilhelm Marcos." Saffron replied.
Will looked down at my stone for a moment, then stepped over in front of me. "So, you're very interested in me as well. I can't say I'm that surprised. But for now, I am curious as to whether you're making plans on getting yourself out soon." he said.
"I plan to have my freedom soon enough. But for now, I'm expecting Ariana to be taken good care of. And you know, you should heed this one's advice Christoff. What happened the night before this was entirely your fault. Don't think I won't hang his over your head." Saffron said.
"I'm aware of that. But my lesson is learned. So just leave it now." Chris replied.
Saffron chuckled slightly. "Very well. Besides, I have things to attend to. I look forward to seeing you soon." he said. And with that, he was gone.
At that, Chris stood back up. "Well, no surprise there. Why don't we get back and get cleaned up? If Zane comes back and sees us like this, he's going to throw one of his fits." he said, helping me up as well.
I felt myself smile at his words. It was funny, but Zane was just like that. He always thought that you should clean yourself up promptly after doing things like this. I didn't doubt that if he saw Chris and Will now, he'd insist that they needed a shower before they could do anything else in his house. He was kind of a neat freak. In fact, I'd almost call him obsessive compulsive about it.
By the time we got back into the house, things seemed to be normal again between Will and Chris. In a way, it was a relief for me. Maybe they were just being boys. After all, boys tended to fight when they disagreed on things. Although being Shadow Wings probably made those fights a little bit more dangerous...
I couldn't help but smile as I thought about it while I sat at my vanity as the evening fell and pulled my long red hair out of my pony tail. Boys will be boys. I knew that much. By then, I think I was starting to get used to being there with them now. And, as much as I hated admitting it, I really liked being there. This felt more like a family then being with Mama ever had. Was that because they were so much like me? I wasn't too sure. All I really knew was that I'd come to love being around Chris, Will, and Zane. I didn't want to see anything drive us apart.
But as I sat there, I suddenly found myself staring into the mirror. I felt like I wasn't myself anymore for some strange reason. And all at once, visions began flashing through my mind. Strange visions. I saw dark shapes that were reaching for us, clawing at the air around us. I saw Chris arguing with Zane, and pointing his sword at him in a darkened place. And then, I saw us in strange looking room. It looked enormous, and like the floors and walls were made of crystal glass. But as I looked at it, I could see blood stains appearing all over it....
"I will erase your insignificant existence…”
I jumped as I regained my senses once again, the words spoken by that deep voice echoing in my mind. For a moment, it felt like it was hard to breath. What in the world had just happened to me? Looking at myself in the mirror again, I realized that everything looked normal again, say for my shocked expression. Even my pendant was normal. There was no sign of a glow or anything from it. Holding my head for a moment, I tried desperately to catch my breath. Could that have been some kind of premonition? And if it was, what did it all mean?
Slowly standing myself up, I decided to go look for the others. I had to see them, just to know that they were all right. After those strange visions, I just had to be sure. Quickly going down the stairs, I stopped as I saw the lights on in the kitchen. I breathed a sigh of relief, then slowly walked over to the doorway. I could hear Zane talking to Will and Chris in there. Apparently, he was commenting on their fight earlier. I couldn't help but feel completely relieved as I saw them. They were okay. Whatever that weird thing had been, they were still okay.
"I'm telling you, that's a terrible way to do that. You probably scared her to death with losing your tempers like that. There was no reason for it." Zane was saying as I stood there. They hadn’t even noticed me yet.
"Couldn't help it. He pushed me too far again." Chris replied, not sounding concerned at all.
"You need someone to push you more. You've gotten lazy lately. What in the world has been going on with you? You’ve never been this soft about things. Has falling in love really changed you so much?" Will asked him.
"There's nothing going on with me, so cut it out. I'm exactly the same as I've always been." Chris replied.
By then, Zane had finally looked over and noticed me. I must have still looked a little out of it though, because he immediately seemed to pick up on it. "Well, there you are. Are you okay? You look a bit pale." he said.
I quickly tried to shake it off. There was no need for me to worry them like this. After all, nothing had happened. Maybe it was just the trauma of what had happened earlier. After all, that fight had scared me more than I preferred admitting. So I tried to play it off. "I'm okay. My arm was just hurting a little bit. I wasn't thinking and moved it a little too much." I lied as I came in and sat down at the bar with them.
"You should be more careful with that. You don't want to stress it too much. It won't heal as quick." Chris said, looking over at me.
"Thanks. I'll be more careful." I promised, walking over and taking a seat with him and Will.
"Anyways," Zane continued, "I hope these two idiots here didn't scare you too much today. They have a bad habit at times of letting their tempers get the better of them when it comes to fighting like that. Especially when someone's been hurt."
Will smiled over at me. "Yes. We do apologize for that. Especially me. I know you haven't really seen me lose my temper until now. And I'm certain you've already been through enough with that arm." he said.
"It's okay. I guess everyone does. But seriously, it wasn't really Chris's fault. I kind of let my guard down too because I kept listening to her." I said.
Zane shook his head as he fixed himself a glass of red wine. "It's kind of sad when you think about it. Norma was never like that before. She must have been insane from hunger to do such a desperate thing." he admitted.
"She should've moved on. She knew damn well that it wasn't doing her any good to stay here." Chris said.
"But she said that this was her home. She was happiest here. Maybe that's why she just couldn't." I reasoned.
Chris looked back at me. "You'd really think so huh?" he noted.
I felt myself nod. "Yes, I do. I know what it's like to have to go from place to place. I did that a lot growing up, and it could be really hard at times. I never felt like I belonged anywhere. Although it's not like Mama would've let me be around other kids either. But it makes me think about how it must have felt for Norma too. She made her home here, and she was here for a long time. I'm sure that she loved it here, and never wanted to leave." I admitted.
Chris nodded slightly. It seemed like he was taking in my words. "Yeah. She was. And I did feel bad about doing what I had to last night. But I couldn't let her keep doing that. She had probably all but gone insane anyway, considering that humans aren't a good diet for them. I've heard before that their blood and all messes with their heads, although I don't know that for certain." he admitted.
"It's just the harsh reality of things. You know that as well as we do. There was nothing more we could've done for Norma. She'd made her own choices in that matter. And when it comes down to it, hiding has always been necessary for their survival, as well as our own. I'm sure Ms. Mabel did everything she could to protect you as best as she could Ariana. Not only for Saffron, but because I'm certain that she loved you as her own. Many of them do come to do so when we're children." Zane said.
"Yeah, I think she did. She just was so paranoid with me growing up that I always thought she was weird. But I guess she just wasn’t allowed to tell me the truth back then." I agreed.
By me, Will was quiet. But he seemed to be thinking over everything we were saying. It was funny, but looking at him, I could've sworn for a moment that I saw some of those strange flecks of red pass through his eyes again. But, once again, they vanished very quickly. I couldn't help but wonder though just what they were. I was certain that I was seeing them now. But I also knew that I'd never seen that with Chris or Zane. Again, it made me consider that there was something very different about Will. Something that no one else was willing to tell me yet.
However, before I could even begin saying anything to it, Chris spoke up. "She probably wasn’t. That wouldn’t have been that unusual. But I know that she was devoted to you as well. She may have been a lot of things, but she really cared about you. And I don't think it was just because Saffron made her. From what Jade's told me, she couldn't have children of her own. She probably did look at you as her own. All of us have had women like that in our lives. And really, moving from place to place is probably the smartest thing she did. Even with her spells, she couldn't keep those angels away forever if she stayed in one place." he told me.
"Indeed. She protected you, and she protected herself." Will agreed, finally speaking up again. It seemed like whatever he'd been caught up in thinking had finally passed.