by Mary Martel
Vivian would have enjoyed this pose. It would have given her a great deal to make fun of because of how snotty it looked. And I really needed to stop thinking about Vivian. It hurt my heart.
Why couldn't I remember my actual mother, but I couldn't forget anything about that evil bitch?
Simon and Trenton moved across the room to stand behind my chair. A hand came down on each of my shoulders, one from each brother. Their show of support and protection.
They deserved as much from me in return. I could be strong for them, even if I was completely and utterly terrified.
"You cannot be upset with them, Adrian," I stated in a clear, calm voice that I was incredibly proud of. Even faced with this monster I could keep my shit together. "You’re the one who sent them to me, and if you’re upset with them now, perhaps you should blame yourself."
One of the hands on my shoulders squeezed gently, encouragingly.
Adrian shrieked in outrage before charging toward me. He ran into an invisible wall less than two feet in front of me. His body hit something that stopped him in his tracks, and he blew backwards. Adrian slammed into the wall across the room, between the windows, and he dropped to his knees.
He looked good there, almost as if he belonged on his knees in defeat before a woman. I couldn't even fathom how many he'd tortured and hurt in his time. Like Isobel. And there had to be others we didn't know about. I needed to find them and free them. Which, for the time being, meant I needed to play nice with Adrian.
Something I couldn't exactly do now that he'd actually tried to attack me. I knew he was capable of it, obviously, but I hadn't actually expected him to charge at me like that, and in my own home no less.
I cleared my throat and kept my ass sitting in my chair with Simon and Trenton at my back to protect me, otherwise I didn’t think I’d be able to stand without my legs giving out.
I could not believe he’d actually tried to attack me.
"Adrian—" I stopped to clear my throat again, because my voice came out almost too thick to understand. "I have no idea why you thought it was a good idea to do that, and obviously it didn't work out so well for you. I have no idea what's wrong with you, but I think we can all easily blame it on you being distressed and still in a grieving state. I might even be able to forgive you for it one day, but today is not that day. I believe my guardians asked you to leave, and I would like for you to as well seeing as I no longer feel safe with you being in my home."
Using the wall as a crutch, Adrian pulled himself up to his feet and swayed drunkenly. From somewhere inside his cape, he pulled out a handkerchief and mopped at his sweaty, bald head. I didn't know why he bothered when he skipped it the first time and just used his hand like the rest of us peasants.
"Merciful mother," he whined unattractively. "Child, I have no idea what came over me. I will forever be sorry that just happened, but I want you to know that I would never try to attack you, not a precious female. I was attempting to show these disgraceful witches that it's not okay to treat me in such a way. The Council will be hearing about this, and I'm sure you will receive a formal apology from all of us due to my behavior."
I didn't want a formal anything from the man, I just wanted him to get the heck out of my house and never come back. I could use Marcus as my in with the Council and skip over this douche altogether. Now why hadn’t I thought of that sooner?
"Be that as it may, I would still like for you to exit my home immediately." Don't let the door hit you and all of that jazz.
Adrian glared at me, letting the friendly mask he'd worn for all of two minutes slip entirely away from his face. "You had better watch your mouth, young lady. You're speaking to a member of the Council and you should be doing so with the respect that position deserves."
Wow. Upgraded from child to young lady. Maybe I should have felt special. Too bad all I felt was angry and scared. Not a good combination.
One of the bulbs in the standing lamp in the corner behind an armchair flickered before making a popping noise and going out. Adrian flinched and the hands on my shoulders tightened, this time not in encouragement, but as a reminder to keep myself under control. For now.
"I'll be looking forward to hearing from the Council and receiving their formal apology. Thank you for stopping by, I'll be seeing you." Hopefully this time he got the message and left.
His face twitched as he fought for control. He must have won, because his face smoothed out and a picture of serenity slid into place. His hands slid down, smoothing out the folds of his cape.
"You are correct, it seems as if my time here has come to an end." He smiled pleasantly at me and that was almost worse than his glare. "Just a heads-up, I'll be lodging a complaint about your guardians. I don't think they are fit to remain with you. In fact, I don't think they are fit to guard any female at this time. They should be stripped of their duties and locked up until we can figure out what to do with them. Now I understand why there are no others left and they've all died off or gone into hiding. In fact, I don't think you need a guardian at all. I'll be sharing my feelings with the others. And we'll be in touch."
My heart sank all the way down to my stomach as he grabbed hold of the edges of his cape and pulled the stupid thing tightly around himself. He flounced out of the room with his head held high and his nose stuck up in the air like he owned the joint and it had been his idea to leave in the first place.
I had never hated his guts more than in that moment. Mostly because I had never been so afraid of him before as I was now.
He'd tried to attack me and now he threatened to take things away from me.
And I couldn't let that happen.
Chapter Two
It’s Not Safe
"He's gone," Simon said from his place in front of the window. "Some young boy got out of the driver's seat and opened the back passenger door for him. He looked like he couldn't be any older than fifteen. What's wrong with that asshole that he needs a kid to open his door for him?"
Trenton cleared his throat pointedly.
"Well... I mean... We love opening doors for you, but that's different. You're a girl."
"Shut up, brother," Trenton grumbled. "You are not helping yourself by speaking, so just shut your mouth."
Ignoring both of them, I bent over at the waist and shoved my head between my knees. I squeezed my eyes shut tight and breathed deeply.
I would not puke.
I would not black out.
And I absolutely would not have a stupid panic attack.
"Tell me," I began between sucking in large gulps of air. "Did you call Quinton earlier?"
Please, please, say yes. I needed him right now more than I had ever needed him before. He would make me feel safe and he would know how to fix this mess I now found myself in. It was Quinton's job to take care of the rest of us and he was damn good at it.
"Uhh..." Shit, Trenton hesitated, and he never did that.
My hands went to my knees and I pushed myself up. I turned in my chair and found Trenton pointedly avoiding looking down at me. I grabbed ahold of his t-shirt and dragged him toward me. He didn't resist.
His head tipped down to mine and his silver eyes bored right into me.
There. That was more like it.
"I texted Rain and let him know about our unannounced visitor. He said he'd get in touch with Marcus and send him over. I haven't heard anything back since."
I released his shirt and pushed myself up out of the chair. I stumbled toward the door and away from them. It wasn't their fault and I wasn't mad. But right now I didn't want a lecture from Rain and I didn't want anything to do with Marcus Cole's optimism. Neither would do me any good at the moment and they wouldn't make me feel any better. Only my coven members could do that, Quinton in particular.
"Where are you going, Ariel?" Simon called out after me. "We don't want you leaving the house right now. It's not safe. I know he just left, but Adrian's probably on the phone right now making calls to have people watch y
ou or even do something worse."
I knew all of that already.
"Then I guess you better call Rain back and let him know he needs to lay low so they don't find out about him," I called over my shoulder as I walked out of the room. "And for fuck's sake, one of you call Quinton."
The doorbell rang and I didn't have to check to know Marcus had showed up now that I no longer needed him.
"Ariel." Trenton's voice was a lot closer than I had anticipated. "Stop."
He grabbed my elbow, stopping me in my tracks. I yanked my arm out of his hold and whirled around on him.
In a hoarse, scratchy voice, I whispered fiercely, "Don't touch me right now, Trenton. Please. I'm not going to leave the house. I give you my word, but I need to be in my own space right now and around my own things." I looked away and swallowed as tears of frustration hit my eyes.
Trenton's voice gentled when he demanded, "Promise me you won't sneak off without letting either of us know. I know you don't always like having us around, sweetheart, but we are not the enemy here. You're the closest thing Simon and I will ever have to having a family again, and we cannot lose you. I don't give a fuck how many people like Adrian we have to face off against, you're worth it."
My stupid chin wobbled, and now it was me who had a hard time looking him in the eye. I jerked my head in a nod and whispered, "Promise. Now can I go? I don't want to be around Marcus right now. He's too..."
"Daddy's gonna make it all better?" Simon finished for me with a smirk.
I waved my middle finger in his direction, making him laugh.
The doorbell rang again. Marcus was starting to get impatient. Time for me to bail. I never thought in a million years I would be running and hiding from Marcus, but here we were.
"How many daddies do you have now?" Simon asked.
The doorbell rang a third time.
"Get the door, Simon. I hope you get used to playing butler, because I'm going to be making you open doors for me wherever we go from here on out. And it won't be the romantic, gentlemanly thing to do either, because we'll both know you'll be doing it because I told you to."
I stuck my tongue out at him while I turned my back on him. The pout on his face had been worth the threat we both knew I had zero intentions of carrying out. I felt better, though, and I had a feeling that was the sole reason behind the daddy jokes. Or, at least, I hoped it was. He better had been joking.
Trenton remained stoic and unmoving while I put my hand on his chest, stepped up on my tippy toes, and kissed his cheek. My mouth went to his ear and I spoke loud enough for his brother to hear what I had to say as well.
"You're my family too now, the both of you. And there isn't anything I wouldn't ever do to keep my family safe. No matter how many Adrian’s out there come at us, it'll never matter because I'll never let them touch us again. And if I can't figure out how to stop them, there's always Quinton and Julian, those two are capable of quite literally anything. Not to mention we always have Rain."
I stepped back, flat footed on the floor once again, and reached up, cupping his cheek in my hand. His silver eyes sparked with interest that had absolutely nothing to do with the heat I'd heard I gave off.
"Rain? He'd burn the entire world down to nothing but ash for me. Funny thing is, I thought I was the only one. Then you and your brother showed up in our shop, and I learned differently. You and your brother have more family than just me, and if you give it some time here, before you know it, you'll have even more. And every single one of them is just as loyal as Rain and myself."
Trenton's mouth tightened and he closed his eyes tightly. Behind me was nothing but silence, utter stillness. Simon had stopped moving for the door. The hallway grew thick with tension and I couldn't withstand it. I'd had enough for the day. Here I went again, running away from not only my problems but my emotions as well. I was damn good at it.
I walked away from both of them and made a beeline for the dining room where the only stairs to the apartment Dash and I shared in this house were located. At this point I didn't give a crap if they left Marcus standing outside all day with his finger pressed down on the doorbell. He lived next door, he could always just go home. That would actually work out just fine for me.
The dining room table was covered in piles of unopened mail, books, and what looked like a science experiment complete with beakers and glass containers filled with various colored liquid. The mail could have belonged to anyone who lived here, except for me. I never got any mail. I'd have to have a known address for anyone to send me anything, and all my bank shit went to Marcus's house. Mail I never bothered to pick up or open. The books on the table had to belong to Quinton. He was the one with the incredible amount of books around here. The experiment likely belonged to Julian and had something to do with the plants he grew downstairs in the basement.
Seeing these things all around was comforting to me. This was home to me now, and I finally felt like it.
The door to the pantry was open and I walked through. I pulled open the door on the opposite wall and headed up the stairs to Dash's and my apartment. The door at the top was closed like usual and I dug my keys out of my back pocket.
Dash insisted on us keeping the door locked, even though everyone in the house and our entire coven probably had keys to our apartment. He had talked about getting different locks installed so that only he and I had the keys, but we had talked about it and he realized it was stupid when we lived in a house full of witches who could easily use their magic to bypass a locked door.
Still, after I found myself safely inside and on the other side of that door, I locked it behind me. I know that at least Marcus wouldn't break in and try to invade my privacy. He might have been the only one. Trenton and Simon would only do it if they thought I was in danger. That was enough of a security blanket for me to hide behind.
I had been brave when I needed to. Here, in my own space, I could finally be free to fall apart and show my true feelings. There was no one around to witness my breakdown. Just me.
But, oddly enough, it never came and I was grateful for it. I couldn't be falling apart all the time and crying whenever something scared me. I needed to be strong for my people, especially with this mess the Council seemed to want to drag me into.
The living room was dark, but a light had been left on in the kitchen, like always. Dash didn't give a crap about saving energy, he was all about the comfort and not stumbling into things in the dark. There were nightlights plugged into outlets by the floor all throughout the apartment. It's like he was obsessed with never truly being in the dark. I didn't mind because I wasn't entirely familiar with the space yet and didn’t enjoy navigating through dark spaces and stubbing my toes on shit.
I walked through the apartment and made my way to my bedroom. This room had been made my own. My tarot cards hung above my bed where they would always be. The Bad Religion poster from the cottage had made it to the wall in here and had been joined with two other framed posters. One of them GoT and the other was Tate from AHS. The guys didn't know it, but he was my secret TV boyfriend and I crushed hard on that man. He could bury my body close and love me forever any day of the week. Just so long as the guys never found out.
I kicked my boots off and placed them on the floor beside the door, side by side. I liked for my things to be neat and organized. Living with Dash had made me extra anal about picking up after myself. I didn't want to be the only slob around.
I knelt on the bright yellow rug on the floor beneath the obnoxiously large bed and peeked my head underneath. I grabbed the handle of the antique trunk under there and dragged it out. My hand hovered over the lock and I closed my eyes, concentrating. The lock popped and the top came open.
Inside held things I had been collecting for a week now, ever since I had come across the jars in one of Quinton's books he'd sweetly filled my bookshelves with. I had copied the page into a beautiful leather bound notebook I had found and bought online. I had also purchased several like it for
the shop to sell there. Little wannabe witches ate it up.
I was using it for my book of spells and only I could open it, it was blood bound to me and I'd gone through a bit of pain to make it that way. My fingers were starting to look an awful lot like Quinton's. If we held hands, we'd be quite the matching couple.
I sat down cross-legged on the rug in front of the trunk and dug around inside. I pulled my book out and opened it up to the page I was looking for. It wasn't difficult to find, the thing was still mostly empty inside. I placed the open book in my lap and dug out the things I would need.
Four small, sealable jars I had picked up at a corner store one day on my way to work. Beside it, I sat down a box of nails and a package of razor blades I had bought from the same store.
Next came a canister of Morton's salt I swiped from the kitchen downstairs. There had been some complaints about it going missing, but no one had suspected me, so I kept my pretty mouth shut and had pointed the finger in the direction of the twins when they hadn't been looking. No one had batted an eye at that accusation.
The red ribbon I pulled out of the trunk next had actually been mine. I'd worn it in my hair several times, the color suited me well. Now, it would serve a different purpose for me.
A wooden cigar box came out next. I'd found the box at Rain's cabin and asked him if I could keep it. It seemed like a box to stick trinkets in and I liked the way it smelled. Weird, I know. It had been empty of cigars and he'd happily handed it over, pleased with himself because I had actually asked him for something. I lifted the lid and dug through the skinny candles inside, pulling out a couple of white ones.
Last, I pulled out a ziplock bag full of holly that I'd taken out of Julian's stash in the room in the basement with dirt floors. He had everything down there and I didn't consider it stealing from him because I knew other people went down there and took things all the time. Holly came in useful when you were looking for protection. And protection was something we couldn't get enough of right now, so I was taking advantage of it.