by A. P. Jensen
“The Council’s coming tonight. You all better get some sleep,” Jackie said.
“Sleep?”
“It helps us heal faster.”
“Got it.”
Bam Bam came over to Raven, put her arm over his shoulder and led her back to the house.
“That was like Jason Bourne cool, man,” Bam Bam said.
“Glad you enjoyed it,” she slurred through a swollen lip.
“Hell, yeah. Cain’s a lucky bastard. You ever fought him?”
“Yeah and I haven’t beat him yet, but I shot him with a pellet gun once.”
Bam Bam cackled with glee as they staggered into the house. G-Ma, Cain and Maggie sat at the table eating oatmeal. Cain was smiling before he caught sight of Raven. He strode over and Bam Bam let her go so fast, she would have fallen on her face if Cain didn’t catch her.
“What the...?” Cain began.
“It’s okay. I just need sleep,” she mumbled.
Cain picked her up.
“Shower,” she said.
Cain’s eyes latched on a cut on her lower lip. “I’m going to kill them.”
“Training,” she breathed.
“They couldn’t fucking take it easy on you the first time?”
He filled up the tub and she moaned when he dropped her into it. He left, muttering under his breath, and she hoped the Unmemorables were ready for his wrath. She soaked for a while and roused when the door opened. She sank down as much as possible as Maggie set a fresh change of clothes on the counter.
“Cain was mad until he saw the other guys,” Maggie informed her.
Raven closed the shower curtain, slowly got to her feet and turned on the shower.
“Are you gonna marry Cain?”
Raven dropped the bar of soap and cursed when she banged her head on the wall to pick it up. “I’m not the marrying type.”
“Everyone wants to get married.”
Raven scowled and peeked around the curtain. “Says who?”
“Everybody!”
Raven rolled her eyes, wrapped herself in a towel and stepped out. Maggie swung her legs as she sat on the closed toilet lid.
“G-Ma said you’re the woman from the prophecy.”
Raven grunted and made Maggie turn around so she could get dressed.
“G-Ma won’t let Grandpa in her house because he kidnapped some pregnant women. That was wrong.”
Raven yanked the shirt over her head and eyed Maggie who wore a cheery red ribbon in her hair. “How do you know about that?”
“G-Ma. She says the only way to go forward is to learn from our mistakes. She said Grandpa uses his power against people instead of for them. That means the Council will never advance under his leadership.”
Raven never like politics and she had a feeling Maggie was good at debating so she didn’t say a thing. When she finished dressing, Maggie turned to face her.
“I like you,” Maggie said decisively.
“You don’t know me,” Raven said and tried to ignore the warmth that spread in her chest.
“Cain told me all about you. You’re a warrior because you’ve been alone and had to fight off the Battalion. You’re strong and you kicked the Unmemorables’ butts! Mom can kick butt, but she still listens to my dad,” Maggie rolled her eyes and continued. “You’ve been alone all this time and now you and Cain have each other. You have to figure out how to break the curse so he doesn’t have to wear your hair all the time and you can live happily ever after.”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that.”
Maggie nodded wisely. “Grandpa will try to stop it. He likes control.”
Maggie put an arm around Raven’s waist and helped her across the hall to the bedroom. Raven bit back a painful groan and tried to make herself comfortable in the bed. Maggie disappeared and came back with two painkillers. Raven was touched. To Raven’s surprise, Maggie and Batman climbed into bed with her. Maggie giggled as Batman rubbed himself against her.
Raven relaxed as Maggie talked about her birthday, which was coming up and how she wanted to go to Disneyland, but Rich said it wasn’t safe. Maggie explained that Cain and G-Ma were her two ‘favoritest’ people in the world, but she couldn’t stay with G-Ma because it would disrupt her power.
“When you and Cain get married, can I live with you?” Maggie asked.
Chapter Nine
Cain dragged her out of bed and plunked her down at the table around three thirty. She stared around with bleary eyes until he gave her a bowl of stew. She was ravenous and ate half of it before she looked up. G-Ma was watching her with tears in her eyes.
“You’re in love,” she whispered.
“So everyone keeps telling me,” Raven muttered and Cain pinched her.
“You’re the woman from the prophecy and an Unmemorable,” G-Ma said as if she were discovering this for the first time.
For the next five minutes Raven ate as G-Ma repeated everything she had said yesterday. She even grabbed the prophecy and read it again, which was a reminder Raven didn’t want to hear. It was hell when everyone around you seemed to have Alzheimer’s. Ace sat across from her at the table and her gave her a vengeful look.
You tried to break my knee first, she reminded him telepathically.
I pulled back.
She pointed her spoon at him. No, you didn’t. I moved too fast for you to finish the job.
Whatever.
Whatever my ass, she retorted and then broadcasted, How’s Luester? Is he awake?
I’m fucking fine! Luester barked.
Have a nice sleep? she asked innocently.
I’m gonna get you back.
You do that.
“Raven said I can move in when you get married!” Maggie squealed.
Raven nearly spilled hot stew all over herself. “What?”
G-Ma leapt to her feet and kissed Cain and Raven on the cheek. “When’s the wedding? I’ll come!”
Raven held both hands up as if someone was pointing a gun at her. “We’re not getting married.”
Cain raised a brow. “You said Maggie can move in when we get married?”
Raven floundered. “Well, yeah. If we got married.” She flushed when Cain stared at her. She glared accusingly at Maggie. “You did that on purpose! You know we’re not getting married!”
“You will,” Maggie said with such assurance that Raven’s mouth went slack. “I just want Cain to know you agreed already.”
“You little...!”
Cain’s head jerked around and he got to his feet. “Come on, Maggie, they’re here.”
Raven got confirmation in her head from Bam Bam who was in the trees with a rifle. She listened to the Unmemorables give each other coordinates and snatched her gun before she followed Maggie and Cain outside.
The same SUV from last night came up the road. Pris was the first one out and rushed forward. For the first time, Cain’s mother didn’t look haughty or emotionless. She looked like a worried mother. Maggie hugged Cain around the waist and looked up at him.
“You promise to talk to me everyday, right?” Maggie asked with a worried look on her face.
“Yes,” Cain said.
To Raven’s surprise, Maggie gave her a fierce squeeze. “I can’t wait to move in with you!”
Raven crouched down hastily as Pris frowned at Cain. Raven clasped Maggie’s face between her palms. “I don’t think I’m getting married, kiddo, so don’t get your hopes up.”
“You will.” Raven shook her head and began to speak, but Maggie placed a small hand with bubble gum pink fingernails over her mouth. “You’ll break the curse and have your happy ever after. I’ll make sure of it. Kick butt, okay?”
Maggie hugged Raven and then ran down the steps and took her mother’s hand. Pris quickly led Maggie to the SUVs while Bernt and Rich strolled over.
“Cain, we need you at headquarters,” Rich said.
Raven rolled her eyes. Broken record.
“I’m not coming back,” Cain sai
d.
“It must be because of her,” Bernt said and looked accusingly at Raven.
“We’re having trouble at headquarters and we need you,” Rich said.
“You’re upsetting G-Ma by being here,” Cain said quietly. “You need to leave.”
Rich’s eyes flicked over the house and then he sneered. “She doesn’t understand that I do what I have to as the leader of the Council.”
“Leave,” Cain said.
Rich’s eyes flicked over her and Cain and then the surrounding forest. He touched a hand to his Stetson. “The Battalion’s gonna find you.”
“I can handle myself.”
Bernt shook his head at Cain and then he and Rich walked back to their SUV and drove away. The Unmemorables came out of the trees with Batman at their heels.
“Let’s get out of here!” Jackie said. “The cars are loaded up!”
“Five minutes,” Cain called.
They walked into the house and Raven stood out of sight as Cain said goodbye to G-Ma. She wanted to thank the old woman, but she didn’t want to have to do the whole ‘You’re an Unmemorable’ and ‘Oh, you’re in love’ thing again. She’d had enough of that, thank you very much. She listened to G-Ma and Cain say their goodbyes and sniffed. G-Ma was a little creepy, but very sweet. She was a family member of Cain’s who hadn’t tried to kill Raven, which was a definite point in her favor. Plus, the old woman had opened up her home and made enough food to feed them all.
When they got into their SUV, Raven checked the backseat and blew out a breath when she saw it was empty except for Batman who was asleep. Raven reclined the seat and sucked in a breath. Dealing with Cain’s family and her own exhausted her. Cain put the car into gear, and as they started down the bumpy road, she realized her bruises hadn’t fully healed.
“Okay?” Cain asked.
“Fantastic.”
“You did some damage to the Unmemorables.”
“Training went well.”
They rode in silence, and although she was tired, she couldn’t sleep. The sun began to set as they left Utah and entered Nevada. She watched the lights flash on the ceiling and tapped her hands on her stomach. The words from the prophecy sloshed around in her mind and kept her awake.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“About what? Getting married?”
She shot up and pointed her finger at him. “Your sister is a conniving little thing! She got me to promise when I was about to go to sleep.”
Cain grinned. “She’s smart like that.”
“She’s obsessed with marriage. That’s unhealthy, you know. She’s watching too much Disney or something.”
“Did she get you to promise to take her there?”
Raven raked her brains. “I think I fell asleep before I could agree.”
Cain laughed. “She’s gonna be a heartbreaker when she grows up.”
He pulled into the Target parking lot and she looked around.
“What’s going on?”
“We need to get stuff for the house.”
She didn’t mind. Her head was too full of questions to relax and doing something mundane appealed to her. She used the cart for a crutch and glanced at Cain as they walked into the brightly lit store. Despite his tense interaction with his family, he appeared fine. Would anything knock him off his stride? She was about to ask him about it when he led her into the Christmas section. She stopped in front of a ceramic village filled with lights and ice skaters that moved around in an endless circle.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“What kind of decorations do you want?”
“For what?”
“The tree.”
Her hands tightened on the handle of the wagon. “I told you, I don’t do Christmas.”
“You do now.”
She suffered through Cain digging through Christmas ornaments and despite her reticence toward the holiday, picked a box of dainty glass ornaments with white snow inside of them. She wasn’t surprised when Cain color coordinated the tree decorations. He had OCD, but she thought that was kinda cute. By the time they checked out, their wagon was piled high with all of the things she managed to avoid so far in her life.
When they pulled into the garage, Cain told her to go to bed and began to unload the car. She took his advice because she was now officially exhausted. She crawled into bed, buried herself beneath the covers and fell asleep within five minutes.
***
“What the fuck is a garland?” she shouted.
“It’s that string of red and white beads.”
Raven dug through the boxes and found the string of beads Cain was asking for. She stalked over to the ladder and handed over the garland. Cain artfully hung the beads while she went to the kitchen and poured herself a second cup of coffee. Thus far, she hadn’t enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree because Cain kept moving the ornaments that she put on. According to him, her ornaments weren’t in the right place or were too close to another ornament that was similar. She gave up within an hour, but he doggedly continued on.
She glanced around the living room, which had been transformed from plain walls to blinking icicle lights. They now had a wreath on the door and a stocking for each of them, including Batman. Raven shook her head as she settled on the couch and watched Cain.
“I think you missed your calling as a Christmas tree decorator, Martha,” she said and tilted her head appreciatively as his slacks tightened over his ass.
Batman leapt on the couch beside her and she commiserated with him until Cain finished. When he set the ladder aside, he closed all the curtains and turned on the tree. Raven’s mouth dropped open and she was completely dazzled. The tree was decorated in red and white ornaments, which mesmerized her. Cain dropped down beside her.
“Okay, I’m a bitch. It’s beautiful,” she whispered reverently.
He put his arm around her. “I want you to have a real Christmas.”
“You don’t have to do this for me,” she protested weakly, unable to move her eyes from the tree.
The door burst open. Cain pulled a gun from behind the couch cushion and fired. Bam Bam ducked in time. The rest of the Unmemorables brushed wood splinters out of their hair and strolled in. They stopped dead when they saw the tree and decorations.
“Oh, my God, Christmas threw up in here,” Luester said.
“Did you have little elves visit you during the night?” Happy asked.
“Did we interrupt something?” Harvard asked. “I know it’s Christmas Eve, but we still have work to do.”
“You know,” Raven said, “you guys could call.”
“Or we could just show up.”
“And get shot,” Cain added.
Jackie plopped down on Raven’s other side. “Ace’s knee is bothering him so we left him behind.”
“What does Gerald think about all the time you’re spending with me?” Raven asked.
“He hates it,” Bam Bam said cheerfully, “he won’t believe anything we tell him about the prophecy. The only time he perked up was when he heard that Rich came out to the cabin. He really wants to kill him.”
“No offense,” Luester said to Cain with an insincere smile.
“Whoever kills Rich, I may have to kill in return,” Cain said.
“We’ll make sure our fastest gun is the one to do him in,” Luester said and made eyes at Raven.
“Gerald thinks we’re chasing fairytales, so let’s do this,” Harvard said. “I think its time for a sacrifice...”
Raven sat forward. “Hell, no.”
“What kind of sacrifice?” Cain asked.
“I was thinking a rabbit or something. It’s an animal people kill anyway for meat...” Harvard began.
“Did you Google this shit too?” Raven demanded.
“Well, yeah, but...”
“No.”
“But..."
“No.”
“Come on, Raven,” Harvard said.
“And if it doesn’t wo
rk like the other stuff?” she demanded.
“We have to try.”
“No. No lives are going to end for an experiment.”
Luester straddled a chair and draped his arms over the back. “You have a better idea, Princess?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Do you know why we’re cursed?”
She looked around the room and saw that most of the Unmemorables had confused or blank looks on their faces.
“I heard some bitch cursed us,” Luester said.
“But, why?” Raven insisted.
“Does it matter?”
She shook her head. “Men.”
“What are you thinking?” Harvard asked.
“Someone put a curse on our family for a reason. Maybe we can think up a way to reverse it if we know what we did to cause it.”
“What we did?” Jackie asked indignantly.
“Yes, we,” she said firmly. “We’re being punished for something that happened long ago and it’s still haunting us, so it’s our problem. What do you guys know about who cursed us?”
More blank looks.
“I can’t believe you guys don’t even know why we’re like this,” she said in disgust.
“We’re like this. The end,” Luester said shortly. “Not much to it.”
“Who can we talk to?”
“Your dad should know,” Luester said and then shrugged, “but he doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
“If you want this curse reversed, convince him to talk to me.”
“We can ask him about who cursed us. You don’t have to come,” Jackie said.
“No, I want to talk to him myself. I think it’s about time I get to know our Pop better, don’t you?”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Happy said.
Raven smiled and pat Jackie on the knee. “Make the call. I’m going to get dressed.”
The guys muttered behind her as she went upstairs. She took a shower to wash off the glitter from the ornaments and paused before she chose her outfit for the day. Her father was a sexist asshole, so why not push his buttons a bit? She dressed in tight jeans and in honor of Christmas Eve, chose a blood red satin top that cupped her breasts to perfection. She zipped on knee high alligator boots with a wicked stiletto and finished off the outfit with a leather jacket. She usually didn’t bother with makeup, but she took the time to make herself look sexy and dangerous. She found a lipstick shade the same color as the top and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. She was probably Gerald’s worst nightmare and she’d definitely leave an impression on the other Unmemorables. Her bangs were a little too long and officially starting to irritate her. She brushed them to the side, walked downstairs and stopped dead when she saw Cain drawing blood from the Unmemorables.