Remmie
Something feels different about Areyna.The last time I held her in my arms, she felt alive, seductive and pure. Now she feels almost wrong. As though something inside her has cracked and shattered into a million pieces, yet beneath the pain and heartache there’s something else. Something I can’t quite name. It’s not her looks that are different, she’s still the same gorgeous girl I met a couple of weeks ago. Same blue-black hair that shines like it’s always being cast in moonlight. Same tumultuously stormy eyes. Same kissable ruby lips. Same everything on the outside, but there is something different.
It’s just another piece to add to the growing puzzle that is Areyna, but this feels important somehow. Almost as though the answers to this are just within my grasp and will be needed in the days to come, but it's teasing me. Hanging just out of reach and refusing to reveal itself.
Her body goes limp in my arms just as I reach Torren’s Cadillac where the others are waiting for us. None of them can look at her face, knowing what she did. While I understand this is normal, I can’t understand why looking at her is painful for them. Especially Jason, who’s sitting in the back seat, staring at his hands as I gently lower Areyna to the seat beside him. After the way he panicked over her taking off, you’d think he would be taking her out of my arms and holding onto her as tightly as possible, but no, instead he starts shouting, “You should have left her out there. It would have been better for everyone if you had.” He glares at her limp form like he wishes she was dead. I’ve seen grief in my short life, but not once have I seen anyone react the way Jason is. The sheer anger radiating from him is enough to make me want to take Areyna and hide her from him.
I wouldn’t put it past him to do something horrible to her.
The air inside the car feels thick with all the heightened emotions, but the thing I find most odd is the tingle that runs down my spine and the heady feeling of desire that wars with my head. It’s like I can sense their emotions more fully and it's somehow feeding me.
Torren, my blonde-haired best friend of ten years, leans over between the seats and supports her head, allowing me to climb into the car with them. As he turns back to start the car, I stroke my hands through Areyna’s unusual blue-black hair, letting the silky texture relax my dishevelled mind. At one point or another, all of us, my friends, Torren, Derrin and I, have lost control, but not one of us has ever taken a life before. I can’t imagine what Areyna is going through, but from every book I’ve read, I know it’s going to be near on impossible for her to remain as she was after all this.
Areyna’s been so still in my arms that I keep shifting her, just to hear the little sounds she makes. It reassures me that she’s still with us but doesn’t do anything to alleviate my worries. I don’t like the thought of her going through something as traumatic as taking a life. I wish there was more I could do to help her, but right now, all I really can do is hold her and ensure she isn’t left alone for too long. Being alone is the worst thing for her right now.
I’ve been trying to wrack my brains over what else I could do to help her once she wakes up, but I’ve vetoed every thought I’ve had and it just made me feel even more helpless. There’s nothing I’m able to do right now, other than just hold her in my arms as we pull into the driveway of Jason and Richard’s house.
I’m pulled from my thoughts as Derrin tells me about what happened after I chased after Areyna, “We all ran from the classroom, but when you told us to turn back Rem, we discovered that Richard’s body went missing and that cheerleader that was in the room with us, she vanished as well. Something weird is going on.”
“Table it for later, let’s just get Areyna inside where it’s safe and we’ll figure things out then.” I respond absently.
I’m half tempted to snatch Areyna away, hide her in my house, but that would mean having to answer my mother’s and cousin’s questions and that I can’t do. Especially since my cousin still has no idea that I’m not fully human.
Derrin rounds the car and gently eases Areyna out with little help from me. She looks so tiny, so innocent cradled within his arms, all I want to do is protect her from what’s to come, but I know nothing will fix things. Nothing will make her pain and guilt disappear. I gently take her from him, pulling her tightly against my chest. There’s something about Areyna that makes me want to protect her. It’s not just that though, there’s a part of me that craves her; wants to consume her in every way imaginable. I’ve felt the pull since the moment I met her, as much as I tried to deny it. She’s a drug that I’m addicted to and I never want to give her up.
I’m just not sure if she’s good for me or if I should be running for the hills.
Jason once again glares at Areyna as I carry her through his open front door and up the stairs to her room. I don’t bother looking around at the sparse furniture or lack of personal effects, I’ve seen her room enough through her window late at night to know she has never really seemed to be at home here. She’s always been an outsider, I’m not sure if it’s by choice or if she just didn’t feel like she belonged but something about her not calling this place home makes me feel sad. I don’t feel emotions much, but around her, I feel everything. It confuses me and forces me to look more closely at things. Like the fact that I lost control earlier today while feeding her my blood and kissed her. Several times. Hell, I’m fairly certain if we hadn’t been interrupted we’d have done more than just kiss. The question is was it my feelings that made everything so hot and heavy or was I feeling her feelings and losing myself in her lustful needs?
I’m pulled from my thoughts the moment Torren is at my side, pulling the purple blanket on her bed back so I can lay her down on the far too soft mattress. She doesn’t even stir as I gently tug strands of her hair away from her face. I hesitate for a moment, unsure if we should leave her or wake her up and make her shower and brush her teeth. She’s pretty gross to be honest; her legs and ass covered in mud from the woods while the top she’s wearing is splattered in blood. I take a step away, then whirl right back around and begin striping her carefully of the disgusting clothes. I can feel Torren glaring as he hisses at me but I don’t explain, simply shushing him and waving my hand towards her wardrobe. He frowns for a moment before understanding finally dawns on his face.
It’s not the first time we’ve had to undress and redress Areyna, but with the way our relationship has grown over the last couple of weeks, even I’m having a hard time doing what I feel needs to be done. I know I wouldn’t want to wake up covered in someone else’s blood, so I grit my teeth against my doubts and work as quickly and gently as possible. Between Torren and I, we have her changed and put to bed in mere minutes and both of us head downstairs to face the drama we can hear unfolding in the kitchen.
THREE
Derrin
“I don’t want her here!”For the tenth time in as many minutes Jason shouts at me to take Areyna away from his house. He’s been shouting and pacing this entire time and it’s beginning to drive me insane. He screws his face up and turns around so he’s facing me once more. “Get rid of her!” His face turns red with each word. Spittle flying from his lips as he breathes like he’s run a marathon.
In any other circumstances I’d agree with him about Areyna going to stay somewhere else, but we need to work together to protect her. I’m not sure what it is about her that makes me want to protect her, it’s not a want though, it’s a need; Like she’s a part of me or belongs to me, I’m not really sure which.
I reign my temper in forcefully and focus on keeping the peace. I can’t afford to lose it now, especially not after trying to hurt Remmie earlier when I caught him kissing Areyna. Now is not the time to be thinking about that, but despite everything that’s happened, I can’t stop thinking about it.
Jason continues shouting but I ignore him for the most part, at least I was ignoring him, until he says, “She killed my best friend. She should be in jail!”
His words break the thin tether I had on my temper, “She’s ours no one is taking her from us!” I shout getting in Jason’s face. His piercing grey eyes are hard like stone but it’s the tick in his jaw that clues me in to why he’s acting like this. He’s hurting because he lost his best friend and if it was Remmie or Torren who’d died, I’d probably feel the same, but I wouldn’t take it out on the poor girl who lost control.
“Areyna isn’t evil, she just made a mistake, that’s all. Granted it’s a mistake that cost someone their life, but it’s not like she was out there hunting for sport or anything malicious like that.” My words are clipped but the raging fire of my anger is back to nothing more than a simmer as I release my hold on Jason’s shirt.
“Ours?” Jason screeches, his face turning a deeper shade of red. “Are you hearing yourself?” He grips his hair in both his fists, yanking hard enough to make even me wince. I didn’t mean to sayours. I'dactually wanted to say mine, but the word slipped out and for once I don’t want to correct the slip of my tongue. It feels right claiming her for all of us and even though I know I can’t stand the thought of her with anyone else, I know she’s not just mine.
“She’s a fucking leech. Taking everything and never giving anything in return.” Spittle once again flies from his mouth as he practically foams at the mouth. I want to deck him, beat the ever-loving shit out of him until he’s nothing but a bloody pulp, but I know Areyna would never forgive me if I did. Jason continues to shout, forcing me to grit my teeth and grab the wooden benchtop to stop myself from reacting, but then he says, “She took Richard from me. She’ll kill us all.”
Before I can think, my fist is flying into his face. Cartilage and bone crunching from the impact. Arms wrap around me, pulling me away from Jason. I struggle for a moment before my rage dissipates, numbing me from everything. Part of me knows that Jason is right, Areyna is dangerous, but not in the way he thinks. She’s not dangerous because we don’t know the truth of what happened in her past. We don’t know the truth of what really went down at the school either and we don’t know what connection she has to the council, but that doesn’t make her dangerous. The only thing that makes her dangerous is that she’s likely to come between my best friends and me. She could very well tear us apart if she ever chooses just one of us.
Walking away sounds like a good plan. Shit, no, I can’t walk away. I need her just as much as she needs me right now.I slump in Torrens arms and he lets me go. Maybe we should be working on a way to convince her that she needs all of us. I’m not sure I could handle seeing her with any of the others, but I’d try if it meant I could be with her.
“Keep your voices down. Areyna’s been through enough. Let her rest.” Remmie snaps as he walks into the kitchen. Remmie’s always been our voice of reason. The one who stays calm in the face of insurmountable odds, but even his hands shake as he goes over to the cupboard and pulls out a bottle of whiskey.