Chapter Six
Neith
I can’t just sit here though, because I’m feeling twitchy, and those thoughts that I have been putting off are starting to circle and demand attention. As always when I am in this frame of mind, I need to move.
“Are you okay?” River asks me.
I smile, “Yeah. I’m good. I just need to stretch my legs. Maybe clear my head a bit. A lot of shit has happened over the last few days. Hell, even just today, and I think I need some time to process everything.”
Understanding flashes across his expression, “Yeah, I get that. Do you want some company?”
I shake my head, “Not this time, but put a pin in that, I definitely want to take you up on that at some point.”
“Deal. The grounds surrounding the house are completely secure, apparently the only people who can get past the wards and all the security we have is a beautiful women who has a penchant for dying and who brought half the forest worth of animals with her when she arrived,” River replies with an amused smirk.
Beautiful. That’s what he called me. What is it with these guys and making my heart skip a beat?
“Are you sure that you are going to be okay?” Raiden asks, looking worried.
Normally, I would come back with something snarky, but it must have been pretty traumatic watching me die, and Raiden has saved my life, I know that on an instinctual level. I am also aware that he is being cagey on exactly how he has saved my life, but if he doesn’t want to tell me, then I’m not going to force it, I am just grateful that he did whatever he did.
It's for all of those reasons that I react without my usual snark, “Yeah, I don’t know what you did, but it has worked, and I feel almost back to normal. I promise that I won't go off the property, and I can shout really loud, so if something happens, you will hear me.”
Griff frowns, “Why would you need to shout? Can’t you just call one of us?”
I chuckle as I stand up, “Well, my grumpy friend, I could if I had your numbers or a phone.”
“Oh,” Griff replies with a frown and then pulls his phone out of his pocket, “take mine. All of the guy's numbers are in there, if something happens, or hell, if you just can’t be fucked to walk back and want one of us to come and pick you up, call.”
My heart skips a beat, and I move over to him, taking the phone and then wrapping my arms around his waist and hugging him tightly. His arms wrap around me, holding me close as his cheek comes to rest on the top of my head. I close my eyes and allow myself to enjoy the moment. I am quickly coming to realize that Griff gives the best hugs. They make me relax, and I could honestly stay here, cocooned in his arms for hours, and not feel the inclination to move. My need to move and walk has calmed, and my mind has quietened. It's like magic, but the reaction that Griff’s hug causes in my body, the safety that I feel in his arms, is not good. It’s not what I should be feeling for my teammate and, hopefully, friend.
I reluctantly pull away and tilt my head up to smile at him, “Thanks, Griff.” Handing him Betty, I add, “Look after her for me.”
He nods but doesn’t say anything. Instead, he takes a seat in the big armchair and rests Betty on his lap.
“We will call you when your dessert comes,” Evander adds.
“If you eat it, I will cry,” I reply, and then with a sharp smile, I add, “while beating you violently.”
“Why was that hot?” River asks, looking around at the rest of the guys.
“I have no idea,” Raiden replies, his heated eyes skimming down my body and leaving a trail of heat in their wake.
I tuck Griff’s phone in my pocket and then turn on my heel, heading for the front door and leaving them to it. I should probably go shower and change. My shirt is covered in dried blood, and I am still wearing River’s shirt over the top, which he is absolutely not getting back. However, my need to escape is really riding me hard, and it has quickly become my most important need. As I open the front door, cold air blasts me in the face, cutting through River’s shirt and making me shiver. My leather jacket is all the way up in my room, and I really can’t be bothered to go all the way upstairs to grab it. This house is enormous.
To avoid having to go up the stairs because I really am that lazy, I glance around the entryway to the house, grinning when I see a row of jackets hung up. I pick the one that looks the warmest, hoping that whoever it belongs to doesn’t mind that I have borrowed it, and pull it on before I step outside.
It's huge, but the wind is cutting, and as I zip it up all the way to my chin, I am extremely grateful for the extra warmth that it provides me. Glancing from side to side, I decide to head to the left of the house and the forest that stretches beyond. The trees should provide me with some shelter from the wind, and I definitely need that.
My eyes quickly adjust to the darkness, and I shove my hands into the deep pockets, trying to keep them warm. I allow myself a moment to enjoy the peace. I have always felt at home in the dark, and it has always comforted me. I guess that it’s probably because of the Darkness, my friend, and my safety, and it does keep me safe in situations where I definitely wouldn’t be otherwise. I know that it is a bit of an oxymoron that somewhere where I go when I have died keeps me safe, but it does, and it has proven that time and time again.
Even before my first introduction to the Darkness, I loved the dark. Evander always said that I was crazy when we were kids, but I was always more comfortable in the dark than I was in the light.
The forest quickly swallows me, the light from the house disappearing, and I take a deep breath. The voices have clearly gained their strength back as they are at their usual volume, but even they become a hum rather than a nuisance as I move further into the woods.
This is what I needed, somewhere to think, and just like that, the thoughts pour in.
I have spent my entire life wishing, hoping, and practically begging any one of the gods that happens to be listening for magic. For a supernatural side. My whole life I have felt out of place, like I don’t belong, I have needed magic or something more, so many times in my life and now I’m told that I am a supernatural and have been all along.
Told by someone that I see as family.
Anger tries to rise at that thought, but I bat it away, there is no room for that, I know Sully, and if he could have told me, he would have. It does no one any good being mad at him for something that he had no control over.
It does pose another question though; Sully is a strong supernatural, and yet someone managed to put a strong enough spell on him that he couldn’t override it. That makes me wonder why. What kind of supe am I? Where are my parents? Sully kept referring to them in the past tense. Does that mean that they are dead? A part of me hopes that they aren’t, and yet there is another part of me that thinks it might be easier if they were, as awful as that sounds. If they are alive, I have to face them, ask them why they abandoned me, why they gave me to Evander’s parents.
I would have to ask them why they didn’t love me enough to keep me.
My barriers slam closed; I am definitely not ready to think about that.
If I am really being honest with myself, I am angry. My life would have gone in a completely different direction if I tested as a supe, I could have avoided a whole lot of trauma, and pain if I could have gone to the magic academy with Evander, but that didn’t happen. I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason, but I am struggling to see the reason behind that.
Why did I have to go through a life of pain, only to find out in my thirties that what I wanted all of my life I have always been?
I work through all of these feelings, sorting them, feeling them, and then releasing them. This is a massive life-changing thing, and I need to deal with it as adulty as I can. That means not burying everything that this situation is making me feel. I am not a complete grown-up, so the feelings that I have toward my parents are being buried until I am better equipped to deal with them, but any anger I have toward Sully and Van’s parents gets felt, and then I move on.
They were all doing the best that they could with what they had. Sully has protected me and guided me as best as he could, considering the people that I ran with, and he is family, he is my big brother, and I don’t know what I would do without him.
Van’s parents took me in when I had no one, I know that they did it for my parents but they loved me, they didn’t just look after me, and they never pressured me to be more than I was, they just loved me as their own, I have a good childhood because of them.
None of those people deserve my anger, so they aren’t going to get it.
I have never been very good at being patient, but I don’t have a choice. Sully’s words were that it’s starting, or at least something along those lines. I am hoping that he will be able to tell me more at some point, but with the way that Fates work, several things most likely have to fall into place before that can happen.
I am now confident that my Darkness, and the fact that I die and then come back to life as me with no change or need to feast on brains, is part of my supernatural side. However, I have done extensive research, and I haven’t come across anything that came even remotely close to what the Darkness is or anyone that can do what I can do.
I have no idea how long I have been out here, my mind going around in circles and trying to pull apart all of these feelings, but my legs are tired, and I need to sit down before I head back to the house, and hopefully dessert. I spot a fallen tree and take a seat on it, making sure that I am not about to sit on any living creatures.
The forest at night is alive with more life than people usually give credit for, and if you stay still enough, all manner of creatures will make themselves known to you. I take a moment, allowing thoughts of being a supernatural, and family ebb away, I just listen to the forest around me.
It’s not long before I have remained still enough that the creatures start to make themselves known again, I watch as a deer slowly moves through the trees, only briefly stopping to look at me curiously before deciding that I am not a threat and moving on. Rabbits do a similar thing, and I just watch. I become aware that I should probably start heading back to the house since I have no idea how long I have been gone. I want my dessert, and I also don’t want to make the guys worry and think that something is wrong with me, again.
I start to stand up but pause when I get the overwhelming feeling that I am being watched, my instincts ping with warning, and the forest quiets. I am supposed to be safe out here, the guys said so and I believe them. However, this is me, and my previous track record shows that if there is even a whiff of danger in the immediate surroundings then I will find it.
It’s a gift.
I allow my gaze to move around the forest, turning in a slow circle, my hands clenching and unclenching as I ready myself for an attack. I have nearly completed an entire circle when I spot eyes in the tree above me, just two small dots of glowing purple, but they are definitely eyes. As soon as I lock eyes with it, and it acknowledges that I have, the creature moves into the moonlight and swings down from the branch, landing in a soft crouch before straightening again.
If I am not mistaken, I am staring at an imp. A creature from the supernatural realm of Trieneliea, it’s where all supernaturals come from. It is infinitely vast, and rumor has it that it has access to other realms as well. We don’t know much about the realm. I know that there was a war and that the war is what triggered many supernaturals to escape to this world. We also know that when they did, the gates that connected their world to ours were closed, and despite their best efforts, they were still unable to open them.
I know more than most about what happened, Sully likes to talk about home when he has a little too much to drink. I don’t know much though, I know that it was different than Earth, but the same, when I questioned him about that, he didn’t explain, just carried on talking. It was harsher, split into territories for the various supernaturals and their desired realms. Wars broke out, but nothing compared to the scale of the last one that forced mass evacuation. I asked about hierarchy, the governing system, all of that sort of thing because I was incredibly intrigued by the place that he spoke about with such fondness, he just waved me off and said that was enough talk of the past.
I bring it up every now and then and only ever get a small amount more information out of him. I wish I could study the place, but there are no books on it here, only stories that have been passed down from the generation that left. Supernaturals live for a very long time and there are many that are still alive from that time, although it only happened forty odd years ago so that isn’t really surprising.
The shuffling feet of the imp pulls me out of my thoughts, and I study it. He only comes up to my mid-thigh, if that. He looks like a small, perfectly proportioned human, except his skin is tinged a dark blue, and his ears are pointed, although they are only just visible through the blue and silver threads of his braided hair.
He smiles, rows of sharp, pointed teeth making his smile look anything but friendly. From what I can remember, they aren’t usually supposed to be a threat and are more known for their trickery. My senses are telling me otherwise though, and that warning that danger is near is still thrumming through me. It would not be a good idea to let my guard down.
“What do you want?” I ask it, because the way that his purple eyes are looking at me, he definitely wants something.
There is a rustling in the trees, and small figures drop from their branches. I find myself surrounded by at least fifteen imps.
Shit.
“We don’t mean you any harm,” the one who first dropped from the canopy answers my question.
“I would believe you, but you have me surrounded,” I reply, with more bite than I probably should have.
His eyes widen slightly while the other imps all start to move restlessly.
He tilts his head and studies me closely, “Name.” He demands, and when I just raise my eyebrow at him because who the fuck does he think he is, he dips his head and adds, “My name is, Flinotive.”
“That’s an unusual name, although I suppose it’s not where you come from,” I reply, my words once again causing the imps to shuffle around and mumble. Since he gave me his name and I can’t remember anything in the lore that I have read about imps that would indicate that I shouldn’t, I reply, “Neith, my name is Neith.”
He nods a wide smile on his face again, “Yes, yes. I thought so, but I had to check. We have been waiting a long time.”
“Waiting for what?” I ask.
“You must complete a task,” he replies, ignoring my other question.
I raise my eyebrow again, “I must do nothing, actually. Besides, I don’t have time to complete a task, I have dessert calling my name.”
“Flinotive hears no one calling for Miss,” he replies, looking confused. His confusion clears, “No matter, you must complete the task.”
The danger warning that I have suddenly goes from a mild buzzing to a blaring siren, and the world around me shifts and changes as magic builds around me. When the world finally stops spinning, I find myself in the forest still, but nothing is the same, and I have a feeling that somehow, I am not in the forest at the guy's house anymore.