Chapter Twelve
River
A growl rises in my throat, “He better not, this is Neith we are talking about, and I will be pissed as fuck if he knew something that would help us help her and didn’t share it.”
Eyebrows rise around the room at my declaration, but no one disagrees with me. They all feel the same way that I do, and I would imagine that Ty would be very surprised by our reaction if something happened to Neith, and it turns out that he could have told us something that would have prevented it.
“He said that there were several teams involved, but I’ll give you three guesses as to the name of one of them,” Ransom says, his jaw clenching.
“We don’t need three guesses,” Griff replies instantly, “Draconian.”
It's a stupid name if you ask me, considering there are five of them on the team, and only three of them are dragons; I guess the majority ruled in that instance. They give dragons a bad name, and that is putting it mildly. The leader, Kylen, is a giant dick and has had a problem with us for as long as we’ve been at the academy, and before that actually since we went to the Magical Academy with him as well. He always tried to be the best, and we always were, it has rubbed him the wrong way for decades. The rest of his team is just as bad as he is, and I actually have no idea how they have remained agents; everyone is aware of their morally grey practices when it comes to making sure the law is upheld.
The only person who is decent on the entire team is Coen, although he comes across as a dick at first. If you get him away from the others, he’s actually really fucking awesome. None of us know why he stays on a team of supes like that, but he must have more in common with them than we realize. Their team isn’t a chosen team, so he could leave anytime that he wants.
“Would they really make Neith go through the Choosing, which could kill her, just because she’s on our team and they hate us?” I ask and then immediately shake my head, “Never mind, of course they fucking would, they’re cunts.”
“Exactly.” Evander replies, “It’s not like we can even talk to them about it and convince them not to do it because that would just show them how much Neith means to us, and then they would want to do it even more.”
“Like I said, cunts,” I retort.
“I imagine that Neith is going to mad as fuck that the Choosing is going to choose for her which team she should be on when she knows she wants to be on ours,” Raiden says.
Evander winces, “No, she is going to take that very badly, especially when she gets told that it’s mandatory and not something that she can just not do because she hates being told what to do. I imagine if it happens, she is going to raise hell the whole time that she does it.”
“Let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that,” Reed says, looking even more serious than usual.
“We need to tell her that it’s a possibility,” Griff points out.
“Are you sure?” Ransom asks, “It’s just going to stress her out even more than she already is, and she has a lot of shit to deal with at the moment as it is.”
Griff nods, “Yes. I haven’t known her for that long, but she would be pissed as fuck if we kept something like this from her.”
“Griff is right,” Evander agrees, “plus, if we give her a warning that it may happen, we could start to prepare her for it, just in case.”
I nod, “She seems to be a bit like me with her fidgeting and getting easily distracted, and if something like this was happening to me, or there was a possibility of it happening, then I would need to know as soon as possible so I had enough time to get used to the idea.”
Ransom sighs. “Shit, yeah, you’re right. We can tell her tomorrow; we have a fairly chilled out day after we have written the reports.”
“Well, I suggest that we tell her and then give her something to beat the shit out of because she hates being told that she has to do something, especially something like this,” Evander says.
“Done,” Reed says, and I have no idea what he is planning but there is definitely some sort of plan brewing behind those eyes.
“Let’s get to bed. The sun is up, and we definitely shouldn’t be,” Raiden mutters with a yawn as he gets up.
None of us argue with the suggestion, we are all exhausted, it feels like we haven’t stopped the last few days. I frown as I watch Raiden. The shadows in his eyes are a lot more prominent than they usually are, and I don’t like it.
The amount of power that he kicked off earlier when he saved Neith was incredible, far more than I ever thought he was capable of and thought he was strong anyway. The power was so strong that I’m worried that Ransom’s wards wouldn’t have been enough to conceal the flare of magic from the Reaper council, and that could be very bad. Especially since Raiden has wings, fucking enormous stunning wings that are colored in similar shades to his hair, black that shimmers purple and blue when the moonlight hits them just right. I have never seen a reaper with wings like that. Hell, I have only seen two or three reapers with wings, and they are on the high council. They aren’t going to like the fact that Raiden has wings, especially wings of his color. At this point, I am just assuming that the color of his wings is significant, and considering that all other reapers have light-colored wings, I would be very surprised if I am wrong.
He didn’t ask what color his wings were, although he didn’t seem extremely surprised that he had them. He must have always known that he was strong, he had to, there is no way that he had that power inside and didn’t feel the strength of it. What is worrying me though is that he has felt the freedom of having his magic free now, and having to keep it confined after setting it free in such a spectacular way is going to be a hell of a lot more difficult than it was when he locked it away as a child.
What he did for Neith is truly monumental and could have harsh consequences for Raiden, which means for the rest of us as well because there is no way in any of the known realms that we would allow him to deal with the Reaper council by himself.
It’s not going to happen.
I have a feeling that Neith is going to be right there with us, and I have to admit that I like that. My intuition is telling me that Raiden is going to need all the backup that he can get if the council felt the power blast that he let off. I want Raiden to be entirely himself, not to lock away any parts of himself, but I want him to do it on his terms and not because some fucking council is demanding that he does.
I frown. I might bring it up with him and see how open he is to using his other magic again now that he has had it free. I think it would be a really good idea to start using it and not get caught out if the Reaper Council does call him. Otherwise, his reaction is also going to be emotional, and that is going to make him vulnerable, and the Reaper Council will use that against him. I would much rather that he was vulnerable with us and could work with his other magic at his own pace and with people who love him than be surrounded by a bunch of snakes.
I know that the others will agree with me, but at the end of the day, it’s up to Raiden. If he is not comfortable with it, then that’s the end of the discussion, and we will respect that. A ping of intuition tells me that this is the right thing to do, and I need to talk to Raiden as soon as I can and suggest it.
“River?” Doc asks, pulling me from my thoughts, and I realize that while I have been absorbed in my own wonderings, everyone else has left.
“Yeah, sorry, I was in a world of my own then,” I say as I get up and stretch.
He watches me cautiously, “Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about what happened with Neith?”
My eyebrows draw down in confusion for a moment, the question completely throwing me since it had nothing to do with what I was thinking about.
When it finally clicks, I smile, “No, I’m good. I have a feeling that Neith might bring all sorts of reactions out in us.”
“True,” Doc replies.
I start to move past him, still smiling, when I notice that he is frowning and hasn’t started to move. He’s just standing there.
“You alright, man. Is there anything you want to talk about?” I ask him curiously.
His frown deepens, but he replies, “Neith is practically human.”
“Yeah,” I reply, unsure where he’s going with this.
He scrubs his hand across the back of his neck, “Humans can have relationships with low-level supes with no consequences, but none of us are low-level supes.”
It hits me like a ton of bricks exactly what he means, we haven’t spoken about it aloud, but its obvious that we all find Neith attractive, and she is more human than supe right now, which means we have to be really fucking careful.
“Shit, you’re right. She fits in so well with us and holds her own even fucking better than most supes would that it hadn’t even occurred to me,” I reply, “message the guys in our chat. She is a supe Doc, we just have to be patient if it gets to that.”
I am aware that I’m not saying it, and I think it’s because neither of us are quite ready to admit it yet, but Doc is a doctor and he looks after us all, it's understandable that he would have thought of this first and that he felt the need to warn the rest of us.
“Done, they’ve all seen it and replied similar to you,” Doc replies, his shoulder slumping a bit. It was clearly something that he had been worrying about.
I clap him on the shoulder, “Come on, dude, let’s get some sleep. It’s been a long ass few days.”
He chuckles as he follows me from the room, and up the stairs, we both look to the end of the hall where Neith’s door is.
“She’s going to change everything, isn’t she?” I mutter out loud without really meaning to.
“She already is,” Doc smirks before he turns on his heel and heads down the hallway to his now permanent room.
It feels good to have him here, properly here and a part of the team. Usually, you would have to worry about an adjustment period where we all got used to him living here and working with us more often. It’s Doc though, he’s spent more time here than I am sure he has spent anywhere else, we know we work well together, he’s one of us and has been for a very long time now.
I make my way to my room, and strip as soon as I walk through the door, leaving a trail of clothes behind me leading to the shower, I will pick them up later. All I want to do now is shower and get some sleep. I am fucking exhausted, more so now that I can actually see my bed. It has to be one of my most favorite places to be. Rushing through my shower, I don’t bother with clothes as I throw myself on my bed, landing face down and grabbing my pillow as I wriggle my way under my duvet.
I sigh happily, but sleep doesn’t come, I don’t feel as relaxed as I usually do, and I am reluctant to admit why. Finally, after several long minutes of tossing and turning, I admit that my kitsune, hell, I want to be closer to Neith. I can’t stop playing the moment that she got stabbed in the heart over and over again. It’s why I reacted the way that I did when she showed up bleeding, it happened too close to when she died, and I hadn’t yet dealt with that. It was one of the reasons anyway.
I know that I’m not going to be able to sleep until I am closer to her, so that I know if anything happens. The only way that I am going to do that is if I sleep outside her door, it may be a little unconventional but I can make sure that I have moved before she wakes up in the morning so she has no need to find out that I’m weird enough that I couldn’t sleep without being close.
I shake my head, yeah this is probably one of the crazier things I have done, I think as I push myself up and get off the bed, making my way over to my closet to grab some pyjamas because on the off chance that she does catch me it will be slightly less weird if I am wearing clothes and not naked, I hope.
Please don’t wake up and find me outside the door.
I pull on some loose fitting shorts, and forgo a shirt because it's bad enough that I have to wear clothes. Normally I refuse to wear more than I have to at night, which is why I usually sleep naked. Grabbing my cover off my bed and my pillow, I figure I can wrap myself up like a burrito and that way I’ll stay warm, and the floor will be a bit padded, failing that I’ll just sleep in my kitsune form.
I quietly open the door and then make my way down the hallway, when I turn the corner that leads to her hallway I pause, someone has had the same idea as me, and I honestly couldn’t guess at this point which one of my brothers it is, it could be any of them. We are all as equally enamored with Neith for different reasons. I challenged anyone not to be after they have spent time in her presence.
Getting closer, I smile as I realize exactly who it is, I should have known.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Raiden asks me, his eyes popping open.
I shake my head as I settle down next to him, “Nope, I kept seeing that damn knife go into her heart.”
“Same,” Raiden replies. “I don’t think I have ever been so scared in my life; I was prepared to pull her soul back.” I hesitate in my reply, and of course, he picks up on it and asks, “What is it?”
“I was thinking,” I start.
“Careful,” he smirks.
I roll my eyes and continue, “You kicked off a hell of a lot of power when you saved her, and there is a chance that Ransom’s wards may not have been enough to stop the Reaper Council from noticing.”
Ransom stills but nods, “Yeah, I thought that too.”
“So, just in case they call you to the council, which we are all following you to, and they can try to stop us,” I say fiercely before clearing my throat and continuing, “just in case, wouldn’t it be better if you started to use and practice with your other magic, so that if they demanded it of you, it’s less of a shock and you are prepared. Practice around us. There is absolutely no pressure, and if you tell me to fuck off right now, then that’s fine. I won’t bring it up again, and I completely understand. I just thought I would suggest it.”
He is silent for a moment, thinking over my words which is a good thing because it means that he is at least open to the idea and isn’t shutting down completely which is a massive step forward compared to how he used to be if this subject was ever brought up.
He sighs, “I think you are most likely right. There is a good chance that the council will have felt the power surge, and with the tier that my power level makes me, they are going to want to summon me. The question is when, they work on a different time scale to everyone else, so it could be days or months before they summon me.” He replies, “They will not take no for an answer if I refuse to reveal my power to them, and they are not above using those I love to force me to use it. I would much rather be prepared and have a handle on what I am capable of before that happens, and if it doesn’t happen, then at least I am whole again.”
I smile, happy that he’s agreeing. “Didn’t realize how much you were missing, huh?”
He shakes his head, “No, it was incredible. What color are my wings?”
“Black, like your hair, when the moon hit your feathers, they shimmered blue, purple, and like this dark green, they were fucking awesome,” I say.
Raiden has gone statue still, in a hushed voice he replies, “Are you sure? All reapers have cream, white or beige wings.”
I nod, “I know man. I’m guessing you don’t know the significance of having black ones?”