43. Chapter 43
Lennox
P ain shot up her leg in frequent waves from the stab and broken ankle that refused to heal. Her eyes followed Eden and Holden out of the room and she leaned her back against the cool wall. A searing pain from the long wound between her shoulder blades reminded Lennox of what Holden had done only hours ago. Such lovely burns, I’d love to hear the story behind them but I think I should add a bit of decoration. He hadn’t been as threatening as Armaros but he definitely was almost as cruel. He had traced the fire dagger in the shape of an ‘S’ over all of the scars Armaros had left there decades ago, the scar would forever trace like a snake over her spine.
As the memories faded, Lennox turned her attention to Wyatt and scanned him for any cuts left by Eden. Eventually, they went to his chest as it rose and fell ever so slightly and proved he was still alive. The motion sent a wave of relief over her as she finally went still in her spot releasing a long breath and letting her head hang forward. The world was still spinning from the blood loss and pain in her leg and back as she evened her breathing. The sound of metal on metal caught her attention once more as she saw Aron put the weapon he had used to kill the hunter back on the table.
“Is he okay?” His voice crackled from all the times Armaros had spoken.
“He’s breathing but we need to get him back to Kappa and I can heal you both up.”
“I’ll be fine, you need to be healed too. How’s your back?”
“I’ll be fine.” She smirked slightly and threw his words back at him.
“Why did you come here alone?” He asked as he peered around.
“I was going to call Fang, but… Every time I went to I worried that they would just kill him and run. You know Fang and the others. They would have gone right in, so I waited and planned.”
A mirrored smirk appeared on his face as hers did. The large wings folded into his back and he let out a soft grunt as they vanished. His own chains still hung from his wrists and gleamed hot orange from his anger. His gaze drifted over to her, his expression softened as he did and examined the chains that still held her in her spot. Hot metal fell to the floor and sizzled in small drips from his hands as the heat was too much for them to take any longer.
“Holy shit!” He laughed and looked at his now burned skin as a few more drops of the iron came off. “We’re getting out of here, Len. I have an idea.”
After a few seconds they had melted enough for him to open his arm and force the metal the rest of the way from his wrists. A small smile drifted to her face as hope that they would get out of here soon washed over her. Aron hastily wiped his wrists off on his jacket and went over to her. He knelt down and positioned himself directly in front of her and reached up wrapping his hands around the cuffs holding her arms above her head where Holden had latched her.
The view of him over her with his arms over her head brought up the memories of Armaros doing the same to force her powers out. Her hair stood on end but her eyes locked onto his forest eyes and for the first time her body didn’t start to shake at the memories. His eyes searched hers and his body was still as if braced for the panic but when it didn’t come she felt him relax slightly.
“Look down, okay? It might hurt a little bit.” He instructed in a more serious tone.
“It can’t be any worse than what we’ve already been through… I trust you.” The last words slipped out as another wave of pain from her shoulder blades stung.
As she felt the metal around her wrists heat up, Lennox ducked her head into his chest, his stained denim jacket covered her view. Her skin started to burn which caused her magic to call itself forward but stopped when the heat faded once more. Aron huffed in frustration above her and felt him adjust his hands.
“I need the big guy's power here… Make him mad.”
Lennox froze for a moment, thankful she couldn’t see his face as she thought of what she could say. At first she drew a blank, until she remembered the pure hate Armaros had looked at Eden with. As much as she wanted to feel the same after everything that had occurred, she still didn’t blame her, not fully. She was a product of the family she was put into all because she left. In some twisted way, all of this is my fault. She decided that it was better to unpack later she finally found her words and discovered there was some truth to them, but she would never tell him that.
“Eden isn’t to blame, she was manipulated into all of this and I think we should forgive her.”
A deep growl reverberated in his chest which brought goosebumps to her arms. The heat returned to her wrists much hotter this time. She clenched her teeth to prevent herself from yelling out. She only glanced up for a split second and saw the black eyes of Armaros looking back at her. His black burned skin from his fingertips to elbow was illuminated by the orange glow inside his veins. For the first time, she didn’t pull away as the hot metal melted down their hands onto her arms. Lennox tucked her head back into his chest as the heat became too much against her face.
“Almost there, get ready to pull your hands out.” The two men spoke as one as the metal became thin enough he loosened his grip. “Okay Len, pull!”
Lennox did so and wrenched her arms from his hands, the metal fell to either side. Without the resistance of the chains, the muscles in her shoulders gave out and caused her to slump into him. His arms wrapped around and completely engulfed her, his hand held her head to his chest as he slowly helped her to adjust to the freedom of movement again. Her ragged breath slowly evened and her body became still as the adrenaline stopped.
“Thank you.”
“Couldn’t have done it without you, Lenny.” He whispered in her ear as each movement shot new pains through her body.
“Hey there, can I join the group huddle?” Wyatt’s voice caused them both to turn their heads.
A soft smile appeared on her face. “Do you even have to ask?”
Wyatt moved over to them, his eyes fell on the strange way her ankle was healing. “Can you make it up the stairs?” “Can any of us?” She teased as she looked between the two men.
“Better than you,” Wyatt smirked. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
They helped her to stand and when she stumbled slightly, Aron wrapped a strong arm around her side and led her to the stairs where the door stood open. The three followed the light from the top of the stairs and found themselves in the kitchen. Lennox looked around at the few decorated pine trees down the hall adorned with dried orange slices and holly. It was at that, Lennox remembered what day it was as they made their way to the front door.
“Merry Christmas you two.”
Each let out a laugh that brought a smile to her face. “Merry Christmas, Leonard.”
“Merry Christmas, Nox.”
The next day Lennox was responsible for keeping Aron busy at Kappa while Rosalyn and Wyatt supposedly set up for Aron’s surprise party. Lennox had received a text from him to tell her that Rosalyn hadn’t wanted to help. Though she was sad, she understood why her friend didn’t want any part of this. Yet somehow the plan didn’t stop. It was easy enough as both were still exhausted and wanted to rest from the night before. Lennox had spent the night in Aron’s room since both didn’t want to be alone. Though her sleep hadn’t been completely peaceful as the moment of Eden’s deal haunted her dreams and Aron had woken her up from each one.
Finally able to walk since each of them had taken turns to heal major wounds and wrapped the rest they couldn’t, she went and brought up coffee for both of them. Neither of them said much most of the morning that slowly turned to afternoon. Lennox stewed on the memories and how she had done everything she could to prevent Eden from becoming just like her. She had seen the marks of Xemos on her arms and now she had made a deal. Not with just any Crossroads Demon, but Armaros. Not only that, Wyatt himself had known for who knew how long Eden was a hunter and he hadn’t said anything all because he fell in love.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Aron’s voice interrupted the storm.
“Wyatt knew… He knew who she was and he did nothing.”
“No, there’s no way he knew.”
“I saw it in his face, Aron. The day before you disappeared I was going to warn him after what happened in the hallway. I was going to tell him she was a hunter and he stopped me from speaking.” She explained, shifting herself in the rolling chair by his desk.
“That’s not like him, we’ll have to figure out where he stands.” Lennox nodded and peered at her second cup of coffee. “There’s something else.”
“It’s nothing to worry about right now.” She tried to brush it off.
“That sucks, I’m worried about it right now.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Talk to me.”
Lennox fiddled with the sleeves of the hoodie he had lent her as she chewed on her words for a few seconds. Heat filled the tips of her ears as her emotions were shown clearly on her face. It took effort to keep her voice even when she wanted to yell at him. Not Aron, I want to scream at Armaros… Never thought I’d be able to do that. However, here she was fully able to give him an ear full and he couldn’t do anything about it.
“I’m not mad at you, Aron.” She started off and picked her words carefully as she tried to get accustomed to the two demons that shared a body. “The deal… With Eden, Armaros took it… I thought you were done with deals?”
His expression fell slightly and he flinched. His hand rubbed his temple but understanding reflected in his eyes. “We are done with deals, but we did it to stop her from hurting anyone here again. To protect Wyatt, Octavious, Rosalyn, and you.”
The word we caused her to pause. “That doesn’t negate the fact of what it means for her. I fought with everything I had to prevent her from taking on the curse- From becoming me.”
Her vision blurred as tears formed just in time to erase the saddened look in his eyes. She turned away to look at the Foreigner poster on his wall, as silly as it seemed she didn’t want Armaros to see her cry. The bed creaked as she heard him stand and approach her. Quickly, Lennox slammed her eyes shut as she felt a hand on her knee and another on her upper arm. A new wave of regret that didn’t quite match with her own mixed within her.
“Len, you did everything right. She’s made her choices and we would have made a deal with whoever was trying to hurt you.”
Her heart skipped inside her chest at his words and she looked over to him to find him knelt in front of her but was quickly shoved to the side. “Maybe she had the right to go after me, she’s right I should have believed Xemos.”
“She has no right to go after a peaceful group of supernatural beings who just want to study.” A deeper voice rumbled up from his chest and one of his eyes smoked over and the hand on her arm dropped.
“And you don’t get to decide who lives and dies anymore.” She snapped directly at Armaros in hopes Aron would understand this wasn’t for him.
“And you will not act as if you deserved her cruelty.” Armaros insisted.
“You certainly thought I did twenty years ago.”
“I’ve learned differently since then. Eden won’t break our deal.” His face twisted into a frown, a hint of anger in his darkened eye. “As much distaste I have for the girl if she does she shall not remain as you or Rosalyn did though I think she does deserve it.”
“Promise that to me.” Lennox held up her pinky which made the demon inside him roll his eyes. Raising an eyebrow at Armaros she motioned to it with her head. “It’s stupid to you but it’s become a thing and you’re going to have to deal with it.”
He shook his head and looped his finger through hers. “You are one unique demon, Lennox Cade.”
With that Armaros faded away as Aron’s eyes returned to normal as he released her hand. The previous frown that he had left shifted into a small smile as he squeezed her knee before he stood.
“Big bad Lenny calling out Armpit. I like this side of you.”
She couldn’t help but to let out a laugh at his nickname for the very demon that struck fear into mortals. “I’m sorry, Armpit?”
“I thought it was fitting.” Aron chuckled.
“You know, you’re good with people.” The tension they had spent most of the day dispersed within minutes.
“I better be, all the guys come here for advice or to get some shit off their chests.”
The two continued their casual conversations and made morbid jokes about the last few days. Lennox hadn’t been looking at her phone and ignored all the notifications on her smart watch until she heard the door to Aron and Wyatt’s rooms open. Both of them looked over to see Wyatt in Aron’s open door frame with his arms over his chest and leaned against the side.
“Hey, you guys got the time?” He looked directly at Lennox with a deliberate let’s get going expression.
“Yeah it’s like a bit after five I think, why?” Aron raised an eyebrow.
“Oh well some of the girls at Omega wanted to have an end of year meeting with you two.”
“Sure, no problem, but can we talk to you for a second?” Aron motioned for Wyatt to join them.
Wyatt pushed himself off the frame and plopped himself on the bed beside Aron with a smile Lennox knew was fake even from her spot in the computer chair. After being best friends for seven years she could see when he pretended that he was okay.
“What’s up, Chief?”
“We have to talk about what happened… There’s no point in tiptoeing around it but the day before Aron disappeared I tried to warn you about Eden you stopped me… How long have you known about her?”
Wyatts smile sank the moment she started to speak. “Only for a few weeks.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Aron asked.
“She had promised not to hurt anyone else… She was leaving the family and I was trying to help her escape without drawing too much attention until she was ready.”
Before Aron or herself could ask any more questions, he went into a long story about how when Eden had been supposedly sick she was actually in a magical coma due to vampire venom. He had gone to make sure she was okay but had been locked up in the very basement she and Aron had been. In turn Aron took over and told the story of how Eden attacked her in the hallway but for now left out the whole Armaros ordeal. Eventually he ended with the story of how Eden got him into the basement with the dagger, a story he had already told her once they got back to Kappa.
“Wait wait wait- You told me you were in a motorcycle accident.” Lennox turned to Wyatt once Aron had finished the story.
“Yeahhh, that was a lie.” He ran a hand through his hair with a nervous smile.
“You were locked in their basement and you still protected her?” Aron questioned. “I knew love was blind but fuck man I didn’t think you were that blind.”
“I’m not, I was doing what I do for the people I care about, like I said she was changing. She didn’t want to be a part of the cult anymore.”
Aron flinched and frowned. “It didn’t really seem that way in the end.”
“Well, I was hoping things wouldn't go that way.” He admitted.
“Yeah well you should have told us just in case they did.” Aron’s voice rose and deepened slightly. “Lennox was almost killed three times now and myself just last night. Eloise even almost killed you!”
“If I would have known she would do that I would have stopped her!” Wyatt’s voice joined his.
“Would you have?”
“Yes! I would have, Aron. I can’t look at her for what she did to you guys! To Felix and Rue! How could I forgive her for any of that? I hate her.”
The room went silent as Lennox was reminded of their two fallen family members. Lennox watched the regret and deep grief filled Wyatt’s tired eyes. She stood and closed the distance to the chair in a few steps. Without a word she sat beside him and wrapped her arms around his torso. In return she felt hands find their way around her as they sat in silence for a second.
“Thank you for showing her that family isn’t her only option.” She whispered before she pulled away. A grateful smile crossed his face as she let go and turned to both men. “We all have had our fair share of lies and shitshows happen this year. I say no more lies from here on out, agreed?”
Aron shot her a look as if to ask if he should tell him now and she shrugged to tell him it was his choice. “If that’s the case, I have some things I need to tell you Wyatt.”
Suddenly, the loud ring of an alarm on Wyatt’s phone went off. “If we can promise each other no more lies, then it can wait. It’s time for that meeting.”
“Ugh, fine.” Aron gave an exasperated groan and made a show of getting up.
“It’s not gonna be that bad,” Lennox stood and nudged him as he passed her.
“Listen, for all we know we are being dragged into some sort of drama between Nick and one of your girls.”
“Well if you could keep him from harassing my girls, that would solve it.”
“I’ve been giving him lessons on how to be less- Him when flirting.” Aron countered as they made their way from the house and into the brisk air.
The three of them were walking in the door of Omega Alpha. When Lennox opened it for them they were welcomed with all the lights shut off and complete silence. Aron looked at them confused as she motioned for him to go inside. Though he gave her a nervous look he stepped through the threshold. The moment he entered the house all the lights flipped on and about two dozen people from both houses popped out from around corners and yelled at the same time.
“Happy Birthday, Aron!” Donnie said as her and Leilani came around from the kitchen with a large sheet cake with guitars as candles.
He jumped at the sudden movement but quickly laughed as he saw everyone. “Hey! This doesn’t look like a meeting! Are those guitars!?”
“Wyatt said you’d like them.” Donnie smiled brightly interpreting for Leilani.
“Make a wish!” Donnie chimed in.
Aron looked around the room, the largest smile Lennox had ever seen spread across his face. He closed his eyes dramatically and blew as hard as he could before he laughed along with the others as eighties music started to play.
“Hell yeah, this is my jam!”
“There's a bonfire and beers outside!” Octavius called from beside a not so happy and seemingly drunk Rosalyn.
“Say no more!” He pivoted in place, grabbed Lennox’s hand and pulled her with him. “Come on! I’ve gotta see your moves to this one!”
Lennox laughed as she was pulled and shuffled off with him, Wyatt and the others close behind him. The sun fell lower in the sky and the fire kept most of the backyard pretty warm. Lennox drank and danced beside Aron most of the evening, even Celia and Remi came over to join them followed by Octavius, Rosalyn, Donnie, Leilani, and Val. A few songs played as they all sang along loudly and drank as they danced.
“Hey there Lennyboo, how’s the party?” Val asked over the music with her usual taunting tone and mischievous glint.
For once, Lennox looked at the very demon who put her in hell and didn’t react more than a polite smile. “It’s perfect, I’m glad you made it.”
Val looked at her in surprise but didn’t retort back as Donnie elbowed her. “Stop harassing them, sister.”
“I’m not, I’m just chatting. So Lenny, what’s the story with you two, hmm? I saw two little love birds sneaking off to the lake recently.”
Lennox froze and Aron stepped forward and placed his elbow on Lennox’s right shoulder with an entertained smirk. “Friends, Val. You’re still nosey.”
“I gotta keep up with my friend of course, besides I had to know if the rumors were true.”
“You started them, Val.” Donnie rolled her eyes as her twin opened her mouth again.
“It means you have a chance-”
Donnie quickly grabbed her sister’s arm and pulled her away and said something about needing ten more drinks, Leilani followed behind. The light weight on her shoulder vanished and she peered over to Aron who looked at her perplexed but with a knowing smile.
“What?” She raised her eyebrow at him and put her hands on her hips as the drinks sent the world in slow motion.
“I think someone likes you.” He teased motioning to the spot the two demons disappeared from.
“What? No.” She shook her head having never even considered the idea. “Donnie and I are friends.”
“She seems to think you two could be more.”
She paused and let her eyes drift to the spot they had been and familiar grief pulled at her heart. “I’m not interested in anyone for right now. I think I need a vacation first.”
“A beach sounds great right now.” Aron agreed.
Lennox turned her attention over to the group left behind, Remi and Celia in their own conversation as they danced. Octavius and Rosalyn beside them with her back to Lennox. Her heart sank as she remembered just how damaged their friendship was. It killed her to know she was so angry however justified it was, she wished they would be able to talk it out one day.
Lennox raised her own drink to her lips and added to the healthy buzz she already had going. Her friend stumbled, obviously much more intoxicated than earlier, Octavius easily kept her upright as he motioned toward Aron. It’s fine, neither of them will say anything in front of all these people. She convinced herself as the two approached.
“Happy birthday, I didn’t know it was the day after Christmas!” Octavius laughed.
“What are you, like five thousand years old now?” Rosalyn taunted though Lennox knew she wasn’t really asking Aron.
“Not exactly sure, I lost track over the years.” Aron seems to also catch it as he flinched.
“I think it’s time for presents!” Wyatt appeared from behind the couple and wrapped his arms around both of their shoulders.
Lennox shot him a thankful glance as he led the group back toward the house. Once inside the music was much more manageable and she could hear everyone clearer despite the slight ring. The seven of them went into the living room, kicking the balloons that littered the floor out of their way to where two packages with Aron’s name on them sat. She watched him and saw his eyes light up as he looked at the group of them.
His eyes bounced between both packages and he went for the one she had brought. Lennox had wrapped her gift inside a large thin box in bright red paper with a silver bow. Aron made quick work of her immaculate wrapping job to reveal a poster sized frame with a star chart in the center. Planets were labeled and connected in various places and details were written below. As his eyes scanned the chart a bright smile drifted to his face as he looked up at her.
“Len, how did you do this?”
“I made some educated guesses.” She smiled. “If it’s wrong I can make a new one.”
“No, it’s perfect.” Aron shook his head and wrapped her up in a tight hug.
“Okay, now for the group gift.”
Wyatt smiled and held out the small bag. He quickly moved the paper aside and took out a small snow globe with a snowman made of sand on a beach. He looked at it confused and peered into the bag and pulled out a set of seven tickets. His eyes traced the words for a few seconds before he looked around at each of them.
“Cancun?”
“All of us!” Wyatt said excitedly. “It will be the best semester break yet!”
“Hell yeah! We’re going to Cancun!” Aron picked up his drink and finished it in one go.
They laughed and the room buzzed with chatter as they all started talking about the trip. A drunken Celia yelled to Aron about how she had been absolutely dying to tell him. Lennox found a smile creep to her face as her gaze fell on each person. Though she was missing two, their little family had somehow managed to gain a few along the way. For the first time since Felix’s death, warmth filled her chest. Somehow, they had made it through the daggers and deals of the semester. Once again, they were once again safe behind the iron gates.