I'll Protect You (Re-Edit #2, 2016)

Like Taylor Swift says: no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity

"I disarmed him and two others in less than five minutes. Plus, his black eye was worse than mine," I retorted.

"Was not! I landed way more punches than-" Alec's voice trailed off as his eyes darted towards Archer. "Yeah, uh, I didn't even hit you whatsoever. You barely got a scratch on you at all."

Archer watched Alec with narrowed eyes. From what Elijah told me, Archer had interrogated the Darkwood boy so badly that Alec couldn't be in a room with him for a full day. The end result was that Archer deemed Alec trustworthy, but Alec remained on his tiptoes around my brother.

"Rivers," Archer said as young couple passed through the front doors. "I have an important question to ask you."

Alec shot me a dismayed look, like he was terrified that Archer was preparing to slay him on the spot.

He was spared from having to answer as Elijah waltzed into our group, the most superior expression on his face as he stopped by Archer. "Done and done. The little Sparrow can return to her nest as soon as she wants to."

"I thought that the hospital was set on making her stay for another two days for further check-ups?" Archer cocked a brow.

"Did you know that spitting rapid-fire Cimerian scares people?" Elijah snickered. "That doctor wasn't too keen to hang around me after that so he gave me the forms and practically ran for the hills."

"Have you heard yourself speak the language?" Alec snorted. "You sound like you're summoning the dead."

"The language of my soul," Elijah grinned. "Come on, I have to get the candy ready for the trick-or-treaters."

The four of us left the hospital and Archer rolled his eyes at Elijah's statement. "You know, you're probably more into holidays than Martha Stuart."

"That woman has nothing on me."

No truer words had ever been spoken.

The chill of the air bit at my cheeks so I pulled my black coat around me a little tighter. The air smelled of crisp autumn leaves and a few of the trees were already losing themselves to the upcoming winter cold. Gold and scarlet drifted along the roads. Cars parked underneath grand oaks were blanketed under leaves that shifted with the small breeze that drifted through the parking lot.

"Back to my question," Archer piped up. "Darkwood--Gwen Stacy or Mary Jane?"

For half a second, Alec looked completely thrown off by Archer's random question but then he let out a scoff. "Mary Jane, obviously."

Archer feigned getting shot in the heart and he stumbled around the parking lot, performing a dramatic fall when we came to Elijah's car.

"You're not welcome here," he cried out as Elijah fished the keys out of Archer's coat. "I don't ever want to see your face again."

"I guess I know who got Mother's dramatic flair," I snickered while Alec skirted away from Archer's outstretched arms.

"It's called the art of theater," my brother grumbled.

"We're not in a theater, are we?"

Archer pouted as well piled into the car. However, after Elijah drove out of the lot and headed onto the road to his house, Archer turned around in the passenger seat, a much more serious expression on his face.

"I need your help."

"She just got out of the hospital," Elijah interrupted right off the bat.

"I'm not asking her to destroy the Great Wall of China," Archer argued. "I just need her to be my eyes and ears.