Ice is overrated

Chapter 24

Mara

I jolt awake from the pain and the nightmare that has started to haunt me. I swear I can feel the blade all over again and hear their taunts. Anyone who walks by with their hood up or what looks like a mask I wanna scream. Every time the floor creeks I wonder if they found me here too and come to finish off what they stater. I look around wide eyed in panic then seeing a nurse that I've never met before looks down at me, a scream wanting to come out of me but I manage to keep it down. "Its okay, I'm just giving you more pain meds that should help with the burning sensation" he says giving me a small smile and walking away with a saunter. I see someone laid my laptop on the table in front of me and a sigh in relief needing to get some of my tutoring stuff done when I almost scream again as I finally notice the women sitting next to my bed. I do not know her but when I focus more on her. She slightly looks like a female version of Lucifer with her dark brown eyes and light brown hair. She looks like she hasn't slept or eaten in weeks. Holding my hand to my chest I look around seeing body guards then my gaze falls back to her. She smiles at me wide and toothy before speaking, "Your the infamous Mara, I have heard so much about. I'm Kara, my wife is a friend to Nestari and you know my brothers Declan and Lucifer. I just wanted to meet you before I head back to Tennessee. Also, don't worry about the medical costs those are all handled" She says as she gets up and walks closer to me. She's a tall woman, that's maybe a size 20, with dark long wavy hair like Delcan's but with Lucifer's hazel green eyes. She's wearing leggings and a hoodie with jordan's, just my type of woman. My brain finally catches up to where she said wife, Hailey Archer, Nesta's childhood best friend well more like family business friends but Nesta won't tell me about any of it. All I know is she only talks to Hailey every so often and she absolutely hates her name thats why we call her Nesta or Nes. I take a shaky breath and exhale slowly as I feel my anxiety for the first time in years. "It's nice to meet you, Kara. You didn't have to do any of that" I say with a smile as she grins ear to ear. As I loom at her more I see the dark circles around her eyes and her slim frame. I can tell something's up, like she has to tell me something. She looks to her left and thats when I notice the people in the room four men in suits are in almost each corner as the door is guarded by two more in the hallway. "Lucian, close the door please I have to talk to Ms. Pétri alone" She says as he does just that. my pulse spiking as the heart monitor picks up on it. "Don't worry Mara. I'm not going to harm you, plus Declan would probably hurt me if I did. I like you so I'm not going to but as it seems most your family is in the dark, after I talked to them about this, you all need to be filled in to what your family does and means to the shadows in this town. After Dec told me what happened I knew it had to do with our families and this ridiculous society" she lets out a breath as I scan my brain for any clue to what's happening.

I remember Declan and I joking around in text about some Hockey game I saw as he was waiting to see how his sister-in-law was doing and said he was worried about her and I see why. "I'm the eldest of my 8 siblings. I remember our father before he vanished to a debt he owes to the mafia. My wife and I met during one of their parties when we were younger and kept in contact before we spent time together trying to find my father after he disappeared one night. I was 17 and Ryder, was only a month old at this point, I was taking care of him when I over heard my parents arguing about something about the secret society they wanted us to have no part in especially us girls. My father was angry and he hit my mother and left when she wouldn't agree to marry me and my twin off to another set of twins. When I asked about it my mother told me it was no big deal and not to worry about it. We were used to my father not coming home for months, we all assumed he was in the military or something and they wanted to shield us from it. I went to the only person I felt like I could trust, Hailey, she then told me about the secret society, the reges doloris and the assassins guild. As well as the ridiculous marriage thing between them for the women and being anything other than straight is like the biggest fuck you to them which may end with your death. When Dec told me about whats been going on I figured I would look into Josh considering this sounds all too familiar. I found that his family and yours, your great great grandfather and his great great grandfather created Reges Doloris when your great uncle and great aunt were murdered because she refused to marry the person who raped her and later she found out she was pregnant as a result of it before they were able to get married. Back in those times rape was basically marriage, which is totally wrong, well turns out that person that raped and murdered them would be considered Josh's great great cousin. Your great great grandfather, Fanz Pètri, and his great great grandfather, Leonardo Douleur, created the society to protect the families from all the bad that was happening back then. Then the assassins guild run by Franz was initiated to harm those who dared to test them as well as hunt down the ones that hurt several women and tried to get away with it. When Franz and Leonardo had children they said that as they expand out to bring more people into this that it has to stay a secret or the government will want to regulate it like everything else so the male children will be assigned a princess or goddess and they will marry when the time is right and when the feelings are actually there. Now, this wasn't perfect at all my family and yours being ones that didn't work out. Your great grandfather and my great grandmother were what I like to call star crossed lovers but they married their partners since it was their duty to but turns out my great grandfather and your great grandmother were also in love. Tragic story of how four people who couldn't be together because someone said so. Well, turns out the creep who raped her was also stalking her and learned of the pregnancy and took it to court. The judge gave her the option to marry him or face more charges if something happens during the pregnancy. She refused and countered with marrying the person she loved, the judge accepted that as enough, they were married then and there. The rapist was furious, wouldn't let them alone and tried to kill them many times before. Then when they were on the run and finally felt safe to settle down in Lewisville, Kentucky. Thats when he struck killing them both in the middle of the night, she was nine months pregnant at this point. No one knows what happened to the baby only thing I found was a document stating that the baby was removed before ems could get there" She says as she sigh. "So are you trying to tell me that my great grandpa is this child or I'm not following" I say as I look at her she smiles her eyes brighter then before laughing a little before continuing.

"No, we still don't know anything about the baby we assume they died or was hidden by whoever the killer took them too. We only assume that because Jake Ohara was the rapist and murderer was found dead two years after in his home and no signs of the baby were seen there. My guess is that they were given to one of the mafia families to keep safe. Your father.." I cut her off by holding up an hand. "What does my father have to do with any of this and why am I the target? Do my brothers know?" I say as I see her get annoyed with me. Yeah maybe I shouldn't interrupt her. "Our families are friends. They wanted to keep the us all out of this world to give us a chance at living a normal life. Your brothers know what I am talking about. We have a theory that you have been assigned as Josh's goddess. But with you 'dating' my brother he can literally do nothing about this. Hailey has a theory that they are after our fathers who disappeared to get what they feel is owed to them which is what i'm guessing is you marrying Josh and producing an air. I don't have access to the wills of each family but I do know they came with many contingency clauses. Josh's grandfather just died and i have a feeling that from allowing our fathers leave the assassins whenever they wanted to build a proper family didn't go over well with Hamel. Considering you are here and hurt tells me all I need to know. Our fathers are missing to protect us from the bullshit of having to marry someone we don't want. Considering the last gay member of the society was killed before anyone knew. I  want to take over this society since it is our birthright. Josh's family only became in power because Hamel took it upon himself to lead it. Where our families should be running it. I also say there is more to what we know about it and Josh's family and this. I'm glad you have agreed to dating Declan, maybe you two can finally admit your feelings for one another" She says winded and I stare at her absorbing the information. The last part taking me by surprise. "What? No, I don't like him like that" I try to say but she gives me a knowing smile as she glances out the window checking something. "You light up every time he is mentioned. Plus, after he heard you were hurt  thats when he begged me to get here as soon as possible. It took longer than we hoped but I heard that wasn't a bad thing since you have been a sleep for almost a week and a half" I can't help but look at her shocked mouth opened. She smiled as a hands me my phone and she is correct its almost July 4th then incident happened June 23rd. "Why did I sleep that long? He didn't need to come here and see me like this. How do you know he likes me like that? Ugh... fine yes I have feelings for him but I don't even know him it's hard to explain" I say as she smiles. "It's like when you look at them the universe tied your souls together and that invisible thread is hard to ignore. Every time you see them you are drawn to together. Even when they aren't even in town you feel that thread be stretched more and when they are back in town you already feel their presence even though you aren't close to them?" she says as a question like she knows exactly what this feeling is. "Yes exactly that. I looked at him once and that's all it took for him to be etched into my mind forever" I say as she smiles. "I had that with Hailey we ignored it for years until I told her how I felt she looked at me like I had two heads but then she felt it too like we were together in another life. Take this time to get to know him and fake date for protection but see this as a trial for something more just don't hurt each other. You both been through enough" With that she stands up and leaves the room before I can even reply to her. All her body guards leave with her as Ryan comes back into the room but my breath catches as I take in Declan. He's wearing black jeans, a black short sleeve t-shirt that is tight around his biceps, a pair of high tops, his hair is slightly longer, he looks like he could fall asleep right here. My heart beats out of my chest as they walk closer to my bed. He smiles as I see new guards take the places where the old one were just at. I can register Ryan saying something but my eyes never leave Declan's. We only been around each other in group situations like class or when our friends were near. "Yeah, sis. You were out for almost two full weeks. We were told it was normal considering you lost a lot of blood. I'm just glad you are awake" Ry says with a wink but his tone is too chipper and nice. I glance at the clock it reads 6:30 AM. My brother is many things but him being this chipper this early for a non morning person something's up. Then to add the odd thing of paid guards to watch me by Declans sister. Something happened when I was asleep and out of it. While my mind races as I stare blankly at the wall, I didn't notice Declan is now next to me and is leaning in very close to me towards my ear. "Don't freak out. Josh came to see you a couple times" He says and my blood goes still.