Where She Belongs

A New Start

"What is she talking about?" Mum asked him, sounding as horrified as my brothers now looked. "We left them behind when we heard the rumours..."

"I had to be sure she wasn't going to be one of those, things. You saw them." He snapped at her.

"We knew she wasn't." Mum tensed, sitting up in her seat. "What have you done?"

"What I had to, to keep my family safe!" He yelled, finally slowing down as we neared our house.

"She is our family too." Luke took my hand in his, squeezing it as he did so.

"We're not going anywhere." Jake told him as he stopped the car on our driveway.

"Even after what just happened?" He turned back to look at the three of us, and he didn't look anything like the man I had always known. He was scared.

"How about we go inside, sleep on it." Mum decided, getting out of the car.

"And if the witch and hybrid fail or worse, come here, then what?" Dad demanded, getting out after her.

The three of us quickly did the same.

"Then we will just deal with whatever comes-" She froze and Dad growled, moving to shield her as he held up a hand for us to stop. "next."

From the shadows of the verandah, David emerged looking every bit as dark and dangerous as his reputation would have you believe. He smiled, fangs unmissable in the streetlight as he fearlessly approached. Not needing an introduction, my brothers were quick to usher me behind them as they stood on edge and tense, trembling with the urge to shift now even after the night they'd had.

"Hello Megan." He purred, with his smile gone and his face blank it was hard to tell what he was thinking as he looked her over. The way his eyes narrowed on Dad didn't make it as difficult as there was no hiding what he thought of him.

"David." Mum whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"You know, I thought that I'd feel, something, seeing you again." He came closer, as we all seemed unable to move or react. Even Dad didn't budge as he reached up to wipe the tears from Mums face. "How did it feel just now, unable to find your boys?"

There was a snarl to his words that made my stomach sink and breaking free of the moment, I moved quickly to stand beside Mum. No one else seemed able to speak or even move and I wasn't naive enough to think he was the only danger here tonight.

"Leave them alone." I warned.

"Or what?" He mocked, turning from her. "Your witch friend and the hybrid going to stop me?"

He was baiting me, but I refused to bite. "No. No one is going to stop you, because you're not going to do anything."

This clearly amused him as he smirked, coming closer to me.

"I'm not?"

"No, you're not. You've already won, they're all terrified of you." I stopped, wondering where exactly this could go. "Tonight proved you can do things, that you're as powerful and dangerous as they imagined. You showed that you can take it all away from them if you wanted, but I don't think you do."

The smirk dropped, and his eyes narrowed only before he could say anything I carried on.

"Because if you did it wouldn't be them you were hurting, it would be me. My brothers are truly innocent in all of this, your fight isn't with them and while I get you're angry with Mum and, him, you've beat them without really having to do anything. Here we are, talking. We've started to get to know each other, things they never wanted, so please, please stop all of this."