No Angels

Chapter 8

Heather - Heather had no idea how to even react. She had no clue what Edie was expecting her to do or even what Heather was expecting of herself. She wanted to be angry - oh boy, did she want to be furious. Edie had known that the man they were chasing had been the man who had killed her and tortured her only son, yet she'd never even thought to supply Heather with this pretty big piece of information. She wanted to be furious because - because Edie was looking at her like she was a small child who needed comfort when - when Heather was the one who should be comforting her.

The woman was separated from her family, killed before her son's eyes and then forced to witness her son's innocence being ripped away from him, and yet here she was - her hands reaching out for Heather slowly, the concern in her eyes evident, and all Heather really wanted to do was burst into tears. "Shaw," she repeated, not moving away from Edie and instead letting herself be pulled closer to her. "The man - the one that's planning to kill the humans, he killed you?" A nod of confirmation. "Does Erik know?" Silence, before Edie finally replied, "I would guess so. The amount of hatred in his voice when he says his name would suggest it."

Edie gave her smile at that, and Heather tried to copy that - however, her's was a little more bitter but still a smile none the less. "You're taking this pretty well," Edie commented after a moment, in a soft, calm voice. She looked at the ghost with a raised eyebrow, asking, "How am I supposed to be reacting?"

"I don't know. I thought you'd be screaming and - "

"Well, it's not like that would help anything," Heather snapped suddenly, and she felt bad as soon as the words left her mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to - be like that, it's just - " She let out a sigh, rubbing her forehead, " - this is all so overwhelming." Edie let out a laugh at that. "It is. And don't worry, schatz, I'm not blaming you. You're right. Being angry over Shaw will do nothing to help the past, it won't change what's already happened, no matter how much we want it to."

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Edie disappeared a little while later, and, to clear her mind, Heather headed downstairs to the kitchen. She searched half-heartedly through the drawers and cabinets for something - anything really - to snack on, but nothing managed to catch her eye. Sighing, she rubbed her hands on her skirt and turned to head back upstairs to her room. However, Raven chose that moment to enter, a blinding smile on her face. "Hey, Heather, you mind giving me a hand?"

Heather shrugged, before giving her a friendly smile. "Sure, why not? What do you need?"

"Well," Raven began, "There's going to be a scary movie marathon on soon, so I want to make some popcorn for the gang - " She then glanced at Heather with a hopeful look, " - and you, if you want to join us." Heather rolled her eyes, but agreed to the marathon, laughing at how smug and pleased with herself Raven looked. 

Once they located a pan, some oil and the much needed kernels, Raven finally leaned over to Heather and asked, "Do you know how to do this?" Heather couldn't help but smile, her turn to look smug.  "Are you trying to tell me that you have no clue what you're doing?" Raven blushed, before giving her a sharp look. "Shut up. Do you?"

"Of course. C'mon, I'll teach you."

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With four bowls of popcorn, Heather and Raven walked into the living room to find the movie, Birds, just finishing up and a seemingly intense scene going on. "Popcorn!" Raven cried out, and Heather couldn't help but laugh hard when almost everyone in the room jumped - even Erik, who had been seemingly napping on one of the chairs. Sean took the hand that had been covering his mouth away, replacing it over his heart, staring up at the girls in utter fear. "Holy shit, man," he breathed out.