A/N: if your heart dies at all because of this, blame DamnShane bgsm098 KemberZ and Wolflovers3 for this idea 😊 you should all aspire to be wonderful readers like them
"Grace! Your kinda-girlfriend-it's-complicated-go-away-Sawyer is here!" I heard Grace's brother yell before opening the door to her house. He was wearing pants and gobbling down a handful of Oreo cookies. Part of me saw appalled that he was actually related to Grace by blood, and part of me saw Grace doing the exact same thing. Grace would look much cuter than her brother.
"What is it you have against shirts?!" Grace yelled from somewhere inside.
"I don't know, what do you have against bras?! Aside from the whole gay-hippie-vegan-free-boobs lesbian culture you have going for you." He snickered back. "Hey, you're pretty. I forgot to ask last time, but why are you dating my sister? Have you ever actually seen her wake up? Or laugh? Or like-"
"Sawyer! Go. Away!" Grace groaned, shoving him out of the doorway. "Go beg mom for a car or something!" She glared as he seemed to make his way to another room.
"H-"
"Mom! I want a car!" Sawyer screamed at the top of his lungs, cutting Grace off.
"I will murder you!" "Grace, get him away from me!" Grace and her mother grumbled synchronically. "Let's go, please." Grace continued, leaping out the door and closing it behind her. "Hi." She scratched her neck, "sorry about my idiot brother."
"Megan would absolutely adore him." I mused. Grace scrunched up her face.
"Are you suggesting setting up my brother and your sister?" She sneered at the idea. "Is that awkward for you or is it just the idea that my brother and I could date two people of the same everything but personality?"
"I-" I stopped myself, thinking about it. "No, you're right." I grimaced.
"Let's never speak of it again." She giggled, putting her hand in mine while we walked to my car.
It was almost sunset but even in the dimming light, Grace was as vibrant as ever. We weren't dressing for a formal date, but she was absolutely gorgeous even with her hair in a ponytail, dressed in pale blue, paint covered jeans, a black v-neck tee, and a light green jacket. I think she caught my eyes lingering on her hips (or maybe a little lower).
"You look beautiful." I smiled, enjoying being the one to complement her for a change.
"Thanks." She grinned with her head down bashfully. I didn't know why she was so shy, it's not like we hadn't taken each other's virginity a mere week ago, but I didn't mind because it was cute as hell. She was cute as hell. "You, uh... You look good too." She replied, rubbing her neck with her free hand. "I still haven't gotten used to your hair, though." She admitted.
"Maybe you'll be used to it once it grows out." I squeezed her hand playfully. I didn't know what I doing; the air around us just seemed so light and comfortable, I didn't even feel the tension left from our argument or our social disparity.
"Hilarious." She rolled her eyes, letting me open the passenger door for her, stealing a kiss as she sat. Leaning back up and walking to my side with a grin, I caught Grace's parents watching us from the doorway, her mother giving me a thumbs up when she caught my eye. It made me warm to think they wanted me to know they approved of our relationship.
"So, where are we going?" Grace smiled at me when I sat.
"You can keep a secret, no?" I smirked.
"I can, why?" She scowled, "baby, slightly scared." I bit my lip.
"You'll see. Don't be afraid." I leaned over and brought her lips to mine, letting her slip her tongue past my lips for a moment before pulling away, making her pout indignantly.
"I'm not." She gave me a crooked smile, "I'd just really love for you to come back here so I can kiss you." I rolled my eyes and leaned back in to mold our mouths together again.
"Alright, Grace, I do have to drive." I pulled back when she started to caress my face. I didn't like stopping but I wanted to get to our date. I was honestly very excited to show off the girl who loved me, who I had an unknown extent of feelings for. I wanted to be able to growl at the ones who ignored the fact that she was my girlfriend, and I wanted to see how possessive she could be.
"Hazel? The road is over there, and that's my leg, not the steering wheel." The human snickered, making me realize I was still staring at her lips.
"I knew that." I muttered although I could feel my face heating up.
"Drive or I kiss you again." She grumbled, turning on the radio.
I smiled and did as she asked.
...
"Hazel?" Jamine's eyes widened when she noticed Grace and I following a waiter to our table. "You brought her here?" Here happened to be a secret hole in the wall restaurant that was a hotspot for Fairies and thus the area with the highest concentration of Fae short of the Night School.
"Jamine?" Grace scowled, still having no clue why we were at a suspicious diner deep in downtown.
"Hello, Grace." She smiled, "does she know what this place is?"
"I will tell her." I smirked back, sitting at a booth with Grace sliding in and putting her hand on my leg.
"Hazel?" Grace asked, eyeing a large tattooed male talking to a young woman with white hair. The man had to be some dilution of goblin or troll, the woman on the elf continuum. "Where are we? What is this place?"
"This is probably the safest possible place you could be short with myself, Megan, or at the N.S. Fairies are notoriously good at keeping people of bad spirit away from the good. Here are the good." She still looked confused. "See that woman over there?" I pointed to a woman with purple hair who looked completely human. But I knew her scent was off. She was typing furiously on a laptop with books laying across her table.
"Yeah?"
"Vampire." I stated. "There is a blood drive run occasionally at this spot, so even the Vampires know about it." I shrugged. "You are probably the first human to set foot in here." I smiled at her.
"Wait, so this is like a supernatural hub?" She looked at all the humanesque Fae scurrying around the shop.
"Mhm." I put my hand on top of the one Grace had left on my thigh, slipping between her fingers and holding her tight. Leaning closer whole she was still looking around, I planted a kiss on the corner of her mouth.
"Hazel?" She put her head on my shoulder again, breathing deeply. "Are you allowed to bring me here?"
"Technically no. However, I intend to make it clear that you are with me and deserve to be kept in the loop."
"Aw, thank you." She kissed me chastely as a waiter came over to take our orders.
...
About halfway through our meal, I felt my phone buzzing. Megan. The first time, I ignored it because I'd told her I was on a date and didn't want to be bothered. The second time Grace made me answer it because she's Grace.
"Hi. What do you want? I'm busy." I grumbled. Grace rolled her eyes at me.
"Home. Now. Drop Grace off. Head to the N.S. We're on lockdown." My initial reaction was to almost jump and drag Grace out, but I didn't. I was enjoying my date.
"What? Can we finish?" I sighed, waving over a nearby waitress.
"No. Urgent. Really urgent. Riley called me a few minutes ago, she said you absolutely have to get Grace home now." Megan sounded more than a little panicked. Which was almost comforting. She usually panicked when we were called in for lockdown, but never really this much.
"Can we get these boxes? Quickly? N.S. Wants me in." I told the waitress, who nodded and zipped back to do whatever they did. Grace gave me a confused look. "Megan and I are on lockdown. I need to get you home." I kissed her briefly, my leg starting to tap nervously. If Grace and I had been at home already, I don't think I would have been so scared. Even Alexa couldn't get into a crowded home without being reprimanded for the reckless lack of cover, but outside of that she could quickly pick a person off if they were unguarded. Luckily, Grace did have me and although I knew Alexa would win in a fight, I'd probably be able to do something about it.
"Baby, are you okay?" Grace stroked the back of my hand with her thumb.
"If you feel like you're being watched... You get this icy feeling in your stomach... You tell me, and I will take the extra precautions. If you're alone and you feel it, you call me, Megan, Micha, Riley, someone in the N.S. and you'll get help." I told her. The last time this happened, the area Alexa was supposed to be in was not that close to us, but now, from Megan's panic, I'd guess she was practically on top of us. And I didn't want Grace to be caught up in this sick mess between my siblings.
"Here." The waitress boxed the rest of our meals, handing me the bag with the boxes. "Sinclair? I can call Jamine about your check later." She nodded.
"Thank you." I replied, pulling Grace out and speed walking to my car. Once there, I spent no extra time in pulling out or speeding away.
"Zel?" Grace asked quietly, probably well aware of the stress I was feeling. "It's okay. You should try to calm down, baby." She rubbed my leg soothingly, and I admit it did help, but not fully.
"Thank you." I smiled but kept my eyes dead on the road, my adrenaline was already distracting enough.
Eventually we got back to her house and hastily bid goodbye, but I knew I was already late on my lockdown so I sped away.
...
"There you are! Is Grace home?" Megan breathed and hugged me, pulling me down next to her on the large cot that had been dragged out for us.
"Yeah." I sighed. She was safe. I was safe. Megan was safe. So what was making my stomach churn?
"You don't look good." Megan smoothed my hair back with concern.
"Something feels wrong." I shook my head. "Do you know where Micha is?"
"Um, I was talking with her a second ago..." She frowned. "Why?"
"I want to see if Marley has gotten any word from Grace."
"Hey." The older girl appeared on the frame of the door, arms crossed and frowning.
"Hey. Can you check get in touch with Marley? Has Grace texted her?" I scowled at the text I sent to Grace almost five minutes ago asking if she was okay. Maybe she was in the shower. Or eating dinner because she didn't finish.
"No. She was just asking me to ask you the same thing. I've already run by the tech center, they owe me a few favors so I'm having them make sure Grace is home."
"If anything happens, I have the Director on speed dial." Megan reassured me. "Why don't you try to sleep? Let me take care of this?" Megan was already laying me down.
"Mm." I grumbled. My mind was racing. How could I sleep? My heart was beating out of control. The thought of Alexa left unsupervised with my soulmate made me want to hurt something.
It felt like hours went by before Megan slipped away to take a call. Jamine was fast asleep in a cot on the other side of the room, just like she had been when I arrived.
"Hazel," Megan slowly crept back towards me, "I'm having the Director bring Grace's family in for extended lockdown and debriefing." I would have asked why, but the dead feeling in my stomach had me knowing what she'd say and fearing the confirmation. "Everything is being done."
"Grace?" I asked despite my better sense.
"Alexa has her, Hazel." Megan swooped in to hold me up. A wave of nausea hit me and I staggered to the bathroom with Megan as a support. She held me up as I vomited all the contents of my stomach.
Megan helped me clean myself up, then held me while I had my meltdown, sustaining minimal bruising from where I'd tried to free myself. I'd fought and kicked and screamed and cried until Megan forced me down and hit a pressure point, making me fall unconscious.
...
When I woke up, my arms were securely wrapped around a warm body to make sure they were here. But they also weren't Grace. Which was probably why my face felt like it had lines of dried tears on it and my eyes were practically sealed from more dried liquid forming on my lashes.
Maybe it was all a dream (I was practically asleep, why not dream another?); a cruel, twisted reality where my sister came back and stole my soulmate from me, and where God knows what my sister would be doing to her without someone to protect Grace. I tried not to think about how she'd raped the last person she took from me, left them dead at my feet, but I couldn't help it.
I pushed myself away from Megan and ran to the bathroom again, now throwing up mostly bile. I was glad my hair was short because it would've been disgusting otherwise.
"Hazel? You okay?" Megan stumbled into the bathroom and put a hand on my shoulder to support both of us; her legs and my heart.
"No-" I gasped before my digestive tract lurched again and more fluid spurt out my mouth, splattering into the white porcelain.
"Hey, she'll be okay," Megan soothed, gathering some paper towels for me while I panted over the toilet bowl, strands of saliva stretching from my lips.
"I don't think Alexa would leave her unharmed." I choked, my eyes watering again. "What if-"
"Stop it. She's going to be okay." She handed me a toothbrush she'd already put toothpaste on. "You're both going to be okay."
"Megan-" I coughed.
"Hazel." She gave me a stern look. I hated when she did that; shut me up before I could finish. Even if the things I said would be detrimental to our condition, the words always felt better once their toxicity had been released (to a degree) from my system.
"I..." I coughed again, this time caught between a sob and a gasp. "I need her back safe." I could feel my arms trembling. This couldn't have been healthy. What was wrong with me? The absence of the human girl seemed to make me physically ill... She was a cure in presence, and poisonous in her absence.
"I know, sweetie, I know." She rubbed the small of my back gently.
I managed to at least rid my mouth of the vile taste of vomit before my imploding heart took over and Megan had to walk me back to my bed where I was overwhelmed and taken by the savage ache in my chest.
"Megan; Hazel." Megan looked behind us to greet the person who had opened our chamber. "The Daniels are on their way and should be here within the hour. You both, the Director, Jamine, myself, as well as one of the registrars will be present for their meeting at intervals." Riley came in, I could hear her approaching footsteps, smell her scent getting stronger even through the clog in my nose all my crying had caused. "Hey..." She put a hand on my shoulder, "she'll be fine. We'll get her back." She paused, squeezing my bicep comfortingly. "But you do have to make yourself presentable to Daniels for the debriefing."
"Riley?" Megan muttered, getting up and taking the redhead with her. They left me in the cot, and it's not like it really bothered me; I just missed not having to make myself warm.
"Hazel, shower!" I heard Riley call at me from the private room where she and Megan were talking. I sighed, but did as she asked despite the crushing sense of vulnerability I felt while scurrying around to gather the toiletries from the duffel bag Megan had brought for our stay. I didn't know it was possible for me to feel so fragile. I'd felt dangerously delicate before, like when I'd kicked Grace out after having sex, or when I thought she would break up with me (the trend among the scenarios did not go unnoticed), but this... This was like I was made of the thinnest glass, or of the most easily fractured eggshell, or of only surface tension, or the sheet of ice on a lake that breaks for escaping gas bubbles from below.
I cringed at the blast of cold water the shower sprayed when I first turned it on, closing the curtain and letting it warm up. Meanwhile, I closed the door to the bath chamber I'd found myself in and slowly, painfully, stripped off my clothing.
It still smelled of Grace.
**hey everyone... So... Chapter... Yay :)