The walk back to the house was quiet. In fact so quiet that the leaves could've been heard falling.
Nobody said a word as they were still processing what had happened earlier at the fair.
Chloe had put her arms around herself as she tried to force the feeling and memory of the incident out of her head. Aubrey walked beside her looking worried; she cast a small smile to her friend indicating everything was ok.
The redhead looked ahead and saw Beca walking at the front. The short brunette hadn't said anything, nor had she even looked over her shoulder towards Chloe.
Emily hasn't left Beca's side since the fair. She was nearly clinging onto her sister.
The rest were just looking at the ground or around the area because now they were all on high alert. All except for Nilrem it seemed and that bothered Chloe.
'Why doesn't he look worried or something?' the vampire kept asking herself. She was trying to piece it all together.
First of all; the ferris wheel had bended to the side and suddenly stopped, which wasn't natural, not even by magical standards. Secondly; a piece of metal snapped and nearly killed Beca and Nilrem just happened to save her. Lastly; now he seemed to be at piece, like it was just a normal day.
"Hey. You ok?" Aubrey snapped the redhead out of her thoughts.
"Look at him," Chloe gestured to Nilrem. "Doesn't he seem too happy for what had just happened?"
Although Aubrey didn't want to admit it; Chloe was right. But that didn't mean that they should confront him right away. Aubrey knew Chloe and knew that she would never even try to think about a situation and immediately confront him on the spot.
"Ok, but we're not going to do it the Chloe way. We're going to observe and get the facts first ok?"
Chloe looked down and nodded trying to think of a plan already.
"Hey stop stressing yourself out. We'll do this together." the blonde smiled and squeezed her friend's hand reassuringly. "It'll be our secret."
"Ok but how?" Aubrey sighed at her friend's impatience.
"Just leave that to me."
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Stacie had opened the door and went straight to the kitchen. "Anyone hungry!?" she asked the group, to which most of them nodded.
As soon as everyone was inside, Beca went to lock the door. The moment she tried to walk over to the door, she felt her sister tighten her grip on her arm. She glanced back and saw the fear in her sister's eyes.
"Please don't go," Emily whispered in a pleading tone.
"I'll be ok. I'm just going to lock the door," Beca slowly released herself from the younger girl's grip.
She walked over and closed the door before locking it. Emily was watching her like a deer caught in headlights, so worried that something is going to try and hurt her sister.
As she went back she caught sight of a slight twitch in Emily's arm. She knew that the taller brunette was trying to restrain herself from lunging forward and grasping Beca in her arms.
Beca offered her hand and it was gladly taken as they made their way towards the living room and taking a seat on the couch.
At that moment Chloe saw why Beca was always trying to be a badass. She couldn't afford not to be. Emily was young and she was a scared and shy girl. Beca had to be the strong one. The one Emily could always go to for protection.
Chloe felt a weight lifting from beside her and saw Aubrey leaving.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"I'm bored so I'm going to see if Stacie needs any help." And with that she disappeared into the kitchen.
After Aubrey went off small chatter started amongst the rest of them. They started to feel more at ease now that they were safely in the house.
Secretly they all thought one thing. They were safer because they were now together. Even Emily had started to calm down as she Lucky started to rub against her leg and she cradled him in her arms.
Everyone started to be more at ease; except Chloe, who kept her eyes on Nilrem.
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"Hey need some help?" Stacie turned around to face the blonde that had just entered the kitchen. "Sure, I could use the company," she replied with a smile.
"All right," Aubrey rubbed her hands together to get ready to work. "So what are we making?"
"Well I'm trying to make lasagne, but this book jumps from the middle of the recipe to a recipe for chicken salad." Stacie flipped the page again and again but got the same results.
"Umm.... maybe try pulling these two apart?" Aubrey stepped in and gently pulled the two pages that were stuck together apart.
After Aubrey had neatly pulled the pieces of paper away from each other; she smiled at a stunned Stacie. The werewolf turned around and walked over to a closed cupboard and softly banged her head against it.
"What are you doing?" the blonde chuckled.
"I am sulking because I used to be smart and now I'm even dumber than Beca," the brunette mumbled earning a 'hey!' as said girl happened to pass by.
"Oh shut up. You know out of all of us you do the worst in school." Stacie still had her face against the wood and Beca shrugged as she silently agreed and walked off.
"Oh come on it was an honest mistake," Aubrey tried to soothe the girl, "Plus nobody can be as dumb as Beca." Stacie chuckled slightly at that and Aubrey couldn't understand why, but that made her happy.
The vampire gently pulled Stacie to look at her. "Let's go. You handle the ingredients and I'll handle the book, seeing as I am the better one to read it." Aubrey finished off with a smile and a slight wink.
"Gee; that makes me feel sooo much better," both girls laughed and started to work on preparing dinner.
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Meanwhile in the living room, the group were going around the room asking questions about each other to help the 'bonding process'.
"So why are you here Beca?" Nilrem asked the brunette who was actually just comfortable listening and didn't want to ask.
"Well I didn't really want to be here, but this poor thing would've been lost without me," she playfully nudged Emily who responded with sticking her tongue out. "So I was friendly forced to come along and look out for her."
"And if anyone tries to hurt her, or any of us. We will hunt them down and make them pay," Chloe stated and cast a cold glare at Nilrem for a brief second. As everyone stared at her she smiled and turned back to her normal self. "So how was my Amy impression?"
Amy stood up from the floor and gave the redhead a standing ovation.
"That's the spirit Red! Make them paaayyy!" Amy roared the last part like the way a wrestler would.
"What kind of angel are you?" Jessica asked. "Because aren't angels suppose to inspire peace?"
"Yeah well my dad was an angel, but she kind of had an affair with a demon I think. So yeah I'm basically Ying and Yang in the same body," Amy finished as she plopped back down.
"So Nilrem," Jesse asked the wizard and Chloe immediately payed full attention. "What's your vibe like man?"
"Well I'm really into magic. Like certain wizards learn it, but to me it's like my life. I actually want to become a head wizard one day." Everyone was quite impressed by him and by his answer. It wasn't often that someone would want to become the best in order to teach.
"That's great actually, I would like to become a air dancing instructor," Ashley said with a smile.
"No way. Modeling is definitely the way for me to go," Bumper got up and started flexing.
The giant started to take his shirt off, only to be stopped by Cynthia Rose. "If you take your shirt off; I'm going to rip off your kneecaps and use them as hockey pucks," she warned while keeping her eyes shielded.
Emily giggled slightly until she felt something tug her hair. When she looked down she saw that Lucky had started to chew on it.
"Oh, is Lucky hungry? Yes he is. Yes he is," she baby talked to the rabbit.
"Stop with the babying and just go get him some dinner," Beca sighed while holding the bridge of her nose.
"Fine." With a huff Emily walked towards the kitchen.
Aubrey and Stacie were actually doing well on the lasagne. As Aubrey read the instructions, Stacie managed the food parts and they had just put the lasagne into the oven.
"Hey guys, can I make small request?" the girls turned to see a shy Emily walking in.
"Sure Em. What do you need," Stacie smiled warmly at her.
"Well Lucky is getting hungry and I was wondering if I could chop some carrots for him if we have some." The young girl was fidgeting with her fingers because she felt as if she was imposing.
"We do have some carrots, but you can't chop any of them," Aubrey stated firmly which caused looks of confusion from the two brunettes. "Because we'll be chopping them for you," she finished and was met with a warm smile from Emily.
Aubrey went over to the fridge and took out two carrots. "Will two be enough?" she asked with a carrot in each hand and Emily nodded.
The blonde handed one carrot to Stacie and the two started chopping while Emily took a seat at the kitchen table.
Stacie was lost in thought as she thought about the event of tonight and the thought of what could've happened made her lose focus.
"Aahhh," the brunette winced as the blade of the knife pierced the skin causing her finger to bleed. She immediately dropped the knife and held her hand.
"Stacie!" Aubrey turned to the brunette as soon as she processed what had happened. "Are you ok?" She tried to reach for her hand to inspect the wound.
"Yeah I'm fine," the girl replied bitterly and pulled her hand away.
"Woah. What's with the tude?" Aubrey asked, taken back a bit.
"Nothing I'm fine," Stacie stated with a slightly less bitter tone, but not the sweet one she usually had.
"No you're not. What's wrong?" The blonde was now genuinely concerned for the brunette.
"You wouldn't understand."
"I'm a smart girl Stacie, try me," Aubrey pushed on.
"You don't know what it's like ok? Beca nearly died tonight," Stacie snapped at the blonde.
Aubrey kept calm as she knew getting angry wouldn't lead to any solutions. "Listen I know it's tough but-"
"No you don't know," Stacie cut her off. "You didn't have to watch your best friend nearly get killed!"
"I did actually." Aubrey crossed her arms as Stacie realised that Chloe was also on the ferris wheel.
Stacie's face fell a bit before she turned and walked off, "I'm going to get this cleaned."
After she was out of the room Aubrey let out a groan and continued chopping the carrots.
"You ok?" Aubrey was surprised that someone other than Chloe asked her that question. She looked over her shoulder to see Emily with a look of kindness and genuine care.
"You actually care?" the blonde asked as she wasn't expecting it.
"Off course," the younger girl started walking closer. "You're one of us now. You're like the responsible sister I've never had."
The vampire nearly choked on her own spit as she didn't know what to say. "I- I- I don't know what to say. I thought I was just the girl everyone kept around because she was friends with the girl that everybody likes."
What happened next; Aubrey would never have expected. Emily embraced her in a hug and the blonde slowly returned it.
"You're one of us now. And I would never want you to go." Aubrey fought back the tears as she would never cry in front of anyone.
As the two pulled apart they noticed Stacie in the doorway looking down at the ground.
Emily took that as her queue and took the plate with carrots. "Thanks for the carrots," she smiled and left.
There was a minute of awkward silence before Stacie took the plunge. "Can we talk?" she asked while rubbing her arm.
"Sure," the blonde motioned over to the table and both girls took their seats.
"Look I'm sorry I snapped at you it's just......." Stacie looked away as memories came rushing back and her eyes started to fill with tears.
Aubrey reached across the table and took hold of the werewolf's hand with a reassuring look.
Stacie felt something within her; something that told her that she could and should trust this girl.
"My parents died on a rollercoaster ride when I was little. We were in an amusement park made by the humans and I wasn't tall enough for the ride. My grandma kept me safe as my parents went on the ride because they met on that rollercoaster and it meant a lot to them." Stacie sniffed back a tear and took a deep breath.
"When the ride was at it's highest; one of the cars' wheels broke and it pulled all the cars down. And that was it. I never got the chance to talk to them again. So my grandma raised me from then on."
Stacie was almost sobbing at this point and Aubrey got up to pull her into a hug and let her cry it out. The brunette buried her head in the crook of the blonde's neck and cried into her shoulder, letting it all out.
"Sshhh, it's okay. I got you," the vampire soothed the girl for a few minutes until she was all cried out.
When she pulled away, Aubrey gently wiped a tear from Stacie's face and looked into her forest green eyes. She felt her heart racing as she swiftly glanced down at her lips before gazing back into her eyes again.
The two started to lean it but was cut off by the oven timer going off signalling that the lasagne was ready.
"We..... should probably-" Aubrey started and Stacie nodded with a quiet 'yeah' as they took out the plates and put the lasagne on the table.
"Dinner's ready!" Aubrey called and Stacie quickly covered up her face as to not cause any concern amongst their friends.
"Finally! Let's eat," Beca was the first one in and everyone giggled as they knew that she would be.
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Dinner was quite lovely. Everyone had talked and shared a few laughs. One thing was for certain though; there was definitely not going to be any leftovers.
"Well I'm off guys," Nilrem said as he stood up and stretched. Secretly Chloe was quite relieved by this.
"You can't leave dude! It's dangerous man!" Donald exclaimed earning a glare from the redhead, which no one even noticed.
"No I couldn't. I mean I don't have anything here and I don't want to impose." Nilrem started backing to the door.
"Oh no don't be silly," Stacie said and got up. "I'll go get you a mattress and a blanket. And you can just sleep in those clothes and we'll get your stuff tomorrow."
As the brunette walked off, Aubrey gave an apologetic look to Chloe who was now glaring daggers at the wizard.
"Here you go and your mattress is next to the couch," Stacie smiled while Nilrem thanked her.
"Well I'm gonna hit they hay," Jesse announced with a stretch.
"Yeah we are running low on supplies, so everyone go get some rest and we'll have a discussion tomorrow about what we're going to do." Stacie was now serious earning nods from the rest.
"Ok, thanks again for letting me stay," Nilrem said as he was lead into the living room by the rest of the guys.
"No problem. Trust me you're going to like it here," Benji put a hand on his shoulder as the males disappeared out of the kitchen.
"Night girls!" Jesse called over his shoulders resulting in a chorus of good nights. "Night Beca!" he called again.
"See ya losers!" Beca called back.
"Ok good night guys," Emily got up and walked towards the stairs.
"Night Em," Chloe called out, "Night Lucky."
Hearing that, Emily turned around and used her hand to make the rabbit wave with his little paw while she changed her voice, " night night," she spoke for Lucky.
"They're so cute together," Jessica commented as she held her hands to her heart.
The rest of the girls talked for a few more minutes as they started to head up to bed.
Soon it was just Beca, Chloe, Stacie and Aubrey left downstairs making small conversation.
"Ok I'm off," Chloe announced with Aubrey following suit.
"Ok we're just going to clean up," Stacie started putting the plates in the sink.
"We are?" Beca whined.
"Yes now come on," Beca only huffed in response.
When the kitchen was finally clean the two put off the lights and went upstairs.
"Night Becs."
"Night Stace."
Stacie walked in and saw Aubrey sleeping on her back on one side of the bed. The brunette got in on the other side and cuddled into the blonde. She always felt safe with Aubrey somehow after the vampire had saved her in the academy.
Aubrey unconsciously wrapped her one arm around Stacie earning a sigh from the brunette as she drifted off to sleep.
Beca walked into her room and smiled at Amy sprawled out on the mattress like a starfish and Lilly on the roof hanging like a bat. The short brunette walked over to the bunk bed and saw the white rabbit looking at her.
"Ok listen up," she whispered to the little animal. "She is really scared right now and she seems to be happy around you. So you're job from now on is to keep her happy. Understand?" she gestured to the sleeping werewolf who had the rabbit wrapped in her arms.
When Beca finished, Lucky crawled deeper into Emily's arm and closed it eyes.
Chloe had been awake the whole time and was doing her best from cooing at the brunette.
As Beca bent down to get into the bottom of the bunk bed Chloe whispered to her. "Beca, can you come sleep here please?"
"What? Why?" Beca had a look of confusion on her face, but she was mostly a bit on edge as she thought Chloe was asleep and hoped that the redhead didn't hear her conversation with the bunny.
"I'm scared. Everything that happened tonight still has me a bit on edge," Chloe answered. Beca wanted to go comfort the redhead but had to keep her badass attitude.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine," she started to bend down again.
"Please Beca." Although Beca couldn't see Chloe, she could see the pout of the redhead in her mind.
"Fine," she groaned and walked over to the bed.
When she got in she was immediately embraced into a cuddle and opened her mouth to retort. But before she could say anything Chloe mumbled a small 'thank you' which made Beca feel like a crack had just formed in a brick from the walls around her heart.
"Sure. No problem," she responded after swallowing the lump in her throat. What was this ginger doing to her? Why was she acting like this around the vampire?
For the first time Beca had pushed those thoughts aside and decided just to enjoy this night and fell asleep.