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Chapter 6
Rafael was sledding down the snowy hill, her big blue eyes shining in the light of the sun. I smiled as she reached the bottom and jumped to her feet quickly. "Again, Lark! Again!" She cheered before dragging the sled up the hill.
"Have you gone yet?" Adriel's voice was closer than I thought, and I glanced over my shoulder to see him at my side. Our gazes locked and he smiled, a smile that shook me deep to the core. He really was too beautiful for his own good.
"No, Raf wants me to keep pushing her."
He glanced down at his sister. "Tell her it's your turn next."
"No, really its fine. I don't mind—" Jingling caught my attention and I turned to look for the noise.
"Larkin?" Adriel asked softly, that dark gaze I loved so much turning worried.
"Did you hear that?"
"It's your turn, Angel. Want to go with me?"
Rafael was suddenly at our side, and Adriel was holding the sled up with a smile. "It's small, but you'll fit in my lap just fine." I almost forgot about the sound as he climbed into the small blue sled, looking completely ridiculous until he turned those blue eyes on me and patted his thigh. "Come on beautiful, the sun is setting soon."
My eyes blinked open as the Christmas bells went off again. My first good dream in months and it had to be rudely interrupted. I groaned and narrowed my eyes at the opened door. Whichever damn Markos opened that better have a good freaking reason.
There was no one there.
I frowned and leaned up on my elbows. "Raf? Dri? You there?" That's when I saw it—him. A dark outline in the shape of a man stood at the foot of my bed. Two glowing red eyes staring down at me through the darkness.
I screamed.
The terror ripping through my chest nearly made the high-pitched noise soundless. "Adriel!" His name came out much louder. I ripped at my bedsheets, trying desperately to disentangled myself and ended up falling hard onto the ground. I scrambled desperately to my feet, not caring about the slight pain ricocheting down my side.
"Larkin!"' Adriel's voice filled the hallway as I ran out of my room, right into his stone wall of a chest. "What's wrong?!"
"There's someone in my room!" My heart, that felt like it was beating a thousand miles a minute, jumped as strong arms wrapped around my waist and held me tightly against Adriel's chest. I clung to him almost desperately.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"There's someone in my fucking room! They opened the door, those stupid Christmas bells went off, and then there was someone standing over my bed!"
Something close to horror flickered across his handsome face and his hands tightened around my upper arms as Rafael's door open. "Larkin? Adriel? What's going on?" The nine-year-old mumbled sleepily as she rubbed her fist into one of her eyes.
"Rafael, come here." Adriel all but barked. He gripped onto her free hand, pulled her into the hall way, then pushed us both against the wall. "Stay here." He ordered as I let go of him to wrap my arms tightly around Raffie, who now looked as terrified as I felt.
"Dri don't! They could be dangerous—"
"Stay here, Larkin." The look crossing his dark eyes made my stomach flutter for a whole new reason. That gaze stayed locked with mine until I nodded in agreement. He squeezed my arm tightly before turning back for my room. "I'll only be a moment." He swore before disappearing into the darkness of my room.
I let out a shaky breath and held on tighter to Rafael. I've never seen Adriel fight before, but I knew he could take someone down if he had to. Though, those muscles were nothing compared to a gun. "L-Larkin?" Raf stuttered against me, those big blue eyes so much like her brother's it was unnerving, blinked up at me in fear. "What's happening?"
"Sh, it's okay Raffie. Everything will be okay." I muttered softly and resisted the urge to rock her as we huddled together against the wall. I had no idea what was happening, but I knew Adriel would take care of it. He always did. She clung to me with her face buried into my stomach and her fingers gripping tightly at my shirt.
It wasn't long before Adriel reappeared, but the look crossing his face made me uneasy. "What? Did you find him?" I stepped closer to him, Raf still clutched desperately tight in my arms. He didn't say anything as he walked towards his sister's room, did a quick check, and then came back to our huddled bodies.
"Go back to bed, Raf. Everything's okay."
She pulled her face from my shirt and turned those big eyes to her older brother. "But Adriel—"
"Now, Raf. I'll check on you in a little bit."
I frowned as she nodded and pulled away. I stayed silent as she walked slowly back into her room and crawled into that carriage-framed bed. Adriel closed her door until the soft 'click' resounded like thunder through my ears.
"Adriel..."
"Come here, Lark." His tone was far too soft for my liking, but I didn't argue as his arms wrapped back around waist and pulled me into his solid chest.
"There was no one there, was there?" Though I already knew the answer. I felt tears prick my eyes, tears of self-pity and anger. Anger at myself for not knowing the difference between dreams and reality.
"I looked everywhere." His voice was a gentle murmur in my ear as his cheek pressed against the top of my hair. Those arms kept me cradled against him. "Your windows were all locked, there was nothing in your closet—I even looked under your bed."
I buried my face into his chest, not caring one bit that water from my eyes was probably dripping onto his bare skin. I was too distraught to enjoy the fact that he was shirtless. "I-I'm so sorry." It was all I could think to say.
"Sh, stop. You don't have any reason to be sorry." He was too understanding for his own good. Too caring and far too gentle.
"I thought it was real. I could have sworn it was real..."
The tears stopped, though a few hiccups followed their wake. I hated crying, hated it more than anything. It was weak. It revealed too much of yourself to the world. Made you vulnerable. But the nightmares weren't stopping, and Adriel made me feel so safe, so secure. Made me feel like it was okay to be vulnerable with him because he would take care of everything. He wouldn't let anything hurt me. It was a false hope, but one I would hold onto until the end of time.
"That's what makes nightmares so horrifying. It's okay to be afraid." His hands left warm paths across my back as they trailed slowly over me. "I will be here to fight off every one." His lips pressed into my hair and I closed my eyes as the tender action made my heart ache.
"Promise?" I mumbled against him.
His chuckle rumbled from his chest and shook through my entire being. I could feel its effects all the way to the tip of my toes. "I promise, Angel."
-&-
"See? You look cute behind the wheel."
"I look cute all the time." I snapped at the beyond amused blue-eyed idiot leaning against the open window of the little yellow Volkswagen Beetle. He was already visibly gloating about the whole situation and I didn't want him knowing how much I enjoyed the fact that he called me cute.
"I'm not arguing."
My gaze snapped to his, but the infuriating man was already leaning away from the car to speak with the salesman. Which was probably a good thing. I could feel a slight heat tint my cheeks and seep down my neck. I never blushed. I never really had a reason to, but lately he was pulling it out of me without even trying.
After the nightmare fiasco the night before, we stayed awake watching cheesy rom-coms in the living room until I fell asleep against him on the couch. He let me stay like that for the rest of the night, and I vaguely remember my head lolling on his strong shoulder as his fingers ran through my loose curls. At one point I could have sworn he whispered sweet nothings into my ear, but with the dreams I had been having lately I couldn't be sure. At breakfast everything had went back to normal, like the night before never happened. I wasn't so sure how I felt about that.
"We'll give you twenty-five hundred." I heard Adriel say as I climbed out of the cute little bug. I wasn't huge on the color yellow, but the paint was cool and I liked how it made the car look. It was a color I would use to paint soft sun rays with if I had the right canvas.
"Oh no, son." The salesman—Rick something—was an older guy, probably mid-forties with a more than obvious toupee. You could tell immediately he didn't get many customers when we pulled into his used car lot and climbed out of the old SUV. Two kids, for lack of a better term, coming to a buy a car all on their own? Dollar signs had lit the guy's eyes. I nearly laughed at the sight. He's obviously never met Adriel. "This car is worth at least seven grand."
Without blinking, and without hesitation, Adriel stared down the short, sweaty, little man. "We'll give you twenty-five hundred."
I did oh-so-love it when he got all firm like that, especially when that look wasn't directed at me. The excited light slowly left Rick's eyes, and he reached up with a silk handkerchief to dab at the sweat dripping from beneath his toupee. Yuck.
"You kids seem smart. Solid heads on solid shoulders and all." I hadn't talked at all, despite a few grumbles when we first got there, so not quite sure why the guy was dragging me into this. "I'll tell you what, how about I drop the price to four and we'll call it a day."
Adriel's eyes glanced down at the hand sweaty-bald guy held out to him. A look close to disgust crossed his handsome features. "We'll give you twenty-five hundred."
"Listen son—"
"Let's go, Lark." Like the badass I will—sometimes—admit he could be, Adriel turned around, tapped my elbow, and nodded for the car.
Yes, sir.
"Alright, wait. Wait!" We stopped walking, and Dri turned his head just enough to shoot me a wink. I rolled my eyes, like that would make ignoring how hot that looked easier. "I'll let it go for twenty-five hundred, but you should know I'm letting you get away with theft here!"
We turned back towards Rick, and that smug smile I was all-too familiar with pulled across the blue-eyed scoundrel's face. "Excellent, let's go sign the papers."
And that's how I ended up with a 2007 Volkswagen Beetle.
"I'm waiting." Adriel drawled when he finally left the little run-down car dealer's shack. It was a small building, not a shack, but there were a few shattered windows and an AC that refused to work. As far as I was concerned, the thing was an outhouse. I waited outside.
"For what?" I asked and caught the keys he tossed my way. Though I had a pretty good idea what he wanted.
"My 'thank you'." That arrogant smile pulled across his devilish lips, and I forced the flutters it sent to my stomach away.
"I didn't even want the car."
"But you got one anyway. I want my 'thank you'." He pressed his hand against the top of the driver's door, effectively blocking my way into the vehicle. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.
"No, I'm mad at you."
His smile fell into a smirk that I was ashamed to say made my mouth water. "For buying you a car?"
"Yes." I hissed and reached over to tug at the door handle. Adriel refused to budge. "And for not listening to me."
"I listen to you all the time."
"You know what I meant."
"Come on, Lark. Three words and the car's all yours." He chuckled, which did nothing to help my sanity.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "'Thank you' is two words."
"I want you to say my name all happily at the end of it."
"You're a jerk." I emphasized the 'you're' and glared pointedly at him, but the dark twinkle shining in his eyes only mocked my words.
"True, but I'm still waiting."
I let out an irritated sigh. The heinous man wasn't going to move until I 'thanked' him, and I really wasn't in the mood to get into a physical altercation in the middle of a used-car lot. But I would make sure I enjoyed this too.
Adriel's blue eyes widened as I pressed close to his chest and stood on my tiptoes. He didn't move, not even when I pressed my lips harshly against his stubble covered cheek and used my hand to squish the side of his face forcefully against mine. I released the hold with a loud 'smack' of an overexaggerated kiss and shot him a wide, beaming, sarcastic smile. "Thank you, Adriel."
Those dark blue eyes I loved so much glared down at me as I pulled away, but my satisfied smirk didn't plan on leaving anytime soon. He had stepped away from the car during my attack, and I pulled the door open and slipped quickly inside. Take that, you freaking jerk. Dri stood in the same spot for a moment, his hands clenching and unclenching at his side before he let out an irritated sigh.
Awe. I missed the sexy jaw clenching thing he did whenever he was irritated. Shoot. But then he was leaning down through the open window, his dark eyes blazing as he reached over and—flicked my face.
"See you at home, brat."
-&-
"You have got to be freaking kidding me." I grumbled down at the stupid, useless map clenched viciously between my fingers five days later. Five peaceful, dreamless, restful days later might I add.
"Where the fuck is it?" I pulled the blurred black lines closer to my face like that would help clear the words that were squished together. Whoever printed these really needed to be fired. It was Monday, the first day of classes and I couldn't find anything. Though I tried to stay as far away from that mountain and its weird brain-numbing noises and man-eating cats as I could.
"Whoa, someone's got a potty mouth!" Laughter from directly behind me only caused irritation to swarm through my veins. I whirled around to glare daggers at the skinny kid chuckling a few feet away.
"Mind your own damn business." I snapped at the long-legged, pale-freckled, brunette carrying a thin black backpack—that looked like it was made for children—slung over his shoulders. Maybe I would have felt bad for snapping at the guy if I didn't have this overbearing distrust in strangers. Trust in others was something you lost quickly as a foster kid, especially one who grew up in California.
His bright hazel eyes widened as he held his hands up in surrender, a small amused smile pulling on pale lips. I was really getting sick and tired of how amusing everyone seemed to think I was. "Easy there, Slugger. I'm not trying to piss you off." He continued to laugh, even though his words did seem genuine enough. "Maybe I can help find what you're looking for?"
Okay, I did feel a little bad after that.
"You know where the Humanities building is?" I tried not to sound too hostile, even though I was still irritated at the stupid map.
The guy's smile widened, and those bright eyes flashed in the light of the sun. "Yeah, I actually have a class there in twenty minutes. I can show you, if you want?"
I eyed the skinny kid wearily, until Adriel's words about trying rang through my head. I promised him I would try. "Um, sure. That would be great, thanks." I gave him a small smile, like that alone would make up for my rude first impression.
He didn't seem bothered what's-so-ever though as he fell into step at my side. "I'm River by the way, and I like your aggression." River nudged my shoulder gently, even though he was nearly as tall as Dri if not taller.
"Right, I'm Larkin. Lead the way."
He raised a pale brown eyebrow at that, and turned in the direction of the Humanities building. "Larkin? That's a weird name."
I shot him a narrowed look. "Like River's any better?" His laughter suddenly filled the air around us and cascaded down the sidewalk. A few other students walking nearby turned to look.
"Good point. What class are you going to?" He asked once his chuckling had died away.
"Oh, um," I glanced down at the weekly class schedule I printed out that morning—with a printer Adriel insisted I needed. "It's called Deshua of the Ages. I'm not really sure about it, but it's a general education course so—"
"Oh cool!" River interrupted with glee. "I have that class too! You can sit next to me and my friend! You'll like her, she's violent like you."
"I'm not violent."
He shrugged his thin shoulders and shot me a beaming smile. "Violent, volatile, aggressive, same diff. You'll like her. Heads up though, she's goth and a freak." I resisted the urge to say 'and you're not?' but then I figured that wasn't very friendly.
The Humanities building ended being in the back corner of campus, right next to the very mountain I was trying to avoid. I held my breath as we passed its surrounding forest, and wanted to sigh in relief when no strange noise sounded in my ears. Think again lil' cougars. Go eat a squirrel, not me.
"You'll like Professor Shorzin. He's real chill, like one of those hippies from the seventies. He gets really into his lectures though, so try not to laugh."
I was actually beginning to enjoy River's company as we walked. He was a second semester freshmen who started school early and knew a lot about the campus. I told him about how I was really only interested in art courses, and he gushed about how great the art program was.
He was gay too, a fact he made pretty damn obvious when we both stopped to watch a group of guys playing tag-football shirtless. He whistled. I drooled. Which was quickly ruined when I started comparing them to a shirtless Adriel. None of them won.
"Siena! Siena!" River sang when we finally walked into the large seminar room side by side. He had his hand raised high in the air and was waving to one of the only people in the entire room, even though class started in ten minutes.
"Yes, River. I see you." A girl dressed head to toe in black and purple hissed from the middle of the raised seats. The seats all sat in rows, one step higher than the other, as they wrapped around the back of the room. The Sienna-chick was already camped out in the dead center.
"Just making sure!" He called happily to his friend, though his pale lips were pulled in a sneaky smile. "Come on." He glanced down at me then nodded towards the sneering goth. "She's grumpy, it's great." I wasn't as sure about that as I followed him up the carpeted steps and slid into the same row as her.
"Look what I found, Si!" He announced as he plowed through the ripped black skinny jeans and combat boot covered legs that were resting on top of the seat in front of her. "We made a new friend!" Her gaze flickered to mine, and I realized it wasn't just her outfit that gave off a creepy vibe. Siena's eyes were such a bright shimmering gray they looked almost silver in the dim light of the lecture hall, and thick, black, make-up only added to the effect.
"Larkin, this is Siena. Siena this is Larkin. She's violent, like you." He nudged his friend who turned that creepy stare on him.
"I'm not violent."
"That's what she said!" River cheered before plopping into the chair at her side. "See? You guys are friends already." Siena made a 'hmph' noise in the back of her throat before turning her attention to the laptop stretched out in front of her.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" I gestured at the seat beside her. I figured being polite was the best thing to do in that situation.
She glanced over then shrugged. "Go for it."
I sat down and pulled the wooden slab attached to the arm rest up and over until it was sitting in front of me at an angle. I guess that was their version of a desktop here. Siena and River were arguing—I think—but I tuned them out and reached into my bag for that damn laptop. It was nice of River to invite me to sit with them, but I wasn't going to force a friendship. Just because I promised Adriel I would try didn't mean that I was going to put that much effort into it.
A loud sigh drew my attention away from the overpriced computer. "So, River says you like art."
"Yeah, I like it enough."
Siena nodded, and the high ponytail she had her straight black hair pulled into bobbed as she did. "So do I."
"Cool." An awkward silence fell over us until the professor finally waltzed in. Though, waltz is definitely too sophisticated a term for the guy.
His long pale brown hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. He wore what must have been a twenty-year-old Hawaiian button-down, khaki shorts, and open-toed sandals. River must have noticed my bewildered look, because he reached across Siena to poke my arm. "See?" He snickered. "I told you so."
"Good morning, everyone!" The professor's surprisingly deep voice boomed across the lecture hall. It wasn't until the loud murmurs surrounding us died away that I noticed nearly every seat had been filled. "For everyone returning, I hope you all had a great summer, and for our freshmen, welcome to college!" All eyes were glues to the teacher as he plugged his laptop into some big cord running into the wall and hit a button that dropped a massive screen from the ceiling.
"This class is lecture based, which means it consists of me talking and you taking a lot of notes." At his words, the sound of rustling paper and fingers tapping against keys surrounded the room. Professor Shorzin laughed. "You don't have to do anything yet. The first week is always syllabus week, which you can pull up in Blackboard."
"Alright, so over the course of the semester we will be discussing the folklore established around Oregon, and more specifically Deshua."
I wanted to scoff. Deshua? Folklore? Yeah, freaking right.
"Deshua's history holds a rich mythical aspect that you all will find more than fascinating. Throughout the semester we will be studying the town's legends from its creation to present day."
What a load of bogus.
A student in the front row raised their hand, and I rolled my eyes. First row kids already raising their hands. Tsk. Suck ups. "Yes?"
"I was just wondering if you could tell us what exactly the mythical origin of Deshua is?" The skepticism in the student's voice mirrored my own thoughts on the subject. I slouched back further in my seat. Guess I wasn't the only one thinking this was dumb.
"We will actually be going over that in two weeks. If you look at the schedule I have posted in the syllabus, you will see each week has been assigned a different topic. Though I will leave you with this." Shorzin paused to let his eyes roam over the crowded room, then his lips pulled up at the corners.
"There are a lot more angels on Earth, than in Heaven."
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