Hey guys, I wasn't going to post for a while longer, but I'm sure everyone could use some good news right now. So, here's chapter 21 :D
I'm exhausted, so no idea if the editing on this chapter is any good. Sorry for any grammar and editing mistakes!
Please comment, vote, and follow!
Enjoy!
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Chapter 21
"I'm not going to be able to come home for lunch today." I said over my laptop screen as Adriel sat across from me, stuffing his fat face with syrup-covered waffles. He really didn't give one damn about his arteries.
"Why not?" Dri's voice sounded muffled around his food, though the disappointment there wasn't hard to miss. I tried not to let that get to my head—but I didn't try that hard.
"I have to work on this stupid paper with River and Siena for a class."
"Papers don't sound fun..." Raffie pipped up from her brother's side, stuffing her own face with waffles. Ugh I don't know why I bother buying healthy food. They never ate it.
"Trust me, they're not." I grumbled down at the keys of my stupid new—not new now—computer. I had hoped I could start some bullshit introduction about the geography of Oregon and then Deshua, but it was way too early for that nonsense.
"River and Siena?" Adriel's voice took on a sour tone, and the words 'show no fear' kept repeating over in my head as I forced my gaze to his. "The two that left you at that party?" His brow furrowed in a scowl, and that strong fist tightened around his fork.
"Technically, I left them—"
"No, not going to happen."
I let out a disgruntled sigh and raised my eyes to the ceiling in annoyance. "It's not like we're going to another party, Dri. It's the town's library. Literally nothing happens in libraries."
"I don't want you hanging around them."
"Trust me. The last thing I want to do is hang around a library, but I have to for this stupid paper—"
"Larkin." He said my name on that long drawn out sigh he always did whenever he thought I was being ridiculous. "Just be careful."
Huh... Adriel never let me win one of those. I tried to keep my pleased smile to myself as I tapped on the side of my keyboard.
"Is that the paper?" His voice was soft as he nodded towards my computer, even though that hard look in his eyes didn't fade.
"No, just the topic and my notes."
"Greedy guy got pissed at the white-wingies and built Deshua as a giant eff you?" Adriel leaned across the table to peer down at my laptop, one dark eyebrow raised in question.
"Yeah," I quickly reached up and shut the screen. "This crazy professor is trying to convince everyone that Deshua was founded by some stupid angel/demon thing who made a bunch of vampires."
That raised eyebrow was quickly joined by the other as he sat back heavily in his seat. "No fucking wonder you've been having those dreams. This moron's been feeding you shit for weeks." That angry grumble was back in his tone and those blue eyes turned darker than ever.
"Adriel... bad words." Raf's doe eyes widened and her mouth opened in surprise as she turned towards the overly large jerk. I was pretty shocked too in all honesty. Adriel was always so careful what he said around her, and even got pissed at me when I swore.
He let out a heavy breath and the tension in his shoulders slowly eased. "Sorry, kiddo." Then he turned those deadly blues on me, and I nearly threw my hands up in surrender. Which I didn't, but still. What the hell was that look for? I didn't do anything!
"I don't want you taking that class anymore."
I snapped the computer up from the table and shoved it into my backpack to avoid rolling my eyes again. "It's a general education course. I have to take it."
"It's filling your head with shi—crap." Adriel's eyes slanted briefly towards his sister's. "Raf, stay here and finish eating. I'm going to talk with Lark alone for a minute."
Ugh, great.
I hate feeling like a scolded child. I didn't even do anything! But I let the overgrown asshat pull me to my feet and drag me into that all-too-familiar half-bathroom. "Dri," I started gently as he pressed my back up against the closed door. "Even if I drop the class now, I'm still going to have to take it eventually. It's required."
That strong, sharp jaw clenched, and those dark eyes blazed in the dim light shining above the mirror. "Your nightmares have only been worse since we moved here, you're actually seeing people with red eyes, and now I find out some freak is telling a bunch of college kids that this shit is real."
"Well, I mean, he's not actually saying its 'real'. He just says it's like Deshua's legend or whatever." I shrugged, but that didn't necessarily dull the angry look in his eyes. "And I saw people with red eyes before I even started school there."
Which I really shouldn't have said, but I felt bad for Shorzin. I had no doubt that Adriel would stomp all angrily down to the guy's office if he was pissed enough. He did towards the end of my senior year when the softball coach nearly kicked me off the team. It had only been a couple of weeks after his parent's death, and I guess the coach didn't care about 'grief absences'. He sure as hell did after that meeting.
"Right, the freaks with the 'contacts'." The obvious sarcasm in his tone made me feel foolish.
"You don't have to say it like that." I grumbled and dropped my gaze to our feet. "You're making it sound like I'm an idiot or something."
He was quiet for a moment, that hard gaze glaring into my own, before he let out a short 'huff'. "You're not an idiot, and I'm not trying to make you feel that way." Adriel's hands reached up until they were resting softly on my hips, and the rough pads of his thumbs slipped just barely beneath my shirt. "This class just seems to be a part of the problem, and I don't like seeing you so stressed and unhappy."
I closed my eyes and swayed into him as those lips pressed against my forehead. "This place is just so—so freaking weird." Was all I could think to say. Not a great argument for my 'I'm not an idiot' stance.
Dri only chuckled and let his hands travel slowly from my waist to my lower back. "It's just new, and a lot smaller than Sacramento. Once everything settles down it'll be better."
"Promise?" It was a stupid request to ask. Adriel couldn't control the town, or the freaks in it. I didn't expect him to either, but just hearing that strong confident voice say he would take care of everything made me feel better.
"I promise."
His lips pressed against the tip of my nose, then down to the corner of my mouth. "I'll miss you during lunch today." My eyes were still closed as I leaned into him, and the soft feel of his fingertips against my skin made my head all foggy. "Any chance you'll reconsider?" Dri's mouth moved just barely against mine as he spoke, almost like each word was a little kiss. It did funny things to my insides.
"Mmm." I couldn't think straight, and as those rough fingertips just barely brushed along the underside of my breast, I didn't care.
Adriel smiled against my lips. "Is that a yes?"
"No." I didn't hesitate as I blinked my eyes open, a smirk of my own pulling at the corner of my mouth as his disappeared.
Adriel rolled those dark eyes but didn't pull away. "You owe me then." His lips were soft as they pressed against my own, but his hands were hot, and they left scorching trails over my skin.
I leaned further into him, my fingers curling around the hard muscles in his arms as he gently urged my lips open. My mind spun when his tongue touched mine, and I had to admit that I didn't hate the faint hint of syrup lingering there.
The pig-headed asshat let out a quiet groan when I went to pull away, and his hands tightened around me in protest. "You have to take Raf to the bus stop." I mumbled against the mouth he was refusing to move from my own.
"Alright, but you still owe me."
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"This is boring." Siena groaned later that afternoon as we sat in the basement of the beautiful, creepy ass cathedral, surrounded by dozens of old, dusty books. Turns out the town's library was in the basement of the ancient church. Which did totally nothing to help my mental issues. My forehead was pressed against one of those many ancient crinkled pages of a book older than the freaking country.
It was boring.
"Naw, this is awesome!" River cheered at our side. He had been shoveling through books like nothing I had ever seen before. He even had on these huge reading glasses that made his boyish face even that much more adorable. "I'm finding so much junk on this mystical crap that my paper is going to write itself!"
"I thought you were writing it on that girl or whatever." I mumbled and had to physically detach the page from my skin so I could lean off the book.
For being in the back corner of a basement it sure was fucking hot. It also didn't help that all my senses were on high alert. There were way too many dark corners and aisles in the ancient place. The only light came from the dim lamps hanging around the stone walls. There was no electricity.
It was an old area, almost as old as the books we were going through and it was pretty damn obvious the town liked it that way. I wasn't sure if it was the eerie atmosphere of the place or what, but I couldn't shake that horrible feeling that something was watching us—watching me.
"Oh, I am, but it's called background and fluff, honey. And quotes, lots of quotes."
"I've never met anyone as excited about writing as you." Siena grumbled as she used her boot-cladded foot to kick over a pile of books.
"Siena!" River snapped as the books all toppled over in a pile of dust. "Do you know how old those are?! Be careful!" The goth just scoffed and rolled those creepy gray eyes. I didn't say anything, but I didn't really like the action either. I might not be a huge fan of reading, or this stupid class, but those books were still history—old history, one of a kind. I could appreciate the art in them and didn't want to see them ruined.
"Can't find anything on evil demon guy?" I asked to try and change the subject, and kill that fury raging behind River's bright hazel eyes.
"It's not that. I found a bunch." She let out an exasperated sigh and tapped her giant pen with a bat glued ontop of the clicker against her notebook. "But it's all stupid stuff about like how he 'reigned' or whatever. Nothing hot or exciting. There's not even a picture of him!"
"Well, it is just a legend. He doesn't exist, so there's probably not going to be any pictures of him besides drawings of basic wings or something." I tapped absently on the empty space below my laptop keys. I had the intro paragraph done at least, some bull shit blurb about how ideal the geography of Deshua was. It wasn't ideal, like at all, but I figured sucking up to the professor would at least get me a 'B'.
"I've found loads of pictures." River interjected and held up the book he was currently speeding through. "Well, drawings really, and photos of drawings in the newer versions." The image he pointed to was one much like the professor showed us, a dark throne carried by a swarm of black shadows with red eyes. Except this one had crying villagers kneeling at their feet.
A dark shiver ran down my spine. Anyone that found that empowering needed to get their head checked. "This book has a ton of them, even a few depictions of the Avidus guy if you want to take a look after me, Si." He paused and shot her narrowed look. "As long as you don't throw it."
She rolled those bright gray eyes and threw a wadded-up piece of paper at his head. "I won't throw it. Just give it to me when you're done. Mama needs some hot demon in her life."
"He's not a demon—at least according to all of these and Shorzin." River waved at the stack of books surrounding the table. I glared at them disdainfully. I only bothered looking through a couple and pushed them away whenever they started talking about greedy guy and his creations.
"Anything that can create blood drinking monsters has to be a demon." I grumbled under my breath and tried not to stare at the creepy image.
"Right!" Siena pipped up at my side, her voice sounding a lot more cheerful than before. "Isn't it hot?" She glanced dreamily at the creepy book clutched in her best friend's hands.
"We have very different tastes."
"Agreed." River even narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the doey-eyed goth.
We fell into a calm quiet after that. River was still rifling through that book, Siena had reluctantly grabbed another one and was paging through it, while I was able to get into the Cathedral's weak internet and pull up Google.
I was trying to avoid going through those books as much as possible, even though I knew at one point I would have to. Shorzin made it part of our grade. Fucking prick.
"Ooo! I found it!" River announced excitedly sometime later. "There's a whole section on that girl!" He placed the book down flat against the table. I didn't move, but I did glance over my laptop as Siena jumped to her feet.
"It talks about exactly what Shorzin mentioned and even goes into some details about the mortals plans and their pleas to Michael." He pointed to the words as those hazel eyes scanned quickly over the page. "I wonder if there's a picture of her. She has to be hot to make an angel that infatuated with her."
"Um, did you forget you're gay, or something?" Siena flicked him in his boyish cheek which earned a swift glare in her direction.
"That doesn't mean I don't appreciate good looks when I see them. Besides," He chided and nudged her away from his side. "Larkin's probably right and none of this stuff exists. But I'm curious to see what they thought was hot back then."
"You rate people on scales, don't you?" I eyed him curiously as he started rifling quickly through the pages.
"Of course. What kind of question is that? You can't go for anyone below a six. It gets dangerous the lower they get."
I said it before, and I'll say it again. It didn't matter what their sexual preference was, a guy was still a guy. Pigs.
An image of dark blue eyes, intricate tattoos and a sly smile popped into my head and I had to drop my gaze. Well, maybe not all of them were pigs—even if Adriel liked making nasty jokes. He would never put me on a scale. I highly doubted he would ever put anyone on one.
He was caring, and usually kind, and put the ones he loved above everything. I'm not sure what would have happened if the Markos didn't come into my life, but I knew I would never be able to let them go now that they were.
"I found a picture!" River's excited squeal pierced through my skull. "Okay, caption says Emira, Deshua, 1532. Damn, that's old." River mumbled as those hazel eyes went to scan the image. "It's just a drawing, and kind of a poor one." The frown in his voice was obvious. "Clothes suck, so much for fashion back then, but the detail is pretty—oh... That's weird."
"What's weird?" That eerie chill from before crept down my spine as his tone turned confused.
"Well, it's just—weird I guess." He lifted the book, like that would make whatever he was seeing less weird. "Are you seeing this, Si?" He asked his best friend who stood glancing over his shoulder at the picture.
"Seeing what?" I tried to keep the snap out of my tone, but it was getting really hard trying to stay calm with those curious looks on their face.
"She kind of looks like you, Larkin." Siena spoke up as River's gaze flickered from mine to the drawing.
"What?" I wasn't sure what I was expecting to hear, but it definitely wasn't that.
"Yeah, kind of. It's hard to see with how faded and old it is, but I definitely see the similarities." He finally turned the book towards me and pointed at the picture of a rather thin person dressed in a plain white gown against a creamy backdrop. You couldn't see the face well, but her hair was long with dark loose curls like mine, and the angle of her features were similar. The picture was too old and distorted to tell for sure.
I was happy about that.
"Try to pull up the picture on Google, Lark!" Siena suggested excitedly, those creepy gray eyes bright with eagerness. I really didn't want to. The same hair and rough resemblance was enough to add onto that eerie feeling seeping through my veins.
"Oh, yeah! Good idea." River only added fuel to the fire.
I was outnumbered.
I tried to hide my disdain as I tore my gaze from the image to look at the Google browser in front of me. "Trying typing in the caption." I shot Siena a glare as she came to stand behind me, quickly followed by River, but her eyes were on the computer and didn't notice. I had to swallow my reluctance as I reached over and typed into Google.
I was relieved when an image of the book popped up instead of the girl, until River pointed out it was an online copy and would probably have a pretty good picture inside. I had to swallow down nervous saliva as I clicked the book open and typed in the page number the image was on.
The image was, in fact, much clearer, and the face staring back at the three of us was one I was way too familiar with. The very one I faced every time I looked in a mirror.
"Holy shit..." One of them gasped beside me, though my mind had taken too far of a swan dive to care who.
The universe really loved fucking with my head.
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Hope you guys enjoyed!