Alight, I'm gonna try and make updates weekly. But I did get my second job, YAY, and so if some chapters are a few days late, I apologize now. Life is getting a little rocky for me right now with money and trying to see friends and work and now worrying about what it is I'm going to do for college. BLAH.
Well…I won't bore you any more about my life lol.
Also, fair warning, as I have done with my other story I am working on as well, some chapters may be shorter than others, I know this might be frustrating for some readers and I can completely understand but once I started writing, I soon found that writing long chapters is a challenge at times for me.
So please bear with me on this.
Here you go my lovelies.
KBIRD
Rays of light were shining through the snow covered branches, casting shadows all over the forest, but still emitting light around the two Guardians. One was quickly walking farther into the woods while the other was left chasing. Not once did it occur to Jack on how Cupid would feel with all of this, and now he was paying for it. As soon as those words had left his mouth her eyes had begun to glow slightly, and Jack knew he had pissed off the Goddess of Love, but how? He didn't even have a chance to ask before she stalked around him, yes…stalked…like a tiger would its prey and while keeping her glowing pink orbs on him that for a moment he was mesmerized. As soon as she had passed him though, she took off towards the tree lines at a soft sprint and after a few seconds of confusion, Jack shook his head before taking off after her.
"Hey!"
Hearing his shout but ignoring it, Cupid kept her pace steady and firm. No way in Hell was she going to stop and listen to a fool. She didn't need this, give her war or a battle and she was fine. But this? No. She did not feel the cold of the frosty air in the air, or the sting of the thin branches cutting into her skin as she rushed by too close to a few trees, though the skin healed too quick for any blood to be shed. No. No. No….NO! Dammnit NO! She didn't want to see what he wanted to show her. Why would she?
So obvious to everything she didn't notice the pond until her boot slid out from beneath her and suddenly she was flying backwards and gravity began pulling her down. Her yelp caught in her throat, she tried catching herself before she fell onto the unforgiving frozen ice. Fortunately for her, slightly chilled arms wrapped around her from the back to stop her fall; unfortunately…the arms belonged to the being she was getting away from. As soon as the soles of her boots were upright and planted firmly on the ice, Cupid immediately jerked away from the body behind her, only to be jerked backwards and into Jack's chest, his hands now holding onto her arms gently but firmly so she couldn't jerk away like she had just did.
Moving his head to the side and bringing himself closer to her, Jack's mind was muddled with confusion and slight anger. Confusion as to why she ran from him and anger…because she had pulled away from him? Keeping his frosty blues on the side of her face, Jack kept the anger out of his voice as he slightly tightened his hold on her, but to her it wasn't even close to hurting her.
"Why did you run?"
He was too close. Feeling his breath near her ear, Cupid's body stiffened for the second time in a short amount of time, and she had to close her eyes to fight off the shiver that so badly wanted to run down her spine. Why was she feeling this way? Sure, she knew exactly what was going on…but why now? Why HIM? In all her centuries she had many lovers, fuck buddies and friends with benefits, but none lasted long and none, save for one, made her feel this way. She was all too familiar with lust, for many confused lust and love to be the same, but she knew the difference. She would not be foolish enough to love this Guardian of Joy in just a little over a day. She was not the weak minded humans who she had seen do this and had to answer the calls too.
Lids opening to reveal no longer glowing orbs, but now calmer pink hues that narrowed as they focused straight ahead of her. Keeping her body rigid and tensed against his own; before replying, keeping her voice calm and collected, not at all what she was feeling on the inside.
"There is nothing for me back there that you need to show me, Jack."
With that said she gently moved forward, taking care to watch her footing and when she felt his hands fall from her arms she turned to face him. She needed to calm herself down. So she did was she always did. She hid. Taking in a deep breath through the nose and slowly releasing it through her mouth, she began to collect herself. Ever so slowly her body relaxed and her mind was under lock down and her eye lids lowered without much movement it was hard to see unless one was really paying any attention.
Though Jack couldn't see what was going on inside her, he saw the way her eyes became so guarded in just a matter of seconds clear as day. And he didn't like it one bit.
"Don't hide."
A twitch of the eye was all he got in response and that just made him sigh in irritation.
"Cupid…you need to see how you affect those who are influenced by you. Don't you get it?" leaning against his staff and shoving one arm inside his hoodie, Jack narrowed his eyes at her. "You need to see how much you are loved."
She tried. She really did. She did not want to lose her temper or do anything or say anything that she would regret but the boy would not get it through his thick skull that she did not want anything to do with humans! At least these humans…there were a handful of humans she did not mind; though that was because they still believed in the old ways.
"When will you get it that I care not for how much they love me?" her voice held so much venom, so much hate that for a second her eyes seemed to have gotten darker to a deep pink but in a blink of an eye that Jack was sure it was the trick of the light and ignored it; but could not ignore the hatred that sounded so wrong coming from her blood red lips. Anger swelled inside him at what she said. How could she not care!? For all his three-hundred years, no one believed in him and he had gotten to see and feel first-hand how it was to not be loved…believed in…cared for. Now that he had some children believing in him now…well…Jack wouldn't trade that for anything. And here she was…angered by the fact that she was loved by so many humans…thousands and maybe even millions of people.
"You will never know the pain I feel each and every day, Jack. And I hope you will never have to feel like I do." At that last part her voice softened to a low whisper, but Jack heard every word she spoke. He could hear the slight crack in her voice but did not say a word for when he looked up at her and caught her gaze; he could see the pain she was hiding. Scratching the back of his head, Jack looked off to the side and began to tap the end of his wooden staff against ice as his mind raced a mile a minute.
As the silence took over, save for the tapping of the wood on the ice, Cupid took the chance to bring her arms in front of her and around her arms, seeming to protect herself against the slight wind the blew through the air. She took this moment to relax completely, taking his silence as him thinking over what she said.
A soft sound broke through her silence though and immediately her eyes slid to the left, her hands slowly removing themselves from her arms to hang down by her sides at the ready. Was that…a growl? Hearing the staff still tapping, she quickly glanced over at Jack, only to see he was still staring off in space and looked back to where the noise came from. Nothing. All there was were trees and snow and rocks. Though there seemed to be nothing, Cupid took notice of their surroundings. Everything was quiet. Looking to the trees and skies she saw that no bird was up above, glancing down towards the ground, there were no creatures about. It was as if they were all in hiding. Hiding from what though? Artemis always told me to look for signs of danger. And that was exactly what the air was ringing with. Danger. Why?
Turning her head ever so slightly to look back at Jack, she froze for a second when her eyes connected with his and for a moment she thought he had noticed the stillness in the air but one more moment of looking at him and she knew he had no idea what was going on around them. And there it was!
Whipping her eyes back to the woods, she had seen it! Just in the shadows of the trees for but a millisecond but she had seen it! Movement. This time, Jack looked towards where she was looking so hard at, but he didn't see a thing and for a good minute neither dared moved; but after a couple of seconds of standing so still, Cupid wondered if she had seen anything at all. Was it all in the mind? But she had been trained to always to follow her instinct and she wasn't going to stop following it now.
Time stood still for the two beings as neither made a move for fear of breaking whatever spell was woven. But when Cupid saw no other signs of movement, she did and allowed her muscles to relax just a little bit and turned her head to look back at Jack. Looking at him standing there, pale complexion almost blending in with his silver-white hair but standing out against his navy blue hoodie and tan pants. His feet were bare and for a brief moment she wondered if he ever felt the cold of the snow or if it felt as normal as grass would against her very own bare feet but quickly shook that thought away. Looking up at his face, she couldn't stop the one thought that ran through her mind though. He is so handsome.
And it was then and there she spoke without really thinking about what she was saying until it was already out of her mouth.
"I want to show you something."
Icy blue eyes widen at that before becoming clouded with confusion for the millionth time that day, but he allowed a small smile to grace his lips as he cocked his head to the side as he kept staring at her. That was when she could take back what she said. Why would she take him there? That was her home away from home. But maybe he needed to see what she had to show him…to make him understand.
Nodding to herself at that thought, Cupid took a step towards him and spoke again, her voice stronger than before.
"You want to know about me? How I came to be like this, well I can show you something that will help you."
With that said, she saw a full smile bloom across his face at that and nervousness began to wrap it's sweet claws into her when he moved closer to her until he was standing right in front of her. The scent of fresh snow and sandalwood drifted to her delicate nose, making her take a deep intake of breath just to smell the wonder scent again. Oh sweetness he smelled good. What was with her!? Clenching her teeth together, Cupid looked at Jack, and taking his approach as his acceptance, she quickly brought her hands to her left side, not even watching as her bow materialized out of thin air. Pulling the string back and keeping her aim at the ground, a deep red arrow appeared as well, her index and middle finger keeping the end in place of the pulled back string.
"Take us to Greece."
The whisper was all that was needed before she released the string and arrow, causing both to shoot forward and as soon as the arrow broke through the ice, immediately both were pulled into her portal and were gone within seconds.
Neither noticing the glowing eyes of six nightmares…nor their retreat farther into the shadowed woods.
There we go!
