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" GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Four words spoken with the most vile poison lining their edges, growled in an animalistic manner. The sound seeped into my skin and traveled down the length of my spine, immediately making me push away from Irina' s intoxicating body. I could feel Irina go rigid and she sought out my body again with little result since I had moved away from her to see who had interrupted our heated match of tonsil hockey. It almost made me laugh when I saw who it was.

Standing in a blaze of fury was a lanky teenager with bronze tinted sex hair. Nothing was at all intimidating about the boy, in fact he, as I said before, looked comical. He was pale white, maybe even more so that myself, and his face was disturbingly flat and square. It almost looked like ...

A shovel.

I couldn' t hold in my laughter then. It burst from my throat in huffed airy breathes, no strong guffaws but the kind of laughing you do when you laugh so hard no actual sound comes to fruition. Through my watery eyes I could see the man staring at me in rage and Irina smirking at me, hungrily. I shut up right away when the man advanced on me. One second he was a scrawny kid and then he was... still a scrawny kid, but one with murder in his eyes.

" What the hell are you laughing at? " He ground out after Irina stepped in front of me, blocking his path. The two looked at each other with malice but the boy' s attention was obviously on me.

I looked at him and wore a sheepish smile. "I don t think you would like the truth. "

His eyes flashed dangerously and seemed to darken to a caramel color.

"You had better leave now, or I will make you pay for becoming involved with my family."

I probably should have known not to question his authority and kept my mouth shut, but of course, I had to get a shot of courage at the completely wrong times.

" I see you have an obvious problem with my being here, and I would love to insult you for your rudeness, but I don t think I could do as well as nature did." My insult was directed at his posture, face, stupidity, and really him as a whole, which could be a bit vast for a dumbass such as himself. It definitely connected for him though, even if it took a few moments. When he did get it he lunged forward, pushing a shocked Irina to the side. I watched his hand raise above me, pulling back to swing forward and I brought my hands up instinctively to block his attack. My eyes shut tightly and I waited for impact.

It was just like at home.

A deafening crack sounded throughout the hall, tearing through the air like a gunshot. I felt nothing, at all. I timidly opened my eyes and dropped my hands slightly to see what had collided. Valentine was standing a few inches in front of me, his head tilted to the side and cheek burning with a crimson hue. I glanced nervously between him and the boy, who looked like he was about to vomit. Valentine turned his head towards the boy and started at him blankly.

" How many more problems must your ego create for us? You seem to think that we can easily clean up after your rash decisions." He asked, showing no emotion. The boy 's eyes shifted nervously. "Tell me, Edward, do you like being hated by everyone around you? Is it fun to piss off your family? It sure seems like you believe you can step all over those around you, so please tell me, do you like putting us in bad situations? "

Edward stepped back without saying anything and Valentine was immediately at him. He grabbed the collar of Edward' s shirt and whipped him against the wall. "ANSWER ME! " Hatred dripped off of Valentine, pooling on the floor of the narrow hallway.

"Valentine, calm down." It was Irina who spoke, her hand settling on Valentine s shoulder. "Ester 's fine, you don t need to make this issue any bigger than it already is. He will be dealt with. "

She spoke softly and Valentine looked to be cooling down, although he didn' t let go of Edward very quickly, instead spitting in the boy s face and violently throwing him onto the ground. Edward stayed down as Valentine turned to me.

"Go outside, Imriska is waiting for you. " I tried to object but he cut me off. "Now!"

That was all I needed to get me going. I was down the stairs and out the front door in no time. Imriska was outside as Valentine had promised and as soon as she saw me, she ran up and scooped me into a big hug. She held me for awhile before taking me by the hand and leading me toward a black mustang.

"We have to go." She said, opening the passenger door for me and ushering me inside. I held no resistance and slid into the leather seat.

Imriska went to go around the front of the car but she stopped just in front and looked toward the house. I watched as her expression morph into panic. I followed her gaze and upon seeing what she was, I understood why she was panicking. Both Tanya and Irina were running towards the car. I could even see another blonde woman with straight hair following close behind them.

Imriska bolted to the driver s side of the car and retched the door open, making me flinch from the force she used before sliding in and closing the door, locking both doors in the process. The keys were awkwardly shoved into the ignition and it took several times to actually start the car, but as soon as it was up and running Imriska put it into drive and surged the car forward, nearly running over Tanya who looked like her world was coming to an end.

The car peeled out onto the road, wheels screeching along with my strangled yelps as I tried to stay put in my seat. Imriska didn t stop to check if she had accidentally killed anyone but continued on.

I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the three women standing in the middle of the road, Tanya nearly crying and being held back by the unknown blonde who curled the distressed woman into her arms. Irina stood next to them with a blank face, like a statue.

I felt something in me change. It ripped into my guts and made me feel like my insides had been scooped out and replaced with pounds of coarse sand that scraped away at my insides every time I moved.

I heard a sharp intake of breath and glanced toward Imriska. She looked paler than before, somehow, and she looked like she was having trouble keeping her eyes from watering. Her mouth was twisted into a grimace that she was trying to cover it up. It looked like she was trying not to cry.

I felt the painful heat in my chest.

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