12
Storyteller
As I lay flat on my back on the surface of my bed, I watched the circulation of the fan on the ceiling, trying to follow one piece with my eyes. I could not think of any other way to pass the time. Dread had sank in and replaced whatever feelings of hope and happiness that I was so foolish to feel.
Had I really expected everything was going to work out and Dante and I were going ot get our happy ending? Of course, in my world happy endings were a myth.
Would I be able to risk allowing myself to grow feelings for Dante only to lose him? My heart ached with the familiar feeling of loss. Could I withstand the pain? Did I expect to lose him? Would I die? It was terrible but the latter seemed the less painful scenario.
Or perhaps we would all survive. All four of us. Maybe we had the strength to win. Was that possible?
I turned on my side and tried not to think of how Dante's touch felt on my skin, of how my skin shuddered when he said my name, or the warmth that flooded my body when he held me in his arms.
I wanted to throw up.
I had been so happy. So happy for just a few days. I cherished happiness because in Noah's and my past nine years it had been practically non-existent.
I wanted to figure out my past, I wanted to know what happened to my parents, I wanted to bring down Mundus and save mankind.
I wanted . . . I wanted . . .
Dante.
My stomach squirmed and my chest ached past endurance. It was such a petty, young, naïve need and yet I couldn't help it. What was it with him? What power did he possess that could make me feel this way? It was as if I had known him, always known him. And yet before the night with the Pathaway demon, I had never set eyes on him before.
I raised my head which felt as if my brain had been replaced with lead and sat upright.
I couldn't explain this pain inside me. The old Ravyn would have kept her chin up, make some smartass comment, and get on with her life. She wouldn't complain.
The new Ravyn was determined to act as a spoiled child, kicking and screaming until she got what she wanted. And what she wanted was Dante.
So selfish, so irritating. So true.
I ran my fingers through my hair before dropping my arm loosely to my side. It landed on my cell phone. I had been contemplating whether to call him or not and confess my fears these past few days.
I wondered if these thoughts had ever crossed his mind, too. Or perhaps Vergil had also confronted him recently?
Vergil. The one who had planted these venomous thoughts within my brain. If it hadn't been for him, perhaps my steamy night with Dante would have ensued and I would at least have the memory to cherish. Or maybe it was better that he stopped us and spared us a bit more pain.
I didn't know. I guess it didn't make a difference now; by this rate it looked as though Dante's wouldn't be touching me in that way anytime soon.
"Ravyn?"
I looked up to see Noah's face peeking nervously from the corner and scanning me steadily. I attempted to smile, but it was weak.
"Hey," I said.
"Are you okay?" he asked tenderly, emerging fully and entering my room.
Funny. At that moment I wanted to shout and pound my fists on the ground and scream how everything was not alright and how unfair and selfish life was. I wanted to pour all my feelings out then and there and go mad with pain. I wanted to cry, I wanted to shout and curse at God for doing this to me.
"Yeah," I said thickly.
He noticed my suppression. With tender movements he stepped forward and sat next to me on the end of the bed, hands folded in his lap and staring blankly at the floor.
It was raining again and it seemed the weather was going according to whatever my mood was. We listened to the droplets pound against the window.
Noah leaned sideways, resting his head in my lap and curling against me.
"No you're not," he said.
I watched the back of his head, reaching forward and combing my fingers through his black locks. I didn't reply.
"Is it Dante?" he asked.
"No," I lied.
"Is it that time of the month?"
Despite everything, I bit down on a sad smile.
"No, Noah," I said, continuing to run my fingers through his hair.
"What is it then?"
I breathed in a sigh, my eyes trailing to the window. I eventually found my voice.
"After mom and dad, I thought I was done losing things," I said, hoping the morbidness in my tone didn't scare him for it weighed much more heavy than I intended. But he seemed unperturbed.
"Are you sure this isn't about Dante?" he asked.
"No," I said, and I was surprised to realize I wasn't entirely lying. I wasn't just upset about Dante; I still had my life to lose, I still had Noah to worry about. The normal I had tried so hard to build up for the pair of us was crumbling before my eyes. My world would forever and always be filled with demons and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
"You're not giving me much to go on," he said irritably.
I smiled to myself.
"You're too mature for your own good," I said.
"We were forced to grow up quickly," he pointed out. "You should tell me what's wrong."
Oh, but should I? I have fought hard for Noah's innocence and was determined to give him a normal childhood. Was the entire fight in vain? Who could keep their innocence being raised in a world with demons with no parents to turn to?
"Do you remember anything about mom and dad?" I asked.
I could tell he was taken aback. He had twitched as if to look up at me but stopped.
"No," he said. "Well, not really. I sort of remember what they look like, but it's like trying to recall a forgotten dream."
I looked down to see his eyes closed and eyebrows closed in concentration.
"C'mon," I said, tapping his head for him to get up. He gave me a questioning look as I got up and headed to the kitchen, retrieving a flashlight in the utility drawer. I returned to see Noah still sitting on the edge of the bed with a quizzical expression that deepened as his eyed found the flashlight.
"I don't remember much about them either," I said. "But I do have this one memory of all four of us; you, mom, dad, and me, all under the sheets during a storm. Kind of like tonight. You were scared of the lightning so they told us stories."
Noah's face softened into an expression of silent incredulity. He swallowed. As if on cue, lightning cracked, lighting up the room.
"Do you remember anything else?" I asked.
He sighed out his nose, rubbing his face with his hands and closing his eyes once more.
"I always imagine a lilac scent when I think of mom," he said through his fingers.
I walked to my vanity and went through a basket of bottles. Eventually I brought out a small, clear flask that was half full. Across it was plastered 'French Lilac' in an italic scrawl. I walked to my bed and sprayed it all over the sheets. Noah watched me edgily as I switched off the lights and climbed under the white sheet, leaving an opening for him.
With a slight pause, he kicke doff his shoes and climbed in after me as I draped the linens over us like a tent. The fresh scent of sweet lilac encircled us and it did indeed bring to me feelings of nostalgia as well as images of my mother.
All in a jumble, I felt like I was ten years old again as I indulged myself with familiarity. Noah leaned on me, his head resting on my shoulder and I knew I wasn't the only one feeling this strange sensation of home.
I flicked on the flashlight and breathed in the lilac scent, wracking my brains for a story to tell. I wasn't precisely sure why I was doing this, but I was desperate for the feeling of a home, or finsing the rose amongst thorns.
If I closed my eyes and thought very hard, I could almost imagine our parents sitting on either side of us.
.
"Alcina, you tell the next one," my father insisted, raising the blankets higher to allow his family more room space. She was about to answer but caught sight of me trying to smuggle in my two kittens, Luna and Donnet, under the covers with us.
"Ravyn, what are you doing?" she laughed.
"They want to hear the story, too!" I insisted, struggling to lift myself over the mattress.
Little eight month old Noah cowered in the hold of his mother when another crack of lightning ensued. Alcina's finger looped in his barely-grown hair, creating small black curls that rested on his pudgy, white, baby cheeks.
"Noah! Do you want Skittles? Skittles always make me happy," I said, reaching into the red bag and holding some out for my baby brother. His huge eyes landed on the various colored candies lying in my hand, then turned and buried his face in his mother's chest once more.
Disgruntled, I plopped the skittles into my own mouth and then promptly tried to tempt my kittens with a few pieces.
"Mommy is going to tell us a story," said James, his handsome face split in a large grin.
"I've told all my stories," Alcina snorted. "Why don't you give it a go?"
"Because my life isn't half as interesting as yours," he said.
"I'm sure you have some intense stories of being a carpenter," Alcina teased. She giggled under the look he gave her. "Oh, okay. Let's see. The story of Eva and Sparda."
My father glanced at Alcina, his mouth twitching as if to say something, but evidently judged against it. Noah and I didn't notice; we were too eager awaiting our mother's story.
"Once upon a time, not too long ago, there lived a devil by the name of Sparda. Up in the heavens above, he fell in love with the angel, Eva. But this was a known forbidden love for a devil was never supposed to grow feelings for something as pure as an angel. Especially for Sparda, who was the tight hand of Mundus, the demon king.
The lovers hid well for many years, eventually landing themselves two beautiful twin boys, Vergil and Dante. These two boys were the hybrid of angel and demon; Nephilim, the only ones who could stop a demon king."
We all waited for her to continue, but she merely smiled contentedly down at her son who had fallen asleep halfway through the story.
"What then?" I asked.
My mother looked at me, the corners of her mouth coiling upward in a smile.
"I don't know," she said. "The story hasn't finished yet."
.
I hesitated with my closed fist hovering over the surface of the cheap, wooden front door. The sun was just barely rising in the distance, setting a periwinkle glow over the city. The water below the pier I stood on made soft, sleepy splashes against the shore as if it too was waking up.
I brushed aside a strand of my hair before releasing a deep breath and forcing myself to knock three times upon the door. I half-hoped it would be too early for him to be awake and wouldn't hear me, or otherwise would be too sleepy to answer it.
But—a few moments later, the door creaked open. Dante was shirtless apart from a pair of black sweatpants he evidently wore to bed. Large purple bruises hung under his eyes, which were red and puffy. Jeeze, he looked terrible. Had he been up all night?
As exhausted and beat down as he looked, his lips still twitched upward in a smile as he saw me standing there on his front step. I felt my chest tighten slightly.
"Ravyn," he said, glancing towards the clock on the wall. "S'alittle early."
"I'm sorry. You look really beat. I'll come back later." I half-turned to leave.
"No, s'fine. Vergil's just been having me patrol the streets overtime. Come in."
He stepped aside to allow me entrance and with another beat, I complied. He closed the door behind me, running his hands over his face.
"You look as though you haven't gotten two hours of sleep," I said. "Seriously, I can come back later. It's not . . . not that important."
"Well, one hour actually," he said. "I was barely asleep when you knocked. Believe me; if I was in a deep slumber you couldn't use a bulldozer to wake me up. Don't go," he added as I looked at him with even more trepidation.
I paused, looking him up and down, and then nodded once.
He let out a yawn which he quickly covered up with a smile before walking into the kitchen. He pulled out a large pizza box from the fridge and placed a slice in his mouth while holding the other in his hand. He gestured the box in my direction.
"Want one?" he said through the pizza in his mouth.
"No, thank you."
He plopped the box down on the counter and started eating his 'meal'. I wondered vaguely if there was another piece to Dante's diet besides Domino's pizza.
"So, what did you have to talk about so bright an' early?" he asked, glancing at me sideways as I entered the kitchen and folding my hands nervously in front of me.
"Is Vergil here?" I asked suddenly.
His eyes hardened slightly.
"You want to talk to my brother?" he asked.
"No. I want to talk with you."
Dante chewed silently for a few more moments, then swallowed.
"He's sleeping."
"Really?" I asked, surprised. "He seems like such a workaholic I imagined he was at the Order building this early."
Dante snorted.
"Yeah, well believe it or not my brother's not perfect," he said. "He does sleep occasionally. Hell, one time I saw him eat something."
I wrinkled my nose.
"You two still having a fight?"
"Not really. Not since you went all 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' on us the other day. Y'know, giving us the inspirational speech that as long as we stick and work together everything will be fine?"
"I do what I can," I said with a dim smile.
"You do a lot."
We met gazes for a second before I looked down at the ground.
"Anyway," I said, brushing a stray hair behind my ear. I couldn't exactly find it in myself to meet his eyes. "Yeah, the reason I came."
"You're making me feel like it's something really dire."
"No, no not at all," I said slowly. Was it, though? Not the way he was thinking. "I—I was just wondering what we're . . . um . . ."
Why was it so hard for me to talk about these types of things? I'd never had to do it before. Well, I never had a good down to earth relationship, so technically speaking I had absolutely no experience. I didn't think it was too brash in believing Dante was in the same boat as I.
"We're what?" Dante asked as he finished his second piece. He was watching me steadily, brows furrowed.
Ah, well shit. Now I really couldn't get out of this. Just say it. He's not going to let you go now, anyway.
"What's going to happen if one of us dies?" I blurted out. I closed my eyes. Apparently easing my way into a difficult situation was not one of my talents. I opened my eyes to find Dante studying me with a stony expression.
"What?" he asked.
I bit on my lower lip, wracking my brain for anything sensible to say.
"It's just—here we are on the verge of an apocalypse and we're . . . building up on a relationship?" I actually just ended that on a question. Lord, strike me down now. I shouldn't have come. I tried again. "What if one of us dies during this fight against Mundus and we became too . . . close?"
Fuckfuckfuckfuck. Did I have no sentence skills at all?
"What are you talking about, Ravyn?" said Dante, standing up straighter and setting a confused expression upon me.
"Just that—is it worth it getting closer now only to—oh fuck it. Do you really want to get close now, building up this relationship, only to have one us die at the hands of demons? There."
Dante didn't move for a second. He frowned down at the ground for a few moments and I watched him anxiously. I felt bright red patches plaster across my cheeks. I was so hopeless it was almost humorous.
"You mean, to spare us the pain or something?" he asked.
I let out a breath that I had forgotten to release.
"Yes," I said. "That's exactly what I mean. I don't know about you, but I've gone though enough pain to not want to endure anymore. Doesn't it seem as if everything is going so fast? Too fast?"
He didn't answer immediately. His eyes traveled to the window where the rising sun was exposed. Its beam slowly crawled up up along the kitchen floor until hitting the wooden cupboards. He finally looked at me.
"You're way of thinking is the exact opposite of mine," he said.
I stared up at him.
"On the verge of an apocalypse, you would think it's the perfect time to do things like this," he continued before I could say anything. He scratched behind his neck, adjusting his shoulders and leaning back on the counter. He looked at me. "Look, my entire life I've gone through institutions, foster homes, orphanages, youth correction facilities—and not a one wasn't controlled by demon authority. Almost all of them ended in a bloody mess of torture and violence."
I stood frozen to the ground, completely taken off guard by his words. Why on God's green earth was he telling me this now? Yet I couldn't speak.
"I completely rebounded against any authority, human and demon, because, well . . ." he laughed darkly under his breath. "I didn't think I would last long with all the demons breathing down my neck. Then I met Vergil and Kat a few months ago. They told me about my past, my family, my destiny. What I supposed to do with my life and what I was. Well, hey. At least it gave me some purpose in life. Something I could never really say I've had before."
I still didn't speak, but I also couldn't see the point he was trying to make.
"And then you came along," he said and I raised my head to meet his eyes. He wasn't smiling, but his voice was even and not intimidating. "You seated your pretty little butt in my life. You and your weird eyes. And I thought, 'well, she seems like fun. Why not have a little distraction?' So that's what we did. On the minority, at least."
"Dante, I don't understand," I finally said. "What has this got to do with anything?"
The corners of his lips twitched.
"You, of all people, cat-eye, are the one person to show me what the definition of happiness is. My point being that after all the shit I've been through in this life do you think I want to give that up just because of some shitty 'demon king'? In my opinion, there's no perfect timing other than now to get serious about life. Now or never. I could die tomorrow and my only regret would be that we didn't have enough time together."
Silence.
Sweet mother of Adam and Eve, what just happened. My mouth suddenly felt very dry and I had forgotten how vocabulary worked. Dante was still watching me with that intense stare and that did nothing to help me concentrate.
I hadn't even thought of it that way. I had been so concerned with how much it would hurt to lose Dante that I didn't even conceive the thought of how many regrets I would have if I never ensued our relationship in the first place.
"But Dante—"
I hadn't had enough time to get the third word out.
Dante was upon me before I could realize what happened, his lips planted hard onto mine and forcing me back onto the fridge. It shook violently and several empty pizza boxes that were towered on top of it came piling to the ground.
My skin trembled with anticipation as Dante's tongue licked my lower lip before sliding in, battling for dominance. It wasn't long before I was responding, too. My hand crept up along his stomach to rest upon his bare chest. His hot breath entered past my lips as he retracted slightly, enough so we could both catch our breath.
"You were saying?" he smirked.
"I was saying something?" I asked, quite serious.
His grin widened. His hands snared their way from my chest and down to my hips where he lifted me up and turned me away from the fridge so he sat me upon the counter. My legs instinctively locked around his waist so as to pull him closer. I cupped his face with my hands and pulled him closer so I crushed my lips to his again. He bit hard upon my lower lip and I held back a small moan, frightened of sounding too needy.
Dante seemed to notice my restraint and very content upon getting me to break. His tongue circled the outline of my lips ever so slowly. In frustration I bit him instead and felt him smirk. His hands snaked into my loose hair and pulled slightly so that my neck arched. I sighed softly through my nose. He brushed his lips against the surface of my skin, making me turn boneless in his grasp.
"You . . . want . . . to . . . end . . . this?" he asked me in a heated grunt, saying each word after he delivered me another kiss down my neck.
"Shut up," I snapped in a low breath.
His teeth nibbled the soft spot on my neck and fighting back a moan was becoming even harder. His hands moved to the sleeves of my T-Shirt, sliding them further down my arms to access the area of my collarbone more easily. He kissed there as well, twirling his tongue in circular motions and causing my legs to tighten around him. He began grinding into me before delivering another kiss onto my mouth. And hell, his junk was only covered by his sweatpants and I was pretty sure he didn't wear underpants to bed, so it didn't really do much to conceal his erection.
His lips were enough to make any worries I currently had erase completely from my brain. The power this freaking man had over me—how did he do it? And so easily? To hell with being that all strong independent woman crap; I would kneel on the ground as Dante's little slave if he asked me to.
He moved his hand up my shirt, fingers leaving a fierce static feeling wherever they traveled. He paused the kiss when his hand reached my bust.
"No bra?" he asked with that devilish smirk.
"I was in a hurry," I defended. "I wasn't exactly planning on this to happen."
"Right," he chuckled against my skin. "Or maybe you didn't wear one because you wanted this to happen."
I opened my mouth to retort but he shut me up by planting his lips to mine. My breath quickened and I felt my entire body pulsate like a heartbeat. His one hand massaged my breast slowly, toying with its weight. His fingers moved to my nipple, pinching it. I felt a sudden pleasurable stab in my groin area and bit down on a whimper.
His icy eyes casted over my face with an arched eyebrow. It was an expression that said 'You're really trying to resist me?'
My hands moved from his face to rest upon his exposed abdomen. I traced the defined 'V' shape that leaded down into his sweats. I raised my eyes to look at Dante who was watching me with a piercing gaze, eyes scanning up my body, layered with a sheer coat of hunger.
If looks could fuck.
"Excuse me, I need to reach the cereal."
I felt Dante stiffen against me as I looked over his shoulder. Oh, you've got to be kidding me.
"Vergil, if there was a nominee for biggest cock blocker of the year, you'd get it without breaking a sweat," Dante grunted angrily under his breath with his face still pointed towards me.
"I'm hungry. You're in front of the Cocoa Puffs. Move," said Vergil.
"Oh, the Cocoa Puffs," said Dante in a sarcastic drawl. "God save your soul."
"I'm serious. I didn't have dinner last night."
I closed my eyes, placing a hand on my forehead. I wasn't sure whether to groan or burst out laughing. Vergil's interruptions were becoming so frequent that it was almost becoming humorous.
I slid myself off the counter and past Dante, straightening my shirt.
"Morning, Ravyn," said Vergil.
"Good morning," I said, smiling slightly.
Vergil moved past his brother and opened the counter and brought out the cereal box.
"Is the counter clean?" he asked the pair of us.
"No, but it doesn't have anything to do with Ravyn or me," said Dante, glancing sideways at me.
"Fair statement."
I shook my head, biting down on my lip out of embarrassment and descended into the living room. Dante followed.
"I should go," I said.
"Should, or want to?" he asked.
"Honestly? Want to at this point," I said, nodding my head towards Vergil who was now pouring his cereal into a bowl.
"Not that I blame you," he said. He suddenly drew closer and bent down so his lips were an inch from my ear. "My brother at my house, your brother at yours—when and I going to have you all to myself, Miss Taylor?"
His whisper was so heated, so filled with hoarse hunger that it was all I could do not to pounce on him and take him right in front of Vergil.
"Want something hard enough and you can have anything," I breathed back, my mouth coiling into a lopsided grin. "Son of Sparda," I added.
"If that were true, I would have taken you a long time ago," he said in a growled whisper.
"Then it's only a matter of time."
I hovered my lips over his for a fraction of a second, then smirked and drew back.
"I'll see you later, sasquatch," I said. He watched me closely as I turned and opened the door, walking out into the new morning and closing the door tightly behind me.
Gahh, updating so slowly. I'm sorry, guys :/ hope this chapter was okay. I've been meaning to copy this down from my notes onto my laptop for weeks.
Anywho, tell me what you think in that little review box below, pretty please? I'm really excited to hear your thoughts :)
