Life was full of distractions.
Right now, even though we'd been attacked that morning, even though Demetruis was on the loose again, or a custody battle was threatening us, or that there were bounties on our heads, all we cared about was Lillian. All that mattered was Lillian. Nick's mother, who he'd only just started to get to know, was now in surgery and the three of us sat in a waiting area, the air weighing down with the tension, no one telling us anything. No one spoke. No one knew what to say, maybe, or maybe our faces were saying enough.
She wasn't young. I kept forgetting it so easily. It was a miracle she and Nick had met at her age. A miracle she was well and fit enough to be here, to go on that tour of ...wild flowers or something... to be able to walk around at all. Or maybe that was my bias opinion based off the fact that I'd never known my grandparents.
We didn't know what to expect.
Antonio vanished for a while with his cell as a nurse gestured for him to come. When he returned he told us that he'd called her children to let them know where she was and to come. He didn't say anything more than that. But if he was telling them to come now, if they had to fly out here from wherever they were now, I got the sense that it was extremely serious.
Nick's hand tightened in mine as Antonio moved to sit on the other side of him. He hadn't spoken a word since he'd asked Elena about the kids, but his fingers grasped mine, and he was holding his phone as he flipped through photos in it. Photos of her. Of the kids. Of me. Over and over, like those simple things could make her better, his breathing a little faster. Antonio watched him quietly, just as silent now, hand brushing across my shoulders as it went over Nick's shoulders.
"What is happening?" I finally asked it. Nick stiffened, but his eyes went to his dad, as if he'd been wanting to know but couldn't ask.
"Heart attack. She's in emergency surgery and I don't know much else. They told me to bring her family here." Antonio's face twisted with something, pain maybe, I wasn't sure. He just seemed overwhelmed. It wasn't common for werewolves to have problems like these. Apparently it hadn't been common for werewolves to live past forty before Clayton took over as pack protector, so maybe I was wrong, but it was a shock for all of us.
"Can't you bite her?" Nick finally spoke. His voice was soft, hurt, angry. And he seemed to regret asking, even a bit shocked that he'd asked it.
"You know I can't. You saw Elena. Remember, how angry you were with Clayton?" Antonio's voice was soft, arm now around Nick alone. "She's not dead. She's in surgery."
Nick grimaced. "I don't know why I asked. Sorry. I know."
I knew. He wanted her to live longer, wanted her to be around as long as his dad, and I couldn't blame him. They'd spent Nick's whole life, him and his mother, wondering about each other. Wishing they could be closer. Neither expecting to meet the other. And yet they had, and they'd gotten on, and she wanted to be as much of his life as he wanted her to be in his life. He'd gotten barely six months and now this had happened.
I got snacks as the night dragged on, the hospital loud to my ears, the sound of machines, smell of chemicals throughout, and ...to my horror, the awareness suddenly that there was morphine everywhere. That thought drove cravings up, and up, and up... and I stuffed them all down with as much chocolate as I could get my hands on.
Antonio noticed, grasping my hand as he shifted onto my other side, maybe glad for a distraction. Nick didn't. He was just sitting there, ignoring the snacks, ignoring the drink, still stunned.
"If it gets too bad," Antonio said softly in my ear, "Get a taxi home."
"It's fine." I squeezed his hand. "I'm here for you two."
He went for a while, something about a walk, and Nick shifted closer to me in the plastic seats.
"When you died, she was there. With me all the time, never left my side, made me shave, got my clothing out for me, got me to eat and drink, she mothered me. Got me to sleep by talking to me, telling me stories about her life, about things she loved, anything. And I kept thinking about how I was before you." He didn't look at me as he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper, and I didn't interrupt. "Before you, I was happy. I was earning dad's respect, I had women whenever I needed or wanted them, nothing lasting. They moved on, knowing that there would be no strings attached, so I felt no guilt for using them. I don't regret that life. I realised that. I didn't regret living like that."
He went quiet again, for a while, fingering the rings around my finger. "I thought about how I could go back to living like that. I was free. And all I could think was how it was the worst thing now. It was depressing to go backwards, it wasn't freedom, it was ... It took me fifty years to find you. The only woman I wanted to be around for more than a night. There wasn't going to be another you."
He played with his ring, face twisting with something painful, and for a long time Nick didn't speak. I saw it, the grief there that had been hidden, the hurt from thinking I'd died. After a while he gazed up at me, and there was a trace of panic there, grief, like he thought she was already dead. "It was the same with her. I was fine without her. I wanted her but I could cope, I didn't know what I was missing, didn't have to pay attention to the holes in my life and I could deal with it. Wanting a mom but never having her. I can't go back to that now. I was happy, I'm not saying I wasn't...but ...now that I've had her around, now that I've started to get to know her... there's not going back to that. Not in the same way. If I lost either of you, there'd be gaps no one can fill."
"She's going to be okay. We're both here." I didn't know what else to say. A lump was in my throat at the look in his face. He was like a kid again, so uncertain, so afraid. Nick pulled me over, and I slid into his lap, so he could snuggle into me and hold be against him.
"We don't know that."
I hesitated and he sighed, a long deep sigh, because I didn't know that. I couldn't say I did.
"I'm not going anywhere." I added, stroking his curls, running my fingers across his scalp and forehead, gentle calming motions that usually helped him relax. It worked a fraction.
"I miss your smell." Nick admitted quietly. "Your heart. Everything. That treatment keeps tempting me."
"We'll go for a run. Soon. I promise." I had to, I itched, but I was putting it off for him. We'd have to go sooner than later.
"We had to go tonight, didn't we?" He muttered against my shoulder.
I nodded and Nick sighed, a long deep sigh, standing up slowly as I stood up. "Let's find Dad. It could take hours. As long as he's here when she wakes I can ..."
"We don't have to." I tried, but he shook his head.
"Your smell will help. We'll go, Dad will rest here, then we'll come back. Surgery isn't fast."
We found Antonio outside, staring at the sky, his head turning to us as we came out. He nodded a fraction, sighed, standing.
"I'll find out how long before you go." He went inside, us waiting outside, and came back out. "It's going to be a few more hours at least. Probably longer. I'll be here. Go."
We drove out into the bush and changed, careful to stay hidden, the two of us struggling with the change as much as the other. My body craved it, itched and ached for it, but the worry for Lillian, Nick, Antonio, it flogged up my mind. He managed to finish it a few minutes before I did and waited patiently just out of sight.
When I was done, we didn't hunt, we didn't run for a while, just curled up together, his body pressed against mine, nose drinking in the scent he'd been denied for far too long. How long? Weeks? It had to be ages now. I nuzzled him, licking his face, grooming him as he curled up beside me, ears down, tail down, just lying there. When he made no move to get up I hunted for us both, one ear on him at all times, the other on finding something. Rabbits were easy, I caught one without a problem, and brought it back to him.
When we'd filled our stomachs somewhat, we returned to snuggling against each other in the darkness, comforting each other with the intimacy that came with this form. As a wolf we didn't have the same human notions of 'hiding' or 'burying' things. Nick was afraid, already grieving, and he showed it openly. I stayed with him.
He fell asleep after a while and the change back started. I stayed close, back on him, but kept my ears on him at all times. When he was done, I curled up beside him, snuggling against him for a second longer, nothing awkward in my mind about his human body against my fur one, before I moved back to start my own change.
It was easier, sort of, and faster. Once the pain of it had gone I got up slowly, dressing, and got Nick to get up and get dressed. No time for sex after this one, no need for it, it had been about comfort. Nick wrapped his arms around me when his pants were on, his shirt in my hands still, leaning against me. He frowned as he realised he'd lost my scent all over again, a long deep sigh, and I waited till he was ready to go till we headed back for the car.
Antonio was back in the waiting area now, and shook his head. No news yet. Nick flopped beside him, tugging me back into his lap, his forehead flopping on my arm.
The nurse came back seconds after we did. "She's awake now. You can go see her."
Nick stood up fast, I nearly fell off his ass, and the three of us followed the nurse into the recovery area. Hospitals always set me on edge, I wasn't sure why, and this one in particular. Or maybe it was because this was where Lillian was. Antonio saw Lillian long before we did, somehow, as if they were fixed to each other at this moment. He inhaled sharply and when I got closer I saw why. Not just saw, I smelt why, smelt the smell of blood and internal organs mixing with the smell of hospital. She wasn't closed up yet.
Wait, what?
"Is she..."
"Lillian is going to be transferred to New York in an hour. She's fine for now but the surgery wasn't successful. She requires a specialist." The nurse, or maybe she was a doctor, I didn't know now, went to sit nearby and watch us. She added, "She's all right to talk but don't excite her."
"I'm awake still, you know." Lillian muttered from under the oxygen mask.
"Lily?" Antonio moved closer, his eyes avoiding the chest where it was covered up, stroking her face. She opened her eyes slowly, struggling against a wave of whatever pain meds they'd put her on to keep her happy while her ribcage was cracked open, and smiled faintly at him.
"What happened?"
"Heart attack." He tried to smile, tried to make it seem like less than what it really was, but it was huge. "Did they talk to you?"
"Something about surgery again. New York. I think so, yes." She was becoming more lucid all the time and gazed around at us sitting around her. "Did you call my other kids?"
"They said they'd be here as fast as they can." He leaned down to stroke her hair, so careful around the chest, Antonio's own heart rate fast even as he looked calm. "When it's done you're staying with me in New York. You can recover in my house."
"Your dad's house?" Her lips twitched as she shut her eyes. There was a slight pained look there a moment. "Remember what we did in the cottage?"
"I remember. I think Nick was conceived there."
He laughed softly. Nick stiffened, but he tried to smile too, as I squeezed his hand.
"I thought it was in your car." She tried to argue, a small smile, as if they'd already had this argument. Maybe they'd teased each other during those few months they'd had after they ran away.
The sound of voices coming this way... not just a few, but a small crowd...hit my ears and I swung my head in that direction. The nurse, or doctor, or whatever she was... looked a bit startled. The three of us weren't going to excite Lillian. But there were a lot of feet coming.
"I can hear them." Lillian tried to sit up and Antonio pushed her back down, firmly, shaking his head.
"Don't move, love. You have to stay still."
Nick's hand tightened around mine and I moved closer to him. Just then the voices became the people that had concerned the nurse nearby. Two men and two women came into the room, three kids, the girl around ten, a boy maybe six or seven, the other boy in his teens following them.
"Mum, are you all right? We came as soon as we could." One of the men glanced at Antonio and then to us. "Who is this?"
"This is Nick. My son. And this is Antonio, his father." Some spark of energy came into Lillian's face now. She introduced them to us and we stared at each other.
They looked similar to Nick. He was a copy of Antonio, more or less, but there were traces of Lillian in both him and these grown ups. Jawline the same in one. Same frown line. Their taller leaner bodies than Antonio's stocky body. One of the women had eyes remarkably close to Nick's shade.
"This is Kenneth, Charlie, Alicia and April. And my grand children, Krista, Steve and Brian. Kids, this is Nick, his wife, and Antonio." Lillian pointed them out with the hand that had a heart monitor on it, arm flopping back when she was done, the nurse reminding her to relax. "So many. I'm glad you're all here. I wish it was a better place to meet."
"Can we talk with you alone?" The oldest of them spoke, Kenneth, as he glanced at us. There was mistrust there. A lot of it. "Or sit with you alone?"
"No. I wanted to talk to you all together. Nick and his children have been included in my will now." Lillian told the other adults. As she spoke, she spoke slowly, needing to breathe, and no one interrupted her. "I made the changes a few weeks ago and have been waiting for you all to meet to let you know."
There was actually disbelief and hurt there in their faces, as they stared at Nick and Antonio. One of the women, Alicia with Nick's eyes, asked in disbelief, "You're giving them Dad's money?"
"My money."
I saw it, they were now looking at Nick with more suspicion, eyes going over his face, his body, his much more youthful appearance. He could have passed for a younger age than her oldest son.
"Thought you said he was in his fifties." Kenneth snapped, eyes narrow, as if he was thinking that Nick must have been an imposter. "You sure it's him?"
Nick flinched at the gazes directed at him and I felt like stepping between them but his hand remained in mine and kept me there. He tried to smile. This was a bit overwhelming for him, I guessed, so I tried to relax for him. They were overwhelmed too, most likely, they'd only known about him for a few months.
"This is his father." Lillian gave them a look, though it failed, and she grasped Antonio's hand tighter. I could see the pain in her face as she saw that the mixing of her two families wasn't going as well as she'd hoped.
Antonio stayed where he was, shoulders squared, stroking her hand slowly. There was that same disbelief- Antonio could have passed for Nick's age- and then the wonder if Antonio was Nick.
"Mom, maybe you should get ...checked. Alzheimers isn't uncommon at your age and anyone can take advantage of it." That was Kenneth again, fixing Antonio with the same look of disdain that he'd given Nick. "Did you do a DNA test with this man?"
That pissed me off all over again. They were more or less accusing Nick and Antonio of either scamming Lillian or Antonio being her real son. That was just messed up on all levels. Not just that but se was lying there, chest cut open, drugs screwing with her head, and somehow she was able to stay concious and calm enough to talk to them. I wasn't sure if I could manage that much if I was in her situation. But it was a messed up time to be harassing her about problems with her brain or accusing Nick of not being her child.
"She's got enough memory to remember what Antonio looked like." I snapped, I couldn't help it, and felt the heated gaze on me. Bugger. That was right, I looked eighteen, with a man who looked like he was in his thirties, and ...their eyes even flashed to the diamonds around my neck. They wanted to find villains in us. It made it easier for them.
"And you are..."
"My daughter in law. This is Anne, Nick's wife. Stop it. My mind is fine." As much as Lillian was trying to stay angry, I could see it, that she was struggling. "Antonio and I..."
"If he really is who he claims he is, where's his birth certificate?" Kenneth couldn't help himself, he cut her off, channelling all his fear for her into anger towards us.
"...are going to have a renewal of wedding vows in a week." Lillian ignored the interruption, her hand squeezing Antonio's hand, as he bent lower over her. It was the instinct to protect her. She breathed out slow, deep, eyes fluttering shut again now, but she forced them open to add, "I sent the invites earlier today."
"And if you don't stop harassing your mother, I'll have to get you all escorted out." That was the nurse, standing up, angry as she saw Kenneth open his mouth again. "She's just had open heart surgery. Lillian, sleep. The rest of you. Out. If you want to know about your mother, the nurse at the desk will be happy to explain anything else until visiting hours are back."
That made the older son angry. He glared at us again, turned his back, and left the room with the grand kids following. She watched him go, grief breaking on her face, as her other kids hesitated and followed their older brother. All except for the teenager. He was actually glaring at the adults. Then he shifted closer to kiss his grandmother on the forehead.
"Don't worry, Grandma, I believe you. Dad's an as-"
"Steve."
"Sorry but he is right now." Steve's scowl reminded me of Nick's rare one. He glanced up at Nick and then Antonio. "I see it. I'll be at your thing. Even if I have to run away." He finally went to follow his dad, still angry, the rebellion in his face would have been kind of amusing if it wasn't for the pained look on Lillian's face.
Lillian squeezed Antonio's hand as he stared at their backs. "They'll just need to get used to the shock."
"And you-" The nurse said, quietly, from the corner. "-Need less strain on your heart. Everyone else will have to leave. She'll be ." She'd calmed down though, her shoulders relaxed, clearly less concerned about us than the others.
"Except me." Antonio said, standing up straighter. "I'm staying here."
"Are you her legal husband or just a partner? Because we can't let you stay otherwise."
He hesitated.
It was Lillian who answered. "Yes."
Antonio stared down at her then, surprise there, as he understood what she was saying. "You never ..."
"If you didn't, I didn't. Why did you think I was happy to renew vows?" She smiled weakly, shutting her eyes. "He is. Has been for over five decades. Let him stay. You two go home. I'll see you when it's over."
Nick hesitated, grasping her hand, and she squeezed it. "It's all right. Go home and sleep. Bring me some photos of the kids in the morning."
"We'll be back tomorrow. As soon as they let us in." Nick promised. His hands were shaking as they clasped her hand.
"We will." I promised and took Nick's hand, leading him away, wondering if ...it was the usual fears, if she'd survive, if we'd see her again, if she'd even make it to next week... but people survived heart attacks all the time. Surgery too. Didn't they?
Nick didn't say a word the drive back. I got a call from Clayton and Elena as we were pulling out of Syracuse.
"Hi, what is it?"
It wasn't Clayton, it was Elena. "Hi. What's going on?"
I sighed softly. Antonio must not have called them. "Lillian's come out of surgery. Transferring her to New York for more surgery. Something about her heart. That's all we know."
"And you're at the hospital still?"
"No, we're coming home." I glanced at the time on the phone. It was about five in the morning. Somehow we'd have to get to New York with the babies. I felt a inkling of dread at that realisation. On a plane you had to have one adult per child. We needed five adults.
Elena sighed. But when she spoke again, her voice was lower, and there was an edge in it that made my heart beat just a fraction faster. "You may need to stay home tomorrow."
"Why, what's wrong?"
"I'll explain when you get here. If I have to, myself and Clayton will go with Nick tomorrow. He won't be on his own. I'll see you in a while."
She let me argue, she hung up, and I saw that Jeremy was already working his way into the hospital. I turned and hurried back inside as he pulled up, going to find Nick and Antonio.
Nick glanced up as I hung up, dumbfounded, and a little annoyed even. "What's going on? Is there a problem at home?"
"Elena said I'd probably have to stay home tomorrow. I can't go with you. But I'm going to damn well try my hardest to." I added, sharply, as his hand found mine in the dark car.
"Why?"
"She wouldn't say." I muttered.
Nick's lips pressed together. He didn't talk for a long time on the drive back but I could almost hear his mind working out ...an argument, or a plea, or something.
Finally, when he did talk, it wasn't the words I was expecting. He said it quietly. "She must have a reason."
"I want to be there for you."
"So do I. Want you there. But... Elena doesn't do things without a reason." He was tense, upset, and he squeezed my hand harder, drawing both hands up so he could rub an itchy spot on his face.
We arrived in time for a breakfast. I had to guess it was one for us, mostly things the two of us liked, but Nick just picked at his food till Elena made it clear he wasn't flying anywhere without eating every last bite. He did as she told without complaint. Just ate.
"So I can't go?"
"You can't." Elena didn't expand on why. She just pushed a plate of food at me. "Clayton is going with Nick."
Nick's head swung up slightly then, eyes meeting Clayton's eyes, but Clay didn't seem surprised. They must have agreed on it earlier.
"Is that a good idea with the attacks?"
"There's two witches, one sorcerer, one half-demon and couple of full strength werewolves here, not including Matt. She'll be fine." Clayton spoke up. "Nick and Antonio need protection."
He was right of course. While the two of them were vulnerable, it made sense for them to have someone, but … "Why not me?"
"Think you can keep unemotional right now?" He asked, eyes fixing in mine, and I hesitated. Clayton had me there. I was anything but unemotional. When I shook my head a fraction, Clayton glanced at Nick. "I'm going to stay with them."
I sighed, softly, and let it go. Nick had already accepted it and I had to stop pushing. It wasn't making it any easier for him.
"The flight to New York leaves in about three hours. Eat, pack, and the two of you can head off again." Elena spoke quietly, pushing printed tickets to the two of them. Nick hurried then, tried to eat faster, not speaking a word still.
He headed upstairs and I went to follow but Elena grabbed my hand and sat me back down. "You, the reason you can't go, is because we need you here."
"Because I'm too emotional?"
"Because you can use that emotional side to protect everyone here." She replied, voice low now. "I know his mother's important to him. But we've got a big problem here right now. The pack can't split up any more than it is."
"So back to business? Fighting, and torture and..."
"Yes." Clayton spoke up. He pushed his plate away and went to sneak food off Elena's plate. "It's blinding you to the bigger picture. You stay here, I'll go with Nick, we do our jobs to protect the pack."
I wanted to argue with that but instead, I sighed again, letting that anger go, and Elena relaxed her hand on my arm. They were right. We had some big fucking problems right now. I knew that if it was any other time, if nothing else was happening, they wouldn't have even considered making me stay home when Nick was there.
"You better go help him pack. I want him to be gone before the triplets wake and make it complicated." Elena said quietly. I glanced at the clock, they would be awake within half an hour, and got up quickly.
When I got to the bedroom, Nick was packing up and down, frustration all over his face.
"You want some help?"
He shook his head and went to the wardrobe, the doors wide open, trying to find something to wear. I watched Nick go through his wardrobe, rejecting everything he saw, frustration all over his face.
"Did you ever buy me anything to wear?"
"I figured there was no point. You know what you like." I usually had no clue about what fashions there were or anything and Nick always had too much, it seemed.
He started to throw things on the ground, rejecting them. "I need something ...normal. Casual. Something that isn't ..." Nick growled. "Too much designer."
I suddenly got it. The last time they'd seen us, they'd taken one look at us and assumed we were gold diggers. "Is this because they thought..."
"They have to see I'm not like that. Are you sure you never bought me anything?"
I shook my head again, he scowled, and went back to digging in the wardrobe. Only a few things got flung onto the bed with the bag.
"This isn't about the will, is it? What she said to them and how they assumed we were in it for her money?"
The look Nick shot at me, as his head swung up suddenly, made me wish I hadn't said that. He was so angry at the words that I flinched, stepping back even, the expression on his face not one I ever wanted to see on him. "Of course it's not about the fucking money."
"Sorry. I know." I broke the eye contact, guilt running through me, as his anger continued to burn at me. I'd gotten that wrong, that was for sure. "It's about them. Isn't it?
"The only one out of the entire fucking lot of them who believes us is a teenager who probably likes anything his father hates. I don't care about the stupid will. I... thought it'd be different when she told me. I thought they'd be as happy about me as I was about them." He growled, throwing another shirt aside, and stormed out of the room.
I heard him go into Clayton's room and go through the wardrobe in there. Clayton wasn't one who cared about fashion.
"Nick, I'm sorry. I didn't think about what I was saying." I followed him to the doorway as he tried to find something he could wear. Clayton was quickly beside me, arms crossed, watching Nick.
"What's he doing?"
"Trying to look normal. Unfashionable." I muttered.
Clayton's lips twitched as he watched Nick go through his things. "You want some help there with my things?"
"I'm fine." Nick moved past us, without a look to me or Clayton, arms full of stuff. Clayton raised an eyebrow.
I sighed and followed him. I helped him pack, though he had more than enough stuff in New York, and he didn't say anything to either of us as Clayton flopped onto the bed and watched him.
"That's Elena's." Clayton commented, as Nick shoved a sweater into the suitcase, and Nick didn't answer. He was packing something of mine too. "And Anne's. You going drag?"
"No. I just want them with me." He replied, zipping up the small case, and dropping it on the ground. "Where's our spare photos?"
I went to get them from the drawer in the desk downstairs, sorting out as many photos as I could in a hurry, while Nick waited impatiently behind me. The fear and anxiety and hurt, all of it was stressing him out big time, and he stiffened when I went to wrap my arms around his neck and draw him down. But I ignored that. I made him come down for a kiss, kissing until he finally returned it, his muscles relaxing a fraction after a few minutes.
"It's going to be okay." I murmured against his ear. I hoped it would be, so much, I hoped I was right. "Call me. Any time. You know I'll be there to answer. I love you."
"Love you too." Nick muttered. He sighed, leaned harder against me, face buried in my shoulder. Then he took the photos as he stood up and slid them into the side pocket of the suitcase. Nick didn't answer. He glanced at Clayton, who had no suitcase but just a duffel bag over one shoulder, and the two of them left with quick farewells to the bigger kids.
Elena and I watched them leave and she rubbed her head, sighing out, one of her hands coming over to stroke my arm as she turned around. I didn't stop watching till the last trace of their car had faded from my ears.
"Come on. We need to go over what you missed." She pulled gently at my arm and I sighed, nodded, and followed her into the study. Back to work.
"So are the stories the same?" I asked as I sat down on the sofa beside her. "Still?"
"Both witches killed themselves overnight." Elena said the words quietly. "Paige is going to be at Stonehaven for a few days. But yes. We're pretty sure that they worked alone."
Pretty sure wasn't as good as 'one hundred percent sure' but I didn't say that. Instead I took the notes and read them.
"There's a possibility of more attacks. More serious ones, if people are addicted to the treatment and are running out of money, so we're being careful." Elena nodded. She glanced up as the door opened slightly and Jeremy came in, sliding it shut behind him, putting a baby monitor down near us.
He hugged me, and we stared at the list. Elena yawned and stood up.
"I really need to try and sleep now."
"What do you need me to do?" I stood up too.
"Cook breakfast for the house. Clean up laundry. Keep an eye out."
Be a mum in other words. I nodded, she vanished out the door, I heard her heading upstairs to collapse in the guest room. We were pretty crowded again, I realised with amusement, but ...it was safer this way.
Jeremy caught my own yawn. "You didn't sleep much, did you?" He asked as I folded the papers up.
"I can last a while longer. I'll put these on the shelf out of the triplet's way." I stood up and put them between a couple of books, a bookmark marking where they were for us, and he nodded as he got where we'd stuck them. "What ...will you do with them?"
"The witches? We had to bury them." He didn't smile or frown, just sat there, looking a bit tired himself. We'd had to do that far too much. "I'll make breakfast and you can get straight onto something else once the triplets are up and dressed. The faster we get the jobs done the better."
I nodded and we went to do our separate jobs.
The triplets were sleeping in, to my relief, curled up in their cots still without us having time to get their room ready. The twins were already awake and smelt freshly changed and fed, which meant Jeremy or someone must have already been here, they smiled as my face appeared over the edge. I managed to get the first load of laundry done before the triplets woke up and they apparently had not realised we had gone- there was no anxiety about where I was that day... or at least, there was less anxiety...
Not from my end though. I kept checking the new phone in my pocket obsessively. Nick? Nope. Clayton? Nothing. Reece threatened to take it away but that would not have helped much with the anxiety. I might have been there anyway, in full blown panic mode, but I knew Elena was getting updates. She showed me them. Just simple ones. 'At airport.'. Or 'Getting on plane.' If I wasn't so stressed about Nick and Demetruis I might have laughed at Clayton's short fast updates. You didn't normally need all that information but she wanted to be sure that there was nothing strange going on. She needed to know where her pack was positioned.
That was what I assumed anyway. I didn't usually look over Elena's shoulder when she got texts from Clayton. Maybe he'd always been like this. I seriously doubted it though.
Nick hadn't been wrong though about the triplets being jealous of the twins. Jeremy cooked but besides that, he didn't help, and I was seeing it first hand. They didn't like me to give attention solely to the twins. Matt was fine, so long as he was paying attention to them, which he usually did.
I pushed that problem into the back of my mind as the day inched on, filled with screaming, 'He hit me' or 'she hit me', food, protests that the bigger ones wanted nappies again, more laundry, more dishes, and general chaos that had me curled up in the kitchen as they finally started to play nicely in front of a movie. I never wanted to be one of those mums who made the TV a babysitter but right now? They could wriggle with the Wiggles as much as they wanted while I tried to sneak a feed in for the twins and cook some sort of dinner.
And still no news by then. Nothing. Apparently Nick had gone to work today, after all, much to Clayton's annoyance. Clayton had to go back between the hospital and Nick's work, keeping an eye on both men, and put up with the city.
It felt like the entire world had gotten blocked up somehow, trapped, stuck in this situation. Us, almost hostage in our own land, and more and more out there getting addicted to the treatments. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if Elena knew either. A mutt causing problems? We could cope with that.
The worst part was knowing something was wrong and yet having no battle to fight. I could chase down Demetruis, I knew, but how would I leave the house when no one was here?
I sighed, rubbed my head as I tried to get the triplets to bathe for bed, the entire day one long exhausting torment. They wanted to know where Daddy was. I had to tell them he'd gone for work. At least they were used to that, more or less, used to Nick leaving for several days while I was here.
When the day was over, when Matt was asleep, the twins more or less asleep and satisfied for a few hours, I collapsed into the bed across it the wrong way with a groan, stared at my phone again, eyes so strained that they were throbbing and the nausea was back again.
Finally, I called Antonio, trying to fight sleep long enough. No answer from him either. Tried Clayton. No answer. Nick, no answer. Not just that- the phone just cut off, so I had to assume their batteries had died or the phones were off. If they were in the hospital they might have to turn them off. When I was younger and Susie's husband had been in and out with cancer, I'd gone with her a lot of the time, and there was usually places the phones weren't allowed.
I was tempted to get up and find Elena, only to remember she was asleep at Stonehaven tonight, Jeremy, Savannah and Adam were here tonight. So I texted her that they weren't answering and passed out, phone dropping somewhere behind the bed, too tired to be fucked about fishing it out again right now.
Sleep dragged me under, deep under, and there were no dreams like usual, nothing except the immense sense of exhaustion and need to stay there a while.
Someone woke me, shaking me gently, and I woke to see Lily there. Fully dressed, wide awake, early morning sunlight through the window.
Oh shit, the twins. The triplets. I sat up fast, sliding out of bed, panic setting adrenaline at an all time high as I rushed across to the twins.
Neither of them were there.
"Germy has them." Lily told me, very matter of fact, and led me out of the bedroom. Germy? She'd never called Jeremy anything except Grand woof. That had been Nick's doing, he'd found it hilarious to get the triplets to call him that. Antonio was Grandpa and Jeremy was Grand woof.
"Germy?"
"Grand woof." She informed me very seriously, then she wandered back to her room once she'd finished her mission, joining her siblings. Adam and Savannah were in there playing and they gazed up, a bit guilty as they saw me stumbling up.
"Jeremy told us to let you sleep in. Sorry. She must have slipped out when we weren't looking." Savannah smiled sheepishly. "He's got the babies downstairs."
"Any news?"
A shake of her head.
I hurried downstairs then, jumping over the toddler gate, still in my clothing from yesterday. Jeremy was in the study. He gazed up as I came in.
"How are you this morning?"
"Sorry. I didn't mean to sleep like that." I flushed as I saw them lying happily beside him under a baby arch thing, grasping and touching the toys above their heads, no sign of distress there. "Did they wake you?"
"They woke everyone except you." Reece's voice came from behind me as he rested his chin on my shoulder, prodding my back, yawning a huge yawn.
I felt guilt again at that, and the words 'you won't cope' or something like that from Nick returning to haunt me. Fuck. But of course I could cope. It'd just been a long day.
"We meant for you to get a nap yesterday." Jeremy said softly and patted the seat beside him. I flopped there, reaching over to play with Rose, who was awake and grasping for the mobile above her. "Did you get anyone?"
"I haven't tried this morning. Second I realised they weren't in the room..." I paused. Horror flooded through me. "Why, is she..."
"She's out of surgery and is going to be in hospital for a while."
I breathed out, chest crumbling, relief flooding through me. She'd gotten through it. Not just for me, but for Nick and Antonio too. "I wish I could have been there."
"Nick worked and Antonio coped. You did what you had to do here." Jeremy stroked my back as I flopped over, leaning against me.
The smell of food drifted into the room as Reece returned, I hadn't noticed he'd gone, and he put the hot plate into my lap.
I tried to call Nick as the day went on. No answer, nothing, not a single return call either. He was stressed out, I knew that, but I wished he'd ...I didn't know. Call me. That would have been a nice start.
The next few days were slightly easier than this one, though there was no news from Nick directly, and I used the nights to catch up on sleep or washing or … sleep. Glorious sleep.
Elena had wanted me here to work, to chase down Demetruis, I wasn't sure, but in the end I was the one caring for the five little kids and the three bigger ones while everyone else did it. I helped- I used the 'string sense' to sort of find a random location. I knew what 'Miami' felt like in terms of distance from the last experience and eh had been there once, which had Clayton leave Nick and meet Karl down there to go check it out, but by the time they'd gotten there Demetruis had moved on. Other than that, I had 'directions', and they had sightings to go off. Not many. But two sightings in two days, as well as my 'string sense' of him, it was something.
Not just that, but Demetruis's mother Rose had also moved cities, which was another clue. Lucas had no news for me on the custody battle and warned me it could be several weeks before any of us even heard anything official on it.
Nick didn't call. Antonio called, promising to talk to Nick each time, reassuring me that he was fine. Just distant. He was coping with his worry by working all day, mostly dealing with clients apparently, and going out and collapsing late in the night again. He came to see Lillian during his lunch breaks if he wasn't with a client and refused to let his father give him more time off.
But he was puzzled as to why Nick wasn't at least returning messages. Clayton couldn't help much with that either- he didn't want to get involved and he wasn't spending all his time in New York with the chase of Demetruis on.
And soon my 'week' would be over and it'd be Demetruis's week 'off'. Which meant I was not going to be leaving the house all that much, even if I wasn't technically interesting to him now, but I did have the twins and no one knew for sure if he'd come find them or if he'd back off.
Maybe that was why Elena didn't want me to leave the house. Maybe she'd hoped I'd get some rest and strength for next week. With so many little ones... fucking hell. That was a nice dream. Not only was preschool a wonderful dream but so was the 'tubes tied' dream. Before the twins, I'd sort of toyed with the idea, been thinking 'Maybe in ten years...' and now I was determined that was it. They were it. Unless Nick wanted another, unlikely, but who knew. But she did reassure me that the second that day started, I would not be on my own as much, and whoever was with me would be expected to help. So I was dreading it and looking forward to it all at once.
It wasn't till the fourth day, the night before the week was up, after another hectic but not quite as overwhelming day of being mum on my own with the backup Reece offered for the afternoon and evening shifts, that I was getting into the shower and realised I still had the diamond necklace on. I slipped it off and got into shower, sighing as the hot water pounded against aching muscles, wishing showers came with a 'sit on and fall asleep' feature if you pressed a button. Yawn. Stand there like a zombie. Yawn. Shut eyes and lean against cold tiles. Remember that showers usually involved some kind of scrubbing ritual with that little block of stuff. Yawn, stand, start ritual. Slowly.
The phone suddenly started to ring, and I rushed out, skidding on the ground and crashing with a huge bang into the side of the cabinet. Something in it gave way, the entire bloody door breaking down the middle, and something in me giving way just as spectacularly. Skin? Bone? I smelt blood and was afraid to look, the pain making me groan and bite my lip till it split as well, which somehow helped deal with the pain in my foot and ankle. I groaned, eyes shut and I wasn't sure when I'd shut them, and sat there for a while.
I'd woken the twins up though, both of them crying, the phone still going for it on the bed, and I wasn't moving. Not to get up, not for anything, wishing I'd have been smart enough to not rush on wet tiles. Damn it. The entire world was falling apart and I wasn't thinking enough to remember what happened when bare feet met wet smooth surface.
"Hi Nick. Hang on a sec, she's dismantling the bathro... Bugger." A voice and scent came through the haze of 'ow, that was fucking idiotic...' and Reece knelt down beside me. "She has a nice body. Shame she's breaking it." He dropped a towel across me, the rough dry fabric over wet skin. "Nick. We'll call you back."
That was Reece. I opened one eye, twisting head in his direction, still refusing to see what burnt so damn badly. "How bad?"
"Bad enough."
I glanced down and saw what made him cringe and look so white faced. Nothing broken, I had to guess, but it had gone right through the bathroom door. Jagged panes of glass from the frosted glass in the cabinet door had stuck themselves in me like a pin cushion, some long and narrow, some not so narrow, but it was pretty awful looking. Now that I was looking I couldn't ignore the smell of blood and ...ow. Who's idea had it been to put glass panels in doors?
"What happened?" He grabbed another towel and was easing the leg out, slowly, pressing the towel hard around the spots I'd glassed myself beautifully. The ankle itself looked swollen too but who could blame it for that?
"Nick rang so I ran. Ow."
"We're gonna need some help with this. Here. Hold this and I'll try and calm your babies down." He made me press on the towel, the red bleeding into the white fabric, and vanished as he tried to talk to the babies, tried to calm them down, I heard him.
"Sing to them."
"No bloody way."
"They like songs." I cringed and tried to loosen grip but that was as bad an idea. Didn't we have first aid stuff in here? We should have- I was obsessive about it. I twisted my body around to grasp onto the leg with one hand and get my hand inside the broken cabinet, finding the box. Okay. "Where is everyone?"
"Don't know. I think they went out." Reece called and I heard him attempt. He was great at a lot of things but singing? He was awful. Totally tone deaf. And it just didn't do a thing. "That isn't working."
"That's because that isn't singing." I cringed as I lifted the towel. Okay, it was really fucking... how deep was that glass embedded in me? "Put some music on. Actually, I need the first aid kit from the kitchen and I need your help in here."
"Anne, I'll face mutts for you, lizards, giant dinosaurs, even terrible two headed shark movies, but I can't help you with that ankle." He was suddenly ...afraid? I wasn't sure, his voice was weird suddenly, like it spooked him. Music came on and then he vanished downstairs for a while. I couldn't answer, not until he was back, and Reece added fast as he slipped it around the corner, "I'm not Jeremy. You're my best friend and I can't look at that. I'm feeling giddy just thinking about it."
"It can't be that bad." I glanced at it and... it looked bad. But that was only because it had giant slices of frosted glass sticking out and they may not have been deep. I wasn't sure- I just wanted an extra pair of hands just in case. It hurt like hell but that didn't make it bad. In fact, my bum hurt too, and there was no glass in there. So what was bothering him? "We've seen worse than this, Reece, we've done worse than this..."
"Yeah, in mutts. Mutts we don't know or like. I don't ...I can't help you with that. Okay. Music for these two."
I grimaced as I tried to lean closer and get the towel pressed down. Hadn't Daniella said something about this? He didn't like to be rough with her. Reece's problem with pain apparently extended to me too now. I tugged the kit open and slowly, pressing hard on the first cut, withdrew the glass. This one wasn't deep.
A sound downstairs caught my attention as I focused on pulling the big pieces of the glass out. The good news about that door I'd shattered was that apparently the glass didn't 'shatter'. It broke into large pieces instead. I wasn't sure if I'd imagined the noise or not, Reece's attempts at soothing the babies and the music overwhelming it, and I carefully pulled each large piece out with a low hiss. Some were much deeper than others. Number one two in bathroom, right behind the number one rule about not running on wet floors, don't put your foot through a glass cabinet. Stupid idea. At least I hadn't liked them anyway. I tossed each piece of glass inside the cabinet as they were pulled out, twisting my leg around so I could get to the bottom of my foot, the last pieces easily tugged out. My toe bled the worst out of all of it- it'd been more or less impaled by a three inch long shard that went a quarter inch in.
"Fuck." I muttered.
"I tried Jeremy. No answer." Reece said softly. "How bad?"
"It'll be fine in a few days." Fine, as in it would be healing, but I wondered if I'd get Jeremy to stitch them up when I could. Butterfly bandages were going to have to work for now under a bigger one. "Did you hear anything?" I asked Reece as he moved to stand next to the bathroom door, only his arm visible, but he was still unwilling to look.
"Not a thing, why?"
I started to cover it with the ointment and the cuts with big sized plasters once the butterfly ones were on. "Thought I heard something." Six cuts and some tiny ones that didn't matter. The ankle itself was swelling too. I squeezed it, cringing as I did, but felt nothing inside broken or out of place. The 'quick use' icepack was stuck on it only when I got the bandage wrapped around it.
"Maybe it was the triplets." Reece seemed uncertain though. "Wait a second, I'll check." He left again, I heard him go quietly down the hall, but there was no noise to meet my ears when he opened the door.
Funny, I suddenly thought, that they hadn't reacted to the bang I'd caused. The twins were more likely to react, sure, but the triplets were on the other side of this wall.
And it was really quiet in there.
"They're not here." He called. "Did Jeremy say that he was taking them to Stonehaven?"
He might have, I thought, after how I'd been last night. He hadn't said he would though. "Call him again. Call Elena. Clayton. Someone will know. Can I have my phone?" The panic I tried to shove down ebbed and waned, as if it was an ocean that was just threatening to go crazy under me, and I tried to focus again on practical things. Putting plaster wrappers in bin, throwing broken glass into the cabinet, things like that. The sad thing was that this wasn't the first time I'd done this. The last time hadn't been as spectacular but there was a reason this was the last glass cabinet in the bathroom. I'd accidentally smashed the other one by doing the exact same thing only with a knee into cabinet. This was why I hated glass in things like cabinets and coffee tables. They were begging to be smashed.
"Clayton's in New York. Or somewhere not here." Reece reminded me. He came around, his face draining of blood again as he caught sight of the scarlet blood all over the floor and door, but handed me the phone. "Shit."
"It wasn't that bad. Feet bleed a lot." I smiled weakly. "Help me onto the bed and we'll do our calling. Clayton will know where Elena is, probably."
Panic flooded up a little, but only until Reece had helped me stand up and hobble out of the bathroom. I stood there as he dropped a dress over my head, careful to not stare, and we sat down.
He tried Jeremy and I tried Nick. Nick didn't answer. Fucking typical. Jeremy did answer though. Reece and Jeremy spoke for just a second before Reece and Jeremy told me the same thing.
"They're not here."
The words did make me panic. I stood up, ignoring my foot now, only to be pulled back onto the bed by Reece. "Did Savannah and Adam take them out?"
After their disastrous attempt at getting them to sleep, I seriously doubted it. Besides. It was past their bedtime. "Not a chance. Not unless they want tired grumpy toddlers."
"We're on our way." I heard Jeremy say, heard thumps, as he was waking people up. Elena. The kids.
"Stay calm, Anne." Reece said, softly, as I tried to stand up again. "Use your head."
"My head says chase them down. Track them. Help me walk into their room." It was possible that they'd wandered off into the dark. Now that the three of them were figuring out how to climb over the toddler gates... "Reece."
"Why can't she walk?" That was Jeremy again, on the phone line still, voice sharpening.
"She fell on her ass and put a foot through the glass cabinet."
"It's nothing." I added, and Reece repeated that with less conviction than I had.
"Fell how?"
I sighed and took the phone as Reece helped me up. "Nick called, I hurried, slippery tiles, glass door. It wasn't as bad as it seems. Reece is just spooked by the blood."
We made it to the room and I lowered myself down. I sighed with relief as I smelt it- three pairs of very fresh tracks heading out. Someone had left the toddler gate open. "They've gone for a walk." I couldn't smell anyone else except them since. "It's okay. They're wandering around. I can't smell anyone else except them."
"We're coming anyway." I heard Jeremy get into his car. "The twins?"
Reece glanced back. The music had put them to sleep, kind of amusing when it wasn't music you usually slept to, but somehow those two loved anything that wasn't quiet. "Gone to sleep again."
"They're settling down again."
"We'll be there in a few minutes." Jeremy was gone then, as the car pulled out, and Reece made me sit back down on my bed while he rushed downstairs to find toddlers. I couldn't convince him to take me, even if he didn't have his 'wolf nose', and one of us did have to stay with the twins.
While he was downstairs I tried to call Nick again. Still no answer. When I called Clayton, nothing. Elena must have spoken to him or we'd know about it. But it still bothered me. I knew Nick was struggling. I assumed, anyway, or had I really upset him about the will comment?
"Nick, the triplets have gone for a wander." I finally said to his voice mail, trying to ignore the hurt as it went there, knowing he'd just been on his phone a few minutes before. "Nothing bad, someone left the gate open. Everything else is fine." It hurt, as much as I hated to admit it, to have to speak to his voice mail. I didn't know what was happening there though. I didn't know what time to call, or when to call, or when he was able to take calls, this was a new side of him.
I hung up and threw the phone against the wall, annoyed and upset, but the panic over the triplets was taking priority over Nick's distant mood. He'd apparently shut down when he thought I died. Maybe it was how he coped with stress- by shutting familiar out and hiding in music, in alcohol and by having a good time with strangers, till he got it out. I didn't know. We'd never been in a situation like this before.
I got up, easing myself across the floor carefully, and picked it back up so I could call Antonio instead. He answered almost straight away.
"Jeremy told me the triplets are missing?"
"They went for a walk." The sound of Antonio's voice, like usual, calmed me and I sat on the ground against the wall as I eased my foot out slowly. "It smells like they just woke up, saw the gate was open, and went exploring. I guess they see Matt do it all the time."
He sighed slowly, relaxing somewhat probably. "That's good. I was worried... well, nevermind."
"Is Lillian doing okay?"
"There's been some complications. But she's doing better every day." Antonio tried to keep casual but there was actual fear there now, just a trace of it, fear he tried to hide. "She sends her love."
"Complications?"
"We've got it under control. Has Nick called?" He was changing the subject. I knew that. Whatever Lillian was going through, Antonio didn't want or need to discuss it.
"He tried earlier and I missed it. I sent him a message about the triplets."
"How's your foot?"
I hesitated. Jeremy must have told him about that too. "No secrets around here, huh?"
"Not really. How is it?"
"Better looking than the bathroom. It's going to heal fast." I hoped. It was nothing compared to most things I'd had happen.
"Good." He went quiet for a while. "I'll call you later to make sure everything's okay. If you answer-"
"Then I haven't passed out and we're still looking. If I don't, we found them and I've passed out. Right?"
Antonio laughed, his laugh tense, but it was real. "Right. I'll get a hold of Nick. Stay calm. They're getting big and the world's calling to them."
"Have a good night."
We hung up and I heard the sound of car doors outside. Not the usual 'slam', but quieter, almost like they were trying to be quiet. It made no sense to me, and automatically sent my nerves on edge, because Jeremy would make a lot of noise. Honk. Slam doors. Triplets would come running, most likely, or if they were lost start to yell. They loved 'Grand-woof' as much as they loved Grandpa.
With the 'agreement' up ...I checked the phone... in five minutes, apparently, I did not like this at all. Reece was long gone into the forest. Probably tracking them the old fashioned way, the way that Clayton had always insist we learnt, and that left me.
I turned the phone onto silent and slid up, slowly, keeping low as I heard unfamiliar voices very soft and low downstairs.
"They're probably looking for them now. Check around the house, check in the windows, then go in. Babies first. Then take whatever you can. Cash. Jewels. Anything. We've got ten minutes."
Thieves? I was expecting a lot from Demetruis and this wasn't one of them. I grabbed the necklace from the bathroom, easing myself slowly into it and shutting the door, flipping the light off silently. It was just diamonds, sure, but it was from Nick …
A shadow came across the tiny window and fear exploded in me as I saw a face trying to peer into the dark bathroom, right across me, my fear of the dark not helping the situation as something stared into the bathroom. What, I couldn't tell, I just pressed myself against the corner of the bathroom as a light flashed through the room, over the broken door, the blood, the stuff I had to clean up, making it pretty obvious that no one would want to use the bathroom right now.
Then the shadow in the window was gone and I stood there, heart racing, trying to fight my life long fear of the dark in order to keep going. Keep moving. Freezing here was not a good idea. I fingered the diamonds. I slid them off and my engagement ring, sliding a drawer out in the bathroom and slipping them under it between the floor and the drawer, peeling the lino back and pushing it back over both.
I saw the same light flash under the crack of the door, as whatever it was peered into the bedroom, the light of the lamp probably not enough for them. Then again, as they shifted to the other window, and then they were gone. I assumed. I couldn't hear anyone- my sense of hearing didn't go for people who could float in the damn air- but I couldn't hear their breathing.
Well, I realised with another stab of fear, I hadn't heard any breathing, full stop. Fuck. Fuck. Irrational fears rose with the dark, fears of aliens, and of monsters I knew were real now, fears of things I did not …
No. Don't freak out. I shut my eyes, remembering the twins were still in the house, Reece would find the triplets, and Jeremy would be here with backup. But I had to protect the twins first. Fuck the foot, it could cope, I'd covered it in so many plasters to get it to stop bleeding that it'd be more likely to suffocate than bleed. The bandage was soft too- they wouldn't hear it. The twins had a huge bounty on them as well. Massive. I had to make sure they didn't take them.
Before I changed, I slipped through the bathroom door, leaving it open, and made sure the bedroom door was locked and that there was a bag behind the door to protect me if it was slammed open against the wall. Then I crawled into the wardrobe and hoped to hell no one would come in.
I knelt on the ground, trying to change, rushing it so fast that I almost cried out, almost, but found a towel and bit down hard on it as the pain ripped and forced limbs and sprained ankle to suddenly move into unnatural positions, skull and brain contorting as they were also forced to change. There was no time to care about pain- they were already feet coming inside the house. Second it was done, even if my body was still screaming with pain, I stood up, slow, edging towards the bathroom door on my three legs as the fourth was held up and started to bleed again.
The music was keeping the sound of my movement covered, which was great, but it was doing the same for them. Every fibre of my being, every sense I'd been given naturally as a human or werewolf, it was working at full steam, hairs on the back of my neck and back up, lips curling back in a soundless growl as I slid closer to the bedroom door and positioned myself more or less behind it. Coming for any woman's babies was stupid, but a wolf's cubs? I didn't care what hesitations I had as a human. As a wolf, with the instincts merging so deeply with my mind and actions, I knew one level of justice and it did not forgive this kind of trespass.
I lowered myself down, ready to attack as I heard feet under me in the kitchen, feet exploring the house, head tilted, ears swinging backwards and forwards. Something crashing down. Lots of things crashing down. They were in the study. A car boot opening. Then I heard what I was waiting for, not caring in the slightest what they stole, heard feet coming up the stairs now, quick, soft, like the person barely weighed anything at all. An unfamiliar scent came with it, through the crack of the door, not a mutt but something else. I couldn't say it was human, I'd learnt to tell that most supernatural had a slightly different scent, but not a mutt. And I knew how to deal with mutts. Clayton had reminded me though, no matter what race they were, they still all bled and broke the same. Less focus on disadvantages. More on what I could do.
The door handle shook and then suddenly exploded quite literally off its hinges, and that woke the babies up. They started to scream and cry, as the door fell back halfway across the room, knocking the cot, and the fire on it just starting to catch on the edge of the bed. And the wall. And the clothing...
Oh fuck no. Images of Stonehaven on fire flooded my head, just a fraction, until a man and a woman came through the doorway, heading straight for the cot.
"You could have fucking hurt them, idiot." The woman hissed. "Where's their damn pram thing?"
"Shut up. They're fine, ain't they?" He barely got the words out before I attacked, full weight going at his back, my teeth bared as it went for the back of his neck. Like most humans, he swung around as the woman caught sight of me, and I caught onto his lower arm instead as it came to ward me off, ripping down hard into the flesh.
He tried to swing me off, which just made me clamp down harder, eyes narrowed and growling hard, the woman coming to smash something across my back as the babies cried and screamed. Their crying just made my fury worse, and I dug down until I felt muscle give and bone stop my teeth. That made the man scream, screaming at the woman to get me off, and she pulled something out. Metal pole. No. Gun. Gun? Damn Americans! I twisted around as she tried to shoot the thing at me, yanking my prey around with me, refusing to give him up, using him to block her. The explosion hit the ground beside me.
I let go of his arm, only to grab his leg, remembering Matt's technique. Teeth sunk into his leg, right where the hamstring was, tearing at it as he screamed and tried to get me off... the explosion came from him, tearing at us both, fire and flames like the door had, burning both of us, and I was knocked backwards as he was knocked into his partner.
I rolled, shaking it off, my burning fur not bothering me as much as his burning pants bothered him. Thick fur and it was rubbed off fast, and I lunged back for them both as they tried to get out, or call for help...
An explosion from the doorway, a loud bang, had me knocked back, yelping. Some kind of barrier was there now. Barrier? Stupid magi... I lunged at it, again and again, as they lifted the babies up, and went through the wardrobe, snatching up whatever they found of value, ignoring me now. Two more had joined them. The babies cried and wailed, as they were lifted up and carted out of the room, neither of them carried right, and I ignored pain or the flames licking up the building, ignored the sense of not being able to breathe as oxygen was caught by the fire.
"The fire's set in the basement. Come on. We're going." That voice made me freeze, trying to understand, aware now of a dull roar under me too.
"But there might be... and look what it did to Craig..." The woman spat at me, the barrier still preventing me from getting at her soft neck, the gun still pointed at me.
"We've got as much as we can get and the other one will be back soon. Let the dog burn." He hoisted the injured man up, who had not moved since he'd accidentally set himself on fire, and the four of them left with the twins.
Nothing I did to the barrier stopped it from being there. I snapped, I lunged at it, I threw all my weight against it, and when that failed, I forced another fast change as the flames got worse, caught on the crib, caught on the wardrobe, spreading as the second roar below caught my ears. Smoke was pouring into the barrier, though there was no flames in here, and the immediate threat made my body go through the change back to human faster than I suspected it'd let me otherwise...
I stood up, panting with pain, and gagged as the smoke filled my lungs. Dropping to my knees, ignoring the agony in the leg I'd cut, I slid closer towards the barrier and prodded it. Nothing. Then the other side, heading for the windows and... same problem, it had me caught in an area that was just short of the walls.
I hadn't insured this house. Fuck. What a stupid thing to worry about. ...or had I? I had. I had insured it and it was the least of my worries right now. What the hell was I doing worrying about that?
The barrier suddenly fell and the flames came rushing in, as I rushed out, trying to grab clothing and make for the doorway. The hallway was on fire, I smelt gasoline, smelt it all over the walls and floor, and turned to get to the bathroom.
I remembered the ring and necklace, grabbed them, grabbed the bag I'd left behind the doorway, and tried to dress. Smoke was billowing out through the bathroom door now, the flames coming towards the bathroom door, and I slammed it shut in an attempt to slow it down. Glass exploded somewhere, a roar of flames increasing as fresh oxygen was fed to it, and I went to smash the windo...
A face came at it, that same heartless, lungless, pale face, strange shaped eyes glowing as it caught me, a hand slamming against my hand where I'd tried to break the glass. I nearly screamed, the fears of monsters and aliens popping up in the dark, as it came closer, and fell backwards onto the bathroom floor, head hitting tiles. The burning world and glowing eyes fell away as I fell back, and back, and back... into darkness.