Chapter Eight:

"You have missed four classes in the past week Victoria,"

"Yeah, so? None of my grades have gone down, Caleb." Victoria snapped moving around her dorm room looking for her favourite silver hoop earrings.

"That isn't the point, Victoria. They demand the best from their students here and if you start to slip…" Caleb trailed off leaning against the desk on the side of the dorm with the door. Victoria looked up at her brother.

"Is that supposed to mean something?" She asked watching him carefully.

"No, it's just I don't want to see you get kicked out because of something stupid."

"Reid gets away with it." That got Caleb's attention.

"Reid's family give generously to this school, and he has nothing to do with this…or does he?" Victoria looked back at her brother from her jewellery box. She smiled and shrugged, "Victoria, what do I have to do to get you to understand, Reid doesn't care about other people's feelings, he won't care if he hurts you."

"Look Caleb, we have been over this a million times, my life, my choice." She went into the bathroom.

"Well, we can deal with this later. We are gonna be late." Victoria looked out of the bathroom at Caleb.

"Late? Late for what?"

Caleb looked up at her from under his brows, "You don't know?"

Victoria furrowed her brow, "Well, obviously not..."

Caleb shrugged somewhat nonchalantly but he had never been good at playing things under the collar, "Mum just wants us home, tonight."

Victoria shrugged, "Take Sarah in my place. Mom would probably be happier if she came in my place anyway."

"Nope, mom wants us home in exactly fifteen minutes."

Victoria looked at her brother. "Can't be done, I have plans."

"Cancel them; I will be out front…waiting." With that Caleb left the dorm. Victoria roared in aggravation and picked up her cell and dialled the number.

"Sex God of the Century," Was the answer on the other side on the line.

Victoria giggled, "Hey Reid,"

"Hey you," He said calmly.

"Look gotta cancel, family thing."

"Oh? You don't know what it is?" He asked in a peculiar tone.

"Uh no, but your voice suggests you know something."

"Look, sex kitten I know everything, just depends on the degree of my knowledge. Look ditch the fam and meet me at Nicky's at eleven." With that he hung up the phone.

Victoria rolled her eyes, "Great, thanks Reid." She said hanging up her own phone. She grabbed her coat and left the dorm to go to the front of the school.

Victoria had a plan, if she played the morose teenager for long enough her mother would eventually make her go back to the dorms from what ever function she was dragging them too and Victoria could go meet Reid.

So the instant she got home she stormed up stairs and changed. The dress was laid out on her bed. It was black and strapless. The skirt started at her waist and went to her knees, made of layer upon layer of black taffeta. A little more formal then she had been expecting but she put it on anyway and got in the black Lexus and glared all the way to their destination.

When they reached the gates of Garwin Manor her curiosity peaked. She looked over at Caleb with her mouth open to ask a question but he was already looking at her with eyebrows raised waiting for her defences to fall and her plan to collapse. She glared at him and looked back out the window.

Mr. Garwin was probably hosting a party for the mayor and had invited all the really prominent members of town.

The Garwin's house was much different from the Danver's place. It was taller and much more like a fairy tale castle with delicate peaks and white stone walls. It always reminded Victoria of Sleeping Beauty's castle.

They pulled up to the front of the house and were greeted by the Garwin's butler. The Garwin's were rumoured to be the richest of the four families, due to travels and good investments, sometimes too good investments, for it to have been purely luck. They were also the family with the largest number of members lost to the power at a young age.

The three Danvers walked up the front steps of the house and entered. Inside everything was slightly darker then the outside of the building made people think. They were instantly greeted by Mr. Garwin.

"Evelyn," He said sweeping down upon them and shaking Victoria's mothers hand. "So good of you to join us on this joyous night."

Victoria took in Mr. Garwin. He was the oldest living man with the power of the four families currently. He looked surprisingly good. He was tall, around 6'4", with grey hair that had once been blonde, it was slicked back. He had a moustache now that Victoria didn't remember.

"Caleb, so good to see you," He said shaking Caleb's hand. Caleb smiled and asked all the polite questions. Victoria could tell he was eager to go and find Pogue or Tyler or Reid. Victoria didn't know what she was going to do for the night.

She would have been pretty shocked if Reid could wiggle his way out of this one, with the three remaining men with the power all under one roof. Not to mention Pogue, who had ascended a month ago, and Caleb in the same house, no way they would let him out of the meet and greets without them following suit.

"Ah, Victoria! Well, aren't you looking grown up." Mr. Garwin had found his way to Victoria by this time.

"You are looking great yourself Mr. Garwin." Mr. Garwin laughed.

"Victoria!" Her mother hissed at her.

Victoria glared but their interaction was smother by Mr. Garwin, "Oh it's fine Evelyn, so the girl has some fire." His keen eyes watched Victoria closely and she felt slightly like she was being examined under a microscope. "You know I try my best, Victoria. I can't believe Reid hasn't mentioned your return," Victoria looked at Mr. Garwin stunned.

She knew they had made no commitments or promises or anything like that and promised to keep them as much a secret from everyone as possible, but the fact that he hadn't even mentioned her to his father stung her pride just a bit.

Victoria saw her mother talking with Mr. Perry, Pogue's father. He was a widower after Pogue's mum had died three years ago just before Victoria had lost her dad. Mr. Perry and her mum were the only couple in the four original families that were single by fate.

Mr. Garwin on the other hand had not lost a partner per say. It had been quite the scandal. About a week after Reid had been born his mother had packed up and left. No one talked about it anymore, not even Reid.

"Look, you hardly seem interested in the rantings of an old man." Victoria's attention was suddenly snapped back to Mr. Garwin.

"Oh no, Mr. Garwin I love hearing about what you did with the Mayor's wife." She said plastering a false smile on her face.

Mr. Garwin laughed, "No, look why don't you go down and see what is keeping Reid, he should be ready by now."

"Reid isn't up yet?"

"Well, no actually, I left him in his bedroom about an hour ago. Why don't you go see what's keeping him? Go down that corridor then down the spiral stair case, you'll reach a door, that's Reid's room. He has the whole basement to himself."

Victoria smiled and walked off. She descended the staircase quickly. Reid had probably already snuck out; she could follow him through the window that looked out on the front flower bed in front of the house.

She turned the door handle and opened the door. Not expecting to see anything she was shocked to find Reid standing there completely naked in the middle of the room, of course he had turned when the door opened. On instinct alone she slammed the door shut.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" She said through the door, pretty sure that her blush was going to melt her cheeks from her face. "I didn't think you would be in there still…." She stifled an inappropriate desire to giggle.

The door opened again and Reid was standing there in tight light blue boxer shorts that left little to the imagination. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his bedroom.

"Don't you knock?" He asked walking across his bedroom to grab a pair of jeans from the floor.

"I feel like we have had this conversation before..." She said no matter how calm she tried to make herself she couldn't seem to look at him. Victoria saw a discarded tuxedo on his king size bed.

Reid pulled a grey shirt over his head and grabbed his toque and fingerless gloves and threw them on.

"Look, aside from your lack of judgement as far as knocking is concerned, you arrived right on time." He grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the window.

"What? You wanna sneak out?" She asked looking at him in the eye for the first time.

"Well d'uh. What you wanna stay here?" He asked staring at her.

"No! But I am not in seeking out apparel exactly."

"Look, pretty soon Caleb is going to notice that we are both missing from the party and he will come down here looking for us, so let's go!"

With that Reid opened the window and knelt down interlocking his fingers. When Victoria didn't move he looked at her, "Well?"

"Oh, just a sec," She pulled off her stiletto's and stepped on his hand letting him lift her up to the window. After struggling to pull her skirts through the window she helped Reid get through and soon they were in his SUV driving away from the Garwin Manor.

He came to a halt on the edge of the bluffs. Reid turned off the engine and left the headlights on. He got out of the truck and went to stand in front of the hood. Victoria slowly got out after him.

"So, what are we doing here exactly?" She eventually asked after sitting on the hood of the Escalade, beside were he was leaning.

Reid faced her, "Well, I didn't think Nicky's was a good place to ascend. A little too public if you know what I mean." He smiled brightly.

Victoria stared at him. "Wait, wait, wait," She got off the truck to stand in front of him. "You're ascending? Wait, what's the date? Tonight is your birthday?" She asked starting to look a little worried.

"April First, and yeah," Reid said brightly, he glanced at his watch, "In about seventeen minutes. Notice how I am not offended you forgot my birthday..."

Victoria ignored his attempt at humour. "But Reid, I have never seen someone ascend, what if something goes wrong?" She stuttered actually looking really worried.

"Relax, Caleb ascended in a barn when he was under attack…I am not too worried."

"But wouldn't it be better to ascend around people who know what is going to happen." She said looking at him fearfully.

"Look' that's what happened to Pogue. The families gathered and we all watched with morbid fascination… and you know what, that just ain't for me." He took a few steps back from Victoria, "I wanted to be able to see the sky." He threw open his arms and looked at the sky laughing.

"But, but, but, why bring me?" She stuttered. Reid looked at her for the first time affronted.

"I thought that was obvious, you're the only one who gets me." Victoria stood there barefoot in a fancy dress just staring at him.

Reid laughed, "Don't worry, it's gonna be great!" He said his eyes going completely black.

Victoria licked her lips and looked around them checking for other people. Reid didn't get why she was so anxious, he was finally getting what he had always wanted and he wanted to share that with her. He didn't get why that seemed to bother her so much.

"Ahh..." He said stumbling a little. Victoria's head swivelled back to him, her eyes wide with fright at the sudden guttural sound.

"Reid…" She whispered.

Reid opened his mouth in a silent moan, the pain flooding his body, straining against every bone in his body. Suddenly he felt the ground disappear under his feet. He was pretty sure he was screaming now, Victoria was saying his name somewhere off in the distance. It was so painful…like his soul was being torn into tiny little pieces. Suddenly the pain lifted, everything disappeared, everything just stopped.

It was for like the merest of seconds he ceased to be.

And then he came back down to earth.

Suddenly Victoria was leaning over him concern filling her face, "Reid, are you okay?" She asked carefully.

He struggled to his feet and took a few steps to the side, trying to steady himself.
Victoria stayed where she was kneeling on the ground looking up at him. He laughed making her jump.

"I have honestly never felt better." He said the laugh growing. Victoria just stared at him with big worried eyes. He could tell his eyes were still black because he could see everything much more clearly. He could even make out the circle of dark blue on the edge of Victoria's iris.

Reid slowly put his arms at his sides, palms facing outwards. He started to rise slowly from the ground. So did his SUV. Victoria scrambled to her feet looking at the truck.
Other things started to rise from the ground. Drift wood, stones, a tree in the distance started to groan under the restraints of its roots.

"Reid…" Victoria whispered looking around them. "Reid." She repeated turning back to face him. He wasn't listening, a euphoric feeling was flooding his body; he never wanted it to stop. "REID!" She screamed.

He suddenly realised he wasn't alone. He blinked a few times and everything fell back to earth again including him. Victoria was looking at him with a worried, confused look.

"What?" He asked smiling at her.

"Don't," She shook her head rapidly, like she didn't control her movements anymore.

"Don't what?"

"Don't use like that!" She yelled staring at the ground near his feet.

He stared at her a little startled by her reaction. He shook his head, "I am fine." He said casually but he wasn't. He was winded and breathing heavily it was like he couldn't get enough oxygen anymore. For some reason he knew that if he only used one more time he would be fine again able to concentrate on Victoria.

His eyes were black again in a flash. Victoria looked at him, "STOP IT!" She screamed. He blinked getting his regular vision back again and looked at her.

"What?" He yelled at her.

"I told you don't use like that!" She screamed. She looked at him, she voice was quieter, "You're freaking me out!"

"Look, I am fine. Come on, let's go have fun." He said brightly. He walked over to her. She looked at him as if considering if she could trust him or not. "I am fine," He reassured her shrugging his shoulders.

In the end she relented and they went back and got back in the truck.