Summary – Hunter arrives in Widows Vale with his mentor Ciaran MacEwan. There he meets his half brother Cal and his girlfriend Morgan, whom he feels strangely drawn to, and is sucked into a cat and mouse game that has played between Ciaran and Selene Belltower for years and on top of it all he is reunited with his cousin Sky who is a Seeker for the International Council of Witches and has been hunting him down for years.
Disclaimer: These are all Cate Tiernans toys. They're just in my playground.
A/N: Seeing as its Christmas, the spirit is upon me and I've managed to churn out a new chapter quite quickly. Hopefully it won't be long before the next one is ready. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. Enjoy :-)
Selene is playing a very dangerous game with me, unfortunately I have not worked out what it is yet, but I will, and I will beat her at it.
It must have something to do with that girl, Morgan. Oh my, what raw power she has, she is incredible yet so naive and untutored, so full of endless potential. She'll be the prize in my collection. To have her standing at my side as well as Hunter with the darkness that possesses him, Selene can't win.
Neimhidh
When I opened my eyes the next morning, the room was definitely spinning and my head was pounding. I didn't feel like I was going to be sick but I felt like I urgently needed to drink about 3 litres of water, have a hearty breakfast involving a lot of bacon and to knock back some Tylenol.
I looked around to figure out where I was and luckily my surroundings were vaguely familiar, I've stayed in this room before. It was the spare room in Killian's apartment. I tried to remember how or when I got back here but I was coming up blank. I tried to recall the evening but I didn't remember much past the first 6 or 7 shots of tequila. I tried not to groan too loud when I sat up but my body revolted against my head and as I moved I felt something stir beside me.
It was the blonde from last night, Amelia, I believe her name was. One night stands weren't usually my thing, it was something I rarely did but this was definitely one of the drawbacks of hanging out with Killian. My better judgement seemed to disappear.
She was a very pretty thing, definitely the type I used to go for and usually I'd feel a lot more relieved after sex whether I recalled the event or not. My body would just know and I'd feel relaxed. But something was different this time and deep down I knew what it was.
I wondered if Morgan and Cal had sex yet? I'd put money on it. Cal seemed to be quite the charmer and I wouldn't put it past him to have already seduced her, after all it was his job. Thinking about it like that made me sick and I hated that she was being used by Cal, I believed him when he told me that he didn't want to see Morgan to come to any harm but I knew he was still going to break her heart and that thought was unbearable.
I had to get my head together, these kinds of thoughts were exactly the reasons I needed to escape to the city in the first place. I was uncomfortable with how much she'd got under my skin.
"Good Morning, handsome," Amelia's sleepy voice brought me back to reality, she reached over to kiss me but I couldn't bring myself to kiss her back so my cheek intercepted the kiss. She didn't seemed fazed by this, she was still waking up.
"Good morning," I replied, I didn't really know what to say to the girl, I can't remember if we even had a real conversation last night.
"Man, that was a wild night!" as she stretched, the covers dropped and revealed her bare chest and I couldn't help but look away, "don't be shy now," she said as she slid out of the covers, "you've seen it all before" She stretched again completely naked and completely without shame and then foraged for her clothes,
"Did... err... did you want any, um, breakfast?" I asked her, smooth Niall.
She laughed, "Hunter, I know what last night was, I'm not an idiot. You're a sweet guy and if you weren't so hung up on this Morgan girl I probably would take you up on some breakfast,"
"Wait... I talked about Morgan last night?" I asked horrified, wondering what on earth I could have possibly revealed.
"A lot," she rolled her eyes, "You're lucky you're so hot." She gave me a wink as she pulled up her panties, "it's too bad really, if things don't work out, I've already put my number in your cell, you should give me a call." She finished shimmying into her clothes and then grabbed her purse, "I'll show myself out."
And with that she left the room, and the apartment I assumed. I was glad really, I hated awkward morning afters. I put on some pants and headed out to the kitchen to hunt for some pain relief. Goddess did I pray for bacon, and none of that rubbish American bacon, proper British bacon, Killian and I found a little deli in Brooklyn that imported British bacon last summer, we spent a fortune on the stuff. Hangovers made me homesick.
I cast a quick spell to relieve some of my headache but luckily I found some advil in one of Killian's drawers, as I needed all the help I could get. After chugging back a pint of water I began to feel much better. Tequila gave me the worst hangovers.
After a long, hot shower I glanced at the clock, it was almost ten-thirty. Knowing Killian, he wouldn't be up for a couple of hours yet. I decided to venture out in search for some food seeing as he doesn't know how to keep his kitchen stocked with anything besides alcohol and huge packets of American crisps.
I headed out for a walk and eventually came across a diner, I went inside and ordered a large breakfast equipped with the much needed bacon (unfortunately they only had the US kind) and a cup of Earl Grey tea. Once devoured, I was struggling to remember even having a hangover this morning.
As I sat there I decided to write an entry in my Book of Shadows and when I finished I stared out the window and began people watching. I was never any good at killing time but I gave it till noon before heading back to the apartment.
I knew where Killian kept a spare key and I took it with me before I left so that I was able to let myself back in. However once inside there was still no signs of life. I decided to send a witch message.
Killian, are you alive in there?
No, was his answer. I chuckled he must be struggling as much as I did, he definitely drank a lot more than I. Who knew how much he had already drank before I turned up.
Are you decent? I probed
Sure.
I let myself into his bedroom where sure enough he was decent but the redhead from last night, Krysten, definitely wasn't.
"OH MY GOD!" she cried pulling the covers over herself quickly, "Dude, you ever hear of knocking?"
"Goddess, Killian!" I groaned, he found the whole thing hilarious, "I'm sorry, miss" I apologised, I closed the door behind me and waited, embarrassed I may add, for them to emerge.
Ten minutes later they both came out and he lead her to the door, "I'll call you," he told her sweetly, and even as he said it to her he appeared so genuine that even I would have believed it had I not known Killian.
"Goodbye" she giggled and kissed him again, Killian closed the door behind her
"You are so not going to call her,"
He grinned, "What?" he feigned shock, "I might, she wasn't bad in the sack you know," he slipped down next to me on the couch and murmured a spell for his head
"Here," I said handing him a bag of pastries and a paper cup of coffee I picked up for him on my way back, "this helps,"
"Thank the Goddess," he ripped the goods from my hands and immediately began to chow down,
"You know you could try keeping food in the house once in a while," I suggested
"Like I ever have the time to go shopping," Killian replied with a mouth full of food
"Seriously? What is it you do all day? Do you even have a job these days?" I asked,
"Who are you, Da?" he looked annoyed,
"But how exactly do you pay for all this?"
"You know Ciaran bought the apartment for me"
"Yeah, but bills? Food? Drink? Your mobile phone? Your partying habits?" I asked, it was something I had often wondered, I did worry about him
"I scrape by, but mostly I'm just really good with women," he winked. I knew his influence got him by most of the time, getting in places, free drinks and all that.
"I am mostly a man of leisure, Hunter. So I work when I want, friends refer me and I get a few gigs here and there and its good money"
"Gigs doing what?" I asked
"Let me show you" he stood up and went to his computer in the corner of the room and opened a file creatively titled 'work stuff' inside that folder were many sub folders with various titles, mostly names of people he clicked on one
"Photographs?"
"Yeah," he showed me a few more of the folders, "I do weddings, models, family portraits and sometimes even pets, I'm making quite a name for myself"
I smiled at him, "Killian, these Pictures are really good,"
"Well people wouldn't pay me if I wasn't any good at it, Hunter." He rolled his eyes, "Happy now?" he asked and shut down the computer
I laughed "Yeah, yeah, alright then. Sorry to sound like your mother there," I moved back over to the couch as Killian grabbed another pastry from the bag
"What's been on your mind then?" he asked spraying crumbs everywhere
So I told him everything, about Morgan and the strong pull to her and my deep fear I had that Selene and Ciaran may harm her, about learning I had a half brother I never knew about, about my reunion with Sky everything that had happened to me in the last week. My Goddess had it only been a week?
Killian listened intently, he let me speak without interrupting and waited for me to get it all off my chest. When I finished speaking we sat in silence for a few moments, I guess he was digesting it all.
"You didn't know about, Cal?" Killian asked finally
I sat up straighter, "Wait, you did?"
Killian nodded, "Met him a few times, he can be a good laugh but he's a bit of a douche, thinks he's prince bloody charming or some shit,"
"Sounds just like you" I retorted, he threw a cushion at me
"I don't pretend to be a prince, I'm quite forthright in being a jackass, the women who meet me know it, and yet still they can't resist me," he said, "besides, I think his mother Selene has drilled some big sense of entitlement into his head and he always seems to have a chip on his shoulder about something,"
"So what should I do?" I asked
"Sounds to me like you're in over your head, you need a wing man," Killian said, "when are you and Da heading back?"
"This evening,"
"Good, I'll pack a bag and I'll come with you," he grinned
I laughed, Killian and Ciaran weren't on the best of terms. I've lived under the same roof as them before and they were constantly at each others throats like cats and dogs. The problem was Ciaran believed his son was a huge waste of space and hated that he was 'throwing away his potential' and Killian just loved rubbing it in Ciaran's face. Having Killian stay with us was going to be a nightmare.
"I promise I'll be on my best behaviour," Killian drew a cross over his heart with a finger, "cross my heart," he said.