November 21,2012

"You can never go home again," I muttered to myself as I pulled my rental car into the driveway of Elias and Eve's house. "Bullshit." I'm more than willing to argue the points about why that quote is complete horseshit - take me, for instance. I come back to Portland for holidays (hello Thanksgiving is tomorrow), every solstice that Eve begs me to come to (and the ones that are completely devoid of a certain Papa Parker, check), plus every other time that either her or Elias can guilt me into visiting - which I don't completely begrudge them for since they love me, and I love them too.

The issue is that I made a life for myself all the way back across the country. Was it a perfect life? No, but it was more than I would have let myself have here. Since I felt pretty damn sure that I'd happily haunt the Parker home until Joshua gave in and locked my ass up, either in a prison world or the looney bin.

No, as soon as I finished what I needed to graduate - from home because I was 22 when I woke up - and took the required tests that managed to get me into Whitmore College in Virginia off I went. It should have been more difficult to leave Portland behind, but once I got settled in, well it felt like I could breathe again - not that the pain of losing Kai went away, it didn't and it never would.

I was twisting the silver band I wore on my right ring finger, a little something that I found in my bedroom when I packed up to leave - and one I recognized immediately as the small one Kai had worn on a leather cord around his neck - and I'd known that he'd visited my room before he'd gone over the edge and then was beyond my reach. Sitting in the rental, staring at the house that I'd finished growing up in, I had to wonder if I was a glutton for punishment or -

"There she is," Elias was pulling me from the car and I realized I'd been too far inside my own head again and missed them coming out to greet me - something they did every single time I came home. Huge bear hug wrapped around me, I was laughing when he released me after stage whispering that, "it's no fun messing around with Eve in the kitchen if there's no one around to be scarred by it."

"I heard that," Eve offered, grabbing me for her own hug. "Welcome home, Eli," another standard for these visits - the reminder that regardless of where I fucked off to, this would always be my home. Shit.

"I've got your bags," he was pulling them up the steps and walking through the door before I could offer to help, and the care and love started to settle around me - dangerous since I preferred distance now, not from them, but from HERE.

Eve wanted me to tell her everything that had happened since the last time I visited - which admittedly had been the summer solstice - but she understood that as a victim's advocate working within the DAs office there wasn't a ton I could share. The pride she glowed with was more than enough to remind me that I was doing what I was meant to do - alone and far away from almost every physical reminder of Kai. Almost.

"Josette is working at the local hospital," Eve's eyes widened and I could practically taste her concern for me. "Apparently Livy and Luke go to my alma mater now, but they don't know that she's -" it hurt, and I know she could see it, the pain of those who remained after, but it was worse than that, because Jo was keeping herself so far away from them even when they were close in location - "I had to take a client in for some tests and there she was -" I left out the fact that she'd changed her last name so I had absolutely no warning whatsoever that it was her. "I didn't realize that he lied to her as well as -"

Elias' entrance to see if there was anything that he could sneak from the kitchen while we worked on everything for our family dinner - that meant mentioning Kai was just better left alone. Eve waited him - and me - out, shooing him from the room with a warning about "girl talk" and he beat a fast retreat to whatever football game was playing currently.

"There's a tombstone with your name on it, Eli -" the real culprit behind Kai's fall from theoretical danger to a full on homicidal lunatic had been his own father, with no clapback from Elias - but I was perfectly happy to lay the blame on the leader of his coven - after all, what did he expect would happen when he told Kai I was DEAD. It wasn't simply good enough for him to tell him it - even Joshua Parker wasn't stupid enough to think that Kai would simply believe something he said - no, there was a funeral with a casket and a glamour that every member of the coven had helped keep solid of me lying in it, all while he had Elias insist that I be moved to a hospital far enough away that no one would think to look - other than Eve and Elias, but they knew about it. All of it.

I hadn't known that Jo was in the hospital - a different one from the one they secreted me away in - and that he'd told her, which she shared with Livy and Luke - let's just say when I showed up at the hospital with a young woman who'd seen too much too soon and had to be led through the extra invasion of a hospital visit and tests that were better left to the imagination both of us had a shock.

Eve gave me a one armed hug, which was fine and sweet since we were both holding knives - and we got back to creating the amazing out of practically nothing.

November 22, 2012

I'd gone out to a place where I knew I could find the perfect pieces for the table centerpiece - in the same woods that Kai's shed had sat were circles of wildflowers and each season gave something different. Walking home with a basket full of flowers and other bits and bobs that I'd collected, I'd barely stepped through the back door to show Eve what I'd found when a hearty knock came from the front door.

Elias' voice was too quiet for me to know who would be insane enough to randomly show up at someone's home on Thanksgiving, but the sigh he released made up for it.

"Elinor, could you come here, honey?" Now I was really curious, which should have been my first warning of how bad of an idea going to the front door was going to be.

Walking through to the entryway, I caught sight of three men - all on the other side of the door so I knew, without a doubt, that they were vampires before I got within range to know for myself. If there was anything a witch was more fearful of than a siphoner, it was a vampire. Even though it made completely no sense to me - did any of us realize how much pain we could put the blood drinkers through with minimal effort? And we had the advantage of being able to cause that pain from a distance, unlike someone who relied on their fucking fangs to make the most impact in an argument. So here I went, closer and closer wondering why three strange vamps have suddenly played natives to our pilgrims.

"Yes?" My arms naturally crossed over my chest and the one in front, the spokesman I guess, took a long lingering tour of me from the top of my curls to the tips of my boots - awesome, a leerer. "Can I help you?" Come on, ask for some bullshit spell that will untwist your nuts so I can get back to creating my centerpiece was clearly implied in my tone.

It wasn't Mr. Center Smolder Holder who spoke, but rather a vamp who oddly reminded me of a golden retriever who'd had his nose bopped for trying to steal the turkey. "Are you Elinor Crawford?"

"Yep," I mean, didn't they hear Elias calling me by name? Maybe they wanted a de-addler spell, since they were all clearly fucked in the head - even if two hadn't spoken yet and just stared (that's right, I see you Monsieur I'm Too Old For These Fucks peeking from your spot over there). I waited, since I was in my home - well Elias and Eve's home - and they were the interrupting interlopers here.

Leers A Lot was squinting and I had to say, if he wasn't a vamp and wasn't obviously sub par mentally, I might have thought he was hot. There was something somewhat familiar in how he stood, but I couldn't place it.

"So. Not dead." It wasn't a question, but a clarifying comment so I just stood there, waiting for the point to be made because I had shit to do, dinner to eat. "There's a headstone -"

"There sure is," wow, I'm so glad I was curious, since this is just the most riveting conversation I'd ever had.

Finally Center Mass spoke, and he said the one thing that could reverse my former opinions. "Kai Parker told me about you."