Warning: Blood


HER FRIDAY HELPER

Why would Kate need my help? Thoughts raced through my head all night, making up scenarios, could one of them be pregnant? I wanted to help them, I really did. It had been about a day since I received the note and I had yet to talk to them. No one had seen them for a while and I was beginning to become worried. But I would be lying if I said I was only doing it for their sake, taking my mind off of my own mortification seemed to be the underlying factor.

Everyone had their ways of coping with the usual stress of school but my way was a vicious cycle that festered in the dark. As the days passed my shame grew by the minute and I allowed it to control me, it always happened the same way. I felt ashamed for crying to Kebi like a little boy and that soon led to the guilt becoming tenfold which was too hard for me to handle and that in turn led me right back into Kebi's arms.

I shook my head and tried desperately to focus on the problem at hand.

Letting my perverse 'uncleansed' side win, I rushed my way to breakfast. Solving puzzles wasn't my strong side but I was going to be damned if I didn't do my all to try and help. Keeping an eye out for the Denali sisters I soon found them, well two of them but it will do.

"Did you get my note, Carlisle?" Kate sped to my side, leaving Tanya alone

"I did, what do you need Kate?"

"Come," she beckoned me to the vacant seat where Irina would usually sit

"What is he doing here?" Tanya hissed

"He's our help."

"He can not help us, I thought you had actually gotten someone useful" The oldest Denali spat

"I want to try! Let me help, please" I pleaded

Giving her sister a curt nod, Kate began spilling the beans.

Wednesday afternoon Irina had been held back by Miss Kebi. She had, according to what the other girls said, been accused of stealing a very expensive artifact from the school and if it wasn't on her desk by Thursday afternoon she was going to have to call in Amun. Since Irina didn't have any artifact to return she decided it was best to hide.

"They think just because our mother died we're thieves," Tanya said sounding disappointed

And honestly, I was too.

"We went to check on Irina last night but she was gone, we haven't seen her at all since then"

"We need to find her, she has to come home" Kate's voice was thick with emotion and she sounded close to tears.

"When should we go?, I mean, I'm sorry girls but I don't think we'll be making things better by skipping classes," I said, sounding more like a pathetic goody-two shoes than I had ever done in my entire life

"Our sister's missing and you're worried about some stupid class?" Kate spat

"No! I just mean-"

"He's right, Kate, if they think we've all gone missing they'll call the police or something" Tanya interjected

"Good, we'll meet here at 5"

Deciding on a plan was the easy part, going our separate ways and acting like we weren't meeting up to find Irina, who could be anywhere, was a bit harder. The clock ticked and the wind blew hard against the classroom window creating a calming ambience. Yet I couldn't remain calm, if Irina was somewhere out there she needed to be found, and that was fast. Gracing second period with my presence I caught the unusual eyes of Aro.

"Hello" He greeted me as I sat down

I sighed to myself not believing I could deal with Aro today. Not even half the day had gone by and something nagged me terribly, something I had missed, something I wasn't thinking about.

"Hi"

Eyeing me like a lion he looked as though he had a thousand words on his tongue just waiting to come out. Say it, I thought, just spit it out. Suddenly in fast motion, he placed his hand on my thigh.

"Woah!" I yelped being caught by surprise

"Calm down, Carlisle," He said, his voice silky and charming

Is he trying to seduce me?

Lowering his voice to a whisper he made his demand

"Come out with us on Saturday"

"Um, I don't know, Aro, I have plans"

My reply seemed to vex him for a moment until he turned away whispering to Caius and Marcus ( all of whom had temporarily switched places )

"Don't humiliate yourself by declining us again, we weren't asking. Oh, and even if we were, asking I mean, don't delude yourself into believing we would ask again" He said, a smirk covering his ice-cold face "So will we see you there Saturday?"

Gulping I couldn't do anything but agree.

Aro was beautiful, he was powerful, and his two sides co-existed wonderfully, so wonderfully that I questioned whether or not they could even exist without each other. Boys didn't usually entice me, I could read them like open books and they never looked curiously handsome or magnificent in my eyes, nothing I could gawk at like with the women. I didn't see Aro that way either, but with the power cloaking his eyes like a fine silk sheet, he was truly the finest man I had ever seen.

Not to sell myself short but if Aro told me to be somewhere, I would be.

Beginning the lesson I could already tell this day was going to be Aro-centric as his hunter eyes followed my every move. If my arm twisted his eyes scoped out my every muscle, if I sighed he followed suit, finishing my breath.

"... Now class, turn to face a classmate and discuss this poem" Kebi directed

I had been in such a haze all class that I could barely remember the poem she was talking about but after collecting myself I saw Aro moving towards me.

"Let us begin."

The poem we were dissecting was "Love Sonnet" by Pablo Neruda and it went like this:

"I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.

Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.

Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day

I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps."

"I think he is completely butchering the concept of love," I said daring to voice my opinion in his presence

"It isn't love he speaks of, Carlisle" He spat "It's desire. Cold, hard, sweaty desire. Have you never wanted to rip all the clothes of a person just so you could connect on a biological level?"

"Desire doesn't have to be violent, Aro"

Raising his eyebrow he swiftly extended his hand so it was laying on mine, and with one action he had dug his sharp tallon-like nails into the skin on my arm. Blood gushed carefully from my wound and I sucked in breaths of cold air.

"Doesn't it?" Aro said, bending forward, cleaning my arm with his tongue. "Because I think it can't exist without it"

The wound he had inflicted felt like a burn, shooting sharp pain waves throughout my body. Every breath made me aware of my foreign gash and acted as a constant reminder of the boy who sat in the chair parallel to me. My eyes didn't dare look and yet they stole glances as often as they could, it simply felt too private. Aro's tongue went to work greedily as he cleaned his imprint on me, his eyes seemed animalistic and went a vivid shade of crimson almost as though my blood nourished him.

"A-Aro you shouldn't do that, it could be dangerous I mean you don't know what diseases or infections there could be in my wound–" I stuttered

"Are you saying you're sick?"

"No, well at least not physically"

"It's okay, Carlisle we're all a little sick here"

"Alright, now let's review what we discussed within our groups" Kebi spoke, interrupting our tense conversation "What about you and Aro, Carlisle?"

God, I feel sick, I thought as Kebi's eyes darted, trying to find a way to meet mine. I had been distant yesterday and I left after a record time of only 10 minutes. She had noticed something then, I had let my shame get the best of me and it turned into irritation. I just snapped and yelled at her for something, and then I left fuming. Ever since first period she had been doting and looking at me. Why won't she just leave me alone?

"We spoke about the presence of a violent undertone within the poem and how violence and lust can exist in a relationship without it becoming too much"

Obviously, we hadn't said exactly all that but just enough to where it sounded professional without being a complete load of bullshit.

"Kate?" I whispered annoyed at her lateness

The rest of the day had passed without incident and only a few odd words spoken to me by Aro and I was now waiting outside for Tanya and Kate, both of whom were late. Late to save their own sister, if I had been the late one Kate would have had me flayed.

"Carlisle, sorry we're late, we just got caught up," She said, sister in hand

"We think we might know where she is. In the deep woods just a couple of minutes south there is this old shed, in middle school we used it as sort of our private clubhouse"

"Good, let's start there"

In Berkshire County Massachusetts the sun seemed to never want to stay up because no matter the day it was always covered in gloom. If someone told a happy story, like how Carmen met Eleazar, they would almost always describe it as a sunny day or a picnic-type day and you would get some hope, maybe Berkshire does get some sun after all, but when it was later fact checked by another peer they would say it was just as dark as every other day. Everyone was an unreliable narrator here. And if you thought it was dark during the day you should see the woods at night.

Anyone who was kissing a lover on the outskirts of the school or just putting off their Friday night homework would have seen me and the Denali girls slipping out into the night. I shivered and shook in my big coat while the girls wore next to nothing. When we had gotten far enough we began yelling

"Irina!"

"Irina, are you there?"

"Shh, I think I hear something"

Leaves crunched on the horizon and it was clear as day that someone was there.

"Irina?"

We wasted no time in looking to the figure in the distance.

"...Caius?" I spat in surprise

Because not only was Caius there, no, he was accompanied by someone who at first glance I assumed was Athenodora.

"Didyme? What are you doing here, and with your tongue down his throat?"

"Is it Irina?" Tanya asked hurrying up to me

"Wrong blonde" I answered

"It's a blonde hellbent on bringing the stereotypes about slutty blondes"

"What I do is none of your business!" Caius snapped

"Listen, we need your help" I spoke up, much to the sister's surprise "Honestly, we have been running around these woods for god knows how long, we need all the help we can get"

"And what makes you think I'd help you? You thought I'd do it out of the goodness of my heart?" He laughed

"You could say that, I prefer to think of it more like I'm helping you, because what would Aro say if he knew you had your hands all over his little sister?

He wasn't laughing anymore. I didn't think it possible since his natural shade was almost ghost-like but he paled, becoming so pale I thought he might die on the spot.

"So will you help us, Caius?" Tanya questioned

"Irina get your ass back here!" He begun the search

My heart shot away from me as I searched, my mind only on Caius and Didyme. How could he do that to Aro and Marcus?, and not to mention Athenodora. The sight had not been all that awful as they both were objectively attractive people and I couldn't resist lingering on the memory of his strong hands grabbing her soft thighs. Like milk and ice his hands had traced effortlessly up and down her body, like it was meant to be there. She had greedily taken all he had offered and she reminded me a lot of her brother, and if I wasn't mistaken his hand was grabbing a fist full of her hair almost pinning her down. I need to focus.

With a sour Caius, an embarrassed Didyme, and our original lot we finally found a run-down little shed with barely any room for more than two people, it had been painted red and white a long time ago and the paint was now chipping off by the minute stripping the structure of its original charm.

My eyes looked around at the people around me and they all looked apprehensive. I did it, opened the door.

"Irina!" Tanya screamed as Irina's body lay helplessly on the floor of the shed

A hand clasped itself around my mouth so as to prevent me from screaming bloody murder, or worse, chucking up on the forest floor. Upchuck wasn't the only thing threatening to flow though, as seeing the Denali sister's tears over their fallen sister sparked immense emotion in me.

"Mhm, I'm sorry" The assumed dead Denali sister moaned, tears of blood covering her cheeks

"She's alive!"

I didn't hear who yelled, it might have been me for all I know, but for a second, relief flooded over the group. We were all content, happy for the sake of Irina and her sisters. Even Caius' stance softened a little as he saw her weak body move, but just for a second as a sound barely heard by the rest of us made his blood go cold.

"What are you lot doing here?" Kebi screeched, Amun controllingly by her side