Broken

by Monica Rossi

  Demon slowed the bike and pulled them to a stop. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of the night. Dark trees lined each side of the rural road, with no lights for miles and the only sounds were the ones the forest makes.

  “What are we doing here?”

  “Come with me, you’ll see,” he said.

  Sidney followed him down an almost invisible trail that took them a little ways into the woods before breaking into a clearing.

  “Over here,” he grabbed her hand and pulled her along as they got closer to the edge of a hill.

  It wasn’t a hill, it was a cliff with a steep drop, and laid out before her in twinkling lights was Three Rivers made miniature by distance.

  It was beautiful and any other day she would have appreciated the view so much more. But tonight no beauty was going to be able to penetrate the anger and resentment that was welling up inside her.

  “Growing up, this is where I came when I wanted to be alone and think,” Demon said, looking out over the town. “I came here a lot.”

  “Thank you for bringing me here, but I don’t want to think. I’ve done enough of that to last a lifetime.”

  “Sidney,” he ran his hand through his hair, “Jesus, I can’t believe I’m going to say this.” He paused, like he didn’t know if he really wanted to say anything or not. “Look, Red isn’t normally like this. I don’t know how long you two were together but you’ve got to know that this isn’t him. I mean, yeah he’s an asshole to me, but most of the time he’s a decent person. It’s just this thing with Big Dog, it’s like it took over his life. He became obsessed over it and nothing else mattered, not even you.”

  “You’re saying that if all the stuff hadn’t happened with Big Dog, he wouldn’t care that I’m a witch?”

  Demon turned away from her.

  “That’s what I thought,” she said.

  “He would still have cared, but he might have handled it differently.”

  “Demon, like you said earlier, you don’t know much about me. I came here, ran away from home truth be told, to get away from my ex fiancé. And do you want to know why? Because I walked in on him fucking our receptionist.”

  Demon stared at her, “Fuck,” he said and then sat down on a patch of grass and Sidney sat beside him.

  “Fuck indeed,” she sat down beside him.

  The silence grew between them, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, there just wasn’t anything that could be said about the situation.

  After a while he grinned over at her and bumped his shoulder to hers, “Tonight’s the first night I’ve heard you say anything worse than ‘oh darn’. That’s two ‘fucks’ tonight.”

  “I just walked in on my boyfriend – “

  “Ex,” he interrupted.

  “Fine, I just walked in on my EX boyfriend pounding my sister from behind. I think I’ve earned a good fuck or two.” She realized what she’d said as soon as it came out of her mouth.

  Demon looked at her and held his hands up, “I’m not touching that.”

  She burst out laughing. How was he able to make her laugh even when she felt like crap?

  “Where is your ghost anyway, have you gotten good at ignoring her or did you figure out how to get rid of her?”

  He shrugged, “After we rescued Red she had a hissy fit because we didn’t go after Frederick and I haven’t seen her since. Maybe she found the light and got sucked into it.”

  “One can hope,” Sidney said.

  “One can hope,” he echoed.

  The silence stretched between them again after that, but it was a good silence. She sat looking out over the place she’d decided to make her new life and thought about all of the mistakes she’d made so far, all of the new things she’d learned, all of the things that had happened in such a short time. It really was hard to believe that when she’d gotten there she’d just been Sidney Sanderson, vet at large, a girl trying to outrun her past. And now she was… she was… what? She was a witch. Yeah maybe, but a sucky one. A werewolf biker’s ex-girlfriend, most definitely ex. She was tired. That’s what she was most of all. Tired.

  “Thank you Demon,” she said quietly.

  “For what?”

  “For just being here, just for being with me now.” She reached over and took his hands, the energy that jumped between them was no longer a shock, but expected. “You know when I first met you I thought you were an asshole.”

  “I am an asshole,” he nonchalantly threw a rock he’d been toying with over the edge of the cliff.

  “You haven’t been an asshole to me. In fact, you’ve been just about the best friend I’ve ever had,” she looked over at him and their eyes met, their connection alive and electric between them.

  His lips were sculpted and perfect and she wanted to feel them on hers again, if nothing more for the comfort of it. She knew that for a lie as soon as she thought it, she wanted to kiss him again because when their lips had touched it had been like nothing she’d ever felt before. Her breathing became shallow in anticipation and she leaned over. Very lightly her slightly opened lips touched his and it was just like she remembered, everything inside her body came alive. She moved closer to deepen their kiss and her tongue darted out, tasting him, wanting more.

  His hand came between them and he placed it gently on her shoulder and pushed her away.

  “Not tonight Sidney, not like this,” he said softly, his face inches from hers.

  “Why not? I want you Demon,” she was still breathless and wanting and she tried to close the distance between them but he pulled back.

  “No, tonight you want Red. You want to get back at him and I’m the closest weapon. But one day Sidney, you will want me, I can promise you that.”

  ***

  “You’re dating my sister?” Jessica said very loudly and shrilly as she tugged relentlessly at the waist of her blue jeans, trying to drag them over her hips and back into place.

  ”I didn’t know she was your sister!” Red said, sitting on a barstool head in his hands. He hadn’t even bothered to wrap the towel back around himself. He just sat there naked and gorgeous and being an asshole.

  “Well what did you think dumbass? I was at the funeral with her today.”

  “I’ve been a little preoccupied, bitch. I wasn’t taking notes of who was and wasn’t at the goddamned funeral.”

  Jessica went stock still, her eyes narrowed, “Did you just call me a bitch? Did you just really call me a bitch?”

  “My head is pounding, can you keep it down? Your screeching is the most god awful thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “She’s never going to forgive me. Ever. You would know it. After all the years of me being shitty to her, we’re finally going to get back on track, and you fucked it up. You did this.” She shimmied into her top as she talked and then pointed her lacquered red nail at him.

  “I’m not the one who jumped in your lap and started dry humping like a teenager in the backseat of a POS,” Red didn’t even look up at her.

  “How was I supposed to know? She’s barely had time to talk to me since I got here and that Demon guy is the one who dropped her off at the house and then met her at the funeral. And shit, he’s more my type anyway, but I said to myself, ‘No, Jessica, that’s Sidney’s man and you’re not going to even look at him sideways’ and I still ended up fucking up. What the hell am I going to do? I haven’t got anyplace else left to go and Sidney is for sure going to hate me now.”

  She flung herself down on the couch in front of the fireplace.

  “Call that cab back and leave,” Red said.

  “Oh, oh, now that you’ve fucked me, fucked up my chance to start over, and fucked up my relationship with my sister, you just want me to leave. I don’t think so asshole. You’re going to call Sidney to come back and you’re going to explain to her that this was your fault.”

  “The hell I am. Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to bitch?”

  He stood up off the stool, she supposed he wanted
to intimidate her, but that wasn’t going to happen. She stood up as well.

  “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to asshole?” she raised her hand in front of her sending out a sharp gust of wind that threw him back against the wall, crushing bottles and glasses. She raised her arm and his body mimicked her movement, sliding up the side of the wall, his bare feet dangling above the floor.

  Jessica blew an errant piece of hair out of her face and looked at the piece of shit who’d had the nerve to come between her and her sister, “I haven’t been here a week and I already hate this goddamned town and everyone in it. But you, you I really hate.”

  “Is Red planning to get here any damn time soon?”

  He heard them complaining about him being late from the other side of the door. Red was there, but he wasn’t ready to go in and face all the guys who had seen him lose his grip on reality. He didn’t want to remember the looks of disgust on their faces as they’d watched him rip open Big Dog, slowly savoring the pain he caused.

  But he had to. He had to get himself, and the club focused on what was important, and that was protecting Three Rivers. From whatever was threatening it. And if that meant they had to deal with Frederick, then so be it.

  He collected his bearings, shook off his doubt, and walked through the door to the Sanctuary. All of the voting member sat around the huge table, and each one looked up at him as he walked in. He avoided their eyes, instead he made his way to the head of the table and took his seat. But he didn’t miss the fact that Demon, who had no business being in on a meeting where a vote would take place stood shoulder against the wall at the back of the room. This was the second group meeting he’d intruded on. Loners didn’t get to vote, they didn’t get to hold a position, and they didn’t count for much of anything in Red’s book, and Demon even less than that. But he let him stay, seeing as he had intel on the group that might come in handy.

  “So, we’ve got to make some decisions,” he began without preamble, he didn’t want to drag this out any longer than necessary. “It’s obvious these guys, these supposed ‘super humans’, mean what they say. If we don’t agree to join with them then they’re going to come here and fuck some shit up.”

  “But what does that mean? Join with them?” Moose asked, “I know what Big Dog told us, I was there,” his eyes slid over Red and he could feel the venom in them, “but what I don’t understand is why would he even need to use us when they’re obviously strong enough to kick our asses.”

  Red started to speak but Demon cut him off.

  “From what I understand, they don’t want to get their hands dirty. They want to use shifters, since our, your, laws make it clear you don’t play well with others,” Demon’s eyes flickered to Red, “and they thought you’d be open to killing off entire species without many qualms.”

  “The Laws and The Book are old,” Donny-O said, “And I want to make it clear here and now, before we go any further, that no matter who or what your mama was you’re still part of us. So don’t be going around using pronouns like a weapon. You’re still in the Dogs man.” Words and sounds of agreement came from around the table and angry gazes flashed towards Red. He could see he’d lost the respect and loyalty of all of them, but from Donny-O it hurt the worst.

  “Yeah man, without you, I wouldn’t have gotten my Maria outta that metal cage the Hellhounds locked her in,” Moose said.

  “And we would never have been able to find that place they were holding Red, he wouldn’t be sitting there today,” Donny-O added.

  Red could see what the others couldn’t, the way the words were affecting Demon, and he tried to stifle the hatred for his half-brother before it could surface. He needed to be calm and rational, he had to be.

  “Demon has proven his worth to this group, I agree. I was out of control last night, I think you’ll all agree. And I was out of line, I said things I probably shouldn’t have,” he nodded towards Demon, “Demon is and always will be one of us. But that’s because he’s proven himself not because The Book is wrong. It’s old, yes, but there was a reason it was written. To keep us safe. Do I want to kill every other non-human creature in the world? No. Do I want to keep the shifters of Three Rivers safe? Yes. So we have to figure out how to do one without doing the other. But if it comes down to it, I’ll protect us at the expense of them any day of the week.”

  Some of the guys were nodding, some shaking their heads.

  “Nah, man. The people who have settled here, they’re family too. They’re part of Three Rivers just like everybody else, shifter, human, whatever. What they are don’t mean jack to me, fuck The Book.” Rollin’ set back in his chair arms crossed.

  “You think they’d feel the same about us? The fucking witches, the faeries, the goddamned Old Folk who keep to them selves and don’t even come to the town festivals because they’re too good to have a fucking beer with us? You think they’d feel the same if they were given a choice like this?”

  There were murmers around the table, he could see he was swaying some of them.

  “What about Sidney man, word is she’s a witch, and you’ve claimed her, made her one of us,” Donny-O asked.

  “Yeah and she’s not the only non-shifter someone has claimed. Renna adopted that little changeling boy remember?” Price asked.

  Red nodded, “Those few we’ve claimed would have to be protected, hidden or something. The Book is clear, we can’t take it back after someone has been claimed, so we’ll just have to do our best to protect them.”

  There was more talk around the table, it seemed his words were working to change some of their minds, but Demon’s eyes were hard as they stared at him.

  “What if we called his bluff, make him come here and then see how we do against them,” Rollin’ asked, “I can stomach fightin’ a whole hell of a lot better than I can the thought of killin’ innocent people. I mean I know we ain’t no saints but we ain’t never killed people who didn’t need killin’.”

  “I saw how y’all did against them. We got fourteen dead members to show for it. We can’t take that chance. I don’t want to kill innocent people either, but it looks like the only choice we have is us or them.” Red said.

  “Sidney took em out easy enough,” Moose said. Red stiffened. He didn’t want or need to be reminded that Sidney had saved the guys from being totally annihilated.

  “Yeah man, maybe we can talk to the witches, tell ‘em what’s up and get them to help,” Croak added, he didn’t talk much because when he did his voice sounded like a car on its rims being dragged down a gravel road full of pot holes.

  “Yeah, and we’ve got Demon here, he could probably help now that he’s not going to have to hide what he is,” Donny-O said.

  Red wanted to say no, under no circumstances would they work with the witches, but he had to keep his composure in front of the guys. He didn’t want them to think he was any more unstable than they already did.

  “You all know what The Book says, it’s clear we aren’t supposed to work with, live with, mate with, or otherwise associate with anything other than shifters.”

  Rollin’ spit and look up at Red, the challenge clear, “Like I said, fuck The Book.”

  Red looked up, trying to find any one of the guys who was thinking right about this, and he came to Demon’s half smirking face, and pushed the rage down. He’d prove to the guys that The Book was there for a reason. You couldn’t trust witches or anything else, his own life was proof enough of that.

  Sidney stared into the caramel colored coffee as she sat at her kitchen table, the vision of Red pumping frantically into Jessica replaying in her mind over and over again. The same way the scene she’d walked in on with David had stayed on a constant loop behind her eyes for months after it had happened. She took a sip of the sweet brown liquid, David had always said that she liked a little coffee with her milk and sugar. He wasn’t wrong, life was so bitter on its own, why not make the things you had control over as sweet as possible?

  It was reall
y over with Red. Through everything he’d said to her, through the way he’d looked at her, with loathing clear in his eyes, she’d still held out hope that she could change his mind. Make him see her as a person, separate from whatever genes her parents had passed down to her. And maybe she could have. Maybe if things weren’t so messed up and she’d had time to really talk to him, she could have changed his mind. But not now. It really didn’t matter if she could change his mind, she would forever see the image of him with Jessica every time she looked at him, any time he touched her or told her he loved her. And maybe if it hadn’t been for David she could have forgiven him. He’d obviously been drunk. Jessica hadn’t known about her relationship with Red and Red probably hadn’t known that Jessica was her sister. Not to mention the stress Red had been under the previous few days, bad decisions were common when people felt boxed in. And those things could be taken into consideration, but they couldn’t change the way she felt. Betrayed. Hurt. Torn apart. Broken. She could forgive, in fact she already had after thinking it through, thanks to Demon and his strangely calming talking session, but she would never forget.

  And then there was Demon. Red’s brother. That was screwed up too. Sidney fully admitted to herself that she wanted him. More than wanted him. Every time he touched her it felt like her body came alive and everything that went before was just a prelude. But he’d been right. She needed time and distance to figure out how she felt, to get over the damage that had been done, to try to let the wounds scab over, before she jumped into anything, no matter how much her skin wanted to feel those hands touch it.

  She just had to have some time to be. And maybe get some answers. And give a few puppies their shots while she was at it. She just needed some time.

  The kitchen door creaked open and Jessica walked in, a sheepish look on her face, the skin of her cheeks clearly mottled from a night spent crying.