Triggered (Blackbird Book 1)

by Aly Westman

  When I finally emerged from the bathroom, with a swirl of hot air following me, I noticed Seth was gone. Corey remained tapping away at the laptop, completely consumed by whatever program he was typing on. He wore a fresh pair of clothes, his short hair was a mess.

  Not wanting to disturb him I picked a bed and laid down on top of the covers. My body was exhausted from being in flight mode, my muscles ached, and I was cozy warm in my sweats. I could feel my eyes get heavy and slowly start to close. “Can I get you anything?” Corey asked, his voice soft and slightly distracted.

  “No thanks.” I mumbled.

  I could hear him shuffling around and then the bed dipped beside me. I opened my eyes to see him sitting beside me, the computer balanced in his knees as he typed away. Without even thinking I inched closer to him until my forehead was touching his hip.

  “What ya typing?” I asked, my voice thick with sleep.

  “A program I designed… I would explain but it’s a bit complicated.”

  I shrugged. “I’m sure I can keep up.”

  Corey paused for a moment, his fingers silent, and I had an odd feeling that he was looking at me. I kept my eyes closed, on the verge of falling asleep. “Well, in short, it’s a program that allows us to communicate with other hunters, Ty, and the Ranch. I am also working on a project that converges patterns in weather and unexplained or unusual reports into one map so that we can monitor a trend and send hunters out to investigate accordingly. See, when it comes to spirits and entities, like demons, they feed off of energy. There are a few different types of energy, one is our energy. Chakras, auras, and the like all describe our own body energy. But the energy that I am mapping out is natural weather energy. We’ve found that when there is a large demonic presence in one area then there are reports of unexpected weather changes. Think of the demons as wind turbines and the strong winds fuel them, lightning will charge them, and they begin storing all this energy so that they can expel it. Either by making themself take a true form or giving them abilities like telekinesis.”

  “Demons are telekinetic? Like, they can move things without touching them?” I asked,

  “Depending on their ranks they can do many different things, I don’t think there is a limit.”

  “The demons that took me, they didn’t have any powers. Or… they didn’t use any on me. They liked touching me, holding me down, feeling my skin. In the beginning they used to make me bathe all the time so they could feel how soft I was. I think they were trying to make me feel safe, my father told them I couldn’t be triggered without feeling safe.” My eyelids grew heavy again so I closed them.

  “It was smart of him.”

  “Hmm?”

  I could feel him move as if he had just shrugged. “If my daughter had a secret about her that made her wanted, if she was taken and I knew there was no one to rescue her, I would probably tell her captures that they couldn’t get what they wanted unless she was safe. In a way he was ensuring your life was secure before he died.”

  I frowned. “They didn’t treat me nice for long… maybe a week. Then they started to try other methods.” I cleared my throat, trying to get rid of the lump that formed.

  “You’re not alone Aves,” Corey whispered.

  I knew I wasn’t alone, maybe that’s why I felt so comfortable with them. I could feel they were battling demons of their own. I didn’t want to think about it any longer though.

  “Core? Seth talked about the Ranch before… it’s where I’m going, right?” I was asking because I liked hearing him talk. Especially the way he was now. His deep voice quiet as it vibrated through his chest, he was slightly distracted himself as he typed on the keyboard. Corey was smarter than I gave him credit for.

  “Yep.”

  “What is it?”

  “Well, it’s not actually a ranch, I mean, at one point it was. But that was long ago. It’s run by a friend of ours, pretty much the safest place you can go.” He fell quiet and I became too tired to keep up with the conversation. My body felt like it was swaying. I leaned further into Corey’s leg as I allowed sleep to come over me. ...The safest place you can go.

  “You are safe here.” His words meant one thing but his tone was a complete contradiction. How the hell was I safe in a place where the main inhabitants had captured me and let me watch as they shredded my father into pieces?

  I sighed and stared down at the food in front of me. Sure, I was safe, as cozy safe as a fly in a venus fly trap. Slowly suffocating.

  “Eat!” His impatience caused him to snap.

  Again I didn’t move, I didn’t speak. This had become routine.

  “You are wasting away, I swear I will cram every bite into your body until–”

  “Three!” Six snapped. My eyes shifted to him as he stood staring at us. “Now now. If she doesn’t want to eat we shouldn’t feed her.”

  “And if she dies? How do we get the trigger? How do we find the–”

  “I have stumbled upon something interesting.” His black eyes landed on me and that smirk had me gulping. I hated it when he gave me that look. “All we need is for her to be weakened.”

  Three smiled. “Physically… or mentally?”

  Six thought about that for a while. “Well, physically will do, but just in case perhaps both. I mean, where is the fun in just one?”

  Well shit. I picked up my fork and began eating the mashed potatoes. Might as well die on a full stomach, hopefully the food really is poisoned and I would die before their experiment commenced…

  I woke to the smell of pizza. Oh God, pizza! Hushed voices were arguing back and forth, I smiled as Damion attempted to be quiet but failed miserably. “Just try it!”

  “I’m not fucking kidding Damion, keep your damn pineapple to yourself.” Corey’s voice was filled with disgust.

  “It really isn’t that bad,” Quinn stated, ever the common ground. I opened my eyes and stretched. Seth was sitting next to me on the bed, a pizza box balanced on his lap with a cola in his hand as he tried to watch the TV.

  “It’s a fruit, a fruit Quinn. Would you put peaches on your pizza?”

  “Well, tomato is a fruit.” Quinn shrugged.

  I sat up, Seth smiled at me, mouth full of pizza. I reached over and snatched up a slice from the box he had. It looked like it was loaded with meat and cheese.

  “How did you sleep?” he whispered.

  Black eyes flashed in my mind and I shivered. “Fine. What ya watching?

  “Two idiots argue over pineapple being on pizza.” He smirked.

  “Hey now now, let her make up her own mind,” Damion called out. “Well, Ava, pineapples or no?”

  I shrugged. “I was never a fan of Hawaiian, but mainly for the name. Why do they call it Hawaiian? Just because of the pineapple? Pineapples are not even native to Hawaii.”

  Damion’s mouth popped open, a pizza slice half way in his mouth. He quickly pulled it away. “You take that back Evangeline. Seriously they have women dressed up with pineapples in Hawaii! It is totally native there.”

  I laughed and swallowed the piece I had been chewing. “Yeah, dressed up for tourists. It’s not native.”

  Corey began laughing at Damion’s shock. “Quinn!” Damion demanded. “Tell her she’s wrong!”

  Quinn smiled. “I have to say I honestly don’t know if pineapples are native to Hawaii, sorry Damion.”

  “What the hell! You’re the smart one here! You are supposed to know everything!” Quinn shook his head.

  I needed a drink and looked around; Seth nudged me and handed his drink to me. I smiled, taking the coke can. “How’d you know?” He watched as I took a sip of the coke and gave me a wink.

  “Alright, I can’t stand it anymore.” Quinn walked over to his bag and pulled out a small black brush. We all watched as he approached me. “You haven’t brushed your hair in days and it’s driving me nuts.”

  My cheeks tinted. “Don’t be embarrassed, he gets antsy with hair.” Damion reassured. “It’s why we
don’t have long hair.”

  Quinn nudged my shoulder with his hand and I scooched down in the bed so he could sit behind me. He started working away at the knots in my hair. “I’m not nuts with hair, I just think hair as beautiful as this deserves better treatment.”

  A chuckle bubbled from my mouth. “What about your hair? You keep it pulled back in that ponytail all the time. Isn’t it time for a cut?”

  All eyes were on us, each of the guys silent as they stared at Quinn, the TV playing silently in the background. I could feel his fingers gently pulling through the mess of my hair.

  “Not ready yet… but maybe soon,” he said quietly.

  “Hey! Ava, have I ever told you about the time I got married.” Damion jumped up from his chair and landed heavily on the bed right in front of me. I laughed.

  “No, but I have been meaning to ask.”

  “Okay okay, so–”

  “Oh I have to make sure you don't leave any details out.” Corey sat on the bed facing me, right behind Damion’s head.

  Damion looked back at him. “I never leave anything out!”

  “Hell yes you do! Like when Hill–”

  “Let me tell it!” Damion laughed and scootched forward.

  I couldn’t stop laughing.

  “What?” Damion asked.

  “Quinn is brushing my hair, you and Corey are all excited about gossiping or telling a story. It’s like a sleep over I used to have with my friends back home.” They had me in stitches.

  “Hey! I am here too!” Seth snatched the coke from my hand and took a sip.

  “You can be the high school boy we used to sneak into our room once my dad was asleep.” Oh God, his grin as I said that was too hilarious.

  “Hey! I want to be the hot high schooler!” Damion exclaimed.

  “You really snuck a guy into your room?” Quinn asked. “And your dad, who was a hunter by the way, never woke up and beat the shit out of him?”

  “Well, it was mainly when my dad wasn’t home.”

  “Can we have pillow fight?” Corey asked. “Like, you guys had pillow fights right? In your underwear and everything… right?”

  “Oh yes Corey, we always had pillow fights.” I let my voice drop down a level and it naturally came out a little raspy. “Feathers flying all around us, oh and we got so hot and worked up that we ended up losing our underwear. And when we were bored we just started making out with each other.”

  Thud

  Corey fell off the edge of the bed, he tried to grab onto Damion but only resulted in making Damion roll onto his back. We all burst out laughing. I slowly shook my head. “Too easy Core. You are too too easy.”

  Corey jumped up back to the bed. “Anyways! Damion, what were you saying about the marriage you are still in?”

  “God damn it, I divorced her! Okay?” Damion faced me. “Ava, stop stealing my light with your stories of hot high school parties.”

  I smiled. “Go on.” I waved to him before taking the drink from Seth and downing the last few sips. I handed him the empty can and he smiled at me.

  “Okay, so, we were working a case in Vegas.”

  I laughed. “Naturally.”

  Damion’s smile was breathtaking. He was so care free in this moment. “Alright so, we teamed up with this other group because we had a serious problem. People in Vegas were getting married and then dying on their honeymoon.”

  “But not like, just dying, they were being shredded. I mean torn into scraps,” Corey added.

  I frowned. Shit, that sort of sobered me up.

  “You good?” Damion asked.

  “Yeah, what happened?” I leaned forward but Quinn tugged my hair very lightly.

  “Ava, promise to tell us to stop? If anything gets uncomfortable, if we are hurting you. Tell us, alright?” Quinn stated.

  The others nodded. “We need to trust one another, and that means being honest and up front. If you feel a flashback or uncomfortable we need to know.” Seth enforced.

  I nodded. “Sure. I will let you know. But I'm fine, I just want to know what happened.”

  “Okay, anyways. We tried many different ways of luring the son of a bitch out, I mean, we tried everything. So we decided the best way to get him was to, well, get married. Now all the couples that had been married were married at the same chapel, so we thought for sure it was the priest. Corey and Quinn pretended to be getting married and–”

  “Wait! Corey and Quinn?” I asked with a smile. “Nope, he wasn’t convinced was he?”

  Damion laughed. “I TOLD YOU!” He pointed at Seth.

  Seth raised his hands. “What! Quinn is.. And Corey…”

  “Dude, you seriously think I am gay?” Corey gave him a stern look.

  Damion raised his hand. “I told Seth it would be more convincing with him and Quinn but he didn’t listen.”

  “I had to be on the other side of the operation! So you guys didn’t die and I could run in and save you!”

  “Wait, why does everyone think I am gay?” Quinn asked as he continued to brush out my hair, all the knotts now worked out. Everyone gave him a pointed look. “I’m just brushing it!”

  “God, you guys are amateurs! It has nothing to do with looks, it’s chemistry. It should have been Damion and Corey,” I explained.

  Damion stared at me. “Me? What?”

  “What do you mean chemistry?” Corey’s voice jumped a notch.

  I laughed. “Never mind, just keep going.”

  “No no no. Hold up here.” Damion got onto his knees and crawled closely towards me.

  “Dame.” Seth’s voice was a growl of a warning.

  “She will tell me to stop… if she wants to.” Damion kept coming forward and I ended up leaning back, trying to give him room, until my back became flush with Quinn. I was sitting in between Quinn’s legs, my back against his chest, I could feel every breath he made. Damion kneeled in front of me, between my legs with his hands on either side of my thighs. The moment his lips were millimeters from mine I could feel Quinn stop breathing, as if he was worried a single breath would push me into Damion’s lips.

  “Do you want me to stop?” The warmth of his breath spread across my lips when he spoke and I could feel the tingle run down low. My body responded to him instantly and my cheeks flushed. “I won’t move until you say something.” I was stuck in the moment. The others around us completely faded away and Damion was all that was in front of me. His black hair a mess and his ivory skin as smooth as porcelain. I thought back to the time in my memories, when he had kissed me, and how much I craved more of that.

  “No…” I forced out. “Don’t stop.”

  He moved forward, his lips gentle and soft. His kisses tugging as if he were pulling my soul forward towards him. I had never been kissed with so much care and passion in my life. I was drawn to him, I wanted more.. Needed more. I could feel the dull ache between my legs.

  Damion pulled away all too soon. “Sorry Aves, only women for me. And I think I just developed a taste for a certain one.” Damion licked his lips.

  “Fuck.” I heard someone whisper and then I realised that yep, all three of the others were watching.

  I knew my cheeks were already red. I couldn’t help the nervous comment that came out. “Well if you all were watching you should’ve just jumped in.”

  Thud.

  Chapter 14

  I probably should have been more embarrassed with the others watching what had happened between Damion and I, but I wasn’t. Some part of me agreed with my comment, if they wanted to they should have just jumped in. Was that weird? We were all consenting adults, and really, there was no way I would refuse any of them. However… I wonder if they wouldn’t try anything because Damion just sort of claimed me in front of them. But did I want to be claimed?

  Eventually Damion did finish his story. The priest refused to marry a gay couple, which pissed them off. They didn’t have to fake their anger and Quinn said Corey was ready to murder the priest right there, but they we
ren’t a hundred percent sure it was him!

  So they called in reinforcements. A girl from another team, Hillary, came forward and pretended to marry Damion. They couldn’t use Quinn and Corey again, and Seth insisted on being the badass that busted the doors down to save them. I laughed and shook my head when Seth said that.

  Damion and Hillary were married, in a Vegas chapel. Damion was so sure it was the priest that he figured the marriage would be fake. Only it wasn’t the priest! It was the photographer! She was a witch and was luring young couples to steal their essence.

  When Damion and Corey explained it I was blown away. She staged the attacks to look like homicides. In the end Hillary and Seth were able to take her down… Yeah, Seth got to do his grand “running in and saving everyone” scheme. Well, it backfired only slightly so Hillary had to step in.

  Hillary… Nope, Ava don’t even. But… damn that stupid green monster. She married Damion! They legit got married. Damion insists he got divorced, but that is just insane. All for a case.

  “We better turn in, get an early start tomorrow. Hopefully we won't run into any more trouble,” Quinn said.

  “Sorry,” I said as I stood up and stretched. Eyes went to my stomach as my shirt rode up, quickly I grabbed the hem and pulled it down. Everyone averted their gaze.

  “Uh, Ava you can have this bed. We can take the other,” Seth quickly said. He quietly said something under his breath in Russian, it sort of sounded like a swear.

  “No. I mean, all four of you couldn’t possibly fit on there.”

  Damion shrugged. “We are used to sleeping together.” I smiled and Damion reached out, smacking my shoulder lightly. “Mind out of the gutter!”

  I laughed. “Alright, alright. But still.”

  “And it’s just the three of us, Corey will be up checking his work, right Core?” Damion said.

  “Yep.” Corey stood, gave a long stretch, and then sat at the table behind his computer.

  “Really?” I was confused.

  “Yeah, just looking for any changes. Plus this place uses wireless surveillance so I will keep watch of the camera. I’ll just sleep tomorrow in the car.” He gave a small yawn as he opened up another can of coke and took a sip.