by A. J. Macey
“I haven’t gotten jealous, and I don’t think Cam or Nik have either. I’m not sure why I don’t mind them together, but I respect what they have.” Narrowing my gaze on him, I picked up on the slight fidget in his fingers. “Are you… curious about trying that kind of stuff?” I took a stab in the dark, remembering his intense reaction during truth or dare.
“Uh,” Dante stuttered, “it was just something that maybe we could do together, the sharing thing, like how you and the twins, and you and Cam and Nik…” He trailed off, shrugging, but it didn’t escape my notice that he hadn’t exactly answered my question.
“I would definitely be up for something like that, but only if you or others are too,” I reassured, reaching over and grabbing his hand. “Dante, it’s okay to be curious about stuff with us as a group or any potential attraction. I find it pretty hot when you guys are all—” I randomly gestured with my other hand, unable to find the right word for describing when they drown me in sexual tension.
“I mean… I’m not saying I am,” Dante struggled to explain, his bashful blush endearing as he looked over at me. “But, I was… I don’t know, curious.”
“I won’t tell the guys if you don’t want me to, but I also don’t want you guys to have any issues from lack of communication. Whenever you’re comfortable with what you’re feeling, I would talk to Cam, or Nik, you know they’d both be open-minded about it. We can talk about something else now, if you want though. I don’t want you to keep being uncomfortable.” He sighed, the tension leaking out of his shoulders at my offer of an out.
“Thanks, I’ll think on it and decide what I want to do,” he murmured, smiling at me. “I think I’m going a little stir crazy being in the same room with everyone for days on end with no space, and it’s making my brain do some weird things.”
“I get that, but we’re getting some alone time right now at least.” As soon as I finished my statement, the front door opened, Cam hollering out.
“Hope everyone is dressed, coming in even if you aren’t,” he called, his voice filled with laughter.
“Well, we did get some alone time,” I changed my initial statement. Cam’s cheeks were pink from the cold weather, his glasses fogging as he walked into the kitchen. He took off his bag, and sank into the seat next to Dante, removing the plastic frames to wait for them to de-fog.
“Well, seems I missed all the fun,” Cam teased as he looked at us.
I rolled my eyes at his joke but noticed Dante shifting slightly in his seat. Hm, seems like he definitely has some feelings going on. I giggled silently. He’s so cute when he’s nervous.
“How was the library?”
“It was good—” Cam started, but the loud shouting coming from the entryway cut him off.
“Can someone get us a towel?” Hudson hollered. Jumping up, I grabbed the closest rag off the counter and ran into the front, Cam and Dante immediately behind me.
“What the hell happened?” My hands covered my dropped jaw, shocked at what I saw.
Landon clutching his nose, blood all over the bottom half of his face.
Can’t these boys go out without getting into some kind of trouble?
“Holy shit, Landon,” I gasped, pressing the towel to Landon’s blood covered face. I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times, unable to form a coherent thought at seeing him bloodied.
“Let’s get him seated, don’t want him passing out on us from being lightheaded.” Cam took over, directing us into the kitchen. I crouched in front of Landon, still holding the rag to his face, while Cam stood over my shoulder, peeling back a section of the bloody material to look at what was causing the flow.
“Now, what the hell happened?” I demanded, glaring at the guys who stood in a half circle to my left. “I thought you guys were just grabbing breakfast and tickets?”
“We did, but some assholes found out we were supes, got into a fight,” Nik summarized. My glare shifted back to a shocked expression, my gaze moving to Nik. I had no idea what to say, or what to think in that moment, but Cam’s rundown on different standards echoed through my head.
“Is this one of those things where humans don’t like supes?” I asked Cam.
“Yes,” Logan bit out, his anger nearly palpable in the air as he paced. “God, I should have just lit those fuckers up.”
My brows shot up at hearing Logan say something so violent and angry, but I couldn’t fault him for feeling like that when his brother had been injured. I’d be pissed as hell too if one of my friends had gotten punched for being a supe.
“Logan,” Dante barked, giving him a glare. The angry daemon threw his hands in the air and scoffed.
“Well, you would want to too if they punched your brother in the face.”
“No, actually, I would probably laugh, but that’s beside the point. You’re here, and it’s over now, that’s what matters,” Dante challenged.
“Ugh, whatever,” Logan muttered, dropping the conversation.
“Okay, it looks like you have a cut on the bridge of your nose, and it’s going to have a wicked bruise, but it’s not broken,” Cam told Landon as the bleeding finally started to slow. “Lucie, can you grab me the first aid kit please?” Nodding, I hopped up and ran to the bathroom. It only took a second to dig the first aid kit from under the sink and get back into the kitchen. As soon as I rounded the corner I heard Cam ask Landon a question. “You okay, Landon? You’re looking extra tired today.”
“Have been having some wicked nightmares lately,” he explained as I passed the kit to Cam. “Woke me up once or twice last night.” As his statement, I paused, my night terror flaring within my mind.
“What were they about?” Cam’s question sounded normal, but I could hear the slightest hint of something in his tone. Cam wasn’t asking to be polite, he had something turning in those gears in his head which only put me more on edge.
“I was being attacked or something. Chased! I was being chased through the woods and the voice sounded familiar but I can’t put my finger on who.”
“Noah,” I murmured, my eyes widening as I looked at Landon. “That was my night terror last night.” A lead weight settled into my stomach, acid burning my throat as I realized he had to relive what I had.
“Has anyone else been having weird dreams lately?” Cam asked, his face turning to look at us after cleaning Landon’s injuries and putting a butterfly band-aid on the bridge of his nose.
Please say no, please, I pleaded mentally, but seeing the guys’ faces I knew what their answers were.
“A little bit,” Nik answered. “I do not tend to remember my dreams though because they are more feelings and sensations than actual seeing a majority of the time.” Several more agreements went up after him, everyone starting to look concerned.
“Wait… does that mean… you’re getting my…” I trailed off, stuttering over my questions. I… don’t understand… “How’s that even possible?”
“Alex said you had strong mental abilities.” Hudson shrugged. “Dream leaking is a fairly rare power, but not impossible.”
“Yeah, normally you’d see dream walkers,” Cam took over, nodding in agreement to Hudson’s explanation. “But leaking dreams isn’t an impossibility, even with your mental barrier.”
“How do I make it stop?” I murmured softly, nausea rolling through me at the idea that others had to suffer because of me. Not because of you, I tried to remind myself, because of Noah. I crossed my arms over my stomach and curled my shoulders inward, my body wanting to disappear. My legs started to give, my vision darkening slightly but Grigori fluttering down onto the table and hopping over to where I sank onto the closest chair helped keep me afloat. “I don’t want you guys to not be able to sleep because of me.”
“It doesn’t seem to be happening all the time, and not to everyone either, right?” Hudson asked the guys. When he had their answers, he turned back to me, but even knowing that I couldn’t stop the shame that flooded me. Why am I the way that I am? “We’ll k
eep an eye on it, and when we get back to campus we’ll do some research, talk to Alex and the professors, and see how to work on it. Okay, Princess? It’ll be all right.”
“If you say so,” I muttered, looking at Landon. I have to get out of here. “Do you need some medicine or an ice pack or something?” Without waiting for an answer, I jumped out of my chair and hurried back to the bathroom. Closing the door behind me, I leaned against it, sliding to the floor in a heap, tears streaking down my face as I choked back a sob.
Always two steps forward, one step back… Will it ever stop?
December 28th
Friday Night
Hudson
"Now that she's asleep," Dante said, "I've been thinking."
"That's dangerous," Landon teased. Dante gave a glare, but I couldn't stop the chuckle that threatened to spill at such a shitty joke. "Sorry, continue." Landon's tone was filled with faux apology, his lips pursed to keep his laughter contained.
"We should do some research, both about her powers and her dream leaking. See if there's anything that we can find to maybe help her before the semester starts and she has her meetings with the dean."
"It would be easy enough. We're already looking into Mireille Bonheur for any familial connections, can just do it at the same time," Cam added.
"Speaking of Dean Renaud though," I started. "I know we brought it up a bit a while ago, but anyone else feel there's also something... I don't know... odd with how he treats Lucie? Like how when she told us about how she accidentally called him and he was willing to tell her a story. Who here thinks he'd do that for us?" None of them raised their hands, all glancing at each other. "Exactly. I’m wondering if we need to keep an eye on it or even look into him.”
“You really think Dean Renaud could be a threat to Lucie?” Logan asked with a brow raise.
“Not necessarily a threat, but I’m curious as to why he treats her the way he does. What makes her special enough to talk to her at two in the morning, about a story of how he met his girlfriend?” The guys were quiet, their faces telling me they were all considering what I had said.
“We could talk to Jonathon, maybe he would know something?” Landon suggested with a shrug. “But I agree, now that I’ve thought about it, it does seem weird.”
“All right, so continue researching Mireille Bonheur, as well as dream leaking, keep an eye on Lucie’s powers and their growth on top of figuring out why Dean Renaud took such an interest in her. Did I miss anything?” Cam summarized.
“Make sure Lucie is prepared for whatever may be coming from what Noah had hinted at,” Nik added.
“Ah, yes, how could I forget the possible group of people thinking Lucie is an object to be used.” Cam huffed out a breath and flopped back onto the pillow. “I’ll try and work through the archives at the library when we’re back to tackle the first two on there, because once we figure that out, it’ll be two less things on our plate.”
“The joys of being us,” I deadpanned. “At least Lucie makes it all worth it.” A round of smiles, nods, and chuckles went up as the guys agreed. “All right, I’m tired, no more conversing or I’ll be up all damned night.”
“Yeah, no one likes you in the morning as it is, grouchy pants, let alone after you’ve been up all night,” Dante prodded, but got settled into his makeshift bed along with the rest of us.
“Ha ha, very funny. Night,” I stated simply, burying my head under the blanket because they were right.
Mornings are the worst.
10
December 29th
Saturday Morning
Lucienne
The car ride was noisy, the guys all talking about what they wanted to do while we were at the festival. It was a comforting blanket of familiar voices as I half-listened and half-zoned out. I hadn’t reacted the best yesterday when I found out I was potentially leaking my night terrors to the others, the little voice in my mind immediately yelling that there was a reason I shouldn’t be with people, but I squashed it pretty quickly.
After a night of dreamless sleep, thanks to the medication I took for my aches and pains, and some relaxing time with my boys, I felt better. Not one-hundred percent, but not so bad either, so I hoped the day out of the house, surrounded by supes who would hopefully make me not feel so out of place, would settle the last of my internal worry.
“Lucie?”
“Hm?” I hummed, looking over. The guys had all gotten out except for Dante who was watching me with a furrowed brow and small frown.
“We’re here,” he told me, hitching a thumb over his shoulder to the group of guys slowly heading toward the banner that shifted in the wind. “We don’t have to go, Firecracker, if you’re not feeling it today—”
“I do, Dante, I promise. I think I just need to shake off the funk I’ve been in, and this will be the perfect way to do that,” I assured, leaning over to kiss his stubbled jaw. “Come on.”
Getting out of the car, the cold air stung my cheeks, but thankfully it wasn’t as windy as it had been, so it was tolerable. I walked around the car and met the guys where they were standing. Grabbing onto Nik’s hand as he scowled at the crowd, I squeezed encouragingly, petting Grigori with my free hand.
“What do we want to do first?” Landon questioned, his words nasally and thick, as the swelling on his face had grown. His normally tanned skin was darkened, one side of his face swollen slightly with a black eye and his nose was black and blue, the butterfly strip on his skin a bright contrast against the mottled markings.
“I could go for some hot chocolate,” I said, my eyes widening as we neared the entrance to the fair.
“A woman after our own hearts,” Logan cooed, his gloved hands pressing into his chest in jest. “Food and drink stands it is!” I heard the guys continuing to chat, giving our pre-purchased tickets to the front booth in exchange for wrist bands, but my attention was on my surroundings.
The festival welcome sign was floating in the air, not suspended from the trees like I had initially thought. A small burst of sparkles went off under it whenever someone walked below it, the colors changing each person in a wave of reds, greens, blues, purples, and yellows. My color was a pretty pearlescent hue, the iridescent sparkles sprinkling over my shoulders like a dusting of magical snow, disappearing as I shimmied them off.
As we walked, the shock just continued. Men and women were using their powers for little things, food and drinks floating through the air, random displays of colors and sparkles, and humans with wide eyes.
Well, not only humans with wide eyes seeing as how here I was gaping like a fish.
“What do you want, Doll?” Cam’s honeyed tone pulled me from my stupor. Shifting my attention, I scanned the menu. My brows rose at some of the options, forgetting for a moment that they were magically-altered for a unique supe experience.
Latte of Love- traditional latte with a shot of those giddy feelings you get from a new crush, butterflies galore with this drink
Homey Hot Cocoa- hot chocolate with a shot of homey sensations, curl up with your favorite blanket at home, all right in a mug
Tea Town- tea with a wide selection of additional flavors that just keep going, take a tour around town with all the unique flavors of this tea concoction
“Uh, Homey Hot Cocoa, please,” I murmured, realizing the guys were waiting for me.
“Merry Marshmallows on top, Princess?” Hudson asked, his lavender eyes nearly glowing in the bright winter light.
I opened my mouth a couple of times, trying hard to decide what the hell that even meant before just nodding. So smooth, Lucie. Why do you leave the house, you awkward noodle? Cam must have picked up on my overwhelmed state, as he took that moment to guide me and Nik away from the growing line.
“Take a deep breath, Doll,” Cam instructed. Nodding shakily, I did my best to take a steadying inhale before holding it for a few seconds, then exhaling. The motion eased the turbulent emotions rattling through me at being around so many people and overwhelmin
g things.
“Feeling better?” Nik whispered, his lips brushing my ear as he leaned down.
“Yes, thank you. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t typically have issues with a lot of people or being overwhelmed.” Cam and Nik both gave me soft smiles, but before either could say anything, Hudson and the rest of the guys appeared next to me with our drinks.
“Here’s your hot chocolate and marshmallows, Princess.” With a quiet ‘thanks,’ I took my cup and a small sip once I had blown on it long enough not to burn my mouth.
As soon as the liquid hit my stomach, I felt a blanket of calm and happy fill me. Huh, they weren’t kidding about the feeling of being curled in your favorite blanket, I thought, taking another sip. The more I drank, the calmer I became until I was finally able to look and walk around without the underlying sensation of panic clawing at my throat.
“Oh, can we play a game?” I perked up, noticing a lot of the booths had traditional games at fairs, but there were also a lot that were magical with enchanted rings or baseballs.
“Of course, we picked up game tickets. Here’s a few. I know the twins have some more, and then Dante has the rest,” Hudson told me, passing a handful of paper tickets my way. Tearing off the amount I needed for the ring toss, I handed them to the carnie and tucked the rest into my coat pocket.
“Here you go! Five rings, five chances,” she explained, placing the sparkling rings in front of me. “But be warned, they may be a bit more mischievous than you’re used to.”
“I deal with these two, I think I’m used to mischievous,” I teased the twins, and they both smirked at me without argument. The carnie laughed with a nod, stepping back so I could play.
The first ring decided to fly normally, bouncing off the bottle top and rolling onto the floor. The second and third proceeded to change into something else, the former a plastic bead necklace and the other a ring of flowers. One landed while the other didn’t. The fourth was more my fault than anything, as it somehow went veering off to the side when I tossed it, but the fifth ring was my favorite. It didn’t do anything mischievous like I anticipated, but it split into three mid-air, and two landed on bottles.
