“Oh God, don’t tell me ...”
“No way,” he said laughing and cutting me off. “Neither side has any interest in what’s going on with you, I was just letting you know how dangerous she could be. But don’t worry about it. I’m here so no one’s going to be able to hurt you. I won’t let them,” he said leaning across the table and taking my hand.
“I missed you, Cody,” I said looking into his eyes. “When I heard that horrible sound and I thought you were dead ... That’s the reason I left Devils Lake. That’s the reason I burned my house to the ground. I didn’t want to have any old memories of you if I couldn’t have any new ones.”
For a moment he sat there silently taking in what I had just said. He looked so serious that I didn’t know what to expect out of him. Standing up, he walked past me into the room where the kids were and I could hear the muffled sounds of him talking to them. I heard the front door open, then close. I swiveled around in my chair trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on but the wall obstructed my view.
I guess honesty isn’t the best policy. I probably scared him away talking like that.
Oh well. At least I got to see him one last time and know that he’s alive after all.
I crossed my arms on the table and rested my head on it. I didn’t know what was worse. Thinking he was dead or thinking that he didn’t want to be anywhere near me. I used my forearm to wipe away the newly formed tears and let out my breath. That’s when I felt his arms scoop around me and lift me off the chair to a standing position. I opened my eyes and looked at him in surprise; he smiled and leaned forward and kissed me softly.
“I sent the kids outside,” he said as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders.
“Thought we could use some quiet time to catch up.”
Smiling shyly I pulled away from him and headed over to the back window.
Sure enough, there was my little soccer team already engulfed in a scrimmage. I felt his arm around my waist as he looked out the window with me. We both started to laugh when he saw Jazz score a goal and pump her fist in the air whooping.
“You’d think she was in the Olympics,” he said.
“I’ll be sure to look for her because I know she’ll get there,” I replied.
“Come on, dolly. Let’s go upstairs,” he said grabbing me by the hand and giving it a squeeze. Normally I wouldn’t have gone with him, but this was different. This was being close to the one person that in my death, I loved unconditionally; why it was so simple for me to love him was something that I was sure would make itself clear to me in time.
As we made our way up the staircase I found myself starting to get a little apprehensive because I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of quiet time he wanted. He pushed the door open to the first room we passed and peeked his head in.
“Good enough,” he said pulling me in behind him.
Once I was in the room he turned quickly, picking me off the floor, and used my body to close the door. I was shocked at how quickly he moved and that he was suddenly so passionate. He kept himself pressed against me and me pressed against the door. I felt myself losing my breath in the hard, hungry kisses he was giving me but only because I was so eagerly returning them. I ran my hands through his hair and grabbed a handful tightly. He let his hands wander from around my waist, back toward the front as he slowly started to stroke my stomach with is hand. Then in an instant I pulled his shirt off of his body and ran my fingernails down his chest. Grinning he grabbed me by the neck, caressing the side of my face that was badly burned, then kissed me again while I grabbed him by the belt of his pants.
“FINNEGAN!”
I jumped at the scream and accidentally wound up head butting Cody in the nose. Yelling out in pain, he grabbed his nose and cursed.
“FINNEGAN!”
The frantic shriek came again, only louder this time. One of the kids was screaming for me and they sounded terrified. I pushed past Cody and ran to the window to see Jazz being backed against one of the goals by Billie. I sucked in my breath and Cody came over to the window to see what was going on.
“Aw man,” he said looking down at the scene.
I pushed past him and made a dash for the stairs. If I don’t get down there fast enough, she’s going to kill her. That gruesome thought was the only thing that kept running through my head as I ran out into the backyard and with every ounce of will, leapt at her, tackling her to the ground. We tumbled a few feet and she got back up with that look she had given me after rescuing Phoebe.
“Go back inside guys. Lock all the doors. Hide yourselves as well as you can and I’ll find you. I’ve just got to take care of something first,” I said giving her a level stare.
“Don’t worry, this’ll be over soon,” she said with an empty smile.
“Billie! Long time no see!” Cody said from behind me. I turned and saw him walking casually over to us, sans-shirt still, and with a big smile on his face. “How’s eternity been treating ya?”
“Cody?” she asked eyeing him suspiciously.
“At your service,” he said stopping directly in front of me. He had completely obstructed her vision of me and mine of her.
“Phoebe said that you died,” she said taking a step back.
“Only at Pompeii,” he said laughing. “I didn’t die and even if I did ... hello? Angel. Demon. Eternity.”
“But she saw your body. When they killed you, she saw,” Billie said taking another step back.
“Then maybe there’s two of me and I don’t know it. God, could you imagine dolly??” he asked looking back slightly at me, “If there were two of me?”
“I’d rather not,” I said poking him in his back causing him to laugh again.
Reaching back he gave my arm a squeeze then crossed his arms over his chest. “So listen, since I’m alive and everything what’s say you leave my friends here alone. I mean we’ll all be gone in the morning anyway and Devils Tower and Alzada will be yours.”
“This is a trick,” Billie said accusingly.
“Billie. If you think this is a trick, then you know what we have to do,” he said softly. He turned around and looked at me. Placing his hands on my shoulders he smiled, “Listen kid, I’m going to need you to go wait in the house for me. I’ve got a little business to take care of.”
“No,” I said shaking my head vehemently. “I’m staying here with you.”
“You really don’t want to do that. You know what happens when I get angry,” he said cradling my face in his hand. “I can’t risk hurting you. Please just for now; wait in the house. I’ll be there faster than you think.” Leaning down he kissed my nose and then gave me a gentle shove.
“Cody ...”
“Now dolly,” he said. When I looked at him and realized that his eyes were already blank and serpent like; Cody had already gone from sweet and funny to demonic and evil. I stood there for a moment looking at him as he turned his back to face Billie whose eyes looked like they were ready for the challenge.
“Go!” he shouted spinning quickly and giving me a hard shove.
It was such an unexpected maneuver that I wound up losing my footing and crashing hard into the ground on my right side. I looked up and saw that Cody was already walking purposefully toward Billie who was taking steps backwards in what was now apparent fear. I scrambled to get up to my feet and let out a scream of pain. I reached down and put a hand on my hip and realized it was tender. Looking down, I pulled the soccer shorts down a little and saw big black nasty bruise started to spread quickly like a disease.
“Can’t take you anywhere I see.”
I looked up, my eyes hazy from the pain not believing what I was seeing.
“I thought you went back to Devils Lake,” I said hobbling over.
“Nah. We made it as far as the state line when I told him that if he didn’t let me out of the car, I’d make him into kitty litter,” Charlie said with a grin.
I looked at her and tried to smile but it came out more like a grimac
e. “I’m glad you’re here. Hey you’re arm healed,” I said noticing that the sling was gone.
“Yeah I told you I’m a fast healer. Now, let’s get you inside the house so I can take a look at that bruise,” she said leaning down and squinting at my leg.
“I can’t walk,” I said wiping away a tear angrily.
“So we’ll hobble,” she said sliding my arm around her shoulder. I smiled slightly thinking of how just yesterday I was helping her around. “How’d it happen, by the way?”
“I tripped,” I replied gingerly placing that foot on the ground.
“Yeah I don’t think so. I saw him push you,” she said.
“It’s not like that. He’s not himself right now,” I said grunting as we walked.
“I don’t really care to tell you the truth. But if I ever see him do something like that again, I’m going to introduce him to my wild side,” she said seriously.
“Charlie, he’s fine. He’s half demon and he’s learning to try to control himself when he’s like that. I actually am trying to help with that. Ask Kae if you don’t believe me. Even he’s trying to figure out ways to control Cody’s demon.”
Suddenly she stopped walking and looked over her left shoulder. “That’s Cody?” she asked in surprise.
“Yeah.”
“Wow from the way Kae described him I expected something totally different. No matter though, he still needs to keep his hands off of you,” she said turning back around.
We kept walking toward the house when I heard the sound of footsteps behind us racing to catch up. I turned slightly and saw Cody grinning as he was approaching us.
“Thanks, I’ve got her from here,” Cody said to Charlie as scooped me into his arms. “Now. Where we?” he asked wiggling his eyebrows at me making me giggle.
“Actually can I just ask you for a favor first?” Charlie said grabbing him gently by the arm.
“Sure,” he said swinging us to the side to face her.
“I need you to let me take care of that nasty bruise she has on her thigh. You know, the one she got when you shoved her to the ground,” she said giving him a level stare.
“Dolly, did you get hurt?” he asked genuinely concerned.
“It’s nothing,” I said looking at him.
Shaking his head he set me down on the ground, steadying me on my feet, “Show me,” he said seriously.
“Cody it’s nothing,” I said looking at the ground.
Charlie let out an impatient sigh and reached over and pulled my shorts up. The bruise had gotten so much worse. All the way down to my knee the angry black and purple color was leaving a devastating telltale mark.
“Oh my God,” he said putting a hand over his mouth. For a second he looked like he was going to throw up but instead I saw tears spring to his eyes. He reached down and carefully put his fingertips to the bruise, which made me wince. “Finn, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize I had ... I’ll never ever touch you like that again. I swear it. Tell me you believe me. Please,” he said looking like my answer depended on it.
“I know Cody,” I said running my hand gently over his face. “I’m starting to get use to it,” I said with a grin.
“That’s not something you should be getting used to,” Charlie grumbled.
“Look I understand your concern and I appreciate it,” I said turning to look at her. “But you don’t understand him and how hard he’s working on that problem. Don’t make him feel worse about something he can’t control by saying things like that.”
“Fine,” she said dropping her arms and looking at me. Clearing her throat she extended a hand toward him, “I’m sorry.”
Shaking her hand he nodded then leaned down and scooped me back up into his arms. In silence we made our way back to the house. When I heard him sniffle I started to hum the song that he had in the cemetery. I looked at him out of my peripheral and kept humming when I saw the smile starting to creep across his face. So I started to hum a little louder and ran my fingernails up and down the back of his neck. He looked down at me smiling and picked up the tune humming along.
Charlie looked as us sideways then ran ahead to the house and let herself in. Once we reached the front steps, he set me down gently and asked me to walk. I took a few tedious steps and walked back and forth on the front porch. I noticed that he was watching my leg tediously but I wasn't sure why.
“I might have to piss you off to fix that,” he said shaking his head.
“No, that's not necessary,” I said looking at him. “Charlie said she'll handle it once I get in there, remember?”
Sighing loudly, he raised his arms then let them drop to his side. It was obvious he wanted to be able to take care of what he had done to me himself, but I was curious as to how Charlie was going to do this.
I looked at him and smiled which caused him to grin instantly. He reached over and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze and opened the door to let me walk in.
Charlie had been sitting in the room with the kids who were talking animatedly about what had just happened with Billie. Molly was talking about how she was sure she could've taken Billie if I and Cody hadn't intervened which caused Charlie and us to laugh good-naturedly.
She looked over at us and stood up, walking over. Cody let go of my hand and went and sat down with the kids listening to them go on and on about the confrontation with a smile on his face. Charlie and I retreated toward the staircase and I jumped when I heard his loud raucous laughter. Next to me Charlie just shook her head and pushed open to the door, where Cody's shirt lay on the ground. She raised an eyebrow at me and I felt the embarrassed look on my face showing.
“Alright so go lay on the bed, assuming that it's clean, and lay on your left side,” she said flipping the light on.
I giggled and did as I was told. She came over and raised the shorts so she could get a better look at the bruise. She winced at the look of it then leaned down and pressed on it making me grimace.
“Still tender?” she asked looking at me. I nodded and she looked back down at it again. She went back to the door and closed it. I watched curiously as she used one of the old broken dressers to barricade the door.
“What are you doing that for?”
“Because this is going to hurt and I need to be able to finish before he breaks the door down,” she said simply.
“What? Why?” I asked suddenly apprehensive.
“Look I don't know for sure this is going to work, but it's what Kaeden told me to do if you ever got bruised up. Take it up with him,” she said shrugging.
“Fine,” I said. I grabbed one of the pillows that was under my head and bit into it. I was going to do my best to keep Cody away. I didn't want him going demonic and not being able to keep from hurting Charlie.
“Ready?” she asked. I nodded and she got on her knees next to me on the bed.
I heard the sound of a pocket knife click open, then I felt her hand on my thigh. The next thing I knew I was taken over by the most blinding pain in the world. I screamed loudly, biting into the pillow so deeply that I was starting to tear it to shreds.
I felt the flesh she had just cut being peeled off my thigh as she dug in again with her knife causing my eyes to water. My screams of pain were still loud even with my self made gag. A pounding of footsteps came racing up the stairs followed immediately by loud, angry pounding on the door. I heard her curse under hear breath and look up at me.
“Take a deep breath, I'm going to have to do this faster now before he breaks the door in.”
Obediently, I took a deep breath and braced myself. She plunged the knife in and made a long slit down and around my leg to where the bruise had spread. She grunted as she meticulously peeled the skin off.
“Open the damn door!” Cody shouted from the hallway.
“Don't move,” she told me. I heard her unzip a bag and laid there in a pain that was unimaginable. Being changed was brutal but this was far worse than that. At least then I had been paralyzed by the acid so I co
uldn't scream.
I heard the sound of some kind of liquid splashing onto the floor and felt the bed move as she got back on the bed.
“The worst is over, Finnegan. This is just going to be annoying,” she said.
Then I felt what I assumed to be thread. Is she sowing my skin back on, I wondered to myself as the pain started to die away. Against the door we heard the sound of Cody throwing his body against it, in an attempt to bust through, which caused her to sew faster.
Just as she looped the last stitch, secured, and cut it, the door burst open in an explosion of old wood. Grunting angrily he tossed the drawer out of the way and went toward her, enraged.
Charlie got up casually, “I'm done. You can see her now.”
“What did you do to her?” he yelled.
“I fixed what you did to her,” she said evenly with her hands on her hips.
“Guys don't fight. And stop yelling. I'm fine now. Thanks Charlie,” I said leaning up and smiling at her.
“Dolly, your leg is completely stitched up. You look like a rag doll,” he said leaning down and running his fingers over the stitches.
“Good thing I'm not vain then,” I said laughing. I looked down and saw that she had done what I thought she did. But something about the color of the skin was curious to me. It was so white it was almost grey.
“Sorry, but the only way to fix the bruising was to turn your skin inside out. You didn't bleed because the fall cut the circulation in your leg. It'll come back though, don't worry about it,” she said zipping up her bag.
“I'm going to go downstairs with those kids and keep them out of trouble. In the morning I'll find a way to get them back home. Please just stay here until I get back. Both of you,” she said giving Cody a look before she walked out into the hall.
I watched him as he closed his eyes and took a very deep breath. Then he did it again two more times. Opening his eyes, he smiled at me and walked over to the windows pulling the old shades closed and securing them. Then he came over to the bed and settled up behind me, looping an arm around my waist. I smiled at the way his body fit perfectly next to mine. Grabbing his hand, I closed my eyes and listened to his steady breathing.
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