“Is the change going to happen soon?” Kallos asks and looks down. She is frightened about the change. She knows that she will be beating the odds if she lives through it. Kallos looks up as Aphrodite starts to speak.
“Yes, I can feel it beginning now as we speak. This is the easy part of the change; it’s the end that will be very painful.” Kallos is shocked that she is already going through the change. Maybe that’s why she has been having more attacks. “I think you should keep the boys close to you. In a matter of days you will go through your full change.” Then it's a good thing that Sean and Ian just moved in. In a matter of days, Kallos could die. She knows that Aphrodite doesn’t believe she will, but there is still a chance.
“This time will be different. I feel something altered in you this time,” Ares adds confidently.
“Kallos, you need to get back to your body. You're being gone is making everyone nervous,” Aphrodite kisses her cheek. Ares and Apollo smile and wink at her and vanish. She is getting used to them vanishing on her.
Kallos closes her eyes and thinks about home. She thinks of Ian and Sean. Then of her parents and how worried they all are. She can feel herself being pulled to her body. Kallos opens her eyes and is gasping for air. When they hear her gasping, their heads shoot up. Her parents are at the foot of her bed, and she can see the worry on their faces and the tears in their eyes.
“Are you okay?” Sean asks, and Kallos just nods. She doesn’t think she can speak. She really takes a look at them, and doesn't like what she is seeing. Sean looks pale, and he is trembling. Ian doesn’t look any better. She knows that they are taking her pain when she is gone and it makes her feel horrid.
Kallos closes her eyes tightly; she doesn’t want them in pain because of her. Her mom is moving closer to her. Brooke goes around Ian so she is next to Kallos, and Kallos’ dad does the same on the other side. They don't move the boys; Kallos thinks everyone is scared too.
“Sweetie, you need to stop giving me a heart attack. I can only take so much,” her mom says, and Kallos can tell her mom has been crying. Brooke is strong; she doesn’t cry much, so it is heart breaking to see that Kallos has made her cry. Kallos doesn’t want to let go of Ian, so she pushes her face into her mom’s hands.
“KD, are you sure you are all right?” Her dad asks, and she gently turns to look at him. She could never read anything on his face, but at this moment, he is an open book. Kallos can see bags under his eyes, and the concern on his face. Her dad has always been a closet worrier, and her mom always shows you when she is worried.
“Daddy, I’m better; they really do help me,” Kallos whispers, and his eyes sparkle with his unshed tears. He gives her a little smile, and she knows he only smiled to make her feel better. It doesn’t, though, because it isn’t his real smile. “You should get some rest. I love you,” he kisses her forehead and moves away from her; her mom does the same. When they walk out of the door, they shut it. That is surprising. When Ian and Sean moved in, being in a closed bedroom with them was a big thing that they talked about.
Kallos looks at Sean and Ian to see if they noticed the closed door. They are both staring at Kallos, and she gives them a smile to break the tension that is building among the three of them. They just glare at her. Kallos narrows her eyes at both of them; there is no way that they are going to blame her for any of this. It’s not like she can control the attacks. “Why do you two look mad?” she said.
“Kallos, one of us is going to be with you at all times. We talked to your parents, and they agree with us. You will have one of us in your room when you are sleeping. If you need to use the restroom, one of us will be waiting outside the door,” Ian said, and she noticed he avoided her question. Kallos is just about to say something when Sean puts his finger to her lips and shakes his head. It's pretty crazy that her parents agreed to this. Just thinking about them always being around makes her stomach do jumping jacks.
“We’re going to be glued to your side, Babe,” Sean says and gives her his killer half-smile. Kallos is still waiting for her answer.
“Answer me!” she demands.
“We aren’t mad at you, we’re mad that we let you leave without us. I could sense the change happening to you and should have gone with you. If I would have run any slower, I wouldn’t have caught you in time before you fell down the stairs,” Sean says. Kallos can tell that he is telling the truth. So, now she knows who caught her, and she can feel herself smiling at him.
“I’m sorry. I did try to scream. By that time, I had already lost my voice. Thank you for saving me and taking my pain.” Kallos brings her hand to Sean's face and cups it in her hand. He turns his face into her palm and kisses it. She looks at Ian and grins at him. “Thank you for taking my pain.” Kallos does the same thing and brings her other hand to his face; he kisses it and puts his hand on top of hers.
At that moment, Kallos knows it’s too late to stop falling in love with the Hunter brothers because she is madly in love with both of them. They are like fire and ice, completely different in every way, but both are going to have her heart no matter what happens. Kallos feels her tears sliding down her face, and they start to wipe them away. The next time, Kallos is going to thank Aphrodite for giving her the best two guys in the world.
“I’ll bring you your dinner. I think you should stay lying down as much as possible. Ian will stay with you tonight.” Sean kisses her cheek. He walks to the door and turns to look at her. “Please stop scaring me like that, Kallos. I'm too young for a heart attack.” Then he is gone, and she is alone with Ian.
“So how is Aphrodite?” Ian asks her.
“She’s good. I met Apollo. You kind of look like him,” Kallos is remembering Apollo's long hair and his beautiful, blue eyes. Those same eyes are staring at her at this moment. Ian’s breath-taking smile is aimed at her, and she can see why girls would fall all over him. The one thing about the change that has been driving her insane is what will come with it. “What did you get with the change?” His baby blues sparkle with a something she can’t explain.
“Do you really want to see?” She nods and smiles at him. “Okay, I’ll show you. You might not get the same powers, so don’t get your hopes up. We do get special powers, and those would have to do with your Goddess.” He closes his eyes and lets go of her. He moves about two feet from her, and his eyes are still shut. All of a sudden, he is floating three feet off the ground. When he opens his eyes, they are glowing, and he is looking right at her.
Kallos sits up straighter to see him. He floats back to the ground slowly; he also shuts his eyes again. “I can also disappear. That makes me tired, so I don’t want to show you that. Apollo said that I would get more powers later on. He isn’t sure what I’ll get, though. Oh, and I can do this.” He puts out his hands. It looks like he’s holding a water balloon without the balloon. The water ball is slightly glowing, and Kallos is in awe. Ian is still standing away from her, but she wants him next to her.
She tries to sit up more, but her body is still in pain. Kallos gasps; she has a sharp, stabbing pain run down the left side of her body. Ian is by her side in a split-second and is reaching for her. Kallos has never seen anyone move so fast. It kind of reminds her of the vampires she’s seen on TV. She shakes her head at him; he can’t help with this pain. This is the pain from that last attack.
Kallos’ head starts to pound again and she is surprised that she can even lift her hands to her head. She cradles her head with her hands and thinks about breathing. She puts everything she has into not screaming out in pain. She hears the door slam open. She knows without looking that Sean is there.
“Why aren’t you doing anything?” Sean asks with anger in voice.
“It’s not the change. I think it’s like aftershocks. Bro, there’s nothing we can do.” Kallos can hear the sadness in Ian’s voice, and it almost breaks her heart.
“We didn’t have any aftershocks,” Sean replies.
“We also didn’t have someone taking our pai
n. Maybe we’re causing more pain.” Ian looks concerned. She feels someone touch her right arm. She feels a cooling sensation enter her body, but the pain is still there.
“Babe, look at me,” Sean says.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Sean didn’t answer Ian. “You can’t be serious! What if it doesn’t work? What if you do more damage?” Kallos finally looks up and notices that Sean isn’t even looking at Ian. Sean’s gray eyes are looking at her, and they have gone stormy.
“Good. Where do you hurt?” he asks her.
“My head and my whole left side” she whispers. Sean nods and puts both of his hands on either side of her head. Along with the pain, she now feels an intense pressure. It feels like he’s pushing her skull in. Kallos starts to see dark spots fill her eyes. She is just about to scream; then, she hears a loud pop. All she can see is darkness.
“Open your eyes,” Sean whispers against her ear. Kallos didn’t realize that she had shut them. Slowly, she opens her eyes, and Sean is only inches from her face. She sees Ian standing not far behind him. He doesn’t look happy; he looks like he wants to hit something. “I’m going to put my hands on your body now.” Now, Ian’s face turns a bright red. If she didn’t know any better, she would say he’s jealous. Then, he growls when Sean starts to touch her neck on the left side. Sean hears him because she can see a grin spread across his face. “Easy, brother,” he says and chuckles. Kallos glances behind Sean, and Ian isn’t settling down; he seems to be getting angrier.
“Sean, you don’t know if you are going to help her or do more damage!” This does alarm her. She really doesn’t want more pain or damage. Kallos doesn't think she can handle too much more. She knows that Sean would never hurt her, and her head has stopped hurting. So, that’s a plus… right?
Sean decides to ignore Ian’s protests. He's moving his hands slowly down her body. As he does, the same cooling sensation is there, and so is the pressure. The pressure is almost too much, but just when Kallos can't handle the pressure, it turns back into coolness. When Sean gets down to her hip, he pulls his hands away slowly, and she has no pain. Her head and left side is tingling, but the pain is gone. She looks back at Ian, and he still looks as angry as he did when Sean first started touching her.
Kallos thinks back to all the times she has really kissed them, and she realizes that the other one has never been around. When they are both around, they would only kiss her cheek or forehead, and she would always grab both of their hands when they are together. Looking at Ian now, there is something different about him. He is Kallos’ sweetheart; she thought that she would never see him mad.
“Is that better, Babe?” Sean asks, and it brings her attention back to him.
“It is. What did you do?” she looks into his eyes and notices that they aren’t stormy anymore.
“It’s part of being part demon. I just took your pain and replaced it with my cooling energy. That’s why you felt the coolness.” Kallos remembers something that Ian said, that he could do more damage.
“How many times have you done this?” Sean looks away from her and starts to bite his bottom lip. That can’t be a good sign.
“Our mom showed me how to do it about a year ago, but I never tried it before you.” So, she was his lab rat? For some reason this doesn’t make her feel any better. Kallos is kind of mad at him, but whatever he did, it worked. He looks up her body, and she knows he is feeling her anger.
When Sean’s eyes meet hers, Kallos sees sadness. “I’m sorry, but I don’t ever want you in pain, and I won’t sit here and watch it when I can do something about it. Yes, I took a chance when I sent my power into you, but I had a good feeling that it would work.” Ian still hasn’t said anything. She looks past Sean, and Ian is still standing in the same place. He still doesn’t look happy; he still looks like he wants to rip Sean apart. Kallos never thought she would see Ian like this.
“Ian?” She asks, but he won't look at her. Kallos can almost feel the heat pouring from him. Sean turns and gets his first look at Ian.
“Bro? What’s going on?” Ian’s eyes are on Sean and him alone. Kallos knows that she needs to do something, but she isn’t sure what to do. She can swear that something flickered in Ian’s eyes. Ian said that his eyes didn’t change; only Sean’s did. Sean moves closer to Ian. That put them both at the foot of her bed.
“Your eyes, Man, they just changed.” Kallos isn’t seeing things.
“We had a deal,” Ian said through his teeth and starts to move closer to Sean. Okay,
Kallos needs to do something about this quickly. Since she is feeling better, she gets up and steps between them. It didn’t stop Ian though. He continues to walk as if she isn’t standing there. Kallos has to put out her hand to stop him. As soon as her hand is on his chest, heat runs up her arm and then spreads though her body.
She gasps, but doesn’t move her hand away. She is afraid if she does, Ian will go right through her. She has a feeling that Sean can take care of himself, but she doesn’t want to see that. Ian is still acting like she isn’t standing in front of him like he has tunnel vision and Sean is the only thing at the end of the tunnel. Kallos looks up at him and sees that his eyes did change. His normal baby blues had a darker, more threatening blue floating across them. “Why would you back out of our deal?” Kallos doesn’t dare to look away from Ian's dark eyes, but she has a feeling that Sean needs to answer.
“I think you should answer him, Sean,” she said, and Ian’s gaze fell to hers for a second. His eyes still have those dark blue clouds.
“She was in pain, and we both don’t like to see her in pain.” Ian’s eyes narrows, and he doesn’t look like he really believes Sean.
“What if you had hurt her more? You have never done it before, and Mom said it could do more harm if not done right. You put her in more danger.” His body started to heat up more, almost to the point of burning Kallos. She gasps, but kept her hand where it is.
“Ian, you’re the one hurting her now,” Sean said, and Ian looks down at her. Ian's body temperature gets higher, and now he is burning her hand. Kallos still doesn't pull away from him; she hopes he will calm down. Ian's dark, cloudy eyes narrow on her, and he backs away. She grabs her injured hand with her other hand. Kallos looks down, and she can see a blister forming on her palm. She gives Ian one last glance; he is looking at her with so much concern on his face. She lets her gaze fall to the floor. She can't bear to look at him right now and she is a little frightened of him. “Maybe I should stay here tonight,” Sean breaks the tension.
“I think that would be best,” Kallos whispers, and she doesn’t even glance up to see Ian's face.
“Yeah, I need to be alone. I’m sorry, Kallos. I don’t know what came over me,” Ian says in a nervous voice. Kallos can feel his body coming closer, and she flinches. She hears him sigh. “Good night, Kallos.” Then she hears his hesitant footsteps moving away from her and then the door gently closes behind him.
She lets out the breath she was holding. Kallos feels like her heart is being torn out of her chest and stomped on. She feels Sean’s hand on her shoulder, and it makes her feel a little better.
“Babe, let me see your hand,” Sean whispers against her cheek. She had forgotten about her hand until then. It starts throbbing after he reminded her. She turns around and holds out her hand to him. “Do you want me to make it feel better?” Sean looks down at Kallos’ hand and his eyes widen, “Baby, you have third degree burns.” She looks down at her hands and is stunned. Her palm is completely black and the skin looks like its being peeled away from her tissue. She starts to cry because of the pain, which is almost unbearable.
Kallos can't believe that Ian is the reason for this. “Shhh… I’ll take care of it.” Sean cradles her hand with both of his, and she feels the coolness encompass her hand. Almost instantly the burning is gone, and in its place is tingling. He looks down and smiles. Then Sean brings her hand to his lips and kisses her palm. “There, Babe.” She looks down at h
er hand and it is almost perfect. Her palm is slightly pink in the center where it was the darkest.
“Thank you,” she notices that her voice is a little wobbly.
“I did bring your food up. Why don’t you eat then go to bed? I’m going to sleep on your futon. I’ll be here if you need me.” He leans down and kisses her gently on the lips. Sean moves past her and picks up the plate that he set down on her bedside table when he rushed in. He hands it to her, and she takes it, and realizes she is much hungrier than she realized. When she finishes her food, she lies down in her bed. Kallos turns away from Sean's eyes and closes hers. It doesn't take any time to fall asleep.
CHAPTER TWELVE
When Kallos gets to sleep, she thinks she might go back to Mount Olympics, but she has normal dreams. Not all of her dreams were good ones, though; most had to do with Ian and whatever is hiding inside of him just clawing to get out. Kallos doesn’t know if it’s the demon in him that is trying to get out, or the god. Whatever it is, she doesn’t like it. When she was trying to keep him away from Sean, he acted like he didn't see her. At one point, she thought Ian was going to go right through her to get Sean. He seemed to change when Sean was touching her. It wasn’t like he is doing it for pleasure; he is doing it to help her. She understood that Sean had never healed someone that way before and she was more or less his test dummy.
Kallos still doesn’t know how she feels about that, but it’s already done. Ian acted as if Sean was trying to kill her, and she knows Sean wouldn’t hurt her. She can feel herself falling in love with both of them, and it scares the crap out of her. She used to think Ian was the good boy, the one she could count on when she needed someone, but now, she is having second thoughts. Yes, he is a sweetheart, but last night she saw a different side of him. Sean is the same bad boy she thought he was, but she does see his sweet side coming out a lot more. She knows that he would stand up for her no matter what, and he proved that last night.
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