Banes (12 page)

"Fuck off buddy, she's mine for the night dude. Find your own slut."

Ari winced hearing him call her that, she deserved the title but she never would have wanted Lucas to see her in that light.

Lucas looked to be holding back a severe reaction, "She is MINE." He spoke firmly grabbing the man by the hand.

Ari felt her stomach twist and turn as Lucas removed the mans hand from her waist. She ran behind Lucas to see Ben there smiling at her, "Hey Ari."

She nodded at him but his eyes shot to the man who had been holding her and his smile was replaced with the same crazed and angry look as his brother as stepped forward to ensure Lucas had everything under control.

Lucas spoke something to the man and then stepped back. The man looked frightened and turned and left the dance floor.

Lucas turned back to her but his face hadn’t softened, "Ari what the hell are you doing?"

His eyes burned down on her, he scared her and she let Old Ari come to the surface.

Her lip trembled slightly, "Nothing, I-I-I just uhm. Nothing." She could feel tears creeping up into her throat.

"You freak when I touch you and yet here you are dressed like this, with someone like him who calls you a slut?"

She didn’t have an answer. She turned to walk away but he grabbed her arm, "You're coming home Ari." His grip told her he wasn’t messing around and he would kill everyone in the bar before he let her go. His face was more dangerous than anything she'd ever seen.

She looked at Ben who put a hand on Lucas's arm, "Calm brother." Lucas's eyes flashed at Ben and back to Ari.

Lucas dragged his hand down her arm to her hand and took her entire hand in his. He pulled her off the dance floor, not dragging as much as guiding. She looked back as her friends as they watched her go. They looked scared for her, they wouldn’t try to help her.

"Ari that’s quite the outfit." Ben laughed trying to break the ice.

She nodded, "Yeah its my friends."

Her heart skipped when she saw Lydia sitting in the car at the curb.

Lydia leapt from the car running to her with her arms out.

Ari flinched away from what she expected, which wasn’t the hug she received. The old woman's embrace filled her.

"Ari I'm so sorry. I didn’t think what would happen if someone's life got worse, how you would respond. I'm so sorry Ari." Ari couldn’t fight her tears, she couldn’t fake her brave face because Lydia saw through it all.

She felt Lucas behind her, his telltale warmth covering her naked skin with his body.

Ben spoke softly from behind them all, "Lets get you home, Annabelle's been unbearable." Ari snorted laughing. She could imagine Annabelle in a state of concern would be intolerable.

Lydia kissed her softly on the forehead and walked around to the driver side. Lucas climbed in the back helping/pulling Ari.

Ben stayed outside her door until she was in and safe. He closed it giving her a soft smile. He rode passenger but spent the entire ride smiling at Ari and telling jokes. She was grateful for his efforts at keeping the conversation light.

Lucas sat at the far side of the car, he kept himself away from her looking out the window continuously. Ari felt miles between the foot that separated them. She knew he was hurt but the drugs in her system prevented her from being able to hold a thought longer than a second.

"Lydia I did in the alley again, right away after the man in the apartment. It was only minutes in between." The words felt hollow but she was trying to be herself again not the little street skank.

"Right away? You don’t need to recharge?"

She shook her head meeting Lydia's gaze in the rearview mirror.

"That’s interesting to know."

"Are you high Ari?"

She turned to Lucas who watched her suddenly. She met his harsh gaze for the briefest of seconds before lowering hers and nodded feeling sick at the admission.

"What would possess you to put yourself in such danger?"

She felt her walls crumble as she sputtered her excuses against New Ari's wishes, "She took over, I swear, I just fell into blackness and new Ari was there waiting for her chance to spring free. The man attacked us in the alley and she pushed into him and sent him back. She just knew how to survive." She felt the flood of tears but swallowed them back.

Lucas watched her, she could feel his cold stare upon her.

"Sweetie we need to find a way to get rid of New Ari. She is so damaged, she will be the death of you both."

She nodded, even new Ari nodded. She wanted the life old Ari had had, she wanted the diner and their uncle and cookie and high school completed and over with. She hated being a street rat, she hated being used and she hated the memories that came with every scar whether visible or not.

As Lydia parked the car Ari watched Annabelle appear on the front porch. She smiled seeing her and waved. Ari got out of the car exhausted in ways she hadn’t experienced in a long time.

Her legs buckled slightly trying to get out but Lucas was there catching her before she fell. His warmth against her brought her home completely.

"I love you Ari, even if you cant love yourself. Don't scare me like that ever again." He whispered it so quietly she nearly missed the words against her ears. Her fear of her feelings for him vanished. She loved him, more than anything in the world. She let him carry her inside, she never fought him on the stairs or when he brought her right to her warm bath Annabelle had prepared. She kissed him back when his lips brushed against her softly sending shivers across her skin.

He placed her on the ground and left her in the capable hands of the ghostly maid, "Night Ari."

She watched him leaving wishing secretly he could stay and help her with the bath.

"Miss Ari ya looks a mess. Now just lie back and let Annabelle cleans ya off. You been gone one day and ya looks like the urchin ya was when ya came."

Chapter Thirteen- Wanna Pet My Wolf?

Ari

Ari woke to Annabelle sitting in the chair in the corner watching her sleep.

She grimaced, "Creepy Annabelle."

"Why good morning Miss Ari. Or rather good afternoon."

"How long have I slept?"

"Nearly eighteen hours. You was a wreck when ya got here though so that might be why."

Ari squinted against the silhouette of light coming from the edges of the curtains. Her head was pounding. She knew she was probably dehydrated from the E she had taken the night before.

"Stupid Ari." She whispered sitting up completely. She climbed out of the bed stretching. Everything felt fine, she had no aching muscles and no after effects of all the running and jumping and escaping she had put her body through.

She remembered the previous days and grimaced. The run had been stupid, running away had been even more stupid, clubbing was down right insane and the drugs had been the absolute pinnacle of disaster and poor choices.

"Ari?"

She looked up to see Andy at her door, "Hey Andy."

"I just wanted to check and make sure you were okay." Her pale skin set her bright blue eyes off.
Ari smiled at the dark haired woman, "Yeah I think so. I feel like such a nightmare though. I'm so annoying with my split personalities and crazy life."

Andy laughed, Ari couldn’t recall her ever laughing before. It was a magical sound.

"Yes well if it makes you feel better when I was new at this I ate a village. Women, children, everyone. I was like a horror movie. I ate everyone and everything that moved. I am haunted by the images still."

Ari swallowed hard, "Andy that's terrible."

Andy nodded smiling, "Yes it is. But the point I'm trying to make is you didn’t chose what you are and you can't stop being it so you need to give yourself a little leeway for the moments where you don’t put your best foot forward."

Ari smiled, "Thank you."

Andy nodded, "Well I'm off to Boston. Take care sweetie."

"Thanks you too." As Andy walked away Ari thought about the fact she had been spending an enormous amount of time in Boston.

Her mind darted instantly to Lucas. She hadn’t been putting her best foot forward with him. The idea of losing him terrified her.

She walked from her room lost in thought and how she would repair the relationship that hadn’t really started yet with Lucas. She blushed thinking about what he had said, he loved her. No one had ever said that to her or the other Ari. She felt her heart flutter as the memories of his body against hers, the warmth of their kiss and the slipping of his tongue inside her mouth.

"Ari?"

She looked up to see Ben and smiled, "Hey." She didn’t feel awkward around him like she did his brother.

"Someone is lost in thought. How are you feeling this morning?"

She blushed, "Oh good. Actually great, my head hurts a little from the drugs I think, bit of a hang on maybe."

"That was a bad choice, I thought Lucas was going to kill something when he found out you'd run away. Especially after the way I'd found you in the woods."

"Why what did he do?"

Ben walked down the stairs beside her, "He ran following your scent the whole way around town till he found you. The bouncer wasn’t going to let us in, we didn’t have wallets with us but Lucas scared the shit out of him. Then he told that guy who you were dancing with he was going to tear his limbs from his body and make him watch as Lucas ate them if he didn’t get lost. Bit savage but it got the job done." He laughed.

Ari looked at him horrified, "How did he track my smell all over town? Why would he eat someone's legs? Is he insane?"

"He just flipped, he's usually the more calm and civilized of our family members. Anyway we have pretty good noses Ari. So speaking of which wanna see the wolf today?"

She smiled fighting the urge to ask more questions he didn’t seem to want to answer, "Yeah. Where's Lucas?"

"He was in Canada yesterday but when you ran away Lydia made Aimee go get him. He had to go back today. Roses crap."

Ari frowned, "Are you a Rose?"

Ben nodded, "I think Lydia wants to see you so how about meet me in the back in like an hour?"

She nodded and walked toward the kitchen starving and curious about the whole Roses organization. They had all spoken so infrequently about it in front of her.

"I made you some oats Miss Ari."

She groaned, "Oatmeal, Annabelle I hate oatmeal."

"Well I knows that but you's eating it today, bosses orders."

Ari sat to the steaming bowl of hot cereal and nodded, "Fine."

Chapter Fourteen- The Roses

Aimee

"I need you to do me a favor."

Aimee smirked, "As per the usual."

Lydia didn’t smile, "It's Ari, she needs to meet with the Roses. It's time."

Aimee frowned, "What if she's mortal?"

Lydia shook her head, "She isn’t. I got the blood tests back and the other day we tracked her route through the woods, seventeen miles she ran. She hasn’t run in the body she is in right now and she just pulled off seventeen miles like it was nothing. She's not a regular demon either she's a Nephilim Aimee."

Aimee nodded nervously, she hadn’t heard that word used in a long time to describe someone, "Okay. I'll take her to New York now."

"Thank you. I have to go speak to her, will you come?"

Aimee stood from her laptop where she was chatting with Shane who was on duty but sending her messages.

She looked at his profile picture remembering how it had felt to be in his arms the night before. She'd slept at his house, they had made love twice and she never accidentally murdered him, which had been a bonus. She blushed and looked at Lydia who was scowling.

"I really didn’t need to see that Aimee."

She laughed, "Well stop looking in my mind."

Lydia walked from the room, "You broadcast it like it was on CNN, I didn’t have to try. Shane is a looker though I will say. A man in uniform that sexy should be illegal."

Aimee sighed, "So illegal."

She followed Lydia to the kitchen where Ari was struggling with a bowl of Annabelle's gruel.

Ari grimaced shivering as she desperately tried to get it down.

"Wow you must have pissed Lydia off to be punished like that."

Ari nodded, "Yup."

Lydia sat at the table, "Now wait just a minute, that’s a healthy cereal young lady. You did drugs yesterday, this will help get it out of your system."

She put a hand on Ari's arm, "Look Ari we need to talk."
Aimee watched the young girls eyes grow worried, "Lydia I'm sorry about yesterday. I wont do it again I promise."

Lydia laughed, "No not that honey. We have figured some things out about you. Aimee is taking you to New York to get acquainted with everyone. You need to start your training."

Aimee smiled at Ari who sat frozen, "You're sending me away?"

Aimee laughed, "See I told you, Ari she said the same thing to me and I felt the same way. No she isn’t sending you away, she's sending you to learn about yourself. We fit into two categories in this world, good and bad."