Mortal Obligation (18 page)

“You need to sleep, Ree. I know how tired you are.”

She jerked her elbow away from him and poked him in the chest.

“You're avoiding the question Paden. Why can't you just answer me?”

He looked away from her, his jaw clenched as he took a couple of steps back.

“You're Tristan’s little sister.” Ree looked at him, hurt, and Paden scrambled to explain better. “I made a promise, Ree. I promised to take care of you like you were my own sister.”

“That’s the only reason you've spent so much time with me? These last two years you’ve just been keeping your promise to my brother?”  After everything that had happened in the last two days, this is what broke her heart. This was the lowest she had ever been, other than when the cops showed up to tell her family Tristan had died in a drunk-driving accident. It was like all of the happy times after he had died were nothing but a lie.

“I'm your friend Ree. I've always been your friend, but Trist gave you to me to take care of, and that’s what I plan on doing.”

“I wasn't his property to give.” She hoped he couldn't hear the tears in her voice.

Paden’s shoulders tensed and he moved to the door. He paused for a moment with his handle on the door knob. His knuckles were white, and she heard something creak from the pressure he was exerting.

“I made a promise to my best friend, Ree. Don't ask me to break it.” Then he was gone.

Her door swooshed shut behind him and the only things left in the room with her were the shards of her heart. Ree sat on the edge of the bed and took several deep breaths. She didn't want anyone rushing into the room to find her sobbing in nothing but a towel, but in the end it was useless and she settled for trying to muffle her sobs in a pillow.

The time to wake up came entirely too early. She could hear other people moving around in the house, so she decided to get up and get dressed. She cracked an eye open and sneaked a peak at the clock. Ten fifteen was blinking in bright red numbers. A nightmare of sunlight flooded the room, making her squint her eyes. She had slept for less than six hours. She figured it was only a matter of time before someone came looking for her.  Worried they would send Paden, she crawled out of bed and went to her stuff. She pulled out some comfortable clothes, brushed her hair and teeth, and was tying her sneakers when there was a light knock on her door. She sighed, not really wanting to face anyone after her breakdown last night. 

“It's just me, Ree. I know you’re in there,” Melanie said from the door.

Tennis shoes? Check. Hair brushed? Check. Baby monitor turned on? Check,
Ree thought as she went to open the door. Her expression must have given away just how frustrated she was, because Melanie gave her an encouraging smile as she walked in.

“Come on, Ree. It isn't that bad, is it?”

“If you say so,” Ree said in agitation.

“I do say so! Besides, I heard that you can sense the emotions of people around you, too. Classic pot and kettle scenario, if you know what I mean.”

That made Ree pause and think for a moment. She
could
sense what the others were feeling. Concentrating for a moment, she could sense that Weylin was in a rather chipper mood, and that Juliette and Bryce were focused on each other. Pushing further, she found Paden brooding in the kitchen, and a quiet, calm Roland was with a relaxed Sophie. She turned her attention back to Melanie and could tell that under Melanies' bright smile there was a desperate sense of determination. She tilted her head and looked at Melanie a little closer. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was unkempt, hanging over one shoulder in a messy braid. Melanie's cheerful grin wilted a little bit as Ree looked at her. And there, in the space of an instant, her friend’s walls fell down and she could sense the burning anger and grief flowing through Melanie.

“Good God. Melanie, what’s wrong?”

“Yeah, I figured you would be able to tell. See? We can only sense you, but you can sense all of us, even random people around you. So you can't be upset at Paden, or any of us.”

“You know, you're right, Mel. It isn't fair for me to be upset about that. I think I just overreacted last night. I was so tired, and there’s so much happening.” Ree gave her a small smile. “I shouldn't have taken it out on Paden last night.”

“Yeah, and he shouldn't have said a lot of things either.” Melanie went and sat down on the bed.

“You could hear that?” Ree sat on the bed next to her and frowned.

“Super hearing is one of the perks.” Melanie started picking at the end of her braid. “And don't worry about Paden. You know how stubborn he can be when he has something stuck in his head, but he’ll come around eventually.”

“You really did hear everything, huh?”  Ree grimaced.

“I wanted to come talk to you last night, but I figured you wanted to be alone.”

“I'm sorry, I hope I didn't keep you up.” Ree apologized, embarrassed.

“Nah, I had my own things to think about. And everyone deserves a good cry when their life is turned upside down.”

“Melanie, what’s wrong? There’s so much anger in you. I have no idea how you’re sitting here so calmly.”

“Know how Mom really freaked about me being out all night? Well, apparently she knew something along these lines might happen one day. Maybe not exactly what was going on, but she knew I might be involved in something dangerous one day.” She clutched her braid in one hand, her knuckles getting white from the tension. “You know my Dad died when I was nine, but I doubt you know very much about his actual death. I didn't really know very much about all of it until yesterday.”

Ree moved a little closer to her and grabbed her hand. She could sense that this was very hard for Melanie to talk about, but she needed to get it out. She had never met Melanie's father; he had died long before she had started school at St. Theresa. Melanie's mother owned the Old Carriage Inn and handled the day-to-day management. She and Melanie lived in a small house in the garden behind the main residence.

“Well, Dad got a call from the manager of the Inn late one night. We didn't live in the cottage at that point. We had a house near Forsyth Square. It wasn't in the best of shape, but Mom and Dad loved working on it together. Anyway, apparently there were some guests at the Inn  causing a lot of trouble, and they were demanding to speak to the owners. Dad told Mom he would handle it. I don't remember him leaving; I was already asleep. I knew he never came home that night, but it wasn't until yesterday that Gram explained to me what had happened.” She took a deep breath and yanked on her braid. Ree squeezed her hand to reassure her.

“I thought he had been mugged, you know? I remember the headlines in the paper; his body had been found behind a tool shed near a private driveway. Mom never spoke about it, but the papers said he had suffered stab wounds and bled to death.” She gritted her teeth. “But apparently, he had actually been drained by Dark Ones. After they finished with him, they came to our home. Thankfully, Gram had placed wards around the house, and they couldn’t get closer than the front steps. They hollered from the sidewalk until Mom called the police. I remember the sirens waking me, and the blue and red lights flashing through the house.”

“Melanie, was it an accident the Dark Ones happened to find your father? Isn't he the one you get your immortal heritage from?”

“No. We smell good to the Dark Ones, and their ability to smell is heightened just like ours. Gram figures they had smelled us around the Inn. It doesn't help that Gram and Mom are from a line of witches. They have a distinct smell too. Anything that has some kind of power is appealing to Dark Ones. They can drain us, and it gives them far more energy than the blood of a regular human.” She stood up and started pacing.

“They came to the house that night for me. Gram had to tell Mom everything she knew, to explain the danger we were in. I knew Mom and Gram hadn't been on good terms for years, but I had always thought it was Dad’s death that brought them back together. Before, Mom thought Gram was a quack for believing in Wicca and worshiping Hecate; now she’s just as likely to smudge the house and set up wards as Gram.” Melanie stopped and stood in the middle of the room, looking lost. “Mom sold the house two weeks after Dad died, and we moved into the Inn. They took every precaution they could to make us as safe as possible. Until this weekend, I thought we were a pretty normal family, you know? Aside from the incense and crystals.”

Ree stood up and hugged her. “So when you didn't show up the other night, your Mom thought you had been taken, too.”

Melanie nodded her head and wiped a few tears from her eyes. “Yeah, she was pretty upset. But Gram understood what I had to do, and she told Mom it would make me stronger. Able to fight the Dark Ones and capable of protecting other people from what had happened to us.” She sniffed and smiled. “Mom may not be a Guardian, but she was pretty fierce. She was all set for me to never leave the Inn again. Gram had to do a lot of soothing to get me out of there. As it is, I got twenty-something text messages from her last night.”

“This is why you are so ready to be a Guardian?”

“Oh, yeah. I plan on kicking some serious Dark One butt. I don't want them taking any other fathers from their children.”

Ree squeezed her shoulders and smiled. “Well, I guess we have some more training to do then!”

Melanie nodded. “Yep. We need to be B.A.”

“B.A.?”  Ree looked at her friend in confusion.

“Bad Ass!” Melanie smiled. Apparently she felt a little better after getting everything off of her chest.

Ree snickered and pulled her friend out of the room and headed toward the kitchen.

After a breakfast of waffles, homemade hash browns, and bacon they all ended up in the main living area. Someone had taped plastic over the broken window panes in the French doors.  The others were lounging around on the leather couch and overstuffed chairs. Sophie entered the room and waved at everyone cheerfully. She was eating a sandwich that looked to be made out of a folded piece of toast and bacon. After swallowing the last bite, she bent over and checked the laces of her shoes.