Fate's Path
New Friends

Logan was the only one around by the time I walked through the portal and my heart skipped a beat. I smiled at him. “Where did everyone else go?”

He nodded to the front door of Responsum’s house. “The headed inside but I wanted to officially introduce myself, since Hex doesn’t seem to think Jamie or I can do that.” I laughed and his red eyes seemed to brighten. Now that we weren’t surrounded by wolves trying to kill us I could see the blood red color more clearly. Upon further investigation I determined that he must be a vampire. I had never read about any other species other than certain demons having that eye color.

“Sounds just fine to me. My name is Piper-“ I hesitated for a moment, I had been calling myself a Kuro but I hadn’t even thought twice about who I really was, “- Kuro.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Piper.” He planted a soft kiss on the back of my hand that sent tingles up my arm. I pulled my hand away slowly as he straightened himself. “I am Logan Greene.”

“It is great to meet you, too. Honestly, I am not good at this whole 'being royalty' thing. So not good at being formal at all.” I laughed awkwardly and his eyes seemed to trail down. I followed his gaze to my outfit and cleared my throat. “I didn’t pick this out. Responsum did, actually.” I once more tried pulling the ends of the red dress down and it again backfired on me. I settled for adjusting my leather jacket on my shoulders.

Logan smiled. “I can tell. You appear to have lost your shoes.” I jolted and looked down then almost collapsed into a fit of laughter.

“When did that happen?” I push some dirt off my once clean dress and beckoned for him to follow me inside. I wanted to change the subject before it got too awkward. “So, this place is huge. We have way too many rooms, and rather than showing you every single room I can show you the rooms you cannot choose from.” The second I opened the door Chris practically tackled me in a hug. “Hey bro, it’s been like ten minutes,” I laugh, but my laugh died off when his sad eyes meet mine.

“Yeah, but no way am I ready to be away from you this much. I have to keep an eye on you.”

I furrowed my brows. “Chris, you are the one I should be looking after, no one will take you so long as my heart is beating.” He looks somewhat refreshed by that and runs back into the living room where a ton of laughter can be heard. I sighed as I lead Logan up the staircase.

“So, why exactly do you hate Max?” Logan asked when we had reached the top. My muscles tensed up and I had to force the tears from spilling down my cheeks or leaking into my voice.

“My brother. Chris was taken and tortured until he was almost dead. He healed fast, as you can tell, seeing as this happened a couple of days ago. But the memory of him beaten and bloody still burns in my brain. The simple memory is painful enough to take down a thousand bulls.” I rubbed my temples to ease the oncoming headache. I glanced over at Logan and he shared a similar sadness in his eyes. “How about you? What did he do to you?”

Logan flinched as if his memory hurt him as much as mine hurt me. “This girl I was in a foster home with, Sienna, he kidnapped her several years ago. He did the same to her that he did to your brother, and about a year after her disappearance, she was dropped -half dead- on my porch. I had just gotten out of my foster home. Her little brother, Jakie, was with her. They both were beaten badly. Sienna was only nineteen, and Jakie was nine. That fueled my hatred for him. The truth is, Sienna and I had been really close, and when I saw her like that, it nearly killed me. I met Jamie and Hex shortly after that, and we have been friends for years. Because of Max, I have had to stay away from Sienna and Jakie, which is a pain worse than death.” He slides his hands into his pockets as he speaks. His voice holds more sadness than it had before, speaking softly and occasionally letting out a reflective sigh.

Instinctively I place my hand on his arm, which makes him jolt. His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I am so sorry for what happened to you.” My voice is kind and I can feel him relax more.

“You have no reason to feel sorry for me. I still have Jamie and Hex, and they are my best friends. Plus, neither of them try to take advantage of a hurt soul. They showed me kindness, and granted me my wish of getting revenge. Now you can help me, and we will help you.” He looks about to add something but I shake my head and he falls silent.

“I don’t want you to worry about helping me. If anything, I want to make sure my brother never gets hurt again. If you could help protect him, I would forever be in your debt.” I let my hand fall to my side as we start to slow our walking pace.

“Of course. Your wish is my command, highness.” Logan grins at my blushing cheeks. As we make eye contact, I see something flicker like an electric shock in his red eyes. I blink when it happens again but before I can ask Logan smiles and stops in front of a door. “I will stay here.” He slides into the room but the door shuts before I can step in to ask. Electricity? That’s new. I have never known a vampire to have electricity in their eyes. I walk all the way down the hall and trot down the stairs while still pondering this.

My curious spell is broken when I see Jamie, Hex, and Connor talking. I smile at Jamie and she waves happily to me. My feelings towards Hex are skeptical but I force a smile and bite back a hiss at the smug look on her face. I turn and enter Responsum’s office. He seems surprised to see me and even more so when I pull up a chair to sit beside him. “Piper, what are you doing?”

“Contemplating new friends. I figured it may be quieter in here. Plus I was wondering where Seymour is, and I thought you might know.” I shrug and watch as he continues to write on paper.

“I sent Seymour to a family reunion with his siblings, and you are right. Kiera and Chris are off doing something likely mischievous, so it is peaceful here.” Responsum doesn’t look up from his work and I suddenly start to wonder where he gets assignments and stuff for his work.

“Sounds like them.” I chuckle and grin when Responsum smiles. “So, do you have coloring pages or something?” This question gets him to freeze and look up at me.

“Why? Are you seven?” He asks and a part of me wants to make a metal that he just used genuine sarcasm.

“No, but I am bored! Connor is getting to know Jamie and Hex, Logan is in his room, I haven’t seen Kiera or Chris. You are the only one that doesn’t seem to be doing anything.” I spin around in the rolling chair letting out a startled squeak. Responsum grabs the back of my chair with enough force that I almost go flying into a bookshelf. I barely manage to contain the yelp.

“Can you do something else other than serve as an annoying presence? I do have actual work.” He releases the chair and I frown as Responsum goes back to writing. I opened my mouth to object but he points to the door. I groan and reluctantly slink through the door. I jog back up the stairs and into my room. I grab a new outfit way better than this torn dirt matted one and go in search of a bathroom. I replace one after a long walk down the hallway. I slip in and lock the door. I drop the new outfit onto the marble counter and the decoration of the bathroom nearly brings me to tears. Kiera must have decorated it to be more like home because it looks almost the same as the one we had at the school.

I push the feeling aside and took a shower. I felt so refreshed afterwards that I have barely put my jeans, and red crop top on before I am stumbling down the hall. I toss my dirty clothes and towel into the corner of my room, and flop onto my bed like dead meat. I have almost drifted to sleep when a voice makes my eyes open again. “Piper?” I look up to see Chris peeking into the room. I waved him over and he closes the door behind him before crossing the room. He hesitated but I grab his hand and yanked him down to lay beside me. Chris’ hands wrap around my waist and mine wrap around his neck. Our foreheads are touching and I squeeze him tighter. “I was going to ask if I could sleep here. I’m sorry if it is crossing a line-“

I shake my head, it is crazy he would even suggest that it would be crossing a line. I know we have had a romantic history but that was years ago and this is now. “Of course you can sleep in here. I am honestly shocked that Max did so much to make both you and Kiera not want to sleep alone. It must have been horrible.”

Chris flinched. “Please don’t go there again. It was bad, we are getting revenge. End of discussion. I am fine, Kiera is fine. We have three new friends! Look on the bright side!” I can hear the smile in his voice though I don’t move to look at his face.

“Leave it to you to look on the bright side. By the way, you are not allowed to see our mother unless you have at least three friends with you, including me.” My voice his stern and he shifts to hold me tighter.

“Why is that?”

“You saw the scar on my cheek?” He nods. “That was from her. Plus she hurt Connor and scared the living shit out of Kiera.”

Chris’ hand raised to my cheek and he ran a thumb over my scar. “God, she really did a number on you guys. Good thing I never had any desire to actually meet her. Connor told me that she was bad news and that is all I needed to hear. Literally. Kiera and Connor both told the whole story, only different variations. Is it possible you got even more badass since I was taken?”

I laugh then shrug nonchalantly. “Very. I haven’t gone a single moment the past week where I wasn’t wondering when someone else would have a try at my life. In one week, I have had two people try to kill me and my own mother say ‘I love you’ with a scar.”

“I know about Max almost killing you because I was there, but who else?” Chris moved the stray hairs out of my face.

“Funny story. Responsum poisoned me with the same thing one of Max’s goons did. Of course, he gave me an antidote but still.” I hugged him closer to me. “Out of everything, though, the most painful was replaceing out you were being tortured.” I could stop all but one tear from falling.

“You know what was most painful for me?” I shook my head. “It wasn’t everything he put me through. It was being away from you, Connor, and Kiera when she was given back to you. I was worried about you guys, and hoping you wouldn’t have to see me in the state I was in. The whole time I honestly thought I was dead until I saw an angel. Until I saw you.”

I fell silent. An angel? Me? I’m no angel. My brother just told a demon that she was an angel… Maybe he should get his eyes checked, because I’m the furthest thing from an angel. An angel of death, or the dark angel? Maybe. Something full of evil is more like it. I couldn’t even protect one of the people that mean the most to me.

The secret room from before was too small to fit Responsum, three quite muscular guys, four girls and a small hyperactive dog. So, after a nice rest with my brother we all gathered around the long dining room table. I convinced Kiera to get Responsum to knock out the wall separating the kitchen and dining room so whoever was cooking could still be involved in the conversation. Now, I watched Hex flit around the kitchen. She hummed loudly and it made me want to rip my ears off. I smiled at Chris, on my right side and ruffled his hair. He batted my hand away and continued his very ‘interesting’ conversation with Kiera. Logan and Connor had been sitting on the far end of the table away from Responsum and talking. I felt someone tap my shoulder and I turned to see Jamie sitting on the left side of me.

“Hey Jamie. So, back in the forest, you said my brother was your favorite right?” She gave a quick nod, pushing her hair out of her face, though her gaze never left mine. “Do you mind telling me how you guys heard about us in the first place?”

“Not at all,” her voice was a lot softer and quieter than I remembered from the few seconds I had heard it before. “You see, like you have Responsum, we had someone too. The last thing he told us, before the wolves attacked and managed to somehow kill a demon, was that we had to replace you and your friends. I mean, boy, had we heard stories about years and years ago-“

I held up a hand. “Um, we have only known for a week or so about all this. But years? No way.”

Her kind smile faded for a second as though I was the crazy one before it returned full force and full of confusion. “What are you talking about? I said he used magic to track down all our purposes, then told us about you guys, and we were just so happy that he wasn’t crazy, and we gotta stick together.” My nose wrinkled in confusion but before I could question her more Hex’s voice sang loud and clear.

“Breakfast is served!” Hex bowed and plates drifted around the table to set in front of each of us. We all thanked her, though my voice was more of a grumble. I poked at the pancakes, my favorite aside from blood. My eyes drifted to Connor and his eyes met mine. He frowned and mouthed ‘You okay?’ I nodded and tried my fake smile. It didn’t work because his frown deepened and he started shuffling the food around his plate. I looked at Chris and placed my hand over his. I leaned in close when he froze and whispered, “I have to talk to you, Connor, and Kiera later. Okay?”

He furrowed his brows and nodded. “Yeah, sure. Mind telling me what this is about?” I flinched as my head started pounding again. What had Jamie said? For years? Then it was as if she had no idea what I was talking about. I squeezed Chris' hand again to keep from crying out at the burning sensation behind my eyes, and the pounding in my head. He winced. “Ow, you know that hurts, right?” I released his hand, but said nothing. I managed to take one bite before my head’s pounding became too painful and I pushed my chair away from the table. I rushed out of the room, ignoring everyone’s eyes on me. I stumbled up to my room. I had just closed my door when a scream left my lips. I fell, clutching each side of my head. Jamie, what was she talking about? The pounding got worse and I realized someone didn’t want me to know something. Someone’s arms were around me, hoisting me up, laying me on my bed, and pressing something pleasantly cold against my forehead. I forced myself to not think about what Jamie had said and that seemed to make the pain lessen. I blinked away the tears of pain and looked up to see Logan hovering over me with concern in his eyes.

“Princess, are you okay?” His voice sounded worried and panicked.

“Yes. This is kind of normal for me.” I tried to sit up but fell back against the soft pillows when it felt as though someone was stabbing my head with a sword. I groaned, “They are getting worse. I don’t think anyone else has tried to remember. I shouldn’t tell them.” It took a moment to realize I was speaking out loud until I saw Logan’s confused expression. I almost told him what had happened but the thought of him in pain was almost more painful than the pounding in my head. I didn’t want any of my friends or my new friends to feel that way. “I’m sorry Logan,” I said and without thinking I reach out and my palm grazed his cheek. “I want to tell you but I can’t.”

He tensed under my touch. “If you can’t I won’t make you. I do however order that you take it easy.”

I scoff. “No way. I am fine!” To prove my point I manage to sit up without wincing. “I have been taken care of or in a bed way too much recently. I don’t want to be treated like a damsel in distress, I want to be treated like a warrior!” He instantly takes a half step back. Logan still offers me his hand which I glare at. It falls to his waist and instead I reach up again and use his shoulders to pull myself up. It takes me until I am standing to realize that I have practically pressed myself against Logan’s chest. I instantly pull away and dodge around him. I glanced back at him but he is frozen, his hands up as if he was about to hug me. I slipped back down to the dining room but this time I couldn’t ignore everyone staring at me. As I walked by, Connor pulled me down into the seat beside him.

“Another episode?”

“Even more painful than the last ones.” I settled into my seat and beckoned Chris over. He looked grateful for an excuse to move away from the conversation with Hex. He sat next to me and soon Kiera moved from Responsum to sit by Connor. We all continued to eat, well at least they pretended to not be disgusted when I got a cup of blood. I had just finished the cup of warm and sweet blood when Logan finally came back down and sat with Jamie and Hex. I looked at him but his gaze was on the food sitting in front of him that Hex had just put there. Connor put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. I wanted to push away but I didn’t. Maybe I was just built to be a damsel in distress. Suddenly a spike of pain burst in my skull as a memory surfaced.

I looked as old as I do now and Chris was with me. I had just been made fun of and ran to hug him. He embraced me before holding me at arms length so I could speak. “Damien was being mean again! He-he-he said I was a weak damsel in distress, I can’t protect anything!” I bawled and tried to bury my face in his shirt but he kept me away so he could look at my red eyes.

“Piper, you are many things but a damsel in distress is not one of them. You are a badass warrior that can do anything you put your mind to.” His voice was sincere and this time he let me fold myself against him, “people have weaknesses Fangsy. You just have to accept that.” Chris wrapped his arms around me, one holding the back of my head and the other wrapping all the way around my small form.

“Thank you Chris! I love you, Rainbow Eyes.” I said back, though the sound was muffled in his shirt.

I jolted from the receding pain of the memory in time to see it had activated the second Chris touched my shoulder. From the look on his face I would have to guess he saw it too. ‘Talk later?’ I mouthed to him and he nodded, then removed his hand and turned away. Jamie was there and she instantly started an eager talk with him. I would be more worried about my brother’s social life if I wasn’t so sure that Jamie wasn’t into guys. In fact, I was kind of curious as to why Hex was all over Connor when she had Jamie. I have a great talent of reading people and I saw the discreet ways Jamie snick looks at Hex and always seemed to lean closer to her. The worst part is I don’t think Hex has noticed. Connor poked me and I looked up at him. “So, what happened? I saw Logan leave after you but Kiera and Chris wouldn’t let me leave.” With this knowledge I elbowed Chris and shot a glare at Kiera. I heard Chris growl low under his breath, and Kiera gulp in minimal fear. The dodged moment with Logan was enough to make me die from embarrassment. I laughed, and when my gaze slipped to Logan, I saw him staring at me with a pondering expression.

My brain wandered. I suddenly can only think about Chris and the memory. I am not a damsel in distress. I am a badass princess that will stop at nothing to protect everyone in this room. We had just met Jamie, Hex, and Logan but they already felt like a part of our group. I am not a damsel in distress. I repeated the words to myself several times before I finally started to believe them. I stood from my chair, as everyone looked at me I started to feel self conscious but I swallowed past it and smiled. “We don’t really have a set plan on how, but we are definitely going to get Max and Maxine, who I heard mentioned earlier. We don’t have to stare all our stories about why we want him dead but I will say that he hurt my brother. My strong, kind and caring brother, and for that alone I will tear Max limb from limb.” I looked down at Chris who had gone still. There was fear in his eyes quickly covered by determination. To my shock, it was Hex who stood first and raised her water glass.

“I may not be your biggest fan, Piper, but I admire your love and pure heart. I am with you one hundred percent. We will kill him and his evil twin.” She held her glass high, everyone following suit. I smiled and raised my own glass, “To our revenge!” She said loudly and we all took a drink. Her voice was completely different from the playful flirty girl before. And as she looked at Jamie I sensed almost the slightest tingle of longing replaced with undying determination. It was then I realized that Hex’s feelings for Jamie may be even stronger than I originally thought. I have no doubt that Hex would probably still flirt with Connor as I had constantly caught her doing. She was different, and definitely special but I could also tell it would take me awhile to get her to open up to me. She is the kind of openly yet reserved person that I had admiration for. It takes a lot to not reveal everything about yourself yet to always be so open about your feelings. It was, however, probably going to be a while until I start to actually like her more.

I sat back down. I am definitely a people watcher, it may sound weird but I am a real analyzer of people. I have been watching people for years since I was never the most social person. I may be able to get out of my comfort zone, but I hate being social. It’s kind of weird. I started to think about something else that really hadn’t truly crossed my mind too much. How in the Hell are we going to kill Max? He seems like someone who would allow himself to be killed easily. Plus, we have to make sure our team is able to work together. I stood up again, but this time walked over to Hex and sat beside her. “Hex?”

“Hmm?” Hex turned to me and her face lit up.

“Have you guys done training?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

She thought for a moment, then glanced at Logan and Jamie. “Why don’t we just show you?” The three of them are already standing so I do the same. I am trying to hide the eager look on my face but I can tell she sees right through my horrible act. I also see this as an opportunity to practice my magic. I looked at Responsum and held up my hand for them to wait a second.

“Hey Responsum?” He looks up at me, “Do you have a training room? Big enough for all of us?”

“Yup! Follow me!” He launched out of his chair and we had to follow him quickly to keep up. I almost ran into him when he stopped and turned into a room. I expected it to be small but it was huge. Bigger by a thousand than the school’s. I can’t contain the gasp of astonishment. Hex and Jamie seem to share my reaction and we ran like gossiping girls to the far side of the room.

“So, we were told that you are a princess and a magic user and vampire. We were, however, not told much else except that you need our help along with a total of about three other people to help you, or that are meant to be in your life. So, what is your magic?” Hex explained in a low whisper and I frowned. I had to think for a while. What was the word again? Oh yeah....

“Well, my magic is supposed to be Telekinesis but I have to practice to help it become better. It’s weak.” I frowned again and she nodded.

“You want to train? Let’s do hand-to-hand. You and I. No rules, magic allowed. If you are in a fighting situation your magic tends to surface faster.” She slid out of her cloak-jacket-thing and tossed it to the side. I did the same with my leather jacket, then through my hair into a ponytail. Hex smiled as I followed her into a battle stance. Let’s do this.