Strings of Fate by Kit Bryan
Chapter 175

Strings of Fate

175- Admiration and alcohol

Just like I have every other time I’ve managed to communicate with Kiara, I come back to myself feeling dizzy and kind of like throwing up. Not sick exactly, more like I’ve pushed myself way too far. I don’t know why it’s so exhausting to speak to her when watching her, particularly in my sleep, it takes no effort at all. In fact I can’t seem to STOP doing that. It’s frustrating but worth it. I can feel a little tired and unwell if it helps Kiara cope with what she’s going through until we can get to her. My phone vibrates and I move too fast to grab it, making my head spin. Woah, that’s confusing. I have a text from… Bellamy? Isn’t he downstairs? Unless he went out while I was meditating, but I doubt he would leave without telling me first. He’s way too freaked out about the psychos threatening me. I open the message.

Bellamy–S.O.S. You have a guest…

S.O.S? Why w

would me having a guest require an S.O.S. Unless… who would Bellamy want rescuing from? I suspect I know the answer. I head downstairs in a hurry and 1 am entirely unsurprised to see Harrison is here. What I am surprised by is how he has an arm slung over Bellamy’s shoulder. His other hand is waving around enthusiastically and he’s holding something purple and shiny. I approach, trying not to laugh at Bellamy’s disturbed looking expression.

“Hi Harry. Uhm, what’s going on here?” I ask. Even I can hear the amusement in my own

voice.

“It’s male bonding!” Harry declares. He says it seriously but I can see the mischief in his eyes.

“You’re here for… male bonding?” I repeat doubtfully. Harry winks at me and nods.

“Sure. Well, actually I’m here for a delivery but since you didn’t answer the door I thought I should take advantage of this chance to threaten the life of my bestie slash baby sister’s boyfriend. I figure you don’t have a dad to do it so it comes down to me.” Again, he says the words seriously, but really he just seems absolutely delighted. What’s strange is that I think this really might be Harry’s way of trying to ‘bond with Bellamy. He’s placing himself firmly in the role of my older brother and in that way, making it clear to Bellamy that he isn’t a threat to him romantically. But he’s also making it clear that he has no intention of going anywhere. I’m happy to see him making an effort. I really did miss having Harry in my life, I would be devastated if he walked out of it again. But as a female who is in no way biologically related to him, keeping me around would have been difficult and confusing for teenage Incubus Harry. I know that neither of us dealt with his abilities turning up well, as shown by us not speaking for several years, but come on, we were both stupid teenagers. It’s not like you can actually expect good, well thought out decisions.

“Right, so is your arm around Bellamy’s neck a sign of affection or are you trying to strangle him? Because if it’s the latter, I would prefer you didn’t.” I tell him cheerfully. Harry laughs and releases Bellamy,

“Well since you asked so nicely.” He pulls me into a quick hug and releases me. Bellamy looks half amused and half annoyed.

go since h

“How did you do that? I’ve been trying to get him to let got here!” Bellamy demands.

“Well duh. He’s TRYING to annoy you. If you wanted him to let go you probably shouldn’t have made it so obvious that it was working.” I point out. Bellamy sighs.

“That makes an annoying amount of sense.” He grumbles. I move to stand beside Bellamy and lean into his shoulder.

“Thanks for not hurting Harry ip your attempts to remove him from your personal space.” I comment. Bellamy grins and leans down to kiss me lightly.

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175- Admiration and alcohol

“Well I thought you might prefer your sort–of–brother in one piece. But your gratitude is appreciated.” He moves to kiss me again but is interrupted by Harry shoving something purple in his face.

“NOPE. No groping my sort–of–sister. Usually I would enjoy watching a pretty girl being seduced, particularly if I’m the one doing the seducing, but Ryann… yeah no.” Harry shudders. Bellamy, who looked annoyed when Harry interrupted, seems delighted with this information. Alright, well I think Harry has officially convinced Bellamy that he isn’t actually a threat, no matter how much Harry likes to taunt him.

“Well then, in that case we should get back to why you’re actually here. That way you can hurry up and leave and I can kiss Ryann without you butting in.” Bellamy says cheerfully. I roll my eyes and elbow Bellamy in the ribs.

“Sure.” Harry answers, waving around his right hand which is still clutching what I can now see is a shiny glass bottle full of something purple.

“Incubi delivery service. Where we always deliver the whole package.” He says with a wink. I groan.

“That was terrible Harry.” I complain.

“I could try another one. You would be surprised how many lines I can come up with using the word ‘package.‘ Harry offers.

“Please don’t” Bellamy says dryly.

“Alright, alright. Well, I have that tracking spell you wanted. Cam asked me to bring it to you.” he explains.

“Great.” Bellamy holds out a hand for the bottle. Harry holds it out to him, then at the last second, he shifts his hand to the side and lets go.

“No!” Bellamy grabs for where he expects the bottle to fall. Except it doesn’t. Harry stands there hand open, palm facing down. But the bottle doesn’t fall.

“Harry, why is that bottle stuck to your hand?” I ask. He shrugs.

“Cam was going to deliver it herself but there was a delivery at the bar and she had to stay so I offered to help. She said no at first but eventually agreed. Still, she magicked it to my hand. She said it was so I wouldn’t drop it or lose it.” He admits. I burst out laughing and Bellamy smirks. Once I get ahold of myself I ask Harry what to do next.

“So how do we get it off your hand?” I question, Harry shrugs.

“Not sure. You should probably ask Cam. She gave you her number right? What was it again?” He asks.

“She won’t give you her number, will she?” I ask sympathetically. Harry shrugs.

“Well, I’d love to help, but it would be wrong for me to give it out without her permission.” I say apologetically. I expect him to be annoyed but he just nods.

“All good, I’d rather she give it to me herself anyway.” He responds, a combination of optimism and determination in his tone that I can’t help but admire. Lquickly call Cam.

“Hello?” She answers.

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175- Admiration and alcohol

“Hi, this is Ryann. I’ve got Harry here with a bottle stuck to his hand which is hilarious by the way. What do we need to do to get the bottle off of him? I mean, I could make him carry it around indefinitely but I think even with a spell on him he would replace a way to lose it if we leave it too long.” I joke. Cam snorts out a laugh.

“That’s fair. Well it’s an easy enough spell to break. I made the magic dissolvable and of course I used something I had handy as the trigger. So all you need to do is tip a little whiskey over it.” She explains. Well of course.Why wouldn’t the bartending Witch make spells that can only be broken with alcohol? I thank her and say my goodbyes while Bellamy heads to the kitchen to grab a bottle of whiskey he must have kept in one of the higher cupboards. I’ve already looked in all the ones I can reach while attempting to cool so I know they weren’t full of booze. He returns and I take the bottle and carefully tip a capful of whiskey over Harry’s hand. We all stare, waiting for something to happen.

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