Tuesday 31 May 2011
Buster Keaton & Fatty Arbuckle - Spaghetti
Monday 30 May 2011
Feedjit Fidgets
Yours sincerely, a visitor from Melbourne (insert Aus flag here or wherever you would prefer)
more reviewage
gormenghast
Sunday 29 May 2011
My Sunday morning
Saturday 28 May 2011
Cabanossi taxed to death in the budget!
Image via Wikipedia
Image via WikipediaTomorrow would be a long day. All of them would have to climb the rocky face of the mountain range behind them on their way to the forest shack and freedom in the peaceful kingdom of Siam. They had been edging closer each day. The ponies were carrying their load well, especially since Miguel had whispered to them over and over about the thoroughbred fillies that awaited them at Jim's place.
Friday 27 May 2011
Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
Thursday 26 May 2011
blueberries
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Tuesday 24 May 2011
Review/Discussion: Angry Boys- or is it too early to review it?
If you miss episodes you can find a link here, where the entire episode can be watched online: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/angryboys/
Now here's my ten cents worth:
I didnt find the first episode funny. I kept waiting and hoping. I kept worrying 'what if Chris Lilley's delivered a stinker?' Some part of me was engaged in admiring his astonishing characters, but I was mainly dismayed that I just wasnt laughing.
I found parts of the second episode funny. But more importantly, I felt relaxed by Lilley's outrageous storytelling. Which has always been as important as his character gags. And his stories have always built and built. And when I think back, I was never rolling off the couch cackling in the first episode of 'We Can Be Heroes' either. But it was all new, and I had no expectations.
I've seen enough to stop worrying. This aint no stinker. Will be a uniquely funny series. Read a critique of his S.Mouse character- that rap should have been laughed at 10 years ago, that it's not relevant, that its old material. Tell that to S.Mouse and get the joke.
9pm ABC1; 10.15pm Tues ABC 2.
Other verdicts?
Monday 23 May 2011
William Shatner "Common People"
Sunday 22 May 2011
You should be so lucky...
Image by woody1778a via Flickr
Cover of MadonnaA local girl sang on stage at the local talent contest the Madonna song, "I should be so lucky" just as the two ponies entered the summer celebrations of our tiny village on the shores of the cold dark sea. Rather than the haze of Death Valley, the were ensconced with steam coming from nostrils and of the sweaty hides of their ponies.
Image via Wikipedia"It's not fair mumsie. Lad Gaga doesn't start playing until 3 tomorrow morning."
Image via WikipediaThe two went inside the Last Chance Saloon. Pedro had become obsessed and Miguel was very concerned for his sanity. The sculptures on the beach were being judged and a huge convoy of trucks dwarfed the towns community centre where Sarah and Ms Gaga would appear that night.
Saturday 21 May 2011
Agent of Death - Levi
This is the sequel so to speak of the other story that I posted here last month. Hope that you enjoy it just as much.
It wasn’t really what Eve wanted to be doing on her day off from work, but Jen was a friend and she needed her there right now. Waddling down the hospital corridor she still wasn’t entirely comfortable with her pregnancy. Alex was thrilled with it, but it scared her still that she had another life growing inside of her. She recalled the day that she had found out that she was pregnant. She had been hovering over the toilet bowl, alone and feeling sorry for herself. Alex was off working and she had called in sick that day. It was the first ever day that she had called in sick. She had felt something different inside of her and after dragging herself up off of the floor and to the pharmacy she bought a test that was about to confirm her fears.
Positive.
Alex had been excited and happy. She didn’t have the chance to say that she was scared. He had known though and while he didn’t say anything straight away, he did eventually say something. She felt slightly reassured now, but every now and again she got caught in a downward spin. There was only a month to go and she hoped that when she held her baby for the first time she would have her current fears disappear totally.
“Eve, is that you?” A voice broke through her thoughts and she stopped and turned to face the person behind her.
“Levi. How wonderful to see you.” Genuine warmth flowed in her voice.
“Look at you. You look even more beautiful each time I see you. How long to go now?”
“A month. It feels like forever though.”
“It will pass quickly.”
“Let’s hope so. I was thinking that it must be time for all of you to come over and visit again. Alex and I have not seen you all for a while now.”
“We have been busy Eve, you know that.”
“Do I need to go and take to your father again?” It was a running joke amongst the brothers that Eve only ever went to see their father when she wanted to complain about something.
“No, no, I will sort something out. Anyway, what are you doing here?”
“I am here to visit a friend. She is on this ward.”
“Well I am going to see someone on this ward too.” He didn’t have to spell it out for her. He was death and she knew that hospitals were where his talent was used most. She nodded her head. It was hard for her not to question their work sometimes, but she had made a promise when she had risked everything to find out what she felt for Alex. It was the best decision that she had ever made.
“I will walk with you. If you like.”
“That would be nice Levi. Her room is just down here.”
Arriving at Jen’s room Levi didn’t leave her side, instead he walked in the room with her. It clicked and she felt the blood drain from her face.
“Eve is you ok?” Jen’s concerned voice looked at her, ignoring the fact that there was anyone else in the room.
“She can’t see me Eve, only you can.” His words were soft, but explained enough.
“I am okay Jen, just feel a little funny. I am just going to step outside for a few minutes and will be back soon.
“Alright, take it easy. You don’t want that baby coming too soon.”
Eve walked outside and Levi followed her once more. She sat down and put her head between her legs in an attempt to compose herself.
“No Levi, you can’t take her.”
“Eve you know that I have to.” Regret and remorse filled his voice as he knew that he was about to hurt the person that his brother loved.
“I am begging you Levi. Don’t take her. She is one of the few friends that I still have left.” She was desperate to make him see her side. Her eyes prickled with tears.
“It is out of my control.”
“Please don’t make me break my promise to your father.”
“You don’t have to. You can forget that you even saw me. She has no idea what is coming. I promise that I won’t hurt her.”
“I will protect her. You can’t get past me and I am telling you now that I will stop you.” Force entered her voice. There was no way in hell that she was going to stand by and let him kill her friend. “I am not in a fit state to be burying my friends right now. Just go away.” Feeling a little better mentally she walked back inside Jen’s room and took a seat. She couldn’t see Levi, but she knew that it was not unusual. The brothers could hide from whoever they liked.
“How are you feeling Jen?”
“Like I could run a marathon.”
“You probably could if you hadn’t broken your leg and hurt your back.”
“The leg is fine and my back is on the mend. Doctors have said that I have been lucky. It could have been a lot worse.”
“You must have had an angel watching over you.”
“Maybe I do. Anyway, I don’t want to have another pity party. It has been ages since I have seen you. Tell me how everything is going with you and Alex.”
“We are good. Work is keeping him busy, but I am about to put my foot down there and lay a few new ground rules for when the baby is born.”
“That will be nice. Do you know what you are having yet?”
“No. We wanted it to be a surprise. Alex is the excited one. I will just be glad not to be fat.”
“You are not fat at all. You look beautiful. I can’t believe that I am going to become a surrogate aunt.” Jen’s voice rang with excitement.
“Something for you to look forward to when you get out of here.”
“You just need to have that baby.”
“And you just need to get out of this place.”
“I will be home before you know it Eve. You look a little tired.”
“I am a little. I get tired easily.”
“So go home. You have seen that I am alright and surviving.”
“It’s fine. I am happy to stay and keep you company for a while. Alex isn’t home anyway.” She didn’t want to leave Jen alone, so until she could work out a way of keeping her alive, she would have to stay. They talked for hours and it wasn’t until Eve looked out the window and saw the sun setting that she realised the time. She hadn’t seen Levi at all for the rest of the day. She could feel him still being there looking at her.
“Eve, you should go now. You have been here for hours and need your rest.” Knowing that she was tired, she knew that she was going to have to leave. Getting up she leaned over and gave Jen a hug.
“I know. So I will head home. Alex should be there soon. I need to talk to him before he falls asleep on me again tonight.”
She still was getting used to how her power of life could be used on things other than herself. She knew that she could bring flowers back to life, but she had never really tested it on another person in order to keep them safe. This was not the ideal way to find out, but it was the only way she could think of. Sending a spark of light and life through her fingertips and into Jen where she touched her skin she pulled back from the hug and hoped with all her heart that it was enough to stop Levi for a night at least. Enough to make him rethink his orders.
“I will come by again tomorrow, after work.”
“Alright, drive safe and I will see you then.”
“Night Jen.”
She walked from the room and only made it half way down the hall before Levi appeared in front of her. He didn’t stop her, but kept up with the slow waddling pace that she was walking.
“Eve you know that if I could disobey orders I would. I didn’t realise that she was special to you.”
Eve stopped there and looked at him directly. “You can disobey, you are choosing not to. For that I do not regret my actions at all. I have nothing else to say to you right now. I am going home to Alex. Goodnight Levi.” Her voice was surprisingly calm and even though she was angry, she was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that. He could tell it anyway without the tone being in her voice. Leaving him standing there, she walked back to her car and drove home.
It was only a short drive home, but it left her more tired than she had expected. She was exhausted. Alex was in the kitchen cooking. She couldn’t help but smile at this. When the dust had settled and things started to return to normal it had been hard working out where Alex could help her. It hadn’t taken her long to realise that she was in love with him. It was the little things that he did that made her smile and had her heart singing every time that he walked into the room. Each hug and each kiss brought her closer to never wanting to leave him. She had been so independent for so long that it was a huge adjustment to have someone living with her. The kitchen still presented a challenge for Alex, but his meals were getting better each time he tried.
The house had a pleasant aroma and as she walked in and stood behind him she gave him a quick hug intending to go and sit down before dinner. A squeal of delight escaped her lips as he spun her around and plundered her mouth with a heated kiss before leaning down to kiss her belly gently.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you too Alex.” Kissing her belly had become a daily ritual, one that she enjoyed. He was going to make a great father.
“So what did you get up to today?” He turned back to focus on the food and she went and poured herself a glass of cold water before sitting down to watch him work in the kitchen.
“I went to visit Jen in the hospital. She said to say hello.”
“How is she going?” His voice was slightly distracted as he concentrated on what he was doing.
“I think that she looks great, however tomorrow will be the real test.”
“What happens tomorrow?”
“I ran into Levi today too.” She ignored his question. She didn’t want to tell him what she had done. Part of her was ashamed that she was risking what they had, but the other part wanted to protect him. If he didn’t know, he couldn’t get into trouble with his father.
“That’s nice. How is he?”
“Not too bad. Told him that it would be nice to see him over here with all the brothers one day.”
“It has been a while since we have had them all here. Hopefully we will see them before the baby is born.”
“I am sure that we will.” She sipped the water in front of her and enjoyed the view before her. He was concentrating so hard on what he was doing that he had a little frown line appearing on his forehead. “Is there anything that I can help with?”
“No you just sit there and relax.” She didn’t have to be told twice. Her feet were swollen and while she could actually rest, she did.
As a plate was placed in front of Eve her stomach grumbled in approval. The dish smelt divine and as she tasted the first mouthful she was glad this it tasted as good as it smelt. Alex sat opposite her and watched her take her first mouthful. The look that had on her face pleased him as he knew that he had done something right.
“So when are you going to see Jen next?”
“Tomorrow.” She wanted to get off of this topic.
“I might be able to come with you if you like.”
“No it is ok.” She responded quickly.
“What is wrong Eve? What are you not telling me?” He was watching her carefully.
“Nothing.”
“Eve….” There was a warning tone to his voice.
“I ran into Levi today.”
“You said that already. What has that…?” It clicked. She could see the moment that it did. “What did you do?”
“Before I tell you, you need to know how much I love you. I didn’t want to do it, but the alternative was something that I was not prepared to accept.” The words tumbled from her mouth quickly.
“It is never a good thing when you say things like that.” She couldn’t look at him, but she could hear the caution in his voice.
“I don’t want you to be angry at me.”
“Eve I don’t like where this is heading. Just tell me what is going on.”
“He was going to kill her. I couldn’t let him do that. She is my best friend. She is going to be a surrogate aunty to our child. I have to stop him….” Tears streamed from her face and she pushed her chair back from the table and left the room. The bathroom was the closest room with a door that she could lock so she headed there. Sitting against the door she sat down berating herself for being so self-centred. This was bigger than her it wasn’t just going to affect her, but Alex, their unborn child and all of the brothers too. Sobbing cross legged on the floor she wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to comfort. She could hear Alex on the other side of the door, but she was not up to facing him. She wasn’t up to seeing the disappointment on his face. She wasn’t the only one who had risked a lot so they could be with one another. He had done his fair share of compromising. Everything that he did was closely watched by his father. One silly move from her had put everything in jeopardy.
“It will be alright Eve.” He knew that there would come a time where one of them would kill someone that she loved. He had silently hoped that it would be a while off yet and that whoever got the job would be able to finish it before she found out. His mind was racing as he tried to think of an excuse to tell his father. Something that would give them some leeway with him. Seeking out Levi came to mind, but first he needed to settle Eve and reassure her that they would deal with this together.
“Eve, it will be alright. Just come out of there and we can talk about it.” It tore him up inside to hear her crying like she was. They had been so careful. Every rule that was put in place had been carefully abided by. Each time there was an issue they talked about it and sorted it out. Until he knew exactly what she had done, he couldn’t work out how to fix it. “Eve can you open the door please?’ Still the door remained closed and he could hear her sobbing. He wanted to go in there and hug her. Tell her that everything could be worked out. “You are scaring me. Can you please let me in?” He appealed to her caring side. She wouldn’t like knowing that she was scaring him. He heard movement behind the door and the lock release as the door was opened. She stood before him looking broken. Her beautiful skin was blotchy and red and the tears still streamed down her face. Carefully watching her, he stepped forward and embraced her in a hug. She continued to cry as he guided her to the bed.
“It will be alright. We will sort this out.”
“How do you know?” she sniffled.
“I just do. First though, I need to know what you have done exactly.” He gripped her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“I pushed a light of life into her for protection. I don’t even know if it will work, but I couldn’t just sit there while he watched, waiting for me to leave. Can you check on her?”
“Of course I can. You need to rest for now. Get some sleep and we can talk more in the morning.” He reached down and gave her a hug. He sat there and waited for her to close her eyes and drift into sleep before he rose and went to search for Levi.
What had she done? Levi stood over her bed and tried again, but he couldn’t get past the block that seemed firmly in place. Bloody Eve, their father was going to be angry when he found out. He had watched her closely all day and he hadn’t seen her do anything out of the ordinary. She must have done something though. It was the only thing that could explain what was happening now. Jen lay asleep before him, he was bathed in a thin sheen of sweat and she wouldn’t die.
“I thought that I would find you here.” Alex’s voice broke his concentration.
“What has she done?” Levi struggled to keep the frustration out of his voice. This was supposed to be an easy job. In and out, quickly. He should have known that once he saw Eve that was going to change.
“She is protecting a friend.” The blunt honesty in his voice had Levi stopping short.
“She has broken the rules.”
“That she has, but we can’t change that now. We just have to work out how to deal with it.”
“Deal with it? I can’t bloody kill her.” He gestured impatiently to Jen. “You know that to deal with it, she has to die.” Annoyed he ran his hand through his hair. “Dammit Alex, why was it me? How come I am the first one to be tasked to kill someone she loves?”
“We all knew that it was going to happen.” Alex shrugged what more could he really say?
“The timing just sucks. She is hormonal. Does she realise what she is risking?”
“Judging by how she reacted to telling me, yes, but she did it anyway.”
“So what now?” Levi hated being in this position, but Alex was right, he couldn’t change it, the only thing that he could do was work out a way to fix it.
“I suggest having an early night and in the morning come over and talk with Eve. Maybe if we can make her see sense she will take the block away before we have to tell father that she broke the rules.”
Sighing he saw the logic in Alex’s words. No matter what happened, the brothers had agreed many a time before, that protecting Eve from their father was the second most important thing for them all, after their jobs. “I will come over tomorrow then in the morning.” He turned and walked away leaving Alex with Jen in the room.
Poor Levi, he knew exactly how he must feel now. The frustration that is felt when you fail was so alien to them. It never happened and when it did it took time to get used to the idea. He sat down next to Jen and grabbed her hand. To anyone walking past it would seem that she was in the room alone. If he could kill her it would save them all. Trying gently in an effort not to cause pain he attempted the task himself. It didn’t work. There was definitely a block there, he felt it easily and his heart swelled with pride at Eve’s work. If only she had not used Jen to test it on. It would have been a lot easier for everyone concerned if she had just kept this to herself and continued to bring plants to life and stop wanting to play with human lives.
Pushing back from the bed he left the room and returned home. Eve was still sound asleep on the bed. Crawling in beside her Alex wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, when he closed his eyes and fell asleep, he hoped for a better tomorrow.
The sun was up and while Eve lay next to him no moving, he could tell that she was awake. Her heartbeat was steady and when he stopped to listen he could hear a second heartbeat fluttering faster. Their child. When Eve had told him that she was pregnant his heart had skipped a few beats. It didn’t seem possible that he could be any happier, but he was wrong. He ran his hand along the curve of her body as she lay on her side. She shivered and turned to face him just as his hand came to rest on her belly. Her eyes were still red and heavy. Under his hand he felt movement.
“Morning.” He leaned forward and gently kissed her on the forehead.
“Is Jen ok?” Her voice was sleepy, but laced with anxiety.
“She is fine. Levi isn’t happy though.” She looked away and towards where his hand rested.
“I am sorry Alex.”
“I know. Levi is going to come over this morning to talk to you about it. We need to work out what to do now.”
She stiffened beside him. “I am not that sorry. I am not taking my actions back. Not until I know that Jen is safe.” There was a tone of warning in her voice.
“We will work it out.” As much as he wanted to believe his words, he wasn’t as confident as he made out. “Let’s get up and I will make you breakfast.”
“Go ahead without me. I will be out soon.”
Alex gave her a quick kiss before getting out of bed and going to make her something to eat.
Walking into the kitchen Eve saw Alex making toast and hot chocolate, what she didn’t see was Levi sitting on the bench out of her sight. Reaching Alex, she hugged him from behind. “Morning. I want to apologise for this earlier. I shouldn’t be angry at you.”
“No, I should be angry at you instead.” She turned to face Levi as he dropped from the bench and landed on his feet. “So nice to see you again Eve.”
“I am not apologising to you. I am not sorry for what I did yesterday, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.” Her voice was hard and despite only just getting out of bed, there were no remnants of the night apparent on her face.
“Do you know what you are risking?” His voice was raised.
“Of course I do. I am not stupid, but you need to realise what she is to me.”
“What about what she is to me?”
“You are kidding me right? You want her dead. All that she is to you is another notch on your list of kills.” Venom was dripping in her voice. She was not going to back down here.
“It doesn’t matter. You need to remove that block and let me do my job.”
“I am not going to do that. Not until I know that she is safe.” She was not going to be intimidated by him. She knew what he was, and he, like all the brothers, no longer scared her.
“You promised that you would not interfere.” Stating the obvious was all that he could do.
“So I am breaking it. She is my friend and I am not willing to let her die.”
“Stop. Both of you just stop.” Alex’s voice broke through the room. She had forgotten that he was even there. Being so absorbed with Levi, she had lost sight of what was around her.
“Eve, please, I am begging with you. Let me do my job.” He voice was a lot softer this time.
“Levi I wish that I could, but I can’t.” She stepped back and found a seat. Suddenly lightheaded she needed to sit before she fell down.
“We all promised to keep you from him. We all promised to keep you safe.”
“I appreciate the concern, but I needed to do this.” Her head was starting to pound. She didn’t feel well. Lifting her hand to her head to support it, the room started to spin. “I don’t feel very well.”
“Eve. Stay with me Eve.” Alex’s voice sounded so distant, but she was beyond being able to respond. Her world went black as she fell from the chair.
One minute she was there, arguing loudly, the next she was falling. He lurched forward to grab her, aware that Levi was doing the same. They reached her at the same time, just before she hit the floor. Holding her suspended above the ground they paused for a second in silence conversation before lifting her together and returning her to her bed.
“Thanks Levi.” This time the words were spoken, after she was resting again.
“No problems at all. I guess the stress of me getting angry got to her.”
“Only because she is pregnant I suspect.” He couldn’t help but laugh.
“I think that you are right there.”
Making sure for the last time that she was alright and comfortable, he let her sleep it off and rest before walking back to the kitchen with Levi. Sitting at the table, they ate the toast that had long since gone cold.
“What are we going to do now?” Levi’s words broke the silence.
“I honestly don’t know. She can’t go and face father in this state.”
“I know. It wouldn’t be very pleasant to watch what he would do.”
“Maybe you should just go and see Jen again.”
“You tried last night. You know what I am up against.”
“How did you know?”
Levi smiled slightly, “I knew that you would try so that you could try and protect her. Everything that you do is for her and if you could stop her from having to see him again, you would.”
“I know what she has done, but surely there must be another way?”
“Maybe I should go and talk to him and just tell him that I want to look into her more.”
“You will raise his suspicions. He has given you your jobs for the next few days hasn’t he?”
“Most of them, yes. What are you thinking?”
“Work around her for as long as you can. Leave her for last, hopefully by then I will have worked out what to do next.”
“Sounds fair enough. If nothing else, it buys us some time.”
“Exactly.” They lapsed into silence, lost in their own thoughts as they finished what was officially a bad breakfast.
“I better get going. Lots to do.” Levi pushed back from the table. “When Eve wakes up, can you let me know that she is alright. I worry about her.”
Alex nodded. “Will do.” With that, Levi was gone.
Damn Eve. Walking through the hospital hallways he couldn’t help but be angry at her. He couldn’t fault Alex for falling in love with her, she was perfect for him. However ever since they had met her, she had been turning things upside down for them all. Now she was creating the biggest havoc of them all. Messing with their father was something that she shouldn’t be doing. Wasn’t the fact that he hated the idea she was having a child indication enough for her that he didn’t like what she was?
“Excuse me, do you work here?” A female voice called out. He stopped and looked around for a moment, assessing his surroundings. There was no one in his sight. “In here.” Looking into the room on his right he stood stunned for a moment. No one was meant to be able to see him. “Yes you, can you come in here please.” Cautiously he walked into the room and he immediately realised his mistake. Lost in his own thoughts he had not been careful and had been walking around in full view of everyone. “Do you work here?” She repeated again.
Sitting up on the bed was Jen and she was talking to him. Could this situation get any worse? “No.”
“Oh, my mistake.” She sounded slightly disappointed.
“Did you want something? Maybe I can help you, or get someone for you.”
She laughed, “You are going to think that this is funny, but you looked kind of nice. I am lonely and wanted someone to talk to.” He looked nice, was she crazy? Deep down he knew that he should get out of there fast, but he couldn’t seem to drag himself away from her.
“Well I could stay for a little bit if you like.”
“No, I don’t want to keep you from whoever you were here to visit.”
“How about I come back later and sit with you for a while?” There was something about her that captivated him and made him want to stay. His father’s words echoed in his mind. You would be wise to kill while they are asleep Levi. You do not want to look them in the eyes. They will cloud your judgement. Standing in her room the day before he had been so focused on Eve that he hadn’t spared her a second look and with her eyes closed the that night he didn’t see what was in front of him. Now that she could see him and he could in turn see her for what she was, he didn’t want to have to leave her side.
“It is up to you. I am not going anywhere just yet.”
“Then I might see you later.”
Walking back into the hallway he cursed himself this time at his stupidity. This time it wasn’t Eve’s fault, he could see what she saw now. He could see why she had stopped him. The only question now was what was he going to do about it?
She sat there not really knowing what to think. Sure she could be forward, but even what had happened had shocked her. Jen sat back wondering if she was losing her mind. She had no idea who he was or even his name, yet she had invited him back to keep her company. What would Eve think if she found out? Knowing her she would probably want to have me committed. There was something about him that made her want to call out to him. For a moment she couldn’t help but wonder if he had heard her at all, but he had, and he had come in and spoken to her. He was shorter than she realised, but he was kind of cute too especially standing there looking all confused. She couldn’t help but wonder whether he would actually come back or not. Shaking her head in disbelief of herself and thoughts she picked up the remote and hoped that something was on that would distract her from doing silly things.
She was asleep when he walked back into her room later in the day. He stood there debating if he should just go, or wait for her to wake. Logic told him to go and not look back, but his heart tugged each time he went to walk away. Deciding that nothing good could come from him being in the same room as her he stepped to walk away and ran face first into Eve.
“What are you doing here?” The both said in unison.
He motioned for her to talk first. “You first Eve.”
“I am here because she is my friend and I told her that I would visit today.” Her voice was clear and questioning.
“She is sleeping.”
“That doesn’t answer why you are here. Come to give it another shot?” She jibbed at him.
“No, haven’t you spoken to Alex since you woke up again?” Clearly she hadn’t woken in a better mood.
“He was gone when I got up again.”
“Maybe you should talk to him then, before you have another go at me.” Every time she opened her mouth he could hear the negativity towards him. It was hard to maintain a calm tone.
“Get over yourself Levi. If you want to say something, be a man and say it to my face.”
“Fine, let’s hope that you can remain standing for this one. You broke the rules and now we all have to suffer. Just because you are pregnant doesn’t give you the right to be so bitchy. I am here because she asked me to come back and keep her company. So get off your high horse and stop blaming me for trying to do my job.” With each word his voice got louder and her face became paler.
“She asked for you?” Eve stumbled out the words.
“Yes I did Eve. Next time you two want to talk, can you try and not wake me?” Jen lifted her head from the pillow and looked at them both. Her voice was still sleepy.
“Sorry, we didn’t mean to.” Eve felt guilty and she took the opportunity to walk past Levi and sit next to her bed.
“It’s alright. So tell me, how do you two know each other?” She lifted the bed up so that she was partially sitting. Eve and Levi looked at one another wondering how they were going to explain it.
“Levi here is Alex’s brother. I guess my future brother in law.”
“You’re kidding me. Of all the people that I spot in the hallway that I think could look nice to talk to, I pick someone you know. How amazing is that?”
“Amazing isn’t it?” Her voice was slightly cynical, but Jen didn’t notice.
“Since Eve is here to keep you company, I might head out.” It was the right time to go. He had things that needed to be done.
“Thanks for coming back, maybe if you are around again tomorrow you can stop by and talk. We could trade secrets about Eve and Alex.”
“I will keep that in mind.” He waved goodbye and walked out of the room, not before seeing the evil look that Eve was shooting in his direction.
Levi left the hospital, he needed to get away. He knew that he could find any of his brothers to talk to, but it was Jordon that he went in search for. Jordon was standing in the middle of a freeway overseeing a major accident.
“How many in this one?” Levi spoke from behind him and watched the surprise on Jordon’s face when he turned around.
“This is a turn up for the books. Something must be wrong. You never come and talk to me when I am working.”
“You didn’t answer my question, how many?”
“Four. What’s up little brother?” Jordon could see through what Levi was showing on the outside and could tell that there was a reason he was standing before him.
“Are you finished here?”
“Yeah, my work is done on this one finally. Let’s get out of here.” They walked away from the scene. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get four random strangers in the same place at the same time?”
“I can only imagine.”
“Well this one has taken a week to organise.”
“Still it is a good run. They can’t always be easy.”
They were sitting on top of a cliff. It was miles out of town, but it was Jordon’s favourite place to sit down and relax.
“I know, but sometimes it can be frustrating.” Jordon paused “Enough about my day, what is happening with you?”
Levi let the question hang in the air while he thought about how best to answer the question. From the beginning seemed like the logical place. “I saw Eve yesterday, she is looking really well. She mentioned all of us catching up at her place again before the baby is born.”
“Sounds like a great idea to me. It has been so long since we have seen both her and Alex.”
“I saw Alex yesterday and he thought that it was a good idea too.”
“My, you have been busy. Somehow I get the impression though that this is not the main reason you are sitting here with me now.”
“Jordon, as usual, you are right. I have a bit of a problem.” Was a problem really what this all was or was he making it into one by letting his feelings get in the way?
“Maybe I can help then. What is it?”
“Eve is blocking me from doing my job.” That was the simplest way of putting it.
“What do you mean blocking?” Jordon worded carefully.
“I was tasked with killing someone that she was close to. Her best friend, Jen.”
“Crap! Glad that it is you and not me.” Surprise and relief were evident in Jordon’s voice.
“Gee thanks for that. That is the least of my problems though.”
“You mean that it is worse than that?”
“That is just the beginning. The rest goes along the lines of Eve broke the rules and now I can’t seem to kill her friend. Not only that, but today Jen saw me and wanted someone to talk to.”
“Please tell me that you didn’t look at her?” Levi didn’t respond and that was all the confirmation that Jordon needed. “You always did have a soft spot. That was why father told you not to look at them in the face.”
“I know. You don’t need to remind me.” He hated that his brothers knew his weakness, but like everything, there were no secrets between them.
“You don’t want to kill her now do you?”
“Not really, she fascinates me.”
“Fascinates you?” Jordon scoffed at him. “She is just like the rest of the people out there she is a job, nothing more.”
“What if she is more than that?”
“Don’t tell me that now that Alex has found love that you think that you can too. It doesn’t happen like that.”
“You’re such a cynic Jordon.”
“No I am a realist. If you can’t kill her, you are going to have to talk to father about it and Eve will just have to wear the punishment that he gives out.”
“We swore to protect her though.” Outrage at the callous way his brother reverberated in his voice.
“And she swore not to interfere with our work.” Jordon shot back.
Silence fell between them, as much as he knew that Jordon was right, he hated to admit it. Eve had started this and he needed to protect himself first and her second. His thoughts strayed to Jen, what was it about her that made him feel so weak?
“I don’t mean to sound harsh Levi, I am just trying to look after us all.”
“I understand that. I will go and talk to father tomorrow and see what he has to say. I am going to try one more time tonight when she is asleep.”
“My brother, I am here for you if you need me.”
“Thanks Jordon. I will talk to you soon.” He closed his eyes and thought of the hospital once more. When he opened his eyes again he was there ready to head back to Jen’s room.
Eve was gone when he arrived in the doorway of Jen’s room and he breathed a sigh of relief, the last thing that he wanted was another confrontation with her today. Two was two too many. Jen was asleep again and silently walking into her room he gently touched her arm once more as he sat down in the chair next to her. She looked so peaceful laying there with her eyes closed. A small smile was fixed on her face and her hair spilled over the pillow. He carefully pushed himself within her at the briefest of touch and hoped that this time it would be enough. He hadn’t felt Eve’s block and prayed that it had worn off. Levi withdrew his hand and sat back to wait and see if she would wake. It would take a while for him to know if it had worked, but he would come back later to check on her. When she didn’t stir, he got up and left the room. Tomorrow he would know more, now all that he could do was get some rest.
First thing in the morning he walked again into her room. It had been a long night. He had struggled to sleep, even though he was tired. Nothing had changed visibly overnight. She still lay sleeping. Her breath was soft and steady. Sitting back down in the chair beside her bed, Levi could do nothing more than wait for her to wake up. He had nowhere else to be, so he just sat there by her side. The sun shone brightly into the room. The curtains blocked out very little of the day outside. Part of him was worried about what would happen when she woke. If he had done his job properly she would be weak and barely able to move.
Jen’s eyelids fluttered with movement and as he sat straighter in the chair she opened them. Her brilliant blue eyes shone with the remnants of sleep before they focused on him.
“How long have you been sitting there waiting for me to wake?” her voice was gravelly with sleep as she tried to wake herself up.
“Not too long.” It wasn’t a big deal. Time meant very little to him.
“I am sorry that you had to wait at all.”
“Consider us even. I am sorry that Eve and I woke you yesterday.”
“Oh that is fine. I needed to wake up anyway. I wanted to talk to Eve anyway. She was acting weird the day before and I wanted to check that she was ok.” Sitting up in the bed she showed no outward signs of being weak.
“And is she?” He didn’t know why he asked, but the words tumbled from his mouth before he could stop them.
“She seemed better yesterday. What were you two arguing over anyway?” She regarded him carefully as she awaited his reply. He thought about lying to her, but he didn’t know what Eve had said, so he went with the truth.
“We weren’t arguing as such, she was just surprised to see me here. It was nothing major.”
“Must have been one heck of a surprise given the way she reacted.”
“I am blaming her hormones, but don’t tell her that.” Laughter bubbled from Jen’s mouth at that comment and something inside Levi changed. More than ever before he wanted to ignore the directive that he had been given in regards to her fate. His thoughts drifted to his father. How long would it be before he was summoned by him to explain what was going on? More to the point, how would he explain it? The blame didn’t rest solely on Eve’s actions, but his too.
“I won’t say a thing. So how come you are here anyway?”
“Was visiting a friend, but they were discharged the day before I visited.” He hadn’t thought that far before, so a quick lie would cover it for now.
“I am hoping that will be me soon. The doctors are pleased with my progress and said yesterday that I might be able to go home today or tomorrow.”
“That is good news. So what happened anyway? Why are you here?” Maybe if she left he would be able to get out of the job.
“It is a bit of a funny story really now that I think about it. I was lucky in a lot of ways, but unlucky in others. I tend to be a little clumsy. Last week I was leaving my apartment and walking down the stairs for work when I miss-stepped and fell down the stairs. I only fell from the half-way point, but it was enough to break my leg and bruise my back badly. I couldn’t feel my legs when it happened, but someone heard me fall and came to my aid. They thought that I had broken my back too at one point, but I regained feeling and movement after a few days.”
“Wow that is amazing. You are lucky, it could have been a lot worse.”
“I know, right? Enough about me though. I want the gossip. How many brothers does Alex have? He never talks much about his family.”
“There are five of us.”
“A big family. How about your parents, are they still alive?”
“Our mother isn’t, but our father is.” He needed to get her away from talking about him. It would only result in him getting closer to her, and that was something that he knew that he shouldn’t do. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“I am an only child.”
“What about your parents?”
“Dead.” She looked away and sorrow passed over her face briefly, but then was gone. She looked at him again “Eve is the closest thing that I have to family.”
And there it was again, yet another thing that added to the ever growing list of reasons why he shouldn’t kill her. This was wrong, he needed to go. The longer he stayed, the more he put himself in danger. The longer he stayed, the more he wanted to get to know her.
“Eve is great. When she and Alex got together I was happy for them both.”
“I didn’t find out about him until later, actually not long before she told me that she was pregnant, but I had seen the change in her too.”
Levi opened his mouth to say something just as a group of doctors came into the room.
“How are you feeling today Miss Jones?”
“I am feeling really well. Rested and other than the leg annoying me I am fine.”
“Well your test results have come back and I must say that I am surprised at how fast you have healed. The scans on your back show no signs of bruising or injury at all. Considering the trauma that you presented with we estimated that your recovery time would be weeks, not days.”
“I have always been a fast healer. It is in my blood.”
“It has definitely helped here. Have you been up walking yet?”
“Not yet, but I would like to start moving again.”
“Well I will send a nurse in to help you up and make sure that you are steady and maybe your visitor could walk with you up and down the halls for a little bit. If you can manage that, we will discharge you this afternoon.”
“That would be great. I can’t wait.”
“I will check back in with the nurses this afternoon and we can take it from there.”
“Thank you so much for that.” Happiness rang out in her voice. As the doctor left the room Levi inwardly groaned, so much for leaving.
Home. She couldn’t wait. Jen looked over to where Levi was sitting and she couldn’t help the smile on her face. Great news from the doctor and meeting an interesting new friend, could the day get any better? She had been regarding this new person carefully. He was quiet, really the opposite to her. Without being able to stand up, she figured that he was about her height and the shoulder length brown hair he had wouldn’t have suited everyone, but she found that they suited him. His blue eyes sparkled and if it wasn’t for them she would have struggled to see the resemblance to Alex.
“Do you have plans for your day? You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.” She silently prayed that he would stay though. She wanted to get to know him better.
“I really should go.” His voice was hesitant, like he didn’t want to leave, but he would. Disappointment filled her as she tried to hide it from him. What was it about him that made her feel this way? “I guess that I could stay a little bit longer.” She looked at him and was treated to seeing him smile. Whatever was going through his head, she didn’t care. All that she cared about was the fact that he was going to stay.
Silence entered the room but before it could become uncomfortable a nurse bustled in. “The doctor has asked for me to come here to help you up and make sure that you are stable. Are you ready?”
“I am dying to get up and out of bed.”
After a few struggles she was standing. She felt no pain and other than the huge cast on her leg, she felt normal. Levi was standing against the wall watching her carefully. Even when she wasn’t looking his way, she could feel his eyes on her.
“Seems to me that you are alright and stable on your feet, I am going to let you take a few steps here just to make sure.” Walking was a breeze. Her foot was heavier, but it just took time to get used to. “I am satisfied with your progress. I will get out of your hair. Please stay on this floor if you want to walk around, and if it becomes sore or painful, stop and call for help.”
“Thank you.” The nurse left the room leaving her standing in the middle of the room. She walked towards Levi and held out her hand. “Are you ready to escort me around the corridors?”
“Lead the way.” When he gripped her hand his touch was electric. She felt a current rise up her arm leaving the hair there standing on end. Goosebumps filled the surface of her skin, while she felt hot and cold in the same motion.
He had felt it too and it scared him. No one had ever reacted like that to him before. They walked in comfortable silence at a slow pace. It was like they had been friends forever. Nothing needed to be said and even though there was plenty he suspected that she wanted to say, she remained quiet. When she had had enough walking, they returned to her room and he helped her to settle back into bed.
“It was nice being able to get up and move again. I felt like I was wasting away just laying here.” They were the first words out of Jen’s mouth once she was comfortably back in bed.
“Glad that I could help you there, I really need to go now though.” Looking at the clock on the wall it was almost midday. He had spent way too much time with her already.
“Thank you for today Levi. I feel like I have known you for ages. If you see Eve, can you tell her the news about me going home?”
“I can do that for you. Maybe I will see you around sometime.” He walked to the door and turned back to face her just as he walked out. “Bye Jen.”
“Bye.”
He made it to the end of the corridor before he closed his eyes and disappeared.
There were no words of I will come back and see you soon or I would love to catch up with you for a coffee when you get out, he was just gone, like he had never been there to begin with. She didn’t know whether to be annoyed that he had left without saying anything or annoyed that she hadn’t said anything to him. She wanted to see him again. Maybe when she got out she would talk to Eve about how to find him again. Laying back in the bed she reached for the remote knowing that lunch would be there soon and sometime after that she would find out her fate as to if she was going home today or not.
There was a knock at the door and Eve struggled to get up off the couch to answer it. She had woken up feeling ugly and her mood was teetering that way to match. The countdown was on and it couldn’t come fast enough for her. She wanted this whole pregnancy thing to be over. Opening the door she fought the surprise from showing as Levi stood in front of her.
“Great just when I thought my day couldn’t get any better, you show up.” She resisted the urge to slam the door on him, instead walking back to the couch leaving him standing there.
“Can I come in?” His voice floated into the room where she sat.
“Whatever, I don’t care. If I say no, that won’t stop you, so do what you want.”
“If you say no, I will go away. I have respect for you and your space Eve.”
“Come in then and stop yelling from the doorway. I am in the lounge.” She wasn’t in the mood to be playing game with anyone today, least of all him. She heard the door close and moments later Levi came in and sat down in front of her.
“I have just come from the hospital. Looks like Jen might be going home today or tomorrow. She wanted me to let you know.”
Eve felt a little lighter at his news. “Thank you for letting me know. She told me yesterday about how she had seen you and asked for you to come back and entertain you.”
“Yeah, big mistake on my part there, she should have never seen me.”
“But she did and you kept your word that you would. Why?”
“I saw some of what you saw. I saw how bright and bubbly she was and how she made everyone around her want to smile. I looked into her eyes.” His voice was calm and reflective.
“You felt something didn’t you?”
He hesitated there, wondering how much to tell her. He felt something with Jen, but he still hadn’t worked out what it was. There were too many unknowns. “I feel something, but I don’t know what.”
“Are you going to kill her?”
“We both know that I can’t.” Resignation was in his voice and for the first time since she had seen him in Jen’s hospital room she believed him. “Why didn’t you mention that she could heal so fast?”
“It wasn’t relevant.”
“I think that it is. I felt you block that first night, but last night I didn’t. Did you remove it?”
“No, why would I?” Her voice was openly cautious.
“I didn’t think that you had, but it was gone and I tried again to kill her, but his morning she woke up looking more rested and healed than the day before.”
“You tried to kill her again?” Her voice raised a little.
“Yes, but it didn’t take. Which brings me back to my original question, why didn’t you mention that she heals fast?” She was hiding something from him, if only he knew what it was.
“It isn’t relevant.”
“What is it Eve?”
“I can’t tell you.” She replied cagily.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both. You want to know, ask Jen yourself.”
“Maybe I will.”
“Fine then. Is that all that you wanted?” Her bitchy mood was fast returning and her patience was running thin.
“Yes, I thought that you would want to know.”
“I appreciate it Levi, I really do, but now I would just like some time alone.”
“No problems, I will leave you to it.”
He didn’t even bother to use the door instead he just disappeared from her view. She sat back and thought about what he had been asking. Of course she knew what was different about Jen, she had picked up on it long before Jen had ever said anything to her, but it was something that she had promised not to mention to anyone.
It wasn’t long after Levi had left that the phone rang with Jen telling her the good news herself. She was being discharged.
“Do you need a lift home?”
“No I am going to catch a taxi Eve. You stay home and rest.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. We can catch up tomorrow or later in the week if you like.”
“That would be good. Let me know when is good for you.”
“I will call you.”
“Talk soon Jen.”
She hung up the phone and then mustered enough energy to get up and organise something for dinner.
Levi stood with his back against the wall watching her. Jen was struggling to walk up the stairs to her apartment and while he desperately wanted to show himself and help her, there were more reasons for him to stay hidden. Ever since he had left Eve’s place he had been avoiding the calls from his father. He had known that it wouldn’t take his father long to work out what was going on. None of them had ever been able to keep things hidden like that for an extended period of time. He could hear Jen muttering under her breath as she finally managed to reach the top of the stairs. Her door opened and then closed again as she walked inside. Pushing back off of the wall he was satisfied that she was home safely and he walked back outside into the remaining afternoon and thought about what he was going to do now. Should he go and face his father or wait a little longer?
He wasn’t given an option in the end Jordon was outside waiting for him.
“You didn’t talk to him did you?” He didn’t even pause to stop at Jordon’s words instead walked on, knowing that Jordon would follow.
“No I didn’t tell him.”
“I would never have guessed. Why else would he call me and tell me that I was to drag you kicking and screaming if needed to see him?” His voice was blunt and slightly chastising.
“It is late, can’t this wait until tomorrow?”
“No. Now. You have about thirty seconds to decide if you want me there or not before I take you.”
“I would rather talk to him on my own thanks.” He appreciated his brother’s offer, but knew that he needed to face this alone. Jordon placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it slightly for support before they blinked and they were standing outside the entrance to their father’s favourite place. Nodding his head in thanks, Levi opened the door and made his way down the steps and into the main room.
The open room was dark and only had a few strategically placed lights along one wall. His father was sitting at the end of a table with papers in front of him. As Levi stood there and waited his father continued to work without acknowledging his presence. Seconds blended into minutes and eventually his father stopped what he was working on and looked up at him. Contempt clearly bubbling beneath his surface, Levi felt nerves flitter under his skin.
“Levi my son, how lovely that you can finally grace me with your presence.”
“Father.”
“Do you know why I have requested your presence here?”
“Yes.”
“Care to explain what the hell you are doing?” His voice remained calm and authorative.
“I am not killing her.”
“That I already know. My question is why are you not doing what you have been told to do?”
“I can’t kill her.”
“Not this bullshit again. Not from you.” He could hear the frustration in his father’s voice. “You can’t or you won’t?”
“Both.”
“Will you stop with the simple answers? I want an explanation, and as it stands you are not giving it, instead your insubordinate attitude is making me angrier.” Disapproval was apparent in his voice as he stared directly at Levi.
“I can’t help my responses. The simple fact is that I couldn’t kill her and now I have reached the point where I am no longer trying to.”
“What are you telling me?” His father’s voice was calm as he asked for clarification.
“I am no longer under your control. I may take orders from you, but I have my own mind too.”
Pain struck him before another word was spoken. It was intense and ripped at Levi from the inside starting with his head and working its way down the body. Invisible punches pummelled his body while blood poured out from his nose. His limbs were no longer his own as they were lifeless and stiff beside his body. He was blinded by the agony as he heard his father get up and walked towards him. He could feel his face swelling and his eyes were almost forced shut. Breathing became hard as his heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest and his ribs broke one by one.
“Don’t ever think that I don’t control you! You are my son, you will do what I say and do it when I say it.” Fury raged in his voice and Levi battled to stay standing. He knew it was a mistake verbalising his thoughts, but had misjudged his father’s capabilities. He may have been becoming an old man, but he still had it in him to inflect pain and lots of it. Even as he stood talking to him the hits kept coming and Levi’s body started to give way to the pain being caused by each blow.
“I understand.” He gasped the words out between strangled breaths. The assault stopped and he was left standing, but only just.
“Get out of my sight. I don’t want to look at you and your wretched face.” His father took a step back before turning to his desk once more and returning to his work. “Oh and Levi, I expect her to be dead by the end of the week.” Nothing more than that was spoken, he was dismissed.
Closing his eyes the only place he wanted to go was to Jen and because he knew that was a bad idea, he thought about Alex and when he opened his eyes he found himself on the floor in his lounge room. There was no one around, but before he could think about getting up and asking for help, his eyes rolled back into his head and his world went black.
Well she had made it up the stairs and into her apartment, but it had been an effort. Jen sat on the couch and switched on the TV. There had to be something to keep her occupied. Maybe she should have organised to stay with someone for a few days. She was just starting to doze asleep with the shrill of her phone woke her.
“Jen, it’s me.” Eve’s voice flooded with emotion.
“Yes I arrived safely. You don’t need to check up on me.”
“That isn’t the reason why I called, but I am glad that you are alright.” She was talking fast, way too fast for it to be normal.
“What’s wrong Eve?”
“I need a favour.”
“Sure, anything.” It was easy to say yes. She always said yes to Eve, just like Eve always said yes to her.
“Alex is at your front door. Answer the door and he will give you instructions. Please just go with it, I will explain it all later I promise.”
“What is going on?” Something wasn’t right.
“Explain later, can you just hurry.” Before another word could be spoken Eve hung up the phone and was gone.
Jen trusted Eve so getting up from the couch she hobbled to the door and sure enough Alex was standing there waiting for her.
“What is going on Alex?” He walked into her apartment and closed the door after him.
“I can’t explain it now. I need for you to close your eyes though and just trust me for a minute.”
“Close my eyes? Why?”
“Jen, please, just close them.” There was desperation in his voice. She closed her eyes and felt his hand on her shoulder. Her equilibrium faltered and she felt like she was going to fall to the floor. Within seconds it passed and she felt Alex’s hand leave her shoulder. “You can open your eyes now.”
Cautiously she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. “What the hell?”
“Oh god Jen, I am so glad that you came.” Eve looked up from her spot on the floor.
“How did you do that?” There were few words to describe what she was feeling.
“Later Jen, but now I need your help.” Eve’s voice was calm and collected. “Come over here.”
As she walked closer to Eve she realised that they were not alone. Laying on the floor was a body, a badly beaten one at that. “What happened?” Jen knelt down carefully on the opposite side of Eve as she looked at the person before her.
“We are not sure. He just appeared like this.” She was trying to clean the blood from his face with a wet cloth.
“Who is this?” His face was swollen beyond recognition.
Eve paused before answering. “Levi.” Jen’s heart tugged as she stared at his prone body.
“What do you need me for?”
“Can you heal him?” Eve’s voice was pleading as she asked.
“I can try, but I can’t promise anything.” She paused “can you give me some space?”
“Anything you need. I need to get a drink anyway. Alex, can you help me up please?” Alex had been standing in the doorway to the room just watching in shock. At Eve’s request he stepped forward to help her up and then guided her into the kitchen.
Jen had never seen anyone look so broken before. As Eve and Alex left the room she cleared her mind and placed her hands to the side of his head. He was unconscious and that made it easy for her to enter his body and feel the damage first hand. She could feel the pain that he felt and as she moved around inside of him, she chanted silently in an effort to try and heal what he was feeling. A headache came upon her quickly as she fought to keep her focus. Bile welled in her throat as she felt every blow that he had felt. She soothed where she could and as she moved her hands from his head and tracked them down the body she came across bone after bone that was broken. His agony flowed through her as she was sucked in and desperately tried to maintain control and not let it get to her. Fusing bones back together where she could, she did more than she thought that she was capable of.
Jen felt the moment when he started to come back to life. Sweat poured down her forehead and stung her eyes. Her focus remained on him even as he opened his eyes and looked directly at her. With each new touch she pulled a little more of the pain away from him and made it a little more bearable for him to deal with. He continued to stare, but did not fight her presence within him. Satisfied that she had done all that she could for him in this way she slowly eased herself back out of him and moved her hands away from him.
The swelling had gone down considerably from his face and the bleeding had stopped. Silently she got up from where she was sitting and walked into the kitchen. Eve was at the table staring into a glass of water while Alex was pacing.
“He is awake.”
Alex strode straight into where he lay while Eve looked at her.
“Thank you.” Her words were faint.
“I am not finished yet. Can I look through your cupboards for a few things?”
“Take whatever you need.”
Jen continued to wander slowly about the room searching for the ingredients that she needed. Her leg still ached and sitting on the floor had done nothing to improve things for them or her back. Pulling out a pot she mixed everything that she had in a pot and cooked it into a potion. She heard Eve push back from the table and leave her alone once more. Setting the pot aside to cool she thought about what had happened. How had she gotten here so quickly? What had happened to Levi? Pushing the thoughts out of her head she tested the temperature of the potion before pouring it into a glass and hobbling back into the lounge.
Levi was sitting up on the floor pain was evident on his face. Eve was propped up on the couch with her feet up looking concerned while Alex was pacing a whole in the carpet. Leaning down she handed the glass to Levi.
“Drink this.”
He took a sniff of it and scrunched up his face. “It smells like cats piss.” His voice was raspy.
“It will make you feel a lot better, so quit complaining and just drink it.”
“How do I know that you are not trying to poison me?”
“You don’t, but the way I see it, you have two choices. Drink it and feel better, or ignore my help and suffer in pain. Personally I don’t care which one you do. I am tired and just want to go home.”
He finished the glass and handed it back to her before leaving back against the couch and closing his eyes. Jen turned to Alex “Can you drive me home? I need to get some sleep.” Healing like she had just done sapped her energy and the only way that she could get it back would be to sleep it off. The headache that she had was clouding her brain and she needed to be in a bed before she could do anything more.
“I can take you home the same way you came if you like. It will save you walking the stairs to your apartment.”
“Whatever. I just need my bed.” She turned to Eve “we can talk tomorrow. Make sure that he gets some rest. That drink will make him tired, but it will do him the world of good.”
“Thank you Jen. I owe you one.”
“We can call it even. Night.”
Alex stood beside her “Close your eyes for me.” She didn’t need to be told twice. She rode the floating feeling and when it stopped she opened her eyes to find herself once more in her apartment.
“Goodnight Alex.”
“Goodnight Jen. I appreciate what you did for Levi tonight.” His words were understated, but heartfelt.
“He still needs to do the rest himself.”
“I will see to it. Are you going to be alright?”
“After I get some sleep.” The longer she stood, the worse she felt.
“I will get out of your hair then.” In the blink of an eye he was gone again. Stumbling to her room she crashed onto the bed fully clothed and when her head hit the pillow she was out like a light.
Levi woke in a foreign bed. Before opening his eyes he took stock of his body and felt little pain. Sitting up in the bed he immediately recognised the room to be one of Eve’s. It had her style of décor about it and putting his feet over the edge of the bed, he got up and went to search for his brother.
“Morning Alex.” His brother was standing in the kitchen making coffee. Eve was nowhere to be seen. Alex turned to face him, looking him over from head to toe.
“You look better this morning. How do you feel?”
“Not too bad at all. What happened last night?”
“Do you not remember?”
“I know that I went to visit father and I upset him, but after that, I don’t recall much at all.”
“Father did that?” His face was shocked and his voice was laced with disbelief.
“Guess that I pissed him off.” He shrugged there was nothing else that he could put it down to. “What happened after that is what I need to know.”
“You showed up here. Eve helped to fix you up.”
“Where is Eve?”
“She went to visit Jen this morning.”
“Oh ok, can I get a cup of coffee before I go?”
“Take a seat, the kettle has boiled.”
Eve stood in Jen’s kitchen cooking toast. When Jen had finally answered the door earlier it had been a little bit of a surprise to see her looking so bad. Now Jen was resting again on the couch and she couldn’t help but think about what last night had done to Jen. It was the first time that she had ever asked for help from Jen in that area before. She had wanted to leave the house before Levi surfaced because she didn’t know what to say to him if he remembered what had happened. The toast popped before she could stop and think too much about it all.
Walking into the lounge Eve placed the plate on the table before sitting next to Jen. Jen’s eyes were closed and her head lolled back against the back of the couch. Her skin was pale and dark circles were under her eyes.
“Jen….” Gently Eve laid a hand on her shoulder. “Wake up. You need to eat something.”
Jen stirred slowly and opened her eyes half way. Taking in her surroundings her eyes opened wider. “How did you get here Eve?” Her voice was light and sleepy.
“You let me in, don’t you remember?”
“Oh ok. My mind is a little fuzzy still. I need to rest.”
“You can rest all that you like, but first eat something. You need some strength.” Eve couldn’t help but be worried for her.
Absentmindedly Jen reached forward for the toast and ate. “Thanks Eve.” Colour slowly returned to her face.
“What happened to you last night?”
“It always tires me to heal others, but last night was more than I had ever attempted before. It knocked me around a lot.” Jen paused briefly “How is Levi this morning?”
“He was still sleeping when I left.”
“So you don’t know what he remembers?”
“No. I wanted to talk to you about last night when you are up to it.” Eve waited for Jen to signal that she was up to talking before continuing. “I am sure that you have some questions, but before you ask, can I ask you one?” Jen made a sound that could be considered as a yes, so Eve carried on talking. “How much do you want to tell Levi?”
It was the last thing that Jen had been expecting Eve to ask her. They had never really talked about what it was that she could do, even in the beginning. “I haven’t really thought that far yet. I am hoping that I won’t need to tell him anything.”
“That sounds fair. Alex and I won’t say anything to him.”
“About Alex, how much does he know?” Jen was starting to wake up a little now that she had food in her stomach.
“Officially nothing, unofficially only what he saw last night. He didn’t talk about it or ask about it last night and he probably won’t.”
“How did he get me to your house so quick?” It had been in the back of her mind since it happened, and since they were talking about things, it seemed like the right time to ask.
“Maybe it would be better if we talked about that one when Alex is here. He can tell you about it.”
“Eve, what are you not telling me?”
“Jen you of all people should know that we all have secrets. Alex’s is not for me to tell.” She understood the meaning of Eve’s words and while she didn’t like them, she respected them. When she had told Eve about her power, it had been unavoidable and for days she wondered how many people would find out. Eve however had been true to her word to keep it a secret and they had never spoken of it again.
“How about we head to your place then? Alex and I can talk and I can check on Levi too.”
“That would be a good idea. Are you right to get dressed and walk down the stairs?”
Jen got up from the couch carefully. “I will be fine. You don’t need to worry about me.” She walked into her room and get ready, leaving Eve sitting back on the chair.
Levi was still there talking to Alex when the phone rang. He could tell by the tone in Alex’s voice that it was Eve. His brother had that look in his eye that he always got when talking about her or to her. Unconditional love and happiness. He took his cup to the sink as Alex finished talking and turned to say goodbye.
“Eve and Jen are on their way over. I think that you might want to stay a little longer.”
“Why, so Eve can hassle me about Jen when Jen isn’t looking?”
“She is concerned about you, Jen too for that matter.”
“Can’t you just thank her for me?”
“Levi it wouldn’t hurt for you to stay. Where do you honestly need to be?” He hated that his brother knew him so well.
“I don’t want to be around her Alex.”
“You are not talking about Eve are you?” His brother regarded him with curiosity as if he could see past the facade he was putting out, just like Jordon.
“Father said that I have to kill her.” He paused “by the end of the week.”
“You won’t be able to do that.” Alex’s voice was confident.
“How do you know that?”
“I just do.” His voice was barely a whisper, but before Levi could ask any more the front door opened and Eve and Jen walked into the house.
“Levi, nice to see you up and about today. You are looking better.” Eve was glowing and her voice possessed the same energy.
“I feel a lot better. Thank you for your help.” The words were easy to say. Jen stood in the doorway just looking into the room silently.
“I wish that I could take all the credit but it wasn’t just me.”
“I have already said thank you to Alex this morning.”
“Jen come and sit down over here. I think that we all need to talk about a few things.” Eve turned her attention to Jen as she pulled a seat out for her friend. It was only as she got closer that he noticed how pale she was. Looking into her eyes he suddenly remembered.
“You were there too.”
Jen sat, totally ignoring his comment. It only fuelled his mind as he struggled to remember the night before. The glass of liquid, she had handed it to him.
“What were you doing here? You were supposed to be at home resting. What was in that glass?” They all sat around the table as his words hung in the air. Jen looked at him and if he wasn’t already lost in her that would have been the final straw for him. Her eyes held both pain and sorrow. Both of which he wished he would never see again.
“Alex came and got me.” Jen watched the glance that followed between the two brothers. “The drink was something to make you tired so that you could rest and let your body finish healing. Judging by how you look now, I would say that it worked.”
Levi didn’t know what to think. Alex had gotten her. Did that mean that she knew what they were? He tried to process what was being said when another question came to mind. “What did you do to me?”
He could see the hesitation on her face as she looked between the brothers and then to Eve. Eve gave her a slight nod of encouragement. Turning to face him she answered “I took away some of your pain and helped you heal.”
“What are you?”
“I think that the better question is what are you? A normal person could not have survived the blows that you received.”
Eve was the only one who knew about all of them and it was time that she started talking. “We all have our secrets, but Jen you are right there are things that you need to know.....” Her voice trailed off as she looked at Alex first and then to him. “Jen, meet death.” The words hung in the air and the tension mounted.
“Death, as in the guy who kills people for a living and likes it?”
“One and the same.”
“Which one of them?” You could see the confusion on her face as she tried to process what she was hearing. When no one spoke she looked at them both before mouthing the words “Both of them” to Eve. A nod of the head was all that she got.
Jen’s chair scraped across the floor as she got to her feet and headed for the door. Levi jumped up and followed her. Gripping her arm he stopped her. She looked at him and her eyes shot daggers at him. The skin beneath his hand burned enough to have him let her go and have her walk outside. He didn’t need to be told that she was in a bad mood, he had felt the first licks of her temper and was not quite game enough to follow her, instead he opted to sit back down with Alex and Eve and find out more about her.
Death? It was the only thought that ran through her head as she walked to the main road and caught a taxi home. How had she been so blind? She had helped him heal and now she couldn’t help but wish that she hadn’t. Climbing the stairs once more to her apartment she cursed her leg. It shouldn’t take much longer to heal, but the delay was annoying her. Plonking down on the couch she reached for the phone and dialled Eve.
“Just thought that I would let you know that I go home safely.” She didn’t bother with the formalities.
“Jen I am sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“We should have been honest with you.”
“You said it yourself, we all keep secrets.” Jen wished that she could be upset and annoyed, but she knew that if Eve could have told her, then she would have.
“Even still, you are my best friend....”
“Don’t worry about. I do have two questions though.”
“If I can answer them, I will.”
“Does he want to kill me?” There was a pause and it gave her the answer she had suspected.
“Not anymore.” Eve’s voice was quiet, but the undertone was clear. He had wanted to kill her at some stage.
“Does he know what I am?” Before Eve could answer she heard another voice.
“I do know now.” Turning around on the couch she saw Levi leaning against the wall beside her.
“Eve, Levi is here, I need to go.”
“No problems Jen. Hear him out, you have nothing to be afraid of.”
“Bye.”
His hand still stung from the burn and after talking to Eve for a little bit it was clear that she was hiding something about Jen from him. Now that he was standing in her apartment for the first time, it was clear what she was.
She was a witch. Not just any witch, but a white witch from what he gathered. The healing ability that she seemed to have tipped him off, but now he was standing here looking around he realised that it went a little deeper than that.
Her apartment had potion and spell books on the shelves and way too many herbs for a normal person. The decor was very much Jen and it personified her character perfectly.
“How did you get in here?” Her voice was unsteady. He joined her on the couch and as he sat down he lifted her legs and placed them on his lap. There was something intimate about the way that he did it.
“I can just appear, much the same as Alex did for you the last night.”
“What do you want?”
“Just to talk. You must have questions and I figured that since you didn’t hang around to ask them, I would come to you.”
“I don’t want to know.”
“Of course you do. Otherwise you wouldn’t have asked Eve what you asked her.” He was confident that he was right he just needed to get past her prickly exterior.
“She told me all that I need to know.”
“What she told you that I was tasked to kill you, but couldn’t? Did she tell you that even if I could, I wouldn’t now? Or how about did she tell you that it is almost unheard of for us to not be able to kill someone?”
“No, she didn’t tell me all that.” She replied hesitantly.
“I didn’t think so.” He smiled smugly at her, glad to have proven his point.
“What do you want from me?”
“I would like to spend some time getting to know you.”
“Why?” her voice was cautious.
“You fascinate me Jen. You have done since the first time that I looked at you.” He was treated to laughter then. It was rich and portrayed a sense of happiness.
“I fascinate you? Death?”
“Yes.” He moved his hands to the leg that didn’t have a cast on it and he started to massage it.
“You said that you wouldn’t kill me now even if you could.”
“I did say that.”
“Why?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“And you are avoiding this one.” It was his turn to laugh at the quickness of her reply as well as the accuracy of it.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Fine who beat you like that last night?”
The sudden change of tact stilled his hands.
“How much about me do you really want to know?” He had to give her the option to turn away, to take back the question. Tension slowly rolled into the room and she looked him directly in the face and considered him.
“I will make a deal with you. For every question that you answer of mine honestly, you can ask one of me and I will answer it honestly in return.”
“Sounds fair, but be careful what you ask of me, as you may not want to know the answers.” It was a stupid game to play, but something deep inside of him told him that it was needed in order for her to know him properly.
“Who beat you last night?”
“Back to the same question.” He was trying to stall her, but the look in her eyes was a warning for him just to answer it. Absentmindedly he went back to massaging her leg. “Before I tell you, you need to know about us – me and my brothers – more.” She motioned for him to continue. “There are six of us in total. We are brothers and our boss is our father. He tells us what to do and when to do things. There is punishment if we fail. Alex was lucky to escape it when he met Eve. Instead she took the brunt of his anger and survived.”
There was shock on her face at what he was implying. “You were supposed to kill me.” Her voice was a whisper as it dawned on her what had happened. He nodded his head at her statement. “Does that mean your father....” Her words trailed off again and once more he nodded his head.
“I disobeyed my father by not killing you.”
“Why?”
“Why what?” There were a number of different ways that he could answer that questions and they all depended on what exactly it was that she wanted to know.
“Any, all, just answer the question.” She was frustrated and he could tell that what he was telling her was getting to her mentally. He didn’t want to continue, but knew that he had to.
“I get that you are frustrated, I am just trying to answer the question the best way I know how.” His voice was calming and smooth. “Why did I disobey him? Well I didn’t intentionally mean to, to start with. Eve stopped me.” Jen opened her mouth to speak again, but stopped when he lifted a hand to silence her. When he knew that she was going to stay quiet he went back to massaging her legs and feet. “After that, you saw me and for the first time I looked at you and knew why Eve had tried to stop me. You had a spark in your eyes that I have never seen before, it attracted me. It didn’t stop me to start with. I still kept trying to kill you. It was my job, but eventually I resigned myself to the fact that it just wasn’t possible. I thought about how to get around my father, but it didn’t go down to well. You saw the outcome of my confrontation with him.”
She sat there absorbing what he was telling her. It was hard to concentrate when he was touching her legs. There was an intimacy about how they were sitting that should have unnerved her, but in reality it made her comfortable. “That only gives me more questions to ask.”
“Ask and I will do my best to answer them.”
“What are you going to do now?” It wasn’t the question that she wanted to ask, but it was the first one that rolled off of her tongue.
“I haven’t worked that one out just yet. I also never thanked you for last night.”
“There is nothing to thank me for. If I was to be honest with you, if I had known then what you were, I wouldn’t have helped when Eve asked me to.”
“I understand that, but I still want you to know that I appreciate the fact that you did heal me. I would never have been up and --” Levi stopped mid sentence and just stared off to the right of her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement and turned to see what it was.
She knew who they were before Alex even spoke, “I am sorry Jen, they came looking for Levi and I knew that he was here. I figured that it would be better for me to bring them, than for them to just show up.” He looked embarrassed, but she was too shocked to speak. Her small living room got smaller as suddenly there were seven adults in it. The men on either side of Alex held grim expressions and looking back at Levi, his mirrored them. Alex sat down on the lounge opposite her, leaving the others standing there. After a few moments, one of the brothers stepped forward. He wouldn’t look at her directly, instead looking at Levi.
“A healer Levi, really?” Surprise was in his tone.
“Yeah Jordon, I know. A bloody witch. Should we be surprised considering that she is Eve’s friend?”
“When did you work it out?”
“Only a few hours ago. Jen is the reason that I can move this morning.” Behind Jen one of the brothers scoffed. “I am serious Heath, if you had seen me last night, you would have sworn that I was dead or well on my way. Ask Alex, he will tell you.”
It was like being an outsider looking in on a family dynamic.
“How bad was it?” The one who Levi had called Jordon asked.
“I don’t know how I got out of there. Somehow I ended up on Alex’s floor. The next thing that I remember it was morning.”
“Alex...?” They all looked to him for confirmation.
“He was more than angry this time. Remember Eve and double it. With her it was internal, with Levi he was broken inside and out.” Alex’s words seemed to be enough. Silence descended on the room. “Jen, I don’t know how much Levi has told you, but since we are invading your home at the moment, I would like to introduce you to our brothers. Jordon is the one at the front. Behind him are Heath, Eric and Mitchell.”
She turned to face them as they stood looking imposing and threatening. Fear rippled through her blood. “Are they like you?” Her voice didn’t sound like her own as the words escaped her mouth. Inside she already knew the answer, but it was Levi who confirmed it for her.
“Yes Jen. We are agents of death and brothers by blood.” His words hit her and she felt panic wash over her. “They won’t hurt you though.”
“I need time to process this.” She moved her legs off of Levi’s lap and swung them until they were on the floor. “You are more than welcome to stay and talk her, but I am heading to my room for a bit.” She couldn’t be there anymore. To know what they were and what they did was too much. To know that they wanted her dead was more than she could handle. Hobbling out of the room she closed her bedroom door behind her and crawled back into bed. The headache that she had been fighting since the night before had well and truly returned. Closing her eyes she tried to sleep it off.
Since Jen had left the room no one had made a sound and no one had moved. The strain in the room between them was high. “Sit down if you want to talk.” Levi knew that they might as well get this over and done with.
“I didn’t realise Levi. I am sorry. I told them all that you had gone mad and that we needed to talk to you about what you were doing. It wasn’t until I arrived here that I realised that it was me that had made the mistake. You know exactly what you are doing.” Jordon spoke as they sat down. It explained their presence.
“I know what I am doing.”
“We can see that.” Mitchell spoke up with a smirk on his face, “But did she have to be a witch?”
“I guess that she did.” Levi smiled in the knowledge that his brothers understood and were not angry at him over this. Silence enveloped the room.
“So where do we go from here” Heath was the first one to ask the question that they were all thinking.
“More to the point what are we going to tell father?” Erik was normally so quiet
None of them seemed to dispute the fact that killing her was no longer an option. Levi wondered if he was wearing a sign that said “I like this person and won’t let her die.”
“Maybe it is time that we went to see him together.” Jordon spoke up this time.
“He will be expecting us all to show up like last time. I don’t think that we will be so lucky this time around. Father sees us failing as a downfall, when in reality it isn’t. Eve is the best thing that has ever happened to me.” Alex was right.
“What do you suggest then?” Jordon had always been the strongest mentally of them all. It was hard for him to foresee this type of thing happening once, let alone twice.
“Perhaps we could send Eve to talk to him.” The response to Mitchell’s comment was instant.
“No. I will not have Eve going to see him, not now. She only has weeks to go before she has her baby. Who knows what kind of punishment he would inflict on her.” Alex’s voice boomed around the room.
“Alex, we could always send Jen with her. Together it could work. Jen could help her if she got into trouble.” Levi waited for Alex to hit him at the suggestion, but the punch never came. Looking up he could see that his eyes along with his brother’s eyes were all looking at Alex waiting for a response.
“I will talk to her and see what she thinks, but before I do, you need to be sure Levi. You need to be sure that you are doing this for the right reasons.” Alex’s voice was tight.
“You know that feeling you get when you look at someone and think ‘I could see myself spending my life with you’ I have that feeling with Jen. Even though I don’t know if she feels the same, and I suspect that currently she wishes that she didn’t help me last night, I still feel it.”
“That is enough for me. I will talk to Eve and let you know what she decides.” Alex stood and disappeared from view. Levi watched as his other brothers stood up and prepared to go.
“I am sorry for the pain that I am causing everyone I just hope that you will stand by me like we stood by Alex.”
Mitchell stepped forward and embraced him in a hug. “Of course we will. You are our brother, no matter what happens.” Behind him the others nodded their heads and then were gone. Standing alone once more the lounge lost its crowded feel and Levi stood wondering what to do next. Walking towards her bedroom, intent on making sure that Jen was fine, he opened the door to find her sleeping on the bed. He debated on if it was wise for him to join her, in the end it was Jen who decided for him. She opened her eyes for a brief moment and seeing him there said only one word before drifting back off to sleep. “Stay.”
He climbed onto the bed and lay down next to her, placing his arms around her body in both comfort and warmth. She murmured in her sleep as his touch, but didn’t wake again. Closing his eyes his world went black as the morning’s events exhausted him into sleep.
“This doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.” It was dark outside when she had woken with Levi sleeping next to her. He had stirred shortly after she had gotten out of bed and since then they had been discussing what the brothers had come up with.
“Eve is the only one who has ever beaten our father. Alex doesn’t want to let her go alone in case something happens to the baby. That is where you come in. You go so that you can keep her safe and help her if something goes wrong.”
“It still sounds like a bad idea. Why don’t you just go and talk to him again?”
“You would rather have to heal me would you?”
“No. I don’t want to have to heal anyone, but I certainly don’t want to have to heal Eve.”
“Alex said that she was up for this. I trust my brother and his judgement.”
“Fine, but if anything goes wrong....”
“We won’t be far. Alex will know what is happening to Eve. They have a bond.”
“So when does this happen” She didn’t like the idea, and the more that they spoke about it, the more nervous she became.
“Tomorrow. It is too late now.”
“Alright, well I guess that I should get something to eat and have an early night.”
“I will make you something. You stay sitting.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. Watching him cook she thought about everything that she had learnt about him today, she should be repulsed by it, but instead she was fascinated by this man who stood before her. “What is it about Eve that makes her able to stand up to him?”
“You will need to ask her about that. It is not my place to say.” She respected his response.
When he sat down in front of her with two plates of food she realised how hungry she was. Toast first thing in the morning was all that she had had. No wonder she was still struggling to get rid of the effects of the night before on her body. They ate in silence and while there were a lot of questions still bouncing around in her head, she ignored them. It was not the right time to ask them. It was also not the right time to be wondering about the feelings that she had felt when she had woken in his embrace. She had felt safe. She found herself wondering involuntarily what it would be like to wake up to that feeling every day. Pushing the thoughts aside she finished her food and stood. “I am heading back to bed.”
“You shouldn’t go to bed straight after eating. How about you rest on the lounge for a bit first” There was concern in Levi’s voice as he spoke.
“If I do that, I won’t make it into bed.”
“Trust me, you will. Now come on and we can watch a little TV.” Placing her plate on the sink she followed him into the lounge where he was setting up all the pillows on the couch to make her comfy.
“With all those pillows, I will lean into them and fall asleep.”
“They are for me.” He sat down stretching along the lounge with one leg on the floor still while the other rested against the back of the lounge.
“So where am I going to sit then?”
“Here.” He placed one pillow against his chest and helped her sit down on the lounge resting against him. Her heartbeat kicked up a few notches as she tried to relax against him. Minutes passed and eventually her bodies responses calmed and she became comfortable just laying there.
He had felt the moment that she had fallen asleep. It had been hard for him to keep a straight face when she had sat down leaning against him. He had heard her heart pounding and felt the tension in her body. When she had finally let go it hadn’t taken her long to drift off into a deep sleep. Moving forward a little and sitting her further up, he supported her neck and body before lifting her and carrying her to her room. He laid her down and this time didn’t wonder if he should stay, he just joined her on the bed and gave into whatever was growing between them.
The four of them stood outside a dirty old building. Alex and Levi were standing back and as Jen stood beside Eve she could see that she was mentally preparing herself to walk inside. “This still sounds like a bad idea.” Alex and Eve had turned up at her place shortly after Jen had woken. They had talked about it and Eve had tried to reassure her that it was okay, but she still had trouble believing it.
“Let’s go Jen. I want to get this over with.”
“We don’t have to if you are not up to it.” Her stomach was in knots and she could see the focus on Eve’s face.
“We do, come on.” Gripping Jen’s hand Eve moved forward and dragged her inside, leaving the guys outside.
Walking down the stairs her eyes struggled to acclimatise to the darkness. Eve held her hand still and seemed to know how to avoid the uneven parts of the steps. At the bottom of the staircase it opened into a dark room with only a little bit more light than the stairs. At the back of the room a man sat at a table. Her first impression was that he was old, but he looked up as they approached and she changed her opinion to someone of great presence who could be formidable. Eve stopped half way across the room and Jen stood beside her. He regarded them both as they stood there and after a few moments he spoke. His voice echoed slightly in the room. “Eve, I see that congratulations are in order. To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?”
“Thank you for your thoughts, though I am sure that you understand Alex’s reluctance to tell you about it. I am here to talk to you about Levi.”
“Ah, I wondered who was standing beside you. I gather this is Jennifer.”
“Yes.”
“So Eve I know who she is, why are you here?”
“How much do you know about this situation?”
“Enough.”
“Can I sit down? My feet are swelling and they hurt.” He motioned for her to sit, so she did. “I am here to talk, and nothing more. Firstly I would like to point out that in the beginning that this whole situation was my fault. I was the one that first put a block in place to stop Levi.” Jen watched as he opened her mouth to talk, but then closed it as Eve continued. “I didn’t know if it would work, but it did. It bought me some time to think and before you tell me that I broke my promise, or that Levi and Alex shouldn’t have kept that a secret from you, I want you to know that they only did it to protect me.”
“So you started it. We can come back to how you did it later. What else do you think that I need to know” His voice was terse and to the point.
“Next you need to know that what I did didn’t last and that Levi should have been able to complete his task the very next day.”
“So what happened then? Why is she still standing before me?” Eve let him interrupt this time.
“What happened next was all Jen and had nothing to do with me. Did you even bother to ask Levi what was happening before you punished him?”
“He was insolent and deserved the punishment that he received.” Jen listened to the tone in his voice and couldn’t help but wonder why Eve was putting up with it.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“He failed. That is the only thing that matters to me.”
“The only thing? No wonder your sons are afraid to come and talk to you. No wonder they are afraid of telling you the truth.” You could hear the temper in Eve’s voice.
“You dare to come here and berate the way that I talk to my sons knowing what I am capable of?” His voice roared around the room.
“I know what you are capable of, but yet I stand here telling you just that. Your sons work hard. They have tried to protect me from you at every turn. Alex hates the fact that I am here today, but the truth is that I would rather be here than see any of the brothers suffer at your hand.” Her voice was even tempered and she looked him directly in the eyes. “Are you not even curious about her?” It was the first time that Eve’s gaze had moved from the man before her. Jen stood nervously, feeling very much on her own. Two sets of eyes looked at her. Eve’s were filled with hope and strength while the man she knew on as Levi’s father scrutinized her.
“So what is it about her then that makes Levi so weak?”
“Jen can you come a little closer, he needs to take your hand for a moment. I want to see if he can work it out for himself.”
“Are you sure about this Eve?”
“Yes”
Stepping forward she stood only feet away from the table that separated Eve and the man.
“Come a little closer, I don’t bite much.”
Looking at Eve for encouragement she saw approval in her eyes and took the last few steps before reaching out and touching his hand.
The moment there hands touched she felt a twinge of pain. It was not serious, but more uncomfortable. She could feel him floating within her and his power was thrilling. It didn’t take long for him to let her hand go and with it all the feeling that she had felt disappeared too.
“Did you feel pain my child?” He regarded her with interest.
“Nothing dramatic. Sound I have felt something more than that?” It was the first words that she had spoken since they had arrived and she was nervous.
“Eve, I can see what you mean. She is unique. What is she?”
“You mean that you do not know?”
“In all my years I have never met anyone like her. She is different to you.”
“Jen, can you tell him what you are and what you can do for me please.”
“I am a white witch. We are often called healers too.”
“A witch?”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t make sense. We have dealt with witches before and have never had any problems.”
“I told you before she is different.” Eve replied simply.
“Don’t get smart with me Eve, we still need to deal with you total disrespect for the rules that you made with me. Where are the brothers?”
“Alex and Levi are outside. Waiting for us both to return.”
“Jen go and get them please.” She hesitated at his request. She promised Alex that she would not leave Eve alone.
“I will be fine Jen, just go.” At Eve’s insistence she hurried from the room as fast as she could and up the stairs to get them from outside.
Standing outside just waiting was so hard. He had paced and each time he passed Alex he would look at him silently asking if there was any change or anything that they should be concerned about. Hearing the door open he breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived when he realised that Jen was alone.
“Where is she Jen?” Alex beat him to asking.
“Still down there, he wants you both.” Jen breathing was ragged as if she had run a marathon, but clearly steps were still providing as issue for her in that cast. Stepping forward he scooped her up into his arms and followed Alex inside.
“Put me down Levi. I am capable of walking.”
“We need to hurry, this is quicker.”
Placing her back onto her feet at the bottom of the stairs they entered the room. Eve was laying on the floor now, her face contorted in pain. Alex leapt forward and grabbed his father by the throat before he had time to react.
“What did you do to her?” he demanded.
Jen had moved toward where Eve lay on the floor and knelt beside her. She placed one hand on the side of Eve’s face and the other over her belly. Whispering as she did so. The words sounded like let me in. Tears formed on her face as he stood there trying to decide what to say or do.
Finally this father gasped out his response and with it Levi stepped forward and took hold of Alex before he did anything that he would regret.
“Go and be with her, I will deal with him.” He said, pushing Alex toward Eve and Jen on the floor.
“A petty move father, one that will earn you no respect at all from us.”
“You think that you scare me with your threats?”
“I am sure that I don’t but one of these days someone will be able to put you in your place”
“Jen does a good job doesn’t she? Can barely see where I marked you last night.”
“Yeah she is great. I am positive that she will be able to help Eve now too.”
“Eve has nothing to fear, her child on the other hand, well it is never too early to test how strong they are.” His father’s voice was flippant and the way he waved his had only compounded that.
Fury pounded through his blood as his father’s callous words. The same fury that he was sure that Alex and all the other brother’s would feel when they heard about this.
“She had nothing to do with this. You want to punish someone, punish me.”
“Oh trust me, I plan to punish you again still. She had everything to do with this. She intervened where she was told to stay away. You knew that she had done it and still you never said anything. It was foolish of you to try and hide that from me.”
“We hide things from you because you are so insensitive.” The truth may hurt him, but it was long overdue for his father to hear it.
“I have to be that way, just like you need to be that way.”
“That is crap and you know it. Alex can love and still do his job. We all can, you just don’t allow it.”
“You are right, I don’t and while I run this place, you will do as I demand.”
Jen could hear the voices ringing around her in anger, but she was too busy trying to concentrate. The pain was removed from Eve, but still something wasn’t right. Alex was holding her hand watching her as she tried to find the missing piece as to what else his father had done to her. “Eve, stay with me. I need to know what else you feel.”
“Baby…” she was drifting in and out of consciousness and with each moment that passed Jen couldn’t help but wonder how she could fix this.
Moving her focus away from Eve’s face she placed her second hand on her belly and felt the connection instantly. Her heart beat faster and still she struggled to maintain her cool exterior. Inside Eve she could feel the pain her unborn child was in. It became clear that the cause of Eve’s pain was her child’s pain. Partial understanding of what was happening filtered through her brain as she felt a trickle of anxiety at what the old man was capable of ran through her body. He was beyond mean, his power made her sick.
Sweat beaded down her face and she continued to help, it was hard when she could not get access to the child in order to help them.
“Alex, we need to get her out of here. I need to get her to my place, now.” Her voice remained calm all the while she was terrified inside.
“Is everything alright?” He was panicking. She could see it clearly on his face and could feel it in the air.
“Trust me on this, we need to move now.”
Alex kept his hold on Eve’s hand as he placed his other hand on her shoulder. Blinking she found herself back in her apartment. Alex was lifting Eve onto the couch.
“Go back and look after Levi. I promise that she will be alright here with me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Just go.” He hesitated for a moment, long enough for her to see the war that he was waging on the inside, before he was gone once more. She grabbed one of the books off of the shelf and set to work making a potion that she hoped would help settle both mother and child.
Jen and Eve were gone, but Alex was back. He had barely noticed that they were gone. He was too busy trying not to yell too loud at his father. Alex stood back against the wall not saying anything. It was nice to know that he was there as a support.
“Do you know how many people you have killed?” His father’s sudden change of questioning caught him of guard.
“No, I know that it is a lot. What has that got to do with anything?”
“You have killed close to a million over the years. Jen is going to be your millionth.”
“No, she is my one in a million. You need to accept that.”
“I will never accept that.”
“What do you want me to say? That I love her like Alex loves Eve? That I am a failure? I can say those words if you really want me to, but it doesn’t change a thing.”
“Do you love her?”
“If you want honesty, I don’t know. I do know this though. I think that I could see myself spending a lot of time with her in the future.”
“Fine. I will make a deal with you here and now. You can either take it or leave it.”
“What is it?”
“If she can heal Eve and her child, I will let you be. She will have to live by the same rules as Eve, but she will be granted a reprieve. If she fails, Eve will not be the only person who has lost someone today.”
“The fact that you are willing to wage people’s lives like that disgusts me. I am ashamed to be your son.” He could feel the worry coming off of Alex in waves.
“That doesn’t answer the question. Are you willing to back Jen and her abilities or not.”
Could he make such a decision like that? Jen was good he had witnessed that first hand, but he knew what he father had done and wasn’t sure that she was going to be able to fix that. On the other hand, how could he not back her? He wanted a chance to get to know her better and this might be his only shot.
“He will back her, just like I will.” Alex pushed away from the wall and answered for him. Levi nodded.
“I will take that deal. She will succeed, and when she does, she will be free.”
“Being around you she will never be free.”
“She will be whatever she needs to be.”
“Let’s go Levi, I need to go and check on Eve.” Alex’s voice broke him out of the trance that he had been pulled into. With a blink of the eyes, both of them were in Jen’s living room once more as they stood back and watched Jen work her magic.
It wasn’t working. Eve was passed out and she was struggling to get her to drink the liquid that was beside her. With each moment that passed she could feel the child thrashing around in agony. Tears formed in her eyes as she was at a loss as to what she could do. Alex was trusting her and Eve was too even though she didn’t realise it. The pressure was extreme and she couldn’t let anything happen. With both hands resting on Eve’s belly she looked at as she sensed movement. Alex and Levi stood there in shock at the scene before them.
Books were open. Herbs, crystals and glasses were strewn over the floor and still Eve lay on the couch with her face contorted in pain. Alex rushed forward and he gripped Eve’s hand before he searched her eyes looking for the answer that she was yet to be able to give him.
“Jen they can’t die.”
“You think that I don’t know that? Do you think that I want to be the one that fails?” The tears that had welled in her eyes now fell as she tried to find her focus again. “I need her to wake up. She won’t wake up.” She wasn’t alone anymore, she could fall apart. Moving back from Eve she needed space. She needed time to think. Getting up she walked into her kitchen in desperate search of a clear head. All the effort and energy she had been using came at a price. She was tired and worn out. She didn’t hear anyone follow her so when she turned around and saw Levi in the doorway her heart stopped with fright.
“You can do this. We all know that you can.” His soft spoken voice had a calming influence.
“It is too much too soon. I am still not back to normal from my accident and then from you. You have no idea what this does to me.”
“You can tell me about it later.” He walked towards her and enveloped her in a hug. She melted into him. He was the strength that she needed. “Is there something that we can do to help you?”
“We need to wake her somehow. I need her to drink what I have made.”
“So we will find a way. Come on.” Releasing her they walked back into the room. “Alex I need you to think. Is there any way that you can think of to try and wake her?”
You could see the concentration on his face and he struggled to focus on the question. “Water. Sometimes when she has trouble waking in the morning she showers to wake herself up.”
Levi didn’t hesitate, reaching forward he lifted Eve off of the couch and walked her straight into the bathroom before placing her on the floor in the shower stall. Jen followed with the potion in hand. The water was running when Jen walked into the room. Soft sounds were coming from Eve and as Jen got down to her level she could see that it might work.
“Eve, sweetie, I need to you open your eyes for me.” Unintelligible words escaped her mouth as she started to stir.
“Eve, please open your eyes for me. I need you to drink this.” Beneath her eyelids fluttered as she was slowly starting to come around. She still sat on the floor of the shower as the water cascaded over her.
Her eyes didn’t open, but her mouth did. Lifting the glass carefully to her mouth she slowly tilted the liquid down her throat. She swallowed it slowly and when the glass was empty Jen sat back and breathed a small sigh of relief. It was a start.
“Levi, go and find Alex. I am going to need blankets and towels in the lounge room, on the floor and the couch.”
“On it.” He left the room in a flurry of movement.
Standing up Jen managed to turn the water off just as Alex entered the tiny bathroom.
“She didn’t wake fully, but we managed to get her to drink.”
“Will they both be alright?”
“She will be fine. I don’t know about the baby yet. Help me by carrying her back into the lounge.” Moving out of the way she hobbled back to the lounge with Alex behind her holding Eve. She watched as he placed her on the couch carefully.
“What now?” His concern touched her.
“I need you to go. I need silence and time.”
“I am not leaving.”
“Please Alex, just go.”
“I won’t go.” She shot Levi a pleading look.
“Come on Alex, give her some room. We can use this time to track down the others. They need to know what is going on.” Grabbing him by the arm, Levi lifted Alex to his feet and they disappeared once more.
Jen wrapped Eve up as best as she could in the towels and blankets. She lifted Eve’s shirt to expose her belly. Placing a hand on either side of her belly she was less tense when she felt the baby’s movement slow considerably. Slowly she pushed her way through the barriers in Eve’s body and found her way to were the child lay. She could feel their pain and confusion still even though they were moving less. She closed her eyes to concentrate and used the same soft chant that she had used with Eve at the start to try and remove some of the pain and discomfort. It was not easy to maintain contact on the inside. Eventually things became stable and as she breathed in and retreated from Eve it was like a weight had lifted off of her shoulders. They were both fine as far as she could see when she opened her eyes once more. The mask of pain that had been plastered on Eve’s face was now gone and it was replaced with a look of peace. Pushing down the shirt over Eve’s stomach she wrapped her tighter in the blankets and waited for the brother’s to return. With her hands resting on her bent knees she placed her head on them and gave into the headache that had taken control.
Explaining what was happening with Jen and Eve was met with mixed emotions. Each of the brothers reacted with different responses, but they all agreed that their father had gone too far. Levi stood with them as they rallied around Alex as he fell apart. The strain of the possibility of losing one or both of them was too much for him to bear alone.
“Do you want to go back and see how things are going?”
Alex wiped his face, determined not to show any emotional signs when he returned. “Yes.”
“They bid there brothers goodbye with promises to let them know what was happening.
Jen was sitting asleep huddled in a ball upon their return with Eve still laying on the couch covered in blankets. He knelt down beside Jen and her complexion was pale. Gently he shook her awake. “Jen.” Alex was beside Eve gripping her hands.
“I think that she did it Levi.” Alex’s words were a whisper.
“Looks like it.”
While Jen’s face was pale, Eve’s had regained some colour and had lost the look of pain.
“Take her home Alex. Get her out of those clothes.”
Levi gathered Jen into his arms as Alex grabbed Eve. Turning to carry her into her room and bed, Alex vanished from the room. He laid her on the bed and covered her with blankets. He left her alone long enough to turn the lights off in the apartment and to join her once more in bed. Gathering and holding her tight, afraid to ever let Jen go again.
The sun was up and shining brightly into the room. How long had she been asleep? Jen stretched and felt her muscles ache with inactivity. Thoughts filtered back into her memory as she remembered Eve and the baby. Jumping out of bed her leg hit the ground with a loud thud. Stupid bloody cast. The quicker it was gone the better. Walking into the lounge the room showed none of the signs of what had happened in there. Heading for the kitchen she saw a note on the table.
I cleaned up the lounge the next day and put everything where I suspected that it needed to be. I will come back and check on you this afternoon.
Levi
p.s – Today is Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Well at least that answered one question. Filling a glass up of water she gulped it down and had another glass. Opening the fridge she devoured any food that she could find. Sitting back down on the couch she reached for the phone and dialled Eve.
“Alex its Jen is Eve there?”
“Eve is asleep, but is doing well. How about you? Are you alright?”
“I am rested that is for sure. How is the baby?”
“Baby seems alright so far, won’t know until they are born though for certain, however I am confident that they will be fine. Thank you for what you did for her, well us really.”
“She is my best friend. It was never a question on whether or not I would help her. The answer will always be yes.”
“I appreciate it.” She could hear that he was uncomfortable with the emotion in his voice.
“Alex is Levi there with you?”
“He is at work today. Only for a little while, he will be back with you again this afternoon, like every other day since this happened.”
“Work?”
“Work Jen. Ask him about it tonight.”
“I guess that I will. I am going to go. Tell Eve that I will be over in the next day or so to see her.”
“Will do Jen. Bye.”
She hung up the phone and turned on the TV to entertain her while she waited for Levi.
He had been expecting her to be in bed still, like every other day, but he found her snoozing on the couch. Sitting down beside her he caressed the side of her face. She woke in degrees and when she opened her eyes to see him there a smile lit up her face.
“You’re back.” Her voice was sleepy.
“I am.”
“Can I just say right up that I hate your father?”
He chuckled, “A lot of people do.”
“I hope that I never see him again.”
“Well that will depend on you I suspect.”
“Me?” She was awake now which is exactly how he needed her to be for the next part that he had to say.
“There was a deal put in place after your last visit. He has given you a reprieve. We won’t try and kill you. You are free so to speak.”
It tore him up inside that he had to give her the option to leave, but it was the only way that he would ever know if this was real.
“All of you are going to leave me alone?” He watched a look pass her face, but couldn’t understand what it meant.
“If that is what you want, then yes and you will never have to see us or our father again.”
“What happens if I don’t want you all to leave me alone?”
“Tell me what you want, and I will see what I can arrange.” Hope filtered through him.
“I want you. Don’t ask me why, I just do.”
“I am not going to ask a thing at all. Instead I will say that I can arrange that.” His heart soared.
“That was what I was hoping that you would say.”
She smiled at him and he couldn’t help but smiled back at her. He had a future now and it looked like it was going to be a lot brighter with Jen in it.