Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE

I wake up to agitated and worried voices all around me.

“Back the fuck off, I need to get the shards out” Moss’s voice could cut steel.

“I’m not leaving. She’s like our older sister” I hear one of the boys say, accompanied by a chorus of agreements.

That’s when I snap my eyes open and sit up, only to feel shooting pain go through my body, forcing me to lay back down. It’s a good sign, considering I don’t feel pain with my red lights on. I’m only wearing a bra and jeans, likely due to the glass shards sticking out of my whole torso.

Moss smiles wide. “Glad to see you’re back. And don’t worry, your pretty face is intact.”

Translation: Your eyes are back to green, your secret is still well kept.

“Moss, get Oak in here.”

“I’m right here, Ambrosia.”

My uncle is on the other side of the medical table I’m laying on.

“Perfect. I’m going to need you and Oak to put pressure on each wound once I get the glass out and disinfected. The rest of you boys, scatter. You don’t need to see me like this.”

“No. We’re here for you, and we’re staying” Andrew says.

I never knew that the boys cared for me anything past hitting on me.

“Fine. You’ll get to see first hand how to treat wounds. Moss, bottle of rubbing alcohol. Oak, bowl for the glass shards.”

Both are next to me in the blink of an eye.

I waste no time inventorying what I need to do. There are seven glass shards, three in vital organs. I pull out the five that aren’t life threatening in a thirty second period, then grab the rubbing alcohol and pour it on the wounds. The pain makes me wince slightly, but not as much as it would a normal person. I’ve been skinned alive before- this is nothing.

Now, on to the three dangerous shards.

“Oak, Andrew, Moss, these other three are in vital organs. As soon as I’ve poured rubbing alcohol on them you need to hold down pressure, hard. Hard enough that I have trouble breathing. It’ll probably take five minutes to staunch the blood flow, and then you can let go.”

They know that I heal quickly. That’s why my sprained wrist is just fine now. The only parts on my body that don’t heal quickly are the parts I hurt myself. The three of them nod. I take a deep breath, and rip out the three shards in ten seconds, pour the rubbing alcohol all over them for another five seconds, and motion for the three to hold down pressure on the wounds.

For five minutes I lay there, clutching the sides of the table and breathing deeply, while everyone else in the room seem to hold their breaths. Each wound goes through multiple towels because of how much blood there is.

“Okay. Time to let go.”

Tentatively the three holding pressure ease off and lift the towels. As I predicted, the blood flow has stopped. I stand up, slowly, reapply rubbing alcohol, and then quickly patching myself up.

“Somebody get me a shirt” I mutter. Moss takes off his sweater, hands it to me, and I pull it on swiftly.

“Okay boys, time to go to sleep. I’m not asking this time. Scatter.”

They don’t pause. Now that I’m all patched up they know I’m able to kick their asses again.

Once they all leave, I lead Oak and Moss into the living room, where we all sit. The tension in the room is palpable, and I’m truly afraid of what’s going to happen next.

“How’s the warding spell on the house holding up?” I ask, deciding to focus on small but important details.

“Well. No supernatural entity will be able to enter or sense anyone of or on the premises.”

I nod. That’s at least good news. So long as the school is safe, I’m okay with it. But it won’t stay safe with me here, which is why I need to leave.

“Oak, I need to relocate. It doesn’t matter where, but I need to be gone by tomorrow night. Now that my father has seen me, and seen the darkness in me, his search is going to become far more frantic. The options I see are either to go somewhere so rural he won’t even think about checking, or somewhere so populated that there’s no chance he would ever find me, and it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. What do you think would be best?”

Oak doesn’t bother hiding his worry. The air turns from incredible tense to incredibly heavy. It almost looks like my uncle is about to cry.

“I can relocate you to Chicago, but you are not going alone. Moss, you’re with her.”

He turns to me and smiles. “Just the two of us, huh? I’m not opposed. I’ve always wanted to live in Chicago anyways.”

“No, not just the two of you. Trigger is going with you, as well.”

“No” Moss and I say at the same time.

“Yes. He’s too advanced for this school, and I believe he’ll be very good at helping protect you.”

As great as that may be, I’ve barely been able to keep my hands off of Trigger this far, so I don’t know how I’ll manage to survive living with him and keeping distance at the same time.

“Fine. But then I need space. Three cars, three apartments. It’s fine if they’re next to each other, but I think we all need our own safe havens.”

“Agreed. I’ll pull some strings and get the apartments ready for you tomorrow, so you’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. You can take my plane. I’ll also give you a new debit card hooked up to my account, so you don’t need to pack anything outside of weapons. Buy whatever else you need or want there.”

My uncle has always been generous when it came to money. To be fair he is a billionaire, so I can’t blame him, but I am still beyond grateful for everything he always has done and even now continues to do.

“Thank you, Oak. Also I need a new phone. I left mine with Arken.”

“It’ll be waiting for you on the plane tomorrow.”

“I’m going to grab a beer. Either of you want one?”

“Sure” They both say at the same time.

Two hours and seven beers later, it really does feel like a birthday night. Trigger came and joined us on our third beer, and we’ve been talking about completely irrelevant and nonsensical things since.

Our cook, Martin, comes out of the kitchen carrying a gorgeous cake. It looks like dark chocolate on dark chocolate, and smells like heaven. It’s one layer stacked on a bigger one, and gorgeous. Martin came to the states from London five years ago and has worked for us since. 

“I came in as soon as I heard what happened. I’m sorry, Amb. This certainly isn’t my best work, but I’ve only had about two and a half hours. Happy birthday.”

Leave it to a professional chef to insult a piece of art. “Martin, it’s beautiful, and it looks delicious. Thank you so much.”

He gives me a sheepish smile, sets the cake down on the coffee table along with a few plates, and heads out of the room.

“I’m breaking out the bourbon to accompany this” I say, heading over to a table in the corner of the room where some heavier liquor sits in crystal bottles.

I end up bringing the bottle along with several glasses over, and set it on the table. We all serve ourselves slices of cake and pour ourselves glasses.

“Ambrosia, is it okay with you that I’m coming with you?” Trigger asks me.

I’m fairly drunk at this point, but manage to keep myself from slurring my words. “If you slow Moss and I down, I won’t wait for you to catch up. If you cross our decisions, I will break one of your bones. And if you even think of betraying us I will take my time torturing you until you beg for death. If you’re okay with that, then I’m okay with you.”

Moss snorts beside me and mutters agreement. I glance at Trigger to see him staring at me wide eyed.

“Please don’t kill me for saying this, and I’m betting I’ll regret it in the morning, but I have never been more attracted to anyone in my life.” Trigger informs me.

“Can it, Trigger. Give it a week and you’ll wish you’d never laid eyes on me.”

After another half hour of drinking and eating, we all head off to bed.

Random as it may be, for every birthday since I can remember, Moss has given me a goodnight kiss on the lips. It’s never been an attraction thing. In fact, the first time, it was an accident. Since then it’s just kind of happened.

He doesn’t let tonight be an exception. He pecks me briefly on the lips outside of our rooms.

“Good night, babe. Sleep well. Happy seventeen, love.”

“See you in the AM.”

“Amb, wake up. It’s time to go.”

My eyes open to see Moss sitting on the edge of my bed, attempting to get me up. Normally it’s the other way around. I check my bedside clock to see that it’s 6am.

“What time do we board the plane?” I ask.

He looks at me, concern creasing his features. I must look like shit. “7, so it’s time to get ready. There’s a carry on over there where you can put your weapons.”

I nod, and sit up, stumbling out of bed. Then, not caring that Moss is in the room because he is like a brother to me, and is staring at his phone, I change out of my pajamas into skinny jeans and a V-neck.

“We have a housekeeper between the three of us that’ll stalk each apartment, so you don’t need to worry about food or a toothbrush or anything. Just laptop and weapons” Moss informs me.

A knock on my door sounds, and then Oak and Trigger both come in.

“Ready to go?” Oak asks me.

My response is a smile that I can barely manage.

Sure, I’m excited for a change of scenery, new wardrobe, and new hunting ground. Still, I’m going to miss home like just about no other, likely because of the circumstances.