Whatever came up and led to Tyler leaving early, it led them both to the forest. Clea followed him diligently and unnoticed with a cab. She half-expected him to go home, but he drove on and eventually parked at the front of the inn. That was when she confirmed something was up. It had gotten interesting. She stayed in the cab, watching him enter the forest path. Then she got down and followed him. Following him was pretty easy. As long as she stayed out of sight, kept her footsteps soft, and steered clear of decayed fallen leaves which could leave crunching sounds. Even though he walked straight ahead, he didn't walk on the path. This conveyed to Clea that he was avoiding being seen. She didn't know what she was doing following him. She didn't know what to think. Though she was following him based on the suggestion that he could be one of the dealers, she still couldn't bring herself to believe it. The Tyler she knew, the one her thirteen years old self met, had promised her, years a

As they stared at each other, they could both see the reflection of their feelings in the other person's eyes. "I shouldn't have said that," It was Clea speaking. "I didn't mean it. I promise."Hunter looked away. He got up and walked into the room. Clea followed him. "I'm very sorry—"The door jammed on her face as the last word left her mouth. "You owe me an apology too!" The door opened as fast as it shut, taking Clea off-guard. She gazed into his eyes, sucking up the deep of his expression. Overwhelmed, but unable to back out. There was only resentment in his eyes, but Clea convinced herself it was fake. She told herself he didn't really despise her. That he was sorry for what he said, too. "No.""What?""I don't owe you an apology."He was being incredulous. Clea swallowed, unsure of where she could go with this. Then suddenly, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. With his facing down, and hers facing up, the distance between their faces was in inches. Strong arousal we

Clea could detect something was different from the moment she opened her eyes. There was a shift in the air, a heaviness she felt heavily. She felt around for Hunter but her hand found nobody. Then she sat up and saw he was seated by the wall. His knees were raised and his arms dangled from them. His head was dropped, facing the ground in a dejected manner. "Hunter?" Clea called cautiously. She left the bed and crawled to him. He didn't respond."Hunter?" she called again, gentler this time. She placed her hand on his knees. He raised his head, and Clea understood the shift in the aura. Because it was gone. The playful, careless twinkle in Hunter's eyes was gone. And it was replaced by a brooding. It had moved from a twinkle that made her want to giggle and hand over her heart on a platter, and was now a twinkle that made her want to dedicate her entire self to loving him so much that all his pains disappeared."Tarik." Her voice shook a bit with shock, but she quickly recovered. I

Clea lay on Tarik's body; his arms wrapped around her, his jaw on her head. His hand patted her arms softly and he kissed her forehead every now and then.Clea felt... good. She felt calm. Almost not sad. Her despair was disappearing bit by bit. In his presence, it couldn't swallow her. Being in his arms like that, Clea felt protected against everything that could bring her down. Everything that could harm her. "It's nice," she murmured. "What is?" he murmured back. She moved her head unsurely, and it seemed like a half-nod, half-headshake. "I— don't know... it just feels nice. Inside me. It feels, horrible too but... it's nice. You're here. I'm in your arms. That feels nice." She snuggled closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her tighter as he dropped another kiss on her head. "...it's nice too, from my end."She raised her head. "Really?" He nodded. Their gazes held. "Why do you doubt it?" he asked."Because... you wouldn't talk to me, yesterday."He flexed his jaw and hes

Clea found Inna lying across the kitchen, her ankle in a weird position. Beside her on the floor, was Jo who dutifully licked her injuries. She let out soft groans as Clea raised her to a sitting position."Did an evil spirit get into your sister?""Exactly," Clea said, then she blushed. "Sister? Why do I feel honoured?"Inna laughed softly. "I could tell. When are you girls leaving? You shouldn't hang around for long. I should've told you this earlier but this damn town isn't nice to strangers. You've seen that for yourself. Hell, it's even turning on the towners now." She sighed heavily. Clea held her cheek up. "We definitely won't hang around for long. We've already overstayed our welcome as it is." She picked up the malformed hand. "How does it feel?""I can't feel it. It's turning purple." "No, it's not." Clea chuckled. She wanted to be as warm as possible so she wouldn't scare Inna. She placed her hand around the wrist and tried to press it back in place. "Careful, bitch!""In