Chapter 6

It must be about three in the morning. The rain is still heaving down outside. I turn over and sue enough Lucien is still there, he's facing away from me. Old habits die hard because he never wanted to be near me afterwards anyway. Very slowly but very surely, reality sinks in. I've done it again. Allowed Lucien to use me and pretend it was the other way around. This is horrible. I hate this feeling, it happens every single time. All of a sudden I am furious with him, years of the same old game catches up with me. No matter what's happening right now, Kiros has never, not once used me for his own selfish gain and he would never dreamed of doing it if I was in a bad way. I make sure I am completely covered with the blanket before I shove him hard. Lucien crashes out of the bed, he leaps up in fury.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" He shouts at me. I glare at him furiously.
"You arsehole! You cowardly, weak, pathetic idiot! How dare you take advantage of me when you could see all I needed was a real friend! And more fool me for bloody letting you!"
"I was trying to comfort you!"
"You saw an easy path to get laid, Lucien! Stop pretending you care! You have done nothing but arrogantly take advantage of me! Faking you've forgotten rent, never being there when I need you! I'm just currency to you, actually no! Worse! You treat me like a bloody voucher book! Free home, free... stuff. You are not touching me again and you are getting out of my house do you hear?"
"Where has all this come from?" Lucien looks genuinely shocked but I can see him, he knows exactly what he's doing, waiting for my soft side to emerge once more. I've had enough of all these boys pretending they're men. Faking friendships for sex, fights and abuse. I'm making a change and I'm starting with him. How can I ever value anything i do in myself with people like that hanging around. The best I can do is tell him where to go.
"Years of second chances and you just screw up again and again! Pack your bags, GIVE ME MY SODDING RENT and I think Ethan has a spare room! You can go and be a nuisance together! I want you gone within two days! Now get the hell out of my bed and out of my bedroom!" I finish. As he slinks off, I roll over and screech with self-hatred and frustration into my pillow. I let him do it again. There's only one person I need, he hates me right now but I have to find out what's going on. I may push it, I may drive him mental but I can't do this anymore. I furiously push my blankets away, choose a dress I had designed for me, it replicates my wings, silver at the top that blends into purple and finally finishes at the hem with black.
I won't allow myself to lose everything that I see as important. I don't trust Kiros and tonight he has absolutely shattered me. But he means more to me than anyone ever has.
The rain has actually stopped for now which helps me. I make sure I'm wearing a jacket as the air is cold tonight. Then I spread my wings and take off still shaking with anger. I pelt towards Kiros's place, I truly believe he will turn me away and will leave me feeling worthless again but he needs to know I will do anything to fix it. It's the middle of the night so I'm not surprised to see Kiros's home is in darkness. I bang on his door for fifteen minutes. Eerily, I eventually knock so hard the door opens by itself. I call for Kiros over and over, I want him to know it's me in case he comes out swinging a weapon and cracks my skull.
I search every room and when the moonlight crossing Kiros's bed shows it hasn't been slept in, the penny drops that he's not even home.
"Still out battling starved vampires I'd wager." I grumble to myself. As I leave the spare bedroom, I look to my right and see the boiler room door is ajar. Even in the dark I can see the gouges in the door and my spine shivers. It is then I notice that there is light coming from the boiler room. I look around me, paranoid of being watched and very slowly push the door fully open.
In the middle of the room... which is very clearly not a boiler room is a vibrant glowing statue of a man, not just a man, he is an angel and by his wing span I can tell that he is a full blooded angel. No electrical light is needed for this room, the statue exudes pure magical energy. I'm so curious to know who the statue represents and why Kiros hid it from me. Whatever the case, I can instantly tell this is at least part of the reason why he has become increasingly distant from me. I get very close to the statue and examine it, the wings are cracked and chipped in many places but I can tell the statue was built that way. As I back away, I can see the engraving.
"The Statue of Leo." I say out loud. Leo... I heard about him. I was told he was a rogue fighter. His wings were ripped to shreds in a street fight any years before and he was never seen as anything since. But hearing he was a Fallen had always made me sad. I didn't think it was fair for someone to be banished for having broken wings and because they engaged in a fight now and again. But wait. Had I not just judged Kiros harshly for fighting? Yes I had. But it wasn't fair, this vampire hadn't provoked him in any way. It was merely sport.
If I could see Kiros had just cause for battling all of these people individually, I guess I wouldn't see it as wrong. As I grew up, I learned from Leo's stories not to get ahead of myself, we are not immortal. But while others around me passed judgement, I had a mix between hesitation and pity. All I heard were stories. Who were we to gossip about why they were true?
"So what did Kiros want with you then?" I ask the statue. I need to find him. Clearly Leo meant something more than just a few stories to Kiros. I don't know how I know but I know I have to go and find Maggie, he's been to visit them a lot. I have a feeling he's gone there again. Great minds think alike, we think alike. I need to trust that right now. I don't feel as though I can just turn my back on this statue. For whatever reason I turn around.
"Thank you." I say although again I'm not sure why. "I'll find him. Goodbye, Leo." And I leave, hoping I've left the house the same way I entered.

As I hear the town clock chime in the distance it tells me it is four in the morning. The sun will be up soon and it looks as though it's going to tip it down yet again. I start to move faster, Kiros doesn't live too far from the seafront so I don't fly. I just run. The grass tickles my feet and spurs me on through the forest. I think I see something or someone shift out of my view as I dash past and I know I can sense somebody behind me. If I need to I will take flight for my safety but all I can do is run and find Maggie at this moment. It's as though my legs have grown free will. I'm out of breath and my chest is absolutely killing me, I never run but I can't stop now.
The clearing comes into view and I stop running at last. I fact I have to stop moving completely. My vision blurs and I lean against a tree until my breathing begins to slow. I can hear the waves crashing against the rocks and I can tell the seas are as angry as the skies. The rain is falling around me so hard and heavy and yet I have only just noticed that somewhere between leaving the house and stopping yards from the clearing that it is the heaviest downpour yet.
There is someone at the end of the clearing. I can hardly make them out through the rain but I have a very good idea who it is. I peel myself away from the tree and wobble towards the seafront. I feel my chest heave with the sobbing that will no doubt be the encore of this conversation. I've already lost him. Why I'm torturing myself, I don't know. The smooth rock surface is so slippy and I see Kiros sit down as he watches the merpeople in the distance, he's clearly waiting for them and they don't look very interested. Despite everything, my heart goes out to him. He's desperately waiting for something and whatever it is, I want to hand it to him.
I'm really nervous to approach him and as I ponder just getting up and walking away after all, if I can't help him, or if he doesn't want me. Why am I still trying? I should just walk away. I've been thinking far too loud. Without reacting too much, Kiros stands and turns to me, we stand staring at one another and in the end I gingerly walk towards him feeling sick with nerves. This isn't right, I shouldn't be so terrified to approach my closest friend.
"What are you looking for, Kiros? The merpeople don't look back. You know that."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I went looking for you. Because I didn't want to give up. I didn't mean to but I think I found something I shouldn't have. Who's Leo?" I know who he is of course but my question has Kiros turn away from me and sit back down to watch the sea.
"You weren't supposed to see until I was finished." He says cryptically. I have absolutely no idea what that means and become instantly annoyed. If it's something I hate, it's being confused. I continue walking and I sit next to Kiros on the slippery, wet rock. "He wasn't just some rogue fighter." Kiros continues to my surprise. I choose to stay silent for once. "The statue was in an awful condition when I found it, the merpeople enchanted it for me so that I could restore it and once it was done, his soul can break out of this purgatory place it's been lodged in and it can move on."
"So... that's really kind of you to do that. But why?" I'm genuinely nothing more than curious right now.
"I found out that Leo was my dad. Decided I ought to do something. They built the statue, they knew who he was. So I figured I should honour that, even if I did it in secrecy for now. He wasn't a bad guy, Violet. Everyone else might think so but it all comes down to that good and bad in everyone thing." I have no idea why Kiros tacked on that last bit as though I was going to tell him he's doing something wrong.
"No I know. That's okay, you're doing what you should be. I won't say anything to anyone. This is your thing. All I wish is that you'd told me."
"You shouldn't keep secrets. That's the kind of thing that can tear a person apart." comes a voice from behind. Oh I don't believe this, it's just what we need. Aurora is leaning against the nearest tree on the outskirts of the forest, I have no idea how long she's been there but I bristle at the sight of her. I haven't seen her for a long time and despite the guilt I've felt for it, I'd been hoping just a little bit something had eaten her by now. It's obvious she is loving this. She can see me and Kiros aren't what we were, she's always been disgusted by the fact that it was her who brought us together.
I remain sitting but Kiros is straight on his feet and I can see he's ready to summon his wings if he needs to. He's reading her thoughts, lucky for us Aurora could never shut her mouth.
"She followed you." He says to me. "She saw you at my place and because you ran, she could follow you here."
"I would have anyway. Werewolf remember, I can pick her up whenever I want to. I've been tracking her all night. Wanting to know what her drama is this time."
"And what the hell is it to you?" I growl. "You're nothing but a pathetic stalker, Rory."
"Yeah because you following Kiros everywhere. That isn't is it?"
"I was looking for my friend. You following somebody who despises you for a kick is nothing short of sad." I shoot at her. Kiros has remained silent. There's a lot he wants to say and I know it but I want to deal with her this time. I'm not going to shrink away, not from her. She's done more damage to us than I care to think about and I won't let her make a bad situation worse. She turned up here to provoke us and I can't let it work.
"I'm guessing your latest victim abandoned you." I say softly. "You always try and wind us up every time people realise what you really are. A mangy, dirty, obsessive animal." I actually feel guilt for being so cruel but in a way, I am right. Each time Aurora loses what she has, she taunts Kiros just because she knows she can make him see red. I've done it. Aurora instantly snaps and she goes for me. I can't react fast enough and she's on me within a second, we roll towards the edge, stopping just short of falling in the water.
Kiros finally reacts and drags her off me. Aurora has clawed my chest open and a pain in the back of my head tells me I hit it hard as we hit the floor. Slightly dazed from the blow to my head, I see Kiros in full warrior mode. He's moving too fast for Aurora to react to his lost temper and once I regain my senses I know he isn't going to stop. He's going to cross that line tonight and there is no way in this world I'm going to lose my best friend because of her selfish, spoiled nature.
I'm still a little dizzy and I know if this carries on much longer, I'll lose my enemy but also Kiros for it. It hits me. She isn't worth it, she isn't worth anything, not my hate, not my cruel words and definitely not Kiros. I force myself to get it together so I can react faster instead of rolling around on the floor wincing. I'm guessing that Aurora gave Kiros every incentive he needed as the last straw by attacking me. In a way this makes me feel better knowing he ares about me unless he just wanted any old excuse. Finally my body catches up with my thoughts to stop this. I move fast before Kiros can beat Aurora to death.
Willing to get hurt here, I don't even think properly as I duck between them and as expected, Kiros catches me square in the side of the head. The shock of what has just happened stops them instantly. Kiros has never hurt me before and I knew he never would deliberately but I had to make him stop. Aurora is too beaten to physically attack now, she crawls off towards the edge of the rocks.
"Okay, for a start, OUCH!"
"Don't get in my f*****g way then!"
"I wouldn't have to if you could control yourself!"
"She deserves it!"
"She might! But you don't." I finally lower my voice, I feel lucky to still be conscious at the moment. "If you kill her, you'll be gone forever. You won't come back from it. She'll get what's coming one day I know she will. But we're not the ones to do it." The rain starts to pour even heavier if that is possible and I get to my feet. "This is what makes us, us." I say to him. "She's nothing, she can get at us but if we learn to stop reacting, look, she goes away. Don't even look at her, she's a stroppy, little beast." Now isn't the time to make a joke but being me I need to give it a go anyway "And I like knowing there's someone around where I can say yes she's evil but I'm skinnier."
Kiros looks round at her. I'm getting somewhere, I know I am. I think I may have made him see sense that despite all the pain she has caused us, it won't make it any better for him to inflict the same. Aurora starts to laugh.
"So that's what you're going to do is it? Pretend I'm not here? I'm not going anywhere, you and your stinking fish who do nothing but lie couldn't have any idea that I'm-" But whatever it was that Aurora was about to say next, we were never going to find out. As I've said before, she can't keep her mouth shut. The King bursts from the water furiously giving the angry waves from the storm a run for their money, he seizes Aurora by her bloody head and as he falls back into the water, he brings her down with him, I hear the deafening crack of her skull and as he drags her into the seas it leaves a bloody trail and I hide my face from it. The shrieks of the insulted merpeople fill my ears as they all go for a piece of her and I can't take the noise. I look at Kiros and he's just watching the water as though it disinterests him.
I know what he's thinking. She got what she deserved and to an extent he's right. Everybody knows that no matter what you do, you can never insult a merman. It will lead to your death.

I take Kiros's hand and lead him away from the piercing screams of anger that fill our ears, I gently pull him into the forest until the noise is gone and the finally sit back down, the pain in the back of my head has become duller now but I still feel weird. The rain has stopped all of a sudden and I can see the clouds passing away at last.
"You were going to kill her. You can't carry on like this, Kiros."
"I know."
"Then something has to give! God knows, I love you but I can't do this anymore. I can't see you like this and I know that while this is going on, I can't trust you anymore!" I pull myself to my feet and continue before Kiros can interrupt me. "I don't know you, therefore I do not trust you. I don't know what happened or why it's come to this but it has and I can't do it!" I summon my wings. He wants to call it a day and I'm too weak and tired to carry on trying to force this. "So I guess we're done." I say resigned to it. I expect Kiros to shrug at me like he always does and let me leave.
"No no no don't say that." And I can hear an actual plea in his voice. "Don't go, please don't go, Violet."
"You don't want me here."
"Yes I do, I was upset. I was angry and I didn't mean it, please let me show you. I'll do anything I have to, just don't give up." I've never heard him speak like this before. It unsettles me in its own way but it's getting to me too. I don't know what I should do. If I stay, are we just going to fight until one of us flips? Or is he really going to make it better. In all my life experience no one has ever followed through on their words to stay and take care of me. They all just screw up and go.
"I can't cope with it." I whisper. "You say all this now but I've been in my life. You won't stay. People never do."
"I will! I'll prove everyone wrong. I don't want you to go, Violet. I need you. You always tell me what I should do when I don't know."
"Apparently all I ever do is push you over the edge."
"I told you I didn't mean it. Please." He says. But I'm too confused. I need to be on my own. Desperately I back out into the clearing.
"Don't follow me." I say and I take off, I don't even look back. I can't believe the path I'm taking but somehow I end up at Ethan's for a second time in just two hours.