Dobah was about to ask a question, when he heard the shriek of a bird from above.
Startled, he stopped his words, and looked up, aware that he was not the only one that had been surprised by such a loud shriek.
Two white little birds. Cute things if he must admit.
The birds were playing with each other, females he was sure. He couldn’t help but wonder what two female birds were doing together on a high window pane.
Shouldn’t there be a male to play a mating dance with them? The birds also were of the same breed with the same markings.
There was something suspicious about them, but he couldn’t detect a weird energy from them. If anything, he felt relaxed. If they’re the wrong birds, he should detect some atmosphere change, but there was nothing.
When he saw the others relax and begin to return their gazes to the table, he was aware that they felt no threat from the birds. And so in the mouth, or rather mind, of two or three witnesses, the truth was established.
Was that how the Bible put it? He couldn’t remember. He had forgotten the text from one of his favourite books. He might have to read it again.
“So, are there any other clues we can put together to resolve this war? Either stop it or maybe win it if all resolution efforts come to null.” He asked, facing the table fully.
“Well, I think there are plenty. We have talked about her dreams, right?” Melvina started, and Sheila shook her head.
“No, we talked about the painting alone, the one that moved whilst she was telling you about her dreams. What was the dream about?”
“The dreams were the same thing. In the dream, the sky was red, and there was bloodshed, fighting and killing, and she had seen wolves fighting with each other-she didn’t understand then why she was dreaming of animals, while she was a human. She hadn’t known of our existence or the fact that the supernatural was even real. Well, she saw a grotesque man there, with fangs, fading eyes and skin, at loggerheads with a very big black wolf with blue eyes. The man had tried first to kill her, but the wolf had come in between them. Hence, the man had sunk his fangs into the wolf’s neck. She had woken up then. As Emma had spoken that night, she had also mentioned the blueness of the wolf’s eyes that had reminded her of my son. Later, she had asked me if we were having a political crisis. As it turned out, they had told her that I was the governess of the county, and when she had seen the dream, she had thought that the political enemies would come for us soon. I supported the theory. No wonder she didn’t trust me with Margo. I had lied to her countless times, not knowing when she started reading minds.”
Lucilled gasped. “She could read minds?”
“Yes.” Aiden answered. “I remember the first time it had happened, the first time she had come in contact with that side of her. I had come into the cafe to see the environment where my students frequented, to actually see her, for I only saw color when she was around. I had wanted to see, wanted to feel-it was like a drug to my barren existence. That was when I saw her shout out with four college students. They had tried bullying her with their powers. They threw her up in the air, and she fell into my arms. I had been there to catch her. I think Esther had been behind it. That was her clique. But they didn’t know each other then. I wasn’t speaking a word, carrying her in my arms, but she was looking at me, and kept talking like she could see my thoughts. When I dropped her to the ground, she had bent down in pain. I had asked her what the matter was, and she mentioned that the cafe was too rowdy. That had been the moment I knew that she was hearing thoughts. So, I took her outside. It was also that moment that I confirmed that she wasn’t a human, that and the scent that had assailed her when Derek had slept with her for the first time.”
Derek blanched at being thrown under the bus. He paled the more when Sheila glared at him.
“You slept with her? Please tell me you used protection..”
Derek’s silence caused a tensed quietness to settle in the atmosphere.
Melvina screeched. “You didn’t use protection?!”
“I …wasn’t.. thinking.. It had happened too fast.” Derek stuttered, feeling stupid.
“What about the party, when she came back?” Freya asked, attempting to block Eva’s ears, but the little one shook her head. “I know what you are talking about. I am not a kid. Stop treating me like one.”
Derek paused. He didn’t use it. He didn’t think of using it. He didn’t even think to think of using it. He was dead.
What if she was with his child? His heart stopped, especially when he saw the same expression mirrored on the faces of those at the table. They were thinking the same thing.
“Oh my god, I will kill you. If my daughter, if my daughter..” Sheila was a stuttering mess, a tear slipping off her cheek.
Lucille held her arm, and comforted her with little words incoherent to the others. She had perfected the masking magic. Freya has never been more prouder. Her sister was smart.
It took a while, but Sheila calmed down. She glared at Derek one more time, before clasping her hand on the table, retaining her cold composure. “The scent, what about it?” She asked Aiden.
“Well, at school, she had been smelling…well…delicious.” He answered, giving a look of apology to Freya who shrugged her shoulders. She understood.
“I knew also that she had slept with Derek, because the previous night, she wasn’t smelling that way.”
“And how would you know that?” Anthony asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
Aiden swallowed, and looked at Freya. He hadn’t told her about this part of his story. But he knew he had to come clean. “I had made her invite me to her room as a harpy eagle. I…played with her consciousness; but even then she was too strong to be held down. I was a mess then, I admit. I had thought she was my lifemate.”