Call of the Raven (36 page)

His attempt to respond with a laugh broke off
with a choking sound as he moved her hair aside from the right side
of her neck. Julio was left handed so the majority of his damage
was typically to that side.

“I hope to God you threw it hard. Did he…try
to strangle you?”

“That’s why I packed. He never acted like he
wanted to kill me before.”

“Why would he feel that way? What set him
off?” Asher’s hands circled her neck causing Elle to shudder
involuntarily.

“I know what you’re thinking Asher because of
the way I fling things back at you, but I never provoked him
because I
was
afraid of him. Actually, now that I think
about it, I’ve never treated anyone like I’ve treated you, so I am
sorry about that, the words just come out.”

Moving his hands from her neck to her face,
she felt his finger guide over her bottom lip. The tip came to a
rest at the corner of her mouth where Julio’s ring had cut her. The
tingling passed through straight to her chest, which rose and fell
in steady breaths. She wanted to open her eyes but knew better.
Seeing him so close would only make matters worse for them
both.

“I’m not sure what to make of that comment in
regard to me,” he said, “but we can save that for another time. You
didn’t answer my question. Why did a man that you’ve lived with for
five years feel the need to strangle you when you’re carrying his
child?”

“He didn’t know about the baby. I only found
out a week ago and he’s been so mean I haven’t wanted to tell him.
He strangled me because I told him he wasn’t a man. That set him
off, but the only reason I said it was because he said I was ugly,
fat and that I disgusted him. We never really were a couple. He
called himself my landlord and provider and that was all. I wasn’t
with him because I wanted to be,” Elle declared. “Now, are you
happy?”

Asher’s hand hesitated as he moved over her
right cheekbone. “No Elle I am not and it’s because you are
none
of those things. Ari was right. That man didn’t deserve
you but your words have left me in a rather tough situation. I had
thought I came to the right decision but now I’m not so sure. You
can open your eyes now.”

When she did, Asher still stood in front of
her. He had moved his hair aside from his eyes and was peering down
at her through his lashes again, just as he had in the room.

“I just have one more place that needs
attention, so just stand still.” Working around behind her, he
returned the jacket to her shoulders. When she felt him move her
long hair aside and lift up the back of her clothing, she twisted
to look at him. “I asked you not to look at me because it makes me
nervous and I need to concentrate my magic so I won’t hurt you,” he
told her.

Elle faced away from him again just as he put
his warm hand on the cut on the left side of her back. She tensed
under his touch. This time she felt a slight burn on her skin as
the cut healed.

“I tend to be obsessive but the bruises just
don’t stop,” he said. “But if I were to heal every last one I would
be officially drained of magic. I don’t understand at all how
anyone could be so—”

“Asher stop looking then.” Elle was
attempting to lower her shirt and jacket in place when a voice
interrupted them.

“Excuse me Mr. Lake.”

Elle noticed the woman before them. She stood
in the hall in a waitress uniform and apron. She was a pretty woman
with red hair, but her thinness was bordering on the point of
unattractiveness. Asher instantly dropped her clothing back in
place and stood up straight. Elle could only image what the
waitress thought. She informed him that the food was ready to be
served, and turned to leave.

“I bet that was a shock,” he said. “People
are not accustomed to seeing me with a woman.”

Elle stopped walking and looked sideways at
Asher. “Thank you Asher. I don’t feel so self-conscious now.”

“You have no reason to Elle.” He started to
move on but since she was still hanging back, he stopped and faced
her. “Is there something wrong?”

“I was just curious about something. I was
wondering about your vow and why that is?”

Asher lowered his gaze from her. She had
successfully made him uncomfortable again by the look of his hands.
This time Asher shoved them into the front pockets of his jeans.
“I’m a Keeper. I’m expected to remain pure until the time comes
that I choose a wife so that I can produce an heir.”

“So then it’s not a long term thing, for you
to remain single?”

“No,” Asher suddenly seemed anxious to leave,
“but now I swear it seems an eternity.”

Turning around, Asher hurried through the
door and since he didn’t hold it open for her, Elle rushed through
before it could close. She stood in a private dining room that
sported bright red carpet. The only furniture in the room was a
large round table and a long buffet table against the wall where
two older women sat out food. Asher quickly walked to the table and
sat next to his waiting brothers.

Nixon had his back to her. Ari on the other
hand had not taken his eyes off of her since she stepped through
the door, and he didn’t seem to care if she noticed. He had changed
into a white dress shirt and his dark brown hair had been neatly
combed into place, but he still donned a thin layer of scruff on
his face. On Ari it was a good look. Rising, he met her
halfway.

“You must forgive my big bad wolf of a
brother. He has little sense and no regard when it comes to the
opposite sex.” Applying his hand to the small of her back, he led
her to a seat between him and Asher. “And,” he leaned close,
smelling of alcohol, “he gets grumpy when he hasn’t eaten all day.
It’s a wonder he didn’t gobble you up on the way down, my
dear.”

Elle dropped onto the chair as Ari sat her
down. She was doing it again, staring at Asher, but this time it
was Nixon that was noting that fact. Asher reached for the pot of
coffee in the center of the table and poured some into a mug.
Coffee sloshed over the side of his cup onto his fingers as he
lifted it to his lips.

“Asher man, are your hands trembling?” Nixon
asked.

“Better yet,” Ari said, as he dropped heavily
to his chair, “I think he’s blushing.”

Forcibly Asher sat the mug down and more
coffee sloshed over the brim, this time, to the white tablecloth.
Discounting his brothers, he considered Elle with something close
to agitation. “I heard what my idiot of a brother said. Did you not
think I had an animal nature?”

“Pain doesn’t. He’s just magical like
you.”

“Oh there’s nothing magical about Asher,” Ari
scoffed.

Again, Asher ignored the comment. “Regardless
of what Ari told you on the stairs, not everything I wrote about in
those books is truth.”

“No just ninety-nine point nine percent.” Ari
reached for a decanter in the middle of the table and emptied the
last of an amber brown liquid into a glass of ice. “What the fools
not telling you is, he made Pain that way because he himself
resents his animal form.”

“Then you are a wolf, like Grant?” she
asked.

“All Keepers are wolves,” Asher replied.

“Yes,” Ari said, “but unlike all the Keepers
before him, who had blue eyes in their wolf forms, and were
typically greys, Asher’s a scary black wolf with blazing orange
eyes. Satirical isn’t it, given his blue aquarium fish-eyes you see
now, but there’s nothing normal about my brother. Even his ideas
fall toward the more radical side. Just when I thought I understood
the fool, he proves me wrong again. The one thing I do understand
though is the fact he’s spent the majority of his life making
everyone miserable, and now he wants to turn his gloomy charm your
way.”

“Ari please!” She shocked all of them into
silence with those two words. Not only had Asher opened his mouth
to finally make a retort, so had Nixon. And she could tell by both
their expressions, they were upset with Ari’s behavior. She
couldn’t say she blamed them any.

She flashed pleading eyes at Ari. “I heard
the arguing and I know you know about me, about my condition, and I
know that my being here is causing stress. I don’t want that.” She
looked around the table. “I’ve seen how you treat one another, all
of you. You care about each other so stop this, whatever
it
is.”

She cast a hurried look Asher’s way. “I know
you care about them too. You just have a different way of showing
it. Now, it appears none of you have eaten yet. Why don’t we get
some food and then maybe we can discuss things politely.” Elle
lowered her eyes to her hands.

She knew they were still looking. She could
feel their gazes heavy and hard. Fighting anxiety she giggled. “I
would have directed that last comment to a specific person in
particular, but it seems
all of you
struggle with the idea
of being polite to one another—even the little tigress
upstairs.”

She hadn’t expected them to laugh. But at the
sound of an eruption of it, loud and boisterous, Elle flashed wary
eyes around the table. The smiling faces relaxed her tense
shoulders. Knocking over his coffee, Asher went to grabbing napkins
to clean it up, while both Ari and Nixon stood and came to where
she sat. More than likely due to Ari’s inebriated state, Nixon
reached her first. He pulled back her chair as she stood and took
charge of her arm.

“I know Ari introduced us but I just wanted
to make it clear. My name’s Nixon.” He steered her in the direction
of the buffet table, while Ari hung back with Asher. “The fools
back there occasionally call me a variety of that name but I prefer
just Nixon. I didn’t get a chance to thank you for helping me on
the roof and for what you said.”

“Well thank you. I do appreciate what you
did. You were terribly outnumbered. Taking on those birds like that
all by yourself was a very brave thing to do.”

“Well I don’t always feel brave, impulsive
maybe, but not brave.” Nixon cast a glance over his shoulder and
then took a plate from the stack. He handed the plate to her and
reached for another. “I would have said something before but I
didn’t want to in front of the bros. I came to and saw you there
with your hair blowing back under the moonlight, and well you
looked like an angel, so I thought I was a goner.”

“Really now,” she said. First she had to deal
with Ari’s overly friendly gestures and now she got the impression,
Nixon wasn’t much different when it came to the girls. His hair,
now that it was washed, was much lighter, more blond than brown.
Stiff with gel it stood up on top in sharp angles.

He snatched a carrot from the bar and bit
into it, and as he chewed he showed off a dimple in his right
cheek. He scanned the row of vegetables with eyes just as
remarkable as Asher’s. Not because they were blue like Asher’s but
in this case a light green with thin yellow strands woven
throughout the iris.

“Well,” Nixon flashed a shy grin her way,
“I’ve seen your face,
especially
those blue eyes of yours
for so long in Asher’s drawings, I guess I was a little
self-conscious.” He turned to her then as Elle reached for some
grapes. “I don’t clean up too bad though do I?” Elle mechanically
agreed so he went on,

“And neither do you. You were pretty before
but now your face is glowing. Looks like Asher worked his magic
fingers on you. Given the location of some of those bruises, that
kind of shines a little light on why he decided to drink straight
black coffee and then spilled it on the tabletop.”

Elle looked at her plate as Nixon moved on
and started grabbing food as he went. Everything smelled and looked
wonderful to Elle. And yet even though her stomach churned with
hunger, she suddenly didn’t feel like eating.

“You have nothing on your plate but fruit,”
Ari moved beside her. He along with Asher had arrived midway
through Nixon’s words and despite her noticing them he hadn’t, or
as Elle was apt to believe, didn’t care if they heard. “Are you
feeling okay?” Ari asked.

“I’m a little over tired.”

Ari reached for her plate. “I’ll get you a
selection. Go have a seat.”

Returning to the table, Elle poured some
coffee in a mug and stirred in cream. The cramping had gone, but
now as she sat sipping the warm liquid, she was fast becoming aware
that she was feeling nauseous. Asher was the first to arrive. There
was a brown ring of spilled coffee on the tablecloth where his mug
sat. Before he could fully assume his seat the red headed waitress
sat a new mug down. She poured him more coffee with a shaky hand
and hurried away.

“My mother gave me the name Hatori. I was
named after my great-grandfather. Matasuto was her maiden
name.”

“You and Ari don’t look Japanese though.”

“Our mother was only half-Japanese. Ari’s dad
died before he was born and my father and Nixon’s,” he looked over
his shoulder toward the drink machine where Nixon and Ari stood
quietly talking, “is actually Seminole Indian. Nixon looks like his
mom. She was a blonde like you. But just FYI, Ari doesn’t know
about Nixon being my half-brother yet. As a matter of fact, that
information just fell on Nixon’s shoulders a few days ago, so what
you feel here among us—the
stress
goes a long way back, and
deeper than what happened today.”

Asher took a sip of his coffee and sat it
down. “What you said to him about being brave. That was very nice
of you. I know that Nixon’s been struggling with that lately.” He
turned his head and looked at her. “And you are right. I do care
about them a great deal. I just didn’t realize how much until here
recently.”

“Because of the people you said were trying
to hurt them?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, Ari was abducted
by the same group that those men in the abandoned building belong
to. He wasn’t hurt and we got him back, but one of the children
was.”