Blood Isn't Always Thicker Than Water

Sakar was looking darkly at me. By now he was able to stand up without cringing. “What are you planning on doing?” He looked very suspicious.

I pulled out the rest of the scrap of black cloth and waited for it to cover my hand. It didn’t. “Well, I guess it only works on injuries.” I tucked it back into my pocket.

“Allow me,” Sakar said, and I knew what he was thinking as he limped toward the couch with Taylor’s fairy under it.

“No!” I yelled probably scaring Law and Stefan. But I seriously didn’t give a crap. “Don’t! You may be a halfblood and all, but you don’t know what that stuff could do to you.”

He swung around to face me. “Well, do you know? Hmm?”

I glared sullenly at him, trying so hard as I could to refrain from saying, “Aha; touché.”

“Yeah… Well, you can’t know until you try,” Sakar told me venomously. However, he didn’t sound nearly as scary as Lady Ivy did when she accessed her venom glands. I wonder where she hid them…

He turned back toward the couch and managed to get over to it without injuring himself further. I followed him cautiously.

“Fine,” I relented. “But only touch a tiny bit of the blood—or not even. How about just the fairy’s skin?”

He didn’t pay any attention to me and my obviously annoying questions. He crouched down—more like fell—and then searched under the couch with his eyes for the fairy. I got down next to him and pointed out where the beautiful little lady was.

“That him?” Sakar asked, squinting.

“It’s a girl,” I replied blandly. “Law must’ve crushed her into the leg of this thing when I tripped over him. It’s sad, really…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He glared at the fairy. And, if I wasn’t mistaken, he glanced at me once or twice. After an awkward ten seconds, he grumbled, “Uhurst.”

I blinked at him. “Um, huh?”

He blushed. He seriously blushed. “You first.”

I bit back the urge to laugh and humored him. My finger swiped lightly over the little girl’s calf. “Um, I can touch her okay.”

Sakar rolled his eyes. “She’s dead. Get the fuckin’ blood already. The magic will probably fade after a while.”

I rolled my eyes right back. “Well fine.” I dipped the fingertip of the index finger on my left hand into the small puddle of sparkly golden goopy stuff. My ears received a fizzing sound. Oh crap.

“Did it burn you?” Sakar asked, seeming to be controlling his joy to little avail.

I bit my lip. “I sure hope not.” I slowly brought my hand toward us—toward the light. Why wasn’t my hand lighting up like it had last time I shoved it under the couch? Well, whatever. At least it wasn’t shining like a beacon while Sakar watched. I inspected my fingertip. “Uh, I’m fine.” I wiped my finger on the floor and hoped Sakar hadn’t seen that my skin hadn’t been burning—the blood had been. “Now you go,” I ordered, moving back a little and setting my chin on my hands.

“What are you two doing?” Raine sauntered into the room, startling me so bad I was surprised I didn’t die a premature death from a heart attack.

And I suddenly realized that I forgot to get myself ice cream at lunch. Crappers.

“Absolutely nothing,” I told Raine happily, standing up and dusting myself off, though there was no need. Sakar just carried on and reached out toward the fairy, ignoring Raine altogether.

Said girl flopped contentedly onto a couch. There were three of them, and four overstuffed armchairs in this room. Built-into-the-wall desks lined two parallel walls and the fireplace stared blackly to at me as I crashed down next to Raine, wanting to get away from Sakar. If he started to burn, I didn’t want to be in his way.

“Ssssssssssss!” he suddenly hissed, but no fizzling sound or burning smell could be sensed. Sakar blinked, then surreptitiously wiped off his finger on the floor and stood up. He stalked off into his room, a slight limp the only thing marring his completely detached look. The dude was on quite the ego trip.

“What was that about?” Raine asked.

I shrugged. “Sakar will be Sakar.”

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Good. You’ve already figured him out.” She leaped over to the couch across from the one I continued to sit on and stretched out on her back, closing her eyes. Her short, thick cherry brown hair fanned out on the cushions.

A door creaked open and Stefan’s quiet voice said, “Oh. Hey Raine.”

She waved a hand lazily at him as he grabbed his issue of Sports Illustrated and settled down next to me. “You got a team?”

I frowned. “What?”

“You got a team?” Stefan repeated, looking a little uncomfortable. “A sports team you like?”

I shook my head, appreciating his read-between-the-lines method of apologizing for calling me untrustworthy earlier. Just him talking to me was a message enough. And my form of forgiveness was elaborating on my answer. “No. I’ve never been very connected to the sports world.”

“You’re missing out,” Stefan warned me.

“How’s Law?” I asked.

Stefan shrugged. “Frustrated. He may be ambidextrous, but he liked using his left hand a lot more.” He flipped a page.

“What happened to little Lawrence?” Raine asked.

“Who?” I asked, looking at her curiously.

“Law’s full name is Lawrence,” Raine explained. “Lawrence Valentin.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Valentin?”

Stefan pointed a finger at me. “No valentine cracks, okay?”

“They’re touchy,” Raine told me. “Especially when February comes around. So what’s up with Law?”

“Burned his hand,” I told her. “Pretty nasty.”

“Ick. The left?”

Stefan and I nodded.

“Ugh. Caspian Royce, what have you done to these boys?”

I shrugged. “What can I say?” Then I pouted. “I miss my dog.”

“He does sound pretty cool,” Stefan noted airily, already back to reading his Sports Illustrated.

The door that led to the hall slammed open. “Caa-aaaaaaaas!” a voice whined. “It’s so fricken lonely!” Sandy left the door wide open and clambered onto my lap, leaning his head against the arm of the couch. He looked like either a dude with a wig or a manly female model. He had, like, serious Pantene commercial hair.

“What hair stuff do you use?” I asked him randomly.

Raine snorted. “I guess Fructis or Herbal Essences.”

Stefan raised his hand. “I abstain.”

“Pantene,” I put in, then we all waited for an answer. Sandy opened his eyes a peek and his blue gaze landed on me.

“You’re all wrong. I use Head and Shoulders.” He smirked and let his side bangs fall over his face.

I rolled my eyes. “You are so gay.”

“Look who’s talkin’, Mistah Maskyalin.”

“Listen to the dude with the accent.”

“Says the one who wears V-necks.”

“You have foot-and-a-half long hair.”

“And you wear skinny jeans.”

“They’re boot cut!” I said in my defense. “And what do skinny jeans have to do with anything?”

Sandy shrugged lethargically. “Dunno. But it’s fun tuh rile yuh up.”

Raine and Stefan were staring at us. “You two…” Raine murmured.

Then Law’s door opened and he walked out. “Hey guys. What’d I miss?”