The Perfect Storm

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MELODY!!!” Alec yells in my ear, jumping atop of me as I slept.

“What?” I grumble.

“HAPPY TWENTY SEVENTH BIRTHDAY!!!” Alec yells.

“IT’S NICE TO SEE YOU, TOO!” I yell equally loud, pushing her off of me. Alec grabs my legs, dragging me out of bed. “ALEXANDRIA!!!”

“Yes?” Alec asks sweetly. She drags me outside of my house, where Mary jumps on me.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!”

“IT WOULD BE IF YOU QUIT YELLING!!!” I yell, as Alec continues to drag me. How strong is she?!

“Hey, Melody,” Chris says, walking past me. Almost. I grab his leg, making Mary and Alec have some trouble to drag me.

“HELP ME!!! I’M BEING KIDNAPPED!!!”

“Again?” Kevin asks teasingly, “By two tiny six year olds?”

“And a Werewolf!” Alec yells, as Tyler joins them.

“Hey, Mel!”

“Hey Tyler!” I say, grinning, “Did you hear about what I did to Nina?”

“Yeah, that was awesome! Pranking genius.”

“Thank you.”

“Melody, let go,” Chris says, trying to shake me.

“NO! Help me!”

“NO! Let go!”

“NO!”

“YES!”

“NO!”

“YES!”

“NO!”

“YES!”

“NO!”

“YES!”

“NO!”

“YES!”

“NO!” I yell, breaking free from Alec, Mary, and Tyler. I go at a dead run, yelling at the top of my lungs, “YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!!!”

“Of course not! You’re already dead!” Alec says, grinning like the smart-ass she knows she is.

“Stop being a smart-ass, Alec,” I say over my shoulder, running past her.

“STOP TRYING TO AVOIDE THE SUBJECT!!!”

“WHAT SUBJECT?!!!”

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” Dylan yells, grinning at me.

“HOLY MOTHER LOAD OF CRAP!!!” Alison yells suddenly, “COPPER PENNIES AND SILVER BELLS!!!”

“Alison, what are you —” I stopped dead in my tracks.

There stood two Alison’s! I think. They looked exactly the same. One just had a blue streak in her hair.

“Kay, how could you?!” The Alison without the blue streak in her hair yells.

“You’re one to talk, Aly, you got pregnant at sixteen!”

“It was against my will! I didn’t have a choice!”

“You still went through with it!”

“And I don’t regret it. Because the Lord blessed me with two beautiful kids.”

“Then why are you mad that I did it?”

“Because, Kay, you’re supposed to learn from my mistakes! Not go and get knocked up!”

“I know what you are! I know what you all are! If you say I can’t stay here then I’ll tell everyone!”

“You don’t wanna do that, Kay.”

“Watch. Me.”

“I will kill you with just the snap of my fingers,” Alison growls, gripping the other girl’s arm. The girl, Kay, fell down to her knees. “I gave you a home, McKayla, I gave you a family without a second thought. And this is how you choose to thank me? By having my family burned on a stake just like all those years. For centuries my family has been hiding and withering away from society becuase of the fires that it would set off it were to get out that we were cursed.”

“You call it a curse, I call it a blessing.”

“You think I like this fear. My uncle is dead and right over there!” Alison points to Kevin. “Now think about what you’re doing for a minute, then maybe I won’t kill you. You can stay for the night.” Alison let go of the other, storming away furiously.

“What the hell. Are you alright?” I ask, going to the girl’s side.

“Just get away from me.” She pushes me away from her, sending me falling on the ground. “Leave me the hell alone, bitch.”

“Look, I don’t have to give a damn about whatever the hell is up your ass, but I don’t like seeing my sister upset,” I say, glaring at her. She doesn’t even know me. Who the hell does she think she is?

“Your sister? Aly’s been my sister since we were six and that bastard started following her.”

“A-Alison never mentioned you —”

“Of course not! Becuase you took her!” She slapped me! The Bitch slapped me!

I went at her, full-force, attacking like the Bitch held a knife to my throat. Which is exactly what I did to her. I held my pocket knife at the hollow of her throat, growling, “What the hell is your problem?!”

“Back off, bitch!” She pushes me off of her, getting on top of me as she punched.

“MCKAYLA!!!” Alison growls, pushing her off of me.

“WHAT?!”

“GO GET LOST!!! I FUCKING LEFT YOU FOR A REASON!!!”

“YEAH, SO YOU COULD GO WHORE OFF —” She never got to finish. In a flash I yank at her hair, putting my knife at her throat.

“Say one thing, one thing, bitch. I dare you,” I snarl.

“Listen closely, McKayla, I left because I died. You think it’s something I wanted to have to explain to everyone back home?! DO YOU THINK THAT I COULD EVEN GO HOME?!!!” Alison growls, “Get. Out.”

“Fine. But you’ll regret it,” McKayla growls, as I let go.

“What the hell is her problem?” I ask angrily.

“She’s pregnant. It’s just hormones.” Alison rolls her eyes, walking away.

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“Hey, Melody! I see you’ve met McKayla,” Jake says, grinning.

“JAKE! I ought to kill you!” Alison growls, glaring at him with an obvious hatred that I’ve never seen on her.

“I’ve already tried to kill someone today. Come back tomorrow!” I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes as I read my book.

“Whatcha reading?” Christian asks, grinning at me.

“How to cook bastards and bitches stew.”

“Sorry I asked.”

“Eh,” I say, shrugging, “I could’ve said worse.”

“It’s true. She got my dad’s attitude, too.” Alison rolls her eyes, mimicking my movements as we put our feet up on the table.

“Get your feet off the table,” Kevin says, rolling his eyes.

“Alright,” we say together, still not moving. Sometimes it’s scary how much we’re alike.

“Hey, Melody, what chapter are you on?”

“I dunno. I’m at the part where Rose and Jesse have a moment, then Dimitri barges in.”

“Oh, I haven’t gotten there yet!”

“Where are you?”

“I’ve already read it.” She grins. “Without actually reading.”

“Show off,” McKayla scoffs.

“You know, Donovan, it’s no wonder you’re such a cocky ass with all this Vampire obsession,” I say, smirking as he glares at me.

“And that’s why I make everyone hate me,” Donovan says, smirking.

“Sure it is,” Alison and I say sarcastically.

“Just like you’re a bastard,” Alison says, smirking.

“A bastardly ass,” I add, grinning, “You don’t wanna go there, right Josh?”

“I’ve still got feathers in places that wouldn’t be appropiate to say in front of children,” Josh says angrily, glaring at me.

“Yeah, I might’ve gone a little over board with the glue,” I say sarcastically.

“What the Hell did you do?!” McKayla growls at me.

“McKayla, can you take a step back?” She backed up. “A little more? Little more?” She took a few steps back. “Great! This is a Bitch-Free zone.”

She lounged at me, but I jumped right above her. “Ah — I’m too tired to insult you. We’ll try this again tomorrow.” I walk away, not willing to hear another insult.

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I drive around in my Ferrari, admiring the beautiful city of Louisville. I finally understood why Alison loves it here so much. This place is absolutely gorgeous!

I didn’t want to go back to Fallen — or, Nevaeh, as Alison’s been calling it. I don’t know where Alison gets her crazy ideas, but she gets them anyway.

I find myself driving down the familiar street that Meagan’s house would be on, and decided that it would be better just to stay the night there. I pull up the driveway, as rain pounded against me, grabbing my bag of clothes and whatever else I may need for this short-trip from the trunk. I run up the few concrete steps that led up to her front door. The door swung open, and Meagan was ushering me in.

“Melody, it’s so good to see you. But, I hope you’re not running away again.”

“No. Jake brought his girlfriend —”

“McKayla was Alison’s best friend when they were younger. We took her in as a daughter. Shortly after you all showed up did she realize the truth.”

“How old is she?”

“Twenty-four like Alison. I’m assuming that you noticed their alikeness.”

“McKayla could be Alison’s twin!”

“Yes. We were worried about that, which is partly why we took her in. But, it seems that Donovan could always tell the difference.”

“Yeah, McKayla looks like Alison, but acts nothing like her. I can actually get McKayla on her back. I’d need super glue to do that to Alison.”

“Alison was born a fighter. She used to have to fight for everything during the family reunions.”

“Why?”

“Nobody respected her because she had forgotten the ability of magic. It was always entertaining to watch as they started using magic but she still won.”

“Wow, really? So, she wasn’t kidding when she said she could kick all of our butts?”

“Everyone but Kevin. He’s where she got her fighting genetics. We think it was because Katharina loved her brother and wanted to be much more like him.”

“Ah, reincarnation.”

“Yes. All Witches have the lessons of their past lives with them. It really makes us think twice about what we do.”

“I bet! If I was going to remember everything I did forever then I’d be freaking out!”

Meagan chuckles at me, rolling her eyes at my dramatics. “Well, either way you are welcome here anytime. Are you hungry?”

I open my mouth to say, “No,” but my stomach betrayed me and growled loudly. I felt my cheeks heat up as I smiled sheepishly at Meagan. She really was like a mother to me.

ღ ♠ ♣ ♠ ღ

I woke up and started my morning routine. Once I was done with that, I knew there was no turning back. I had to go back to Fallen. I couldn’t handle that pain again.

Everyday I was away I thought I would die. I nearly went insane until Charlie found me. He reminded me so much of Kevin that it always hurt to be around him. Some days I thought that I was suffocating, like I couldn’t breathe unless I saw him. The first time it happened I actually drove back to Kentucky and waited outside the school until I saw him. Gosh, I felt like such a stalker right that minute.

Charlie … I wonder what happened to him? I left him without any explaination at all. Holy crap, he’s probably freaking out! Charlie was my best friend during those six months — he was my rock. He actually set me up with the job at the bar. He had told me, “It’s either the bar or a stripper’s pole.” Which is exactly why I went with bar. I wasn’t going to loose it to complete stranger’s for close to nothing. At least at the bar, guys were so drunk that they gave me a hundred bucks just to walk by them.

I pull out my old cell phone. I haven’t used it in over a month. But, I needed my rock right now. With my hands shaking I dialed Charlie’s number, perfectly aware that this was a complete red flag. Charlie lived all the way in Philadelphia!

I bet you’re curious as to why I’m freaking out? Well, there was a couple times where the pain that I was feeling was suffocating me, so I would have a few shots. Of course Charlie would join me in that. Well … occasionally … we’d sort of … make-out. Hey! In my defense, I wasn’t dating Kevin or anyone at the time! Besides, Charlie and I weren’t wasted enough to do anything completely stupid!

A few rings, and a groggy, “Hello?”

“Charlie?”

“MELODY?!!! Where the hell have you been?!” Charlie yells, sounding like he snapped awake, “I’ve been worrying sick about you! I was scared that you had been kidnapped and was being sold for sex!”

“No, I’m alright. I just met up with an old friend.”

“Oh. You went back to the group of bastards and bitches.”

I chuckled into the phone, shaking my head at Charlie. Yes, I was pissed and drunk when he first met me. Yes, I said some pretty nasty things about my friends. I was having a bad three weeks before Charlie met me. “Yeah, Charlie, I’m back with the group of bastards and bitches.”

“You could’ve called.”

“I know. I’m sorry. Hey, why don’t you come down to Kentucky?”

“You live in Kentucky? Where?”

“Louisville.”

“That’s not too far. Just a ten hour drive.”

“Or, I can pick you up, Charlie. I mean, I got my Ferrari back.”

“Alright. I’ll see you later. By the way, I wanna meet that guy that I reminded you so much of.” I knew Charlie was grinning. “I’m gonna kick his ass for messing you up.”

“Alright, will do,” I say, laughing as we hung up. I knew I was grinning, as I silently snuck out of the house, flying up to Fallen. I lazily walked toward Kevin’s house, aware that nobody woke up this early. I wonder why I did? I knocked on the onyx door, waiting for him to answer.

“Hey, Melody,” Kevin says groggily, looking like he just woke up. At least he was dressed. I grabbed him by his shirt, pulling him along behind me. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

“Melody.”

“You. Will. See.”

“Fine.” He rolls his eyes at me, leaning down to peck my lips. I had nearly forgotten how much I love him. “Just tell me why we have to go so early?”

“Because, if we want to get there before sundown then we have to go now!” I say, walking faster.

“You can let go of my shirt.”

“But then how will I know that you’re following me? Besides, you smell nice.” Kevin rolls his eyes at my lame excuses. Truth was that I would know whether or not he was following me. It would happen like the speed of light, but last forever.

ღ ♠ ♣ ♠ ღ

“Melody? Where are we?”

“We’re at my fourth home.”

“Which is where exactly?”

“Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You know, William Penn, Jolie’s dad, was the founder.”

“Yeah, I know. I met Jolie when I visited America. Although, she wasn’t exactly born yet.”

“Stop right there, Kev, because I don’t wanna be freaked out by dating you more than I already am.”

I roll my eyes, as he automatically shuts up. I walk slowly up the steps to the apartment, Kevin following me. Although, not like he had a choice. I was holding his shirt and practically dragging him. Sure, a lot of adults and elderly people gave us disgusted and disapproving looks — they probably thought that we were going to do something that starts with an ‘s.’ Did you figure it out yet?

I walked straight toward the familiar wooden door, pulling out my key and opening the door like I used to. Kevin gave me an odd look, which made me jerk him to follow me. “YO, CHARLIE!!! GET YOUR GOOD FOR NOTHING ASS OUT OF BED!!!” I yell, smirking as I hear the familiar thump that signaled Charlie falling out of bed. Ha! I knew it! He still sleep his ass off all day!

“What the fucking hell, Melody?!! I told you never to — who the hell is this bastard?” He finally notices Kevin. And, yes. Charlie can’t say a sentence without cussing. Oh, you should see him when he’s drunk! That’s comedy gold!

“This is the guy I told you about. Remember?” I roll my eyes as realization hits his face like a brick.

“Oh, the King of Bastards.” Kevin shoots him a glare.

“Melody.”

“Oh, I was having a bad day when I mentioned you guys. Get over it. Besides, he calls me ‘bitch.’”

“Speaking of which, you forgot your last pay check. They mailed it becuase I told them you were sick or something.” Charlie throws me my paycheck, making me grin hugely. “Wanna shot of something?”

“Sure.” I shrug casually, grabbing Kevin by his shirt and pulling him over to the couch beside me.

“I oughtta punch his face in,” Kevin growls quietly as soon as Charlie was out of earshot.

“No, Charlie’s a nice guy. He just can’t go without saying a cuss word in every sentence. He helped me out, kept me off the streets. He works part time doing — HEY CHARLIE, WHAT’S THAT BASTARD WHO HIRED YAH?!!”

“Joe! I’m a mechanic. Pays well.”

“He taught me how to drive and work for a living.”

“The bitch was looking to get wasted anywhere when I found her living on the street.”

“I had been living with Meagan for a little bit until I came here. I was starving, freezing, and wanting to just get wasted.” I shrug indifferently as Kevin gives me that matured disapproving look. “Don’t worry. Charlie didn’t give me anything until he was sure that I was a druggie, drunk, or prostitute.”

“A prostitute?”

“Yah know, a whore.” Charlie shrugs, handing me a bottle of beer. “I realized she wasn’t a prostitute after she turned down the stripper job.” I saw out of the corner of my eye Kevin tensing up. Huh. That’s kind of cute. “But then she took the bartender job with Bobbie and I had second thoughts.”

“Till you saw me beat the shit out of one of those wasted bastards.” I grin, remembering that day.

It was my first day on the job in that bar downtown. Every wasted man there whistled their heads off when they saw me walked in. I smirked at them, as Charlie slung an arm over my shoulder. They immediately started ordering beers like crazy, and I was busy walking back and forth throughout the bar. It didn’t take me long to realize what they were doing, but shrugged it off. I needed the job. Charlie said he’d kick me out unless I started paying up my half of the rent. I started taking my time to deliver the beers, balancing them with ease as I walked. Then one of the drunks slung his arm around my waist and jerked me toward him. I glared at him, trying to break free. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Charlie stood up. I didn’t want him to help me. I could take care of myself. I kicked the man right where it would hurt the most and he fell down on the ground, groaning as he stayed down.

I come back from my momentary trip down memory lane, just to hear Charlie ask, “So who the hell are you, anyway? Melody never gave me names. She just said bastards and bitches.”

I felt my face heat up as Kevin gives me another of his disapproving looks. “My name’s Kevin.”

“Kevin, huh? That suits you.”

“Charlie, have you been reading my chic magazines again?” I ask teasingly, making his face go bright red as Kevin chuckles.

“NO! He just looks like a Kevin like you look like a Diana!”

“My name’s Melody.”

“Oh, yeah …”

“You’re lucky you’re drunk.”

“Huh? What was that? I couldn’t here you!”

I got up, walked over to Charlie, and leaned my head down so my lips at my ear. You know what I’m going to do? I bet you do. I said very quietly, “You don’t wanna go there.” Then I slapped his drunken ass off the couch.

“WHAT THE HELL?!!”

“I warned you,” I say, as I plop down beside Kevin. I hand him the beer bottle, which he surprisingly took and chugged down. Okay, now, that bottle was still half way full and I’ve never seen Kevin drink any form of alcohol. You can understand why I’m shocked, right?

“Would you like another?” I ask, staring at him oddly.

“You look like you’ve never seen someone drink.”

I roll my eyes, standing up to get more beers. I walk back into the living room with the beers, tossing Kevin and Charlie one each. I plop down beside Kevin, letting him put his arm around me. A knock sounded from the door of the apartment, and Charlie stood up.

“That’s probably my cousin.” He walked toward the door, and came back with Alison.