Written in the Stars of Heaven

Telling myself I would do something about getting away later that night, once everyone was asleep, I grabbed another hotdog and joined the Hunters and Avan by the fire.

Nikolai was on the far side, staring blankly at the fire, seeing nothing while Leona was yammering is ear off. Of course she’d like him. And Blaze was stuffing his face with more food, while Avan drew lazy circles with his finger in the loose dirt by the log.

“Are you warm?” Nikolai asked, surprising us all with the sound of his deep voice, cutting Leona off mid-sentence. She shot an icy glare my way at that, blaming me for his inattention to her.

“Enough. Felix was more into appearance than practicality apparently, so this ridiculous dress was the only option for my apparel.”

“Felix caught you?” Blaze gasped, incredulous, as I took the roasting stick Avan offered and put my dog above the sweetly sweltering fire.

“Not caught. More lured me in with the promise of being warm, then attacked and locked me away after my first vision.” I mentally cursed myself at the mention of the home videos in my head. The French idiot had made my life hell trying to get them out of me.

“He is such an imbecile. I can’t believe he was the first to get a hold of you. Wow,” Blaze shook his head.

No one even commented on the vision. Maybe they hadn’t heard that part…

“Yeah, well he wasn’t so hard to get away from. I stabbed him in the neck with a huge shard of mirror I broke off,” I added, glancing down at the large slice on the palm of my left hand.

“Then he’s still alive,” Nikolai stated at the same time Avan said “Sweet!” and Blaze did that air-high-five thing.

“What? How?” I demanded, ignoring the others.

“We Reapers don’t die so easily,” Leona piped in, saying it like she was personally being praised. “You either have to sever the entire head or burn every piece into ashes. A stake to the heart is effective too, but not always a guarantee like the other two.”

“You realize you just told her how to kill you, right?” Nikolai asked, face betraying no trace of emotion.

“Think before you brag next time, sweetie,” I grinned smugly.

She narrowed her hazel eyes at me, then turned her face to the ground. I was guessing she was mortified that she’d just made herself look stupid in front of her little crush, but more so by the fact that he was the one to point out her flaw.

During out little conversation, I’d accidentally lowered the hotdog directly into the flames and it had caught fire. Panicking, I pulled it out and started shaking the stick like a mad woman. You see, my logic told me that when things are up in flames, you shake it or stomp it out on the ground if a fire extinguisher isn’t handy. I didn’t really comprehend that the same process is not suitable for food on a long, skinny branch. You could say that my camping etiquette wasn’t up to par.

As I was flailing around the hotdog flew off of the damn stick and landed right on Nikolai’s lap. Sure he stood up and get it off of him as quick as a light (do people still say that? did they ever?), but the fire had still burnt a hole in his dark blue jeans. Yeah, big enough that I could plainly see Scooby Doo boxers. I hadn’t really pictured him as a cartoon underwear type of guy…

“Melani!” he shouted in anger, sending me a glare hotter than the fire that burnt his pants. “What the hell were you doing?”

“Putting out a fire…” I said in a low voice, shrinking away from his wrath.

“And starting another one!” he roared before going off on a long rant involving some Russian words that I assumed weren’t considered in good manners.

Everyone else stared at the exchange with wide eyes, probably astounded that he hadn’t literally taken my head off. I know I was.

Without a backward glance, Nikolai stormed off to the biggest tent, the blue one I noticed. Boy was he pissed.

“Well, now I know how to get him to leave me alone,” I commented, instantly breaking the tension.

“Scooby?” Blaze chuckled. “Didn’t see that one coming. Maybe Transformers or something, but not a big, goofy Great Dane.”

“Hey, I will have you know that Scooby is probably the greatest dog ever to live! Or be created. Drawn. Whatever,” I argued.

In truth, I actually felt kind of bad that I’d burnt and embarrassed Nikolai. Out of all my captors, he’d been the gentlest. He hadn’t even come on to me once, which I wasn’t sure I’d have minded that much… Not like the last one, of course. I wasn’t my first sexual experience to be one that I had consented to, thank you very much. But this guy was seriously fine. With a capital F. He, of all of them, should have at least made some kind of innuendo.

I quickly corrected that bad, bad mindset. What was I thinking, wishing he’d expressed some attraction to me? He was kidnapping me! How had I let that tiny little fact slip my mind? I wasn’t supposed to give a crap what he thought of anything. Stupid raging, teenage hormones…

The conversation about cartoons had continued while I was drowning in my less than appropriate thoughts, so by the time I tuned back in, I was completely lost. Never one to be excluded from anything though, I interrupted Leona (probably not the best idea if I wanted her to stop acting bitchy) and said, “Who wants to sing a campfire song?”

Two hands shot up in a totally dorky matter, you can guess who they belonged to, and I rewarded them with a smile. “Alright, I know not a single one, so we’re just gonna go with whatever pops into my head. Sound good? Great.”

“Are you taking requests?” Blaze inquired hopefully.

“Whatcha got?”

“Cowboy Gay Sex!” he exclaimed, smiling broadly.

“Um, what?” I was a little apprehensive to hear this…

“You know, from Family Guy?”

Of course. “Love the show, but never heard the song.”

“Alright, this is how it goes,” he informed us, breaking out into a pitchy rendition of the theme song of Brokeback Mountain. Well, not the official one.

“There once were two cowboys all alone out on a trail,
and then they discovered they could sleep with another male.
Now they’re having gay sex.
Cowboy gay sex.
Sod-o-my~~
Come on everybody!
Sod-o-my~~
Sod-o-my~~
Sodomy.”

“Oh. My. God.” was all I could manage to say through Leona’s laughter.

“You do know how offensive that is, right?” Avan asked, his stunned look matching my own.

“Sure I do,” Blaze grinned like he’s just suggested picking a bouquet of flowers for on old lady rather than sing a horrible song that could drive someone to tears. “Besides, it’s not my lyrics. Attribute those to Peter Griffin, my little prisoner.”

“There’s something not right with him,” I whisper-yelled to Avan, who nodded his agreement. “Next! Anyone but Blaze.”

We finally settled on Day-o, the fun banana song that everyone knew the lyrics to and had a merry party around the fire. Nikolai had yet to return, still fuming off in his tent. He was being a big baby. I mean, it’s one hole. Suck it up and move on with life! Somehow I didn’t think he’d share in my sentiment though.

A few songs later, it was decided that our day had been long enough and it was time for bed. And there arose my predicament. There were only three tents, and Blaze was already sharing with Avan. That left me to either Leona or Nikolai, and I wasn’t sure I’d survive a night with either of them. And right as I was about to declare this, the crybaby god himself decided to make an appearance.

“Melani, you’re with Leona.”

I turned to face him and give him a piece of my mind, but the hostile expression he was wearing (with another pair of pants) made me hesitate. But only for a second. I could not stay with her.

“Uh, in case you haven’t been mentally present all day, we don’t play well together. She’ll slit my throat in my sleep!” I burst out, deflecting the blonde monster’s glare with to rival that of Hades if he existed.

“You are not here as a guest,” Nikolai informed me as if I was dense. “You will do exactly as I say and you won’t make a peep about it. I say you are going to share a tent with Leona, and that is final. Now everyone, go to bed. We’re up at the crack of dawn tomorrow. The quicker I get rid of her, the less my health suffers.” He added that last part to himself, like an afterthought that he decided to make public. Ass.

The second the general made his orders, the troops moved! I didn’t even had a chance to make some witty comeback before Leona grabbed my bicep and pulled me along after her toward the purple tent. Damn, did they know something I didn’t? Sure Nikolai was scary and a very commanding presence, but he didn’t seem that bad… Hell, maybe I was wrong. I know that no one hustled like that when I put my bossy pants on.

“So… Which is my side?” I asked as I stood awkwardly behind Leona as she unzipped the front door flap thingy.

“You,” she snapped, “don’t get a side. You get a corner, and you can be happy with that.”

I frowned. Somehow that didn’t seem very fair. “I, for one, choose death.” I didn’t remember where I heard that line… Maybe Without a Paddle or something along those lines. Sure it was a little dramatic, but I was outraged! A corner!

“Sounds good to me,” she said, stepping inside.

“Bitch,” I muttered under my breath. “Fine then. Nikolai!”

His entire body tightened up at the sound of my voice and a few calming seconds later, he turned to look at me. Aneurysm, much? “What now?”

“She’s gonna kill me. She said so.”

“What is this, kindergarten? I. Don’t. Care. Get inside and go to sleep! We have a lot of walking before we get back to Reaper Country where the Jeep is parked.” And all of that was in a long sigh. I really got to him. Sweet!

But still, I wasn’t suicidal. I could tell he was pissed and I, for once, shut my mouth and obeyed. Obviously, I couldn’t resist “accidentally” bumping roughly into Leona an the way in.

“I call the right side!”

She just groaned and threw an extra sleeping bag at me. I could tell that this was going to be like the slumber party I’d always dreamed of. Or not.