Storm Brew

I stole another glance at Anna. We were alone in the room, we were sharing it. God knew how long it would be before a brawl broke out in the boy's. I rolled my eyes looking down at the inscription I'd copied from the broken vase. There hadn't been a break through yet. I'd been at it for three days, though my head had been wondering about other things. Like for example…

"I saw you," I stated lowering my notebook to the table.

Anna had a spoon of cereal half-way to her mouth and stopped, lifting her forest gaze.

"Huh… what?" she asked still drowned in sleep.

I refrained from sighing, leaning forward. Our eyes were locked; mine searched hers for a minute.

"I saw you sneaking out of Aric's bedroom." The slightest change happened in her. "Back when we were in my parents' house—and when I asked you where you'd slept you said the couch." Anna lowered the spoon and cereal to the bowl, stirring carefully. "Oh my God," I held my face between my palms, eyes slightly wide. "You slept with him, didn't you?" the corners of her lips rose nearly instantly. She always did that when I guessed. "But—what happened to 'he's the enemy'? And that 'he can't be trusted'?"

My friend gave the simplest grin.

"He has a crazy hot body, I do to—and well, we were there. It happened," Anna gave a mere grin telling me she had something up her sleeve. "But I can't say it's not handy for something."

My curiosity perked.

"What we did it was pretty epic, so it will probably happen again—" My eyes widened. "Relax, will ya'? I'm not going to tell you the details, unless you want to, but you never do so…" Anna waved a hand earning a grateful nod from me. "I was thinking I could, you know, get some information out of him while we're going at it, you'd be amazed by what people say when they're—"

"Okay, got it." I hastened to say, she smirked softly. "So, you're… using him?" there was a slight hesitation in my voice, I didn't like the thought of using people, playing with what they felt but Aric didn't have feelings for Anna either, I imagined.

"He's using me too." Another shrug and this time she leaned backward. "That's what random sex is, you feel physical attraction for someone and you do it. It's sort of what you had with Parker."

I cringed on the inside. Parker was dead and each time I recalled it, a hole seemed to open up in my heart threatening to swallow me whole.

"Me and… me and Parker were friends for a long time, it was different." I stated putting the cap on my pen. "Not like you and Aric at all. You two just met and you got it on like bunnies." I muttered, thinking how I'd just ruined a perfect fluffy animal.

She crunched cereal in her mouth rolling her eyes.

"All things aside you have to admit, my plan's pretty good—" She swallowed the mix in her mouth prematurely; it was like forcing a lump down her throat. "Besides, I might just find out why he hates Nate so much. 'Cause if you ask me Nate should be the one to hate—"

"Use and abuse Aric as much as you want, follow through with your plan, just no more talk about Nate." I scratched the side of my head reading the code on my notebook.

A softer tone flowed her voice, "You two haven't solved your problem?"

I sighed with irritation. There was nothing to solve with me—Nathaniel was responsible for this. As I lifted my glare to Anna, she gulped slightly.

"Got it, no more talking about the N-problem, consider it dropped."

"Thanks," I mumbled looking to the outside. "How windy is Chicago, anyway?" it was such a lame turn of conversation, but I had nothing else to go on with.

"Well, it's called Windy City for some reason."

"Yeah…" I whispered as my brain made me travel in time, back when we were in Atlanta and had gone to see my Mother's friend—Megan. She said it was after a trip to Chicago that my Mom changed, when she started out in the Hive. What could've brought that on? Was it just a coincidence? There were many questions streaming inside my veins, hanging around like persistent cobwebs... no answers.

I hadn't asked Aric about The Order or the book I'd gotten. I was sure he wouldn't share anything.

There was a faint buzzing from across the table; mine and Anna's eyes fell to the vibrating cell phone. Upon checking the incoming call, Anna made a face.

"I have to take this," she said sounding formal, too formal for her own persona, she only went corporate-mode when Reed called, so, that was him doing his routine check up.

***

Nate was knocking on the door.

Again.

It was the sixth time, each one lasted lesser than the others, it was amazing how much persistence a person had inside them. Too bad for me, though, I wasn't really on the appreciating side of it.

"I told you before, and I'll tell you again—go away!" I yelled standing directly behind the door.

I wished Anna was here, she would've kicked his ass back into his room. No she wasn't with Aric, unless he'd decided to join her in drive-in duty.

There was quietness from the outside. Breathing a sigh of relief I prepared to step back into my queen bed.

"It's not about us," his voice carried out, my foot stilled as if converted to stone. "It's about my parents. They're back."

A cold sensation amounted in my stomach. That meant only one thing—trouble. Nate wanted to tell them personally about Drew, about what I'd committed. I didn't turn and run back to the door, pulling it open. I did, however, take a few strides backward until my shoulders were pressing up against the wooden surface of it.

"Mel?" I heard it being spoken softly and knew just what he wanted to know.

"Yeah, I'm still here…" I muttered towards the key hole, as if the sound would be amplified that way.

I couldn't hear it, but if I had to guess, I'd say Nate breathed out a sigh before speaking.

"They've been back for a couple of days now and… and Reed arranged for me to meet them. You know, so I can tell them about Drew's death." His words struck me, sometimes I could almost forget I'd done it, I'd killed Drew—when they spoke of it, then, there was no denial possible. "I'm leaving for Iowa, it's not very far—five to six hours." There was a light thump against the door, I jerked a little once I felt it. He was right outside, leaning like I was. "I'm coming back soon, I'll be quick."

Two unspoken words lingered between us, I promise.

Every corner that made my brain told me to tell him 'whatever' or 'I don't care'. I couldn't. Something in the back of my throat threatened to slip out the second I opened my mouth. It was something that would break my resolve, most certainly. I knew why too, Nate was taking on my responsibility without asking anything in return. He was protecting me from what his parents might do.

"That's what I wanted to tell you." Nathaniel shifted, probably distancing himself from the room door. "I'll see you as soon as possible."

When those words marched, I waited a few more minutes, minutes that felt like a good batch of hours. Nate's voice didn't return—when a knock came on, I wrenched myself from the floor twisting the knob.

Damn, I cursed mentally. When you got your hopes up and they crashed down onto the ground…

"You're the first girl who looks at me with a sour face, lofty." I knitted my eyebrows together.

"I don't speak Australian-slang."

With a mirthless chuckle, Aric strolled past me into the motel room.

"It's the same as 'shorty'." My cheeks were tainted red very soon. I wondered what these men considered tall—was 5'7 really that short for a woman? They were just tall… "Since that bloke left, I came to keep an eye—company. I came to keep you company." He amended quickly, plopping on Ann's bed.

I rolled my eyes throwing the door, hearing it slam.

"I don't need a sitter." I stole a glance over at his laid back position; one leg pulled up, the other extended fully and his hands behind his dark head.

"I'm not here to babysit, I'm here—" he jolted from his spot, standing straight on bed. "To help with the Da Vinci Code situation."

I seated myself, pulling the notebook from under the pillow. I flipped through a few pages, until I reached the right one handing it over to him—our fingers brushed. I made a slight face, remembering what he and Anna had done. Somehow it was kind of… gross. Maybe because I'd never met any of Anna's one night stands and I knew Aric—as much as I could know him. Since every time I asked anything about him—his life—he zipped his mouth. There was another thing, it was a little like the feeling I'd gotten when I'd learned Pacey and Ginger had slept together—it felt like I was invading their privacy or something.

"Good luck," I muttered allowing myself to fall on the bed, arms spread eagle-style.

I really felt bad for not saying 'thank you' to Nate, ignoring him was difficult as hell, it hurt too. I kept whispering to myself that it was necessary. Honestly, all I wanted to do was give in.

With a bare sigh, I rolled onto my side facing Aric whose face was serene, twisted in a well of concentration—if I didn't know better I'd say he was taking an exam. I studied him like I'd done over the past months. There was nothing about his face profile I didn't know already. I'd memorized all the lines and ridges. The information I didn't know was all locked up in that brain of his.

"Why's your name the last one in the birth records?" I asked bluntly.

Aric's black hair wiped towards me in a slow motion as his attention was torn from the notebook he held. We were looking into each other's eyes for a long time. His face didn't waver once.

"Because I was the last person worth recording," he stated. "My Mum's dead so that left only one founding family—my Father's. I'm product of both lines, so I guess it ends there." He added as an afterthought.

Huh, look at that, Mr. Mysterious finally dropped an actual answer to a personal question.

"What about Nate?" I propped my elbow on the pillow, lowering my head onto my hand.

Aric looked up to the ceiling as if an silent prayer, asking what he'd done to get stuck with a girl who couldn't keep her curiousness to herself. Then, he turned the green, vivid gaze to me heaving a sigh.

"What about him?"

I did my best to shrug, as if it didn't hold much importance—when to me it did.

"He's your brother, doesn't he have…" I stopped for a while searching for the right words. "Doesn't he have a claim in The Order, or a place—something like that." I really didn't know what I was fishing at here.

Aric spared me a crooked smile.

"My Dad doesn't care about Nate. Trust me when I say that's not a bad thing. It's great in fact." I could tell there was something in his tone, like a wishful undertone.

"What's your problem with your Father anyway?" I was interested in Aric's family dilemma, but I was hoping he'd spill something about my own, I knew there was something he was holding out on me.

"We don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things." He picked up one of Anna's hair pins, absently studying it. "We never have, and never will." The deepness of his vague gaze was exuberating; as if he was seeing nothing and all at the same time. It made me wonder just on what they disagreed.

"Like capturing me?"

"Sure." He whispered lifting the notebook, hiding his face behind it.

That signaled the end of our-sharing session. I didn't mind though, I'd gotten more information out of him than any other month.

I was nearly falling asleep when a lock unlocked. My eyes fluttered softly, catching Aric gazing calmly at me—as if making sure I was alright—then his gaze moved to the door.

"I just waited thirty minutes in a McDonald's drive in. You better appreciate this food—actually, you should enjoy it like it was your last day on Earth—what the hell are you doing on my bed?" Anna deadpanned staring idly at Aric.

I'd just sat up, my shoulders lazily slumped. A yawn escaped and next thing I knew, I was ignoring them and crawling for the food bags. My stomach was beginning to cramp.

"Keeping Melissa company." He concluded.

I ducked my hand further into the paper bag, reaching for the French-fries. When I had everything, I returned to my previous seat. After taking the first bite out of my Wrap I mumbled a 'thanks' around the food, not that Anna heard it.

"Why's that?"

"Nathaniel went off to… somewhere, he told me but I can't say I was paying attention." Anna rolled her eyes.

"Not like you ever do…" I muttered to myself, stuffing my mouth with delicious fries.

"To Iowa—that's where he went, idiot. Now, hop away from my bed." She swatted his shoulder, not playfully either.

I frowned a little. If I hadn't seen Anna sneaking out of Aric's room I wouldn't even ponder if they'd slept together. But I knew that was only because I thought sex was meant to have with someone who you had feelings for—Parker and me had been good friends, so we dated and done it. With Nathaniel—let's not go there, I thought rashly.

Anna seemed to hate Aric as much as before. Nothing seemed to have changed there.

"First come first served," Aric grinned not moving an inch. "You didn't seem all that bothered when I was in—" I watched as Anna took his hair pulling him with an incredible tug forward.

I don't know what was worse, the fact that Aric fell or the fact that he took her with him. While they were arguing on the floor between my bed and hers—I leaned forward and ate my fries like popcorn. This was more entertaining than any show on TV.

"I'm going to go bald if you keep pulling like that, luv." Aric chuckled all the same, Anna huffed with her hand she pushed him. "Ouch."

"I'm mean, deal with it." She grunted as he didn't budge.

"The scars on my back are a constant reminder, pet." I widened my eyes considerably, Anna punched his chest. "You can always say please, you'd be impressed how often it works."

Anna's hands fisted into his shirt pulling him towards her, I thought she was going to kiss him.

"Please move your ass."

With a hefty smirk Aric batted her hands from his lapels, then got up, undoing the tangled mess that were their limbs.

"See?" he mocked when she got herself on her feet.

"Oh yeah, it works miracles." Anna neared him a little tracing a finger down his chest—"Now, go back to your room, Mel doesn't need your company anymore. She's got me." Aric toppled a few steps backward, letting out a sigh.

"Where's my food?" Anna all but threw a brown paper bag his way, he caught it skillfully.

When I thought I'd wave Aric goodbye my mattress sunk on one side. He was resting his back on my bed's headboard. I looked at him slightly bewildered.

"I'm staying here," he stated under Anna's sharp gaze. "Melissa doesn't mind," our eyes locked up. "Right?"

I didn't think it was a good idea getting between what Aric wanted and what Anna wanted. Because I enjoyed having peace, so I didn't say anything. All I did was shrug.

"That means she doesn't care, so I'll stay." Aric made himself more comfortable next to me, I found myself sliding a little toward him due his sinking weight.

Suddenly, I felt very small under both their gazes, like a kid who was watching her parents fight and was forced to pick a side. I'd never been in that type of situation—and thank God, it was truly weird.

"Can't you guys just let me eat? I'm like Switzerland—neutral, you know? Argue all you want just leave me out of it." I declared taking another big chunk out of my Wrap.

Chewing, I leaned on the pillow, watching as Anna sat on her bed picking up the notebook and placing it on the nightstand.

"Any luck with the code?"

"No."

"I was asking Mel." She fired at Aric with a short patience span. "Don't talk to me. One time thing, remember?"

I turned to Anna with an inquisitive glare. I thought she said—there was a quick expression on her face, Aric might not know what it meant but I did. It told me to keep cool, she'd explain later, though by that I could already see what she was doing.

As soon as Aric finished eating—which was very soon, he took like five minutes and he'd been the one with most to gobble down—he reached over my head with a long arm, grabbing the notebook.

"Pen, lofty?" I slapped his shoulder lightly, reaching into my bag, tossing it to him. "Thanks."

I inclined my head over his right arm trying to glimpse at what he was scribbling down.

My eyebrows furrowed softly.

"The alphabet?" the question slipped out from between my lips.

Aric side-glanced me before sliding a little more, so I could see better. At the same, time I angled the notebook towards myself. Aric had written the whole alphabet letters—from A to Z and under each letter he'd matched a number.

There had been two codes on the vase. One with letters: B-H-AIIB. Another made of numbers.

"It's a little obvious, isn't it, luv? Where's your head at, hmm?" my blush showed up softly, until it burned a redder shade. My head was obviously six hours away from here, driving a black convertible Mustang.

Aric's idea hadn't even crossed my mind, taking the pen and notebook from his hands. Slowly, I matched the letters to the corresponding numbers and vice-versa.

B-H-AIIB equaled a date, it was my best guess— 2-8-1992 — and the other code translated into...

"Cold case?" I mumbled stoic.

What did that mean exactly? Pulling out the clue sheet, I surveyed the new one. There was no riddle this time, just an address. Unaware of Aric's gaze reading the lines, I felt my body go a little rigid when the velvet came from behind me.

"It's an address to a police department here in Chicago."

Anna moved on her bed, her eyes met mine and I swear she was as surprised as I was. She even looked as nervous.

"What... what is that supposed to mean?"

"I think," Aric started. "That you have to go into this police department, get into the room where they keep their cold cases and check the one under this date." The way he said it made it seem simple, as if walking into a place crawling with law officers was normal, that we couldn't possibly get caught and go to jail.

"Oh crap," I muttered wanting to crumple the sheet in my hand.