Braves

Gwen got off her bus and had to once again try to convince yet another friend that she was fine and that she had simply fallen down the stairs again. She knew she sounded cliché and it pissed her off, what was she just another statistic now? Another battered woman pathetically claiming to have fallen? She needed to get in touch with Nick. Maybe she’ll invite him instead of Jason, kill two birds with one stone. She perked up, grabbed her phone, and ran into a bathroom.

“Randy’s.” Bobs voice boomed over the line, she winced at the volume.

“Hey, Bob, can I talk to Nick please?” Gwen said in a sweet voice.

“Are you finally throwing him a bone?” Bob asked conversationally, Gwen could feel herself blush a little bit.

“Bob… Can I please just talk to Nick, it’s personal.” Gwen knew he could hear the blush in her voice when he chuckled.

“Sure cupcake, I’ll get him.” Bob said, she could hear him holler for Nick. She couldn’t believe how nervous she was, she’d never done anything like this before.

“Gwen?” Nick breathed over the line, it sounded like he ran to the phone. His voice was so full of hope and disbelief; her gut wrenched knowing that she was going to use him.

“Oh… Uh, hi Nick. Um this is kind of embarrassing, but ummm… could you, uh, meet me somewhere?” She floundered, God if only she was that good of an actor, she was flushed and her heart was racing for real. There was nothing on the other line, had he hung up?? “Umm, Nick are you there?”

“Yea, I’m here. What’s the big idea, calling and asking me out? Who’s there with you?” His voice was furious and accusatory. Gwen’s head snapped back, her eyes wide in shock; she could feel the heat of embarrassment and the ice of pain washing down her spine creating a hair rising and gut flipping experience she was none too fond of.

“…No one, Nick… I’m hiding in the goddamn bathroom, can you at least say no instead of treating me like this? I’m not a fucking kid! I don’t run around playing pranks on hot guys!” Gwen finished by yelling, she had never been so embarrassed in her life. “I can’t believe you think so little of me.” Gwen mumbled before she ended the phone call and resolved to never call there again, how humiliating… Her phone started vibrating in her hand; she looked down in shock, Nick?

“Yea?” She muttered, she let her voice sound angry and hurt.

“Don’t hang up, Gwen.” Nick rushed, “Are you being serious? Do you really want to meet up with me?” He asked his voice intense and steady.

“Yes, I’m serious Nick! Have I ever done anything like this before? Like ever?” She made her voice shake, going a little teenager wouldn’t hurt, especially when she was trying to make Nick feel guilty.

“Ok. Yea, we can meet up. I’ll be at the bar all day, just come over whenever you want. What are you planning on doing with me?” His voice was instantly lighter and he was flirting again. Gwen smiled, she might not like him romantically but she did consider him a friend and she hated it when he wasn’t happy.

“Great! I’ll meet you there as soon as I can, I was actually hoping you would come over to my place and eat dinner with me and my parents? I’ll even cook; you can get a taste of what being married to me will be like.” Gwen smiled again at the image she knew she had put in his head.

She could hear him swallow before his voice deepened and shook, “I’ll see you then.” The line went dead. Gwen looked at herself in the mirror, her smile quickly faded. She was scum.

Eric heard the whole call and trembled in anger, how dare she? His anger was clear, his friends avoided him instead of beating him on the back, and girls ran from him instead of flirting. His possessiveness stunned him, but not as much as his pain. He felt betrayed by her, as though she had cheated on him. He wanted to find out whoever this Nick was and gouge his eyes out and rip his throat open. He saw her leave the bathroom and he assumed she would look as giddy as she sounded on the phone, but she was subdued and when she looked up to his gaze her eyes were disgusted.

When Gwen saw Eric looking at her, she froze, a wave of guilt washing over her, why did she feel guilty? There was no reason for her to feel that way, yet his anger was apparent. Gwen shoved her discomfort down and streamed up to him to grab his arm, it was like grabbing a rock. He looked down at her and she nearly backed away. She was terrified to see that he looked as though he was going to hit her. He glared down at her for a couple more moments, as though deciding what to do, before jerking his arm free. Gwen recoiled from him but he reached out and grabbed her arm like a vice grip and dragged her down the hall to an empty area.

“What do you want?” He snarled at her, the pressure on her arm starting to bruise. Anger drove away the fear and she ripped her arm out of his grip and glared up at him. He was no different from her father.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Gwen didn’t recognize her own voice, it was low, feral. “Grabbing me like that, pushing me around, talking to me as if you owned me. Fuck off already!” She spun on her heels and stormed off leaving him behind once and for all. She was not her mother; she would never tolerate someone who could so easily hurt her. She was better off with Nick; he was sweet, peaceful, had always been kind to her, and most of all she was in control when it came to Nick. With Eric everything was out of her control, even her own body was beyond her reach, it would be best to avoid him and forget all about him.



Eric stood shaken; he could see the accusation in her eyes, no better than her father. He looked down at his hand; he remembered how small and fragile she felt. He was sure he’d caused a bruise, how in the world did he lose control like that? He hurt her, it was plain as day. He saw the way her eyes flashed when she very nearly growled at him, it was dangerous. Why did he keep messing up with her? What the fuck was wrong with him? He was going to get himself killed if he didn’t start watching his steps around her. He was too invested, much too emotionally involved, he needed to step back and tell her who and what she was and hand her over to Logan. He can deal with this complication, he needed to work fast to make her somebody else’s problem. He needed to train for a few days to get control over his body and to re-tune his ability to enthrall.

“Haven’t seen you in a long time, Eric.” A friendly female voice jolted him out of his reverie. Eric spun around and was confronted by Ana, a well-known Raider, whose specialty was silent kills and reconnaissance.

“What are you doing here, Ana?” Eric said as nonchalantly as he could muster, this woman could kill him in an instant and he wouldn’t even know he was dead until he hit the ground. She smiled viciously up at him; he took a couple steps back and tried to gather his bearings.

“Oh, come now Eric, do you really think I’m stupid enough to kill you here at your school? Education is much too important for you to miss out on.” Another smile and a tilt of her head, Eric gritted his teeth and advanced on her, “What are you doing here, Raider.” He said in a low rumble.

“Watch it rat, I’m not here on pest-control duty. Yet.” Her voice dropped its friendly façade, becoming low and sharp. “I’m here for a bit of recon on your princess. Quite a resourceful little rat isn’t she?” Ana smiled again, showing her now pointed teeth. He felt himself flush, dammit why is he letting this bother him?

He smiled and relaxed his posture, she was having too much fun with him; he wouldn’t tolerate it any longer. “Yes, she is quite resourceful, I’m sure if she were a Raider she’d be long since passed the “babysitting” stage of duty. But of course not all of us can be so skilled, right Ana?” His smile grew as he watched her flush and clench her hands. He was playing a dangerous game and he knew it, but she’d chosen the wrong time to show up.

“I’ll see you later rat.” She growled and then she disappeared; Eric stood frozen, still unaccustomed to Raider’s ability to simply vanish.

He swore under his breath and turned to leave the school. He needed to head to the training grounds and the fastest way there was to fly. Once he reached outside he could feel the urge to fly as strongly as he needed to breathe, he made it to the trees before he let go and flew away into the sky. There was no better feeling than flying, feeling the sun and wind on your feathers, to feel the change of sight, hearing and smell so completely. He loved this more than anything else. He found himself wondering how Gwen could have lived this long and not known the joy and freedom of transformation. He was miserable if he went so much as a week without changing, it was no wonder she felt she needed to escape no matter the cost.

Dammit, he didn’t want to be thinking about her anymore, let alone rationalize her actions for her; she was preparing to sell her body to some human just so she could get out of her house. She could have him, why would she want a human? Eric froze and fell from the sky, why does he insist on thinking of her as though she were his. Even if he wanted her, she doesn’t trust him; he destroyed any small bit of progress he’d made by overreacting and getting rough with her. It was clear she already disliked him, but after that; she would hate him.

Eric shook his head and readjusted his flight to travel low to the ground, he needed to feel the rush of being so close to disaster but having complete control. It took only 20 minutes to reach the place of his childhood, the training grounds; he changed back in a flourish in front of his mentor and guardian.