Devil You Know

Enough To Worry About.

It was Monday and supposedly their first day back at college after the holidays but Elsa was sat in her Dad’s office with Sebastian, tapping a pen on the desk so fast and hard that the wood of the desk was starting to give off a small wisp of smoke. Sebastian reached across silently and placed his hand over hers. It broke her trance and Elsa’s eyes snapped to his.

“You’re setting the table on fire,” he explained.

“Oh,” Elsa let her eyes linger on him as he took the pen from her and placed it just out of her reach. She felt overwhelmed at times by how much she loved and wanted him and with memories of the previous evening still flying through her mind she was finding it difficult not to jump him right then and there, despite her impatience to speak to her father and her worry over Grant and Emily. Sebastian caught her watching him and flashed the sexy half grin she adored, Thank you, thank you, her mind repeated, for giving me something else to focus on.

Her ears pricked then as she heard footsteps approaching. She moved from her father’s chair  and Sebastian stood for her to sit down. He leaned against the wall, arms folded and as she sat down, Marcus appeared at the door.

Elsa studied her father’s face, he looked tired, the signs of age suddenly more evident to her in his face. It made her feel - sad. She knew in the grand scheme of things it hadn’t been that long since she had stopped ageing but she still hated it when something reminded her that her father hadn’t and as much as that didn’t cause problems now, one day it would.

Marcus sat down wearily. Like Elsa he hadn’t slept, unlike Elsa, he really needed to. Elsa felt a pang of guilt that she had gone back to warehouse with Sebastian and would have blushed to her roots thinking about what they did if she could have done. But there was nothing she or Sebastian could have done last night whereas Marcus had had a very busy evening. Elsa resisted voicing the multitude of questions she had, she didn’t want to badger her Dad for information he was going to give her anyway.

“How are you Dad?” she asked instead and Marcus looked at once surprised and grateful for her concern. He rubbed at the stubble on his jaw line, “Tired,” he admitted with a wry smile, “It’s been a little while since I pulled an all nighter.” He shuffled some papers on his desk needlessly, took a deep breath and began, “Emily is doing well,” he said, “Hesper’s transfusion has helped her heal quickly and she’s resting, we haven’t been able to speak to her yet. We recovered the carcasses from where you had hidden them and ran some tests - definitely werewolves and definitely their first turn.

“So Emily will turn next full moon?” Elsa knew the answer, she’d known it as soon as she saw the beast’s jaws close around Emily’s waist; but she needed to keep hearing it confirmed, as if at some point someone would say no, no it wasn’t a werewolf and yes, yes she’s going to be absolutely fine.

“She will,” Marcus sighed deeply, “And so will Grant.”

Elsa’s heart sank, she had been hoping against hope that they’d been wrong, that Grant had scraped his side on something and it wasn’t a werewolf scratch.

“Does he know?” she asked.

“I have spoken to him myself,” Marcus confirmed, “He’s with a counsellor now.”

“How did he take it?” Sebastian asked from behind Elsa.

Marcus shifted his weight in his chair, “It’s a lot to take in for him,” he said, “He’s worried about Emily and exhausted himself, I don’t think he really took in what I was saying which is why I let the counsellors take over. Remember Elsa, when I had to tell you how you had changed? You had experienced your vampire side, you knew something was wrong before I told you what it was but Grant, he still feels normal apart from a cut to his side. Everything he saw, however, was far from normal, so I think his brain is trying to deal with that first.”