Scarlet Lore

Chapter 7

"I don't see why I need to dress up." Autumn hissed through her teeth. I tugged sharply on her hair as I braided it hoping she caught that I wasn't in the mood for her attitude. Her thick curls were difficult to maneuverer and I'd settled on calling it a messy French braid. Autumn, to say the least was no more abiding then her hair. "It's your stupid friend."

"You'll not say that when he gets here," I said, fingers fumbling against the desk to find a hair pin. From the vanity mirror I could see the plain disgust that maimed her features. I was in half a mind to send both Autumn and Victoria away for the night to save me all the trouble that would surely come. Victoria insisted on being involved, however, and Autumn, well, Autumn was just being Autumn. "He is...dangerous."

It was vague but I wasn't sure what other information I could give her without scaring the girl. Autumn had witnessed a lot in her fifteen years though Family antics were probably still a little much. Kare certainly had no affinity with the witches-no matter how many he slept with and on top of that he didn't like youths. Or sharp tongues or really any of the words that described Autumn. I had a sinking feeling bringing Family into my new life would be disastrous but that logical voice was shut out by a reminiscent, longing voice that begged to belong.

"If he's so bad than why'd you invite him over?" Once again resisting the urge to point out I hadn't invited him, I put the final bobby pin in Autumn's hair. Autumn didn't look all that impressed by my brilliant handiwork, however.

"I never said he was bad, he certainly isn't my favourite person and he isn't exactly good." Frowning hard I tried to word what I meant in my head. Despite everything Autumn had been through she was a good person, something I put down to her natural witch instincts. Her entire mindset was far too typically human. How was I supposed to explain bloodties and the influence the Family had? "Kare's like...Kare's family to me. I've known him longer than you could imagine. He won't hesitate if he feels the need to spill some blood."

Autumn spun in her seat, face hard beneath the tight smile. Her soft eyes were drifting around the room awkwardly. Darting from the rings she was fiddling with to the wooden floor beneath her. After a few painfully quiet seconds passed Autumn took a deep breath and looked at me. "Would you? What about you? Would you hesitate?"

"I like you so you don't need to worry about it."

I had no intention of going further into it. There was no need to get into an argument with someone who, for all her forsaking of witch heredity, had a natural witch moral standpoint. Even if the wolfy half of her was more dominant since they were almost as squeamish as the witches. If all the creationist theories were correct than vampires drew out power back to the fae and all the other nasties of the world while the witches, wolves and shifters drew from nature. The thought didn't sit well with me as it seemed to deny that 'evil' inherently exist. Regardless of the semantics of it we were more similar to our otherworldly counterparts than our worldly one.

Autumn pursed her lips but didn't push it any further. She didn't need to, I could feel the waves of disgust rolling off of her. Of all the gifts the bloodlines had received I was sure mine had got the worst of it. The others had gotten physical powers which they could call upon at any time and we, we of course got odd and fickle mental tricks that controlled us more than we controlled them. Perhaps that naturally sprung from Leif's awful temperament.

"You'll need to learn how to fight," I said quickly, my thoughts wonder to Leif reminded me that there was something awful up ahead. Noting in passing how weak my voice sounded, I reached for Autumn's arm, grasping at soft flesh to prove a point. "You should have some physical strength from your father's blood, not nearly as much as if you'd turned but I'm not sure the pros outweigh the cons on that account."