Harry looked up at the burly, intimidating man and gulped loudly. The reaction expected was not the one received as he only shoved Harry to the side gently and gazed at the corpse.
"Well, let's get him out of here then," the man said in a timbre, low tone.
Harry didn't question his authority before grabbing Ozias' ankles and dragging him out of the room. They moved him out of the main building and into a deserted training field with no interference. It made Harry think.
Once they reached the centre of the field, the stranger pulled a match box from his fit pocket and a cigarette from his left. After lighting it and taking a long, suspenseful drag he threw the lit match into the body and they watched it burn. The smell was near unbearable and Harry was even more furious than upset at the waste of such luxuries. He and his family had remained cold and aching. When he was seven he had watched his five-year-old sister die of hypothermia.
The memory of her tiny, lifeless body still in his cold hands sent him into a frenzy. It was instinct to muffle his boiling rage however in light of recent events he figured in his journey to death, he could afford to commit a few-more-sins.
He lunged for the burly man, a red tint over his eyes. The giant only side stepped and threw him down to the floor.
"Damn it kid, calm the hell down,"
Harry groaned, winded and bruised. "Shut up, damn you to hell,"
"I knew your dad kid, and he knew you'd be something great someday. Why throw that away by killing someone?"
Harry remained silent.
"Get up. The body's burnt and the evidence is gone. No one cares enough to come looking for him."
Harry scrambled to his feet, not bothering to brush off the dirt and mud from his face and gear. "Where are we going?" he asked as the man turned and headed away.
"Just shut up and follow, the quicker we leave the quicker we can get started,"
"Get started with what?!" his companion didn't answer.
Harry followed begrudgingly.
.......
Briar shifted uncomfortably in the bed she shared with her sister. Briar had waited by the door until she had arrived, shaking and terrified, at the beach house doorstep and immediately embraced her. Briar led Aspyn to her room but she was so scared and traumatised she couldn't sleep so she shared Briar's bed and cried herself to sleep that night.
Now, she was being roughly awoken by the soft morning light. With a loud groan she pushed herself off the bed, looking back to see her sister sleeping peacefully. Her face was void of all the pain and terror Briar had seen her filled with before. She felt a new sense of protectiveness over her sister.
Briar stalked towards the shared bathroom and showered and changed. By this time Aspyn had awoken and trudged into the bathroom sleepily. Briar tossed her a small smile and left the room for her sister to get ready for the day.
By the time she had made it downstairs Briar could smell sizzling bacon and hear Crown's off-tune singing. She slid into the kitchen, slow and cautious. Her mysterious Aunt hadn't seemed very welcoming of her before, she was afraid that with her father gone there would be no reason for her to filter her hatred.
Briar could not have been more mistaken, Crown turned around the second she heard the creak of the worn kitchen floorboards and gave Briar a dazzling smile. She had figured that although Azalea Martin was never someone she had gotten along with she didn't have to completely ruin her relationship with her nieces, innocent of their feud.
Besides, the two were terrified despite being basically completely sheltered from the forces that constantly threatened their lives. She was their protector, last line of defence before they were flung directly into the battlefield.
Briar watched curiously as her Aunt danced back to the stove, continuing to sing off key enthusiastically. Briar sat on one of the white washed wooden chairs awaiting her bacon. Crown was quick to fill a plate and place it on the table.
Briar slowly chewed her bacon, awaiting the arrival of her cousins. She hadn't seen Prince and Royal for years and she was yet to meet Duchess, the only Thomas daughter a few years younger than herself.
"IS THAT BACON?!" she heard a loud, timbre voice exclaim.
Crown laughed and yelled back; "It is and it is delicious!"
"As usual," Prince smiled, approaching his mother and kissing her cheek.
He turned playfully on his heel to face Briar and jumped back in surprise. "Rosy?"
Briar stuck out her tongue in distaste, "Briar. No one calls me Rose, no one except mum calls me Briar Rose,"
"You'll always be my little Rosy!" he grinned playfully, embracing her tightly.
The floorboards creaked again as Prince hugged Briar tighter, shaking her around as he did.Briar struggled to turn around but managed to snatch a quick glance over her shoulder. Royal was slinking into the kitchen in a pair of baggy sweatpants and a white singlet half asleep. His hair was unruly and he was making weird snorting sounds as he rubbed his eyes.
"Damnit Prince do you have to be so loud? We get it, you're a pig; Mum's making bacon. I don't to hear it at SIX IN THE MORNING!" When his vision finally cleared and he focussed on his brother he caught sight of Briar. "ROSY!"
Briar groaned as she was mauled by another cousin. Crown shook her head at her son', "Stop suffocating her, she's tired and hungry,"
"Yes mother!" Prince mocked as he collapsed into the seat beside Briar and tucked into a piece of bacon and some fried egg.
A soft voice soon cut through the silence. "Aunty Crown, do you have some hair clips I could borrow?"
Briar and her cousins looked over at a shaky, soft spoken Aspyn and smiled. It only took the boys a couple of seconds before they leapt up from their chairs and hugged her so tight she turned pink in the face before Crown yelled for them to stop.
She then smiled and lead Aspyn away to find the hair clips she was after. Briar sat nervously awaiting the next arrival from upstairs. She was soon to see her newer cousin and was terrified that the girl may not like her.
"Hey Prince, Royal where's mum?"
"Oh the lovely Duchess finally graces us with her presence,"
"Shut up, have they come yet?"
"Last night, Duchess meet Rosy, Rosy this is Duchess. She way more annoying and dense than she looks," Royal sarcastically introduced.
"SHUT UP!" Duchess yelled.
She spun around hastily and stared at the thin, brunette in her chair. She was unhappy about the two staying with her family solely because of how poorly her mother spoke about theirs, but Crown had talked to her late last night with the complete and total intent of explaining how the two should not be treated with disrespect and isolation. Duchess recalled her words were something along the lines of; "the daughters should not be punished for the sins of the mother," but Duchess had been half asleep and not really been paying attention, so she really could've said anything.
"Hey," Briar said, breaking the awkward silence and waving softly at the stranger.
"Rosy huh? I've heard a lotta stuff about you. You dance yeah?" Briar nodded and Duchess smiled. The girl wasn't a threat so much as a potential friend. "Cool." She said before plonking down beside her brother and digging into the breakfast spread watching her cousin with observant eyes.
