Prey.

43.

Ryan left the room after the conversation grew awkward and silent. Neela just laid on her back and sighed while covering her eyes from the blinding surgical light that was above her. "The bad man hurt you, didn't he?" Austin's soft voice rang through Neela's ears.

"Hi, Austin." Neela's lips formed a smile despite the pain in her side. "How do you keep getting here? And without anyone noticing you?" Neela turned her head to face Austin who was standing on the ground beside her head. "I only come here for you, no one else can see me."

Neela was going to ask a question but Austin interrupted her though process, "today is my birthday." Neela gasped and reached down for her friends hand, "how old are you today, Austin?"

"7!" He squeaks while showing a bright smile, "can I sit up there with you? I can't see!" Austin seemed a lot happier that day, he used to have sad eyes and the look of sickness always apparent on his face. "I'm glad you're finally on this side! This is where I actually live, it's hard to find the portal sometimes."

"It wasn't the bad man who done this to me." Neela answered he first question Austin asked her. "Then who did it? There's only one bad man."

"Well, Austin," Neela pulled the small boy by his wrists so he was straddled across her waist, making sure to maneuver his foot away from her left side. "I tried to leave the house. I was angry, I was scared, and I was hurt; not from the bad man. And another bad man came to me and he scratched down my entire left side. The man who did this to me was a monster."

Austin was paying attention to Neela's story, but he was entranced by the deep cuts that went down Neela's face. The cuts that Neela still had yet to discover. "You look beautiful, Neela." Austin changed the topic at hand.

"Thank you, Austin." Neela sighed.

~~

"Neela," Damien's gravelly voice filled Neela's ears as she rested her eyes, "good morning, Damien," Neela attempted to stretch, but closed her eyes at the tearing pain she felt in her side. "Relax, just breathe."

After having composed herself, Neela opened her eyes and swallowed thickly. "What is it? What do you need?"

"We were all wondering if you were ready to get up and walk, maybe even get something to eat?"

Now at the dinner table, she noticed that all of the boys were looking at her left cheek. Most of them looked to be in pain when they laid eyes on the scarring, but Sean and Damien looked at her face with adoration and love in their eyes. "Everyone has a weird obsession with my face now, did something happen?" Neela didn't mean to, but she blurted out her words.

"Yes," Ryan spoke across from his mate while harshly glaring at the scabbing gashes. "That prick cut your from your pretty cheek, all the way down to your waist."

Now zoned out and biting her lip, silence was shared all around the room. "Neela," Damien placed a loving hand on Neela's shoulder. "We want you to know, we all think you look even more breathtaking with the scarring. Despite you and Ryan loathing them, we will try and make you love them as much as we already do."

Neela said nothing, and with a thick swallow, she left the kitchen to make her way to her bedroom.

Neela felt dirty, disgusted with herself. She caused this, she caused herself to be injured, to be horribly scarred. She needed a shower. She could feel rubbing alcohol and sweat making her shirt stick to her injured side. The first thing Neela noticed when she peeled the dirty top off her body were the three long cuts that did trail down her body.

The scarring traveled from Neela's left side cheek, all the way down to the middle of her thigh, the demon. Was sure to not miss her neck. Neela sighed as tears welled up in her eyes, she just stood there, taking in the new body she had to deal with for the rest of her life.

Sean slowly entered the bedroom, it wasn't weird to see Neela half-naked as he had to work on her injuries many times. He placed his hand on Neela's shoulder that wasn't injured. "Don't worry, sweetheart. It's going to be hard, I'll admit that. But all of us love them, you'll get used to them soon, I promise." He begun to play with his sisters dark locks, revealing another cut that went from the top of her ear and connected with the middle of the three wounds.

"I hate myself now even more than I did," Neela disregarded everything that Sean has said. "Father did, as well." Sean spoke as he made his way to Neela's bed to lay down. "What do you mean?" Neela pulled on her robe and sat next to her brother.

"You couldn't possibly think that father, being around as long as he has, hadn't gotten into many fights," Sean smirked as Neela as he could see that she was intrigued. "All down his back and arms there are immense amounts of scarring."

Sean continued on, "he loathed them just as much and you and Ryan do yours. However mother helped him conquer his insecurities. She rubbed them down every night after he came home from work and told him how handsome he is." He moved closer to his sister and whispered, "I think mother still visits him, but don't say anything."

Neela begin to whisper as well, "ghosts are real?"

"At this point in life, you really shouldn't be asking that. Werewolves, demons, vampires, witches, they're all real."