Predator

29.

Ryan was violently shaking Neela, trying to wake her up, or stop her screaming spell, just something! "Snap out of it!" Ryan yelled which promoted all of his brothers and father to run to their bedroom, ready to attack anyone.

They barged in and saw Neela convulsing on the bed, letting out a high-pitched scream. Ryan shaking her wasn't making her condition any better or worse. "Ryan, stop!" Damien demanded as he remembered that banshees scream to block out anything that could hinder them from seeing a vision. Ryan scoffed at his father and continued to try and shake Neela awake, "she's okay, Ryan! Trust me!" Once again, Ryan wasn't letting up on the shaking and yelling.

Damien brought his hand up which made Ryan fly off the bed and onto the floor. "Listen to me next time," Damien growled and put his arms out in front of his other sons to stop them from approaching Neela.

All of a sudden, Neela bolted straight up in the bed, looking around her and pulling at her hair. This is when Damien released Ryan from the floor, allowed him to move once again.

Neela dropped to the floor when Ryan had rushed to her side. "No, no, no. Don't," she spoke in urgency. Neela had this gazed and far away look in her wide eyes as she stared at completely nothing. Ryan obeyed her words and kept his position on the bed as if he were about to pounce on her.

A few minutes passed before anyone spoke, let alone moved. "Neela," Landon spoke in a calm voice but did not move any closer, afraid to startle his sister. "Can you tell us what you saw?"

While still gazing into space, Neela finally spoke up, "I saw my dad's death. My real dad. I-i saw how he killed himself." Neela was afraid to even blink because anytime she had closed her eyes, she would see the razor being voluntary dragged across her father's tough skin. "What kind of daughter am I?" She asked herself this.

Ryan, still in his predatory position, spoke after gulping down the thick saliva that built up in his mouth. "Neela," he spoke in a quiet voice like he was going to be caught by somebody. "Let me touch you, please," his voice raised just an octave or two. "He wouldn't like you, what you've done to me." Neela changed the subject as she locked eyes with Ryan while shaking her head in disbelief.

"I know this. That's why I took you," even if Ryan had courted Neela like how he wanted, Andrew would still not want him. Taking Neela was the only way they could have properly been together. "Listen," Ryan changed his voice back to the soft whisper it once was, "you won't remember any of this when we wake up. Let's get back in the bed, yes?"

Once the suggestion left his lips, Neela snapped out of the far away state she was previously in; she was back to normal. She got up and nodded while the rest of the boys began seeing themselves out very slowly. "I know how you love the room being cold, should we turn the fan on higher?" Ryan had to act like everything was fine and normal but what he just saw was out of the ordinary for Neela.

Father wants to see you once she's back asleep. Ethan spoke calmly. He, Damien, Landon, and Sean were all calm about the situation once they realized what was occurring. Damien knew he should've told Ryan once he first found out but he and Neela were catching up, he didn't want to ruin their whole day with the news.

Damien was even strongly hesitant about telling Neela about her powers as well. If she became awoken to the powers, made aware of, it would only happen more frequently and the visions would be more emotional and traumatic for Neela to experience. Damien was fine with her powers being minuscule while she was adjusting to being home again. But did he want her to become more powerful and potentially try to kill her self again? Absolutely no.

~~

It didn't take that long for Ryan to put Neela back to sleep. "The nightmare drained her badly," Ryan informed his father as he walked downstairs.

Damien squinted his eyes, pursed his lips, and shook his head while the rest of his brothers stood awkwardly spread across the living room and in the kitchen. "No?" Ryan asked.

Damien relaxed his face and neck and spoke after heaving a sigh. "Egin knows everything about all of his citizens, right?" Everyone knew that for a fact, he only had to look at someone, whether human or not, and could see their whole life in front of him. "When Egin brought Neela home, he noticed something in her."

"Okay," Ryan drew out the simple word and made circles with his wrists, telling Damien to quickly get to the point. "Neela is a banshee. Egin saw her powers blossoming," Damien turned around to pick up the thin file and held it so Ryan was able to see the title. "There's information in here, it could help you," he pushed the documents to his sons chest and Ryan quickly took hold of them.

"Does she know?" Ryan asked after reading through some of the papers, a lot of the characteristics of banshees and Neela added up, but it still did not make full sense to Ryan. "No," Damien quickly said, "and no one is to tell her yet. I say when we do," he looked around to make sure all of his sons heard him and agreed. All of them nodded but Ryan, "why isn't she allowed to know?"

"If she becomes conscious to her abilities, then those visions will come more frequently, and she'll be more powerful. And besides, none of our family is yet in danger. If that time ever comes, then we'll tell her. Until then, Neela is to not know about anything that was spoken of here."