storm ◇ jasper hale ◇

chapter eight ; outings

Benedict made an appearance in the middle of the night, scaring the life out of Madej and Mandy. But they were together again, and that was all that really mattered. It had felt emotional as Benedict pulled his mom into a hug, telling her to never leave and panic and cry on her own, that they were there for her. Mandy had promised not to run off like that again. It still hurt that they were missing Zeke.

When Benedict hugged Madej once more, it felt like things were finally how they were supposed to be. Having his older brother back made it feel like home, but the sense of not having Zeke there left his heart torn in half. Madej hated the reasoning behind his return to them, but he was just thankful that his brother was there, and was going to protect them as much as he could.

They'd spent a lot of that night talking, using enchantments to try and make their house more secure. Mandy had helped her eldest son, and then the two had spent four hours making potions, enchanting jewellery and objects around their house. It had been tiring on both of them, and it had taken it out on them.

Madej had taken care of them, letting them rest on their couches, and made food for when they eventually woke up.

"How are they?" Jasper asked. He and Madej were sat together in the park. It was cloudy, would probably rain soon enough. They were sat on the swings, moving back and forth slowly. Madej had needed some time outside, to just try and relax. Jasper had been more than welcome to keep him company outside in the dreary weather.

He knew that really, his dad wouldn't be in Forks yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time before his father found them. Until then, he wanted to pretend he was a normal kid. So sitting on a set of swings with his vampire-friend-technically-soulmate would have to be considered normal.

He couldn't deny that there was something between them. It had to be the whole soulmate thing. Madej just didn't know if he was ready for it, or if there was ever a right time for it. To make it a thing in their lives, a turning point.

Madej nodded his head, thinking over his answer. "Stressed. Benny upped the security; he's good in that kind of magic," he said, looking over at Jasper. "Was gonna do this big company thing with security after doing his dangerous bullshit out there. But now Dad's on the loose, he's taken leave. Shame."

"Your mom?"

Madej's shoes scraped against the floor as he continued to swing back and forth. "Better." He nodded, hand coming further up the chain as he spoke. "She's still taking her medication and with Benny back, it's made her feel more at ease. I think she has nightmares, but she doesn't tell us." He made a face, displeased. "Dad's on the loose, so that'll have made it worse for her."

"How dangerous is your dad?" Jasper asked softly. "You mentioned your accident, but the details I don't know."

He looked away from the vampire briefly. "He used to kick the shit out of us a lot. Benny took the brunt for me and Zeke when Mom wasn't there. He does magic too, so everything he did was amplified by that. But at the same time he did nice stuff for us - took us away on holiday, paid for Benny's drumkit and lessons, my dance club, Zeke's guitars and lessons. It was always confusing because he was nice and took care of us, but he could just change, and he'd be angry at us."

It felt better to talk about it now. His dad was a possibility of coming back into his life, and he didn't want the past to stop him from facing him again. There was very little chance that he'd have a nice side to him now.

Madej tapped his hearing aid. "He did something, hit me too hard a few times, and I lost my hearing. I don't remember what happened. A year of my life is missing, which isn't so bad. We learned sign when he wasn't around. Zeke went through a rough point, went non-verbal, so learning how to sign was good for both of us."