Daughter of Stars and Nightmares (The Eternal Bond Saga book 1)

Fun times at Hell's Broth

October 10th Hell's Broth and Harpier's Cry

Julia leaned back into the shiny candy-red vinyl seat giggling at the joke Kuro just told. She, Ren, Kuro and the twins were sitting at their usual booth in the corner of Hell's Broth ̶ as it was lovingly referred to. They were regulars at the classic 1950's replica diner; a popular hangout for all the teens and young adults in Havenswood.

A green faerie walked up to their table balancing five huge plates on her arms. Her short spiky yellow hair glittered as the light from the overhead lamps caught it. She set down Ren's plate in front of him, her vivid violet eyes lit up as she leaned into him pausing longer than necessary. Before winking at Ren, showing off the elegant rainbow of colour that decorated her eyelids, and prancing off.

Abby turned to Ren and arched her eyebrow at him. "Is that another one of your many admirers, Ren?" she said nudging Julia in the side.

"I find it's always best to operate under a don't ask don't tell policy with Ren and his fan club," Julia replied to Abby's poke.

The effect Ren had on both sexes was something everyone had to get used to, and over the years it had turned into a running joke.

Ren puffed out his chest, stretched out his arm hooking Abby round the shoulders, pulling her closer to him. "I can't help it if everybody loves me," he purred in her ear and then let her go. "I just have that charm and appeal."

Julia snorted, almost choking on a fry. "Yeah right, Ren. Man; I'd like to live in that fantasy world of yours." I Put a Spell on You, streamed over the speakers she thought it should've been Ren's theme song when it came his effect on people.

Ren reached over and stole a handful of Julia's fries. "You're just jealous of my sex appeal. I not only drive the ladies wild but the men too. In fact, I could even have that pretty-boy-leech, which you're always pining after, fall to my feet and worship me if I wanted."

To Julia's utter horror everyone in their group had noticed she couldn't take her eyes off of Alex. Despite Julia's many denials over the past six weeks that she didn't like him and pointing out the fact they didn't get along at all.

The week before, they forced her and Alex to be partners in magical alchemy class and it turned into a disaster. Because of their constant bickering ̶ which, she still blamed on his foul and downright hostile attitude; they blew up the lab when their experiment exploded.

Kuro roared with laughter. "That'll be the day. If that fang boy ever fell at your feet, Ren, it would be to bite them off."

Julia crossed her arms and pouted. "I do not pine after him. Jeez, how many times do I have to tell you people? I. Do. Not. Like. Him." She hated the fact she couldn't stop herself from staring at Alex. If he was near her, Julia's eyes gravitated to him, she couldn't stop herself. There was something about him that was unnervingly familiar to the point it was driving her bonkers trying to figure out how she knew him.

Ella reached across the table and rubbed Julia's arm. "Sure you don't. Just keep telling yourself that and maybe one day it'll be true."

Julia scowled at the group. "Hey stop stealing my fries! Especially, when you guys have your own." She reached across the table to Kuro's plate, picked up a piece of his bloody steak and popped it into her mouth. Savouring the taste and licking her finger. "What?" she asked, when everyone except Kuro cringed in revulsion. "I like my meat rare, you guys know that."

Julia had always loved her meat on the bloody side ̶ well, more like dripping with blood. She still couldn't understand what her friends' hang-up was with how she preferred her meat.

Ella shook her head and stuck out her tongue in utter repulsion as she watched Julia devour the blood-soaked meat. "That meat isn't rare, it's still mooing. It's bad enough we have to watch the hell-hound over here eat, but it's just downright wrong watching you eat that too."

Kuro put on a hurt face. "Ouch, I love you too, baby." Then picked up another piece of his bloody meat and handed it to Julia. "Ignore them; they'll never understand how delicious this is."

A familiar twinge ran through Julia's as she licked her fingers. She got the feeling someone was watching her. She looked out the window across the street and saw Alex standing there, staring at them. Tilting her head to one side unable to take her eyes off of his, she was perplexed as to why he was standing there fixated on her.

The longer she locked eyes with his, the stronger the feeling of déjà vu built up inside of her. An odd feeling washed over her, it felt as if the two of them were out of sync. That they were in the wrong time and place. Just as Julia was trying to process this feeling she heard the laughter of the screaming woman in Julia's dreams. She looked around; hoping it was someone in the diner laughing but knew the voice came from inside her head. The laughing scrapped against Julia's skill before twisting into a plea, "The promise."

Julia squeezed her eyes shut fighting the urge to clap her hands over her ears. Not now, repeated over and over again determined not to let the dream take over in front of her friends. Julia ground her teeth and tried to shove the dark emotions that had begun churning down.

Ren reached behind Abby and gave Julia a little shake looking at her with concern in his eyes. "Hey, Jules, is everything all right? You're totally spacing out there."

Julia came back to reality, and the laughter drifted away into nothingness. She blinked at Ren a few times then smiled. "I'm all right. I was just looking at..." She turned her head only to find an empty spot where Alex had been. "I was just wondering if it will rain that's all."

Ren eyebrows shot up; she could tell he wasn't buying her story but wasn't in any mood to call her on it. "I told you before, it's not going to rain and even if it does, don't think you'd be getting out of training."

Julia moaned loudly, letting everyone know she'd rather do anything else other than train. Ren and Julia had been training since the first day of school. He'd been come by her house at eight and dragged her into the woods for 'special witch' training. They would spend hours trying to get her to focus and build up her witch's powers and every night it ended in frustration and failure.

"How long are you two going to keep training, anyway?" Abby asked. "From what Jules says you guys make no progress."

"We'll keep training until she makes progress," Ren replied, letting everyone know including Julia, that quitting was not an option. "She has witch powers in there somewhere and I won't stop until I root them out and Julia can use them. I'm determined that this is the year she will finally blossom as a witch."

Julia rolled her eyes and snorted. "Good luck with that. I think we can all agree that I'm a lost cause with my witchy side."

Despite all of Ren's training and constant encouragement ̶ telling her every day that he believed in her and he knew she had magic in her ̶ Julia didn't buy it. She knew her body and over the years, she'd had her hopes and dreams of being able to use magic crushed too many times. The only reason she even agreed to special training was because she knew if she refused; he would drag her out of the house kicking and screaming anyway. And figured she would just go along with it for an easy life.

Ren hit her on the shoulder. "I believe in you, even if you don't. And don't think taking that kind of attitude will get you out of training. If you're going to think that way I'll train you twice as hard."

Everyone laughed except Julia.

"Poor, Jules, now you've done it," Abby teased.

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