Magnetic Love

38. Stronger Together

The tension created by the recent events was not lost on the group of friends. Anne's revelation surprised them, but it was not unexpected. "The man," as Anne kept calling him, had disappeared from in front of everyone, and he most obviously had the power to teleport himself. Or move with incredible speed. The skillset was pretty limited in terms of supernatural heritage. Vampires and demons were the forerunners as suspects.

As a group, they decided to grab a bite to eat to steady their nerves and hopefully gather a few more details from Anne before they all headed in different directions. Sitting in a late-night, pleather covered diner booth, the homey smells of burgers and pie calmed everyone's stress. As the oldest in the group, Victor started the discussion first.

     "Anne, Sweetie, explain what you mean when you said 'the man' is a vampire." Victor spoke calmly and carefully chose his words such that a "yes" or "no" answer wouldn't suffice. Anne had obviously been pulled as far as she could be and had snapped at the club. They didn't want her completely recoiling into herself again.

Jae kept his arm over Anne's shoulder as Anne leaned her back into his side, slightly turned away from him. It was her favorite position lately, only this time she played with the fingers on his hand instead of her own.

     "He-" Anne started and then hesitated, pressing her eyelids closed, creating deep lines in her forehead. She wrangled with her thoughts as she battled not to let them take over.

"He appeared in the dark shadows of the cave. He was always in the dark, talking to Derrick." Jae kissed Anne's head in encouragement. This was already more than they had known for a month.

"I- I don't know what relationship he has with Derrick, but Derrick called him 'Master' at one point. Derrick seemed conflicted. He wanted to 'keep' me but also wanted the man to reward him for me." Jae began to rage internally as he thought of someone treating Anne as something to be bought and sold. Anne began to pull her hand from Jae's as she began to lose to her own thoughts of being treated like an animal. Jae quickly grabbed her hand and held it tightly, intertwining their fingers, so she knew he was there with her. She tilted her head up and off to the side to see his handsome face. He smiled and kissed her nose.

     "You got this, Blue. We are all here with you." Jae muttered before tenderly kissing her temple. Anne took a deep breath in and then let it all go. She took a sip of her soda before continuing.

     "I was hiding the best I could, keeping my walls up like my mother taught me to, and Derrick kept pestering me to smell me. He got in my face, up to my neck. He wanted to prove to himself that I was Fae. I needed to be Fae born." Her thoughts began to wander off as the group looked at each other.

     "So, Anne. You can willingly block yourself off?" Michael was the first to ask the question on everyone's mind.

     "Yeah. It was about the only thing my mother taught me as a child in terms of my gifts. She said it was imperative that I be able to hide myself, to not be seen. 'It's dangerous' is about all she told me. Honestly, it's how I have managed this far. If I don't make eye contact, I can stay quite hidden, almost as if I am invisible. But now it makes me sad. When I hide, I don't feel like myself anymore. I want to live and engage and be free." Her voice was excited at the end at the ideas she was proposing, but her voice trailed off as she began to play with her soda straw.

     Michael spoke again quickly. "So this man wanted to take you from Derrick. Why didn't he? It seems like he could transport you with him as he had with Derrick. What happened?"

Anne visibly shuddered at the question, and Jae quickly squeezed her hand to stop her mental retreat.

     "He- He didn't like the way I smelled. Derrick had been so close that he had nearly 'damaged the goods' or something like that. He couldn't get a good whiff of me either to confirm, so he stuck his nose into my neck twice, and he..." She stopped herself. Subconsciously, she reached up to her shoulder and started rubbing it.