Demigod Down (30 page)

I shrugged, pushing him gently on the
shoulder, “Sorry, I couldn’t help it.”

“So will you be partaking in tonight’s
feast?” He asked, leaning forward and no longer waving his goods in
my face.

I gave him a disgusted look, “I don’t eat
meat,” I informed him.

“Ever?” he asked, shocked.

“Not since I had a choice,” I answered him,
my tone hinting there was more to it than that.

“You are missing out,” He said ignoring the
stiffness of my shoulders.

I shrugged, pulling out my frozen tofu hot
dogs, “I bet you can’t taste the difference!” I taunted.

Alec pretended to retch, scrambling away from
me on the log, giving me an ass shot. “The horror,” he mocked.

Darren whistled and we all turned. “Thank you
all for being here tonight,” He said. Kass snuggled under his arm.
She gave a gentle smile, still uncertain either about all the naked
people or just the event. I couldn’t blame her. Their anticipation
ran high in the air and was contagious.

“I appreciate the support each and every one
of you bring to my family and my fiancé, but we aren’t here for
political reasons, let’s run!” he shouted and his excitement was
mirrored as bodies began shifting into various animals before my
eyes.

A glorious leopard walked by with a carnal
grin as magic rode the air with the pops and stretching of skin
under the pale moonlights glow. Luminescent eyes glowed all around
us, brilliant greens, deep blues, and a few chocolate browns.

Alec turned into the most beautiful auburn
wolf I have ever seen as I watched him. “That’s impressive,” I
informed him. He chucked before running into the night with the
rest.

Darren came to sit Kass next to me before
following the rest out, shifting into a gigantic lion with golden
eyes.

We sat quietly for a few moments as they
stragglers cleared out, “Impressive, aren’t they?” I asked, opening
a bag of marshmallows.

“Ehh, just a bunch of overgrown hippies
running in the woods,” she said with a laugh.

Coughing on the marshmallow I ate, I gave her
a shocked look. “What - a girl can’t poke fun?” she teased.

A tall, well-built bald man with intricate
tattoos stepped out of the shadows. “You come for the s’mores,
Bear?” I asked him as Amy shuffled out after him.

Bear smiled, well aware of his large presence
as Kass sat up straighter.

“Hi Amy,” I said, smiling, “Do you want some
s’mores?”

She shrugged, looking at Bear. He nodded and
she shuffled towards us, plopping down as I handed her the
supplies.

“Why the glum face?” I asked, peaking at Bear
who was tactfully checking the perimeter.

Amy shrugged shoving her marshmallow on a
stick, shoulders slumping, corners of her mouth turned down.

I looked at Bear raising an eyebrow. He
shifted, feeling my eyes on him. Kass shifted uncomfortably as I
continued to stare holes into the overgrown man.

He relented with a sigh. “Tell her,” Bear
ordered, coming to sit on a log across from us.

Amy turned to glare at him before turning
back to me. “I can’t hold my shift,” she confided.

I blinked a few times looking between her and
Bear. He shrugged.

“Any ideas on why?” I asked, having never
encountered this particular problem before.

“No,” Amy sulked, scuffing her foot against
the dirt.

Bear cleared his throat and offered, “It
began after she killed her step father and mother.”

“Those fuckers have nothing to do with it,”
Amy sneered at him.

“Language,” Bear scolded softly.

Amy blinked back the moisture in her eyes,
putting on an angry face I knew all too well. How in the world did
I reach out to her? How did I climb of my own demented psyche to
relate to her enough to be able to help her through the complex web
of emotions? Emotions I had ignored by just shoving them down deep
and keeping myself distracted by and sated by killing.

I turned to the fire, watching the oranges
and deep reds sizzle as Amy’s marshmallow caught on fire, burning
to a dark crisp before falling off.

I felt Bear’s eyes on me as I straightened
up. “I can’t help her. I can’t even handle my own emotions.”

“But you helped Hannah,” Bear said
softly.

“I did, but that wasn’t working through her
emotions.” I said, shaking my head, “That was simply removing them.
I can remove, I can bury, but the problem is they always resurface
when the memories do. Hannah was mishandled. Now with her training,
she is adapting.”

Kass stood, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Amy, walk with me.”

Amy nodded, moving away from Bear and me.

I felt like such a failure. I wanted to be
able to help her, but I was woefully unqualified to understand my
own emotions let alone hers.

Running my hands through my hair, I shoved my
feelings of inadequacy down into the deep pit of my soul where I
stored the rest of my useless and troublesome emotions, using the
only coping mechanism I knew before I was able to look back at
Bear.

He was leaning forward, the fire light
flickering over his tattoos giving them the appearance of life.

He opened his mouth to say something -
something I knew I didn’t want to hear. Picking up the marshmallow
bag, I tossed one into his mouth. He bit down on it, his eyes
dancing with mirth as I promptly went back to ignoring him.

Eventually the tall lumbering shifter fell
back into the shadows and I was left to my own thoughts, staring
blindly into the fire.

What I kept coming back to, my worry, was
Blake. He had been radio silent except for a few text messages
telling me he was glad that I was alright and that he had more
‘family business’ to attend to.

I had a terrible feeling it was going to
haunt all of us.  

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