Page 56 of Peaceful Chaos

Vendettas

Raven

Sin practically vibrates ashe runs us toward the parking lot. "You're awfully chipper for someone who was mad at me just a few hours ago," I say.

He gives me an exasperated look. "I wasn't mad at you."

I cock an eyebrow. "Could have fooled me."

"You were the one who was mad, I was just irritated," he grumbles. He's always grumbling.

I roll my eyes because I don't buy it for a second, but I don't want to bring down this swing in his mood. I swear, he's the most mercurial man on the planet. I catch a glimpse of my brother's scowling face out of the corner of my eye. Scratch that, he's one of two most mercurial men on the planet. Lucky me, they're both family.

"Okay, what brought about this sudden good mood?" I ask as we approach the SUV.

He sets me down on my feet and opens the door for me. "You'll see," he replies cryptically.

My mind spins with possibilities, but I can't nail one down by the time we are pulling through the gates of the apartments. Instead of driving toward the middle of the complex where our building sits, we head to the back and park in front of the clubhouse.

No one speaks as we get out of the car and head inside. If anyone jumps out at me and yells surprise I'm going to punch them in the throat. Why they think any kind of surprise after nearly being blown up is a good idea is a mystery to me.

The clubhouse is a multipurpose building with an open floor plan. One side of the building is set up like a living room with plush couches facing each other. The other side has a small bar, a pool table, and my personal favorite, air hockey. I make a mental note to come back here, assuming this weird surprise doesn't turn me off this building completely.

Other than being in a different building, I'm not seeing anything I would qualify as a surprise. I look around the room again to see if there's anything I'm missing, but nothing stands out.

Sin continues past me and knocks on a door close to the sitting area. Lucien tenses up as the door swings open. David Neville, aka Martin Gerrick infamous smuggler, steps out of the room. Immediately behind him is Natalie, or maybe I should call her Mom. No, I decide, I'm not ready for that. It might not have been her fault, but the fact remains Lucien and I grew up without a mother.

Still, I'm happy to see her, especially considering only a handful of days ago we watched her die and come back to life. She rushes forward, arms outstretched to hug me, before dropping them as I flinch at the sudden movement. Outside of Sin, the only person who ever hugged me was one of my nannies, and she was fired because of it. Genuine affection and love is a new experience for me.

Natalie nods, and she gives me a sad smile. "Sorry, I'm excited to see you."

She moves on to Lucien, and her smile becomes a bit more genuine when he doesn't flinch away from her. She reaches up and places her hand on his face. "My beautiful boy," she breathes, her words barely a whisper.

Lucien frowns. "I don't know how you can even stand to look at me. I know what I see when I look in the mirror."

"I see my innocent baby grown into a man."

He takes a step back, causing her hand to fall from his face. "I'm hardly innocent. And the resemblance I see goes deeper than the surface. Trust me."

David steps forward and nudges a little girl I hadn't noticed in front of him. "We'd like for you to meet Tempest, your sister."

She and I study each other. I don't have many pictures of myself from around eight years old, but I would imagine they'd be remarkably similar.

Lucien moves to my side, and together we squat down to be closer to her level. He holds out his hand. The scowl he wore is gone, and in it's place is a friendly expression he uses when he's turning up the charm. "Hey, Tempest. I'm your big brother."

She smiles at him, then turns to me, cocking her head to the side. "And you? Are you my big sister or me from the future?"

Lucien releases a booming laugh and falls onto his ass. I roll my eyes at him. "I'm your sister," I say, giving her my attention again.

"The resemblance is pretty freaky though," Sin adds.

"You aren't my brother too, are you? I've just learned I’ve got a lot more family than I knew." She casts an accusing glare back at her parents.

Natalie huffs. "Your father and I have explained this many times."

Tempest nods. "Yeah, because if I knew of them then I'd probably look for them, and you didn't want the bad people to know where you were or that I exist."

She puts her hand on her hip and tosses her long dark hair over her shoulder. This girl is an old soul trapped in an eight-year-old’s body. "So what's different now?" she asks her parents.

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