Page 51 of Song of Tenebrae

“Yes.” I watch him closely. Is Hail the one harassing my demon?

“I’m happy for you,” he releases a breath and his fingers begin to massage his temples, the sign of an impending headache. “But it’s a little sudden, her forgiveness, no?”

“You think she’s playing me?” I ask him.

“It is something I worry about.” He confesses and looks up at me, his eyes bloodshot, “she was ready to kill you a few days ago.”

“There’s a very fine line between love and hate, Hail, remember that.” I warn him. His eyes automatically slide to his own brand of torture and she’s watching him as well, the crease between her brows relaying her worry.

“I know.” He says softly. “Just be careful and know, I won’t hesitate to kill her if she proves otherwise.”

I know he means well; his loyalty to me is unwavering, but I want to kill him just for threatening her. I want to kill him for looking at her like she’s already betrayed me and I want to kill her for it even being a possibility.

Torrent and Squall come to the table and sit down, both quiet and subdued. When I told them what I had planned for tonight, they all fought me. I understand why, it’s in the four of us to be protective over each other and our first instinct is to kill if any of us are threatened. It comes from spending most of our lives together and that instinct will never go away, I just hope they can extend it to her, too.

“You’re sure about this?” Squall asks as Torrent rolls his eyes.

“It’s the only way for us to move on.” I nod. “She will be your sister.”

“I fucked my sister,” Torrent sneers and I stand up, reaching over the table to quickly grab his face.

“Watch it.”

His eyes blaze with a burning defiance but he’s smart enough to keep his mouth shut. I release him with a shove and sit back down, motioning for the bartender to bring me a drink. I’m going to fucking need it for later.

Squall looks around the table at all of us and exhales a frustrated breath, “we need to find our center again. We’re losing what’s important,” he cracks his neck. “We need to stop fighting amongst each other and we need to fucking grow up. Yes, our lives changed and we’re no longer on the path we thought we’d be on forever, but we must trust Raiden. He’s our leader.”

I don’t know if it’s just my overactive imagination but I swear he sneered at the last few words. I’ve become suspicious at every turn and it’s because I can’t trust that the elders won’t try to sway one of them with the empty promise of preserving them. Maybe they already got to one, or fuck, maybe they’re all against me. I gulp down the whiskey as soon as it’s put in front of me and ask for a refill.

“Keep the bottle here.” I take it from the bartender and he nods before leaving the table. I’m being paranoid again, these are my brothers, and I know, deep in my soul, that they wouldn’t turn on me.

I hear a tinkling laugh coming from the bar and my heart warms when I see Demon’s head tipped back. Her friend Tiny is motioning wildly with her hands and Sky is watching them both with amusement. I wish my brothers would just pull their heads out of their asses already and see what’s here in front of us. We are all meant to be together, nothing has ever felt this right, and the longer they take, the farther away they will get.

Torrent stands and walks over to them, sending my body on full alert. They don’t shy away from him as I’m sure he’s hoping for, and all three of them look at him expectantly.

“Every year we do this, we have women here for entertainment.” He throws his arms out, “this year was a little rushed and we’re stuck with you three.”

The snort flies out of my nose before I can stop it and Hail chuckles as well.

“But the fact remains that you three are strippers and we four,” he motions to us, “require entertainment. Would you three do us the honor?”

“Not bad,” Squall mutters, “that was actually polite.”

“It was,” I agree, trying to hide my grin behind my glass.

Sky and Tempest look a bit uneasy but Tiny shrugs her shoulders and nods. She heads off to the small stage that has two poles and motions for the music. Sky follows behind her and then Tempest goes to follow as Torrent comes back to the table with a triumphant look on his face.

“Demon.” My demand is immediate and her mouth quirks up before she even looks at me. “Come here.”

“Spoilsport,” Hail mutters with a grin but keeps his eye on Sky as she joins Tiny on stage. I can tell by the tightening of his jaw that he doesn’t wanthiswoman up there either, but he’s making no move to voice that.

“Yes?” Tempest’s voice pulls me away from my thoughts of Hail and his dark disposition.

“Did you think I would allow you to go up there?” I give her a slow once over.

“‘Allow me’ to what? Dance?” She chuckles and runs her hand over my hair, “silly boy, wasn’t it much worse when you made everyone watch me being fucked?”

Squall chokes on a laugh and Torrent is watching us with growing amusement. She’s at least amusing them right now because I want nothing more than to flip her over my legs and spank the shit out of her ass.

---