A Legacy of the Damned: Daughter of Astaroth

Chapter 48 - The Dark Estate

So, they tagged along. All three of them- Ronan, Elias, and Katherine.

It's hard to tell what Sacha is thinking from the expression on his face but from the tightness of his jaw, I know that he isn't very happy about it. He keeps my hand in his and our fingers are laced together as he leads me up the hill.

I'd love to be alone with him, but I guess that's going to have to wait. Besides, having them with us is really not that bad. They're quite amusing and I get to think while they continue to banter back and forth among themselves.

The Gauthiers spent most of their summers in the south of France when the boys were younger but they enjoyed some summers here too. Elias keeps pointing at spots around the property where they did things or where something happened when they were growing up.

"See that tree over there?" Elias is saying. "Ronan climbed up that tree but he couldn't get down. He was stranded on the branch way up there for hours. He was bawling his eyes out by the time we found him."

"Dude! shut up! I was ten and I wasn't bawling my eyes out." Ronan punches Elias in the arm. It isn't very hard but it pushes his brother sideways. "And I didn't climb that tree on purpose, Sacha made me."

"Yeah, that was your punishment after you made Ives climb into our treehouse and left him there. You knew that he couldn't climb back down by himself," says Elias.

"I was just playing with him," mutters Ronan.

"You were playing with him and he always ended in tears," comments Sacha.

"Wow, Ronan, you're such a bully," chimes in Katherine but her tone is teasing.

"Yeah, he started young and his a-holeness knows no bounds," announces Elias with a wicked grin.

I don't even bother to hide my smirk as Elias holds his fist out to his girlfriend. Katherine grins and pounds it with hers.

"Dude! I was just ten," protests Ronan. "And it's not like Elias is a saint either," he adds, turning to the oldest of the Gauthier boys. "Tell them, Sacha!"

Sacha just shakes his head, refusing to get roped further into their bickering.

"So, how old are you, Danica?" asks Katherine suddenly.

"Eighteen," I tell her. "I'm going to be nineteen soon."

Katherine nods. "Are you still in school?"

"Do half-demons like you even go to school?" asks Elias. "Owww...What?" he yelps when Katherine smacks him on the stomach. He tries to look innocent as he gives his girlfriend a wide-eyed look, but it doesn't work. He's just asking the question to get a rise out of me and Katherine knows it. Elias is slightly better than Ronan but he's also a jerk.

Sacha gives my hand a squeeze. I look at him and roll my eyes. I don't need to be treated as though I was made of glass. I might be broken but my feeling isn't fragile.

"Do half-angel avengers wannabe like you go to school?" I ask Elias.

"Of course we do." It's Ronan who replies coldly. "And we're not half-angel avenger whatever wannabes."

"Says you," I mutter. Ronan's eyes become frostier and my smile grows bigger. Suddenly I realize what Elias and Katherine already know. Rattling Ronan is actually quite fun.

"I did go to school, if you're really interested to know," I continue. "I graduated high school a year early, then I spent almost a year traveling the world." I seek the danger and near-death experience to feel alive because I felt dead inside without Sacha. The thought just enters my head unbidden. I blink and my eyes swing to Sacha. I find his eyes to be already on me and he raises an eyebrow at the look that I'm giving him.