Lips Red As Blood

06 |

Somehow, Cora and Asher make it home in one piece — only receiving three tickets along the way for speeding over a hundred hours per mile, driving through a red light, and driving in such an atrocious way, the officer assumed that they were drunk. 

When Cora gets to the front door, she breezes past Asher ("Wait, where am I supposed to sleep?" he asks), past Harper ("Who in devil's land is he?" her sister demands, gawking at the stranger), and past all the emotions that create a knot in her stomach. 

Then she locks herself in her bedroom. 

For two weeks, Cora stays trapped in her bedroom, emotions raging like a volcano, ready to spew fire. Her eyes stare listlessly at the ceiling, hands curling into tiny fists. 

The events at the restaurant scare Cora to the core, thoughts spiraling out of control: What do I do? Why do they want to kill me so badly? What if they come after Harper? What would I do if my situation wasn't so lucky and those demons weren't distracted? 

Cora tries to swallow away her panic, but it still bubbles on the surface, too big to be contained. Body aching and dry tears on her face, Cora feels her fury rage through her blood. 

It's that damn Asher, she thinks bitterly. And even though she finds his ridiculous antics slightly entertaining, Cora knows that the root of her problems began with the devil. Before all this, my life was normal. Now I'm bound to a contract that lets a random stranger who I met two weeks ago stay in my house, I have to find some person to fall in love with me, and not only that, demons are trying to kill me. 

Life is great. 

Her blood roars hotter, burning with rage until her fingernails dig into her palms so much, deep marks dent into her skin. It's him who created this, Cora's thoughts hiss, like poison dripping into liquid. If he didn't come into my life, everything would be fine. I would have gotten over Ryan, Harper would've been there to comfort me, and my life would go smoothly. 

Only that devil popped out of nowhere, throwing Cora's life completely off course. 

Her teeth grind together, angry tears springing up, tears blurring her vision so much that she can barely see. Cora's skin burns pink and she suddenly wants to punch something. "You ruined my life!" Cora lets out a shriek, her anger finally spilling over, sloshing faster until it reaches its target — Asher, who somehow thinks ruining Cora's life is a joke — prepared to scorch, singe, and kill. 

Then she sags to the floor, defeated. Tears, sadness instead of anger, slips off her cheeks. The truth, even if Cora doesn't want to face it, is that she's the one who caused her own life to go haywire. 

She was the one who recently got out of a relationship. She was the one who got drunk. She was the one who summoned the devil. 

The rest of the thing that happened to her was just a result of bad luck, one that just so happened to follow around Asher. 

Own up to it. If you're the one who caused the problems, you should be the one to fix them. 

Cora slowly stands up, treading near her bedroom door that hadn't been opened in two weeks except for when her sister left food in front of the door. 

"I have to fix this," she whispers, locking the promise into her heart. "Own up to it, Cora." 

Silence. Suddenly, opening the door seems like a daunting task. 

Open the door. 

"I have to fall in love with someone as fast as possible," Cora rambles, trying to distract herself. "If I don't, the devil stays and if the devil stays, so do the demons, and if they stay, then Harper and I are in danger." 

Come on, Cora. She glares daggers at the door, which prevents her from walking out. Why is it so hard to open one stupid door? 

Her hand slowly reaches for it, twisting the knob slightly. Then a thought crosses her mind. What would Harper and Asher think if she suddenly left her room after two weeks? What if things become so awkward, it becomes unbearable? 

"That's the least of your problems." Cora frowns, urging her hand to just open the dumb door. "Getting not killed is the top priority, and to do that, you need the devil." 

Open it, her thoughts chant, her hand lingering. Open it now! Before you delay any longer! 

With a gasp, Cora flings open the door— 

Harper and Asher look up from a game of chess. "I win," Asher says tartly, moving his chess piece. 

"No, Asher, I told you a million times," says Harper, fake patience in her voice. "You don't just... knock down whatever piece you see. There's an actual mind game to it. And hi, Cora. If you want to, you can join our game, though this boy here doesn't seem to get the rules." 

"Do you think I'm dumb or something? Of course I get the rules." Asher rolls his eyes, sighing melodramatically. "I just chose not to follow them." 

"Wow." Harper draws out the word. "What a rebel." 

Cora looks at Harper, who would threaten any strangers until they left in tears, and then to Asher, who's guaranteed to piss off her sister. Her gaze sweeps between Harper and Asher until she's too confused how they even became close enough to play a game of chess. 

Harper notices the look of confusion. "Asher, piss off," her sister says. "Cora and I need to have a little chat." 

Asher snorts, before standing up and heading towards the kitchen. When he finally leaves, Harper sighs. 

"Darling, where in the world did you find someone like him?" She twists her hair into a loose braid. "I mean, you go, girl. I approve eighty percent, especially because he seems to want to hang around, even after knowing he's a rebound but still — isn't there something odd about him? I might have threatened him a bit, but he just laughed. And then there are those annoying habits of his, where he just randomly starts doing push-ups, stays in the bathroom for God knows how long, drinks from the juice container, and then"—Harper shudders. "—he tells me he wants to sing Disney karaoke." 

Cora grimaces. Of course. 

"Harper, I need to tell you something," Cora says slowly, the truth about Asher on the tip of her tongue. 

The two sisters have always shared secrets and feelings, both bound by blood and soul. Ever since their mother kicked them out of their house, Harper and Cora had to deal with whatever life threw at them together. 

But now, with Harper glancing curiously at her, Cora shirks back. Should I tell her? Or not? What if she gets in trouble? 

Cora hesitates. "Asher is..." Her words falter. "He's a—" 

"The refrigerator isn't opening!" Asher's voice booms from a few feet away. "I can't get the juice." 

"Again?" Harper huffs. "Jesus, I swear this boy isn't from this world or something. He doesn't even know how to open the refrigerator door." 

As her sister tramps towards the kitchen, Cora lets out an exhale. Even as the tiniest hint of relief courses through her, she knows that sooner or later, she'll have to figure out whether or not she'll tell her sister that they're living with a devil. 

Author Note: 

to be honest, i wouldn't really know if i would tell my own sister (sorry and hi, cj). question: do you think cora should tell harper the truth?