Back at my house, James stares at Bethany, appalled that she is somehow still sobbing after seven consecutive hours of bawling her eyes out. Bethany was able to hold back the tears until we burst into my house. Darryl stares at me, watching my reactions, as I rub Beth's shoulders, in feeble attempts to comfort her. I look up at him and hold his gaze, with a raised eyebrow. He nods his head towards the front door. I nod, and we both rise from our seats.
"I will be back in a moment Bethany," I try to calm her. "James will talk to you," at which point, I give him a meaningful look. He only rolls his eyes at me, before obliging.
Engaging in conversation, "Bethany, at least you have Bennet," and she only cries harder, which should not even be possible right now. I turn around and head out, behind Darryl.
In the backyard, where the forest and main section of the property meet, Darryl asks uneasily, "I am sorry, but I have kept calm long enough. What the h*ell is going on?!" Darryl aks incredously. He had a point, but right now was sooo not the time to give him the long explanation in which he required and demanded of me.
I open my mouth to speak, but there is a sudden pop, before someone falls out of the tall oak behind my head. Whirrling around, I see none other than Castiel. Of course.
"Another question," Darryl sarts, his jaw inching it's way to the ground. "Who is he, and how the h*ll is he here? He was not in that tree a second ago!"
Castiel, meanwhile, collects himself, brushing dirt and leaves from the back of his pants- not that I had been looking or anything- and parted his hair into it's normal style. He looks up, seeing the two of us gawking at him.
"What? I can't come see my best-" I launch myself at him, cutting him off. "Oomph. Somebody must have missed me," he raises his eyebrow when I embrace him in a tight hug. We both start to laugh, to Darryl's growing confusion.
"I thought you were still in-" I do not know what to call the Fey version of a medical facility. "In the fairy hospital?" He sees my frustration at lack of the proper terms. He chuckles, before hugging me again.
"So are you two, like, a thing?" Darryl asks. I start to laugh. "Because you told me you were single, Ellen." So now Darryl was more concerned with my love life than the whole paranormal thing he had no information on?
"No, we are not a thing. But last time I saw him, he almost died. He is my best friend."
"I thought Bethany was your best friend."
"She is my best human frien. Castiel," I nod at Castiel, "is my best Fey friend."
Darryl relaxes his stance. "Ok. So what is a Fey?"
"You mean, 'who are the Fey.'" Castiel says, which makes Darryl flush a deep red.
"See, I don't know!" Darryl flushes deeper, causing Castiel to roll his eyes.
"So you seek the attention of a clueless, weak human? Really Ellen? You deserve better," and Castiel yawns, stretching, while trying to show off his undeniably perfect form. I don't know where this sudden cockiness has come from, but as I watch Darryl march forward and punch Castiel in the nose hard enough to have possibly broken it, I know that these two boys will not ever get along. By the way they spoke the problem between them was . . . Me?
Castiel snaps up, staring through Darryl fire blazing in his eyes. He barely contains his rage. "Ellen, shall we go into the house?" He acts as if I know exactly what is going on. As a matter of fact, I have no clue whatsoever.
"No. Whatever the h*ll is wrong with you two, we have an injured person the house, my emotionally broken best friend, and my little sister. Not to mention Joe, who is family to me, or even my fahter." I glare between the two of them. Although Castiel's nose leaks a steady drip of thick, dark red blood, it does not appear broken.
When I, however, must seem to glance at him sympathetically, which had really been in an anylitical way, Castiel shoots Darryl a smug grin, just when he thinks I am not watching.
"What is going on with you two? And I saw that, Castiel!" I grow angrier when Darryl lifts his fists, and suddenly he and Castiel are in one of this ridiculous face offs, where you jump around in a circle dramatically, flailing your arms to look cool. This would be the worst fight ever! I mean, most girls dream about two . . . very attractive males of her age fighting over her, but I could take them bith on. H*ll, I have beaten the crap out of Castiel countless times before, and he has the strongest, purest of the Fey bloodlines flowing through his veins.
Just as Darryl and Castiel throw their first official punches, I landed between the two of them. I had meant to luanch my hands in front of their faces like a referee to break up the situation before it escelated into a full on brawl. But no, instead I get pummeled by two of the three best males I knew of. Best meaning the best of every attribution I thought would be fitting to them.
The look of horror and shock was identical on both their faces, but it still hurt like a son of a-
"Ellen?!" Dad would happen to stick his head out the door right after I had been hurt by two of the three guys I cared most about. "What is going on out here? I heard shouting . . . Oh my God! What happened to your face?" How bad was I bruised? "And why are you bent over double?" I couldn't just flat out say that I had the breath knocked out of my lungs and my breakfast forced to almost make a reappearance.
"Big tree?" It came out more as more of a question. At least it was worth a try. I laugh nervously, going against all instincts. D*mn it.
Apparently, this suffices for now, because Castiel is next in line for questioning. "Why are you bleeding? And I haven't seen you since- Well I am glad you are back on your feet!" Dad settles for.
"Your daughter is not always the most graceful of people. I tried to catch her . . . again. But, well, she got me in the nose on the way down."
"Ok. Come in soon, kids. We have lots to talk about!" Poor, naive old man. I had a feeling he hadn't bought our stories though.
After the door clattered shut behind him, Castiel pulls at my wrist. "Let's go back in. I can take care of . . . the human, if it would please you."
"For one, I don't even want to know what you mean by that, especially since you are the one bleeding. But, why are you so set on going back in? You can go right on in without me!" I am growing more and more p*ss*d as this conversation goes on.
"Well, we need to get you cleaned up. I am not the only one bleeding," he lifts a finger to my forehead. When he removes it, it is coated in blood. I almost growl when he touches me, like I could turn into a female version of the Hulk or something. "And, I don't want you to witness a couple of fools fighting over you. Especially at a time like this." This is all said almost inaudibly.
"Who is the fool here? The one who hit her head?!" Now Darryl no longer seethes in only silence.
"That was you, you dumb*ss!!!!" Castiel must be more p*ssed than me, because he doesn't swear like this. Not even when the massive werewol-that-is-apparently-not-James attacked me, and almost killed us.
"Cut it out you two! No body needs to be fighting over me!"
"That's right! She is already taken up with me!" James shouts, dropping his blanket, Bethany quivering behind him. She breaks out into fresh tears when James says this. How had they even come out here so quietly?!
"The h*ll she did!" Castiel and Darryl says simultaneously. They do not bother to even glare at each other. Castiel continues, though, "You filthy werewolf! How dare you-"
"Try to warn all of you, especially Ellen, of the dangers soon to come?!?!"
Speaking of which, I still didn't know what these dangers were supposed to be, but am not given the time to ask before the three of them all launch at each other to commence fighting. James is starting to shift into werewolf form, when Kayla comes running outside.
