Just One Bite »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

THIRTY

THIRTY

Waking, Vivian heard voices around her, murmuring quietly. Blinking her eyes open to see that Dee was wearing a green shirt, Vivian sighed, feeling safe and warm for the first time in a long time.

"Vivian?" a female's voice called her name.

Turning, Vivian saw Dee's mother leaning over her, holding a glass of water. "I'm Kai, Dee's mum. If you need anything, just ask."

Vivian nodded and uncovered her hands from the blanket to take the glass. "Thank you."

Kai smiled. "Your welcome."

The sudden banging on the door made Vivian jump, sloshing the water over the sides. But as it dropped, it became ice. Staring wide eyed, Vivian looked out in the room and saw Rikky among the family.

"You did that?" Vivian's voice was as shocked as she knew her face was.

Rikky blushed gently. "I didn't mean to, sorry."

Picking up some of the ice, Vivian dropped it into the glass, and before her eyes, it returned to water. Looking around again, Vivian saw Rikky's twin, Alex, grin at her.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Alex grinned.

Vivian just nodded in response.

Kai, however, was scowling at her sons. "Stop showing off."

The twins just smiled at their mother, making her shake her head and turn to see who Tim had let into their house.

Ravin walked in as though he hadn't been touched since she'd last seen him. "You and Suresha keep meeting up, little Vivian. I'm starting to become jealous."

Dee tensed, and Vivian saw that Ravin hadn't been watching for her reaction but Dee's. What he saw pleased him. Vivian didn't react to his words, instead she spoke to Dee.

"He's only giving me a pet name because you react."

Vivian felt Dee growl at that. She saw Ravin grin as though he'd heard it. But how? He hadn't made a noise.

"Why does Suresha want Vivian so much?" asked one of Dee's brothers who she hadn't met before. Dee supplied a name through their private link, this brother was called Nick. His hair, like the rest of the family's, was black but very short. His eyes were a navy blue, and if Vivian had to guess, she would guess that they were slit-like and had a white line around the pupil like Dee's.

Ravin turned away from Dee and Vivian to look at the brother as though he'd suddenly appeared. "She holds Ashley's mark. And without her, we may not be able to awaken Ashley."

Vivian laid her head against Dee's shoulders. She was tired. Even though she'd slept, she was tired. Tired of trying to understand this world that had never existed before coming to Bugbrooke. Tired of being continuously asked to help wake a being that Dee warned her of. Tired of Suresha trying to kill her. Hell, she was even tired of Ravin teasing Dee with giving her pet names and he'd only done it twice.

"So why did he take her on a ride?" another brother asked, again, Dee supplied a name: Aaron. "Why didn't he just kill her as soon as he got her. No offence, Vivian."

Aaron's hair was was unique as Alex and Rikky's was, the bottom half was white and the top half was black, he had it styled so that it was all gelled to point upwards, down the centre of his head like a Mohawk. His twin, Vivian was guessing, was the one with the beanie hat because she could just about see that he too had black and white hair. Their eyes were blue with shattered gold, and of course, their slit-like pupil had a white line around it. They were also the same height as their mother, which made them the shortest males in the family. The others – except for Tim – were six-foot plus, the tallest being Alex and Rikky at six-four.