The Count Sister - RE-WRITING

Chapter Twelve

Although she isn't fully introduced yet the image on the side is Violet

Chapter Twelve

Aubrey was sat at the coffee palace. It was a quaint little café; with red swirled wallpaper and a red and black tiled floor. The clashing colours put a modern effect on the place, but the attitude of the café was old fashioned, just like the diner further down the road.

  She took a sip of her mocha just as Gwin sat down with her own drink. She looked tired and for some reason she hadn’t arrived on her motorbike. Aubrey looked outside once more and still noticed an empty road with nothing but passersby heading towards work or other matters. The street was always empty in the mornings, but it did creep into a lively town once schools broke out for the day. That was why Aubrey got her coffees in the morning instead of after, this place was like a cattle crammed in a barn after school hours.

  Aubrey turned to look at Gwin once more. She was twisting the cup in her eyes, and avoiding eye contact when possible. It was something she did often, but it wasn’t Aubrey’s place to enquire as to why she did that.  “What did you get?”

“I’m sorry?” Gwin’s head shot up like a bullet. She looked shocked, as if Aubrey had caught her in the act of something bad. Aubrey nodded her head towards the coffee and Gwin followed. The sudden relaxation on her face said it all; she was defiantly hiding something. “Oh, it’s just a plain coffee.”

“Gwin,” She wasn’t going to let, whoever or whatever, torture Gwin anymore. Aubrey had had her fair share of torture, in many more ways than others and she knew exactly what could happen to your mind. There was always a part of you that would make accusations and assumptions; it would bring out the emotions of guilt, sorrow, despair. “I know you are hiding something from me. Something perhaps you don’t want to share; but I just want you to know I can help, you just need to tell me how.”

Gwin looked up and the pain foreshadowing her face was enough for Aubrey to reach her hand across the table and hold Gwin’s. It was cold and shaking and she knew whatever Gwin was keeping it was building up inside her. In a way it was a time bomb, waiting, taking it’s time to fester and evidently explode until there is nothing left of her accept an empty vessel.

 She told Aubrey. She told her everything. About her parents, her foster mother and all the while Aubrey didn’t feel anything, she felt like the vessel. The information was being processed but it wasn’t sinking in. She couldn’t understand how everyone, whether they knew Gwin or not, could judge her for what she was rather than who. Aubrey had known her a few days and she saw more than a frightened and lonely child, she saw her as a strong and independent woman; she just needed the chance to change and show others she wasn’t a murderer.

“I know it wasn’t my fault, I do…” She sighed as she began to finish. Aubrey took the last swig of her mocha just as Gwin threw hers in the bin beside her. “I just can’t shake this feeling that one day Mike is really going to get me…both mentally and physically and I might just go insane.” Tears welled up in her blue eyes and Aubrey looked deep into them. She could see the emotion, the pain welling up and trying to leak out of her body, but it was jammed. Aubrey knew if you moved an obstacle, then success was clearer down the road to recovery. She knew exactly what she had to do; but she couldn’t do it alone.

“I won’t let that happen Gwin,” She smiled and gripped her hand once more. “I promise I won’t let you slip that far; I’ll be right behind you.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“Because I can know a good person when I see one,” She laughed and looked out the window just as Lamia parked up. She wound the window down and motioned them to get in. “And I know when they need a break. Go; I need to do something first, I will meet you at lunch.”

  Gwin nodded and walked towards the door, she looked back and waved before running to the car and jumping in. She stood up and walked out the door, watching her sister accelerate the car up the street and around the corner. After they were out of site she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She dialed his number, and he picked up on the second ring.

“What’s up Bree?” Julian hadn’t expected that at all. He pushed the bonnet of his car down and wiped his hands on a ragged towel that was slung on his shoulder. He was covered in engine oil and coolant from where he had replaced them early. That was until Luka and Dimitri thought it would be amusing to shove mud into the bonnet.

“Meet me outside Gwin’s apartment as soon as possible.”

  She sounded panicked but a bit angry. He pulled the towel off his should and leaned against the car. She never got panicked unless it was serious and that registered nearly a thousand alarm bells in his head. “What’s happened?” He asked becoming more worried as the seconds ticked. “Is she hurt? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, and so is she,” She calmed. Her voice had that effect to. She had this firm voice but this soft side, a side that relaxed your muscles when you felt nothing but a tense feeling. “I just need your help with something. Be there in ten.”

  She hung up. Julian ran into his garage, slung on his leather jacket and ran back to his car. Cyrus slid out from under the car just as Julian was jumping into it. He had totally forgotten his brother was scrapping the mud from the bottom. “You were planning on killing me?”

“You and I both know you can’t die that way,” He laughed. “I have to go meet Aubrey, she needs my help.”

  He sat up from the skateboard he had used to push him under and out of the car. The same alarm he had for Gwin showed on Cyrus’ face when he mentioned Aubrey. “Is she alright? Why didn’t she call me?”

“She’s fine,” He threw the towel off the car and opened his side door. Cyrus got up wiping his hands and leaned forward as Julian started the engine. Thankfully it still worked. “She just needs me to meet her somewhere; I’ll tell you later when I find out myself.” Cyrus looked like he was still unsure whether he should be pissed off or worried. Honestly, Julian didn’t know why she couldn’t have asked Cyrus but he supposed it was important, in a brutal sense, if she asked for him. “Look I have to go, I’ll call you.” He shut his door as Cyrus prepared to speak. Looking over his shoulder he put the car in reverse and drove off the drive and onto the street towards his destination.