The Seasons

Chapter 37

Once everyone had settled around the grey and white living room, which now seemed so much smaller with the number of people around, Slaine opened his mouth to speak, but the door flew open and in came Thorne, who looked like he had seen better days.

Wing’s eyes widened at his best friend’s bloodshot eyes, the messy dark hair, and the dirty black sweatpants and sweater he had been wearing for who knew how long. The eye bags underneath his eyes were so dark they made his hazel eyes seem lighter.

“Thorne, what the hell?” Wing hissed as he moved away from Cairo to help his best friend, who stumbled over a little before Wing caught him and helped him over to the grey couch, not so subtly pushing Jasper off so Thorne could sit down.

“I’m fine.”

“You look like you’ve been hit by a truck,” Cairo replied, eyes narrowed as he stared at his son.

“You shut the f**k up.”

“Okay, can I kill Levi now?”

“No,” multiple people said simultaneously, and Rosalyn sighed. She tried to escape from Neo and Alexander’s grip, both of whom were holding onto her upper arm at either side.

“What have I missed?” Thorne groaned out as he rubbed his shoulder. Wing eyed him.

“What have you been doing?”

“I told you, uni has me dead.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Thorne. We don’t get work in the summer holidays.”

“Hm?” Summer said. All eyes landed on him as he looked around in a slight daze. Wing’s eyes landed on Autumn, looking down at Summer with worry evident in his eyes.

“I’m getting drinks. We’re gonna need drinks,” Slaine deadpanned; he turned on his heel and disappeared, and all eyes landed on Chaos, who smiled as they waited. A few seconds later, Slaine returned, said nothing but grabbed Chaos’s hand and took them away.

“Are they f*****g?” Levi said as the silence went around them.

“You shut the f**k up,” Jasper snapped, glaring at Levi. “you have no right to ask questions about Slaine when you abandoned him.”

“I didn’t-”

“Yes,” Jasper deadpanned, interrupting him; he stood beside Atticuys and Kevin, who were flaring at the long-haired vampire. “You did abandon him. You used him for your gain and threw him away when he was no longer needed. You have the balls to show up here after almost six years. Now you have five seconds to explain why you’re here, or Neo and Alexander will let Rosalyn go,, and then everyone else who wants to hurt you can have their f*****g turn.”

“No one besides Rosalyn wants to hurt me.”

Wing looked up at Cairo when he heard him snort a little. “Raise your hand if you want to kill Levi,” Cairo said. To Wing’s surprise, almost everyone, including Cairo, raised their hand. “Oh, would you look at that?”

Slaine came back, and he and Chaos held trays of drinks. “Chaos has Bloody Marys; I have Moonshine. The ones in the shot glasses are vodka.” Slaine picked up a few shots and handed them to Summer, who eyed the drink.

“I’d rather pass, you see.”

All eyes landed on Summer; even Wing frowned. Who was that? Since he met the man, Summer never refused alcohol, especially vodka. He always claimed he was basic like that.

Autumn placed his hand on Summer’s shoulder, and he smacked it away. “Don’t touch me.”

Autumn’s copper eyes narrowed before turning almost sad as he stared at Summer. “Summer,” he whispered, holding the hand Summer smacked away close to him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he replied curtly as he stared at Chaos.

“Are we all going to ignore that a deity is standing in the living room?” Jem asked as he waved his arms around in Chaos’s direction.

Winter sighed as he heaved down beside Throne, who looked dazed. Wing looked over at Aether, who had his eyes glued on Winter, who didn’t seem to care, and why was there so much drama within this group? He was having a hard time keeping up with it all.

“I agree with Jem,” Blue said, causing all eyes to land on them. “We can and will deal with this Connor person and Levi later on, but first, we must understand how Chaos is on this plane and why they are here.”

Wing had always found Blue attractive; they had long blonde hair and somewhat feminine features, but they somehow managed to look masculine simultaneously. Perhaps their lean body made them appear more masculine, but their facial features with the big blue eyes and long lashes, or their pink lips gave them a more feminine appearance.

Slaine groaned when he realised all eyes were on him, and they did, in fact, want a reply. “It’s a whole thing, but I had a bit of an argument with Levi and Connor. And when I felt cornered, poof. A blood-red light is coming out of my necklace, and when the light disappeared, Chaos was standing there, and I passed out.”

“You f*****g passed out?” Jasper snapped.

“Just for like twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes?!” he yelled, turning to look at his lovers and making some hand gestures; Kevin sighed, patting his head.

“I know,” said the mer-man, his voice husky. “But he’s our i***t. We decided this.”

“Don’t forget the corpse,” Levi chimed in.

“A corpse?” Micah asked, frowning. He was also sitting on the couch, his feet on the table, and when Cairo had gone to say something, one glare from Micah had him turning and walking away. “Whose?”

“Connor’s. As I said, the light was red and hot, apparently. Enough for Levi to hide.”

Blye’s frown deepened. “Are you saying that Chaos appeared in a blood-red light, and the light was so hot, it burned someone alive?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying.”

“Well, s**t,” Aether said, and Jem nodded.

“Well, s**t indeed.”

~*~