Bonding
1333 Words
We sat in uncomfortable silence for what seemed like forever before Zander sighed."It was always so easy to get to know and understand your brothers, I don't think I even had this hard of a time with Lilith and she was certainly a handful" he chuckled.
"Who is Lilith?" I asked. I had only known of having brothers, so hearing a girls name was unexpected. You could see the pain in his eyes, as if he were reliving the memories right where he sat. You could see him blink back some tears before he began talking again.
"Lilith was your older sister, she was always so caring about the human realm. She loved how the were constantly changing, how they lived such fleeting lives compared to us and yet they never seemed to be disappointed by the end. She would say that even at 80 years old the human would say they have lived a good long life." he said with admiration in his voice.
"Then she met this boy," his face became twisted with anger and pain. "he told her he loved her, and she in turn fell for that stupid human. She thought that what they had was true love, the kind that could over come any obstacle in it's path. Lilith decided to tell him what she was, a demon of lust and desire. The boy became so fearful of her that one night they laid sleeping and he killed her with a dagger to the heart."
I was speechless, how could someone who claimed to love another kill them because of what they were? I guess I understood that he would be fearful, but it didn't seem like she had done anything to warrant him to be scared of her at that point. Zander let out a humorless laugh before looking at me. He gently cupped my cheek in his big hands.
"I wish you could have met he, you two would have been so close." he smiled sadly at me. "I guess losing Lilith made me even more fearful for your safety and made me want nothing more than to protect my little girl."
"I understand" I stated simply. What else could I say? He just told me this heartbreaking story about the sister I'll never meet. I would still like to get to know Zander more, but I can already hear Granny White walking towards us, which meant dinner is ready.
Granny White eyed Zander as she walked past him, asking me how studies were going? I gave a sarcastic smile with a double thumbs up before grabbing all the many books and pieces of parchment that were included in my study materials.
We walked back to the house in silence. As we got closer I could smell the delicious scent of dinner. It was definitely Italian food tonight, you could just taste the garlic and marinara from outside. I picked up my pace, threw all of my things on the table in the entry way and took off towards the kitchen.
I saw a simple green salad, cheesy garlic bread, and lasagna! My mouth was watering just looking at it all, but before I could take another step I felt the wind hold me back as Granny White reminded me to wash my hands.
Grunting I sped off to the kitchen sink, scrubbed, rinsed, dried, and slammed myself down to start loading my plate with the deliciousness in front of me. Zander sat next to me, and mom across from him as Granny White sat across from me. We ate in blissful silence, until the end of the meal came around and Granny White decided it would be a good time for a pop quiz.
I gulped audibly, and mom started laughing at me. I sent a glare her way, but she just waved me off to go make herself some tea. Mom barely made it through the door when Granny White started naming off people and what their relationships were.
I was doing very well, better than normal, until Granny White asked me who Mara Flinton was. I froze, I was just studying this family before I talked with Zander. Mara had been the last one I read, what did it say?!
I see Granny White begin to smirk and was about to declare her punishment for me when I blurted out "Mara Flinton originally a white witch of the Flinton family turned black and lives here in town!" Zander tensed, and Granny White gave a blank look.
I kept shifting my gazed between the two waiting for someone to say, well anything at this point! I cleared my throat to try and get their attention back before warily asking "is that wrong?" Granny White ran to the front. Funny I never thought she could move that fast, although looking next to me Zander was also gone.
I made my way to the front to see them both eyeing the same piece of paper. Granny White's face was scrunched up and then she looked at me in question "how do you know where she is? We have had no signs of her since she left to join the black years ago. This parchment says she is missing, so why do you believe she lives in town?"
Zander eyed me, cautious of what was happening before him. I took a deep breath and walked to Ganny White grabbing the documents out of her hands. I began going through the Flinton family records when I pulled out a report that was from two weeks prior.
I read it out loud "Samantha Flinton, found having a meeting with an unidentifiable black witch. The Hamilton Inn." I then pulled out the surveillance picture that was taken and showed it to the both of them.
I pointed to Samantha, her face shown happiness yet fear. I then pointed to the other girl and waited to see their reactions. They looked at me as if I had grown another head. "Look at the mystery girl, she has the same hair, is about the same height, and the look that Samantha is giving her shows long time recognition. Plus if you get out some advanced photo-shop which I did with my laptop earlier you can see the reflection of someone matching Mara's description in Samantha's eyes."
I handed it back to Granny White and she immediately ran to the phone. She seemed panicked, and started looking for a phone number in her little black book. Dialing she started speaking frantically to the person on the other end of the line "we may have a lead. Hamilton Inn, the town where Susan lived, Samantha might have already met her."
I tuned her out and looked back at Zander who still seemed tense and rooted to the spot where he stood. I poked his bicep and waited for his focus to land on me. When he looked at me I asked "why are you tensed up about this? You started acting weird the moment I said that name." I stared him down, I wanted answers.
Hell if he wanted to bond with me, he was going to have to learn that I like the truth, the whole truth. I also like to be informed, down to the last detail. He stared at me a bit longer before he pulled me outside, away from Granny White's ears.
"Mara is one of Peter's play things." he started "Mara loves the attention Peter gives her and will do anything for him if he gives into her s****l whims." he put emphasis on his last words as if it was revolting to say.
Before I could ask anything else mom ran out the door yelling "It's time to move! They're coming!" as we all ran back into the house we could hear the roar of the angry demon known as my brother. He was here and we had to run again. Why can't I just catch a break?
- Writer
