My Sister, The Chosen One

Thirty-Four

Bakar- 4am

Sesshomaru:

Diana is having all of his gifts wrapped in gray and black. She got Lilly all excited over the new Spade King's birthday. She's been showing me Sage's duties and what Sage has been sending her. Neither of us had caught the mistakes in some of the financial books. It's not a lot that's missing but there is missing money. It was why we didn't care but she does. This is now her division once again and she's going to get rid of some of the people that work for us. It's a big weight off my shoulders. Those of my guys that get kicked can rejoin my jackets. It's all up to them if they live or not. She's not exactly known for her compassion.

"You have the rest of the night to worry about everything and you're choosing now to overthink what she's going to do?" Lilly jumped over the couch and dropped down next to me, on my right. She offered me a piece of candy. I opened my mouth. She tossed it in my mouth playfully.

"Yeah, she already has a list of names of people she's going to have removed and a list of people to replace them. They're going to be showing up with her tomorrow. Worry isn't what I'm feeling. If you think I'm an ass hole, wait until you see her in that business suit," I admitted.

"It's magical," Diana let out a happy sigh as she continued to wrap her boxes in bows. "Don't be nervous about Sage. I got her. You should be worried about spending time with Elder Redwood. I heard he's a grade-A hard ass. I don't think he's sitting around worried about Sage. I think he's plotting to make s**t difficult for us,"

"I doubt that," Lilly laughed offering me another melon flavored sweet. I took it from her this time. "I'll give you a free lesson before tomorrow," she jumped up and pulled her hologram out. She placed it on the coffee table. "All right, Redwood is known to be a hard ass but he's an Elder now. Which means he's bound by the Elder oath. His job is not to make things difficult for anyone. It's literally a spell that makes him want to help you.

"You're all part of the Royal Party's inner circle now. This means we're all his little babies now. Because this spell doesn't work on Sage, she's going to look like she's his favorite. With that being said, Sage is going to get the true hard-ass former Guardian of the Realm when she's being a d**k. Trust me, I've seen him lose his temper with her,"

"She likes it," I shook my head.

"I'm sorry?" she asked looking between Diana and me.

"She likes being yelled at," Diana laughed. "She was a daddy's girl. Her dad meant the world to her. She lived across the street from me growing up and she was kind of a big deal back then. She didn't think something was perfect until she fixed things after a bad critique from Dr. Airstorm and he was a perfectionist. He would make her cry sometimes. It was hard to watch,"

"That makes sense," she nodded.

"You've seen it?" I asked. She laughed.

"Yes, it throws her off at first but then when he praises her after. Her eyes light up like she's the one that's going to get all these gifts,"

"Yeah," I shook my head remembering all of the times she did that to me on purpose. I had no control at times and right now she's testing me. Trying to push as far as she can until I snap.

"Why are you guys doing this for Redwood anyway? You all hate him,"

"No, we don't," Diana shook her head. "I mean we're competitive, sure. Hate is too strong an emotion to describe what he is now. See, the Kings are the face of our operations. We make the decisions in the end but the Kings are the ones that actually deal with all this crap. They're the scary dude that you make the exchange with. Keeping the King happy is top priority. It's always best for the Ace to be in love with him or her,"

"Are you in love with yours?" she asked.

"No, my brother is my King. Second best tie to your Kings. This way I know that he's not going to burn my house to s**t if I get caught slipping," they both giggled.

"Do you have a King?" she asked me.

"Yes," I lied.

"Is it Knuckles?"

"No, Knuckles is my ten. Security guy,"

"Who is your King?" she asked interested. She stepped onto the coffee table and jumped onto the couch next to me again.

"I've never met your King either," Diana pointed her scissors at me before cutting a ribbon.

"It's a secret," I smiled at the two of them. I tried to take a candy from Lilly. She pulled the baggy away.

"No," she tucked them away. She's kind of bratty at times.

"I'm not telling you in exchange for candy," I laughed.

"Okay," she shrugged and held up the remote to her hologram. "This is Ansly Redwood. She is going to be training your jackets. Ansly is a lot like Redwood except she's a girly girl. What that means is that she is ridiculously hot and she knows it. That and she's a genuine spirit princess. The sound of her voice has this sexy little electric pitch to it. If you let her, she'll get you to do whatever she wants. It's why she's perfect for this job. She's been training for military use since she was six and man is she good at it. She can also coax secrets out of you. Beware of the stare,"

"That's cool," Diana sat down to my left. "More,"

"These two. These are Rain and Rize Redwood. They're cute and kind of dramatic. Rain is a hopeless romantic and it's incorporated in everything she does. If she doesn't love her job she won't do it. That's where Rize comes in. She picks up the slack. Rize is exactly like Redwood. There were two when their parents died. They're essentially his daughters. Together, they're deadly. I'm talking smite of the Redwoods deadly. Their sole purpose in life it to make big brother proud,"

"That's kind of terrifying," Diana nodded.

"I know," Lilly handed her a candy. "Now, you've seen the Redwood girls. This is Ishtar Redwood. Ishtar is a total mystery," she sighed. "I've tried really hard to get intel on him but I've got nothing. However, he's dangerous. He's a freaky dude. He stares into space. He reads a lot and not shimmy literature like regular people. He's all textbooks and history. Keeps a journal and has lists. He's weird,"

"That sounds like Sage," I stated.

"Hmm?" she looked up at me.

"Does he have his wings?"

"No one has seen them if he does," she shook her head.

"Okay, Sage is spacy like that. She's not reading textbooks but she's always reading old s**t. It's like she's looking for something. For answers to something only she knows the questions to. It's a Sage trait. They have Elder abilities without being Elders because they're completely in touch with the magik around us. He's definitely going to be dangerous,"

"You can't just jump to that conclusion," Diana shook her head.

"No, he's right," Lilly agreed. "Sasha is a little similar to Ishtar. She's just a lot more preoccupied than he is. Would it be safe to assume that he's one of the five Void fairies?"

"What makes you think there are five?" Diana asked.

"There has to be. It's a magik balance. One light fairy, five voids to each realm to keep it from conquering," I answered.

"Wait, no one said anything about going up against a light fairy,"

"We're not. The light fairy is on our side," I took the puck off the table to get a better look at Ishtar Redwood.

"We work for a light fairy?" Diana asked.

"What? No. It works for us,"

"Are you going to tell us who it is?"

"No," Lilly and I both answered.

"The less you know the better, D," Lilly tossed her another candy.

"Go home when you're done here, Diana," I got up to go to my study.

"I am done,"

"Then get the hell out of here," I pointed at the door.

"You know for a while, I forgot you were a b***h," she grabbed her bag and practically ran out.

"Don't," I stopped Lilly from scolding me.

"I wasn't. I've wanted her to leave for a while," she snickered.

I laughed looking back at her. I sat at my desk. She followed, unlike others who stay close, Lilly doesn't make much noise. She's easily distracted. As of late, she's been fascinated by the giant painting behind my desk. I see her staring at it all the time. After bringing up Ishtar's file, I glanced back at it. I stole it from my father's apartment the night Sage killed him. The frozen red spot at the bottom is his actual blood. I can still smell it. At times, it's all I can smell.

"What is your obsession with this?" I asked her.

"Obsession?" she scoffed.

"Yeah, you stare at it every time you walk in here,"

"Do you know who painted it?"

"No, it was my father's," Ishtar's complete personal file came up on my screen. Schools, girlfriends, work ethics.

"Do you know who the girl is?" she asked. I looked back at it.

"I didn't even know it was a girl," I tilted my head a bit to see she's right. "It is a girl,"

"You've had this for how long and didn't know it was a girl?" she laughed.

"Twelve years, give or take. I didn't take it because I liked it,"

"This is your dad's blood?" she got up and went over to it. The canvas reaches the ceiling and almost touches the ground.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Sage told me you harness your feelings the way you do so you're stronger by the time you hit prime. Does this include anger and resentment?"

"It's a big part of it. Hold on. You talk about me with Sage?" I asked interested. There is no way Sasha would tell her anything about me if she didn't trust her.

"Yeah, we're friends," she smiled and jumped on my lap. She put her legs through the armrest and laid her head on my chest. "She's insane. Like legit genius-level insane. I thought it was just her sister but Sage is a different kind of genius. She journal logs everything. She caught on to your training tactics,"

"Really?"

"Yes, she gave a some of her journals to help you keep going,"

"Can I see them?" there is no way Sasha is casually friends with Lilly.

"Later," she nodded. "I'm going to tell you something and I want it to make you angry,"

"Really?" I laughed.

"Yes, I've been thinking about it from the moment she told me. It made me really f*****g angry because she talked about it like we didn't mean anything. Like we were just pieces on her stupid board game. It really hurt my feelings," her eyes are glowing and a burst of her fragrance invaded the air around us.

"I'm sorry she made you feel that way," an itchy heat flooded my body. Lilly isn't the kind of person that gets easily hurt. I know that because I've tried. To hear her say that someone else hurt her makes me angry.

"This is her last piece," she pointed at the painting. I looked back at it.

"What?"

"This is her last painting. The one she painted before her parents were murdered. It's a vision and I think your dad knew who the girl is supposed to be. It's why she killed him. It don't think it had anything to do with you, personally,"

"How do you know that?" I asked completely invested in this conversation now.

"Because she told me when she gave me the journals this morning,"

"Lilly, that's a really f****d up thing to say to me right now," I lifted her up and pulled her legs out from the armrest before setting her down on her feet.

"I know. I think she told me because she wanted me to tell you. She wants to know who I'm loyal to. She's kind of a b***h but for the most part, it looks like she's doing us a favor,"

"You know who the girl is?"

"Stand back here with me," she grabbed my arm and pulled me with her. We stood close to the doorway. "Who does it look like to you?"

Looking at it like this is strange. I've had it for so long. A trophy from the son of a b***h that tried to destroy me. A girl. Who does this look like? It doesn't look like Sage or her sister but there are similarities. Yet, it doesn't look like them at all.

"I give up," I shook my head. She held her puck up and pressed a button.

"That looks like Veronica Thunderclap. AKA Veronica Lightstorm. Elder Redwood's dead wife," she held the puck up showing me a picture of this woman and Redwood. I took it and held it up to the painting. I adjusted it to see that it fits over the painting perfectly. A cold surge of power flooded my body. I let out a frosty sigh.

"Why the f**k would Sage see a vision of this woman?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out. I think Sage told me about all of this because she wants me to piece everything together for her. It hurts her to look into the past. She has some deeply rooted trauma. Redwood is trying to help her but she's kind of fickle,"

"Yeah. that she is," I agreed.

"Okay, so this is what I have so far. The painting and her entire harvest collection,"

"From when she was fourteen?"

"Fifteen, at fourteen she did the harvest in orange and red. This one, she did in all black and white. I believe this is when she began to elicit Void traits. I'll be right back," she rushed out of the room. I live with a f*****g cop. This is the first time I'm starting to see her for what she is. She ran back into the room with an arm full of hologram pucks. "These are all the other ones. I've always thought that they were just pieces but they never made any sense to me until this morning when I went into her room.

"Sage has all these really nice pictures she's taken. What she does with them is the same thing she did when she painted these. She painted the world in black and white. The only things that are color are the reason for the painting. These are four canvases as that one," she pointed at the one behind my desk. She placed the pucks around the room. "Then four smaller ones that fit the corners to make one giant picture. They're all black and white, right?"

"Okay,"

"Look at the bloodstain," she pointed at it before pressing the button that turns them all on. I stood back when the frames came together. She laid down in front of the doorway and took a picture of the holograms. She brought it over to me. "It completes the other red smears on the other paintings. Look at the background. That's not Sentinel. This is behind the university here in Aldrich. See this entire structure?" she pointed at a building. "It doesn't even exist yet," she flipped through some pictures in her phone and stopped on one that looks like blueprints. "These are the blueprints to the new Botany building going up at the University in four months. I saw them on Redwood's desk last week," she held it up to the hologram. "This is the vision, Sess. Veronica Lightstorm is alive and she might be here in Aldrich,"

"Airstrike, I lied to you earlier," I took a deep breath and let it out quickly. "I don't have a King. I've never found anyone smart enough for it. Sage did everything for me. It was why the other Aces punished her because she had too much power. She knew too much. I'd like for you to be my King,"

"What?" she laughed and then got serious. "You're kidding,"

"No, I'm not. You're right. Sage did test you but not to hurt your feelings. A truce between her and me. She told you what she did to see if you would tell me. She knew you would and she knew I'd know what it meant once you told me everything. It's a confirmation to what I already wanted to do in the first place,"

"You wanted to make me your King since when?"

"Since the first time, you arrested one of my guys just to f**k with me,"

"That was a long time ago," she shook her head. I nodded. "You've had a crush on me for four years now?"

"I wouldn't call it that but I did trust you since then,"

"We have been tiptoeing around each other a long time," she sighed.

Her little devious smirk crossed her face as she stepped closer. She placed her pink manicured fingers on my chest tapping each one against my t-shirt like a spider working her way up my neck. I growled at her when she dug her nails into my throat. My hand instinctively wrapped around her neck. She let out a high-pitched giggle when I pushed her back until her ass bumped against the side table behind her.

"What are you doing?" I pulled away disturbed by knowing that this is the reaction she wanted to illicit.

"Journal two. Before all your great ideas, Sage would provoke you. Either with anger or other frustrating urges,"

"Don't do that," I laughed. Sage would push me into some really f****d up situations we barely escaped from. Killing my father is the most important one. "I never noticed it when she told me and it feels a little like being taken advantage of,"

"That's good. Go with that," she shoved me. I took a step back as her tiny form came after me again. I laughed.

"You know you're really small, right?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

She jumped up wrapping her arms around my neck and pulled herself up. I didn't expect her to be this strong. On leg wrapped around my arm and suddenly I was on the floor with her on top of me. I laughed gripping her thigh roughly. She cried out releasing her hold on me. I took the advantage to flip us over and pinned her down. She laughed. It was making angry but now the feeling is a little colder than anger. Each huff of air I release is frosty. The scent of her blossom fragrance is mixing with my cold breath. That's never happened before. I pulled it away from her completely.

"You're a lot more fun than I thought you would be," I admitted. She reached up to caress the frost gathering on my face.

"I never thought something so colorless would be so beautiful," she whispered, pushing herself up towards me.

There's nothing to compare this to. I've never felt something like this. Not even with Sage. While she helped me get stronger when she's around I feel small. It's a burning sort of feeling but this isn't that. After Sage, I've never pursued someone who could potentially be stronger than I am. This girl is stronger than me in terms of Magik but it doesn't matter, I've never craved something like this before. I want her so badly it powers my magik. It creates a violent storm inside of me.

I pressed my lips against her warm skin. I tried to pull away but she gripped the front of my t-shirt and kept me from moving away. Her eyes are challenging me. Daring to keep going. How do I respond? She's not like the others. I can actually hurt her with the response my body has to her warm flawless skin.

"Lilly," I shook my head. Her eyes searched mine for an instant before she pushed me away.

"I get it," she sighed looking away. Her expression is wrong. I hurt her feelings. While I wanted her to get the hell out of here before, I don't want that anymore. "You can f*****g move now,"

"No," I rested on my elbow and made her look at me. "It has nothing to do with anything else or anyone, Lilly. I can't,"

"Why?" she demanded.

"My emotions are a little overwhelming right now. I've killed others like this. Women, I mean," I pulled away releasing her. "I used them as a release and they're dead. I lost control and I can't do that to you,"