Warning: There is some very foul lanaguage that starts this story out, for that I am sorry. I will put all the bad swears in spoilers as not to offend anyone. I hope I've gotten everything.
The silver buttons on her coat captured the cold in the shape of hearts, her small hands were clasped firmly to her hips, which were cocked curtly to the side. Her eyes locked with my own, neither one of us blinked. It was a standoff if I ever saw one, which I haven’t, but I’m supposing it would be something like this. The cigarette hanging from her candy pink lips seems horribly out of place when thrown in with her childish features and colorful wardrobe. Suddenly, as if she could read my mind, she spat the stick to the ground, crushing it softly under the heel of her right shoe. Her auburn eyes were lit brightly with a type of sadistic amusement. I folded my arms across my chest to show that I was not giving up, no matter what. She could go to hell, straight to the Devil’s front fucking door instead of lurking in front of mine. I shook my head, causing my too long hair to brush my face; she just laughed and leaned against the porch pillar to her left.
“I can do this all night, Artemis,” she purred. “Better to just give up.” So, that’s how it was going to be?
“Suck my dick, bitch.” She laughed and tossed candy red waves over her shoulder, completely unfazed by the comment. I didn’t expect her to be, she heard it nearly every day, and in a more literal sense most likely.
“I’d love to.” I wouldn’t doubt that. “But we have more pressing matters to attend to. Look, I know you’re getting cold, you’re only wearing pajama pants, so step aside and let me do what I need to do, okay? I’m not here for you anyway.”
“I know,” I snapped back at her, my anger and impatience showed in my voice, “you’re here for her and I say no fucking way. She’s still recovering from your last visit, Dri. You’re not getting her again. I swear you’re not.”
“Look,” she replied, “it’s not up to you! It’s up to Eliza, and she can speak for her damned self! She’s a big girl, let her come out!” It was almost comical, the way she looked right now. One would think her too cute for the things she was doing now; they would think her face too round, her eyes too clear, her cheeks to pink, her body too slim and carefully curved to hold such anger, such sin. If only they knew. Her hair stirred with the wind and made the flaps on her bright blue jacket snap loudly, exposing the pink bubble-gum t-shirt underneath.
“But I’m oldest and I said hell to the fucking no. Get off my property, Dri, before I call the cops.” She opened her mouth to reply but closed it quickly once the word “cops” registered in her pretty head. Usually that wouldn’t bother her, but there were already so many charges against her accumulated in the last few weeks and jail was not on her list of things to do and places to go. A stark silence passed between us once again. Snow fell in huge clumps towards the ground, and was falling quicker with the passing hours. The area could expect a few feet of snow come morning; it was already nearing a half foot and had just started a couple of hours ago. The want to retreat inside and at least get a blanket was becoming more and more appealing, but if I didn’t handle her right now she would never go away.
After a few moments she rolled her slanted cat eyes and took a step forward, I matched her distance. No way was I letting her in this house.
“I’m stronger than you, Artemis. I don’t have to take this.” In that she was true, she was a level nine and I was only a level seven. She could take me if she wanted, could pull some upper level shit that I knew nothing about, have me dead in a blink of an eye, kick down the door, and take Eliza away. She could and she would if she didn’t know that killing me would in turn kill Eliza. I was the only real family the girl had left and she wouldn’t take that away from someone she “loved”. So, knowing it was nothing but a last desperate attempt at wearing me down and getting in, I starred her down, daring her to try something – anything. I might not be as strong as her but, if she really wanted to risk Eliza’s sanity at a chance to get at her, I would fight back with everything I had, which was not much at all.
“Come at me then, bitch. Show me what leveling up is all about. Give me a taste of those upper class skills.” For a minute it looked as if she actually would, her soft face darkened and she got an aura about herself, a dark dingy one that moved her hair slightly with its intensity. Eyes darkened, teeth grew, nails sharpened, and I could see the outline of her horns growing on her head and a shadow of a pointed tail flicking behind her. Oh yeah, she was ready, but it was all in vain because all she did was storm away into the forest that graced the front of my yard, cursing my name in six different languages. “And don’t come back! Stay the hell away from here!” Once the sound of her voice was completely gone I turned and returned inside the Victorian house, which was massive and too big to hold only two people.
The only light on was the one in the living area, a lamp by the window seat. The dulling orange artificial light illuminated slightly the figure resting there. Eliza’s legs were tucked neatly under her, bunching up her pale green silken nightgown. Spiral curls tumbled down past her shoulders until finally stopping at her shoulder blades, hair as long as mine but always in its place, unlike my disobedient strands. The moonlight coming in through the parted curtains worked against the lamp’s lights to make her pale porcelain skin seem to glow from the inside out. She had her back to me, but I knew that she was fully aware of my presence, so I waited patiently in the nearest seat until she formed the words she needed to say.
My sister has always had trouble speaking in words what was already laid out in her head, it took more than anyone could imagine out of her to verbally start a conversation, not to mention keep one up. She knew what she had to say, she just didn’t know how to say it. She could sign it out to you with no problem and, when connected, could send you her thoughts mentally without problem. Talking was just an obstacle she had no choice but to run around, it was hard and took a lot out of her physically. Connecting was hard to do without the help of others, especially given our current levels, and we were both too drained for that anyway.
Her condition was a strange one, Eliza’s, and it was hard for her to live with it. Sometimes she just could not talk, even when she wanted so desperately to, half the time she was as good as mute. She was not born a mute and, as a child, often talked too much. No one knew what happened but, steadily, she started to become quieter and a slower speaker. She would often cry to me at nights about how it was so hard and that she just couldn’t. She would tell me, with difficulty, how it literally hurt to push the words up her throat and out past her lips. ‘It feels as if the words are laced with blades and fire. It hurts me…’ she’d told me one night. One day it got so bad that when she tried to tell me good morning her throat started to tear and she coughed and threw up blood for days. That was when I decided to teach her sign language, to take off the burden she carried. Most of our conversations were signed, but there were just some things that she had to say. Sometimes there were things she had to tell me that would just simply not hold the amount of emotion she intended when signed or written. That I could understand, but to watch her struggle was hard.
I’d just opened my mouth to ask her if she wanted to sign or write it out but she turned and caught my eyes. Both our eyes were the same pale shade of purple, the same dark lashes, same wideness that implied instant innocence, a strange trait that decided to stick, one of the things similar between us. Her hair was a pale almost white blond whereas mine was a deep black that reflected green and purple in the light like a Raven’s wings, a difference that caused a lot to doubt if we were actually related, much less twins, but it was true. Despite the hair, which always threw people off, we were nearly identical. We were both thin and delicate looking, much to my distaste - thin arms, long legs, all around elegancy, or so I’ve been told. Both of us had an angel face with delicate features - rosy red lips, wide eyes, small slightly curved nose, high cheekbones -, the only difference was that mine were just enough for me to not be mistaken for a girl all of the time – a slightly pointed chin, wider shoulders, wiry muscles, and pectoral muscles instead of the alternative. We were not made for physical labor, which was obvious in our build. Physical strength was clearly out of the question for the both of us, so I suppose signing that contract and gaining power was the only way we could stay alive after the deaths of our parents, even if it constantly cost us more than it was paying.
“Artemis,” she winced at the syllables of my name. I always told her to call me Art but the girl wouldn’t listen. I smiled wearily at her, sadly. “That was… her?”
I nodded slowly, even though she already knew the truth and really didn’t need me to answer. Crystal tears leaked out of her eyes, dripping off her chin and onto her gown, creating dark spots where they landed. On reflex, I moved from my seat to go and comfort her. Though she must have been angry at me for sending her away, she curled into my open arms without hindrance.
“Dri,” she forced out.
I could not even imagine how hard it was to have to speak around the lump in her throat too. I could hear the pain, her literally choking on her words. She trembled so much I feared she would break.
“Please, Eliza,” I started, “you can sign if you want. If it’s easier, please, sign it to me.”
“I saw her outside,” she rasped. Her eyes closed with the effort and her mouth opened and shut helplessly before she brought up her hand and signed the symbol for ‘pretty’. ‘Still pretty. D-R-I,’ she said. I lowered my head into her soft hair, hiding my pained and more than scarcely angry expression from her.
“Beauty is nothing, Eliza, not when her heart is so stained. She’s no good for you. You know how she hurt you… I know you remember what she did, what she told you, what she denied you. I won’t let her back and that’s a promise. I won’t bear to watch you so broken again.”
I couldn’t hear her but I knew she was crying hard, her mouth opened in a scream that she couldn’t produce. I raised my head, silent tears of my own racing towards the drop, and what I knew already was confirmed, she was heartbroken. Her shoulders shook so hard, and I rocked her back and forth, in a desperate attempt to calm her down, when she cried she couldn’t control what she voiced, causing the sounds to tear at her which only made her cry harder, a vicious and painful cycle.
“Please, Eliza, just know that this is the best for you. I know it hurts but you have to trust me.” One of her hands gripped at the skin on my back, holding on tightly, and the other signed with passion ‘I love her. I love her’ over and over again.
“Eliza, I’m so sorry, but there are better people out there. People that won’t use you like that bitch. I’m sorry, but there is no way I can let her ever see you again. Who knows what she might do. I sure as hell don’t, and that scares me. It should scare you too.”
‘I love her. I love her. I love her…’
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Well, there will be more, this is just the beginning. Next I plan to bring into light more about the powers, levels, and how the devil ties in with everything. I also want to shed more light on Eliza's and Dri's relationship, and even some of Artemis' own.
