Chapter 24

Lying on my back, I opened my eyes, staring at the dull and dark ceiling, silently watching as the morning sun’s rays streamed through the room’s small window, creeping its way up the far wall.

A week. Seven days. Seven days since my grandfather died and the fire that consumed my home. Seven days since I've been here. What am I doing?

I asked myself as I listlessly began to climb out of bed.

Grabbing a few things and some clothes from my suitcase on the floor, I quietly stepped out of the bedroom making a beeline for the front door. Walking out into the crisp morning air of the woods, I took in a deep breath and let my thoughts wonder to more flippant things, like breakfast. I was halfway to the falls when a loud thwack, followed by a deep moan, stopped me in my tracks. Turning towards the direction of the sounds, I peered through the trees to a small clearing and the sight of both boys, bare-chested, in nothing but their jeans, trying to beat the crap out of each other.

Calling out to them to stop seemed like a losing battle, they were too engrossed in tearing each other apart, to hear me. More reacting than thinking, I dropped everything and pushing through the forest vegetation, ran to the boys, jumping between them both the instant I saw a gap.  I felt Lucas’ sweaty chest flush against my back as I stretched out my arms and laid both my palms on Daniel’s, forcing some more space between them. Involuntarily my eyes slowly made their way up Daniel’s toned abs and lightly tanned chest to his face. Looking up at him his eyes held annoyance as he glared down at my hands before looking back up at me.

Quickly pulling my hands back from him I asked, “What the hell? You two trying to kill each other?”

I felt more than heard Lucas’ chuckle, a reminder that I still had my back against his chest. Stepping away from him, I tried not to look too obvious as I took him in, light blue jeans sat low on his waist allowing a peek of his black boxers and a set of finely chiseled abs.

“We were just sparring, letting off some steam, keeping fresh. You know..” Lucas answered wearing an impish grin that said I’d just been caught checking him out.

Dropping my head to hide the blush I could feel creeping up my neck, “Oh..” I brilliantly replied, as the obvious thought failed to cross my mind.

“So what is this like a boys club or can anyone just join in?” I asked them both not waiting for an answer as I gathered my scattered clothes up from the ground and placed them by the nearest tree.

“Seriously?” “You’re not serious..” Both Lucas and Daniel simultaneously responded in surprise.

“Well yeah, why not right? You are the one who said I needed to learn how to defend myself and what not..” I threw at Daniel.

            “What I said was that you have a gun and needed to learn how to use it.” Daniel corrected.

“Potato..Tomato… Either way I still wanna play fight.” I said giving them both an eyebrow wiggle.

            Laughingly shaking his head Lucas turned to me “Ok, well we can show some basic defensive moves and go from there.”

Daniel walked right in front of me at that moment, between me and Lucas, “This isn't a game, were not play fighting. This is how we stay sharp, we go at each other, no holding back. So don’t think that this is going to be a game.” Daniel stated before walking away.

            “Well that went from fun to the worlds gonna end pretty fucking fast.” Lucas said as he walked over to stand next to me. “Oh Dani, always the life of the party.” Lucas threw at Daniel with a wink as he turned to glare at him.

“Ok so let’s get started then shall we.” Lucas said placing his hand on the middle of my back guiding me to where Daniel now stood.

Letting him lead me to the middle of the clearing I stood there facing them both. 

“Ok, so lesson number one…running away is always your first option." Lucas began looking me in the eye with a seriousness I wasn't expecting from him. "It doesn't make you a coward or any less brave, it makes you smart enough to understand that this shit is life and death.   Now if theirs no choice and you have to fight, try not to get hit.” 

“Running is good. Don’t get hit. Got it.” I replied. Daniel scoffed.

I met his hard gaze with my own, “Let’s go Dani,” I told him, watching as his expression changed to one of humor and arrogance. “You to Lucas, two on one. Show me how the big boys play.”

“Uhh…” Lucas replied to my taunt, glancing between me and Daniel.


With a look on his face that said the mouse was about to trap the mouse, I kept my eyes on Daniel as he stalked forward. Stepping back I matched his pace, and then the games began. 

Chapter 23

“So what kind of bullets do you use?” I asked Daniel, my hands sore and tired by the time the sun started to die down.

“What?” Daniel replied, barely listening to me as he took apart and cleaned his gun.

            “You said the bullets I used for practice, aren’t the ones you use to hunt. So what kind of bullets do you use?” I asked again.

            Barely lifting his head Daniel said, “Oh... silver bullets engraved with hex symbols.”

            “Seriously? That’s it?” I asked a little disappointed.

            Looking up, Daniel snickered at my reaction, “Yes that’s it. What’d you think the bullets would have been forged in a volcano and bathed in the blood of a virgin?” He responded, an annoying smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

“No.………Maybe. Something a little along those lines.” I conceded

            With a soft chuckle, Daniel got up and gathered his things, “You’d be surprised how the simplest of things can be used as a weapon.” He added. 

             Tucking my revolver in the small of my back I followed Daniel as we walked over to the cottage. Walking inside I found Lucas diligently making a plateful of sandwiches on a small round table near the couch. Smiling at the sight I walked over and took a seat on the couch next to him, as Daniel sat on the floor next to the empty fireplace. 

             “How’s your hand?” Lucas asked, as he passed the plateful of sandwiches to Daniel for him to take one. 

             “Oh..” I responded, looking down at my hand as I clenched and unclenched a small fist, “it’s fine.”

             “Yea.. your joints wouldn’t be so stiff if someone had given you a few minutes break here and there.” Lucas said, giving Daniel a hard stare.

             “It’s fine.” I said, reaching for a sandwich.

            “Yea, she’s fine. I think October is a lot tougher than we think.” Daniel said, giving me a curious look.

            Not really sure what to make of that I continued to eat my sandwich, and den two more, before retiring for the night.   

Chapter 22

“Ok, fine. Maybe it wouldn’t kill me to learn how to use a gun, but does it have to be him? Why can’t you teach me, I mean he’s such an ass.” I said to Lucas, as I stood from my seat on the forest floor. 

With a small laugh Lucas replied, “Believe it or not but Daniel is a better shot than I am.”

Picking up the clean pan off the grass, we both walked back around, to the front of the cabin.  

“You ready?” at the question, Lucas and I both turned around in the direction of the voice, and saw Daniel, leaning on one of the hundreds of trees that surrounded the cabin. 

“Ready for what?” I asked Daniel, as I tried to contain the annoyance in me, he seemed to invoke whenever he opened his mouth.  

“For your first lesson.” Daniel casually answered, lifting his hand and showing me my grandfather’s gun.

Looking over at Lucas, the amused expression on his face quickly died as he caught the glare I threw at him. Using my gun Daniel pointed to a tree more than a couple feet away, with a bull’s-eye carved about 5 feet up, into the thick dark bark.

“It’s ok. Lucas said he’d teach me.” I said with a feigned confidence.

“I said, what now?” Lucas asked in surprise.

“Lucas has other obligations that need his attention.” Daniel said to me, his gaze locking onto Lucas’ “I said I’d teach you, let’s go.”

Shifting between them both, I watched as they traded intense glances until finally Lucas walked off into the cabin, without a word.

“What the hell just happened?” I asked, confused about his sudden behavior.

“Nothing.” Daniel replied before walking over to me.

Holding out my gramps- my gun in front of me, I took the revolver from him and watched from my peripheral vision as Daniel walked around to stand at my back.

“Do you know how to clean a revolver? How to take the safety off and put in the bullets?” Daniel asked, as he reached for my arm from behind.

Pulling away from his touch I answered, “Yeah, gramps showed me a few times, not really rocket science.”

“Good, then we don’t need to start from scratch.” He added, before grabbing my arm once more.

Lifting my right arm up from behind me, Daniel held it out towards the tree’s carved target. Leaning in close I felt his left hand lightly rest on my waist, “Don’t be so stiff, relax.” Daniel softly whispered in my ear.

Taking a deep breath I let my body soften and adjusted my hold on the gun’s hilt.

“Now widen your stance, take aim and be prepared to feel some recoil.” Daniel added, before leaning away from my shooting arm.

Focusing on the middle of the target, I held firm and pulled the trigger. The loud crack as the bullet fired, along with the slight recoil made me step back into Daniel.

“Not bad for a first try.” Daniel said as his arm wrapped around my waist, keeping me balanced. 

Looking over at the trees target, I saw that not only did I miss the center of the target but the entire target itself and hit the tree a few inches to the right.

“My god I suck.” I laughingly said, as I turned to Daniel and saw he had the same amused smile on his face.

Looking up at him and those beautiful dimples, his arms still wrapped around me from behind and his face so close to mine, I was thankful for the sound of someone clearing their throat. 

My head snapped across to the right to Lucas, as he turned away from me and Daniel towards the missed target. Stepping out of Daniel’s arms and putting some space between us I said “I think you were right.”

“As I usually am about most things,” Lucas smugly replied over his shoulder, “but to what in particular, would you be referring to?”

“About me learning to shoot, if you hadn’t persuaded me to, we would have never known how truly bad I am at it.” I laughingly said to him.

“Ahhh yes, well your welcome then.” Lucas said with a small smile, facing me.

“Ok, breaks over. Gear up for round 2. Don’t stop after you fire the first shot this time, keep going till there’s no more rounds.” Daniel sternly said, as he took a step back from me.