© ItalRT4u, 2012

     Cane and I were watching a movie on the living-room couch when Andy came in, out of breath, anger dictating his stance, his gaze.

     “Who knows you’re here?”  He looked at me, blinded by fury.

     “What?”  I asked, slight panic but mostly annoyance quickly overcoming me.

     What the hell is this all about?

     “Back off, man!”  Cane stood up defensively, pushing his brother away from me.  “What’s going on?”  He inquired.

     “Your girl here just had us found out.”  Andy stated and shot me daggers with his eyes.

     “That’s impossible!”  I protested.  “No one knows I’m here.  No one except…”  And my voice trailed off.

     “Carly.”  Cane finished for me, almost at a whisper.  I gave him a small nod.  “Payton, you don’t think that Carly would…  God!  I don’t even want to finish that sentence because it’s so absurd!”

     “No!”  I said quickly and firmly without a note of hesitation, knowing all too well where his words were headed.

     “Then we were followed.”  Cane said dismissive of any other possibility that might exist.

     “You couldn’t just leave her there, could you?”  Andy exploded at his brother.  I had never seen Cane mad and in this moment, I knew that I rather not see him that way again.  His face grew red with rage; his eyes darkened to a royal navy color with his normal gold flecks changing into an almost orange-copper color as his muscles began rippling through his already tight t-shirt.

     “There was no way I was leaving her.”  He told his brother.

     “Why not?  Your woman here might have just signed our death sentence.”  Andy hollered back.

     “Because...”  Cane was cut off before he could finish.

     “What the hell is going on in here?”  Will came in, interrupting the argument.  By then, I had withdrawn myself into the corner of the couch, my knees folded at my chest, with my arms hugging them tighter.

     How could this be happening?

     I couldn’t help the tears that had begun sliding down my cheeks as I rocked myself back and forth, entering some kind of state of delirium.

     “You two will calm yourselves down this instant and talk about this like grown men.”  Their father ordered them with Patrick entering the room behind him as he said this.  As the thickening tension began to melt away, I couldn’t help the guilt that managed to seep through and run down to my core.  I couldn’t bear it if something happened to this beautiful family.  I had to get out of there and as far away from all of them as possible – maybe Andy was right in what he said; I was to blame for bringing trouble to this once peaceful household.  Guilt-ridden, I ran out of the room, I heard Cane call after me but I was too quick for him to catch up to.  I grabbed his car keys that sat on the table by the front door and ran out of the house. 

     I made it as far as the car before anyone caught up to me.  I hadn’t the heart to put the keys in the ignition, let alone start the damn car.  I let my head fall down to the steering wheel as the tears poured out of me in frustration, sadness, but most of all, guilt.  Someone stood by the driver side door, attempting to open the door and gave up when they realized I had locked it behind me. 

     “Payton.”  I looked up, confused at the mention of my name.  It wasn't the voice I had been expecting.

     “Gage?  What are you doing here?”  I asked him.

     “Let me in.”  He said, holding my teary gaze through the driver side window.  I nodded and did what he asked.  Climbing over the gear-shift and into the passenger seat, I unlocked the door and allowed him entrance.

     He had driven us to a park.  I sat on a swing with Gage sitting on the one next to mine.  We hadn't said much to each other since leaving the Nottingham residence.  Truth be told, I felt guilty leaving with Cane's car and not letting him know where it was that I was headed.  After all, he had been tasked to look after me.  Sitting there for another few minutes, pondering what I should say or do next, I became increasingly aware of the feeling that I shouldn't be here.  First of all, how did Gage know where I was?  Secondly, why was he here?  Thirdly, what did he want?  As feelings of dread filled me to my core, I slowly got up and turned to head back for the car, thankful that Gage had handed the car keys back to me earlier.  Perhaps I could make a quick and easy escape and leave him here.  I was now convinced that the person following me must have been Gage.  Why else would he be here and not in Chatham Falls where I last left him – heck, we were two and a half hours away from Chatham Falls.  Nothing about him being here was making sense and that set off a few alarm bells in the back of my mind.

     This is all wrong.

     It was then I felt a strong arm wrap itself around my waist and before I could scream his other hand covered my mouth.  Fear lacing my every thought, I was scrambling about in my head for a defensive tactic that would work.  All I had to do was find a way to get to the car, get in, and drive off but my trainings for the past week and those from my past with my father were evading me as these seconds were threatening to roll into a minute and so on.

     My shock wearing off, I threw an elbow into his side and heard him groan at the impact but his grip never wavered.

     “If I let go of you, will you hear me out?  I don't want to hurt you.  I just want for us to talk.”  I tried to nod against the hand that was covering my mouth.  “I'm letting go now.”  He said.  As his grip was slowly released, I turned quickly and shoved him.

     “What are you doing here?”  I asked him, my heart racing.

     “I have to talk to you.”  He said again, avoiding my eyes.

     “We've done all the talking we had to that day on my front porch Gage.”  I told him.  “Kind of a long drive to just have a small talk, don't you think?”

     “It's the only thing I could think of.”  He said and I didn't like the way that statement sounded.  I took a step back which he quickly followed up by taking one step forward toward me, trying to match my every move.

     “You simply could have called.”  I told him.  He, as well as I knew that it was a lie.  I wouldn't have answered his call had he dialed my number; I had closed the door on the chapter of my life that included him.

     “I had to see you one last time.”  He closed slightly on our distance.  Something in his eyes made my skin crawl and so I took another step back; resulting in another one of my steps being matched.

     “Why are you really here Gage?”  I asked him and this time, I didn't care who around us could hear.  If anything, perhaps it would help me get out of here by drawing attention our way.

     “Because I was sent here.”  He started, his eyes looking wild as he said this, his demeanor changing suddenly.  I couldn't believe my ears.  “To take you away.”  He said sounding emotionally detached.

     “You're...”  My voice faltered as my mouth ran dry with shock.  He seemed shocked that I’ve figured him out.

     He couldn't, could he?  How could I not have known though?

     “I'm what, Payton?”  He looked at me, amusement displayed in his voice and I backed up a few more steps.  Steps matched again.  “Fae?”  My eyes widened.

     Oh God!  He knows about us. 

     “Yeah.  I know about your dirty little secret.”  He says dryly as he began to inch his way toward me once again.  “I’ve known for a while.  I know who you are, what you are Payton.”

     “Stay back!”  I ordered him but he only continued forward, not an ounce of hesitation in his every step.

     “Or what?  Your match will come and save you?  Yeah, I knew of Cane Nottingham too.  By the time he gets down here, Sweetie, you'll be long gone.”  He smirked at me and proceeded to close the distance between us entirely with a quick pounce.  Adrenaline had kicked in and I found myself screaming out for help, drawing as much attention toward us as I possibly could muster.  I could have sworn I heard the screeching of tires in the background.

     Or was that wishful thinking?

     I kicked out into Gage's chest, sending him onto his backside.  The look of shock on his face was priceless.  He quickly got back up to his feet to which I rebutted by grabbing a stick which conveniently laid at my feet and whipped it hard at him, making him move to shield himself from the blow and thus, giving me the time to shove him back to the ground in an attempt to run away.

     “Get the fuck away from me and stay away or I'll kill you!”  I yelled at him.  His hands wrapped around my ankle and yanked as I tried to run past him – I found myself with my back on the ground as he snaked his way on top of me, pinning me down with much more force than Cane had used with me earlier this morning in our training.  I tried to push him off of me by bucking my hips, trying to twist my wrists out from his hands and then I remembered the trick I had pulled on Cane earlier by pushing my heels down the back of his legs, scraping until his knees fell from beneath him.  I prayed it worked.

     After my third attempt at trying to gain the upper hand had failed, I was slowly losing faith in ever being able to defend myself against Gage.  No one had come to find us.  Sure, it was dusk at this point and the sun was rapidly setting behind the horizon and it explained the lack of population in the park at the moment, but I had expected someone to at least try and intervene.  Suddenly, an idea floated into my head – one I doubted would work but I had to try it out; after all, it worked to my advantage before, somewhat but then again, I'm sure that that one time was the time that gave me away.  As I feigned weakening, Gage began to relax, smirking with satisfaction on his overpowering me; his defenses lowered.  I pretended to mouth something to him, it was enough to peak his curiosity because it had been inaudible.  He leaned in like the curious idiot that he was.

     You fool!

     Capturing his lips with mine, I began to kiss him feverishly, as though my life depended on it; and it did.  Trying to keep my stomach contents in check, I felt his hold on me, not to mention, his entire body, weakening.  Not being able to take any more of his taste, the feel of him on top of me, I pulled away and arched my head back and brought it back forward hard, head-butting him on the nose, causing blood to splatter everywhere over my face and the front of my shirt.  Pleased with my blow, agility and speed were my best friends in this moment.  I skillfully rolled us over until I straddled his chest as his hands were clutching his face; he was surely seeing stars with the force of that blow seeing as I was fighting my own at the moment.  Shoving myself up and off of him, I backed up never taking my eyes off of him.  It wasn't until I turned quickly to dart toward the car that I saw Andy standing there, his eyes wide and mouth agape and Cane running toward me.

     They found me?  But how?

     Cane stopped in front of me, checking my exposed skin for signs of injury before holding me to him.

     “That's the bastard I saw from earlier.”  Andy told me as he walked past me, giving me a quick once over with his eyes, ensuring I was fine.

     “Are you okay?” Cane asked me, blocking my way back to the car.

     “Let me by.  I need to get that creep's blood off of me.”  I huffed, anger coursing through me.  I was mad as hell at no one but myself.

     How could I have been so stupid?

     “Payton.”  Cane said as I kept walking toward the parking lot, ignoring him.  “Payton!”  He said more demanding this time.

     “What?”  I dug my heels in the soft grass and turned, slightly irritated.

     “Are you okay?”  He asked me again as he walked up to me.

     “I'm fine.”  But I knew that he knew I was lying.  I wasn't fine.  I wouldn't be fine until all this bullshit was resolved.  The best part about Cane is that despite the short amount of time we've been together, he seems to know when he should step back and when he should step in.

     We had been driving back to his house when Cane finally spoke up.

     “Why would you want to leave?”  He asked quietly.  I could tell this was a conversation that he really didn't want to have but due to what had just transpired, he needed to ease his thoughts with a postmortem and I knew that I owed him those answers.

     “Why shouldn’t I leave?  Had I not come along, you’d all be safe.”  I said, my voice cracking with that same guilt that had consumed me, nearly an hour and a half earlier before I had run off.

     “You know that isn't true.  All this bullshit would still be happening regardless, Payton.”  He called me out on my reasoning.  “You can't just leave.”  And I couldn't think of anything to say.  Fact of the matter was I knew he was right.  I took a deep breath and forced my gaze to his as we sat at the red light; our eyes locking as he studied my face.  Reaching over, he grabbed my hand and brought it to his lap, soothingly rubbing it, sending waves of warmth through it and up my arm. 

     “How did you find me?”  I finally asked him.

     “You took my car.  I have a tracker on it.”  Cane smiled satisfactorily.

     “And here I thought you were just that good.”  I smirked sarcastically.

     “Funny.  Crack all the jokes you want woman, I would have found you, anytime, anywhere, electronic help or not.”  He claimed which got a chuckle out of me.  I knew he was right.

     I was extremely exhausted and all I wanted was to go to bed at this point.  Today had been a hectic day what with my training, meeting the family, and now, this whole Gage attacking me thing.  The only thing preventing me from giving into my urges and go to bed was the adrenaline that was still pumping within me and the lingering question of why Andy thought I should have been left in Chatham Falls.

     “Why did you think that I had told someone?”  I asked Andy once the three of us had reached the house.  Andy had taken a little while longer because he had decided to track Gage and see where he'd be heading.

     “I don't know.  I guess it's 'cause I've never seen that guy around before today.”  He told Cane and I.

     “Where is he now?”  I asked him.

     “I followed him to the other end of town.”  Andy paused and looked over at his brother and threw in a single nod as if they knew what each other was talking about.  “He stuck out like a sore thumb.  Someone seriously needs to teach him how to properly stake out a house.”  I seriously didn’t know what to say to that statement.

     “So you don’t even know if he’s Fae or what?”  Cane asked him and his brother shook his head but I could tell that they were covering something up.  They knew he was tied to the Fae world; whether he was one or not didn’t really matter at this point.

     “Judging by the fact he entered the Davis house, I'd be prone to say he is one of their clan; Fae or not.”  Andy added.

     “He’s known of us for a while now.”  I interjected.  “I didn't tell him.  He told me himself.”

     “I know.  I'm so sorry for thinking you had said something.”  Andy said softly.

     “Well, that’s just peachy.”  Cane said about this new information. 

     My face darkened at the memory of those feelings of me being followed.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone, mainly Gage, had followed us from Chatham Falls.  If I wasn’t able to see him while there, and Cane obviously had never seen anything because I’m sure he would have mentioned something at this point – the watcher, the tracker that he was.  I hadn’t noticed that all was now silent and the boys’ eyes were trained on me.

     “What is it?”  Cane asked me, turning so he could face me.

     “She’s hiding something.”  Andy looked at me, his arms crossing at his chest.

     “It’s just...  It's something I haven't mentioned and didn’t think anything of it.”  I tell them.  “I honestly didn’t think it was at all relevant, until now.”

     “Just spit it out already!”  Andy blurted in an exasperated tone.

     “Andrew!”  Cane commanded him and I denoted a slight flinch in Andy’s posture at the mention of his full name.  Cane turned to face me.  “Whatever may seem irrelevant might be the exact opposite; so tell us.”

     “This has been going on for the past year.  It hasn’t been constant; up until recently anyway.”  I paused, attempting to gather the right words.  “I’ve had the feeling I’ve been followed around for the past month.  I never thought it would have been Gage and frankly, I'm not entirely sure that it's just him.  He never told me he was the one that followed me around outright.”

     “Why haven’t you told me about this?”  Cane asked me. 

     “I did.  Well, sort of.”  I told him.  “That night when I ran into you on the street, running like a mad woman.  The night Carly was attacked.  And then…”

     “Wait!  What?  Carly was attacked?”  Andy blurted out, stopping me mid-sentence when I was recounting the time about when Cane had rescued me from my two intruders.  I nodded and looked back at Cane, noticing a slight hint of worry on Andy's face before doing so.

     “Still, you could have said something about the fact that that night hadn't been the first time.”  Cane paused.  “I’m supposed to keep you safe.  How can I do that if you’re not telling me anything?”

     “It wasn't my first time being followed but it was my first being chased down.”  I told them calmly.

     “What else aren’t you telling us?”  Andy eyed me suspiciously but his gaze softened almost immediately when he noticed the look on my face.  I could tell that he thought I felt helpless in all of this; that I was only doing what I thought was best for everyone all around.

     “That's it.”  I looked at both of them and then averted my eyes, my gaze aimed at my feet.  Sure, I felt guilty about keeping that information from Cane but then again, why would I divulge information when I doubted its relevancy?  Anyone would have done the same as I had.  Until this whole succubus business began, I chucked it up to an over-active imagination or perhaps some perverted creep who was keeping tabs on me.  So I did like anyone else and made sure my windows and doors remained locked and went about my life.

     It wasn't until I had entered the shower in our ensuite bathroom that I collapsed to the tile flooring and gave in to the rush of emotions that flooded my senses, all at once; the fear, the anger, and the frustration.  I felt so alone in this moment.  In truth, I knew I wasn't; I knew that Cane would have never let anything happen to me but, what if I hadn't been able to fend Gage off?  What if Cane and Andy hadn't managed to track me?  I sat there, on the cold tile floor, water raining down on me, until the shower stall door opened, the water, now turned cold stopped running and strong arms wrapped themselves around me with a towel as I sobbed into Cane’s neck and shoulder.

     Dried off and cuddled into Cane's chest, I found myself drifting off to the soft sound of his heart's rhythm; my question to why Andy thought I should have been left behind in Chatham Falls, partially answered and new questions forming.  Tomorrow was another day; one with answers hopefully.

                                          *************************************

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