"Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are"

~~Green Day

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

~NOVA~

The last time I had seen my mother had been around a year ago, but that had only been for a few minutes at best. Before that, I hadn't seen, heard from, or spoken to her since the day I had moved out to go to college. She had been furious then that I had chosen to associate with Nevada, whom she viewed to be filthy trash, as well as further my education instead of staying by her side.

I never understood her dislike of Nevada nor my mother's determination to keep me bound to her hip. As a teenager, I had done as I wanted, regardless of whether or not she approved, and had continued that trend as an adult. When she had cut me out, moving without a word after that, it had hurt worse than Dominic's absence.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, still in shock to see my mother standing before me.

She turned her head to search in the darkness behind her, sheets of rain obscuring everything beyond the porch. Her blue eyes were wide and panicked, waves of fear crashing into me like boulders.

"There's no time," she said, pushing by me and into the living room. "We need to get out of here bef-"

She stopped when she realized the room was full of people, everyone looking at her with different levels of shock and confusion. I knew the moment her eyes landed on Dominic because his face darkened with anger and the muscles in her shoulders grew visibly tense. I struggled to get words to form as her mouth opened and closed wordlessly while she gaped in horror at Dominic.

"Mom, look at me," I finally managed to say but she didn't seem to hear me. Grabbing her shoulders, I forcibly turned her to face me, my anger breaking through the stupor her unexpected visit had brought with it. "What the fuck are you doing here? Or maybe the more important question is how the hell did you find me?"

"That doesn't matter, we need to get out of here," she looked wildly around the room at everyone else before meeting my eyes again, "all of us. They're coming and they'll be here any minute."

Her voice, which had once been soft and comforting, was distorted with anxiety and fear. She shouldn't be here, not with me or in Ashira's house.

"Who's coming, Edith?" Dominic asked, his tone wary. "Who have you led to us?"

"I think the prevalent issue here is how she managed to get inside the barrier in the first place," Ashira spoke up calmly. "It should have been a nearly impossible task."

"People that want to kill me, and all of you," Edith said, answering Dominic but not Ashira, which didn't go unnoticed. "We have to go, you have to help me!"

My mother clutched my hands in a vice like grip, silently begging me to give in and to be there for her. I had no idea what was going on, or how she managed to find me in this remote part of the country, but here she was. There was a time in my life where I would have done anything for her without question or hesitation, and I had done it on countless occasions over the years of my childhood. But those days were gone.

I jerked my hands away from her and took a sudden step back, bumping into Hatter's chest as I did. I felt his hands on my hips, as if to steady me, but I couldn't acknowledge it as I looked at my mom. Her beautiful face, streaked with dirt and grime, looked stricken by my actions but I felt no remorse as I remembered the way she had done me in the end.

"You left, moved without saying a word or even leaving a note. No letter, phone call, or a god damn email, to let me know anything," I growled as anger started to boil in my veins. The first tendrils of magick flickered in my chest with every inhale I took. "For two fucking years I wondered if you were dead, if I had contributed to my mother's death in some way."

"Nova, baby, I'm so sorry," she apologized as her ocean blue eyes filled with tears.

"You're sorry? No the fuck you're not!" I spat venomously. "I've spent the last year trying to find you since the day you came to my dorm. If you were sorry, I would have found you. Then again, you always were good at hiding though, weren't you?"

Lightning flashed outside the windows of the cottage, followed by a crack of thunder so loud that the panes of glass rattled in their frames and the doors trembled on their hinges. I contemplated on whether or not to throw her back out into the storm and let her fend for herself. As if he had read my thoughts, Hatter's fingers dug into my hips holding me in place.

"Where were you?" I asked, my voice low.

"I was around. There were some things I needed to take care of, Nova, but I knew you would be okay," she answered tearfully. "You were always okay on your own."

"Because I had to be! You never gave me a choice!"

Memories raced across my mind, remembering how all through my childhood, she had left me alone for long stretches of time. At first, when I was still very young, it had only been for a couple of hours. But as I got older, those couple of hours turned into more and more, until they became days and then weeks at a time, while I had been alone. If it hadn't been for Nevada, I would have lost my mind with worry and the loneliness would have driven away my sanity entirely.

Edith Dumont had never been the best mother, by any stretch of the term, but she had still been the only one I had.

"Nova, I understand that you have things to deal with, but there are crucial matters that need to be dealt with first," Ashira told me, her eyes never leaving my mom. "Edith, I need you to tell me how you got through my barrier."

"And who followed you through?" August added.

Edith looked at August, mild confusion distorting her features. "Who are you?"

"August Maines," he replied gruffly, making it perfectly obvious he wasn't pleased to see her either.

"Aug-August Maines? The August Maines?" Her eyes were wide and I could feel her fear ratchet up several notches as she looked at him.

Why does everyone seem to be afraid of him?, I could help but wonder as I watched the exchange.

"Yes, the one and only. Now answer the question, Edith," Dominic demanded coldly.

She nodded reluctantly and reached down inside one of her black boots that went halfway up to her knee. To my surprise, she pulled out a small dagger, maybe eight inches from hilt to tip. The handle appeared to be made from some type of green stone, the surface worn smooth over time. Instead of the common steel blade, this dagger had one that I instantly recognized as being made of obsidian that was shaped more like that of an arrowhead or spear.

This looked nothing like the dagger that Alana had wielded at Michael's, and yet I could feel small pricks of magick radiating gently from it. I glanced at Nevada and I could tell she was just as lost as I was. However, there was no ignoring the shocked intake of breath from Ashira as she viscerally reacted to the dagger's presence.

"How in the gods did you come by such a relic?" Ashira's voice was quiet but seemed almost deafening in the suddenly silent room. "Such items are supposed to be protected by their guardians. You, my dear, are no guardian."

"What's with the twenty questions? Shouldn't you be more concerned with the possibility of imminent death?" Edith cried in exasperation, once again not answering the question. "Have you all heard nothing that I have said?!"

"You've barely said anything," I pointed out. "You came beating on the door, begging for help but refused to tell us anything. You won't answer any of our questions and you still think we'll just go along with whatever you say?"

My mother's face went from desperate to cold almost instantly but was gone just as fast. A mask of patience graced her damp but still delicate features, and her back was turned on the rest of the room so only Hatter and I had seen the reaction to my words. Anger flared in my veins once again, feeling as if my mother had some sort of agenda for being here.

"You will if you don't want to die," she replied, her words clipped. "I got caught up in a bad situation and I ran. They chased after me and then I thankfully found this property."

"Give me the dagger, Edith," Dominic demanded, holding out his hand towards her.

Edith turned to face him, ice dripping from her voice. "I don't answer to you anymore, Dominic Drakos. It's because of you that my life became a living hell and I have hated every moment since I met you. You and that fucking whore you chose to marry over me!"

Wave after wave of anger flooded through the room at her words, mine and nearly everyone else. I couldn't stand there and listen to her bullshit any longer, knowing that if I did I would end up doing something I could regret later. Instead of lashing out like I wanted to, the cruel words on the tip of my tongue just begging to be let out, I simply turned on my heel and left the room.

There was no doubt animosity between my mother and Dominic, anyone would be crazy to expect anything else. That didn't, however, give her the right to act like a bitch after popping up out of nowhere, especially after all this time. I couldn't deal with her and whatever bullshit she had drug with her this time, not in that moment. I was good at running, avoiding situations or people I wasn't ready to confront. It was easier that way, even if it didn't make the problem actually go away.

I entered the guest room that Nevada had been staying in while I slept uncomfortably in the armchair that it held. It had been my fault that she had nearly died, there was no way I could have slept anywhere but right beside her.

Hatter's familiar presence appeared beside me not long after I sat on the bed. I didn't have to look up to know it was him and I didn't need his vampire gifts of heightened senses either. I recognized the feel of his energy, the magick that made him into the hybrid that he was. It was the very same sensation that I found myself searching for whenever he wasn't around. It seemed as if the more I was around him, the easier it became.

"Are you going to make it a habit of following me whenever I run?" I joked halfheartedly without looking up from my hands.

The mattress dipped as Hatter sat down, his nearness making my heart race like it always did. I had yet to decide if that was a good thing or if it was merely an annoying side effect of... something.

"If you continue to make a habit out of running, then yes, I think I will."

I could hear curses and raised voices coming from the front of the house, informing me that the situation was quickly growing ugly. It seemed to be one more thing, one more problem, I had caused for these people that only wanted to help Nevada and I. Putting my head in my hands, I tried to block them out and pretend I was anywhere else in the world.

The fact that my mother had found us was unnerving, a queasiness settling in the pit of my stomach. She had never done right by me, although she hadn't actually turned her back on me entirely either. It would have been so easy for her to drop me off at a fire station and never look back, but she hadn't.

I gave up looking for her months ago, knowing that if she wanted to be part of my life that she would have been. The decision to let go of the hope I had wasn't an easy one but it was too painful to hold out any longer. Accepting the fact that Edith Dumont had finally turned her back on her only child had torn me to shreds, but I had finally been able to breathe again.

So, why was she suddenly here, now, when everything in my life had been turned upside down?