Uprising

Chapter 14

I woke to something wet against my cheek, almost as if something was licking my cheek. I lifted my hand to swat it away when I felt a sharp pain in my hand. "HEX!" I shouted, now fully awake, as he jumped off my bed and seemed to run out of my room. "Bloody cat." I muttered as I sat up, rubbing my eyes a little and then looked at my hand to see that he'd not actually drawn any blood and had just scraped me with his claws. "I guess it's time to get up."

I sat up and let out a small sigh, as I couldn't believe how rested I'd actually woken to feel. I went to get myself up when I noticed something new in my room. On the headboard of my bed was a small purple bag that was filled with lavender. I couldn't help but laugh a little. "I guess my sleep wasn't totally peaceful." I muttered as I left the bag alone, then got up and got changed into clean clothes. I figured a shower could wait until after our little chat, and I fixed my hair before going down to find Cordelia.

I wondered down the stairs and listened as I could hear two voices from the library that were just under where the stairs were. I guessed that she had her client with her, who probably wanted a reading from her or something. As I got further down the stairs, I could hear the voices more clearly.

"I cannot help you with your business, Jacob Blackwell. I am honoured that you are concerned about me; however, the Order of Blood will not attempt to even get close to me; as for my sister, she's dead." At the words, I froze a little on the stairs as I felt my heart stop. Jacob Blackwell? My mum was dead?

"So what about this girl, Isabelle? Why do you think the Order is chasing her?" At the sound of the males voices, my heart sank even more. It was Jake. He'd come to Cordelia to ask about me, as he'd been worried and hadn't believed Eric. I clenched hold of the bannister harder. I knew what I should have done; I should have gone back up to my room to hide away from Jake, but against my better judgement, my body moved on its own and I ended up going down the rest of the stairs and stood in the doorway of the library.

"I'm not disturbing anything, am I? I just wanted to know if you wanted some tea." I folded my arms across my chest as I kept my focus on Cordelia and tried my hardest to ignore Jake. I really hadn't wanted to interrupt, but at the same time, part of me wanted to be a rebel against him after the way things had been left earlier.

"Isabelle!" I glanced across the library to see Jake looking confused at me. "What are you doing here? Eric said you'd gone to stay with family."

"Oh dear, it seems like the cat is out of the bag now, doesn't it?" I looked back at Cordelia at that comment as she wore a look on her face that told me she was all too happy that I'd turned up when I had. What was Cordelia up to? She got up from her chair. "Come and sit down and I'll go and make the tea for us all, shall I?"

I walked in with no other choice and sat down as Cordelia left for the kitchen. "Cordelia took me in when some bad stuff happened to my family." I told Jake. Whatever Cordelia was up to, I wasn't biting and I certainly wasn't going to play her game either. I wasn't telling Jake anything; after all, he'd made it clear that when his job was finished, he'd be going back to wherever and I certainly had no plans on getting attached to him at all. To top it all off, I was still slightly annoyed and upset with him and the way he'd treated me earlier when I'd tried to leave.

"Oh... I... Ummm..."

"It's fine; I don't talk about it, so how were you to know?" I asked simply. "Anyway, why are you here?"

I noticed the way Jake looked down at his hands, frowning for a moment and then looked up at me. "It makes sense now. I guess they thought you were Cordelia's daughter and that was why they came after you."

"What do you mean?" I asked, despite already having put that thought together and I wished that he didn't know just how close he was to the truth of the matter.

"The Order, those people who have been following you." He let out a sigh, as if he were relieved about something.

"What was that sigh about?" I asked as I leaned back in my chair, watching him as I tried to figure out what he was thinking about and if he really did know much or anything about what was going on.

"I'm pleased Eric was right." He muttered. "I'd come in hopes that Cordelia could shed some light on you and what the Order wanted with you, but it seems like he was right; you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, which is a relief but also a worry considering it means they might not know the truth about you and you could be in danger."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at his worry. Was he really worried about me or was he looking for a way to resolve his case and he was wondering if I'd be the bait that he needed? Cordelia had told me all about hunters, as had Viktor and Xander, but I also knew there were hunters who did care and Eric was proof of that.

"You shouldn't be worried about little Isabelle." Cordelia's voice floated back into the library. "I promise she is more protected than either of you know and probably more protected than even Eric knows." I broke my gaze from Jake and looked to the door to see Cordelia walking in with a tea tray and three cups on it. She went and set it down on the table, then took a seat next to me. "Please help yourself, you two." She looked at me for a moment and then seemed to look at Jake and back at me as if she were excited about whatever it was she was seeing with her High Priestess eyes.

"You know as well as I do Cordelia that they don't play by the rules and what makes it worse is the fact that you know as well as I do that once they get something in their head, then very often they can be like a dog with a bone and won't give up."

"Like some other people I know." Cordelia laughed quietly as she reached for a cup, passed it to me and then took another cup for herself. "I promise, Isabelle will be safe. I have made sure of that." She took a sip of the tea, which made me look over at Jake for a moment, wondering what his next comment was, but nothing came; he just leaned forward and took the tea and drank some of it.

"Tell me, young Blackwell, why are you so concerned for my Isabelle?" A clink of a cup being set on the table pulled my gaze from Jake to Cordelia. I'd never heard her call me her Isabelle. Was she trying to provoke him or something?

"I simply don't want another innocent person to be wrapped up in all of this and I certainly couldn't live with myself if anything happened to Isabelle and I did nothing to stop it. In my mind, it would be a betrayal to Eric and that is the last thing I ever want." I turned to look at Jake again, seeing that he really was trying with me for Eric's sake. I went to take another sip from the cup of tea but I couldn't. I couldn't be in the room with the pair of them while they seemed to talk about me as if I wasn't there. I pulled my hand back and then pushed my chair back and stood up.

"I think it's better if I wasn't here." I told them both. "It seems like you both are set about talking about me as if I weren't here and I don't mind admitting that I certainly don't feel comfortable with this."

"Izzy, I'm sorry, I didn't..."

Cordelia held her up to silence us both. "I can see that as all of this goes on and plays out, you two will need each other. I know that at the moment you two seem to be barely tolerating each other for another person's sake; however, I think you both should give each other a fighting chance to get to know the real you that lays under the armour that both of you have put on."

I felt my breath catch in my chest at her comment as I looked at Jake again, seeing that his gaze seemed to mirror just how I'd felt at her comment. I forced my eyes away as I looked to the side of me, took a slow, deep breath, and then let it out.

"When your free, could we talk?" I opted for and then walked out of the library as my head seemed to spin from her comment. Just what was she up to? I had no clue what she was up to and I was certain if I was ok with whatever it was or not just yet. Without waiting for any type of answer from either of them, I left the library. I'd get to the bottom of what was going on, one way or another.