Coveted {FINISHED}

|Chapter Seventeen |

"Hell yeah," I breathed out with relief. At least it wasn't awkward? "I'll just um," I started, pointing backwards at the tent as I stumbled a little over my words. "Grab my jacket?"

With a chuckle Jeremy shrugged his shoulders, his lips tugging at the corners. "Are you asking me or . . ." Way to go Nancy.

" Right. I'll be right back." I added with a nervous laugh before spinning around and heading back in to see Shane searching through a draw still shirtless. I stopped dead in my tracks, my lips closing and opening a few times still dumbfounded by his chest. Why was this still a thing?! He chuckled stepping away from the chest of draws and walking towards my jacket discarded on the ground by the mattress. 

"Here," he said, his voice gentle as he helped pull my Jacket on. 

"Thank you," I managed to whisper as I looked up at him, his hands resting on my shoulders holding me in front of him as his lips suddenly closed the gap between us. For that firey second the whole world melted away once more, my body buzzing with electricity and my insides melt. He always managed to take all the negative away with just a touch but when kisses me? My blood goes crazy, my whole being just wanting to melt into him like silk forever. 

"I'll see you tonight," he murmured against my lips before pulling away giving me that award-winning smile. All I could do was nod lazily before forcing my feet to make their way back outside to Jeremy. 

We headed straight for the main road where the taxi waited and I hurried in letting my eyes focus on the passing scenes as usual until the thought of Regan and Ian hit me. My head spun to the side to face Jeremy, my chest filling with panic suddenly. "Is Ian and Regan home?" I managed to force out surprised at how easily the words just fell out rather than coming out like a jumbled mess. 

With another little chuckle, Jeremy responded, "No. I made a point of kicking them out."

"Thanks," I replied with a whisper, my eyes falling to the slightly dirty floor of our cab. 

"You know you can't avoid them forever right?" Jeremy added, his eyes trying to search mine. "Ian was just run down . . . he always gets a little . . . crabby when he's been depleted."

"But he was right," I added, forcing my eyes to meet his. "I don't want to be putting anyone in danger and so-"

"It isn't all up to you though Nance, you can't control them and if they want you . . . they'll get you especially since they know how much you . . . you know . . . want them." He said with a wink, his tone suddenly a little lower than it had been before. I couldn't help the burn sting my cheeks as strands of wild hair fell across my face, my eyes dancing away far from his again. "But right now, all you have to focus on is me beating your ass."

"Pff, you wish," I added, grateful for the quick change in topic. 

We finally arrived at the mansion as I got out of the cab, staring up at the looming building I couldn't help but feel my back explode into shivers. This place had completely changed my life and in a way . . . changed me too. Now, it reminds me that my future is tied to place, how? I have no clue but something deep inside told me, I wouldn't be breaking free. That I'd always be coming back to this exact spot, pulled to these bricks and the people it harbours behind its closed doors and walls. 

Jeremy let me in as I subconsciously relaxed into the familiar scents. "You can set up in the living room, I'm just gonna grab some snacks."

"Sounds good," I yelled back at Jeremy already moving towards the living room. 

When I entered, I noticed the console attached to the tv, the sofas still that same old fabric with the curtains pulled tightly closed keeping any light far from the living room. But as I reached the controllers thrown down on the couch, I couldn't help but catch sight of the small leather-bound book scattered on the coffee table amongst the games. Pushing them out of the way, I reached for the book throwing myself down on the couch trying any way to distract myself from the anticipation rising in my stomach. A part of me really wanted to see them, to see what would happen this time but at the same time, I knew how wrong that could go. I needed some kind of distraction until Jeremy got his ass in here. 

Luckily for me, the old black and white photos did more than just distract me. As my fingers slowly danced over the old faces of various people, my mind raced to try to put who they were together. 

"Okay, so we have some chocolate covered monkey biscuits and a s**t ton of fruit courtesy of my hippie broth-" Jeremy's words rang to a quick halt, his legs matching as I looked up to see him paused in the doorway, his eyes wide staring at me.

"Sorry . . . I just saw the book there and I got curious. I'll put it away-"

"No, it's fine." He added quickly, moving towards me and dropping the snacks on the table before he took a seat next to me, his hands taking the book from me and resting half on my leg and the other on his. 

"Who are they?" I asked, watching his face for any sign that I was crossing a line that I really shouldn't be. 

"Ancestors. Considering we tend to die pretty early, our family has always had a tradition of taking photos of everyone once they reached twenty-five. All these people were the ones that came before us, the ones that bless us with their powers." He began, flipping pages until he landed on a page with three men and a woman. He pointed to the woman, her eyes cast down and covered with deep black circles underneath. Her lips were chapped and parted as if she were moaning out in pain, her hands clutching to the bannisters of the porch outside. Her black hair was sprawled in tangled messes around her and it left me in a state of shock for a moment. None of the photos did they look so bad! Sure everyone seemed to hold a stone-cold glare but her? She looked like she was in pain, haunted by some invisible being. "Three generations ago, out great great great grandparents made a pact that once we reached a certain age, our powers would go dominant . . . that we would live in this house and never use our gifts until they were gone for good. That way . . . that way our family could continue to exist without the end coming before we had a chance to continue on our line. Of course, not everyone followed that some of our family can't help the urge to help the outside world and rightfully so. I mean . . . if it's their choice . . . they should be able to do what they want."

"Is that why . . . Ian didn't want to help me before?" I forced out, catching the small nod Jeremy gave. I guess I was on the same page as their ancestors.

"What about her?" I asked, only taking brief note of his words and clinging to Shanes. My full attention was pulled the poor girl, her pain trapped in a photograph forever. 

"That's Emilia Crowe. She married into the family . . . her power was probably the worst. Far worse than death." He said, his voice low as if choked in his throat. His eyes seemed to dance around her photo, his hands tightening around the book. "It's something none of us want and luckily seemed to end with her. It's presumed her pregnancy caused her to gain that power . . . No one normal stays normal in this family. Something changes them in those nine months."

"What was her power?" I pushed still entranced by her. 

"She was a vessel."

"Vessel?" Jeremy drew in a long breath, his teeth braced as his chest tensed. 

"A vessel is a person who can commune with the dead except . . . most of the time they get possessed by all kinds of spirits. Most of the time spirits are disorientated . . . dangerous so she was kept up in the attic, the third floor. Chained to the wall in a circle of symbols drawn to hold a vessel and their free-rider down, pretty painful, from what I understand the symbols almost burn the vessel's flesh. Whenever the spirit does leave the body, the vessel is tortured by other souls fighting for the chance to live if only for a second through them. Someone with that power can never leave that room, the danger they pose to us or anyone else is too great I guess. Pretty s**t way to live." I let his words fall over me, my whole body falling into a dark pit of sympathy as I stared down at her feeling something pull at me even more. "Worse than being me, a squid."

"Squid?"

"Someone with no powers in a family full of them. It's only happened twice before and I'm pretty sure I'm one. No one enters their powers this late, I was just hoping it wouldn't be the case." Yet, as he stared down at Emilia there didn't seem to be an ounce of pain or sadness in his words like there had been every other time he spoke about being the spare. 

I threw my arms around him, digging my head into his chest. "Dude, I'm so glad you are right now. I wouldn't want to lose my gaming buddy to a bunch of d**k head ghosts."

His body vibrated with a chuckle, his hand patting my back until I pulled away, my eyes looking down on the photograph of the girl again. It was like I had something in common with her, something coming to me that I just couldn't see. It was almost like she was warning me, preparing me for something that would destroy me. Stupid but I couldn't look away . .. I wanted to help her . . . free her. I had too "What happened to her? I mean besides being chained up away from the rest of the world."

"She killed herself." He added quickly sucking the rest of the air from the room.

"Nothing comes easy in this family does it?" I breathed, slamming the book shut and placing it next to me on the couch, my eyes trained to the blank TV screen. 

"Hey, it's okay. I'm pretty sure none of us has plans of reproducing any time soon so luckily, that curse died with her. Unless some other supernatural family out there has the same power in their bloodline." He said reaching for the controller. 

"How did you do it? How did you all get through that wait not knowing if you'd get that power?"

"We had too. Like everyone else. Guess we were lucky."

"Yeah . . . " I breathed out, my whole body suddenly trembling as her face swam across my mind. 

Without another word, Jeremy started the game passing me the remote. I took it willingly, grateful for the distraction to come. Out of everything I've learned so far, Emilia was the worst. Her story constantly probing the back of my mind even as I got carried away throwing useless commands to a made-up character.

The usual stream of slurs raced from our mouths until I was the winner once again. Jeremy pouting as he hit the rematch button again. "You do realise you're just making this worse on yourself? The more times I kick your ass, the more you have to admit I'm better than you AND the more times you have to relive that painful realisation." 

Laughing, I punched the usual combination for a power move except for this time he was ready for me. Suddenly, Jeremy was grinning, his elbows resting on his knees as he shifted closer to the screen. "Actually, the more you kick my ass the more I learn your tactics. Might wanna swap it up a bit." His voice filled with pride suddenly as he knocked the majority of my lifeline out. 

My mouth fell wide open, my eyes bulging as I stared unbelievingly at the screen, his character too quick to keep up with. Every command I threw out blocked and useless. 

"You asshole! That's cheating!"

"No its not! It's called intelligence." He mocked until the words YOU WIN ran across the screen, my character left floating dead in the air. "Ha! In your face you loser!" He screamed basically jumping up on the couch.

"First thing first, you won ONCE out of how many?" I replied, my forehead creasing into a frown as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Yeah? wanna go again?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows and leaning over to me slightly. Looking down into his emerald green eyes I couldn't help the small smile pulling at the corner of my lips. He really had a way of just making things normal right when I needed it. I kind of missed that, having fun with someone like me, someone who lived in a world filled with the danger of loss and powers but being just shy of it. I missed being around someone who understood. Sure Aubrey was human with no string attached but she didn't know Ian or Regan, she didn't understand this. 

"You sure? Cause I got a whole new tactic." I added, my old confidence running amock. It had been years since I felt like me, the old me. The me who wasn't afraid of anything, who just wanted to have some fun, screw the consequences. 

"Ha, you think you can beat me? Let's go girly,"

"Girly? Really?" I muttered, my lips tugging into a smirk again as I focused my eyes on the screen, the count down racing across in thick black numbers, my mind already latching my best idea. Cheating sure but effective as hell . . . or so I hoped. "We'll see who's gonna be the girly one."

I was ready this time except just like before he had memorised every single one of my moves. He was blocking everything I did! Ah, well guess we're just gonna have to go for plan B. On impulse, the need to win taking over, I sat up and whipped around blocking his view of the Tv.

"Hey what the He-" his words fell dead in their tracks as I straddled his lap, my controller gripped in my left hand as I placed my wrists against each shoulder, my other hand gripping the back of the couch. His eyes widened like they had that time in his room and for once I didn't feel my worries melt away, I didn't fall into any feeling and become overrun with it. Instead, I felt like a teenager again in high school again. 

My heart raced in my chest, my mind screaming every fear of rejection possible as my palms turned into a sweaty mess. What if I did wrong? What if it all went wrong? The controller dropped from my hands my plan to win backfiring. So I guess turning my back to the screen wasn't exactly the best plan but it had stopped him from winning, either way, his own controller discarded as his hands left to my thighs just under my ass. His fingers digging into my inner thighs and his thumbs subconsciously rubbing comforting circles on the side of my legs just shy of my hip bones. Nothing about this was magical it was all normal. 

The breath in my lungs feeling trapped in my lungs as my eyes fell to his lips. Damn, it had been so long since I felt anything this normal since my body reacted the way it should have in this situation. 

Is any brother safe from you right now? That voice ebbed, nagging my mind and triggering my fears and heightening the shame. Shane. I just had to cling to Shane's words. 

I lowered my lips closer to his feeling his own ragged breathing washing across my face and down my neck. Was he as nervous? The thought pushed me further until our lips met. His tongue gently pressed against my lower lip asking for permission and when I granted it, his hands squeezed harder my hands grabbing onto his top as I pressed my chest to his, moaning into his mouth as his tongue battled my own. 

I don't know how long we stayed like that but the only thing I knew, was my heart was the only sound I could hear as we pulled apart. Jeremy grinned up at me, his lips moving on their own accord. "I didn't think I stood a chance there for a minute. But since I do . . . What do you think about a date?"

"A date?" I asked surprised, Shane was the only one to use that so far. 

"Yeah, a date. A proper one. Like maybe a movie, dinner and . . . More video games?" His eyes shone, his voice uplifted as I chuckled.

"Yeah . . . I mean that sounds fun." 

"Good cause you would have crushed a guy if you said no. Feel like they'd be favouritism and I would be your least favourite." 

"Never," I added, his lips greeting mine once more before I shifted back to my seat on the couch. 

The sound of the front door closing had me jumping in my seat, Jeremy's eyes suddenly dropping to the ground. "I thought you said-"

"I know but Nance they want to see you and I couldn't-"

"Jeremy!" I yelled jumping to my feet. He followed quickly, his eyes panicked. 

"I'm sorry! I'm the youngest they bullied me!" Footsteps sounded coming closer until that same tense voice boomed from the walls. My eyes slowly turned to meet his, my skin already buzzing with emotions threatening to devour me as those dark whiskey brown eyes held mine.

"Ian . . ."