Archer.
“I’m not going to let you guys go down with me,” I shook my head.
“It’s not your decision,” Quinn grumbled from the back of the group as he crossed his corded arms over his chest. “Our father’s blood is within you and that makes you family. We will always protect our family.”
Oleif’s growl drew our attention and I glanced over to see his deep scowl.
“Uh,” Pádraig spoke as he carefully eyed his colleague, “maybe you guys should go ahead and get her cleaned up.”
“Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” Trey said quickly, sensing the precarious mood of my new guard. “I’ll go lay you out an outfit.”
“Need any ‘elp washing your back?” Lochlan wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and winked at me.
Quinn scoffed and gave him a playful shove toward the stairs. “The last thing the poor girl needs is you horn-balling all over her, Loch.”
“Hey,” he smiled widely and held his hands up in surrender as he trudged up the stairs, “I was just trying to be helpful.”
Seamus laughed out something to him in Gaelic that had the rest of them laughing as well.
I watched Aoife, Quinn, Seamus, Lochlan, Hunter, and Trey climb up the stairs, their cheerful voices fading slightly with their ascent, and I turned to glance over my shoulder at Oleif. He cocked one eyebrow and motioned for me to follow with his hand.
I quickly looked over at Pádraig and Hagan before turning back around and walking over to where Archer was waiting by the stairs.
I put one hand on the bannister and stopped to look up briefly into his eyes. Trepidation and uncertainness coursed through me as I spoke silently to him. I’m scared Archer, I admitted for the first time.
He gave me a small, sad smile as he brushed the tangled hair from my forehead. “It’ll be okay,” he whispered.
Do you honestly believe that?
Archer studied my face in silence for a few heartbeats. I would have given anything to have known what he was thinking at that exact moment as his eyes slowly traced the curve of my jaw, my bottom lip, and then lastly my eyes. He gently cupped my cheeks, his thumbs lightly stroking my skin. “Yes, I do,” he whispered.
I looked up at him, a bit surprised by the sudden intimacy but oddly comforted at the same time.
Someone cleared their throat behind us and it immediately broke the spell. I twitched my mouth apologetically at Hagan and Pádraig and took a step up the stairs.
I can’t tell you the surprise I felt when “walking” up the stairs was a foreign concept to my new body. I flashed involuntarily, it seemed, up the stairs and crashed into the small wooden table in the center of the foyer.
I gasped and caught the crystal vase that had toppled off as I righted the table I had knocked over. Hagan’s laughter echoed up the stairs as I pushed the hair out of my face. I took a deep breath and prepared to feign normalcy again.
“Don’t hurt yourself, Morrison,” he said, suddenly beside me, as he shoulder bumped me playfully. “Just breathe and try again.”
I heard Archer, Pádraig and Oleif behind me and was instantly embarrassed by my clumsiness. I took a cautious step forward and was suddenly ten feet away. I growled in frustration and tried again. I deliberately put my leg down slowly, rolled heel-to-toe, and took a step. When I saw that it worked, I spontaneously whooped with joy and took another step. I was suddenly in the kitchen.
“Dammit!” I swore as I looked down at my treacherous feet in frustration.
“It takes control to walk like a human, Morrison,” Hagan chuckled as he flashed next to me. “You’re fresh out of the coffin, so it may take some practice.”
I cringed at the word coffin. It was yet another reminder of my new condition. I still felt the disappointment of realizing I had been turned instead of killed like I asked, and it quickly morphed into anger. “Practice, HELL! Who has time for practice? Oh, that’s right… ME! I have all of eternity free now!”
Sensing the dangerous shift in my emotions, Aoife flashed over from the couch and took my arm. “Bath time,” she sing-songed as she turned me toward the hall.
“She doesn’t leave my sight,” Oleif growled, suddenly on the other side of me, as he took my right arm.
“Whatever floats your boat,” Aoife shrugged and steered me down the hall. To my surprise, I had managed a somewhat slow flash.
When we got